Yeah, I finally finished building my first computer. It was tons of fun and so much easier than I ever thought it would be. The thing looks awesome with the window and lights. It sounds like a jet engine, but I dont care about that. I have some questions though.

My specs are

Athlon 64 3200+ Venice core

2x512 Corsair ram

Asus A8N-SLI Deluxe (I paid for the regular SLI, but they sent me the SLI Deluxe, which is like $30 more. Nice.)

Geforce 6600GT Video Card

80GB Seagate Hard Drive (SATA)

Thermaltake 480W power supply

Windows XP Pro

Now, I was wondering. What is normal operating temperature for the processer? It usually idles at about 30C, and the highest i've gotten it is 43C while playing Doom3. What is the safe range for CPU temperature?

Also, now that i've gotten it up and running, what are the things I should update? Obviously the video drivers, but what else? I'm talking software wise. I've heard stuff about updating the motherboard software or whatever, BIOS, etc...just figured I would ask here about it.

I bought a Sound Blaster Live 24bit sound card today at Fry's and installed it just for the hell of it, even though my motherboard had on board sound. My thinking was that processing onboard sound steals processing power and the sound card would take some of that weight off...is that legitmate thinking?

Wow, nice rig (and congrats). The thing you have to realize about AMD CPUs is that they run hotter than other processors. I wouldn't worry if they seem a little hotter than usual, it's just the way they are.

I cant get over how sweet it looks. I'll post some pics tonight.

Not bad, not bad... mine's still better though (well, except for the power supply, which I'm replacing soon)

And yah, post some pics.

A. Generally, CPUs can handle temps of 75C or greater. You are nowhere NEAR that threshold.
B. Onboard sound (As of the last few years) does not eat more processing power, it just has a crappy chipset.
C. Get the latest drivers for your Nforce chipset at nvidia.com. That'll help stability and performance. Don't touch bios updates unless something isn't working. And definately update drivers for hardware you have, Video, Sound, and any peripherals.

No, no they don't. AMD's, especially the 64-bits, run MUCH cooler than the Intel counterparts. 30-45C is a VERY safe range in comparison to 40-60 (60's quite high, 70's the cutoff point for safety)

The processor will still do most of the sound stuff--especially in Doom 3 (considering that's one of the thing they touted about their engine) for the most part, the soundcard will just be the encoding/decoding (If I'm correct, which please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong)

I'm glad you payed for the A8N. Asus FTW.

So if my CPU peaks at 45C under lead, you would say I am safe to try a bit of overclocking?

More than safe

I let the female counterpart install Sims 2 on it, now she plays that 16 hours a day. Good stress test I suppose.







The monitor is a ViewSonic A91f+, the case is a Raidmax something-or-other for $30, and the speakers are Logitech X-530 5.1. They rock the house.

That is sexy. Atleast you set up your speakers properly unlike SOMEONE I KNOW! *wolfy*

Your safe too, but it might get unstable, especially when you break the 50-55 mark. So if it crashes, just reboot and clock it back down.

Oh, and did you spend so much money you couldn't afford a proper desk? The table doesn't seem to work real well :p

Parents bought it for me as a gift...its sitting on the dining room table for now until I can get a spot for it in my room.

I've never heard of nor had instability anywhere under 65, and my uncle reccommends staying under 60 but has never said anything about 50C. So yeah, bull****.

For reference, my uncle has been overclocking since we were both in diapers.

And so that automatically applies to all hardware and manufacturing quality, because all CPUs are able to handly overclocking exactly the same, and all CPUs have absolutely no defects in them whatsoever. Yeah right. Quit arguing for the sake of arguing.

Mmmmmm.....I need to build something like that.

That is freaking ugly.

actually... with alot of onboard chipsets if you enable EAX it will

and the live 24bit is known to use more CPU with EAX enabled as well (and sadly it still suffers from sample rate issues) then again it is sold as a budget card

Interesting. I'll look into how much it uses.

No, but the general rule of thumb with AMDs is if it's under 70, it's fine. I want to let this guy know that he can go farther than you say he can, so no, I'm not 'arguing for the sake of arguing', I'm righting some misinformation you gave the guy.

awe my computer is so old i need to upgrade it..... dam Pentium III go faster!! :p

There is no misinformation. CPUs CAN get unstable at 55C or so. It's happened, it's happened often, and just because YOU haven't seen it happen does not make it misinformation. I never said he couldn't go past 55C, I just said it's possible it might get unstable AT that point, and explained what to do if such a thing occured. But you seem to have a vendetta out for everyone to argue every damn little point.

Anyway, also nice to see you got the Venice core, which is better for overclocking. You should be able to do well with it.

OH OH! Can I have a vendetta?

Please?

I'll give you TWO if you behave!

