Legit Reviews

Hey I'm going to get pictures up in just a little bit, but I am trying to overclock a 3GHz Prescott and I can't keep it stable past 3.6-3.65GHz using the Abit IC7 motherboard. I got a bunch of mosfet coolers from Microcool to review and I put a few of them on and it didn't make any difference, I will show you guys pictures and I'm wondering where I should place more coolers. I don't have any cooling on the capcitors (or whatever the battery like things are), is it safe to put a heatsink on it, and if I use one heatsink on two capacitors, will it short circuit?

Pictures:

Top picture is before, bottom is after...tell me what else needs to be kept cool to keep the system stable...

http://www.ubpcreviews.com/DSCN1294.JPG

http://www.ubpcreviews.com/DSCN1298.JPG

Those things were burning to the touch, I put on the coolers and then I figured they would be a little cooler, touched the heatsink and burned my finger instantly, they definately conduct heat.

those micro cool chips won't improve an O/C. IMO they will extend the life/ improve the performance of the system by helping displace heat, i honestly don't see any benefit from placing them on the transistors though. i think placing some on the mosfets, the SB, and a few other places will help with cooling though. run your system for awhile, turn it off and unplug it, and with a clean and dry finger touch some of them to see where they are hot, then try placing some of those coolers on them....or go buy a thermal temp probe.
As to only getting 3.6 or so out of that 3.0E, that isn't a bad O/C at all. i run my 32.2 at 3.7 without any problems.
there is just so much that xcan be limiting your O/C...the CPU, board, RAM, PSU, they all play a part.

From all the posts you've put up, A10, I agree with capper...

I bet that with the hardware you have, 3.6 is the max. Nothing you do, besides replacing hardware, will increase your overclock.

If you really want more (which performance-wise may not even be worth it), you may want to start with really getting that voltage mod for the mobo... that will rule it out as being the cause for getting stuck at 3.6. My guess tho is that you won't get any more out of your system even with the voltage mods so for me, it would just be a waste of money unless you're trying to make the record books...

The next step, if the voltage mod doesn't work would be to replace the Processor and hope you get a 3.0 that is a better overclocker... good luck on that one too.

And in saying all of this, I'm assuming that you have a top of the line PSU and Memory... because they could be the culprits too.

And I wouldn't risk putting heat spreaders on capacitors.... and that's besides the fact that capacitors are round... so how were you planning on going about mounting a flat heat spreader to a round capacitor and expect it to effectively conduct heat? If you were planning on mounting the heat spreader on the top of the capacitor cylinder, then you would be covering, and drawing heat to, the "weak" spot on the capacitor... which would probably cause it to burst easier. (which btw was one of Gateway's issues about 2 years ago... faulty capacitors... they put them on backwards... and all of them burst from the top... Had to help replace about 200 motherboards because of that recall.) Sorry if I sound sassy on this... it just made me laugh picturing a heat spreader on a capacitor. ;)

Illuminati wrote: it would just be a waste of money unless you're trying to make the record book...

That would be nice :D

My RAM is Apacer 400MHz 512x2, but it is set to 5:4 CPU:RAM ratio, so it's still below 200MHz...

My PSU is an Antec 480 True Blue

Neither one of those should be the culprit for some time yet, I figured it out, at 3:2 I can take the RAM to like 340FSB or something. Unless there is something I don't know about going on with how RAM works when the CPU is overclocked. This is strictly a CPU overclock more for the fun of it than system performance.

I'm not a big fan of APACER RAM, I swear by Corsair, but thats just me. I have also had good luck with Kingston and Crucial. For serious O/Cing you need to go with the tried and true.
As to the PSU, it should be fine. It totally depends on the whole system you are running, how warm it is, etc. PSU are less effective the hotter they get, so that 480 PSU might actually only give out 380-400W if it is not circulating air well, and that could be a big problem if you are running a big system that is way O/Ced. sit down and figure out the power consumption of all your components, the whole system, then the 12V, 5V, and 3V rails, after you do that google your PSU and see what oothers are getting out of it and check out Antec's website. If your PSU is good to go, start looking at your RAM. What are the timings you are running? What is the voltage you are giving it? Then go through your BIOS and check all your settings there one by one. Sometimes one little setting in the BIOS can be the difference between a good O/C and a crappy one.

capper5016 wrote:I'm not a big fan of APACER RAM, I swear by Corsair, but thats just me. I have also had good luck with Kingston and Crucial. For serious O/Cing you need to go with the tried and true.
As to the PSU, it should be fine. It totally depends on the whole system you are running, how warm it is, etc. PSU are less effective the hotter they get, so that 480 PSU might actually only give out 380-400W if it is not circulating air well, and that could be a big problem if you are running a big system that is way O/Ced. sit down and figure out the power consumption of all your components, the whole system, then the 12V, 5V, and 3V rails, after you do that google your PSU and see what oothers are getting out of it and check out Antec's website. If your PSU is good to go, start looking at your RAM. What are the timings you are running? What is the voltage you are giving it? Then go through your BIOS and check all your settings there one by one. Sometimes one little setting in the BIOS can be the difference between a good O/C and a crappy one.

My RAM is underclocked, and I've had it past 420MHz before, it's decent memory. The timings are 3-4-4-8 at stock voltage, so that's not a problem.

How am I supposed to figure out how many watts everything uses?

you can start by going to the individual manufacturuer web site. there they should explain what their parts use for power. You can also hit up Infinite, he has been working on an O/C guide that probably includes the power consumtion of major parts at stock and O/Ced levels. remember, the more you ask out of parts, the hungrier they are and more power they consume....add that to an overheated and overworked PSU, and that when you have problems....not insinuating thats your problem, but we need to work each step of the equation. We may find in the end that your processor or board is limiting you, but we need to check weach thing off the list. Also, did you go through the BIOS? that will be our next step.

capper5016 wrote:Also, did you go through the BIOS? that will be our next step.

Huh?

Go back through this whole thread. i told you that you need to go through all your BIOS settings, there are several that will affect O/C ability. things like voltages, memory timings, etc. research your board through google. By searching you will see what others are able to do and where they have problems. It might be a simple setting that you overlooked keeping you from getting the O/C you want. I've seen silly things like memory timings set too tight as the reason for an O/C failing,, maybe your AGP/PCI lock, maybe your v-core. some boards won't O/C well if you are running SATA or a RAID setup. There is alot more too it than just throwing a CPU in a board and cranking the voltage, alot of settings have to work together and be optimized....but we'll figure this out.

AGP/PCI is locked, the RAM is 3-4-4-8, no problems there, I have SATA, but why would that cause problems?

can you open that picture that shows the mosfets before i put on the coolers and circle everything that you see that needs to be cooled (ms paint)? That would help me out so I know that I don't have one mosfet not being cooled and it's causing this o/c to stop

you seriously need to get rid of hotmail...its crap. i can't send you the edited pics.
Basically all the mosfets along the topf f your board could really use those micro cool chips. then there are a few right below your RAM, as well as the southbridge. Like i said, run your system hard for a little while with the side panel off, then with a clean and dry finger, touch a few of them, if they are warm, thats okay, if they are hot, you can put some heatsinks on them. It might not help at all with an O/C, but it will definitely make your board healthier and happier.

send the pics to [email protected]

Those heatsinks I put on already, I burnt my finger on them already, and I even had a 4000RPM fan on them for a little bit (holding it) and I still burnt my finger... Argh!