Overclocking Opteron 175

Streeteh · 15 Jul 2007 at 17:30

Just upgraded from a rubbish stock cooler to the zalman 7700 so decided to see how overclocking it would go. I'm currently at 2809 (255x11) on stock voltages and am tempted to try and go further as i still haven't had any trouble booting and it all seems stable running burn-in etc. Temps are currently 45C Idle and approx 55-58C under load (its a bloomin hot day however). Would it be a bad idea to push it further at these temps?

kitfit1 · 15 Jul 2007 at 23:53

If you are getting 55c to 58c under load at stock vcore, then something is seriously wrong. Try reseating your Hsf. At stock vcore load temps should be in the low 40's even with the stock Hsf. So no, don't push it any further until you have sorted your temps out. Ideally you should be looking for 50c max under load and low to middle 30's at idle.

ChrisD. · 16 Jul 2007 at 00:00

kitfit1 said:
If you are getting 55c to 58c under load at stock vcore, then something is seriously wrong. Try reseating your Hsf. At stock vcore load temps should be in the low 40's even with the stock Hsf. So no, don't push it any further until you have sorted your temps out. Ideally you should be looking for 50c max under load and low to middle 30's at idle.

2.8 is very good for an Opty 175. I never got mine above 2.6 stable. Plus I don't the the OP's temps are to worry about, Opty's can handle that.

kitfit1 · 16 Jul 2007 at 00:07

MilanoChris said:
2.8 is very good for an Opty 175. I never got mine above 2.6 stable. Plus I don't the the OP's temps are to worry about, Opty's can handle that.

Yes, 2.8 is very good for a 175 at stock vcore. But i'm afraid you are wrong about temps. Mid to high 50's at stock vcore is plain wrong and suggests a bad Hsf contact, even on a hot day.

Streeteh · 16 Jul 2007 at 00:44

By hsf i assume you mean the heatsink? If thats the case i really dont think reseating it will produce much of an improvement - on my stock cooler temps were about the same, now i've installed this heatsink (i cleaned the CPU with alcohol and then applied AS5 according to the guidlines on the arctic silver website) and temps have dropped a bit, which is to be expected of a new heatsink, but stayed in the same area.

Any suggestions as to what i may have done wrong?

[EDIT] Forgot to say i appreciate the input

El Jimben · 16 Jul 2007 at 18:03

Streeteh said:
By hsf i assume you mean the heatsink? If thats the case i really dont think reseating it will produce much of an improvement - on my stock cooler temps were about the same, now i've installed this heatsink (i cleaned the CPU with alcohol and then applied AS5 according to the guidlines on the arctic silver website) and temps have dropped a bit, which is to be expected of a new heatsink, but stayed in the same area.

Any suggestions as to what i may have done wrong?

[EDIT] Forgot to say i appreciate the input

What's the airflow in your case like in terms of fans etc?

Streeteh · 16 Jul 2007 at 19:51

I've got 2 80mm silent fans at the front, one of which is blowing over the HDDs, one directly into the case and 2 80mm fans at the back just below the PSU. The PSU being a hiper (uh-oh) has a 120mm fan taking air in from the case and blowing it out the back.

My HDDs run at around 20-25C so it looks like the ambient temps in the case are ok.

El Jimben · 16 Jul 2007 at 20:29

Hmm, it does sound like bad IHS contact, either that or you Zalman is making poor contact with the CPU. You could always de-lid it I guess

Streeteh · 16 Jul 2007 at 21:56

IHS, is that the heatspreader ontop of the core? If so i'm fairly sure my sausage fingers would result in a rather impressive destruction of my cpu. I'll try reseating the heatsink, if that fails i'll just have to live with the temps i'm getting.

El Jimben · 16 Jul 2007 at 22:44

Streeteh said:
IHS, is that the heatspreader ontop of the core? If so i'm fairly sure my sausage fingers would result in a rather impressive destruction of my cpu. I'll try reseating the heatsink, if that fails i'll just have to live with the temps i'm getting.

Yep, that's it. I would try a reseat but if you're feeling adventurous, you could try this - http://forums.overclockersclub.com/A64-Opteron-Ihs-Removal-Guide-t61534.html

I'm thinking about it as it goes, as I can't change my cooler due to my case and I really don't want to buy a new case!