j.c.f.'s Athlon Overclock Phase
II
So I'm starting to think those cache chips are freaky,
it's not a case of pushing them just a little bit too hard, its a case of push them over
spec. (be it a little or a lot) and some time or other they're gonna screw up. So I fire
up H. Oda's wondrous WCPUA2 and set the cache to 1/3,
and sure enough, problems are gone. Well, cool, I can live with a point and click or two
on system startup and believe me, if you've never looked at the resistors that need moving
to permanently strap the cache divider WCPUA2 looks real appealing. At least until March
rolled around and we discover that he's put a time limit in the stinking thing, %$%#*!
Fine, so you set the date back to February, use WCPUA2 and then set it back again, oh, and
then we want to install a new video card with the concomitant multiple reboots getting
drivers into line, eyes soldering iron and magnifying lens...
So I'll skip most of the construction then, mostly
because I reassembled the rig with TECs in an afternoon in a bit of a rush and didn't have
time to snap pics and also because most of it is the same sort of thing as the first time
around. What did change was the heatsink, while the MECI heatsink is
a wonderful brute, it's designed for convection cooling, it doesn't get the same kind of a
benefit from a fan that a heatsink designed for fan forced air flow does.
So I got a couple of the Plycon Ultimate Alpha Heatsinks and used them
vertically side by side instead:
An added benefit of using these heatsinks is that they
are a bit longer (taller the way I use them) and have a completely flat back (you can only
mount stuff in the dead center of the MECI heatsinks) so I can offset them and give that 5
1/4" muffin fan a bit of room so it doesn't hit the power supply connector
 
Actually that's another 5 1/4" muffin fan, I
ditched the old one that had the corner chopped out of it and ripped another one out of
the last old AT&T lying around the place.
 
From behind you can see the white probe of the
thermometer jammed in there. You can also see that I'm not using the overclocking jig I
built for the last rig, that one's at work overclocking my Athlon there. At home I use the
one from K7OC as tom was so kind to have sent me an evaluation unit after
the Tech Zone published my first article. Hey! I got something tangible back for my
writing efforts, who'd da thunk it? It's actually a pretty slick unit with a silk screen
on the back of it with the switch settings, very handy.
Next page: Power consideration
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