I'm in the buying/planning stage of gethering parts for my next system. Unfortunately, now is the time of year where most of my free time and cash is spent on Christmas...one of the few disadvantages of coming from a large family. A plus, though, is that by the time my wallet has recuperated most of the parts will have come down in price a bit. Of all of the parts needed, the heatsink is the one giving me the most problems in making a decision. Go figure. After finally shaking the "gotta have the best" mentality, I've reached the following conclusions. Undoubtedly, some of you will think, "Duh...that's common knowledge dude." I had stop thinking that if it costs more it must be better for you to finally see the light.
Conclusion #1 - CPUs have reached speeds that make overclocking strictly something to do for bragging rights. Example: If one runs a 1.2ghz, other than the ability to brag to friends and family, overclocking has no real-world benefits.
Conclusion #2 - As long as the heatsink being used is capable of keeping the CPU cool enough to run stable, investing in one that cools a few degrees more isn't going to be beneficial to non-overclockers. (I'm not sure, but it might increase the lifespan of the CPU. I don't think I'm wrong, however, in thinking that any increase in CPU lifespan wouldn't be an advantage as most users would 'outgrow' the CPU and upgrade well before the end is near.)
Conclusion #3 - Generally speaking, larger heatsinks are more expensive than smaller ones and 80mm fans are more quiet than 60mm fans (with roughly the same amount of airflow). Therefore, for non-overclockers, it makes more sense to buy a smaller heatsink and attach an 80mm fan (Pabst, Panaflo, etc for noise-conscious users) via a 60->80 adapter...assuming the adapter doesn't inhibit airflow within the case to a problematic point.
Does this make sense? Am I missing anything that would make these conclusions false? I didn't want this to be another "What's the best/quietest heatsink?" thread...I'm sure I can make a pretty good decision on my own. I just want to make sure I'm not overlooking anything when I do make a decision. Iwas looking at either the 8045 or the Swiftech...then I saw the price for those bad boys and, because I don't want to take out a second mortgage on my house, I'm looking at alternate cooling solutions.
Do you agree with my conclusions about overclocking and heatsinks?
pretty much agree with what you say
i've overclocked lots of different chips and used lots of heatsinks, but now I'm running a 1.2 tbird at 1.33 with some big taisol heatsink i got for $15 off the boards. i bought the taisol because of the 6 pin clip - i was tired of breaking off clips with the 2 clip heatsinks. i stay at 133 because i run a usb printer and don't want to put in a pci usb card. I may take it up to 1.4 if i can keep the heat around 45 C
i can't really tell the difference between 1.2 and 1.33 except for benchmarks - and i'm running a radeon 8500 so the framerate is fine either way.
as long as you're cpu is at a decent temp (mine is 42 C running folding 24/7 ) that's all the cooling you need)
i don't worry about the life of the cpu, since i've never had one for more than a year or so anyway.
things are so cheap now and so fast there's not much of an incentive to tweak them too much.
you notice that there's not that much hard core oc stuff going on now - people are doing case mods, multi-monitor, etc.
i've overclocked lots of different chips and used lots of heatsinks, but now I'm running a 1.2 tbird at 1.33 with some big taisol heatsink i got for $15 off the boards. i bought the taisol because of the 6 pin clip - i was tired of breaking off clips with the 2 clip heatsinks. i stay at 133 because i run a usb printer and don't want to put in a pci usb card. I may take it up to 1.4 if i can keep the heat around 45 C
i can't really tell the difference between 1.2 and 1.33 except for benchmarks - and i'm running a radeon 8500 so the framerate is fine either way.
as long as you're cpu is at a decent temp (mine is 42 C running folding 24/7 ) that's all the cooling you need)
i don't worry about the life of the cpu, since i've never had one for more than a year or so anyway.
things are so cheap now and so fast there's not much of an incentive to tweak them too much.
you notice that there's not that much hard core oc stuff going on now - people are doing case mods, multi-monitor, etc.
<a href="http://www.heatware.com/eval.php?id=123" target="_blank" >Heatware</a>
-
NascarFool
- Posts: 3263
- Joined: Thu Nov 23, 2000 1:21 pm
If overclocking is strictly for bragging right, then why do you need a faster computer than the old one you have right now.
