Please Help Me Pick A Cooler :(

[HeReTiK]

Hows it going...well i think i might need a nother way on cooling my cpu (im using the retail heatsink and fan that came with my AMD) cause i noticed every time i try to play pc games like an hour into it..my pc like shuts off and goes into standby...and im pretty sure its my cpu over heating..so i changed my fsb from 133 to 100 and it definitely cooled down (slowed the fps in my games..but hey atleast it doesn't lock up) but now i just tried that doom3 alpha and it locked up like 3 min into the game...and in my bios it says my cpu temp is around 40-50ºC most of the time..doesn't sound to hot to me (I don't OC)..but i guess i need it way cooler to play these games or something..so anyways i was checking http://www.spirecooler.com/ for some heatsink fan combos and well there are to many of them and i wasn't sure what would suit me right..any help on what i should get?
my specs are:

Antec 1080 case with 420 watts
Asus A7n8x Deluxe
AMD Athlon XP 2600+
Geforce4 Ti 4600
512mb (pc 2100) ram
200gb drive

and does any one know if getting one of these heatsink and fans would actually help not lock up my pc every time i try to play games..or might i need something better..or is there some other way i should cool my pc..i come here cause i don't know much about this..so any help would greatly be appreciated...thanks.

 

[dave326]

The best heatsink is a SLK-900, but I don't think it fits on a A7n8x Mobo. The SLK-800 does, at least according to their manufacturer. The SLK is 38$ or so, without a fan. You put a 80mm fan on it, like the thermaltake smartfan2 or a delta on top of it.

 

[Teq]

From Spire:
For an XP2600 you need this one:
<A HREF="http://www.spirecooler.com/asp/fcc.asp?ProdID=95" target="_new">http://www.spirecooler.com/asp/fcc.asp?ProdID=95</A>
Or this one:
<A HREF="http://www.spirecooler.com/asp/fcc.asp?ProdID=86" target="_new">http://www.spirecooler.com/asp/fcc.asp?ProdID=86</A>
(The first one cools better, the second is quieter, both will work fine.)
Or
If you want Thermaltake you should have this one:
<A HREF="http://www.thermaltake.com/products/heatsink/v7.htm" target="_new">http://www.thermaltake.com/products/heatsink/v7.htm</A>

Idle temeratures with any of these should be in the low to mid 40s in a 20c room. Full load temperatures should be in the mid 50s or less.

From your posting it sounds like the stock cooler is adequate for moderate loads only... letting the temperature climb when things get busy and possibly tripping your MBs thermal protection circuits. (uncommon, but not impossible)

To answer your second question... It is possible this is a cpu heat problem. But there is also a second possibility... There is a known issue between Direct X 3D rendering and AMD cpus, it's a memory paging problem where your video can get get overwritten. It can be cleared up with a simple registry tweak, which is here:
<A HREF="http://www.winguides.com/registry/display.php/798/" target="_new">http://www.winguides.com/registry/display.php/798/</A>


Being of a mind that you can't overcool a CPU and knowing about the paging issue, I'd suggest you do both.


<b>(</b>It ain't better if it don't work.<b>)</b>

 

[phsstpok]

The Thermalright SK7 does just as well as the Thermalright SLK800 for less money.

<b>99% is great, unless you are talking about system stability</b>

 

[lhgpoobaa]

Sounds to me like the thermal protection cutoff is set too low.

<b>"If spam wasn't totally bogus, Hotmail users would be well-endowed, slim people with hair who make big money working at home and having great sex provoked by free porn and herbal Viagra.</b>

 

[HeReTiK]

hey i tried that registry tweak...and at first it seems like the problem was solved...i set my external clock speed back to 133mhz and played like 2 hours of Bf1942 and every thing was fine no lock ups...but today i tried that doom3 alpha again and like 30 min in it locked up..but before it did it said something like "texture could not load" or somethign like that...then my monitor shut off and pc went into standby..and had to reboot..so could it actually be that i dont need a better heatsink and fan, but some other tweakin can get the job done...are there any other registry tweaks that can help me Teq?
and does any one really think i need to cool down my pc..i get 40-50ºC type temp in my bios..after seeing my specs..is there really any need? or should rigs like these run normal with all the reg fans the cpu and cases bring.

and i kinda think i know what "thermal protection cutoff is set too low" means..but to be sure can some one brief me on it.
thanks alot for the help.

 

[Teq]

OK... another tweak...

Go into your BIOS and set your "AGP Window" equal or greater than the memory on your video card... some suggest double, but equal should be fine.

Also, in your video drivers (display properties, settings advanced) you may have the option of setting texture memory as part of the driver setup, whereever it is, increase it somewhat.

One more thing... I don't know if people realize this, but when you shut your computer off with the power switch or the keyboard power key, <b>registry and desktop settings are not saved</b>... the only way to save settings reliably is by Start-Shutdown-ShutDown. So you might have to redo the first tweak...



<b>(</b>It ain't better if it don't work.<b>)</b>