CPU cooling

[R@nger]

Well with the end of the fall semester fastly appoarching I'm gonna have some time on my hands so I've decided I want to fix up my comp a little bit. What I'd like to do is overclock my CPU but with the current HSF thats going to be impossible. So I would like to know what you guys think is the best cooler, why and around what price. Oh I also am planning on overclocking my video card but it needs an aftermarket cooler as well. I would appreciate some help in picking out what would be best for this set up. Right now my comp runs at 30-35 idle and 40-50 under a load(farcry, alot of internet pages, winamp, aim, msn messenger and a few of things)

Heres my system:
CPU - Pentium 4 2.80Ghz C 1.525V max., System bus 800MHz, 512KB L2-Cache, PGA-478 with HT

Mobo - Asus P4C800deluxe

RAM - 1gig(2x512MB)of Crucial 184 Pin DDR PC-3200 8T

HD - Western Digital Special Edition 80GB 7200RPM IDE Hard Drive, Model WD800JB

Video Card - SAPPHIRE ATI RADEON 9800PRO Video Card, 256MB DDR, 256-bit, DVI/TV-Out, 8X AGP

Case - Thermaltake Black Xaser III Super Tower http://www.thermaltake.com/XaserCase/xaser3/v1000a.htm

A ton of other stuff that doesn't need mention(exp. soundcard, CDdrives)
Any help would be awesome, thanks.

[Cricket]

You can actually overclock your P4 a fair amount with the stock Intel heatsink. You can get it above 3.0GHz pretty easily. Raising the FSB doesn't raise CPU temps that much...it's when you raise the vcore voltage that you'll see the CPU temps really soar, but it's something you don't want to do with a Northwood core anyway.

Can't help you with the video card cooler.

Cricket

[mrmister1]

You shou.d go with any of the Zalman heatpipe coolers. You can check them out here.

[Nickoli]

head on over to www.overclockers.com and take a look at their heatsink comparisons.

[bailey]

you may want to relook at your case and cpu install, the stock heatsink should do just fine
I have the 2.4 oc to 3 g and my temps are still in the mid 30's.
you may have a dust and lint in the heat sink fins blocking the air flow and the case fans could have some build up on then too.

you already have the best combo going for you now and there is no need to upgrade anything, just get what you now have performing the way it should.
use PAT in the bios for the over clocking and maybe a bios update

[R@nger]

Ohh no no no dust is not a problem...I don't allow it to be a problem. There is a air duster no more than 6 inches away from my comp at all times. Plus my intake fans have filters on them(if you go to my case sight you'll see them). Right now..as I'm typing my comp is at 33C and I have a good number of little things running as well so I don't think heat is an issue at the moment.

Bailey would you mind explaining the PAT thing you mentioned? My mobo also has an AI overclocker which I think is basically like the PAT deal only you can overclock alot higher, such as a 5%,10%,15% overclock. The thing is I used the AI overclocker to see how it worked and I got it almost 3.2 I believe or something like that. However my comp wasn't happy with this, because it started getting really hot and eventually shut itself off. I turned off the overclock and it proformed as normal. Could that AI overclocker have cranked up the volts and thus making my CPU overheat?

I don't claim to be the most technical comp guy, I can do most everything I need to but I'm not any comp guru like alot of you guys. Any extra explanations would help me out greatly. I can getter done if I have the basic idea .

Thanks alot for your help. Oh also I will need a new videocard fan because I have overclocked that bad boy before but its pretty clear its gonna need a better cooling system if i want to get the results I'm looking for. I know a guy who has the same card and he got a aftermarket cooler for it and he has it overclocked pretty far. Runs extra smooth too.

EDIT: Oh by the way...howd my stuff look as far as compatibility and OC potential?

[Burnout]

Ranger, you will have to problem o/cing your cpu even with the stock heatsink. I had mine running @ a 265 fsb without any troubles. Average temp was about 30 - 35° C. I now have a custom water cooling kit and my temps now are at 25 - 26°C.

[Vigo]

PAT isn't related to overclocking. Its a 875 feature (argueably a 865pe feature as well from ASUS on the p4p800) that improves memory timings between clock cycles or some similar nonsense. It affects memory performance and doesnt have anything to do with upping bus speed or voltage over overheating.

Increasing the bus speed (which is what you were doing... 5...10...15% etc) does effect voltages and temperatures. Thats the AI overclocking feature.

I dont know if youll be able to match Bailey's claim of a .6 OC with stock cooling (I had my 2.6 running at 3 stable, and although I could up it to 3.2 it wasnt completely stable). You should be able to reach 3 with a 2.8 chip. If 3.2 is causing instability at 100% cpu output or overheating issues thems the breaks. Theres a few dozen things you can do (mostly buy) to get that chip to go a bit higher though.

As far as the video card- even if he has the exact same card you might not ever achieve the same OC. Cooling is only one factor... the memory chips might be different or you might just not get as lucky pushing the vpu with a tweaking program.

[bailey]

for all the informatiom you could possibiy want for the P4P800-delux
read some of the post at this asus fourm

http://www.abxzone.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=41

it should answere any question you can think of

have fun

[R@nger]

Alright I'm getting a better idea of whats going on here. Thanks for your help and suggestions.

So do you guys recommend using the AI overclocker or doing it myself?

[Yuanji]

it's usually better to do things yourself after you read up a little on it. for mild OCs, don't touch the volts and just increase the FSB. there shouldn't be a big temp increase.

[R@nger]

Well I've read a good bit on it but I still think I'm gonna keep reading on it just to make sure i do everything perfect.

So let me get this straight, right now I'll I should do is up the FSB and don't touch the volts and by doing that i'll be able to use my stock HS and fan? Since I haven't trully overclocked my CPU before whats the difficulty of doing this? Simple...tricky, any tips ya guys got will help me out here.