If you do your homework, you will find out that there is always a "best bang for the buck" product for every single component. so you don't always have to spend a huge amount for a well performing heatsink, or cpu for that matter.
as for size/price on heatsinks, I think most people will agree with me that size to price ratio is not always 1 to 1, material, design and brandname also contributes alot to how a heatsink is priced. For complete cooling solution, don't forget that air flow inside the case is also a major factor in how the heatsink performs.
If you do your homework, you will find out that there is always a "best bang for the buck" product for every single component. so you don't always have to spend a huge amount for a well performing heatsink, or cpu for that matter.
as for size/price on heatsinks, I think most people will agree with me that size to price ratio is not always 1 to 1, material, design and brandname also contributes alot to how a heatsink is priced. For complete cooling solution, don't forget that air flow inside the case is also a major factor in how the heatsink performs.
<a href="http://heatware.elitehardware.com/view.shtml?action=list&option=celery101">Heatware</a>
I don't agree. Extracting every last MHz is an OCers DUTY !! 
You don't have to spend big bux to have a good HS/fan. Your "conclusion #3" is so far off base as to be amusing. Go ahead and try one of those 80mm>60mm adapters and tell me how well it works. :lol If you're not going to OC why would you not just use the retail fan/hs or some cheap POS fan/hs. I don't understand why you'd even consider the Swiftech or hi-line Alpha. "Bragging rights" maybe??? Good fan/hs combos don't have to be loud either. Plus, I usually will use a fan/HS combo on more than one cpu product cycle so you can't simply assign the cost of the fan/HS to one cpu purchase. Same goes for your case modz etc.
Running a CPU at default speed but at a higher FSB is OCing right? Substantial performance gains can be made simply by running a cpu at a higher FSB. What would you rather have? A 1.53 GHz proc running @ 9.5x 161 or one running the same speed but at 11.5x 133? Trust me when I tell ya, the proc running at 161 FSB will SMOKE the same chip @ 133 FSB. So that shoots down one part of your theory.
I sometimes wonder whether or not the peeps that think OCing is only for bragging rights prolly aren't that adept at setting up a STABLE OCed rig. OCing is an art as much as it is a science. It's getting a group of compatible components to run WAY above spec until you've reached a sweet spot. In my case, I look at it as a hobby. I could care less about bragging rights. Many peeps with DDR mobos have faster rigs than mine ( or think they do) but I know that mine is tweaked to the max FOR ME! If a guy pays top dollar for a fast retail proc and a new DDR mobo and DDR ram, sets it up all default and doesn't take the time to optimize his BIOS settings for his RAM etc, he's not getting his money's worth in my opinion and that rig won't be as fast as mine which I paid a fair amount less for. Not to mention that I may have been running said OCed config back before there were any cpus even available to run that fast. Get my point?
The main reason I've always posted my rig in my sig is for other peeps to see a config that is yes, OCed but mainly to give others ideas about what components are compatible with each other in an OCing environment. I wish everybody would list their rig so I could see other combos that work well together. But no, peeps are afraid they'll be seen as to be "bragging". BAH ! If you're proud of your rig, I want to see it so maybe I can learn from what YOU'VE put together.
It's not about being the fastest. I may have to build a rig for a kid with no money and I'd like to see a Duron 800 on an ECS mobo with a Maxtor HDD running at 1050 or so. I'd like that. I tend to like to use rather off the wall combos too. Something that's different. I don't mind testing out a new unfamiliar product because just maybe, it might be better than what the "mainstream" tells me I should be using.
If you want to buy a 1.4 and run it at 1.4, that's up to you. To me that's boring. Retail fan/hs etc.......Blechh !!Sorry, but I CAN'T do that. It's just too much FUN to see that blue screen of death and hear those memory error beeps when I'm trying to get it to do 1650 !!
That's why they make CMOS jumpers. My rig is ancient in that it's 8 or 9 months old. But it's been giving me mucho smiles for that 8 or 9 months too at speeds that are still not that far off what's available today were someone to build the "top of the line" DEFAULT rig.
