nForce OS X Snow Leopard (10.6) RETAIL INSTALL GUIDE on a Series 6 or 7 nForce chipset / Intel CPU MOBO

[verdant]

this is the content of the SMBIOS_MacPRo21.plist om the /list

 

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">

<plist version="1.0">

<dict>

<key>SMbiosvendor</key>

<string>Apple Inc.</string>

<key>SMbiosversion</key>

<string>MP21.88Z.005C.B01.0608221120</string>

<key>SMbiosdate</key>

<string>04/01/2008</string>

<key>SMboardmanufacturer</key>

<string>Apple Computer, Inc.</string>

<key>SMboardproduct</key>

<string>Mac-F4208DC8</string>

<key>SMfamily</key>

<string>MacPro</string>

<key>SMmanufacturer</key>

<string>Apple Inc.</string>

<key>SMproductname</key>

<string>MacPro2,1</string>

<key>SMserial</key>

<string>W88033AKY51</string>

<key>SMsystemversion</key>

<string>1.0</string>

<key>SMUUID</key>

<string>30B1359F-3E46-3A04-9680-43230036A372</string>

<key>SMmemtype</key>

<string>19</string>

<key>SMmemspeed</key>

<string>800</string>

<key>SMmemmanufacter</key>

<string>Apple Computer Inc.</string>

<key>SMmemserial</key>

<string>100000000</string>

<key>SMmempart</key>

<string>1</string>

</dict>

</plist>

 

 

are these setting ok?

and what about my bios question?

 

thanks so far!

 

These entries look OK and have you put your SMBIOS.plist in the /Extra directory........?

[otacon6530]

Oh my goodness... I have The OSX 10.6 Installed on my computer... You are my second favorite person in the whole world Verdant.

 

I followed your instructions and installed 10.6 successfully. I boot up to the actual OS and get a bunch of SMC errors. Then when it boots into the OS It wants me to connect my Keyboard, but it will not respond. I must not have done something or forgot to do something.

 

It must have something to do with fakesmcV2.kext. I decided to go with the second one rather than the first thinking the latest is better, but maybe I forgot something.

 

I will research this more, but while I am researching it, if someone knows the answer I would be happy for it.

 

 

-----

USB worked during installation, so I do not know why it is having issues now.

[muiterz]

These entries look OK and have you put your SMBIOS.plist in the /Extra directory........?

 

i renamed the file to SMBIOS.plist and it is working perfectly! weird, because the file was named SMBIOS_MacPro21.plist

 

but it is working now. great!

[verdant]

Oh my goodness... I have The OSX 10.6 Installed on my computer... You are my second favorite person in the whole world Verdant.

 

I followed your instructions and installed 10.6 successfully. I boot up to the actual OS and get a bunch of SMC errors. Then when it boots into the OS It wants me to connect my Keyboard, but it will not respond. I must not have done something or forgot to do something.

 

It must have something to do with fakesmcV2.kext. I decided to go with the second one rather than the first thinking the latest is better, but maybe I forgot something.

 

I will research this more, but while I am researching it, if someone knows the answer I would be happy for it.

 

-----

USB worked during installation, so I do not know why it is having issues now.

 

You can try USBBusFix=Yes in com.apple.Boot.plist

 

i renamed the file to SMBIOS.plist and it is working perfectly! weird, because the file was named SMBIOS_MacPro21.plist

 

but it is working now. great!

 

The various files were named in my Snow_Support_Files to aid identification..........but follow the Install Guide to see what the as-installed names should be.........for example, I named SMBIOS_MacPro21.plist to indicate that it was for a MacPro 2,1 but in use it would just be SMBIOS.plist...........

[otacon6530]

I added the UsbBusFix to my boot file, but I get the same results.

 

 

I am also getting "SMC: :smcSMC...SMC is stuck and cannot recover."

 

 

hmm... There is a lot of information out there most of it is wrong for my situation. I will reread your guide for information on this problem.

 

-------update

 

-Tried changing fakesmc.v2.kext into fakesmc.kext. This made no change in my boot up. In fact after I added the UsbBusFix in my boot file it now only goes to a white screen and does not get to the setup assistant asking for me to connect my keyboard.

