Parts again (geek warning)
This Saturday I went downtown with a co-worker looking for computer parts. I needed some new memory and a new case for my desktop computer at home. ChengDu has an area that has a lot of stores selling all kinds of computers and computer parts. They also have video game consoles, such as PlayStations, as well as other gizmos.
I created a list of twelve types of 800 mhz memory that my motherboard could support and a list of eight computer cases that I had read reviews of online. I figured they would be able to find some of the memory since what I was looking for was not the most recent versions of memory for sale back in the US, but they did not have any of the types I was looking for.
They did have one of the computer cases on my list... Cooler Master Centurion 534! I was very surprised. I am still surprised. The case is pretty nice... it has slots for three 120mm fans and one extra slot of a 80mm fan or a funnel that sits above the CPU. I removed the funnel, since my heatsink on the CPU is too big and put in a 80mm fan. The whole system runs much cooler than before... about 6°C to 8°C cooler. The case itself came with two 120mm fans, and I bought a third here. The third one is not silent. It's not loud, but I think I'll find a silent one the next time I come to the US.
Something that I noticed is that the listings for my memory on the ASUS Qualified Vendor List (QVL) on their global website is different than their QVL on their North American website. On one site it says I can run my memory in Dual Channel and one says that I can not. Since I do not know which list is more up-to-date (they do not have dates on their QVLs), I thought I would do some more testing of my memory. Sure enough, one of the modules shows some problems now during testing. I will have to send that one back to Corsair when I get a chance.
I created a list of twelve types of 800 mhz memory that my motherboard could support and a list of eight computer cases that I had read reviews of online. I figured they would be able to find some of the memory since what I was looking for was not the most recent versions of memory for sale back in the US, but they did not have any of the types I was looking for.
They did have one of the computer cases on my list... Cooler Master Centurion 534! I was very surprised. I am still surprised. The case is pretty nice... it has slots for three 120mm fans and one extra slot of a 80mm fan or a funnel that sits above the CPU. I removed the funnel, since my heatsink on the CPU is too big and put in a 80mm fan. The whole system runs much cooler than before... about 6°C to 8°C cooler. The case itself came with two 120mm fans, and I bought a third here. The third one is not silent. It's not loud, but I think I'll find a silent one the next time I come to the US.
Something that I noticed is that the listings for my memory on the ASUS Qualified Vendor List (QVL) on their global website is different than their QVL on their North American website. On one site it says I can run my memory in Dual Channel and one says that I can not. Since I do not know which list is more up-to-date (they do not have dates on their QVLs), I thought I would do some more testing of my memory. Sure enough, one of the modules shows some problems now during testing. I will have to send that one back to Corsair when I get a chance.
posted by Steve Harms at
4:06 PM
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