550 @ 700 need cooling advice

[Xerak]

Greetings all

I overclocked my Athlon 550 (550 core) to 700 but cant manage 750.
Anyhow im using stock heatsink but my case is heavily modded server tower with a 120mm 108cfm side intake hitting some of the cpu, a top 120mm 108cfm blowhole, 2 x 80mm 50cfm intakes on the front and 2 x 80mm outtake behind the cpu. Im running my processor at 1.9v and was wandering if its safe and if it is could I jump to 2.05v?
My computer does NOT have a temperature probe so i dont know when to stop, however even tho im using stock heatsink my case cooling is pulling a few hundred cfms so im hoping I wont need to upgrade the heatsink.
Also does 1.9 ~ 2.05v decrease the life expectancy much because I am a student and dont have much money and will not be upgrading to my watercooled rig untill xmas.:D

Question 2: At 700 it only runs stable at 100fps I cant even rise to 101 without it being stable, on stock settings I can push the fsb to 110 on my Asus K7m motherboard. Why cant i raise the fps when im at 700? Does a higher multiplyer setting stress the memory more?

Im a bit of a overclocking noob so could you peoples give me some feedback on weather 550 -> 700 is a good overclock or not.

Sorry for the bad grammer and spelling in advance

[WesM63]

Xerak,
Althou i don't own a slot a i can help you answer some questions.

First: what is the stock voltage on your cpu? Althou you are running a nice air cooled case setup i would suggest upgrading to a better HSF. Since none of the fans are beeing blown staright onto the cpu the HSF is really more important. I would'nt run any higher than 1.9V unless you have a better HSF.
You should really have some sort of tempature prob..by rule of thumb your not supposed to let the CPU reach 55C or higher.
Also as a rule of tumb, only up the Voltage when you incounter instability.
Yes running a CPU at higher voltage does decrese the CPUs life expectancy, but on average a CPU at stock settings lasts five years.(Most peoples cpus last a few years before they are upgraded)

I really don't know much about the Slot cpu's but higher FSB stresses your memory more. I'am asuming you have PC-100 memory. In this case try lowering the multiplier and uping the FSB,if that is feesable. try (6x110).

Hope this helps...if you need any more help post back.

[imatech]

Yo, Xerak, the Slot Classic processors, are some hefty pieces of equipment! Given your setup, you needent worry to much about heat problems at this point.

I'm curious as to why you're having problems with the FSB settings. Alot depends on your memory, your video card, audio card, and which motherboard you have. They all work in sink with each other.

Post a signature, like you see in others Posts. That will give everyone enough info to advise further.



imatech

[prokaryote]

Excellent advice people.

For what it's worth,

Some general info about CMOS chips that may or may not provide some guidance.

1). Try not to push the voltage > 1.5 times the nominal rating. Chips have built in structures to protect them from ESD events (static discharge, etc.) that are designed to "turn on" at roughly this voltage. They aren't designed to sink alot of current and especially not for long periods of time. Once they blow, you've got a short to ground and the chip is toast.

2). Most transistors onboard the chips are designed to operate within spec upto 70C ambient(given the inaccuracies in thermal couples and figuring for unknowns, 55C to 60C would be the tops that I'd push it to). What this refers to is the temperature immediately surrounding the packaged and attached part while it is operating at full load. The packages are chosen such that the heat on the actual surface of the chip inside the package does not exceed 110C. Above (with some safety margin built in) this temperature, not only will the chip behave erratically due to signal timing issues, but you may encounter a thermal cascade resistance problem. As heat increases, so does the resistance of the chip. This leads to more heat being generated as electrical power is converted to heat energy which leads to higher resistance and so on up to the limit of the power supply's ability to maintain the designed voltage. Result; smoked part and potentially damaged card.

3). Maybe not a problem with slot A processors, but significantly speeding up Giga-hertz class + chips becomes progressively harder and harder. It's not so much a problem of not enough power or removing enough heat as it is with signal propigation. At these speeds, even the tiny metal lines that connect transistors and logic nodes begin to act like transmission lines and antennas (sic). This means that at certain frequencies reflected signals, standing potential waves, RC coupled noise will prevent a recognizable signal to propigate through the lines. Very similar to the issues with cable lengths seen on networks or SCSI cables, but now on a tiny scale.

[Xerak]

Other parts of my comp are:
Asus K7m motherboard
Modded Geforce DDR with chunky cpu heatsink @ 260mhz core (never goes above 40 degress.
Sound Blaster Live Value
Unknown memory brand possibly generic

Any ideas of whats holding my fsb back?

[Lolboy]

Have you flashed the latest BIOS? I found it made a lot of difference when I ran one of these boards.

Lolboy.

[lowrizza]

i got my 3yr. old classic 600 to run pretty smooth at 850mhz. (winamp adv. viz studio works good) but i had to crank the power up to 1.85. i used a hot knife to open just the top of the case for the GDF and i am still using the stock dual fan HSF. cpu is running in the low 40c. range.

my question is two fold.
how much would cooling benefit from completly removing the case of the CPU?
and will i have a problem putting the HSF unit back on the heat plate and supporting the CPU/hsf unit once i have broken the CPU case? (can i just glue the HSF right to the CPU core?)

thanks for the all the help.
lowrizza

p.s. are there such things as L2 cache shims? (to fill the space between the heatplate and the cache)

classic 600 on abit ka7-100 w/lots of fans.

[Lolboy]

Good work. 250 meg over stock speed is quite satisfying.

Your 600 has probably got a quicker core than 600 if you've managed to reach 850 with only 1.85 core voltage. If you are brave enough split the Athy down to the core and have a look. You never know, you may have a 750 or so.
Removing the case complttely may help drop a degree or two. When removed the case you shouldn' have a problem putting your HSF back on as it does't use the plastic casing. The plastic helps to support the processor in its slot, but I have found they fit so tightly that it shouldn't fall out. If you are worried you can run cable ties over the top of the processor and thru the support towers on the mobo.
Some overclockers have tried directly mounting to the core (including myself) with varying degrees of success. I didn't find it any better.

Lolboy.

P.S. L2 cache chips dont normally get hot enough to warrant shims.