 

-Decided to reinstall 10.6 and see what happens.

------Update

[muiterz]

damn, i was trying to overclock my board (p5n32-e sli plus with the q6600 g0)

 

after the succesfull flash (thanks again to verdant) i was checking the bios, man the standard temp (2.4 ghz NO overclock) was 90 c +!!!! i checked it in windows 7 and it was 97c/100c!!!! with no overclock at all. so i thought maybe there was something wrong with the flash and flash't it back to the latest version.

 

still 87c!! i turned out the pc and waited a while. After 15min. i started and the temp. was 51 c. but after a few minutes it was again 87 c.

 

how come??? is my cooler dead? do i have to order a new one for a stable overclock? or is there something else wrong?

 

and which one do you recommend? and do i also have to buy other stuff? (i have a 8800gt card, do i need a better cooler for the gpu)>?

 

in the overclocking guide you are clocking your memory from 600 to 667. i have 4x2 gb 800 mem. do you know to which value i can overclock it.?

 

edit: this will also explain the random freezes (with the neverending ball) with CPU intensive handling.

[verdant]

damn, i was trying to overclock my board (p5n32-e sli plus with the q6600 g0)

 

after the succesfull flash (thanks again to verdant) i was checking the bios, man the standard temp (2.4 ghz NO overclock) was 90 c +!!!! i checked it in windows 7 and it was 97c/100c!!!! with no overclock at all. so i thought maybe there was something wrong with the flash and flash't it back to the latest version.

 

still 87c!! i turned out the pc and waited a while. After 15min. i started and the temp. was 51 c. but after a few minutes it was again 87 c.

 

how come??? is my cooler dead? do i have to order a new one for a stable overclock? or is there something else wrong?

 

and which one do you recommend? and do i also have to buy other stuff? (i have a 8800gt card, do i need a better cooler for the gpu)>?

 

edit: this will also explain the random freezes (with the neverending ball) with CPU intensive handling.

 

Have you got your BIOS CPU internal temperature control setting disabled?

 

It certainly suggests that your CPU cooling fan is dead and/or your internal case cooling is totally insufficient (especially with a 8800GT graphics card).........see my blog entry on overclocking with details of my cooling arrangements and my temperatures when overclocking and running Prime95...........

[muiterz]

Have you got your BIOS CPU internal temperature control setting disabled?

 

It certainly suggests that your CPU cooling fan is dead and/or your internal case cooling is totally insufficient (especially with a 8800GT graphics card).........see my blog entry on overclocking with details of my cooling arrangements and my temperatures when overclocking and running Prime95...........

 

whooh, after cleaning my pc (lots and lots of dust in the cooler), the temp lowers to 40 c

 

much better! this evening i will test the overclock again

 

edit: hmm 3 ghz, 68 c. maybe i'll buy a new cooler, which one is the best? still the same you use verdant? i have a coolermaster stacker case (huge) and i can put in more coolers inside the case. but i think the cpu cooler will the the best replacement.

 

 

other question. i have a logitech z5500 audio setup. i use the coax input which input can be 96/24 5.1 channel. Is it possible to use the 5.1 channel instead of 2 channels? i read somewhere that the problem is caused by the voodooHDA kext, but i don't use this kext?

[verdant]

whooh, after cleaning my pc (lots and lots of dust in the cooler), the temp lowers to 40 c

 

much better! this evening i will test the overclock again

 

edit: hmm 3 ghz, 68 c. maybe i'll buy a new cooler, which one is the best? still the same you use verdant? i have a coolermaster stacker case (huge) and i can put in more coolers inside the case. but i think the cpu cooler will the the best replacement.

 

I chose the CPU cooler I did because of not wanting to take the motherboard out of the PC case to fit the CPU cooler and also because I wanted a low weight cooler (about 0.5 kg) because some cooler heatsinks are heavy enough (about 1 kg) to flex the MOBO.....!

 

For a review of Q6600 coolers, see here........ and also for LGA775 generally, see here......

