Well, there are a lot of questions about case and cooling and there are a lot of good threads out there that answer these questions. I'm going to put them together so you guys don't need to search for them. Also going to write some guides, hope it will help you all.
Edit: Sorry about taking ppl's quotes. Couldn't merge the threads cuz the date priority. (Mod)
Note: If you have good guides, please post on here. If you have questions please post threads in the forum or PM me. Let's try to keep this thread as technical as possible. Thank you.
Originally posted by BuiesCreek847 With seeing repeated questions of such, I thought this might be helpful.....
Power Supply Shopping Guide
The power supply is right up there with the MOBO as the foundation for a good, reliable system. When choosing a power supply, one should include ALL of the following.....
MTBF Mean time between failure. It's just that. The larger the figure in hours, The more reliable the PS.
Input Range How big of a range in input voltage the PS can handle without presenting with a fault.
Peak Inrush Current The greatest amount of Amps the PS draws when turned on. The lower the figure, the less the thermal shock to the device.
Hold-up Time The amount of time (in milliseconds) the PS can maintain its rated output upon a complete loss of input power. The longer, the better.
Transient Response The amount of time (in milliseconds) a power supply takes to bring its output back to the specified voltage ranges after a steep change in the output current. Meaning that when you fire-up an application, as the system goes to work, the CPU gets to it, the HDDs go to reading/writing, there's a sudden additional draw of current. The voltage drops a degree as a result. This is the recovery time. The shorter, the better, as the longer it takes, the greater the risk of dropping a bite (ie crash). This is one of the more overlooked aspects when shopping for a PS.
Overvoltage Protection Just that. Usually express in a percentage. This is a measure as to at what point the PS reacts to a spike, or surge.
Maximum Load Current All that you imagine. Drawing anymore than the rated output is gonna risk letting the Magic smoke out of something.(see wattage notes below)
Minimum Load Current Most all PSs made today are of the Switching design and those require a minimum load to function correctly if not prevent damage to the PS. Some of the better PSs have built-in Load Resistors. Generally, the larger the PSs output rating, the higher the minimum load requirements.
Load Regulation Again, another of the more overlooked points of buying a PS. This is usually measured as a percentage. When the current drawn from a particular output increases or decreases, the voltage changes slightly as well, usually increasing as the current rises. This is how close the PS can hold the voltage to its rating as the load changes. This is also closely related to the Transient Response time.
Line Regulation The change in output voltage as a result in the Input voltage changing. Measured as a percentage, the lower the figure, the better.
Efficiency How much of the power going in the PS is actually being put out as usable voltage/current. The balance is Heat. The higher this figure, the better. (And more economical to operate!)
Ripple The power coming into the PS is in the form of AC (Alternating Current). The output of the PS is DC (Direct Current). This is a measure of how much of the AC Ripple is leaking thru or not being filtered out. Not all remaining ripple is from the incoming power as the Switching PS uses high freqency AC in its normal operation. The lower this figure the better.
Noise and Distortion Closely related to Ripple, usually rated as a Percentage. The lower this figure, the better.
Wattage (This is also expressed as AMPS) This is usually noted for each Voltage.So how much do you need? This can be difficult to determine at best. The only way to accurately determine the correct size is to total the Amps drawn (at what Voltage) by each device that makes up the system. This is the difficult part as not all parts Mfg/Vendors advertise such fine print. You have to dig for it. The Wattage figures presented by the PS Mfg. can be misleading. If you're into Audio Systems, then you know not all watts are created equal. A lesser quality PS may produce its rated output, but with far more trash and instability on any given rail as compared to a better quality unit. When arriving at a final figure, keep in mind devices such as HDDs can draw as much as twice there rated running load when spinning-up (this could explain intermitent/faulty boots). Don't forget some additional reserve for future expansion.
Cooling It's just that, BUT, their's more to it. In the Typical PC, the PS provides ALL the cooling of the System. When choosing a PS, one should consider the PSs Fans capacity. This is expressed as CFM (cubic feet per minute). Generally the more the better, however the trade off is usually increased noise. What might be called extreme modifications (Mad OC'ing, RAID 0+1, ect.), can change the equation (System cooling is another chapter!).
