Artanis

You need to take into account couple of important bits of information before building an AMD system. Air Flow, Power Supply specifications and options, cooling, oh and did I say airflow. Case & PSU, this has to be one of the first of the three most important steps in the process. Things to look for in a good case for AMD based systems: Airflow: (Think neat tidy and roomy. But mainly just think!) Front and rear fans, Rear fan must be blow air out and the front fan blowing air in. *To reduce noise I suggest using some Vantec Stealth Fans, excellent airflow and quiet. Don’t go for a small cramped Micro ATX Case for AMD unless you really have to. Micro ATX Cases and clear airflow are not something you will find in the same sentence often. Make sure your cabling is neat and tidy and not blocking airflow. I have seen studies done on the airflow restriction of IDE and FDD cables in cases it was very interesting. The flat cables can destroy airflow, quicker than you can say any of the four letter words in your vocabulary. Get yourself some rounded IDE & FDD cables. Then go down to your local automotive accessories store and pick up some plastic split/spiral loom and some cable ties and cover up those nasty power cables. *If at this stage you are using stock cooling I would also suggest a side panel vent or fan. Power Supply: (Don’t skimp or it will just cost you in the long run) This seems to be where a lot of people go wrong. 300Watts + (recommended 400Wartts) people and TUV Specifications at that too please to ensure your system is getting true and correct 12v supply anything other than TUV specification power supply and you can expect to have a hot running system as your power supply is being stressed to the max. Stressed power supplies die and they die in record time. Features to look for in a good power supply: Dual Temperature controlled fans; any of the following major brands have them. Leadman, Enermax, and also if you look hard enough some of the cheaper no name brand TUV spec’d power supplies have this as well. Extra 12V supply. Intel users will know what this is all about, but some of you older AMD uses will not. Its now required on many of the new NForce 2 boards it’s a requirement brought about by 8x AGP and the new ever more power hungry AGP cards on the market. CPU Cooling: Now this is another part you have to think long and hard about. Thing to take into account, what is the system going to do and where will it be going. And how much noise can it make. And also what speed and core the CPU is. Environment: (e.g. bedrooms, offices, lounge etc) There are places you hardly want to be sitting next to a 747 at take off sounding computer am I right. So again I suggest using Vantec Stealth fans or should you really want to get carried away opted for a water cooling kit. Thermaltake have a nice simple to setup up water kit. Things that make a good low noise CPU cooler: Copper, either it be made totally out of copper of be copper aluminium with copper insert in the base. Thin Fin technology on the actually heat sink itself (e.g. Thermaltake Volcano 10+, this is an ideal low noise heat sink). Fan speed on the heat sink itself is another 1800 to 3000rpm is ideal range any louder and you will get a lot of wind noise. Thermal Compound: (that stuff that you must put between CPU and the heat sink to add thermal transfer) A little goes a long way is my motto on this I have seen countless computers come to me with piles of thermal compound and the customer complaining their system is still running hot. Artic Silver has an excellent guide on how to apply thermal compounds. As for those little various coloured pads on the bottom of all stock heat sinks, GET RID OF THEM. And get some real thermal compound.

Some simple steps to making a cool and fast running AMD Based system: You need to take into account couple of important bits of information before building an AMD system. Air Flow, Power Supply specifications and options, cooling, oh and did I say airflow. Case & PSU, this has to be one of the first of the three most important steps in the process. Things to look for in a good case for AMD based systems: Airflow: (Think neat tidy and roomy. But mainly just think!) Front and rear fans, Rear fan must be blow air out and the front fan blowing air in. *To reduce noise I suggest using some Vantec Stealth Fans, excellent airflow and quiet. Don’t go for a small cramped Micro ATX Case for AMD unless you really have to. Micro ATX Cases and clear airflow are not something you will find in the same sentence often. Make sure your cabling is neat and tidy and not blocking airflow. I have seen studies done on the airflow restriction of IDE and FDD cables in cases it was very interesting. The flat cables can destroy airflow, quicker than you can say any of the four letter words in your vocabulary. Get yourself some rounded IDE & FDD cables. Then go down to your local automotive accessories store and pick up some plastic split/spiral loom and some cable ties and cover up those nasty power cables. *If at this stage you are using stock cooling I would also suggest a side panel vent or fan. Power Supply: (Don’t skimp or it will just cost you in the long run) This seems to be where a lot of people go wrong. 300Watts + (recommended 400Wartts) people and TUV Specifications at that too please to ensure your system is getting true and correct 12v supply anything other than TUV specification power supply and you can expect to have a hot running system as your power supply is being stressed to the max. Stressed power supplies die and they die in record time. Features to look for in a good power supply: Dual Temperature controlled fans; any of the following major brands have them. Leadman, Enermax, and also if you look hard enough some of the cheaper no name brand TUV spec’d power supplies have this as well. Extra 12V supply. Intel users will know what this is all about, but some of you older AMD uses will not. Its now required on many of the new NForce 2 boards it’s a requirement brought about by 8x AGP and the new ever more power hungry AGP cards on the market. CPU Cooling: Now this is another part you have to think long and hard about. Thing to take into account, what is the system going to do and where will it be going. And how much noise can it make. And also what speed and core the CPU is. Environment: (e.g. bedrooms, offices, lounge etc) There are places you hardly want to be sitting next to a 747 at take off sounding computer am I right. So again I suggest using Vantec Stealth fans or should you really want to get carried away opted for a water cooling kit. Thermaltake have a nice simple to setup up water kit. Things that make a good low noise CPU cooler: Copper, either it be made totally out of copper of be copper aluminium with copper insert in the base. Thin Fin technology on the actually heat sink itself (e.g. Thermaltake Volcano 10+, this is an ideal low noise heat sink). Fan speed on the heat sink itself is another 1800 to 3000rpm is ideal range any louder and you will get a lot of wind noise. Thermal Compound: (that stuff that you must put between CPU and the heat sink to add thermal transfer) A little goes a long way is my motto on this I have seen countless computers come to me with piles of thermal compound and the customer complaining their system is still running hot. Artic Silver has an excellent guide on how to apply thermal compounds. As for those little various coloured pads on the bottom of all stock heat sinks, GET RID OF THEM. And get some real thermal compound.