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[Sanjay]

That's the micro-ATX board but it will do. If you have a case to fit the full ATX board you'd probably want this

This one looks nice and cheap, what you think?
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/asus...e-20-(x16)-ddr3-1066-1333-sata-3gb-s-matx-vga

I'm just looking for what ever the cheapest that will do the job, I'm going to make a budget gaming system so don't really care about having loads of features.

Here's what I got so far.

Asus P8H61-M H61 Motherboard £61.93 Inc VAT
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/asus...e-20-(x16)-ddr3-1066-1333-sata-3gb-s-matx-vga

Intel Core i5 2500K Unlocked £155.99
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/inte...-quad-core-33ghz-gpu-850mhz-6mb-cache-95w-oem

1GB MSI GTX 460 OC £113.99
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/1gb-...er-clock-1450mhz-336-cores-dldvi-i-hdmi-d-sub

1.5Tb Samsung HD153WI £45.59
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/15tb...cogreen-f3-sata-ii-3gb-5400rpm-32mb-cache-8ms

4GB (2x2GB) Corsair XMS3 Classic DDR3 PC3-12800 (1600) £35.99
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/4gb-...00-(1600)-non-ecc-unbuffered-cas-9-9-9-24-15v

LiteOn IHAS124-19 £11.40
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/lite...dvdplusrw-x8-rw-x6-dvd-ram-x12-sata-black-oem

Total comes up to round £425, Budget is £450.

The only thing I'm missing now is a decent heatsink.

 

[scogoth]

This one looks nice and cheap, what you think?
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/asus...e-20-(x16)-ddr3-1066-1333-sata-3gb-s-matx-vga

I'm just looking for what ever the cheapest that will do the job, I'm going to make a budget gaming system so don't really care about having loads of features.

Here's what I got so far.

Asus P8H61-M H61 Motherboard £61.93 Inc VAT
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/asus...e-20-(x16)-ddr3-1066-1333-sata-3gb-s-matx-vga

Intel Core i5 2500K Unlocked £155.99
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/inte...-quad-core-33ghz-gpu-850mhz-6mb-cache-95w-oem

1GB MSI GTX 460 OC £113.99
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/1gb-...er-clock-1450mhz-336-cores-dldvi-i-hdmi-d-sub

1.5Tb Samsung HD153WI £45.59
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/15tb...cogreen-f3-sata-ii-3gb-5400rpm-32mb-cache-8ms

4GB (2x2GB) Corsair XMS3 Classic DDR3 PC3-12800 (1600) £35.99
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/4gb-...00-(1600)-non-ecc-unbuffered-cas-9-9-9-24-15v

LiteOn IHAS124-19 £11.40
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/lite...dvdplusrw-x8-rw-x6-dvd-ram-x12-sata-black-oem

Total comes up to round £425, Budget is £450.

The only thing I'm missing now is a decent heatsink.

You need a P67 motherboard, the H67 motherboards dont allow you to overclock the 2500k. If you want to go cheap the mATX asus is cheaper but sacrifices some PCI-e slots. ASUS P8P67 M or get an ASRock but can't seem to find it on that site. Here is the mobo from ASRock

For heatsink get the Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus, best bang for buck.

 

[Bankoiia]

Gigabyte. But I'd choose Asus or EVGA

Thanks!

 

[EricHasNoPull]

I don't want to sound lazy, but doing research and Upgrading or building a new PC for me, always seems like a chore...

recently I've got two great games Crysis 2 and Just Cause 2, I really need to upgrade my PC to enjoy these games more, and of course upcoming games this year.

I need PC gaf to help my economically upgrade what I have, let's just say my budget is exactly $300 (Canadian Dollars) and not a cent more.

This is my current, (Outdated Rig)

-Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 @ 2.40 GHz

-Windows 7 64bit

-4GB of DDR 2 RAM (I guess average speed/ not sure what type of RAM)

-Nvidia GeForce 9600GT 1GB of dedicated ram

Anyway I ask GAF to please consider what's the most efficient way to get this baby running a lot faster, especially for the two games mentioned above, I really love Just Cause 2, and I want to tailor my new upgrade to make that game run better.

So please have that in mind.

I keep hearing these days "It's all in the CPU" if that's true can I upgrade my CPU too, without too much hassle? or I need to reinstall windows and all my games and programs again?

