Questions

[Dogbert]

Ok, here they come...

1. Is the AMD Athlon XP FSB locked ?

2. What is the best soundcard (gaming, mp3, dvd) out there in the sense of quality & features / $$$.

3. Is the on board sound (in newest boards) any good ?

4. What ways are there to silence your computer without making it run too hot ?

5. How do you make efficient dust filters for your computer without blocking too much air ?

More might come later

edit: oops, wrong numbering here Thanks Technoid

[Technoid]

1. No.

2. Personaly: SB Live or Audigy, General forum view: Turtle beach Santa Cruz

3. It produces sound....

4. Big low RPM fans an High quality HS like thermalright AX7 or SLK800 or Alpha 8045..

5. Change them often is my advice

NP Dogbert

Edit: Fever makes your brain behave like a overclocked athlon withut proper cooling, bad

[VJ]

Good questions... Some additional ones...

4.a. Are there watercooling kits ? (do they help to silence things ? Would you recommend a non-modder to try them ?)

4.b. Is isolating the case for sound any good ? (with foam on the inside or something like that ?)

Jörg

[Gurm]

Re: Questions

1. Is the AMD Athlon XP FSB locked ?

This is a tricky question. I don't think any are FSB locked, but depending on the core some are multiplier locked of course.

[quote2. What is the best soundcard (gaming, mp3, dvd) out there in the sense of quality & features / $$$. [/quote]

I think the Audigy, mainly because the other alternatives have crappy gaming performance (bad EAX implementations, weak reverb, poor compatibility with my favorite series of games - anything from Bioware). However, the Santa Cruz and/or the Philips boards are very good as well... and have better music quality.

3. Is the on board sound (in newest boards) any good ?

Without reservation, no. There might be one that I haven't heard, but even the onboard SB-Live! chips suck.

4. What ways are there to silence your computer without making it run too hot ?

Get better fans, and quieter hard drives? I use dynamat but it DOES get warm, have to keep ambient temperature down or else I get in trouble.

5. How do you make efficient dust filters for your computer without blocking too much air ?

THAT is a really good question. Without building a duct so-as to force airflow... I dunno.

- Gurm

[Sasq]

1) the fsb isn't locked as far as i can tell, but the multiplier is.
well I'm having no problems changeing my fsb anyway (xp 1800+)

[Drizzt]

Re: Questions

Originally posted by Dogbert
Ok, here they come...

4. What ways are there to silence your computer without making it run too hot ?

Buy two cheap mics, a pair of small speaker for low-mid frequencies and two cheap op amp.
Make two reversal circuit and place them on the PC. The better is the mic in the case, the speaker out of it.

[Gurm]

Ahh... pink noise.

- Gurm

[Dogbert]

Another question: how far (FSB) would an Athlon XP 1800 go with the stock (11.5) multiplier ?

Can I hope to run it at 150Mhz (1725Mhz) or even 166Mhz (1909Mhz) stable with a big heatsink (Thermaltake Volcano 7+) ?

[Gurm]

I wouldn't count on it. There are a lot of factors involved, but you'll be lucky to stay stable at 150 or above. I'd say somewhere in the 140's is a realistic number without Uber-Cooling.

- Gurm

[Dogbert]

At least in the beginning I'm not really going to OC. Besides, the Asus boards already have a minor OC to 13Mhz from the factory

As for cooling, I ordered mine with a Thermaltake Volcano 7+ and some arctic silver II which I'm going to use at low/mid speed (depends on the noise levels).

Just curious about future clocking possibilities.
My case (Enermax FS-710B) should be large enough for me to try some watercooling if I decide to sometime in the future.
It's the best case the shop had (at quite a permium) so I hope it'll be worth the investment.

[KvHagedorn]

http://www.hw-a.it/eng.shtml

[Dogbert]

Wow... Cool, thanks !

[RC Agent]

Re: Questions

Originally posted by Dogbert
[B]Ok, here they come...

1. Is the AMD Athlon XP FSB locked ?

I don't have one, but I think the answer is no, it's not FSB locked.

2. What is the best soundcard (gaming, mp3, dvd) out there in the sense of quality & features / $$$.

Turtle Beach Santa Cruz

3. Is the on board sound (in newest boards) any good ?

Depends on what you consider to be "good". From my readings on the newsgroups, they are ok.

[Indiana]

My AthlonXP 1800+ runs at 150MHz (->1725MHz = roughly XP2100+ speed). I need 1.95 Volts for it to be stable at this frequency, though.
With my old motherboard, the highest I could achieve was 144MHz FSB.

[Nuno]

Sorry, Dogbert, bad choice on the V7 if noise is a concern. Even at low settings it has an irritating whinning noise. NOT a silent HS/fan by any means.

Maybe Zallman solutions could help you,