1st timer needs help.

[jjknauf]

I'm building a system from scratch for the first time and I need a little advice. The pertenant specs are:

AMD Athlon T-Bird 1.2Ghz
FIC AD11 Mobo

The questions are:

1 - The AD11 has only 2 fan headers one of which is already consumed by the chipset. Which is more important? A fan on the CPU or a case fan? Is there a way to run 2 fans off of one header? I don't plan to overclock yet, but I might like to have that option in the future.
2 - Recommendations for a Heatsink/fan for the CPU? I know space is tight on the AD11, but I would like to maximize my cooling. Has anyone used this board/cpu combo? What did you use?
3 - I read one review of the AD11 that said the Netgear FA311 nic was incompatable with it. Has anyone else found this to be true? This was my nic of choice. Any other recommendations?

Thanks - JJKnauf

 

[Vegito]

Today's fan draws more power, better to split it off the power supply so it doesn't burn out the mobo.. happens a lot..

 

[mstudd]

I am not familiar with your board, but some boards have hardware monitoring, which will require the CPU fan to be plugged into a fan header to work. The third wire on the CPU fan is for RPM monitoring.
Some boards wont even POST without a fan plugged into the correct header, check your manual on this one.
As for case fans, you can just plug them into a spare molex connector on your power supply.
Go for a good quality HSF, as the Athlons run really hot, just check that the fan header on your board can handle the power draw of the fan, or you will burn it out.
Good luck.

 

[Jeff H]

jjknauf, I'll take a stab at your questions:

#1 - depending on the fan your heatsink has, I'd plug the HSF to the second fan header, since it will do RPM monitoring of the fan. I said depending on the fan, because if you choose one of the heatsinks w/ a Delta screamer you will not want to put that fan on the mobo header, it will burn it out.

Are you going to overclock your 1.2? If not, I'd go w/ the Taisol Cu bottomed HSF. It's relatively quiet, has a good three point clip system, and will work on your mobo fan header.

#2 - see above. Or, get the Zalman 5000. It uses the mounting holes to the sides of the socket, and comes w/ two voltage adjusters to control the speed of the fan, and the resultant noise. And it seems to have a compact footprint.

#3 - from what I've read there seems to be an incompatability between the Netgear NIC's and Via chipset based motherboards, such as your FIC. Get a Linksys NIC and you'll be good to go.

 

[jjknauf]

Thank You!

 

[NelsonMuntz]

<< I'd plug the HSF to the second fan header, since it will do RPM monitoring of the fan. >>

I agree. Most HSF units should be fine plugged into the mobo fan header. Plug any case fans in with 4 pin adapters connected straight to the power supply.


<< from what I've read there seems to be an incompatability between the Netgear NIC's and Via chipset based motherboards, such as your FIC. >>

The incompatibility is not with VIA chipset based motherboards (your is only a VIA southbridge) it is with the AMD 761 northbridge and exists with any board with that northbridge and Netgear FA311, 312, and 313 NICs. Get another brand or different model to avoid these problems.