RE: Chrome Orb (junk)
I found this out last month when I received my brand new Abit KT7-RAID and "NEW" Chrome Orb thinking this combo was unbeatable. Then I tried to put the Orb on and it was a b%#tch to get on. Not noticing how d*mn sharp the fin edges are on the orb, I ripped holes in 2 of my capacitors trying to squeeze it on. When that didn't work, I was pissed cause I couldn't fit the fan on, so I decided to just boot up for a "few seconds" to see if the "pencil trick" would allow me to change the chip settings. I booted up WITH NO HEATSINK! HOW STUPID OF ME! It booted up just long enough for me to get into the Bios and then "click", it shut off. I'm thinking, $hit, it must have got too hot and shut down by itself with some type of alarm or something. Well, I never got either that processor or the KT7-Raid motherboard working again after a week of trying. What REALLY PI$$ED me off is that the d#mn place where I got my mobo wouldn't take it back because of the f*cked up capacitors from the ORB! After exchanging the Processor and buying a new mobo (another Abit KT7-Raid), I still had the same heatsink. This time I was a bit wiser. I broke a few fins off of the Orb so it would fit with no problem. But it seems like it's running kind of hot compared to eveyone elses. D650@900, 55C with load. I don't know if breaking off a few of those fins was a good idea or not. I hope it didn't hurt the performance of the Orb. I even bought some Arctic Silver to apply it with (this stuff knocks off 2 or 3C more than the cheap stuff). I dunno. I've read a lot of articles on overclocking and cooling and it seems the Alpha Pal6035 is the best solution for extreme cooling. I could get my Duron up to 950, but it was unstable when playing video or encoding MP3s. I'm considering doing that voltage adjustment to the mobo to get some extra power.
For all you Newbies out there:
DON'T EVEN THINK OF STARTING THE COMPUTER WITHOUT A HEATSINK AND FAN AND DON'T BUY A STUPID CHROME ORB FOR THE ABIT KT7 MOTHERBOARD. GO WITH ALPHA PAL OR GLOBALWIN!