Overclocking Overclocking - Advice on how to reduce temps

Hey all,

First of, im very new to overclocking, so please go easy on me

I have recently merged 2x systems together to make a fairly decent one. I would like to get it nicely overclocked, running stable and at reasonably low temperatures. The PC is used mainly for gaming, Fallout NV, Crysis, Civ 5, Mass Effect 2, Dragon Age, BF:BC2 + Vietnam when it
lands, COD: Black ops etc, and potentially for long hours.

If possible, I would like to post up my results so far, and ask you all for you advice/opinions on how to improve it. I feel that things are running a little toasty right now, too hot for playing games anyways, so reducing the overall temps is my prime objective.

The current setup:

E8600 Core 2 Due @ 3.8Ghz
Arctic Cooling Freezer Pro 7 v2.1
Asus P5N-T Deluxe
4 GB (2x2GB) Corsair XMS2-6400 DDR2 800Mhz
Gainward GLH GTX460 1GB
500gb Samsung Spinpoint F3
Coolermaster 600w Silent M Pro PSU
Antec 300 + 2x 120mm Sycthe Gentle Typhoon 1850rpm (front intake), 1x 120mm Silent Eagle (side intake), 1x 120mm Antec (rear exhaust, comes with case), 1x 140mm Antec (top exhaust, comes with case)
Windows 7 64-bit

(a sad fact is that adding the 2x Sycthe GT 1850rpm fans to the case has done nothing to improve cooling )

The current overclock I have applied is

Core Speed - 3799.8 MHZ
Multiplier x 10
Bus Speed - 380Mhz
Rated FSB -1520MHz
Voltage 1.168v

(Im letting the mobo decide the voltage by leaving it on auto....shame on me, I know, haven't dabbled with doing it manually, but happy to try if it achieves improvements)

Current idle temps (after leaving windows idle for 10-15mins) = 41c
Temps under load (15mins mins of prime 95) = 59/60c

Temps under load + GPU (15mins of Prime95 and Furmark concurrently) = 63/64c

I didnt bother testing for longer as its already running hot enough for me to stop testing.

I do have another HSF available, which is the Xigmatek HDT-S1283 - I was unsure of mounting this one at first because the contact plate is not a flat surface, as the heat pipes go right across it, leaving it very uneven. This put me off initially because ive not seen it before, but I
have read some decent reviews since, so if it offers much better cooling, it is an option.

When applying the paste to my CPU, I used the 'grain of rice sized blob' approach, and just landed the cooler on it. Not sure if that was the best way, happy to have another go if you think that this could be improved.

To summarise the questions I have.....

1) Does the fact that im using the motherboard to automatically set voltages mean that im getting a higher temperature for my oc?

2) Are there any particular things in my setup in which you think is preventing me bringing the temps down (thinking of motherboard settings here I guess)

3) Would you go for the Xigmatek cooler instead or the Freezer Pro?
4) Do you have any other observations?

As I said above, your opinions and contributions are welcomed and
appreciated - Thank you.

 

I fail to see what the problem is? 60 degrees under load is really a good result already. If you were touching 80, then maybe, but 60 is really good.

 

The above post speaks the truth.

 

The idle temps are a bit high but the load temps are not to bad,Idle temps don't matter to much, it's the load temps that need watching. You could try reseating the cooler. As for the fans, try different configurations, it might be that getting more air into the case works better or maybe the other way round and have everything extracting except the front inlet fans. If you not to sure about voltages run CPU-Z and check what voltages it's showing and then set them slightly lower. You could keep lowering them until the system gets unstable and then crank it up a notch. But you may also find the auto setting are working well, the mobo's not going to over volt itself.

 

I thought that the threshold for not cooking your chip was 60c?

I expect the temps would rise a bit more if i left it under load for longer...

 

Nah threshold for hitting the thermal trip (which ISNT the same as "cooking" or damaging it) is usually 100C+. 80C load is really the top you should be aiming for.

 

AMD's dont like to run too much hotter than this, yes, but Intel are happy up to about 95 or so. Thermal cut out for an Intel is typically 100.

The thermal cut outs are there also to (hopefully) prevent damage to the chip anyway.

 

I found on my machine and on my mates the motherboard was over applying voltage. I dropped it by 0.4v (I think, my memory fails me) and it lopped off near 10C, so it maybe worth a look.

