The Official OC (OverClocking) Thread!

Not too bad when you consider I spent £327 on my graphics card in June 06 and get 6755 marks.

 

sammorris,

To me, 06 is a bit like the changes in Sandra. Most people don't have enough graphic card(s) to make it run properly. Then the question remains, which fps do you believe, much like the MIPS in Sandra. I personally believe it's easier to see what changes you made working with a broader scale!

Imagine what the world would be like if they did that with speedometers in cars! ROFLMAO! Better yet do it with the Radar guns! LOL!!! I once got stopped for speeding when I was cruising along with the cruise control set at just under the limit because I knew Brennen Texas was a speed trap. I had 4 witnesses that testified that they were watching the radar gun read 72 MPH, while it was pointing at a distant tree! They all asked about it and it was on the video tape! It was the only thing in sight for miles! I won that one. Of course, they wanted the cash in the car (about 160 Quid) and I refused! He even threatened to arrest the lot of us and jail us for the weekend and we all told him to go right ahead, that it would look real good on the lawsuit!LOL!! Got taken in front of a Judge and the case was dismissed!

BTW! Hope you get your fan soon. You're gonna love it! Even overclocked to the Fatal1ty Pro specs, it's only about 1-2C warmer than stock! The big plus is smoother 3D graphics at better speed. Battle of Proxycon looks so real, smooth and fast! Same thing with all the tests. In Troll's Lair, the trolls actually seem to move in real time, not slow motion! Wings of Fury looks like a real dogfight!

Clock On,
theone

 

im a bit stuck for my next move. i want a 29xt but i think i will need a bigger psu too, but i could save a few quid and get teh 88gts and i think it would run ok on my 600w(38amps dual 12v line). thing is i dont want to get it now only to find out its a dog with dx10 when some kind of real bench is out.

my head hurts


edit

is yours a 80nm gpu or an older one like mine russ?

 

As it happens, I've decided to order 3. If I do like the fan, I'm not paying double for postage to get more. What I do need to get though is better room ventilation, it gets incredibly hot in here, and that's almost certainly due to the two PCs. When I get back home at the end of term (4 weeks) I'm buying a portable A/C unit. I'll only have a small room wherever I am so it should prove quite potent.

With regard to the 2900XT, unless the driver changes keep upping the performance, the 8800 is better value, you can overclock the GTS loads, and it'll still be a lot quieter than the 2900. If you're only running one, a good 500W PSU will suffice for any graphics card you can buy. You just need to make sure if it's modular, the rails are sufficiently powerful.

 

marsey99,
According to the spec, it's 90nm. It was manufactured May 24,2006. Speed wise, it's just below the Fatal1ty Pro and easily exceeds the Fatal1ty specs. You can't see the GPU without removing the cooler, and I'm not about to do that at this point!

I just ran the full 3DMark_06 and I get this!



I was wrong about the 4200+. I can see 2 of these in an SLI setup.

sammorris,

I know all about cooling small rooms. Mine's just about 12'x12'. I have an 8000 btu Sharp window unit and a 32" Ceiling Fan/Light. As mentioned, it's on the SW corner so it get's lots of exposure to heat in the summertime. The biggest problem is that the house is 50 or so years old and the walls heat soak pretty good. It's also so dry here that it's difficult to cool because of the low humidity as there's very little moisture in the air to help remove heat. 8000 btu may seem like overkill, but at 110F/43C+, there's a lot of heat to remove.

Right now, believe it or not, the A64 4000+/TForce 939 is the hottest running PC in the house. Since I modded the heat sink on the D-940, it's earned second place as the coolest running PC in the house!

As far as the fan noise goes, the Silverstone can be very loud! At it's 2400 RPM full speed, it would be impossible to sleep in the same room, but drop it to 2100 and below the noise drops off sharply! At 1600, mine is very quiet! The only knock I have on it is the screw holes are solid so you can't use silicone mounts as there's no way to pull them through. i'm sure I could easily figure a way to do this but it isn't necessary. Still at 1600 RPM, it moves massive amounts of air quietly. Frequency is not an issue either! Like I said, given it's performance, it's worth the extra money!

