Quad Core Thread: Overclocking, Cooling, Motherboards, Troubleshooting & General Info

[Clunk]

kustom? coolingshop? I think they were out of stock the other day, but might be in now.

Thermalright bolt thru kit its called.

No, thats not the one, its a kit with 4 springy screws an x shape backplate and a bracket similar to that one.

[fat jez]

kustom? coolingshop? I think they were out of stock the other day, but might be in now.

Thermalright bolt thru kit its called.

No, thats not the one, its a kit with 4 springy screws an x shape backplate and a bracket similar to that one.

This one?

http://www.thecoolingshop.com/produc...oducts_id/2554

Cheers,
Stephen

[Clunk]

Thats the one

Some zalman coolers also come with a bracket that you could use.

[fat jez]

Thats the one

Some zalman coolers also come with a bracket that you could use.

Would one of these do it?



Comes with the Zalman CNPS8000 which is in stock at my local PC World. £30 but I can get it tomorrow and can possible pass on the cooler to an AMD user

Edit, perhaps not, as it looks as though the backplate screw holes are threaded, not straight through.

Cheers,
Stephen

[Clunk]

Yes, should do..£30 is a bit steep though, dont you think?

[fat jez]

Yes, should do..£30 is a bit steep though, dont you think?

Not if I can pass it onto somebody else using AMD kit

Incidentally, I can hear a sort of fizzing sound coming from the CPU block, I wonder if there is some air trapped in there?

Cheers
Stephen

[Clunk]

Could be, or you might have a termite infestation.

Pick your case up, and tip it in all directions. With the pump off, you can often guide the air bubble to the reservoir.

[TheThing]

Ok here goes .........

I have just got a Q6600 ( B3 )

Clocked up to 3.07ghz ( for now ) @ 1.4v

Idle Temps As Follows ........( In Core Temp )

Tjunction 100C
Core #0 40C
Core #1 38C
Core #2 38C
Core #3 38C

Using Everest Also , This Is Reporting Slightly Lower Average Temp Of 35C

Cooling As Follows ........

12V Laing D5 Vario Water Pump ( Going Full Whack ! )
Thermochill P120.2
Alphacool NexXxoS XP Bold HIGHFLOW 775 Cpu block
EK-NB EVGA 680i Water Block For Northbridge
2 X Danger Den 7800GTX Maze 4 Low Profile Blocks
Artic Silver Paste .......2 Small Portions Applied After Looking At Pics Of A "Naked" Chip And Applying Paste Where Cores Are

All The Above Is In A Single Water Loop .........For Now

Full Load Temps Are Around 58C , This Is In A Closed Hot Room So Am Fairly Happy With That For Now !

Hope This Helps

[Clunk]

Looks good to me mate, especially as you have all that running on one dual rad

[TheThing]

Well its a juggling act ....... , but i reckon an extra rad in the setup will bring temps down into the lower 50's on full load

[pollaxe]

My set up:

Board: EVGA 680i 122-CK-NF68 (the old one, not the A1 revision)
CPU: QX6700 (B3) Currently at 3 GHZ (I have had it around 3.2 but because of temperature issues - see below - I've kept it at 3)
Cooler: Scythe Infinity with two 120mm push/pull fans.
Case: TJ09

Core Temp 0.95:
Idle
Core 0: 56c
Core 1: 58c
Core 2: 51c
Core 3: 52c

Load (80% workload in TAT for example)
Core 0: 75c
Core 1: 73c
Core 2: 55c
Core 3: 57c

As you can see, way too hot really. Usually, I build my own systems but this is a pre-built one (which has given me trouble since the start; ironically, I bought it to save me the hassle!)

Airflow in the case is pretty good, I've got an 8800GTX in there which has a custom cooler on it which vents a bit of hot air into the case, so I've just put a couple of blowers in there to help. Motherboard temperature in Everest is usually 32-34c.

I was thinking about the Coolit Freezone but have since read that they can't really cope with the quads (and a few other horror stories, though generally it's 50/50 on good/bad opinions on them.)

Temps seem to fluctuate on the cores (on idle) by a few degrees every x number of seconds.

Ninja edit: My system is actually very stable and the Scythe Infinity has made a big difference to the cpu temperatures - particularly with the push/pull set-up of the 120mm fans. I'm just a tad concerned about the load temperatures but otherwise, all good.

[Clunk]

What about watercooling? And dont forget the backplate, its a must

[pollaxe]

Watercooling puts the willies up me to be perfectly honest!

Being an accident-prone so and so (and I do LAN reasonably often) I just have a fear of dropping/bodging and getting fluid into the system and all. Plus it's always looked a bit complicated to me!

[Clunk]

Scaredy cat

[TheThing]

Being an accident-prone so and so (and I do LAN reasonably often) I just have a fear of dropping/bodging and getting fluid into the system and all. Plus it's always looked a bit complicated to me!

Well for 680i watercooling imho is a must , a basic setup like mine will allow a moderate overclock no probs at all , i'm still testing but i'm sure with time 3.4ghz / 3.6 with a quad is achievable with 680i

[pollaxe]

Yes Clunk, I am a scaredy cat!

No backplate on the Infinity, IIRC...

Well for 680i watercooling imho is a must , a basic setup like mine will allow a moderate overclock no probs at all , i'm still testing but i'm sure with time 3.4ghz / 3.6 with a quad is achievable with 680i

I hear you, it's just something about having fluid inside a PC case, it just doesn't seem right... Plus, maybe it's quite simple but when I read about draining reservoirs and leaks and checking for bubbles and stuff it just seems easier to stay with the air cooling.. particularly as you have to find what'll fit with your case and I'm sure I read somewhere that they recommend a triple rad for an overclocked quad.. so it's loads of lingo/hassle/expense/fear that's holding me back on the old watery route.

As it is, the system is stable at least and it does cool down fairly quickly after the big peaks when it's under load. It originally had a Zalman in it (which was faulty) and I've seen the chip go into the mid 80s! This scared me!!