Just a few I keep seeing that I wanted to clear up. If you know of any more, or see an error I made, please post. We're all here to learn.
80C is a safe operating temp since the max temp is 105C
Truth: Not quite. While its true the CPU won't outright melt/burn/whatever at 90C, it still isn't good for it. The hotter a chip runs, the sooner it dies. Don't be afraid to punch those fans up.
http://www.pcpower.com/technology/optemps/
Increasing my fan speed will kill them within months
Truth: Well, there is a bit of truth to this one. You are definitely cutting the lifespan down. Except....you are cutting from a decade+ to only about half a dozen years. These fans are designed to be run at full power. Your machine uses something called PWM to slow them down since 6200rpm is REALLY FRAKING LOUD
Getting my machine with the 512MB 9600M GT is worthless since you can't address more than 256MB with a 128bit bus. The extra VRAM is marketing junk
Truth: Honestly, I have no idea where this came from or what the logic behind it is, but it gets repeated to death when certain topics come up. Odd, considering these threads are often a few posts away from topics describing how the CPU can address 6GB of memory on a 128bit bus, but..........well, for starters:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/128bit
128bit refers to the bandwidth. Someone perpetrating the myth once described it saying: "Imagine you have a parking lot that holds 50 cars. The road out can carry 50 cars. But, imagine you increased the lot to 100 cars. Doesn't do much good, does it?" If that were true, you'd need a 2,147,483,648bit bus for 256MB (that's how many bits are in 256MB) :O Maybe that's what the video card in the computer controlling the Matrix uses for its VRAM, but we don't really have that here. 128bit memory bus means it pushes half as much stuff per cycle as a 256bit bus. Nothing more.
DDR3 has a higher clock than DDR2, but it's actually slower, because of the latency.
Truth: Well, yes, DDR3 does have higher latency numbers than DDR2. What is never mentioned (I never even realized this until I saw it on a BIOS screen) is that memory latency is measured in # of clocks. The higher latency is due to the clock itself being higher. If you double the clock rate, but don't change the actual latency time, the number that comes out for latency is twice as big. Do the math. 7-7-7-20@1066Mhz means LESS time waiting on the memory than 5-5-5-15@667Mhz, not the other way around. All with less voltage. Isn't technology great?
80C is a safe operating temp since the max temp is 105C
Truth: Not quite. While its true the CPU won't outright melt/burn/whatever at 90C, it still isn't good for it. The hotter a chip runs, the sooner it dies. Don't be afraid to punch those fans up.
http://www.pcpower.com/technology/optemps/
Increasing my fan speed will kill them within months
Truth: Well, there is a bit of truth to this one. You are definitely cutting the lifespan down. Except....you are cutting from a decade+ to only about half a dozen years. These fans are designed to be run at full power. Your machine uses something called PWM to slow them down since 6200rpm is REALLY FRAKING LOUD
Getting my machine with the 512MB 9600M GT is worthless since you can't address more than 256MB with a 128bit bus. The extra VRAM is marketing junk
Truth: Honestly, I have no idea where this came from or what the logic behind it is, but it gets repeated to death when certain topics come up. Odd, considering these threads are often a few posts away from topics describing how the CPU can address 6GB of memory on a 128bit bus, but..........well, for starters:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/128bit
128bit refers to the bandwidth. Someone perpetrating the myth once described it saying: "Imagine you have a parking lot that holds 50 cars. The road out can carry 50 cars. But, imagine you increased the lot to 100 cars. Doesn't do much good, does it?" If that were true, you'd need a 2,147,483,648bit bus for 256MB (that's how many bits are in 256MB) :O Maybe that's what the video card in the computer controlling the Matrix uses for its VRAM, but we don't really have that here. 128bit memory bus means it pushes half as much stuff per cycle as a 256bit bus. Nothing more.
DDR3 has a higher clock than DDR2, but it's actually slower, because of the latency.
Truth: Well, yes, DDR3 does have higher latency numbers than DDR2. What is never mentioned (I never even realized this until I saw it on a BIOS screen) is that memory latency is measured in # of clocks. The higher latency is due to the clock itself being higher. If you double the clock rate, but don't change the actual latency time, the number that comes out for latency is twice as big. Do the math. 7-7-7-20@1066Mhz means LESS time waiting on the memory than 5-5-5-15@667Mhz, not the other way around. All with less voltage. Isn't technology great?
I was playing CS:S (which uses the same game engine) maxed out at 1680x1050 with a 128mb card from a couple generations ago just fine, haha.
