Pointers on installing new CPU?

[daverimer]

What up all,

I was having problems with my Athlon 2100+/stock cooler so I decided to spend $70 and upgrade to an AMD 2800+ Sempron and Thermaltake A1254 VOLCANO 7+. I am installing them onto a my Asus a7v333 mobo.

Does anybody have any tips or suggestions to make sure it goes smoothly. I have installed new vid cars/ram before but never a new CPU! Thanks!

 

[MadHacker]

Don't use a hammer... :lol: J/K

 

[I]

What up all,

I was having problems with my Athlon 2100+/stock cooler so I decided to spend $70 and upgrade to an AMD 2800+ Sempron and Thermaltake A1254 VOLCANO 7+. I am installing them onto a my Asus a7v333 mobo.

Is this the twilight zone?

What kind of problems can you have with a hunk of metal? If the fan failed, buy a fan - $5.

It was crazy to spend $70 on an 'sink and Sempron skt A at this point, if you can get your money back that is what I advise.

Does anybody have any tips or suggestions to make sure it goes smoothly. I have installed new vid cars/ram before but never a new CPU! Thanks!

That motherboard has more jumpers than anything else in recent history, double-check your manual to confirm they're all set correctly, that CPU voltage is set to auto/default not manually, and same for FSB.

Use the clear CMOS jumper while AC is disconnected, plug in CPU, install heatsink, plug fan, power up and see what the CPU is detected as. If the FSB is wrong, set it in the bios. Set the memory to synchronous mode, as speed as FSB, assuming your memory is spec'd to work at that speed.

That's it really, even more than necessary as you probably didn't need to clear the CMOS but it is a more thorough job to do it. Make sure you check temps of the CPU before leaving the system running for any length of time, and take your time installing the 'sink, carefully.

 

[daverimer]

Thanks for your advice all. I ended up taking I's advice and I will return the sempron. I sucessfully installed the Thermaltake Volcano 7+. I am enjoying how much quieter it is compared to the stock fan provided that I had on it for 4+ years. I may try and OC the 2100+.

I plan on building my first complete system when the Intel 45nm chips come out. The idea is to give Vista a chance to catch on and for the first round of 45nm chips to settle in. Hopefully it won't be more than a year!