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The Joy of Air Cooling.

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ikix

Registered
Joined
Jun 2, 2009
Location
OCworld
Hi OCF,

I am pretty new to overclocking and what not but recently i purchased the following setup for £130 of ebay and was well chuffed.

MSI G33-7357 Motherboard
Intel Core 2 Quad Q660 2.4GHz (overclocked to 2.76GHz) (G0 stepping)
4GB DDR2 RAM (2 x 1GB OCZ RAM) (2 x 1GB cheap DDR2 667mhz RAM)
BFG Nvidia 8800GT OC2 PCI-E 512MB
320GB SATA2 HDD

when i received the system was one of them Philips Freevents i think you can get from Pc world. On loading to windows i decided to check the core temps using HWMonitor.

I was hitting around 49 Degrees Celsius (idle) on a warm day (24C outside) and jumping up to around 59 C under load for a few hours (4hours)on the CPU. Around 70C idle (85C+ under load) on the Gfx card and high 30's for the HDD.

I decided to venture into fan cooling and replacing my stock intel heatsink and fan. As i have a small budget i purchased an Akasa 965 Heatsink and Fan for around £20 and some akasa thermal paste. I also bought a large 22cm fan for the case mod on the side. I also purchased a 80mm fan which i stuck on top of the Akasa 965 fan as i presumed air would flow much faster throught the heatsink cooling the pipes. SO all in all i have 2 fans over my cpu heatsink, 1 x 120mm fan at front of case blowing air in. large 22cm fan on the side of the case. 2 x 80mm fans under the graphics card and 2 small 40mm fans over the HDD.

On viewing the temperatures now (its still 24C outside) using HWmonitor im getting around:

31-33C idle across the CPU (40-43C under load)
low 50's on the graphics card (60's under load)
hdd at around 29C (31-34C when moving large files. Copy Paste, downloading, etc)

1. Do the new temps still seem a bit high?

2. My question is how could i, with just air cooling get the temps as low as 30C for the cpu in the 20's at least? I was thinking of cutting two 80mm holes on the top of the case to blow air out.

3. Also my case is near the window and the 80mm fan blowing air out the back gets air blown into it sometimes from the window. Could this make the fan not blow out air properly from the case as it gets air blown onto it somestimes quite powerfully as it is pretty windy during the day?

4. Also my CPU is clocked at around 2.76Ghz i have managed to get it too 2.8Ghz but the system becomes unstable such as keyboard typing on screen lags. Any chance with air cooling alone i can get it to 3.2Ghz?

Cheers and thanks in advance for any replies.
 
Looks fine, as for getting into the 20's will be very hard if your ambient is 24C as that is just a 5C delta, only water can achieve that or better.

For pushing the overclock further, it would help to list all voltages, multi, fsb and ram speed :p
 
I think your temps are fine.
Download realtemp and prime95.
Run realtemp , click on the button "check sensors"; give path to prime95 exe and run the 10 min test.
Check those temps against HWMonitor

As for the GPU card; download Rivatuner and setup automated fan control , if y are not doing so already; but I think the temps are fine also.

For the airflow, it helps if there are no air currents that counter-part your case airflow.

BTW; if you really what to know if your airflow is good, you need to run both cpu and gpu extensive tests for like 3 hours. There is almos allways a +2-3 c extra than just testing for 10 to 30 min. However, this is not real life. For games real life is CPU at 30% load and GPU at >60% load most of the time.

If you what to OC to 3.2 Ghz except temps to increase ; the only way you can know is to test.

For the HDDs, I would put a 120 mm FAN in front blowing OUT. But I do not konow your case.........

/edit
4. Also my CPU is clocked at around 2.76Ghz i have managed to get it too 2.8Ghz but the system becomes unstable such as keyboard typing on screen lags. Any chance with air cooling alone i can get it to 3.2Ghz?

You probably are increasing FSB w/o increasing cpu voltage; increase CPU volts a couple of values and test again. To get to 3.2Ghz, you should not be needing to do much more, but I don't really know the OC capabilities of your MOBO.
 
Looks fine, as for getting into the 20's will be very hard if your ambient is 24C as that is just a 5C delta, only water can achieve that or better.

For pushing the overclock further, it would help to list all voltages, multi, fsb and ram speed :p

Ive uploaded following screenshots:-

CPU-Info


Memory-Info



SPD-Slot 1 + 3



SPD-Slot 2 + 4



My motherboard is a MSI G33-7357.
 