Clock On,
Russ

 

Good good, I've ordered a large number of 3-pin to 4-pin adapters (the correct type, almost all the ones I see have female 3-pin plugs, no good to me!) and two Sunbeam Rheobus controllers (useful because they do 0-12V rather than 6 or above), to eliminate the need for the 3.5" bay. Can you run the FM121 without the 3.5" bay attached? if it will run at all (presumably at full speed) without the controller attached, I'll do it, otherwise I may have bought myself some useless fans, seeing as I don't have three 3.5" bays to put the controllers in.

 

sammorris,

No they won't work without it but that's not a problem. The speed control electronics are built into the fan. I was going to drill a hole in a 5.25 bay blank but my drills are at work till Monday. Fret not, the pot that control the speed is so tiny, they can mount almost anywhere you can make a hole for them. That's all there is on the supplied 3.50 bay mount. When you see it you'll see what I mean and LYAO at how small it is. The knob is bigger than the whole pot! The electronics have to be built into the fan because there's no heat at all at the pot so it's not just a potentiometer in a series circuit! It has to be electronic as the speed stays rock steady wherever you set it. I may mount mine at the back of the case as it's only there for an emergency anyway. I just need to drill a hole for it. There's enough wire to reach just about anywhere. The extra single yellow wire is for the speed sensor and plugs into one of the 3 or 4 wire plugs on the MB for me and my case 1600 RPM is perfect. You may not need to run it that fast with your case.

Eventually I'll mount it elsewhere and put my floppy back in, after I paint the plastic silver!

Best Regards,
Russ

 

Water Cooling - Pumps

Excuzzi! but who can help me identify the ATX start circut in the PSU? I need to locate the actual pin or lead from PSU 24pin that starts the ATX PWR so I can intergrate my old time delat circut into power on byy keyboard. This is where my Aquastream Modified 12V Eheim 1046 Pump is started before mobo gets the ATX on signal.

Currently, I have a timed relay circut (same as for cool down after CPU is off) on the PWR header on mobo for delay via case PWR button but mostly use keyboard and remote wake up and water in CPU block can get hot fast on warm day. Have you guys on water experimented with this yet. I know some new PSU's w/ high end ASUS mobo's can offer built in delay but most active PFC units switch so fast. My pump and fans are on controller and I would like for pump and fans to be in full effect before CPU is powered on, then step down after boot as needed.

I thought it was the green but want to confirm.

Thankx in advance,
Nuckin Futs

 

Great News ASUS Owners

I'm updating my cooling system on several rigs and found newer better water blocks for power mosfets to fit fit several ASUS flag-ship mobos. I replaced my older aluminum blocks w/ full copper and also found a nice set of Thermalrite heatpipe stacks for the air cooled rigs.

Lots of others are finding the onboard heatpipe cooling to not hold up all that great on high OC's. So we'll see a better selection of mobo chip & PWR coolers out there.

 

Ive just got a mosfet water block for my ASUS COMANDO, ripping all the heat pipes off and Im going with a full water set up in pre-empt for some over clocking mahem!

 

NuckNFuts,

It's the green wire to any black lead (ground)

Clock On,
theone

 

The waterblocks I used cost $34.00 US but also on other mobos, I'm using these (Thermalright HR-09U/S) from Thermalright, picked up locally at SVC in San Jose for $17.95. No more then &21.00 online. They camoe as both S (slanted) or U (upright) to make room for large CPU sinks and The early rev. ASUS P5W-DH (new rev with slight bending of clip) and ASUS CROSSHAIR, A8N-SLI and P5WDG2-WS and P5N32-SLI nicely. Check Thermalright's site for more compatibilty on other mobos. Use w/ a thermalright NB cooler and optional 40mm fan and it really runs nice.

