To NAS or not to NAS, that is the question.

[PatrThom]

my 570X Pro4 and my 370X Pro4 are both incompatible because of how large the bridge heatsinks are on ASRock motherboards.

I would like to know more about this. Mainly because there are actual standards and keep-out zones, and if they’re not respecting that stuff, I want to know.

...but I’m at work rn, so I probably won’t be able to do any research until this evening anyway blaaaaah.

—Patrick

 

[Tinwhistler]

Also - can someone recommend a good site to buy prebuilt computers from?

 

[Gared]

View attachment 34687

I said good site... but I also noticed a distinct lack of options last night.

 

[Gared]

I would like to know more about this. Mainly because there are actual standards and keep-out zones, and if they’re not respecting that stuff, I want to know.

...but I’m at work rn, so I probably won’t be able to do any research until this evening anyway blaaaaah.

—Patrick

Let me make sure my model numbers are all in order here:
The motherboard in my computer is the ASRock X370 Pro4.
The motherboard I bought for Aislynn's computer is the ASRock X570M Pro4
The video card I bought is the ASRock Phantom Gaming Radeon RX570 (8GB, DirectX 12).

Several issues that I've run into are:
1. The motherboard locations of the RAM slots on both motherboards are so close to the CPU slot that the Wraith Stealth coolers they ship with Ryzen chips block one of the four slots. You're ok if you switch to an EVO 212, but even then the slots are so close together on the board that you have to skip slots with RAM and can't use all four regardless.
2. The X570M Pro4 has two PCIE slots that can handle a video card, but there is a conflict with each of them. The first slot, closer inboard to the CPU, has a long heatsink that runs almost the length of the board, which is too tall for the profile of the video card's onboard heatsink/cooling sleeve. The second slot, almost on the very edge of the board, butts up right against all of the chassis fan jumpers/case-front switch controllers/etc., and that cooling sleeve drops right down and blocks them all.
3. The X370 Pro4 has two slots as well (and was supposed to support SLI, I believe), but neither of them has enough length-clearance, before you get to another big-ass ASRock branded heatsink that runs the width of the frickin' expansion slot space.

I'm really not sure whether the ASRock RX570 is at fault, or the two motherboards, but I will say that the 750Ti that I'm still rocking from a while back fits both boards just fine.

 

[PatrThom]

(these are all about the X570M Pro4)

-Many motherboards these days have lousy RAM slot placement, by which I mean that your GPU will frequently obstruct you from opening your RAM clips. Usually no way around it other than to install your RAM first, then GPU after.
-According to your manual, he best RAM configuration is for only 2 sticks installed in slots A2 (2nd from CPU) and B2 (4th from CPU). Won't that give you a little more room?
-Are you mounting the cooler with the cable bump facing the back of the computer? If you mount the cooler with the bump facing the front of your case, it will interfere with the RAM slots. Page 15 of the manual shows the cooler mounted with the cable bump facing back. And I already know how easy it can be to mess that up.
-You said you can't fit all your RAM in there. Are you using RAM with ginormous heat spreaders or something? MLB makers don't always leave room for those.
-Graphics cards are also supposed to be made to conform to standard dimensions. If your card is bumping up against a heatsink on the board, then either the card or heatsink (or both?) is installed/constructed improperly. That "M.2 Armor" heatsink is removable, was it not reattached properly, or do you have an M.2 stick under there that's too thick for the shield to fully seat?

Why did you get a 570GPU instead of a 580GPU? Was there that much difference in the price? The 580 is something like 20% faster.

--Patrick

 

[Gared]

(these are all about the X570M Pro4)

-Many motherboards these days have lousy RAM slot placement, by which I mean that your GPU will frequently obstruct you from opening your RAM clips. Usually no way around it other than to install your RAM first, then GPU after.
-According to your manual, he best RAM configuration is for only 2 sticks installed in slots A2 (2nd from CPU) and B2 (4th from CPU). Won't that give you a little more room?
-Are you mounting the cooler with the cable bump facing the back of the computer? If you mount the cooler with the bump facing the front of your case, it will interfere with the RAM slots. Page 15 of the manual shows the cooler mounted with the cable bump facing back. And I already know how easy it can be to mess that up.
-You said you can't fit all your RAM in there. Are you using RAM with ginormous heat spreaders or something? MLB makers don't always leave room for those.
-Graphics cards are also supposed to be made to conform to standard dimensions. If your card is bumping up against a heatsink on the board, then either the card or heatsink (or both?) is installed/constructed improperly. That "M.2 Armor" heatsink is removable, was it not reattached properly, or do you have an M.2 stick under there that's too thick for the shield to fully seat?

Why did you get a 570GPU instead of a 580GPU? Was there that much difference in the price? The 580 is something like 20% faster.

--Patrick

Must remember to come back to this later/tomorrow. For now, assume that I'm so far behind on building my own computers that I'm just gonna duck on out and buy something for now, and use these parts to upgrade my computer, so we can use what's currently running my computer for a server.

 

[PatrThom]

Western Digital is in trouble again for misreporting their drives' specs:

[T]he new complaint is that Western Digital calls 7200RPM drives "5400 RPM Class"—and the drives' own firmware report 5400 RPM via the SMART interface. [...] Spectral analysis of the recorded audio [of a spinning drive] using Adobe Audition showed a baseline frequency of 120Hz for two models of WD 8TB "5400 RPM class" drive. 120 cycles/sec multiplied to 60 secs/min comes to 7,200 cycles/min. So in other words, these "5400 RPM class" drives really were spinning at 7,200rpm.

--Patrick