E6600, Gigabyte 965P-DS3, Wintec DDR800, Zalman 9500

[BradF1979]

Hi guys, I'm not new to building PCs or even overclocking. My first overclock was the Celeron 300A to 450Mhz. Surely some of you remember that beauty!

Anyway, I haven't really overclocked since then, but I got what's listed in the topic and I'm ready to shove this thing into overdrive.

I'm running Vista so I'd like to know some programs that will report temperature accurately and that I can use to test the system on an overclock.

Temperature wise, it's best to keep it under 55C on full load right? How much above that can you safely go?

Right now I have it clocked stock and haven't tested the temperatures at all, but I want to be sure I don't go too far.

I've read quite a few articles and threads on overclocking this motherboard and processor however I wanted to get some more feedback on just how high is reasonable (speed) for the CPU on cooling from the Zalman 9500. I have 3 extra case fans, one blowing out the side, one blowing out the back (line up with the Zalman) and one on the other side of the Zalman blowing towards the back. Like this:

CASE FAN (BACK OF CASE) <- ZALMAN <- CASE FAN (ON MIDDLE BAR)

The memory has timing of 4-4-4-12 at 1.9v-2.0v.

I was hoping for 3.2 at the minimum, but I've heard of people getting 3.8 on air...

My initial thought was 8x450Mhz 1:1, DDR900 at 4-4-4-12 (if possible).

I'd appreciate any comments or thoughts.

 

[BradF1979]

I'm not having any luck.

I'm using core voltage of 1.5250 and +.1 to both FSB and System.

I can get into Windows at both 8x450 and 8x400 but TAT is ridiculous. Idle I'm running 40, but on TAT full load goes up to 70.

Without any overclock, I run about the same, 40 idle 55-65 load. About 60 ambient temp... Could my CPU not have enough thermal paste, I don't use the speed switch with the Zalman, it runs at a constant 2700rpm.

 

[xlfirstclass]

Your temps seem kinda high for a Zalman cooler. You may want to check your cooler and make sure your getting good contact with the cpu. Make sure you don't have to much thermal paste. To much can be a bad thing. I'm pretty sure you know all this. Didn't mean to insult your intelligence if i did. As far as monitoring your temps not to sure on that one. I've got the same problem, can't find anything that will run on Vista.

 

[BradF1979]

I've got TAT, CPU-Z, and CoreTemp all working on Vista.

I'm currently 360x9 at stock vcore. With FSB and MCH voltages set to +.1v in the BIOS and DDR2 voltage set to +.2 (making it 2.00v total). I'm running timings of 5-5-5-15, anything else seems to crash.

Been running Prime95 without any errors, max load temp as 50c.


THoughts?