Ive uploaded following screenshots:-

CPU-Info


Memory-Info



SPD-Slot 1 + 3



SPD-Slot 2 + 4



My motherboard is a MSI G33-7357.

Currently i have tried increasing the multiplier to around 312 and i can just about boot into windows. Windows appears buggy. I tried to increase the voltage and also increase the multiplier but pc dont get past bios. I havent really done anything with the memory as im not sure what 5-5-5-15 really means and i tried to set the memory to 1:1 as i remmeber reading it someplace but my mobo only gives me the options of Auto, 1:1.25 and 1:1.50

ne ideas guys?
 
Having two different sets and speeds of Ram will be a major problem , as you will need to use the setting of the lowest set
So Voltage is OK set at 1.8v and have Ram timings set to 5-5-5-15
Try FSB @ 333 and 1.1 Ram ratio will give you 677

see how you go
 
Having two different sets and speeds of Ram will be a major problem , as you will need to use the setting of the lowest set
So Voltage is OK set at 1.8v and have Ram timings set to 5-5-5-15
Try FSB @ 333 and 1.1 Ram ratio will give you 677

see how you go

hi thanks for the reply,my mobo only gives me the options of Auto, 1:1.25 and 1:1.50
 
Having two different sets and speeds of Ram will be a major problem , as you will need to use the setting of the lowest set
So Voltage is OK set at 1.8v and have Ram timings set to 5-5-5-15
Try FSB @ 333 and 1.1 Ram ratio will give you 677

see how you go

not sure on the 1:1 RAM ratio, (see above only see 1:1.25 or 1:1.50)

but im thinkin of replacing the cheaper ddr2 ram with this Corsair 4GB Kit (2x2GB) DDR2 800MHz/PC-6400 XM52 . So the corsair and the OCZ runnning together (6GB in all). Is it worth it, will it give me more range to overclock?
 
To be honest, you would be better off just running one kit or the other. Two things can happen if you run both, your memory performance will be held back by the slower set, and with DDR2, your overclocks will be held back by running sticks in 4 slots. You may want to take a look over in the memory section, if you haven't already. I have had troubles with overclocks even with a Pentium 4 with all of the DDR1 slots full. Of course YMMV, but I think you would be better off just running the Corsair 4GB kit.
 
To be honest, you would be better off just running one kit or the other. Two things can happen if you run both, your memory performance will be held back by the slower set, and with DDR2, your overclocks will be held back by running sticks in 4 slots. You may want to take a look over in the memory section, if you haven't already. I have had troubles with overclocks even with a Pentium 4 with all of the DDR1 slots full. Of course YMMV, but I think you would be better off just running the Corsair 4GB kit.

true makes sense to run the same kit. i saw this 8GB kit on ebay. Will this spec hold me back overclocking wise. planning on having it in slots 1 + 3?

Product Description Kingston ValueRAM memory - 8 GB ( 2 x 4 GB ) - DIMM 240-pin - DDR2
Storage Capacity 8 GB ( 2 x 4 GB )
Upgrade Type Generic
Technology DDR2 SDRAM
Form Factor DIMM 240-pin
Data Integrity Check ECC
Manufacturer Warranty Limited lifetime warranty ( Germany, Austria and France - 10 years )
Features Registered with parity
Supply Voltage 1.8 V
Lead Plating Gold
Memory Speed 667 MHz ( PC2-5300 )
Latency Timings CL2.5
 
That kit may even hold you back some, as it is Value RAM. You want something high performance, like Corsair Dominators, OCZ Reapers, or Kingston HyperX. These type of modules are made for overclocking, while Value modules are for your Average Joe Dell user. I have had some Value RAM that has clocked quite well, but nowadays I prefer to go with the better built modules. I do sell the Value stuff to my clients, since most of them don't know much about computers, and it performs well for what they need. As far as a rig that will be overclocked, I would really recommend the high performance modules. Also, as you found those on ebay, you may find out there is no real warranty support on them. Most of your better brands do not authorize ebay retailers, except some of the larger online companies like buy.com. So that is just one more reason I tend to stay away from ebay.
 
IMO the largest issue with that ram is that it is 667mhz ram, most motherboards (as far as i know) have 1:1 as the lowest ram multiplier, which means 333fsb is as high as you can go.
 