I guess it's just different strokes. For example, when I got my SK-6 HS, I just sat there and held it in my hand for like a half hour marvelling at the high quality workmanship of the thing. Maybe I'm weird ( shaddup!) but I do things like that. To me , it's not just a machine.....it's MY machine. My machines are expected to work and play hard. Kinda like life ant it?
You don't have to spend big bux to have a good HS/fan. Your "conclusion #3" is so far off base as to be amusing. Go ahead and try one of those 80mm>60mm adapters and tell me how well it works. :lol If you're not going to OC why would you not just use the retail fan/hs or some cheap POS fan/hs. I don't understand why you'd even consider the Swiftech or hi-line Alpha. "Bragging rights" maybe???
Good fan/hs combos don't have to be loud either. Plus, I usually will use a fan/HS combo on more than one cpu product cycle so you can't simply assign the cost of the fan/HS to one cpu purchase. Same goes for your case modz etc.Running a CPU at default speed but at a higher FSB is OCing right? Substantial performance gains can be made simply by running a cpu at a higher FSB. What would you rather have? A 1.53 GHz proc running @ 9.5x 161 or one running the same speed but at 11.5x 133? Trust me when I tell ya, the proc running at 161 FSB will SMOKE the same chip @ 133 FSB. So that shoots down one part of your theory.
I sometimes wonder whether or not the peeps that think OCing is only for bragging rights prolly aren't that adept at setting up a STABLE OCed rig. OCing is an art as much as it is a science. It's getting a group of compatible components to run WAY above spec until you've reached a sweet spot. In my case, I look at it as a hobby. I could care less about bragging rights. Many peeps with DDR mobos have faster rigs than mine ( or think they do) but I know that mine is tweaked to the max FOR ME! If a guy pays top dollar for a fast retail proc and a new DDR mobo and DDR ram, sets it up all default and doesn't take the time to optimize his BIOS settings for his RAM etc, he's not getting his money's worth in my opinion and that rig won't be as fast as mine which I paid a fair amount less for. Not to mention that I may have been running said OCed config back before there were any cpus even available to run that fast. Get my point?
The main reason I've always posted my rig in my sig is for other peeps to see a config that is yes, OCed but mainly to give others ideas about what components are compatible with each other in an OCing environment. I wish everybody would list their rig so I could see other combos that work well together. But no, peeps are afraid they'll be seen as to be "bragging". BAH ! If you're proud of your rig, I want to see it so maybe I can learn from what YOU'VE put together.
It's not about being the fastest. I may have to build a rig for a kid with no money and I'd like to see a Duron 800 on an ECS mobo with a Maxtor HDD running at 1050 or so. I'd like that.
I tend to like to use rather off the wall combos too. Something that's different. I don't mind testing out a new unfamiliar product because just maybe, it might be better than what the "mainstream" tells me I should be using. If you want to buy a 1.4 and run it at 1.4, that's up to you. To me that's boring. Retail fan/hs etc.......Blechh !!Sorry, but I CAN'T do that. It's just too much FUN to see that blue screen of death and hear those memory error beeps when I'm trying to get it to do 1650 !!
That's why they make CMOS jumpers. My rig is ancient in that it's 8 or 9 months old. But it's been giving me mucho smiles for that 8 or 9 months too at speeds that are still not that far off what's available today were someone to build the "top of the line" DEFAULT rig. I guess it's just different strokes. For example, when I got my SK-6 HS, I just sat there and held it in my hand for like a half hour marvelling at the high quality workmanship of the thing. Maybe I'm weird ( shaddup!) but I do things like that. To me , it's not just a machine.....it's MY machine. My machines are expected to work and play hard. Kinda like life ant it?
AMD Ph II X4 955 BE 3.2 @ 3.8 GHz | Scythe SCSMZ-2000 | ASRock 880GMH/USB3 | 8 GB G.Skill DDR3 1600 | Radeon HD5670 | Kingston 128GB SSD
Odd seeing this cause me and vidman just has this discussion the other night.
I agree with the first poster to some degree, and with vidman on some other ones, I'm switzerland.
First, I do really think $50 hs/fan setups are just crazy, I'm generally putting it on a sub $100 cpu, if I'm getting the top of the line cpu, which I won't buy in the first place, but if I did it might be another story.
