Question about Power Usage and Overclocking - Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community

wombatman · 07-20-2005, 04:44 PM

I'm overclocking a little bit for fun (albeit very careful fun) and I'm hitting a limit that I don't think I should quite be at. I don't believe I'm overheating (51-54 deg C or so under full load, 30ish deg C case), and I don't think I'm pushing the memory too far--it's DDR400 with stock speed of 2.5-3-3-8 that's autoclocked by the Asus board to DDR266 at 2.5-4-4-8. So that leaves the power supply not being able to supply enough power. So here's the system:

-Xaser III case with 2 Sunon Ultra high 80mm fans and 4 80mm Thermaltake fans (the ones that come with the case)
-120mm Panaflo high speed fan (115 CFM) that's not running full speed (hooked to a fan controller)
-eVGA Geforce 6800GT slightly overclocked
-Pentium 3.2E Ghz (running at 3.64Ghz currently)
-Sound Blaster Sound Card (older one)
-2 GBs of 2x512MB DDR400 (dual channel declocked to DDR266 automatically)
-Spark 7+ cooler (for the copper base)
-Thermaltake Silent PurePower PS that claims a MAX power of 420 watts

So, am I simply pushing my power supply to the brink? Or is there another problem here? Oh, and all parts are sound. I can reliably overclock to about 3.57 or 3.6Ghz stable. It's only when I go to 3.64Ghz or above that I start having stability problems. The FSB

RAM ratio is 3:2. FSB is at 228 and RAM is at 152 Mhz (DDR304).

Thanks in advance for the help.

Martian · 07-21-2005, 12:30 AM

It's not that the PSU isn't capable of supplying the power; it's very unlikely that you're straining a 420w PSU to it's limit. What's more probable is that the motherboard simply isn't supplying sufficient power. You should be able to up the CPU voltage in the BIOs, which will offer more stability at higher speeds. Careful, though, because it'll also cause your CPU to generate a lot more heat.

wombatman · 07-21-2005, 08:45 AM

That's sorta what I was thinking. The reason I was asking is because the motherboard is supposed to be automatically giving however much voltage is necessary, although I noticed that would constantly be changing in Asus's PC Probe...anywhere from 1.4V at idle to about 1.31V under load.

07-20-2005, 04:44 PM	#1 (permalink)
wombatman Insane	Question about Power Usage and Overclocking I'm overclocking a little bit for fun (albeit very careful fun) and I'm hitting a limit that I don't think I should quite be at. I don't believe I'm overheating (51-54 deg C or so under full load, 30ish deg C case), and I don't think I'm pushing the memory too far--it's DDR400 with stock speed of 2.5-3-3-8 that's autoclocked by the Asus board to DDR266 at 2.5-4-4-8. So that leaves the power supply not being able to supply enough power. So here's the system: -Xaser III case with 2 Sunon Ultra high 80mm fans and 4 80mm Thermaltake fans (the ones that come with the case) -120mm Panaflo high speed fan (115 CFM) that's not running full speed (hooked to a fan controller) -eVGA Geforce 6800GT slightly overclocked -Pentium 3.2E Ghz (running at 3.64Ghz currently) -Sound Blaster Sound Card (older one) -2 GBs of 2x512MB DDR400 (dual channel declocked to DDR266 automatically) -Spark 7+ cooler (for the copper base) -Thermaltake Silent PurePower PS that claims a MAX power of 420 watts So, am I simply pushing my power supply to the brink? Or is there another problem here? Oh, and all parts are sound. I can reliably overclock to about 3.57 or 3.6Ghz stable. It's only when I go to 3.64Ghz or above that I start having stability problems. The FSBRAM ratio is 3:2. FSB is at 228 and RAM is at 152 Mhz (DDR304). Thanks in advance for the help.

07-21-2005, 12:30 AM	#2 (permalink)
Martian Young Crumudgeon Location: Canada	It's not that the PSU isn't capable of supplying the power; it's very unlikely that you're straining a 420w PSU to it's limit. What's more probable is that the motherboard simply isn't supplying sufficient power. You should be able to up the CPU voltage in the BIOs, which will offer more stability at higher speeds. Careful, though, because it'll also cause your CPU to generate a lot more heat. __________________ I wake up in the morning more tired than before I slept I get through cryin' and I'm sadder than before I wept I get through thinkin' now, and the thoughts have left my head I get through speakin' and I can't remember, not a word that I said - Ben Harper, Show Me A Little Shame

07-21-2005, 08:45 AM	#3 (permalink)
wombatman Insane	That's sorta what I was thinking. The reason I was asking is because the motherboard is supposed to be automatically giving however much voltage is necessary, although I noticed that would constantly be changing in Asus's PC Probe...anywhere from 1.4V at idle to about 1.31V under load.