(sorry for my ignorance)

I probably would want more Ram and a better (and affordable) Graphics Card at this stage with that 300 bucks right?

Please help me GAF.

I also plan to OC it, I had my PC originally Overclocked by the PC dealer on Win Vista, but when I (myslef) installed Windows 7, I lost the OC and I didn't have the balls to OC it myself again.

anyway OCing is secondary, right now I need to give my PC a nice gaming upgrade.

Also, I like you guys ( the experts) to consider future proofing my PC, clearly my CPU sounds like Old news at the moment, so if I were to upgrade to an i5 or an i7 down the road, or even something more fancier than those two, could you please recommend parts that will be fully compatible with such CPUs?

Thanks in advanced.

 

[Hawk269]

What is the general concensus on Geforce GTX 580 cards, should I go for Gigabyte or Gainward?

Personally I woudl go with EVGA. The service is amazing and have had a great experience with their cards.

 

[scogoth]

I don't want to sound lazy, but doing research and Upgrading or building a new PC for me, always seems like a chore...

recently I've got two great games Crysis 2 and Just Cause 2, I really need to upgrade my PC to enjoy these games more, and of course upcoming games this year.

I need PC gaf to help my economically upgrade what I have, let's just say my budget is exactly $300 (Canadian Dollars) and not a cent more.

This is my current, (Outdated Rig)

-Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 @ 2.40 GHz

-Windows 7 64bit

-4GB of DDR 2 RAM (I guess average speed/ not sure what type of RAM)

-Nvidia GeForce 9600GT 1GB of dedicated ram

Anyway I ask GAF to please consider what's the most efficient way to get this baby running a lot faster, especially for the two games mentioned above, I really love Just Cause 2, and I want to tailor my new upgrade to make that game run better.

So please have that in mind.

I keep hearing these days "It's all in the CPU" if that's true can I upgrade my CPU too, without too much hassle? or I need to reinstall windows and all my games and programs again?

(sorry for my ignorance)

I probably would want more Ram and a better (and affordable) Graphics Card at this stage with that 300 bucks right?

Please help me GAF.

I also plan to OC it, I had my PC originally Overclocked by the PC dealer on Win Vista, but when I (myslef) installed Windows 7, I lost the OC and I didn't have the balls to OC it myself again.

anyway OCing is secondary, right now I need to give my PC a nice gaming upgrade.

Also, I like you guys ( the experts) to consider future proofing my PC, clearly my CPU sounds like Old news at the moment, so if I were to upgrade to an i5 or an i7 down the road, or even something more fancier than those two, could you please recommend parts that will be fully compatible with such CPUs?

Thanks in advanced.

There is no upgrade path from LGA775 sockets. I'd recommend a new GPU which will help a lot and overclock your CPU. Then carry your GPU over when you upgrade your whole system. Your system right now is fine except you GPU and whoever said "its all in the CPU" is wrong.

 

[Shambles]

There is no upgrade path from LGA775 sockets. I'd recommend a new GPU which will help a lot and overclock your CPU. Then carry your GPU over when you upgrade your whole system. Your system right now is fine except you GPU and whoever said "its all in the CPU" is wrong.

With a decent air cooler you should be able to push your CPU to 3.4-3.6Ghz as well. But yeah, your GPU is hurting more than your CPU in that rig.

 

[Hawk269]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbww3dhzK0M&feature=feedu_more

Funny thing about that video and even more proof to me that being too hung up on achieving 60FPS solid (even in a bench) is someting that needs to be taken with a grain of salt because it depends on the game itself. In this video, he has one scenario where he has a GTX580 as the main GPU and a 2nd 580 as a Physx card and still cannot get a solid 60FPS on the Mafia 2 benchmark.

I dont know about you, but 2 580's is a beast of a setup (I have one btw..lol) and if 2 580's cant do it, then it is not worth aiming for that 60FPS in that game, well at least in the benchmark test that is.

 

[scogoth]

Funny thing about that video and even more proof to me that being too hung up on achieving 60FPS solid (even in a bench) is someting that needs to be taken with a grain of salt because it depends on the game itself. In this video, he has one scenario where he has a GTX580 as the main GPU and a 2nd 580 as a Physx card and still cannot get a solid 60FPS on the Mafia 2 benchmark.

