The Dark Side!

[gahleon]

Yeah dude, double check about temps please cause I am curious to know. You seem genuine and that is hard to find on forumz. Everyone wants to be so leet n shit! No one wants to just say yeah I was worried about this or scared to mess this up. You seem honest so lemme know. Lata

 

[borandi]

I did have my X2 4400 at 2.5Ghz once before... but after a week I started have HDD problems (clunking noises, BSOD, failed startups due to unreadable HDD). I rolled back *everything* and the HDD is fine now. The 2.5 did get to 54C on full load, though that was in winter in a normal room.

Full load so far:

Stock (2.20Ghz): 48C
2.25 Ghz: 51C

I'm still waiting on some fan filters from ebuyer (10 weeks in the sodding mail, they're not returning my emails and not promising what they'd do when I call them *GRR*). I could probably de-dust my machine too.

 

[sojrner]

yup, i was wrong on the #s...

38c on sorta-idle (with some file transfers going)
45c +/- on load

so I have some room to go yet. sorry about the confusion. 😉 l8z

 

[gahleon]

Thats the question though. Is the processor that noticably faster with the overclock? Opty 170 is fast as hell without any oc.

 

[borandi]

I see a difference enough in my X2 to make it worth it.

 

[gahleon]

Running music, browsing on the net, and monitoring it is at 37C right now. I don't know if that is bad. The artic silver has only been on a week. Plus one fan is off on the side of the case. On an 80mm but still it could intake more cool are to flow. I have the main intake fan blowing over a passively cooled (zalman) 74 gig raptor 10000 rpm drive. So that gets cold so the intake is already warm by the time it gets to the processor. I think that my Opty is already too hot for OC in my eyes at least. I know that these processors aren't rated to get as hot as the old xps. They usually run way cold. Now at 35. Running fear or cs at top settings at 1600x1200 or cs source on the same with x1900xt it gets up to 42c. If I oc at all it is going to get hot as hell. I think thats stupid even though I want to.

 

[sojrner]

well, my philosophy on oc is this:

small steps, like REALLY small. after each step run a while both desktop apps and games. ut 2004 or quake3 are great 'cause you can do them on a loop. Run at low settings for cpu oc's as that will put more on the cpu than the video. Let that go for a while and then check both temps and look for any issues.

Once you get too hot or have voltage/speed prbs you will see crashes or instability or bad POSTs. I think if you go in small steps you will be able to do fine. Based on what i have read that opty should go much higher than an x2. It is a server grade chip that can handle alot more than what a consumer chip like the x2 can.

But I never go for the super high clocks anyway, i like to stay w/ air cooling and just get a "little" more out of it while keeping totally stable.

w/ my small 3% oc now i saw about a 300 point increse in 3dMark 05... so not much but measurable.

 

[borandi]

Ok a refresh of my X2 4400:

Its been running almost 24/7 since christmas (on BOINC).
I actually went and cleaned the dust out of it(!)

So, when de_dusted and 100% load:

2.20Ghz (200x11): 43ºC
2.25Ghz (205x11): 43ºC
2.30Ghz (210x11): 44ºC
2.35Ghz (215x11): 44ºC

Each OC is at least 8hrs stable.
Looks like it might go to ~2.6 fairly easily, despite the expected exponential increase in temperature.

 

[sojrner]

wow man, that is really good... and that is on stock cooling?! wow... makes me all the more excited for this weekend. :twisted: gonna put 'er up on blocks and do some heart surgery... muahaha!

actually I just mean to do some oc'ing but you get the idea... woohoo! will post back w/ some data.

 

[borandi]

I just had a computer &*()(& up.

Upped the FSB another 5Mhz, installed some stuff, and for some reason a virus got in through my firewall and virus scanner - couldnt boot up. First I thought it was system instability, so I clocked down. Then when XP wouldnt boot under any circumstance, I used it as an oppertunity to reinstall everything.

