Posts by Coconut Monkey

Any CPU above 3000Mhz or 3000+ will give you suberb performance with that video card. Any CPU that starts doubling in price for the next model up in that 3000 and above range is probably not worth the investment for a few extra frames per second.

I don't suppose there's any kind of warranty on this, considering you just bought it?

(if there isn't, might I recommend an external mouse instead?)

You should definitely remove any old thermal paste or pads, otherwise heat transfer will be adversely affected. Methylated spirits, isopropyl alcohol or even acetone (use with caution!) applied with a lint-free cotton cloth should make short work of any leftover gunk. Make sure you apply the new paste properly. Here's a guide.

The temps you report are perfectly fine at first glance (I'm assuming you have an LGA-775 Prescott, which are rather warm anyway), but what do they go up to under load?

To really stress your system, a test like Prime95 will do the job.

Download CPU-Z.

Cas Latency will not effect compatibility at all. It will only effect the response rate of the memory chips themselves. If you have a motherboard which can't cater to the full reponse speed of a particular RAM module, the module will work at an accordingly reduced response timing.

Don't you mean increased response timing Catweazle? :p

The CL (and other timings) can be a problem if you have sticks of RAM with a different rating. If you try, for example, running CL3 RAM with CL2 RAM, you may experience instability if the cheaper RAM cannot handle CL2. Then of course you just change to timings that both sticks can handle.