Will a new cooler help with my OC

[buzzsaw13]

Heres what I've got:

Opty 146 CAB2E 0546 GPAW Stepping
Asus A8N-SLI Deluxe
G.Skill HZ 2x1gb PC4000
Zalman 7000B-Cu

I've currently got it running at 280x10@1.45V and temps are 33-36C idle and about 50C load.
I can get the chip to boot windows at 290x10@1.55V (max the mobo will allow) but it fails prime within 15 minutes, I'm suspecting because of temperatures (40C idle and 59C load).

Would a Big Typhoon help with the overclocking? I'm deciding whether or not to drop $50 on a cooler that could only get me an extra 100mhz in my overclock. HELP!!!

 

[SparkyJJO]

If it is getting unstable it may be due to heat buildup or just simply because you've reached your limit due to CPU or mobo or whatnot. 59C load is getting up there a bit - is the chip rated for 65C or higher/lower, do you know?

 

[buzzsaw13]

Originally posted by: SparkyJJO
If it is getting unstable it may be due to heat buildup or just simply because you've reached your limit due to CPU or mobo or whatnot. 59C load is getting up there a bit - is the chip rated for 65C or higher/lower, do you know?

Not quite sure what the limits are for the CPU, but the mobo should be able to handle the FSB as the max HTT the mobo will boot is about 340mhz.

I went over to XS Forums and a guy with the exact steppings hit 3.5ghz on air, granted he had a fan blowing insanely cold air on it, so I'm pretty sure I havent hit the CPU's max.

Oh yeah, forgot to ask whether or not a Big Typhoon would fit on a chip with the IHS removed?

 

[SparkyJJO]

Originally posted by: buzzsaw13

Originally posted by: SparkyJJO
If it is getting unstable it may be due to heat buildup or just simply because you've reached your limit due to CPU or mobo or whatnot. 59C load is getting up there a bit - is the chip rated for 65C or higher/lower, do you know?

Not quite sure what the limits are for the CPU, but the mobo should be able to handle the FSB as the max HTT the mobo will boot is about 340mhz.

I went over to XS Forums and a guy with the exact steppings hit 3.5ghz on air, granted he had a fan blowing insanely cold air on it, so I'm pretty sure I havent hit the CPU's max.

Oh yeah, forgot to ask whether or not a Big Typhoon would fit on a chip with the IHS removed?

Well if your CPU is rated at only 60C or 65C I wouldn't be surprised then if the heat is what is doing it. As to whether the Big Typhoon will fit with the IHS removed, I don't know if by "normal" mounting (since there would probably be a space) but I'm sure you can mod something to make it fit :evil:

 

[furballi]

If your max temp is 50C, then temp is NOT an issue and you will NOT benefit with a more powerful cooler. Most Opties top out around 2500MHz to 2700MHz.

 

[SparkyJJO]

Originally posted by: furballi
If your max temp is 50C, then temp is NOT an issue and you will NOT benefit with a more powerful cooler. Most Opties top out around 2500MHz to 2700MHz.

but he said he was getting up to 59C load

 

[vertigofm]

Ok one word (not really but just read) .... you want better Overclocks? TUNIQ TOWER 120... All the reviews I have read show it beating the BT- this is the new king! And this is with a stock fan... use something like a delta

holy crap

 

[Absolute0]

Originally posted by: furballi
If your max temp is 50C, then temp is NOT an issue and you will NOT benefit with a more powerful cooler. Most Opties top out around 2500MHz to 2700MHz.

Absolute horse ******. I've gone through 7 single core Opterons, a 59c load temp plain KILLS their stability.

They are more temp sensitive than you could imagine. I can watch my Opties clock further just by opening up the window. A big typhoon will help tremendously; in fact i predict 3 Ghz with a big typhoon.

 

[buzzsaw13]

Originally posted by: Absolute0

Originally posted by: furballi
If your max temp is 50C, then temp is NOT an issue and you will NOT benefit with a more powerful cooler. Most Opties top out around 2500MHz to 2700MHz.

Absolute horse ******. I've gone through 7 single core Opterons, a 59c load temp plain KILLS their stability.

They are more temp sensitive than you could imagine. I can watch my Opties clock further just by opening up the window. A big typhoon will help tremendously; in fact i predict 3 Ghz with a big typhoon.

