Some questions about my new comp

Hey I haven't asked any questions here in a long time. :O
I also haven't read that many posts here since the athlon xp 2500+ days either. :P

So I need to know some things about current hard ware.

First question is:

I got a sata-300 hard drive, but the board I ordered (MSI K8N Neo4-f) is only an nforce4 non-ultra so it only supports up to sata150. So...
1) Will I be missing out on a lot of speed or is this drive not using the full 300 anyway? (seagate 7200.9 160gb sata-300 8mb 7200rpm).
2) Is a sata-300 drive even compatiable with sata-150 controller? :P

Next question:

I read a post by clocker (i think) in a thread somewhere not too long ago that said to just use the thermal pad that's already on the heatsink. (it's an amd athlon 64 3000+)
I've went and put the heatsink onto the chip but am now having second thoughts and think I should have used some arctic silver 5 (is that even the latest anymore? :P).
The main reason I didn't do that in the first place is that i've never successfully removed a thermal pad without scratching the heatsink before.

Third Question:

If I remove the heat sink (keep in mind the computer hasn't been turned on yet) will the thermal pad be stuck to the processor as well?:unsure:

Fourth question:

Why do boards now need 24-pin ATX connectors on the power supplys? What do the new 4 pins do?


Thanks. :)


edit: BTW, full specs if you're interested:

MSI K8N NEO4-f
Athlon 64 3000+
1024mb Mushkin Ram
XFX geforce 6600le 256mb graphics card
160gb Seagate 7200rpm 8mbcache hard drive
NEC DVD Burner (dual layer, 16x burning speeds, etc etc.)
400watt 24-pin powersupply from ULTRA (not the best but I can't afford any better :()
Using my old case and fans, plus the stock heatsink with stock fan (if the fan is too loud i will attach my own fan to it)

I can only answer #3. Yup it will be stuck after burn in. But you haven't turned it on, so probably much easier to remove. Look rossco clocker is right. Just stick with the thermal pad. Most of the pastes instructions from the manufacturers say only to use if you're going to reapply every couple months. It's not recommended as a permanent solution.:) Good luck.


Btw this is my 2,500 post again for like the 3rd time. Should get my 5th star again for like the 6th time.:ph34r: Wish I could put a lock on it.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by zapjb

I can only answer #3. Yup it will be stuck after burn in. But you haven't turned it on, so probably much easier to remove. Look rossco clocker is right. Just stick with the thermal pad. Most of the pastes instructions from the manufacturers say only to use if you're going to reapply every couple months. It's not recommended as a permanent solution.:) Good luck.


Btw this is my 2,500 post again for like the 3rd time. Should get my 5th star again for like the 6th time.:ph34r: Wish I could put a lock on it.

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:lol: @ stars. I see the fifth star, congrats. :P Now work on the green stars.

Thanks for the info, my current processor's temp hasn't changed since i last installed the thermal paste on it which was over a year ago...
But, if you say the thermal pad will work better then I will try it for a while.

Also I have another quick questions :P

Fourth Question:

Is pc3200 ram the right speed for these new 64bit processors or should I have bought something with a higher speed? :unsure:

Arctic Ceramique is probably the best thermal compound now, which is a long term paste.... I think Artic Silver 5 is as well, but Ceramique isnt conductive so you cant blow anything up.... lol.... I dont think any thermal pad is as good as either Silver 5 or Ceramique though, and Ceramique has performed best in all the reviews I have seen

http://www.arcticsilver.com/ceramique.htm


Apparently yes the SATA-300 is backwards compaible with SATA-150 check the SATA Quick Reference Guide

http://www.wdc.com/en/products/sata/


Hope this helps :D

Quote:

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and they are backwards compatible with 150 MB/s SATA drives, too.

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:w00t: Thanks for that.

Also isn't ceramique the kind that's used for things like ram coolers because it goes sticky :unsure:

1 and 2
The SATA150 interface will work fine with your 300GB HDD.

The 150 refers to the connection speed and the 300 refers to the space in GBs of the drive.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Virtualbody1234

1 and 2
The SATA150 interface will work fine with your 300GB HDD.

