A7V - Cooling the ICS Clock Generator

[YardPig]

I am intrested in cooling the clock generator on my A7V. I have read a couple articles on this. Does anyone have any more idea's? Would a small ram sink do, or should I put a fan on it? I wonder if just using a large fan blowing near it would cool it off enough. Whatcha think? I really believe cooling this sucka off would allow me more than a 109fsb.
thanks

A7V Bios 1006
Duron 700 @ 978
Duron 800 @ 1035
Radeon 64M DDR

 

[got_yogurt]

the more cooling the better... a fan would porbably help

 

[Mac42]

What PCB revision... and how hot does it get? I had a Rev. 1.04 A7V and the clock gen was never even warm. I peltier cooled the nothbridge and got it running at 133Mhz (finally) but then I used too big of a fan and blew all my fan headers... it lasted another 3 hours after that. :-(

Anyway, I'm just saying that unless you're having extreme heat issues with the PLL-IC then you'd get a lot higher fsb settings if you lapped the heatsink on the NorthBridge and used a little themal paste... the clock gen doesn't really limit it much (though it may have on earlier versions, not sure about that).


-=mac=-

 

[YardPig]

I have revision 1.02. The IC gets hot enough to be uncorfortable after 2 seconds, burning hot after intense benchmarks. The VIA chip with the heatsink on it is cool to the touch while idle, warm when pushed.
I have my cpu voltage max'd(no voltage mod) and my VIO maxed (required). I would love to see another couple fsb steppings...

 

[YardPig]

Well, I got a 486 HSF, cut a notch out of it to clear the diode(?) that resides beside the Clock Gen. I applied thermal compound, grazy glued the hsf to the ide to retain it, and.............

I am now running;

1054.17
111 FSB
9.5 Multiplier
Memory at 147.96
Stable after many benchmarks...

Very good thing indeed!!

Do I apply compound to the northbridge and apply a fan as well? Do you think I will get any higher??

Thanks!

 

[Wega!]

YardPig (Mar 02, 2001 09:36 p.m.):
I have revision 1.02. The IC gets hot enough to be uncorfortable after 2 seconds, burning hot after intense benchmarks. The VIA chip with the heatsink on it is cool to the touch while idle, warm when pushed.
I have my cpu voltage max'd(no voltage mod) and my VIO maxed (required). I would love to see another couple fsb steppings...

Have U had any problems running at full VIO voltage?

 

[YardPig]

No problems whatsoever. It allows the higher ram & fsb speed I believe.
I am going to pull the northbridge off today, compound it and put a 486 fan on it as well. We'll sell what I can get out of it.
Stability was poor before upping the VIO, it would hang it games all the time even with stock clock speed. I have a good ps, must just be the juice of the radeon....

 

[Wega!]

How big is ur PSU?

 

[YardPig]

300W Deer. Nice and stable voltage signals.
You having problems?

 

[Wega!]

No, I have tried to run at full voltage at the VIO, but I just don't know if it is safe.
What else do u have in ur setup, like vidcard, HD's etc..?
Also what do the ASUS Probe read on ur core?
Sorry for asking so many questions, but that's the way u learn, right?
Thanks.

 

[YardPig]

Hey, no probs on the questions. I would like to see you push a little more outta your own system
These are my system specs;

A7V Bios 1006
Duron 800 @ 1054.17
111FSB x 9.5
256M Generic Cas 3 133 @ 147.96
Chrome Orb (Yuck)
IBM 45GB GXP75 ATA/100 on promise controller (wicked fast, and quiet)
Win 98SE
Radeon 64M DDR
Soundblaster Live X-Gamer
DTT2500 speakers
Terayon cable modem
Viewsonic E790 19"
Logitech cordless kb/mouse
MS SW FF Wheel
Nic-Card
Hollywood+ card
Creative 12x DVD
Plextor 8/4/32
486hsf on clock generator
486fan on via chipset
extra fan ontop of orb
front case fan
"middle" angled fan towards orb
rear case fan
power supply case removed
etc, etc, yada, yada.....

My temps "as we speak" are 24MB / 49IDLE. (I find Asus probe to be buggy/not accurate. I use the bios or MB monitor)
I really need to upgrade this orb...
It is honestly stable as hell, thou...

 

[Wega!]

Another question:
Is that new bios (1006) any good?
Is it worth going from 1004D to 1006?

 

[YardPig]

Ohhh Walter....If you are still running 1004D, the performance increases are incredible. 1006 has solved so many problems people were having, it's not even funny. I have been a little lery going with the 1007, as my system is running amazing currently. 1006 will allow you much more aggressive memory timing amoung other advantages. Even going from the 1005 series to the 1006 allowed much more o/c'ing power. fsb was limited greatly. Alot more bios adjustments too.
You will be very happy.......unless you are not familar with flashing. There is always a risk.

Beware that there is an early version of the 1006 floating around. It caused alot of headaches with a7v users. They are dated only 1 day apart.
Good luck, let me know how it turned out.

 

[Wega!]

Well, ok I think I will try to update, do u know where I can get the 1006?
Thanks again

 

[YardPig]

Should be able to get it here....Generally the safest place.

http://www.asus.com.tw/products/motherboard/bios_socka.html

ttyl

 

[wild_andy_c]

You're cooling the clockgen - use some very small heatsinks designed for RAM, applied with a silicone emulsion based adhesive such as the arctic silver adhesive.

Perhaps we are sometimes a little to keen to utilise fansd when the correct heatsinks do the job adequatley enough.

 

[MiracleMan]

Oh dear! Tell me, it really works? I mean about the benefit to cooling the ics and the north bridge...

 

[YardPig]

Quote - "Perhaps we are sometimes a little to keen to utilise fansd when the correct heatsinks do the job adequatley enough."


I don't agree. With just a 486 Heat sink / no fan, I give up 3 steps of fsb. If you are running max cpu voltage(that the motherboard permits) and max VIO voltage (To get your memory to react), you must cool that heatsink.
Have you ever tried to touch the clock generator?? I dare you on mine with no hsf.........I'll supply the icecube for that crispy fingertip.

 

[YardPig]

MiracleMan (Mar 05, 2001 12:26 p.m.):
Oh dear! Tell me, it really works? I mean about the benefit to cooling the ics and the north bridge...

You bet my man. You would not believe the difference just cooling the ICS. It's like night and day. WAY more stable too.
Just get a 486HSF, cut a notch out of it to clear the "can" beside the ics, smear a little paste on it and crazyglue the side of the heatsink to the IDE plug or the dip switches.

Almost makes me want to wait on my purchase of an a7v133 for now.
I will make sure the first step of my new purchase will be the modifications I performed on this board.

 

[hardclocker]

Running A7V duron 750@950, noname PC133 RAM - cannot change FSB AT ALL!
after reading the post about the A7V bios, I updated from 1004 to 1007 with no luck on the FSB issue.
I have at last bought a Globalwin FOP38 HSF- noisy bugger, but it brought the temp down 17C!

Back to the FSB: even if I switch the RAM speed to 100 (from 133), I cannot change to 101 fsb - no boot. I tried the following fsb speeds: 95,101,012,103,105,106 MHz - no boot.

This must indicate the motherboard has some kind of PLL on its clock circuit that runs ONLY @ 100mhz.
any comments?