Stupid Computer!

[XMEN Ashaman DTM]

Friday.

I get my brand new ASUS A7M266 DDR board in the mail. 512MB of PC2100 DDR (micron), and an Athlon 1.4 GHz processor. I also bought a Thermaltake Chrome Orb cpu fan, and a new power supply.

Well, my harddrive got messed up, so I went and got another. (Was going to do this anyways.)

So I have a bunch of new stuff, and I go to install everything.

Clean install of Win98. I had all the updates for the 761 chipset, and the AMD drivers. I get those in there. It took about 6 hours of straight work to get the thing to boot, and install everythign properly. (Format on a 60 GB harddisk is not fun.)

I get all that working. I install my GeForce 3 (the reason that I bought a new MB and processor.) It craps out...several times. Finally I get it going.

I go to install T2.

You think the things before were rough (BTW, this is at around 2 or 3 in the morning Saturday), well T2 installs just fine. I go to run the DirectX update, and it craps out. So my DirectX install is messed up.

I finally get the thing to work right and update correctly.

I update T2. The updater updates itself just fine. I update the game...and WHAM!

It halts to a screeching stop at the part where it checks the textures.vl2 file. (First patch mind you.)

So I do a series of uninstall/deletions and reinstallations. To no success. It's still messed up.

I can install and play other games. (Sacrafice, Age of Empires II), but I can only play them for awhile...before guess what?

The processor and motherboard overheat! ARGH!!!

So...

I did several things. I got a friend that works at MS to get me a copy of Win2k at the employee discount.

I bought the beginnings of a new cooling system. More on that, after I install it.


After all this, I don't know how people put up with AMD systems.



Oh and the harddrive getting messed up was caused by what appeared to be a momentary brownout. :(
I hope that there are no more of those. :(

[Ghryphen]

:ugh :imu:

Shoot it Ahsa, it's the only solution.

[Mythril Gear]

Well, in this case you have 2 optons:
1) Use a new cooling system as you said. My friend once had a water-cooled PC (he still fried his CPU for reasons unknown). He grinded off his heatsink and put a metal block with a U shaped tunnel through it welded on to the heatsink. Then he ran the in and out water lines thru an empty PCI slot on the back. He had a little water tank with a submersible pump going in it. In actual fact it woked better than any other air-cooled system he had before. He could overclock his 450 to a 600 with no problems at all. (before, it refused to read it's own hard drive!)
2) You could UNDERCLOCK your CPU, thus reducing the heat buildup, and I really don't think going from 1.4 to 1 ghz is gonna make that big of a difference.

[Stang]

Well then whats the use in him buying the 1.4 if he cant use it :D . Gotta get what you paid for man.

[XMEN RudeJelly DTM]

If you're so dissatisfied with it, you can send it to me. :D

My AMD Athlon has run solid as a rock for as long as I remember.

I remember it was quite difficult to get it built and loaded with software. I spent a lot of time scouring the Internet for the correct drivers.

Other than that time, the dark days of Tribes][ patching have been the only freeze ups that I've had.

[XMEN Ashaman DTM]

Hmm...

Well, I kicked the case around a bit. Then had to kick it some more to get the dents out.

I decided to load Win2k on it, seeing as how several people I know got their AMD systems going with this OS. It didn't work. Win2k would install, then just before the configuration stuff starts to happen it would get a serious fault in the main NT kernel.

If my new cooling system doesn't work out, then I'm going to have to take the board back.

:(

[Cerberus]

Why did you have to reinstall your OS?

[Ghryphen]

Probably 'cause T2 wouldn't install on Win98.

[Cerberus]

Oh ok, I was wondering, if you change MOBO, and Processor do you have to reinstall your OS? I was under the impression that you just swap out the old for the new and restart the pooter.

Asha, did you put the processor, fan and mobo together yourself? I was planning on buying the same thing but from a place where they assemble it and give it a burn in.

[Ambush_Bug]

Asha, for cooling purposes, here's a tidbit of info about your processor. It's throwing off some 80 or 90 watts of heat at 1.4 GHz. Cool appropriately.

If you decide to watercool, read about it first. I'd suggested hitting www.procooling.com www.hardocp.com and www.overclockers.com for a start. Lots of good articles at all three places.

[Cerberus]

What do you suggest to cool it? I am going to be getting the exact same thing Asha got.

[XMEN Ashaman DTM]

Why did you have to reinstall your OS?

I had a new harddrive. I tried both Win98 and Win2k. Neither would complete the installation portion completely. They would lock up at one point or another on the AMD system.


Oh ok, I was wondering, if you change MOBO, and Processor do you have to reinstall your OS? I was under the impression that you just swap out the old for the new and restart the pooter.


With Win2k, it gave me problems when I did that. With Win98, you should just have to redetect your MB chipset. If not, then just go into safe mode and clean EVERYTHING out on the device manager, then go from there. Win98 will autodetect everything.


Asha, did you put the processor, fan and mobo together yourself? I was planning on buying the same thing but from a place where they assemble it and give it a burn in.

