# lets see your rig



## rmarlisz

show us your rig. i cant show mine, im rmaing my mobo. ill show u an old pic if u want though.


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## crazijoe

The specs are in my sig and yes, that is a fanless CPU heatsink.


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## forcifer

what heatsink is that? does it work?


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## crazijoe

forcifer said:


> what heatsink is that? does it work?


It is the ThermalTake Sonic Tower. I works wonderfully. 
Idle - 44 C
Load - 56 C
The key is the realitive position of the heatsink to the rear case exhaust fan. The fan is pulling the air through the fins of the heatsink.


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## superflysmith

I've got the TT Tower 112 which is suppose to be fanless. I can run my Prescott processor without a fan but when I put a load on it, it begins to get kind of hot. But that might be because everything is so cramp in my case that there is no air flow. I'll see if I can run with know fan after I get my new case.


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## forcifer

ne1 else? also, if u hav a digital camera u can upload it. crap, the only good pic of my rig i got is a REALLY blurry 1. sry, but i gotta wait till fri or mon wen i hav my mobo.


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## forcifer

*here is mine*

here it is. this is with most lites off


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## forcifer

*aww*

only me n joe? poop


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## crazijoe

I'd like to see some more.


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## 95five-0

Here is mine



















I have done some more to it since including some much need wire managment.


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## forcifer

kool. its not bad. u can do wut i did n put all extra wires in hd cage lol


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## forcifer

omg. NO 1 ELSE WANTS TO SHOW!!

Merry Christmas!


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## forcifer

here is my newly modded case =). PLS MOR CASES!


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## Mullet Man

Here is my rig that is actually a case mod for a Dell.

Dell Dimension 2350
Pentium 4 2.20 CPU
A-Power 400 Watt PSU
1GB RAM
BFG GeForce FX5500 256MB PCI video card
Creative Soundblaster audio card
Soft Data V92 56K Smart modem
52X CD-RW
36X CD-Rom
Aspire X-Dreamer II yellow case

Here is a pic....................................


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## cainmosozihcs

crazijoe said:


> It is the ThermalTake Sonic Tower. I works wonderfully.
> Idle - 44 C
> Load - 56 C
> The key is the realitive position of the heatsink to the rear case exhaust fan. The fan is pulling the air through the fins of the heatsink.


What type of thermal compound are you using? I know it can make a big difference in heat transfer. I personally like the Arctic Silver Ceramique... Ive got a p4 3.2 with the stock heatsink and it idles around 22 C and at load it doesn't go much over 37 C.


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## V0lt

My computer is a piece of crap- it doesn't even have side covers. I'm not even going to bother posting it.


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## crazijoe

cainmosozihcs said:


> What type of thermal compound are you using? I know it can make a big difference in heat transfer. I personally like the Arctic Silver Ceramique... Ive got a p4 3.2 with the stock heatsink and it idles around 22 C and at load it doesn't go much over 37 C.


Call me old fashion but I just use the plain white stuff. I really have never had any problems with cooling. I have used stock Intel HS/Fans without any problems and I think they work fine. Most of the problems I see are with poor case cooling. It's hard to cool a CPU with hot air.


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## cainmosozihcs

Yeah you are right that most overheating is do to bad case cooling. But for that extra boost of cooling getting good thermal compound is a good idea.


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## Metz

Built this early october 05. Went together easy as can be, and couldnt be more happy with its performance.:heartlove A Sparkle 550 SLI psu and 2x1GB OCZ Titanium is next on my list.

- AMD Athlon X2 4200+ @ 2.65ghz * Zalman Fan
- ASUS A8N-SLI Premium
- 2x512 OCZ Titanium 2.5-3-2-5
- eVGA 7800 GT CO (490/1260)
- ATA100 80GB HD Bottleneck :-/
- Onboard ACS97 Sound
- Logitech X-530 5.1 Speajers
- Artic Cooling Silentium T2 case
- Modded 350w (450) Artic Cooling PSU
- Sony 16x DVD-RW









lol, i need to redo all my connections and clean them wires up! :4-thatsba 

High res side view:
http://www.addictlabs.com/up/store/x2side4.jpg

3DMark05: 8473

CPU Idle - 33c
CPU Load - 54c

GPU Idle - 40c
GPU Load - 58c

*Temps were taking with current clocks after a 3DMark05 benchmark.


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## what_stanger?

*blurry shot*

blurry pic of mine:

  

can't post from freeimagehosting i see?
or is some option in my account i have to change?

my rig picture will be on the next page, uploaded to techsupports server i guess.


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## what_stanger?

same blurry pic uploaded


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## forcifer

wut case is that? looks alot like joes


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## what_stanger?

antec super lanboy, el flimsy-o


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## JokerFMJ

That Zalman fan looks huge. I'm planning on putting one in my new computer i'm building... Do you think i'll have any trouble placing it in this case?




Metz said:


> Built this early october 05. Went together easy as can be, and couldnt be more happy with its performance.:heartlove A Sparkle 550 SLI psu and 2x1GB OCZ Titanium is next on my list.
> 
> - AMD Athlon X2 4200+ @ 2.65ghz * Zalman Fan
> - ASUS A8N-SLI Premium
> - 2x512 OCZ Titanium 2.5-3-2-5
> - eVGA 7800 GT CO (490/1260)
> - ATA100 80GB HD Bottleneck :-/
> - Onboard ACS97 Sound
> - Logitech X-530 5.1 Speajers
> - Artic Cooling Silentium T2 case
> - Modded 350w (450) Artic Cooling PSU
> - Sony 16x DVD-RW
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> lol, i need to redo all my connections and clean them wires up! :4-thatsba
> 
> High res side view:
> http://www.addictlabs.com/up/store/x2side4.jpg
> 
> 3DMark05: 8473
> 
> CPU Idle - 33c
> CPU Load - 54c
> 
> GPU Idle - 40c
> GPU Load - 58c
> 
> *Temps were taking with current clocks after a 3DMark05 benchmark.


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## forcifer

nope. make sure your mobo will work though. id reccomend an antec case insted. x navigator is also good if u get a new psu. for that price, id reccomend 
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811129154


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## Sgt_Grim_Reaper

Yeah, some mobos have capacitors (MSI is one) that can get in the way. Even touching them is bad. I had a P4MA something once that would not take most aftermarket Heatsinks, especially the one you have pictured. Bummer.


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## K-B

Here's mine...nothing really fancy.


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## Sgt_Grim_Reaper

kbalona said:


> Here's mine...nothing really fancy.


Oooh... Check out how that side fan blows straight on the CPU. Wish mine did that.


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## K-B

Actually I don't have a fan on the side right now, just the air duct so the cpu fan can pull air from outside the case instead of drawing potentially warm air from inside. The case is an Ultra UV Wizard from Tigerdirect. It's not really high quality, although I can't complain about it. I havn't had any cooling probs, (not that I have high-heat sys) right now cpu is at 26c mainboard 38c. Oh, when I got it was on sale for free after rebate-to good to pass up:sayyes:


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## Sgt_Grim_Reaper

kbalona said:


> Actually I don't have a fan on the side right now, just the air duct so the cpu fan can pull air from outside the case instead of drawing potentially warm air from inside. The case is an Ultra UV Wizard from Tigerdirect. It's not really high quality, although I can't complain about it. I havn't had any cooling probs, (not that I have high-heat sys) right now cpu is at 26c mainboard 38c. Oh, when I got it was on sale for free after rebate-to good to pass up:sayyes:


Definately too good to pass up.


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## forcifer

i also noticed that u dont hav a graphics card. wer is it?


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## K-B

It's onboard, forcifer. (see my specs, on the left) I don't like it, either.


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## plec

http://community.webshots.com/photo/288125173/1288125624062460440qbrfpu

is my side panel.


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## forcifer

nice. did the case come with the fish?


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## forcifer

8 cases =/. no1 seems to look in this forum nemore X(


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## plec

it's a Lian Li case, with the fish sidepanel that you can't seem to get anymore. 

Ooh - and in the background, you can just make out my heat reactive case fan! (hmm, geeky much!)


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## scottsda

found it -razz: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811112097


cool case, too bad they dont have any dragons or monsters or anything like that.....


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## manofsorrow

Show me yours and Ill show you mine.

[img=http://img455.imageshack.us/img455/8264/case18cb.th.jpg]


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## forcifer

nice led and water cooling. mine on first page lol. need to update mine


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## blackduck30

here is a pic of my current computer, nothing special but it does the job for me :grin: , looks better with the lights out :4-dontkno


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## Fr4665

Here it is, its packed with way to much stuff 3drives 6hdd's all pci card slots used and an x800xl its more a working rig

http://us.a1.yahoofs.com/users/429d07d1z78e72524/9c11/__sr_/8c8b.jpg?ph4mW.DBWD.ZMZuI
the work rig with the super duper cable management ... not


http://www.freewebs.com/fr4665/DSCI0113.JPG
and this things 2.5 years old i posted it up in 2k4 its just a simple lcd mod and is being used by my friend for playing DoD1.6 as we speak and i get awsome looks at lans cause its so practical


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## K-B

first link is dead


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## Fr4665

fixed, yahoo wont let me direct link


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## oohms

Here are some pics from my old rig (not the one in my sig)
I cant take any photos of my current ones because i have only got a phone camera atm :sad:


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## Fr4665

im digging the color combo on that its like rainbowglowyish


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## oohms

Heres another one from a more recent lan party :grin:


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## DR.Death

here is my rig http://www.techpowerup.com/gallery/151


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## xg3nx

let me go take a pic... in the bottom of my case i have a 12 led stick of sequenced LEDs.. its cool..


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## xg3nx

*my rig*

here is my rig... i burnt out my xfx geforce 6800 XT so... im using the onboard rite now... 
























Aspire X-Infinity Case -- u likey? rate my rig! 1 to 10

forgive me, they were taken on my cell fone in night capture mode = bad quality


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## xg3nx

who doesnt any1 view this thread anymore?


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## forcifer

=/ those links arnt working. sorry


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## ebackhus

http://www.one-roomstudios.com/home/AUT_0449.JPG
http://www.one-roomstudios.com/home/AUT_0450.JPG
http://www.one-roomstudios.com/home/AUT_0451.JPG
http://www.one-roomstudios.com/home/AUT_0452.JPG
http://www.one-roomstudios.com/home/AUT_0453.JPG


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## forcifer

hehe there is the sexy beast. ive been wanting to see your case for a while lol. nice job with it.


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## milehile

This is my secondary system. I don't have any round IDE cables for it but I do plan on getting some.


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## manofsorrow

waay off topic here but a quick question for xg3nx, how is your 64 bit wiondows going for you? Ive been thinking about the trade, but I'm a little weary about driver and software support.


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## ebackhus

I'd suggest holding off on XP64 and just waiting for Vista. XP64 doesn't offer much improvement and isn't an officially "new" operating system. Vista will bring about more new software, driver support, and general usability.


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## SgtSprinkles

Heres my pc:


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## SgtSprinkles

i made a video of my computer. heres the link to it: http://media.putfile.com/Dans-l337-computer hope u like it!


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## ebackhus

Man, I wish my GPU were at 39c!


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## manofsorrow

how did you manage to get your gpu to 39?


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## SgtSprinkles

well, it was really easy, and now i can get it to 38c. in the pictures you can't really see all the fans that are in there.and i also tried to hide as many cordz as i could. with my new 600watt power supply, it has flex force cordz witch are very thin and movable. so heres how i got it to 38c.
STEP ONE:
hide your cords, like above cdrom, behind mobo, anywhere that with not effect air flow.
TWO:
get urself some fans. i bought 5 new LED fans, and with my case i can use 5 fans at once, i'm going to mod it out so i can put my 6 extra fans in.
THREE:
install your fans so that you have cold air flowing in from the front and fans blowing out the hot air. on mine i have 3 fans blowing in cool air -2 in the front and 1 on the side- and 2 fans blowing out the warm air -back of case-

thats basicly wat i did, the thing that helped the most was sleeving my cordz, so their all compacted and not all over the place. i hope these steps will help you with cooling ur GPU to 38c. i'll be modding out my case more so i can have 6 more fans.

the fans are 80mm


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## ebackhus

*A tip on rounded cables*

Rounded cables, wile pretty and less restrictive, are actually a bad thing!

The concept behind 80-conductor flat cables is to insert a ground wire between every data wire. This prevents cross-talk and allows more data to flow for higher speed and accuracy. Rounded cables defeat this by putting all the wires close together again. I'm planning to go back to flat cables ASAP.


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## manofsorrow

I just upgraded my gpu and im waiting for the money to buy a new water block for it. For the time being im going to rotate my window so that my side fan will be pushing cool air right below the video card. since my cpu is water cooled i found out it only gives me 1c of cooling if my fan is blowing over it wich could be put to much better use cooling my gpu


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## manofsorrow

also I agree with ebackhus about the round cables. they definatly encourage cross-talk


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## SgtSprinkles

yes thats right, you should not get round cables! my last power supply had round cables, i'm not talking about some little cable, these things are thick, blocking about 100% of air flow. my gpu has gone from 45-48c at idle with the round cables, and with the flexforce cables (thin, not round) i now have 39-38c.
it is a big difference and with all my fans it make everything in my computer a lot better. for example, cpu, it is overclocked by .1 GHz, i got a nice copper heatsink and a 80mm fan on it, and thermal paste. it keeps it nice and cool.


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## K-B

One could argue plenty about that crosstalk theory....but I'll not start it.


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## ebackhus

KB, fire up a new thread! I'm interested in what you have to say on it.


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## SgtSprinkles

come on u guys lets get some pc pics in here!!


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## manofsorrow

I finally installed my waterblock pretty decent idle temp it you ask me. the highest ive had it is 42 while playing oblivion


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## ricelover

here's mine...


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## ebackhus

Very nice! I also have an Aspire case and it rocks!


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## forcifer

Aspire pwnz! i really need to update my pic


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## Nutritious

I'd post my system, but it looks almost exactly like eback's...


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## atvfreak19902

wow, alot of those are really nice... ill have to post mine up when i finish it...


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## ebackhus

I just took new photos with the new monitor in place. I'll post soon.

Ok, http://www.one-roomstudios.com/home

Anything with AUT infront is a PC picture.


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## jnob

I been meaning to post my P4s for days.... Here are a couple old pics of the original P4 Prescott with MSI board before I took it out of this case and put my new 630 and ECS board in this case. Now this processor and board are in a thermaltake soprano, quite nice, I'll get updated pics of both soon! I just gotta remember to take pics at night when they look good. This was before I took much care in keeping them neat:


RAIDMAX Cobra 822W
Raidmax 420W w/ 13A +12V (heh)
MSI-Neo 865PE 2-V
2GB Crucial RAM
2x80mm stock exhaust
1x80mm stock intake
case was $50 with the power supply two years ago, best deal ever.

and yes that is high gloss car finish paint job.


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## TulShulty

have goten some great ideas from here. When can aford it I plan on buying another tower. I want to get a full size tower and start moding it. Will start looking around to see if i can pick one up at a thrift store or something. Have seen many but they haven't been the size I want. I have everything to go in it so only need the shell. Lots of time on my hands to work on it when finaly get one. Will post a pic whenever I get it done.


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## ebackhus

@Tul

Look around (assuming you live in the USofA) for a Goodwill Computer Works store. I buy TONS of parts there from cases to cards to systems. Great prices and they test what the sell to make sure it works as it should. Most of what's in my server (case, motherboards, CPUs, RAM, DVD-ROM, PSU) all came from that store. I just supplied the IDE cables! You can get great stuff for little cash and is a great resource for cases to practice mods with.


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## deleted151010

sick boxes - ill get mine up soon.


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## forcifer

finally decided to update pic. i got as many views as possible EXCEPT temps (doh!). ill get those later. http://img86.imageshack.us/img86/1424/dscf28332qa.th.jpg
http://img154.imageshack.us/img154/3604/dscf28362ym.jpg
http://img154.imageshack.us/img154/6127/dscf28353ve.jpg
http://img86.imageshack.us/img86/3958/dscf28376ev.jpg
http://img86.imageshack.us/img86/1143/dscf28344xx.jpg
image shack was messing up. sorry about the links


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## atvfreak19902

*New...*




VGA Temp
CPU Temp
HDD Temp




2x512mb Corsair RAM
ASUS A8N-VM CSM GF6150 939 MoBo
80G|WD 7K 8M SATA2 WD800JD
CPU AMD|A64 3000+ 1.8G 939 512K
CASE JPAC|412BLACK 500W
Samsung DVD/CD-R/RW
Soundblaster 24bit 

Finally got it setup... total was 500 from newegg, I dont have time for gaming soo its not too special


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## ebackhus

It's nice!

I will warn you, though, about cases from BCC (Broadway Comp Corp.) because I've gone through a few. BE CAREFUL ABOUT THE WINDOWS!! They are also a bit flimsy, but are great considering the price.


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## Lifeismusic

SgtSprinkles said:


> i made a video of my computer. heres the link to it: http://media.putfile.com/Dans-l337-computer hope u like it!


Hey, is you cathode tube flickering, or is is flashing with the music? I couldn't tell, 'cause the timing seemed to be off just a little. If is is with the music, what did you use to achieve that?


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## Nutritious

Lifeismusic said:


> Hey, is you cathode tube flickering, or is is flashing with the music? I couldn't tell, 'cause the timing seemed to be off just a little. If is is with the music, what did you use to achieve that?


I'm not at home so I don't have my comp in front of me, but some cathodes have a PCI controller with a mic on it. There's a button on it to set it to ON, OFF, or sound-activated. There's also a switch to increase/decrease mic sensitivity. This way you can have it flash to any music playing.


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## Lifeismusic

Yeah, I did some research, and found a drive bay controller that controls fans and lights, and can plug straight into the sound card. I think I'm gonna get that...:grin: Thanks for the reply though


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## Real_Bullet

cainmosozihcs said:


> What type of thermal compound are you using? I know it can make a big difference in heat transfer. I personally like the Arctic Silver Ceramique... Ive got a p4 3.2 with the stock heatsink and it idles around 22 C and at load it doesn't go much over 37 C.



I was wondering if its getting good air flow in his PC, seems kinda high temperature since theirs all that cooling and stuff in the case as shown in the pic, mine is packed in and on a heavy load, it has 3 fans, 2 in the back, 1 on side, plus theirs the PSU fan, and mine only manages to get around 32c-38c and never go above 40c.


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## scottsda

http://www.freewebs.com/scottsda/

this is my newest rig, need to clean up the wires a little bit. Im getting a new heatsink soon, and maybe some lights so ill post that at a later date.


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## BrianTwigley

Heres a few pics of my unfinished new PC, a 2Ghz Celeron and an MSI 648 Max DDR Mobo. Thats all I have so far, because being a 14 year old boy with no money isn't good!! 

At the moment i'm on an Athlon XP 1900+ which only runs at 1200Mhz on this board, which annoys me but i'll get a new board some day!!

PS - Sorry about the date in the picture, I only just realised!!!


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## BrianTwigley

Also, Heres a Pic of My Current PC. Ignore the PIII sticker its not a PIII. Its an AMD Athon XP 1900+. I had to relocate the Mobo in this case when i got a new Desk and i cant fit a tower =(


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## laboye

My case is very similar to atvfreak's. My side window is different though. I'll take pics when I finish rebuilding it. Specs are in 'My System' on the left.


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## Rashiki

> Sorry about the date in the picture


Whoa, so that's what computers look like in the future :laugh:


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## BrianTwigley

Lol, I hope not


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## potticus

why the hell do i seem to have 20x the number of cables in my case compared to everyone else? if i manage to get a picture of mine, all you'd see is squiggle. 

dammmmmm annoying that. i got a modular psu, and i still seem to have power cables everywhere! mental! i can't imagine i've got more to power than anyone else!


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## ebackhus

My system is a tangle of wires as well! I just haven't taken time to route and redirect things yet.


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## jnob

potticus said:


> why the hell do i seem to have 20x the number of cables in my case compared to everyone else? if i manage to get a picture of mine, all you'd see is squiggle.


Get a bag of zip ties and go to work routing the cables in areas that won't be visible, between or on top of cd roms, behind the back wall sometimes there's room if you remove the side panel behind the motherboard plate. It may seem impossible at first but zip ties help a lot!

If you look at my pic on page 4 you'll see it's pretty messy with wires, I'll try to get a new pic up with the wires all re-routed.


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## potticus

i took a look last night, and the main problem is my ide ribbons, my case is pretty big so its a pyar stretch to get it from mb to opticals at the top! any suggestions on that? i'll have another go with the modular modules (odd sounding ) and see what fun can be had.


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## jnob

You can buy round cables that will allow for more airflow and look better. However the cables all together in a bunch causes cross-talk which supposedly affects perfromance, but I've never noticed any difference between my round cables and flat cables. 

Also you can move your optical drives to the bottom of your 5.25" bay area rather than the top which might give you more room to work and allow you to tuck the cables away a little better.


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## potticus

i wish i could move the optical drives, but the top bay has an inbuilt bezel kinda thing to hide the crappy beige-ness of my drive 

going to aria today tho ... woo ... lets see what i can find!


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## alistairgill

potticus said:


> i wish i could move the optical drives, but the top bay has an inbuilt bezel kinda thing to hide the crappy beige-ness of my drive
> 
> going to aria today tho ... woo ... lets see what i can find!


I have a friend who works at Aria...

My case is a mess inside, need to take the time to sort out the cables, might try it later on...

My case is this model:










Though ive added some neons and changed the blue LED under the XCase logo for a red one.

I hate my case,

bought it 2 years ago and thought it was the shiznit, but now i just hate the damn thing!!


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## potticus

i know what you mean - once the shine wears off!

awaiting modding kit now, fans glaore and twice as many cables as i need, but then i guess its always useful to have spares! am in need of thumbscrews however, as i've mis-placed my screwdrivers!

aria do student discount. bastards. they tell me when i spend 7 quid, but neglect to mention it when i spend 200 

is there any way of mounting an extra case fan in the front if there isn't a designated space for it on the case? Can you get mods that allow that, like put it in HDD bays or someting?


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## leedude

Heres my rig, the room is was in a bit of a mess when i took those pics with my nokia n70.

Notice the huge 14cm fan at the front yep 14, not 12, 14!:grin:

CPU Temp is about 33-34 deg C. system is about 27. Graphics is about 49seems rather hot, is this bad for an nvidia 6800?


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## alistairgill

potticus said:


> is there any way of mounting an extra case fan in the front if there isn't a designated space for it on the case? Can you get mods that allow that, like put it in HDD bays or someting?


if you had room in the HDD bays im sure you could. you could even put it in the fdd / cd bays and then make holes in the face plates which cover empty bays to allow more air flow through the fan. I'm not exactly sure how you'd go about making the holes which you'd mount the fan with, but someone here can help with that i'd guess.


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## potticus

alistairgill said:


> if you had room in the HDD bays im sure you could. you could even put it in the fdd / cd bays and then make holes in the face plates which cover empty bays to allow more air flow through the fan. I'm not exactly sure how you'd go about making the holes which you'd mount the fan with, but someone here can help with that i'd guess.


i spent alllllllllll day saturday trying to do it, have given up on mounting it inside the case. the solid side panel is taking a trip to the workshop, to have a circle cut out of it, at the level of the hdd bays. should provide a bit of air around the back of them, and as this is the dustiest part of my pc, it'll be good to get some flow around there!

honestly, its digusting what you find in a pc if you really take it apart. i pulled ALL my case panels apart off the main chassis, looked like i had a mini mountain range in there.


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## ebackhus

leedude said:


> CPU Temp is about 33-34 deg C. system is about 27. Graphics is about 49seems rather hot, is this bad for an nvidia 6800?


My 6800GT idles mush higher than that (not good for me) so I wouldn't worry about that temp you're getting. GPUs in general will run much warmer than a CPU simply because they are wildly more complex.


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## manofsorrow

If im not mistaken, either antec or vantec makes brackets to hold a fan in the HDD bays


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## Triple6mafia

*My baby*

i think i added them right. The first pic was before my new heatsink and 3 tornado's lost my 3 blue lights , 2nd pic is with heat sink in. dont have a pic yet of my tidewater cooler for the vga yet but will repost in a couple days


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## ebackhus

Are the green/orange/red lights VU meters or lights on the RAM?


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## Triple6mafia

*on ram*

the lights on the ram show the activy of each module, so if I think the comp is locked up, i check the lights if there moving then i now everthing will be ok, red means there working hard green means go, ps how do i add a sig at the end of this, i made one the says specs of pc but i cant get to add


----------



## laboye

@ Triple6mafia : This is dont in your User CP on the top. Then click Edit Signature on the left. Also, what RAM is that? Sounds cool to have activity lights...


----------



## Triple6mafia

http://www.corsairmemory.com/corsair/products/specs/TWINX2048-3200C2PRO.pdf my ram

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820145587 can get here/ or bestbuy

http://www.corsairmemory.com/corsair/products/specs/TWINXP2048-3200C2.pdf what i did want but settled for less, this ram u can program stuff to say on it, or u can get info like speed/volts or ur owen custom message


----------



## Triple6mafia

*pics of thermal taketide water/nexus fan controller*

notice that i have twist tie's on one of the black hoses, that is because the hose covers half of a ram chip. i had to move it to mount a heatsink, i will let the silver 5 settle in and try to losen the hose and see if it nocks off the heatsink. but hear is my cooler for my bfg 6800 gt oc,


----------



## dead7iestweap0n

hmm odd that your having to liquid cool that agp 

Here is my set up:
http://img168.imageshack.us/img168/2206/compysetupgs0.jpg

Amd athlon 64 3200+
gskill 2 gigs of ddr memory
0.5tb of combine hd space 2 disks
ATI Radeon x800gto 256mb gfx card
Nec 16x DVD burner
Crappy tv tuner
450watt psu that came w the case.


----------



## HawMan

Nice, i had Dual Moniters set up but it took too much room lol.


Some Nice Cases, ill update the pics of mine soon ( tonite Mabye )


----------



## Lifeismusic

Here's my rig. :grin: 

  

  <<With 4 CCFL's On

  << With 4 CCFL's Off


----------



## ebackhus

Most awesome!


----------



## Sgt_Grim_Reaper

Sorry, don't have a pic. I'm running an overclocked FX-115 Casio Calculator with a IBM ball mouse hardwired and an etch-a-sketch monitor. It's not bad, but FPS games make me dizzy. Future upgrades include a cordless nintendo controller with turbo.

hehe.


----------



## Fr4665

/\pics or ban ! ill post pics of my new rig 2nite


----------



## ebackhus

Sgt_Grim_Reaper said:


> Sorry, don't have a pic. I'm running an overclocked FX-115 Casio Calculator with a IBM ball mouse hardwired and an etch-a-sketch monitor. It's not bad, but FPS games make me dizzy. Future upgrades include a cordless nintendo controller with turbo.
> 
> hehe.


*drools in anticipation*


----------



## Fr4665

ebackhus said:


> *drools in anticipation*


  

i kno this guy makes me sad whers the pictures


----------



## forcifer

where is your case? lol :grin:


----------



## Fr4665

lol fine ill take pics tonight promise  (my gf keeps bugging me thats my excuse) i still need a blacklight thought cause the sides windows uv reactive and without that it looks too plain just having two blue led fans in it


----------



## lhuser

Heh, mine's a little bit modified lol!


















The grey and red one is the one I redone. It looks neat, but the case is too cramped.


----------



## Fr4665

here is the rig. i just managed to break off the door that covers the drive yipeee







currently the psu has a blue led fan and the back 120mm fan is blue i need a uv light and then the whole window glows but gota find a small nice one. its not pretty but it does the job

edit: just noticed KB has the same case as me just with the drive cover door still on :wave:


----------



## lhuser

Nice case there man! I have also modded my PSU fans as they were not spinning. That also frees me to buy led fans and insert them in there to replace the antec ones


----------



## Fr4665

exactly and it looks nice and does the job


----------



## Fr4665

with UV tubes, UV cable sleeving, UV SATA cable UV IDE Cable.
I later noticed that i screwed up on the sleeving part on the side so maybe ill fix that at some point

also noticed that after i removed my cheap yellow cable ties (i had one left on on the inside) they actually react to the UV tubes and glow orange ... so do my cheapo red ones so i will zip tie everything over with red and orange to make it look better. and of course the cable management needs to be redone cause it looks crappy right now :grin: 

Otherwise addition is the Arctic Cooler 7 socket 775. Easy install keeps temps in idle at 46 C and load at top 53 C so thats alot better then before.

Another addition is the removal of the stupid vent cover on the side and a super silent 80mm blue led fan.

its bright but me like


----------



## laboye

You sure like UV... Cool case, though

@Fr4665: I'm diggin the cabling in there! What kind of cooler is that on the CPU?
@lhuser: Nice mod. Wussup with those oldies?!!? :wink:


----------



## Fr4665

that cooler is the Arctic cooling Freezer 7. For a considerable low price of around 20Bucks it keeps the CPU (while fan is spinning at 1200rpm super quiet) at around 48C wich is OK and under full load with fan on full power it doesnt go above 54C. 

In reviews this fan can keep cooler but its not possible with my configuration.

This is with the case having only 2 case fans and the side one not really being efficient as it is about half an inche from the top of the cpu cooler but its just a flat plate so the air that gets in there just gets spread everywhere.

heck ill do a little review here...

Pro: 
Price ~20$
Weight (pretty light due to the fins being an alluminum contruction)
Quiet (big 92mm fan with protective cover no cable chopup)
Cools decent
Installation was super easy as its one of the only aftermarket coolers with the regular push and twist install pins

Negative:
could cool better (this depends on how the rest of ur case is configured, if its configed like "notgood" -like my case- then u will lose some cooling power)
it isnt free (good solution vs the stock jet engine cooler from intel)


i give this thing a 8.5 out of 10


----------



## blackduck30

ok just sorta finished putting my new case and cooling together, I still have a bit of organising and a general spruce up. I have to reroute a few cables and work out how to clean a few bits up but it is very close to how i want it.

The new case is the thermaltake Armor LCS. it comes with water cooling in the front of the case ( 240 X 120mm radiator with 2X 120mm fans ) I also added a VGA water block and a level and flow meter to the front bays.

anyway tell us what you guys think


----------



## forcifer

nery nice. digging the watercooling. will get pic posted this weekend


----------



## blackduck30

it was a pain in the butt having 4 SATA drives,it's like cable city. I didn't even attempt to sleeve the SATA power cables as they just didn't look as easy to do as a normal molex plug. I'm pretty happy with it


----------



## Fr4665

teh sex. can u post all the stuff u put in and approximate upgrade amount ? cause i was thinking about the TT front little water thingy too and water cooling but didnt wana go so far yet. maybe with my next build.

is the water cooling good ? what kit did u use ? every detail plz


----------



## pharoah

will add a couple more pics later this one was already in my photobucket acct


----------



## blackduck30

Fr4665 said:


> teh sex. can u post all the stuff u put in and approximate upgrade amount ? cause i was thinking about the TT front little water thingy too and water cooling but didnt wana go so far yet. maybe with my next build.
> 
> is the water cooling good ? what kit did u use ? every detail plz


well I had a running system, so all I got was the 
*Thermaltake Armor LCS case
Aquabay M1
The Aqua Brazing ALL Copper Series - W2 VGA Water Bock*

The case comes with a front mounted radiator 240X120, a pump and a CPU water block.
I didn't see the sence in not getting a VGA water block as well. I liked the M1 front level indicator and flow meter so got that as well so I didn't have to stuff around with pipework later when it was all full of water. I also liked the idea of the flow meter.

I am in australia so my total cost might not be comparable but the case cost me $400, 
The VGA block $55
The front bay tank $65
$15 for sleeving
$12 for 4X Sleeved SATA cables
$53 for a black Pioneer DVD-RW ( DVR-111D )
$15 for a Black Floppy Drive

So all up in Aussie dollars $615.
I seen the case in the states for $US 259

The case came with Water pipe and all the fittings I needed. I am only using 4 of the 5 fans that came with the case as I couldn't use the top fan as my power supply is to long. ( not that I wanted to anyway )

I did a little more cable organisation yesterday










The water cooling is sweet, I had idle temps before of 48C on a cold day and 54C on a hot day, under load on a cold day I was hitting 58C and 64 on a hot day. Now I idle on 34C and under load hit about 45C. We have not had a real hot day yet so that wil be interesting.

The video card used to idle on about 54/55C and 65C loaded and now it is sitting on 36C and on a run of 3D Mark 05 got to 48C.


----------



## Fr4665

sweet i might be in for water cooling as ur temps with the 940 have dropped nicely


----------



## forcifer

my p4 now idles happily at 28c with watercooling


----------



## blackduck30

Thats a pretty good temp forcifer, is it hot or cold were you are ( eg , ambient temps in room )


----------



## forcifer

ambient. my p4 has always been weird. was idling at 35c with stock. i could probably get it above 4.0 if i tried hard enough. but i am probably getting an FX 55, which, with unlocked multi, could get pretty high


----------



## Fr4665

i myself am beginning to think there are hotter pentiums and cooler ones ...

my 940 idles like urs blackduck before you got the watercooler to be exact it idles exactly like yours even though i upgraded to an arctic cooling freezer.

i just built a system with a 945 and it idles at 37 with the same cooler as mine ... *** ? and for the 945 i used the regular white thermal grease and for mine i used the pad maybe reapplication of that crap might solve it.


----------



## fluhlej

killer cases I will post mine tonight when i get home and take a Pic


----------



## blackduck30

Fr4665 said:


> i myself am beginning to think there are hotter pentiums and cooler ones ...
> 
> my 940 idles like urs blackduck before you got the watercooler to be exact it idles exactly like yours even though i upgraded to an arctic cooling freezer.
> 
> i just built a system with a 945 and it idles at 37 with the same cooler as mine ... *** ? and for the 945 i used the regular white thermal grease and for mine i used the pad maybe reapplication of that crap might solve it.


I used an aftermarket cooler on mine. I never even got the stock cooler out of the box. I also used arctic silver . I also suspect there are hot and cool running CPU's.

I think the water cooling is great as it seems to keep a stable temp


----------



## fluhlej

Huh? -- do you think that two P4 Ht 3.4Ghz bought at the same time for example with have a tendency to run at different temps - or do you mean a P4 HT 3.2Ghz and a P4 HT 3.4Ghz will run at different temps?


----------



## blackduck30

fluhlej said:


> Huh? -- do you think that two P4 Ht 3.4Ghz bought at the same time for example with have a tendency to run at different temps - or do you mean a P4 HT 3.2Ghz and a P4 HT 3.4Ghz will run at different temps?


yes I think it is possible that two CPU's of the same make might run at different temps. I read somewere the other day actually that there are different running voltages for each individual CPU so one P4 3.2 can use more power than anther P4 3.2. This is suppose to be one factor why 1 cpu can overclock better than another even though they are both say P4 3.2. this factor may also influence temps


----------



## forcifer

every chip is different. i looked at the reviews of my 640, and most people were idling at around 40-50c on stock. i got 30-35, so something had to have changed. and that was with paste that came with hs


----------



## PanamaGal

If I showed you all a picture of my main business computer, you'd all laugh so hard you'd probably fall over, knock your computer down and damage it, then we'd have no one coming around here anymore. It's safer this way.