NOTE I see where a lot of people beleve it necessary to adjust the output voltage of their PS. Before doing this, consider the accuracy of Your voltage measuring device as compared to the Mfg.s. I would think that in Most cases, the Mfg. is regularly calibrating his. Here again, this brings up the value of good voltage regulation.
Using the above mentioned criteria, one can have a better understanding as to the differences of the Less Expensive Power Supplies as compared to the more Expensive (although this is not always the case).
If I can think of something else, or somebody sees something in error, I'll amend this post. Other suggestions are invited.
Hope this is helpful.....
Originally posted by RoboTech Thanks for taking the time to post the good info...
Two other things I look for when evaluating a PSU are:
1) Remote sensing - any good PSU should have remote voltage sense on the mobo ATX connector. Some sense +3.3, some +5, and the really good one ones sense both. Having this feature can help maintain proper voltages on the mobo.
Something to watch out for though is a PSU that remote senses +3.3 v at the ATX connector but is used with a mobo that pulls only +5 and doesn't use the +3.3 rail. This has caused a lot of people problems in the past... (EPoX 8K7A for example).
2) Most manufacturers don't state this but another factor in how well a PSU will perform is its ability to regulate the seperate loads independant from one another. In most PSUs the +5 and +12 circuits are linked and a heavy load 0n the +5 with a minimum load 0n +12 can cause regulation problems. I have seen where adding a load resistors to the +12 rail will help bring up a sagging +5 rail... not what you would expect, eh.
Originally posted by jphelzer A lot of people ask what components the 3.3, 5 and 12 V rails run in a system. To answer your question about what the voltages mean, here's a guide. I found this a while ago, and I don't have the source. Apologizes to the original author:
---------------------------------
-12 V: This voltage is used on some types of serial port circuits, whose amplifier circuits require both -12V and +12V. It is not needed on some newer systems, and even on older ones not very much is used, because the serial ports require little power. Most power supplies provide it for compatibility with older hardware, but usually with a current limit of less than 1 A.
-5 V: A now archaic voltage, -5 V was used on some of the earliest PCs for floppy controllers and other circuits used by ISA bus cards. It is usually provided, in small quantity (generally less than 1A), for compatibility with older hardware.
0 V: Zero volts is the ground of the PC's electrical system, also sometimes called common or earth. The ground signals provided by the power supply are used to complete circuits with the other voltages. They provide a plane of reference against which other voltages are measured.
+3.3 V: The newest voltage level provided by modern power supplies, it was introduced with the ATX form factor. Originally, the lowest regular voltage provided by the power supply was +5 V, which was used to provide power to the CPU, memory, and everything else on the motherboard. Starting with the second generation Pentium chips, Intel went to a reduced 3.3 V voltage, in order to reduce power consumption as the chips got faster. This required motherboard manufacturers to put voltage regulators on their boards to change the +5 V to +3.3 V. The regulators produced a great deal of waste heat and having to do this reduction on the motherboard was very inefficient, so now the power supply provides +3.3 V directly. It is used to run most newer CPUs, as well as some types of system memory, AGP video cards, and other circuits.
+5 V: On older systems (Baby AT and earlier) , this is the voltage used to run the motherboard, the CPU and the vast majority of other components in the system. On newer systems, many of the components, especially the CPU, have migrated to the lower +3.3 V described above, but the motherboard and many of its components still use +5 V.
+12 V: This voltage is used primarily to power disk drive motors. It is also used by fans and other types of cooling devices. It is in most cases not used by the motherboard in a modern PC but is passed on to the system bus slots for any cards that might need it.
