Ok, I posted something like this in the heatsink forum but I have new questions that are more suited for this one,

Right now I have a 2500+ and a Radeon 9800 np, I just bough these things and am having a bit of regret thinking that a P4 2.4 would have been better but oh well... What I want to do is flash the 9800 to a Pro bios then OC the thing, to do so I have decided that it needs bettter cooling. I have been reccomended the Zalman heatpipe cooler, my only doubt is that it doesnt seem to cool the memory and it's pricey.

When I bought my CPU I bough the OEM version and a TT Volcano 7+ heatsink + fan combo (for those of you wondering, the 7+ has an all copper heatsink), this thing has been working well for me but on my last post several people said that is was a POS and I wouldn't get far with it.

that leads me to this, I have been looking at water cooling with an egar eye and I am wondering if I should take the plunge or stick with air cooling, below are a few questions.

1.) Any more thoughts on the Volcano 7+?

2.) can my vid card stand the BIOS flash and a little OC w/o a new heatsink + fan?

3.) What about a Vantec GPU cooler and a heatsink for each of the memory chips?

4.) What does everyone think of Water Cooler kits like TT Aquarius 2? If I go water would be I better off using seperate parts?

5.) I want to take my 2500+ to a 400 FSB and around 2.4+ ghz, I am thinking that this will requier more cooling but I am not sure, how far does everyone think I can push it as it?


oh, and here is some more info about my PC;

AMD XP Barton 2500+ w/ TT Volcano 7+
Abit NF7 mobo
512mb PC-2700 (1 stick)
Radeon 9800 np


soon I will be getting a new case, my current one is just too bad to mention (no fans, 300 watt PSU, the sides have been destroyed....) the new case will be a CHenming X-Pider w/ 420 watt PSU and 4 fans, $90 at newegg...

thanks

well as for your barton, you will definatly need water cooling for 2.4 cause the air cooling that you would need will drive you crazy...
you will want to get some better ram if you want to hit 200mhz fsb pc2700 won't cut it.....

For as is.... you might be able to squeeze 2.2 out of it.. but it's gonna be running hot, and thats only if that pc2700 can stand it..

i don't claim to be any good at water cooling but i do suggest you read the forums for more water cooling solutions.
and i know that seperates will get you better results than any kit.
I'm sure some of our water pimps and hoes will help you out...

Keep in mind my CPU is unlocked so I can just ratched the multiplier, I can get it to boot just fine at 166 X 13.5 or 2.25 ghz, I think I need to up the voltage though b/c my games crash hard and often with that setting

Water is an option, but the kits you mentioned are not but a baby step in the right direction,save your money.
Assuming you can fork out the cash, may I suggest this sort of system to you:
DangerDenMaze-48.00
DangerDen GPU block w/Ram sinks-69.00
either a Reservior-(cast Acylic bay-res)30.00
or a bleed and fill set-20.00
Danner 250 or 350 magdrive pump-50.00
Black Ice x-treme ll-105.00
Tubing, clamps, additive-20.00
4x120 fans-50.00
300.00 -320.00 wil get you the best that money can buy, in my opinion.
It seems to me that if I would have waited, and bought all the right stuff the first time , I would have spent 1/2 of what I did taking baby steps...
Your other option is to get a SLK series Heatsink and an adaptor for a 120mm fan,the 120mm fan, a fan controller, Prolly inside a 100.00 bill..choice is yours!

thanks Zen, I think I am going to work on modding my case before I got water route, plus I just discovered that my crappy TT Volcano 7+ can let me get to 200 fsb going to see if I can push it past 2 ghz

my thoughts exactly...
It's not a snap desicion, that anybody should make. Careful planning and execution, or you wind up with a case of tubular headaches...
Keep an eye on those temps and set your shut-down temp, in bios, as low as nessasary, and I wouldn't go ape-sh!t on the voltage until I had a better cooling solution...remember this is the cool part of the nite, so your ambient is as low as it's gonna get...nice fsb, your RAM will prolly hold back before the CPU maxes out ...Have fun !

yea, it's been really cool around here (no fans on and my ambient is under 20 C, when i turn on the fan in my roon things get very cool. Perfect for OC'ing

and with winter coming up I might just hold back my CPU untill then and once it gets chilly see what it'll do

You have an ambient that is under 20 C in the summer?! where do you live... or is this just extreme air conditioning?

Third Igloo on the left!, Nex to the one I want to buy

Massachusetts actually, its like 60 F outside right now and I have a fan on in my room pretty damn chilly, oh, and the PC had a nice rest when that temp was taken, right now I'm at;

in case ~ 28
CPU ~ 41

those are temps after 5 hours of use

(CPU is Barton 2500+ OC'ed to 400 mhz FSB and 2.1 ghz clock with a TT VOlcano 7+)

What device are you using to take your room temperature?

I seriously think that a fan could not cool things to under 20C. But I might be wrong.

my mobos built in temp sensor for ambient temp, it was 19 C 60 F this morning, its been really cool around here as of late, like 50 F at night outside, and with a fan blowing that in....

Very possible,
Where I'm at I gets as low as 17c ambient and18C coolant and 24C CPU while F@H and surffing 9:00am PST

did you miss the part where I said I have not water cooling, just a CPU heatsink and fan? my case has no side right now and no case fans

yeah I did some more conversions, looked into recent temps in Massachusetts and thinking... it is very posssible you have those temps. You are very lucky. I am roasting here.

The hell of it here is in the mid afternoon I get up to a room temp of 32-33C. that's when the zennz breaks out the ghetto A/C.
(wet towells on head and back + big box fan!)

Wow you must be wearing a coat inside with those kind of temps in your room.

You should at least buy 2 normal 80mm fans for exhaust and intake and you should be able to drop your case temps by alot. I think I read somewhere that case temps decrease on a logarithmic curve when increasing the number of fans, meaning the most bang for the buck comes with the first few fans you add. Check ebay. You can probably find some quality, regular 80mm fans for less than 10 bucks after S&H. or like a 6-pack for 15 or so. Some good deals. Check it out.

ZEN---Fan+bucket of ice was always my favorite when i lived in Texas.

Quote: Originally posted by ZENNZZO The hell of it here is in the mid afternoon I get up to a room temp of 32-33C. that's when the zennz breaks out the ghetto A/C. (wet towells on head and back + big box fan!)

Good ol' Ghetto A/C. Don't forget sitting in your drawers and wearing a wife-beater t-shirt.

Slider, the more I see you post the more I see a kindred spirit. If I ever get up there, there's a bottle of Bawls with your name on it.

I personally don't give a rip about AC unless my rig is in the room. Then I'm neurotic. Stupid hsf isn't really enough, gotta buy a new one...

Yeah, these Volcano 7's suck don't they?