Epox 8K7A + Glaciator success story

[Len]

Getting a Glaciator has really unlocked my overclocking potential With my old generic cooler I was running 53C (+19C) under load at only 800 Mhz & 1.85v. With the Glaciator I'm now running 1400 (140x10) at 55C (+19C) at 1.95v. Based on my calculation the Glaciator has a C/W=0.17 when cooling lower wattages under 70 watts but more like C/W=0.20-0.22 when cooling 85+ watts. I've got CPU Stability Test (CPU warming only) running for 15+ minutes and I'm topping out at 55C with a case temp of 36C. Do you think 55C is ok long term?

I could certainly increase the voltage to 2.05v and probably go even higher than 1400 Mhz but the heat is going to increase even more and I'm leaving my temperature comfort zone if you know what I mean. The Epox mb could actually give up to 2.25v (+0.4v) but that seems really high to me and would make the CPU put out some serious 110+ watts.

I've got an Antec SX830 case with lower CFM 'quiet' fans installed 1 front/intake and 1 back exhaust and the power supply fan of course. I've got room to install 1 or 2 more 80mm fans in front and 1 more in back if needed although keeping the noise down is a priority. I was just thinking that if 55C is too high for long term usage I could decrease the case temp down from 36C and hopefully reduce the CPU temp accordingly.

The Leadtek Geforce2 Ultra have proved very worthy also. 4ns RAM originally clocked at 460 Mhz goes to 530 Mhz without any artifacts. I start to notice artifacts and display problems at 535-540 Mhz.

In Quake3 'fastest' setting with low quality sound I can hit 240 fps!! In a more useful 1280x1024, 32 bit color, everything turned up to max with high quality sound I get 84 fps. Even at 1600x1200 with the same settings I get 59 fps.

The Epox 8K7A has proven to be very stable so far. I haven't really pushed the FSB much yet but the board seems stable no matter what I ask of it. One thing I think I could do better is tweak my BIOS memory setting. Right now I'm using 8-8-6-2-2-2-2 and only getting 630/820 memory scores in Sandr2000te which seems a little slow.

Overall, I'm very pleased with my new system and would highly recommend the components to anyone considering an upgrade to a DDR system.

 

[Paul -The Mad Hatter]

sounds like your ambient case temp is kinda high, but thats my personel opion. doesen't look like you can go a whole lot higher with those temps on the cpu.

 

[Twofan]

WoW, Len. What a success story. I have one ordered and I cannot wait to get it. I just built my T-Bird system and am still getting it up and running. Tried Win2000 but just dumped it and went back to ME, too much hassle for me. I did get my AYHJA to 1600 (12x133) the other night, though. Temp was 48c at 100% cpu load using a loop of Sandra benchmarks. Cooling is now an OCZ Gladiator with a louda** Delta, and I hate the noise. I think it is still too hot though. 41c at idle . Case temp was 22c and m/b was 27c. I am anxious to get the Glaciator

 

[castle lager fan]

The specific heat resistance of a heatsink can't change! If you get 0.17C/W at low wattage you should get the same at higher wattages. SO I think you are getting less heat energy at lower speed or more energy at higher speeds than you think.

My suggestion is to figure out a way to get cold air onto your HSF from outside the cage. Duct, fans with pipes, blowers or whatever you can think of. This will drop your temps a lot.

Good oc though. Just for your reference, I'm running a 1.33 AXIA @1.536 and my cpu temps are normally below 38C under load with a room temp of 22C. I use a MC462 with delta. I have 92mm case fan on the side blowing outside air directly onto the HSF via a 3'' pipe taped to the case fan. This leaves less than 1/2'' between case fan pipe 92mm and 80mm delta on HSF. My core voltage is still at 1.93V after trying to break into 1.65GHz. Hoot has got better results by using a blower on the side of his case, that were I got my idea.

The Epox looks like a good board! My mem setting on my FIC AD11 is the same as yours. I run 133 FSB (cause the mobo doesn't like to go higher) 11.5 multplier and get 650/820 with Sandra, so yours at 1.4 looks pretty good.

 

[Len]

pauldogg, I agree about my case temp being too high. Its around 12 or 13C above room temp. I guess that's the price I'm paying for using quieter lower CFM fans. I'm going to experiment with adding another low CFM fan to the front and rear and see how it affects cooling and noise levels.

Twofan, I refuse to use the 7k Delta fan because of the noise. The Glaciator uses a 5700 rpm fan which has a reasonable noise level. You idle temps look good to me. I'm at 46C idle. I wish I could get my mb temp down to 27C, even 30 would be great compared to the 35 I'm getting now. I've considered using the WPCREDIT idle cooling tweak but I'm uncertain about the long term affect of those larger idle to load CPU temp swings.

castle lager fan, I understand your point of the C/W not changing. I think the idea of CPU temp prediction based solely on C/W isn't as precise as everyone thinks. But close enough for me. Your idea about getting cold air onto the heatsink is a good one. The Glaciator sure does get warm. I been slowly increasing the FSB. I'm now at 148x9.5=1406. Sandra memory scores up to 682/913.

 

[Len]

Update: After trying 14 different case fan combinations in my Antec SX830 including a homemade CPU duct system I've found the basic front intake & rear exhaust fan setup to work the best. I now have 3 x 80mm low CFM fans in the front drawing air in the case and 2 higher CFM fans in the rear + the power supply fan exhausting air from the case. This setup has dropped my case temp (according to MBM5) from 35-36C to 26-27C.

I was running at 1377 Mhz @ 1.85v for a while. Before I was at 50C loaded. Now at 46C. CPU tops out around 1380-85 at 1.85v. Going to 1.95v got me to 1420-30 with a 50C load temp.

The question is ... should I attempt to go higher? Is 2.05v a safe voltage? My load temps are going to hit 54-55C if I can hit 1500 at 2.05v. But I'm thinking my 1.2 AVIA doesn't have much room left in it. I only got an extra 40 Mhz from going from 1.85v to 1.95v. I'm not sure its worth the even higher temps trying to go higher at 2.05v. What do you think?

 

[coldmop]

<load at only 800 Mhz & 1.85v><With the Glaciator I'm now running 1400 (140x10)>

This is a little confusing. It reads that you had a OC processesor at 800 so what was it a Duron 650, That part makes sense. But then you OC'ed to 1400. Man that is one H*ll of an overclock. I'm getting a Glaciator.

 

[Len]

My CPU is a Tbird 1200 which I had UNDERclocked to 800 Mhz for a while because the generic cooler was so bad.

 

[coldmop]

Oh, I was confused because if it was underclocked why did you have it running @ 1.85V

 

[Len]

My Epox 8K7A doesn't allow voltage settings BELOW default. It supports voltages from default to default + 0.4v. My 1.2 Tbird defaults to 1.85v.

 

[coldmop]

So that's what was going on, Neat. didn't know that about the epox, thanks