66
votes
Accepted
I accidentally inserted RAM while PC was booting up! Worst case scenario?
I'd have just taken a deep breath… and booted it again to see if it worked. You kind of skipped the simplest test & ran for the full paranoia.
If something's fried you find out right away. If it's ...
- 50k
32
votes
Will the CPU become unusable if left without power for an extended period of time?
No, a CPU should be fine for many years if kept in appropriate conditions like the original packaging. Most of a CPU used an extremely advanced process analogous to printing - and which are then ...
- 71.4k
27
votes
Accepted
Computer turns on but no signal in monitor
I believe your problem is that you bought an "AMD Athlon X4 860K" processor expecting it to have integrated graphics, however it does not. As you have listed your parts, there is no GPU in your part ...
- 388
20
votes
I accidentally inserted RAM while PC was booting up! Worst case scenario?
You're fine. And lucky.
If something had gotten damaged, it would not get past the BIOS. If things would've broken, it would either be the RAM chip itself or the motherboard.
Both will cause error ...
- 62.4k
19
votes
Accepted
How much power output can an 8-pin to 2x 6+2-pin connector output?
I did a significant amount of research on my own, as well as learning a lot about basic electrical concepts to figure out the answer to my question. First off, I am not an electrician and my answer ...
- 546
15
votes
Will the CPU become unusable if left without power for an extended period of time?
The only "volatile" information in an unpowered modern CPU is any MicroCode software that is loaded in the CPU as an update to the hardcoded instruction-set of the CPU.
(This MicroCode ...
- 32k
12
votes
Computer turns on but no signal in monitor
The problem you have is that your CPU does not have integrated graphics, and you don't have a graphics card. Rather than invest in a new, expensive processor and potentially risk buying a processor ...
- 121
10
votes
Will the CPU become unusable if left without power for an extended period of time?
The question doesn't mention the Intel CPU type, but the Intel datasheet should provide some guidance.
Taking the example of an Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E5-2620 v3, the Intel® Xeon® Processor E5-1600, E5-...
- 456
9
votes
I accidentally inserted RAM while PC was booting up! Worst case scenario?
There isn't any guarantee that your RAM is fine at this point simply because it's booting.
Burn a CD or USB of memtest, boot your computer off of it and run it overnight. If there aren't any errors, ...
- 248
6
votes
Accepted
8 pin CPU power connector has different form on one end
I guess the upper pins (the terms "upper", "lower", "left" and "right" refer to your original photo) are connected with yellow cables and are supposed to transmit +12V. The bottom pins are connected ...
- 75.7k
6
votes
How does a motherboard become an open circuit after shutdown of PC/laptop?
Modern computers are not like typical electrical appliances. They never truly turn 100% off. There are reason for this, but that is outside the scope of the question, but this is done to accommodate ...
- 73.6k
6
votes
How does a motherboard become an open circuit after shutdown of PC/laptop?
The Power Switch is not an off/switch.
When you press it a circuit is completed and send a signal. It has a spring under it so when it is released the circuit is open again.
So a very short signal is ...
- 159k
6
votes
Will the CPU become unusable if left without power for an extended period of time?
I had a Pentium 3 CPU disconnected and in a closet between 2006-2020, and it still booted fine :) that's 14 years disconnected.
- 1,735
5
votes
Accepted
Will a LGA 775 socket processor work on a modern motherboard?
It won't. "Different socket" literally means that the CPUs use different electric connections – different sizes, pin counts and locations, signals, etc. Compare LGA 775 and LGA 1366:
- 465k
5
votes
DDR4 ram, how fast is too fast?
Cause its faster, and people are willing to pay more. While the article was written about DDR3 - puget systems found little difference and in some cases worse performance with overclocked ram except ...
- 130k
5
votes
Accepted
Missing screw holes in Seagate 8 TB hard drive
I have stumbled across this question when I was looking for a solution for the same problem with my NAS, namely Synology DS211j.
This problem is not new at all. High capacity HDDs now have relocated ...
5
votes
Accepted
Why is airflow always front in, back out?
There's a few reasons:
CPU Fans generally aren't revesable on their mounts on the heatsink and a lot now work in a 90 degree orinitation to the CPU itself, meaning they'd either blow 'front to back' ...
- 6,803
5
votes
Accepted
Do Ryzen CPUs need graphics cards?
The R5 2600 is a CPU without an integrated GPU. The Ryzen 5 2600x, 3600 and 3600x are the same. They need a discrete video card. For Ryzen processors, there needs to have a "G" suffix (ex. Ryzen 5 ...
- 1,004
5
votes
What motherboard can support dual RTX 4090 GPUs?
The motherboard won't really reduce the performance of your GPUs if both PCI-E ports are x16 Gen4. This is what the RTX 4090 is meant for. Some of the motherboards sold today have even newer PCI-E ...
- 59
5
votes
Would any grounding be necessary through the motherboard standoffs in a wooden PC case?
Grounding is a bi-directional thing.
You are connecting the motherboard to the chassis, and the chassis in turn should connect to the local power ground via the power supply metal-to-metal contact. ...
- 93.8k
4
votes
Accepted
Is it OK to get a PSU that provides more wattage than is needed? {not a}
Absolutely, yes. The rating of a power supply is the maximum that it can deliver. If its maximum is not required, it will deliver whatever is asked.
It is not a problem with computer power supplies, ...
- 17.7k
4
votes
Accepted
Problems Inserting Wireless Card into Mini PCI express port.
You have a Mini-PCIe card (for a laptop).
You're trying to put it in a full size PCIe slot (which looks like a desktop motherboard).
Laptops have mini-PCI slots. Desktops have the full size PCIe ...
- 74.2k
4
votes
How to physically label hard-disks?
It is perfectly safe to put glue-backed paper labels on hard drives. There is nothing inside a computer that will get hot enough to ignite paper. Heck, even hard drives themselves have paper and ...
- 73.6k
4
votes
Accepted
Is it practically possible to shorten computer Bits?
But of course, all computers can read is 1s (on) and 0s (off).
Is there a way to use x's and y's for storage / something?
All of this is my original idea.
and comment
I just thought it would be a ...
- 7,286
3
votes
Accepted
What does the P at the end of the I3-6098P means?
What is the meaning of the Intel Processor P Suffix?
P used to mean a (Core 2) processor without an integrated GPU.
It was later redifined to to mean a processor with a slower integrated GPU.
P - ...
- 159k
3
votes
Accepted
Does the weight of the CPU heat sinks effect the motherboard or cpu in the long run?
First, the heat sink is not actually attached to the CPU, but rather simply presses against the CPU (which a bit of thermal paste in between, to reduce the amount of air in the coupling between the ...
- 30k
3
votes
Accepted
DDR4 ram, how fast is too fast?
You are correct, for DDR4, any speed faster than 2400 MT/s (1200MHz per channel) requires overclocking.
This is because the JEDEC standard for DDR4 only goes up to PC4-2400, so in order to run the ...
- 36.4k
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible