Hi guys,

Have built a PC with the following spec:

Abit IS7 motherboard
Intel Prescott 3G P4 CPU + stock fan
Antec Sonata case
1G RAM
180G SATA Maxtor drive
XP Pro

All seemed fine until I tried to use it for encoding video - it's primary purpose, when it started to beep randomly. Long story short and it looks like I have a temperature/cooling problem. I now know that the Prescott is reknown for running very hot but the problem doesn't relate to the CPU and case temperature but the PWM temp. The Abit tech I spoke to admitted that their PWM circuitry can't cope with the on-load power demands of the Prescott. Unfortunately, they wouldn't let me have that in writing so Scan are unwilling to help out (and I only discovered this problem after 28 days. Doh!).

So, what's to be done? On the advice of the the Abit tech, I've reversed the direction of the case exhaust fan so it blows air across the PWM circuitry but this doesn't really help that much. I installed a second case fan and this only seems to lower the case temp and not really affect the PWM temps. The side effect of this is that the machine sounds like something my Dyson would be proud of is *not* good. He also suggested that I stick small heatsinks to the mosfet power regulators to increase their ability to shed heat which makes sense but I really shouldn't have to do this given that Abit state that their board is Northwood compatible..... which technically it is so long as you don't do anything taxing with the machine

So, any ideas how I can resolve the problem (short of going out and buying a Northwood CPU)?

Any thoughts much appreciated.

Cheers,

M

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Been a while since I've posted..... and how come I'm still a new member?

Quote:

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So, any ideas how I can resolve the problem (short of going out and buying a Northwood CPU)?

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Go out and buy an Intel motherboard.

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www.RTaylor-Design.Com

What I would is pop into maplins and buy a can of freeze spray, then get the computer to fail, shut it down, power it back up and spray the power circuitry every minute, if it works ok then at least you know its a heat problem.

Abit IC-7 Max3 with OTES.

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Funk It

I'd try reversing the CPU fan so that it stops pushing hot air onto the mobo, and duct the air that has just been used to cool the CPU straight out of the case.

I'm not sure you can do this with a stock INtel CPU cooler, but you certainly can do it with a number of specialist coolers.

I do this on all my haevily-loaded machines now. With the heat that Prescott pumps out I'd expect a 10C reduction in mobo temps.

One of the reasons why the fans you installed didn't help much may be that the air they are pumping at the PMW is already hot.



Peter

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PaQ

Can't speak for the mobo, but I do know about prescotts

By the sound of it, your prescott has 1meg L2 cache? is so, it's a right cooker.....

If motherboard monitor http://mbm.livewiredev.com/ supports your mobo, you can get some metrics on your problem.

The intel 865perl mobo is very stable, tho not the coolest around. It does of course have the great merit of being designed to run with a prescott!

If you're using a stock cooler, you could move more air more quietly with a scythe kamikaze or a zalman cpu cooler.

Hope these random thoughts help - having been up all night whilst my dog has been having puppies, everything is pretty random just now