Overclocking 2500+ - heatsink/fan?

[mujahid7ia]

I'm planning to build AMD 2500+ based system (1.83ghz clock). It has a 333mhz FSB which i want to overclock to 400mhz. The memory will be PC3200 DDR400. I want to know if i can achieve a stable O/C to 400mhz with the default retail heatsink/fan (which i heard is high quality) or do i need a 3rd party cooling solution such as ThermalTake Volcano 9?

here are some more specs if it helps:
-MSI nForce2 Ultra 400 Motherboard for AMD Processors Model "K7N2 Delta-L" Retail
-AMD Athlon XP 2500+ "Barton", 333 FSB, 512K Cache Processor - (maybe OEM if i dont need retail fan)
- [2x] Corsair Value Select 184 Pin 256MB DDR PC-3200 - OEM
MAYBE - Thermaltake Highest Performance SMART and SILENT Volcano 9 CPU Cooler,Application for Socket A/370.


Please also comment on my general sys. config so far...

Thanks for any help!

[redwudz]

Well, here are a couple of sites that might answer your questions:http://www.hardocp.com/article.html?art=NDM0 and http://www.extremeoverclocking.com/reviews/motherboards/MSI_K7N2_1.html
Of course with overclocking, you usually trade a small gain in speed with a large gain in instability. If you are really adventurerous, go for it. My board with a 2500+ runs at 400FSB without overclocking. I use the factory CPU cooler. Extreemly stable, very fast. Good luck.

[rallynavvie]

How are you running a Barton core Athlon at 400 MHz without overclocking? Anytime you adjust anything to run at higher than it was meant to be I'm pretty sure that's considered overclocking now

The 2500 Barton is a good OC candidate. It's likely what I'll be going to when I need to upgrade CPUs, mostly because my board isn't rated to take anything greater than MP2400s and there has been great success OCing the 2500s to MP2800s with the proper equipment. Forget the Volcano, it's nowhere near as good as the Thermalright SLK series heatsinks. I think the SLK-947 is their latest. You have a single CPU so clearance shouldn't be a problem if you're using an ATX board/case. Put a nice, quiet, ball-bearing fan on top of it and you're set. I have two SLK-700s in my case with 80mm fans on top. You can use up to 92mm fans with these heatsinks but the 80mm is the best bet with the widest variety of fans to choose from. Another thing to consider is airflow within the case to make sure that heatsink is getting cooler air directed to it.

You should be able to OC that 2500 to 400 MHz with hardly any instability issues with the proper equipment. With the AMDs it helps to have a temp monitor that can shut down the computer if temps exceed a certain level so give that some thought.

Here's my favorite site for cooling supplies and their AMD coolers:
http://www.sidewindercomputers.com/soccpucool.html

[Piccoro]

How are you running a Barton core Athlon at 400 MHz without overclocking?

Not sure but it could be he changed the muli X fsb for the same mhz.
Granted with the FSB change, AMD would have said it is a faster chip and not rated 2500+.
It is true that it is still ocing, OCing the fsb.

166x11=1826mhz
200x9 = 1800mhz

You are OK with a volcano 9 but it is inefficent.
Too loud for how it cools.
I have a SLK800U (thermalright) heatsink with a 2500RPM fan (quiet) on it and I'm hitting 32C idle 38C load.
Even the Aero7+ is quieter than the Volcano 9 and does the same cooling job.
btw I used to have a vol 9 and am happy I changed coolers.
I'm not even OCing. I got it to cool my CPU under any room temp it's in and to have no fan noise. My room upstairs in the summer is gets too warm.

[Craig Tucker]

If you are going to overclock I would definately get a decent heatsink/cooler. The ones that ship with the CPU's arent up to much. I have an XP2800+ barton. That ran at getting on for 80 degrees C with the stock cooler and thermal tab. It runs around 60 now with a global win and some arctic silver III. Still need a better cooler still, if I wanted to do any overclocking.

