I'm new to overclocking and after reading up on cooling a lot recently, I'm still unsure as to whether I would actually benefit from an aftermarket cooler. Can anyone help?
I'm running an Athlon IIx4 630 on a Gigabyte GA-MA785GT-UD3H. I've overclocked to 3.5GHz (250x14) and raised the voltage to 1.55V to get it to be stable. (Nb. I've lowered my HT link, RAM etc to keep them at stock speeds) After 15 mins of Prime95 my CPU is at about 70C, which is high, but not dangerous (correct me if I'm wrong here). I don't want to raise the voltage any more for fear of frying my CPU, and if I go above 3.5GHZ, Prime95 crashes instantly. Because it crashes so quickly, am I right in assuming that this isn't a temperature issue, and that I've just reached the ceiling for my chip at this voltage? If so, a better cooler would just make my chip a bit more comfortable under load, rather than actually helping performance. Am I right here, or does running at say 40C actually increase stability relative to say 60C?
Any thoughts or advice appreciated.
I'm running an Athlon IIx4 630 on a Gigabyte GA-MA785GT-UD3H. I've overclocked to 3.5GHz (250x14) and raised the voltage to 1.55V to get it to be stable. (Nb. I've lowered my HT link, RAM etc to keep them at stock speeds) After 15 mins of Prime95 my CPU is at about 70C, which is high, but not dangerous (correct me if I'm wrong here). I don't want to raise the voltage any more for fear of frying my CPU, and if I go above 3.5GHZ, Prime95 crashes instantly. Because it crashes so quickly, am I right in assuming that this isn't a temperature issue, and that I've just reached the ceiling for my chip at this voltage? If so, a better cooler would just make my chip a bit more comfortable under load, rather than actually helping performance. Am I right here, or does running at say 40C actually increase stability relative to say 60C?
Any thoughts or advice appreciated.