Hardware issues: Dust and Overclocking
 

So I have two issues with my Core2 Duo system which I've had for 9 months. The first has to do with dust. The system is in a carpeted room and despite regular vacuuming (of the room), there is inevitably a buildup of dust on the vents and more importantly the heat sink. The case is an Antec P150 (sells as the Solo without the PS) and the CPU cooler is the Intel stock. I use a compressed air can to blast the dust off every month or so but during that time the temps go from 59 at load to 69-70. Can anyone suggest a solution to this problem?

The second issue has to do with overclocking. I have a Gigabyte P965-DS3 rev 1.1 The computer was running stable at 3000MHz (8x375). I have experimented with higher FSB speeds and have the computer stable at 7x410=2870. Prime95 performance is slightly better that at 3GHz due to better memory bandwidth.

I tried 8x410 but the computer posts but is not able to boot. I tried upping the volatge from 1.3125 (which is sufficient for 3GHz) to 1.325 (stock) and beyong a couple of notches but that hasn't helped. Failure to boot indicates that heat is probably not a problem. And the stability at 7x410 indicates that chipset cooling is probably not the culprit. What else can I try to get to 8x410? Up the voltage even more?

Garo, when overclocking I suggest buying an aftermarket cooler - almost anything is better than stock cooler.
As far as voltage is concerned I run my E6600 @ 333*9 @ 1.35V (BIOS setting) and my QX6700 @ 355*9 @ 1.4V (BIOS setting) without a problem. The actual voltages reported under stress differ from BIOS settings: 1.29V for E6600 and 1.33 for QX6700.
Bottom line: you can further increase voltages (don't forget about MCH/FSB/RAM) but before that I would change CPU cooler.

Thanks for the response Cruelty. I do plan to eventually buy an aftermarket cooler. Bit of a budget crunch to get over first. I take it that the Thermalright Ultra-120 eXtreme is still the cooler of choice?

Having said that, the Intel stock cooler that shipped with the Core2duos is not too shabby. Most people are getting decent overclocks - over 3GHz with the stock cooler and with sane temps. 60C on Intel TAT/CoreTemp is not a bad temperature. I know that the Thermalright will probably bring it down to low 40s but these HSFs are not POS that the old Intel HSFs were.

However, I don't think my problem has to do with the cooler at all since the machine fails to boot. So temperatures are definitely not the issue. Plus a new cooler won't help with the problem of dust! An expensive after-market HSF is no use if it gets covered in dust every two weeks.

One of the side benefits to an aftermarket cooler other than it's increased heat dissipation ability over the stock cooler, is that most of them are much quieter, even at max rpm. Those stock Intel HSFs are LOUD.

As far as the dust, anywhere there are fans you WILL have a collection of dust. Check your case to make sure there are no large un-filtered openings. And, instead of using compressed air to just blow the dust off, use a vacuum cleaner with a micro-tool attachment to take the dust (lint) away. Just blowing the dust off doesn't get rid of it, and it will eventually just re-settle back on the fans. Be prepared to routinely clean your pcs - I do mine monthly, and immediately see a 6C-8C drop.

Have you tried locking your PCI bus at 33.3Mhz?

Yes I agree that the Intel is louder than better HSFs and that is the one reason I would definitely buy the Thermalright. Thanks for the tip on the dust, I will do a vacuum now. i just checked and you were right in that a lot of the dust had just settled back on.

Regarding the overclock, yes I have locked the PCI bus speed.

I'm guessing that you should supply more voltage to your CPU to eventually reach higher overclock, and I don't think that Intel HSF would deliver sufficient performance then...

Agreed! That is my working hypothesis now as well. I was a bit surprised though, given that I am running stable at 2870MHz with 1.3125V (default is 1.325) I expected 1.3325 would be enough for 3280MHz. I'll try to up the voltage in steps up to a max of 1.35 and keep a close eye on the temps. At the moment I would be happy to know what the limit of my CPU is and wait to push the limit with a new HSF.

I find digging out the the dust with wooden cocktail stick to be beneficial before a vacuum. Repeated until clean.

Perhaps the extra heat from overclocking causes the CPU fan to rotate more and whip up more dust.

We use an electric leaf blower, standing about 10 feet away, to blow computers free of dust.

They emerge spotless but you do have to make sure all the connections are intact when you are done.

We do this once every few months. It sure saves a lot of money on canned compressed air!

We used to have a huge air compressor but the air in it was always slightly humid so that didn't work out too well.

well... my 20 year old shag carpet... don't ask
leaves a lot of dust i usually clean them every 6 months. Which might sound excessive but is not really. You have 2 choices clean more or filter the dust

the thermal take xaser 3 from a few years ago had dust filters over all the fans that way the inside stays mostly dust free.

Well that's a good point. The Antec P150 comes with a dust cover for the front air intake. It works but not well enough. Has anyone else tried other filtering mechanisms? I'm thinking some sort of fine mesh or something.. Muslin maybe?