----------



## Fr4665

PanamaGal said:


> If I showed you all a picture of my main business computer, you'd all laugh so hard you'd probably fall over, knock your computer down and damage it, then we'd have no one coming around here anymore. It's safer this way.


:jackson: 

pics plz


----------



## mc900

i'm sure many of you have seen this page, but there's some really cool (and some very strange) cases you might like to check out

http://www.virtual-hideout.net/ccg/ccg/index.php


----------



## godshot7

i have an ....:
Alien Aurora 7500**Limited Edition Star Wars case** they dont even make those ne more...they moved to Superman cases
amd 4400x2 processor
7900gt 256md geforce gpu
kingwin axc1 water cooling system
160 gb hd
1gb ram (2x512) **Im thinking of add another 1gb stick****
nec dvd rw drive
floppy drive
win. xp Pro.
asustek a8n slideluxe mother board
6.1 onkyo surround system
audgiy 2zs sound card
fingerprint reader
ne questions ask me!!!! let me know what you think


----------



## godshot7

i mean Alienware....


----------



## okay player

Hey guys... I finally got a hold of a camera and took some pictures of my new computer.

In it's home:









Inside:









Closer:









and my desk.









Asus P5B Deluxe
E6400
EVGA Geforce 7900 GS KO
2x1GB Mushkin HP PC2-6400 (I love the colour of this stuff)
Silvestone Strider ST75F 750W
Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 320GB
Liteon DVD+RW
Arctic Cooling Freezer 7
All in an Antec P180B.

wwahhhoo I'm pretty happy with it. 
(oh, and yes, I'm a pretty big Tool fan. heh)


----------



## pharoah

that is one bad a** lookin rig job well done.


----------



## forcifer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fc2vbUVYnk4 is video


----------



## pharoah

looks like ya got that uv reactive coolant glowing that looks sweet.


----------



## -d-

;-)


----------



## forcifer

new paint
     
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLxSPvCvFyg is video.


----------



## Zwaf

Wow nice stuff peeps :grin: 

Here's mine:







Turned the fan in the side off because it pushed too much blue into the case.. And I liked to keep it more like a disco (see last image :grin: ).
The over-exposed device in the first image in the top drive bay is a Thermaltake Hardcano 12SE (which is crap btw.. freezes all the time)


----------



## geek73

We all know blue makes things a couple degrees cooler lol.. Will take some pics. Have to connect my new toy (a vapochill) push this 4200 to 3.4 plus..


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d

well i tried it did not really work out to well though =( but it is a nice day =)
























View attachment 008.bmp


----------



## geek73

I bet you get some nice cooling with it in the tress hu? Nice shade cooling lol jk..


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d

well it has no back and is about a foot from the wall so its not to bad


----------



## geek73

oh I was kidding.. I was talking about your outside pics of the trees. LOL.. 

Newegg is selling pentium D's 3.2 gig dual core (not C2D) for 79 bucks.. Your board would take it too. Just a thought..


----------



## Nutritious

Well, decided to post just for fun :smile: 

The pics are pretty dark and blurry (they were lighter on my laptop screen when I checked them originally, maybe it's just this monitor I'm using). Anyway...

Side window with flash on:









Outside:









Front Panel Closed:









Front Panel Open:









Side window with flash off:


----------



## AndrewJ

:wave:


----------



## pharoah

sweet lookin rig andrew,and nutritious. :4-cheers:


----------



## AndrewJ

Sorting wires out later so expect a few other shots.


----------



## pharoah

yeah it might have a bit of a spaghetti problem,but other than that it looks great


----------



## forcifer

nice rig Nutritious. i have same case, and it is AWESOME


----------



## AndrewJ

In my case I've moved some of the wires behind the mobo tray and tucked the IDE lead behind their also giving alot more free space inside the case.


----------



## geek73

That is why I love modular.. Easier to hide. And less cables than you really need. Exept on my Antec 900 case, since the PSU is on the bottom the 24 pin is hard to hide..


----------



## AndrewJ

Antec?? same case I am buying  I plan on routing the leads behind the mobo... I've seen it done on another forum, but the 24pin yeah... looks a swine.

Either way its a rawkin sick case. Did you have any issues getting the 24pin and 4 pin 12v lead to their slots from the bottom psu location?


----------



## geek73

No they reach fine.. Did not have to use the extender I bought.. Had an Extra 2 inches or so..
Dont let it fool ya.. Its loud lol. But does what it is supposed to do..

I have All5 120mm fans in it and the 200 mm fan on top all @ 2 so its a tiny bit loud.

My Cooler Master is alot louder though


----------



## AndrewJ

LOL you sound like me there I have lined up a extension lead, still, what mobo you got mines the Asus A8N32-SLi Deluxe.


----------



## geek73

I have the ASUS A8N32-SLI Deluxe as well lol. Got the 4200+ in that one.. Overclocks like a dream got it up to 2.8 on air 24/7 you will not be dissapointed..In my cooler master I have the Asus A8NLI


----------



## AndrewJ

I have the 4600 in mine


----------



## geek73

One thing you have to get with the 900 though is some Air filters. As it is filled with holes in the front, thats why it keeps things so cool..But yuo can imagine all the dust that gets sucked in through the side 120mm fan and the 3 120mm intake fans


----------



## AndrewJ

I normally do a monthly clean of all the fans.


----------



## Ralck

Looking at some of the new ones, I thought I'd post some of my rig. I won't post any pictures of the inside, because aparently I don't have any with the new PSU and I'll be putting a firewire card as well as an expansion card for my sound card as well. And as you'll see, it's not very easy to just open up my case and pop in new stuff with my setup.


----------



## AndrewJ

A natural keyboard. I like those shame my partner don't.


----------



## geek73

love that "Vote for Pedro Doll" lol...


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d

does your computer get air in the back ralack?


----------



## Ralck

I've got a 120mm in the front (blowing air in) and a 120mm fan in the back (blowing air out). The 120mm in the front inputs air from underneath the case, though I don't think it does that very well. I think it mainly just circulates air througout the inside of the case.

Actually, I want to mod the front a bit, I'm just not sure how I want it to look so I haven't done anything yet!

But what do you expect for a 15 dollar case (plus 15 shipping) from Newegg! :laugh:


----------



## AndrewJ

Here we go, wired most of the molex to the front right side of the case freeing up air from the fwd 2x80mm fans, and cleared the mobo power leads, behind the mobo tray.

Should do until I buy my Antec Nine Hundred :wink:


----------



## geek73

Heck here was just my center of my older pc b4 I went modular and went to the colermaster and the 900


----------



## AndrewJ

Bloomin Eckers thats packed in pretty tight. Geek what psu do you have? I'm looking into a modular one in the future.


----------



## geek73

In the Antec I have a 
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817194021

In the cooler Mast I have the pc&pc (the best inmo but they have no modular support)http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817703009

If your getting the 900 I would suggest a modular one. As you can hide most under the mobo tray and along the floor of the case..

Need to get the shutter fixed on my camera Hopefully this week. Will take a bunch of pics for ya of the 900 at work.


----------



## AndrewJ

Both are very nice, out of my price range for a psu I would budget about £50 tops ( in uk )


----------



## geek73

Here is my Opteron in my Lian Li.. Dont mind the silver face plate.. As I am doing a custom paint job and need to see how colors are going to look against the black..


----------



## Joefireline

Here's my new build. I'm going to add in some sound activated blue cold cathodes as well, anything else I should add?









20" monitor with cold cathodes attached to the back on 12V transformer.



The case actually is brighter than what's in the image...


----------



## pharoah

thats a nice rig joe :grin:


----------



## Joefireline

Thanks =)


----------



## emosun

Heres mine, its a demon 3 case. Or a demon 2. The box said demon 2 and the case says demon 3. I think i pulled off the red and blue together look.


----------



## laidbackguyhk

Hi Guys. Here's my set up. My Tagan power supply runs very hot, so I'm just wondering if I need any sort of extra cooling in my box.


----------



## emosun

do you have a fan on the front or on the door?


----------



## cocojuice

wow that looks amazing.


----------



## laidbackguyhk

Hi emosun.
Good question. I don't have a fan on the front or side.
To be honest, the front is a bit full, as I've got 2 x DVD's, 1 x Sound Blaster Controller and 4 x Hard drives. Maybe I could see if I can shoehorn one in somewhere.
I could cut a hole in my side case and fix one there.
I live in Hong Kong, with relatively high outdoor temperatures, i.e. today it's 33 degrees C.
The box is hot enough to be noticable if I have my leg against it.
Thanks for your concern.
Regards
Tim


----------



## pharoah

here are a couple pics of my newest build.i will do a couple more later these are more like worklog pics.


----------



## emosun

looks cool, cant wait to see done


----------



## Prowsezy

Gigabyte make bad AMD Socket boards IMO but they make great Intel (755) socket Mobos.

This is my PC nothing to fancy but it floats my boat 

Asus p5b Mobo (Intel P965 Chipset) with Pentium D CPU and ECS Geforce 8500 Videocard also a old LG CD/DVD X16 Burner.


----------



## emosun

toes :laugh:. you shud stick a fan on the front and back where the fan ports are, then move the hdd down by the front fan. you'll get alot better cooling


----------



## Prowsezy

Yes i am doing that on Wednesday


----------



## pharoah

here is a new pic the machine has been done.just hadnt done any new pics yet.this is only an inside shot.yeah i know lol i need to cleanup the power supply wires a bit.i put it together quick was just curious as to how my new intel would be.


----------



## HawMan

Mine at the Moment.












Will be build sometime this Month, Just had to spend money on other things and not had a chance to Get my MSI K9N SLI plat mobo.


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d

pharoah what way is the fan on your psu pointed i was wondering because mine does not show the label when it is in.


----------



## pharoah

mine has a single 135mm fan,but a pic is worth 1000 words.


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d

K mine is like that just wondering lol


----------



## pharoah

mine is the 600w,and so far no problems what so ever.the rails are stable,and even after sevral hours of lost planet,or oblivion. the thing is cool to the touch.


----------



## magnethead

Pharoah, how are those 2 fans working? Never seen anything even remotely close to them. Also, isee your foopy is still connected, but yet with a round cable??

I just took these pics, as I just removed my floppy and the 6 GB hard drive, and used the empty floppy hole (with solid cover of course) to hide all the extra unused wiring. Actually worked pretty well. 

The reason you only see one run of PSU cable is because the other length is coiled (though un-neatly) between the hard drive tray and the bottom of the case, with the SATA adapter and 2 front fans ran to it and that's all. The 2 CD's are on a Y cable to the same PSU dongle, and the top, CPU, and rear fans are on the end dogle of the PSU cable pigtailed to eachother. So really only 4 dongle's are being used, 2 on each. The blue/green side fan runs off the mobo header and a Zalman Fanmate 2 (seen hanging on the vertical desk riser for the top shelf).

I will post new pics when the tri-color CPU fan arrives. So i'll have a quad color PSU fan, a blue and green side fan, and a red/green/blue CPU fan. And the monotone main fans. Not bad colorwise, eh?


----------



## pharoah

yup i still have a floppy drive it has an integrated card reader to.the arctic cooling fans are great.move good air,and are reasonably quiet.

link to fans: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835186122


----------



## Prowsezy

Pharoah, What VC do you run on?


----------



## magnethead

also, pharoah, is that the antec dual slot fan? If so, i have the same one in mine.


----------



## pharoah

if you are talking about the pci slot cooler.then no its a single slot,but does have an 80mm fan in it.


----------



## Prowsezy

Are pci slot coolers worth buying?


----------



## HawMan

Yes they are, For the price they are brilliant, i have an Akasa one and its great.


----------



## Prowsezy

Do they also cool down the case or just the Video card.


----------



## pharoah

Prowsezy said:


> Pharoah, What VC do you run on?



its an 8800gts 320 overclcocked to 550core,1700memory.


----------



## magnethead

Prowsezy said:


> Do they also cool down the case or just the Video card.


well if you put it under the card like mine, it cools the card and the case....if you stick it away from the card, it only does the case. I've got a 120 aimed straight at the card and the slot fan under it so i'm completely covered in graphics cooling.

and whiole it's directly cooling the gfx card because it's pulling the hot air straight off it, it is only indirectly cooling the case by exhausting more hot air.


----------



## magnethead

pics with the new CPU fan-


----------



## pharoah

that machine looks cool magnethead.some people overdo it with different light colors,but your's go together nicely.


----------



## magnethead

well the case came with blue, my power supply i already had has the 4 colors, the yellow isn't even visible, i didnt want any more blue for main fans, but an all green would be out of place, so that one made sense, and got the tri-tone CPU fan to match the PSU. So yea, it kinda planned out to match itself.


----------



## TheMatt

Finally, here are the pics:



Dumb flash... I tried with the flash off but it came out blurry...



Dual Monitor setup I have with an old CRT. Can you tell what song is selected in WMP? :wink:



Good overall inside shot.



Still image of an LED fan while its moving.



The lonely hard disk.



I chose a dual slotted 8600GTS for better cooling and then put one of the slot coolers below. Woks great.



The silencer black goes great with the case. That 90mm fan was also moving when I shot the pic.



Like my cable management? :laugh:



More cable management problems...



What my room looked like after I finished building.


EDIT: I though I should include this shot from SpeedFan because it is so funny. Temps show great (Temp 1 is Northbridge, Temp 2 is CPU), but the fan speeds are another story.


----------



## Prowsezy

That's a monster system. Great job Matt, Also what Video card do you have? It looks beastly


----------



## TheMatt

8600GTS @ 700/2100/1475 MHz Core/Mem/Shader. 

Specs at left <<< Thanks :smile:


----------



## Prowsezy

Have you over clocked your CPU?


----------



## TheMatt

I did on my laptop to squeeze out some more FPS, but I don't see a need to OC the CPU. I got the overclocked 8600GTS to get a little more FPS than a stock 8600GTS, but all my games run fine anyway @ 1680 x 1050, 32-bit color, and 4x AA and 4x AF. My FPS never drops below 50. I got 5623 in 3DMark06.


----------



## pharoah

thats a sweet looking rig there matt.temps do look awesome as well.


----------



## TheMatt

Thanks. :smile:


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d

ONly thing i can think of is you need 2 gb of ram....


----------



## Prowsezy

No really, I have 1 gig of RAM and my PC is running great but i would do with an extra stick, It wouldn't hurt


----------



## TheMatt

I will upgrade later. I was in a hurry to get this as quickly as possible and couldn't afford more RAM. But when I have enough money I will be getting more RAM and a Fan controller.


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d

OH i was jaut saying because newer games can take like 97% of 2 gb


----------



## pharoah

TheMatt said:


> I will be getting more RAM and a Fan controller.


fan controller eh i got one,and love it.when ya dont need the extra cooling turn em down to make it quiet.


----------



## TheMatt

I will use it so I can put the computer on standby and turn down the fans. Right now all the fans except the heatsink fans are at full blast when the computer is on standby. The LED fans also light up the room. Not exactly the best for sleeping.


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d

turn it off lol


----------



## TheMatt

I have always kept my computers on standby because I am impatient and don't like to wait for them to boot, but this boots in about 20 seconds so its not too bad. I am doing that for now.


----------



## okay player

gg TheMatt.

I have the same Sony mini-system as you. It takes up way too much room. lol


----------



## TheMatt

I know, but the sound quality is great especially with the woofer. I wish it had a digital coax in though.

Maybe I will treat myself to one of these. 
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813999902


----------



## zirian

Here is mine... It is a year old now...

AMD X64 3800+ @2.0ghz oced to 2.5ghz
Asus A8N Sli Deluxe mobo Socket 939
Seagate 250GB SATA I HD
XFX Gforce 8800 GTS @640MB
1GB DDR PC 3200 RAM
Enermax 535W PSU 

Here are the pics:


----------



## TheMatt

zirian said:


> Here is mine... It is a year old now...
> 
> AMD X64 3800+ @2.0ghz oced to 2.5ghz
> Asus A8N Sli Deluxe mobo Socket 939
> Seagate 250GB SATA I HD
> XFX Gforce 8800 GTS @640MB
> 1GB DDR PC 3200 RAM
> Enermax 535W PSU
> 
> Here are the pics:


Looks very nice, but bigger pics? 

Also, have you considered upgrading the PSU? There is no way that can hold up n 8800GTS successfully.


----------



## zirian

TheMatt said:


> Looks very nice, but bigger pics?
> 
> Also, have you considered upgrading the PSU? There is no way that can hold up n 8800GTS successfully.


Umm I tried to upload bigger pics but didn't work. I tried imageshack. Regarding the psu yes I have thought about upgrading it. That was a new psu from the stock one that came with the case. I paid like 100 bucks for it. What wattage do u recommend I buy, also the brand?


----------



## TheMatt

Take a look at the OCZ GameXtreme 700w. The Thermaltake Toughpower 750w is another good choice if you want modular. Silverstone also makes a good 750w, but make sure you get the Zeus (ST) and not the Decathlon (DA) or Olympia (OP). The Mushkin 650w/750w is also another good choice.


----------



## Prowsezy

I have heard great things about the FSP Group FX700-GLN ATX12V 700W Power Supply.


----------



## TheMatt

Thats another good unit. The Enermax Infiniti is good if you want Modular on a budget.


----------



## ebackhus

This is the latest. The monitor is an Acer AL2216W.


----------



## HawMan

Im loving that 'ebackhus' Any more pics of inside the case?


----------



## ebackhus

Not at the moment but I'll have time tonight to snap a few.

WARNING: It's not pretty.


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d

do some cable management first lol


----------



## ebackhus

I'd say the biggest problem is that the PSU has far more outputs than I have need for! I've bundled them up in the empty 5 3/4" bays and will rebind them soon for more aestheticness. Two of the drives are SATA so the cables are small and the IDE drives use a rounded cable. The case forces me to install the drives in the old ways with them running front to back instead of side-loading. Mebbe I can just reverse them in the cages and have things rung through the back plane.

I could really go for some power over wireless for the fans, though...


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d

I put my cables behind the psu and squeezed them in there


----------



## HawMan

My Cables are terrible. Ill try and get a picture in a few minutes.


----------



## ebackhus

1 g0t 0wn3d said:


> I put my cables behind the psu and squeezed them in there


I had done that originally but there were SO many that it was blocking air from the PSU intake and the top exhaust ports. With them now in the emtpy bays air is flowing much better.


----------



## TheMatt

I did the same thing. I will have to take a more recent pic as the cable management is much better now. The only cables over the motherboard are the fan wires. :laugh:

EB, what about pics of your rig?


----------



## pharoah

how ya like that monitor eb i got the exact same one.:grin:


----------



## TheMatt

Which monitor is it?


----------



## ebackhus

TheMatt said:


> I did the same thing. I will have to take a more recent pic as the cable management is much better now. The only cables over the motherboard are the fan wires. :laugh:
> 
> EB, what about pics of your rig?


Post #243



TheMatt said:


> Which monitor is it?


http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/searchtools/item-Details.asp?EdpNo=2430647&sku=A179-2204
Acer AL2216W 22" Widescreen monitor 5ms refresh 1680x1050 resolution



pharoah said:


> how ya like that monitor eb i got the exact same one.:grin:


Dude, I am DIGGIN' it.


----------



## TheMatt

I have the 20" version (AL2016W) and I have to say it is BRIGHT. I had to turn down the brightness so it wouldn't hurt my eyes. :laugh:


----------



## ebackhus

I had to bump down both the contrast and the brightness to get an optimal picture. Now it looks totally awesome! I never thought I'd be so pleased with an LCD screen. I suppose I'm just jaded from using only crap Dell LCDs at work.


----------



## TheMatt

Some of the Dell FPs are nice IMO because some have a really good viewing angle, but so does this one. I just wished this was a glossy LCD like on my Acer laptop.


----------



## ebackhus

It is running in the picture.


----------



## HawMan

Thats terrible EB! Clean it up :laugh:

Out of Curiousity - What temps do you get with the Stock AMD cooling?


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d

Oh and you got cat hair in your psu lol


----------



## TheMatt

1 g0t 0wn3d said:


> Oh and you got cat hair in your psu lol


:laugh:


----------



## ebackhus

HawMan said:


> Thats terrible EB! Clean it up :laugh:
> 
> Out of Curiousity - What temps do you get with the Stock AMD cooling?


I told ya it was a mess! I need a day to dedicate to rebuilding it. I also gotta rebuild my neighbors machine this weekend. And my boss called and is bringing her PC over for me to diagnose.

With the stock cooler I get in the high 30's to high 40's (load). I'm seriously considering an upgraded cooler, though, as some just looks awesome.

Oh, and I don't see any cat hair in it!


----------



## HawMan

Thats actually cooler than i thaught.

I like the Zalman CNPS9500 Shown here :

http://youtube.com/watch?v=Dm82MKjC72c


----------



## Drunkship

Here's a quick shot of my new rig. It's just on the extra table I had until I move into my dorm in a couple weeks. I tried to do some cable management but I'lll do some more once I get back from vacation...

My Rig's Specs:

Monitor....................22" Samsung 226BW widescreen
Case.......................Antec Nine Hundred
CPU........................Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 w/ Zalman CNPS 9700
MoBo......................Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3
HDD........................Western Digital Raptor 150GB
OD.........................Lite-On LH-20A1S
GFX........................EVGA NVIDIA e-GeForce 8800GTS 320MB
RAM.......................4 GB Corsair XM2 DDR2 (4 x 1 GB)
PSU........................OCZ GameXStream 600 Watts
Speakers.................Logitech 5.1 THX Z-5300e 280 RMS Watts
OS.........................Windows Vista 64-Bit Home Premium

My Rig:


----------



## TheMatt

Nice. Any pics with the side off?


----------



## Drunkship

No, but I'll take some more when I get back from Maine on Monday.


----------



## TheMatt

See if you can get some pics in the dark. I managed to get a half way decent one.


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d

Like i havent gotten well my new case uet but i can use a digital camera for today and might as well post.












No lights :4-thatsba


----------



## pharoah

lol owned i like the little faces you did on the speakers.:laugh:


----------



## HawMan

2 more of mine ( Not the one in 'My System' as its not built yet :laugh:

Beware - Cables are Everywhere - and i have the worlds cheapest PSU !! lol



















My Still boxed AMD Althlon 4600+











My RAM ( I have two of these )










XFX 6800XT ( And my scary feet. )


----------



## pharoah

omg hawman is that an apevia power supply i see:SHOCKED:lthumbsd:4-zap:


----------



## HawMan

pharoah said:


> omg hawman is that an apevia power supply i see:SHOCKED:lthumbsd:4-zap:


I have no idea :laugh: I ripped the sticker off because it was in the way. :grin:


----------



## ebackhus

That's an Apevia for sure.


----------



## pharoah

oh yeah eb its the apevia iceberg.


----------



## forcifer

beware of that psu!!! it dies too quickly. eb and i have had a few expirences...


----------



## HawMan

I know, but if it fails i couldnt really care as my new system should be running soon :laugh:


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d

Thats the least of his worrys he has no case fans.


----------



## HawMan

I dont need fans, my CPU never goes above 40Celcius under load, and my 6200 never goes above 60 when Gaming.


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d

but the psu does lol


----------



## HawMan

The PSU has an intake Fan, and an exhaust fan, The Intake fan is broken so ive got it cable tied up, And the Exhaust fan is always on low speed, wouldnt amaze me if the PSU was about 70 celcius :laugh:


----------



## TheMatt

If the PSU was 70 degrees it would have fried. It will probably shut down at about 50 degrees.


----------



## TheMatt

UPDATE: I have successfully installed the extra 90mm fan in the front above the 120mm blue LED fan. I will have to get some pics of the specs, but basically I took 2 wire ties and used them to secure the fan to the drive bay screw installation holes. Now the case is starting to resemble a BTX computer with a straight airflow path.

While the CPU temp seems to only have been affected a little (down to about 43 degrees under full load), the Northbridge temp has dropped a pleasant 5 degrees down to about 33 degrees. The GPU temp has remained unaffected.

My original plan was to mod the bottom and put a fan there (this was inspired by Jaggerwild's mod of his case), but I though I would give the front a try. I have two extra fans at my house (80mm dual ball bearing and 60mm ball bearing) and about a thousand other laying around at the shop so if I ever wanted to add the bottom fan as an intake that would still be an option. That would help the video card most likely since the air would go straight up into the video card fan.

As it stands now, I have 8 fans:
120mm blue LED front fan
120mm blue LED rear fan
90mm DBB front fan
90mm DBB rear fan
92mm(?) Intel HSF fan
80mm(?) MSI dual slot fan
111mm SB expansion slot fan
80mm DBB power supply fan

The PSU fan is the only one that is thermally controlled. I cranked the Intel HSF fan up to 100% in the BIOS and the video card fan up to 100% with Rivatuner. Surprisingly, I haven't really noticed much of a difference with the extra 90mm fan in the front.

Hopefully I will get some pics in here when I have some time to take them to help others who have wanted to also mount the 90mm fan in front with their Armor case.


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d

Haw do i get unthermal contorled matt bios has no option


----------



## TheMatt

Do you have a 3-pin or 4-pin CPU fan connector?


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d

4 its from intel =) the as5 made the difference of the fan spinning slower at the same temp lol


----------



## TheMatt

If your board also has the 4-pin connector (and the 4th pin isn't just hanging off), then *theoretically* cutting the PWM wire (usually blue) will make the fan go up to 100%. It really depends on the BIOS though.

Another option is to get a 3-pin to 4-pin adapter and plug the CPU fan into the power supply, but your system might not start saying CPU fan failure. A way to get around this (when using this solution) is to connect the +12v pin and the GND pin with a resistor (around 100 ohms would be sufficient). This will make the board think there is a fan connected when there is really a resistor. 

You might also have to do something with the other pin where the sensor wire would be connected. I will have to investigate that further if you go that route.


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d

my system has a hard time starting without a case fan plugged into the board and the board is a 4pin, maybe i should w8 untill i have the money for a cpu cooler and try it and if it doesnt work go buy one?


----------



## TheMatt

If you happen to have spare wires/alligator clips around you can test it by connecting each pin to the header with a wire/alligator clip combo. Do not connect the PWM wire though. See what happens.

How many case fans do you have?


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d

I have a 120mm in back a 80mm on top and a 80mm in front, what are the clip things i do have another heatsink+fan that has a 4 piner but its all aluminum and i dont want to take off this cpus fan yet because the as5 install was perfect yesterday


----------



## TheMatt

The blue PWM wire is the one to clip. This sometimes speeds the fan up to 100%.

Remember the AS5 has a break in period, so after a couple weeks your temps should be lower.


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d

yes but the fan speed will just go lowwer....and how do you clip it or like post a picture of what to buy?


----------



## TheMatt

A wire cutter will work. Just cut the wire. I will have to test it out and get a picture.


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d

I dont want to cut it if it is going to hate me it already does for not letting it control my case fans


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d

but if you think it will work i will (and break the computer maybe ) my mom is a jewelry maker so she has cutters


----------



## TheMatt

The thing is your BIOS might treat the fan as a 3-pin after you clip the wire and simply switch to voltage fan speed control from PWN fan speed control.

Can you crank up the fan speed with SpeedFan?


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d

yes it goes upbut it goes down varyingly like 5sec-10min mostly in sec


----------



## BIOS

TheMatt said:


> As it stands now, I have 8 fans:
> 120mm blue LED front fan
> 120mm blue LED rear fan
> 90mm DBB front fan
> 90mm DBB rear fan
> 92mm(?) Intel HSF fan
> 80mm(?) MSI dual slot fan
> 111mm SB expansion slot fan
> 80mm DBB power supply fan


Isn't your computer really noisy with all them fans?


----------



## TheMatt

Its very noisy. Sounds like a jet. But I don't mind. :smile:


----------



## pharoah

hahaha matt has an f-16 next to his monitor.:laugh:


----------



## TheMatt

:laugh:

Here are some updated pics with better cable management:





And Where did all those cables go? :laugh:



Thats right, at the top right of the case between the optical drive and the power supply.

Here are some of the new fan in action:


----------



## scharnhorst

MATT man sick we got the same case, similar build too, post pics when i'm done modding mine out its going to be amazing. Post of pic of how you got that fan to stay at the top of the case?!?! always said that one that has to blow through all those small holes is basically useless
Getting huge 25cm side fan, 2 more blue 90mm fans, another 120 front intake icage fan, and i'll be removing everything and spray painting the inside black


----------



## pharoah

matt has more pics a couple pages back.that was his updated wire management pics.lookin good by the way.


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d

i got no cammera but it has a red 120mm in back 2blue on top and side and a norm in front


----------



## pharoah

1 g0t 0wn3d said:


> i got no cammera but it has a red 120mm in back 2blue on top and side and a norm in front


did you get your new case owned?you must have i know that hp case didnt have any led fans lol.


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d

yeh the ones that came with it sucked so i had to run(overheating) to the overpriced pc store and buy $30 worth of fans lol hp uses 90mm sadly and i could not find a spot for it


----------



## scharnhorst

miss understood matt talking about his upper 90mm fan. I thought he found some way to attach a fan to the top open part of the case  don't think its possible after all, know where he was talking about with the zipties, my case i guess came with one there.


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d

yeh xipties would work i just like the blue led and it has a fan grill


----------



## TheMatt

I never figured I would be using them to hold a fan in place though. Looking at the way I mounted it makes me laugh. :laugh:

I will definitely have to get some pics with the front panels removed.


----------



## scharnhorst

please after I get my new psu, i'll have 2 extra 90mm fans trying to figure out what i'm going to use them for if anything


----------



## TheMatt

Are you sure you will have to take out the read 90mm fan? That should be able to stay in. The top 90mm fan will probably have to go though.


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d

i was thinking about modding my 90mm to the back of my psu for better air flow(has a 120mm pushing air through it


----------



## TheMatt

It would have to be an 80mm as all PSUs according to the ATX and EPS spec are exactly 86mm high.


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d

it owuld be mounted outside of the case.


----------



## TheMatt

OK I see what you are saying. What I would do is drill some holes in the case above and below the PSU and then mount the fan in a diamond position so it is not actually attached to the PSU.


----------



## scharnhorst

Hmm thats an interesting idea! I bought 2 more blue 90mm fans i was planning on using them to replace the stock 90mm that came with the case. I've been trying yo figure some way to use them in the case. Maybe if i were to remove all the pci slots metal things in the case would leave just enough room below my gfx card to fit one either blowing air out. the other one I might try with that psu idea or something. Painting it going to be a pain also but should improve the look.


----------



## TheMatt

One of these does wonders for my 8600GTS:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835888309


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d

nah once you see my new temps i wont need one lol, i tricked my motherboard and pulled a 80mm fan from the heatsink of that celeron(sorry matt you still want it with no fan the heatsink probably adds a bunch of price onto shipping) and am using it as a case fan but have it plugged in as the cpu fan then have the cpu fan plugged into a molex adapter now runs way cooler


----------



## scharnhorst

Thinking about getting something similar to that, unfortunatly they really don't have any coolers which work all that well with the 8800gtx because of their length. Best i could do for now is buy one of these which i did http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835888112
On high setting though its a bit loud, but have noticed drop in temp of bout 4-5c of the gfx card. 

Just took everything out of the case, removed as much as I could and going to paint everything tommorow, also got the side door with the huge fan and i'm little unhappy. Seems like it hardly moves any air although I do like its quietness. It also comes within half an inch of my cpu cooler so who knows what effect that will have. 

If you look at the top corner of the armor, where the hdd bay and the 90mm fan are near the psu, above that there is a little empty area blocked off by this metal peice. WISH i could remove that and could place another 90mm fan blowing air out but nothing i have seems to be able to remove those rivets. Think they put it there for the hdd cage and to further stabilize the psu which makes no sense to be me since a few screws and the stabilizer bars do the trick stopping the psu, not like you'll be throwing that heavy *** case around. If i can some how pry that thing off should be in good shape with two fans blowing up, two in the back, one big *** side fan, 2 in the front. We'll see I don't think its possible :grin:


----------



## damonhill0

Hi Guys

Just finished building my pc, though i'd show it off!

Apologies for quality of the pics, old camera.

Specs in profile.


----------



## TheMatt

Very nice, I can see you will get very good cooling with that because of the direct airflow from the front 120mm fan above the optical drive though the heatsink to the rear 120mm fan.

Wow, that 200mm fan makes my 120mm fans look wimpy. :laugh:


----------



## damonhill0

Thanks!

Airflow was the reason i bought the case. I 3dmarked it and it still blew cold air out!

Best case i've ever owned.


----------



## TheMatt

Good choice. The Antec 900 is a top of the line mid tower case IMO if not _the_ top of the line mid tower. It has better airflow than a lot of full towers.


----------



## scharnhorst

WHOA! really nice setup, really like that case. What heatsink is that? yeah the bigger than fan the better always much more quiet. Especially like that one because its moves sooo much air


----------



## damonhill0

Thanks again!

The heatsink is a Thermalright Ultra 90 with a Coolink 92mm SWiF Fan. Pretty expensive but you really get what you pay for.


----------



## scharnhorst

Looked like a 120, but damn those 90s are still huge


----------



## TheMatt

Thanks. :smile: That is the stock heatsink there. Which pics did you see? I recently added a front 90mm fan so I have two front fans, 3 rear fans, and 2 heatsink fans, and the PSU fan.

The CPU idles at 30 degrees which is just above the ambient room temperature (about 27 degrees here in the summer).

This thing is HEAVY though. It is like 20 kg because the case is mostly steel and some aluminum. There is also the copper and aluminum heatsinks. The PSU is also heavy with a mass of just over 2.5 kg.


----------



## damonhill0

It is a beast your pc Matt. I would guess mine weighs <15Kgs. I tried the stock cooler in mine and the Thermalright tooks the temp down around 3-5 degrees idle. I've never seen more than 27 under normal conditions (even gaming).


----------



## TheMatt

Thats really good. What are the ambient temperatures where the computer is?

It is currently summer here, but I am anticipating that the computer will cool off in the winter when the ambient room temps drop down to about 20 degrees. But I am still within the threshold. The CPU maxes out at 45 degrees, the NB goes to about 35 with the new fan, and the graphics never goes above 55 degrees. Those are all summer temps too. :smile:


----------



## scharnhorst

TheMatt said:


> Thanks. :smile: That is the stock heatsink there. Which pics did you see? I recently added a front 90mm fan so I have two front fans, 3 rear fans, and 2 heatsink fans, and the PSU fan.
> 
> The CPU idles at 30 degrees which is just above the ambient room temperature (about 27 degrees here in the summer).
> 
> This thing is HEAVY though. It is like 20 kg because the case is mostly steel and some aluminum. There is also the copper and aluminum heatsinks. The PSU is also heavy with a mass of just over 2.5 kg.


I've got an armor too and mine is REAL HEAVY! Making a guess i'd say mine is about 55-60 pounds. how'd you get a 90mm to stick in the front? how'd you pull off 3 rear fans, I know there is the 120mm and the 90mm above that where'd you squeeze in the other? What about the 90mm fan on top, did you remove that?


----------



## TheMatt

The 90mm on top went in front and was secured by wire ties. I have promised some pics because a lot of Armor owners have been curious and I will stick to my word. This weekend I should have some time. Also, in the back in addition to the 120mm and 90mm fans, there is an expansion slot cooler and the PSU fan is in the back.

What are your specs? You probably just have some extra stuff that accounts for the extra 5 kg (60 LBS is ~25 kg approximately for those of you who use metrics :wink.