 

Overclocking On Air

Let's recap on some of the cooling solutions us guys here are using and have been using for so long.

I will say, I've bean using Zalman since the 1st flower for S1 Intel. But by the time of midddle of '03, I was introduced to ThermalRight. Now I continued to try the newest Zalman products along side but have to admit I was really impressed with ThermalRight. Now I know they dont have the "bling-bling" of the more popular off the shelf consumer store products, but wow, they really shine in performance.

I'm currently on the ThermalRight Ultra 120 Extreme cooler w/ a aluminum PAPST 120mm 12VDC low noise below 19db. Now I love the look and feel of my Zalman CNPS9700 but this older moder still outperforms it in many aeras of even quiet ness. They have a newer model out for a month or so as model IFX-14 ( a 14mm dual fan capible). I can only imagine the gain over my current 8 pipe XP-120 Ultra Extreme.

I hear a lot about reffered cooling on air in this tread but can't help to nitice, or NOT notice any mention of the know great performers such as ThermalRight XP & Ultra series, Enzotech Ultra-X, Tuniq Tower 120, Monsoon II lite, Scythe Infinity Dual Fan.

Let's share some feedback on these units. For those of us who wish to stay on air, you really should look into any of these excellent cooling solutions as offering the best on air and right there on the tail strings of lower end water cooling.

Let's hear some more COOL ideas,
Happy Clockin'

 

My HR-03 is an absolute monster at cooling my GPU. The X1900XT is one of the hottest cards out there and it idles lower than the stock cooler even without a 92mm fan attached. Full load with silent case fans (1000rpm or less) and it doesn't break 90C.
I'm now interested in getting a Thermalright Ultra 120 too, from the reviews I've seen. Looking for something quieter than my Freezer 7 Pro more than anything, it can only cool my 3Ghz E4300 sufficiently during gaming at 70% fan speed. That's not loud, but if I can silence my PC effectively, it will become annoying.

 

NuckNfuts,

Some of these are just too damn heavy, like the Tunig Tower. Without some sort of external brace it will warp the MB. Expense of some is an issue as well. Noise as with the Sythe Infinity Dual fan and the Ultra X.

My person computers (we Have three) all have Arctics! The D-940 and the E4300 both have Arctic Freezer 7 Pros and the A64 4000+ has a Freezer 64. All work very well. I had a Zalman 9500LED originally for the D-940, but the Freezer 7 Pro proved better and quieter. I did some testing on both last summer and The Arctics won! Not by a lot, but they cooled slightly better and were much quieter! For a very dusty environment like where I live, the 9500 is a poor choice because of the design. All those little Vs start collecting dust almost immediately and it builds up to a thin carpet in about a month. It's also a bear to clean without removing, which in itself is another bear!

I'm sure you have seen my posted temps, so I personally have no need for anything better than the Arctics. I now put one in every customer build I do. I figure I must be doing something right as I've only had one failure in the past 3 1/2 years, and that was caused by no one ever cleaning out the fans. It finally overheated and cooked itself. Both case fans were so choked up that they wouldn't even turn. The CPU Cooler was barely turning. Like I said, it's very dusty around these parts!

I personally would like to try something like this.
VIGOR GAMING CLT-M2A 92mm Thermal Electric CPU Cooler
They are expensive ($129 USD) but I know a lot of gamers here in Ca. that swear by them. You do need a good PS and good case ventilation!
I would use it on the 4000+ as it's the hottest of the three computers we have, even hotter than the D-940 at 36C idle and 57C load.

Clock On,
theone

 

I too am considering a thermalright 120 ultra. my pc is never moved so weight is not an issue besides they have a backing plate. I was contemplating a tuniq tower but it is now bested by the thermalright 120 ultra. only thing holding me back is the fact that I'll have to remove the mobo to mount it. my cpu temp (36c at idle) is not too bad or anything to be concerned about now but I liked the temp (33c) better during the winter months.

I've debated on replacing my 9500 with a 9700 as it will bolt onto the existing backing plate but if I'm going to invest in another cpu hsf I might as well go for one of the best or quite possibly the best.

