Frankenstein~ Project: Black Hole (college student budget)

Nettles · 08-05-2005, 03:57 PM

I am new to this OCing thing and have searched hi and low for a decent forum. You guys know your stuff. Anywayz, I'm on my way to OC my entire system, which is pretty crappy at the moment but new parts are in the mail. I need to keep track of what I'm doing and need as much help as I can get. I have a Dell 4550 (ya, i know...

) It has a 2.53 running BIOS that won't let me OC. Buddy recently sold me his old 128 9800pro for 125

and I used ATi tool to OC it on stock cooling. Didn't do much, 416 on core and 360 on mem. I've got 512mb kingston and 256mb samsung and wondering if i should heatsink and OC them? I'm ordered a few parts... 512 crucial ballistix pc3200, a P4800SE ASUS for OCing and expansion purposes. Looking at VGA coolers and cases at the moment, anybody have any suggestions? Thanks for looking guys.

rhino56 · 08-05-2005, 05:43 PM

Welcome to the forum

nice choice on the mobo, i would suggest a good cpu cooler like an sp-94

on the vid card you could get a vga silencer and some ramsinks glued on to the memory with arctic silver adhesive.

use arctic silver 5 in place of the stock TIM (thermal interface material)
those sticky pads.
clean them off with goof off and then a final cleaning with 90%+rubbing alcohol.

im not sure what is a good case on a budget but sometimes its best to drill holes and add fans in the case you have until you can get a decent one.
someone else here may be able to answer that one better
the memory shouldnt need its own cooling if you have good case flow, like a side fan blowing on them.
but really the more heat removed is better no matter what.

here is a guide i wrote to help with the asus boards, when you get yours up and running you may find this helpful as all the setting will be very close to the same.
http://cryo-laboratory.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=269

Wizard James · 08-05-2005, 09:27 PM

you wont be finding any sp-94s anymore as they stoped making them

but xp-90s are just as good from thermalright.

if u have good case flow u should not need to heatsink your ram. make sure you use artic silver 5 (as5) and for your videocard theres a few types of coolers to get from.. i think zalman has a good one that works for your card..

as the ATI Silence'ers have slowly becomeing worsten with flaws (if thats a word)

also do hope that your getting a new power unit (psu) the one that comes with your dell Will NOT work with the new motherboard.

Nettles · 08-06-2005, 01:01 AM

Ok, I know this is a little overkill, but if you know me... it's normal. I love overkill. check this monster out. I dont need the PCI slot so thats cool, but anyone have ona these, reviews look good so...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc... my dorm, lol.

rhino56 · 08-06-2005, 03:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nettles

Ok, I know this is a little overkill, but if you know me... it's normal. I love overkill. check this monster out. I dont need the PCI slot so thats cool, but anyone have ona these, reviews look good so...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...06#DetailSpecs

hope that worked...

Rhino, is flashing my pro to xt worth it if I have tool? I'm running Suse also but don't game on it... Can't I just have ATi tool OC it for me? Thanks for the mobo link, def gonna use that one... Ram sinks... do they have to be perfectly smooth, I've seen so CRAZY stuff to smooth out heatsinks and i just cut up one to put on my samsung 256. I wanna know how well it performs for jollies...

Case has to go... no holes, no mods, it's OUT. It opens pretty neat though... thats about it.

Wizard, thanx for the cpu info, I got a new PS, but went cheap...

It's generic and I had to solder some more d-conn to fit all my crap on there, haha. This was before I wanted to overclock but after my vid mod. All I saw was wattage. It was free so... Maybe my new case will have a decent PS. ANTEC is looking nice. Thanks again for all the input. Now the wait for the parts. This thing will be heating my dorm, lol.

i would recommend this one or the ati silencer
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835186110

i would run it at above xt speeds for sometime to make sure you wont have problems at xt speeds, if your sure there is no problem then yes its worth it to flash it because then you dont have to worry about software doing the overclocking at boot up which can compound problems if your having some other issues that you may be trying to work out.

with the arctic adhesive you dont have to worry about being perfectly flat on the ramsinks but you dont want any visible bumps or crevices.

i would say get some aluminum ramsinks for the gpu memory so it doesnt weigh much.

