The Official PC building thread - 4th Edition

Maybe re-read my post again? Just made some last second edits, particularly on amount used. Many have told me I use too much but I have yet to even have it goosh out the sides under the strong pressure of a firmly bolted backplate cooler. Not to mention my actual temp results.

And yeah that sounds about right to me. Many say not to twist at all as it "unevens" the paste but they really are not using enough then. A small amount of twisting is always necessary to do it properly, even if not really necessary to get results.

 

I check for edits

I used about a pea size. Maybe slightly more. I didn't goosh either. I had to pinpoint a problem last night, which required my breaking out a flashlight and mirror, and inspecting the entire board. Stupid mistake. Don't ask LOL!

I generally let the sink do the spreading. I apply in the perfect center. And then carefully rock and press. And then fasten carefully. I was so careful with the mega killer. I imagine you do need to be more careful with a lapped surface. Quantity, placement. Makes perfect sense.

Agreed on the twisting.

 

Okay NOW I'm interested What did it turn out to be? Seriously, just interested as it seems like a fairly easy mistake to make. I actually had metal shavings shorting something out once upon a time, leftover in the case from some mods done in the garage. Guess an air compressor and a tack cloth just doesn't get it all lol. Luckily an extra thorough second cleaning had everything in order.

Also yeah it does seem like the new cooler is in place properly. Sounds about like what I've done in the past.

 

Long story short... I forgot to plug in the CPU power supply :S

I thought the new GTX 570 was DOA. Plugged in the 8600GT. Nothing. Took out the battery. Nothing. Assumed that having the Ram in slots 3 & 4 was no good. Moved to 1 & 2. No good. Then I'm like, something isn't right here...

So I broke out the mirror to see if I fastened down the CPU with the lock. Yup. Then I came across the CPU voltage header. Oh! Oops!!!

I can't believe I did that. I don't have a checklist, but I do always check to make sure things are plugged back in. Somehow I overlooked that one. Once I realized that, I KNEW that was the problem LOL! I had the Ram in 3 & 4, because the fans were making it difficult. Tight squeeze!

3.7Ghz, 1.375V 43C! NB 48C

 

Actually most MB's like the RAM in the later slots so that is not bad and is actually preferred by board manufactures.

I don't use the CPU/heatsink to spread the ceramic paste I always use the tube to spread it around lightly covering 3/4's of the square, but again not applying it heavily. Rocking the heatsink on the MB/CPU can cause problems with the layers on the MB if you not careful and is something you should avoid. I've never had my paste dry out when using my paste, and there is a thin even layer when I apply the heatsink assembly, which is what you want. I do not like the tape that comes with new CPU's as it always dries out and hardens causing problems as time goes on.

Kevin's New Check List:
1) Make sure Ceiling fan is OFF.
2) Make sure CPU Power Connector is seated Properly before powering up computer!

LOL :0

 

LOL! I hate ceiling fans!

There's nothing wrong with rocking/twisting, but it should not be done vigorously. I could feel what the paste was doing, through the sink. It felt really good. Probably the best thermal application I've done.

My diamond paste felt a bit thick, so I elected to use the arctic 5 again. Apparently it was a good call! The northbridge once again requires attention though. I really need to think of something here.

 

I have ruined a MB by rocking and applying pressure to a MB either by inserting RAM or CPU's. It is never a good idea to apply pressure to them flexing the MB in anyway. They will normally take a little flexing but it is not preferred really. If you're careful you'll get away with it most of the time, as long as the board is secured properly and you don't apply too much pressure. The key here is, what is too much? As it varies from board to board. Even putting RAM in can be dangerous but you are right that most boards will put up with a little man handling these days. Years ago boards were much more delicate than they are today.

Way to figure the problem out, good job!

Stevo

 

I think you misunderstood. I didn't have it fastened down, when I began rocking/twisting. I'm talking about spreading the paste Once it's fastened down, I leave it alone.

 

That is better then, if it is secure on a flat surface and you don't over do it so that the stiffener doesn't rock around you'll be fine. You're right I wasn't aware of your situation.

 

I gotta say this again. Especially considering this is the building thread. The GPU is apparently more important then I originally thought. The 8600Gt Caused all sorts of lag. There is nothing wrong with it, it's simply so slow, and outdated, it effects the overall windows performance. Granted I never tried shutting off aero...

When building a new system, I highly recommend not skimping on the Graphics processor. Especially for an operating system like Windows 7/Vista. I wonder now, how the Geforce 210 would compare to the 8600Gt. I think that statistically, the 8600Gt should win out, but I really wonder. My brother runs it on his HTPC. He has nearly no lag. I wonder if Nvidia updates their drivers, to begin hindering old tech. I guess that wouldn't surprise me. A bit underhanded, but the 8600Gt is pretty old.

Man, even web browsers are more snappy!

 

IntelBurnTest 20 runs at maximum stress. This is as hot as I get. Is this comparable Omega? Just curious because I wasted 2 hours doing it ;P

BTW CPU Motherboard, and Chipset are as rated by AIDA64. That's what it reckons those are and I just changed the labels on HWM to match. CPU would obviously be the global temp as read on the board and motherboard I took to be ambient but not sure. I think the thermistor is located above the chipset which would explain it.

 

Low speed graphics cards don't induce any lag with the windows experience. The problem might have been a driver bug.

 

No doubt about that I've improved many PC's keeping them active because they were too slow by updating the video card. In fact there are students at a major university that have written some software which uses the GPU for general mathematical calculations and it improves the PC performance immensely increasing the cores in the system. Now that would have limited applications but cool at any-rate.

 

I wondered about that sam. Since the driver is the same, for the whole array of cards, I assumed it fine. Perhaps not. I really should have uninstalled, and then reinstalled. But the 570 is fine :S I didn't go through the uninstall/reinstall procedure.

I could be happy with those temps Jeff My northbridge is the only thing making me nervous at the moment. I haven't began overclocking it yet, and it's near 50C. But I haven't pushed the fans yet either.

 

The secret is the stock AMD HSF fan attached to my CPU block pointing down at the chipset. Ask Russ about it.

 

I used to do that. It's a noisy bugger! Perhaps I can try it again, and lower its rpms.

 

You maybe got the wrong fan. There is a newer one, though while about 5000RPMs 24/7, barely makes a peep. Really impressive fan. Also pushes gale force winds lol.

 

Nice! I might have to acquire that little gem

This is interesting. Photoshop says the 570 has SSE2. That's a CPU instruction! The 8600Gt did not have that! Don't know about the 260.

 

Also remember my normal operating temps rarely near 50*C even when gaming. A long sessions of playing intensive games sees about 48*C max on the CPU and mid 40s on the chipset.

 

I worry about max temps, because X264 encoding pushes her to the limit Overclocks have to be perfect (or real close), and fans/cooling better be good.