The 150 refers to the connection speed and the 300 refers to the space in GBs of the drive.

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No it's not a 300gb drive, it's SATA-300 interface...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by rossco

Hey I haven't asked any questions here in a long time. :O
Yeah, we wondered about that.
I also haven't read that many posts here since the athlon xp 2500+ days either. :P

So I need to know some things about current hard ware.

First question is:

I got a sata-300 hard drive, but the board I ordered (MSI K8N Neo4-f) is only an nforce4 non-ultra so it only supports up to sata150. So...
1) Will I be missing out on a lot of speed or is this drive not using the full 300 anyway? (seagate 7200.9 160gb sata-300 8mb 7200rpm).
2) Is a sata-300 drive even compatiable with sata-150 controller? :P
Yes, it backwards compatable.

Next question:

I read a post by clocker (i think) in a thread somewhere not too long ago that said to just use the thermal pad that's already on the heatsink. (it's an amd athlon 64 3000+)
I've went and put the heatsink onto the chip but am now having second thoughts and think I should have used some arctic silver 5 (is that even the latest anymore? :P).
There is absolutely nothing wrong with the stock thermal pad especially when coupled with the stock HSF. AC5 is the TIM of choice if starting from scratch but I doubt you'd see a measurable difference between the two (and certainly not for a while anyway, AC5 takes @200 hrs. to cure) in your present situation.
The main reason I didn't do that in the first place is that i've never successfully removed a thermal pad without scratching the heatsink before.
Silly boy.
Use AC cleaner or acetone to dissolve the pad...no need for mechanical removal.

Third Question:

If I remove the heat sink (keep in mind the computer hasn't been turned on yet) will the thermal pad be stuck to the processor as well?:unsure:

Fourth question:

Why do boards now need 24-pin ATX connectors on the power supplys? What do the new 4 pins do?
Because the new platforms/CPUs require more power and the ATX connector has sprouted more wires so the incoming current can be more efficiently distributed from the board header.
My DFI board requires a 24 pin ATX and the 4 pin AUX and a molex AND a floppy connector.
Consider yourself lucky.


Thanks. :)


edit: BTW, full specs if you're interested:

MSI K8N NEO4-f
Athlon 64 3000+
1024mb Mushkin Ram
160gb Seagate 7200rpm 8mbcache hard drive
NEC DVD Burner (dual layer, 16x burning speeds, etc etc.)
400watt 24-pin powersupply from ULTRA (not the best but I can't afford any better :()
Using my old case and fans, plus the stock heatsink with stock fan (if the fan is too loud i will attach my own fan to it)

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Hi Ross.

Thanks clocker. Now only question left is if the ram I got is the right speed. :P

edit:

Quote:

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My DFI board requires a 24 pin ATX and the 4 pin AUX and a molex AND a floppy connector.
Consider yourself lucky.

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I have all those spare exept the 24pin atx so I would be lucky if I could use those instead.:cry:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by rossco

Quote:

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and they are backwards compatible with 150 MB/s SATA drives, too.

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:w00t: Thanks for that.

Also isn't ceramique the kind that's used for things like ram coolers because it goes sticky :unsure:

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no, thats the thermal epoxy you are thinking about, Ceramique is a thermal compound for CPU heatsinks

Your RAM should be fine.

What flavor is your 3000?
Venice?

3200 should be fine for your ram speed, unless you plan some major OCing. Even then, many sticks are using higher speed chips but underclocked to reduce the number of clock cycles. If you need to you can almost certainly just increase the number of cycles as you increase the speed. Just increase all the timings by 25% (such as cl2->cl2.5) and you should be fine.

Strange thing is though, the ultra cheap 2x256MB sticks I had left over were far better for OCing than the new 2x1GB sticks. Still, I haven't had much chance to play about with them yet so there's still time for improvement.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by clocker

Your RAM should be fine.

What flavor is your 3000?
Venice?

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Yup.


Thanks lynx. Don't know if I will be OCing this comp any time soon, maybe by the time I do I will have better ram. :P The stuff I got was the cheapest I could find on tigerdirect. :lol:

Watch out for shipping costs from TigerDirect.