I was installing a new Zalman 7000 ALCu. What a PITA! The thing is really too big, it blocks one of my RAM slots on my Gigabyte 8KNXP (I had to install the RAM first then add the cooler) and it's a bit tight to my DPS2 power card. My main issue was just getting the thing to mount on the brackets. The space between the screw mount and the bracket was so far away I had to get an extra set of hands to help me hole the bracket up (It has play space) while I evenly held the 7000 down to screw it down into the mounts. The first attempt was a disaster, I put so much pressure on it (hard to tell with the heavyness of the cooler) that my P4 2.8C started coming out of the socket on one side while it was locked down! I took the whole thing off and checked my P4's pins. Reseated it and tried again with the help of another person. Finally got the thing down then realized how stupid I was... My Xaser III case with the Hardcano has a temperature probe that is supposed to sit inside the pins of the CPU. You're then supposed to sit the CPU down into the socket with the temp probe sandwiched in there.
Now I'm kinda new to this whole thing so I'd like some advice. Can the temp probe cause any potential problems at all? Even the slightest possible rumour of a problem would make me not put it in. Its just not worth risking my $300 processor over. Also, this Gigabyte 8KNXP motherboard is pretty feature rich, doesn't it have temperature monitors reported in the bios? I would assume those aren't as accurate though as a real probe under the CPU? Also, was this zalman fan normally this much of a b!tch to mount? Seemed extremely excessive to me to require that much pressure on such a delicate and critical part. Even mounted I gotta assume there's a great deal pressure on the CPU. Good thing it's a P4 with a large copper plate topside, I'd be afraid to put that much pressure on a smaller core. I didn't even want to screw it down all the way. The screws already had alot of resistance from the start. They are secure so I went about halfway down for fear of putting too much pressure on it.
I used AS3. I didnt have any 99% isopropyl alcohol on hand, had 70% so I used that. There shouldn't be any problems with that right? The extra 28% difference is just water and I let each mating surface dry thoroughly before applying the AS3. I should note though that the ambient conditions sucked. It was like 80 degrees and rediculously humid, say 90%+ humidity. Will this be a factor when applying AS3? That much humidy would probably be a slight effect on the AS3 but I figured any extra water moisture would cook off the first time I turn the CPU on. I also used high quality paper towels to clean the surfaces. Thes don't seem to lint at all (I checked it on very reflective glass first to check for lint residue). I am not spreading the AS3 with paper towels (razor), just cleaning the mating surfaces with it prior to the AS3 application.
I also noticed my board only takes double sided DIMMs on only 2 of the 6 slots (slots 1 and 4). The others are for single sided chips? Thats a bit odd, especially on a top shelf mobo with all new features. What's up with that? It said something in the manual about being able to use double sided RAM in the other slots given certain configurations. To be safe I installed my Hyper X PC3200 double sided 512mb modules in the definite double sided approved slots in dual channel config.
One other thing, I'm not familiar with the benefits of the DSP2 module. I know what it's supposed to be for but doesn't anyone know if it's better to put it in or leave it out for normal/light OC usage? I know its not required. As long as it doesn't negatively affect performance I'll just leave it in. At the least it looks cool and its not another spare part laying around. 😛
thanks for any input.
btw the black Xaser III case is complex but fantastic to work in so far. I'm really happy with my choice. I have only one fault with it and a minor one at that. The screwless PCI system doesn't fit with large PCB cards like my Radeon 9800 or Audigy 2. Of course I haven't turned it on yet... the sucker could sound like a hurricane with it's 7 case fans but at least all can be controlled by the fanbus if max speeds are too loud.
Now I'm kinda new to this whole thing so I'd like some advice. Can the temp probe cause any potential problems at all? Even the slightest possible rumour of a problem would make me not put it in. Its just not worth risking my $300 processor over. Also, this Gigabyte 8KNXP motherboard is pretty feature rich, doesn't it have temperature monitors reported in the bios? I would assume those aren't as accurate though as a real probe under the CPU? Also, was this zalman fan normally this much of a b!tch to mount? Seemed extremely excessive to me to require that much pressure on such a delicate and critical part. Even mounted I gotta assume there's a great deal pressure on the CPU. Good thing it's a P4 with a large copper plate topside, I'd be afraid to put that much pressure on a smaller core. I didn't even want to screw it down all the way. The screws already had alot of resistance from the start. They are secure so I went about halfway down for fear of putting too much pressure on it.
I used AS3. I didnt have any 99% isopropyl alcohol on hand, had 70% so I used that. There shouldn't be any problems with that right? The extra 28% difference is just water and I let each mating surface dry thoroughly before applying the AS3. I should note though that the ambient conditions sucked. It was like 80 degrees and rediculously humid, say 90%+ humidity. Will this be a factor when applying AS3? That much humidy would probably be a slight effect on the AS3 but I figured any extra water moisture would cook off the first time I turn the CPU on. I also used high quality paper towels to clean the surfaces. Thes don't seem to lint at all (I checked it on very reflective glass first to check for lint residue). I am not spreading the AS3 with paper towels (razor), just cleaning the mating surfaces with it prior to the AS3 application.
I also noticed my board only takes double sided DIMMs on only 2 of the 6 slots (slots 1 and 4). The others are for single sided chips? Thats a bit odd, especially on a top shelf mobo with all new features. What's up with that? It said something in the manual about being able to use double sided RAM in the other slots given certain configurations. To be safe I installed my Hyper X PC3200 double sided 512mb modules in the definite double sided approved slots in dual channel config.
One other thing, I'm not familiar with the benefits of the DSP2 module. I know what it's supposed to be for but doesn't anyone know if it's better to put it in or leave it out for normal/light OC usage? I know its not required. As long as it doesn't negatively affect performance I'll just leave it in. At the least it looks cool and its not another spare part laying around. 😛
thanks for any input.
btw the black Xaser III case is complex but fantastic to work in so far. I'm really happy with my choice. I have only one fault with it and a minor one at that. The screwless PCI system doesn't fit with large PCB cards like my Radeon 9800 or Audigy 2. Of course I haven't turned it on yet... the sucker could sound like a hurricane with it's 7 case fans but at least all can be controlled by the fanbus if max speeds are too loud.