Overclocking... well in some cases it is for bragging rights, I mean when someone sets up a water cooling system and spends all kinds of money to extract 40 more mhz, well then it is more than just looking for the most performance but just as much a hobby as someone tweaking a car, that is going beyond the "save money" example.
On the same token overclocking today isn't always as much of a big deal/savings as before, when the 300a celery was out and could hot 450 almost every time, usually more and the p2 450 was waaay more money then it was like we were beating the system somehow. Even my last cpu.. RIP, and no it didn't die from overclocking but a bad mobo, was a duron 650 @ 1000, still a damn good deal, but generally now people aren't getting as good gains or even if they do the higher end cpus aren't as much of a monitary difference than they used to be. When a high end p2 was like $900 dollars you did anything you could to reach those levels.
But in some cases.. sure its bragging rights but like I said it's their hobby, people do what they want, but to say there is no gain other than bragging rights is just stupid, I mean then for all the people that took the axia 1 gig athlon to 1.4, then why would anyone need a 1.4 in the first place, the arguement as a whole just really doesn't hold water.
Where i'm more in the middle is where I won't spend massive amounts of money for a cooling system, I don't want eight 7,000 rpm fans giving me a headache, I don't love the blue screen of death, but I still love a good free speed boost.
I tried one of those 60-80 mm adapters, it sucked badly and my cpu crashed, at default speeds, maybe I just got a bad one.
Overall if you like to do it then just feel free, why did I paint my case, cause I like the way it looks, no one else really ever sees it but I like it, why crank the piss out of your pc, cause you enjoy seeing how far you can go, to each his/her own I figure. Just a different desire to do something with your pc, I built a small, all-in-one pc before, it ran like a top, never had to touch it, and I sold it just for that very reason, it was no fun.
So.. if you feel that way about overclocking and cpus/hsf setups just get a retail processor, use the retail cooling unit with it, will be quiet and effective enough for standard speeds or they wouldn't give it to you, but little chance in changing some of the minds here, after all we are at PC Abusers
I agree with the first poster to some degree, and with vidman on some other ones, I'm switzerland.
First, I do really think $50 hs/fan setups are just crazy, I'm generally putting it on a sub $100 cpu, if I'm getting the top of the line cpu, which I won't buy in the first place, but if I did it might be another story.
Overclocking... well in some cases it is for bragging rights, I mean when someone sets up a water cooling system and spends all kinds of money to extract 40 more mhz, well then it is more than just looking for the most performance but just as much a hobby as someone tweaking a car, that is going beyond the "save money" example.
On the same token overclocking today isn't always as much of a big deal/savings as before, when the 300a celery was out and could hot 450 almost every time, usually more and the p2 450 was waaay more money then it was like we were beating the system somehow. Even my last cpu.. RIP, and no it didn't die from overclocking but a bad mobo, was a duron 650 @ 1000, still a damn good deal, but generally now people aren't getting as good gains or even if they do the higher end cpus aren't as much of a monitary difference than they used to be. When a high end p2 was like $900 dollars you did anything you could to reach those levels.
But in some cases.. sure its bragging rights but like I said it's their hobby, people do what they want, but to say there is no gain other than bragging rights is just stupid, I mean then for all the people that took the axia 1 gig athlon to 1.4, then why would anyone need a 1.4 in the first place, the arguement as a whole just really doesn't hold water.
Where i'm more in the middle is where I won't spend massive amounts of money for a cooling system, I don't want eight 7,000 rpm fans giving me a headache, I don't love the blue screen of death, but I still love a good free speed boost.
I tried one of those 60-80 mm adapters, it sucked badly and my cpu crashed, at default speeds, maybe I just got a bad one.
Overall if you like to do it then just feel free, why did I paint my case, cause I like the way it looks, no one else really ever sees it but I like it, why crank the piss out of your pc, cause you enjoy seeing how far you can go, to each his/her own I figure. Just a different desire to do something with your pc, I built a small, all-in-one pc before, it ran like a top, never had to touch it, and I sold it just for that very reason, it was no fun.