----------



## scharnhorst

we got the same hdd i've just put another one in and set it to raid 0. OOO expansion slot cooler thought you somehow drilled some holes put in another 90mm


----------



## TheMatt

No. I don't have enough room between the video card and wireless card. I might end up getting a third party heatsink that is all copper which will provide much better cooling.


----------



## scharnhorst

Hmm prefer not having to spend any money on that, but i think i've just come up with a decent idea. What if i was to mount a 90mm fan standing up on the bottom of the case just below the gfx card. air would be blown towards the back out through the open pci slots. the holes already in the case alow for me to use 2 zipties to hold it down. I i've measured and it fits below the card just wondering if you think it'll make a difference. It can be done though, also I have this pci slot cooler, it currently blows air up hitting the gtx card around the big plastic part but not long enough to reach the gtx fan. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835888112

What would be better, 1. moving the pci slot cooler above the gfx card sucking air above the gfx card and blowing it up towards the top of the case while installing 90mm fan below the the gfx card resting on the bottom of the case (and would it be better if i did this mounting the 90mm fan closer to the front of case blowing air below the gfx card, or below the gtx's fan?) 2. keeping it below the gfx card 3. or keeping it below the gfx card and trying to install that 90mm fan more towards the front bottom of the case?


----------



## damonhill0

My plan would be to get something like this:

Click

Then try and mount a 90mm fan blowing air towards the gfx card maybe from above the card.

Is this possible in your case?

I live in the UK, so its summer here. It was about 24 room temp when i did the test.

Ah, the British summer:

Click


----------



## scharnhorst

wow bad flooding i see. rarely have that problem here, i haven't seen it rain in a few months and i miss it. Those pci slot exhaust fans to me don't seems like they could move much air. No idea how to get a 90mm fan blowing air down on, have to be hanging. That blue fan i have the vantec one it should still cool the gfx card if I install it above it because then it would be sucking hot air coming from the card top of the card when its installed in the case and blowing it up, or is that thing more designed to be blowing air from the bottom up to the gfx card?


----------



## damonhill0

Do both fans on it blow in the same direction?


----------



## scharnhorst

Yes theyy both blow upwards

Hard to explain what i want to do but think of it this way.
Have a 90mm fan ziptied to the bottom of your case. It is slightly in front of your graphics card and it will blowing air towards the back of the case and out the open pci slots. Above the graphics card will be that blue thing i have which in theory should suck up the hot air from the gfx card bottom and send it up. 

I can set it up that way or I can still have the 90mm fan on the bottom of the case but move the blue thing under the graphics card so the 90mm fan will be blowing air both out the pci slots and i guess into the suction of the blue fans.


----------



## scharnhorst

OR What if i was to place that bottom 90mm fan at the very back of the case against the pci slots so it'd sucking air out of the case?????


----------



## damonhill0

To me, this way sounds the best:

"Have a 90mm fan ziptied to the bottom of your case. It is slightly in front of your graphics card and it will blowing air towards the back of the case and out the open pci slots. Above the graphics card will be that blue thing i have which in theory should suck up the hot air from the gfx card bottom and send it up."

If you've already got the parts, set it up and see what happens. Try a couple of different ways and see which one yields the best temps.


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d

Ah my grafics card runs to cool already


----------



## TheMatt

That wouldn't exactly work. Any fans in the rear should be exhausting hot air. If you want to draw cool air from outside in just for the graphics card, you have two options:

Do a case mod and mount a fan on the side of the case.

Create an air duct so that the air from the rear at the expansion slots is directed into graphics card fan.


----------



## pharoah

the air duct idea can be very effective.you could fix it where the vid card draws outside "room temperature" air instead of hot case air.same goes for cpu's.


----------



## TheMatt

The same concept of the Side Air Duct that Intel requires on a thermally advantaged chassis. The trouble would be getting the actual duct.


----------



## pharoah

my micro-atx case has an air duct,and that opteron does run cool.


----------



## scharnhorst

whoa thats a lot of work for something that already runs just fine. So a fan on the bottom of the armor located little infront of the gtx's fan blowing air towards the back open pci slots would do nothing? I'm better off leaving that blue vantec fans under the gfx card? Why can't i then just move the fan to the back and mount it where the open pci slots are and have it just blowing air out like the other 2 fans above it? same principle except it would be colder air since hot air rises and this would be at the bottom of the case

Basically does my gfx card fan suck air in our pushes it out? If its out then I'll mount the fan under it having it suck in that hot air and blow it out the pci slots.


----------



## magnethead

wow, i'm seeing alot of antec 900's on here all of a sudden. I went from like the only person with one, not there's 3 or 4 i've seen within a few pages. 

Granted that's the only physically custom part of my computer thus far besides the SATA DVD drive (Lite-on 20A1P). 

stats/details in my system menu.

Click the thumbs


----------



## scharnhorst

got a big case almost done, i've decided to mount that bottom fan right next to the pci slots blowing air out, hell if i decide to i can put 2 bottom fans the one next to the pci slot and the other just in front of the gfx card since i've got another 90mm fan extra. Its a beast and i'd say its around 80pounds and all blacked out.


----------



## scharnhorst

Got a problem the noise level is unbearable to the EXTREME! My temps have all dropped to amazingly low levels but its so loud Tv or music would have to be turned way up to ignore it so some changes have to be made. 

Question: Fans have those 3pin connectors which plug into the motherboard, do they provide power only? If so I had 3 or 4 plugged in that way and none of them turned on so i had to use the 4pin connectors from the psu. Is there anyway to control fan speed, in bios i tried but didn't seem to make any difference?


----------



## TheMatt

Really? They provide the same 12v as from the PSU but include a signal wire which reports the fan speed back to the BIOS.

Do you have a multimeter you can use to test the fan ports on the motherboard for voltage?


----------



## scharnhorst

no i don't have a multimeter, but yeah the don't seem to work although its not a problem considering got plenty of 4pin connectors and they are all running pretty well. One of the new fans that I replaced the top fan with is starting to make some noise. It starts off just fine but after awhile gets more high pitched just got to keep working on it. Posting pics in a second


----------



## scharnhorst

Ok for some strange reason not letting me upload images to this site, keeps sayings it fails but here it is on this site. This is also without another 120mm intake fan which is on its way damn tigerdirect, newegg is better. 

Check it out!
http://www.gamereplays.org/community/index.php?showtopic=287783


----------



## TheMatt

If you don't need the fans to be controlled by the temperature use the PSU power connector. The only disadvantage is you can't monitor the fan speeds from the BIOS/SpeedFan or another utility like SensorsView.


----------



## scharnhorst

so the 3pin connectors on the motherboard allow you to monitor the the fan speed? In bios I saw a power on feature that is disabled, can you set it up to where you can press the keyboard to turn the computer on?


----------



## TheMatt

Yes, if you can enable powering on by pressing a button on the Keyboard or Mouse.

Ahh, the wonders of ACPI.


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d

Btw why is lets see your rig not a sticky? Anyway i am still trying to get ahold of a digital camera to take some pictures of my new case,


----------



## TheMatt

Go to CVS and get one of those cheap disposable digital cameras for like $20.


----------



## scharnhorst

Fixed the noise issue soon i'll have 10 fans and its pretty silent actually i'd say quieter


----------



## TheMatt

You will have to show me where these 10 fans will be because I am always happy to add more fans to my case. :chgrin:

Whenever my friends come to my house they can hear my computer from down the hall and they are amazed and think it is a really powerful computer. :chgrin:


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d

I have 5 fans and its really quiet


----------



## magnethead

this 900 here with 3 antec tri-cools, the 250mm, and a fan-mate'd 85CFM 120mm, is almost dead quiet. unhook the side fan all together so it's justt he antecs, and it's liquid cooling silent.


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d

The only thing thats not quiet is the moded ~100 cfm 80mm side fan if that hit 100% the floor shakes (no really the floor does shake)


----------



## scharnhorst

lol not sure if its possible but after all the fans i'd say it more quiet than it had been previously. Not to mention my new setup allows me to move the computer farther away from the desk and the couch. Trying to figure a way out to test the airflow in the case. Number of people been telling me its amazing but I really should do some testing, imagine all the vortexes etc that all these fans make. 

Wondering where I should install the other 90mm fan i've got, i can place it on the bottom of the case or i can as you said place it on the outside of the case next to the power supply. I've also got to learn proper wire management skills i just can't fine anyway to route them well considering between the side fan and the heatsink about quarter of an inch of space. 


when i've heard the antec 900 I thought it was loud, it moved a lot of air for its noise level but it was louder than I would've prefered. 

Holy *** a 100cfm 80mm fan thing must be like having a jet engine right there.


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d

it runs at over 5k rpm so i am glad its changed my the motherboard lol, it blows out of my hand if i try to hold it near max speed


----------



## scharnhorst

Bet you could use it as a blender


----------



## TheMatt

Wow, 100 CFM?!? How did you mod it? I would like to do something like that.


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d

Well it was actually part of the cooler on that celeron d, and for some reason it was the same size so i was like =) and took it off (am now sick) , the thing moves as much if not more air then a stationary house fan (not ceiling on high)


----------



## TheMatt

Wow. Some of the heatsink fans are good. My Intel heatsink which is (I believe) 92mm goes at about 2k RPM at max and I can actually hear it over the other fans.


----------



## scharnhorst

Replaced that 700watt toughpower with an 850watt modular one. Thought it was better since i'm going to be having so many more fans. Post pics in a little bit but i got another 120mm front intake up and i put a 90mm little bit behind it where the back of the hdds would be blowing more air at the cpu. Waiting to post pics after I get one of my 90mm fans back after it was making tons of noise it was defective.


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d

You should send that 700 watt my way lol


----------



## scharnhorst

I returned it for this one, my old ocz 700watt when i get the new one from the rma i'm probably giving it to me brother since his is not working. Currently he has a 530watt hiper one which i've have to rma also.


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d

Aww idgive you $50 and my psu lol it holds up my system =)


----------



## scharnhorst

hmm interesting proposition, How about a hiper 530watt psu, its nice its got chrome blades, quiet, brand new, and modular cabling. it just like this one except less watts since they've come out with new stuff, maybe they'll send me one of these updated ones  http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817128002
and you can keep your psu, plus your donations will go to the starving people in africa lol


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d

Nah hipers suck lol it would probably die in my system without a video card


----------



## scharnhorst

yeah guess there not that great since his stopped working but his system is pretty good and it powered it for months without any problems. he has an 8800gtx, e6600, 2gb ram, 2 drives, 3 fans, and 1 hdd. strange, who knows though he better pay me for the ocz or he might just want to stick with hiper


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d

What are to voltages on that think thats like a mini god blessing


----------



## scharnhorst

no idea but check the newegg reviews and lots of people have similar setups


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d

Yeh some one with a dead computer cant write a review am i right?


----------



## TheMatt

The Toughpower is an extremely high quality unit and it is up there with the Antec Quattro and Enermax Infiniti units. I would not hesitate to use it in a personal build of mine.


----------



## scharnhorst

I looked at the antec quattro and since they were the same price i almost got it but wasn't quite sure if it would fit and i know any thermaltake product would work so just got that. Plus I really like its modular cabling design and so far it works great, powering all the fans and everything nicely. Looks real cool now with two blue 120mm front fans.


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d

matt just so you know i was talking about the hiper =P


----------



## TheMatt

Oops. :laugh:


----------



## scharnhorst

I thought the hiper was an up and coming company but after visiting there site and trying to call them i realize now they are worthless. talked to a dude who barely spoke english and who only told me if i wanted to rma i had to email. we'll see how it goes with them not sure what the hell i'm going to with the hiper i guess its just an extra i'll have.


----------



## pharoah

maybe use it as a fancy paper weight.:laugh:


----------



## TheMatt

I use dead components from the shop as desk ornaments and teaching tools.


----------



## pharoah

TheMatt said:


> I use dead components from the shop as desk ornaments and teaching tools.


useing them as teaching tools is a very good idea.


----------



## TheMatt

Dead components are especially good ones if they are recent because you can teach about all the latest technologies like LGA775 which has a different installation procedure.


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d

Like your going to do with that might i add working very overclockable chip i am sending soon? Show them how to overclock with it (with a good cooler it stays at room temp) 

Side note Andy got his stuff and will be trying to post pictures and 3dmark today


----------



## TheMatt

The Intel LGA775 motherboard I have right now is dead. Bad capacitor caused an entire board failure.


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d

Thats why you have your gigabyte =)


----------



## TheMatt

Yes I suppose but I don't really need to teach overclocking as that on the agenda. I could always do overclocking on my laptop though If I needed to show it.


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d

yeh but you might as well the chip is begging for it its the one they used for the 6ghz overclocks =)


----------



## scharnhorst

Just had this thought, what if i was to move my heatsink fan to blow air towards the top of the case? Or is it better to just leave it as is? Whatcha think of a fan right here? Wanted to mount it outside the case next to the psu but could find no way to keep it against the psu


----------



## scharnhorst

Want to kick myself  I went out a bought new 850watt TT psu, ocz just gave me for a replacement a 850watt psu to replace my 700watt. I'm sticking with my tt since its modular but I guess have to give my bro this new psu, nice i guess.


----------



## pharoah

sounds like ya bro lucked out.:laugh:


----------



## scharnhorst

******* went from a hiper 530watt he paid for, to a 850watt ocz i paid for!


----------



## TheMatt

pharoah I forgot to ask what kind of case fans are those?


----------



## pharoah

TheMatt said:


> pharoah I forgot to ask what kind of case fans are those?


are you talking about my arctic cooling fans


----------



## TheMatt

Yeah. I think I might pick up one of these for myself. 
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835186008


----------



## pharoah

you know the strange thing about my arctic fans.ive had them 6 or 7 months,and have never cleaned them they are still not dirty.for some reason they dont buildup dust like most fans do.


----------



## TheMatt

Thats good. I have noticed that having a clean environment with a good central filter helps eliminate dust buildup in the computer and is probably one of the biggest factors in dust buildup.

Dust actually builds up on the front drive bay shields in my Armor but I just have to use a cloth to wipe the front down.


----------



## scharnhorst

I'd say the front dust filters do a mediocre job at stopping dust, its better than nothing at all but not by a huge extent


----------



## TheMatt

Do they have a big impact on airflow?


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d

no good mesh ones dont


----------



## pharoah

yeah but the strange thing in my case im not using dust filters.


----------



## TheMatt

I don't really find it a bit hassle to periodically dust out my computer especially since I tend to open it up for other things anyway.


----------



## scharnhorst

I'm realizing now though if you just get water cooling you avoid a lot of dust, and everything runs much cooler and little quieter


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d

Yeh but you still need some fans to keep the case cool for the psu and harddrives.


----------



## scharnhorst

Toying with the idea of getting that Kandalf water cooled case, its pretty cool


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d

heres a list of some http://www.performance-pcs.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=262


----------



## scharnhorst

Wow prices pretty high on that site but i've found it cheaper else where, also read the reviews on it and there all pretty good, atleast agreeing probably the best prebuilt one that comes with the case


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d

They have a antec armor for only 100 more then it is without the water cooling i would go with thatone atm


----------



## scharnhorst

hmm, yeah would have to figure out what i'd do with my current case so i'm a bit away from making a decision but i'm considering it


----------



## TheMatt

If you get the Thermaltake Armor you won't even need water cooling with a good heatsink like the Zalman 7700.


----------



## scharnhorst

I've got an armor, i've got a tt v1 heatsink which is better than the 7700 and added tons more fans to the case


----------



## TheMatt

My full load temps for my CPU are officially below 40 degrees (its winter here).


----------



## scharnhorst

I've got b3 quad which is known for being quite hot, much hotter than that cpu but i've got no idea what the hell to do. All i want is a cpu cooler, sure I would get roughly the same temps as i'm getting now on water at idle but its the load temps which would be much better. I can't really improve this system much more than it is besides getting whole new heatsink since i've got all the fans possible in this case  If i was to go out and do that might aswell just go water cooling, just hearing they don't last that long those systems, and any minor problem becomes a big one pretty quickly


----------



## scharnhorst

actually those the thermaltake symphony seems like a decent option, i've got the room for it and actually like the look, plus good performance and quiet


----------



## TheMatt

If you are looking at a mid tower, go for the Antec Nine Hundred. If you are looking at a full tower, go for the Thermaltake Armor.


----------



## scharnhorst

what are you talking about???? If you were talking to me then know this I already have a thermaltake armor as a my case. The symphony is a water cooling kit thermaltake produces


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d

=P you really should go with a quallity dangerden system you dont want to be like my friend that comes back to his computer being filled with liquid(not in the tubes)


----------



## TheMatt

Oops. :embarased

I agree Dangerden makes top of the line water cooling.


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d

their cheapest http://www.dangerden.com/store/product.php?productid=184&cat=65&page=1


----------



## TheMatt

Thats actually a decent deal.


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d

Yeh i was thinking about getting it after i get my motherboard and psu


----------



## TheMatt

Air cooling is plenty for a Core 2 Duo. Just look at my temps. :chgrin:


----------



## pharoah

TheMatt said:


> Air cooling is plenty for a Core 2 Duo. Just look at my temps. :chgrin:


i agree 100% unless you are doing some major overclocking.then you may need something else.


----------



## scharnhorst

interesting, although I was trying to keep it as simple as possible. Now TT might not have the best name when it came to water cooling the symphony mini I think looks good and by all accounts offers amazing performance coupled with ease of use and quiet operation. Not all that much more either http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835106094
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thermaltake/SymphonyMini/6.html
http://www.overclockercafe.com/Reviews/cooling/Tt_Symphony_Mini/pg4.html


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d

pharoah said:


> i agree 100% unless you are doing some major overclocking.then you may need something else.


Well when i get one i am going to push it to the max, but i will be buying the motherboard first and maybe i could get a small overclock on my pd is just to hot now


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d

Not bad if you dont like the joy of putting it together


----------



## scharnhorst

I like the look of it, since it stands out it'll be seen


----------



## TheMatt

You can push an E6750 to a 400 MHz FSB (3.2 GHz) with a Zalman 9500 easily with a quality board. Having a 6-phase CPU voltage regulator will help with stability as well as quality DDR2 800 MHz RAM set to run at 667 MHz so that it goes up to 800 MHz with the overclock.


----------



## scharnhorst

with my b3 q6600 i can get it to overclock I just having difficulty with temps. I can't increase the voltages for stability because i can't let the cpu get any hotter


----------



## pharoah

always remember one thing a high end air cooler is normally better than cheapo water cooling.


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d

No dangerden can be cheap lol


----------



## scharnhorst

pretty sure the symphony is considered high end


----------



## pharoah

the problem that most have with tt water.is the pumps have a high failure rate.

not exctly what i meant owned.i meant cheapo quality danger den is known to be high quality in water cooling.


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d

Thats also bad because if you dont catch the pump failing you cpus is gone


----------



## scharnhorst

Yeah but thats an easy and cheap replacement right? I can just get that and replace it with a decent one

Actually just realized it uses a dual pump design, but i haven't read of any issues


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d

I dont know about cheap the one included in the danger den is like $60 (their lowest one)


----------



## pharoah

yeah i was looking at the photo's of it from the reviews you posted.i dont see any reason why the pump couldnt be replaced.they had the thing kinda taken apart in one of the pics.looked like changing a pump would be an easy job.like owned said a dd pump,or a swiftec pump either one would be a good one.


----------



## TheMatt

If you just bought a new QX6850 and it fried because of a failing pump you won't be happy.

If you are trying to overclock a Quad, you need to read reviews of different boards because something called a GTLRef voltage mod found on some boards can improve quad core overclocking.

With the quads also look at a good Zalman 9500 and you should be good to at least a 1333 MHz FSB for a Q6600 (which makes it run at the speed of a QX6850).


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d

>.< you past me in post pharoah


----------



## scharnhorst

everywhere i look they sing it praises
I've got mine at 1333fsb and temps are fine but i'd like 3ghz. I had a 9500 but the temps were actually lower with my TT v1!


----------



## TheMatt

If you take the Q6600 up to 333 MHz FSB (1333 MHz Quad Pumped) you will get a 3 GHz core speed. That is a very nice overclock.


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d

.... i just cut myself on my case lol was like noooo gaming will hurt now


----------



## scharnhorst

oops wasn't paying attention, yeah my comp cpu i got at stock right now but I overclocked it to 3ghz prob was making it stable was difficult since it kept failing prime and the reason was i was having to up the voltages which i couldn't do sinces the temps were reaching 70c


----------



## TheMatt

If its failing Prime95 it could be that your memory timings are too tight. Try increasing them to 5-5-5-15.


----------



## scharnhorst

its not that its failing thats bothering me so much, i know i can fix that. My temps are way to high, its peaking around 70c which is what i consider to high


----------



## pharoah

1 g0t 0wn3d said:


> >.< you past me in post pharoah


lol:laugh:


if you were failing prime 95 with a cpu temp of 70c.id say heat is what was causing it to fail.


----------



## scharnhorst

hmm its possible didn't realize it judged heat on that program. Also i just got a weird bsod, something about verifying drivers 0x000000c5 strange out of nowhere on at desktop


----------



## pharoah

no what im saying if the cpu was overheating.that may have caused an instability that was crashing prime 95.


----------



## scharnhorst

never knew 70c was enough heat to cause instability


----------



## pharoah

go here the thermal specification on that chip is 62.2c so id say 70c is a bit to warm for it.70c is 158 farenheit by the way.although that can depend on exactly which sensor the program was reading.


----------



## scharnhorst

Yeah thats why i think i need to get that symphony if i want to overclock. I was using nvidia monitor with those readings which i've heard are often a little off


----------



## pharoah

is your q6600 a b3 stepping,or a go?if you know that is.


----------



## scharnhorst

b3


----------



## pharoah

yeah the b3 stepping ones do run a bit hotter.i tell ya if you dont want the water cooling. this,or this cooler will be alot better than what you have now.


----------



## scharnhorst

Yeah i've heard those are all good, but just thinking of i got a kit like the symphony never have to worry about temperatures and can be something that will always perform well for a long time


----------



## TheMatt

If you are going with water cooling, spend the extra money on Dangerden. You won't regret it. Save up if you have to.


----------



## pharoah

TheMatt said:


> If you are going with water cooling, spend the extra money on Dangerden. You won't regret it. Save up if you have to.


got to agree with matt here.from the things ive read about tt water cooling.its kinda one of those avoid at all costs things.


----------



## scharnhorst

Hear whatcha all saying, but damn could 20 reviews be wrong? My main thing I like about it is the ease at which I could set it up and look and effectiveness. what about this http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835127006R
or 
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835118015

another review of the symphony coming in second http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/coolers/print/16watercooling.html 
They do mention the pumps, they are weak. Say a pump fails only way you'd know is if you looked at the temps of your comp and saw they were high before they cooked your cpu right?


----------



## pharoah

dont put to much into those new egg reviews.for 10$ more then that zalman id get this.swiftech pumps are way better than the others you have listed.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835108076


----------



## damonhill0

Hi Guys

Back again. I did some things to my case and, most importantly, bought a new digi cam. Lots of new shots of my pc below but first a full spec:

Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 w/ Thermalright Ultra 90
2GB Kingston KVR800D2N5
Gigabyte P35C-DS3R
Nvidia 7800GTX w/ Zalman VF1000LED
Antec TruePower Trio 650W
Seagate 80GB (not a top of range HDD, only got OS on it)
Samsung DVD RW (again, not top of the range but it is SATA)
Antec 900 case w/ 200mm fan exhaust
Five Coolink SWiF 120mm Case fans (four intake and one exhaust)
Coolink SWiF 92mm to cool cpu.

Lots of extension cables and fan speed adjusters to keep case quiet and good airflow. The cables are tied the way they are for airflow rather than looks. It does look pretty messy at the bottom! The CPU runs around 20C idle and the ambient case temp is 30C. Graphics card runs around 31C idle.

Images attached below.


----------



## damonhill0

Double post - sorry. More pictures.


----------



## pharoah

that motherboard sure does look familiar hehe i got one just like it.thats a sweet lookin rig you got there.:4-clap:


----------



## scharnhorst

very cool wires everywhere


----------



## kodi

I have that case and motherboard,have hidden all the cables behind motherboard tray will post some pics later today.


----------



## pharoah

cool cant wait to see that.:grin:


----------



## HawMan

Very nice, Like that CPU Cooler there.


----------



## TheMatt

Very nice. What Zalman VGA cooler is that? How does it work with your 7800GTX?


----------



## kodi

My Work in Progress;


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d

Nice tape =P hoping for a camera soon


----------



## pharoah

that thing is lookin sweet kodi.love the wire management that is gonna have a real clean look when finished.

your next owned lets see some pics :laugh:


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d

I am telling you my camera is like some thing i can say here ill post some pics from it if i can find it


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d

Nope i think i may have thrown it away


----------



## pharoah

1 g0t 0wn3d said:


> Nope i think i may have thrown it away


oh noooose  threw it away.


----------



## damonhill0

Matt - It's a Zalman VF1000 LED cooler. Works great with my 7800gtx. Dead easy to install aswell. Idles at 31C stock, under load gets to around 37-38C.

http://www.zalman.co.kr/usa/product/view.asp?idx=289&code=013

Kodi - sweet cable management. If I was feeling braver i'd have cut the backplate on my 900 aswell. It's my first build though so wasn't feeling that confident.


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d

Well it only worked as a web cam.....and i have to have the side panel on when the computer is because the cpu fans socket is taken by the other cpu fan in the side and it shuts down if its not plugged in Get that lol?


----------



## ebackhus

<twibat>, Kodi! That's some of the FINEST wire management I've ever seen! My PSU boasts that the cabling is designed for user under boards (Thick insulation, arranged to lie flat and organized) but I'm too lazy to take it very far. I'd have to do a complete rebuild and with a free weekend coming up here I just might OH GOD!


----------



## TheMatt

kodi said:


> My Work in Progress;


That is THE BEST cable management I have ever seen. Congratulations Brian! :smile:

And I thought _I did a good job_ when I re-worked my internal wiring. :laugh: Its amazing what a little duct tape will do.


----------



## scharnhorst

the word amazing comes to mind when I look at your wire management skillz! I don't think i could pull it off since my case is so large and the wires on my psu seem so stiff how did you route them like that?


----------



## scharnhorst

whoa just stumbled upon this and now i want one! really cool ty god for the removable motherboard tray! Wonder how much it'll be?
http://forum.thermaltake.com/viewtopic.php?t=2709


----------



## kodi

UPDATE
Water cooling installed;


----------



## scharnhorst

Kodi that thing looks amazing, wires everything great job.


----------



## TheMatt

If someone who has never seen a computer saw yours for the first time they would get the wrong impression on what a computer really looks like inside. :laugh:


----------



## kodi

There is a saying going around ; A tidy Computer is a sign of a sick mind.


----------



## scharnhorst

hey matt did you see that new armor design coming out? Kodi that computer scares me, never thought they could look that clean


----------



## kodi

That Armour case looks great, bet it will cost a small fortune in Australia


----------



## TheMatt

scharnhorst said:


> hey matt did you see that new armor design coming out? Kodi that computer scares me, never thought they could look that clean


Yeah. Looks cool but I would just like mine to be bigger (more tall and wide).


----------



## kodi

TheMatt said:


> Yeah. Looks cool but I would just like mine to be bigger (more tall and wide).


Thats very very scary,the bigger it is the more you will want to fit in it


----------



## TheMatt

More room to work in is always nice. Thats why for personal builds I almost always go for full towers or large mid towers.


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d

You know hps micro atx was just as east to work in as my larger mid tower it could fit a 8800 gtx lol


----------



## scharnhorst

Think its a little bit bigger, but for modders its offers all kinds of goodies plus i like the motherboard tray is removable. How much you think it'll cost? Suppose to come out in couple weeks, think i might get it in lcs version. Figuring it shouldn't be much more than the cases are now since they are ment to replace them


----------



## blackduck30

absolutely magnificent, I love the radiator improvisation. I would never have imagined that the blue tube spring would go that far or look so neat. Wire management one of the best I have seen in a long time.
Hats off Kodi


----------



## TheMatt

Brian, when are you getting your video card so you can get that rig up and running?


----------



## scharnhorst

Godlike status there tell me after all that your not putting in a 5200 series card?!?!


----------



## kodi

TheMatt said:


> Brian, when are you getting your video card so you can get that rig up and running?


Finances have been delayed, about 4-6 weeks, have decided on an 8800gts,QX6850 cpu and 4g ocz flex watercooled DDR2 PC2-9200 ram.


----------



## blackduck30

Hey a question for you Kodi,

Did you turn your hard drive around to have the cables and power on the inside ?


----------



## kodi

blackduck30 said:


> Hey a question for you Kodi,
> 
> Did you turn your hard drive around to have the cables and power on the inside ?


Yes, it was a nightmare job getting it to work.
Here is a thread in another forum that i got the idea from and added my own ideas.
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=126395


----------



## pharoah

that rig sure is lookin sweet cant wait to see the final product.guess we will have to wait a bit,but i bet you are more anxious than anyone.:laugh:


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d

I just want to get a digital camera =P


----------



## pharoah

1 g0t 0wn3d said:


> I just want to get a digital camera =P


you can get one without spending a fortune a decent one to.


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d

YEh my mom is w8ing to get a good one as she is an artist and needs to take pictures of her work


----------



## pharoah

im wanting a cam that can see in the dark myself.


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d

Use that for recon missions?


----------



## pharoah

lol yeah covert ops.:laugh:


----------



## emosun

now thats a good idea kodi to turn the hdd's the other way. i just might do that now. itll be really hard cuz i ll hafta cut the ide cable into strips to get them to manuver. lol


----------



## ashumann12

Pharoah, is there a good niht vision or FLIR camera that has usb hook up?
Im interested in setting one up w/ my laptop for night driving (I'm a Truck driver + part time lack ops). Been to FLIR's web site but no responce from them yet.


----------



## ashumann12

Here is my (UM) RIG


----------



## TheMatt

I hope you don't type while driving. :laugh:


----------



## ashumann12

No I'm not that good. I do pull up maps, weather radar, ect. that I can glance at every now and again. I drive mainly at night to avoid traffic. I'm stationary right now at a truck stop. Been driving 11 years and am not ready to die or kll anyone else for that matter. My CDL is almost as important to me as my partner(wife), but don't tell her I said that.


----------



## TheMatt

How do you get internet while on the road? I would certainly like that. Do you use one of those mobile broadband cards?


----------



## ashumann12

Yes I have a Seirra Wireless 595u usb broadband card from Sprint. For $59.99 I get ulimited use. Speed varies depending on what network tower I'm under. 1500 Kbs max down to dail up in some areas.


----------



## TheMatt

Nice. I would like something like that.


----------



## ashumann12

I'm in Elkton Md right now and under a 3G tower now


----------



## ashumann12

I'\t's pretty cool, I have 2 nextel phones too, all tax deductable as buisiness expences


----------



## pharoah

i had a cell phone once that would do the same thing.it had a cable that plugged into the phone,and usb port on the computer.


----------



## TheMatt

Usually on the road I visit TSF on my mom's Blackberry.


----------



## ashumann12

I spend more time in my truck than I do at home so I try to make it as comfortable as possible. Technology getting alot more affordable now too


----------



## scharnhorst

Ok guys thank you for all your advice I just ordered all the water cooling parts, Check it out. 
Basically got this kit http://www.dangerden.com/store/product.php?productid=183&cat=65&page=1 But I made some modifications which should help improve performance. I upgraded from that radiator to this one http://www.dangerden.com/store/product.php?productid=256&cat=90&page=1 
Also switched the resevoir the kit came with which apparantly is terrible from all the reviews and got this better one i'm hoping http://www.dangerden.com/store/product.php?productid=52&cat=27&page=1
Got this cool fan controller help monitor the temps and control the fans on the radiator http://www.frozencpu.com/products/5...Ready-_Ships_Today.html?id=PZPajGhX&mv_pc=135

Once again thanks goes out to Matt and Own3d for steering me clear of thermaltake and other kits!


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d

TheMatt said:


> Usually on the road I visit TSF on my mom's Blackberry.


I thought you were like 46?


----------



## pharoah

1 g0t 0wn3d said:


> I thought you were like 46?


lol i think matt is a teenager if im not mistaken.


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d

hmmm maybe i am think of linderman? what grade are you in?


----------



## pharoah

grade who me lmao im 37.


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d

I want talking about matt lol....


----------



## pharoah

hehehe i havent set foot in a school in years now.


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d

Oh woops almost said some naughty things along the lines of there is to much drama in high school.


----------



## pharoah

well you are correct there is to much drama in high school.:laugh:


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d

Quote from my best "girl" friend thats 2 months younger then me " My boyfriend says he can't live without me, well he should have thought about that before he started drinking again" i was like ***?


----------



## TheMatt

1 g0t 0wn3d said:


> I thought you were like 46?


I'm in high school. :laugh:

Why did you think I was 46?


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d

for some reason in your profile i thought your birth day was like something 1956


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d

and again what grade are you in?


----------



## TheMatt

11th grade.


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d

oh you got me by a year =P


----------



## TheMatt

Have you taken the PSATs yet?


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d

nah i dont want to pay $15 =) they are on next monday


----------



## TheMatt

We have to take one PSAT this year and two SATs. :sigh:


----------



## ashumann12

:sigh:Ya'll make me feel old!


----------



## TheMatt

A new low. :grin:

Temp1 = Northbridge
Temp2 = Processor


----------



## HawMan

Is that on stock cooler?


Your 12+ is a little out :laugh: joke.


----------



## TheMatt

Yep, the stock Intel cooler. No SpeedStep.

For some reason No program can read the +12v. Using a DMM I measured 12.18v though which is good.


----------



## HawMan

Im very very tempted to get rid of the AMD rig <<< and build an intel one with the E5500 ( It will blow the 4600+ too! )


Cant you get the +12 in the BIOS? - Those temps are great, No doubt with a better cooler ( Even stock ) you could hit some nice Overclocks.


----------



## TheMatt

Its an AM2 rig - you're upgrading already? :laugh:

I will probably be picking up a Zalman 7700 LED and then when I upgrade to 2 GB of RAM I will get DDR2-800 MHz. Then I will keep the FSBRAM locked at 1:1, drop the multiplier to 6x, and try to get a 400 MHz bus speed OC. This will bring the FSB up to 1600 MHz and the CPU core up to 2.4 GHz.


----------



## pharoah

those are some good temps there matt.are you using the stock cooler?


----------



## TheMatt

pharoah said:


> those are some good temps there matt.are you using the stock cooler?


Yep - and 4 case fans. :grin:


----------



## pharoah

yeah im using 4 case fans to.i got my cpu overclocked form 1.8 to 2.7,and i idle at 24,or25c depending on the exact room temp.i have a slightly upgraded cooler got a coolermaster.that looks alot like a stock intel cooler except it is about twice as tall.


----------



## HawMan

Intel Runs silly around AM2 :laugh: Plus, The E5500 isnt that expensive really - ill i would need is a Mobo / CPU, i could re-use the RAM, Gfx card, Hdd, PSU, Case etc.

You should reach for more than 2.4ghz ray:


----------



## pharoah

i agree hawman matt's cpu could do alot more than 2.4


----------



## TheMatt

The next step up would be 2.8 GHz which would be something to try. :smile:

HawMan - You mean the E6550, not the E5500, right?


