2.6GHz with a 13 multi freezes every now and then, going back to 2.5GHz now and will increase the ref HT.
Quote Originally Posted by KTE View Post
Is all this extra cooling necessary?

MSI board doesn't need any chipset cooling, only PWM airflow is recommended. I've primed mine at 2.64GHz many times with just the stock heatsink/fan without problems.
Only one 8cm fan on the pwm area is needed the other two provide the airflow in the case. I leave em on because I will need em at higher clocks and I want no steps in my power consumption mesurements.
Quote Originally Posted by KTE View Post
What AOD button color do you have whilst measuring power?
Yellow but no difference in green mode (maybe ~2W).

Your idle/load is a lot more than mine, all my Phenoms have been much lower load at stock. I am idling 108-111W AC right now with this setup:
Quote Originally Posted by KTE View Post
27C ambient
AOD button = yellow
9600BE 204x12.5 (2550MHz) 1.25VID 1.320V
1836MHz HT 1.250V
1836MHz NB 1.25VID
Stock HSF @ 5V 1500RPM
1x Delta (220CFM) 120mm @ 5V 750RPM
Zalman Fanmate
2x 1GB Crucial Ballistix Tracer @ 2.2V 1088 5-5-5-15-11
2x WD Caviar SE SATA II 76/78GB HDs
1x Seagate 7200.9 SATA II 500GB HD
1x Plextor PX608AL DVD-Re (IDE)
Sapphire HD 2600XT stock 24% fanspeed
2x USB HID peripherals
1x 1Gb LAN
Antec Earthwatts 430W
With the HD2600XT I get ~120-130W AC idle on three different boards and optimized low cpu voltages. M2A-VM has the lowest power consumption but it's still higher that yours.
You don't have an other mobo for comparison?