I dont know about you, but 2 580's is a beast of a setup (I have one btw..lol) and if 2 580's cant do it, then it is not worth aiming for that 60FPS in that game, well at least in the benchmark test that is.

2 580s will easily get 60fps, theres a difference between SLI and using a card as a physX card.

And get a 120Hz monitor then you can be dying to get 120fps

 

[Hawk269]

2 580s will easily get 60fps, theres a difference between SLI and using a card as a physX card.

And get a 120Hz monitor then you can be dying to get 120fps

Yes, in SLI oh yeah. Don't even tempt me. Luckily, my rig was built to hook up to my new Sony HX800 55" HDTV and my GOD is it amazing looking. I have no intentions of gaming outside of my big screen with my Surround Sound setup...well at least until they release a higher resolution big screen TV that does 120hz...lol

 

[Hawk269]

Any feedback on input on these self contained Water Coolers for CPU's? Corsair and now Antec make them and I have been thinking of getting one. I currently have the 212+ which is nice, but very large and impedes my memory module (when I decide to go with more ram). But just looking for feedback or opinions on these self contained water coolers.

I did read a review on the Antec one with graph tests and in the tests that I saw it runs my CPU at around 8-10c cooler under load than my current 212+.

 

[Aruarian Reflection]

For anyone planning on getting a non gaming laptop or tablet, I would recommend getting a Asus EP121, especially if you are a graphic designer. The tablet is very fast and responsive. Touch works very well in Windows and the digitizer pen is amazing for drawing / writing. The main negatives are a weak Intel GPU and only 3-4 hrs of battery life.

Windows Experience Index:

Cool, I'm interested in learning more about this since my mom uses an iPad and while she likes it in general, she hates how it can't run Flash or any of her Windows programs. Would you say web browsing is a good experience on the EP121?

 

[Leucrota]

My girlfriend is looking for an external hard drive for her MacBook.
Something from 500 GB - 1 TB.
Any suggestions?
And should she go FireWire or USB?

 

[scogoth]

Any feedback on input on these self contained Water Coolers for CPU's? Corsair and now Antec make them and I have been thinking of getting one. I currently have the 212+ which is nice, but very large and impedes my memory module (when I decide to go with more ram). But just looking for feedback or opinions on these self contained water coolers.

I did read a review on the Antec one with graph tests and in the tests that I saw it runs my CPU at around 8-10c cooler under load than my current 212+.

Not worth it, your hyper 212 is more then enough unless you want to go over 5GHz.

My girlfriend is looking for an external hard drive for her MacBook.
Something from 500 GB - 1 TB.
Any suggestions?
And should she go FireWire or USB?

Firewire cause no USB3 on macbooks. Go by an enclosure and a cheap hdd, speed doens't matter all that much.

 

[Sanic]

That's a possibility.
Both titles have had issues with Nividia cards. You can search around for GTX 460 problems with New Vegas. Here's a link to get you started:
http://forums.nvidia.com/index.php?showtopic=183416

Still, in the case of Just Cause 2, it seems you've gone up from ~36fps to ~45-50fps on average, no? That's a healthy increase, despite still present limitations (like CPU).

Generally yeah, I've seen that type of improvement, except for anywhere with buildings of any type, where I'm still hovering around 30.

if these are the kinds of framerates I'm supposed to be getting, than that's cool, I guess I was just expecting more. I really wanted a locked 60fps in JC2, but oh well.

 

[knitoe]

Cool, I'm interested in learning more about this since my mom uses an iPad and while she likes it in general, she hates how it can't run Flash or any of her Windows programs. Would you say web browsing is a good experience on the EP121?

I am using x64 Firefox for browsing. It's fast and smooth. Really, no lag. Now, I actually prefer it over my computer. Swipe up/down to scroll and left/right to go back/forward the page.

 

[forgrim]

Anyone want to recommend me a ~650 watt power supply? i'm currently rocking a Corsair TX550 that I was gonna recycle into my new pc, but my father wants to take my old computer to his office so I have to keep the power supply in it. I've never tried a modular power supply so i'm kinda interested in it, but don't have to go that direction.

Thanks.

