Prog's Fiancé Build

Holy thermal paste batman! You call that a thin coat?

I just wanted to stick with a HDD for more space. I’m well aware that in 2018 this computer will probably be slow as ballz compared to what’s out then. If I get her a $300 netbook now, I’m going to have to deal with the WTF is this so slow in like 3 months. Overall I’m pretty happy with the price which included a keyboard and 24" monitor. The picture is a bit untrue to the amount of themal paste, it’s a lot less than what it appears to be. I usually use enough to just cover the top of the chip. Previously I’d open a pack of playing cards and is a card to spread the paste out evenly. I’ve spread thermal paste with my finger for 4 builds now without any problems and with temps at a good level. If you search the internet you’ll find 10 different ways to apply it.

I can tell you this 40Gb SSD isn’t enough for Windows 7 with many programs and crap

I use a 40 at home with windows ultimate/office/few programs and have 9-10gigs free which is barely enough to upgrade to Win7 SP1 which requires 9gig free

If you can spread it with your finger, there is too much thermal paste.

The picture above is also before it was smoothed and thinned out. I spread it over the chip then of coarse remove excess and thin it out.

Was going to say something about the thermal paste, but don’t feel like beating that dead horse.

Otherwise looks pretty nice, love that new hardware smell.

Some of the SSDs are getting cheaper and a 120gb should be fine for someone that isn’t doing a ton of gaming or something. Anything less then that though it starts to become an issue of what to save and not save on the hard drive.

that’s really not how you’re supposed to do it for best thermal conductivity, but if you don’t plan on overclocking it who cares. If you aren’t overclocking it I would have just stuck with the stock Intel heatsink though.

Stock Intel heatsinks are the worst. Well, I at least had 1 really bad experience with one. That damn PC sounded like it was going to take off and fly out my window every time it turned on. Swapped it out for a $20 heat sink and it was quiet as can be.

I’ve never used a stock intel heatsink, I tried installing one on an old board with an old chip and it wouldn’t seat properly. If you’re on a real budget, they’re probably fine, but like you said $20-50 can get you a much nicer one.

Ok I’m chiming in… Yes the stock intel heatsinks are hard to seat, but you have to seat them before you put the motherboard in the case. It’s not as hard as you think. idk how many times I fixed some socket 775 computers that were over heating because, they were not seated properly. next time I have a board out that Is intel I’ll snap some pics on how to seat them properly. Also the stock heatsinks for intel are good to 75 degrees. Now to the thermal paste if that was artic silver and you screwed down the hs and it compressed it would of taken out that CPU and motherboard. Artic silver is conductive. Try using a credit card or a tooth pick to evenly spread thermal paste. (obvs you use the side of the toothpick) I want to add if you used the stock hs also you wouldn’t of had to put thermal paste in the CPU. Everything looks good tho love the componets you picked out. Almost thought your wife was going to join in on some cod or nfs hot pursuit lol

I play Battlefield and she always asks about gaming with us. I do have an extra copy of CoD World at War that she can try out. I watched Gran Torino on blu-ray on the computer last night. Runs like a champ.

I honestly don’t have any idea what you guys could be doing wrong, I’ve built at least 20-30 systems with the stock Intel heatsinks and never had any problems.

They do work but compared to others they are loud as fuck, my stock on my C2D Wolfdale is loud as fuck at times. Next build I do will get a good third party that is quieter.

that normally hasn’t been my experience, and tests I have seen say otherwise as well

for instance:

few aftermarket coolers are quiter than a stock intel heatsink.

another review, this one has a stock intel heatsink, and a coolermaster v8

Coolermaster V8 low 35.5 dB
Intel Stock Core 2 Duo 36.7 dB

even with the fan speed on low it’s only 1.2 dB lower. Given that’s not an i5 heatsink, but I can’t seem to find any comparisons between the i5 heatsink and aftermarket ones.

Personally I couldn’t give a rats ass how loud the fans are. Well unless they sound like our Satabeast at work.

Some people like to crunch SETI and overheat and blow their systems up :gotme: honestly I’ve never had a problem with a stock intel hs fan

The one I built was a Pentium D, never overclocked or anything. I don’t know what the deal was. Stock intel fans on OEM pre-built machines have never been an issue for me. Could have been something I did…who knows? For 20 bucks, I could care less.

Well everyone already beat me to the thermal paste issue, nice build beyond that.

No one read what I wrote but prog

I always do a “piece of rice” as the size I use. Which, is barely any. I always use AS5. I don’t ever spread it. When you clamp the cpu in it does it for you. I also install the cpu and heatsink before I put it in the case. The last CPU cooler I used (megahalem cooler, #1 rated worldwide at the time) was a PITA to get on right. It still isn’t even on incredibly tight as I’d like… It was built for Intel cpus (forget what socket), and not my AMD… but it came with an adapter that fits meh at best. I can swivel the cooler slightly, but it keeps the cpu ice cold even on high loads with a significant voltage increase… I also swear by sythe ultra kaze fans… I have 6 in the computer now… Sounds like the blowers in a car wash if you turn them all up all the way.

good build though, love the pics.