ArtisticallyChill

I could’ve waited a bit longer. But after a near fatal BSOD while doing a routine Photoshop exercise, I decided that a mere reformat and re-install of the OS and drivers would not be enough. I spent a few days assessing the my upgrade options. Here’s what I came up with:

Option 1: Minor Upgrade

MSI K8T Neo-V Socket 754 VIA K8T800 ATX AMD Motherboard
AMD Sempron 3300+ Palermo 800MHz FSB 128KB L2 Cache Socket 754 Processor
OCZ Value Series 512MB 184-Pin DDR SDRAM Unbuffered DDR 400 (PC 3200)

This would allow meet to reuse my current case, power supply, hard drives, dvd/cd drives and my Nvidia based 5500 AGP video card. Even though the board is a socket 754, this board supports both the AMD 64 and Sempron class CPUs. So if I wanted to save for a kickass 64 class CPU, I wouldn’t have to get another board. The Sempron 3300 and the OCZ value RAM became the obvious choice for a budget processor and memory with excellent performance and speed without breaking the bank.

Option 2: Mid-range Upgrade

ABIT KV8 Pro Socket 754 VIA K8T800 Pro ATX AMD Motherboard
AMD Athlon 64 2800+ ClawHammer 800MHz FSB 512KB L2 Cache Socket 754 Processor
CORSAIR XMS 512MB (2 x 256MB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM Unbuffered DDR 400 (PC 3200) Dual Channel Kit System Memory

Again, still re-using my current case, power supply, hard drives, dvd/cd drives, and video card, I have a board that is a bit more trusted, a nice 64 class CPU (running at 1.8 Ghz) and 512MB dual channel memory. Not too bad of an option but I’m kinda limited in terms of RAM slots on the mobo and the possibility of getting a PCI Express video card or delving into the socket 939 series CPUs later on.

And finally the Major Upgrade option. This option allows me to have the flexiblity of possiblity getting SATA drives, running dual PCI Express video cards in SLI, and having an AMD X2 (dual core) CPU. With parts like these, hopefully I won’t have to upgrade for another 4 years.

Option 3: Major Upgrade

DFI LANPARTY UT nF4 SLI-DR Expert Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 SLI ATX AMD Motherboard
AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ Manchester 1GHz FSB 2 x 512KB L2 Cache Socket 939 Dual Core Processor
CORSAIR XMS 1GB (2 x 512MB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM Unbuffered DDR 400 (PC 3200) Dual Channel Kit System Memory
BFG Tech BFGR6600GTOCX Geforce 6600GT 128MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card
Antec TRUEPOWERII TPII-550 ATX12V 550W Power Supply
THERMALRIGHT XP-90 Multiple Heatpipes Cpu Heatsink
ZALMAN FB123 92mm Sleeve Cooling Fan (0nly used the fan, though)

The case and all the drives would be re-used. The board was recommended for its versatility in terms of being able to use all socket 939 class CPUs (Athlon 64 FX/Athlon 64/Athlon X2), allowing for SATA drives with or without IDE drives present, and running two like PCI-x16 video cards in SLI. Also, the board supports up to 4GB of Dual Channel memory, and has Dual 10/100/1000Mbps LAN connections, which I consider a bonus. The added power supply, heatsink and fan to the list were all recommendations to make sure there was adequate power for the build and to make sure that the CPU would be kept from overheating. Although it is an expensive list, it would keep me from just replacing old parts one at a time, and get this upgrade over and done with.

I consulted with Jason, another computer geek like me (and cousin), on these options and he gave me some good advice as to what option to go for. In other words, he was my “enabler” and I went with Option 3. See it, on my Flickr.

~ LoneWolf

Serena’s been bugging me about upgrading her computer. She’s been saving money here and there and on our first trip to Fry’s, she bought the Abit NF8 mobo combo’d with an AMD 3000+ 64bit proc. She also picked up a giga-sized heatsink and fan. On our second trip, this past Tuesday , she bought a 1GB stick of PC3200 DDR400 memory and a nice computer desk. After she backed up her most current files, I began the upgrade. Everything went well until I tride to connect the power supply to the board. Apparently, the NF8 mobo uses a new standard in power supply connection called BTX (or ATX ver.2.0). The difference? About 4 more headers on the mobo. Meaning, tuna, that an ATX power supply with a 20 pin connector will not fit into a BTX header on the mobo. So realizing the setback, Serena had to get a new power supply. Not wanting to make another Fry’s trip, we waited til the following Wednesday to make a trip to CompUSA. Once we got there she bought this cool Mad Dog 400 watt power supply that is compatible to fit BTX and ATX with a special adapter. On top of that the Smart Cable feature makes connecting all your other devices a breeze. (See the above picture.) No more tangles! Read the specs here! Once the power supply was connected, setting up Windows XP went off without any glitches or BSODs (blue screens of death). Hopefully this upgrade will solve her Photoshop crashing problems. Now I gotta work on upgrading mine. Hopefully my good karma with Serena’s PC will last long enough for my future upgrade because it will be a while before I get the parts.

~Lonewolf

Ok. So I was playing Guild Wars for an hour and then as I jump to a new district, the game crashes. I was like, “WTF is it now!?” So anyway I tried to run the game and then a new error message came up, saying that my CPUs might be running extremely hot. I didn’t think too much about it and tried to run the game again. Surely enough it crashed and forced my computer to reboot. The reboot cycle kept going and going. It would boot, try to load windows then a quick blue screen and reboot. So thinking back to the error message, I actually checked the BIOS and viewed my PC’s Health. To my surprise, both CPUs were running at about 180′F!! The CPU Temperature warning was disabled and when I looked into it to see the various levels of warning that I could use, the maximum was around 160′F. So my CPUs were running a good 20 degrees hotter than normal!! I’m surprise that my PC didn’t go into complete meltdown. I automatically assumed that the CPU fans were running at lower RPMs. Naturally, I had the original fans that came with the CPUs, tested and certified by AMD. So I popped those on as I always have, with the exhaust pulling the hot air from the heatsink and CPU. So upon booting, I jumped into the BIOS and the CPUs were still running hot. I thought that was unusual since the fans I just put on were barely used.

Time was definitely not on my side so I shut my PC down and headed off to work, vexxed and a bit frustrated. I spent most of my work zoned out and wondering about my PC. As I left work, I thought maybe the fans were actually on wrong. But I kept second guessing myself. I’ve placed so many PC fans that same way and have never had any problems. I called up Jason and told him my hypothesis. Even he always installed CPU fans the same way I did. Hersch got on the line and said it should be the other way, the fan exhaust towards the heatsink and CPU. But after I rationalized it with him, he changed his mind.

When I got back home, I quickly tested my theory. I reversed the fans so that the exhaust was blowing air onto the heatsink and CPU. I booted up and into the BIOS. Ok so here’s the kick to the nuts epiphany, the CPUs were reading at around 155′F. That’s 25 degrees below what they were running at this whole time, since day 1 of this PCs first bootup after the build. Ain’t that some freakin’ shyte or what? Could I have been installing CPU fans wrong this whole time, since my very first build? Or maybe these Athlon MPs require the fans to be positioned that way, with the air blowing on them instead of pulling the hot air away? Some thing to test on a future build, maybe. Luckily, I won’t have to spend an arm and a leg on a complete rebuild of my PC. Maybe I’ll save for an upgrade or two. There’s this DFI Lan Party Mobo I’ve been looking at onFry’s site…

~LoneWolf