I will be receiving my A7N8X Deluxe Motherboard on Thursday or Friday.

I will be using an AMD Athlon 2700+ Retail Version CPU with two sticks of the Kingston HyperX Series 256MB DDR434 (PC-3500) DDR RAM.

I do plan to Overclock at this time, since I feel that the AMD Athlon 2700+ CPU is fast enough for me at this time.

Is the AMD Athlon 2700+ Retail CPU's Heatsink and Fan good enough, or I should purchase a higher end Heatsink and Fan Unit?

I noticed that AMD uses the exact same CPU Heatsink and Fan Units for their Athlon XP XP2200+ and the XP2700+ Retail CPUs.

I do not want a Super Noisey CPU Heatsink and Fan Unit, but I notice at CompUSA they have a PCToys CPU HeatSink and Fan for $ 39.95 that suppose to be very efficient and quiet.

Should I use the AMD Retail HeatPad or scrape the Heatpad Off and use the Arctic Silver 3 Compound instead?

I currently have the PC Power & Cooling Silencer 400 ATX Power Supply with a PC Power & Cooling Economical Mid-Tower Steel Case with two Case Fans.

Will the Lian-Li or another Aluminum Computer Case provide that much better Computer Case Cooling then my PC Power & Cooling Mid-Tower Steel Case?

What is the best BIOS Software Revision that I should use for the ASUS A7N8X Motherboard?

What are the best ASUS A7N8X Motherboard BIOS Settings that should I use?

Should I insert the two sticks of Kingston PC-3500 DDR RAM in Slots 1 and 2, and 1 and 3, or 2 and 3?

I plan on using the ASUS Motherboard's on board Sound instead of my Sound Blaster Live Card.

Which of the two NIC Port's should I be using for my DSL Connection?

Some people use the Nvidia and some use the 3COM NICS?

Are there any other of the ASUS Motherboard's Hardware Settings that I should be using?

Jonathan


Jonathan

Wow... lots of questions! You'll have some fun building your new system!

On the CPU HSF question, if you don't want to overclock, you can go ahead and use the provided AMD unit. But by all means, I would scrape off the pad and use some Arctic Silver. By the way, AMD states that using any other fan than the one they provide will void your warranty on that boxed processor. Not sure if they would make that stick if you bought a higher quality afermarket cooler... but it's what they state on their web page.

If you DO want an aftermarket unit, I like the new TMD fan units. They are quiet and reliable. Over at www.coolerguys.com they have a nice Vantec unit for $25 and I'd recommend that before the PCToys fan.

I don't think that steel vs. aluminium case would make beans difference in cooling. It's all about the fans...

I don't have that board (yet... :-) so I can't answer your detail questions on settings and ports.

Scout
700 Mflops in SETI!

1. Stock fan is fine if you dont plan on overclocking.

2. The heattransfer pad is fine, but its easy enough to remove and using AS or soe thermal paste should provide slightly better cooling, provided you only use a very thin coat.

3. Aluminium cases are claimed to transfer heat better than steel ones.. BUT in reality it all depends on case airflow, cable arrangment and fan arrangment and efficiency.
Alluminium cases usually come out on top here, just because they are 'usually', though not allways, better designed and typically ahve more fans and better airflow.

4. regarding your bios, just go to asus's page and find the latest one, you will most likely need it to run your new processor correctly.

5. dunno about the otehr questions.


<b><font color=purple>[Rik_]</font color=purple> I wonder how many people have made their own phasechange system?
<font color=blue>[LHGPooBaa]</font color=blue> I get phasechange whenever i eat a hot chillie </b>

I recommend the zalman "fan mate 1" adjustable rpm unit that works with any 3 pin fan plug. You can cut your rpms in half. I run it with my p4 at 1700 rpm, and the temps are still reasonable. I wouldn't recommend it for overclocking, but I prefer a quiet system. It's only $5-7.