Originally posted by Tigsman Extreme Performance:
Thermalright SLK-800, cost - noise level of Delta 80mm fan. Right now, recent tests have shown it to be the best cooling solution money can buy when it comes to air cooling (liquid coolers, that was for you ). However, even Thermalright shows the Delta FFB0812EHE Fan as the suggested fan. It is an 80CFM (cubic feet per minute) fan, but the noise level is listed at 52.5db. Thats loud. If you plan on having your system next to your bed in your room, plan to do some extreme Overclocking, and you want to sleep, better invest in watercooling.
Good Performance for those who want lower noise:
Thermalright AX-7 w/ Panaflo H1A or Enermax adjustable. (these are just two choices of fans, there are others such as Sunon and Sanyo-Denki to name a few) There are also some people who have modded the AX-7 to handle 92mm or 120mm fans to theoretically increase airflow while lowering noise by using an fan adapter than can be found on the net, if you dont want to build one.
Decent Performance:
Some like the Zalman line of coolers (specifically the flower heatsinks) for providing decent cooling with lower noise levels, but the cost is running at higher temps and dont expect to overclock far either.
bearable performance:
This is a bit vague as bearable presumes decent case cooling and an Air Conditioned room but the retail heatsink for AMD will provide decent performance in most cases, however, its almost requirement to have a room temp below 75ºF and decent case cooling to provide stability in your system. Some cost to this level of performance is noise. The retail heatsinks are not always the quietest choice available with the provided fan and the performance of the fan sucks. There are alternative choices for fans, but since all retail heatsinks are 60mm fan based, expect some level of noise increase although the performance increase should be more dramatic.
60mm vs 80mm heatsinks:
Simply put, 80mm heatsinks can (for the most part) perform at the same level as 60mm heatsinks, but they have the opportunity to do so with a lower noise level. Thats not to say you cant see better performance from a 60mm heatsink than a 80mm heatsink, but the cost is usually a modified heatsink (i.e. fan adapter for a bigger fan) or a much louder 60mm fan on the 60mm model.
Right now, the Thermalright AX-7 is about as good as it gets in the noise/performance wars. Although it will not top the SLK-800 or some other 80mm heatsinks, its versatility to choose the performance level based upon your tolerable noise level makes it such a good choice for a heatsink. If you want to put on an 80mm Delta, you can do so, but the SLK-800 will beat it. But, put a panaflo H1A 80mm fan on it, and it does quite well compared to 60mm heatsinks in performance but does this with a much lower noise level.
Heatsink Ratings:
For the most part, I have not liked the rating system applied to heatsinks as from my observations, does not live up to performance level seen on most heatsinks unless you have the best case cooling and a reasonable room temperature. For instance, I have a Coolermaster EP5-6i11 on an Athlon XP 1800 at stock core voltage with a slight overclock since my temps rose only 2ºC, I chose to do this overclock, but I have one of the best cooling cases surrounding this system. However, my temps are above 50C under full load even in a ~72ºF room although its still quite stable and is in fact my server. The performance level for this product is listed as the AMD Athlon XP 1800+. thats its limit, but that already presumes excellent case cooling and reasonable room temps. So dont expect to see 40ºC or lower readings on a system whos heatsink fan combo (HSF) is rated at your your CPU as its highest rating. So, take this into account when you make a decision of what is the best choice for you at the performance level you are looking for. This is not to say Coolermaster products are bad, but was just used as an example that heatsink performance level ratings are not based upon your cooling setup, but theirs.
Note: This post will be stickied, and is not left open to start a debate about which is or is not the best heatsinks based upon the performance levels I listed above. These are my observations from my own personal use, reviews from my trusted sources, as well as performance shown on the net by readers themselves. Criticism will be taken lightly, so long as its not inflammatory. Questions, ask away.
Usually you want a fan that has good cfm dB ratio. Case fans are 80mm and HSF are either 60mm, 70mm, or 80mm depending on the HS you have. More and more HS's are using 80mm fans now. Sometimes you can use fan adptors so you can use bigger fans. Bigger fans will give you lower noise level, but it does not necessary mean better cooling (Talking about HSF here). We all know different fan pushes air at a certain velocity. Generally, the bigger the fan the slower the air velocity. Higher air velocity will give you a better cooling. (Please correct me if I'm wrong)
Depending on how many case fans you're using, normally case fans should be in the mid 30 cfm or lower. Some cases can isolate the fan noise well, some can't.