So.. if you feel that way about overclocking and cpus/hsf setups just get a retail processor, use the retail cooling unit with it, will be quiet and effective enough for standard speeds or they wouldn't give it to you, but little chance in changing some of the minds here, after all we are at PC Abusers
Hi guys,
First, let me say it wasn't my intention to insult anyone here. I should've known better than to knock overclocking at PCA.
Celery101-
I need a new system because my old Tbird 800 died. (I think I was swapping the chip to different boards too much...finally cracked it.) Right now I'm on an old Celeron 300...noticeably slower. I guess it's really a matter of 'want', not 'need'.
Also, I have been doing my homework on heatsinks. I've done so much reading in the last week my head hurts. That's what this whole thread was about..."is overclocking justified enough to spend big bucks on the cooling to support it?" If not, how can I get good cooling w/ minimal noise.
Here's a serious question for ya. You mentioned case cooling. I'm pretty much set on getting the 1030b at Newegg. One of the selling points is that it comes with two case fans. If I don't overclock, do you think more than 1 case fan is needed? (Case fans, no matter how low the noise level is, add sound. I should add that my case sits in the living room on top of my desk...pretty small place I live in.)
VidmanII-
I've never used the adapter before...they don't work very well? I've had one for a long time now but never used it. I tried to install it once but it seriously blocked my rear case fan. I bought it from some guy on AT...actually I PAID some guy on AT for it but he ripped me off, so I ended up buying one off Greg(Nexus_7).
The reason I was considering the Alpha and/or Swiftech is, like I said in my first post, I was under the (wrong)assumption that 'if it costs more it must be better for me'. Silly me.
I don't consider myself an overclocking guru by any means...I do, however, consider myself 'adept'. There's no way I'm as knowledgable on the subject as the vast majority here, but I have experimented on numerous systems before. My first computer was an old 486 PB (when 4 megs of ram was $200!), since then every system I've owned has been built by myself. I'll have to admit, at first there was a sense of pride resulting from getting them up and running. After time, though, it was just a matter of getting a nice system (with all the parts I wanted) at cheaper than retail. Kinda like when I successfully made my first omelet...I was damn proud. Now it's just another chore, but I have to do it because I like omelets.
Danielm7-
Yeah, it was stupid of me to use the 'bragging rights' line...especially here. A better way to put it might have been:
"Conclusion1 - CPUs have now reached speeds that make overclocking unbeneficial for noticeable, real-worrld purposes. "
I understand that there's always exceptions. And then there's the hobby factor. Simply put...some people just like to overclock. I was just trying to say that, if for example I'm running a 1.2 or higher, I wouldn't notice any day-to-day changes if I spent the bucks on cooling and overclocked.
Again, let me apologize if anyone was insulted. That wasn't my intention here. But I do appreciate the responses and honest comments. I hate arguments...I suck at it. I never win.
Peace,
Mike
First, let me say it wasn't my intention to insult anyone here. I should've known better than to knock overclocking at PCA.
Celery101-
I need a new system because my old Tbird 800 died. (I think I was swapping the chip to different boards too much...finally cracked it.) Right now I'm on an old Celeron 300...noticeably slower. I guess it's really a matter of 'want', not 'need'.
Also, I have been doing my homework on heatsinks. I've done so much reading in the last week my head hurts.
That's what this whole thread was about..."is overclocking justified enough to spend big bucks on the cooling to support it?" If not, how can I get good cooling w/ minimal noise.Here's a serious question for ya. You mentioned case cooling. I'm pretty much set on getting the 1030b at Newegg. One of the selling points is that it comes with two case fans. If I don't overclock, do you think more than 1 case fan is needed? (Case fans, no matter how low the noise level is, add sound. I should add that my case sits in the living room on top of my desk...pretty small place I live in.)
VidmanII-
I've never used the adapter before...they don't work very well? I've had one for a long time now but never used it. I tried to install it once but it seriously blocked my rear case fan. I bought it from some guy on AT...actually I PAID some guy on AT for it but he ripped me off, so I ended up buying one off Greg(Nexus_7).
The reason I was considering the Alpha and/or Swiftech is, like I said in my first post, I was under the (wrong)assumption that 'if it costs more it must be better for me'. Silly me.
