I just bought one + an Asus mobo w/ passive northbridge cooling. How can I keep this heat engine cool? I realize it'll be very difficult.

I really haven't the slightest which heatsinks will work well with a Panaflo 12v 80L1A. That's the loudest fan I'm willing to contemplate. Do you suppose an Alpha PAL8942 will be adequate with this fan, or is that heatsink only optimal vs. other heatsink, when in fact it's powered with a significantly higher speed fan?

Any advice recommended. I can not return the CPU, so that isn't useful advice.

Thank you,

John

Alpha PAL8942 is a good bet. So are the Swiftech 4000, Thermalright AX-478, Zalman 6500B-CU. Others, too, I am sure... Asus mobo: which one? I wonder how the P4-3.08 will take to undervolting? 0.1V is a good place to start, move gradually down till instability creeps in, then move back up 0.05 or 0.1V. The effect on temps is dramatic -- a couple degrees for each 0.1V change.

Which cooler is singularly suited to low-airflow fans? I'm guessing the Alpha is indeed a good general purpose cooler, and may exceed most other units when it and its competition are coupled with medium airflow fans. But what about low-airflow fans? Does it become very inefficient with this kind of airflow, considering its vast size? Are there other heatsinks that while not competitive with medium airflow fans, are in fact better with little airflow, than the Alpha?

I think I've probably now exhausted all potential misinterpretations.

maybe consider something like a Thermalright AX-478, the socket A Ax-7 version runs VERY well at very low airflow but in the medium airflow range it get's outclassed by the MCX-462 and the SlK-800, thermalright are releaseing a Socket 478 version of the SLK 800 soon might be what you are looking for.

whoa 3.0 ghz....!!! my cpu feels older every day.

just make sure you have temp guage running for the break-in period. is there much difference between 3.0ghz and 1.0ghz? just curious... given that all you play is counterstrike and wc3. i do have a decent v-card. i'm wondering whether i should get a p4.

what's the theoretical cpu limit anyway? i mean, there must be some limit as to how many transistors they can fit into the small real estate they have. well just curious

Yes there is a big difference, mainly because higher frequency CPU's generally pushes the 3D card that much more.

I underclocked my AthlonXP 2200+ (1.8Ghz) down to 1000Mhz and then down to 666Mhz. The difference in 3DMark2001se is very noticeable. I had so so many dropped frames and stutters at 666Mhz. I aborted the test because I did not want to see the results and it was taking too long.

At 1800Mhz my system gives a 3DMark of 7400 approx,
At 1000Mhz it dropped to about 6100 Marks,
At 666Mhz I guess it would be in the region of 4000-5000. I will post you the test if you want it.

I also play wc3, but my advice is to wait as so many new processor are comming out, P5 or Athlon64 is the best bet, trying to cool these will be a big question. Only time will tell, maybe it's easier to cool than current CPU's (hoping like hell this would happen).

And I doubt there will be a limit, this would mean the end of Intel and AMD. AMD has already announced the athlon64 to be realeased some time next year (would guess even higher clock speeds), and P5 will be out at similar times. Die shrink to 0.9 microns also on its way from the current 0.13micron. It will goes on and on with new technological advances. IBM has already demonstrated technology such as particles to be used, yes that is hella hella small and could be the future instead on transistors.

I have seen at madonion.com where people overclocked the p4 2.5ghz and above to over 4ghz. The 3DMark was an astonishing 21,000 Marks. Compared to many P4 2.5-3.0Ghz normally getting around 13000-14000 marks. Of course using the most powerful chipset on the market the Radeon Pro 9700.

But were not here about how fast a PC can go, more like how quiet a PC can go..

I'm sure most of us wouldn't complain about a silent 4GHz machine.

Yep, that would be so nice.

overclock to 4G... what does that take, liquid nitrogen? If so I suppose it'd be silent.

Yes, but there are other solutions too.

Check out http://www.vapochill.com, this refridgeration unit and case cools you CPU to below 0 degrees even at super highloads. This is frosty to say the least.