VCOOL, Athlon software cooler -- FREE

[SimMike2]

http://vcool.occludo.net/ This little free software cooler works fantastic with athlon chips, mostly with Via chip sets. It does work great with my AMD 761, even though it is supposed to have limited support. Until now, I was stuck with my T-bird 1.2GB running at around 49C regardless of what I did. I thought XP had built in support for lowering the CPU temp when things were idling, but not for me anyway. I tried this software and my idle temperature went to 39C! I even overclocked my 1.2 to 1.33 again, which I had cranked down in the summer heat, the temp still stays at 39C.

Very nice temp gauge in your system tray, so you don't need motheboard monitor anymore. IMHO, definitely a hot deal for keeping cool.

 

[XCLAN]

tight

 

[progex]

Wow, 10°C difference.

Thanks for upping the link, definitely something to check out!

 

[ghettobanana]

HOT!

Errr...I mean...COOL!

 

[GotSomethingCheaper?]

Looks nice.... I wonder if it doesnt affect your overall "processing power" somehow :frown:

 

[Irascible]

"Also note that disconnecting the system bus to save power might interfere with "real-time" applications like TV or sound capturing - causing dropouts or other oddities."

That's an important little note to keep in mind. In my case, activating that bit caused the SPDIF bypass function in PowerDVD to stop working completely. In other words, I had no sound to my receiver from my DVD player when that bit was enabled. There's a reason why the OEM's left that bit disabled. But as they say, your mileage may vary. And it's certainly worth it if you find your apps unaffected by it.

 

[Buz2b]

Originally posted by: GotSomethingCheaper?
Looks nice.... I wonder if it doesnt affect your overall "processing power" somehow :frown:

"Note that the system monitor will report 100% utilization when the idle loop is active.
That's because it takes away all idle time from the OS idle loop and the OS calculates the utilization like:
Utilization = 100 % - %age of time spent in OS idle loop.

Also note that disconnecting the system bus to save power might interfere with "real-time" applications like TV or sound capturing - causing dropouts or other oddities."

I don't think I would like "dropouts or other oddities".:disgust:

 

[Vic]

Not a Hot Deal.
Vcool only lowers your CPU temps while at IDLE. Load temps remain the same. Using the STPGNT command can also cause problems with certain programs and lock-ups (as some have already noted).
Also, AMD kept the idle temps relatively high for a reason. Rapid and dramatic fluctuations in the core temp are very bad for AMD cpus. Vcool will actually shorten your cpu's life, not lengthen it.
This has been around for a long time. On KT133A boards, all you had to do was use WPCRSET to change register 52 to EB and it had the exact same effect. There's a reason why very few people do this anymore.