HSF should have as high cfm as possible. It really depends on your noise tolerance. Personally I can't stand anything above ~35dB.
Here are some good fan choices. Some of these fans take a lot of power, so you shouldn't use the 3 pin motherboard fan header.
Note:
1.) Panaflo fans need either a 3 pin or 4 pin tail.
2.) I wouldn't trust on Thermaltake's specs too much.
3.) I might miss some. If you have any good ones please PM me and I'll update the list.
First you want to listen to some of the fans and actually compare them here's a good website you can do that:
We all know hot air is lighter than cool air, that's why we install exhaust fans in upper parts of the case. Case fans are important, but you will need to make sure that you have a good air flow inside the case as well. Some people install 2 or more case fans but have cables clustered everywhere. Air, like people, needs room to travel through space. Air travels at a certain velocity. If there's a blockage along the way, air won't travel as far into the case. If this happens, you won't be able to supply cool air to the hot spots in the case, hence high CPU & case temps.
Here are some excellent examples of tidy cases provided by SCompRacer:
If you're experiencing high temps, please check your cables and make sure they're tidy. Hope this helps.
"Why am I getting two different temps from BIOS and the temp software?"
Seen these questions before? I'm sure you're not alone. Helpfully I can answer some of your questions in this post.
First of all, there are many ways to measure your CPU & case temps. One of the easiest ways is to go into BIOS. Another option is to download temp measuring softwares like MBM. The harder way is to install hardware temp probes yourself. Many people use DigiDoc5 b/c they don't want to build one themselves.
BIOS and MBM are software based, so there can be errors. Sometimes a BIOS update can increase/reduce the CPU & case temps even if you have the same setup. (Same applies to softwares). Hardware is more reliable, but there are still errors.
When you talk about CPU temp you want to talk about underload/fullload temp. This is when CPU is at 100% usage. How do I do that? Personally I crunch Genome, so the CPU is always at 100% usage. Some of the good ways include running 3D Mark, Sandra Burn Proof, or Prime95 for a period of time. Some of these programs will give you higher temps than others. SETI/Folding/Genome is another good choice when it comes to testing temp. From experience Folding & Genome give you higher temps than SETI.
Running these programs for a period of time is another good way to test computer stability. Like I mentioned, I crunching Genome all the time. To test stability & my temps I run 3D Mark, Sandra Burn Proof, and Genome at the same time for half hour or longer. All of them are normal priority. Playing games is another good way to test out stability and temps.
Back to the topic, if you're not overclocking, temp shouldn't be an issue unless you're experiencing programs (feel free to correct me on this). Some systems will run flawless at 60C, some won't. If you're overclocking and you're playing around with Vcore and Vddr settings, you will want to keep an eye on the temp. Again, the same "if stable then don't worry about it" principle applies. When overclocking, CPU is working at overtime, you should try to keep the CPU as cool as possible. Some people aim for 50C underload, some aim for 45C, and some lower.
Unless you're using watercooling, case temp is very important to CPU temp. The whole idea of aircooling is to use HS to transfer heat from CPU and use air to cool the HS. If the case temp is high, you will get a high CPU temp. As I already mentioned on the above post, make sure you tidy up the cables. Untidy cable can increase the case temp dramatically.
The ultimate goal for cooling is to get case temp to as close as your room temp and get CPU to as close as the case temp. Most people call this as "delta." For example, if my room is 20C, my case temp is 24C, and my CPU is 40C, I can say I have a delta 4C between room and case temps and a delta 16C between case and cpu temps. These are pretty good deltas IMO.