So, back to 200FSB again. :roll:

I bought my computer pre built, though I got to choose the components (not necessarily the brand, i.e. RAM). I opted for extra cooling, and got a 8cm square gigabyte HS and 8cm fan on it. So not stock (my error) but most people around here have some sort of zalman cooler.

 

[sojrner]

ok then... ya i know that most have the zalman, I have some friends w/ it and it reall is the $**t. Kinda pricey for right now though... perhaps when I "need" the higher clock I will get it. 😉

Hope you can get the system back to where you had it man... stupid viruses.

 

[sojrner]

ok, just at first using the asus AI in the bios I clocked the 4200 from 2.2 to 2.4 w/ no issues. This of course means that doing it manually (like using a divider etc...) I should get it higher...

...keep in mind this is with stock cooling... cpu temp at load is still 45c !!! NO CHANGE! (stock clocks did only peak at 45 and this STAYS at 45 but still...)

I also used the ati overdrive in the drivers to bring the card to 645/745. AtiTool kept crashing my system and 3d mark would not run w/ it installed. strange...

So now, w/ those clocks I am getting 11k for 3dmark 05 and 5.7k for 06

(from 10.5, 5.5 w/ vid card @ 635/730 and cpu @ stock)

I will play w/ the manual settings on the mobo for oc the cpu and see if any big improvements... woo-hoo

 

[gahleon]

yeah dude, but seriously.......when you overclocked that x1900xt didn't it get way hot! I mean when I play cs n stuff that card gets way hot. What is your temps on it? underload?

 

[borandi]

Hope you can get the system back to where you had it man... stupid viruses.

Found the problem - my USB external HDD was interfering with the boot-up when it was plugged in. I only found this out AFTER reinstalling everything. *grumble*

Now 210FSB (2.31Ghz) 100% at 48ºC.

For some reason since reinstall my speedfan wont work...? So I'm taking temps from ASUS Ai Booster.

 

[sojrner]

yup, like stranger said... i could cook a turkey on it if i so chose to use it that way. according to the ccc it gets up to 72 after a few runs of 3dMark. It sits at about 65 after a few hours of bf2 though. So the 'mark taxes it WAY more than games right now.

But ya, its hot... too hot for comfort so I ran it that high for a while and then just clocked it back down... I dont need that speed on it yet anyway as everything current runs flat out spankin on it stock. (ok, honestly I run it at 630/730 which is slightly clocked... I just cant resist! lol) Once AtiTool is stable, which i hope is soon... it alows access to the fan speed bumps, as the stock speed settings let that thing get that hot.

The short time i had it installed (before it crashed the 'mark) I ran it clocked like that and yet had the fan set to ramp up quicker... it ran much closer to what it did at stock speeds w/ "old" fan settings. (louder though) Obviously ati chose quiet fan over cooling, and once that thing speeds up it definitely cools it fine. That is def. what i will do once i need the speed and the 'tool is stable.

I do see more overall system improvements w/ the cpu clock... even in games so I am keeping that, (and why not w/ the temps so stable) and prb go higher...

This is one hot chip though. hottest thing in my case and the only fan that exhausts really hot air! Think I may put an intake fan on the side for it as this sonatta case (while quiet) does not have the intake right for a video card like this.

 

[Pyo]

Well as Far as the X1900XTX goes its grear and your frame rates will seem low like in CS:S mine runs at 90Fps constant no dips nothing AAx8 AFx16,
(I think thats right or maybe the otherway around), What you need to do is, open console in CS:S and type cl_showfps 2 , that will show you between what range you card runs, and if you want you can set the max fps by typing
max_fps (type a value) its normally on 300.


Along the lines as far as the X2 4400 goes, I tried to OC it and I ended up with only one core working, I took small steps so I had to revert back to normal settings and then it worked (you could imagine my sigh of relief 😀).


My CPU Idle temp @2200Mhz is 29C
When full Load @2200Mhz is 39-45C

Bleh