 

[scogoth]

Anyone want to recommend me a ~650 watt power supply? i'm currently rocking a Corsair TX550 that I was gonna recycle into my new pc, but my father wants to take my old computer to his office so I have to keep the power supply in it. I've never tried a modular power supply so i'm kinda interested in it, but don't have to go that direction.

Thanks.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139005
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151096&cm_re=seasonic-_-17-151-096-_-Product

 

[TheExodu5]

Going modular will cost you a little bit.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139012&Tpk=corsair hx650

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139016&Tpk=corsair ax750

If going non modular:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139020&Tpk=corsair 650tx v2

$10 more than the original version...but it looks so much nicer.

 

[elrechazado]

I don't want to sound lazy, but doing research and Upgrading or building a new PC for me, always seems like a chore...

recently I've got two great games Crysis 2 and Just Cause 2, I really need to upgrade my PC to enjoy these games more, and of course upcoming games this year.

I need PC gaf to help my economically upgrade what I have, let's just say my budget is exactly $300 (Canadian Dollars) and not a cent more.

This is my current, (Outdated Rig)

-Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 @ 2.40 GHz

-Windows 7 64bit

-4GB of DDR 2 RAM (I guess average speed/ not sure what type of RAM)

-Nvidia GeForce 9600GT 1GB of dedicated ram

Anyway I ask GAF to please consider what's the most efficient way to get this baby running a lot faster, especially for the two games mentioned above, I really love Just Cause 2, and I want to tailor my new upgrade to make that game run better.

So please have that in mind.

I keep hearing these days "It's all in the CPU" if that's true can I upgrade my CPU too, without too much hassle? or I need to reinstall windows and all my games and programs again?

(sorry for my ignorance)

I probably would want more Ram and a better (and affordable) Graphics Card at this stage with that 300 bucks right?

Please help me GAF.

I also plan to OC it, I had my PC originally Overclocked by the PC dealer on Win Vista, but when I (myslef) installed Windows 7, I lost the OC and I didn't have the balls to OC it myself again.

anyway OCing is secondary, right now I need to give my PC a nice gaming upgrade.

Also, I like you guys ( the experts) to consider future proofing my PC, clearly my CPU sounds like Old news at the moment, so if I were to upgrade to an i5 or an i7 down the road, or even something more fancier than those two, could you please recommend parts that will be fully compatible with such CPUs?

Thanks in advanced.

Overclock that CPU and get a 150 dollar GPU upgrade.

 

[scogoth]

Overclock that CPU and get a 150 dollar GPU upgrade.

As much as you can afford GPU, then use it in your next build down the line.

 

[Coldsnap]

What's a good utility to control your cpu fan? Thanks in advance.

 

[joeyjoejoeshabadoo]

I'm going to be building my PC next week. I picked up an i5-2500k and a Hyper 212+. I just have question with the thermal paste. Should I spread the paste on the CPU itself or should I apply it to the heatsync? Or does it not matter?

 

[Coldsnap]

The sandybridge cpu fan should come with that paste already on it, so you're good to go.

 

[scogoth]

I'm going to be building my PC next week. I picked up an i5-2500k and a Hyper 212+. I just have question with the thermal paste. Should I spread the paste on the CPU itself or should I apply it to the heatsync? Or does it not matter?

Apply the included thermal paste from the Hyper 212 directly onto the cpu after its in the socket. Put a small pea sized amount in the middle and then secure the heatsink on top. Try to make sure the heatsink goes on straight and tighten it down. Couple of dozen pages back theres lot of info, just search for it.

See here for more details http://www.arcticsilver.com/intel_application_method.html#
It says use line method but both methods are fine.

The sandybridge cpu fan should come with that paste already on it, so you're good to go.

Thats only stock cooler.

 

[eznark]

Oh my fucking god at this case. It is incredible!! Damn you newegg send me the rest of my shit!!!

 

[joeyjoejoeshabadoo]

Apply the included thermal paste from the Hyper 212 directly onto the cpu after its in the socket. Put a small pea sized amount in the middle and then secure the heatsink on top. Try to make sure the heatsink goes on straight and tighten it down. Couple of dozen pages back theres lot of info, just search for it.

See here for more details http://www.arcticsilver.com/intel_application_method.html#
It says use line method but both methods are fine.



