Maximum PC

How high do you think i could get the AMD Athlon XP 2600+ (right now runnign at around 2.08 gHz) with stock heatsink/fan?

Thanks for opinions =)

~War

1.21 gigahertz! Err...was it gigawatts? Anyway, you won't get far without a flux capacitor.

http://www.overclockers.com

Hmm yeah I'll probably need a dalorien too...

~War

I have my +2500 @ 2.2ghz on stock HSF. it's been getting a bit warm lately (ideling @ 47c and 52c under load) but that is due to my lack of air conditioning. Just take baby steps and make sure you read up on OCing before doing anything stupid.

the biggest thing we need to know is if its a barton or a thourougbred. if its a barton you will get maybe to 2.3ghz at the very most and if your very lucky around 2.4ghz. around 2.2ghz is almost a lock though. i do not know how well you would to with a t-bred chip though.

How do i figure it out?

~War

edit: I think it's a Tbred... i saw a comparison and my cpu is runnign at 2.08 gHz with a 166fsb.

Also the CPU is runnin very very unusually hot like up near 65c(at stock speed) do you think a new HS/F with soem quality thermal past would do it?.

If your CPU is running at 65C you have a problem.

First off, how high is your case temp? If your case temp is high too then you're going to want a new case. My Barton 2500+ @3200+ was running at 54-56C without airconditioning. I got a new case and it's now running at 49C.

Did you build this system yourself? If so, you probalbly put on too much compound between the HS and the CPU.

When was the last time you opened up your case? If it's been more than 6 months you better get that thing open and clean it. Dust can accumulate in case at an alarming rate if it's on the floor.

There are a couple other questions I could ask you, but we'll leave it at this for starters.

65C is well beyond what a 2600+ should be running at with proper air cooling. Most people with proper cooling see temps at 35-45C, sometimes even with oc'ing. My temp will come down once I get the other 2 fans working and replace the old 80mm with a 120mm tommorrow.

Dan O.

I think that temp is at full load as it was jsut after a reboot after having been folding for hours.

Yeah... When my computer boots up it shwos the temp. but since i disabled the Windows GUI startup and floopy search it doesn't anymore, skip[s right past it so i rarely see my CPU temp. (I don't have much of need to check it, or so i thought, b/c i haven't over clocked)

But yeah my case has been opened but does need to be cleaned out .(How do i find out the case temp?)

I was jsut thnking of stopping at a local computer store and gettig some Arctic Silver or somethign similar and a new HS/F. The reapplying the thing.

Reccomend 99% Isopropyl rubbing alcohol for cleanign it off right?

~War

you got a flux? there is a time machine waiting for one if you do

For now you should get your case cleaned out. Get a can of compressed air, take the HS off the CPU, walk outside, and blow all the dust out of the HS with the compressed air. Then I would check to see how much themal compound is on the CPU and the underside of the HS. If it's a wax pad, then you might want to replace it with some AS5. If it's the gooey stuff, you'll want to be sure that it's not so thick that you can't see the metal through the gunk on both the HS and CPU.

Also, be sure to take a dust rag and wipe off the blades on the HSF and the case fans. Try to get as much dust out of the case as possible.

Next, I would try to figure out if your case cooling is sufficient. How many fans do you have in your case? What sizes are they? What directions are they blowing? (as in: into or out of the case). For instance, I've got 2x 80mm fans, one blowing out the top and one blowing out the back. But mine isn't set up properly yet. I'm waiting for some parts to come in the mail.

My new setup will be 2x 80 blowing in, one top and one side, 1x 60mm blowing in the front across the HDDs, and 1x 120mm blowing out the back. That should drop my case temps by about 5-10C.

One other thing you may want to consider doing is getting the case off the floor. Mine sits on top of my desk, mainly because it doesn't fit under this desk because of a stack of drawers. But the benifit I get from having it on the desk is great. I can go a full year with only some minor dust on fan blades.

My sister OTOH, keeps hers on the floor. After one year the thing was reaching 75C!

Get the case cleaned, assess your case cooling capacity, then take a look at getting a new HSF and some thermal compound.

If you only have one fan going out the back, I would just buy a new case. Most cases that only have one fan going out the back will never give you the airflow you need to overclock. And by fan I mean case fan, not PSU fan.

Oh yeah, you should be able to find the case temp in the BIOS. Hit F1 or Del on boot and go to Health Status, or something similar.

Dan O.

Hmm yeah i only have one fan blowing in the back, but there is a little case for one to blow in the front. Also for the past few weeks i've kinda had my case open. (Been screwing aroudn with my harddrives alot)

I will get that air and a new hs/f.