 

For version 2 (not push-pin mounting anymore..... ) of the Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro cooler, see here..........

 

For audio, it depends on what legacy audio kext you are using with a DSDT patch.......it is difficult for me to offer detailed advice on this as I only use 2 channel audio myself, so cannot test the 5.1 channel operation with my audio setup as described in post #2.........

[otacon6530]

just want to keep you up-to-date on my situation. I finished the reinstall of 10.6 and it did not help my situation with my usb ports.

 

They do not work with the usbbusfix or a reinstall.

 

Any suggestions on where this could be coming from?

 

Also I get a bunch of SMC could not stop or recover.

 

----Update

So I got frustrated and started plugging in and out the keyboard.

 

Got an error saying "usb device is drawing too much power. Disabling device or something like that.

 

No I can not even pull up my bios with my keyboard... I guess I need to pull my bios battery and reset it... arg

 

I will try again tomorrow night. If you guys can give me any suggestions I would appreciate it.

[verdant]

just want to keep you up-to-date on my situation. I finished the reinstall of 10.6 and it did not help my situation with my usb ports.

 

They do not work with the usbbusfix or a reinstall.

 

Any suggestions on where this could be coming from?

 

Also I get a bunch of SMC could not stop or recover.

 

----Update

So I got frustrated and started plugging in and out the keyboard.

 

Got an error saying "usb device is drawing too much power. Disabling device or something like that.

 

No I can not even pull up my bios with my keyboard... I guess I need to pull my bios battery and reset it... arg

 

I will try again tomorrow night. If you guys can give me any suggestions I would appreciate it.

 

I would expect plugging in and out the USB keyboard to give an error saying "usb device is drawing too much power".......it does so on a real Mac too.......

 

I would reset your BIOS by pulling the battery for about 30 minutes and then replacing it and checking that all your USB BIOS options:

 

USB Controller

USB Legacy Support

USB 2.0 Controller

 

are enabled....

[verdant]

@ muiterz

 

In BIOS you set

FSB Memory Clock Mode [UNLINKED]

then try different RAM speeds above 800MHz until you find the highest stable OC speed without chnaging the RAM voltage if your BIOS allows you to........what OC speed you can achieve depends both on the RAM itself and how cool it can be kept........see here......a poster stated

A good set of value 667 will get you 900mhz+

 

A poor OC'ing set wont even reach 800.

 

I can OC my A-Data DDR2 667MHz RAM to 800.4 MHz actual by setting 810MHz in BIOS, which is a 20% OC, without increasing the RAM voltage above 1.850V in BIOS (measured 1.87V to 1.89V)......I have tried unsuccessfully to use a BIOS RAM speed of 889MHz (actual 875.7MHz) with a RAM voltage of 1.850V in BIOS.......the PC auto-reboots......

 

However, I am happy with my Q6600 CPU (max. CPU speed 3.8GHz but not on my MOBO.... ) OC'd to 3.2GHz and my 667MHz DDR2 RAM OC'd to 800MHz......

When running Windows 7 Pro (64bit) at 3.0GHZ, in a room temperature of 19C, I get an idle CPU Case temp of 27 - 30C requiring a PWM CPU fan speed of only 827 - 835 rpm (my Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro CPU cooler fan max. speed is 2500 rpm.....ceramic bearing with 6 year warranty) with a 30C MOBO temperature.............in normal use the CPU Case temp is typically <40C with a CPU fan speed of <950 rpm, plus my FANLESS Gigabyte 8600GT (600MHz GPU/ 256MB DDR3 720MHz VRAM) running idle/in normal use at 41C - 45C (72C when flat out gaming), as a nice FAST CPU and RAM/QUIET PC/LONG-LIFE CPU fan compromise........

 

The CPU temperatures and hence fan speeds are higher when running OS X........

[muiterz]

I chose the CPU cooler I did because of not wanting to take the motherboard out of the PC case to fit the CPU cooler and also because I wanted a low weight cooler (about 0.5 kg) because some cooler heatsinks are heavy enough (about 1 kg) to flex the MOBO.....!

