Questions: IHS and Mobos

[Axle Gear]

Two questions. First, and foremost, does anyone reccomend removing the IHS on memory, CPUs, and GPUs?

From what I hear, memory IHS is useless, and only hurts cooling.

And tips on removing different IHS types without removing chips too?




Secondly:
Anyone know a good mobo for a 32-bit AMD Athlon 3200 and up?

Both for overclocking, and non-overclocked performance.
Namely in cache.

And yes, motherboards DO have L3 cache, people. Most Asus boards have some. The A7N8X has 2 MB, while the A7N8X Deluxe (which I use) has 8 MB.
I've attached a CPU-Z cache/latency output report to prove it.

I was wondering if anyone knew a mobo with more?







Also, anyone know an excellent SATA RAID controller?
Something like the LSI MegaRAID SATA 150-4 4-port Serial ATA RAID controller, but works on 32-bit PCI?
The 64 MB of ECC SDRAM it utilizes really turns me on. =3

[enzoR]

for removeing the heatspreader of the rams i find it the easyest when they are hot.

[Axle Gear]

BTW, also, where can I get a good lapping kit?

[enzoR]

hardware store maybe?

[Axle Gear]

Looked around, can't find anything over 800 grit

Was hoping for a full kit, with 2k grit, and maybe a 10k+ polish

[Poki]

Some place that sells automotive paint supplies will have all you ever wanted for finishing surfaces.

[saaya]

www.easypckits.com

great lapping kits! the premium kit goes down to 10µ!!!

your board has L3 cache? :stick: thats the first time i hear about this and the first time i see such a cpu-z screen. and ive owned 2 a7n8x deluxe 2.0 boards as well. it never showed any L3 cache! must be a bug.

[Axle Gear]

Odd. It shows L3 cache on several boards of mine, though the majority don't. Most of them ARE older boards which have manually-expandible SRAM or COAST modules. But some of the newer boards like the A7N8X series and KT-748

So far, the A7N8X Deluxe has reported the most, at 8 MB
I'm wondering if one of those rediculous $300+ boards have more? For that price, i'm expected enough cache to make RAM nearly obsolete. XD Like, 64 MB or something

[saaya]

there used to be L3 cache on the mainboard a looooong time ago. the a7n8x has NO L3 cache!

no modern board has L3 cache afaik.

[Axle Gear]

Have you been following the tread? ^.^

[saaya]

Originally posted by Axle Gear
Have you been following the tread? ^.^

:rolleyes:

dude, your asking for a good xp board with L3 cache. there IS no xp board with L3 cache...

the best amd32bit board is the dfi infinity. if you want a load of features , sata raid , 8 channel sound and 1gb lan go for the epox 8rda6+

and no matter what hardware we are talking of, removing heatspreaders always helps cooling ,but it also bares a risk.

[Axle Gear]

I guess you're right then. These CPU-Z readings must indeed be false. <3

[Axle Gear]

BTW, thanks Saaya. That site was EXACTLY what I was hunting.

I've got it ordered. Will let you know how it goes. =3

I've got some 100-400 grain pads already. I'll see if I can't get my TR2M2 to picture perfectness. =3


BTW, which actually performs better? Arctic Silver 5, or Ceramique?
I've heard arguments on both sides.

[insulglass]

Axle Gear - there are advantages and disadvantages for both AS5 and Ceramique. Or rather, there are advantages and better advantages - I really can't speak badly about either material.

I have really been selling a lot of AS5 lately because people want thelatest and greatest - and that's true, AS5 will give you the absolute best thermal performance of any TIM out there, IMHO. However, people forget that up until just a few short month ago, Ceramique was the "King of the Hill", and remains a superb TIM in it's own right.

Here's the way I see it:

AS5 - ultimate performance, non-conductive but slightly capacitive

Ceramique - almost as good as AS5 (generally no more than a degree or so), non-conductive, non-capacitive, costs about 50-60% as much as AS5

Both of them spread and burn in about the same in my experience, Ceramique maybe a little faster than AS5 but not enough to matter (give it 12-24 hours, and a couple of cool down cycles with your computer off). I have a deep supply of AS5 (:D) so I personally use AS5 but I also think that Ceramique is a better value, and many people prefer it over AS5.

BTW... as an interesting bit of trivia - you mentioned lapping kits in your earlier post. Many lapping kits use silicon carbide paper, but my premium kit uses an abrasive that is the same primary component in Ceramique. While you need to remove any residue possible, some abrasive grains almost always remain in the pores of the metal when lapping down at the micron level. The premium kit residue (if any) matches up well with the Arctic Silver line of TIM's.

SAAYA, thanks for the good word! I really feel humble when someone recommends my business, and I appreciate it deeply.

Dave
insulglass@easypckits.com
www.easypckits.com