I don't consider myself an overclocking guru by any means...I do, however, consider myself 'adept'. There's no way I'm as knowledgable on the subject as the vast majority here, but I have experimented on numerous systems before. My first computer was an old 486 PB (when 4 megs of ram was $200!), since then every system I've owned has been built by myself. I'll have to admit, at first there was a sense of pride resulting from getting them up and running. After time, though, it was just a matter of getting a nice system (with all the parts I wanted) at cheaper than retail. Kinda like when I successfully made my first omelet...I was damn proud.
Now it's just another chore, but I have to do it because I like omelets. Danielm7-
Yeah, it was stupid of me to use the 'bragging rights' line...especially here.
A better way to put it might have been:"Conclusion1 - CPUs have now reached speeds that make overclocking unbeneficial for noticeable, real-worrld purposes. "
I understand that there's always exceptions. And then there's the hobby factor. Simply put...some people just like to overclock. I was just trying to say that, if for example I'm running a 1.2 or higher, I wouldn't notice any day-to-day changes if I spent the bucks on cooling and overclocked.
Again, let me apologize if anyone was insulted. That wasn't my intention here. But I do appreciate the responses and honest comments. I hate arguments...I suck at it. I never win.
Peace,
Mike
Raz,
No prob, I think I was just a bit put off by the statement that OCing is ONLY for bragging rights. Hence the ensuing rant and staunch defense of the OCing brethren. I do agree with you , to an extent, that there is less money to be saved these days when one considers how cheap cpu's are. It wasn't always that way.
Celery 101 makes the best point here in saying that there is always a best bang for the buck component out there. To find those and then tweak the heck out of them is all I'm advocating. I don't like arguments either but I'm afraid sometimes my "opinions" sound like arguments. I like to think of it as good, healthy debate.
BTW, checkout one of these if you'e looking for an effective, reasonably priced fan/hs.....
Product here : http://www.highspeedpc.com/item102.htm
PCA review here: http://www.pcabusers.com/reviews/drthermal/drt.html
and happy holidays,
VidmanII
No prob, I think I was just a bit put off by the statement that OCing is ONLY for bragging rights. Hence the ensuing rant and staunch defense of the OCing brethren. I do agree with you , to an extent, that there is less money to be saved these days when one considers how cheap cpu's are. It wasn't always that way.
Celery 101 makes the best point here in saying that there is always a best bang for the buck component out there. To find those and then tweak the heck out of them is all I'm advocating. I don't like arguments either but I'm afraid sometimes my "opinions" sound like arguments. I like to think of it as good, healthy debate.
BTW, checkout one of these if you'e looking for an effective, reasonably priced fan/hs.....
Product here : http://www.highspeedpc.com/item102.htm
PCA review here: http://www.pcabusers.com/reviews/drthermal/drt.html
and happy holidays,VidmanII
AMD Ph II X4 955 BE 3.2 @ 3.8 GHz | Scythe SCSMZ-2000 | ASRock 880GMH/USB3 | 8 GB G.Skill DDR3 1600 | Radeon HD5670 | Kingston 128GB SSD
If you have a small place, and you don't over clock, then maybe the sx1030 series is not the best for your situation, it's great case, but is definitely on the large side, and weights a good 30+lbs without any components inside due to the materials used(1mm steel). go over to http://www.antec-inc.com to check the size before you buy anything. Find the best case that fits your need(full tower, mid tower, minitower, small desktop, book size case)
as for cooling, you can mount 4 80mm fan inside a sx1030, 2 on the front, 2 on the back, but if you don't over clock, 1 case fan on the back will do the trick. if you get some quieter fans like panaflow, then you might not notice the noise increase as you add additional fans. I switch all case fan and cpu heatsink fan inside my case to 80mm panaflow, total of 5 80mm fan in the case, I don't hear any significan increase in sound level, now the loudest sound I hear is the small fan that comes with my radeon video card.
Just a sidenote, even if you don't overclock, you might still want to up the front side bus, you will definitely notice a large performance gain as vidman suggested. If you could clock that 300mhz celeron to 100mhz front side bus, you will notice a difference. btw, that's my first overclocked cpu, the celeron 300.
as for cooling, you can mount 4 80mm fan inside a sx1030, 2 on the front, 2 on the back, but if you don't over clock, 1 case fan on the back will do the trick. if you get some quieter fans like panaflow, then you might not notice the noise increase as you add additional fans. I switch all case fan and cpu heatsink fan inside my case to 80mm panaflow, total of 5 80mm fan in the case, I don't hear any significan increase in sound level, now the loudest sound I hear is the small fan that comes with my radeon video card.
