brg Posted May 18, 2002 Share Posted May 18, 2002 Just found this website (nice!)and thought I would post the specs for a dual athlon system I am considering - it is similar to one noted in another thread. I use Alias StudioTools - any other users out there btw? Dual Athlon MP 2000 Asus A7M266-D Western Digital Caviar WD1200JB 1.5GB Crucial DDRAM ECC REG CDRW - Lite-on 40x12x48 DVDROM – Lite-on LTD 163 16x/48x Floppy, Zip, IntelliMouse, Keyboard, Network Card, Firewire Card Case – LianLi PC60 or Cooler Master ATC-201 Power Supply – Enermax Whisper 430W CPU Cooling - (2) Thermalright AX-7’s w/ Papbst 80mm 8412-N/2 GL Fans Video Card - ATI FireGL 8800 (128MB) or Nvidia/Elsa Quadro4 750XGL Any comments would be appreciated. Not sure which case of the two to get yet. Unsure which video card. And unsure if the stock cpu cooler fans will merit upgrading to the above setup for performance and quietude. Thanks, Brian [ May 18, 2002, 08:18 PM: Message edited by: brg ] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Mottle Posted May 18, 2002 Share Posted May 18, 2002 I know Greg will be here soon to comment on this , but I can tell you for sure that the AX-7's will not fit on that MB in a dual configuration without bending the CPU socket, and taping up once of the MB capacitors. A friend of mine just tried to do this on Friday and I know Greg was not able to do this without doing the above as well. The Heatsinks on the AX-7's are too big. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greg Hess Posted May 18, 2002 Share Posted May 18, 2002 To be SAFE you can bend back on the of the capicators about 15 degrees, but I didn't have any trouble with the AX-7's other then having to be careful while I installed them, and making sure there were no air gaps. The only problem is with one of the cpu sockets, which requires a slight bend of one of the capicitors to be sure of no metal to metal contact. I did get almost a 10 C difference in load temps over the HHC-001's with the fan ducts. (my previous setup was a little weird) [And thats on an Asus board. Sorry for any confusion I might have caused there] However..The pabst fans WILL NOT be enough airflow for the cpu's. You need around 26 CFM minimum, which requires either panflo M1A's, or enermax or YS-TECH adjustable rpm fans. Feel free to use the pabst fans for replacing the case fans within the tower. I'd replace the Lite-On burner with a Plextor 40x/40x/12x and the Lite-On DVDROM with a pioneer slot loading. The lite on dvdrom is unnecessarily loud, almost to a obnoxious amount, and I don't ever recommend non plextor burners. Quality products always outlast the test of time, and my 4x plextor, and 12x/4x plextor are still going strong after hundreds upon hundreds of thousands of hours of use. I'd also go with the nvidia Quadro solution over ATI's, especially if using max or maya. From the sounds of it, many people have been returning their ati cards for nvidia equivilants due to driver issues. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brg Posted May 18, 2002 Author Share Posted May 18, 2002 Thanks for the response on the video card, cdburner, and dvdrom - all duly noted. But let me get the cooling situation understood. The way I understand it, standard fans that come w/ the processors do not cut it in terms of performance and noise? Thermalrights AX-7's will fit, but it will be a bit tight? The Papst 8412N/2GL's at 19.5 CFM's will not cut it - at plycon.com, it looks like they can be replaced by Papst 8412N/2GML's at 26.5 CFM's, Enermax Adjustable's at 39.8 CFM's, or Panaflo FBA08A12H's at 39.6 CFM's. Is this right? If so, the Pabst fans seem the quietest and I would like to go w/ them. Last, if the Thermalrights are too tight a fit, will the Thermaltake Volcano 7+ at low speed be enough CFM's and a better fit? Any other cpu cooling layouts to consider? Last, will noise be significantly reduced if I replaced the 80mm fans that come w/ the Lian Li or the CoolerMaster cases w/ Papst 8412N/2GL's or Enermax Adjustables? Thnx, Brian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brg Posted May 18, 2002 Author Share Posted May 18, 2002 One other question - the price of the Nvidia/Elsa Quadro4 750XGL is almost 3 times that of the GeForce4 Ti4400. What is the performance jump for 3d modeling? Thnx again, Brian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brg Posted May 20, 2002 Author Share Posted May 20, 2002 Just to answer my own question for others - talked to plycon.com and they confirmed that I would have to bend back one of the cpu capicitors to get the AX-7 to fit. So I am going w/ the Thermaltake Volcano 7 Plus for the cpu coolers on low speed to keep noise to a min. However, provided the fit, they did mention the Papst fans at 19.5 CFU's when used in combination w/ the AX-7 heatsink to be sufficient in cooling such a system. Brian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greg Hess Posted May 20, 2002 Share Posted May 20, 2002 DO NOT, I repeat DO NOT use anything less then 26 CFM on 1900+ chips. They will overheat. I had to replace my original panflo L1A's (Which are 21 CFM) because they were not outputing a sufficent amount of airflow through the heatsink. Unlike case fans, and case airflow, heatsinks require a certain bare minimum amount of airflow to function properly. Without sufficent pressure, the air will not flow through the fins with enough force to push the air through at a decent rate, and in some cases won't make it through the fins at all (Thermalright SK6's). 