----------



## HawMan

Get the 2.8 mark easily :grin:


:redface::redface: Yes i meant E6550. I knew something didnt look right when i typed 'E5500' but my mind went blank :laugh:


----------



## TheMatt

The E5500 is the name of a Sun Enterprise Server.


----------



## TheMatt

:grin:

This was after running my computer for a half hour but since it hadn't been running since the early morning my room was cooler (~20 degrees).


----------



## HawMan

Nice ray:


Im on the Intel Route now - Im Going to buy:

Gigabyte GA-P35C-DS3R Socket 775

and

Intel Conroe E6550 ( May get the E6750 for the extra £15 )


I was going to get the P6N as it has SLI, but the P35c doesnt although it has DDR3. Guess i need to sacrafice the SLI lol.

Again - Nice temps!! impressive.


----------



## scharnhorst

wow... very very nice temps. Kidding me you can get that to atleast 3ghz without even trying.


----------



## TheMatt

Good choice. The one thing I like about that over the DS4 is that it has no heatpipes. They are a pain when removing the northbridge cooler to put on some arctic silver.

If you want SLi the N650SLI-DS4 is a good board to look at. The thing with DDR3 is that it really isn't going to get you any more speed than you already have.


I don't want to make it look like I am bragging or rubbing my temps in anyone's face, but here is the more complete package.


----------



## IAmNutsAboutPCs

Mine is not bad:

Intel P4 3.6GHz with Hyperthreading

MSI MS-7046 Motherboard

4X512mb (PC3200) DDR1 RAM

Misco Saver 8800GTX 768mb

CoolerMaster 650W eXtreme PSU


----------



## TheMatt

Wow... I didn't think the 915P had only DDR support. 

Is that a Prescott or Cedar Mill core P4?


----------



## IAmNutsAboutPCs

TheMatt said:


> Wow... I didn't think the 915P had only DDR support.
> 
> Is that a Prescott or Cedar Mill core P4?


Are you talking to me?

It is an Advent T9203 (completely rebuilt mind)!

Prescott Socket 775 LGA


----------



## HawMan

Even your GPU is cool!


The pc im on just now which has the 6200 is idleing at 50 degrees!!


----------



## TheMatt

The MSI double slotted cooler really does the trick. The expansion slot cooler below also helps. :smile:


----------



## ashumann12

Matt, is that on your laptop? My Aspire runs about 46+


----------



## TheMatt

No, that is on my desktop (see My System at left). I just copied over the background when I copied over everything else from my laptop.

My Aspire idles around 42 degrees and under load jumps to around 55 or 60 degrees.


----------



## ashumann12

Ok, I know you had a diff prosessor but dang. I agree clock it up to 3 with temps like that!! Congrats


----------



## TheMatt

Thanks. :smile:

Thats what 8 fans will do. :laugh:


----------



## ashumann12

Is there another fan I can put in my laptop? Or should I just drill more holes in the bottom (HA HA)


----------



## TheMatt

Pick up one of these:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834999336


----------



## ashumann12

OK got one similar but doesn't work well in truck. Thinking about putting 2 holes in bottom of my stand I built and installing two fans underneith. Should they blow up at laptop or mayby suck air down away from laptop?


----------



## TheMatt

They should blow air up into the laptop.

What model Acer do you have? On many you can use the Acer eManager to crank up the CPU fan speed to 100% even when the laptop is idle.


----------



## ashumann12

Acer Aspire 5100-3357 with AMD Turion 64 mobile 38 2200mhz


----------



## TheMatt

Go into the Acer eManager and then go to eSettings. Go to the Boot section and put an x next to Fan Always On.


----------



## ashumann12

OK under boot options it has : Boot options and power on opions.
under power on only has enable fast boot (already marked)


----------



## TheMatt

I guess you can't crank the fan up then. What cooling pad do you have?

Your temps are very good BTW. AMD hasn't moved down to 65nm on any of their laptop chips. The only other thing I can suggest is dusting out the laptop with compressed air.


----------



## ashumann12

Not sure I got it at wal-mart for my step daughters laptop but she can't use it with her docking staition, Thats where I came up with the idea of putting a fan in the docking sta


----------



## TheMatt

What docking station is it?


----------



## ashumann12

Not sure, I'm not at home. Its an old model dell insperon. She got it used from her father (cheap @#$%$#!) I think it was an old office laptop prob sold at auction has win 2000 professional on it but only a 4GB or so HD so I got her an external HD for her birthday 320GB I think. She mainly uses it for music and i-tunes


----------



## scharnhorst

Finally finished the water cooling :grin:


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d

Kind of messy lol, very nice system though


----------



## kodi

Just finished redoing my watercooling (Tidying it up and moving radiator)


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d

-.- just show EVERYONE up why don't you lol


----------



## pharoah

kodi said:


> Just finished redoing my watercooling (Tidying it up and moving radiator)


that system is coming along rather nicely :woot:


----------



## ashumann12

Show off ... Looks Cool (pun intended)


----------



## pharoah

ashumann12 said:


> Show off ... Looks Cool (pun intended)



ahahaha good one.:laugh:


----------



## TheMatt

I just did a bit more cable management (I originally went in to clean my 90mm fan by the PSU because it was making odd noises) and I took a few pictures of the nicer looking part of my case so it wouldn't look horrible next to Brian's cable management. I also just had to show off my new TSF Mousepad. :grin:





In case you are wondering, yes that is a working Nintendo 64 below the receiver there. I use it on an old TV from 1983 that I got. :grin:


----------



## pharoah

wooohoooo that setup looks sweet matt.:woot:

i see we have the same mouse pad:grin:


----------



## TheMatt

Thanks. :smile:

Yep, I really like this TSF Mousepad. (Thanks Jason! :wave


----------



## scharnhorst

true my setup is really messy but i'm idling at 27c  my gfx card idles air at 55c, which isn't bad for my stock gtx


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d

i see me lol


----------



## pharoah

scharnhorst said:


> true my setup is really messy but i'm idling at 27c  my gfx card idles air at 55c, which isn't bad for my stock gtx


i agree 55c idle for a gtx is a great temp:grin:


----------



## TheMatt

It is really good especially since some of the fans are being used for the radiator. Maybe some day there will be three slotted coolers for cards like the G80. 

EDIT: Why do you have two power supplies there?


----------



## scharnhorst

oh that was how i tested my water cooling for leaks. I have an extra 680i mobo, long story short evga screwed up those morons and gave me a free one. the extra psu is that 530watt hiper my brother was using till he had problems with it but for some reason still works fine. Figured this was the safest way since nothing inside the computer would be on. I found no leaks but did screw up when i put the pump in upside down reversing the flow direction which was a pain to fix after i had filled everything up :tongue:

It surprisingly was nowhere near has hard to do as I figured and eventually (far down the line) I’ll get another radiator and better pump and make the whole case water cooled. Didn’t see a point in water cooling the gtx yet since the block is so expensive and I still get decent air temps. I really like the zalman fan controller I put in which has 4 temp sensors and allows me to control rpm of 4 fans along with cool power display. Here is a couple of better pics, not going to zoom into the radiator because it’s a little embarrassing how its staying in the case with the 2 icages behind it, but sometimes modding ain't pretty 

I'll do a better job at wire management when i get sometime since i was impatient after not having my comp working for around two weeks.


----------



## ashumann12

scharnhorst said:


> Finally finished the water cooling :grin:


Is that a second motherboard?


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d

pharoah said:


> i agree 55c idle for a gtx is a great temp:grin:


LOl mines 40c


----------



## scharnhorst

55c is pretty good http://forums.nvidia.com/index.php?showtopic=26736&pid=154625&mode=threaded&show=&st=&


----------



## TheMatt

I like the fan controller display. I am hoping to throw in a Vantec fan controller in mine (once it comes in stock) because it will have nice blue matching LEDs and a blue CCFL. :smile:

I will also be getting a higher airflow 120mm blue LED fan for the rear and a spare 90mm fan so I can have working spare fans in case one has an issue.


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d

just saying lol


----------



## scharnhorst

I'm extremely impressed by my radiator fans the silentx 120mm x 38mm fluid bearing fans. They are extremely quiet and move way way more air than any other fan i've got said to be 60cfm i wouldn't be suprised if it was more.


----------



## TheMatt

The fluid dynamic bearing fans are very quiet; I just wish they made them in higher speed versions.

Right now I have a 93 CFM 120mm fan in the rear and I plan to replace it with a 110 CFM fan that will be just as quiet (mainly so that I will have a spare fan, not for the extra airflow).


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d

I need to make the rear case holes bigger lol they restrict airflow


----------



## TheMatt

1 g0t 0wn3d said:


> I need to make the rear case holes bigger lol they restrict airflow


You may want to consider removing the entire fan grill (easier than drilling holes) and putting in a fan guard like like one of these:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811999204


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d

Ill just remove it and not put one on for now... lol hoping little brother sticks fingers in....


----------



## TheMatt

Fortunately the bigger lower speed fans don't hurt as much. Just don't stick your finger in a 6000 RPM 60mm fan. :laugh:


----------



## pharoah

1 g0t 0wn3d said:


> LOl mines 40c


big difference owned you have a 7900gtx.


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d

Yeh its got a very good cooler on it , old with gaurd on fans






and new not things


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d

ok so today i got my hair in my second cpu fan.... oww 5k rpms of goodness


----------



## pharoah

ouch lol hair in the fan bet ya wont try that again :laugh:


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d

ok now dads like ohh brothers fingers are gonna get chopped off.... um its like a 2k rpm PLASTIC fan


----------



## pharoah

yeah its not very likely any computer fan is gonna chop a finger off.some of the really high rpm ones may give a good cut,but i doubt it would cut one off.


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d

i would show him that it would not do anything by sticking mine in there but i don't want to dammage my fan lol


----------



## pharoah

that sounds like my way of thinking more worried about the fan than the finger.:laugh:


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d

Hey... that thing cost me like $15 my finger was free.....


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d

You know doing that brought down my load temp from 59-60c to 54c after 1hr of 100%load


----------



## ashumann12

1 g0t 0wn3d said:


> i see me lol


Me Too!!


I thought I was the only one who stuck fingers in fans!!


----------



## IAmNutsAboutPCs

Nah I always do it, it's almost a buzz when it goes 'ZZZ' and you crap yourself LOL!


----------



## HawMan

Just dont stick your tounge in them.. Ouch! :laugh:


----------



## TheMatt

1 g0t 0wn3d said:


> i would show him that it would not do anything by sticking mine in there but i don't want to dammage my fan lol


That would be my train of thought as well. Safety first... meaning the safety of your components first. :laugh:


----------



## scharnhorst

i've gotten it to stop but my mobo was beeping like crazy whenever i tried to open any program. seems fine after i removed some of the thermal sensors near the cpu. anyone know what that was about?


----------



## kodi

I have just had to start right from scratch and rebuild THE LOT.
Decided to adjust some of the cables so i loosened the motherboard screws so as the cables could move freely under the mobo.
Adjusted the cables and started to retighten the mobo screws and found one missing, you guessed it nowhere to be seen.
Looked everywhere shook the case ,still no screw.
removed the mobo no screw removed the water cooling no screw removed the 4 drives dvd and floppy/card reader and you guessed it no screw.
Left with bare case with just the power supply in it,got a torch and found the screw wedged firmly between the PSU and side of the case.
Have put it aside and will start again in the morning.


----------



## IAmNutsAboutPCs

Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek!

I feel for you man.


----------



## ashumann12

:upset::upset:Never good having a loose screw.


----------



## kodi

Was sorting some old photos today and came across a photo of a real rig
I was driving this when i retired from long distance driving,It's a Western Star of course.
Sorry but it is a lousy photo


----------



## ashumann12

Super Trucker... I only pull 53'ers


----------



## pharoah

i dont think i have posted these here yet.a 20 second super pi time to 1 mil isnt bad for an 80$ cpu.:grin:


----------



## scharnhorst

getting the most bang for your buck!


----------



## ashumann12

Now my laptop looks cool.


----------



## pharoah

scharnhorst said:


> getting the most bang for your buck!


oh yeah most definetly.:grin:


----------



## HawMan

Nice OC. :grin::grin:


----------



## TheMatt

Nice. I got 22 seconds after tweaking the RAM timings.


----------



## IAmNutsAboutPCs

Stop posting words... start posting pictures!!!


----------



## TheMatt

Will do. :smile:


----------



## pharoah

yeah matt this is the show me forum.you cant just say something without proof.:laugh:


----------



## TheMatt

:grin:


----------



## pharoah

thats good with the cpu at stock speed.wow thats some fast fans you have there matt.:laugh:


----------



## TheMatt

SpeedFan has some problems with the Speeds and Voltages. :grin:

Actually the smallest fan in here (not counting the PSU fan) is 90mm so they don't have to spin fast to move a lot of air.


----------



## scharnhorst

Does super pi only test memory?


----------



## TheMatt

Super Pi is very FPU intensive and does not use the memory that much (compared to a balanced torture test in Prime95 for example), however my time did drop 2 seconds after tweaking the timings which suggests that it does use the RAM.


----------



## scharnhorst

mine also ran it in 22seconds seems a bit long i guess


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d

It only uses one core though


----------



## scharnhorst

OHHHHHHHHH makes sense now, plus i've got no overclock on right now. Speaking of which I guess I can take some time and try some overclocking.


----------



## pharoah

TheMatt said:


> SpeedFan has some problems with the Speeds and Voltages. :grin:
> 
> Actually the smallest fan in here (not counting the PSU fan) is 90mm so they don't have to spin fast to move a lot of air.


yeah same here my fans show the same insane speed on speedfan.


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d

Me to lol......They need to fix that


----------



## pharoah

just think if that fan was really running 1,350,000 rpm.it would have ripped your head off when ya got your hair in it.


----------



## HawMan

My MSI K9N SLI Platinum & OCZ GameXstream 700W PSU have been ordered.

Will get pics when they arrive. :wink:


Next on the list is EVGA 8800GTS 320mb.


----------



## IAmNutsAboutPCs

Hey man, why not go for a GTX? You can get them for £314 OEM and just download nTune and the drivers for free. That's what I did and it's excellent.


----------



## HawMan

I just dont have the cash mate. Im at College and using my bursary to get this Rig finished. The 8800GTS 320 with a little OC will do me nicely for a while untill i can afford a GTX / 9800 series. :grin:


----------



## TheMatt

pharoah said:


> just think if that fan was really running 1,350,000 rpm.it would have ripped your head off when ya got your hair in it.


The fan would come flying off the bearing and hit someone. :laugh:



HawMan said:


> My MSI K9N SLI Platinum & OCZ GameXstream 700W PSU have been ordered.
> 
> Will get pics when they arrive. :wink:
> 
> 
> Next on the list is EVGA 8800GTS 320mb.


Don't you already have a K9N SLI Platinum?


----------



## IAmNutsAboutPCs

HawMan said:


> I just dont have the cash mate. Im at College and using my bursary to get this Rig finished. The 8800GTS 320 with a little OC will do me nicely for a while untill i can afford a GTX / 9800 series. :grin:


OK mate. 

GTS is still an awesome card. ray:


----------



## HawMan

TheMatt - Nope, i did order it a while ago but somehow it didnt work due to lack of money. While not having the Mobo thats when i started thinking about just buying a C2D motherboard and the E6550 as it would run around the 4600+.

So anyway heres the New PC:

MSI K9N SLI Platinum
AMD Athlon 4600+
OCZ GameXstream 700W
XFX 6800XT ( 8800GTS in a few weeks )
1GB ( Soon to be 2gigs ) OCZ Platinum DDR 2 800mhz RAM
320gb Seagate 7200rpm hdd



only reason i changed 'My system' ages ago is because its embarrasing to show the PC i have just now :laugh:

Intel Celeron 2ghz
1gb ddr400 @ 266mhz
Sparkle 6200 128mb
Aspire 400W PSU
Gigabyte GA8SIML 


And yep - The 8800gts is a brilliant card for £170 :grin:


----------



## HawMan

Update on mine.


Dabs didnt have the OCZ PSU in stock, so i had a look around and got the Thermaltake ToughPower 750w instead - Plus its £3 cheaper and free shiping so im happy with that :grin:


Should be here on tuesday so ill take some pics.


----------



## IAmNutsAboutPCs

HawMan said:


> Update on mine.
> 
> 
> Dabs didnt have the OCZ PSU in stock, so i had a look around and got the Thermaltake ToughPower 750w instead - Plus its £3 cheaper and free shiping so im happy with that :grin:
> 
> 
> Should be here on tuesday so ill take some pics.


Yup, excellent choice. 

I am just about £200 off building my new one. :grin:


----------



## black7

here she is, lights on lights off, all work done by me, sleeving, uv, window,lots of little mods to the case. My firsts complete build. sniffle sniffle they grow up so fast!


----------



## IAmNutsAboutPCs

Nice, not bad at all.

How about some more pics of the inside/out, some specs of the inside ETC.


----------



## black7

sorry fixed it, all pics there now


----------



## IAmNutsAboutPCs

Nice, lookds awesome inside... can we please drool over some of the internal specs, RAM, CPU ETC.


----------



## black7

right, specs. most of this was built on a budget so some of the parts might seem odd.
gigabyte m55sli-s4 (free from Friend)
AMD 64x2 6000
2gig corsair xms ddr2
ZEROtherm BTF80 cpu cooler (free) cools ok but looks like a butterfly
MSI RX2600XT Diamond 512 ddr4 graphics card
250gig seagate Barracude HD (left over from my old system)
Thermaltake A2427 Hard drive blue LED cooler
4 case fans, front Thermaltake A1357 are temp controlled, rear are SILVERSTONE RL-FM81 controlled fron front of case where the 3.5 drive would have been
lite-on DVD burner LH-20A1L
glow in the dark ide and sata cables
two cold cathode uv lights plus one uv led cluster
generic power supply cable sleeved by me in blue uv
case window installed by me (was just black mesh)


----------



## IAmNutsAboutPCs

Nice, very nice indeed. Looks great... have fun with it!

What are the temps like?


----------



## black7

not bad, my computer room is an over sized closet so ventilation is non-existent. My cpu idles at 29c peak temp I've had was 58c playing world in conflict.
world in conflict kicks my video cars *** temp wise tho, I gotta find a way to cool it better than the stock cooler.

with all the fans on high it cools awesome but its like being in a small plane.
On low its nice and quiet.


----------



## IAmNutsAboutPCs

Can you not use your video card software to speed the video card fan up?


----------



## black7

not that I've seen, it's only with world in conflict.
I haven't seen any cooler for the HD line yet so for now I just turn the settings down.


----------



## IAmNutsAboutPCs

With Nvidia you can use nTune to adjust...


WAIT!


Can you not use Rivatuner?


----------



## TheMatt

RivaTuner is for nVidia chipsets as well. Give ATiTool a try or look for fan settings in the Catalyst Control Center.


----------



## scharnhorst

New ThermalTake armor+ and Xaser series cases are coming out soon. http://www.thermaltake.com/marketing/X6&AP/index.asp

I like the xaser except for those crazy looking wings on the top, the armor seems to have better cooling just not digging the weird plastic top of it.

They both offer some very cool features which is making my really interested in buying one.


----------



## TheMatt

I am interested in the new Armor. They just had to put it in a RAR archive though; can someone PM me a copy in a ZIP or other format archive? Thanks. :smile:


----------



## IAmNutsAboutPCs

That thing is huge!


----------



## scharnhorst

I would matt but just don't see where in pm to send files. You can download free rar things with a trial date thats what I did. 10pci slots is going to be awsome and dig the cable management setup they have, thats the future for sure


----------



## magnethead

*My New build- Complete*

well, it's all together less the PCI-E graphics card. Right now i'm running on a trident PCI 8MB graphics card. Which is fine for me, gets the job done.

Gigabyte 965P-DS3 motherboard
E6750 2.66 Core2Duo processor (overclocked to 2.8 currently, may go to 3.0)
Antec 900 Case
Thermaltake ToughPower 650 Watt SLI approved Power Supply
Crucial Ballistix PC2-6400 DDR2 Memory
Western Digital WD3200JB 320GB Hard Drive
Western Digital WD3200AAKS 320GB Hard Drive

ray:ray:


----------



## pharoah

hey matt why dont you just get 7-zip its free,and can open rar files.


----------



## scharnhorst

still have not found the release dates for these two cases, in tt forums they said early october


----------



## TheMatt

Thanks Pharoah.

I don't know, the one thing I liked about the Armor I have is the emphasis on the exhaust. I currently have three exhaust fans and two intake fans (not counting power supply or heatsink fans). In the new one, it looks like they did a little overkill with the intake fans and didn't even bring back the 90mm fan next to the PSU.

I will have to check out the Xaser later.


----------



## HawMan

Well thats me ready for my first build :


im just actually waiting on some Thermal paste remover so i can use my AS5.

The Toughpower looks a beast! more than enough connections and it weighs a fair bit too.


----------



## IAmNutsAboutPCs

Awesome can't wait to see it finished mate. Good luck.  :grin:


----------



## TheMatt

Is that an XFX 8800 there?


----------



## scharnhorst

Good luck hope everything works great

Yeah I noticed that about the new armor but still seems like it has the potential to be a monster for cooling. I like the fact your can install those two bottom fans. The top of the armor is one thing i'm not liking to much but then again the xaser looks really over the top too its a hard choice.


----------



## HawMan

Thanks guys.

TheMatt its just an XFX 6800XT although im going to be getting This or This


:wave:


----------



## scharnhorst

Never owned a Leadtek before but they really look cool. Really like the metal heatspreaders they put on.


----------



## HawMan

It'll probably be the LeadTek ill get, Great reviews plus its cheaper.


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d

I would go with an evga they are very good about returns (you break it)


----------



## HawMan

EVGA 8800gts is looking good too. Up there with the Leadtek  plus its already OCed


----------



## scharnhorst

I love evga very helpful i've sent back a number of things to them and each time it was very quick and simple.


----------



## TheMatt

Leadtek does make good cards, however eVGA is at the top of the list for nVidia cards.


----------



## pharoah

yeah evga rocks!lets cover a few evga facts here.you can overclock your card,and still have a warranty.you can also swap out the stock cooler,and have a warranty as long as you dont physically damage the card while changing it.


----------



## HawMan

ray: Looks like ill be grabbing the Evga 8800gts 320mb then since ill be OCing :grin:


----------



## Rebellion88

*Re: My New build- Complete*

Looks very nice, congratulations on your build.


----------



## ebackhus

I'm running two eVGA cards right now. Splendid!


----------



## HawMan

*Re: My New build- Complete*

Looking Very nice indeed. Good Job.


----------



## scharnhorst

Yea I'm Def an evga fan since I've had to return so many products and called their tech support so many times... not to mention I live right next to there HQ so only takes a day to ship


----------



## TheMatt

*Re: My New build- Complete*



magnethead said:


> well, it's all together less the PCI-E graphics card. Right now i'm running on a trident PCI 8MB graphics card. Which is fine for me, gets the job done.
> 
> Gigabyte 965P-DS3 motherboard
> E6750 2.66 Core2Duo processor (overclocked to 2.8 currently, may go to 3.0)
> Antec 900 Case
> Thermaltake ToughPower 650 Watt SLI approved Power Supply
> Crucial Ballistix PC2-6400 DDR2 Memory
> Western Digital WD3200JB 320GB Hard Drive
> Western Digital WD3200AAKS 320GB Hard Drive
> 
> ray:ray:


Looks very nice. Now why does that look familiar? :laugh:

http://picsorban.com/view.php?pic=overviewinside.jpg

Moving you to the lets see your rig thread.


----------



## HawMan

Few more...




























Really cant wait till this is running. Will be the First decent machine ive ever owned. Should see some difference going from a 2ghz Celeron to the 4600+ lol


----------



## IAmNutsAboutPCs

Certainly will.

Watch out for static shock.

You will be sick if you electrocute it!


----------



## HawMan

hah dont worry i Grounded myself before i touched the mobo.:grin:


----------



## ashumann12

I'm Lookin for about a 3ghz, which would be better, amd or intel?


----------



## HawMan

If your gaming then intel.


----------



## ashumann12

Thanks, have been looking at mobo's and wasn't sure which way to go. Seen some nice ones on NVIDIA's website.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicat...9&Sku=E145-2011&SRCCODE=YAHOODF&CMP=SPC-YAHOO
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115028


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d

Evag motherboards are lower quallity but their video cards are top notch


----------



## TheMatt

eVGA (along with Intel) has decided not to replace the standard liquid electrolyte capacitors with the new polymer aluminum ones which has a longer lifetime (although they have been using the newer caps on their video cards for awhile now). Take a look at the 680i offerings from Gigabyte, Abit, and MSI. MSI's P6N Diamond even has an onboard creative X-Fi with EAX support.


----------



## ashumann12

I think Ive decided on this mobo but still looking. Kind of making a wish list.
mobo: with a E6850 intel processer, and an EVGA 8600GTS vid card


----------



## TheMatt

Thats a good board. I love how Gigabyte put quad Gigabit NICs on that board. It would make a good server board. :laugh:


----------



## HawMan

Guys - thats me build my first rig - took me 6 hours lol but had no problems with anything ( well thats a lie - but the problems were simple ).


Pics of the build to come. Im more than pleased. Few things left to do ( fit neon lights, Thermaltake Cooler, Some fans, updates etc )


----------



## TheMatt

Looks good. Now have fun downloading those Windows updates. :smile:


----------



## HawMan

Only complaint i have is that the backplate for the Mobo ( K9N Platinum ) is about is cheap as it gets.


:laugh:


----------



## TheMatt

I just have to ask...How is it cheap? Its only a piece of metal.


----------



## HawMan

It was very thin metal. I had to snap little pieces off it to get the mobo to line up properly ( And in doing so i slit my finger lol ). I though the metal would of been abit thicker and tougher.


----------



## TheMatt

Sometimes they are kind of generic, where the same I/O shield will be used for different models with slightly different I/O panels. My rear I/O shield for example is also used on the P53-DS3R and 965P-DS3.

I just used a wire cutter to make the necessary modifications. :smile:


----------



## IAmNutsAboutPCs

I need to stay off this thread... I want to start a new build but don't have the cash.  :grin:


----------



## HawMan

ah right i see. Ohwell its all built now so im a happy guy lol.


----------



## IAmNutsAboutPCs

What does it run like mate? - You using it now at this minute?

Pictures?

Mikey.


----------



## HawMan

running sweet mate, just doing updates, pics soon ( its a mess lol )


----------



## HawMan

Pics 

Stock Thermal compound









Cleaned off









CPU in









AS5 on









HSF on and RAM fitted









My mini bench test lol









Finish ( I cant be bothered doing cable managment tonight lol )


















Still to fit my coolermaster musketeer 2 and another 2 blue neon fans at the back along with another Cold Cathode.

I was going to get a Zalman cooler but my funds didnt allow me lol


----------



## TheMatt

Lets see some pics with the side panel off. :smile:


----------



## HawMan

Well as you can tell from the pics theres too many cables for my liking. Any tips on how to clean them up? Im thinking about UV Reactive Cable ties or something. Im only using 2 molex connectors out of about 8 


Anyway, as requested 



Spaghetti






























Plans now are:

Fit my Coolermaster Musketeer 2
Fit another fan to the back
Tidy up cables

Then in a few weeks buy a 8800gts.


----------



## TheMatt

Initially I just stuffed the extra cables from my PSU above the hard disk, but then when I mounted a 90mm front fan I moved them above the optical drive (my Armor has enough room).


----------



## HawMan

Ill play around tomorrow and see what i can do, I had to remove the Fan from the top of the case and the PSU is too long :laugh:


----------



## TheMatt

Thats what you get with a 160mm deep PSU. :smile:


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d

And no back fan?


----------



## TheMatt

HawMan mentioned he would be adding one. It will definitely help with lowering the CPU temps.


----------



## HawMan

Yep going to tidy the cables up ( well - at least try ), add another fan at the back, and add the PCI cooler.











Wonder if i could hit 2.5ghz... lol


----------



## scharnhorst

very cool


----------



## okay player

Picked up a new monitor. This is a huuge upgrade for me:
22" widescreen vs. 17" standard
2ms vs. 25ms
DVI vs. VGA

very much enjoying it so far. Would like to swap the right speaker with the main stereo unit but the speaker-wire length just isn't long enough, and I'm too lazy to make it longer... Maybe I'll get around to it next week.


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d

Wow....lets so some pics of the inside of the computer...lol


----------



## okay player

inside hasn't changed much since my last pic, except the tricools have been replaced with yate loons, and I added an Xtremegamer (with sexy black PCB.. mmmm delicious)

still a big mess though. one day i will tackle the great cable job.


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d

Oh nice what are the specs and temps?


----------



## okay player

ASUS P5B Deluxe
Intel E6400
2x1GB Mushkin [email protected]
EVGA 7900 GS KO
Creative X-FI XtremeGamer
Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 320GB
Pioneer SATA DVD-RW
Lite-on SATA DVD-RW
Silverstone Strider ST75F 750W
P180B

Idle:
System: 28C
CPU: 38C
HDD: 36C
Core 0: 24C
Core 1: 27C

Not sure about temps during load... I don't think they're significantly higher though. Highest I've seen the HD is 39C. Its very quiet with the Yate Loons in "silent mode" in Qfan, and I keep my arctic cooler freezer 7 at 70%.


----------



## TheMatt

okay player said:


> Picked up a new monitor. This is a huuge upgrade for me:
> 22" widescreen vs. 17" standard
> 2ms vs. 25ms
> DVI vs. VGA
> 
> very much enjoying it so far. Would like to swap the right speaker with the main stereo unit but the speaker-wire length just isn't long enough, and I'm too lazy to make it longer... Maybe I'll get around to it next week.


I have that same stereo system. :smile:


----------



## scharnhorst

also very nice setup you got there!
I was going to go purchase one of those samsung 22inch monitors, got a few questions for ya
1. do u like it 2. where did u buy it 3. who made it since there are a number of different versions a, s, and c I believe, all varying in picture quality. 
Does look really cool though, think i was going to buy it from bestbuy since its only place in U.S. that carry the monitor garanteed to be the S model made by samsung and not the others


----------



## okay player

So far I am loving the monitor. I got it at futureshop. No dead or stuck pixels. There is no revision sticker or label though. It was manufactured in July 2007 in China. Very, very bright panel, out of the box the brightness was set to 100. I've got it turned all the way down to 5. There is some backlight bleed, but I don't find it distracting. The only negative I've noticed so far is the monitor seems to magnify imperfections in certain divx/xvid video's. DVD's look fine though, and it's great for games...I'm just wishing now I had a faster card to play at 1680x1050.


----------



## okay player

Hey Matt, do you know what gauge the speaker wire is?


----------



## TheMatt

Use 24-guage wire to add onto it.


----------



## HawMan

A Friend i talk to online / Game with's rig.

He still has they monitor but he built a new tower.



























BFG Tech BFG680i SLi LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 680i SLI Intel
Motherboard

C2D E6600

CORSAIR XMS2 DOMINATOR 2GB ddr2 800

2 7950GT's

Thermaltake TP 850W

2x Western Digital Raptor X 150GB Raid 0


----------



## TheMatt

What heatsink is that?


----------



## okay player

err nevermind... I just tried some generic very old standard speakerwire and all is well. 



I'm done now.

nice hardware there, hawman.


----------



## subzero06

Intel core 2 duo E6750 2.66ghz
320gb HDD
nvidia 7600gt KO (soon 8600gt)
Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L motherboard
500watts thermaltake
Artic Cooler 7


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d

has anyone noticed that i am the only one with to powerful a video card for my cpu.....?


----------



## HawMan

Give it to me then :laugh:


----------



## TheMatt

My CPU is more powerful than yours. :laugh:


----------



## HawMan

Whens the 8800GT coming out? Im gunna hold off the 8800GTS and get the GT i think.


----------



## TheMatt

HawMan said:


> Whens the 8800GT coming out? Im gunna hold off the 8800GTS and get the GT i think.


October 29th, although it will be a little while before we see it at online retailers. Specs look promising. :smile:


At stock speeds:

Texture Fill Rate: 19200 MTexels/s
Shader Operations: 168000 Ops/s
Memory Bandwidth: 57.6 GB/s

Core Clock: 600 MHz
Shader Clock: 1500 MHz
Memory Clock: 1800 MHz

TMUs: 32
Shaders: 112
Memory Bus: 256-bit

Fabrication process: 65nm

http://www.gpureview.com/nvidia-g92-chip-146.html

It is interesting that nVidia codenamed the chip G92 instead of G82 or G88. We are seeing something similar with ATi, who decided to take the RV670 (AKA the HD 2950) and rename it to the HD 3800.


----------



## HawMan

Yeah i was just wondering why its called the G92 and not G8x.

Looks very impressive anyway. Surely by the time it comes out ill have enough £££ to buy it. Do you know if theres any Prices yet? I heard it'll be a fair bit cheaper than the 8800GTS so im guessing it'll be around £140GBP? (Say around $250 or something?)


----------



## TheMatt

The 256MB version is expected to be around $200 (~£100) and the 512MB version will be about $250 (~£125).


----------



## HawMan

Wow, Cant wait for its Release then. Surely it'll be great 'Bang for the buck'.


----------



## TheMatt

It will be. Unfortunately it is still not low enough to justify it for me. :sigh:

This is interesting:










The card won't even need a dual slotted cooler because of the low power consumption and heat production.


----------



## HawMan

Very intresting indeed. 

The Fact it also requires 1 slot instead of 2 is also a bonus.


----------



## TheMatt

And you will be fine using a 600W or 650W PSU because of the decreased power consumption compared to the G80.


----------



## HawMan

True. Nvidia are pulling out something special on this card by the looks of things. I wonder what the 9800gts/gtx will be like when its released.


----------



## TheMatt

Codenamed the G90. We still haven't seen any specs. nVidia is being very secretive so as to prevent ATi/AMD from just developing something better.


----------



## TheMatt

I have been doing some looking around and many sources suggest the RV670 will be on 55nm.


----------



## HawMan

ATI And AMD have fallen behind Quite abit in my opinion. Gforce and Intel seem to be way ahead in the Technology area.

.. Whoa 55nm, Mabye theres a reason for ATI sitting behind then :laugh:


----------



## ashumann12

Cool think I'll hold off too. Will we be able to over clock this one?


----------



## TheMatt

The G92 will be very overclockable, especially if a sub-manufacturer makes one available with a dual slotted cooler or you get your own VGA cooler.


----------



## HawMan

You think the 8800GT 512mb could be OCed to be faster than the 8800GTS 320mb? If so then Sweeeeet ray:


----------



## ashumann12

Gonna start stock with the E6850 then look at extra cooling before any overclocking. Stll haven't decided on a case yet. Old lady wants something "Purdy", I want something cool (as in temps) and with lots of room.


----------



## HawMan

Ah your lucky with the intel Ocing ability :laugh: I may try and get my 4600+ to 2.6ghz ( from 2.4 ) but i doubt it as im on stock cooling  Temps dont really go over 40c though under load ).


This mobo has too many Ocing features :laugh:


----------



## TheMatt

I just had another look at the specs. The 8800GT at stock speeds will be faster than the 8800GTS at stock speeds. :smile:


----------



## HawMan

TheMatt said:


> I just had another look at the specs. The 8800GT at stock speeds will be faster than the 8800GTS at stock speeds. :smile:


Brilliant :grin: Although why would Geforce bring out a Card thats cheaper, consumes less power, has a 1slot cooler, and is faster than the 8800GTS? Surely they are going to loose quite abit of money because everyone will be buying the 8800GT over the GTS.


