Budget pc advice

[Pob255]

wth?

Heat pipes are hollow, contain a small amount of liquid and are generally very thin walled.

They work by phase change, the liquid gets boiled at the hot area and turned into a vapor, this changeing from liquid to gas state change absorbs far more heat.
The vaporised liquid expands up the heat pipe cooling as it goes, as it cools it condenses releaseing the heat it absorbed.
The liquid is then drawn back down the heat pipe by cappilery action, by ether a wick inside the heat pipe or a rough texture on the inside of the walls of the heat pipe.

This phase change mechanic means a heat pipe conducts heat very effeciently within a given tempture range.
The liquid used and the pressure it is at effects the active heat range of a heat pipe.
Commonly used is distilled water or a Alcohol & distilled water mix, at a pressure below 1 atmosphere (this allows the boiling point to be reduced below 100c)
It also means they are hollow and self contained, so if they ruptured or pierced they are ruined.



Sorry for this slight topic side track.

[no_numb]

Well without wanting to jinx it I have unlocked the other 2 cores and the windows performance index is reading from 6.5 to 7.3 on windows 7. so far about 20 mins with no crashes or signs of any instability

Its also saying instead of a phenom II x2 550 I now have this - AMD Phenom(tm) II X4 B50 Processor

[Domestic_Ginger]

Gratz!

Keep an eye on those temps. People are using prime to check to make sure the unlocked cores are stable. you wouldn't happen to have the batch number from the top of your cpu? (four numbers then four letters)

I'm quite jelous

[no_numb]

I'm afraid I dont have the batch number would it be on the retail box at all?

if not then I can find out when I install the new hsf when the replacement arrives.

Just taken delivery of a saitek k140 backlit keyboard, ocz behemoth mouth and a verbatim rapier mouse mat as well. I'm extremely happy with my purchases and only need to get the new graphics card now!

[Domestic_Ginger]

I think it is only written on the processor; if you could post that would be great. I want to see if it from the same batch as mine; I'll post when i get home.

[no_numb]

No worries got a post-it note on my case telling my to post the batch number when I replace the HSF.

Now does this mean that now its unlocked it should not be overclocked?

[Domestic_Ginger]

You can still overclock the hell out of it like a standard processor. I'm sure you know all the risks well enough. And another word of caution about the mosfets on the MOBO. Gigabyte recommend they are cooled if you are overclocking.

There are loads of forums of people pushing them up to the 4ghz mark.

I wish mine would *sob sob*

[no_numb]

You can still overclock the hell out of it like a standard processor. I'm sure you know all the risks well enough. And another word of caution about the mosfets on the MOBO. Gigabyte recommend they are cooled if you are overclocking.

There are loads of forums of people pushing them up to the 4ghz mark.

I wish mine would *sob sob*

Excellent I'll wait till I get my decent hSF back before doing any overclocking. How do you know what type of mosfets you have? Something like this do? http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Therm...er-%28Type3%29
Where are the mosfets. Last time I built a pc there was no mention of mosfets.

I also found out that my RAM although 1066Mhz runs at 800 standard as it supports both modes now I've got it set to 1066Mhz properly its a little bit faster

Sorry once again for all the questions I'm just quite out of the loop nowadays.

[nightkhaos]

And another word of caution about the mosfets on the MOBO. Gigabyte recommend they are cooled if you are overclocking.

MOSFET, when using a Bi-Polar Transitor just isn't cool enough anymore.

[no_numb]

Right well I thought because you've been so helpful I'd get you the batch number

0925BPMW

[Domestic_Ginger]

MOSFET, when using a Bi-Polar Transitor just isn't cool enough anymore.

i just know what is says in the instructions!.

mobo picure. the mosfets are the smaller of the rectangular chips above the cooler retention bracket. There are little holes either end of the fellows where the GB approved cooler plugs in. There is a little lost one as well just below the hole on the right. I hope that makes sense.

[Domestic_Ginger]

Right well I thought because you've been so helpful I'd get you the batch number

0925BPMW

Thanks for that, we have different batchs. I'll post tonight.

try typing your batch number into google, the chinese know its good!

[no_numb]

Ah slight problem there in that the xigmatek fan will cover that area so I dont know how big these mosfet heatsinks are? The clearance on the fan is literally about 2mm of the height of the RAM

[Domestic_Ginger]

there is an angled mosfet cooler from thermalright like the one you posted, not sure if its adjustable. Not really my area of expertise I'm afraid. There are plenty of articles on the web for custom heatsinks.

You could just spork it!

[no_numb]

I think I may risk an angled one there might just be enough room.

This is turning into quite an expensive £250 pc

I'm thinking of replacing the stock fans which can with the coolermaster case with some 3pin ones which can be adjusted. Then the mosfet coolers and graphics card to go! will probably have cost closer to £400 by the time I've fnished! Having said that I will be getting a very nice pc out of it.

Just another aside, what is the main factor in short windows load up times? Mine is pretty quick now at just under 40 seconds (to get into the main windows bit but its not fully loaded up, will still open firefox and things pretty fast though). Is there any point (not now as it seems mroe than enough for me at the moment) in having 8gb instead of 4gb ram. Is 8gb only really needed in photo/video processing?

Edit and one more thing - is there any issues with running say the sapphire 4670 in the pci-e slot then running something like this: http://www.ebuyer.com/product/131996# in a pci slot (ati/nvidia clashes etc). The reason for doing this is I will probably be using a dual monitor set up on my desk (have been using laptop and monitor) and would be nice not to have to change cables to connect up my projector (component input or vga only no hdmi).

[Pob255]

LOL I know what you mean about the creaping build cost, most of my stuff always turns out like that too.

Depending on the fan connector molex plug you may be able to swap the pins over to make the fans run on 5v which pritty much halves there speed.

Which graphics card did you get in the end? seem to remember most 4670 have d-sub, hdmi and dvi sockets.
A graphics card can output to two monitors/projector/tv, if you need 2 d-sub connectors then you can get a dvi to d-sub convert plug.