seeking temperature control advice

[snuggans]

i was irresponsible with my last computer when it came to cooling.
you know the large cable that goes from the power supply to the motherboard? the white pin / motherboard entry plastics were burned black.

i've ordered a new setup now and i want to make sure this doesnt happen. so a couple of questions...
where can you check temperatures? (i know this is related to BIOS, dont know exactly where)
what are reasonable temperature ranges and can anyone suggest a limit that you would not want to exceed?
has anyone found or know of a memory heatsink/heatspreader that will fit on a kingston DDR2 240 pin? i've heard about people using 'thermal compound' to make it touch with many heatsinks (dont think i wanna go through that hassle)
any cooling suggestions, etc?

[Incinerate_IV]

i was irresponsible with my last computer when it came to cooling.
you know the large cable that goes from the power supply to the motherboard? the white pin / motherboard entry plastics were burned black.

Probably because you had a crappy powersupply and it failed on you.

You really don't have to worry about cooling, as long as you have 1 intake and 1 outtake case fans your good. If you just want to add that extra push, the thermal paste you're talking about is called Artic Silver. You put this between the CPU and the CPU heatsink to get that extra heat conduction boost. Make sure you wipe the stock heat pad off though.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835100007

[turtle]

Probably because you had a crappy powersupply and it failed on you.

You really don't have to worry about cooling, as long as you have 1 intake and 1 outtake case fans your good. If you just want to add that extra push, the thermal paste you're talking about is called Artic Silver. You put this between the CPU and the CPU heatsink to get that extra heat conduction boost. Make sure you wipe the stock heat pad off though.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835100007

Um, you kind of need the thermal compound. Otherwise your processor wont be cooled properly. Yes there are other compounds that can be added, but the basic thermal conductant is needed between the heatsink and the processor otherwise the cooling process will be hampered. And as far as just having two fans, yes that is true, but that is minimal. If you are trying to cool your pc to the point of overclocking your cpu, you will need something more than just two fans. I am actally puting a phase-change cooling system into my pc. One step down from phase-change cooling is water. So, as far as money goes, yes fans are best, but as far as maximum cooling, you want water or phase-change cooling.

EDIT: But those two (water/liquid, phase-change) can be very expensive and should only be put into place if you can either transfer the system to another pc after your pc goes out or if your pc is completely upgradable and made to last. Phase-change (depending on size) can cost upwards of 2 thousand dollars, mine is 700. So, unless you are going to be doing some overclocking and/or looking forward to having extremely high temperatures you don't need phase-change or even water/liquid most of the time, they're just nice. Also, I'm not sure about the exact break temperatures of most internal components, but I do know that a cpu will be heated over 100 degrees in a matter of seconds and will be destroyed in a matter of seconds without the proper cooling.

[Incinerate_IV]

Um, you kind of need the thermal compound. Otherwise your processor wont be cooled properly. Yes there are other compounds that can be added, but the basic thermal conductant is needed between the heatsink and the processor otherwise the cooling process will be hampered.

Every stock heatsink comes with thermal pad already on there you know. So no, you don't need the Artic Silver, but it is a good buy if you want a cheap way to get additional cooling, since the stock thermal pad sucks.

[turtle]

Every stock heatsink comes with thermal pad already on there you know. So no, you don't need the Artic Silver, but it is a good buy if you want a cheap way to get additional cooling, since the stock thermal pad sucks.

I'm not talking about "Artic Silver", I'm talking about the standard conductant that MUST be there when you install a heatsink onto a cpu. It sounded like you were telling the man that nothing is needed between the heatsink and the cpu.

[Incinerate_IV]

I'm not talking about "Artic Silver", I'm talking about the standard conductant that MUST be there when you install a heatsink onto a cpu. It sounded like you were telling the man that nothing is needed between the heatsink and the cpu.

Oh ok, I thought you said he need to buy thermal paste. But yea, your right about something must be there to transfer the heat efficiently between the CPU and the heatsink.

[Erik]

i was irresponsible with my last computer when it came to cooling.
you know the large cable that goes from the power supply to the motherboard? the white pin / motherboard entry plastics were burned black.

How could that happen?

Power cables should not be heating up.
Sounds like you had a short circuit or some other defect.

where can you check temperatures? (i know this is related to BIOS, dont know exactly where)

You can check them in the BIOS, yes.
To enter the BIOS you need to press a key during startup, usually delete or escape.
In the BIOS you will have an option "PC health status" or something simular, that tells you the current temperatures, fan speeds, etc.

But it's easier to use software to monitor your temps in wondows.
This software should come with your mobo, or cou can downlaod it from your mobo's manufacturers website.

what are reasonable temperature ranges and can anyone suggest a limit that you would not want to exceed?

This depends on your CPU.
up to 60 C is defenately safe.
I think most CPU's fail at about 75 C.

The ideal case temp is room temp (unless you have a refrigerated case)
But usually the case temp will be a few degrees above room temp.
If it's more than 5 degrees above room temp you could benefit from some additional case cooling, if the difference is less than 5 C you shouldn't bother.

If you have a pentium 4/Cure 2 or a new AMD then you should not worry too much because they will slow down or switch off if the temperature gets too hot.
Overheating a modern processor to the point where they get damaged is almost impossible.

has anyone found or know of a memory heatsink/heatspreader that will fit on a kingston DDR2 240 pin?

Why would you want to cool your RAM?
It's not necessary unless you plan to do realy serious overclocking.

i've heard about people using 'thermal compound' to make it touch with many heatsinks (dont think i wanna go through that hassle)

All heatsinks need some kind of thermal compound to ensure they fully connect with the component they are supposed to cool.
Using a heatsink without any thermal compound is a very bad idea.

As said before most heatsinks come with their own thermal compound already on it.
But if you want to re-use an old heatsink, or if you want better performance, then you should buy some thermal compound seperately.

But don't use too much thermal conpound, a thin layer gives the best performance. (but don't use too little either, the whole chip must be covered)

any cooling suggestions, etc?

Unless you want to overclock you don't have to worry about it too much.
Cases and components come standard with enough cooling.

Just don't place your computer next to a heat source (I placed it next to my rooms heating once....bad idea) and make sure the air intake and exit are free from obsticales (ie: don't put your computer in a tight closet)