26 CFM fans are in the 20 DB's and you will not be able to hear them with the case door closed, unless your extremely sensitive to noise, in which case you should be purchasing Silverrado's, which use blowers instead of fans to move airflow over the case. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest molson Posted May 21, 2002 Share Posted May 21, 2002 Hey Greg, The AX7 was a no-go for me, (because of the motherboard tweeking). The place that is building my system suggested that I use the sk-6 with the same fan, (panaflo Medium). Will this supply sufficient cooling? thanks, Mark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cesar R Posted May 21, 2002 Share Posted May 21, 2002 Hey guys Im turning 20 tomorrow (one more year to before party time) and I decided to treat myself a little early. I just built an Athlon workstation last nite. I guess I can join the club now. These are the specs. Dual Athlon MP 1900+ w/ Volcano 7 fans. ASUS A7M266-D 512MB 2100 ram for now will upgrade to 1GB Western Digital Caviar 7200rpm WD400BB - primary Quantum Fireball 5200rpm - slave (old system) GeForce 3 64MB - (old system) Linksys 10/100 LAN card CDR-RW + floppy 4 USB Case Antec SX1030B 300W well, that's my new baby, I took the sony vaio back. Feel free to comment. Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Mottle Posted May 21, 2002 Share Posted May 21, 2002 Welcome to the club. So how loud are those Volcanos? You running them at full speed? What temps do you get on medium speed? I'm looking to quiet my system down, and I know the volcanos at medium speed are quieter then my setup, but wan't sure if the medium speed is enougth to cool two duals. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greg Hess Posted May 21, 2002 Share Posted May 21, 2002 The Sk6's aren't very good with low spinning fans due to the density of the heatsinks. I'd look into HHC-001 Coolermasters with fan funnels and 80mm's, something like this. http://www.3dluvr.com/crossbow/photos/heatsink3.jpg http://www.3dluvr.com/crossbow/photos/heatsink4.jpg http://www.3dluvr.com/crossbow/photos/dual/modification2.jpg http://www.3dluvr.com/crossbow/photos/dual/modification3.jpg There is just BARELY enough room to do this. I don't recommend using the fan adapters I used, but use the funnels shown in heatsink3.jpg. http://www.3dluvr.com/crossbow/photos/dual/heatsinks4.jpg To use the HHC-001's, you have to bend the thumb clip up on the second cpu sink, as shown in the pictures, to clear the first ram dimm. But since this mod is external to any system components, it shouldn't pose any problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greg Hess Posted May 21, 2002 Share Posted May 21, 2002 Here are some pics of the board with AX-7's. http://www.3dluvr.com/crossbow/incoming/Photos/Computers/ax7a.jpg http://www.3dluvr.com/crossbow/incoming/Photos/Computers/ax7b.jpg http://www.3dluvr.com/crossbow/incoming/Photos/Computers/ax7c.jpg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cesar R Posted May 21, 2002 Share Posted May 21, 2002 Jeff, i am not sure what speed they are running at, but as far as noise they are not loud at all. Im not even sure how to set up the speed, do you ? anyhow I would put them at max if I know how. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greg Hess Posted May 23, 2002 Share Posted May 23, 2002 Cesar... If their volcano 7+'s, they should have a fan switch connected between the fan and where they are plugging in, either the motherboard or power supply. Looks something like this. http://www.thermaltake.com/images/products/heatsink/v7plus2Bswitch.jpg If you don't have that switch it means one of two things. 1) Someone ripped you off and didn't give you the switch. 2) You got a volcano 7, instead of a 7+ (There is actually a HUGE difference between the 7 and the 7+, the 7 is alumnium with a copperbase, while the 7+ uses a new high density copper fin system, in a fully 100% copper heatsink. The 7+ also fits all socket configurations [462, 478, 370, 423] and is a HELL of a lot more expensive then the 7) [ May 23, 2002, 05:05 PM: Message edited by: Greg Hess ] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cesar R Posted May 24, 2002 Share Posted May 24, 2002 cool thanks Greg, I got Volcanos 7, I guess ill upgrade to 7+ later on if I see they are not doing the job right. my cpus keep at 40 -41 deg, what do you guys think ? I have this problem, I though it was caused by my 300watt power supply, so I upgraded to a 450watt. My computer someimtes resets after a couple of hours of working. Even if I am typing a paper. any ideas what it could be anyone? