Posts by Thomas Miller3

Thanks for the heads-up. I appreciate you warning me about that Corsair unit; they used to be pretty solid back in the day, but not so much now. We'll just stick with the Hex then.
As for Windows, even with those "free" versions floating around, you’re still essentially paying someone else for the service, which is just another headache he doesn't need. This way, everything shows up at his door ready to plug and play, which is exactly what we're aiming for (forgot to mention that earlier). Honestly, I'd just build the OS for him myself if I weren't stuck here in the States.

He didn't specify the monitor, but looking at the specs in this link, let's call it a 2K setup.

Hey everyone, so a buddy of mine reached out because he wants to pick up a PC, and he sent me some links like this:
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/example_link

It looks decent enough—it'll definitely work. But we can do better, right?

He just needs a rig for browsing, streaming movies, general internet stuff... nothing heavy. His only game is FIFA. So, I cobbled together a list by pulling parts from some other threads; I think it’s solid, but I could really use a second opinion or any suggestions if something could be improved.

Custom Build:
1 x Intel Core i3 6100
1 x MSI H110M Pro-VD, Skylake, DDR4, 1151
1 x Windows Home 10 64Bit Eng Intl 1pk DSP OEI DVD
1 x Kingston DRAM 8GB 2133MHz DDR4 Non-ECC CL15 DIMM 2Rx8, EAN: 740617242713
1 x SSD SanDisk Z400s 128GB, 2.5” 7mm, SATA 6 Gbit/s - 60mj
1 x HDD Toshiba P300 1TB, 64MB, 7200rpm, High-Performance
1 x LG DVD+/-RW DL 24/8/12/12× (dual layer), S-ATA, bulk, black
1 x Corsair CX430 PSU, 430W, CX Series
1 x Zalman T1 PLUS, mATX, USB3.0 black
1 x Gigabyte Nvidia GeForce GTX 750, 2GB DDR5, 128 bit, DVI-I*1/DVI-D*1/HDMI
Total: $1828

- I figure the i3 is more than enough. If my old laptop processor handles everything I throw at it, this i3 Skylake will be fine for him.
- The motherboard is just a copy-paste from another thread. It should be okay, right? No ghost issues or random Blue Screens of Death waiting to happen?
- Honestly, 4 gigs of RAM would probably suffice, but hey, 8 gigs is dirt cheap these days so why not.
- Included an SSD so everything runs smooth (my laptop's hard drive drives me insane), is this one alright? And that Toshiba drive—should be good, right? No weird firmware bugs or surprises?
- Got a GPU in there so he can actually play FIFA in Full HD like a normal person.
- Is this Corsair CX430 overkill? It says it's quiet, which is a plus. If the stock coolers on the GPU and CPU are also quiet, it'd be a nice setup for someone keeping the PC in their bedroom.
- And yeah, Windows. I don't know if anyone's going to install those "free" versions for him. Is this DSP OEI version the one that ties to the new build?

One last thing, I need some clarification: does the shop assemble and test everything before shipping for free? Will they actually install Windows and the drivers and make sure everything works? And do they offer a warranty on the whole configuration?

Also, any monitor recommendations? My friend is looking at this one, but I have no clue: https://www.bestbuy.com/site/example_monitor

Thanks! Cheers.

What do you mean they aren't? I always figured they were pretty solid tier stuff. I’ve been running a single Chieftec 550W for a year and a half now, powering an i7 920 and a GTX 260 without a single hiccup. Honestly, I actually asked about this exact setup on here once before, and nobody even suggested I swap out my PSU. 🤷

Are we gonna toss Chieftec into this list from the first post?

Look, seriously, it’s just a little clip for a phone cable. My brain immediately went straight to a photocopier 😬

David Mendoza97

Just copy and paste this thing, but make sure you delete that annoying space between the URL and the equals sign so it actually works:
Code:

You can even drop images in as links, mess with the colors, whatever. Anything you wrap between those [url] and [/url] tags will show up just like usual.

James Webb Space Telescope Deep Field

Man, I’m not even planning on hitting up any spirituality sessions, but now my curiosity is absolutely killing me. I really wish I could see what all the fuss was about. Doesn't anyone have anything saved in their browser cache or something?