----------



## TheMatt

Because people who would normally be in the ATi budget range will now move over to nVidia because they have a card in their budget range and not a $150 - $300 gap with no cards.

In other words, new competition for the HD 2900PRO.


----------



## HawMan

Ahh right i see. Cant wait for its release.


----------



## TheMatt

I will be interested to see the benchmark comparisons between the 256MB and 512MB versions.


----------



## HawMan

Yeh It'll be intresting. Im glad i found out about the 8800GT before i splashed the £££ on the GTS.


----------



## ashumann12

Yea, thanks Matt, I wasn't even aware of the Gt. Still not buying anything til after christmas. The kids are gonna wipe me out.


----------



## HawMan

Ahh, The joys of being a parent huh? :laugh: 


I love Still being a Kid :grin::grin:


----------



## TheMatt

ashumann12, what are the specs of your PC?


----------



## ashumann12

Old one is a 2000 model Gateway w/amd 1 ghz 1gig ram and bmg 6300 gfx but searching now to build one from the ground up. Looking at the Intel E6850 on a Gigabyte GA-P35T-DQ6 - motherboard and was looking at the 8800Gts and a thermaltake 750w psu. I would like to liquid cool it but will wait later on all that.


----------



## TheMatt

A good heatsink will provide low enough thermal resistance that you won't need water cooling (take a look at some of my temps on the previous pages).


----------



## ashumann12

I have, they look great, congrats. Prob won't need liquid cooling, but wasn't sure about later if I try to oc. Mobo itself looks like it should cool pretty good w/the copper cooling tubes. Still looking and reading, I have upgraded a bunch of comps but never have started w/ the mobo or a complete build for that matter. Will prob bug the <TWIBAT> out of you when I start!


----------



## pharoah

TheMatt said:


> I will be interested to see the benchmark comparisons between the 256MB and 512MB versions.


the big factor there will be resolution.when the res gets cranked up the 256mb version will start to suffer.


----------



## TheMatt

Definitely. Also we will see a difference when AA is turned on.


----------



## pharoah

TheMatt said:


> Definitely. Also we will see a difference when AA is turned on.


oh yeah get a high res with some AA its gonna choke.:grin:


----------



## jay_9410

The attached is my rig
its incomplete and i cant take much credit, most of da work was done by my friend looks nice though. i think i paid 2 much for da clear case 200 dollars!


----------



## jay_9410

na im jus kiddin, got it of google! my real case...




lets put it this way - it doesnt deserve to e called a case


----------



## pharoah

the case is cool did that power supply come with it?if so i wouldnt use it looks like a cheap power supply.


----------



## HawMan

Same case i wanted, but it would show my Jungle of Cables :laugh:


----------



## pharoah

here is some info on the 8800gt.the first one is a comparison at stock clocks.the second one is with an oc.

source


----------



## ebackhus

jay_9410 said:


> The attached is my rig
> its incomplete and i cant take much credit, most of da work was done by my friend looks nice though. i think i paid 2 much for da clear case 200 dollars!


My girl has that case. She loves the way the tri-color LEDs brighten things up.


----------



## ashumann12

When were the new thermaltake cases coming out?


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d

O i want a 8800 gt now lol


----------



## TheMatt

I do to. :laugh:


----------



## HawMan

I cant wait till they come out. Ill defenatly be getting one - Ive got the money sitting in the bank waiting lol. Although i must say im VERY impressed at the XFX 6800XT, Im running BF2 on Medium, 800x600 at 70-100fps. :laugh:


----------



## TheMatt

800 x 600 would kill me. :laugh: I only decrease the game resolution below that of the native resolution of the monitor as a last resort.

Right now I have a $70 wishlist of stuff at Newegg all to make my case look pretty. :laugh:


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d

hehe lol up at res and we will see (eyes can't se past 60fps so you should aim for that)


----------



## HawMan

Im used to 800x600, ive used it for 5 years on My Geforce MX440, GF3 and 6200 lol.. Might play around with higher Resolution tomorrow.


----------



## TheMatt

What monitor is this on?


----------



## HawMan

Sony SDM-X93


----------



## pharoah

TheMatt said:


> I do to. :laugh:


matt you need 2 for that sli board.:grin:


----------



## TheMatt

That would be nice if I had the money. :laugh:


----------



## ebackhus

I don't game at any less than 1280x1024 when on my PC.


----------



## TheMatt

I always do the native resolution (1280 x 800 on my laptop and 1680 x 1050 on my desktop).


----------



## IAmNutsAboutPCs

1280x1024 here. 19" monitor.


----------



## scharnhorst

Man I want to see the next series nvidia cards! Still waiting on thermaltake's next series of cases which are taking forever. Going to buy 22inch samsung monitor since my 19inch bit weak with its resolutions, and damn these fires since i'd have it by now if it wasn't for them


----------



## pharoah

scharnhorst said:


> Man I want to see the next series nvidia cards! Still waiting on thermaltake's next series of cases which are taking forever. Going to buy 22inch samsung monitor since my 19inch bit weak with its resolutions, and damn these fires since i'd have it by now if it wasn't for them


oh yeah your in cali i bet those fires are slowing down lots of things.i was looking at the satelite photo's the other day,and wow looks like the entire state is burning down.


----------



## scharnhorst

yeah got pretty close to me firefighters said i was on "Warning" if they came back that meant leave right now lol like i was going to leave. i work at this hotel and we just opened and the past couple days been working 12-14hours because damn police won't let our staff drive through pch.


----------



## ashumann12

Ya'll stay safe and hang in there, news said winds supposed to be slowing down.


----------



## scharnhorst

We are in the clear in malibu now but all credit goes to the firefighters they did a great job. At work I was giving all the firefighters free rooms and all the people who had been evacuated comp rooms since we were the only place open, me and the GM only two people at the hotel. I got some funny stories about crazy New York ladies that make you scream laughing it was great what they did.


----------



## ashumann12

Don't know if I want to hear that!


----------



## scharnhorst

i've been through a number of fires so I wasn't too worried but these ladies when the power went off were hysterical thinking they were about to die. Ofcourse they just leave and we get a call from them once there back in NY yelling at me for how we handled the situation and asking us to send all their belongings to them immediately... all this with a fire I can see from the lobby and 40firefighters looking at me they want me to drop what i'm doing and drive there belongings out of malibu and fedex them!


----------



## ashumann12

twibat them


----------



## shanet89

here's my pc 




haha its got thermal paste all over the front.


----------



## TheMatt

Looks nice. What are the specs?


----------



## shanet89

:wave:
cpu: AMD Opteron 175 duel core 2.2

mobo: gigabyte GA-K8N-SLi

ram : 2gb

gfx: Gainward 8600GTS 512 mb

psu:antec 550W Neo HE

fans 1 x 120mm, 2x 80mm

anything i left out?


----------



## TheMatt

Nope. That is an interesting 8600GTS though. Is that a custom cooler?


----------



## shanet89

nope thats stock , but i wouldn't recommend this card i was disappointed whit it.


----------



## TheMatt

Why?

Also can you give a link?


----------



## shanet89

TheMatt said:


> Why?
> 
> Also can you give a link?


well from my old 6600 i dint get that much increase of performance well enough for $320 worth went from 70 fps in a game to 100. but i was probley expecting more because it was a 8 series.

http://www.gainward.com/product/product_detail.php?products_id=140


----------



## pharoah

yeah those gainward cards some of them have unique coolers.they also made a 7800gs agp with the full 24 pixel pipes like the pci-e versions.


----------



## scharnhorst

cool looking case


----------



## jaggerwild

OK Matt, figured I'd post with new water block :4-dontkno, lol.
Might order a new radiator(3x 120MM) and six 110 CFM fans, and a swift tech water pump, then mount the new one on top for my cards, right now the thermaltake does OK with just CPU. @ around twenty degree's idle around thirty under load.
Also one of the EVGA board had to send it in for credit. Water block is now a swift tech apoogee GT.
enjoy :wave:


----------



## HawMan

I tryed The Overclocking. Got it from 2.4 to 2.5. Any higher on the FSB and the screen wouldnt come on.

Temps are fine when running Orthos.. Hits 50C under 100% load with no errors.

*before*










*after*


----------



## TheMatt

Looks nice. I have to ask though, why do you have so many fans with the water cooling setup?


----------



## scharnhorst

jaggerwild said:


> OK Matt, figured I'd post with new water block :4-dontkno, lol.
> Might order a new radiator(3x 120MM) and six 110 CFM fans, and a swift tech water pump, then mount the new one on top for my cards, right now the thermaltake does OK with just CPU. @ around twenty degree's idle around thirty under load.
> Also one of the EVGA board had to send it in for credit. Water block is now a swift tech apoogee GT.
> enjoy :wave:


cool setup in all just wondering why spend all that for water cooling and your still using a 6series gfx card? Surely a new card could better boost your performance then overclocking the cpu


----------



## pharoah

got some new ram check out the timings hehehe.:grin:
everyone putting cats as there avatar now.:laugh:


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d

Weres your egyptian cat?


----------



## pharoah

1 g0t 0wn3d said:


> Weres your egyptian cat?


hehehe good idea owned will have to find an animated sphinx,or something.:grin:


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d

scaled it for yah


----------



## HawMan

Whats the best way to overclock the RAM? The only options i have is to increase the Voltage (in BIOS). Its at 2.1v just now. I cant double check as im in college just now though, and my home PC is running Orthos to stress the cpu out to check the oc is stable.


----------



## HawMan

Ice ice baby.


Id love to hit 2.6Ghz. Any idea's on how i can? Does bumping the voltage increase cpu speed? All ive done so far is bump the FSB up.

Im please with how cool it runs. This is on Stock cooling with only 1 system fan ( Yes yes i still havent fitted the others ones lol )












And Idle Temps.


----------



## TheMatt

pharoah said:


> got some new ram check out the timings hehehe.:grin:
> everyone putting cats as there avatar now.:laugh:


pharoah, can you drop the command rate to 1T?


----------



## pharoah

at those timings im not sure.i could photoshop a fake saying 1t.:grin: just kidding i suck at photoshop.:laugh:


----------



## TheMatt

Thats pretty good though. You are running in dual channel so I don't see it making much of a difference. By the way, I think MS Paint would do. :laugh:

I will soon me modding one of my 90mm fans. For some reason the fan is unbalanced on the bearing, so it is wobbling and making an annoying grinding noise (I'm surprised because this is a quality 2 ball fan). In any case, I will be fitting it with a 10K potentiometer to reduce the speed so it won't wobble as much. Like a homemade fan controller. :grin:


----------



## HawMan

Someone assist me on how to get an extra 0.5ghz from my cpu before i crack up. If i put the bus speed to 113mhz i get no POST. Everything else is left normal other than the bus speed, and ive got it to 2.55ghz but i wanna try and hit 2.6 ( Just to keep myself happy ) :laugh::laugh:


And hopefully my new Geil RAM should be here tomorrow.


----------



## pharoah

hawman drop your hyper transport speed from auto (1000mhz) down to 800.


----------



## HawMan

What Menu is that in the BIOS? I cant see any options anywhere.

Heres what i have.










Its not in the CPU Frequencies bit.


----------



## pharoah

you may have to search through the bios.i dont see the setting on that screen for it.


----------



## TheMatt

Try CPU frequency configuration.


----------



## HawMan

Yeah found it. Its down to 848mhz (With the Current OC). Should i now try and bump the Bus speed up to 113?


----------



## pharoah

yeah try another bump.it should boot up now at that speed.

the more you oc be sure to KEEP AN EYE ON THE TEMPS.you may want to get prime 95 to test for stability,but honestly no more of an oc than that it should be fine.watch the ram speeds to.


----------



## HawMan

Woo!

Got it at 217mhz @ 3604mhz.

Going to run Orthos for 30-40mins just to stress cpu and see the temps.


As for memory timings i have NO idea at all about them. So far im at : 











Although my Geil RAM should be here tomorrow, it was expected today but ahwell.


----------



## pharoah

do you have ddr2 800 ram?if so your probably ok its not that far over yet.

i think you mean 2604:grin:


----------



## HawMan

Ran Orthos for 20mins, Temps aint going over 50c. :grin: And yeah its DDR2 800Mhz RAM at the minute.


----------



## TheMatt

pharoah said:


> i think you mean 2604:grin:


Yeah. :laugh:

That OC should be stable. If you haven't bumped up the voltages then you shouldn't have too many temperature issues. I like using the Prime95 program in combination with the Windows memory Diagnostic (thorough test) on Ultimate Boot CD for testing overclocks.


----------



## pharoah

i normally do the same thing matt except i use memtest86.


----------



## HawMan

Thats the confusing way Matt :grin: :laugh:

And yeah, 2.6 not 3.6 ( i wish ). Voltage Hasnt been touched at all :grin:


----------



## jaggerwild

scharnhorst said:


> cool setup in all just wondering why spend all that for water cooling and your still using a 6series gfx card? Surely a new card could better boost your performance then overclocking the cpu


Doing the EVGA stewp up, so using these till then. how could you tell what they were?
Matt using the fans to keep the GPU cool they run pretty hot :4-dontkno.


----------



## TheMatt

Here is a close up shot of the fan controller I made. Unfortunately I didn't have a 1KΩ potentiometer so I had to use a 10KΩ one. :sigh:



You still have the 6800 Ultras listed in your My System. :laugh:


----------



## pharoah

matt's comp mods incorporated.:grin:


----------



## HawMan

Thats brilliant Matt :grin:


This weekend i should be able to bash on with my case and do the things i want to get it looking goooooooood :tongue:


----------



## TheMatt

It works well, but I can't control it without opening up the case and I will need to order some 1KΩ units because it only takes a quarter-turn to completely shut off the fan. :laugh:

Its also a one-way process; the only way to take the controller off is to de-solder it and re-solder the two wires.

When doing this kind of thing, you have to be very careful to avoid shorts. That is why it is almost completely covered in duct tape. You don't want to be shorting +12V to Ground. :wink:


----------



## HawMan

Well my RAM Came today.










See the old OCZ stuff in there, Although i had to remove the Graphics card to push the clips down to release the RAM sticks 

Out with the Old RAM and the GPU, And theres the new Shiny Geil ram.









And fitted 










What do you think i should set the Timings as? Ive put the CAS Latency to 4 and left the Rest as Auto. What would give me the best performance?

Heres what they are just now.


----------



## ashumann12

Thats some inovative work Matt. Good Job and looks decent too


----------



## pharoah

which exact geil ram do you have hawman.without knowing the details of that memory.id be afraid to answer your question.


----------



## HawMan

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-058-GL


----------



## kodi

@ Hawman, why don't you push some of those cables into the spare drive bay above the hardrive.
It might let some more air past the ram for cooling


----------



## HawMan

Ive tryed but its not as easy as it looks :sigh:


Mabye this weekend ill dissconnect it all and use some cable ties and sort the wiring out. The Main part i hate is the MSI Rounded Cable, It has a 'Slave' on it that i dont need and it just wont hide away above the HDD :laugh:


----------



## pharoah

are you running that ram 1:1 with the fsb if so.your ram is running 868mhz.so its not that far over rated speed.your stock timings are lower than where you currently have them.why not go ahead,and tighten those timings to stock of 4-4-4-12.if you have a problem booting with those timings add 0.1v to the ram.that should give you the ability to run stock timings slightly overclocked,but i honestly suspect they will run fine with no overvolt.


----------



## HawMan

So should i change 

RAS# to CAS# to 4 
RAS# Precharge to 4
Cycle time to 12?

is that how you get the 4-4-4-12? RAM isnt my strong point... at all lol


----------



## kodi

HawMan said:


> Ive tryed but its not as easy as it looks :sigh:
> 
> 
> Mabye this weekend ill dissconnect it all and use some cable ties and sort the wiring out. The Main part i hate is the MSI Rounded Cable, It has a 'Slave' on it that i dont need and it just wont hide away above the HDD :laugh:


I had that problem with rounded cables on a build of mine solved it by using flat cables that would tuck up out of the way


----------



## pharoah

yes its those first 4 listings for the timings on that cpu-z screenshot.


----------



## HawMan

Heres what its at now.











should i lower the cycle time? And put the command rate to 1t? Or just leave it as it is?


----------



## pharoah

that one setting need to be changed back.you changed trc to 12,it needs to be tras set to 12.

move trc back to 24 where it was.


----------



## HawMan

Aha, There we go :










ray:


----------



## pharoah

there ya go now that is correct.those other timing settings you really shouldnt mess with,unless you really really know what you are doing.


----------



## HawMan

Alright i wont touch them :laugh:

Thanks pharoah ray:ray:


----------



## pharoah

your welcome :grin:


----------



## TheMatt

You might want to see if you can get the Command Rate at 1T. It will have an impact on performance similar to dropping the CAS down 1 cycle.

4-4-4-12 2T is still really good with DDR2 800 MHz RAM overclocked. :smile:


----------



## HawMan

I have the option to Drop it down to 1T in BIOS. Ill do it in a few minutes, just installing Microsoft Office.


----------



## pharoah

yeah the command rate @ 1t will double the memories refresh rate.


----------



## HawMan

I get a BSOD just as windows loads with 1T.


----------



## TheMatt

Then turn it back. You might also try bumping the CAS up to 5 and see if you can load Windows with 1T timings. Run the Windows Memory Diagnostic a few passes with the extended test (press x) to ensure complete stability.


----------



## HawMan

Tryed that Matt, Still the Bsod.


----------



## TheMatt

Then switch it back to 2T. What do you get for a RAM benchmark in PC Wizard or Sandra?


----------



## HawMan




----------



## TheMatt

For some reason it only shows chipset bandwidth for the RAM benchmark on mine, but it shows it at full speed (10,656 MB/s).

Notice how on the Memory Bandwidth benchmark here, the speed is ~32 GB/s up to 32KB, then it drops down to ~15GB/s until 4MB, then it drops again to ~7GB/s for the rest of the data block sizes. This is because up until 32KB the data fits on the L1 Cache, then it moves to the L2 Cache. And up until 4MB the data fits on the L2 cache, then it moves to the RAM.


----------



## okay player

Just wanted to say w00t w00t, I've just tried my first ever CPU OC and it worked  By no means a huge one but am very excited and happy I didn't blow anything up. 



Am gonna run Prime 95 for a bit and see what happens... *crosses fingers*


----------



## TheMatt

Its pretty good you got it up to 333 MHz FSB. Run Orthos (because you have a dual core) for a minimum of 2 hours, but 4 or more is preferable.


----------



## okay player

Can anyone give me a hand with Speedfan?

I installed Core Temp and noticed that the readings for each core were about 15 degrees higher than what Speedfan was reporting. Someone recommended me to install the latest beta of speedfan, which I did, but now for some reason it doesn't display core-temps at all. I tried looking around in the "configure" option but no luck.

I'm guessing core-temp is a more accurate monitoring program?

I'm a bit hesitant to start the stress-testing as both cores tend to hover around 40 degrees...

I was able to lower the Vcore down to 1.264 but maybe I can get it lower, that should equate to less heat, right?


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d

mine idles at 40c and can get to 62c depending on room temp, as long as you stay below that you should be fine.


----------



## TheMatt

Check in the BIOS to see which is right. Sometimes SpeedFan displays readings too low.


----------



## HawMan

Blue / red anyone? lol


----------



## ashumann12

Do I see beer?!?!


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d

mine be blue and red lol (still no camera)


----------



## HawMan

ashumann12 said:


> Do I see beer?!?!




yes :grin::grin::grin::grin:


----------



## pharoah

HawMan said:


> yes :grin::grin::grin::grin:



got to have beer for gaming:laugh:


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d

or twibat (pictures)


----------



## TheMatt

HawMan said:


> Blue / red anyone? lol


I am a just blue guy myself. Where are your exhaust fans?


----------



## HawMan

Getting there, ive added my PCI cooler, I dunno what color of fans to buy though, Blue or Red. Dont want it to be too blue but i think red may be too bright unless i buy a fan controler .


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d

Personally i like blue but they were out so now i have a red back fan....lol


----------



## ashumann12

The red and blue look good together, like neopolitan ice cream!!!


----------



## White Goodman

Just finished a partial wire tuck and fired it up. It will be better once I get the rest of my parts in. :smile:


----------



## TheMatt

Looks awesome. Is that the P180? And what video card is that?


----------



## White Goodman

Yep, its the P180. I have the revised version w/ the cable management slots around the mobo, might be the new P182 version badged as the 180.
I found this out recently, have had the case for about 2 months so I'm happy. The vid card is the MSI RX2600XT, T2D512EZ fan-less version. I tried a cheaper fan-less MSI but the pictured sucked. I'm using a 26" LCD TV as a monitor. I'm gettin rid of the IDE ribbon cable and finishing the tuck this weekend hopefully.


----------



## TheMatt

That's some nice cable management. :smile:


----------



## pharoah

that thing does look awsome already.very clean and neat look.:woot:


----------



## emosun

nice colors i did the blue and red too, they work well together


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d

I want the clean look lol


----------



## emosun

wow last time i showed my rig was like back on page 14 or this post lol. i shud take some updated pictures


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d

You should you should.....


----------



## pharoah

1 g0t 0wn3d said:


> I want the clean look lol


get busy and straighten up those wires.:laugh:


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d

Not enough room to put them in the case lol


----------



## scharnhorst

whoa i just downloaded crysis demo and my comp at points struggles. So I bought 2 new sticks of ram 1066mhz so I can overclock better because I think my patriot 800mhz is limiting me quite a bit.


----------



## TheMatt

You passed 400 MHz FSB with the Q6600???


----------



## scharnhorst

i must be missing something. when i set the cpu to 1333 for 3ghz means my ram is like 900mhz or higher and I only have 800mhz ram.


----------



## emosun

i only have 366mhz ram and i can run crysis fine, must be your video card or cpu. crysis only uses about 700mb of ram anyway, i was actually surprised when i was playing crysis , it didnt looks as good as all the videos online, and arnt the cars hard to drive? lol


----------



## HawMan

336? u mean 266 if its DDR.

What type of RAM do you have?


----------



## emosun

its ddr 2gb at 366mhz. althogh i could install ddr2, but i dont think theres much difference.


----------



## HawMan

ah.


Im ordering the eVGA 8800GT tomorrow. Rock on! :grin:


----------



## scharnhorst

oooo the 8800gt is really cool trying to get my friend to buy one. My comp runs it pretty well on very high just much smoother when I put a little overclock on the cpu which the ram is limiting me


----------



## White Goodman

Finished my wire tuck tonight, end result is nice. Ground out the hole on top a little more and installed a grommet.














































:grin:


----------



## scharnhorst

wow, guys got much more patience and skill at wire management then I


----------



## emosun

is that automotive heat sheilding? thats kinda what it looks like. looks great. you make me want to straighten up my case. course the place where the powersupply connects to the mobo on mine is right above the videocard. lol so not much i can do bout that.


----------



## White Goodman

It's similar to automotive loom but its just some hardware store stuff. Thanks for the comments. All I need to do is wire up my 4 120mm fans to the 4 channel controller. :smile:


----------



## TheMatt

scharnhorst said:


> i must be missing something. when i set the cpu to 1333 for 3ghz means my ram is like 900mhz or higher and I only have 800mhz ram.


Set your CPU and RAM to synched, locked, or linked in the BIOS. If you do that and you are running in dual channel, the RAM will run at 667 MHz on a 1333 MHz FSB.


----------



## forcifer

hmm impressive case..P180 if my eyes see what i think they see. nicely done on the cable management. digging the behind hte motherboard plate...wish mine could do that .

here are my pics:    

enjoy


----------



## scharnhorst

TheMatt said:


> Set your CPU and RAM to synched, locked, or linked in the BIOS. If you do that and you are running in dual channel, the RAM will run at 667 MHz on a 1333 MHz FSB.


OK and I guess i'll use than the 2gb i just bought of 1066 mushkin with my 2gb of patriot 800mhz ram and get to use like 2.75 

Need to find some time to fiddle with everything properly


----------



## emosun

would i see any difference in my performance if i changed my ddr 2gb 366mhz to ddr2 667mhz 2gb? or would there be no diference and not worth it?


----------



## okay player

Nice job Mr. Goodman.
I have a P180B myself and am thinking about doing a massive cable-management cleanup. Is your case also a P180 or is it a P182? How difficult was it to route the cables behind the mobo tray?

Thanks


----------



## TheMatt

Your memory is probably running at an effective clock of 733 MHz (366 x 2).


----------



## White Goodman

It was pretty easy, I have the P180B. There is some tie straps and slots to add more ties on the inner panel. You just need spread the wires out so its not a bip clump, and tie them down to get the outer cover back on. It does take some time. I also used a 8" 8 pin extension for the upper left mobo power connector.


----------



## scharnhorst

I set my memory to unlinked which should allow me to manually input mhz but whenever I do it vista never can bootup. I set to 1333mhz and put it in sync mode which sets the ram mhz to 667 but i have yet to make it stable, i've had 3dmark freeze and bsod after 5minutes of prime95


----------



## emosun

so ddr2 667 wouldnt be any faster then what i have?


----------



## TheMatt

scharnhorst said:


> I set my memory to unlinked which should allow me to manually input mhz but whenever I do it vista never can bootup. I set to 1333mhz and put it in sync mode which sets the ram mhz to 667 but i have yet to make it stable, i've had 3dmark freeze and bsod after 5minutes of prime95


Keep it linked because you won't get any performance boost from having it unlinked. Linked means the BIOS sets the RAM speed so its optimized for best performance without making it unnecessarily fast.



emosun said:


> so ddr2 667 wouldnt be any faster then what i have?


Yeah. What specific motherboard/chipset do you have? I know of no chipset that supported Intel dual core processors but DDR RAM.


----------



## emosun

yea my board can have a dual core and ddr. but i wanna know if 667mhz ddr2 would be any faster then just regular ddr 366mhz because that what it has now. because if itll be just the same then i wont bother changeing the stick to ddr2.


----------



## TheMatt

So it has DDR and not DDR2? Are you running in dual channel? Also, what processor specifically do you have? A Pentium D?


----------



## emosun

yea it has ddr and its running in dual channel. and i have a pentium d 2.8ghz. but i could go to ddr2 and would that show much diference?


----------



## TheMatt

Your system technically would see a performance boost, but you as the operator probably wouldn't notice a difference. Maybe a few more points on 3DMark06. TBH going with DDR 400MHz RAM in dual channel would be no slower than DDR2 800MHz, especially if you can get the timings down to 2-3-2-5. But again, even that upgrade would yield a barely noticeable difference.


----------



## HawMan

Just hit 2.7Ghz from 2.4Ghz on stock cooling.

35c Idle and 50-55C under 100% Load (ive used Orthos + Sensorview).


Next is defenatly the Zalman CPNS9500 cpu cooler. 3GHZ is my Target. RAM is also up at 900Mhz.


----------



## TheMatt

What is your current FSB?


----------



## HawMan

225mhz HT is at 680mhz or something. Ill try and put it back to 800 but it may not work ( im in college just now ).


It also may take me a while to reply as my internet is down in my house .


----------



## IAmNutsAboutPCs

Stop overclocking it dude, you will have to keep changing your sig. :grin: 

My System still states the 6800XT's. :grin:


----------



## HawMan

Its because i still have the 6800XT just now. My Money still hasnt come through *Sigh* so the 8800GT has been delayed for a few weeks.


And yeah my sig is now behind by 0.1ghz :laugh:


----------



## HawMan

Forgot to add im also now running 3GB of RAM. Yeeha.


----------



## TheMatt

Still in dual channel?


----------



## pharoah

TheMatt said:


> Still in dual channel?


if not he may actually have slowed it down.:laugh:


----------



## HawMan

yep its still in dual channel.


----------



## geek73

Sorry have been away for awhile.. Job sucks :grin:

Here is my lastest..

AMD 6400+ oc'd @ 3.7ghz
2 gigs of Team Extreme 800
4 raptors in Raid 0
TT Armor.
The rest is ehh.
Going to be working on an Intel quad system next as AMD has just disappointed me for the last time..


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d

makes me want a job lol


----------



## geek73

1 g0t 0wn3d said:


> makes me want a job lol


Lol good thing about getting older...Credit cards love to give you allot of increases over the years


----------



## okay player

tried to do some recabling today.

*BEFORE:*









*AFTER:*


















Still have a long way to go though... didnt feel too good about chopping up my P180 to allow for cabling behind the mobo + mobo tray. So everything you see was accomplished without modding, except for snipping away a very small peice of metal which was preventing me from getting my yate loon in the front of the HD in the bottom compartment. Grills on the front of the case have been modded also (very minor/subtle) for improved airflow.

Most of all I am happy that I now have the space for a stupidly-long video card.

E6400 sitting pretty at 2.8 ghz.
7900GS artifacts if OC'd. 
Bring on the new highend from Nvidia...


----------



## geek73

I love those arctic freezers I owned a couple and the gos thing about em if yo buy 3 of em,, take the fan off of one, and mount it to the other side of the cpu heatink..And not yo have great crossflow


----------



## TheMatt

The Arctic Cooling heatsinks are very good; the only thing I can think of to improve them is to make them with copper fins. For their price however they are very effective, especially in cases like the Thermaltake Armor and Antec Nine Hundred where you can get a BTX-style direct flow of air right across the CPU heatsink.


----------



## ashumann12

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130303

Hey Matt, The 8800gt is out on Newegg now! Shows in stock as of sat night.


----------



## IAmNutsAboutPCs

My new temperatures:


----------



## emosun

the before and after dont look much different lol


----------



## ashumann12

Looks good except Temp 3, What is that?


----------



## okay player

emosun said:


> the before and after dont look much different lol


Yep... I know 
But like I said I'm happy because I can now fit an 8800 GTX or similar longer-than-normal video card.


----------



## okay player

ashumann12 said:


> Looks good except Temp 3, What is that?


also, how can your HD be at 8 degrees? That doesn't seem right at all...I guess it might make sense if your ambient temperature is truly 0 degrees, but then..how does that work? are you living in an igloo?


----------



## IAmNutsAboutPCs

okay player said:


> are you living in an igloo?


Sort of. :grin: 

The heating in my house doesn't work, so it is about 5 degrees C in the room. :grin:


----------



## HawMan

New AMD CPU?

http://overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CP-204-AM

Nice... I was thinking about hopping over to intel but i have a feeling this may be a beast.


Also i see Radeon have the New HD cards out. Anyone know if these are any good?


----------



## Rebellion88

The new AMD Phenom Quad Core 9600+ isn't supposed to be as good as the Intel's quad cores, although as I'm an avid AMD fan I might just get one for a new system I'm planning on building. I still believe AMD offer excellent processors at cheaper value than its rival.


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d

IAmNutsAboutPCs said:


> Sort of. :grin:
> 
> The heating in my house doesn't work, so it is about 5 degrees C in the room. :grin:


The new atis beat the old one, on a side note my computer is me heater


----------



## TheMatt

My computer is also my heater.


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d

yep lol


----------



## pharoah

now if your computer is your heater.i bet your ac in the summer has to work twice as hard.:laugh:


----------



## TheMatt

Yeah. I should probably enable SpeedStep in the summer. :laugh:


----------



## pharoah

TheMatt said:


> Yeah. I should probably enable SpeedStep in the summer. :laugh:



:laugh::laugh::laugh:

with mine oc'd to 3100 i guess i better turn on speedstep in the summer as well.:grin:


----------



## geek73

Rebellion88 said:


> The new AMD Phenom Quad Core 9600+ isn't supposed to be as good as the Intel's quad cores, although as I'm an avid AMD fan I might just get one for a new system I'm planning on building. I still believe AMD offer excellent processors at cheaper value than its rival.


Dang man.. Just after going to the Q6800 here comes the dang phenom..The biggest thing is price.. But the falling dollar is a bad thing too if your into that sort of thing. 

I still have my 6400+ @ 3.7 and of course it is onoly a DC cpu but the quad nets me (not oc'd) a good 54000 cpu score on the PP test and the AMD scores (oc'd) 25000. So I say around the same if you add 2 more cores.. Just the quad seems so much faster..


----------



## TheMatt

The Phenom is actually more efficient, especially in transferring data between cores and the RAM, however Intel's Core 2 Quad & Core 2 Extreme processors, especially the Yorksfield, simply have better designed cores. If you were to take an Intel CPU core and design it using AMD's multi-core architecture (with the exception of the L2 cache design which should be kept) you would have an unbelievably powerful processor.


----------



## geek73

Agree with you totally AMD has always been able to utilize Ram much better than Intel..

Again as benches go.. My ram scores with the pp test roam around 13k (AMD) but that is pc800

The q6800 I have pc1066 so of course it is going to be quicker but it only scores around 15k..


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d

As my friend says amd comes to a rock and goes around while intel comes to the same rock and smashes it....


----------



## TheMatt

1 g0t 0wn3d said:


> As my friend says amd comes to a rock and goes around while intel comes to the same rock and smashes it....


Good one! :laugh:


----------



## HawMan

Ill be getting the Phenom at Christmas, I just dont know if my Mobo will support Quad Core :laugh:.

Mabye a BIOS update will be needed.


I also may be in luck of getting 2 74gb Raptors for pretty cheap! We'll see :tongue:


----------



## TheMatt

You will need socket AM2+ for the Phenom unfortunately. All existing AMD chipsets support the quad core architecture although they don't support the new HyperTransport standard so a new chipset is required anyway.


----------



## pharoah

yeah to get the full advantage of it a new mobo will be needed.


----------



## TheMatt

*Matt's Computer v3.1*

*Back and Reloaded. Bigger and Badder than ever.*

Well, all the stuff finally came in and as soon as it did I got to work. I completely reorganized the inside of the case. I added an LCD display and fan controller. Here are some exclusive pics "on the bench."

Here is my "bench" :laugh:



I like the new way I mounted the front 90mm fan.



I just had to implement Brian's idea because it was so brilliant.



---

Here is what it looked likes now.



Here is a bonus pic of what it looks like in the dark.


----------



## pharoah

v 3.1 :laugh:

seriously though it looks great nice work matt.


----------



## ashumann12

Looks great Matt! Being a truck driver, I can really appreciate the orange duct tape!


----------



## emosun

I was just wondering bout your cpu fan, ive seen those before where they dont have sidewalls and i was wondering , wouldnt the fan blow alota air outward instead of forward without the walls on it? cool system btw, i gotta repost mine sometime iv changed it alot since page 14 or whatever it was. lol


----------



## TheMatt

Thanks guys. emosun, what did you mean by "sidewalls"? That is the Intel stock cooler.


----------



## HawMan

Looks brilliant. Im thinking about buying the Asus P5N-E SLI 650i SLI (Any comments on this m/b ) and the E6850 sometime this month or january.


Very Tempted to get the Antec 900 too, but we will see how the ££ is.


----------



## TheMatt

The Antec Nine Hundred is very nice but the P5N-E isn't the highest quality board.

I would actually go for the Phenom 9500+ and the Gigabyte MA790FX-DS4 or better yet the MA790FX-DS5. The Phenom is a very fast quad core for the money and will beat Intel in any apps that are very memory intensive and will do much better in multithreaded apps and apps that take advantage of SSE4.


----------



## HawMan

What about Gaming? I dont do much Multitasking, and i never use Photoshop etc.