Thats only stock cooler.

Excellent, thanks.

 

[j2theizzay]

I'm looking to get either the ax850 or ax1200 for my PSU. Would it be a good idea to get the ax1200 for more headroom in case I SLI down the road? I won't mind paying the difference between the PSUs. Will be powering an i5 2500k, 3 HDs, a gtx 460 (SLI in the future), and overclocking both the cpu and gpu. Possibly putting in SLI whatever midrange card comes out by the time BF3 releases.

 

[scogoth]

I'm looking to get either the ax850 or ax1200 for my PSU. Would it be a good idea to get the ax1200 for more headroom in case I SLI down the road? I won't mind paying the difference between the PSUs. Will be powering an i5 2500k, 3 HDs, a gtx 460 (SLI in the future), and overclocking both the cpu and gpu. Possibly putting in SLI whatever midrange card comes out by the time BF3 releases.

1200W would be for 4way GTX580 SLI with a x58 board overclocked like mad, water cooling and a mug warmer.

850 is more then enough.

 

[TheExodu5]

Oh my fucking god at this case. It is incredible!!

 

[Coldsnap]

Just propped my r3 up a bit off my carpet since I put the power supply upside down for that vent. I'm probably going to have to invest in additional case fans to fill some of the empty slots, I cant keep my video card below 70*C and CPU below 50*C without having both their funs running loudish. Thinking two for the top of the case?

Oh my fucking god at this case. It is incredible!! Damn you newegg send me the rest of my shit!!!

What case?

 

[eznark]

650d

 

[EricHasNoPull]

Thanks for the responses, as you can see my comp was built with Over Clocking in mind.

I lost my overclock when I upgraded to Windows 7 from Vista, but I have to be honest even at OC 3.4GHz on Vista I didn't notice that much performance difference. I believe the CPU wasn't fully detecting the OC or something, It was done at the place I bought it from, and I really had a bad experience, they were like a warehouse that just shipped it and they didn't care for support once I gave them my money, never again.

Ok so is there a decent GPU someone can recommend for under 200 bucks?

And what about RAM? It will cost me a lot more if I wanted to upgrade to 8GB of RAM, since I have to replace all my 1GB RAM sticks to fit in the limited four slots, where as if I just buy two 2GB sticks for a total of 6GB of DDR2, I can keep the other two 1GB sticks.

I noticed it's always the DDR3 Rams that are on sale, is there a good place to get DDR2 RAMS for cheap? and should I really push for the fast ones? (higher megahertz or whatever, again, excuse my ignorance)

I got this big ass ASUS cooler thing latched on to my CPU, plus two fans as you can see, please excuse the dust and the shitty blue lights (Comp. came like that)

Also a decent 650Watt Power Unit.

 

[knitoe]

Excellent, thanks.

From my experience, put a thin layer of paste on the whole cpu works the best. Since the 212+ has grooves, putting pea or line doesn't really work that well. The paste is just going to fill the grooves and not reach the other parts of the heatsink / cpu.

 

[scogoth]

From my experience, put a thin layer of paste on the whole cpu works the best. Since the 212+ has grooves, putting pea or line doesn't really work that well. The paste is just going to fill the grooves and not reach the other parts of the heatsink / cpu.

NO, do not do that. You can PREP the heatsink like that and then apply the proper way after. That prep work is not necessary and will only drop your temps by a few degrees. This has led to many headaches of previous first time builders in this thread as they did not understand that the thin layer is only one step of proper thermal paste application.

Regular methods work just fine on heat pipe direct coolers unless you are serious about major overclocks.

 

[scogoth]

Just propped my r3 up a bit off my carpet since I put the power supply upside down for that vent. I'm probably going to have to invest in additional case fans to fill some of the empty slots, I cant keep my video card below 70*C and CPU below 50*C without having both their funs running loudish. Thinking two for the top of the case?

Are those load or idle temps? At load those are very low temps

 

[knitoe]

NO, do not do that. You can PREP the heatsink like that and then apply the proper way after. That prep work is not necessary and will only drop your temps by a few degrees. This has led to many headaches of previous first time builders in this thread as they did not understand that the thin layer is only one step of proper thermal paste application.

Regular methods work just fine on heat pipe direct coolers unless you are serious about major overclocks.

