Tech Things You Dont Know But Are Too Afraid To Ask.

[Beskamir]

I was always puzzled by the DIGI+ VRM page on my AI Suite II, like I don't get what all the settings there do, and how they impact overclocking. BTW this is a great thread since there are a great many questions that just seem too basic for some people so there aren't any good answers.

[Aaanum1]

Des it matter if you put thermal paste on the cooler or on the CPU?

[Glenwing]

 

Tech Things You Dont Know But Are Too Afraid Too Ask

 

So, everyone has one or two things that they dont know and are to afraid to ask because they think it will make them look dumb. 

So, what are yours? Post them here and hopefully someone will help you out, maybe even link you an article that helped them, maybe Linus and or slick can address it in the live stream, maybe linus and slick have something they dont know. As i said before Everyone has something they dont know and I think we need to learn more than we know already and what better community to do that in that this one?

 

So post what you dont know and maybe someone will tell you and If someone posted something that you where wondering too dont repost unless you still dont understand or need more questions answered.

 

My Questions:

 

What are RAM timings and why are they important?

 

What exactly is cas latency? and what does it affect?

 

How do you know what voltage to set your CPU at when overclocking?

 

How do you overclock RAM?

 

So post away and remember no question is a stupid question.

 

 

Back to joelthezombie15's question though, can you tell me (us) about ram timings and cas latency? It's something I've wondered about for a while but many of the explanations I have read are a little confusing :)

 

http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/15460-how-does-cas-latency-work/

[SSOB]

Can somebody explain me what the t-ras(?) On ram is ?

[wkronbaek]

how do you use linux?

Time for a mini-guide!

Install it. You just burn an ISO file to a thumb drive and boot from it, most distros have some pretty easy installation

Then go install Chrome (Just like you would in windows), Steam (Still just from their website), Playonlinux (It's awesome) and whenever you need windows programs use playonlinux. There you go!

[Glenwing]

Des it matter if you put thermal paste on the cooler or on the CPU?

 

Yes.  Heatsinks need as much contact with the CPU as possible to absorb the heat faster.  Materials like metal can't be made perfectly smooth even when appear to have a mirror finish, as you will note, ants and spiders can still cling to vertical "perfectly smooth" surfaces like glass or mirrors.  This means at the microscopic level they still have potholes and pockmarks all over them.  Thermal paste is required to fill in all those holes, or the contact between the CPU cooler and the CPU will not be very much at all, and the cooler will not function.

[Glenwing]

I was always puzzled by the DIGI+ VRM page on my AI Suite II, like I don't get what all the settings there do, and how they impact overclocking. BTW this is a great thread since there are a great many questions that just seem too basic for some people so there aren't any good answers.

 

Digitally regulated voltage allows for tighter and more precise voltage regulation.

[everything count to life]

Well my question how am I going to drain my loop I forget to put some draining device when building it and now i don't know how to drain it

[Godlygamer23]

What does a Hyper Threading do?

Hyper-threading is like this...you work at a factory on a particular line. That line has nothing coming in, so you have nothing to do. Turn on "hyper-threading" and another production line appears behind you allowing you to work on the new line when you have spare time from the main line. You are the core, and the production lines are the threads.

[Glenwing]

What exactly is SCSI and SAS??

 

They are expansion buses like SATA, except more optimized for servers and workstations.  SAS has higher signalling voltage which allows for much longer cables, which is not needed in SATA since even in the largest tower cases you don't need more than a meter of cable length.  However in server racks cables might need to stretch to odd places.  SAS also allows for splitting into multiple ends, like you will see 1x SAS to 4x SATA breakout cables.  SAS also has more advanced error recovery features.  SCSI is the predecessor to SAS (Serial Attached SCSI).

[Glenwing]

If you turned an anti-static bag inside out, would it still be unsafe to put a part on it?

 

Why don't GPU manufacturers flip their designs so the PCB faces down and the fans point up?

 

It is safe either way.

 

Fans blow toward the GPU, not away from them, so it would be counter-productive for the heat rising to be conflicting the fans blowing down.  Also, helps prevent dust from settling in the heatsink.  

[AraSarkisyan]

Why do more people use Cherry MX switches than ALPS switches?

[Glenwing]

What is the die of a CPU or CPU die? Don't even know if that the correct spelling of die.

 

It's the center of the CPU where the actual transistors are (the actual CPU part of the CPU, basically).  The rest is just circuit board, pins, etc.  The image below has been generated to show the architecture of the transistors, in reality if you remove the heatspreader the die in the center will appear a black/gunmetal chrome color.  And yes, "die" is the correct spelling ;)

 

 

[Aaanum1]

Yes.  Heatsinks need as much contact with the CPU as possible to absorb the heat faster.  Materials like metal can't be made perfectly smooth even when appear to have a mirror finish, as you will note, ants and spiders can still cling to vertical "perfectly smooth" surfaces like glass or mirrors.  This means at the microscopic level they still have potholes and pockmarks all over them.  Thermal paste is required to fill in all those holes, or the contact between the CPU cooler and the CPU will not be very much at all, and the cooler will not function.

No, I meant does it matter which one you put it one.

[Missioncode]

I think I already know the answer to this but what is the difference between a SATA II and SATA III cable and which one should I use to connect a SATA III device to a SATA II port.

Well the cable is the same but I think most SATA III have a clip on them while SATA II does not. Keeps it from coming out so easily. But this don't affect transfer speeds at all. Howerver, to get full SATA III speeds you want SATA III on the MOBO and the device. The SATA II port is only going to go that fast. But unless you are using High end SSDs you are going to notice any loss in speed.

[Glenwing]

No, I meant does it matter which one you put it one.

 

Ah, misread.  No not really although putting it on the CPU is generally easier.

[Glenwing]

Why do more people use Cherry MX switches than ALPS switches?

 

Probably because more keyboards use Cherry MX switches than ALPS switches.

[Magic8Ball]

This is becoming my favorite thread here ever.

 

When we say 22 nm processor, what part of the CPU is 22 nm?

[Godlygamer23]

This is becoming my favorite thread here ever.

When we say 22 nm processor, what part of the CPU is 22 nm?

Each transistor.

[joelthezombie15]

What is delidding a CPU? and How do you do it and should i do it? and how hard is it?

[HirgaLTTki]

But I cant put my video card in a 4x slot. Sound cards should be above cideo cards just about always so that the cideo card can suck in as much air as it can and the sound card passivly cools by letting heat rise up into the top fans in your case.

That makes more sense then putting a video card in an 8x for example and running a sound card in a 16x.

 

You can put it in the last slot. I believe its 16x right? or get a USB soundcard

[Godlygamer23]

What is delidding a CPU? and How do you do it and should i do it? and how hard is it?

Removing the heat spreader on the chip. If its not soldered on, you can use a razor blade. If you know how far to go when doing it, it's not difficult.

[Enderman]

Well, you can just google most questions and you get answers. 

 

I used Mandriva, Red Hat, Ubuntu and i can say that any 10+ year old can adapt to linux the same way you adapt to windows. Tho now i am not using linux.

maybe if that 10 year old knows terminal coding...

linux is practically useless unless you know how to use terminal vim and root properly

[Godlygamer23]

linux is practically useless unless you know how to use terminal vim and root properly

Wrong.

[Nit3Rid3R]

 

My question: Why are there different keyboard layouts (UK, US etc?)

 

Because the UK layout has the pound sign and the US has the Dollar sign, where's german and sweden have extra letters on the keyboard.