----------



## TheMatt

Right now (for comparison) the QX6700 gives slightly higher performance in games now, however future games will be multithreaded and will use SSE4 so they will benefit much more from the Phenom compared to almost any current Intel with the exception of the Yorksfield & Peryn.


----------



## HawMan

Ah right i understand.


Im having a problem finding somewhere that sells the MA790FX-DS4 / 5 in the UK though. I guess they're not very popular Motherboards.


----------



## TheMatt

It is a newer board so it may take a little longer to appear in the UK. It is available at Newegg now.


----------



## HawMan

Ah right i see, Guess ill hold off then. Just hope the price isnt too high.


----------



## TheMatt

Even the DS4 was pretty expensive. You want a good motherboard though because it is the hardest part to replace.


----------



## kodi

@ The Matt, I should point out that the Superior quality cable management System that you stole from me is covered by a Patent and that my Lawyers will be calling to see you after a visit from my good friend Tony Soprano and friends


----------



## TheMatt

Mine still doesn't look as good as yours though...


----------



## magnethead

thats a BIG CASE! I like my 900- I stuck all the excess cables (I wish i had MODULAR!!!!!!!) in the first bottom bay with a blank on it, barely hides it all, then put the fan controller (i bought a 5.25, I can't stand 5.25 to 3.5 adapters, i dont like gaps in the facepanel) above it to help contain the wiring mess from view. I also recessed the controller one notch. 

I'll have more pics up when i get my 7800GT (er, an internet friends' at the moment) put in and all.

The case is kinda in disarray right now, gonna try to clean it up yet somemore when i get the card in.

What irks me the most is that with the hard drives, i have to double back the cables because the connections are "upside down" since it's a bottom mount PSU- which makes a huge mess, plus somehow thermaltake managed to make the connectors on each rail not face the same direction. Quite evident on my two IDE hard drives, and I had to put the SATA hard drive and SATA CD drive on seperate rails just because of the mis-match.


----------



## TheMatt

That is looking really good. I just like big - I actually wish this case was a couple 5.25" drive bays higher. I only have one external drive bay left and I plan on using it for another drawer.


----------



## magnethead

Like i said, i'd liek to just have 2 cables runs going up for power and have them be linear runs at that, but between a bottom mount PSU and thermaltake's inconsistent plugs, not gonna happen.


----------



## geek73

I had the Antec 900 and liked it but it was a dust sucker.. I had to clean the inside of it almost twice a week.

Then I got the TT Armor and the coolermaster stacker (the Stacker is hugeee) but so is the armor..Just not as wide as the stacker..

@TheMatt. I love yer case :grin: The armor is a nice case ain't it.. And you got the NZXT just like I did(for some reason it is not on in the pic) First one was DOA had to RMA.. But I like it.. And we all know blue makes things a couple degrees cooler. but I got the Zalman mfc1 fan controller and I moved the power on to the bottom (made cable management allot easier.. Does not get as dusty as the 900.. And I love the fan for the hard drives by the psu...



And the stacker from the side.. But it seems not so wide but pics do not do it justice..


----------



## magnethead

mines not so bad at being a jet engine- I can shut all the fans off so the CPU is the only one running, and even at full bore, it doesnt suck too much in. Little dust buildup here and there, but there's enough air movement in there that most of it gets blown out the back or top.

Matt- i couldnt stand somehting that tall. This 900 is almost took tall for me- I can't see the USB or audio ports while sitting down (it's on the desk). I had the fan controller right below the Cd drive, but i put it where it is now just to get it within reach- that drive is a STRETCH!

Only way i'd put it back up top is if i put the tower under the desk..which wont happen in this one because the tower area occupies my main steering wheel and is only 2" taller than the case (not good for that top fan). Could almost make me want to move the disc drive above the fan controller and move the HDD's out of the way of the gfx card anyways


----------



## magnethead

glamour shots-


----------



## TheMatt

I like how you got the extra iCage with the 120mm fan on it. I figured I would use the extra 90mm fan and mount it above the 120mm front fan which actually worked well. It takes up two 5.25" drive bays perfectly. I am going to get one of the extra drawers off Newegg because they are so handy.


----------



## geek73

the armor only has 7 fans lol.. Like I said I do like the 900 as it does keep temps down allot.. Just wanted something bigger (and ultimately allot more expensive lol) Why don't you like Tall cases?

@TheMatt,

I like the drawer as well, have some floppies and other crud in it now.. wonders how much that added to the price lol..

As for the Extra fan on the icage I knew I was only going to use 3 bays so it worked out for me.. I have the 2 hard drives by the pus, and 4 down on the bottom.


----------



## TheMatt

Magnethead, how did you get focused image shots in the dark with the flash off?


----------



## magnethead

geek73 said:


> the armor only has 7 fans lol.. Like I said I do like the 900 as it does keep temps down allot.. Just wanted something bigger (and ultimately allot more expensive lol) Why don't you like Tall cases?
> 
> @TheMatt,
> 
> I like the drawer as well, have some floppies and other crud in it now.. wonders how much that added to the price lol..
> 
> As for the Extra fan on the icage I knew I was only going to use 3 bays so it worked out for me.. I have the 2 hard drives by the pus, and 4 down on the bottom.


like i said, most desks aren't build with tall cabinets, so you have to put them on top of the desk, at which point ports being at the bottom gets to being nice. But the top fan and price are what sold me on the 900. My CPU idles at 30C right now- what more can I ask for? The USB and headphone jacks are all i have to reach for, and those really arent a problem except for when i'm using my jump drive. Those ports on the PCI bracket are for 4 auxilary USB ports from performance pcs that go the the factory headers- which the DS3 has more than enough of, though im not sure that the front header is working right, seems if ever put anything on it, be it PCI bracket or case ports, the computer gets a little moody..must be abbad 5 volt circuit going to it.


----------



## themisiek1

I don't know if I posted this up somewhere, actually I probably already did, but here is a link to the computer I have build recently (meaning four months ago) thanks to everyone here!

http://youtube.com/watch?v=l3IMNsOg8iM

Sorry for bad quality, I hope you like it! BTW my cable management isn't that good, lol. I have tried countless times to make it all nice and pretty but it never works out to good. I even have modular cabling on my powersupply.


----------



## magnethead

TheMatt said:


> Magnethead, how did you get focused image shots in the dark with the flash off?


manual override of the shutter and flash controls- flash off with a 2.8 white balance with 1/500 shutter speed. Canon PowerShot A610.


----------



## magnethead

Here's as it is right now- Got my portable Data Center (card reader and camera use same USB cable)










My triple displays (17" CRT, 19" LCD, and 20" TV)










And a video of just how quiet and stealth the case is (i have the side fan on medium, top fan on high, rest are low)


----------



## emosun

you got the same card reader i got


----------



## geek73

Nice...Makes me miss my 900...I wrote Antec asking them to supply some breathable foam so users can put it in as those holes are a little to big..Would make it a little easier for it not to suck in all the dust from my Den to my Attic lol


----------



## kodi

I purchased square 120mm aluminum filters from ebay for $5each,problem solved.
More airflow means more dust


----------



## geek73

Yep.. But In the Case of My ThermalTake Armor..It has allot of Holes in the front as well but they made them just small enough not to let the dust inside but have all the air flow and more of the Antec 900.. 

Granted the TT armor cost 200 bucks so there is a difference in price..Just wish Antec would have been kind enough to include something for those bog ol holes..I probably would have kept my 900 if that were the case (no pun intended lol)


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d

kodi said:


> I purchased square 120mm aluminum filters from ebay for $5each,problem solved.
> More airflow means more dust


I have one for my side fan and it works wonders


----------



## TheMatt

The Armor has a mesh filter covering all the front holes to filter dust to some degree. How often do the filters need to be changed and how much of an impact on airflow does it have?


----------



## kodi

@matt,
if you mean the aluminum filters you just blow them out with air and they don't seem to make a lot of difference to the airflow


----------



## magnethead

I dont have filters, yea theres a couple bugs at the bottom of the case, but no dust buildup that i've seen. But I also have the fan CFM ratings and air path routing set up so the dust can't settle- no matter where it is, it'll either be under pressure or under vacuum. The top fan is almost always at full speed (110ish CFM out), the rear is on low (30 CFM out), the side is on low (30 CFM in), front are both on low (30 CFM in each). So the case is pressurized, but the lack of an I/O plate and the grommetted holes in back help remove the pressurization so the dust gets carried out there. In fact, with the PSU oriented as it is, i took a flashlight and looked in the PSU, there was MAYBE a couple specs of dust on the heatsinks.


----------



## TheMatt

Thats another reason a negative pressure airflow is best.

Brian, what fan filters are you using in your computer?


----------



## magnethead

TheMatt said:


> Thats another reason a negative pressure airflow is best.
> 
> Brian, what fan filters are you using in your computer?


the true test is when i put the 7800GT in either wednesday or thursday night. speedfan will let me know pretty quick where that heat's goin.


----------



## kodi

TheMatt said:


> Thats another reason a negative pressure airflow is best.
> 
> Brian, what fan filters are you using in your computer?


http://cgi.ebay.com.au/120mm-COMPUT...0444711QQihZ020QQcategoryZ51064QQcmdZViewItem


----------



## TheMatt

Thanks.


----------



## kodi

I gave the outside of them a light spray with a can of matt black so as they blended in with the grills


----------



## TheMatt

The only ones on Newegg I found that would fit my fans were mesh and not aluminum. I read from the reviews of the mesh ones that they restricted airflow significantly. If I make plans to redo all the wiring in my computer or take it apart for something else I may throw in some fan guards from eBay but otherwise my case isn't really dusty so it is not critical.


----------



## emosun

I just vacuum my case out every now and then, there really is no good dust solution, lol. except to just keep the computer off or have the whole thing fanless


----------



## TheMatt

It is usually a better idea to use compressed air rather than a vacuum. 

I could just put a sticker over my case Window with a picture of the inside of my computer minus the dust and messy wires. :grin:


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d

you should it would be funny but you cant tell if the fans are moving lol


----------



## emosun

Blow the air out isnt really a great idea, it'll just get sucked back in by the pc lol. Thats why I suck it up. course if i did it outside that would work, but its too cold out.


----------



## Guest

I like the compressed air to, but I do it in combination (sorry if I'm jumping into the thread) with a vacuum so it flys in the air and suck up all gone. Dust is a nightmare in my house since I have a cat.. that sleeps on top of my computer!! :grin:; her hair clogged up my vents on my LAPTOP and desktop..


----------



## emosun

Hey check out my case mod work log I made a while ago, I moded the case just for fun , did it the old school way , you know before pre modded cases. I use it as a work pc. Its starts at the top of the page and finishes at the bottem. Since this is the lets see your rig thread. Which btw has to be the longest thread with almost 1000 replies lol.

http://themodnation-forums.com/viewtopic.php?t=2227


----------



## HawMan

Very nice mod emosun, looks cool.




Check out this picture. Could this be the 1337 9800? :laugh::laugh:


----------



## ashumann12

@ emosun: Love the paint color, almost a stormy blue.

@ HawMan: Is that a server gfx board or just a joke? (10 cooling fans :laugh

Also: Who is that in the pic? Looks like a girl I knew in College!


----------



## HawMan

Im guessing its just a joke :laugh:

Dont know who the girl is, im sitting in college doing some boring HTML, so i went on google and searched "eVGA 9800" and there it was :grin:


----------



## emosun

That would be one huge video card , wow i got the 1000th post wooohhooo


----------



## forcifer

it is actually a real card by eVGA  meant for business rendering i believe..


----------



## emosun

that thing still looks huge for a workstation card.


----------



## forcifer

if you google eVGA 9800, you get some help threads about it


----------



## ebackhus

I want this card...

ZOMG!!!111!!


----------



## TheMatt

:laugh: :lol:


----------



## HawMan

Quick SS of the 8800GT tempretures, Quite good i think at 50% fan speed and Pre-Overclocked.


----------



## forcifer

wow those are very good temps. ill see if i can get a pic of my x1950 at 100C again (farcry ftw)


----------



## HawMan

Its ideling at 45C, still with 50% fan.


Just ran 3DMark06 and got 9727.


----------



## TheMatt

Nice. :smile:


----------



## HawMan

More OC - And its sitting at 48-50C idle, With 50% fan still










Im sure once i sort my cables out and add another PCI-Cooler ( The Blue LED one with two fans on it ) The temps will go down more.


*tested it under load and its sitting at 60C.*

Now all i need is my 5000+ :grin:


----------



## forcifer

well..its about 1 am, the 26th...i said case pics would be up about an hour ago...well...it aint going to happen. sorry everyone, gotta wait another day (hopefully)i am reviewing the case for a friend. dont want to advertise now, when pics are up ill get you link


----------



## TheMatt

I need to get some new pics up as well. I added a couple new LED case fans and got a new heatsink. I will actually have to rework this new setup though and hook up the new 90mm fans to my fan controller because my computer is now about twice as loud as before and you can hear it from downstairs. :laugh:

I also got an X-Fi extreme audio PCIe, and I must say the sound quality is absolutely awesome. I didn't expect to notice this much of a difference from a switch to a dedicated card. The drivers installed perfectly and the fact that it uses PCIe x1 is very convenient.


----------



## forcifer

a few teaser pics for now. look at www.digitalreport.net for the entire thing (this is the first time this case has ever been reviewed, so only a few pics)
























i currently have 5 bandaids, 4 on hands, from that. case wiring is still worth it


----------



## kodi

Can you reverse the Hardrives and run the cables down the front out of sight?


----------



## forcifer

umm i dont think so. for SATA, probably, didnt want to try because the hotswap device is AWESOME. as for IDE, i dont think so. you wouldnt really want to though... (youll understand with review) btw this case is the SilverStone Kublai 3 (model number KL03B-W for mine. also KL03B, KL03W-W, KL03W)


----------



## TheMatt

Alright, the new pics are in. :grin:

V4.

Here is the picture that makes my cable management look good.



And here is the picture that makes it look terrible. With the fan controllers there are fan wires all over the place.



Here is an overall shot.



And here is a good shot of it in the dark. Shot using ISO 800 speed with no flash.


----------



## HawMan

@ forcifer - Why dont you have your heatsink blowing air out the back?

@ Matt - Case is looking sweet, What fan controller is that?



Heres some pics of mine.











































Sometime this week im going to try What You guys have done and stick some cables to the backplate. ( As you can see the cables are a mess ).


----------



## TheMatt

The LCD display (also a 3 channel fan controller) is a NZXT Sentry 1 Controller panel and the other one is a Logisys Illuminated Fan Controller.


----------



## forcifer

yea i need to turn it around. what is holding it on isnt meant for it, was meant for a waterblock and it was very awkward to put it on turned around. getting the real thing for the zalman later this week


----------



## forcifer

http://www.digitalreport.net/content/view/75/1/ is the review. sorry it took so long, the admin that owns the site has a life outside of computers and it took him some times. please, also check out the forums


----------



## emosun

Wow hawman its spagetti in there. lol . Im gonna post new pics of my updated system. I posted way back on page ten if you want to see how it used to look.


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d

*cry i need a camera (friend bought me a silverstone 650 watt =o)


----------



## TheMatt

Nice. We have yet to see that case. :grin:


----------



## pharoah

TheMatt said:


> Nice. We have yet to see that case. :grin:


no doubt pics pics hehehe.


----------



## ebackhus

You were already signed off by the time I got your IM but I wanted to tell you that the article is VERY well done.


----------



## forcifer

thank you very much  spent an entire freaking day typing it, uploading pics, etc. almost as much time (but fewer bandaids) then the actual build proceses


----------



## -d-

http://img182.imageshack.us/my.php?image=pict0239tu1.jpg

http://img212.imageshack.us/my.php?image=pict0240pg6.jpg

http://img175.imageshack.us/my.php?image=pict0242va0.jpg

http://img175.imageshack.us/my.php?image=pict0244hf4.jpg




Check it out =D


----------



## emosun

neat , whats the specs


----------



## forcifer

they are in his "my system" thing

looks pretty good....ew, stock cooling, but thats just me


----------



## oddball2910

forcifer, what do you have for cooling?


----------



## forcifer

zalman CNPS9500. used to have watercooling. sorry, nothing against stock, just ive had issues with it in the past. namely, bandaids + hurt wrist

that really does look good though. good work


----------



## oddball2910

That wasn't me with the pictures :tongue: I was jw, cuz i have stock cooler but i wanna get away from it, was just wondering what you had.


----------



## forcifer

ahh. id get the CNPS9700 from zalman or the V1 from thermal take. zerotherm also makes some very good heatsinks, as does scythe. make a thread about it


----------



## TheMatt

The Thermaltake Beetle is another good one. I was able to get really good temps with a $15 heatsink though because I'm cheap. :tongue:
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16835150081


----------



## forcifer

ive heard that the beetle is [email protected]#$ to install...
depends on price really though. please, just make a thread about it and help will come

here are a few other pics


----------



## TheMatt

Nice. What lens speed did you use?


----------



## forcifer

not sure. used a different camera


----------



## emosun

you should stick some neons up in there, not that it doesnt look cool already. im just a neon fan


----------



## HawMan

Do you need to fit the backplate for the 9500 to fit? Ive heard you do with the Intel one but not sure about the AM2 ones.


----------



## forcifer

AM2 you dont 

as for neons, i have a couple UV tubes and a small green one. not really worth it imo, might expirement with the green one though


----------



## forcifer

hehe....another hard night of modding. pics to tomarrow, and be prepared for what i have


----------



## HawMan

Operation clean-up.



Before









After











Case Before









Case after









Not the best, but its certanly alot better than it was before, Next plan is to get the Zalman 9500 cpu cooler with the 5000+ Black Edition.


----------



## forcifer

get a zalman 9700. its the more recent version with more copper fins and better performance


----------



## StaticInMyHead

My most recent build...





































The 3way is cool, but I'm still waiting on a driver update. Nvidia's still using a beta for this particular setup and it doesn't run all that well just yet.


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d

Static thats an amazing build great job


----------



## forcifer

wow that is rediculous. very well done. id try for a bit more cable management though for improved airflow. ive got to believe the 3 8800GTXscreate quite a bit of heat


----------



## HawMan

Wow, Dunno if i would like the 3way SLI, Looks like there is no air at all for the cards ray:


Very nice build though!


----------



## StaticInMyHead

Yeah, that picture was taken right after I finished it. I had it goin just to make sure it was running all right. The cables are all tucked away nicely now. As you can see by my desk, I'm a bit of a neat freak lol.
It does heat up, thats definitely for sure. They're factory overclocked GTXs, nonetheless. I don't know what I would do without those side fans. I'm considering new heatsinks for the video cards, since the stock configuration doesn't do as well as I like.
It was very, very expensive though, and extremely CPU bound. That's currently my bottleneck, even at 3.2GHz. Every time I overclocked the processor, my benchmark scores shot way up. When Intel releases the Penryn, I'll be grabbing one of those. They run cooler and the new architecture is a lot more efficient than the current Kentsfield and Yorkfield processors.
BTW this thread is starting to look like an advertisement for Thermaltake. Right on, HawMan. :grin:


----------



## oddball2910

Phenomenal looking system Static. ray: Give it to me? :grin:


----------



## forcifer

its a bit blurry, but a good overall shot








LCD temp read. recognize it anyone?








fan controller. again, anyone recognize it?








one of my 4 LEDs i put in. this one will be harder to recognize, but nonetheless many of you have seen it.








a look at the graphics card with the LED shining on it. 








this seems like a random pic, but the blue shiny part is what my keyboard looks like at night. instead of back light keyboard, LEDs from case work pretty well (its the two front ones)


----------



## magnethead

StaticInMyHead said:


> BTW this thread is starting to look like an advertisement for Thermaltake.


My thought too. 

FYI, i do have a temp report on my system with the 7800GT. Idles between 39 and 42 C with the side fan on low. With all the fans on high and no load, gfx is 38C, FSB is 31C, HDD's are 18, 24, and 24C, and the cores are around 28C on stock intel cooling and overclock to 3.0 from 2.66.

:grin:


----------



## -d-

forcifer said:


> they are in his "my system" thing
> 
> looks pretty good....ew, stock cooling, but thats just me


Thanks.

hehe, stock cooling lets me idle @ 26 Celcius, and maxes out at 40 celcius at load; not too bad for me. I would have overclocked but my ram isn't really OC friendly atm, and I don't really have a need (everything runs fine!).


Maybe for my next CPU (hopefully an E6750 or higher) I'll pick up the Zalman I've been eying


----------



## magnethead

-d- said:


> Thanks.
> 
> hehe, stock cooling lets me idle @ 26 Celcius, and maxes out at 40 celcius at load; not too bad for me. I would have overclocked but my ram isn't really OC friendly atm, and I don't really have a need (everything runs fine!).
> 
> 
> Maybe for my next CPU (hopefully an E6750 or higher) I'll pick up the Zalman I've been eying


mine's the 6750.


----------



## magnethead

this is all fans at full bore (except the one for both HD1's)-


----------



## magnethead

and with all fans off....


----------



## -d-

Pretty nice sytem, I envy your RAM and CPU ^-^


----------



## magnethead

-d- said:


> Pretty nice sytem, I envy your RAM and CPU ^-^


its on the specs, balistix memory which is entirely over neccesary and 2.66 CPU OC'd to 3.0 GHz. even with the overclock, the 6750 locks the multiplier at 8, so i'm at 375 MHz base frequency, with a FSB freq of 750 MHZ. The memory is rated for up to 800 MHZ, so i can go to the full 3.2 GHz before capping my system (but i wont do that till i dump the stock cooler). there was a LOT of though put in the system before i bought the contents. I probably should have gone with the next processor up though and just paid the price for the 9 multiplier so i could OC the CPU even further and kept the FSB at 800. That would allow up to 3.6 GHZ (even though there aren't any known coolers that could exactly cool like that, plus C2D's are thermo-mechanically locked at 3.2 GHZ more or less before self destructing)


----------



## oddball2910

I have an E6750 OC'd to 3.2 GHz with it's stock fan, and my case only has the three stock fans it came with (one in front, one in back, one on the side), and my temps never cross the 45C threshold, even while running orthos.


----------



## StaticInMyHead

That temperature would be really nice... My CPU is a pretty cool one, I've found out. With just SLI and an 800MHz CPU OC, it idles right around 40C. Not too bad for a quad core, I'd say. But when I stick that 3rd card in, the NB goes insane. The heat output doubles on that little chip, and what do you know...its right underneath my otherwise cool CPU.


----------



## HawMan

whats your 3dMark06 static? Im guessing you would hit over 20k Easily lol.


----------



## emosun

I can never get passed 5,500 in 06 , its my slow cpu.


----------



## StaticInMyHead

Actually I don't. With that much graphics power, my CPU becomes the bottleneck. At a stock speed of 2.4GHz I was getting 13.5k. With it at 3.2 now, I get like 16.2k. 










When the penryn comes out, I _will_ be buying it lol. Something to give the 3way a little push. Then it should definitely break 20k.


----------



## forcifer

penryn did come out. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115034

you also might want to get more ram if it will fit. most people say 1gb per gpu minimum. looking at your pic it says 2gb, but in the "my system" thing it says 4 which is right?


----------



## StaticInMyHead

There is a new revision of the Penryn that isn't a Yorkfield that Intel is set to release in a few months. They've been holding off to let AMD catch up though. I can live with my Q for now, but I'll snag one of those when they hit the market.

I do have 4GB installed, but it is a 32 bit Windows, so I obviously don't get all of it. Weird thing is, I get less with more GPUs installed lol. With one 8800, I have 2816MB. Two 8800s gives me 2558MB, and with three there's 2302MB. Don't ask me why. On my old gaming machine I was able to convince it to give me 3.5GB, but I don't see the options for that in this particular BIOS. I did that on a DFI board back in the day.

I just OCed the RAM a little bit to 933MHz and it gave me 16291 marks. woohoo.


----------



## magnethead

StaticInMyHead said:


> There is a new revision of the Penryn that isn't a Yorkfield that Intel is set to release in a few months. They've been holding off to let AMD catch up though. I can live with my Q for now, but I'll snag one of those when they hit the market.
> 
> I do have 4GB installed, but it is a 32 bit Windows, so I obviously don't get all of it. Weird thing is, I get less with more GPUs installed lol. With one 8800, I have 2816MB. Two 8800s gives me 2558MB, and with three there's 2302MB. Don't ask me why. On my old gaming machine I was able to convince it to give me 3.5GB, but I don't see the options for that in this particular BIOS. I did that on a DFI board back in the day.
> 
> I just OCed the RAM a little bit to 933MHz and it gave me 16291 marks. woohoo.


it's stealing some of the hard ram for the cards- something it technically shouldnt do, but does anyway.


----------



## magnethead

oddball2910 said:


> I have an E6750 OC'd to 3.2 GHz with it's stock fan, and my case only has the three stock fans it came with (one in front, one in back, one on the side), and my temps never cross the 45C threshold, even while running orthos.


how do you maage that? at 3.0 it shoots to 60C on orthos, but it stays there under load (maybe goes up 2C for each extra orthos). It hovers around 38 or so running GTR with the 7800GT hanging in around the 55-60 mark.


----------



## forcifer

which revision do you have? if you have the B3 then you will have a hotter core, G0 is a more recent revision and therefore cooler


----------



## magnethead

i wouldnt have a clue how do i know?


----------



## forcifer

download and run CPUz and look at where it says revision or stepping
http://www.cpuid.com/cpuz.php


----------



## magnethead

stepping B revision G0


----------



## HawMan

All you Intel fans are making me jealous :laugh:


----------



## magnethead

HawMan said:


> All you Intel fans are making me jealous :laugh:


my board only supports intel so i went the intel way. Had it been AMD board i'd a gone that way. Doesnt make a bit of difference to me.


----------



## HawMan

Same, but id love to try Intel out :laugh:.


Why is your cpu underclocked?


----------



## TheMatt

Because his FSB is overclocked. Magnethead, you should definitely be able to get a stable OC on the 7x multiplier without a Vcore raise.


----------



## StaticInMyHead

I was an AMD enthusiast too, but they let me down.  
It's a shame I lose RAM to the cards.. Not like 2.25GB is enough for them anyway, right? Greedy 8800s...


----------



## oddball2910

@magnethead: I have the same revision as you, only difference i noticed, is my core voltage is only 1.232V whereas yours is 1.328V. Other than that I'm not sure why, possibly the side intake fan on my computer? (cheap led one that came with case, but directed above the CPU)

EDIT: i just noticed: you turned down your core multiplier to a 6? how come?


----------



## emosun

Ok here updated pictures of my rig. If you want to see it before I think its back on page ten.


































Yes I made the desk. And carpeted it too. lol. I made it because I got sick of tiny desks that were to flimsy and not big and rugged enough. Its super strong and is holding 1 pc on the bottem , my game pc and two monitors in the middle, and 3 monitors on top. I like my crt's and am not gonna upgrade till they either break or are too low a resolution. But ill probly paint them black because the beige is kinda ugly. lol. Right now they both run at 1024x1280 which is just fine for me. That graphic on the screens is my screen saver and it looks really cool, I can link you to it if your interested.


----------



## StaticInMyHead

Yeah. Paint them black. lol


----------



## oddball2910

Why do you have 5 monitors :Wow1:


----------



## magnethead

TheMatt said:


> Because his FSB is overclocked. Magnethead, you should definitely be able to get a stable OC on the 7x multiplier without a Vcore raise.


it allows the 7 multiplier? Did i miss something in BIOS (version F12)?

ok i checked BIOS, it's set at an 8 multiplier but cpuz is only recognizing as 6, i set it as 384 by 8 to get 3 true GHz but CPU-Z doesnt match. 

but by the nature of the beast, i'll load it down and see if it switches up.

figure this out if you would... (click thumbnail for screenshot)


----------



## emosun

oddball2910 said:


> Why do you have 5 monitors :Wow1:


Two go to my game pc and 2 on top go to the older dell that sits on the bottem . One of the ones on top doesn't go to anything right now but am thinking ill make another pc for it.


----------



## oddball2910

No, it only allows the 6x or 8x. 

Check if the Core Voltage in CPU Z is the same as it is in bios? 

CPU Z and what the system properties say, don't match up at all...

How do you get programs such as speedfan to work correctly with a dell? i have three dells, 2 desktops and a laptop and none will show more than 1 temperature. 

@emosun: build me a new pc instead? :grin: i'll pay for the shipping of it :winking: :tongue: do you buy your crt's new or get them from people who are disposing of them?


----------



## magnethead

oddball2910 said:


> No, it only allows the 6x or 8x.
> 
> Check if the Core Voltage in CPU Z is the same as it is in bios?
> 
> CPU Z and what the system properties say, don't match up at all...
> 
> How do you get programs such as speedfan to work correctly with a dell? i have three dells, 2 desktops and a laptop and none will show more than 1 temperature.
> 
> @emosun: build me a new pc instead? :grin: i'll pay for the shipping of it :winking: :tongue: do you buy your crt's new or get them from people who are disposing of them?


well thats just it. The way this was a progressive build, the operating system STILL thinks that this is a factory dell because i ran the dell operating system/origional hard drive with the aftermarket builds and still am, so i'm using the origional factory dell operating system on the non dell system, it doesnt know that though (and I ghosted the OS to the factory dell and it still runs).

BIOS has the CPU voltage set to 1.35625 volts. coretemp has the more correct stats.


----------



## TheMatt

magnethead said:


> it allows the 7 multiplier? Did i miss something in BIOS (version F12)?
> 
> ok i checked BIOS, it's set at an 8 multiplier but cpuz is only recognizing as 6, i set it as 384 by 8 to get 3 true GHz but CPU-Z doesnt match.
> 
> but by the nature of the beast, i'll load it down and see if it switches up.
> 
> figure this out if you would... (click thumbnail for screenshot)


I would personally then set the multiplier at 8x and keep the FSB at 366MHz for a speed of 2.93GHz.


----------



## emosun

oddball2910 said:


> @emosun: build me a new pc instead? :grin: i'll pay for the shipping of it :winking: :tongue: do you buy your crt's new or get them from people who are disposing of them?


I get them either from people who are throwing em away or I find them in storage or rummage sales. the two im using on my main pc iv'e had for years now. maybe 3 or 4 years. gone through like ten computers but only used those two monitors. lol . what are you talking about building a pc and shipping?


----------



## oddball2910

are they all in pretty decent shape, or are some hitting the end of their life?

you said you'll build a new comp for that 5th monitor, so go ahead, and i'll take it off your hands for you :grin:


----------



## emosun

They all actually work just fine , one of the main ones on the bottom has a "video game" button on it and makes the screen brightness go up to a perfect level so you can see dark areas in games, its neat. And the pc i'll probly make for the extra monitor wont be exactly great , don't think you would want it. Would be happy to make you a nice computer if you pay for it lol.


----------



## magnethead

TheMatt said:


> I would personally then set the multiplier at 8x and keep the FSB at 366MHz for a speed of 2.93GHz.


like i said i got it at 384 by 8 right now, the programs are just all reporting different values. Just going from 375 to 384 MHZ jumped the idle temps about 2C.


----------



## ashumann12

Just got new skin for my laptop! (They spelled techsupportforum with an "s")


----------



## forcifer

nice. can we get a bigger pic though?


----------



## oddball2910

@Magnethead: try futzing with the core voltages? my cpu was running upwards of 54C until i upped the voltage to 1.232V where it is now, and now it never crosses 45C. (sound peculiar to me, yet it worked)


nice Ashumann :grin: :wave:


----------



## Monstrous

I'll get a picture of mine up tomorrow, can't find my camera  .

Specs are:
Intel Q6600 Core 2 Quad (Cooling is Scythe infinity with the fan that came with it)
Albatron 8800GT (680 core 2000 memory - cooling is an HR-03-GT with a Silverstone FN-91 on it)
Asus P5K3
Corsair DDR3 1333MHz
Corsair 620W PSU
Antec 900 Case

Temps are as follows: (Load temps are while playing Crysis 1360x768, everything on Very High, and during 3dMark06 test)
CPU Idle: 22 Degrees C
CPU Load: 27 Degrees C

GPU Idle: 33 Degrees C
GPU Load: 39 Degrees C


----------



## ashumann12

Can't get a good pic 'cos of light reflections.

Here is original image: http://www.techsupportforum.com/att...aqs/18761d1159224181-submissions-tsf-blue.jpg


----------



## forcifer

nice dude looks sweet


----------



## ashumann12

Thanks, but freddyhard of the design team deserves the credit. I just asked if I could put it on a skin. I think it looks cool. :smile:


----------



## TheMatt

oddball2910 said:


> @Magnethead: try futzing with the core voltages? my cpu was running upwards of 54C until i upped the voltage to 1.232V where it is now, and now it never crosses 45C. (sound peculiar to me, yet it worked)
> 
> 
> nice Ashumann :grin: :wave:


Many BIOSs have the voltage control set on Auto by default which means that the CPU voltage will jump up as soon as you overclock. Remembering that doubling the voltage quadruples the TDP, this is not a good thing. Thats why if you take the voltage off auto and set it yourself, the voltage might actually lower resulting in a lower temp and lower TDP.


----------



## oddball2910

Hmm, did not know the bit about the TDP. I never checked what the auto voltage wanted my CPU at, i just OC'd it and only upped the voltage when the system seemed as if it could use it. (yes i realize that's not the best method..) 

I just noticed, i have a higher OC than magnethead but a lower cpu voltage.


----------



## magnethead

TheMatt said:


> Many BIOSs have the voltage control set on Auto by default which means that the CPU voltage will jump up as soon as you overclock. Remembering that doubling the voltage quadruples the TDP, this is not a good thing. Thats why if you take the voltage off auto and set it yourself, the voltage might actually lower resulting in a lower temp and lower TDP.


yup i put it at manual and set voltage at .35625 when the stock vcore was .35000. so it wasnt a megahuge voltage bump- just enough to let it have a drink every now and then.


----------



## TheMatt

You mean 1.35V? :wink:

Magnethead, what heatsink are you using, and what is the ambient room temp? What temps are you getting now? (This is just me being curious).

Remembering our equation TDP = C * E² * F, I have estimated that your TDP jumped up from 65W to ~73.9W. So your processor is now putting out about 74W of heat.

As long as you are stable though and your temps stay below 60 degrees at full load you should be all set with a successful overclock.


And speaking of overclocks, I have just got my FSB up to 366MHz so now I am at 1466MHz FSB (quad pumped) and 2.56GHz core. All stock voltages. RAM CAS is still at 4 and the command rate is still at 1T. The CPU only jumped up about 3 degrees under full load. Now I am doing a 12-hour stress test with Orthos to make sure everything is 100% OK.

That reminds me magnethead, check that your memory timings didn't default back if you adjusted them manually as this often happens when you take the FSBRAM off auto to overclock.


----------



## HawMan

My Last OC to 2.8Ghz went terribly wrong.


Booted up fine (Temps were fine at idle and load ) - So i ran 3dmark06, During this the pc restarted and wouldnt load XP , I kept getting a BSOD. I got the XP disk and tryed to reinstall XP but i got the BSOD ( same when i chose repair ). With the help of eneles i used Boot n Nuke to totally erase the Hard Drive, Then reinstall XP.