Originally posted by mlocher Mlocher's Grand Tutorial of AX-7 Heatsink Installation
PART 1 - preparations
1) Secure the fan. The AX-7, you'll notice, comes with 4 long screws and 4 little washers. Take your 80mm fan and position it on top of the heatsink, blowing down. Most fans blow in the direction of the label; nearly all fans have arrows on them (somewhere) which also indicate rotation and airflow. Now that you've figured that out, take the fan back in your hand and thread each of the four screws through it, pointing down. Then, thread a rubber washer up each screw, so that the washers will be sandwiched inbetween the heatsink and the fan.
The washers will hold the fan a bit off of the heatsink when you attach it. Ok?
Now you're ready to screw it together (no dirty jokes). Hold the fan tight against the heatsink. You'll notice that the screws line up with the gaps between the outermost fins - that's where the screws catch. Using a screw driver, begin driving the screws into the gap - they'll hold pretty well - just make sure they're going in straight. Keep going until you've screwed them all in fairly tightly; the washers should be squished down maybe 25% (just make sure they're all squished down the same amount).
2) Clean everything. Most people use a mild, non-water based solvent; isopropyl alcohol works fine (the higher the purity %, the better it works). You can use cotton swabs - many do - they can be a hassle because they tend to leave cotton fibers behind, and you want nothing left behind. A great tip I've heard is to use coffee filter material - it's cleaner.
Using the alcohol, rub down the base of the AX7. Let it dry, and look at it carefully, at an angle, with a bright light. Any dust? Bits of fluff? Fibers? Get rid of them. Then, do the same with the CPU die. If you're removing an old heatsink, you're going to have lots of thermal paste / tape to deal with, which can be a pain. See PART 3 (to come) for tips on that. In any case, you want the CPU die to be perfectly, ridiculously clean and smooth. No lint, fibers, poop, etc. Clean it with alcohol. As you probably already know, you need to be REALLY careful when working with components like the CPU. If you don't know how to avoid static charges, say so, and someone can give you anti-static advice.
4) Apply thermal compound. If you can, use Arctic Silver III. The dispenser is terrible, first off. You'll always squirt out (and waste) about 4 times as much as you need. Anyways, what you ultimately want is a little nugget of the stuff, about the size of a HALF GRAIN OF RICE (no more!), right on the CPU die. Take a razor blade, or a credit card, or some other small, straight-edged piece and carefully spread the glob into an ultra-thin layer across the die. You should almost be able to see the "Athlon" lettering through it.
Try and keep the stuff off of the rest of the CPU; it's semi-conductive and there's a (remote) chance of causing a short if you get it near the bridges. Plus, it's messy as all hell.
PART 2 - the deed
1) Do a few dry runs. Your motherboard should be out of the case, resting on a flat, static safe surface (i.e., not your bed). A good table works; I like to have the board itself sitting on something which gives a little, too - like a sheet of cardboard, or the dense sheet of foam your board was likely packaged with.
With the cleaned and ready CPU sitting aside (static safe, of course), do a test run. Take the AX-7, and practice latching it on. The "step" in the copper base should line up, roughly, with the step in the CPU socket.
The clip has two slightly different sides - one is smooth with 3 holes; the other has a notch for a tool. Start by hooking the smooth side onto the socket lugs it lines up with. It's a good idea to have one hand on the AX-7 at this time, holding it level (when you do it with the CPU in place, it will sit on the Athlon's pads. Make sure it does so evenly); use the other hand to manipulate the clip.
2) Rock and roll. Install the CPU, lock it in place. Your motherboard manual should have details on this if you need help, but it's really simple. Start your install, as during the dry run - holding the AX-7 level, carefully attach the smooth clip to the socket lugs. <i>Gently set the AX-7 down</i> onto the Athlon's pads. This is your chance to position it correctly; just resting it on the pads doesn't touch the base to the die. Your thermal grease is still pristine. Make sure the heatsink is reasonably straight, even, and is lined up with the step on the socket.
Take a deep breath. Make doubly sure that the smooth anchor side of the clip is still attached. When you're satisfied with the positioning, insert a small flathead screwdriver into the notched end of the clip. Carefully and slowly push downward, bending the clip towards the socket base.
