Best CPU cooling recomendations? Overclockers & non OC's Welcomed...

[silvertechs]

Ok I admit it im interested in overclocking my CPU and Memory that can run faster? I know heat ulimately kills CPU's and most components, so before making any attempts I want hear hear from both sides of the fence on whether or not it's worth the risk... and steps to reduce the risk.

I have a 2.53GHZ Pentium 4 and I have checked with overclockers.com and the average for this CPU overclocking with an ASUSTEK P4S8X board with stability was 3.05mhz...

One question my CPU seems to be locked, how do I unlock it?

 

[franklin97355]

Water cooling will give you the best cooling but it can be expensive.

 

[dumdum]

You cannot unlock an Intel Chip.

Thermalright has some new (aircooled) heatsinks that are getting good reviews. I believe they are the 900 model number. I'm using one of there SK6 models on a 1.33GHz T-bird and with the right fan it keeps me nice and chilly.

Overclocking is an art. It's not just bumping everything up a few notches. Take your time and may your increases 1MHz at a time.

I'm not sure about your board but some will let you increase your memory and CPU speed independently of each other. Some also let you lock the PCI and AGP ratios. These boards allow much more flexibility in making adjustments to each particular bus rather than just bumping up the whole system.

We are always looking for new members at our computer forums:

http://forums.jlrforum.net

 

[silvertechs]

Huh, good suggestions anyone else?

 

[silvertechs]

love to hear from others on this?

 

[Grenage]

I myself always used to overclock, from my cyrix 200, though the glory days of the Celerons (you could get such a boost) and my last machine was a 700 at 933.

There are ultimately benefits of overclocking, although they do seem to be diminishing in the amount you can OC.

For this reason My latest machine (2.6 P4) has not been overclocked in any way, since (for me at least) the rewards just didnt't justify the effort required. The cost of a bigger HS/F and a couple of case fans meant I spent about the same as if I'd just bought the faster CPU.

The risk doesn't seem to be too high, I've never roasted a CPU before but I have had a few BSoD.

Those were my personal experiences, some of my friends still OC simply because they like to tinker and tweak.

If you are going to overclock I would definately recommend watercooling since it not only cools your CPU very effectivey, they can be very quiet which is a nice advantage. The Cyro Freezer units available are apparently very good too although for a Kit and case at £500-700 I could never see the attraction.

Reading up on your exact chip on OC forums is a good way of knowing what to expect from your chip and how high to aim, but it's still amazing how much more you can get from one P3/4 compared to a seemingly identicle chip.

You can really minimize the risk by icreasing the OC in small steps, turning off your machine as soon as you can should any signs of Overheating occur.

And of course the motherboard you use is almost more important for the OC than the CPU you are going to use.

 

[pmonett]

I'll join with Grenage here. In my view overclocking used to be a very useful hobby, because components were much more expensive and more resiliant. In those days, founders were cautious with the specs, and overclockers could almost double the speed of their CPUs without too much fear and for much gain.
But nowadays, founders are designing composants closer and closer to the physical limitations of the material. That means that there is less and less "space" to overclock reliably. Most often, you can OC by 10% or 20%, but little more. Especially in graphic cards, OCing does not go far, and brings meager rewards.
And besides, with a 2.5Ghz chip I would think that you had a good amount of power already. Save your efforts, and your money, for buying a new CPU/motherboard/whatever a year down the line. Meanwhile, have fun with what you have now.

That said, watercooling is great. I have a kit installed since a good six months now, and it is quiet and efficient. I no longer fear a CPU upgrade, since I know that my kit will be able to handle a large range of additional heat dissipation requirements.
Yes, it is certainly expensive at the moment (especially when you blow a motherboard when unmounting the previous HSF), but in the long run you are dispensing with a new HSF every time you upgrade.
So, the more you upgrade, the cheaper it is ;-)

My 2 cents.

 

[silvertechs]

Great responses, and many thanks love to hear from all...

 

[Amorphus]

if you're interested in spending money (or rather, not scared of it), the best combo out nowadays is this:
Thermalright SLK-900U
Vantec Tornado 92mm Double Ball Bearing Fan (119CFM@!!@$!@$)

that'll keep you cold as ice.

the Thermaltake Tornado 9+ (I think thats what its called) is a good heatsink, also.

you can't go wrong with Swiftech, either.

I forget a bunch of other good heatsinks. before you buy anything, though, read at least 3 independent reviews of the product.

 

[silvertechs]

According to Overclockers.com the average overclocking for my motherboard with a 2.53GHZ CPU was 3.059ghz? Would this be a noticeable difference in speed? According to intel's chart the difference between their 2.53 and 3.0 CPU's isn't all that great....

Any comments to this welcomed...

 

[tazzed]

I Use Water Coolong On A 2.0Ghz Overclocked to 2.3G
If you are doing this for kicks and giggles Great Have fun, As for a actual speed increase when working or playing games I don't see it. Just Remeber if you go to far you could be buying a new cpu. Also If you overclock your CPU you also overclock RAM, Video, And any other PC cards installed, make sure your other stuff can handle it too.

 

[Grenage]

AGP/PCI speeds have generally always been configurable seperately from the CPU, and todya a large chunk of the RAM is configurable indipendantly too, which does take a fair bit of the instability out.

I think you would notice a difference between your chip as normal and OC'd to 3g (Assuming it could get that high and remain stable), but the difference would mostly be visible in the benchmarks rather than the gaming experience.