I suggested the simplest way to guarantee the entire cpu will be covered. And, a few degrees can make a big difference in your ability to o/c and/or run at lower voltage.

 

[Pocks]

I'm going to be building a new rig in the near future. I'm looking at the BitFenix Shinobi case, but I'm torn on which version to get. I actually prefer the look of windowless version, but the windowless version doesn't have a side-panel fan. The windowed version also has tool-free drive bays.

Will the extra side-panel fan make that much of difference in terms of temperature?

BitFenix Shinobi
BitFenix Shinobi Window

 

[Anony]

just did a bit of tweaking
finally obtained the last 2 of 4 noctua s12 ULN fans, decided to install all of them
ati 5670 passively cooled by accelero s2
e6600 2.4 oc to 3ghz
only 2 gb ddr2 ram, i cant even get 2nd hand ddr2 ram without dealing with jacked up prices
my p182b case still awesome after all these year, the new cases still arent good enough to warrant a upgrade, i think i'll still be using the p182b for many years to come
the zalman cpu cooler still chugging along, i had it since my P4 (1.8 ghz to 2.4ghz), still cools pretty cool, it's almost 1 pound of copper
although i must say with the 4 noctua ULN fans, they dont compliment the zalman cpu cooler well in terms of air flow
need to upgrade to the noctua d14 in the future
my case is near silent

 

[scogoth]

I suggested the simplest way to guarantee the entire cpu will be covered. And, a few degrees can make a big difference in your ability to o/c and/or run at lower voltage.

The way you suggested is not the proper way to do it and would make temps very high. A thin layer of paste would leave air bubbles and the paste would not properly spread.

 

[clav]

The way you suggested is not the proper way to do it and would make temps very high.

Only true if you're using silver-based compounds. I still don't understand why the Arctic Silver 5 is still popular to this day. That stuff degrades in an year and requires reapplication.

Otherwise, if you're using non-silver based (and safer) bases like the Arctic Cooling MX-2 or OCZ Freeze paste, doing the pea-size way that knitoe suggested works just fine.

To the guy who is asking for advice, scogoth is right how to apply it as likely the included compound is silver-based.

 

[rc213]

Anyone familiar with Asus boards and the Q-Fan Control?

I just finished setting up my P8H67-M LX/i2500K. Do I have to have it enabled for the PWM to work on the CPU Fan?

 

[·feist·]

I'm going to be building a new rig in the near future. I'm looking at the BitFenix Shinobi case, but I'm torn on which version to get. I actually prefer the look of windowless version, but the windowless version doesn't have a side-panel fan. The windowed version also has tool-free drive bays.

Will the extra side-panel fan make that much of difference in terms of temperature?

BitFenix Shinobi
BitFenix Shinobi Window

In most cases, no. Generally, you would only see a benefit if you had poor airflow combined with hot components. The Shinobi is designed to easily move air from front to back. If you'll be going with an upper end CPU and/or GPU, I'd recommend getting an additional fan (or two). You can try it as a second front intake, or use it as a top fan in either exhaust or intake configs to see which gives you the best results.

Tool-less is not that big of a deal if you'll only be going with a small numbered combination of ODD, SSD, and HDD. If it was a flexible file server, or a PC where you'd be regularly accessing the drives, then it would likely be worth it to you.

 

[TheExodu5]

Just propped my r3 up a bit off my carpet since I put the power supply upside down for that vent. I'm probably going to have to invest in additional case fans to fill some of the empty slots, I cant keep my video card below 70*C and CPU below 50*C without having both their funs running loudish. Thinking two for the top of the case?

There's absolutely nothing wrong with 70C and 50C. I'd get those temps even higher to make the build quieter. A safe limit for the GPU would be around 85C or so. A safe limit for the CPU would be around 70C.

Don't stress about temps. The parts are designed to run hot. You just need to cool them enough to keep them under spec.

 

[Coldsnap]

Are those load or idle temps? At load those are very low temps

Temps when playing games. Right now my GPU is at 71*C and cores are around 57*C, games been on for about 3 hours. That low?

 

[Hawk269]

Apply the included thermal paste from the Hyper 212 directly onto the cpu after its in the socket. Put a small pea sized amount in the middle and then secure the heatsink on top. Try to make sure the heatsink goes on straight and tighten it down. Couple of dozen pages back theres lot of info, just search for it.

