955BE@3.4 How am I looking?

[aythrea]

I've been staring at an Athlon 64 X2 @25C for three years now. I'm not entirely sure how I'm doing, or if my temps are well within reason. 40C idle on a Noctua NH-D14 seems a little high to me. Any input would be appreciated.

[gvguy39]

That does seem a little high for idle... how are the temps at load?

[Andi64]

What's your ambient temperature? Looking at the temp of the hard drives your case isn't doing a good job or your ambient temp is high.

wow! Check your RAM latencies

[zalbard]

Definitely too high. Should be something within 28-35C. Have you tried re-seating it? Make sure to properly apply a proper TIM.
Oh, and hope your case has some ventilation.

[crazydiamond]

yes i think a combination of hot ambients & poor airflow in the case - with 70f room temp my hard drive is at 86f and it is under my dvd drive completely away from the airflow in my case - when it was in hd bays in front of intake fan it was like 75f... his hard drives range from 102f-113f

edit: also interesting that his cpuz shows "Socket AM3 (938)" - w/ same cpuz version mine shows 939 lol and i was looking back at some of my old screenies which all show "Socket AM3 (939)" xcept one shows "Socket AM2+ (940)" & it was w/ my gd-70

edit again: also it looks like your ram isnt running in dual channel - what slots do you have the sticks in?

[aythrea]

What's your ambient temperature? Looking at the temp of the hard drives your case isn't doing a good job or your ambient temp is high.

wow! Check your RAM latencies

Definitely too high. Should be something within 28-35C. Have you tried re-seating it? Make sure to properly apply a proper TIM.
Oh, and hope your case has some ventilation.

yes i think a combination of hot ambients & poor airflow in the case - with 70f room temp my hard drive is at 86f and it is under my dvd drive completely away from the airflow in my case - when it was in hd bays in front of intake fan it was like 75f... his hard drives range from 102f-113f

edit: also interesting that his cpuz shows "Socket AM3 (938)" - w/ same cpuz version mine shows 939 lol and i was looking back at some of my old screenies which all show "Socket AM3 (939)" xcept one shows "Socket AM2+ (940)" & it was w/ my gd-70

edit again: also it looks like your ram isnt running in dual channel - what slots do you have the sticks in?

I'll try to address all of this at once. The ambient in my room flat sucks. It goes from scorching to freezing in something like half an hour. Second, I just reseated the heatsink. I had a suspicion I'd screwed up late last night. So we'll see here pretty soon if there's any change.

As for my case, it's an Xclio 1000, stuffed with too many hard drives. I'm dumping two of them off today and doing some rearranging. Hopefully that will give me some free moving air inside. I'll try and get a pic of the guts so you can see just how stuffed it is inside. At this very moment, my CPU is running at 36C.

Speaking of TIM, AS5 vs Noctua's TIM? Words from the wise? I have no problem tearing this down and reseating with the other if necessary. I'm running it with the AS5.

[demonkevy666]

it must not better a good mount.
that's the best cooler out right now O_O now way that thing should even be near 50C with that monster.
also that 1.392 is probably more like 1.4125 under load, you could try a little less voltage most chips can use less at stock.

I've preferred stuff that isn't sticky but not too runny, like TX2 or even Dynex from best buy is good lol

[BeepBeep2]

Hmm my CPU @ 1.55v/ 4 Ghz with 2.8 NB runs cooler idle than that lol...

Load is a different story but my cooler should suck compared to that.

MX-3 or TX-2 is the way to go. I've heard bad things about TX-3 IIRC. AS5 is around 2-3c worse than MX-3 on load.

[aythrea]

No load temps seem to be better (Between 28 and 35) What you see is a light load with ...pidgin, steam, paint, and of course the CPUZ windows open. As for the ram? ...I'll assault that in a bit. Taking out some of the dead weight HD's and reseating my heatsink certainly helped. A the point of print screen, the system had been up for about 4hours solid while I was running errands.

I'd say I've straightened some of the issues out at the moment.

