Super Newb Computer Fun!

[Deftones81]

I recently built my very first system. (I am amazed it turned on) I wasted a lot of money on it but I am happy so far. I have it turned on and running properly so far but had a few questions.

First, on the mobo there is a chipset fan plug. I have all my fans running but have an extra one I could use. What specific fan is normally plugged into a chipset fan plug?

Second, I bought 2 gigs of OCZ ram (2x 1 gig sticks). If you increase the timings, how do you know if you need to increase the voltage to the ram?

Third, and this is one of those misc questions; Will adding a second 7800GTX KO card in SLI have a *major* impact on performance in your opinion?

Lastly, would I see a noticable increase in upgrading to 4 gigs of ram over 2? I read that you would have to downgrade the RAM speed for the most part, is this true? Would the decrease in speed negate the fact that I would have twice as much of it?

CPU: AMD 4800+ X2
Mobo: ASUS A8N-SLI Premium
PSU: Seasonic S12 600 watt
GPU: Nvidia 7800GTX KO Edition
RAM: 2x 1 Gig sticks OCZ Platinum DDR400
SFX: Xfi Fatality 64 megs onboard
Case: Thermaltake Armor (the 500 pound one)
HD: Western Digital Caviar SATA 250 mb

 

[GuitarDaddy]

Originally posted by: Deftones81
I recently built my very first system. (I am amazed it turned on) I wasted a lot of money on it but I am happy so far. I have it turned on and running properly so far but had a few questions.

First, on the mobo there is a chipset fan plug. I have all my fans running but have an extra one I could use. What specific fan is normally plugged into a chipset fan plug?

Normally a chipset fan (on the vanilla and deluxe versions)


Second, I bought 2 gigs of OCZ ram (2x 1 gig sticks). If you increase the timings, how do you know if you need to increase the voltage to the ram?

You kinda got it backwards, decreasing or lowering the timings increases performance(slightly) and can require more voltage.

Third, and this is one of those misc questions; Will adding a second 7800GTX KO card in SLI have a *major* impact on performance in your opinion?

No, unless you have a very large resolution monitor

Lastly, would I see a noticable increase in upgrading to 4 gigs of ram over 2? I read that you would have to downgrade the RAM speed for the most part, is this true? Would the decrease in speed negate the fact that I would have twice as much of it?

No, stick with 2gigs thats plenty for 99% of applications and Windows doesn't handle 4 gigs well.

CPU: AMD 4800+ X2
Mobo: ASUS A8N-SLI Premium
PSU: Seasonic S12 600 watt
GPU: Nvidia 7800GTX KO Edition
RAM: 2x 1 Gig sticks OCZ Platinum DDR400
SFX: Xfi Fatality 64 megs onboard
Case: Thermaltake Armor (the 500 pound one)
HD: Western Digital Caviar SATA 250 mb

 

[w00t]

1. dont unplug the fan on your chipset it needs it probably for a reason if its loud you can replace it i know zalman makes a nice one.

2.if you lower the timings it doesnt really increase performance at least on a amd64 platform like yourself if it was a pentuim4 or sumthing it would just like dual channel on an p4 you should just use the stock timings and voltages dont go over 2.8V warranty is voided higher than that on ocz ram.

3. SLI is waste of money all togather getting another 7800gtx is gonna improve of course its a 2nd card but no game can really utalize them in sli one 7800gtx can handel any game out and at good res example. 2405fpw ( 1920x1200 ) and the 7800gtx would be fine.

4.two gigs is right where you should be at 1gig is good but new games coming out like bf2 and fear need more than one gig. dont buy ram just to have more ram.

 

[xTYBALTx]

Regarding point 3, 7800GTX in SLI:

Anand's own benchmarks clearly show significant improvements at normal resolutions when going from a single 7800GTX to dual GTX's in SLI.

1600x1200

1920x1440