What? Those are far from being set up properly! Or rather, far from optimally. I don't care what the manual says.

Nice rig, by the way.

YAYAYAYAYAYAY!

1) No AMD CPU I've seen has ever gotten unstable at over 55C, it is quite literally impossible unless the CPU is in some what FLAWED. At least in the XP/64 series. If it's unstable at that temperature, that's probably case ambient, in which case the CPU is running at 65 which is more realistic towards instability. CM, stop spreading crap, you've done it time and time again, and you're doing it this time too.

2) It doesn't really matter what core you get, the 64 series is still only mediocre for overclocking. The only way you'll get an awesome overclock on any of them is to get the FX series.

And yet you still argue... for the sake of arguing. You just completely ignore what I say, even when I repeat it. As such, I refuse to continue discussing the matter with you, until you properly read my posts completely, and understand why your post makes you sound like an idiot. Yoshi, I mean this with all honesty and without being mean... LAY OFF.

I laugh at you, because you always say this. And you're always wrong. Good day, sir.

Yoshi...You seriously need to take your head out from a computer and go outside. I always say this to people like you for one reason...

You think you know EVERYTHING about computers, and anyone who says otherwise, you both get aggressive, and actually offended. Look what you did when I claimed my FPS in a game..You started dropping subtle personal attacks and acting like a complete jerk/moron.

You may very well know quite a bit about computers, I have no doubt in that. But you tend to take it a little bit too far.

With the release of the Venice core, overclocking that thing is as easy as overclocking the Barton 2500+. The 3000+ can get to 2.7Ghz, on air. That's a 900Mhz increase.

a 500Mhz overclock on the 3000+ Venice (939) has almost become commonplace, with a stock cooler too.

But otherwise, yes, most 64's aren't too great at overclocking

You guys are ignoring the most important point of this thread.



Neon lights were lame when it was a ricer thing, putting them inside of your PC, and having a plexiglass window in your case so you can see them is twice as lame.

DISCUSS.

/me revokes Vendettas

You're not a nice person, Rob. Not a nice person at all.

And I swear my opinion is not based on the fact that I have lights in my case.

But since I feel like being mean...

Rob, they aren't "neon" lights. They are Cold Cathode Flourescent lights. As such, it can't possibly be related to ricing, and thus, is a cool thing to do.

Bwahahahahaha

They're still totally whack, and neon-e colored.

That makes them neon lights in my book.


Really.. whats the point?



A friend of mine, had a discussion at length about how stupid those lights were, and then a few months later he put a bunch in his case... so I sharpie markered over all of them.


He wasn't pleased.


And we aren't friends anymore.

You always say this and are always 100% wrong/hypocritical. I go out whenEVER I can, which is most every day, really. I try to stay away from the computer as much as possible, but when I'm home and I have downtime, that's all I've got to do. So stop acting so damned superior. And yes, you're wrong, I laugh at it, that's that. I don't take any of this **** seriously--it's just words on an online forum centered around star wars about how good one computer component is over another. But if someone says something that's wrong I won't hesitate to correct them.

And he's got lights in his fans...a lot of fans come with lights in them. And windows in cases is not an uncommon thing--a lot of the best cases have windows in them. That doesn't make them bad. (by best, I mean easiest to use, set up, spacey, etc. My friend's Lian Li came with a window, and Lian Li is a top-of-the-line brand).

HEY!

We're having a discussion about ricing computers!

Quit ruining it with your green dinosaur brand crap!

Sex.

I need a new magic board for this box o' mine.

If you'll notice the end of my post, it was quite on topic.

The difference is, you're always seriously arguing... and I was only trying to have a play argument.

But you take it too far sometimes. And what Rob said.

The problem is, you think your word is law. You are the one acting "superior" around here. You think that because your own experience tells you that it isn't possible, it mustn't be possible. In addition, you have a real bad habit of ignoring key words in an argument, just so you don't have to admit you were in the wrong.

In addition, you cannot let things drop. You have to keep the damn fire going. Rob proved this. But you had to drag it all back through the crap again. You're the number one reason this thread will be closed, just like so many others before it.

What you need to do is to understand that, guess what, you might be wrong once in a while. On top of this, if you think you are right, OFFER IT AS A SUGGESTION, not as a freakin' insult. If you are right, you'll get the acknowledgement. But if you are wrong, then see why. Don't just blindly go on repeating the same thing, and then pull this "untouchable" crap. You aren't a God of PCs, you do not have superior knowledge, and I can guarantee there are many people here who know two, if not three times as much as you about the subject.

In closing, Yoshi, take to heart what others say, accept the fact that you may be wrong at some points, and hell, LEARN SOMETHING NEW!

Sorry about trainwrecking this thread folks, but it looks like it was unavoidable. Next time I'll just ignore him, I swear.