This makes me wonder if i should get the 5000+ Black Edition or the 6400+ Black Edition. I would hate to get the 5000+ To find out something would go wrong at 3.2ghz-ish.:laugh:


----------



## magnethead

Timings are at 4-4-4-10 (but they had in fact defaulted back to 5-5-5-12). Ambient room temp is 72 +- 4 degrees. CPU is at 31C no load right now on stock intel cooler and stock intel paste.


----------



## TheMatt

Hawman, you might be able to get a Phenom with a BIOS flash. AMD's website doesn't list the Phenom as tested compatible in the K9N SLI Platinum but the K9N Neo-F (NF560) did. You might consider e-mailing MSI because I know the nForce 570 SLI chipset itself will support the Phenom.

In other news, the overclock I applied last night has proven successful and rock solid.




BTW Folding resumed after Orthos stopped in case you were wondering. CPU is now at 71.4W TDP. All stock voltages.


----------



## HawMan

Matt, MSI are testing the bios for the Phenom ( see here http://global.msi.com.tw/index.php?func=prodcpusupport&prod_no=251&maincat_no=1 )


Nice overclock, im sure you can get it higher :grin:


----------



## TheMatt

I will go for the 400MHz bus speed when I get DDR2 800MHz RAM.


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d

New temps and voltages with my new power supply :grin:


----------



## TheMatt

Nice. When are you getting that digital camera? :smile:


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d

TheMatt said:


> Nice. When are you getting that digital camera? :smile:


I have no idea it depends on if i want to go to magic mountain or not its like $55 to go there and i only have $100 so....:laugh:ill let you know my choice on the 23rd


----------



## ebackhus

HawMan said:


> Matt, MSI are testing the bios for the Phenom ( see here http://global.msi.com.tw/index.php?func=prodcpusupport&prod_no=251&maincat_no=1 )
> 
> 
> Nice overclock, im sure you can get it higher :grin:


Neither the K9A or the K9N Diamond will support Phenoms... Guess I'll have to upgrade AGAIN.


----------



## TheMatt

ebackhus said:


> Neither the K9A or the K9N Diamond will support Phenoms... Guess I'll have to upgrade AGAIN.


And you are still an AMD fan? The LGA775 platform has been here for nearly three years and isn't going to change anytime soon. Maybe AMD should go back to making processors that are compatible with Intel motherboards and chipsets. :laugh:


----------



## HawMan

ebackhus said:


> Neither the K9A or the K9N Diamond will support Phenoms... Guess I'll have to upgrade AGAIN.



So why will the Platinum work with the phenom but not the Diamond? Shouldnt it be the other way around with the Diamond being better than the Platinum?


----------



## TheMatt

It is the chipset and BIOS that determine if your board can support the Phenom. There must be something about the NF590 that doesn't like the Phenom.

Don't you have the platinum Hawman?


----------



## HawMan

Yeah i do, And i just saw on the MSI website that the BIOS that was under testing for the phenom have had no result. :laugh:


----------



## TheMatt

Tell them to hurry up before Gigabyte is your new best friend. :laugh:


----------



## forcifer

TheMatt said:


> And you are still an AMD fan? The LGA775 platform has been here for nearly three years and isn't going to change anytime soon. Maybe AMD should go back to making processors that are compatible with Intel motherboards and chipsets. :laugh:


actually, its changing in about 2 months


----------



## TheMatt

Does Intel have to change for its 1600MHz FSB processors? I thought I read it would continue using LGA775 for its 1600MHz processors including Yorksfield (already out) and Peryn.


----------



## forcifer

nope i think its like LGA1333? not sure ill look it up










longer then a few months but still a change this year


----------



## TheMatt

My motherboard doesn't even support Yorksfield. :sad:


----------



## forcifer

just wait till next year or late this year to upgrade then


----------



## TheMatt

I might go with a QX6850 if I feel like holding off a platform upgrade. I'm lazy and don't like to have to remove the motherboard. :laugh: Plus I have an OEM copy of XP.


----------



## TheMatt

Here is a good pic after adding some new lighting effects.


----------



## HawMan

Looking Cool, Im getting rid of my small blue Cathodes for 4 larges ones ( 1 at top, 1 at bottom, and 1 on each side ).


I like the LED Fans at the front of the case, Looks wicked. :grin:


----------



## TheMatt

Can I have them? :laugh:


----------



## HawMan

heh, They only cost a few £/$.


Ive got a few questions for someone to answer 


1. I cant view my CPU tempreture anywhere, appart from the BIOS, So i cant see what temps i get under stressing it. Anyone know a program that will pick it up? Ive tryed Sensorview, Speedfan & Coretemp.


2. I cant seem to increase my Multiplier in BIOS, I have the Latest version, But its greyed out, which means i cant hit 3-3.2ghz ish unless i increase my FSB - But then my RAM gets pushed too far.



Thanks :grin:


----------



## forcifer

http://www.techsupportforum.com/f76/project-fiery-pc-212737.html

for pics of my comp as is


----------



## TheMatt

HawMan said:


> heh, They only cost a few £/$.
> 
> 
> Ive got a few questions for someone to answer
> 
> 
> 1. I cant view my CPU tempreture anywhere, appart from the BIOS, So i cant see what temps i get under stressing it. Anyone know a program that will pick it up? Ive tryed Sensorview, Speedfan & Coretemp.
> 
> 
> 2. I cant seem to increase my Multiplier in BIOS, I have the Latest version, But its greyed out, which means i cant hit 3-3.2ghz ish unless i increase my FSB - But then my RAM gets pushed too far.
> 
> 
> 
> Thanks :grin:


Hawman, do any of the sensors detected in SpeedFan seem to change when you suddenly run a program like Orthos? SpeedFan is very configurable and is a powerful program so there should be some way even if you have to set an offset or something.

If you can't adjust the multiplier then it is a BIOS problem and you should probably e-mail MSI support. The chipset wouldn't limit multiplier adjustment and the CPU's multiplier is unlocked (unless AMD gave you the wrong chip which I would find highly unlikely, although you can check by looking at the info on the chip's heatspreader).


----------



## shanet89

this is my PC got a new monitor for Christmas


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d

nice and big =D


----------



## shanet89

yea 22", after i bought it i though oh no my frame rate it going to be terrible with a huge resolution, but i was wrong there is almost no difference.ray:


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d

what video card do you have?


----------



## shanet89

Gainward 8600GTS. i thinking of going sli tho cause they are pretty cheap now around $230 AU.


----------



## TheMatt

What board/chipset do you have?


----------



## HawMan

Hi Matt, sorry i didnt see your post - Yeah im sure its a BIOS problem too, Ill probably email MSI later tonight. Ill give speedfan another go, but it shows my cores to be around 6C lol.


Heres another pic from me.











Heres the temps using speedfan. No idea which one to believe, The Second core didnt show above 50C for some reason.


----------



## TheMatt

Which one of those just change when you load the CPU (even if they still seem unreasonably low)?


----------



## HawMan

Only the 1st Core - Its at 2C. The Second core stays at 50C and CPU is at 30C.


----------



## magnethead

HawMan said:


> Only the 1st Core - Its at 2C. The Second core stays at 50C and CPU is at 30C.


CPU temps for dual cores are not reported by speedfan 4.33. Download beta issue 34 and it'lll report correctly.


----------



## HawMan

MSI CoreCenter found the CPU Tempreture, its at 32C.

ill try the beta speedfan out . Thanks.


----------



## pharoah

ashumann12 said:


> Can't get a good pic 'cos of light reflections.
> 
> Here is original image: http://www.techsupportforum.com/att...aqs/18761d1159224181-submissions-tsf-blue.jpg


that belongs in the you know your addicted to tsf when you get tsf skins for your laptop.:laugh:


----------



## Isho

What is that 'aids' thing on your desktop HawMan??
I knew computers got viruses but I didn't know STD's were a problem :/


----------



## shanet89

Isho said:


> What is that 'aids' thing on your desktop HawMan??
> I knew computers got viruses but I didn't know STD's were a problem :/


LAWL :laugh:


----------



## HawMan

Its a .dll injector.


Two more. Im deciding wether or not to sell my m/b and cpu and get intel. :laugh:



8800GT in action.










case









Longer Cathodes are on order, and im changing the blue fan for 2x red fans. 

:grin:


----------



## TheMatt

Going for a blue-red style? :grin:


----------



## HawMan

Yeah, Blue is too boring on its own :laugh:


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d

i have my intake and top fan as blue (cool) and red as my exaust(hot)


----------



## HawMan

my psu is too big i had to remove the top fan for it to fit lol.


Will have the side fan as blue and the two back fans as red.


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d

MIne is touching the psu


----------



## emosun

my system is blue and red style. the case already had red and blue leds on the front and i added 2 red fans and 2 blue neons. the red n blue look is in . lol


----------



## HawMan

i may actually be able to fit one in, havent really tried since i fitted the psu.


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d

Yeah thats how much space i have


----------



## HawMan

ill give it a try next week. Going to get some stuff for my petrol RC car tomorrow before i spend anymore cash on the PC :laugh:


----------



## TheMatt

Black chassis with blue LED fans never gets old for me. :grin:

Hawman, check out the Antec Tricool multicolor LED fans, those look really neat.


----------



## HawMan

Thats if i can find anywhere that will sell them in the UK. Over here all i seem to find is Akasa fans :4-thatsba


----------



## emosun

red n blue in one

http://www.frozencpu.com/products/2538/fan-37/Quad_BlueRed_LED_80mm_Fan.html?tl=g36c15s514


----------



## TheMatt

Here is an 80mm fan. Not sure if this is the size you need or not:
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/79906


----------



## HawMan

yeah its 80mm i need. The Red and blue one is quite cool. Dont know about the 3 colours though, especially when it doesnt tell you what colours they are. :laugh:


----------



## TheMatt

Red, blue, and green. Thats what all the three color Antec Tri-cool fans have.


----------



## HawMan

cool, might just get 2 of them then.

My mind is all over the place, just wish i had some more cash and i would of gone to watercooling (cpu only) :laugh:




"Too many plans, Not enough cash":grin:


----------



## emosun

You could just buy any 80mm led fan then go to a radioshack and get red or blue leds and change them out. Some day im going to make all my fans have dual color leds and wire then all together so i can switch between red or blue fans.


----------



## HawMan

emosun said:


> You could just buy any 80mm led fan then go to a radioshack and get red or blue leds and change them out. Some day im going to make all my fans have dual color leds and wire then all together so i can switch between red or blue fans.


ahh getting too complecated here buddy, i like things the easy way :laugh::laugh:


----------



## emosun

dual even tri color leds in one bulb

http://www.frozencpu.com/cat/l3/g6/c77/s118/list/p1/Lighting-LED_Lighting-5mm_LED-Page1.html


----------



## emosun

HawMan said:


> ahh getting too complecated here buddy, i like things the easy way :laugh::laugh:


 lol ok


----------



## HawMan

id get the antec fans this weekend.


----------



## TheMatt

If you do add in the LEDs just remember to do Ohms law so you get the proper resistance on the circuit with the LEDs. It might also be a hassle to split open the wire and solder in the LEDs, so just remember to take into considderation any extra wire you might need. Duct tape is a must for that though. And you do pay a premium for LEDs at radioshack BTW.

I'm with you hawman. Although I can solder in a resistor and some LEDs, I would prefer to spend the extra $2 and buy a fan that comes with lighting.


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d

Hey i know its kind of off topic but oh well 

I bought a zalman 9500 and would like to know a ~ before and after temps i should see right now with that small overclock i max out at 61c(thats an hour of orthos) and after 4 hours of call of duty 4 its 58c idles at 39c case temp is 20c 

I would like to keep these temps but over clock it to my rams limit (cpu will be at 3724 mhz)


----------



## TheMatt

Are you using CPU-Z to overclock?

When you overclock the processor avoid unnecessary temperature increases by not bumping up the Vcore voltage until absolutely necessary. With my current overclock my processor survived a 14 hour Orthos test on stock voltages.

Redo your thermal paste using arctic silver if you used the stock stuff that comes with the cooler. Make sure to follow the arctic silver instructions exactly for the most effective cooling. Those are pretty good temps for a Smithfield core though which is really two Prescott cores (hot!) on one die, and for the fact that you have a 95W TDP processor based on the old 90nm transistor technology.


----------



## emosun

yea radishock is expensive. guess it would be easier to buy the fans as is. I think the leds on most led fans are 5v leds, course they could be 3v but i dont think there bright enough. But in order for me to do my dual color led fan idea in the future im going to have to make a whole new wireing system anyway so i might as well go with 12v leds. hopefully when im done with it i should have the ability to toggle red or blue or off.


----------



## TheMatt

0wn3d, I just checked and your processor temp shouldn't be exceeding about 63 degrees, so keep that in mind. You could probably get better temps with a new application of thermal paste and more case airflow. Make sure you at least have a rear fan blowing out and the Zalman 9500 fan blowing toward the rear.


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d

TheMatt said:


> Are you using CPU-Z to overclock?
> 
> When you overclock the processor avoid unnecessary temperature increases by not bumping up the Vcore voltage until absolutely necessary. With my current overclock my processor survived a 14 hour Orthos test on stock voltages.
> 
> Redo your thermal paste using arctic silver if you used the stock stuff that comes with the cooler. Make sure to follow the arctic silver instructions exactly for the most effective cooling. Those are pretty good temps for a Smithfield core though which is really two Prescott cores (hot!) on one die, and for the fact that you have a 95W TDP processor based on the old 90nm transistor technology.



THats my stock cooler i ordered a tube of as5 and the zalamn i was wondering what i should get with that.... And i calculated it should be at 167 watts when i am done (i didn't know you could overclock with cpu-z). It only went up about 1c with that 7% overclock....
:grin:

Thanks for all input and any help you guys give in the future

I also might give that lapping a try


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d

This is before the zalman (its still in the mail) and i played every game i have


----------



## TheMatt

LOL overclocking with CPU-Z. My bad, I meant ClockGen. :laugh:

How did you calculate it having a TDP of 167W (what formula)? That seems a bit much. I got about 102W with the processor running at 3GHz (assuming no voltage increase).

Wait until you get the Zalman cooler in the mail, it has tamed plenty of Prescotts to be worthy of taking on your CPU. :laugh:


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d

TheMatt said:


> LOL overclocking with CPU-Z. My bad, I meant ClockGen. :laugh:
> 
> How did you calculate it having a TDP of 167W (what formula)? That seems a bit much. I got about 102W with the processor running at 3GHz (assuming no voltage increase).
> 
> Wait until you get the Zalman cooler in the mail, it has tamed plenty of Prescotts to be worthy of taking on your CPU. :laugh:


Yes i had to use clockgen since it does not support bios overclocking i used the one on here http://www.extreme.outervision.com/index.jsp i did it with the 3.724 that i would like


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d

Oh and yeah this is as far as i am going with it until i get the new heatsink and fan

I have been searching and people can get a stable 3.6 at 1.28 which is what i am running at


----------



## HawMan

You'll enjoy the zalman cooler. Im still trying out the Ocing, but since my BIOS doesnt have the unlocked multiplier section im having to use the FSB :sigh:

although im sitting on 3Ghz just now at 29C. So hopefully you'll knock they temps down with the new cooler :grin:


----------



## magnethead

HawMan said:


> You'll enjoy the zalman cooler. Im still trying out the Ocing, but since my BIOS doesnt have the unlocked multiplier section im having to use the FSB :sigh:
> 
> although im sitting on 3Ghz just now at 29C. So hopefully you'll knock they temps down with the new cooler :grin:


thats right in line with mine, also using FSB bumping.


----------



## HawMan

Im sitting on 3.2ghz just now, but when i run 3dmark06 i get a lower score on my video card and a higher score on my cpu. :4-dontkno


CPU @ 3ghz i get 10500 or so
CPU @ 3.2ghz i get 9500 ish

:laugh:


----------



## TheMatt

Check your temps, it might actually be throttling back.


----------



## TheMatt

1 g0t 0wn3d said:


> Yes i had to use clockgen since it does not support bios overclocking i used the one on here http://www.extreme.outervision.com/index.jsp i did it with the 3.724 that i would like


Overclock stability will all depend on your motherboard, RAM, and processor, as well as the cooling on each. Keep that in mind.


----------



## HawMan

TheMatt said:


> Check your temps, it might actually be throttling back.



Your probably right, i fail orthos too even though the temps are fine and the system is stable.


----------



## TheMatt

Loosen up the memory timings in the BIOS. See if it passes. Run Memtest to isolate if the memory is the cause of the instability.


----------



## HawMan

i had it at 4-4-4-12 but now its at auto in the bios


now at 456mhz @ 5-6-5-18.


It doesnt boot with the HT at anything 400mhz aswell:4-dontkno :laugh:


----------



## TheMatt

Really? I was going to suggest turning the HT down to 400MHz if not a little lower.


----------



## HawMan

yeah really lol, it did boot before at 800mhz (i think it was, or mabye 600) but now it doesnt.


Heres what its at just now - The Max OC i can get.













this is what i would love to achieve.


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d

my max overclock is in my sig

At 3.26 it gets random reboots and at 3.3 it wont boot i think the memory can keep up.... anyway the new cooler is awsome right now i am idling at 33 and the max orthos in a room 10f hotter then this was 49c thats after an hours and a half


----------



## TheMatt

Very nice. You probably won't be able to get any further without changing voltage settings.


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d

Not only that but that cut my superpie time from 1:07 to :49


----------



## TheMatt

On the 1M digits test? I would think it would be even lower. My laptop with no overclock (Mobile AMD Sempron 3000+) gets 44 seconds in Windows and 40 seconds in Linux.


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d

yeah but take into acount that my ram is in single channel and would suck even if it wasn't lol


----------



## TheMatt

It was my understanding that the data all fit into the L2 cache, but I could be wrong. A capacity cache miss though would cause the slower times.


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d




----------



## TheMatt

Vista is probably also part of it. The operating system also contributes to the invisible load on the CPU, and that is most apparent where in Linux I always get a better time than in Windows.


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d

yeah vista hates me lol (can you check my folding thread)


----------



## TheMatt

The one about FAH using only 50% of the CPU? Koala answered that one. Its because you have a dual core processor but the Windows XP multiprocessor kernel takes a program that uses all the CPU time and puts 50% on one core and 50% on the other.


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d

it finally started doing thta i am at 40c when folding and watching a dvd


----------



## TheMatt

Thats a good temp. My C2D also maxes out at around 40 degrees with my current overclock. What is your ambient room temp?


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d

Anywere frm 69-71f


----------



## TheMatt

Thats good. It will be interesting to see how hot my processor gets in the summer.


----------



## HawMan

Yeah, summer time should be fun. 

Im thinking about binning the zalman and getting this beauty!

http://www.dabs.com/ProductView.asp...de=1&NavigationKey=11258,4294956808&InMerch=1


----------



## magnethead

HawMan said:


> Yeah, summer time should be fun.
> 
> Im thinking about binning the zalman and getting this beauty!
> 
> http://www.dabs.com/ProductView.asp...de=1&NavigationKey=11258,4294956808&InMerch=1


If you weren't in Scotland, i'd take the zalman right off your hands. But for the shipping price i can get one new.


----------



## TheMatt

To be honest Hawman that is a little excessive. The Zalman 9500 should do the job just fine. What are your current temps?


----------



## HawMan

idle 31C :laugh:

im not overheating but i dont like how the Zalman barley covers the CPU, It just covers the top.


Probably just money going to waste so i'll prob's stick with the zalman :grin:


----------



## Partholon

Am i the only one that finds most of these cases to be little more then tacky? I mean, is having an obnoxious light show of cheesy 1970s technicolor on display really considered cool?

Sorry if i have offended, but i prefer the sleeker, smoother more conservative computer cases. Life experience has taught me that bells and whistles are typically compensation for some form of penile lacking.

sorry again, please don't hate me fellas.


----------



## emosun

Partholon said:


> Am i the only one that finds most of these cases to be little more then tacky? I mean, is having an obnoxious light show of cheesy 1970s technicolor on display really considered cool?
> 
> Sorry if i have offended, but i prefer the sleeker, smoother more conservative computer cases. Life experience has taught me that bells and whistles are typically compensation for some form of penile lacking.
> 
> sorry again, please don't hate me fellas.


Why would you post that in our case mod section? If you don't like how our case mods look then why did you even look in here?


----------



## Partholon

Well, i have seen really nice and classy custom computer cases. The word "mod" doesn't necessarily demand silly light shows. Clearly I've offended you, i wont post here again.

(it mostly a jesting post by the way, try to be less sensitive)


----------



## pharoah

just because someones taste in cases,and lighting differs from yours.there is no need to be out right rude with your lack of ahem comment.that was just down right rude,and uncalled for.in my life experience those who talk about other's lack of manhood normally are the ones lacking.


----------



## forcifer

some personally like the light shows. im one of them, and if you dont like it thats fine.... but it isnt always exactly easy to pull it off (look at my project threads and you might see why)


----------



## HawMan

I like the Blue LED lights / fans in my case as it helps brighten my cupboard up. Although it is annoying when watching movies etc.


----------



## TheMatt

It's all astetics. Fancy fans, heatpipes, CCFLs, 20kg computer cases aren't needed to keep a computer running properly. But it makes it look nice. And it impresses your friends. :wink:


----------



## forcifer

haha yea. my best friend's gf loved Fired pc


----------



## floydfan

just got done shading, etching was done a while ago.


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d

Hey guys i ordered a 12.1 mp camera should be here soon


----------



## forcifer

1 g0t 0wn3d said:


> Hey guys i ordered a 12.1 mp camera should be here soon


ray:ray:ray:


----------



## floydfan

nevermind...


----------



## HawMan

I want to get a Core 2 duo.. Boohoo.

Got the money here, but i cant be bothered fitting a new Motherboard :laugh:


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d

I want one to

floyd i like the etching


----------



## magnethead

HawMan said:


> I want to get a Core 2 duo.. Boohoo.
> 
> Got the money here, but i cant be bothered fitting a new Motherboard :laugh:


I was told to wait, intel has a new socket coming out around julyish??????


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d

i thought iw was q4 2008 or q1 2009


----------



## forcifer

they do. skull trail is coming out. one mobo already have come out but its insanely expensive. its socket LGA1333 i think


----------



## floydfan

no, skulltrail is s771, its a server board disguised as enthusiast. s1333 is for nehalem with an imc, which is coming q4 last i heard.


----------



## forcifer

ahh yea. i think skull trail is like amd 4x4.


----------



## TheMatt

LGA771 is for dual socket boards. Wow, Intel uses a memory controller in their CPUs.


----------



## pharoah

1 g0t 0wn3d said:


> Hey guys i ordered a 12.1 mp camera should be here soon


its about time :laugh:

i just did me up another machine overlook the wire managementfor now.got a new vid card that will be here tomoz,or the next day.didnt want to tie up all the wires to just have to do it again.:grin:


----------



## TheMatt

Nice "box" :laugh:


----------



## emosun

I always was wondering about shuttle cases, why there prefered for lan parties.


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d

ok so i have to edit them down in size 4000 x 3000 is to much lol 


























Anymore just ask got the rechargeable batterys lol :grin:


----------



## emosun

Hey same case as me, with a few differences. That front looks pretty beat up , done a lot of lan parties?


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d

Oh thats with the cover open


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d




----------



## TheMatt

Awesome.


----------



## emosun

Did you do the mesh yourself? Looks cool. Like the blue and red of course. Does that room have red carpet with green walls?


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d

No i did not do the mesh my self but i am thinking about taking it off and painting it black (the site said red and it came orange lol)


----------



## pharoah

TheMatt said:


> Nice "box" :laugh:



thank you its the box that rocks.my new 9600gt blows away my old 8800gts320.:grin:


----------



## oddball2910

what kind of 3dmark scores do you get with that? :06:


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d

hey pharoah what did you do with your old card?


----------



## pharoah

1 g0t 0wn3d said:


> hey pharoah what did you do with your old card?



hehehe i think i know what your asking,but it was spoken for before i ever got the 9600.i will tell ya this you might want to look at the 9600gt yourself its a good card.another one that is also good,and a bit cheaper would be the 8800gs


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d

i was looking more for a motherboard + cpu combo next but i would not have passed up a discounted 8800 =D


----------



## jaggerwild

Hadn't posted in a while, new score some add-ons
http://service.futuremark.com/compare?3dm05=3507716









I'm in Mississippi now, had to move for work casue there was none in NY. I like to eat too, a lot so had to go.


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d

thought it may be enjoyed =)









will be going for 4 once i get my ram in dual channel


----------



## ashumann12

jaggerwild, I see the two video cards did not go! :grin:


----------



## HawMan

Posted before but ah well.


This was in october, with the AMD 4600+ and a 6800XT









to

This is with the AMD 5000+ and Zalman CNPS9500 cooler ( Pain in the a.. to fit ) and the 8800GT










As it is now ( Got fed up with just blue )










Max OC so far









Got plans for it though.


----------



## forcifer

redid cableing on silverstoned  








few cables there...
































view from the top








i like meh clean case


----------



## TheMatt

How many blue LED fans do you have in there? :laugh:


----------



## forcifer

only 4


----------



## TheMatt

Does that include the Zalman fan, or does that make it 5? :laugh:


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d

you cant have enough blue


----------



## forcifer

o well, i have 6 then. 4 case fans, zalman heat sink, psu fan


----------



## TheMatt

How loud is your computer? Because I have 7 fans in mine and it is loud even with some only on half speed (the 90mm fans I have tend to be really loud).


----------



## forcifer

full speed: pretty loud. i have them all hooked up to a fan controllor and if i turn them down as low as it goes its nearly inaudible


----------



## TheMatt

That's impossible on mine (actually I could turn off all the fans if I really wanted but then the ice inside my computer would melt and short out something :tongue.


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d

yeah i can hear mine through brick walls if i turn up one 80mm to 5000 rpm it sounds and blows like a leaf blower


----------



## drjoe51

*Re: here is mine*

I like your mod man


----------



## jaggerwild

ashumann12 said:


> jaggerwild, I see the two video cards did not go! :grin:


 The one's on the left are my old 6800 Ultras(one died) Got the 8800GTS640's now. Also a couple BFG 8800GT OK 512 for the second rig, gonna use it in the living room. As an entertainment center/gaming setup. 
Also I could step-up but want to see if the 9800 GTX is coming soon as I don't want the X2 they put out.
I see your a Memphis tigers fan (hats off) saw them kicking some **** in the turnament. I lived there for four years, not to far from there now being near Jackson MS. Got a buddy there gonna visit him soon!


New high score for my C2D with the BFG in SLI 17,455

http://service.futuremark.com/compare?3dm06=5936535


----------



## forcifer

dont get the 9800GTX all it is is an 8800GTS 512 oced.


----------



## jaggerwild

forcifer said:


> dont get the 9800GTX all it is is an 8800GTS 512 oced.


 Where did you get your info from? If that be the case then I will not be getting one, but there not out yet either.


----------



## forcifer

compare







to







pretty similar


----------



## emosun

Yea but you didn't actually compare the performance , Thats like me saying don't buy a 9800 gtx because my 2600xt has a higher core clock (when I know my 2600 sucks) lol. I mean really, if you look at the specs on my card compared to that 8800 gts , there a tiny bit higher same cept mine says 128bit. But obviously my card sucks compared to the 8800 , you gotta wait for benchmarks.


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d

dont mind him hes just sad because he thought there might be a chance ati could pull ahead again lol


----------



## forcifer

=.= look at the specs. its even same core.... the GX2 is worth it, GTX isnt. HD4xxx comes out in june, and 3850x3 comes out soon also


----------



## emosun

But you get my point , the same specs doesn't mean that it goes the same speed.


----------



## forcifer

do you get mine? the 9800GTX is higher clocked for about $100-$200 more.







14k? is this a joke? the starting price of it is supposed to be around $400. if you want to pay $400 for an overclocked 8800GTS, be my guest. but, if you want to do something smart, get an 8800GTS and overclock it a bit. i never mentioned ATI once. i just said the 9800GTX is a joke 







is the GTS scores. 300 points really worth it? its all but the same system. only difference is more ram for the GTS. both are in vista


----------



## emosun

Well thats just 3dmark 06 , gotta wait for everyone to test all the games and write some reviews before we can decide whats what.


----------



## forcifer

3dmark is an industry standard. i do agree though game results will help, but its the same card. same card, same drivers, a little more OC on the 9800 = nearly identical performance. i dont see how there will be much difference with games. if it was ATI vs nvidia then yea i would agree 100% there will be difference but nvidia to nvidia...not so sure =/


----------



## TheMatt

It is an industry standard, but IMO it puts too much weight on CPU performance. The CPU's performance plays less and less of a role in modern graphics processing believe it or not.

Even if it is overclocked, then it could still have a large performance difference over the 8800GTS. (Would you disregard the performance difference between an E6300 @ 1.83GHz and an E6800 @ 2.93GHz just because they are clocked at different speeds?) We also don't know what process the 9800GTX is on (although one would presume it is on a process tech smaller than the 65nm of the 8800GTS) so it could very well be more power efficient. Additionally, it may have a more effective cooler for its reference design (maybe a heatpipe in there like in the 8800GTX).



> dont mind him hes just sad because he thought there might be a chance ati could pull ahead again lol


:laugh: Umm...no comment.


----------



## Thething

Hi guys:wave:

Here is my rig, a few shots of the outside and of the inside, sorry for the poor quality of the pics but i dont have a digital camera so i used my phone:smile:.

Btw i know the inside cabling is a bit of a mess but havent got round to tidying it yet:tongue:.


----------



## forcifer

heh yea might want to tidy the cables up a bit. other then that looks good 

the 9800GTX is built on the G92 core, which is 65nm everywhere. for cooling, maybe but from the pics ive seen it doesnt look too much like it. and even if it was, i would get a good, $70 cool and save over $100 overall and overclock it to the exact same specs


TheMatt said:


> It is an industry standard, but IMO it puts too much weight on CPU performance. The CPU's performance plays less and less of a role in modern graphics processing believe it or not.
> 
> Even if it is overclocked, then it could still have a large performance difference over the 8800GTS. (Would you disregard the performance difference between an E6300 @ 1.83GHz and an E6800 @ 2.93GHz just because they are clocked at different speeds?)


it just isnt overclocked enough. and the 2 benches i showed had the exact same proc in them, the 8800GTS had a more ram (4gb vs 2gb) but ram doesnt come that much into a factor. the e6300 and e6800 the only difference is a multiplier, which one would pay for because it makes overcocking so much easier. however, you cant really factor a multiplier into gpu overclocking. as for the speed difference, i would probably buy i e6300. thats what most people do that have a budget and know how to overclock.

for the ati thing, i never said anything about ATI im only comparing the 8800GTS to the 9800GTX... the 8800GTS is a great card. you cant take that away. however, the 9800GTX is all but a waste in my eyes...


----------



## TheMatt

Thething said:


> Hi guys:wave:
> 
> Here is my rig, a few shots of the outside and of the inside, sorry for the poor quality of the pics but i dont have a digital camera so i used my phone:smile:.
> 
> Btw i know the inside cabling is a bit of a mess but havent got round to tidying it yet:tongue:.


How many fans in that thing?

Forcifer, I think I missed the boat there. :embarased

From looking at the specs now, all I can say is "what was nVidia thinking? " The 9800GTX has less TMUs and not even a 384-bit memory bus like the 8800GTX. It's not even on a smaller process tech. 

Now I agree with you. :laugh:

EDIT: but ahah! meh 7600gs pwns all ur cardz!
http://www.gpureview.com/the-asus-n7600gshtd256m-is-officially-full-of-win-article-653.html


----------



## Thething

My comp has 7 120mm case fans, 4 on the side bracket, 1 at the back, 1 at the front and 1 at the top. Im kinda obsessed with cooling although it isnt that loud:tongue:.

Btw one thing i find a little puzzling with Ati graphics cards. How come they perform around the same level as, or surpassed by the Nvidia cards when the Ati cards have more pixel pipelines and higher GPU clock speeds? Just seems strange:smile:.


----------



## forcifer

1 word: drivers


----------



## TheMatt

Actually its the fact that the drivers don't quite match up to the architecture of the card. All nVidia cards have whats called a scalar pipeline, however starting with the ATI/AMD HD 2k series, the cards had a superscalar x5 pipeline. What this means is that the pipeline has to be full with 5 operations before any of them can be executed. This proved to be the major bottleneck in the new DX10 architecture of ATI/AMD. If they had stuck to the standard scalar architecture like nVidia, they would be way ahead. I compliment them on trying, but the fact that they can't match their drivers to the new architecture is their problem.


----------



## forcifer

drivers for both nvidia and ATI have really not been good recently. those cards could probably get to 50k in 3dmark 06 but the drivers just dont utilize the power nearly as much as they should


----------



## Thething

Ah that makes sense, thanks for the answers. Lets just hope ATI dont make the same mistake with the 4870:smile:.


----------



## forcifer

there really isnt much wrong the 3870. not as much as there was with the 2900XT.nvidia is messing up right now with the 9800GTX by just renaming old 8800GTS 512. at least ATI never did that


----------



## French-Zavier92




----------



## forcifer

nicely done! looks great  coils ftw


----------



## jaggerwild

forcifer said:


> dont get the 9800GTX all it is is an 8800GTS 512 oced.


You were right! Thank You!
I'll wait for the 9900 series while the rebadge continues for now :wave:


----------



## forcifer

doing what i can


----------



## Thething

Very nice French Zavier 92, cool looking system, what spec is it out of curiosity?:grin:

I wanna try water cooling eventually but idk how to set it up properly and im also kinda paranoid about it leaking and damaging components.

I like the teddy on the front of the system, hehe.


----------



## French-Zavier92

I updated my signature Thething :wave:


----------



## TheMatt

Beautifully done FZ!


----------



## HawMan

I just helped a buddy choose parts for his PC, Ill need to try and get some pics of it ( Antec 900 Case ). Ill also get him to do some benchmarking 

Heres the specs, Along with the P35 DS4 Motherboard ( His 3DMark didnt give him a score just now lol ).


----------



## forcifer

i cant see your score =/


----------



## HawMan

12490 Was his score, All on stock. Nothing special, huh :laugh:


----------



## forcifer

O.O wow nice. im getting a new system soon (SPECS SECRETS!!!  if you pm me i might be nice) and ill bench it for ya


----------



## WyrDOuT




----------



## reallyxxxxloud

Just bought this unit and am totally loving it...

Intel QX6700 8MB L2 cache [email protected] 3.35 ghz

Zalman Copper CPU cooler

4Gb Corsair XMS2 DDR2 ram @ 866mhz

2 x XFX 8800 GTX 768 mb @ 633mhz

900 W Silverstone power supply

Asus P5N32-E SLI motherboard

4 x 250 GB Samsung (raid) hard drives

1 x 500 GB Seagate server drive

Antec 900 cooling case

Creative SB Audigy 2 24 bit sound card

Pioneer BDC-202 Blue Ray Player / DVD Burner

Asus MW221u 21 inch Widescreen

Logitech 5.1 Speakers Keyboard Cordless Mouse

Dual boot Windows XP and Vista


















If theres anything you can see that could be improved let me know...


----------



## emosun

Gota clean up those cables, looks like a spagetti mess in there lol. And are those the older 8800's , the non g92 ones? And also I think your zalman is spose to face back to front not top to bottem. Other than that it looks neat.


