shuttle ak32 v2.1

[gentry_joey]

Is there a way i can make this budget board work well. It had great reviews when i bought it but it seems a lil crashy and slow sometimes. What do i need to do in bios to make it work right.

[tony_j15]

Depends on what you want it to do. More info please.

[gentry_joey]

i play alot of games. i just want my pc to run as stable as possible with the best performance i can get.

[Mitchell]

I have the same board with an XP1700 and it works flawlessly. Never had a crash yet running WinXP Home.

Often the motherboard is blamed for problems caused by something else such as software or other hardware.

Some things to check out:

Make sure you install the latest VIA 4 in 1 drivers. Are your drivers for video graphics, audio, LAN, etc. up to date?

Have you checked to see what your processor temp is at idle and full load? I use speedfan to monitor mine and I run at about 47C full load and 41C idle.

If all the previous are OK, you may need to experiment with the BIOS settings, but I generally went with the defaults on most everything and it works fine.

[gentry_joey]

ok thats wat i was thinkin. my cpu runs at 50-56 degrees celcius prob due to the fact i dont have enough thermal paste on my cpu

[beppodmime]

Well, you really don't want to gob up on the thermal paste on the CPU. The basic function thermal paste provides is to fill in the gaps between the HSF and the CPU die. Any more than is necessary to provide this function, and it will actually insulate the CPU from the HSF, causing all kinds of havoc with your thermal transfer and cooling. Arctic Silver has some pretty good instructions on their website for applying thermal paste, and they can be used in a pretty general sense.

http://www.arcticsilver.com/arctic_s...structions.htm

My thinking is if the system has been running awhile, you may want to just re-apply the thermal grease, as the old stuff may be getting kind of chalky. Just make sure you clean the HSF and the CPU die well with some Naptha (Zippo lighter fluid) , or Acetone (not nail polish remover, as it tends to have other stuff in it, like vitamin E with aloe, and I don't think your CPU needs to be moisturized), and then give it one last once over with rubbing alchohol to remove any left over residue.

Also, you may want to clean any dust out of the HSF, and make sure there's not alot of dust inside the system, maybe clogging the fan on the video card (common).

[gentry_joey]

Video card is brand new and i really need to clean cpu and use some more thermal paste. When i first put it on i got it everywhere and messed everything up. So i only am usin left over thermal paste. LOL. This is my FIRST pc i have ever built and i built it with no help. I knew wat ti buy from studying Tiger Direct Magz lol. I learn easy but i had a hard time with the mobo/processor. I had to ask my teacher wtf was goin on because my mobo was touchin the metal thing behind it. I never had the lil gold jack things on it. I had no clue wat they were for. But i know through xp how to put 1 together now so my next pc will own.

[Mitchell]

I didn't realize it was a recent build. That changes things then. It probably has something to do with that.

Take out your mobo and remove all the spilled extra paste from the cpu and fan with alcohol and a rag/flux brush and let it dry, then reapply only a dab. Be careful of static electrcity.

Yes, you need to use the standoffs on the MB. I'm suprised you didn't burn it up when it was touching the case. If you have metal standoffs, you can use them without any insulator. I don't have any on mine. Use as many as possible and don't tighten them up real tight, just snug.

You are lucky!

[gentry_joey]

i never turned it on when it was touching the case. It DID NOT look right to me so i just left it alone. Im not completly dumb

[Mitchell]

Good, I thought maybe you had applied power!


Hope everything works out!