Message boards :
Number crunching :
how many ways to fry a motherboard?
Message board moderation
Author | Message |
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merle van osdol Send message Joined: 23 Oct 02 Posts: 809 Credit: 1,980,117 RAC: 0 |
I'm serious to the extent that I am building a rig and I basically don't know squat about the electrical details of what I am doing. I built one before this and I lucked out and it worked. What major kinds of things does one have to NOT do when you are assembling one. One obvious thing is wear a wrist strap to prevent static electricity from screwing up the electronics. There are probably dozens of ways you could fry the MB but what I am trying to say is: What are the major things one should look out for? I am especially interested in using a modular psu. I suppose I had better say that jokes here are also admissible. merle - vote yes for freedom of speech |
Cruncher-American Send message Joined: 25 Mar 02 Posts: 1513 Credit: 370,893,186 RAC: 340 |
One thing to be careful about is shorting the MB to the case. You can do this if you are not careful about the mounting points (studs) in the MB tray (or drop a screw behind the MB). THAT will kill one quickly. Just to make sure that the MB is OK, I usually assemble the MB, CPU, HSF and graphics card on a piece of Styrofoam or cardboard on my desk ("breadboarding") to make sure all is OK before I put them in the case. Can save a lot of heartache if you are sure your parts work OK before you put them in the case. |
merle van osdol Send message Joined: 23 Oct 02 Posts: 809 Credit: 1,980,117 RAC: 0 |
Thanks jravin, I had no idea that a screw behind the MB would be a problem. I will have to watch out for that. On the other one I already have the MB and memory screwed down in the case and some connections to the mother board like the 24 and 8 pin power connections and a few connections from the case accessories. As soon as I get my cpu and HSF installed I'll power up and see if it passes muster. The cpu includes a graphics function. merle - vote yes for freedom of speech |
Zalster Send message Joined: 27 May 99 Posts: 5517 Credit: 528,817,460 RAC: 242 |
I've heard that using the graphic on the onboard chip will slow down your processing other work units. Just something to think about. |
merle van osdol Send message Joined: 23 Oct 02 Posts: 809 Credit: 1,980,117 RAC: 0 |
After I get my amd 280X, what should I do, disable the one on the cpu? Can you do that? merle - vote yes for freedom of speech |
HAL9000 Send message Joined: 11 Sep 99 Posts: 6534 Credit: 196,805,888 RAC: 57 |
After I get my amd 280X, what should I do, disable the one on the cpu? Can you do that? You can disable the iGPU in the bios or leave it enabled. Just because it is enabled doesn't mean you have to crunch with it. I found in testing with my Haswell CPUs that if I used the iGPU with the CPU it nearly doubled the CPU processing times. I have not yet tested to see if using the iGPU with a PCIe GPU slows anything down. SETI@home classic workunits: 93,865 CPU time: 863,447 hours Join the [url=http://tinyurl.com/8y46zvu]BP6/VP6 User Group[ |
merle van osdol Send message Joined: 23 Oct 02 Posts: 809 Credit: 1,980,117 RAC: 0 |
thanks Hal, nice tip. merle - vote yes for freedom of speech |
Admiral Gloval Send message Joined: 31 Mar 13 Posts: 20267 Credit: 5,308,449 RAC: 0 |
I have not seen anybody talk about this. Thermal Paste. Besides getting a good bond between the cpu and cooler. If you put too much on the cpu and it oozes out and makes contact with the contact leads going to the cpu. The metal stuff in the thermal paste can cause a short. |
merle van osdol Send message Joined: 23 Oct 02 Posts: 809 Credit: 1,980,117 RAC: 0 |
Thanks Admiral, I didn't know that. I suppose the contact leads are those etched wires on the MB leading to the cpu. I was actually thinking about putting a little bit extra this time. merle - vote yes for freedom of speech |
Sirius B Send message Joined: 26 Dec 00 Posts: 24879 Credit: 3,081,182 RAC: 7 |
