The Official OC (OverClocking) Thread!

The heat-sink I'm using is the Arctic freezer 7 Pro, which apparently will transfer up to 200W, the original stock cooler never even made it out of the packing.
Spec is here: http://www.arctic-cooling.com/cpu2.php?idx=79

I've decided that the water-cooling is the only way to go, will either put an order in tonight or tomorrow hopefully.
This setup has finally done my head in with the noise; 7 x 12cm case fans, CPU fan, GPU fan, NB fan, main PSU fan, another fan in the GPU PSU, I’ve also got an air purifier in the office as well to stop the PC getting clogged up, all added together it’s quite loud.

Looking at the following water-cooling parts:
CPU Block Swiftech Storm4

GPU Block: Danger Den - Koosah

Pump: Laing D5 Vario

Res: Not sure?, it depends how I finally work out how I’m going to mount the rad.

Radiator: Alphacool NexXxos Xtreme III 3x Akasa AK-183 12CM Fans (already got those fans as 1 spare and 2 to be removed off the side panel in case).

Hose: Danger Den 1/2" ID ClearFlex Hose (although its 7/16th)

FluidXP+ & UV Dark Blue Dye

As others find, it’s the time to do everything that is a pain, I used to get loads of spare time during the days to work on my PCs, but the work load has gone right up in the last 2 months, so that’s blown that out.
Luckily my wife understands that I’m completely compulsive when I start something so leaves me to get on with it, but even her saintly patience is only going to wear thin if I spend the time I want to working on this.
It might also help if I didn’t keep doing it every time I got a new system.

 

Square brackets around the words QUOTE and /QUOTE. It does actually say above where you reply to a message!

[ QUOTE ]The thing you want to quote [ /QUOTE ]
without the spaces comes out as

emachines, if stock aren't good for overclocking, they'll need many replacement parts to the point where you may as well buy a custom built unit.
BigDK: maybe, but the CPU cooler is the quietest thing in your system methinks. Put a Zalman cooler on the graphics card, use some normal case fans and you'll have a quiet water-free system in no time. Unless I'm gaming (and then only because of the GPU) my system is plenty quiet enough and cool enough on only air. As I type my CPU is at a mere 34 Celsius.

 

I've already got a Zalman VF900CU-LEDon the GPU (which I have to admit is very quiet, but not silent.
The CPU cooler can be quiet, but not when it's cranked right up, which it needs to be when I'm pushing the CPU, then it becomes the loudest fan in the system.
The FSP fan is quite noisy, but it was a cheaper option to power the GPU instead of upgrading the whole PSU to 1KW+ unit.
6 of the case fans are Akasa AK-183-L2B Ultra quiet 18.0 dB(A) @ 1400RPM so they're quite quiet on their own, it's just that there are 7 of them, I can't think of any fans that are quieter than those ones.
The front fan is the Coolermaster Blue LED one that came with the case, that looks good, but may have to go, as its also quite loud, it makes a low droning.
The NB fan is only a small 4x4 fan, that’s actually louder then the 12cm fans (singularly)

 

I can believe that about the chipset fan.
My CPU fan is pretty much silent at low voltage, and reasonable at high voltage but the poxy fan controller i use makes a noise (no fan, just bad circuitry) a little bit louder than the rest of the fans if I use low voltage, so there's no point, using 12V is quieter. Only does it for the CPU fan though, I can have the top case fan (which is near silent anyway) at 6V. the other case fans are 1100rpm 7V ones, which are pretty much inaudible, and so is the PSU. The chipset fan is disabled. I didn't do it, it just doesn't spin round. No harm though, my chipset is now at a normal 32-33C. The GPU fan is more than acceptable at idle, completely unacceptable at 100%, but it never needs to be that high thankfully. I can't hear myself think at 70% or more fan speed on it, it must be about 50 decibels at full speed.

 

Leecope3,

.
Thats what I have been discussing with sam.A little extra vcore=a lot of extra heat once your cpu cooler gets overloaded.Are you running stock cooling?Your ram with the BH5 chips can handle a lot more voltage than that(up to 3.8v with adequate cooling because they will get hot).If you have the option in your bios I would give them 3~3.2v.Change them to 1T and try them at 2,2,2,5.Those chips are renound for tight timings at high frequencies.You'll be at DDR 506 at your current cpu speed which should'nt be a problem.If you encounter problems you can always loosen the timings a bit.Try increasing your cpu in 2mhz increments and see how you go.You may need better cooling if you want to increase cpu vcore.

