Oh dear! fried my CPU and Motherboard

[Craig Tucker]

I built my pc about 6 weeks ago, see sig. for spec. The cooler is a Zalman flower.

Anyway I left my pc last night encoding some episodes of the simpsons which I had captured, went up to check on it before I went to bed and it had switched off. Tried turning it back on, was'nt having any of it. Went to bed, thought I'd sort it out today.

Took the cover off and to my horror the flower had come adrift from the cpu. What had happened was one of the little plastic lugs on the cpu socket had broken off.

I didnt know at this stage whether I had ruined my mobo my cpu or both, so I tried the cpu in another machine. Guess what, now that motherboard is screwed as well. . Dont quite understand why.

When I fitted the flower I thought the bracket was quite stiff to click into place, whether I fractured the plastic lug fitting it or not I don't know. But it seems to me that this heatsink is too heavy for the socket. I won't be fitting it on my new motherboard.

Hence I am after opinions. I am thinking of the EPOX EP 8K3A+, what do you think or do you have any other suggestions.

Suggestions for coolers that won't fall off would also be welcomed.

Oh how I wish I had set MBM to turn off my pc at 70 degrees C. Just one of those thing you think you will get round to untill it's too late.

Craig

[Sefy]

Grrr... i saw that happened to a friend of mine, that sucks, they shouldn't even allow those coolers on the market!

Ok, i'd defenetly recommand the 8K3A, but if you can wait, go for the 8K3A2 cause it will have all the latest in hardware chipsets supports (USB2/ATA133).

As for a cooler, i personaly have this huge Cooler Master, i don't recall the model, but i'll check it out for you, it's been working for the past 2 years, and not a single problem.

PS: I have the EPoX 8KTA3, I love their boards! rock stable!

[Craig Tucker]

Do you know how long before that board is released sefy.

Craig

[Sefy]

According to what EPoX told me, it should be released in about 2 weeks, so sometime this month, you may find stores that already have it, you just gotta ask them specificly, find a store that has EPoX brand in stuck.

[bigmicka]

sorry to hear about your situation. blowing a system is the worst, i have done it a few times.

for cooling i recomend the volcano 7+ from thermaltake.

http://www.thermaltake.com/products/heatsink/v7plus.htm

i have one running on a amd1700 and there is no chance of it coming off. the only problem is its a bit pricey, at around $35US but the full copper heat sink really helps dispersing the heat. the variable speed control is a nice feature if things become loud.

if you can find one the volcano 7 is good as well. the price is a bit lower. the copper core model is very good. try and avoid the full aluminium version.

i tend to remove the paste from the bottom of the sink and replace with a small application of thermal paste. dont use too much as the heat does not disperse as well, if the paste spreads to the top of the cpu it will heat up. you should only use enough to just cover the core.

hope this helps with your cooling problem.

mic

[Craig Tucker]

Sefy
Where did you hear about the 8k3a2. I see no mention of it on epox's website, and does'nt the 8k3a support ata133, they quote 100+33, what does this mean. I'm not that bothered about USB2, because I already have a Belkin USB2 pci card. Are there any other differences between the two boards.

Sorry a lot of questions I know, but I dont know how long I can wait to order my new board.

P.S. Thanks for the reccomendation of a cooler bigmicka

Craig

[Sefy]

They 8K3A2 is only showen on the main page as Coming Soon, and I see they changed the specs for the 8K3A, so yeah it now has the ATA133 like you said: http://www.epox.com/html/english/products/motherboard/ep-8k3a.htm
although USB is 1.1 and not 2.0

I didn't see any other diffrence between them.