Zalman Reserator installed! Clock speed wall :( Updated with pics!

Acanthus

Lifer
Aug 28, 2001
19,915
2
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ostif.org
Hi all, i just installed my new Zalman Reserator on my Prescott based rig, and ive run into problems with the VRMs overheating.

My Abit AG-8 Motherboard has PCI-E lock, but you have to manually type in the clockspeed, and i dont know the default speed for PCI-E.

My rig:
P4 3.0E S775
Abit AG-8
2x512MB OCZ PC4400 Gold
Leadtek Geforce 6600GT HD-VIVO
Antec Truecontrol 550w
Western Digital SE HD
Lite-on 48 burner (the 52s are too fooking loud and i wont miss the 5 seconds per CD)
Zalman Reserator CPU cooling

Old OC 3.0E @ 3.3ghz with thermal throttling (stock cooling)
New OC 3.0E @ 3.73ghz @ 119f under load

Hopefully i can reach my 4.0ghz goal if i can figure out the way around this clockspeed wall.

Edit: ive now hit 3.90ghz and its prime stable for an hour, temps are great but the VRMs are hitting 150f after an hour or so and then stability goes down the drain, is it safe to apply video card ramsinks to the VRMs? I plan to epoxy them using AS thermal adhesive.
 

Acanthus

Lifer
Aug 28, 2001
19,915
2
76
ostif.org
Originally posted by: MercenaryForHire
:Q

The fact you have a "Preshot" running at that much OC impresses me.

Pics of the Reserator setup? :D

- M4H

The woman is in bed now but ill take pics when i can, does anyone know the best way to cool VRMs?

It is my understanding that the VRMs are the square black chips next to the CPU... Is this correct?

Image of AG8 click picture to enlarge

By the way, it appears the PCI-Express lock doesnt work at all, setting it to 100mhz, even un-overclocked, causes the board to stop posting.
 

boshuter

Diamond Member
Feb 11, 2003
4,145
0
76
I'm running that same board with a 3.6es and it's not a good overclocking board. I'm running 17multi X 248fsb, the highest fsb I can boot to is 268 at any multi due to the limitations of the PCIe, if you are running SATA drives the limit will be even lower. You need to leave the PCIe speed on "Auto", the bios uses an algorithim to caculate the speed based on fsb it sees at power on or post. I couldn't get much at all until removed my SATA drive and disabled the controller in bios. Anyone seriously considering oc'ing an LGA 775 should get a 925x or 925xe chipset board. I just picked up the Asus P4AD2 Premium and am waiting on my DDR2 to arrive. I've had 2 different es chips in the Abit board and both hit 4ghz+ (3.2es @ 4.1 and 3.6es @ 4.25). The main limitation is the PCIe/SATA lock.
 

boshuter

Diamond Member
Feb 11, 2003
4,145
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One more thing.. boosting the nb voltage will help a little in getting it to boot at a high fsb, also, ATI video cards are more forgiving about PCIe speeds at high fsb. This PCIe/SATA problem at high fsb is well known, that's why my AG8 is for sale in the forum and I'm going to the 925 chipsets, they are getting them to run very close to, or over 300fsb which I can hit, and need, to get the DDR2 to really put out some good bandwidth.

PS: I'ts not the Abit board that is the problem, it's the chipset. So far the highest fsb's have been acheived on the Fatlity1 board with the Asus a close second.
 

Acanthus

Lifer
Aug 28, 2001
19,915
2
76
ostif.org
Some good info there, it still appears to me as though the VRMs overheating is the problem, i have boosted the CPU, VDIMM, and Northbridge voltages to get stability at 251fsb, temps are fine on everything but the VRMs which hit 160f under load.

I was considering a 925XE chipset until i saw the wild prices of DDRII and decided against it.

I wish i knew the algorithm it uses for dividers on the PCI-E i could try to bump the FSB to where it would put the divider into spec again.
 

beatle

Diamond Member
Apr 2, 2001
5,661
5
81
Bizzare. I thought I was the only one that owned a Nikao X-Jazz. Looks like your webcam either takes mirrored pics or you're in an alternate reality. :)
 

boshuter

Diamond Member
Feb 11, 2003
4,145
0
76
A company called either Microcool or Micropole makes some great little sinks just for mosfets and anything else you want to use them on, they also make one of the best nb coolers available. If I can find a link I'll get it posted or you can probably just google it.

Edit: here is a link to one place that has them...Microcool sinks

I know what you mean about the price of DDR2... but I soon found the limits of using DDR1 with the LGA 775 solution, the ability to run over 750mhz even at the timing of DDR2 is just hard to pass up. The problem is, the good DDR2 will run fairly tight timings IE:3-2-2-8 at up to 667mhz or better.. but that is the very high end DDR2 :(
 

Acanthus

Lifer
Aug 28, 2001
19,915
2
76
ostif.org
Originally posted by: boshuter
A company called either Microcool or Micropole makes some great little sinks just for mosfets and anything else you want to use them on, they also make one of the best nb coolers available. If I can find a link I'll get it posted or you can probably just google it.

Edit: here is a link to one place that has them...Microcool sinks

I know what you mean about the price of DDR2... but I soon found the limits of using DDR1 with the LGA 775 solution, the ability to run over 750mhz even at the timing of DDR2 is just hard to pass up. The problem is, the good DDR2 will run fairly tight timings IE:3-2-2-8 at up to 667mhz or better.. but that is the very high end DDR2 :(

Ill take a look at those mofset sinks, it looks like my ceiling is going to be 3.9ghz with this setup if i can get the VRM temps under control, i can do 4.0 with 1.45v, but thats just too much voltage for everyday use in my opinion, so ill scale it back to the 1.41v its running now
 

Thor86

Diamond Member
May 3, 2001
7,888
7
81
Instead of sinking the mosfets, why don't you just install a Zalman fan bracket with a fan directly blowing on them?
 

boshuter

Diamond Member
Feb 11, 2003
4,145
0
76
Originally posted by: Acanthus
Originally posted by: boshuter
A company called either Microcool or Micropole makes some great little sinks just for mosfets and anything else you want to use them on, they also make one of the best nb coolers available. If I can find a link I'll get it posted or you can probably just google it.

Edit: here is a link to one place that has them...Microcool sinks

I know what you mean about the price of DDR2... but I soon found the limits of using DDR1 with the LGA 775 solution, the ability to run over 750mhz even at the timing of DDR2 is just hard to pass up. The problem is, the good DDR2 will run fairly tight timings IE:3-2-2-8 at up to 667mhz or better.. but that is the very high end DDR2 :(

Ill take a look at those mofset sinks, it looks like my ceiling is going to be 3.9ghz with this setup if i can get the VRM temps under control, i can do 4.0 with 1.45v, but thats just too much voltage for everyday use in my opinion, so ill scale it back to the 1.41v its running now


Hey, 3.9 on a 3.0 is pretty damn good:thumbsup: I have 2 of the LGA 775 cpu's and both are great overclockers. I'm switching to the Asus P5AD2 Premium board next week and have one of the new 64bit 3.4es cpu's with the 2mb cache coming in to play with. It's an 84watt cpu instead of the 115watt so it should be a lot easier to cool on air.