 

For a review of Q6600 coolers, see here........ and also for LGA775 generally, see here......

 

For version 2 (not push-pin mounting anymore..... ) of the Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro cooler, see here..........

 

For audio, it depends on what legacy audio kext you are using with a DSDT patch.......it is difficult for me to offer detailed advice on this as I only use 2 channel audio myself, so cannot test the 5.1 channel operation with my audio setup as described in post #2.........

 

ehm when i read the reviews, the stock cooler is better than your artic. Or do you have an other cooler?

[verdant]

ehm when i read the reviews, the stock cooler is better than your artic. Or do you have an other cooler?

 

The review link I gave you tested the Arctic Freezer 7 LP NOT the Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro.....!

I had the stock Intel Q6600 cooler originally with the same case fan setup that I have now but it was operating at much higher PWM fan speeds but still the CPU temps were higher........

 

With the Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro CPU cooler fan running at its maximum speed (Duty Cycle Mode 100%), at 3.0GHz idle, I achieved a temperature drop of 8C from a 26C CPU case temperature and 46C maximum core temperature (818 rpm under PWM control) to a 18C CPU case temperature and 38C maximum core temperature.

 

Here is a review that compared the Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro with the stock Intel HSF cooler........also see here........

 

Another important point is that the stock Intel HSF cooler performance drops off quickly as it gets dusty..........i.e. it does not cope well with dust.......

 

My views on the Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro CPU cooler with my Q6600 match this comment from here:

Tuvoc on Tuesday, January 29, 2008 At long last you tested the Freezer 7 Pro !!

 

These are simply outstanding coolers for the price.

 

My Q6600 at 3.0GHz stays under 60C on all cores at full load per Coretemp, in total silence with fan rpm barely breaking 1,000 rpm. There is simply no need for a cooler any better for this level of CPU performance.

 

My QX6700 is a different story - there the Freezer 7 Pro kept the cores at a within-spec 70C but with the fan at 2,600 rpm and with associated noise. I replaced that with a Thermalright 120 Extreme, and that CPU now runs at 3.0Ghz with core temps under 60C. At least a 10 degree drop compared to the Freezer 7 Pro.

 

So, Freezer 7 Pro does have it's limitations, but for all but extreme overclocking, or the B3 core quads, it is all 99% of people will ever need.

 

As regards Q6600 CPU temperatures, there are 3 different temperatures to consider:

 

1. Core temperature reading is the maximum temperature that the CPU core has reached

 

2. T_Junction temperature value is the absolute maximum temperature allowed (100C).........always stay below T_Junction by a minimum of 10C but better to be as low as possible.......

 

3. CPU Case temperature reading.

 

This is the temperature on the Heat Spreader of the CPU chip. This has a maximum rating of 72C on the Q6600 G0's and 62.2C on Q6600 B3's.....

 

The CPU core temperature(s) should always be higher than the CPU case temperature, simply because the CPU cores are the devices that produce the heat.

 

As long as you are below the T_Junction AND the CPU Case maximum temperatures, your CPU overclocking should be fine (as long as you test the overclocking stability)

 

Various apps show different temperatures.......

 

BIOS: CPU Case Temperature

 

Core temp (currently version 0.99.5): CPU core temperature and T_Junction maximum temperature

 

Speed fan (current version 4.40): Temp 1 is typically the CPU Case temperature and Core is the CPU core temperature.

 

The motherboards that have been voted to have the best fan control by SpeedFan users are:

- ASUS A7V8X-LA (Kelut)

- ABIT IS7-E

- ASUS P5N32-E SLI

- ABIT IC7-G

- SHUTTLE FN41

- ABIT BP6

- ABIT IC7

 

Even with my Q6600 G0 OC'd to 3.2GHz, the Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro CPU cooler fan speed was only 1024rpm in order to keep the CPU Case temperature at 38C.......

[muiterz]

The review link I gave you tested the Arctic Freezer 7 LP NOT the Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro.....!

I had the stock Intel Q6600 cooler originally with the same case fan setup that I have now but it was operating at much higher PWM fan speeds but still the CPU temps were higher........