I think one of the front GT's should be on the side, as then it'll be blasting the GPU/CPU/motherboard with cool air

As most others have said, 60C is fine. 70C is my upper limit personally

Edit: Damn, double Ninja'd!!!

 

cool okies. hmmm - Think il leave Furmark & Prim95 running for a bit longer then and see what kind of temps it gets too.

If i can afford to, i would love to quite down the rig, cos it sounds like its gonna take of atm

 

Is your AC Freezer 7 Pro Rev2. on smartfan management etc? If it is may be you can disable that and let the fan run at full speed all the time? I installed one before, and I could barely hear it once it is inside the case, even with the fan at full speed..then again that PC was below the desk, not on the desk at ear-level.

 

A fan controller will sort that Can you tell where the whoosh is coming from? PSU's have been a bug bear for me, hence my overkill Revolution unit...

 

My PSU is silent... I know that because i didnt know it was on when i was testing my rig outside the case lol.

The stock Antec fans are a bit noisy, and the GTs add a kind of a whine i guess. Il hav a play around and see if i can hit the sweet spot.

Furmark & Prime95 has been running for 25mins concurrently now. So far max CPU temp is 66c, and GPU is 74c.

I didnt know about smartfan managment? is that in the bios?

 

A fan controller will help then. I tend to have music and such playing, so I can't hear mine, so they stay on 100%. Good for if I need quiet though

 

I think first thing you should check is the fan speed of your AC Freezer 7 Pro Rev.2...see if it is going up and down accordingly to the CPU temp going up and down...if it is, the smartfan (or whatever is called for your motherboard) is enable, and yes you would need to disable it in bios if you wish the cooler's fan spinning at 100% at all time.

 

On your motherboard it will be called Q-Fan. If you turn it off the CPU fan will run at 100%.

Your first temps were not far from mine and I have a similar setup. I found in my testing (in sig) that a side fan only cooled the motherboard, it didn't lower the CPU or GPU temps. I am running a Titan Fenrir CPU cooler with an Apache Black PWM 120mm fan.

However, my temps were after a much longer period of time running Prime & Furmark. My GPU will be cooler (Vapor-X 4870) though.

Personally I don't like to see my C2D overclocks going much above 60C under load, only because I want to keep them for a long time. Your mileage may vary as they say.

Does you CPU temp lower when switching the rear Antec TriCool on high? What about when you turn both the rear and top TriCool's up to high?

 

Hi fingers.

Changed a couple bits, slightly different results....

1) I looked in the bios at q-fan, and both the options were disabled, with the setting 'Performance' shown, but greyed out.

So i set this to enable, and left the options as 'Performance' (these were now enabled/active)

2) I found an option that was something along the lines of VM Virtulisation (or similar, i cant remember). I disabled this.

3) I also Changed the v-core. CPUZ told me that it was at 1.2, so i moved it down to 1.19.

I saved my 3 changes.

Instantly the fans sounded like they calmed down. So they were obviously already on the rght setting of 'disabled' in the first place.

However, running Furmark & Prime95 for 30mins concurrently and ive only just starting hitting 59/60c. With Furmark showing 74c max on the GPU with a avg framerate of 77.

Sooooo thats a little more respectable ..right?

Also, i noticed an option called something like Nvidia x or similar, it was for additional graphics options? Any ideas what that is about?

 

On the right path

 

Correct, Q-Fan was disabled so the thing sounded like it was taking off. Turning it on will enable the PWM control of the fan attached to the Freezer 7 fan.

You have got a good CPU I think, I need more voltage than you to get my 3.8GHz overclock stable under Prime. Less voltage will mean less heat generated by the CPU, the key is getting the right overclock for the least voltage in a stable manner.

The VM virtualisation is an instruction set on the CPU die that you don't need to worry about, leave it off for now. Google it if you want to know more about it.

I can't remember what the Furmark Nvidia setting is, I wouldn't worry about it though.

Ultimately the Freeezer 7 cooler will have a thermal ceiling, it is not a physically large heatsink. If you want, have a play with the Xigmatek, you have nothing to lose except your time and some CPU temperature...

Told you that you had been bitten by the bug, didn't I?

 

Sweet nice one fingers. I think i can hear the CPU fan throttling. I might disable it again to see if we can squeeze it down 1c

The nvidia setting was in the bios mate, not furmark. Il go have a looksee what it is.

50mins ish under load (prime & furmark) 60c max.

 

It's like the T virus, just one bite...