Just a sidenote, even if you don't overclock, you might still want to up the front side bus, you will definitely notice a large performance gain as vidman suggested. If you could clock that 300mhz celeron to 100mhz front side bus, you will notice a difference. btw, that's my first overclocked cpu, the celeron 300.
<a href="http://heatware.elitehardware.com/view.shtml?action=list&option=celery101">Heatware</a>
If you're not overclocking raz then you can get by with one case fan even in a non-overclocking(cool) case like <a href="http://www.pcabusers.com/stonex.html">this one</a>. That's what I'm using now and it does fine running a tbird 1.4. At 1.6 da heat rises and then a better heatsink is needed. But there are many out now for under 25 that will work just fine.
Some that have one of those annoying lawnmower fans on I just replace with a far quieter fan off a thermaltake volcano II(nexus's idea). Some that cool good for overclocking and around $25 or less include the heavy copper Dynatron 1206bh at 13.99 http://www.svcompucycle.com/dyndy1builyo.html (great deal btw)
<a href="http://www.pcabusers.com/vantec/6035.html">Vantec 6035D</a> $23 http://www.kdcomputers.com/exec/productProfile?id=101
<a href="http://www.pcabusers.com/cb6l/cb6l.html">Thermalright CB-6L</a> $21 http://www.kdcomputers.com/exec/productProfile?id=449
The volcano 7(review from pca coming soon) not sure on price though, coolermaster HCC-002(review comin'), senfu(review on da way next) just $19 http://www.highspeedpc.com/item88.htm
But all those have those darn annoying lawnmower fans., How anyone not hard of hearing can deal with them is beyond me. Those I have tried I replaced with that v2 fan and they still cooled just fine. The one Vidman linked too I just got through reviewing and it's 70mm fan along with the solid copper core cools surprisingly well. And it's quiet.
And I agree. With most cpu's now days overclocking doesn't gain us that much more noticable performance difference. Except in fps in games. But heck, we just likey getting all we can. dat's all. Not to brag, just to accomplish it. And it's fun!
Some that have one of those annoying lawnmower fans on I just replace with a far quieter fan off a thermaltake volcano II(nexus's idea). Some that cool good for overclocking and around $25 or less include the heavy copper Dynatron 1206bh at 13.99 http://www.svcompucycle.com/dyndy1builyo.html (great deal btw)
<a href="http://www.pcabusers.com/vantec/6035.html">Vantec 6035D</a> $23 http://www.kdcomputers.com/exec/productProfile?id=101
<a href="http://www.pcabusers.com/cb6l/cb6l.html">Thermalright CB-6L</a> $21 http://www.kdcomputers.com/exec/productProfile?id=449
The volcano 7(review from pca coming soon) not sure on price though, coolermaster HCC-002(review comin'), senfu(review on da way next) just $19 http://www.highspeedpc.com/item88.htm
But all those have those darn annoying lawnmower fans., How anyone not hard of hearing can deal with them is beyond me. Those I have tried I replaced with that v2 fan and they still cooled just fine. The one Vidman linked too I just got through reviewing and it's 70mm fan along with the solid copper core cools surprisingly well. And it's quiet.
And I agree. With most cpu's now days overclocking doesn't gain us that much more noticable performance difference. Except in fps in games. But heck, we just likey getting all we can. dat's all. Not to brag, just to accomplish it. And it's fun!
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<img src="http://www.pcabusers.org/funnies/monkey2.gif">
<i><small>"Too much monkee business"</i></small>[/align]
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<i><small>"Too much monkee business"</i></small>[/align]
I'm pretty much with the orginal author's sentiments, the price difference between a 1.1 Ghz Athlon and a 1.3ghz Athlon is £16. I could buy the 1.1 then overclock to 1.3 after spending maybe £8 on a decent cooler but is it worth it? For me no.