At this point, make sure you've got the screwdriver inserted well - if it pops out, you're liable to skewer your motherboard. Not good.
All the while, you need to make sure the AX-7 remains as level as possible. Keep pushing, steadily downward. As you get the clip near the lugs, use the screwdriver to apply slight outward pressure. Give it one last push down, and get those lugs in the clip holes! No funny noises? No cracking? Popping? You did it.
Reinstall your motherboard (carefully - that AX-7 is heavy) and be sure that your CPU fan is plugged in.
Fire it up, without putting the panel back on. Keep an eye on the CPU fan. If it doesn't spin, yank the cord out. If it does, you should be in business.
PART 3, Supplimental - removing an old heatsink.
1) Grace and muscle. You'll need them both. Observe all static safe procedures - no dangling fuzzy clothes; no wool socks; no working on grandma's quilt. Discharge yourself on bare metal as often as possible, and avoid direct contact with components. Prepare the motherboard in the same way you would if you were installing a new sink - remove it, place it on a flat, static safe surface, preferably on some sort of dense pad to cushion the underside of the PCB. Make sure the CPU fan is unplugged, of course.
Removing a sink is really nearly indentical to installing a sink, only in reverse. Carefully, and as securely as possible, wedge a small flathead screwdriver in the clip-end notch, and push downward to clear the catch on the lugs - then apply some outward pressure and ease it up and off.
Here's a hangup: if it's been a while, the thermal interface material (especially if it's an old pad or piece of tape) has likely transformed itself into cement. The longer the sink has been installed, the worse this effect is likely to be. In other words, an old sink will probably put up a fight. Be gentle - don't start wiggling or wrenching in different directions, at least not too much - firmly, smoothly and slowly, grasp that sink and ease it up. This is the grace and muscle part.
2) Clean your CPU off. What's underneath is likely not too pretty. If your old sink was installed with a later incarnation of Arctic Silver, the mess is likely not too bad at all - you've just got some grease to clean up. Use a good swab (many recommend little pieces of coffee filter paper) and a non-water based light solvent, like isopropyl alcohol (the higher the % purity, the better). Wipe, apply solvent, wipe again; repeat, chasing that crap around, until it's all shiny and pretty again.
If your sink was installed with tape, a pad, or an older paste, there's probably some solidified matter which really needs to come off. You'll never get a clean install again if you don't knock it all off. If this is your case, you may want to consider a more agressive solvent - 99% isopropynol isn't bad if you can find some; commercially available solvents like Goo Off and Goo Gone (the latter is a bit controversial - some claim it contains orange oils which compromise the thermal interface later. I've used both and noticed no problem with either). Start the same way that you would with a grease removal - do a good wet and wipe pattern, eliminating any residue which comes off easily. The harder chunks may require a little careful chisel work. The point of an exacto blade works well; I like softening the bits with a good swab of solvent, waiting a moment, and then lightly prodding them with the blad tip. This procedure tends to require repetition, which is a pain.
It's worth it, though, to be slow, careful, and completely thorough. That CPU is a big investment!
Finally, find some interesting use for the old heatsink. Attach it to the hood of your car. Clean it, paint it gold, and sell it on Ebay as the latest crap from ThermalTake. Or just pry the fan off and find a place for it in your case.
Note:
Just somthing I want to point out. For me I install the HS first then screw the fan on later when everything is done. It's easier that way I found.
When you're not sure who made or what it is (MOBO, VID card, ect..), look on the board for an FCC ID Number. If you can find one, go to......FCC ID Help (Link).... They have a searchable DATA base where you can look-up the MFG. using the first three numbers/characters, or the product using the complete ID. It's just a thought/give it a shot.....
I haven't wrote anything about case, so I guess I'll do that right now.
As you probably observed, most people in this forum have good cases such as Lian Li, CoolerMaster, Skyhawk, Antec, Enermax, Thermaltake, Chieftec, and so on.
"Pfff case doesn't matter."