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greg Hess Posted May 24, 2002 Share Posted May 24, 2002 Need more system information to diagnose hardware problems . Temp is fine. What amd chipset drivers are you using? Greg Hess Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greg Hess Posted May 25, 2002 Share Posted May 25, 2002 "ASUS A7M266-D" What bios are you using? "512MB 2100 ram for now will upgrade to 1GB" Run mushkin's ram test. www.mushkin.com/support Use www.bootdisk.com if you have trouble making an image. "Quantum Fireball 5200rpm - slave (old system)" This is limiting system performance, get rid of it. Nothing like having a super fast computer and then putting a big huge IDE bottleneck on it. GeForce 3 64MB - (old system) Linksys 10/100 LAN card 4 USB How are these card positioned in the case? Which slots? To help narrow down the problem (This should work in both XP and 2k).... Start-Settings-Ctrl Panel-System-Advanced-Startup/Shutdown Turn on write to event log, turn everything else OFF. Turn off auto reboot, admin msg, physical ram dump etc. Next time the system goes to reboot, it'll BSOD instead, giving you a big fat error message. Write down the top line. Check your event log. In the admin tools directory in the ctrl panel, paste any stop errors you see here. Are you using service pack 2 in win2k? The updated AMD AGP, INF, and Power drivers? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cesar R Posted May 25, 2002 Share Posted May 25, 2002 Im not sure, I think I have the lastest... Dual Athlon MP 1900+ w/ Volcano 7 fans. ASUS A7M266-D 512MB 2100 ram for now will upgrade to 1GB Western Digital Caviar 7200rpm WD400BB - primary Quantum Fireball 5200rpm - slave (old system) GeForce 3 64MB - (old system) Linksys 10/100 LAN card CDR-RW + floppy 4 USB Case Antec SX1030B 300W my dad said that i may be the ram or my video card? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cesar R Posted May 25, 2002 Share Posted May 25, 2002 Hey Greg. I have the AGP right under one of the processors, the I am leaving a slot free, then on the folloing I have the USB card, then the network card, and then I have the last slot free. look like this. AGP FREE USB net ^ FREE ^top of computer I have also saved my error log, maybe I can e-mail to you, anyway thank you for your help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greg Hess Posted May 25, 2002 Share Posted May 25, 2002 Don't just answer one question Answer the rest too . Did you try any of my suggestions? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cesar R Posted May 25, 2002 Share Posted May 25, 2002 Hi Greg, I did it, and I just rebooted, here is the error: "DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL" BTW I am using XP PRO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest adrian_dav Posted May 26, 2002 Share Posted May 26, 2002 Originally posted by Cesar Rullier: Hi Greg, I did it, and I just rebooted, here is the error: "DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL" BTW I am using XP PROi hade exactly the same error. it turned out to be related to the RAM. i had RAM in all 4 slots. 4 256MB chips were cheaper tha a single 1GB chip. i removed all but one RAM chip and the problem disappeared. i finally bought the 1GB module and i'm fine ever since. give it a shot: try it with one RAM module and see if it is stable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greg Hess Posted May 26, 2002 Share Posted May 26, 2002 Thats a heat, power, memory, driver, and IRQ error. You have to diagnose all of them . Did you run the mushkin test yet? Run that first. Then follow the max faq on the discreet forum (under Hardware/Software Troubleshooting) for step by step instructions on diagnosing for a power, heat, irq and driver problem.) http://support.discreet.com/webboard/wbpx.dll/~max/read?96779,40 Originally posted by Cesar Rullier: Hi Greg, I did it, and I just rebooted, here is the error: "DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL" BTW I am using XP PRO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cesar R Posted May 26, 2002 Share Posted May 26, 2002 haha, great, so now I have supper fast box full of defects !, thanks greg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest adrian_dav Posted May 26, 2002 Share Posted May 26, 2002 Originally posted by Cesar Rullier: haha, great, so now I have supper fast box full of defects !, thanks gregit could be one of them(or a combination)... not all of them . did you give it shot to run the system with a single RAM-chip? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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