The only overclock that I really went for was the old Celery 300A which went all the way up to 450 and that WAS worth it. But for most of the chips today theres really not much point.
Even if the O/C benefits are better than illustrated above, I run my computer all the time and do a lot of work on it. I can deal with paying a bit more and not worrying about the chip melting.
Darkheart
The only overclock that I really went for was the old Celery 300A which went all the way up to 450 and that WAS worth it. But for most of the chips today theres really not much point.
Even if the O/C benefits are better than illustrated above, I run my computer all the time and do a lot of work on it. I can deal with paying a bit more and not worrying about the chip melting.
Darkheart
Anymore if it's not almost guaranteed and the gains are worth it overclocking doesn't interest me much. The gains today just don't seem to justify the hassle to me. If something really good comes along I'll probably jump on it but if that doesn't happen when I'm ready to build again my next system will be run at default speeds.
I am on a P3 - 750 @ 1Ghz with an Alpha PEP66 on it, CUSL2, GF3, SCSI, 512MB of RAM and it seems to be holding well for me.
I also have a 300A @ 464 system that I gave to my little brother. It's still kicking day after day. In fact the other day I cleaned it off and gave it a fresh coat of heatsink compound. I hope it see it going for a long while yet.
I am on a P3 - 750 @ 1Ghz with an Alpha PEP66 on it, CUSL2, GF3, SCSI, 512MB of RAM and it seems to be holding well for me.
I also have a 300A @ 464 system that I gave to my little brother. It's still kicking day after day. In fact the other day I cleaned it off and gave it a fresh coat of heatsink compound. I hope it see it going for a long while yet.
I see his point on smaller gains for lots of work
The percent of the overclock is getting more expensive and the advantages for software just aren't there.
I have a 33% gain on the celeron that doesn't cost me anything as I had the hs/fan already and the cpu was only 60 and the one it replaced is used elsewhere now. That's probably the last big overclock I'll get as the cpu speeds are up pretty high already.
I agree that the cheaper cooling is using a larger case and the 80mm fan on the heatsink is something I've been doing for almost a year. I get my sunons for about 3.50.
My tbird is only running at 1.5 from 1.4 as its on the main machine and the punishment for losing data from my family keeps me in line!
I have just ordered an alpha 8045 to play with and have to find an xp to put it on! Guess I haven't learnt.
The thing I hated most about overclocking and tweaking is the reformatting!
I have a 33% gain on the celeron that doesn't cost me anything as I had the hs/fan already and the cpu was only 60 and the one it replaced is used elsewhere now. That's probably the last big overclock I'll get as the cpu speeds are up pretty high already.
I agree that the cheaper cooling is using a larger case and the 80mm fan on the heatsink is something I've been doing for almost a year. I get my sunons for about 3.50.
My tbird is only running at 1.5 from 1.4 as its on the main machine and the punishment for losing data from my family keeps me in line!
I have just ordered an alpha 8045 to play with and have to find an xp to put it on! Guess I haven't learnt.
The thing I hated most about overclocking and tweaking is the reformatting!
I Am Canadian
DFI Lanparty Ultra-D/AMD Opteron 165(9 x 270) /2x512mb Crucial Ballistix 3200/Nvidia 7900GT/LianLi V1000 + Antec Neo/WinXPpro/ Western Digital JDKS 250gb x 2/LG 16X Multidrive/Dell 1907FP
Asus A8N-E/AMD 64 3500+(11 x 255)/2x512 Corsair XMS 3200/Antec Sonata/ATI X800XL/WinXP/Maxtor 10 300gb x 2/LG 16X Multidrive/Dell FPW2005
Heat 219-0-0
DFI Lanparty Ultra-D/AMD Opteron 165(9 x 270) /2x512mb Crucial Ballistix 3200/Nvidia 7900GT/LianLi V1000 + Antec Neo/WinXPpro/ Western Digital JDKS 250gb x 2/LG 16X Multidrive/Dell 1907FP
Asus A8N-E/AMD 64 3500+(11 x 255)/2x512 Corsair XMS 3200/Antec Sonata/ATI X800XL/WinXP/Maxtor 10 300gb x 2/LG 16X Multidrive/Dell FPW2005
Heat 219-0-0