Iv'e recently built my first system and it's performing beyond my expectations. It is running very smooth and even with my crappy geforce 5600 256mb video card it runs most popular/newer games flawless even when set on high graphical settings. I owe it to my new xp 3200+ with 512mb of ddr400 dual channel ram.
I have a few concerns, my first and second concern came about when I was running HWDOCTOR, a system monitoring program that was bundled in with my mobo. It states Case temp, CPU temp, system fan speeds, and all the voltages.
#1 concern: While stressing my CPU with SETI@Home HWDOCTOR gave me a brief warning after warning, sometimes the warning would stay on my screen for up to ten seconds. It stated that the -12v thing has went under -13v *it is set to its low limit of 13v* it only goes under like maybe to -13.05 or -13.10. Other than running HWDOCTOR, I havn't ran into any problems relating with the -12v thing. I have a 400w PSU, but it is a very cheap one, it came with my case and my case was under 50 bucks. I came to the conclusion that this is probably the problem but before I spend 70 bucks on another PSU I rather make sure with someone on these boards.
#2 concern: Of course, like everyone, I'm worred about CPU temps. Unfortunatly, I can't find any good 3200+ temp info anywhere. All I see is people with 2500+ to 2800+ oc'd to over 2.2, and I'm not sure that even tough the 3200+ also runs at 2.2 if it produces the same amount of heat, in fact I doubt it. But all these people with oc'd 2.2 chips were saying they had idle temps of 30-32 and load temps of 42-45C. My true barton 3200+ idles at 36-38 and loads at 50-52 *highest I have seen so far is 52.5* I wouldnt expect 36 to be a high idle temp so I'm more worried about the Load temp, is this normal? Iv'e done some thinking and due to the fact we have central air in our home my room temp only rises a few degrees during summer so i wont have to worry about it ever going over 53. Will running it at 53 while im playing half life 2 everyday for hours straight have an effect on the life span of the chip? TRUST ME, I applied the silver stuff as good as it can get. Paper thin layer on cpu and I rubbed a tiny bit into the HS
to fill any tiny scratches i dont see.
My last 2 concerns are short to explain, I just need to know if a gig of ram is necessary when Im not planning on any multi tasking, only directx 9 video games. I think 512mb of ram this fast can support half life 2 no prob just because of the speed of data going in and out rather than how much data it can hold.
And NO, im not planning on playing half life 2 with my crappy 5600, Im definatly ordering a radeon 9800 pro as soon as I get informitive replies from all of you which leads to my last concern *finally huh?* You think my stock 400w PSU can handle the radeon 9800 pro on top of CD Rom, A Drive, 1 HD and mobo? *only answer this question if I don't already need a new PSU due to my volt probs with my CPU*
and for anyone who just read all that, thanks for putting up with it
I have a few concerns, my first and second concern came about when I was running HWDOCTOR, a system monitoring program that was bundled in with my mobo. It states Case temp, CPU temp, system fan speeds, and all the voltages.
#1 concern: While stressing my CPU with SETI@Home HWDOCTOR gave me a brief warning after warning, sometimes the warning would stay on my screen for up to ten seconds. It stated that the -12v thing has went under -13v *it is set to its low limit of 13v* it only goes under like maybe to -13.05 or -13.10. Other than running HWDOCTOR, I havn't ran into any problems relating with the -12v thing. I have a 400w PSU, but it is a very cheap one, it came with my case and my case was under 50 bucks. I came to the conclusion that this is probably the problem but before I spend 70 bucks on another PSU I rather make sure with someone on these boards.
#2 concern: Of course, like everyone, I'm worred about CPU temps. Unfortunatly, I can't find any good 3200+ temp info anywhere. All I see is people with 2500+ to 2800+ oc'd to over 2.2, and I'm not sure that even tough the 3200+ also runs at 2.2 if it produces the same amount of heat, in fact I doubt it. But all these people with oc'd 2.2 chips were saying they had idle temps of 30-32 and load temps of 42-45C. My true barton 3200+ idles at 36-38 and loads at 50-52 *highest I have seen so far is 52.5* I wouldnt expect 36 to be a high idle temp so I'm more worried about the Load temp, is this normal? Iv'e done some thinking and due to the fact we have central air in our home my room temp only rises a few degrees during summer so i wont have to worry about it ever going over 53. Will running it at 53 while im playing half life 2 everyday for hours straight have an effect on the life span of the chip? TRUST ME, I applied the silver stuff as good as it can get. Paper thin layer on cpu and I rubbed a tiny bit into the HS
to fill any tiny scratches i dont see.
My last 2 concerns are short to explain, I just need to know if a gig of ram is necessary when Im not planning on any multi tasking, only directx 9 video games. I think 512mb of ram this fast can support half life 2 no prob just because of the speed of data going in and out rather than how much data it can hold.
And NO, im not planning on playing half life 2 with my crappy 5600, Im definatly ordering a radeon 9800 pro as soon as I get informitive replies from all of you which leads to my last concern *finally huh?* You think my stock 400w PSU can handle the radeon 9800 pro on top of CD Rom, A Drive, 1 HD and mobo? *only answer this question if I don't already need a new PSU due to my volt probs with my CPU*
and for anyone who just read all that, thanks for putting up with it