I dont really see 3ghz happening as my mobo can only pump 1.55V, and I need 1.55V for it to boot to windows at 290x10.

 

[Absolute0]

Yeah because your temps suck.

How about this. One of my Opterons that i just sold topped out at 3 Ghz on the stock heatsink, it needed 1.5v and loaded at 60c. Couldn't do any more because it was too hot.

I put it on my AC Freezer 64 Pro, and it was then able to do 3090 Mhz prime with 1.56v. It is ALL about controlling load temps.

 

[furballi]

The CPU is designed for 70C max. A better cooler may be able to drop the temp by 5C, but your system is still running at 55C at 1.55 Vcore. This is 5C hotter than most OC rigs. When you see a huge pop in temperature with only a modest bump in core speed (100MHz), then you've approached the saturation level of the processor. Remember that the AVERAGE OC speed of the 146 in air is around 2800. If you need more speed, then you must invest in water cooling.

No two CPUs will have the same capability.

For optimum performance, limit the CPU core temp to 50C (under the hottest ambient temperature that the system will encounter).

http://www.cpudatabase.com/index.cfm?action=search

 

[Absolute0]

Originally posted by: furballi
The CPU is designed for 70C max. A better cooler may be able to drop the temp by 5C, but your system is still running at 55C at 1.55 Vcore. This is 5C hotter than most OC rigs. When you see a huge pop in temperature with only a modest bump in core speed (100MHz), then you've approached the saturation level of the processor. Remember that the AVERAGE OC speed of the 146 in air is around 2800. If you need more speed, then you must invest in water cooling.

No two CPUs will have the same capability.

For optimum performance, limit the CPU core temp to 50C (under the hottest ambient temperature that the system will encounter).

http://www.cpudatabase.com/index.cfm?action=search

The AVERAGE overclock is totally unrepresentative of what these cores are capable of as 1/2 of the people dont know WTF they're doing and stop at 2.6 Ghz. I have had 7 Opteron single cores and not one has failed to hit 3 Ghz on air.

A better cooler will drop temps by more than 5c, more like 14c if you're talking high load temps and a good heatsink. Big Typhoon and 1.55v should load in the mid to high 40s.

You can't just make up 50c as some arbitrary number, and anything under that number temp doesn't matter. For the very reason that phase change works to produce insane overclocks, we know that CPUs are extremely temperature dependent.

Also many people dont know this, but the farther you overclock the more temperature bound you become. At stock speeds you can get pretty much as hot as you want, but at high frequencies you are asking the processor to do so many calculations that it will become VERY sensitive to the electron interference represented by higher core temperatures.

 

[furballi]

Search for the A64 3000 result. There's a rig with the same Zalman CPU cooler. 2920 @ 1.50 Vcore. Biggest factor is the CPU! If 1/2 of the people are idiots, then we should see 1/2 of the Opteron 146s running at +3000MHz on air. Clearly this is not true. From the CPU database, those that were able to hit 3GHz were using water as the working fluid!

http://www.cpudatabase.com/index.cfm?action=search


No air-cooled CPU cooler is going to be able to best the 7000Cu at room temp by 14C! Where did you get your engineering degree?

Here are some data comparing the stock Athlon 64 HSF with the latest exotic CPU coolers. Note that the best CPU cooler was only capable of lowering the CPU temp by another 10C (A64 3200 @ 1.7 Vcore)! The Zalman 7000Cu is certainly much better than the stock A64 HSF. Therefore, you should NOT expect to see more than about 5C drop in temp.

Another thing to consider is the air flow of the case. Open the side cover and see if your max temp will go down.

http://www.madshrimps.be/?action=getarticle&number=8&artpage=1655&articID=406



Also note the 12C delta between the Stock A64 HSF and the AC Freezer 64 Pro. Again, I don't expect the AC Freezer 64 Pro to beat the Zalman 7000Cu by more than 7C.

http://www.madshrimps.be/?action=getarticle&number=12&artpage=1682&articID=406

 

[Absolute0]

Originally posted by: furballi
Search for the A64 3000 result. There's a rig with the same Zalman CPU cooler. 2920 @ 1.50 Vcore. Biggest factor is the CPU! If 1/2 of the people are idiots, then we should see 1/2 of the Opteron 146s running at +3000MHz on air. Clearly this is not true. From the CPU database, those that were able to hit 3GHz were using water as the working fluid!

http://www.cpudatabase.com/index.cfm?action=search


No air-cooled CPU cooler is going to be able to best the 7000Cu at room temp by 14C! Where did you get your engineering degree?

