I was looking at several different coolers.
Thermaltake Big Typhoon CL-P0114 120mm Cooling Fan with Heatsink - Retail at Newegg.com
ZALMAN CNPS9500 AT 2 Ball CPU Cooling Fan/Heatsink - Retail at Newegg.com
ARCTIC COOLING Freezer 7 Pro CPU Cooler - Retail at Newegg.com
and the scythe ninja, but I fear it may be too large.

Yes I will be OC'ing, no I don't want to watercool, and I've got the
Spire SP-ATX-PALU/B Pininfarina Black Computer Case - Retail at Newegg.com
case.

Well, I've currently got the Freezer 7 Pro on my E6300, and it idles at around 43c @ 2.45ghz. It's a pretty good cooler. My old rig had a ThermalTake Big Typhoon in it, and that's also a good choice, although it is pretty enormous.

While I own a Scythe Ninja, it's really aimed at the silent community. The fins
are spaced 2 far apart for a fan to really help it out. I ended up buying a Scythe
Mine for some serious air cooling. My idle temps hover around 32-33C @ idle
and36-39C under full load. It's a big heatsink, but I haven't found a better one
yet. And I live in Florida so heat is always a problem :-) I'm in the middle of writing
a review on the CoolerMaster HyperTX heatsink. It's smaller, cheaper and cools to
within a few degrees of the Scythe Mine. It's a good heatsink to consider.

if you think the ninja will be too big, the BT will be too

i had a zalman 9700 led in my Coolermaster centurion 5 and the fan wouldnt go in because it touched the bottom psu fan, i had to take the psu fan off and put the fan on the back as an exhaust, it was ghetto but it worked while i needed it

your case looks like it will have the same clearance issue with big hsf's as mine did, the mobo tray is right up against the psu holder

some of the c2d mobos are a pain because the proc is sitting so far up, they should have done it like a64 mobos with the proc more towards the middle... im sure all intel cares about is stupid btx anyway though

i would probably get a smaller cooler, the 9500 would be my choice, as its a little smaller than the 9700. or a cooler thats taller rather than wide

or just save your self a few bucks and go with the arctic- just get good airflow and dont run the proc past like 2.8

Quote: Originally Posted by thachamp05 or just save your self a few bucks and go with the arctic- just get good airflow and dont run the proc past like 2.8

You'll be lucky to get the E6300 past 2.5ghz with most motherboards - I've tried and failed with mine.

I love my thermaltake sonictower. 36oC idle with my E6600 @ 3.3GHz 1.4v's, loads about 50.

Well I've got my new EVGA 680i mobo and without much of
a fuss I've got my E6300 running at 3.2 GHz on air :-)

Quote: Originally Posted by reflux You'll be lucky to get the E6300 past 2.5ghz with most motherboards - I've tried and failed with mine.

You realy didn't do your homework before buying that ABIT, they are among the weaker OC'ing boards around! (Abit hasn't made anything I would buy since the Althon XP days when the NF-7 Rev 2 was king!)

Anandtech only got 366FSB in there testng...pretty sad!

(EDIT..have you tried any updated Bios versions? Abit says they were working on updates to get them past 400FSB)

AnandTech: Abit AB9-Pro: Mainstream P965 Performance and Pricing

A Gigabyte DS-3 is the best "Bang for the Buck" at 140$ and will see over 500FSB using the latest bios revision.

EVEN "Biostar" king of the budget boards is busting 500FSB!
AnandTech: Intel P965: The Double Mint Twins Gone Wild


You board is tapping out aound 350FSB and I am not surprised given the sad OC numbers they have turned in over the last few years...kind of the reason they almost went under till someone gave them a huge cash infusion..and they STILL haven't got back in the game!

It's VERY common for other brands to run 400~450FSB...almost everything from ASUS will do 400+ or beyond 500FSB if you get the right model number.

NVIDA just released the i680 chipset, and so far they are hitting 500+FSB on a pretty regular basis from EVGA and ASUS.