I should probably put another fan across my video card. I don't think i can get a new case right now, but perhaps i'll be abel to drill some holes in one of the panels and get a new fan in there.

~War

Actually, i've ran across a few flux capacitors. I thought it was some attempt at humor (it was on a Navy ship) then my Chief told me with a chuckle at what it was. Just a little FYI...flux capacitors exsist. It was a small board in the deguasing units that detects the changes in the earth's magnetic field to adjust accordingly. Hmmm...wonder if the CIA will knock on my door and tell me to STFU?

There's all these sites saying that they're fictional, but they're out there. Maybe not in the terms that Doc Brown describes (collecting the free energy?) but basically: Flux= magnetic lines [of flux]. Basis on greating power in generators. A cap made to collect or store lines of flux would be...

A little geek info never hurts;)

War, you're best to keep the case closed, that's when it has proper airflow.

A new case can be expensive. My $26 Maxtop turned into $81 with shipping, two new fans, a molex adapter and a molex splitter.

On the plus side, my case temps are now down at 25F while folding and encoding a DVD with the AC on. My CPU temps are now down to 44C, and my HDD temps are at 32C, which personally, I feel is a bogous reading.

I do have AS5 and a good HS though. One more thing I've added is a PCI fan. It sucks air from the side of it and blows it out the back of the slot. Cost only about $9 w/shipping from Newegg, and has about 10 cfm output (that's cubic feet per minute) Together with my 55cfm 120mm fan I've got more air blowing out than in, which is odd because I have 2 80mm fans that are sucking a lot of air into the case, along with a 60mm front fan.

You may want to look into that PCI fan, it can be found here

$8 shipped isn't bad for 10.5cfm output with shipping. I've seen similar in retail stores going for over $20. Quiet as a mouse too.

You should put an intake fan in the front where it has the mount holes and the grill, and make the rear fan an exhaust. You're likely sucking in a lot of dust by haveing your intake fan in the rear. Unfortunatley, if your case is anything like the last two I've owned, front fans don't do well. There just isn't enough airflow through the front plate on most cases.

Dan O.

Yeah the front grill through the plastic is really small. I could probably fix that since i really don't care how the case looks (gets out drill...). I'll close my case asap.

I was just looking at that PCI fan i think I'll get that too... then flip the rear fan over and install an intake in the front.

Hopefully that will work =). Thank you for everything.

~War

edit:

Heh the really funny part is, even running so hot there's no loss in stability...

What brand/make of fan would you suggest?

btw your proc is a t-bred since you havent oced yet.

65C is no problem for AMD CPUs, they can take it. Just don't let it get above 55C when your overclocking, that's when you'll start to see instability.



Vantec has always made great fans, but they can be a little more expensive. Generally, the shipping costs more than the fan anyway, so it shouldn't be a problem.

Here is one.

It's a little pricey for a fan, but it's got a speed sensor, and it's pretty quiet becuase of it's double ball bearings. It's only 21dba, but outputs 27cfm (cubic feet per minute). You may want to consider getting two of these, one for the front and one for the back.

BTW, if your front fan is only 60mm, as mine is, you can get the same model in that standard here

I just took a look at some speeze fans.

Here is one that looks pretty decent for cheap. It's got a higher cfm than the Vantec, but at the cost of adding a few dba.

Take a look at the volume discount. If you buy three, you can get $2 shipping on each, and save $0.20 per fan.

It's got great reviews too.

Dan O.

Edit: heh, do the math. If you buy two of them it will be 1.49x2 (2.98 ) + $8 Shipping. That's just under $11.

If you buy three of them instead, you'll get 1.29x3 (3.87) + $6 shipping, that's only $9.87

Heh, you save just over a buck by buying 3 instead of two!

oo thanks... yeah I think I'm going to look into those. What brand heatsink would you suggest?

~War

Most of the major name brands will do for basic overclocking, but if you want to push it further you might want to look into the Zalman coolers.

My Speeze is keeping my CPU at about 47C w/ 34mhz FSB overclock. The Speeze is also very cheap

So, that speeze should get you to 2ghz easily, if you can keep your case cool. You'll also want some AS5

If you want to go beyond 2.0ghz though, you'll probably want to look into the Zalman coolers.

Dan O.

wut can i use to find out my cpu information and my temperature???

EDIT-I just looked up my tempp and stuff using my BIOS, and the case temp is 35 C and the CPU temp is only 43 C, are these good readings for having it on the floor and being an AMD?