Boo, need advice (2.4c OC)

[aggressor]

I'll get right to it

New 2.4c, Abit IC7 with passive heatsink (lapped Tiger1), 2x512mb Crosair XMS3500 sticks.

I got this, popped it in, and jumped to 3.4ghz. I Prime95'd it for 12 hours at a time and never had it crash. Load temp was 52c (Which, if I have read correctly, is 10c~ higher than other brand boards) and the case temp was 25-27c. Now, this was with the side panel OFF. After constant days of use, and at night running dual Prime95's, I figured it was stable, so I popped the side back on this morning.

Decided to run dualie Prime95s again , and 1 failed after 4 hours. The load temp during that time was 56c max, case temp reaching 32c.
It wasn't a rounding error, which I usually get when it's not stable, instead it said: FATAL ERROR: Final result was 4ED9A32A, expected: 025B1320.

So, what do you guys think it is? I am pointing towards the passive northbridge heatsink, but I'm not sure. I think I have the case pretty well cooled, so replacing fans probably won't do anything. It also could be the memory getting hot. I really don't know what I should try, but for now I bumped the voltage up by .25 and I lowered the ram timings slightly and trying again.
I don't think that will do anything though, since it was stable with the side panel off, but it's something to try in the meantime

 

[Duvie]

I would look at NB temps as well as PWM temp (mosfet temps) and the ram....A good case cooling or fan directed at the ram can definitley help that...I noticed the hsf of the cpu was really flushing the heat off the cpu onto the ram shields and they were getting hot...Also I am fortunate to have gotten the newer orb style NB chipset and so I just popped it off and added some AS5 and was good to go...

remember the sys temp and the pwm temp are not the NB chipset temp...We don't have one so anybodies guess on the temp there....

 

[aggressor]

PWM temp shows as 46 under load

 

[Duvie]

Way too high...I notice prime failures when that thing hit 44c for me...now with new case and better case cooling at xmas time I was able toclose case door and put it inot desk and the highest I see now is 38c and no issues...

This spot is really close to the ram slots I believe....


This appears to be a case flow and heating issue....Could be north bridge still...Have you lapped the core with some AS???

 

[Technonut]

I would imagine that you need a fan on the TT Tiger......

This spot is really close to the ram slots I believe....

Since the MOSFET's are located along the top of the IC7, (Above the socket) it would be a reasonable assumption that the temp is taken from this area.

EDIT: I have seen my PWM temp as high as 45C without stability issues... The cooler you can get them the better though. You may try installing heatsinks on the MOSFET's. ABIT did design the IC7 MAX3 with isolated MOSFET cooling for a reason..

 

[myocardia]

C'mon, Aggressor, what's one more fan?

 

[aggressor]

One more fan on what, the northbridge? I will probably add one, I just don't like spending money if I don't have to

I don't know if you guys are correct about the PWM temp, though. Abit says its safe up to 70c, and I'm not near that. I can't really increase the airflow in my case, anyway. 2 120mm fans is all I can do, and honestly, I've seen higher overclocks with worse cooling.

By the way, I took the side off and felt the northbridge heatsink...I could leave my finger on for about 1 second before I had to pull it off

 

[Duvie]

the pwm temp is probably fine but tha tis one area when I improved my case cooling drastcally help lower and now for 2 weeks full load chugging daily I have not had any instances....

That northridge sounds too hot....Slap a fan on that if you can...the orb I have gets warm but not hot...If there is one thing I don't like about m setup is that the swiftech has fan blow down onto HSF and that often scours heat from the HSF onto the northbridge HSF and I don't think that helps the cooling...I would love to see like a blast shield to keep air from hsf and cpu from heating up these other areas...Sucking seems better but I tried it and the fan works better blowing....

 

[aggressor]

I guess I'll try better Northbridge cooling, gotta find what fits on a IC7 with an SLK-900U. Most of them are too big Do any of you know if the Swiftech one fits?

 

[aggressor]

After doing some more Prime95 testing, it turns out it was the memory causing problems. With the case closed, it can't do 2-2-2-6, but does 2-3-2-6 fine. Weird

 

[myocardia]

Originally posted by: aggressor
I guess I'll try better Northbridge cooling, gotta find what fits on a IC7 with an SLK-900U. Most of them are too big Do any of you know if the Swiftech one fits?

Hey, if you're still interested in lower your nb temp, just do what I always do when a mobo doesn't have active nb cooling: put a Pentium 40mm fan (the kind like they sell at Fry's for $5, as an hsf) on the passive heatsink. It always worked well for me. Just use a tiny bit of superglue to hold it on, and you're on your way.

 

[aggressor]

Damn, it wasn't the memory timings either. This sucks

 

[aggressor]

I really fixed it now, 26h in 2x Prime95 to prove it

It was the Northbridge after all. Slapped a noisy fan on the Tiger1 and it was fine. For some reason, cpu temps rose from 56 to 59. I guess because the Northbridge heat wasn't trapped anymore

 

[Acanthus]

Originally posted by: aggressor
I really fixed it now, 26h in 2x Prime95 to prove it

It was the Northbridge after all. Slapped a noisy fan on the Tiger1 and it was fine. For some reason, cpu temps rose from 56 to 59. I guess because the Northbridge heat wasn't trapped anymore

nice i just hit an overclock wall with similar northbridge temps, gonna have to try improving the cooling.