 

With the Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro CPU cooler fan running at its maximum speed (Duty Cycle Mode 100%), at 3.0GHz idle, I achieved a temperature drop of 8C from a 26C CPU case temperature and 46C maximum core temperature (818 rpm under PWM control) to a 18C CPU case temperature and 38C maximum core temperature.

 

Here is a review that compared the Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro with the stock Intel HSF cooler........also see here........

 

Another important point is that the stock Intel HSF cooler performance drops off quickly as it gets dusty..........i.e. it does not cope well with dust.......

 

My views on the Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro CPU cooler with my Q6600 match this comment from here:

 

 

thanks a lot for your info again

 

which cooler do you recommend? the standard pro or the rev 2.?

and do you recommend special cooling liquid?

 

My 8800GT is huge, you don't think it won't fit?

[verdant]

thanks a lot for your info again

 

which cooler do you recommend? the standard pro or the rev 2.?

and do you recommend special cooling liquid?

 

My 8800GT is huge, you don't think it won't fit?

 

I am afraid only you can make such decisions based on your budget and because you need to measure the distances all around your CPU to see how much room your 8800GT graphics card, any case side fans, RAM modules, other heatsinks etc., as well as the PC case allow for any CPU cooler heatsink plus fan(s), whose maximum dimensions you need to confirm.....as you will see from my overclocking blog entry, I had to change the position of my Freezer 7 Pro Rev1. to a non-standard position for it to clear the MOBO heatsinks/heatpipes........also, whether you wish to remove your MOBO in order to fit the new CPU cooler assembly.........

 

BTW I do not know if the Freezer 7 Pro Rev1. is still available to buy......

[muiterz]

I am afraid only you can make such decisions based on your budget and because you need to measure the distances all around your CPU to see how much room your 8800GT graphics card, any case side fans, RAM modules, other heatsinks etc., as well as the PC case allow for any CPU cooler heatsink plus fan(s), whose maximum dimensions you need to confirm.....as you will see from my overclocking blog entry, I had to change the position of my Freezer 7 Pro Rev1. to a non-standard position for it to clear the MOBO heatsinks/heatpipes........also, whether you wish to remove your MOBO in order to fit the new CPU cooler assembly.........

 

BTW I do not know if the Freezer 7 Pro Rev1. is still available to buy......

 

 

thanks for the info. here in the netherlands it's possible to but rev1. maybe i'll look for a cooler which will fit directly, without manually changing.

 

i did the stress test yesterday and it runs for about 1.5 hour without problems. cpu at 3.0 mhz, mem 800 (no overclock)

the temp was max. 90 c. but mostly 79 c.

 

at normal times it running about 65 degrees (mac osx).

 

it's about 24 degrees in my room at the moment (sunny)

 

for now it's ok i think, but in the hot summer i'll have problems... so i have to look for a cooler. I read somewhere that there could be a problem with the cooling flued. Some people had to reapply it. maybe that will lower my temp soms degrees?

[verdant]

thanks for the info. here in the netherlands it's possible to but rev1. maybe i'll look for a cooler which will fit directly, without manually changing.

 

i did the stress test yesterday and it runs for about 1.5 hour without problems. cpu at 3.0 mhz, mem 800 (no overclock)

the temp was max. 90 c. but mostly 79 c.

 

at normal times it running about 65 degrees (mac osx).

 

it's about 24 degrees in my room at the moment (sunny)

 

for now it's ok i think, but in the hot summer i'll have problems... so i have to look for a cooler. I read somewhere that there could be a problem with the cooling flued. Some people had to reapply it. maybe that will lower my temp soms degrees?

 

My personal view is that unless you definitely require it, i.e. there is no air cooling solution, water cooling always carries a risk of leaking especially as the seals age with time.........another point to consider is that removing the CPU cooling fan and replacing it with a water-cooled block may require the use of replacement fan(s) to air cool the MOBO chipsets and other components, which are no longer being cooled by air flow from the CPU cooling fan.......and in some cases, even a different PC case may be required.........

