New system!

chrisinthesun20 · #1 03-02-2003, 10:54 AM

Ok, so is actually an almost new system - the only things I carried across were why Geforce 4 Ti4200 and my Soundblaster Live! soundcard. - Check the sig - very happy with the performance, even though I had a bit of hassle getting the CPU to detect correctly....

Any thoughts as to if stock cooling plus one exhaust case fan will be enough for this processor?

I've got everything installed today and just about to test in a few games

Zitchta · #2 03-03-2003, 07:36 PM

Ummm......no.

The 2400 runs very hot, and the heatsink included with the retail package is smaller than the 2100's = not sufficient cooling. Buy a PC Toys Zalman fan (specifies for the 2800 on the box) and some Arctic Silver thermal compoud found at any CompUSA. Those two together will keep your CPU running happy and cool. My 2100 with those runs at a constant 89-94 degrees farenheit. That's extremely good for AMD.

Remember, a CPU that runs 10 degrees cooler will have a doubled life span.

chrisinthesun20 · #3 03-04-2003, 01:58 AM

cheers for the advice - however I checked the temps in the bios after running some pretty heavy benchmarks, and an extensive gaming session, and it was reading 54degrees C for the processor - no hotter than my old 1.1, so I think I'm quite happy with that!

chrisinthesun20 · #4 03-04-2003, 01:59 AM

I'm also pretty sure that the HSF I got was not stock, I bough it seperatly, and its a beast!!!! - about twice the size of the one on my 1.1

curtybob · #5 03-04-2003, 03:47 AM

good 4 you. how are you liking the nForce2 chipset so far? i keep hearing lots of good things about them. well, good luck. also, there's nothing wrong with adding an extra case fan for good measure.

Zitchta · #6 03-04-2003, 09:38 AM

This is what your CPU is running at? That equals 129 degrees Farenheit....that's kinda hot. I'd still highly suggest the fan I recommended as well as the arctic silver thermal compound. With those, again, mine is running at 89-94 degrees farenheit constantly. If you even drop your temp to 119 degrees farenheit, you'll get twice the lifespan out of it, for only about 40 bucks. (retail cost). Also download the demo (or KazAa discount version

) of CPUidle. That alone drops your temp 10 degrees, I used to use it, but decided I didn't really need it...seeing as my temp was already way below average.

chrisinthesun20 · #7 03-06-2003, 12:13 AM

to be honest with you, I'm not too concerned about the temps - my old AMD 1.1 used to run at about 53degrees C under full load, and I had that system for years with no problems.
I do have an extra exhuast case fan immediately behind the processor, which seems to be doing its job fairly well....i've been told that AMD's can run WAY hotter than 54degreesC with any problems at all - they are designed to run hotter than their Intel equivalents.

Curtybob - on the subject of the nForce2 board - very impressed. I opted for the deluxe version (which is really not necessary, but hey!).

I'm currently using a seperate LAN card, even though the mobo has two LAN controllers on board. This is only because my dumb ISP locks NIC's to cable modems, and I can't be buggered to sit in their helpline queue for 30mins, just to tell them I have a new NIC

Also still using my SBLive! Value as its better than the Soundstorm chip on board.

So far no problems (apart from a Maxtor Diamondmax HDD which kept grounding the read head after about 2 days! - that has now been returned, and the new one is working fine! - its a strange story as the first one they gave me was not in a sealed bag, and went I went to install windows I discovered that there was already a partition on the disk! - bastards. The new one was sealed, and it fine)

My advice - buy an nForce2 now!

Dr Forinor · #8 06-09-2003, 08:00 PM

Zitcha: I download CPUIdle, and it brought my temp down by 15-20 Deg C, but it keeps fluctuating, is this normal?

Also, CPUIdle is taking up 100% CPU usage, is it supposed to do this?

Thanks.

Zitchta · #9 06-09-2003, 09:29 PM

Yes, your CPU temp will constantly fluctuate with use. The more applications that are running, the hotter your cpu will be (usually). So it's normal to fluctuate. As far as using 100% of your CPU cycles, that's not what CPUIdle does. It's not using that, but instead it's probably telling you that it's freeing up 100% of the cycles it's able to free up. How it works, is it recognises the unused CPU cycles such as waiting for you to do something on the keyboard, mouse, etc... These things cause the CPU to be used, when it's not technically being used. CPUIdle eliminates these cycles, making your CPU run less = cooler.

Dr Forinor · #10 06-10-2003, 06:18 AM

Lol, yeh I figured that out about 3 minutes after I posted, came back to delete the post but couldnt find the delete button, lol. Thanks.
BTW, CPUIdle is frickin great, I should have gotten this AGES ago, where the hell where you last year huh??

Zitchta · #11 06-10-2003, 12:03 PM

AAhhahaahahaha~!
Last year....hmm....I was in the same boat as you! Then the smartest guy I know told me about CPUIdle, and I became one of their die hard spokespeople! Unpaid even!! hehehe

Dr Forinor · #12 06-14-2003, 08:59 PM

Ok, I just spoke to someone who knows about PCs (and I mean he knows his stuff very well) and he said CPUidle does nothing for the CPU in XP and 2k, since in these OSs', they have in-built idle processes that help keep the CPU cool. He said that CPUidle just tricks any CPU Temp monitoring program into showing that temp is lower but in actuality, the temp is the same.

He says that he can make a file that will make the CPU monitoring tool to show me that the temp is -500 Deg C.... I'm confused.

Normally I would just tell the other person to shut up and read up before opening his/her mouth, but this person breathes PCs.... any ideas guys?

Zitchta · #13 06-15-2003, 12:32 PM

Heh, if this guy knows his stuff that well, then he would know that the built in CPU process idler inside win XP (not 2k, 2k doesn't have it) isn't very good. It works maybe....50% the effectiveness CPUIdle does. Here's the die hard sure fire test...
Get a temperature meter at any computer or electronics store. You want one with the little flat sensor at the end of a wire. Then, stick that in between your heatsink and your cpu, right on top of the colored part of the CPU. BE CAREFULL THOUGH...DON'T TOUCH THE METAL SENSOR TO THE ACTUAL CORE OF THE CPU...bad things can happen

Anyway, that will accurately guage the temperature (within about 5 degrees F.) the CPU is in. Run it with CPUIdle, then without...you see the difference

by the way, I'm a computer science major, and have already done this test at my last job (technician for a large computer company...where that guy told me about it). CPUIdle does in fact work very well, and I only tested it in XP

Dr Forinor · #14 06-15-2003, 04:35 PM

That's what I was thinking, I recognised the PC getting quieter after about 10 secs or so after enabling CPUidle (presumably the fan was "chilled out"), and I disabled it and the fan start whirring again.

I also put my hand beside the heatsink/fan (not accurate but good enough) and noticed a difference in temperature. I didn't believe him, but just wanted "reassurance"

Thanks