E6300 OC settings..they use a 7x Multilier, If you can afford it, the E6400 with it's 8x Multiplier is a MUCh beter choice so you don't have to spin the bejezes out of it for a decent OC

7x266=1.8GHZ (Stock)
7x300=2.1GHZ
7x350= 2.45GHZ
7x400=2.8GHZ
7x450=3.15GHZ
7x500=3.5GHZ
7x550=3.85GHZ

E6400 OC settings

8x266=2.1GHZ
8x300=2.4GHZ
8x350=2.8GHZ
8x400=3.2GHZ
8x450=3.6GHZ
8x500=4.0GHZ
8x550=4.4GHZ

As a note, getting the 6300 and 6400 CPU's to the 4GHZ mark is next to impossible with air cooling, and 4.4GHZ will usually require extreme cooling like Dry Ice..most common OC's are going to be in the 3.2-3.6 GHZ range, though I have seen a few good 6400's reach 3.8+

Tthe 6300's don't reach quite as high as the 6400 as a rule of thumb, usually 200-400MHZ less...but you are saving 40$, and that is alot when your budget is super tight, and you aren't worried about that last MHZ...remember the 1,000$ EE 6800 is ONLY 2.93GHZ!

Ill take the blame for that one Necro, Reflux was gonna get that Gigabyte motherboard, but id heard bad things about it, and good things about the Abit.

Up to you Dave, can you be arsed to RMA the Abit and get the Gigabyte?

BAD DEX....BAD BAD BOY!

Now get your face in the corner and repeat 500 times

"I will ask PC Apex FIRST before buying (Or recomending) a motherboard"

Well to stand up for Dex a bit,IIRC the Gigabyte board wasn't a DS3/DS6, it was some piece of junk that would've been even worse.

LOL..I'm just givin him da bidness'

Then I explained the better choices around, in case someone stumbled on this thread....

The first post I made here when it was PimpRig was about a stupid motherboard I bought that didn't have voltage options, but the guy said it could OC...of course wanted to volt mod it...lol but the guys set me straight and pointed me to the EPOX RDa3+ wich was a great OC board..but when I finally saved up the funds, the NF-7 Rev 2 just came out and I got that instead after seeing it tear up the bench tests...the rest is "History" so to speak.

Quote: Originally Posted by $SOLID$ Necro You realy didn't do your homework before buying that ABIT, they are among the weaker OC'ing boards around! (Abit hasn't made anything I would buy since the Althon XP days when the NF-7 Rev 2 was king!) Anandtech only got 366FSB in there testng...pretty sad! (EDIT..have you tried any updated Bios versions? Abit says they were working on updates to get them past 400FSB) AnandTech: Abit AB9-Pro: Mainstream P965 Performance and Pricing A Gigabyte DS-3 is the best "Bang for the Buck" at 140$ and will see over 500FSB using the latest bios revision. EVEN "Biostar" king of the budget boards is busting 500FSB! AnandTech: Intel P965: The Double Mint Twins Gone Wild You board is tapping out aound 350FSB and I am not surprised given the sad OC numbers they have turned in over the last few years...kind of the reason they almost went under till someone gave them a huge cash infusion..and they STILL haven't got back in the game! It's VERY common for other brands to run 400~450FSB...almost everything from ASUS will do 400+ or beyond 500FSB if you get the right model number. NVIDA just released the i680 chipset, and so far they are hitting 500+FSB on a pretty regular basis from EVGA and ASUS. E6300 OC settings..they use a 7x Multilier, If you can afford it, the E6400 with it's 8x Multiplier is a MUCh beter choice so you don't have to spin the bejezes out of it for a decent OC 7x266=1.8GHZ (Stock) 7x300=2.1GHZ 7x350= 2.45GHZ 7x400=2.8GHZ 7x450=3.15GHZ 7x500=3.5GHZ 7x550=3.85GHZ E6400 OC settings 8x266=2.1GHZ 8x300=2.4GHZ 8x350=2.8GHZ 8x400=3.2GHZ 8x450=3.6GHZ 8x500=4.0GHZ 8x550=4.4GHZ As a note, getting the 6300 and 6400 CPU's to the 4GHZ mark is next to impossible with air cooling, and 4.4GHZ will usually require extreme cooling like Dry Ice..most common. OC's are going to be in the 3.2-3.6 GHZ range, though I have seen a few good 6400's reach 3.8+ Tthe 6300's don't reach quite as high as the 6400 as a rule of thumb, usually 200-400MHZ less...but you are saving 40$, and that is alot when your budget is super tight, and you aren't worried about that last MHZ...remember the 1,000$ EE 6800 is ONLY 2.93GHZ!

