ThermalRight XP-120 experience - looking for oc'ing tips

D

defiant

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jun 14, 2003
Messages
461
I recently decided to strap one of these bad boys onto my cpu. My specs are:

Abit IC7 m/board (with latest bios)
P4 2.4C Cpu
Antec 480W True power PSU
512 DDR400 Kingston Hyper X

With the default HSF I could only overclock my 2.4C to 3ghz on default voltages. Temps were 59c at idle and around 70c at load. I didnt increase cpu voltages out of fear that it would fry the cpu.

With the XP-120 I have managed to get my cpu to run stably at 3.45ghz with 1.75 cpu voltage. My idle temp is 48c and load temp is 58c.

Im pretty happy with this result but was wondering how much more I would be able to push the cpu by upping voltages. Given that my temps with increased voltages are way lower than my old temps with default voltages, can i keep pushing cpu voltage until my current temps are in line with my old temps or is there a limit to cpu voltages that I should just not go over? In other words, even though my temps are still very low is there the risk that I will kill my cpu if I apply too much cpu voltage?

Any advice is appreciated :)
 
Ok you are definately in the DANGER zone with your current voltage. Personally I WOULD NOT go any higher than 1.6v. You are SERIOUSLY reducing the life of your processor with that high of a voltage. There is something called a "burn in process" that the mfg's for cpus do to get an estimate on how long processors will live at certain voltages. After a certain voltage (diff for every processor, but still within the ballpark area) the lifetime turns from years to days to hours to minutes to seconds. Of coarse that's where you have to draw the line, do you want to keep having to buy new processors to reach that ultimate OC, or are you willing to settle. Personally I think you have crossed that line to where your processor has gone from years to days. Could even be hours.

Edit: Also have to add yes you can kill your cpu by having too much voltage, there is something called "blow through" or something similar, as where you add too much voltage to where it will push an electron throught the wire and cause a short, thust killing your cpu. You don't want this I presume. Of coarse I don't know the exact voltage to where this happens (different for every cpu, but like stated before done in the burn-in process to get a ballpark idea).
 
Those temperatures are INSANE! 70C load is extremely high for a 2.4C... My 4.0ghz Prescott is around 58C under load!
 
Sc4freak said:
Those temperatures are INSANE! 70C load is extremely high for a 2.4C... My 4.0ghz Prescott is around 58C under load!
Click to expand...

Well the Abit IC7 temp sensors are well known for being inaccurate, so actual temps may well be much lower than what Abit EQ is telling me. As to voltages, I have seen many people posting that 1.75v is fine as long as you have decent cooling, are they wrong?
 
Well I am not sure, I know for the prescott ( 90nm technology ) you shouldn't go past 1.7V because of the blowthrough problem, but since yours is the 130nm technology I am really not sure. But yes those temps are insanely high, almost to where the CPU will start to throttle itself. I have my 3.0 prescott with stock HSF at 3.6ghz with a max load temp of 52'C and a voltage of 1.4785V or so.
 
Luck.exe said:
Well I am not sure, I know for the prescott ( 90nm technology ) you shouldn't go past 1.7V because of the blowthrough problem, but since yours is the 130nm technology I am really not sure. But yes those temps are insanely high, almost to where the CPU will start to throttle itself. I have my 3.0 prescott with stock HSF at 3.6ghz with a max load temp of 52'C and a voltage of 1.4785V or so.
Click to expand...

Like I said above, the abit IC7 boards are notorious for having inaccurate temp sensors and this has been acknowledged by Abit, temps may well be much lower. But I can see that the XP-120 is doing its job because temps are 10 degrees lower than with the default hsf.
 
To get more accurate readings try using the Everest Home Edition. I was getting really bad readings from some other products (PC Wizard was saying that my mobo temp was 208C!) and then someone suggested Everest and it seems to have all the readings down accurate.


here is what Everest tells me:
everesttemps7fp.jpg
 
holy!!! lol, and i thought my silentboost was big, hehehehe
 
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