Nvidia nForce 650i Ultra cooling question

masten

masten

masten

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Hi

Im thinking of getting the Nvidia nForce 650i Ultra to run an e2140 overclocked to 2.66MHz

I read this though in a review
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'The Northbridge cooler isn't completely independent for its cooling abilities though. While a passively cooled chipset is attractive from a silent PC builder's point of view, this cooler is dependent on airflow from the main CPU cooler to keep temperatures in check. In order to keep some amount of airflow, the BIOS of this motherboard forces CPU fan speeds at 75% at a minimum. If you put in a high-end dual core (2.93 GHz or higher), a quad-core processor, or overclock the board, the BIOS will force the CPU cooler to run at full speed at all times, in order to help keep the chipset cool as well. Unfortunately, this means that if you're running a higher-powered system or tweaking it, you'll have to put up with loud fan speeds in order to keep the chipset in check. Of course, if you use third party fans/coolers, you can avoid this issue, but this does tell us that the chipset could likely overheat unless it receives some sort of ambient airflow'
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I would like to get a cpu cooler in the future just to make the system quieter (not to cool it for major overclocking), but according to this - you cant turn down the fan speed!

Is that right?

Would this be better

http://www.ocworkbench.com/2007/ecs/NF650iSLIT-A/g1.htm

Uses same chipset (and BIOS right?) It has a fan on the northbridge I think. Dont know anything else about it.

thanks

Masten
 
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I think if you're seriously contemplating overclocking an E2140 that hard, the fact that the BIOS will only turn the fan down to 9V from 12V is going to be the least of your worries.

Cooling is everything in overclocking, so you'll need to plan a quiet system very carefully indeed.

Do you have any components already eg. case, PSU etc.

The other board is a related chipset, but different.

If you're worried about chipset cooling, then get a P35 board as they run much, much cooler.
 
hmm, Im getting confused now. I ve been told that overclocking an e2140 with this board to that speed is pretty easy. Just change the default fsb from 200 to 333 and maybe boost the voltage a bit or something, No extra fans etc required

no?

Would this

www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-129-AB&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=913

with an e2180 instead of an e2140 be a better bet (price is creeping up though?) for a beginner who, to begin with, just wants it to work with minimum fiddling so he can play Oblivion.

No, I dont have any other components and just to let you know my level of experience - I wont be building it myself - Ill be taking all the bits down the local computer shop who'll put it togethr for me for £30

thanks
 
To put it into perspective for the CPUs.

E2140 can be L2 or M0 stepping. The M0 is what many have been supplied with and often it's configured with a very low voltage (relatively speaking) and can be overclocked very easily so for your 2.66GHz you likely would get it stable and still running cool with very minimal configuration/knowledge.

E2160 can also be L2 or M0 stepping and many are receiving L2 which generally has a higher default voltage and may require a bit more tweaking to get stable/cool/quiet at the speed you were wanting.

E2180 is the newest of the E21x0 range and only comes as the M0 stepping so likely will have a low voltage and of course has the 10x multiplier so to get 2.66GHz you only need to do 266 FSB which likely requires the least configuration/tweaking as you probably can just bump up the FSB to 266 and it'll be good to go.
 
masten said:
hmm, Im getting confused now. I ve been told that overclocking an e2140 with this board to that speed is pretty easy. Just change the default fsb from 200 to 333 and maybe boost the voltage a bit or something, No extra fans etc required

no?

Would this

www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-129-AB&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=913

with an e2180 instead of an e2140 be a better bet (price is creeping up though?) for a beginner who, to begin with, just wants it to work with minimum fiddling so he can play Oblivion.

No, I dont have any other components and just to let you know my level of experience - I wont be building it myself - Ill be taking all the bits down the local computer shop who'll put it togethr for me for £30

thanks
Click to expand...

Overclocking on that board is a doddle. What set alarm bells ringing for me was that you were concerned about being able to turn fans down.

Overclocking with a massive cooler and a big, noisy, fan is easy. Overclocking silently has to be carefully planned, and tends to be more expensive. As for taking it all you your local PC store -NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

It's REALLY easy to build one of these. Just take your time and be careful. Being careful is really easy on the first build;))
 
str said:
To put it into perspective for the CPUs...

...as you probably can just bump up the FSB to 266 and it'll be good to go.
Click to expand...

That's all very useful, however what scared the living daylights out of me was the bit where he wants to have the CPU fan running under 75% of maximum? With a 50% overclock on.
 
I've just built a system for running a couple of folding clients which is an E2140 on an XFX 650i Ultra. I started with an Asrock 4Core thing, as I had an old AGP card I wanted to use, but it only allowed an overclock to 2.05Ghz...

So, I dug out an old PCI Radeon card (the pc isn't going to be used for gaming or anything) and built it up on this 650i.

I got to 2.4Ghz relatively easily with a minor vcore tweak, but then was really struggling. I read some of the threads on here about OC'ing it though, and after that tried just booting it at 3Ghz, and it's been fine.

I've got it at 3.2Ghz now, with 1.4v vcore, and load temps are below 50c read using Coretemp.

