Maximum PC

Quick thanks to all on the forums here for all the great information, not to mention knowing the assistance I'm sure to need is quickly at hand. My first build parts are on the way:
MSI K8n NEO4/Plat. SLI mobo
AMD 64FX-55
Cooler Master Wave Mstr
PC/Power and Cooling 510-SLI
MSI NX680GT 256mb/PCI-E
Maxtor Diamond 200mb
Plextor 716A
Audigy2 ZS gamer
XP Home retail
2GB Corsair XMS PC3200XLPT

First question...and I've done a search and can't quite find what I'm looking for:
After getting everything assembled and running is it necessary to do a "burn in". And exactly what is a "burn in" and how long should it take? What exactly does it accomplish that loading my best games and going to it won't do?
As always, thanks in advance for you time and expertise.

A 'burn-in' consists of stressing your main hardware to make sure nothing is defective. It's not absolutely necessary, but it is a good way to check for faulty components, driver conflicts, and heating issues that may not immediately arise otherwise.

There's several programs you can use and it's up to individual preference. Off the top of my head, I'd recommend:

Memtest86 (RAM)
3dMark05 (Video Card)
Folding @ Home (CPU)
SiSoft Sandra (System - various benchmarking programs)
3dMark01SE (System)

Simply playing games, as you mentioned, is a good detector as well albiet not as thorough as specific benchmarking programs.

Thanks One, I appreciate your info. Makes perfect sense. I'm noticing as the parts approach I'm getting more and more paranoid so I'm probably going to be asking some (what might seem to be) pretty obvious questions. As it is, I'm checking NewEgg's order status page about every 2 hours. I expect to be quite the mess when I have all the parts on the table. Yehaw!!

Burning in also helps to settle some of the components in, for example the thermal paste/pad on a heatsink (of your CPU and graphics card). The compound has to fill in those microscopic holes in order to achieve the best possible thermal transfer.

Additionally, burning in the RAM & CPU may allow you to achieve a higher maximum overclock.

Thanks OCN. Makes sense too. "higher maximum overclock" Palms are sweating now!

Quick update....All parts except the PSU arrived yesterday. Extremely small dent (that I'll ignore) on the bottom of the WaveMstr. case. Case also required that I tighten up some loose screws here and there, but otherwise a nice looking unit and so far easy to work within. I installed the hard drive, the floppy drive, and the Plextor 716a (box had sticker denoting brand new firmware..keeping fingers crossed). Also removed the case top USB module and put in another 80x80 exhaust fan there.

Read the mobo manual, picked up some Arctic Silver 5, and am preparing myself mentally for tackling installation of the CPU and HS.

Wow, just got a call from my wife. PSU arrived this morning...wasn't expecting it till Friday!! Just perhaps, with luck I'll have this monster up and running tonite!! Hopefully my next post will be one of success rather than a plea for help. Wish me luck!

Good choice. I have the same case and while I'd like the easy access ports on top, I'd rather have some of that hot air exhausted.



Good luck and enjoy the process! After this one, you'll never be a PC building virgin again. Be sure and set aside a block of time, be patient, and give yourself ample room to work with. Pay extra attention to getting the headers hooked up properly (power switch, reset switch, HDD LED, etc), though chances are usually high that one will get hooked up backwards. And finally, don't hesitate to take a break if/when frustration should rear it's ugly head.

Oh, one final tip. This question gets asked a lot, so let's get it out of the way. Running dual channel on a Neo4 requires using both colored slots, NOT same colored slots. Start with the memory slot closest to the CPU and work your way outwards. Using two sticks, you'll have one in the green slot and one in the purple.

Good tips One. I've got the whole house to myself tonite. So hopefully I'll be able to direct all my attention to being careful and patient. I'm almost as nervous as any other time I lost my virginity

As for the RAM, I ended up getting 4 sticks (2 matched sets of 512mb Corsair XMT) so all the slots will be filled. Thanks for thinking of that though and passing it along. Without you guys out there backing me up, I'd be more of a mess than I am now.

Quick question. I'm assuming that using Artic Silver 5 is a better choice than any thermal pad or grease that came with the processor, right?

Hoping to post Victory later this evening.