[bailey]

that link I posted will give you every tip there is on that motherboard.
be sure to look at other things on there too.
there is so much information, I can't even remember it all
I dd mine useing the stock motherboard settings and the ram settings, I did up the core voltage .1 volts

[R@nger]

Ok heres a quick question. I want to update my bios so can I skip ahead to the most recent release or do I have to install all of them in order? Please don't tell me I need to go in order. I guess I also need to update Asus Liveupdate and get the new AFUDOS v2.11 version.

The weird thing is just a second ago I tried to change a few things in my bios like the performance boost to turbo and Performance accelerator Enabled but my comp had a fit and wouldn't boot up. It said Overclock failed and brought me back to the bios setup. Then I turned off the performance boost and left on the performance accelerator on and when it booted to the windows xp screen where I sign in it had another fit and shutoff. After turning everything back to default it started up good as new...why is it freakin out on me.

[bailey]

I don't think you have read all the post in that link yet, as it covers everything you have asked about so far.

the type of ram you have installed will affect the overclocking

the bios can be done at the latest one. but read the info before you try it, that is in that link, it should take at least a couple days to read all the info on your board.

[R@nger]

I don't think you realize you posted an entire forum not just a single post. If it was a post about my mobo I would already be reading it. I was looking around that forum you posted and I haven't found a topic about my mobo yet. I have a P4C800Deluxe, not the P4C800 E Deluxe, which unfortunately is what 90% of the topics there are about. Unless thats basically the same board you posted the wrong link or something.

Oh and so you know I have 1gig (2x512mb)of Crucial 184 pin PC3200 8T RAM as posted in my first post.

[Vigo]

The top post of that forum is on the P4C800 Deluxe.

[Vigo]

As far as the bios updates from ASUS for AWARD- it depends on how recent the change is. To upgrade to version 1016 I believe you need 1006 or higher.. or something like that. Their website will have the information but the update live program intself should warn you if a certain bios version (or later) is required to update to that version. If not, you dont need to do it in order. Ie. you can go from 1014 to 1018, etc. Check the web site if you arent sure though.

[R@nger]

Ok this is getting a wee bit annoying. The first post is stickied...correct? The post title says exactly this, "P4C800-E Deluxe OC'ing tips etc."

That is the P4C800-EEEEEEEEEE Deluxe mobo. I have the plan ol P4C800 deluxe board. Now if thats basically the same thing and you guys realize that those two boards are different than cool, I'll read that post...otherwise why are you telling me to read a post about a board I don't have.

All im asking for is an answer to my question. You guys seem to know the answer but are insisting that I read a post that simply isn't there.

Again if there is a post about the P4C800 Deluxe (NOT THE E VERSION) mobo I would love and enjoy reading it. I think what I may have is a bad bios version or something of that sort...I would love some answers but I just don't seem to be getting anything. Give me something to test, try out, fix, anything here.

Thank you for posting but now if I could just get a little more help on some things I could get this figured out.

[Tin]

Originally Posted by R@nger Ok this is getting a wee bit annoying. The first post is stickied...correct? The post title says exactly this, "P4C800-E Deluxe OC'ing tips etc." That is the P4C800-EEEEEEEEEE Deluxe mobo. I have the plan ol P4C800 deluxe board. Now if thats basically the same thing and you guys realize that those two boards are different than cool, I'll read that post...otherwise why are you telling me to read a post about a board I don't have. All im asking for is an answer to my question. You guys seem to know the answer but are insisting that I read a post that simply isn't there. Again if there is a post about the P4C800 Deluxe (NOT THE E VERSION) mobo I would love and enjoy reading it. I think what I may have is a bad bios version or something of that sort...I would love some answers but I just don't seem to be getting anything. Give me something to test, try out, fix, anything here. Thank you for posting but now if I could just get a little more help on some things I could get this figured out.

as far as OCing features go, the boards are the same. the deluxe just has other hardware features the non-deluxe doesnt have. other than that, they should both have the same options for OCing.

[R@nger]

Tin I'm talking about the P4C800Deluxe and the P4C800-E Deluxe...I am aware that there is a P4C800(non deluxe) but that has nothing to do with my problem. Remember I have the P4C800deluxe and everyone here is telling me to read a post about a P4C800-E deluxe. The E series board is apparently pretty popular but that just not the board I have. Thats the problem, and thats part of my question. Are those two boards different in such a way that it matters?

[bailey]

no, they are almost the same board with a very minor differance.
there are many subjects in there that does cover your specfic board, there is 5 pages there and you just looking at the first page,
and then it is only one topic area,
I was just pointing out to you that there is a asus forum where you can find answeres to any question on your board, I did that because I cannot remember all the details, and I have to go there for info myself.
sorry if you got the wrong impression from me.

[R@nger]

Ohhhh ok bailey. "I think what we have here is a failure to communicate"(10 points if you can put a name with that quote hehe).

See I thought you were trying to send me to a specific topic on my EXACT board thats why I was all confused.

Sorry about that whole misunderstanding.

Ok so the E deluxe version is not much different than the plain ol deluxe...got it. Well I'm gonna go post there and see what I can come up with. Oh and just so ya know I browsed over most every page on that link ya sent me but it wasn't until just now that I found a topic that may actually apply to what I need.

[bailey]

ok, hope it helps some.
a couple of the guys on there are actual asus employiees and do some of the testing, there is a small chip next to the memory that do the clocking og the bus, on one board it a ir5 and on the other board its a ir7 and that is about the only differance I think,ou will see referances to them.

[R@nger]

Ok awesome...see thats what I wanted to know. I thought maybe those two boards were way different.