Addiction to Gaming

I hope Magus gets this, I would love to see his face after playing 10 minutes of TF2 @ 1920x1200.

Well, I've played tf2 at 1920x1080 on my old desktop on a 120hz monitor. But I only got like, 40 fps.

Regardless I can't wait.

Mullet wrote:I hope Magus gets this, I would love to see his face after playing 10 minutes of TF2 @ 1920x1200.

At like 150fps minimum!

This thread makes me want to build another computer. Last I counted I had built just over 30 for myself/family/friends, but it's been probably over a year since I've done a build from scratch (not counting upgrading miscellaneous stuff). Don't worry Magus, it's much easier than it seems at first and as everyone else has said, it's almost impossible to screw up.

It's not that hard, the wire connections are designed to be plugged in one way only so you can't screw up connectors. Just need to be cautious not to fry your components by static.

If you are unsure of something, just read the manual to make sure.

Yeah Magus we all got ya covered dude, get the system and we will help you even if we have to do voice chat over steam helping ya.

Alright thanks guys

Ah, I bought a cheap Heatsink from Ebay so the thermal paste didn't come pre-applied

Pre-applied thermal paste is crap anyways.

Any tips for removing the pre-applied stuff so I could add my own?

Just use a flat razor blade and clean off all of the hard crap paste and apply the new stuff. I agree with Newman.

If you can get your hands on it, Isopropyl alcohol and a coffee filter (or something else lintless is best, you CAN get away with a paper towel and q-tips if you are really careful but it's not advised) to clean off the heatsink base after you scrape the old stuff off. Works real well. And anything aftermarket when properly applied will pwn pre-applied stuff.

That said, I've used stock Intel and AMD coolers before on builds with no issues, even with the stock paste. Nothing amazing temp-wise but I always figure that if I'm using the crap cooler, then I clearly don't care enough to bother reapplying paste. Heck the server at my mom's business has been running 24/7 for almost 3 years on a stock Intel cooler...(Core2Duo). Same for my HTPC at home for the year+ it's been up. For overclocking though, a good aftermarket cooler and good paste is a must.

Pre-applied paste has the advantage of being applied really well. If you can apply thermal paste as well as whatever machine they have in their factory, then you are a god among men.

To add to what Matt said, the good thermal paste usually only makes a difference of a couple degrees. Unless you plan on overclocking and really pushing the limit on heat, you shouldn't need to worry about it. I am assuming that if you are using a stock HSF that you won't be overclocking anyway. And if you don't have any coffee filters around, you can also put a piece of plastic from a grocery sack over the tip of your finger... that works well for applying paste. And for the isopropyl alcohol, the higher the percentage the better. Most of what you will find is 70% but you can sometimes come across 90% (the problem is getting a good price on it).

Dan said basically what I was trying to say (but I did it very badly): on a stock heatsink I'd just use the pre-applied paste. Good compound on stock coolers makes pretty much zero difference in temps.