AMD Phenom II 955be, 8gb RAM (4x2gb), Arctic Freezer 7. Nearing 60 degrees!?

[Ultima2876]

How would I know if my CPU is throttling under Prime95 load?

Been playing some games and stuff today - highest temp is 54. I was cheeky and went for a +400mhz (total 3.6ghz) overclock with a little (+0.25v) increase in voltage - all stable and same temps under Prime95.

I'll probably pick up the water cooler next month when I have some more money, though at the moment it doesn't really bother me much. Comp is quiet while playing games, and as I said running at less than 54 for what I want to use it for.

Also, if I do buy a new cooler, I need one that's not going to block off my RAM slots. I have 4 modules installed and currently the AC7 is making contact with the closest one, and even bending it ever so slightly (I'd say at the top the gap between that and the next module is 0.5mm less than it should be). It'd be annoying to drop £30 on a cooler only to have it reduce the amount of RAM I can have... that's another reason to go for the Corsair H50/H70 for me...

[watercooled]

That might be the cause of your problem, especially if that cooler is spring-tensioned, as lots are. The RAM will prevent the cooler making level contact with the CPU.

[Ultima2876]

I would say it is a possibility, though it seems more like the memory moduel is being pushed out of the way to the side rather than being wedged under the heatsink, and the cooler most definitely feels solidly attached...

Probably worth me improving my cooling situation when I can afford it though. Not really a good idea to be messing around when it comes to this stuff...

[Uriel]

The ACF7 has one major advantage over the H50 or H70 when it comes to the GA-870A-UD3. It blows air at your VRM mosfets.

The last thing you want to do is neglect cooling for these. You'll notice that most higher end motherboards have a passive heatpipe heatsink over this area.

If using higher voltages than stock, at the very least you'll want a fan blowing air at the area. You can get an aftermarket heatsink for it - the Enzotech mst-88. KustomPC sells them but are out of stock. I have one ordered.

I tried a Thermalright HR09U type 2 but it's turned out to be incompatible.

You might want to have a look at this review of your motherboard for comments on VRM temperatures. http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum...rd-review.html

[this_is_gav]

That might be the cause of your problem, especially if that cooler is spring-tensioned, as lots are. The RAM will prevent the cooler making level contact with the CPU.

The heatsink was even slightly off the chip he'd be having temps a heck of a lot higher than 56c under load!

Ultima, I presume when you removed a couple of RAM modules (as you said in your first post), one of those was the one which is being pushed out of the way by the heatsink? If so, then clearly the contact between the 2 isn't making any difference whatsoever.

[Uriel]

When I used a freezer pro 64 (different motherboard) one of the lugs broke on the AM2 retention bracket so it was only gravity holding it on. This didn't result in throttling. I did get temps way higher than 60 degrees and quite a few BSODs before I realised what was going on. Once I replaced the bracket everything seemed fine though.

[Ultima2876]

The ACF7 has one major advantage over the H50 or H70 when it comes to the GA-870A-UD3. It blows air at your VRM mosfets. [/url]

Actually, due to the way it mounts onto the AM3 bracket thingy it only blows up upwards - I can't mount it the 'correct' way so that it blows air over the mosfets =/ (This is apparently a flaw in the design of the AC7 according to a google search; it doesn't mount properly on AMD motherboards and this isn't quite as good at cooling those as it would be with an Intel setup)

I tried a further test yesterday - I ran a memory testing app from within windows - http://hcidesign.com/memtest/. I opened up 4 instances of it testing 2000mb of RAM each; CPU usage hovered at 75-90%, and I left this for 8 hours (overnight). Highest temp the processor hit was 54 degrees...

This again brings me back to wondering whether I'm ever gonna be hammering the processor hard enough for it to want to get as hot as it does under full-on Prime95 load for 8 hours

Ultima, I presume when you removed a couple of RAM modules (as you said in your first post), one of those was the one which is being pushed out of the way by the heatsink? If so, then clearly the contact between the 2 isn't making any difference whatsoever.

Correct and good point

[watercooled]

The heatsink was even slightly off the chip he'd be having temps a heck of a lot higher than 56c under load!

Ultima, I presume when you removed a couple of RAM modules (as you said in your first post), one of those was the one which is being pushed out of the way by the heatsink? If so, then clearly the contact between the 2 isn't making any difference whatsoever.

Not necessarily, a friend attempted the 'washer mod' to add tension to the springs but somehow put them in the wrong place so the heatsink was very loose on one side, the TIM bridged the gap and the temps were reasonable but poor.