I've got mine watercooled, so there are only the 3 case fans for airflow, and it's been running F@H for 36 hours straight now with no heat issues.

I think the article might be being a bit over cautious to be honest, but then you could always point a quiet 120mm fan at the motherboard/chipset if you need to, or mod the fan on your cooler for something quieter?

I did notice the bios had options for maintaining a target cpu temp, via fan speeds, which might be what the article posted above was referring to?
 
OK chaps

that all kind of makes sense. Im fine with getting it built. They're a good shop and know what they're doing. I dont have time to build anything. THis process for me is all about an alternative to going doewn to pcworld and grabbing an £800 e6750 system which I cant afford.

Im going to go for the e2180. OK, that's one decision made.

So for the mobo,

The evga 650i or this

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-129-AB&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=913

cant decide? the abit runs cooler right? but I like the look of the evga board and there's been some good reviews about it. Basically I just need something that works that is forgiving to a beginner trying out some v. basic overclocking and has 3 or more PCI slots and is future proofed and not noisy.

thanks
 
if you have no name or "cheap" memory that isnt likely to overclock go for the evga as you can lock the memory to a specific speed which will help when you go to overclock you're cpu.
 
in that case i;d go with the abit, fairly certain the 2180 has something like a x10 mulitplyer so 300fsb will take it to 3ghz, which will be within the scope of the memory you listed.
 
I agree ... If you have the cash the Abit IP35-E + Pentium E2180 + Geil PC6400C4 should make an excellent combo good for 3GHz and beyond with decent cooling,
I do however recommend you check the Abit website to see if those Geil modules are on their recommended list before you hit the buy button.

saved you the trouble, that memory is supported.

IP35-E memory list:
http://www.abit.com.tw/test-report/ip35_ip35-e.htm?2


Pentium E2180 Overclocking: M0 stepping
http://xtreview.com/addcomment-id-3247-view-Pentium-e2180-overclocking.html

3GHz @ 1.3v looks good.

3.2GHz @ 1.42v looks good

3.7GHz @ 1.67v ... I would expect the CPU to melt at those insane voltages, no thanks!

-
 
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My E2180 does 2.66GHz at stock volts of 1.2375v which is what the OP is looking for and 3GHz with 1.325v but any higher with the volts/speed and temps are too high.
 
str said:
My E2180 does 2.66GHz at stock volts of 1.2375v which is what the OP is looking for and 3GHz with 1.325v but any higher with the volts/speed and temps are too high.
Click to expand...

stock voltages for the Pentium E2180 are 1.162V-1.312V

the Abit IP35-E + Pentium E2180 + Geil PC6400C4 will run 2.66Ghz at stock volts, no problem.

Xtreview have tested the E2180 @ 3GHz > 1.3v which is well within the recommended voltages for that CPU

with a decent CPU cooler, the original poster could be running this set-up @ 3 GHz withouit breaking sweat.

It all comes down to cooling mate!
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You chaps are a font of knowledge,

Thanks for all the advice and especially edc for checking the memory - something I never would have done.

Leaning towards the Abit now - if it runs cooler then that's gotta be a good thing for a beginner and worth the extra tenner.

Are there any major disadvantages to the intel p35 chip on this compared to the nforce 650 on the evga board - does anybody know. What about that double boot on restart thing - what's that all about?

Masten
 
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What about the xfx version pf the 650i

any good? Good price.

Probably OK for my basic needs actually.
 
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Hi,

I'd remove the competitor link as you're liable to get slapped about by a don.

That is the same board as the EVGA, it's just boxed up as an XFX. If you look around that board is available for under £50 delivered, and it really is a cracker. They are actually made by Foxconn and sold by EVGA, ECS and XFX. The big downside to all the 650i boards is that the Northbridge runs hot, so you have to have a good cooler - preferably one that blows all-round eg. Zalman Flower type, Thermaltake Orb series or down eg. Thermalright SI-120, Silverstone Nitrogon NT-06, Thermaltake Big Typhoon. I've got the EVGA version of that board and it's very, very good for clocking Core2Duos.

The P35 boards are potentially better (but more expensive) - the Gigabyte P35-DS3 can be had for about £75 and runs cool. It also doesn't double-boot. The double boot could get really annoying, but you'd only notice it if you switched your PC off and on a lot. Also have a look at the ASUS P5K series as they start at quite reasonable prices.

The N650i boards are the overclocking bargain-basement at the moment though.
 
WJA96 said:
The big downside to all the 650i boards is that the Northbridge runs hot...
Click to expand...

I notice on my XFX version that I picked up in the week that the northbridge heatsink is twice the size of all the pics I've seen on the web reviews and in the manual. I wonder if they've beefed up the cooling on it for just that reason?
 
hmmm,

Whenever I decide on something there're just more and more options.

I reckon the evga 650i is the best for my level actually (it has raid which I like), but what about that northbrige heatsink thing.

WIll I be able to just put in 266MHZ to run an e2180 at 2.66GHz without changing any fans or anything. That's the question. If so then it'll do for me. If so then the ip35-e or gigabyte P35-DS3 is probably better.
 
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