Well, thanks for the recommendations $SOLIDS$, but I did ask PCA before I bought the parts for this rig, and I didn't get much feedback on the AB9. Zaltan was the only one who said anything bad about it, and I have't had the problem he described. I read up on the motherboard extensively on the web, and it came up as a decent board. It got an 'approved' award in a PC magazine I regularly read and they said it was a damn fine board. In fact, they recommended it over the 965 DS3. I've also seen screenies of people with 400mhz+ FSBs here and there, so I reckon I just got a crap board.

I will be RMAing the motherboard now If I can as I'm suffering other problems with the PC.

The only problem with that is that in my n00b-like haste to put all the bits together, I crossthreaded one of the motherboard screws. I've tried loads to get it out with a screwdriver, but it aint budging. Any tips? If I can't get it out I'm quite literally screwed...

Lastly, just to clarify, are you recommending the GA_965_DS3, or the GA-965_S3? I know the S3 simply has poorer quality capacitors - is it worth saving £10 over the DS3? Or would the Biostar board be a better choice? It seems like it might be, but I'm having difficulty finding it for sale in the UK.

Quote: Originally Posted by reflux The only problem with that is that in my n00b-like haste to put all the bits together, I crossthreaded one of the motherboard screws. I've tried loads to get it out with a screwdriver, but it aint budging. Any tips? If I can't get it out I'm quite literally screwed...

It all depends on how motivated you are to get that screw out. I myself am pretty much in the stuck screw business working on aircraft and ive got all sorts of tricks that work great.....however some of them are not acceptable for use on a motherboard mount screw.

The first thing that i would try is to get some ajax or talcan powder. Mix it up with a tiny bit of water, just enough to make it pasty like a really thick toothpaste. Put that in the head of your screw and on the tip of your screwdriver and try to turn it out. The extra grit that that it provides should be able to help in holding your screwdriver in place without stripping out the head.

Next is to whip out your dremel!.....or a blade from a hacksaw. Cut a line in the head of the screw deep enough to get a flathead in there. Try turning it out with your flathead screwdriver.

Next to get a really decent pair of channel locks, vise grips, or any other pair of pliers that has a decent bite on it. Just grip the head and try to turn it out. Sometimes you can succeed in turning the head completely off. This is a pain but at least your mobo will be out and you can get the rest of the screw out pretty easily.

Lastly is to drill it out. Just get a big enough bit that is roughly the size of the shank of the screw. Drill down just deep enough to get past the head of the screw than twist the head off, lift off mobo, give the rest of the screw hell.

If this all fails you.....well i dont think it will cause that screw should be fairly destroyed after all that. To save some time you might wanna look into getting a screw extractor set, they do make like so much easier and are relatively easy to use.

Check this set out, it pretty much covers everytthing youd ever need while working on PC's eBay Motors: SNAP-ON SCREW EXTRACTOR NEW SET@@@ (item 110057855492 end time Dec-02-06 08:15:00 PST)

Wow! Thanks for all the tips Sparky, I'll try some of those. +rep

EDIT: Being the impatient person that I am, I went straight to the pliers method, and hey presto..

Dave = 1, crossthreaded screw = 0

RMA time!

