Overclocking And Cooling Considerations

[wevsspot]

Good morning crew,

 

Much to the wife's displeasure I plopped down a few bills for a new C2D build yesterday (under the guise of hey it's the latest technology so I gotta stay up on the latest technology or business will suffer )

 

At any rate, I chose the DFI INF 975X/G board as the foundation - primarily because I wanted to remain a useful contributing member here the Street - but did have some reservations in doing so.

 

My primary concerns with the DFI board were;

 

1. Location and placement of ATX and AUX power connections

2. Lack of heat sinks on mosfets

3. Passive cooling on both the n/b and s/b chipsets

 

So here goes a shout out to all of my fellow forum members who are currently running the INF 975X/G

 

1. How much of a pain are the placement of the power connectors, and any ingenious ideas on getting the main power loom from the psu over to the power connectors (top mount psu in an NZXT Lexa case).

 

2. Has anyone attempted to put aftermarket sinks on the mosfets or other hot spots on the 975X/G board? And if so, what type and exactly where are the hotspots on the board?

 

3. Is the passive cooling on the n/b and s/b chipsets an issue in either stability or o/c potential? If so, what suggestions for aftermarket solutions?

 

Here is the new rig, official DFI sig. will be updated once I have received parts and machine is at least past the boot stage.

 

DFI INF 975X/G Motherboard

Conroe E6600

Zalman 9700 LED - Processor Cooling

Super Talent DDR2 800 2X1GB

PowerColor X1900XT

Zalman VF900 - VGA Cooling

OCZ GameXStream 700W

NZXT Lexa Case

 

Best BIOS to flash to right out of the box?

Any recommendations for m/b drivers to use or avoid?

 

Thanks team.

[Jeaze_Mcleod]

I have found that the North Bridge gets particularly hot (52 degrees) even at stock speeds. The problem with my setup is that I am using a massive Scythe Infinity Tower Heatsink and pretty much rubs against the heatsink of the North Bridge. I kinda solved this by installing a spare 120mm fan in a way you might think its a bit crazy but I found out that it was very effective. I got to cool down the north bridge by about 10 degrees! That will give me some leverage when I start to overclock this puppy up!

 

I also find the cooling on the South Bridge inadecuate and might get something aftermarket for it. So far I have also found out of a particular scenario on my case. When I run two instances of Prime 95 to reach 100% duty cycle I got to hear a distinc sound coming from the upper part bank of the cpu socket. Its like a electical buzzing sound and it only does it when Prime 95 is in full effect. So far I havent got any issues with the motherboard and I was spared the hassle of RMA my OcZ ram since the board fired up on the first try.

 

I really find the location of the ATX and 12V Aux power outlets very ackward only because im using an oversized heatsink. I did have a slight problem with the conectors to fit in once the heatsink was on and had to readjust them becuase of poor conectivity wich did cause a mild headache at first when trying to fire up the board.

 

When I start to overclock the board I will leave some more feedback behind. For now that is what I have to report.

[wevsspot]

Question #3 can be disregarded. Excellent information can be found over in the Modifications thread.

[wevsspot]

Thanks Jeaze.

 

I ordered the Thermalright HR-05 sli for the northbridge based on high recommendations on the normal HR-05 from Happy_Games for use with the 975X/G Infinity board. It's kind of pricey, and rather large, but hopefully won't have any problems getting it to fit.

 

And according to Technodanvan, he has an evercool vc-re on his southbridge. He says it's a tight fit and required a slight bend to one of his capacitors, but it is on there none-the-less.

 

I was going to go with the normal (i.e. straight) HR-05 for the Northbridge, but can't find it in stock anywhere.

 

Called SVC and their sales technician there said that they were discontinuing the regular HR-05 and would only stock the HR-05 sli from here on out. Hopefully it will fit. Guess I'll find out.

[Kingfisher]

Keep us posted wevsspot, I will be building my conroe PC within the next several weeks and look forward to more information as well.

 

I was looking at the same board, unless the lanparty comes out of course.:nod:

[wevsspot]

Keep us posted wevsspot, I will be building my conroe PC within the next several weeks and look forward to more information as well.

 

I was looking at the same board, unless the lanparty comes out of course.:nod:

 

Parts begin arriving today, so I'll start my build this afternoon. Ordered the Thermalright HR-05 (regular) for northbridge - cancelled the sli version as I had concerns about fit. And the Evercool VC-RE for southbridge.

 

Found updated driver packages dated November '06 over at Intel's website and have already created an updated m/b driver installation CD.

 

I guess I'm about ready to start. I'll keep you posted on my progress.

 

Cheers.