IMO the largest issue with that ram is that it is 667mhz ram, most motherboards (as far as i know) have 1:1 as the lowest ram multiplier, which means 333fsb is as high as you can go.

ive done everything i can and still can not get to 333fsb, currently i am at 300fsb x 9 and am running at 2.7Ghz

system is stable and have even managed tweaking the setup of the fans a bit and have dropped my cpu temps even further to the mid twenties (22-26) hitting a max of around 35 C under load. Hard drive is running at a cool 20-22C under load too. My 8800Gt 512mb card is running now at an impressive 47-49 C under load which is a great improvement from 69C (under load).

I just cant get up to the 3Ghz mark , its becoming an obsession to hit that mark. :( :-/

my mobo is a g33m-7357 can any one help? my info on memory and cpu is further up the post? Should i move this to another area other then cooling?

thanks
 
[B][U]Overclocking Guide Q6600 from 2.4ghz to 3.0ghz - G33M-MS-7357[/U][/B]

Finally did it. Will explain below how, for those with a G33m-MS-7357 motherboard

Firstly make sure you are not limited by your ram. I had 2 cheap 667mhz ddr2 (*SiS DDR2-667 1GB) modules installed and i felt they seriously limited me going over 2.7Ghz. I removed them and in place have 2 x 1GB OCZ pc2 6400 in ram slots 1 + 2.

Overclocking Guide Q6600 from 2.4ghz to 3.0ghz - G33M-MS-7357

1. Enter Bios Settings

2. Go to FREQUENCY / VOLTAGE CONTROL

(only change the following ignore everything else)

3. INTEL EIST > DISABLED

4. ADJUST CPU FSB FREQENCY > 333

5. ADJUST CPU FSB FREQUENCY > 9

(should have a cpu freq of 3000)

6. ADVANCED DRAM CONFIG (ENTER)

> CONFIGURE DRAM TIMING BY SPD > DISABLED
(change the first 4 values only)
> 5-5-5-15

(i tried the default ram timings of 4-4-4 could not get to desktop).

Press ESC and change the FSB/Memory Ratio > 1:1.25

7. Press ESC and go down to SPREAD SPECTRUM > DISABLED

that should be it, i did not change any of the voltages used the default motherboard ones:-

CPU VOLT > 1.2750V

MEM VOLT > 1.90V

NB VOLT > 1.250V



UPDATE

Unimpressed at running 2GB i decided to try just one of the cheap SiS modules in. I managed to boot to windows and am running stable now. SO i have OCZ on ram slots 1 + 2 and the SiS on Ram slot 3.

However when i place the 4th ram stick into slot 4 i cannot boot to windows with my current bios settings.

 
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Read the stickies up top and with the better RAM you can probably get more out of it :)

:beer:

I'm not familiar with that MOBO and CPU cooler myself though.
 
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By putting in that third stick of memory you broke up the dual channel configuration which in turn slowed down its performance. You should be able to overclock that OCZ RAM fairly easily. Just have a look in the memory sub-forum here. The stickies can be quite helpful.
 
Yeah, use the two OCZ sticks and forget about the other two, they'll just clash with everything. I didnt notice at the bottom you'd stuck that back in there.

:thup:

Even to get much more out of it you'll have to start taking that memory divider down below 1:1

Best thing is to still to read the stickies up top here and the different areas, you've room on your voltages a lot as long as that thing doesnt start heating up too much.
 
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thanks for the comments will have a look at those stickies

Yeah, use the two OCZ sticks and forget about the other two, they'll just clash with everything. I didnt notice at the bottom you'd stuck that back in there.

:thup:

Even to get much more out of it you'll have to start taking that memory divider down below 1:1

Best thing is to still to read the stickies up top here and the different areas, you've room on your voltages a lot as long as that thing doesnt start heating up too much.

not sure if this mobo supports below 1:1, its kind of a stupid mobo/bios because all i can see for mem ratio is AUTO, 1:1.25 and 1:1.50

not sure how i can bring it below 1:1 without changing the whole board :-/

p.s. if anyone has a update for the bios its CMOS SETUP UTILITY 1985-2005 V02.61 for a MSI G33m-MS 7357 , maybe am update will give me options to get lower then 1:1
 
Actually I might not be making sense on that divider there I'm just not familiar that set up I guess.

Is there some kind of strap FSB to NB setting in there so you can adjust RAM independent of the FSB? I'm an ASUS fan I guess, and used to use Gigabytes and EVGA's a bit.

I probably should just leave it alone and let someone knows MSI better answer any questions, or I'll probably just make things confusing.

MSI is foreign to me :)
 
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