Quote: Originally Posted by reflux Well, thanks for the recommendations $SOLIDS$, but I did ask PCA before I bought the parts for this rig, and I didn't get much feedback on the AB9. Zaltan was the only one who said anything bad about it, and I have't had the problem he described. I read up on the motherboard extensively on the web, and it came up as a decent board. It got an 'approved' award in a PC magazine I regularly read and they said it was a damn fine board. In fact, they recommended it over the 965 DS3. I've also seen screenies of people with 400mhz+ FSBs here and there, so I reckon I just got a crap board. I will be RMAing the motherboard now If I can as I'm suffering other problems with the PC. The only problem with that is that in my n00b-like haste to put all the bits together, I crossthreaded one of the motherboard screws. I've tried loads to get it out with a screwdriver, but it aint budging. Any tips? If I can't get it out I'm quite literally screwed... Lastly, just to clarify, are you recommending the GA_965_DS3, or the GA-965_S3? I know the S3 simply has poorer quality capacitors - is it worth saving £10 over the DS3? Or would the Biostar board be a better choice? It seems like it might be, but I'm having difficulty finding it for sale in the UK.

Ahh..I see why I never caught your thread...It was in the "Other PC problems/help" section, I do not monitor threads from there!

If you had put it under Intel Overclocking..I probably would have caught it!

I beleive a few people did try and steer you clear of that board, though on the same hand, a fwe more said it was good!

As far as screw removal, you got it out allready (Again..hastily, lol, you need to learn patience!) you could ALSO have used a socket if it was the typical type of PC screw with the flat sides (Not rounded) or even a tiny wrench of the proper size! (Just a FYI)

I believe (Cant tell without the links) that the S-3 may involve onboard video, I find it hard to believe they would "Cheap out" on capacitors to save the end user 10$ can you show me where you found that?


EDIT: I found the difference!

Quote: Following their new S-series motherboard lineup, Gigabyte actually has two versions of the board, which you can identify by its naming suffix. There is the regular 'S3' and this Durability Enhanced 'DS3' model that is in all essence exactly the same board except that it sports the new All-Solid Capacitor design. This exquisite motherboard utilizes the latest Intel P965 chipset to deliver up to 8 GB dual-channel DDR2 800/667/533 memory with Fast Memory Access technology for maximum platform performance. Other features include 6 SATA 3Gb/s connectors, 8-channel onboard HD Audio and PCIe Gigabit LAN support

So it looks like Gigabyte didn't use cheap caps on the regular board, they just "Upgraded" to digital ones on the new board!

I know you aren't in the US, but always go to NewEgg.com and read the "Customer Reviews" in the future when considering buying hardware...they are invaluable!

They also have detailed product specs, and links to the maufacturers page for that hardware!

Newegg.com - Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail

Quote: Originally Posted by $SOLID$ Necro I believe (Cant tell without the links) that the S-3 may involve onboard video, I find it hard to believe they would "Cheap out" on capacitors to save the end user 10$ can you show me where you found that?

Quote: Originally Posted by AnandTech Unlike the DS series that use 100% Conductive Polymer Aluminum Solid Capacitors our S3 board uses a combination of solid and electrolytic capacitors. The purpose of the Conductive Polymer Aluminum Solid capacitors is theoretically to improve system durability and to provide for added stability under heavy load operations such as overclocking. However, we did not notice any differences in our testing, but the long term benefits of the solid capacitors could be significant in terms of the board's lifespan.

AnandTech: Intel P965: The Double Mint Twins Gone Wild

I don't see any mention of onboard video.

Here's the OcUK motherboards page...

Components » Motherboards » Intel 775 (965P Chipset) - Overclockers UK

It's £10 less than the DS3, but Dex has been suggesting I go for a more expensive mobo full stop - e.g. something in the £120 range. I've heard the Asus P5B is absolutely awesome.

But herein lies a problem. I'm not sure if the board is faulty. And it has to be faulty for me to get a refund from OcUK. I have been experiencing problems with it, which are detailed here, and the guys in the Abit forums are suggesting that it could be the PWMs around the CPU overheating. Whatever those are.

Wow Slaymate, thats impressive! Gonna have to push mine a bit further tonight!