I'M CONFUSED!!

[Merlin]

Hey guys,
I have a normal problem but it makes no sense to me that I have it. I have a Barton 2500+ and its running at around 46'C Idle and it jumps to 52'C when I play Half life. The reason I don't think I should have this problem is that I had a barton2800+ and it idled at 36'C with spikes to 42or43'C under load. Since the 2800 I have changed my PSU to a dual fan unit and I just got a wavemaster aluminum case with three case fans rather than the two I had before. I am using the same heatsink and fan as well as the same Arcticsilver thermal grease that I used with the 2800. It makes no sense to me that the 2500 is running 10' hotter than the 2800 withe better cooling stuff around it.

[LVCapo]

Merlin, tell us about your BIOS settings, v-core, boards temps etc. I don't have an AMD, but I'll find the answer for you, and hopefully a solution

[Merlin]

v-core is at 1.718, I just upped my FSB to 400( the temps are maintaining about the same) My ram volts are at 3.09. The System temp is 30'C and the PWM which I assume is the Mainboard power module is at 39'C. I know that I could use faster fans both on the case and on the heatsink but I like the quiet of these lower speed fans. The rear case fan speed is 2300rpm and I assume the two front fans are the same speed. The CPU fan is 2700rpm. I don't know that the temps I'm running are too high its just odd to me that this CPU is so much hotter than the 2800. Even bofore I overclockedd it there was a good 8-10 degree difference between the two. I hope I gave you the numbers you need to help let me know if I didn't.

[Xerxes]

what heatsink are you using and did you double check it to make sure it isnt slightly mismounted?

[LVCapo]

that should be enough info, give me a little time to do some research and i'll get back to you ASAP.

[LVCapo]

Merlin, what HSF are you using? I think that is the root of the problem. your Voltages seem fine, alittle high to the RAM, but your temps seem to be 7-10C too high both under load and at idle. As was suggested, you might want to reseat your HSF, or get a better one. Let me know what you are using, and we'll go from there.

[infinitevalence]

I have to say that im kind of wondering if the new bartons are running a little hotter than before. i know that my 2500+ m runs hotter than most even with a lapped slk-800, but i do run at 1.95v, so who knows just a theory.

[LVCapo]

He's only running at 1.718 though, which isn't bad. Alot of the peoplw I've talked to are running between 1.85 and 2.0 on the 2500+, even with air cooling they are about 5-7C cooler than him. It won't affect your temps a much, but you could stand to back the voltage off the RAM.
It may be a combination of his CPU burning hotter, but i think he also needs a better cooling solution too.

[Bio-Hazard]

The new locked Bartons do seem to run hotter than the unlocked ones. I have one of each anf the locked one at 1.65 volts at 11x200 runs at 41c max load, my unlocked Barton (on the same system) at 1.75 volts at 11x200 runs at 39c max load. If you take a look at the 2 types of CPU you can see that there is a slight differance in the componets on the chip. That may be the reason.............

[LVCapo]

But still, 46/52C seems too hot. Everyone i talked to said the load temp needs to stay under 50C, and that is still about 5-7C hotter than BIO's is running at load.

[infinitevalence]

See that about where mine runs with a slk-800 and a tt smart fan at 4800rpm. i average 46-54c. and im runing at 2.4ghz @ 1.95v.

[Bio-Hazard]

Those wave master cases don't have all that good of air flow, even though it has 3 fans. They don't really have a good place to bring in alot of fresh air.

[Merlin]

What is HSF? and there is one major thing I also changed between the two CPUs. My mainboard, I was running a MSI K7N2 Delta-L with the 2800 which by the way was early 2004 chip. I now have an ABIT AN7 with the 2500 which is a week 51 of 03. I had the 2800 up to 2.43Ghz or so just on the FSB since it was locked. I had thought I blew it when I tried to jump the mult. ratio up to 13 from 12.5. Now come to find out I didn't blow it,or at least I don't think I did, but in my haste I jumpped all over AMD's offer to do a onetime free downgrade replacement on an OEM processor since the vendor only offered 30 days. So that is how I swapped a probably perfectly good 2800 for a 2500 and discovered later that my PSU was more than likely the problem the whole time. Anyway I ramble. I don't know about the idea of older unlocked vs. newer locked since the 2800 was a newer chip and they are both locked. Maybe the ABIT board is not as efficient at getting power to the CPU and the added resistance is causing the added heat. Anyway I am sure you guys are familiar with the Thermaltake Silent Boost , that is what I am and was using. I know the fan is a little slow and not adjustable but what do you think about the heatsink? I would like to stay as quiet as possible but more important I really want those temps down under the 50 mark at load.

[infinitevalence]

WATER in all seriouseness i think the abit board do run hotter. the silent boost is an ok heatsink you would likely get better preformance out of a thermalright with a panflo though. often people buy slient heatsink thinking that they cant get quiet computers with a preformance heatsink when they could not be more wrong. One thing i realy dont like about the slient boost is the fact that its hard to find replacement fans, i had a friends whos SB died after 2 mths and we could not find another fan for it so we had to buy a whole new heatsink. I say sell it to a friend and get a thermalright with a panflo.

[Merlin]

I have a variable speed cooler master fan that fits the heatsink 5500rpm max but its a loud sucker at full throtle. About water I am scared of leaks and I don't have the bucks to put into it, plus water needs more room which I don't have. I have a 11 month old son and our place is small so I am confined to a desk or he'll try to eat everything. Where is the best place to find the panflo and thermalright? How loud is the Panflo?

[LVCapo]

http://heatsinkfactory.com/cgi-bin/HFAs ... gno=HS-005

The ALX is an excellent heat sink, it cools almost as well as the much more expensive SLK-948 ($30 more). I would recommend matching it up with a 92mm Panaflo fan, they also sell those at the Heatsink Factory.
As to the Wavemaster case, I have one, and BIO is absolutelt right, what you would need to do is replace the I/O port on the top with a 80mm fan, and put a 120mm fan on the case door to improve air flow, but they are very nice cases other than that.

[infinitevalence]

Panflows are super quiet. I like the L1A

http://directron.com/panaflo.html
http://svc.com/standardfans.html

for thermalright heat sinks, i always use the same retailer.
http://www.maxcooler.com/cpucooler.html

[Merlin]

The whole reason I got the WAvemaster is because I think it looks BAD --- so I will have to figure something else out because my wife will kill me if I start cutting this case up to put in fans. Maybe a side panel fan would sufice. I have a friend with a computer controlled router table that he can cut almost anything you want out of flat aluminum. What do you think?

[infinitevalence]

Your friends router table sounds like a good way to get a 120mm fan hole cut. Or you could have him put a window in and make a fan hole in some plexi for a fan.

[LVCapo]

The blowhole in the top requires no cutting. You just need to unscrew the I/O port from the inside, and place the fan up in there, Actually your coolermaster case should have come with the fan guard, and it should be mentioned in the instruction book, mine was.
You can run your case without a case door right now until you can cut a fan hole in the door. What I did was zippy a 92mm fan to the bottom of the PSU holder until i cut the fan hole, sometimes you have to be creative. As to the wife, buy her a pair of shoes or something..... sometimes I have to do that with my wife.