Overclocking! - Cooler Upgrade for MAX??

[CannyOne]

Hey, DuRaNgO, or anyone else with experience, I want to upgrade the cooling of my G400-MAX. Do you have a Tennmax "Lasagna" cooler? Does it work well when overclocking? Did you use thier "sticky tape" or are you using regular thermal compound?

Any suggestions welcome. I have a "blow-hole" cut into the side of the case. It blows right on the MAX. However, I'm worried that the stock heatsink and fan isn't enough. I will be using MGA Tweak to overclock. But when I've used the "Matrox Tweak Utility" I couldn't go past 110% without video corruption. Also I have located some heatsink material, that I could mount to the memory chips. Has anyone tried this with a Matrox card? Does anyone think it would or, would not, work?

Thanks!

I started addressing DuRaNgO because he put up a link to Tennmax, in a post on the MGA Tools forum. But since this IS a hardware question. I thought I should raise it here.

[TTCharon]

Yep, I would like to know too!

I can't go beyond 110% with Matrox's Tweak utility either. Anyone else?

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Abit BH6, P3-600E@800(6x133), 128mb MCT 8ns CAS3, G400MAX(OC'ed 110%), SBLIVE, AHA 2940AU, WDC 4.3, WDC 6.4, IBM GXP34 20.5, Mitsumi FX48, Yamaha 4416S, Zyxel Prestige 100IH, 3Com 905B-TX On W98SE, DX 7.0a, PD 5.52

[alpha]

Well, I don't own a Matrox (3dfx man) but that sounds like the memory is too slow for the speed - I doubt cooling will help much

[Kruzin]

The only extra cooling my G400 has is an old pentium fan (crystal cooler) clipped to the stock heatsink. I've been running it at MAX clockings for 10 months with no problems now...

[Maggi]

D'oh ...

Sorry guys, but I saw this thread too late, because I started murcing from a link on my desktop and posted an answer here ...

Cheers,
Maggi

PS: Kruz ... 10 months already ??? Gee, times running.

[CannyOne]

Oui Vae! I guess it's time to shut the system down, roll up my sleaves, and break out the "power tools".

At least I don't have a shortage of heatsinks and fans. It's like take your pick around here. (Pentium, P-II, P-3, Celery, Stock Athlon - just no left over 486 units! It's been a really long time since I've had one of them.) I'll have to see what "fits", and can be mounted most securely.

No! I better install 3D Mark 99 MAX and do some benchmarks for reference. Either way I should be done by morning light!

It's just good to know I'm not the only "crazy" one around here. Maggi I really don't think your fan is "overkill". I'm just jealous!! It's too bad I don't have a digital camera. I won't be able to document my handiwork. C,ya all!

[Maggi]

Just go ahead, CannyOne ...

I suggest to use MGA Tweak, because then you could fiddle with the clock dividers and won't be trapped by a fix divider ratio.

Keep us posted !

Maggi

[ALBPM]

Here's some pics of my old case. You can also cool your cards from the side. You can make or buy a "Card Cooler" and then modify your case for some extra cooling.


The fans blow cool air into the case from the side.


A car stereo speaker grill works great. This one is lined with air conditioner filter foam to keep out dog hair and dust.

Paul

[CannyOne]

Well, the hardware part is "finished". I decided to use and old slot 1 Celeron heatsink and fan. The heatsink had to be "worked" on, but I was able to use the metal attachment pins from the stock cooler. I'm sure it won't come loose. That part only took two hours. (Hey I decided I'd get better results with "hand tools". )

I was really suprised when I pulled it off and discovered NO heat transfer material under the heatsink!!! It's a wonder I hadn't fried it already. Now there's a nice layer of Type 44. And since the fan is attached to the motherboard I can monitor it's function. I have to get another 3-pin to 4-pin adapter though. The one I have didn't want to connect in properly (a problem with the 4-pin "splice" end). This will also allow me to Use that voltage more constructively. But I guess if you don't have an Athlon, you would really understand that part.

Is it just me, or does "frag tape" really s#ck! It only took me four hours to attach the heatsinks to 8 memory chips. What a nightmare! After all those hours spent reading about Kyle's adventures (see www.hardocp.com ). If figures that the part he didn't talk about would give me the most trouble.

Now I just need some suggestions for "clock dividers" and the "system PLL clock". I think, any of you who wish to help me, should post that next door. At the MGA Tools forum. Thanks!

[CannyOne]

Well, my MAX is now running with a system pll clock of 416.57. I also did some basic memory optimizations. There was a nice little increase in 3D Mark scores. Now I'll have to go play some games. Just to see how it works! (I drank so much coffee last night I won't be ready to go to sleep for hours.) Take care all!

And Please, some of you, visit the MGA Tools forum and give me some suggestions for the "next step". Thanks!!!

[CannyOne]

With a better understanding of the process I've now reached a "stable" (as in able to run 3D programs ALL day ) System PLL Clock of 437.40. This results in a Graphics Clock of 174.96, and a Memory Clock of 218.70. This is without SGRAM Memory Optimizations, or Miscellaneous Controls enabled. The performance under 3D Mark 99 Max went from 6170.23 3D Marks, to 6720.52 3D Marks. The fill rate with "multi-texturing" increased from 257.35 Mtexels/s, to 295.06 Mtexels/s. However, I just replaced the power supply and the case fans in my system. This may allow me to run at higher settings and still maintain stability. (Overclocking isn't any good if you can't use it!!)

[This message has been edited by CannyOne (edited 22 April 2000).]