How much cooler with a better heatsink?

[CaptainNemo]

My XP2100+ OC'd to 1846Mhz (142Mhz FSB) is currently running at roughly 20 degrees Celsius above case temp; 45-50 degress when when the room is being heated (case temp = 25-30 degrees), and 35-40 degress when the room is cold (case temp = 20 degrees). The difference between idle/normal & stressed is an extra 5 degress; the four 80mm fans (two in, two out) seem to be doing a reasonable job.

Questions:

Will a better cooler (using stock at moment) knock much of a hole in this 20 degree difference?

If so, will it matter? The hottest running temp atm is 50 degrees, and the FSB of 142 Mhz seems to be the limit for this chip. Will a lower temp allow a higher FSB?

If a better cooler works, I can switch the fans to half-speed (less noise). However, what about overclocking?

<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by CaptainNemo on 01/07/03 10:29 AM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[WingDing]

At those temperatures it's hardly worth investing in a new HSF. As regards overclocking, a good HSF will help to control the inevitable increase in heat generated but I'd post in the CPU overclocking section to check this with more experienced people, not least to check how far you can push your existing CPU.

I'd rather have a full bottle in front of me than a full frontal lobotomy

 

[svol]

A very good heatsink will probably lower the temps with about 5C if you're lucky... that default HSF seems to do an impressive job.

If you don't use a VCore OC you can also try if that helps to increase the CPU speed. But if you got PC2100 RAM then the memory can be holding you back too.

My PC eats so much money that I'm in 'desperate' need of it to buy PC3500 RAM, help Svol with his OC project!
--- PM me for information.