 

However, if you have the money to buy a new PC.......the alternative is a PC MOBO and PSU fully submerged in electrically non-conductive mineral-oil cooling (as used in large power transformers)......see here......

 

OR purchase a DIY-kit to submerge your own MOBO and PSU in a fish-tank filled with light-mineral-oil as the electrically non-conductive coolant liquid, plus blue CCFL lights.........see here..........

 

Back to air-cooling.......as you have the same Asus P5N32-E SLI Plus (nForce 650i chipset) MOBO as me:

 

 

I have posted some hopefully interesting and/or useful information here.....

 

 

My MOBO is fitted in a XClio 3060 PC case, which has a 250mm variable speed case-side fan (set to rotate at its lowest speed of 600 rpm) blowing air into the PC case directly onto the motherboard and all its components.......

 

 

plus two 120mm Akasa Amber Ultra Quiet case fans (100% Duty Cycle mode) mounted on silicone rubber anti-vibration mounts; one at the rear and one at the front of the PC case, both extracting air from the case and running at full speed........

 

Here is a photo showing the Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro rev.1 cooler inside my PC case, which can be fitted without removing the MOBO from the PC case.....

 

 

In order to clear the adjacent Southbridge heatpipe-heatsink at the top of the motherboard, the Freezer 7 Pro CPU cooler is mounted with its fan facing towards the bottom of the PC case i.e. towards the graphics card, as you can see in the photo.....the Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro CPU cooler runs under PWM control (Q-fan mode) based on the CPU case temperature.....

 

You can also see the 120mm Akasa Amber case-rear fan that draws air out of the case and a Scythe Mini-Kase Ultra 40mm Quiet Cooling fan (100% Duty mode) mounted on the finned heatsink of the Northbridge chipset, to blow air directly on it.......this 40mm fan is mounted on the heatsink fins using "blobs" of Homelux OBO BathSeal Waterproof Fixing Adhesive tape (i.e. a Butyl rubber adhesive, which has both very good holding power against gravity [but is still removable] and vibration damping behaviour, with a maximum service temperature of 93C)

 

The Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro CPU cooler is not in a bad orientation in my specific PC case cooling set-up, despite not being in the recommended orientation, as

 

(1) the case side fan blows cool air onto the CPU cooler heatsink top cooling fin face-on and onto the tops of the 6 heat pipes that are all on the same elevation (as you can see in the photo of the 250mm case-side fan).....

 

(2) the CPU cooler fan is blowing over the CPU cooler heatsink cooling fins in the vertical direction, i.e. the same direction as the rising hot air in the case, as well as over the top of the Southbridge heatpipe-terminating heatsink.....

 

(3) the rear case extract fan and the Arctic Power 700W PSU 80mm extract and intake fans (the PSU is out of sight, above the CPU cooler) are both drawing air from the vicinity of the CPU cooler heatsink fins........

 

(4) the CPU Cooler does not prevent the case-side fan airstream from blowing directly onto the Northbridge and Southbridge heatpipe-terminating heatsinks surrounding the CPU, as well as onto the RAM modules.......

 

The graphics card is a Gigabyte Silent-Pipe II 8600GT 256MB DDR3 NX86T256H (600Mhz Core and 720MHz Memory) fanless card for quietness and no worries about a future GPU fan failure....

 

The Southbridge chipset has a Rasurbo 40mm Quiet Cooling fan (with its 4 mounting screws partially screwed into the fan frame) mounted on the Southbridge chipset's flat heatsink to blow air down on it (running in Q-Fan mode). This fan is also mounted using "blobs" of Homelux OBO BathSeal Waterproof Fixing Adhesive tape (i.e. a Butyl rubber adhesive, which has both very good holding power against gravity [but is still removable] and vibration damping behaviour, with a maximum service temperature of 93C)

 

There is a Noctua NF-R8 80mm Quiet case fan mounted (100% Duty Cycle mode), again using "blobs" of butyl rubber adhesive, on two rubber-bung stand-offs in the bottom of the case blowing air vertically upwards through the Gigabyte Silent-Pipe II graphics card's large black finned-heatsink (which is is clearly visible in the photo).....