I have not seen anybody talk about this. Thermal Paste. Besides getting a good bond between the cpu and cooler. If you put too much on the cpu and it oozes out and makes contact with the contact leads going to the cpu. The metal stuff in the thermal paste can cause a short. To prevent that from happening, I always put just the right amount, evenly spread on the heastsink instead. |
merle van osdol Send message Joined: 23 Oct 02 Posts: 809 Credit: 1,980,117 RAC: 0 |
Thanks Sirius B merle - vote yes for freedom of speech |
Wiggo Send message Joined: 24 Jan 00 Posts: 34744 Credit: 261,360,520 RAC: 489 |
I have not seen anybody talk about this. Thermal Paste. Besides getting a good bond between the cpu and cooler. If you put too much on the cpu and it oozes out and makes contact with the contact leads going to the cpu. The metal stuff in the thermal paste can cause a short. Just put a bead of thermal paste the size of a large grain of rice in the centre of the CPU and then clamp the heatsink down, no spreading is required as the pressure applied by the heatsink will do that. This has been the recommended way of doing it for very many years. ;-) Cheers. |
merle van osdol Send message Joined: 23 Oct 02 Posts: 809 Credit: 1,980,117 RAC: 0 |
I've done it both ways but I wasn't aware of the danger of using too much paste. Some people I've heard make vertical and horizontal lines of it. :-) merle - vote yes for freedom of speech |
Josef W. Segur Send message Joined: 30 Oct 99 Posts: 4504 Credit: 1,414,761 RAC: 0 |
I've done it both ways but I wasn't aware of the danger of using too much paste. Anything which might trap air bubbles is definitely not a sensible way to go. Joe |
HAL9000 Send message Joined: 11 Sep 99 Posts: 6534 Credit: 196,805,888 RAC: 57 |
I have not seen anybody talk about this. Thermal Paste. Besides getting a good bond between the cpu and cooler. If you put too much on the cpu and it oozes out and makes contact with the contact leads going to the cpu. The metal stuff in the thermal paste can cause a short. I often see the "large grain of rice" recommendation & to be honest I have never really seen a "large" grain of rice. I normally end up using about a half pea size amount of compound. Which may be the same amount of the "large grain of rice". Discussions on applying thermal compound can be long and spur whole threads of debates. Probably practice is really the only way to get it down. The heatsink you order will mostly likely come with a syringe good for several applications. So after your initial install if you think the CPU is running to hot you should be able to try a few more times. SETI@home classic workunits: 93,865 CPU time: 863,447 hours Join the [url=http://tinyurl.com/8y46zvu]BP6/VP6 User Group[ |
BilBg Send message Joined: 27 May 07 Posts: 3720 Credit: 9,385,827 RAC: 0 |
One obvious thing is wear a wrist strap to prevent static electricity from screwing up the electronics. I just wear cotton, walk on socks and touch the wall and computer case before reaching to the computer insides. Also in hot weather sweat from my face may drop on the electronics ;) Â - ALF - "Find out what you don't do well ..... then don't do it!" :) Â |
Wiggo Send message Joined: 24 Jan 00 Posts: 34744 Credit: 261,360,520 RAC: 489 |
Just grab a bag of long grain rice and look for the biggest 1's, easy. That would make it less than a quarter of a pea (unless you have smaller peas over there than we do here). ;-) Cheers. |
merle van osdol Send message Joined: 23 Oct 02 Posts: 809 Credit: 1,980,117 RAC: 0 |
BilBg, tell me more about the sweat because that has happened to me. Is it dangerous? merle - vote yes for freedom of speech |
merle van osdol Send message Joined: 23 Oct 02 Posts: 809 Credit: 1,980,117 RAC: 0 |
Of course we have bigger peas over here. :-)
merle - vote yes for freedom of speech |
BilBg Send message Joined: 27 May 07 Posts: 3720 Credit: 9,385,827 RAC: 0 |
Salt + water = electrolyte = conductive You have to find and dry it (e.g. by cotton-on-stick (is it the right word?)) If you can't find the drop - wait it to dry before switching ON To test the dry time - make another drop outside the computer ;) Â - ALF - "Find out what you don't do well ..... then don't do it!" :) Â |
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