[i found nemo]

dang man. tighten ur timings up! look at the spd rating in cpuz

[SocketMan]

Well it looks better already,as far as the voltage goes:
1.4v (what you have) should be enough for 3.6ghz and 1.250v for
3250mhz.
Do you have AOD (amd overdrive utility)? -allows to tweak a lot of staff from
windows

[aythrea]

dang man. tighten ur timings up! look at the spd rating in cpuz

8-8-8-24 is about as tight as I think I'm going to get it. I don't know much about mem ocing, and 7-7-7-21 caused my machine to puke. I'll poke at that again a little down the road.

Well it looks better already,as far as the voltage goes:
1.4v (what you have) should be enough for 3.6ghz and 1.250v for
3250mhz.
Do you have AOD (amd overdrive utility)? -allows to tweak a lot of staff from
windows

I do have AOD. I've only just started poking at it. I generally don't use software to overclock. (Bad experiences with an MSI K9N-Neo mobo)

Overall it does seem to be my erratic ambient temps are causing the most problems.

I'll keep those voltages in mind.

[BeepBeep2]

8-8-8-24 is about as tight as I think I'm going to get it. I don't know much about mem ocing, and 7-7-7-21 caused my machine to puke. I'll poke at that again a little down the road.



I do have AOD. I've only just started poking at it. I generally don't use software to overclock. (Bad experiences with an MSI K9N-Neo mobo)

Overall it does seem to be my erratic ambient temps are causing the most problems.

I'll keep those voltages in mind.

Try 7-8-7-24 on the RAM...

AOD is probably the best overclocking software I've ever used...it's like NVIDIA NTune on steroids

[gOtVoltage]

Try the Noctura paste...
Or Xigmatek or MX2..all three will give lowest temps with out having to reapply it down the road.

With Air cooling the AS5 should be replaced every three to 4months..

Why you ask,,
It dries out over time and will need replenishing..
The other paste do not and offer a better thermal propertie with less paste and dosnt require a on off CPU cycle to set it in like AS5..

When it comes to paste Less is more ...
Too much and it will work against you,, acting like a heat insulator instead of a heat transfer between the IHS and Air cooler used.

Also 888/24 timing will be good untill you find the Max CPU clock you want to run at..Also goes for helping the NB ...

You can tighten the Timing once you figure out your Max clocks..

Sometimes,,
Stock or loose timing can get you a higher NB vs tight and low freqency..

.Ive also seen that some Optimal timing for DDR3 is around 1333mhz 5 or 6 and or 1600mhz 7 timing...

Once you play a little,, youll see the diferrences..
Use Everest or SuperPi to see what timings run more efficient..

Faster times are always better along with lower latency..Especially for gaming and system response.

[imamage]

Try adjust your RAM Timing.....CL11 ......

[aythrea]

Sing it with me: This was a triumph!

[crazydiamond]

temps are so much better, nice job

[RoadconeTuning]

where that chip is supposed to be FTW.... now time for MOAR COOLING AND MOAR MEGUH HERTZ

[xman01]

do you have an rear exhaust fan for the xclio?

[Rattle]

Sing it with me: This was a triumph!

is it stable though? where did you buy that chip?

looks good

[aythrea]

do you have an rear exhaust fan for the xclio?

Two, actually. They're some 120's and aren't the greatest but they definitely improved the airflow in the case. With 6 "180's" ( They're really 160s) blowing in, and 2 blowing out, you can see how there' might be a bottleneck in the exhaust.

[aythrea]

is it stable though? where did you buy that chip?

looks good

It's not quite stable. I went to run Cinebench last night and it seized. Stability is my next step. I just wanted to grab a valid and a screen of it up and running.

[aythrea]

Here's what I've learned!

4Ghz is possible with this chip in a flat out. Don't try to prime95 with it. My success rate is 0.
A 19.5 X 200FSB is stable at 1.475v on the VCore.
20 x 200 is not stable and likely won't be without a more extreme cooling system. The NH-D14 is great at what it does. I'm just not sure I'm ready to jump much higher than 1.5v VCore on air with my erratic ambient temps. Although, Under load, my high is 48c. I might revisit that in the future.
Here are my results: