Downclock - A silly question - Please let me ask

[Norris]

Good morning from Greece.

If does make any sense to "downclock" my Athlon XP1900+ fsb to 100MHz just to get a lower cpu temperature.

From the very first day I bought my computer I have noticed that the cpu temperature is extremely high at 53c - idle - 64c fully load and the system temperature is at 43c.

The temperatures were measured at summer time and because summer last for several months here at Greece the temperature problem must be solved with a way that will not void the computer's warranty.

The computer have a 36 months warranty and as you understand installin by my own a better hsf or an intake fan this will void my warranty.

Possibly somebody will lough with this question because who wants to buy a high speed cpu and then to dowclock it........

Any thoughts ?


Thanks

Norris

Msi Kt3 Ultra Aru
Amd Athlon XP 1900+
Sis 365 Video
Samsung Drr333 256 Ram
WD 400BB
Apex Mid Tower Case with an 80mm exhaust fan ( the worst case I saw in my life)
GlobalWin WCBK68 Hsf
LinkWorld 300 W Power Supply



Msi Kt3 Ultra Aru
Athlon Xp1900+
Sis 365 Video card
256 Drr333 samsung ram
WD 400BB
Apex Mid Tower Case ( the most worst case I saw in my life)

[JMeesh]

i dont know if reducing the bus speed would cool it down. if you could lower the voltage and reduce speed it would cool it. why dont u get a new heatsink, and if you have to take it in for service, put the old one back on! uh....did i just say that?!? thats probably what i would do.

meesh

[Boaz]

Have the same problems with high room temps in Israel.
Try removing both case sides. It is ugly but it works.

[Zephyr]

Are you having stability problems?

I have seen Palominos run quite fine at 64-65C full load, and Tbirds run stable at 70 full load.

Athlons are spec'ed up to 90C, so even at 64 there's still headroom left for the error in reading on the thermal diode.

Still 64C is a bit on the high side and in addition to Boaz suggestion you could put up a "table fan" next to it to cool it down further.

Anyway.. downclocking woul also reduce the heat, no doubt about that. The cpu will, at alower clock, draw less watt, and thus dissipate less heat. So if you can live with the performance decrease (and yes it will be signifigant) that option would give you some, although not much.

[Drisler]

Originally posted by Boaz
Have the same problems with high room temps in Israel.
Try removing both case sides. It is ugly but it works.

Might have problems with dust.

if you downclock your cpu will die of underusage,


apart from the table fan..would adding a case fan or two cause to void a warranty? Using another HSF is another ok choice and just replaced the old one when you take it in!

[notdrugged]

Who built your computer? Was it shop-built by a small company or is there a brand?

[Norris]

Good afternoon from Greece.

Please, let me thank all of you that replied to my earlier post.

Stability : Negative - The pc is working fine even with the high temperatures I mentioned before.

My Pc was builted by a respectable Greek company and I really think that they have done a good job but I am not very shure for the GlobalWin WBCK68 hsf and for the Apex case.

I have tested allready the fsb to 100MHz and I didnt noticed a big diference in speed.

I am working with the Ulead's Dvd Workshop 1.2 for recording some documentaries Vcd's and the recording speed was just like before about 20 minutes for rendering and record an 657 Mb VCD at x8 speed.

I will remove the side panels of my computer case and I am thinking also to place a mains desktop to blow directly on the cpu.

Please, may I have some suggestions on a good hsf for my XP1900+ ?

Have a nice day and thanks a lot.

Norris Tercell

[Zephyr]

If your PC is stable I would say that the saying "If it ain't broken - don't fix it" applies.

If you're intention is to overclock you'd need to get them down, but if not and it's running fine now I see no reason to mess with it. There is the issue of the thermal compound getting "pumped out" over time. But if it was prebuilt it most likely features a TIM pad and you won't have to worry about that issue.

Refitting the heatsink might end up doing more damage than good.

Just my thoughts on the issue.

[nub]

Try lowering your voltage a little bit. I forgot what voltage I'm running a 1600+ at, but I lowered them and OC'd to 2000+ specs. With stock speeds, and lower voltage, you should get nice drops in temperature.

I checked the voltage and I have it set at 1.65 and the processor temperature is at 40c, and my Monster cooler is not even running at full speed.

[notdrugged]

Swiftech MCX462 is one of the best, but requires you to remove the motherboard from the case to install. LOL! I assume you don't want to be that involved.

And yes, it's perfectly compatible with your motherboard. You just have to install standoffs through the mounting holes around the socket. this requires access to the back of the motherboard.

You could always get a pump, a trap, a huge fan, some tubing, machine a block for your socket, rip a radiator out of a salvage-yard and cool it with water.

There are some other choices I think are better than what you have currently, but they are also extremely heavy, and I think you would have to be careful transporting your computer.

[Andrew LB]

If you can get them in Greece, i would recommend Thermalright heatsinks. They are the best IMO.

[BuiesCreek847]

I agree with Zephyr. It'd be silly for a mfg to put a PC on the market only for it to lock up due to a warm room. I would imagine the builders in Greece would be well aware of the expected operating environment in that local. Additionally, The CPU makers that paired the OEM HSF with it, would be well aware that in reality, a lot of PC users would be scared to death of opening the case to clean the HSF of any lint build-up. Typicaly, I would expect a degree of head room in the HSF applied.

Also, most mfgs are smart enough to notice if a HSF had been manipulated should the PC be returned with a torched CPU. If I'm not mistaken, AMD uses the tape type heatsink compound that a lot of folks don't care for. As a result, it's replaced with another type/brand when the aftermarket HSF is applied. If it weren't capable of supporting the 3 year warranty that retail AMDs come with, they wouldn't use it.

Personally, if I were that concerned about voiding the warranty, I'd leave it alone. If it fails, then take advantage of the warranty.

[KenG]

Originally posted by Boaz
Have the same problems with high room temps in Israel.
Try removing both case sides. It is ugly but it works.

If you try this and it helps very much, seriously consider a new case. I have an Antec with four fans and the CPU temperature changes by less than 1 deg. C if I remove the case sides.

If it's not crashing and the cpu cooler is working don't worry too much. It will crash before it damages the cpu if the heat sink fan is running. Remember that some boards and BIOS report higher temperatures than others. My ASUS A7V333 1800+ with Volcano 6 won't read much below 56-57 deg C under any kind of load. Apprently I could update the BIOS and reduce the reading but not the actual temperature. I did get a slug of dust bunnies suddenly into the cooler and it abruptly began running at over 75 deg C and automatically shut down.

So, clean your heat sink if you haven't done that already.