Sure it does. When you talk about cooling, case is probably the most important aspect. Remember the whole concept about air cooling. You need cool air flowing in your case. Usually with cheap cases, the front air intake is badly blocked. You can install a case fan there, but there's nowhere to draw air from.
Example of blocked intake:
Example of good intake:
See the difference? The 2nd example actually has holes in the front for air intake, while the other one only has limited space. Assuming both have the same amount of case fans, the 2nd one will give you a better case temp. This is a main reason why ppl remove air filter in Lian Li or CoolerMaster, or mod the front plate of the case.
(I had the 1st case... had to remove those green plates to get better cooling.)
Knowing this, we can also apply the same thing to exhaust. Remove all those annoying metal plates blocking the fan and install a grill so you don't cut your finger.
Remember the cfm rating on fans are measured when there's no blockage along the intake or outtake. Once there's a blockage, the cfm rating drops dramatically.
"Aluminum or Steel?"
There are advantages and disadvantages to both of them. Aluminum cases look nice, light, and are good with thermal transfer. The downside for aluminum cases is cost. Steel cases are cheap and stronger. Te downside is steel cases are heavier. If cost is a big issue for you, go with a steel case. Antec and Chieftec are known for making excellent steel cases. If you want to spend lots $$ and go for the look, Lian Li and CoolerMaster are excellent choices. Some of the questions you should ask yourself when you select a case:
1.) How much am I willing to spend?
2.) How many case fans do I need? Does the case come with case fans?
3.) Does the case come with a PS? If so, is it a good PS?
4.) Are the airways blocked?
5.) How many drivebays? How many drives am I going to install?
6.) Do I care about looks?
7.) Am I going to mod the case?
8.) Do I need front USB?
9.) Which size? Full server? 18"? Or Mini?
10.) Is sliding motherboard tray important? Do I need that?
Cheap cases usually have sharp corners. It's not unusual to slice your finger trying to build a system with a cheap case. (I have had lots experiences ).
Here's an explanation of DDR RAM and what the numbers mean:
The PCXXXX designations refers to the memory bandwidth. For example, PC2700 runs at 2.7GB per second of bandwidth.
* PC1600 is 100 MHz (200MHz at the DDR rate) and is capable of doing 1.6 GB of bandwidth per second.
* PC2100 is 133 MHz (266MHz DDR) at 2.1GB per second.
* PC2400 is 150 MHz (300MHz DDR) at 2.4GB per second.
* PC2700 is 166 MHz (333MHz DDR) at 2.7GB per second.
* PC3000 is 183 MHz (366MHz DDR) at 3.0GB per second.
* PC3200 is 200 MHz (400MHz DDR) at 3.2GB per second.
Let’s use an example of PC2700 memory on a 333MHz chipset mobo. It's capable of running up to 166MHz, 33MHz over the standard 133 FSB. When you reach a FSB of 166, then the RAM and FSB run at the same speed. In other words, the HLCK+33 disappears! Anything higher than a FSB of 166 would would push the RAM beyond its rated capacity. It might work OK, but just be beyond what it's guarenteed to run at.
So, using PC3000 and 3200 would, if your system could handle it, allow you to push the FSB past 166 and still run the RAM within spec. Keeping in mind, for example, that PC3200 is rated up to 200MHz, then you could push the FSB up that high and that RAM should cooperate.
Please remember, o/c'ing has much to do with the quality and compatibility of your other components, cooling, and even some luck. You can damage components by overclocking, and can also shorten their life span.
Refer to the Overclocking Forum here at amdmb.com for more details on the art and science of overclocking!
for the people asking about the best heatsink, swiftech has come out with the new mcx462+, the new absoute king of heatsinks. Uses the 4 holes around socket, and 80mm fan. Review here.
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). However, even Thermalright shows the Delta FFB0812EHE Fan as the suggested fan. It is an 80CFM (cubic feet per minute) fan, but the noise level is listed at 52.5db. Thats loud. If you plan on having your system next to your bed in your room, plan to do some extreme Overclocking, and you want to sleep, better invest in 
CPU & Case temps
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