Wizard James · 08-06-2005, 08:23 AM

for psu's. yes..they can make or brake your system. ocz, some antec, fortian , sparkle.. are all good ones.. something in the 450-550 watt is good.

the cooler for the vga that rhino pointed out will work. but i find that over time and with a lack of update the comapaney does, there are far better ones out now.

flashing the bios to a xt otho most times works. theres always the chance of a bad flash killing the card (thats fixable) but u need a pci card to reflash it.

finding the right bios is also hard.. imo download the bios and edit it is the best (and for you rhino would be the best with something thats not yours)

Nettles · 08-06-2005, 01:16 PM

imo download the bios and edit it is the best (and for you rhino would be the best with something thats not yours)....

Wizard, I don't know what tis means...

Does that VGA hsf come with ram coolers? I wanna knock it all out at once with one product, I'm gonna sand down the mini heatsinks i made and ac5 them asap to my mem. Should I wait for the new case before I put in my new mobo, or is it an easy swap? Think I'll wait on the XT flash, what PCI card would i need to reflash it? It's running rock stable at 416/360, doesnt the xt run at 415/365? I ran a 2 hr artifact test and came up with no errors... this is a great card so far... but what do i know... Gonna get a trupower psu im thinking... r u they decent? Thanks again, couldn't do this w/o u guys

rhino56 · 08-06-2005, 01:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wizard James

for psu's. yes..they can make or brake your system. ocz, some antec, fortian , sparkle.. are all good ones.. something in the 450-550 watt is good.

yes sparkle is made by fortron which is a great psu
the sparkle 430 would be the lowest psu i would buy these days.
the psu is heart of the system and having stable power makes a huge difference in the ability to overclock.
i would go cheap on ram before i went cheap on a psu.
i myself prefer the antec 550 because im very familiar with their performance and you can get them pretty cheap.
if i really was tight though i would go sparkle 500+ if possible.

Quote:

the cooler for the vga that rhino pointed out will work. but i find that over time and with a lack of update the comapaney does, there are far better ones out now.

please give him links or what ones. i know there may be a few now that may do slightly better but with the ramsinks that combo has been great for me.
i prefer the vga silencer over the ati silencer even, and i was only keeping in mind the budget vs performance.

Quote:

flashing the bios to a xt otho most times works. theres always the chance of a bad flash killing the card (thats fixable) but u need a pci card to reflash it.

finding the right bios is also hard.. imo download the bios and edit it is the best (and for you rhino would be the best with something thats not yours)

flashing the card is risky no doubt, and thats anybodys card, including my card.
but so is overclocking, without the risk its just not fun anymore.

rhino56 · 08-06-2005, 01:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nettles

imo download the bios and edit it is the best (and for you rhino would be the best with something thats not yours)....

Wizard, I don't know what tis means...

Does that VGA hsf come with ram coolers? I wanna knock it all out at once with one product, I'm gonna sand down the mini heatsinks i made and ac5 them asap to my mem. Should I wait for the new case before I put in my new mobo, or is it an easy swap? Think I'll wait on the XT flash, what PCI card would i need to reflash it? It's running rock stable at 416/360, doesnt the xt run at 415/365? I ran a 2 hr artifact test and came up with no errors... this is a great card so far... but what do i know... Gonna get a trupower psu im thinking... r u they decent? Thanks again, couldn't do this w/o u guys

what wizard james means is edit the bios you have and make it run at xt speeds.
but i wouldnt worry about that right now, you can learn those ropes when you climb them.

the vga cooler doesnt come with ram sinks, and as5 wont be what you use to fasten them, thats just a paste not a glue.
as5 is used inbetween the heatsink and heatsource when other means of holding the heatsink down are present,( clips, screws.)

there are a few different methods of attaching ramsinks to memory, superglue in the corners is one but i have tried this and didnt like it at all.

this is the product which would work best but i wouldnt use it where there are pins like on mosfets and conductivity could occur. they make it as resistant as possible but its not completely non conductive.
http://www.arcticsilver.com/arctic_s...l_adhesive.htm

this one is better for resistance to conductivity
http://www.arcticsilver.com/arctic_a...l_adhesive.htm

the ramsinks i like the best are these
http://www.frozencpu.com/ram-16.html

they do come with thermal sticky pads but they arent very good at heat transfer.

wait until you get the proper cooling on the card to test it, then run it above the xt speeds (412/365) like run it at 420/375 to make sure it can handle the speeds.

i wouldnt overclock it much with stock cooling, they get real hot

the antec true control is a little better as you can adjust the power levels

Wizard James · 08-06-2005, 05:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rhino56

i wouldnt overclock it much with stock cooling, they get real hot

yes your right.. i burned my self with my stock 9800pro heatsink when i had it and tryed to overclock it..

