Overclock question

Solution
[:aford10:1] It's not advisable to start strapping fans to your heat sink with out some forethought. You shouldn't make the heat sink to heavy or take a chance on one of the fans falling off and dropping on any components lower than the cpu. If it can be safely done, it's best to figure a way to mount the fans with one fan pushing the air across the heat shrink and one pulling the hot air away from the heat shrink. In other words, make a sandwich with your fans with both fans blowing in the same direction, theoretically removing the heat faster. Your best bet is to buy an inexpensive after market cooler such as an Arctic Cooling Freezer Pro. That is one among dozens that will do very well for little money. Google your CPU and OC and...

EnderWiggin

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Dec 11, 2009
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Overclocking a CPU depends on the exact motherboard and RAM, so you would need to post this information as well. If you don't get an answer from someone here here, try googling "overclocking athlon II x4 640" for more info...
 
I have an Athlon II 620 in my 2nd rig. It's running just under 3.4GHZ (260 x13) with 1.45v on air with the memory controller at 2.3GHZ and the DDR2 @~1GHZ CAS5.

Don't expect too much from these chips as they are low on the bin, but you might get lucky.
 


You might. Athlon II's aren't nearly as hot as Phenom II's due to lack of L3 cache. Just remember that if you also overclock the memory controller it also adds heat.

You could also try modifying your stock heatsink. I realize it's a pretty sorry looking little chunk of aluminum, but you could strap 80mm fans all over it until you get a good cooler :D You might also try changing the bubblegum TIM with something better like Arctic Silver 5. One small tube costs like $5 and could bring you down a few degrees (and you can probably get like 5-10 applications per tube). you could also try lapping the heatsink and the chip itself to save a couple degrees. Sandpaper costs pennies :)
 

thermalsig

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[:aford10:1] It's not advisable to start strapping fans to your heat sink with out some forethought. You shouldn't make the heat sink to heavy or take a chance on one of the fans falling off and dropping on any components lower than the cpu. If it can be safely done, it's best to figure a way to mount the fans with one fan pushing the air across the heat shrink and one pulling the hot air away from the heat shrink. In other words, make a sandwich with your fans with both fans blowing in the same direction, theoretically removing the heat faster. Your best bet is to buy an inexpensive after market cooler such as an Arctic Cooling Freezer Pro. That is one among dozens that will do very well for little money. Google your CPU and OC and you will find guides that will walk you through the necessary steps to achieve the maximum overclock. Important things to consider at first are is your PSU strong enough and is your CPU cooler effective enough to remove the heat. Heat is the enemy.
 
Solution


On what do you base your opinion? Any personal experience at all? Probably PEBKAC errors.



People strap fans all the time, but I do agree that you should give it some forethought. The best bet for that particular cooler is to strap one 80mm to push and one 80mm to pull laterally across the fins like this: [=[ It might even help cool your RAM :) There's lots you can do with what you already have before you actually need to spend money.