See here for more details http://www.arcticsilver.com/intel_application_method.html#
It says use line method but both methods are fine.



Thats only stock cooler.

I have the 212 as well and the instructions and going to the website suggest applying the past to the cooler itself. Main reason is the eat pipes which are flat on the bottom there is some small space between the popes and the heatsink plate. Ensuring there is some thermal paste in the cracks will improve cooling, as well as coating the rest of te plate or the area you need since the SB processor is smaller than the plate.

 

[scogoth]

Only true if you're using silver-based compounds. I still don't understand why the Arctic Silver 5 is still popular to this day. That stuff degrades in an year and requires reapplication.

Otherwise, if you're using non-silver based (and safer) bases like the Arctic Cooling MX-2 or OCZ Freeze paste, doing the pea-size way works just fine.

To the guy who is asking for advice, scogoth is right how to apply it as likely the included compound is silver-based.

Silver or non silver based scraping a thin layer of paste over either the CPU or heatsink would induce air bubbles and improper contact.

For heat pipe direct coolers you can spread a layer across the heatsink, scrap excess off and then apply paste in the normal fashion. This having the advantage of filling those gaps before the paste is spread by the pressure of mounting it. However the paste will properly spread and fill the gaps in the heatsink base without that prep work but is sometimes 1 or so degree higher. For for first time builders or inexperienced builders it is not worth the complication in extra steps for 1-2 degrees.

Temps when playing games. Right now my GPU is at 71*C and cores are around 57*C, games been on for about 3 hours. That low?

Yes those are pretty low.

I have the 212 as well and the instructions and going to the website suggest applying the past to the cooler itself. Main reason is the eat pipes which are flat on the bottom there is some small space between the popes and the heatsink plate. Ensuring there is some thermal paste in the cracks will improve cooling, as well as coating the rest of te plate or the area you need since the SB processor is smaller than the plate.

You will see very little improvement and you do not want the paste to extend past the surface area of the CPU cap.

 

[Coldsnap]

Ah right on, I'll lower the fan on my GPU then since it seems the loudest. For some reason Speed Fan isnt letting me change my cpu fan rpm, maybe something in bios is preventing it. I still think my case can benefit from a fan on the top, the case itself seems hot because of the insulation.

 

[Hawk269]

Another noob question that I need some small help. My Asus MB came with 2 Sata 2 3GB cables and about 6 Sata 6gb cables. I used the 2 3gb for the DVD drive and the HDD, but need another one now. Can I use the 6gb cables on my Sata 3 Samsung HDD and ply them into the 3.0 sata ports?

 

[clav]

Silver or non silver based scraping a thin layer of paste over either the CPU or heatsink would induce air bubbles and improper contact.

That was the issue with silver-based pastes as it would electrically conduct areas that didn't provide a direct contact from the cpu/gpu chip to the heatsink when the paste was applied improperly. With that, the chip would run hotter and in the long run like you said, would damage the chip. It has nothing to do with air bubbles.

By using a non-silver paste, that problem is averted as you can mess up the paste and not worry the paste touching parts it's not supposed to be. Also, you get the benefit of not needing to reapply the paste every year.

I've put together a lot of broken Xbox 360s with a non-silver based heatsink and assembled computers in my life time. If you're saying the pea-sized way I've been doing with non-silver based compounds is wrong, then a lot of things would have gone wrong by now.

For heat pipe direct coolers you can spread a layer across the heatsink, scrap excess off and then apply paste in the normal fashion. This having the advantage of filling those gaps before the paste is spread by the pressure of mounting it. However the paste will properly spread and fill the gaps in the heatsink base without that prep work but is sometimes 1 or so degree higher. For for first time builders or inexperienced builders it is not worth the complication in extra steps for 1-2 degrees.

Oh, so you're talking about preapplication to have the paste on a very large heatsink, then yes that is necessary. Otherwise, if you have a lot of non-conductive based paste on the chip itself, it will spread itself just fine. That heatsink has to be mounted pretty solid anyway to eliminate any thermal worry. You will know anyway by checking your temps to see if it's doing its job and feeling the heatsink.