And if you change the FSB speed or multiplication factor to gain more Mhz than rated by the manufacturer then you are overclocking. Or underclocking if you are reducing Mhz

Coolers Compared

I shall probrably go for One Of These

[mujahid7ia]

Thanks for all the help guys. I guess I'm going with OEM Athlon and a 3rd part cooling... Thanks for the cooling links but i think i still need your help to decide which one..

Anyone know where I can get an OEM AthlonXP 2500+ cheap?
Newegg.com has one for $86.00, ONLY $5 LESS THAN RETAIL ($91.00) ?!?!
shouldnt there be a bigger difference?

[Piccoro]

You should also note that it is free shipping on newegg.

[rallynavvie]

Well there are two of us who have posted that have Thermalright SLKs on our CPUs (I have two! ) so that's a good start. The price you stated for the OEM processor is about right, and NewEgg is a great place to buy from. The difference between OEM and retail is not going to be much because, frankly, the OEM heatsink/fan is a big POS. That's not their selling point.

The 2500 Barton and SLK-900 combo with a quiet 80mm fan on top will make a great OCing candidate IMO.

[Piccoro]

And the U series (800U / 900U) for spring loaded screws and the back plate to replace the clips that are on most coolers.
If you feel clips are not enough but otherwise the regular SLK800/900 and even the the older models are pretty cheap now.

[mujahid7ia]

rallynavie, doesn't the OEM version not come w/ a cooling solution? i thought it was just the bare CPU...

Yeah, I know it's free shipping, but only $5 more for a warranty sounds good. Maybe i'll just get the retail and use an SLK. I just wont use the default heatsink...

i'll look into those SLKs. I heard ThermalTake's were good tho. I guess not

[Craig Tucker]

This is what you want

[fmctm1sw]

This is what you want

I wouldn't know to hook it up to my computer or tear the blower motor out of my car and replace it....

[rallynavvie]

That thing doesn't have a very efficient fan. It moved up to 22 CFM at a max of 3500 rpm with a noise level of 41 dBA. With an SLK (an all-copper heatsink mind you) you could put something like a Sunon low-speed 80mm fan on top that moves 33 CFM at 2500 rpm and only puts out 28 dBA. Or even better slap a 92mm fan on top of it if you've got the room like the Ultra-Cool clear one that moves almost the same amount of air as the Sunon at only 1900 rpm and with almost the same noise ratings.

Or you could just forget it all and go with an Asetek case and OC the sin out of your CPU

[mujahid7ia]

Or you could just forget it all and go with an Asetek case and OC the sin out of your CPU

lol but I have a budget!

System Specs so far:

Case: Either an Antec SX630II (w/ 300W PSU) - $60 OR an Aspire X-Dreamer II (with 350W PSU) - $59
CPU: AMD Athlon XP 2500+ Barton - $86
Cooling: Still deciding, SLKs prob., hows the Vantec AeroFlow VA4-C7040 ($23)? It has a copper core for only 23 bux!
Motherboard: MSI K7N2 Delta-L - $82
Memory: 512-MB (2x256-MB) PC3200 DDR400 (400 to allow for overclocking FSB) around $90 i suspect
Hard Drive: 80-120 GB, not sure yet, i see alot of sales tho
Video Card: undecided (saw a mad dog dominator FX 5200 w/ 256MB DDR RAM for only $99)
Sound Card: 6-Channel Integrated - $0
Speakers: Some Dolby 5.1 spkrs probably, maybe Logitechs, looking to spend ~$50...
CD/DVD-ROM: Some CDRW/DVDROM combo drive (i saw mad dog dominator DVDROM/CDRW for only 15 bucks! why are those mad dog dominators so cheap?)
Communications: Onboard LAN for my cable
Floppy: Misc. ~ $8

I don't know as much as about this stuff as I would like, so any suggestions are welcome.
Some prices may be outdated.
Why is the Mad Dog Dominator line so cheap? (Optical Drive, GFX, et al.)

EDIT: typos, etc.