Thanks, man. I took a look at that and checked out the Arctic Silver instructions too. Apparently, they suggest different techniques depending on what kind of processor you're running, since the die sits differently under the heat spreader. Mostly, it’s one of those methods where the paste just spreads naturally from the pressure of the cooler base (kind of like those clips you linked). They also recommend "tinting" before you seat everything to make sure it fills those specific gaps in the heatsink that have been giving me such a headache 🙂
. Well, now I know exactly what I need to do when I swap it out. Thanks for the hand.

That’s exactly what I was thinking. You’d go for the cooler base first to fill up all those slots, and then hit the processor. So why isn't that the move? Why is everyone saying don't do it?

I think this part of the pipe is pretty much flat, though you can clearly see those tiny little grooves in the photo here:


So, you just "smear" the paste over all five of them. Look, I’ve always known you need thermal paste to get a solid connection, but I honestly had no clue where the limit was—like, how deep of an uneven surface can the paste actually handle? If you were looking at a gap the size of a quarter, I highly doubt any amount of paste would save you. 😁

Thanks, man. I did a little digging online and realized I totally mixed up my terminology. phase-change cooling actually involves using a compressor—kind of like how a fridge works—whereas what I was describing earlier is just heat pipe cooling.

I also took a look at this review where the photo shows there’s a tiny gap between the pipes and the processor. I'm assuming I can just fill that in with some thermal paste, right? Not gonna lie, I've never actually swapped out a cooler before.

Anyway, bottom line: how much better is this cooler going to perform compared to the stock ones that come with the Intel Core i3 or the Athlon II x4 620?

Man, I’d jump on that too. It sounds like the absolute gold standard for $67 setups, right? Is that the "fast phase" tech everyone's buzzing about? From what I gather, you’ve got this volatile liquid that evaporates right over the CPU to drop the temps, then travels down to the heat exchanger where it condenses. Does that mean the cooler has to stay perfectly upright at all times just to function properly?

Anyone here actually messed around with this thing before?

Because of these lines, I honestly thought back when I was a kid that I could actually see beams of light 😬

You know those weird little geometric patterns you see when there’s an intense glare? They kind of dance around whenever you move your eyes—almost like tiny little floating stations or something.
It's the same thing when it's pitch black outside and you're staring at streetlights, squinting just a bit, and suddenly these long streaks of light start bleeding out from the bulbs... I've been totally obsessed with that phenomenon forever. 😁

You can find much better deals on eBay. My girlfriend actually managed to snag a Cintiq 21 through eBay for about $4667 total—that includes shipping, taxes, and everything. Here in the States, you’d be looking at paying way over $2,000 for something like that. Just make sure you vet your sellers carefully. It’s an incredible piece of gear; it’s basically a digital canvas. She was using some Genius tablet before this, and honestly, there's just no comparison.

Awesome, thanks! I'm gonna poke around a bit more to see what kind of overclocking headroom I've got before I try pushing it up to 3GHz. It's a pure AM3 platform, after all.

Thomas Miller3 said:Is it actually a good idea to keep my CPU overclocked all the time? What’s really going to kill it faster: the heat, the frequency, the voltage, or just a little bit of everything? I'm asking because I want to bump it up to a sweet spot for daily use—but I don't want the thing to fry after a year. I've got an AMD Athlon 620 x4 with a Deneb core (L3 cache is unlocked) running on a stock cooler.

Seriously, is nobody gonna answer this? It feels like a waste to leave this chip unclocked, but I don't want to shorten its lifespan too much. If I could at least hit 3GHz and just leave it there, I'd be happy.

Also, is there a specific guide out there for overclocking AM3 processors, or can I just use the stuff meant for AM2 since they're basically similar?

Is it actually a good idea to keep my CPU pinned at a higher frequency all the time? Like, what’s really going to kill it faster: the heat, the clock speed, the voltage, or just a little bit of everything? I’m asking because I want to push it to some kind of "sweet spot" overclock and just leave it there, but I definitely don't want the thing to kick the bucket after a year. Currently running an > with a > core (L3 is unlocked) on the stock cooler.