How Cool A Prescott Is Cool?

[excitron]

I've been having problems with a Prescott-based system, related primarily to thermal issues. I've taken steps to address this, but I'm curious as to what is considered satifactory temps for a Prescott.

The system is in a 4U rack case. It's 3.2 gig Prescott on a DFI LanParty Pro 874B board, and Antec Truepower 480 PS, 4 512 meg Geil Golden Dragon chips, an 80 gig Maxtor primary and two 160 gig Maxtors rigged as a RAID 0 array. The system is not overclocked.

Originally I was getting 44C/111F motherboard-58C/136F chip at idle and 46C/117F motherboard-77C/171F chip under load (a 50-minute MP3 render).

After discussions here, I've installed two 92mm fans in the front case intake vents (2850 RPM, 56 CFM each, replacing 80mm fans, RPM & CFM unknown), and a hard drive cooler in an empty 5-1/4 mount (3 1-inch fans, RPM & CFM unknown). These draw air from the front towards the "reactor area". Additionally, I installed a Mad Dog PCI exhuast fan (2900 RPM, 35CFM) in the rear by the northbridge/CPU, and a Thermalright XP-90 heatsink with a 92mm Panaflo H1A Fan (2850 RPM, 56.8 CFM). The Mad Dog fan and the Antec PSU exhuast fans "bookend" the Thermalright, the northbridge and the MOSFET heatsinks. I also cleared up clutter that could obstruct airflow coming in from the front intake fans.

With this arrangement, I now get 39C/102F motherboard-48C/118F chip at idle and 40C/104F motherboard-60C/140F chip under the same load.

Certainly an improvement, but my primary question is, is this enough? What is considered normal system temps in general, and Prescotts in particular? Someone mentioned that Prescotts will throttle themselve if they start to roast. At what temps does this happen? Am I clear of the throttle range with these new temps? Was I always? I'd like to make sure this chip is running at full potential.

Is this considered normal? I can't for one second imagine it so. I think it's nuts. I don't think I'm going to be able to make this system any cooler, short of going to some liquid cooling system. Frankly, the whole thing strikes me as incredible overkill for sake of keeping a system cool. I may now have a cooler system, but with a total of 9 fans (!, including GPU) it's now quite a noisebox. The CPU may hang around for X-mas, but that noise is a bummer.

So I'd like some feedback on these issues. Is this cool enough? Am I out of the Prescott's throttle range? Is there a better way to do this?!

Thanks for any info this.

 

[endyen]

Nice work. You are now well within normal operating temps for a scotty. Just remember to vacuum, or blow your system clean, about once a month.

 

[DonnieDarko]

good job, now all you need is a pair of earplugs to overcome the jet engine sound

Watch out for the <b><font color=red>bloody</font color=red></b> Fanboys!

AMD64 2800+ :: MSI Neo-Fis2r :: 1024mb Kingmax ddr400 :: Sapphire 9800pro 128mb :: 10K WD Raptor

Addicted, finally.

 

[scottchen]

I'm not sure about prescott's, but you might be able to undervolt them if you aren't overclocking. I've had great experience with N.Wood, Clawhammer, and Barton undervolting at stock speeds. So try that, it'll lower the temps a little bit more.

 

[excitron]

>>...you might be able to undervolt them if you aren't overclocking.<<

I'm not familiar with this concept. Would that maintain the present clock speed? Where would I set it in the BIOS?

 

[scottchen]

Would it maintain the present clock speed? LOL i think i just said i'm not sure about the prescott's so you'll have to try it urself, never used that board so i wouldn't know, but i'm sure DFI has voltage control in the bios. Less volt(power)=less heat.

 

[excitron]

>>...i just said i'm not sure about the prescott's so you'll have to try it urself...<<

Well, OK, what kind of voltage settings should I try to start with? What settings have been successful with the Northwood? I know it may not apply to the Prescott, but I need some kind of starting point.

I took a look around the BIOS, and all I could find were overvoltage settings for CPU clock and CPU voltage control. CPU clock ratio was grayed out. The numbers can only go up, they are at their lowest settings, 1.3875v for the CPU voltage, clock at 200 megs and multiplier at 16x. These setting are for the stock 3.2 gig chip speed.

Perhaps this board has no provisions for underclocking.

 

[scottchen]

Well for Northwoods i've had luck going to 1.375 from the default 1.525 on a P4P800 with a 2.8C chip.

Oh well, just keep it as the lowest possible, if it's stable, great, and just ignore that whole undervolting idea.

 

[Randel]

I'd would need to know exactly which processor you have, including the stepping and type of socket. However, it probably has a thermal specification between 70 and 73.2 degrees celcius.

However, the exact answer can be found in these two links.

http://processorfinder.intel.com/scripts/list.asp

http://support.intel.com/support/processors/pentium4/sb/CS-007999.htm

 

[excitron]

OK, thanks to everyone for all the info. I'm hooking up the front 92's and the rear Mad Dog to a fan voltage controller on the Antec that will drop their speeds and see if the airflow holds up well enough at the lower rate to keep it cool enough, yet quieter.

 

[Schmide]

Vacuums produce an insane amount of static electricity. Be careful.

Dichromatic for your viewing plesure...

 

[TheRod]

You can try building some "air duct" in your case. Check this article on overclockers.com, it really improved heat issue for the guy who tried it, and it cost nearly nothing!

<A HREF="http://www.overclockers.com/tips1187/" target="_new">http://www.overclockers.com/tips1187/</A>

--
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