 

The 120mm Akasa Amber case-front fan that draws air out of the case, draws cooling air directly over the bottom 3 of the 4 HDDs.......

[Dilemma Prison]

All of the DDR2 667 i have used in my system has run stable at 800 - 850mhz w/ no voltage increase. Most newer DDR2 chips will get way up there (generally)

 

Air cooling is the way to go :/ Water cooling is great if you have the money to have a replacement cycle in the 1 year range. That way your never running with 'old' pumps and seals. Just make sure your case is relatively dust free. . . .it makes a HUGE HUGE HUGE difference.

 

Most of the folks who push/review/recommend products or solutions aren't taking into account how long you want your 'solution' to last or how long you want it to be reliable. I know folks who turn over their hardware ever 9 months. . .

 

So many people I know who push their hardware up into the ranges where water cooling is a must end up burning out their cpus ram or motherboards after 1-2 years anyway from running it so far over spec.

 

I'm a 'Conservative' overclocker. I like it when my stuff lasts for 3-5 years with ZERO problems.

 

I have always liked some of the zalman products, quiet and cheap for what you get.

 

@ muiterz

 

In BIOS you set

FSB Memory Clock Mode [UNLINKED]

then try different RAM speeds above 800MHz until you find the highest stable OC speed without chnaging the RAM voltage if your BIOS allows you to........what OC speed you can achieve depends both on the RAM itself and how cool it can be kept........see here......a poster stated

 

 

I can OC my A-Data DDR2 667MHz RAM to 800.4 MHz actual by setting 810MHz in BIOS, which is a 20% OC, without increasing the RAM voltage above 1.850V in BIOS (measured 1.87V to 1.89V)......I have tried unsuccessfully to use a BIOS RAM speed of 889MHz (actual 875.7MHz) with a RAM voltage of 1.850V in BIOS.......the PC auto-reboots......

 

However, I am happy with my Q6600 CPU (max. CPU speed 3.8GHz but not on my MOBO.... ) OC'd to 3.2GHz and my 667MHz DDR2 RAM OC'd to 800MHz......

When running Windows 7 Pro (64bit) at 3.0GHZ, in a room temperature of 19C, I get an idle CPU Case temp of 27 - 30C requiring a PWM CPU fan speed of only 827 - 835 rpm (my Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro CPU cooler fan max. speed is 2500 rpm.....ceramic bearing with 6 year warranty) with a 30C MOBO temperature.............in normal use the CPU Case temp is typically <40C with a CPU fan speed of <950 rpm, plus my FANLESS Gigabyte 8600GT (600MHz GPU/ 256MB DDR3 720MHz VRAM) running idle/in normal use at 41C - 45C (72C when flat out gaming), as a nice FAST CPU and RAM/QUIET PC/LONG-LIFE CPU fan compromise........

 

The CPU temperatures and hence fan speeds are higher when running OS X........

[verdant]

All of the DDR2 667 i have used in my system has run stable at 800 - 850mhz w/ no voltage increase. Most newer DDR2 chips will get way up there (generally)

 

Air cooling is the way to go :/ Water cooling is great if you have the money to have a replacement cycle in the 1 year range. That way your never running with 'old' pumps and seals. Just make sure your case is relatively dust free. . . .it makes a HUGE HUGE HUGE difference.

 

Most of the folks who push/review/recommend products or solutions aren't taking into account how long you want your 'solution' to last or how long you want it to be reliable. I know folks who turn over their hardware ever 9 months. . .

 

So many people I know who push their hardware up into the ranges where water cooling is a must end up burning out their cpus ram or motherboards after 1-2 years anyway from running it so far over spec.

 

I'm a 'Conservative' overclocker. I like it when my stuff lasts for 3-5 years with ZERO problems.

 

I have always liked some of the zalman products, quiet and cheap for what you get.

 

Useful info on overclocking DDR2 667MHz RAM........thanks.......

 

I too do not see the point in extreme overclocking.......if you have to spend money to replace your system after it "burns" out, or to buy top-end water cooling, why not just spend that money on a faster unclocked air-cooled system.....?