 

Mort81,

First, let me say that I would never buy a CPU cooler in this day and age with an aluminum heat sink. Second, man this thing is heavy! 745 Grams, only 43 Grams less than the Tuniq Tower and neither weight includes a fan. Even if you don't move it, 745 Grams is a lot of weight to hang at a 90 degree angle to a MB mounted vertically, back brace or not. I read a bunch of reviews on it and there also seems to be some problems with some motherboards being shorted out by the back brace. I can't seem to find out what material the heat pipes are made out of. If they are aluminum, I wouldn't consider one where I live as here, the earth moves.

There seems to be a lot of issues with the finish and flatness of the heat sink as well. Even with the "Idiot Factor" considered, the reviews from people who actually bought one, don't exactly inspire me to run right out and buy one. I think if I needed better cooling I would give Vigor Gaming a shot! Gamers here seem to love it!

Just my thoughts!

Clock On,
theone

 

theone,

albeit aluminum it did best the tuniq tower which was cpu hsf of choice used for most cpu OC'ing reviews and articles. I'm also going by what docty has reported. he has one on his E6600 rig now as he moved his water cooling to his Q6600 rig. he also lives in southern CA as you know and has used the zalman cnps9700led as well. he likes the thermalright 120 ultra and reports he is getting the lowest cpu temps now of all other air coolers he's used. here is one of the reviews I've read in case you're interested.

 

That's Right

Will beat most towers and to date only beat slightly by a TEC tower and the case heat load is so high, oyu need faster, noiser fans to exhaust the air generater heat off the "Peltier cooling" hot plate. And for me, the $$ price to get the barely 2c cut under load was not worth the near 45% increase of cost and added noise level.

If you're looling for a new cooler, look at the new IFX-14. it is large but effective if you can make use of it. I can switch NB out for SLI version but would still contact Domonator RAM slot 1 & maybe 2, (I gotta measure). On some mobos, it will stand beyond the top edge of mobo and can touch PSU if you have tight ATX case. It has a nice mobo back plate 2nd cooler to take heat away from back of mobo like ASUS Stack Cool but in heatpipe form. It doesn't seam to fit most MSI and Gigabyte (DQ is one) but not tested on ASUS yet.

Any HSF unit should be cleaned periodically to keep performance up. I agree, the Zalman flowers get carpeted w/ lint faster but not hard at all to get in w/ household vac and suck it out. Air cans just blow the dust somewhere else in thre same case. My nickeled 9700 didnt give too much over bare copper 9500 for compared to any thermalRight in the same price range. I do like the looks and concept of the fans used on the Artic Freezer Pro. Most the loudness is due to fin design. So I will look into mounting one on the XP-120 to test for noise and performance at low speed too using ASUS PWM speed control w 4-wire. I do use the Scythe S-FLEX™ 12cm from the xtra tower as a single and does nice on the ThermalRight Towers.

So in the end as for today, that's why I give good praise on these ThermalRight Towers as they can offer better weight, less noise, and lower buy-in then some of those big fancy unitsthat can only offer a few c cooler. But if money is no object, go for what you like or just feel comfortible with.

 

Mort81,

He's about 50 miles or so from me. Where I live you would swear it was high desert, but it's not. When you drive from LA to here, and you get about 25 miles away, the temperature goes way up. LA is usually much cooler. We get so little rain here, yet Riverside which is about 20 miles away gets pounded. I doubt we've had an inch of rain all year. We sit sort of in a bowl, surrounded by hills and backed up to a mountain. When there is a storm locally you can sit here and watch the lightening all around and know someone is getting pounded, but rain is rare here.

If docTY says it's good I guess it's good, as he knows his stuff better than most. Maybe the issues people complain about are quality control problems. I certainly can't imagine someone making up complaints about heat sinks not being flat or roughly finished.

EDIE: Informative article BTW! Thanks!

Best Regards,
theone