 

renound? Lol that's not how it's spelt here! 3.8V RAM? Holy hell, that's high!

 

sam,
Thats how it's spelt here???
I thought you were English?LOL!!
3.8v is high but those chips love voltage.
Got to go to work now(more house painting
Talk later.

 

renowned is how I know it. Good luck with the painting! lol

 

One of the nice things I discovered is that the Arctic Freezer Pro 7 is a whole lot quieter than the Zalman 9500! It also cools better on my rigs by about 6C. I've now tested both on sockets 748, 775 and 939 with the same result! The noise was easy to compare as both the machines in my house use the same fans in the same model case. The Zalman roars on the Prescott while the Arctic can barely be heard! Arctic Freezer Pro series will be my cooler of choice unless I find something better for around the same money. 2 Arctic Freezer Pros for the price of one 9500. I like the economics of that!

Happy Computering,
theone

 

sam,
you are right ,it is renowned.My apologies.
Funny thing is if you google renound there are millions of other people who spell it wrong too!!
Just got home and have to paint tommorrow too

 

BigDK,
I'm surprised your case doesn't levitate with all those fans!!ROFL!!

 

One thing that I forgot to mention about this case.
You do need to be a qualified Helicopter pilot to use it correctly!
Its always harder to steer it when its coming back at you across the desk.

I have to agree on the Arctic cooler for performance, it knocks the crap out of any other I've used, and tests I've seen have always put it at or near the top in performance.
Added to that the low cost, it has to be about the best after market air cooler around.

I placed my order for the water-cooling kit last night.
Replaced to Dangerden Koosah with the EK-FC79, and went for the XSPC 15cm passive res in blue.
Also changed to FluidXP to MCT-5.
Now the waiting for delivery begins again, as some bits are on back order.
Also ordered another Raptor to increase the raid to 3 drives (should speed it up nicely).

 

BigDK,
This may interest you for the watercooling setup:



http://www.extreme.outervision.com/flowdesigner.jsp

 

Thanks for the link crowy.
I'm looking forward to practice my plumbing skills.

Whilst on the topic of putting a water system in; has anyone seen a dedicated water-cooling ball type tap, I've looked everywhere and can never find one.
At present the design is to have an elongated length of tube in the case that will be split and joined via a standard ½” inline connector, this can then be pulled out the case, split and used to empty the system when required.
What I really wanted was to use a T- piece with a length of tubing fitted with a tap on the end which can just be opened to empty the system.
I'm trying to find either a copper or plastic one, as I want to avoid mixing metal types in the system and causing reactions.
Any links to such a connector (UK delivery) would be appreciated.
Another thing I've been looking for is a replacement cable to put between the case mounted Firewire port on the front of my case and the motherboard, as the one that comes as standard is too short to connect to the Firewire port on this motherboard.
I've currently cut and joined two cables together which works but looks pretty crap.
Cable needs to be female socket to 10-Way rectangular block with one pin header blocked, and needs to be up to 1Mtr in length ideally.

 

BigDK,

Have a look at a marine dealer.They should have stainless steel ball valves in 316 marine grade stainless.They start at 1/4inch and go up from there.Get a couple of stainless steel hose tails to suit and your done.Stainless steel/copper won't react with your coolant so it should be fine.




Have a look here(UK distributor):

http://www.hydravalve.co.uk/

 

Not at my house right now, but its a W28XX We've had it for a long, time and its getting old quick.

 

Crowy, nice link for the parts much appreciated!

 

unfortunatly i can get my ram voltage any higher with my mobo A8Nsli se it tops at 2.9v for the ram voltage dunno if a bios update will change this aint looked. im not on stock cooling im using a arctic cooling alpine which aint great but its better than stock and its nice n quiet like i like it. the bh5 hyperx does kick ass tho

VOLTAGE WHORE

 

Here's an interesting water cooling solution! I might even consider something like this.

http://www.overclockercafe.com/Reviews/cooling/Kingwin_Arctic_Water_Cooling_Kit/

I like the fact that everything is internal. Check it out!

Happy Computering,
theone

 

Looks like a nifty little setup.
I'm sure I've got something similar to that in the dashboard of my car!.