[rallynavvie]

Um, well... a friend of mine got a Mad Dog GeForce4 card and the GPU caught fire and melted the plactic fan blades and made a bit of a mess of his PC but other than that I haven't heard any other horror stories about their products. I know I'll never let them in any of my computers.

If you want a decent graphics card for your rig go with PNY or someone. The 256MB of VRAM on that 5200 won't do you much good with that engine. I picked up a 5600 Ultra 128 for $130 the other day but haven't had a chance to play with it yet. Benchmarks on it with the latest International nVidia drivers were pretty good though. Or get the PNY 5200 for $100 if you can't find a deal on the 5600 Ultra. Better off spending the money on a better brand.

You'll also want to spend more money on a power supply. If you're planning on overclocking than having an ample power supply is an absolute must. Get an Antec True430 or better. I like the Antec True line as they have seperate rails for different voltages and hold power a lot better than others I've used. I think I've seen the True430 going for about $100. I've got a True550 in one and a True430 in the other PC and have rock-steady voltages even with all the peripherals in the dual machine.

[mujahid7ia]

Thanks a lot for your suggestions, rallynavvie!

I think I'll start a new thread about my general system config, because it's not just about the cooling solution anymore.

rallynavvie, you don't think 400W is enough for O/C-ing? (esp. a 2500+)

[rallynavvie]

As long as its one of those Antecs you should be OK with a 400W.

You may want to read deeper into this forum a few pages looking at computer specs as there have been a lot of discussions about the subject here recently.

[Craig Tucker]

This is what you want

Just fitted one of these to my athlon 2800+ barton.

Original temperature was 80 degrees + with the standard cooler, reduced to around 63 degrees with a better heatsink cooler, and now finally down to 49 degrees C with this beauty fitted.

[Cobra]

I agree with Craig that the Jet is a nice cooler. I will be doing much the same as yourself, but I intend to use the Coolermaster Aero 7+, which is a full copper heatsink. It doesn't look as nice as the Jet, but you can't beat a big fat lump of copper on top of your CPU to keep it cool.

It's a little cheaper, too.

CobraDMX

[rallynavvie]

The Thermalrights have big copper slugs for contact with the die. I looked at the one Craig posted but there's no way I'd ever be able to fit two of those in my case

I'm now OCing the 2400s to something like 2600 speeds and a combined bus of 800 MHz. Haven't had any troubles with it so far, and surprising temps are keeping pretty much the same as they were before. Only really noticing the changes in encoding speeds so I don't know if I'll keep it this way. I'm really pushing the poor ATX connector on my board which is always the first thing to go with that model.

[Ripper2860]

Get the retail CPU. The warranty on a retail CPU is well worth the $10.00 difference. Still get a 3rd party coller, but get the retail CPU.

[thayne]

Thanks for all the help guys. I guess I'm going with OEM Athlon and a 3rd part cooling... Thanks for the cooling links but i think i still need your help to decide which one..

Anyone know where I can get an OEM AthlonXP 2500+ cheap?
Newegg.com has one for $86.00, ONLY $5 LESS THAN RETAIL ($91.00) ?!?!
shouldnt there be a bigger difference?

Why you want OEM? Get the retail! it comes with a 3 year warr, and the retail heat sink is very good.

[mujahid7ia]

Thanks for all the help guys. I guess I'm going with OEM Athlon and a 3rd part cooling... Thanks for the cooling links but i think i still need your help to decide which one..

Anyone know where I can get an OEM AthlonXP 2500+ cheap?
Newegg.com has one for $86.00, ONLY $5 LESS THAN RETAIL ($91.00) ?!?!
shouldnt there be a bigger difference?

Why you want OEM? Get the retail! it comes with a 3 year warr, and the retail heat sink is very good.

Well this is a fairly old thread, and I did get the retail XP 2500+. Did someone dig this thread out and start posting again?? I already completed the system and am using it right now... Thanks for the help.

[Craig Tucker]

I posted again after buying the cooler that I said I was going to get.

[Ripper2860]

I thought you had, but was not sure if you were buying a new processor for it or not.