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athlon questions...

P

PointlesS

Senior member
(cut and pasted from another forum)
hello...I'm hoping that I'll finially be able to have enough cash for an athlon system in the next month or so...but I got a few questions...because this will be my first home-built computer and I'm not really experienced at building comps and stuff...but anyways....#1 are athlon systems really unstable? some people say that their system crashes 5 times a day while others say that it crashes 5 times a month...#2 are athlon cores really that fragile? it seems like if you tap the core it'll break in two...how do you prevent this?...#3 what are some good hsf? I'm looking for a low-cost hsf that doesn't produce a lot of noise...I don't care about overclocking...as long as it cools my cpu and isn't loud (like a delta fan) I'll be fine...so far I'm looking at the ADDA B53 from amk computers(http://www.amkcomputers.bc.ca/) beuase I saw a review from frostytech and it looked decent.....I think that's all I have for now...if I have any more I'll post back....thanks!
 
1)Athlon systems are just as stable as intel systems

2)Well if you treat they core's like footballs like some people do thn yes they are fragile but if you take your time with them and make sure you do the job right they will be fine

3)Well i cant answer that question unless you put what speed your chip will be at
 
#1 - my athlon 1.2 ghz computer never crashes

#2 - they're not that fragile...i've put many heatsink/fans on and the clips are designed so you need a LOT of force to get them clipped on...that's why those 4 pads surround the core, to help take pressure off of it. you can also buy copper "shims" that surround the core and won't let the HSF break it.

#3 - buy a retail athlon and use the retail HSF that comes with it..it'll work fine if you're not overclocking
 
I have the boxed version of athlon 1.2. Runs at 1.33 by changing the multiplier from 9 to 10, with little change in cpu temp. AMD fan runs at about 54-55 celcius.
 
I will be honest, my computer crashes. But it is rarely if ever from hardware. I get problems from poorly written games or other software. But pretty much after I work out what software it is, it stops crashing. When I am tuning it for maximum overclock, I see all kinds of hardware lockups. But after you see enough, you can tell what hardware crashes look like and software crashes look like most of the time. If I am running my computer in its "stable" zone it never crashes from hardware (except when I am less than bright and move it when the harddrive is working) I have crashed it hard several times that way and am learning to stop moving it.
 
A couple of things to remember about the Tbird, they use a lot of power and dissipate a lot of heat. Therefore, you need a good power supply of no less than 350 watts for a 1.2 and also you need to have good case ventilation. The Tbird 1.2 gig chip dissipates over 60 watts of power and that translates into plenty of heat in your case if you don't have good ventilation. I run a minimum of 2-80mm case fans in systems I build, 1 blowing in at the lower front and 1 blowing out on the back, near the cpu. I've never had any problems with chipping the core while installing or removing a hsf, but I take my time and make sure that the heat sink doesn't cock on me when i'm putting tension on the clip. If you decide to overclock some time in the future, I would suggest that you get a better hsf, but if you are running the chip's normal speed and have good case ventilation you should be ok with the stock unit. Imy system runs totally stable and the only crashes I ever get are your usual Windoze crashes. Good luck with your box.
 
It's not necessary to have a 350W psu, I use a generic 300W and I've never had any problems. Have a 1,2 @ 1,35 and used a GeForce and now a GeForce 2 Pro and never had any troubles even though both the cpu and graphics cards are power hungry. I've actually seen some people run a Thunderbird with a 200W psu I think.
 
i agree. 300 is all you really need. my 1.2 athlon runs just dandy off my sparkle 300 watt PSU. 350 would be nice, but is definitely not necessary
 
I'm running my 1ghz axia tbird at 1.2ghz with the stock hsf and a generic 300w psu. temps are only 120f idle, 120-130f in use without any case fans 🙂

im running win2k pro and xp pro and have never had any abnormal crashes. very stable system.
 
ok...1.2 ghz athlon....gf2 pro (or Kyro II...still thinking..) 1 40 gb ibm hard drive...cheesy cd-rom and floppy along with win 98 and a Iwill KK266-R a stock hsf and 2 80mm case fans....so a 300 watt amd approved power supply (come with enlight case) would be fine? sorry if I feel pushy or something because this si my first build and I don't want $600 to go down the drain...
 
that'll work absolutely fine. i can't tell you how many ghz+ systems i've built up with 300 watt PSU's. no worries
 
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