When is it safe to... ?

[cuffs007]

Would it be safe to fire up what I've built so far to check case and cpu fans?

Right now I do not have memory, video card, or OS... I guess I'm just getting impatient at having to wait for each payday to roll around so I can add another part... Anyone get those frustrations also?...

Thanks for stopping by...
*SEAN*

[Orcmonkey]

Yes! When I did my built I had everything assembled but my heatsink was coming on the next monday! I did fire up the comp and go into the bios to test everything, but only left it on for about 20 seconds...

[Cricket]

Hi cuffs007,

If you want to test the fans out, the easiest and safest thing to do is hook them up in another PC.

You can fire up your system with only the CPU, heatsink, PC speaker and video card installed...it will power up, you'll get BIOS beeps telling you there is no RAM in the system.

Never power up a system without a heatsink on the CPU...AMD Athlon CPU's will burn themselves out in less than 10 seconds. INTEL CPU's will shut themselves off to save themselves from damage...but I wouldn't risk it.

:) Cricket

[Orcmonkey]

Cricket- The CPU in question was a P3, a reletively cool running proc, and I did have a HS, just no F :)

[Orcmonkey]

The reason I ordered another HSF was because this P3 was a DELL OEM with a proprietery cooling system, the HS had these weird fins on it, and the fan wasn't on the HS... On top of that the OEM HS was riveted onto the CPU! I had to find a trick online to get the HS off and then order a standard one for it.

But I agree, normally I wouldn't risk it starting without the essential cooling devices in place.

[Cricket]

No problem. I just didn't want cuffs007 to power up his system if he didn't have a heatsink installed on his CPU (not knowing if he had a AMD or INTEL CPU, it could have been a bad situation).

I should have said "Never power up a modern system without a heatsink on the CPU".

I have a DELL with a PII 300MHz that has that riveted on monster heatsink. It's funky. I screwed a 80mm fan to it (fits perfectly), but took it off as it was overkill.

Way back when, my 486 SX 33 didn't even have a heatsink :eek:.

:) Cricket

[morriswindgate]

All I can say, Is it worth risking the entire system to test a couple of 5 dollar fans that 99.9% of the time work fine?

[Confused]

And that is know as getting to the meat. Thanks Morris
Chas

[Orcmonkey]

Heres a link of the trick I found... It worked really well, but took a bit of pressure. Boy was I scared when I did that. http://1coolpc.com/install/p3.htm (not the first thing with the drill, at the bottom)

[Nuclear Krusader]

Cricket, the Athlons XPs will shut themselves off to avoid damage. At least that is what the people of AMD told us in the last training...

[doctorgonzo]

The new XPs have a thermal diode that can be read by mobos in order to institute some kind of thermal protection. However, very few mobos as yet integrate this feature. AMD has pretty much told the mobo manufacturers that they need to integrate it soon or else.

[cuffs007]

thanks for the opinions... looks like i needed some folks to tell me not to do it, so i wouldn't be so frustrated waiting to get all the parts together... I've decided to wait til I have a couple more pieces in place before I turn on the power...

but, as part of my original post, do any of you get frustrated or impatient when putting another computer together and you have no choice but to wait?... i'm lucky there are 2 other comps in the house that i can attach myself too... What do you do if there's no working computer nearby?...

btw, i have a slightly older (unused) AMD Athlon 750, slot A, and of the Thunderbird genre, I believe... the heatsink is attached also... just wanted to mention that since some folks were curious if I was gonna burn it up...

[Nuclear Krusader]

Well, I DO get nervous, over-anxious when waiting for my parts. You're lucky to have other computers, but when I was assembling mine I had nothing but novels.

[Confused]

Probably has a lot to do with age. I just don't get as excited and anxious as I used to. After many expensive lessons I now worry more about doing it right than fast.
Chas