 

Agree with you on Zalman stuff......I use their VF900Cu VGA cooler on my G5's ATI X800 XT graphics card (using modified shorter height nuts because card fits so close to G5 case internal panel!)........it works great........

[BaconPie]

Excellent guide. The usb method worked for me with an external HDD. I had to install using another Graphics Card though because I have a GTX260, I got it working though, with this guide and it turns out I could of used my card to install anyway, just need to remove some nvidia files.

 

I also had to patch my DSDT in linux using acpidump.

 

I got my sound working with one of the many Azaila audio installers.

 

Everything is running pretty smoothly, except for my wireless card (Edimax EW-7128G), sound input and my DVD drive isn't reading any discs. It's picked up in disk utility though and I can hold F12 and it'll pop out. It's a Sony Optiarc AD-7240S.

 

Anyone know how to get them working? My sound card is one that came free with my motherboard (Striker Extreme).

[verdant]

Excellent guide. The usb method worked for me with an external HDD. I had to install using another Graphics Card though because I have a GTX260, I got it working though, with this guide and it turns out I could of used my card to install anyway, just need to remove some nvidia files.

 

I also had to patch my DSDT in linux using acpidump.

 

I got my sound working with one of the many Azaila audio installers.

 

Everything is running pretty smoothly, except for my wireless card (Edimax EW-7128G), sound input and my DVD drive isn't reading any discs. It's picked up in disk utility though and I can hold F12 and it'll pop out. It's a Sony Optiarc AD-7240S.

 

Anyone know how to get them working? My sound card is one that came free with my motherboard (Striker Extreme).

 

Glad you found the guide excellent........

 

1. SATA DVDRWs are a problem because the AppleNForceATA kexts around do not handle them very well.......the situation is as follows.

 

If you have a PATA DVDRW then you should be able to use slashack's AppleNforceATA.kext which will allow to use > 3GB RAM......with a SATA DVDRW you may be forced to use Me Devil's AppleNforceATA_Test.kext and set maxmem=3072 in com.apple.Boot.plist if you have > 3GB RAM installed......but you may not be able to use the SATA DVDRW to successfully burn CDs/DVDs......

 

Hence, ehh has reported in this thread that using MeDevil's AppleNForceATA_Test kext allows the Optiarc 7240S SATA DVDRW to read but not to burn discs......

 

2. AFAIK your Edimax EW-7128g uses a Ralink RT61 chipset, so see here.....and if you have problems, try the driver here......

 

3. As for sound, AFAIK your sound card is the same as mine, i.e. the ASUS Supreme-FX sound card, which uses the AD1988B chipset/codec......if so, see post #2 in this thread.......

 

Cheers

verdant

[Dilemma Prison]

Temperature Sensors :

 

I presently run Temperature Monitor.app for peeking at my cpu cores and smart disks. . .

 

Does anyone run anything else on their nforce board that pulls up more data than that? (i recall their being specialty kernels that customized that sort of thing, but i would prefer to run vanilla). .I recall that fakesmc v2.5 had some sort of temp sensor stuff patched into it (also just for the cpu)

 

Winbond sensor access perhaps?

[yashika]

thanks verdant!

i successfully installed snow leopard 10.6.0 using the usb install method with the kexts and the arch=i386 kernel flag

then i updated my snow leopard 10.6.0 to 10.6.3 using the combo update and now everytime i boot up a kernel panic occurs with the kernel_task process.

i have tried the arch=i386 but it wont boot up

i have a p5n e sli mobo and Q6600(G0) + 4gb ddr2@800mhz

[verdant]

thanks verdant!

i successfully installed snow leopard 10.6.0 using the usb install method with the kexts and the arch=i386 kernel flag

then i updated my snow leopard 10.6.0 to 10.6.3 using the combo update and now everytime i boot up a kernel panic occurs with the kernel_task process.

i have tried the arch=i386 but it wont boot up

i have a p5n e sli mobo and Q6600(G0) + 4gb ddr2@800mhz

 

Glad to help.......

 

Which version of Chameleon 2.0 are you using?

What do you see when you boot with -v arch=i386?