Quote:

Originally Posted by rhino56

the antec true control is a little better as you can adjust the power levels

same with ocz and a few others. but then again , if its a good psu..u sould not need to adjust the power levels

08-05-2005, 03:57 PM	#1 (permalink)
Nettles Moderator/ COD4 Addict First Lieutenant Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: SFA Posts: 1,671	Frankenstein~ Project: Black Hole (college student budget) I am new to this OCing thing and have searched hi and low for a decent forum. You guys know your stuff. Anywayz, I'm on my way to OC my entire system, which is pretty crappy at the moment but new parts are in the mail. I need to keep track of what I'm doing and need as much help as I can get. I have a Dell 4550 (ya, i know... ) It has a 2.53 running BIOS that won't let me OC. Buddy recently sold me his old 128 9800pro for 125 and I used ATi tool to OC it on stock cooling. Didn't do much, 416 on core and 360 on mem. I've got 512mb kingston and 256mb samsung and wondering if i should heatsink and OC them? I'm ordered a few parts... 512 crucial ballistix pc3200, a P4800SE ASUS for OCing and expansion purposes. Looking at VGA coolers and cases at the moment, anybody have any suggestions? Thanks for looking guys. __________________ HEAT

08-06-2005, 01:01 AM	#4 (permalink)
Nettles Moderator/ COD4 Addict First Lieutenant Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: SFA Posts: 1,671	Ok, I know this is a little overkill, but if you know me... it's normal. I love overkill. check this monster out. I dont need the PCI slot so thats cool, but anyone have ona these, reviews look good so... http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc... my dorm, lol. __________________ HEAT

08-06-2005, 01:16 PM	#7 (permalink)
Nettles Moderator/ COD4 Addict First Lieutenant Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: SFA Posts: 1,671	imo download the bios and edit it is the best (and for you rhino would be the best with something thats not yours).... Wizard, I don't know what tis means... Does that VGA hsf come with ram coolers? I wanna knock it all out at once with one product, I'm gonna sand down the mini heatsinks i made and ac5 them asap to my mem. Should I wait for the new case before I put in my new mobo, or is it an easy swap? Think I'll wait on the XT flash, what PCI card would i need to reflash it? It's running rock stable at 416/360, doesnt the xt run at 415/365? I ran a 2 hr artifact test and came up with no errors... this is a great card so far... but what do i know... Gonna get a trupower psu im thinking... r u they decent? Thanks again, couldn't do this w/o u guys __________________ HEAT

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08-05-2005, 05:43 PM	#2 (permalink)
rhino56 Administrator General Join Date: Feb 2006 Posts: 6,813	Welcome to the forum nice choice on the mobo, i would suggest a good cpu cooler like an sp-94 on the vid card you could get a vga silencer and some ramsinks glued on to the memory with arctic silver adhesive. use arctic silver 5 in place of the stock TIM (thermal interface material) those sticky pads. clean them off with goof off and then a final cleaning with 90%+rubbing alcohol. im not sure what is a good case on a budget but sometimes its best to drill holes and add fans in the case you have until you can get a decent one. someone else here may be able to answer that one better the memory shouldnt need its own cooling if you have good case flow, like a side fan blowing on them. but really the more heat removed is better no matter what. here is a guide i wrote to help with the asus boards, when you get yours up and running you may find this helpful as all the setting will be very close to the same. http://cryo-laboratory.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=269

08-05-2005, 09:27 PM	#3 (permalink)
Wizard James First Lieutenant Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: canada, calgary alberta Posts: 1,513	you wont be finding any sp-94s anymore as they stoped making them but xp-90s are just as good from thermalright. if u have good case flow u should not need to heatsink your ram. make sure you use artic silver 5 (as5) and for your videocard theres a few types of coolers to get from.. i think zalman has a good one that works for your card.. as the ATI Silence'ers have slowly becomeing worsten with flaws (if thats a word) also do hope that your getting a new power unit (psu) the one that comes with your dell Will NOT work with the new motherboard.

08-06-2005, 08:23 AM	#6 (permalink)
Wizard James First Lieutenant Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: canada, calgary alberta Posts: 1,513	for psu's. yes..they can make or brake your system. ocz, some antec, fortian , sparkle.. are all good ones.. something in the 450-550 watt is good. the cooler for the vga that rhino pointed out will work. but i find that over time and with a lack of update the comapaney does, there are far better ones out now. flashing the bios to a xt otho most times works. theres always the chance of a bad flash killing the card (thats fixable) but u need a pci card to reflash it. finding the right bios is also hard.. imo download the bios and edit it is the best (and for you rhino would be the best with something thats not yours)