Here are some data comparing the stock Athlon 64 HSF with the latest exotic CPU coolers. Note that the best CPU cooler was only capable of lowering the CPU temp by another 10C (A64 3200 @ 1.7 Vcore)! The Zalman 7000Cu is certainly much better than the stock A64 HSF. Therefore, you should NOT expect to see more than about 5C drop in temp.

Another thing to consider is the air flow of the case. Open the side cover and see if your max temp will go down.

http://www.madshrimps.be/?action=getarticle&number=8&artpage=1655&articID=406

Half of what you said doesn't make any sense!!

OK, there's a 3000+ that got a screenshot at 2.92 Ghz.....SO WHAT?? do you want to see my 3000+ screenshot?
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v729/absolute035/overclocking/3.jpg

"If 1/2 of the people are idiots, then we should see 1/2 of the Opteron 146s running at +3000MHz on air."
Makes no sense. If people are idiots then we'd see bigger overclocks??

There is nothing special about watercooling. I have built two watercooling loops and i've done air for years and i have a single stage phase unit. There isn't much of a difference between air and water, so you can't say that you NEED water for 3 Ghz, that's frigging retarded, i can show you a screenshot of 3 Ghz priming on the stock heatsink with 60c load...

It's certainly possible for a CPU cooler to best a 7000Cu by 14c. First of all, the 7000 is tiny and doesn't perform very well. Get a lapped Big Typhoon with a Panaflo 120mm x 38mm fan on it, and put that on a fan controller, and pump some volts....

And airflow of the case doesn't even enter into it.


So, to the original poster, you can just ignore this big confusing mess (that doesn't make any sense) and just rest assured that with a Big Typhoon you could get a bigger overclock. If you're hitting 60c then the heatsink sucks and it's getting overloaded by the volts and you have even more to gain from a real heatsink. The fact that prime runs for a few minutes and fails tells me that you're very temp limited. Trust me i've been through this for a while now because i've gone through a lot of Opterons. I'm used to seeing the temps go upward. Sometimes 1.5 degrees is the difference between prime failing in 2 minutes and Prime going for over half an hour. Undeniable truth from TONS of overclocking.

 

[boeki]

to rest this issue of what your proc's max temp is, use cbid and find out what your tcasemx and thermal offset is and then do the math.

or post them here and we'll help you determine what your proc's max temp is.

 

[Absolute0]

MaxTtemp doesn't mean anything. I've had CPUs tell me anywhere from 49 to 65. And that doesn't mean anything... just know that lower temps = bigger overclock, simple enough.

 

[buzzsaw13]

Well, im not really looking for max temps are, I'm looking for what the max temps are for it to be prime stable. The chip runs perfectly stable at 50-52C load, but seems to fail prime once the temps hit 55C+ I'm really confused as to whether its a temperature problem, or is the motherboard or CPU isn't letting me get over 2.8ghz.

I've been getting some mixed advice here, and am hesitant to spend an extra $50 for what could potentially be 100-300mhz more on the chip.

 

[the Chase]

It depends on what your priorities are. If you are a gamer- invest that $50 in a video card instead. If you are a hobbiest/overclocker/benchmarker get the TT Big Typhoon. It will make a difference. Especially if you remove the IHS! I haven't done this yet but is my next step. But yeah- The change in heatsinks will only be worth 100-200mhz tops(maybe more if you pop the top).

 

[buzzsaw13]

Originally posted by: the Chase
It depends on what your priorities are. If you are a gamer- invest that $50 in a video card instead. If you are a hobbiest/overclocker/benchmarker get the TT Big Typhoon. It will make a difference. Especially if you remove the IHS! I haven't done this yet but is my next step. But yeah- The change in heatsinks will only be worth 100-200mhz tops(maybe more if you pop the top).

I've got a X1800XT@XTPE speeds and not really looking to get anything better

Forgot to mention in the first post that the IHS is removed.