No crying yet.........slow delivery or 1337 building skillz?

Slow delivery and the ability to put it together OK, I hope. Took me a long time to get Sid up and running too since the net installs for Wheezy and Sid from unetbootin can't load kernel modules needed to see my hard drives -- leading to me having to install Squeeze and upgrade from there. Was painless enough though, the only niggle being I can't seem to get separate X servers so I'm having to live with the compromise of TwinView.

If it srunning right, not crashing and the temps are good, I'd say you've done just fine. BTW, I dont bother with installing temp monitors a lot of the time, I just run the system hard for 30 minutes+ then reboot and check temps in the BIOS.

Odd. Oh well, fixed now.

Conragts, enjoy the system!

Ah, good point, not found anything to run it particularly hard yet, but Windows 8 in a VM isn't giving any heat issues I can see in conky so I'll try the reboot and BIOS check at some point, thanks.
I googled and it seems to have happened to others. In my case I'm guessing unetbootin uses and older kernel version than the modules on the mirror so they're not compatible. As you say, fixed now though. Well, almost but that's another question.
Thanks, It's nice to have something quicker .
I'd come to the conclusion that the GT 640 was comparable to the 9800 GTX and possibly better for dual head and video but slower when it comes to outright speed for games. I googled and that seems to be the conclusion of testers too, so seems I managed to pick the right card too, at least for now until I crave a Quadro...

By 'fixed' I meant you'd got through it.

I would possibly have given aptosid or siduction a try. Hmm, that reminds me to d/l and try siduction myself.

Unless you're lanning on using one of the professional graphics/3D programs that have quadro extras, they arent worth it IMO.

The quadros use the same GPUs as normal geforce cards, just downclocked and with different firmware and drivers (different drivers on windows only, linux has the same drivers for quadro and geforce). Using the same GPU as geforce cards might be coming to an end though with the 6XX series cards.

BTW, with some geforce cards it is possible to flash quadro firmware onto the card.

http://www.techarp.com/showarticle.aspx?artno=539

Ah, I did not know that about Quadros, thanks -- seems they're largely pointless to get for Linux then.
Must admit I'm curious about aptosid, might have to put a new partition on my SSD and give it a try some time.

I was playing with SETI@home and ran CPU benchmarks whilst watching conky and the CPU temp hit 70C and was always above 65C with the fan running at 5000RPM. I think I managed to fumble the heatsink install, as I installed it I think I touched the CPU with the paste before it was lined up.
Really am not looking forward to trying cleaning off the old paste and adding the new, not even sure I know how to do it.

You might find this of some intrest-

http://siduction.org/index.php?modul...sid=35&lang=en

Hitting 65-70C while running at 100% CPU use isnt that uncommon.

If you're living in the artic (ambient temps 0C or lower), you've got a problem. If you're living in sub-safaran africa (ambient temps 35-45C), those temps are quite good.

Living in the UK (ambient temps 20-25C?) its not a good temp, but not that suprising. Running @ 65C should be OK.....I prefer to keep my CPU temps under 60C myself, but 65C is nothing to really worry about.

I doubt that you've fumbled the install at all, just the 'stock' heatsinks' from both intel and AMD are fairly poor. Also, it can take a few hours to a few days for heatsink paste to 'set', and its possible that your temps will drop a few degrees over the next few days.

To check the thermal paste or replace the heatsink, you just have to get some thermal paste before you start. Remove the stock heatsink and remove the stock heatsink gunk (I tend to use a piece of stiff but soft plastic to scrape the majority off, then remove the last bits with metho and a rag).

Put new heatsink paste on the CPU following the manufacturers directions, replace the heatsink, done.

For replacing the stock heatsink with an aftermarket version, you might need to remove the motherboard and install a backing plate.

There are neat hardware hacks you can do to lower temps without replacing the heatsink (eg, remove the stock fan and replace it with a bigger model, or mount another fan blowing in the direction of the heatsink).

If you did decide to repalce the heatsink, IMO one of the better colers that isnt expensive is the colermaster hyper 212.

Thanks for the Siduction link, I've room to at least dual boot so I'll give it a look.
Ambient temperature was only around 22C and the CPU was hitting 70C but cooling to a few degrees cooler. I wasn't all that worried until I noticed that most people think it ought to run at about 45-50C. I know what you mean about stock coolers, I'll maybe take a look at a replacement if I'm going to be playing with paste anyhow, I still think the temp was a little high. Does seem weird to me that my old GPU could run at 65C and that was "normal" but this CPU ought not to exceed 51C.

After asking and checking around, 70C does sound hotter than I originally though. Hows the temps now?

It could be due to a minor error in assembly, like the CPU not being fully inserted into the socket (and being not quite 'flat' in the socket).

Or due to the heatsink paste not being 'cured' when you checked the temps.

Or it could be due to bad airflow. I dont know what case you have, or the airflow/fan setup.

Now I have a rear fan installed, which I know I ought to have had all along, I can use the machine normally but if I stress it it gets hot very quickly then when I stop it cools down very quickly.
I'm pretty sure my fumbling installing the heatsink is to blame and the heat isn't getting to the heatsink properly. When I feel brave I'll take off the heatsink, clean the paste off and put on a thin layer of new compound.
I'm fairly confident in the processor being in the socket as it feel in very easily and the fit felt right.

It could be the heatsink isnt on quite right, but I sort of doubt it. The old Socket 'A' setups were a pain (and very scary to install with a lot of heatsinks) newer AMD heatsink mounts are pretty easy to use.

You probably do have the CPU in right, but if you do strip off the heatsink later you might as well reseat the CPU at the same time.

Running with no exhaust fan can make temps a lot higher. Newer cases with bottom mounted PSUs (or older style cases with the PSU fan on the back of the PSU only) makes it far worse.

BTW, its amazing how much difference even small changes can make to temps. If I insert a bit of cardboard between my heatsink and the exhaust fan, my temps are 2-7 C cooler. Hard to explain where I install the carboard, if you're intrested I can probably get a pic up somewhere. Might take a week or so for me to do it, I've been busy and will be for a while.

Well, yes, you hit on something else too which is I ought to tidy my cables for better airflow.
The CPU fan goes mad though and with the no-rubbish exhaust fan I would expect it to be able to cool the CPU when at 4000RPM even if the CPU is under strain.
By the way I don't mean the heatsink not on right I mean I fumbled the clips and the heatsink touched the CPU before it was in the right position, so I think I may have created a gap or bubble in the thermal gloop.

You may have removed some of the thermal paste from the heatsink. That can lead to bad thermal transfer.

I wouldnt expect a huge difference in temps unless you removed a lot of the thermal paste. However, if there is a hot spot and its over the thermal sensor, it could be giving you misleading temp readings.

BTW, while adding a fan should make some difference to the temps, sometimes its less than you might guess. I'll try to take a pic of my ghetto exhaust fan shroud.....even if you dont really want to see it, its something I've wanted to link a few people to over the last year or so.

I'm not actually running it right now, but its winter here so its about 5-15C (which is bloody cold for brisbane!) I normally only run the shroud in summer when its 30-40C.

I'm thinking it's running far too hot as most people claim the chip runs in the 30s idle and hits the high 40s gaming -- even if my case air flow is horrendous I'd not expect it to hit 50 so quickly.
If you get a pic would be interesting to see your fan setup even if I don't do similar.