Please help a noob this new year :)

[Aliboy]

Greetings people.

Before I go any further let me tell you all that I am a noob ...... groan :)
Now I have the embarrassing bit out of the way, let me give you the spec of my machine (which is in bits by the way). :(

P4 2.4
WinXP Home
GFTi4600
2g (just over I think) of sdram.
Audigy2 zs (being delivered tomorrow if Dabs pull their finger out).
60g HD
DVD player
24x CDRW (I think)
Thermaltake Xaser V2000a case


My problem is this.
I got the case for xmas as I thought that the best way to start my whole over-clocking experience would be with a decent case. So after looking around for a bit I decided on the Thermaltake. The case arrived and as I have never really fiddled with the internals of a PC before I didn't want to take the chance and transfer my PC internals from one case to another. However .... curiosity got the better of me and I thought to myself "It can't be that tough surely?".
Everything seemed to be going well so far. The MB was fitted OK, as was the floppy, DVD player and CDRW. The HD is proving to be a bit of a sticky one as it seems too small for the casing in the new case. Then I noticed that the ribbon cables that I had were not big enough for my new case and that I have some kinda temperature probe which I have to put underneath the processor!
So what I would like to know from you kind people who have read this far is ....
1: What cables would you recommend? (I have been looking at braided rounded glow in the dark jobbies). I have read that rounded ones are best so I'm quite willing to replace EVERY cable possible that my PC has for ones that offer better airflow.
2: How the heck do I put the sensor in between the processor without damaging it? Is it even safe to do this?
3: Do I have to buy a special attachment to fit the HD to my case. (It fits in the bottom of the case but not in the top).
4: If you have any recommendations about what I can do to my system please feel free to let me know. (However, any recommendations to put my system where the sun don't shine will be ignored). :)

Thanks for reading folks

[zip22]

i wouldn't bother putting the thermal probe on your processor. teh intel processors have a sensor built in and with the integrated heatsink, your temp wouldn't be accurate. you could use it as a case temp sensor and just have it loose in the case. the harddrive should fit in the lower 3.5" bays. if you want to put it into one of the 5.25" bays, you can buy something like this (http://www.svc.com/thhaiihadidr.html) to do that. i switched from flat cables to round ones. didn't notice much of a temp difference, but they look a lot nicer and can be pretty cheap (i got mine from svc.com). good luck with everthing

[Cheezboy]

I wouldn't spend the money on the glow int he dark stuff unless you plan on using your computer in the dark :p . You could just get some nice colored or clear ones. These guys have some cheap nice ones. I have always had good luck with SVC. Just make sure you measure out how long of a cable you need and you don't need much extra because they are round and you can't really oragami them.

http://www.svc.com/cables-ata-100-133-round-cables.html

I would say just forget the probe. I used to have a DigiDoc 5 and it was a waste. I ended up taking it out of my system and now I just used Motherboard Monitor.

And is that RAM DDR? If not you might want to look into DDR if your mobo can take it.

[Aliboy]

Thanks for you advice guys. I'm really quite glad that I don't need tp bother with the probe on the processor. I ordered some nice clear braided cables last night so I should receive them tomorrow. I checked to see if the memory was DDR and low and behold it was! I've never noticed it before.
:eek:
Thanks again people for everything. It was really appreciated :cool:

[Blueacid]

I'm using an AMD system, with that Thermaltake case, and I have the thermal sensor mounted under the processor.

You see in the packaging of the case, somewhere there's a little white square of sticky stuff (wow, descriptive lol) so I used some of that to help get the probe on the underside of the processor.

I threaded the wires through at the corners of the processor, weaving between the pins - since the wires are so thin, It doesn't matter :)

You could maybe use the temp probe on your graphics card, or your memory, to see how hot that is (since often those things don't have in-built temperature sensors, but if they are overheating, then you need to know lol)


The fact that you're ordering from Dabs.com suggests that you're in the UK - some other websites I found useful when shopping online (UK here as well wooo) are www.overclockers.co.uk www.overclock.co.uk and www.scan.co.uk

Good luck :D

[Aliboy]

Great Idea for using the probe on the graphics card blueacid. I never even thought of that. You don't fancy coming up to Scotland and rigging my machine up for me do ya?:rolleyes:
All those wires for the fans and stuff scare me
I'm just about to order myself the logitech mx700 mouse and a decent mat too.
Sometimes I wish I had just taken my machine into a shop and got them to do it all for me but then I suppose I'd never learn huh?
:D

[don256us]

1: What cables would you recommend? (I have been looking at braided rounded glow in the dark jobbies). I have read that rounded ones are best so I'm quite willing to replace EVERY cable possible that my PC has for ones that offer better airflow.

The hard drive manufactures say that round cables introduce signal noise. This noise can slow the system down. To be sure, you can buy ribbon cables up to 36". This is what I use and I am then able to run the cable neatly off to the side.

