Has BETTER cooling affected your OCed Stability?

[x86]

Will increasing your cooling effectiveness increase the stability of your system? Has using a more effective heatsink allowed you to run Prime without errors as opposed to when you were running on stock?

I ask this because I have an OCed P4 NW 1.8a @ 2.25 (1.65V) and the temperature is 53C. I can't seem to get Prime to run for more than one hour without errors, and I think that it is because of the tempertures. So, if I change the stock to something like a... Sunflower, would it increase my potential for stability? Note that I did not say OCing potential, because I can theoretically OC to any speed, but my system will be as stable as crap.

In general, will a cooler CPU increase its stability? I figure a 8-10 degree decrease if I switch to a sunflower. Do you think this will help?

Thanks for answering all of my questions.

-x86

 

[SWScorch]

yes 🙂

Or at least, theoretucally, yes. There is always the chance that your CPU will be unstable at that speed regardless of cooling, but generally better cooling will help make your CPU more stable.

 

[Drakkhen]

Well, what is the ambient room temp? You might want to investigate adding some case fans as well. But, the odds of you dropping 8-10 degrees with just a CPU cooler change aren't that great, unless you just don't have a good contact between the cpu and HSF.

Just my 2 cents.

 

[Regalk]

Do u mean 2.5 or 2.25? U may be hitting the limits of that cpu and extra cooling may not help. 53C is not a big deal for the P4NW. You know running at 2.25 stable by investing another $20-25 on a cooler does not really make sense when you can run at 1 or 2 point lower and run stable with the stock.

 

[THUGSROOK]

i know a really easy way to find out....

raise your room temp by 10*F.
if it still runs the same - heat is not your problem.

you can also do this in reverse and lower room temp 10*F and see if you can overclock better/more stable. either way it will tell you what you need to know.