I put the stuff together myself. Everything was pretty standard as far as integrating the hardware. The BIOS settings are kind of funky though. There is no VCORE setting. The VCORE is dependent on the CPU load, and adjusts accordingly, in the default set up.


Asha, for cooling purposes, here's a tidbit of info about your processor. It's throwing off some 80 or 90 watts of heat at 1.4 GHz. Cool appropriately.

If you decide to watercool, read about it first. I'd suggested hitting www.procooling.com www.hardocp.com and www.overclockers.com for a start. Lots of good articles at all three places.

Cool, AB. I was worried about that, but calculated it to be about 88 W according to the CPU temp that I recorded at peak usage (in other words, right as it freezes), and some coefficient of heat numbers for silicon, copper, and aluminum. (It's a rough guess, since I don't know the exact layout and composition of the materials, but the silicon should be pretty pure. Anyways, about 88 W.

I have been reading up on the systems since you first started talking about one, AB. I've got to say, they are cool!


What do you suggest to cool it? I am going to be getting the exact same thing Asha got.

I would be wary of any fan that they say will cool the thing. The place I got the CPU from said that the fan that I have is good enough. And well, the CPU still gets VERY hot. I'm really not sure what to go with. :(

[Cerberus]

How bout we get together and invent a REfrigerated Case?
lol maybe we could be rich

not water cooled

but FREON or something similar with a circulation fan and an air exchanger that will reduce the chance of moisture.

wadya think?

[XMEN Ashaman DTM]

I'm game.

:)

[XMEN RudeJelly DTM]

You'd have to do it better and cheaper than any of the other ones out there.

Kryotech has always been ahead of the game...

Kryotech's cool Athlon 900Mhz from back in Oct. 1999 (http://www6.tomshardware.com/cpu/99q4/991020/)

Here's an article from Nov. 1999 when they broke 1 Ghz...

Super G (http://216.92.8.170/cpu/99q4/991115/)

Check out the image of the guts of their machine about half way down on that page. Beauty, eh? :D

[Ambush_Bug]

Refrigerant-cooled processors are probably the hardest thing to cool right now. Once you have coolant that's below ambient temperature, you start running into condensation problems. Fixing that means an exacto-knife, a LOT of closed-cell foam rubber, glue, and some very steady hands. Don't forget to get a DigitalDoc or something, because you'll have to measure the temps of everything to make sure it works.

You'd be better off going with a 'bong cooler'. This is nothing more than a miniaturized nuclear cooling tower made out of PVC pipe, a fan, and a showerhead. These things can draw off something on the order of 800 watts of heat, far outstripping a radiator. And the best part, they can handle just aobut anything you throw at them, and they'r cheap to build. Overclockers.com has a few articles on bong coolers to look through. Definitely worth a good long look.

[Cerberus]

nah that baby only cools the processor, I'm talking about a cheaper (way cheaper) little box that is basically a refrigerator.
some thing that should only run 2 or 3 hundred.

basically taking a mini fridge and turning it into a computer case. or visa versa. I dont think moisture would be a problem unless you tried to go down to freezing. I'm thinking something that will keep it around 40 degrees inside the whole case

[Aluscia]

Have you guys overlooked aluminum casing? it tends to conduct heat, doesn't it? taking the heat away from your processor instead of trapping it, right? (The reason for all the question marks is that I'm not an engineering person (I dropped grade 13 chem after 2 weeks), but I've heard of aluminum casing being good for any processor over the gig line, especially intel chips)

[Ambush_Bug]

Cerb, refrigerator-based cooling systems can't escape the Second Law of Thermodynamics. Fridges aren't meant to cool something that's constantly throwing off heat--they're meant to cool it ONCE, and then let the insulation do the rest of the work. You'll blow out the compressor if you try to cool an entire computer, which throws out something on the order four to five hundred watts of heat. Considering the danger from condensation, it really isn't worth the time or effort.

Like I said, a bong cooler is about the safest and most powerful option you have available. If you don't want to do a bong cooler, I'd suggest something with a stacked-plate radiator and a bigass waterblock. The bong-would be an 'open' system... you'd have to add water to it, while the radiator system could be sealed (closed).

[XMEN Ashaman DTM]

Laur:

Aluminum cases are used more for the fact that they shield RF interference better than a steel case. The better the conductor, the better the shielding.

Aluminum does conduct heat, but you don't want to use conduction or radiation as your method of heat transfer, when there is a nice, efficient means called convection.

A superconducting case would be best for shielding.

[Stang]

Just take off one side of the casing and let it breathe :D .

[Aluscia]

Just move to freakin' Alaska, and don't have a case at all... that's the best solution.

[XMEN Ashaman DTM]

Nope. Alaska was hotter than we were in Seattle for a while there.

:D

[Stang]

Naw they are back to rain now :D . Have family so I get weather updates all the time :) .

I like that idea Laur.

[XMEN Ashaman DTM]

I got it FIXED!!!!

It turns out that I had some really crappy memory. When I got some new memory, everything was as smooth as silk.

I have Win2kPro installed on it, my GeForce 3 and SB Live! cards are working well. AND I am loading T2 as I type this on my Win98 machine. :)

Woohoo!

Now I'll need to see how fast I can make this baby go!