2: How the heck do I put the sensor in between the processor without damaging it? Is it even safe to do this?
DON'T DO THIS!!! I can see your CPU burning up. The sensor should go NEXT to the CPU. Get it as close as you can but the MOST important thing is to get full contact between your CPU and the heatsink. I can't express this enough.

3: Do I have to buy a special attachment to fit the HD to my case. (It fits in the bottom of the case but not in the top).
Yes, you can get adapters. Your local shop should have many just laying around. Hopefully you can get a set for around $5 USD.

4: If you have any recommendations about what I can do to my system please feel free to let me know. (However, any recommendations to put my system where the sun don't shine will be ignored).
Just take your time with it. This is a great way to learn about YOUR rig. I use little plastic zip ties on the cables. Keeps things looking clean. (I don't even have a window in my box for anyone to see my handy work.)

Welcom to the forums.

[Aliboy]

Thank you all very much for all of the advice that I have recieved so far. My mx700 has been ordered as well as my rounded cables (sorry Don) and should be here tomorrow. My Audigy zs still hasn't arrived yet! I am going to try and order either a new mat for my mx (the func 1030 looks cool but hits the wallet quite hard ... all those 'beer vouchers' for a mouse mat!) or a new cpu cooler (the ThermalRight SP-94 looks the dogs) I just don't know what to go for next. I have a funny feeling the mat will win as it's cheaper and I can always get the cpu cooler and fan for my birthday at the end of this month if I play my cards right.
I feel as tho I have joined a nice little family here .. **sniff sniff**
I love you all, you guys are beautiful .. **sniff**

[Aliboy]

Oh ... I also forgot to ask if anyone has seen this for extreme cooling? Mad or what? http://www6.tomshardware.com/cpu/20031230/index.html

[Blueacid]

The liquid nitrogen is pretty sweet, but it's not a permanent thing - What they do with LN2 is put that vat on top of the CPU, full of liquid nitrogen, and overclock like crazy, race into windows, benchmark, and by that time, all the liquid nitrogen has evaporated... not cold any more! Hence it's a little stupid, since all you can do is benchmark, not sit down to a good game that's running at 300 Frames per second lol!

On the other hand, extreme cooling like peltiers and watercooling will keep on running and running, plus will keep your CPU nice and chilly (not quite as well as liquid nitrogen will, but hey!)

BTW, My CPU's thermal probe is on the underside of the CPU, with those two little thin wires threaded between the pins of the CPU. I think don was warning me against putting the temp sensor on the top of the CPU, in between the processor and the heatsink (at least I hope he was!)


Good luck Aliboy!

[NovaShine]

I have that case and a P4 2.4C proc.

For don's argument on why not putting the temp probe there, well i think u have interperated the question wrong. The probe goes between the CPU and the ZIF socket, right in the clear area of the CPU between all the pins. U arent gonna damage your CPU by installing that probe unless you're a total idiot. The wires from the probe are VERY thin and insulated, so you can run it through the pins without any problems. EZ installation. I would reccomend you putting the probe under the CPU, cuz software probes are HORRIBLY innacurate. I cant stress this enough. People saying they have full load temps of under 38 degrees are just plain wrong by reporting off a software probe. For example, my probe is telling me that i have an idle temp of 27 degrees and a full load temp for 36 degrees. Instead, via hardware probe, im idling at 31 degrees and full load at 41 degrees. Huge innacuracy there already.

If you dont overclock, the stock CPU HS/F should be fine. My old 1.7GHz rig was running the stock HS/F for 2 to 3 years as with alot of other coms out there. 2.4GHz should be fine for most of the applications out there.

But if you overclock, i suggest you go for the SP-94 straight off if you can afford it. The temps i told u about earlier were from a 2.4C @ 3.0GHz cooled by a SP-94. That heatsink is great!!

But if you're not gonna take the OC to the max and u wanna have some peace and quiet, but still want to do some OCing, you can go with a Zalman CNPS7000A-Cu or CNPS7000A-AlCu. They're only 22dB, opposed to that 55dB fan Thermalright suggested for the SP-94.

[Cheezboy]

The hard drive manufactures say that round cables introduce signal noise. This noise can slow the system down. To be sure, you can buy ribbon cables up to 36". This is what I use and I am then able to run the cable neatly off to the side.

I have had the opposite experience mine actually got faster with the rounded cables and I have seen some benchmarks of round versus flat cables and the round have come out on top.

[NovaShine]

That's probobly cuz lots of normal IDE cables are cheapo while rounded cables are built for quality. Build quality does matter, so these rounded cables are reviewed by some smaller review sites. They wont review it if everything's exactly the same.

[Blueacid]

Originally posted by NovaShine
The probe goes between the CPU and the ZIF socket, right in the clear area of the CPU between all the pins. U arent gonna damage your CPU by installing that probe unless you're a total idiot. The wires from the probe are VERY thin and insulated, so you can run it through the pins without any problems.
That's where my temp probe is :D
Does the job, reads around 5°c higher than my software temp sensor... like you said yours did :D