----------



## reallyxxxxloud

:grin: Yes it does need the wiring cleaned up:1angel:

Im not sure about the G Cards as I'm getting Data recovery done on the raid0, (lost everything). I'll look when its back. Theres a 7" fan on top sucking, so I thought it was ok to have it facing up with the fan at the bottom blowing heat towards it? Am I incorrect?


----------



## emosun

No , the fan should be blowing air towards the back of the case , out the exaust fan on the back. If those are the old nvidia 8800's, they get really hot , and they run a little slower then the new ones.


----------



## magnethead

emosun said:


> No , the fan should be blowing air towards the back of the case , out the exaust fan on the back. If those are the old nvidia 8800's, they get really hot , and they run a little slower then the new ones.


on a 900, orientation on the zalman coolers is strictly user preference. The top fan is 100 CFM, the rear is only 45ish. All that matters is that the CPU fan blows the same direction as the case fan it's pointed at. Whichever way it's pointed, it'll still get more than ample airflow across the fins (IMO i think vertical is the better way), even for a QX.


----------



## zach_1523

ZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ


----------



## magnethead

zach_1523 said:


> ZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ


a BFG PSU and a BTX computer. 

that kinda scares me.


----------



## zach_1523

well me to i asked a tech and said it would work ??


----------



## reallyxxxxloud

The G Cards are *XFX PCI 8800GTX PV-T80F-768E 768MB* Does that mean anything to you... Thanks for your input guys... 

I paid $2000 AUD for the computer second hand, one year old and got all reciepts as well.


----------



## emosun

Stuff is so expensive in aus i cant believe it. Yea they sound like the gen 1 8800's , oh well they do some good gaming. 

I hate how dell makes all the mobo's and cases btx on purpose so you cant use their boards or there cases on anything else. I think there the only ones that use btx.


----------



## matthiasvegh

If anyone wants to see:
RaidMax Smilodon




I love the removable motherboard tray, the way you don't have to remove PCI cards, luvin it

Only down side with it, is the noise it makes. Damn it sucks!
I'm thinking of getting some Revoltec LED fans, can anyone gimme a comparison to Raidmax fans?


----------



## emosun

I would say go with antec fans.


----------



## stressfreesoul

Any suggestions folks? Im not started yet, just wondered on anyone elses opinion. Since the front lights are blue, I thought a blue/turquoise/green light setup might look good, fyi im on with rerouting wires to tidy that up right now.


----------



## stressfreesoul

ok that didnt work....lol how do you post pics?


----------



## emosun

You can attach them to your next post


----------



## HawMan

No where as cool as you're guys cases though :wink:


----------



## emosun

I think your case is cool, Nuttin wrong with the cheap cases so long as they have good airflow.


----------



## HawMan

Thats scary, i have a CD Drive on top of my case too ( you can just see the front In the pic ) :laugh:


----------



## emosun

And aparently the same labtec speakers in the corner :laugh:


----------



## HawMan

so we do.


And we both have the headphones on top or our towers :laugh:


----------



## JEDTHRO

Smilodon Case
Crosshair Mb
Amd 64 4800 X2
Soundmax Hd Audio
1950 Pro Ati
2x1gb Ocz Platinum
Zalman 9700 Heatsink
680W PSU APEVIA


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d

=O get rid of the apevia as soon as possible


oh and it looks awsome


----------



## stressfreesoul

A mess eh?!

I am in the process of modding. Just bought a 120mm blue LED antec case fan for the rear, an ASUS Arctic square CPU cooler and plenty of trick blue UV reactive cable ties, cable wraps etc to go with a dual 12" UV cathode kit. I'll obviously post after pictures too.
Any suggestions for the inside of the case itself? Im not keen on the silver, so can I safely paint the inside of the case black or put mirror film in?
Also whats the best way to cut the side panel for a perspex window?


----------



## stressfreesoul

heres a pic of the full rig:


----------



## ashumann12

What is showing on the TV? :grin:


----------



## emosun

You should paint the inside bright white. When you buy the neons then , the blue light will illuminate the inside better if you use the brightest color. The light will reflect of the walls and thus make it brighter.

And heres a tutorial on how to cut windows.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WpZoE-zj0-k

And if your into case modding , these guys are the best.
http://www.mnpctech.com/index.html

Also Ashumann , can I make you a better semi? I'm really go with vehicles and ms paint.


----------



## stressfreesoul

Good idea, I think matt white will glow brighter, whereas glossy white should provide an almost pearlescent glow.


----------



## OTHG_ChefTreb

First build for an 47 year old gamer. 
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Im wanting to get a fan controller because summer is right around the corner but Im having a hard time finding one that will work with the four pin molex connectors on the case fans and dont really want to splice all of them, any suggestions?


----------



## emosun

wow 47? If summer is around the corner leave them the way they are. They run at full speed thus cooler.


----------



## OTHG_ChefTreb

they're antec tri-cool fans. They each have a small switch for low/med/high settings.the switches are inside the case,thus you have to take the side off to get to them. Im running all on low right now except the big 200mm one on the top of the case,its on med. If you leave them all on high it sounds like a helicopter getting ready for take off. on low you hardly hear them at all. Id like to be able to turn them up while Im playing say COD4/GTR2 to help out when it gets warmer outside. right now my e8400 idles at around 30c and Ive never seen it get over 42 even when running Prime95 or OCCT.
And yes 47 and still lovin life


----------



## emosun

Hmm, well most fan controllers (the nice quality ones) have 3 pin fan connectors on them. However , on my work pc I have a very crappy fan controller I got on ebay that does use molex connectors and not 3 pin fan connectors. 

I did just find this tho , should work fine. Comes with little connectors so you can use either 3 pin or molex.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Fan-speed-Contr...ryZ51064QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem


----------



## emosun

I just got done building my cheapo dual pentium 3 system. its specs are

two pentium 3's 933mhz
320mb ram 
agp geforce 6200 256mb low energy

vice city , san andreas , and rally sport challenge run pretty well on it. Gonna try crysis too , lol. As soon as I get the inside all prettied up I'll snap some pics of it.


----------



## kmart164

hey, does anybody know how to "professionally" hide the power source wires?

Im looking at the heatshrink cord wraps, but i was wondering if anyone had any tips or tricks.
thanks


----------



## magnethead

OTHG, you have almost the same build as me, case, PSU, side fan, and mobo wise (cept I have the normal DS3, before they split to DS3R and DS3L). I have the TT toughpower650.

Look at the rheobus fan controller (picked mine off performance PC's), thats the one I have. I disabled the LED's on mine, they are WAY too bright. 

It uses 3 pin out, but includes 2 adapters to molex. Used one for the front and 1 for the back, used the molex adapter that came with the side fan, annd made my own adapter for the rear fan (hacked a couple fet of wire off some old 250 watt PSU's).

Plugged straight in, put the tri-cools and high, and was set. I Y cabled both front fans to channel 1, 2 is the top fan, 3 is rear fan, 4 is side fan. I didn't have the 7800GT yet when i took these pics. I've fixed some of the wiring mess using extensions and Y cables and running everything down to the bottom bay (that blank covers all the wiring bundles), and running loom over those. 













updated internals:


----------



## emosun

kmart164 said:


> hey, does anybody know how to "professionally" hide the power source wires?
> 
> Im looking at the heatshrink cord wraps, but i was wondering if anyone had any tips or tricks.
> thanks


Put your cd drive in the second bay down and put all your wires above it , so much easier then trying to stuff them behind the motherboard.


----------



## OTHG_ChefTreb

Hey Magnethead, I saw the rheobus from sumbeam or the Vantec301 looked like it would do what I wanted it to. Nice rig by the way. Think Im going to go with this one http://www.petrastechshop.com/5sckmamufuco.html and get four of thesehttp://www.petrastechshop.com/12yalod1blle.html
that way I can retain the tri cool I bought for the side window and use it as the hard drive bay fan. have to have the third wire for the rpm read and the stock fans dont have em. Ill just set the top monster on med. Thanks for sharing the info.


----------



## magnethead

you can set the top fan to full speed and it's still pretty darn slient, FYI. That's quite a fancy controller. The HDD accessory fanisn't required, due to my 3 hard drives seperated for heat flow, i can't use it, and never saw the reason to either. I have drive in the even numbered slots from the top down, seperated so the air can flow by unrestricted to get rid of the heat.


----------



## stressfreesoul

Me black betty has had a white baby....










Babys not running properly yet, just gotta wait for the Arctic Silver to be delivered. Cant really switch her on till then. Shes got one of these in her...










and although its not very amazing and will need to be upgraded, shes got one of these too...










This is an update, there'll be more soon when they are both up and running.


----------



## stressfreesoul

hey them pics are too big!! I told it to upload to medium size. Damned photo-bucket!!


----------



## emosun

Ok all , the cheapo dual pentium 3 is up and running and gaming ! Its specs are two 933mhz p3's , 320mb ram , geforce 6200 , and unfortunately a 6 gig hdd. So I only have room for vice city , lol. But got a 40 gig coming from ebay (another cheapo).










You can see the two pentium 3's working together for the game. They sit at 1 or 2% normally.

Also , with these specs , You guys think its bad thats its on a 235watt psu?


----------



## stressfreesoul

Thats not doing bad for 235w. What GPU is this through?

Just bought this for my 6600GT










£5.70 off eBay (11.73 Aus$)


----------



## stressfreesoul

Also the other rig is up now, albeit with a Puppy Linux install, (only have a damn old 2gig IDE drive till the barracuda 500 comes on thursday). Still good for testing though, I suppose I could leave it on, might even be good for pushing her harder. What testing apps run on linux?


----------



## emosun

Its a geforce 6200 low energy 256mb. Doesn't do half bad in these older games. I'm getting a 40 gig seagate in the mail soon , was only 18$. So I should be able to try more games on it.


----------



## magnethead

you running a pair of P3 slot 1's on an old server mobo emosun?


----------



## emosun

Yea , not my main rig. its just a for fun rig. I already had the slot 1 pentium 3's just sitting in the closet.


----------



## emosun

And yes its an old server mobo (2000). Is regular atx , got like 6 pci slots and an agp 4x. And supports 2 gb ram.


----------



## stressfreesoul

eeeee, thats almost retro!!! :wink::wink::wink::grin::grin::grin:


----------



## emosun

Naw , retro would be a pentium 1.


----------



## magnethead

emosun said:


> Naw , retro would be a pentium 1.


Hybrid is running on a slot 1 400 Mhz P2.

Somewhere around here I have a 266 Mhz Intel MMX for the socket 360 or whatever it was.


----------



## emosun

thats what was in the dual pentium 3 before. I had a pent 2 266mhz. worked fine. lol


----------



## stressfreesoul

Ive got a pentium 1 here somewhere from a 486. Damned old motherboard, with like this extender card with card slots on, for iso cards is it? Found it in a cupboard the other day, its where I got the 2 gig HDD from, that just happened to have Win95 on. Scanned the 95 install with AVG and it found alsorts of nasties. So is there anything modern that will support the Pentium 1?


----------



## magnethead

Application wise? no. But linux will run on darn near anything.


----------



## emosun

I have an amd k6 thats 200mhz with 96mb of edo ram , and its runs xp pretty well. I'm tellen ya , the old computers are tough as nails. Leave them in a closet or garage for 10 years then pull them out one day and there fine. And thats what I like about xp , works on anything with 96mb of ram or more. Very backwards compatible.


----------



## oska_123

lol okay so its an old hp t650.uk :grin:

it has dual channel 2gb ram

a ge force 7600gt graphics card.

a nice 400gb Hitachi hard drive

an ite g2 motherboard (i think)

jbl creature 2 speakers 

an amd 3200+ cpu

it is about 2-4 years old but it has served me well lol

it isn't modded in lights or anything but hey lol thought id stick it up.

file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Owner/My%20Documents/My%20Pictures/Adobe/Digital%20Camera%20Photos/2008-05-31-0200-33/DSCF1108_edited.JPG

file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Owner/My%20Documents/My%20Pictures/Adobe/Digital%20Camera%20Photos/2008-05-31-0200-33/DSCF1116_edited.JPG

file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Owner/My%20Documents/My%20Pictures/Adobe/Digital%20Camera%20Photos/2008-05-31-0200-33/DSCF1111_edited.JPG

well there she is ray: lol


o.d


some nice cases in this thread


----------



## oska_123

lol okay so its an old hp t650.uk :grin:

it has dual channel 2gb ram

a ge force 7600gt graphics card.

a nice 400gb Hitachi hard drive

an ite g2 motherboard (i think)

jbl creature 2 speakers 

an amd 3200+ cpu

it is about 2-4 years old but it has served me well lol

it isn't modded in lights or anything but hey lol thought id stick it up.

file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Owner/My%20Documents/My%20Pictures/Adobe/Digital%20Camera%20Photos/2008-05-31-0200-33/DSCF1108_edited.JPG

file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Owner/My%20Documents/My%20Pictures/Adobe/Digital%20Camera%20Photos/2008-05-31-0200-33/DSCF1116_edited.JPG

file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Owner/My%20Documents/My%20Pictures/Adobe/Digital%20Camera%20Photos/2008-05-31-0200-33/DSCF1111_edited.JPG

well there she is ray: lol


o.d


some nice cases in this thread


----------



## emosun

Hmm , yup time for a case mod. lol. Or at least take the sales stickers off the front. Man I hate when people leave the sales stickers on. lol. Every time I go to my friends house I see the stickers still on there vcr's and computers and I just wanna peel em off.


----------



## emosun

Ok guys , time for crysis results with the cheapo pentium 3.




















I definitely experienced lagg , but surprisingly not from the cpu's. But from the immense lack of ram and video lagg. I got anywhere from 10fps to 1fps. Think I'll snag 1 gb of ram on ebay for 14$ and I'll try my x1600 which I already have in my work pc. The next test will be the GRID demo. In case you guys haven't tried it yet , its awesome.


----------



## magnethead

emosun said:


> Ok guys , time for crysis results with the cheapo pentium 3.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I definitely experienced lagg , but surprisingly not from the cpu's. But from the immense lack of ram and video lagg. I got anywhere from 10fps to 1fps. Think I'll snag 1 gb of ram on ebay for 14$ and I'll try my x1600 which I already have in my work pc. The next test will be the GRID demo. In case you guys haven't tried it yet , its awesome.


see if you can snag something like the MX4000 like i have in hybrid. Standard PCI slot so should work...I got it on the P2.


----------



## magnethead

magnethead said:


> see if you can snag something like the MX4000 like i have in hybrid. Standard PCI slot so should work...I got it on the P2.


oh never mind, forgot you're on a 6200.


----------



## groudon185p

CPU: Intel Q6600 8mb l2cache 1066mhz 2.4ghz
Motherboard: Asus P5VDC-MX V2.0
Ram: PQI "Ultra Fast" 1gb 533mhz SS DDR2 SDRam
GPU: 7600GS 512mb AGP X8 OC'd @ core: 470 Mem: 393
Crysis: All at low But Objects medium res: 1024 x 768 geting about 21fps while in combat
3D Mark 06 Score at highest OC: 3076 3D Marks
Yeah thats my current build gonna try to get a p35 and an 8800gt 512mb or 1gb and i got a 2gb 800stick but that doesn't work on my mobo its to fast, i wanna get a dupe for the 2gb and the p35 hopefully supporting up to 4 sticks use my two 2gb sticks and my 1gb stick giving me 5gb then i wanna get another 2gb stick (1 each computer fair) giving 7gb then a final one to replace my 1gb giving 8gb that would make me a total awsome system


----------



## emosun

periods?:laugh:


----------



## oska_123

i took the sales stickers off lol.

i bagged a aus m2n-e sli seluxe today for $40ray: lol

gonna do a budget build for fun.

will post sum picks up when i got sum parts on it 


:grin:


----------



## emosun

Nothing is funner then budget builds. And ty for taking the stickers off. lol


----------



## oska_123

no probs . 

ty for helping out on my other post about the board and case.

yer the budget build shud be interesting.

do you think it was a good steal on the board or not?

o.d


----------



## stressfreesoul

*UPDATE* :grin::grin::grin:

As ya can probably tell from the following neon display, my UV horde came.
:grin::grin::grin::wink::wink::wink::grin::grin::grin:




























*UP NEXT....*Zalman cnps 9500 LED, Zalman VF700-Cu, More UV stuff.


----------



## emosun

I guess , I've never had that board before.


----------



## stressfreesoul




----------



## oska_123

okaey doke in my last post i got the asus m2n e sli deluxe motherboard for $40 bucks in my budget build.

now i got the case arriving tomorrow or the day after. got the thermal take tsunami. for $60 bucks.

was planning on doing some modding to itbut dont have the faintest idea how to so any help would be appreciated.

thanks


----------



## stressfreesoul

What do you want from your build? Want it to look like mine? All glowy and shiny? Or do you like more subtle details, like shiny black grilles instead of gaping windows?
Thing is, none of modding a case is really that difficult. If you go to Youtube there are plenty of professional tutorials on there, search for "MonsterMawd". 
What case you got depicts whether you have free reign on what you can do. My black case was probably very cheap, but I was lucky to get a flat & relatively easy to mod side panel. Yeah sure it has a vent or two, but these just mean less metal to cut away for a bigger window!! Whereas my white case looks like this...










Those light grey areas to the right of the vents are more damned vents. Awkward little punch hole vents.
So do you see what Im getting at? As it is a budget build, basic DIY and working with what you've got is the order of the day!!


----------



## stressfreesoul

emosun...
I decided to try the mirror after all. I can always peel it off if I get bored!!


----------



## emosun

Interesting , lol. I too got to the mod nation. already did an old antec case and going to do a dell one too. Just scooped up a case on ebay for 26$. It has 8 80mm fan holes! lol. All of which need to be drilled out.


----------



## magnethead

My new laptop. HP DV9000 series (9815). considering my negative biasment of vista, i'm SLOWLY learning.








.

I know it's strange seeing a wired network cable plugged into a laptop, but i found out that synergy KM switch doesn't exactly like wireless connections. I'm using the desktop mouse combined with the laptop keyboard, but I can use the desktop keyboard too if i want to. really like the media remote.


----------



## emosun

sweet. specs?


----------



## magnethead

emosun said:


> sweet. specs?


Hewlett Packard DV9815nr desktop replacement/entertainment Notebook (that's a long classification title!).

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage...815nr&lp=1&type=product&cp=1&id=1204332554359

Sunday, there were about 12 units in my area. Wednesday, there were 4 (2 stores, 2 units each) as of 8 am. I stopped by the location i knew first at noon- they were out, but said the other location still had 2. Went ober there in an hour, they had 1 left- and I took it. 

Abilene was the closest store with the laptop...talk about selling fast!


----------



## stressfreesoul

It came at last!!! Thanks to the guys and gals at QuietPC I got a fixing kit for my board for free too, as it was 2nd hand/used and only came with an AM2 bracket.
Looks damn good sat in there though. Even with all the extra wires from the collection of 5 quiet fans (Zalman CNPS7500LED, 700CU, Nexus real silent orange 120mm side panel, 120mm blue LED front panel and power supply). Gonna have to sort them out next, maybe lengthen and route them properly behind the mobo tray and drive bays. I alighned the Zalman to point out the back vent (which Im gonna cut out and grille). Good bit of kit the 7500LED, didnt realise the fixing kit has 12 different orientation settings!!


----------



## stressfreesoul

Oh yeah, does anyone have any idea whether its safe to polish the copper of the Zalman coolers? Obviously I'd have to be careful, I was more wondering about the effects of any chemical polishes??


----------



## Enoelf

Not sure about polishing the copper base, but lapping it might bring you a slightly better contact point between the heatsink and processor. If you want to get really hard-core, you could lap the processor and the heatsink both to remove the surface grooving from the manufacturing processes. There are a number of quides out on the web about it but in a nutshell get an extremely flat surface (Pane of glass is usually a good thing), stick some progressively finer grit wet/dry sandpaper on it (600 up to 2000), wet the paper, lubricate the heatsink base/processor (liquid detergent is good since it's easy to clean up), and then work the items over the paper going smoother and smoother until you reach the mirror like finish. This would in theory greatly reduce the amount of air that might be trapped between the processor and heatsink allowing a more thorough conduction (if that ain't a word, it should be) of heat away from the CPU.


----------



## stressfreesoul

Its already lapped. I was more wanting the cooling fins to twinkle and shine under the blue lights.


----------



## j.miller

My rig I built about a year ago. Just put a new 120mm fan in the back and 2 80mm in the front. Probably going to start adding more to it now that I have time/money










Specs:


Intel Core 2 Duo E4400 Allendale 2.0GHz LGA 775 Processor
APEVIA (ASPIRE) X-CRUISER-BK Black Computer Case 
Western Digital Caviar RE 160GB 3.5" SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
Intel BOXDG965WHMKR ATX Intel Motherboard
WINTEC 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM Dual Channel Kit 
APEVIA (ASPIRE) ATX-AS680W-BL 680W Power Supply
GeForce 7900GS PCI Express 256MB DDR3

Thoughts? Ideas? Criticisms? lol


----------



## magnethead




----------



## stressfreesoul

Nice. Why two sets of pedals?


----------



## emosun

one is clutch an one is e-brake , lol


----------



## HawMan

emosun said:


> one is clutch an one is e-brake , lol


Theres two.


----------



## emosun

yea ones gas , brake , then clutch and ebrake


----------



## stressfreesoul

You do driving lessons and tests from home then??? :wink::wink::laugh::laugh:


----------



## magnethead

emosun said:


> yea ones gas , brake , then clutch and ebrake


Smart one, you are. Almost. 

the far left is a dead pedal. no ebrake in sports cars (spend most of my time running GTR..FIA GT series...halfway equiv to the Koni challenge series for us americano's)


----------



## phantomXVI

just something im working on...hope you enjoy  it is copper, ill see if i can get a better pic of it...well...being copper

top panel design

cuts started

first part of top panel cut


----------



## emosun

phantomXVI , You should show that kind of stuff to the mod nation , they would apreciate it more and help you along with it.


----------



## phantomXVI

ive tried =/ they get a bit annoying. the rules for pic sizes is not worth the effort. i dunno, i might. ill have to see


----------



## emosun

I only say it because not to many people see this thread or will respond , and the kind of modding your doing is the mod nation kind of stuff. theres rules aren't to bad , iv'e gotten used to it.


----------



## stressfreesoul

Thats my next stage. Mod Nation? It an American thing, or worldwide? I saw a custom case a while back made of wood. Ive got a load of chestnut spare, so I might just make one....with stained glass windows....
mmmmmmmmmm, catholicised....


----------



## emosun

I always thought it would be cool if some one did a wood case with only incondesent lights.


----------



## stressfreesoul

Case mod update...
New mobo, extra fan for CPU cooling, re-routed Zalman (i've found it cools the PSU by another 5 degrees centigrade) and internal aesthetics...


































Next up.... Case window, custom made, for the fun of it, 'cos I can.


----------



## emosun

you should put a case fan in it


----------



## emosun

I feel sorry for those guys that bought 1000$/2000$ laptops with the intel graphics and are having the vertex data error in cod4. I got it running on the pentium 3! Specs are dual pentium 3's 1.80ghz / 320mb ram / geforce 6200. Runs great on low , perfectly playable.


----------



## magnethead

you got that dual CPU sevrer board on P3's now? is that what it's been on? 

Too bad they don't make slot 1 P4's 

AH, just OC the crap out of a P3 lol


----------



## stressfreesoul

In the back emo? I did, it was blasting cold air at the CPU Zalman, but then I realised the hole in the side for the duct was the same size hole as the fan and is positioned perfectly so the blast of air hits the front of the Zalman and the NB heatsink, effectively cooling both whilst not screwing with the front-to-back flow. Im thinking of blocking the hole completely, as its of no use to me. You can see from the pics, the CPU exhaust is shooting out the back of the PSU; so its only going to benefit the airflow. Im going to start planning a 5 inch drive bay conversion for my bottom two bays, they dont get used and it would provide so much more colder air to the RAM slots (after a bit of welding/soldering/ducting/botching)


----------



## emosun

The ram doesn't really need cooling , they never really get hot enough to slow down performance. And the fan port on the back is for exausting air , it assits the other fans so they dont work as hard. Doest hurt to put one in , but might if you block it off.

And yea the pentium 3's are on a server board. A tyan tiger. Neat board. Might put my x1600 in it. And maybe 2gb of ram if it supports high density which I think it does.


----------



## phantomXVI

stressfreesoul said:


> Thats my next stage. Mod Nation? It an American thing, or worldwide? I saw a custom case a while back made of wood. Ive got a load of chestnut spare, so I might just make one....with stained glass windows....
> mmmmmmmmmm, catholicised....


lol ive seen a wooden case before also  the one i saw was by forcifer...it was pretty cool but not perfect. still, i think it was a good looking case


----------



## magnethead

phantomXVI said:


> lol ive seen a wooden case before also  the one i saw was by forcifer...it was pretty cool but not perfect. still, i think it was a good looking case


I've got one too called HybridTwist. Technically it needs work, but it does all I need it to do- and that's function. I stole the idea from Forc but we kinda helped eachother in development.

http://www.techsupportforum.com/f76/project-log-hybrid-twist-209995.html



]


----------



## emosun

this is a real wood case , the guy that's makeing it has some sick skill.

http://www.themodnation-forums.com/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=2583&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&start=105


----------



## magnethead

emosun said:


> this is a real wood case , the guy that's makeing it has some sick skill.
> 
> http://www.themodnation-forums.com/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=2583&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&start=105


no kidding. 

And tons of spare time.

I'm surprised he elected to go with bottom mount CD and top mount HDD, as did I. Except mine was because of my sliding door and fan locations.

Same with door. my origional idea was to slide forward. Still could, but there would have to be a bunch of notching and face panels to be made.

hole in the MB tray too. 

and no, i had not previously seen this topic.


----------



## emosun

Yea I think hes a woodworker so he has tons of free time.


----------



## magnethead

emosun said:


> Yea I think hes a woodworker so he has tons of free time.


I'm more of a "for looks" and electrically based person. So mine's more to look visually appealing in the lights department and still be useful. But mine gave headaches too.

On mine, the big 3 fan side panel is all 100% exhaust. front and top panels have 2 80mm fans each, and the mb tray side has a bunch of passive radiator style slots for air to draw in through and around the mobo. I've got a 120mm fan on the I/O panel that exausts as well. so close to 200 CFM of exhaust, and maybe 100 CFM of intake. hence all the passive slots.

Don't think I ever posted final pics did I?


----------



## stressfreesoul

Im starting to consider heat exchangers too, might not be amazing for the environment (air-con style) but it would provide some efficient cooling. That wooden case is damn good. Stuff like that is a walk in the park for someone with masses of woodworking and cabinet making skills.


----------



## jaggerwild

figured Id post up my newest build not done yet but close any ways hope you like..............


















New WB going in soon, one done one to go













































Thanks fer looking..........:wave:


----------



## emosun

You need some neons in there. Cool heat sinks.


----------



## jaggerwild

Thank you Emosun!
I have some but got Purple water fluid and the lights are green? I have a Ghetto reservoir I may put the lights on it Gonna use it to cool the water at extreme over clocks. just incert ice bags boom done...... 










3Dmark06 score 22,090 in Vista 64bit









I see you got some pretty good skills yer self there running two seperate cores and the current games too!! Very nice work you have done!!!


----------



## stressfreesoul

3.9Ghz? Top banana. A true overclocking enthusiast, I like. You should OC the GPU too, you'll get a better 3DMark score.


----------



## TheMatt

Do your specs say TWO 3870X2's? Got enough video processors?

I agree, you could push the video cards because they are on 55nm and have good overclocking potential.


----------



## magnethead

too bad, with all that power, you're stuck on hughesnet. 

I do not like hughesnet at all. We're constantly FAP'd.


----------



## stressfreesoul

Yay, new case!!!! Its gettin a half window at the weekend.


----------



## emosun

Neat case. Whats a half window.


----------



## magnethead

emosun said:


> Neat case. Whats a half window.


I'm guessing a window from the top to halfway


----------



## stressfreesoul

As you are looking at the left side panel it would be in the left half (to avoid showing any of the drive bay and only some of the cabling, ie the UV only.) Its a Thermaltake Mambo. Not much of an upgrade you might think but theres something inherant with the steel used and possibly even the powder coating that cuts loads of fan noise out. Plus to that, my OCd 8400GS is now running 3 celsius lower while everything else is at least 1 lower, probably due to better vent/airflow design.


----------



## Tchesco

[SORRY THAT THE PICS ARE SO BIG!]






































...Wanted to make use of the extra fan that i had -------------------------------------------------------------^^ 
Due to overheating issues the GX2 that's in these pictures isnt in any more. Right now I'm using a 9600 GT and I'm probably going to replace it with 3 Radeon 3870s. Also, I'm probably going to install liquid cooling.

[SORRY THAT THE PICS ARE SO BIG!]


----------



## magnethead

Tchesco said:


> [SORRY THAT THE PICS ARE SO BIG!]
> 
> 
> 
> ...Wanted to make use of the extra fan that i had -------------------------------------------------------------^^
> Due to overheating issues the GX2 that's in these pictures isnt in any more. Right now I'm using a 9600 GT and I'm probably going to replace it with 3 Radeon 3870s. Also, I'm probably going to install liquid cooling.
> 
> [SORRY THAT THE PICS ARE SO BIG!]


how hot was the GX2 getting? With the A900, you shouldn't have any issues heat wise with that card (other than the known heat problems).

And clean up your cabling mess. That probably isn't helping..nor is the extra fan on the floor..it's just moving dead air (doing nothing good). Did you try putting it on the back of the HDD cage as antec suggests, or is the GX2 too long?

Did antec change fans? Mine have clear housings and black blades (except the side fan that I ordered seperate- clear housing, clear blades)


----------



## Tchesco

the card's idle temperature was 155 F. Also my powersupply was overheating like crazy.


----------



## magnethead

Tchesco said:


> the card's idle temperature was 155 F. Also my powersupply was overheating like crazy.


the purepower PSU's are not good quality. only toughpowers are suggested for use with the thermaltake name. Mine is the toughpower 650. 

155F is very normal for that card. If not on the cool side. 155 degrees Fahrenheit = 68.3333333 degrees Celsius


----------



## Tchesco

yeah the gx2 was too long to put the fan on the back of the hdd cage. I'm having a really hard time getting rid of these extra cables. i shoved a lot of them into the extra cage that isnt really being used. when i was using the gx2 my computer would randomly shut down, do you think that its because its stressing my PSU too much (since the minumum requirement of wattage is 580, and i have a 600 and the PSU was getting REALLY hot). Also, i was trying to find a way to accelerate the card's fan speed, but couldnt find a program.


----------



## magnethead

Tchesco said:


> yeah the gx2 was too long to put the fan on the back of the hdd cage. I'm having a really hard time getting rid of these extra cables. i shoved a lot of them into the extra cage that isnt really being used. when i was using the gx2 my computer would randomly shut down, do you think that its because its stressing my PSU too much (since the minumum requirement of wattage is 580, and i have a 600 and the PSU was getting REALLY hot). Also, i was trying to find a way to accelerate the card's fan speed, but couldnt find a program.


yes, that would be a PSU issue. Thermaltake builds all their own PSU's, except for the 650 and up toughpowers. Those are outsourced to a professional company (forget the name, ask linderman?) and simply re-labeled. Many other companies do the same.

What I did, was put the CD in the very top slot, then the 2 HD cages, then the fan controller (I have all 5 fans set to high, and control them form the front for noise/performance), then the solid blank.

Then I took the floppy adapter, and put it in on the inside of the array, fed all the wires through the 3.5" slot, then wire tied them together. That's why you see the huge snake going into the 5.25 array.

Where are you located?


----------



## Tchesco

magnethead said:


> yes, that would be a PSU issue. Thermaltake builds all their own PSU's, except for the 650 and up toughpowers. Those are outsourced to a professional company (forget the name, ask linderman?) and simply re-labeled. Many other companies do the same.
> 
> What I did, was put the CD in the very top slot, then the 2 HD cages, then the fan controller (I have all 5 fans set to high, and control them form the front for noise/performance), then the solid blank.
> 
> Then I took the floppy adapter, and put it in on the inside of the array, fed all the wires through the 3.5" slot, then wire tied them together. That's why you see the huge snake going into the 5.25 array.
> 
> Where are you located?
> 
> I live near San Francisco. U?
> that's a great idea with the cage configuration, i think im going to ditch one of my disc drives and try that. do you think that the clutter of cables in my machine is adding very much to the problem? I am definitly going to try and sort out these cables. Where did you purchase the fan control module?


----------



## magnethead

Tchesco said:


> magnethead said:
> 
> 
> 
> yes, that would be a PSU issue. Thermaltake builds all their own PSU's, except for the 650 and up toughpowers. Those are outsourced to a professional company (forget the name, ask linderman?) and simply re-labeled. Many other companies do the same.
> 
> What I did, was put the CD in the very top slot, then the 2 HD cages, then the fan controller (I have all 5 fans set to high, and control them form the front for noise/performance), then the solid blank.
> 
> Then I took the floppy adapter, and put it in on the inside of the array, fed all the wires through the 3.5" slot, then wire tied them together. That's why you see the huge snake going into the 5.25 array.
> 
> Where are you located?
> 
> I live near San Francisco. U?
> that's a great idea with the cage configuration, i think im going to ditch one of my disc drives and try that. do you think that the clutter of cables in my machine is adding very much to the problem? I am definitly going to try and sort out these cables. Where did you purchase the fan control module?
> 
> 
> 
> having cables strewn about like that, especially IDE and floppy cables, will block off air flow. Notice that I have 3 SATA cables and only 1 IDE cable (If i could get another 320GB SATA drive, i'd take the IDE unit out in a heartbeat). Plus I zip tied, taped and loomed what I could. Also makes it alot easier to work inside. Not much to lose and a little to gain. And looks better through the window, expecially when your dorm-mate gets to stare at it all night with the pretty blue lights .
> 
> I'm in texas, will be going to univ texas at arlington starting this fall.
Click to expand...


----------



## magnethead




----------



## emosun

Thats why I like cases with the powersupply on the top , its easier to hide the extra wires.


----------



## magnethead

emosun said:


> Thats why I like cases with the powersupply on the top , its easier to hide the extra wires.


I personally liks them on bottom. Heat rises, and the last thing a PSU needs is a hot intake source.


----------



## emosun

Yea but it doesnt really matter if the psu is hot because its just a basic power converter. No micro chips or anything so its performance is the same weather its hot or cold. Plus the air in the case is changed like every 10 seconds so theres never really enough hot air in the case for a long enough time to make it overheat. Probably the reason they stuck it at the top originally is because it's not likely to overheat. An you get to shove the extra wire obove the cd drive. lol.

Man the side fan on my case keeps pulseating , somtimes I got to use a pen to jump start it. lol . Really needs changeing.


----------



## stressfreesoul

You need to logically plan your airflow. Having three cards over one will NOT logically produce less heat. Correct extraction and direction of warm air is essential when you start adding big cards like that. Cabling definately affects airflow too, if at all possible, you should route all cabling into the corners of the case and replace any ribbon cables with rounded ones, it makes a hell of a difference.


----------



## emosun

You can slice up your ribbon cables and make them round , But only do it if you have extra in case you mess up


----------



## Tchesco

SORRY FOR THE HUGE PICS


magnethead said:


>


yeah i've just finished cleaning up some of the messiness in my case. Also i decided that I'm going to sell my powersupply over Craigslist. I'm going to try to get a 1km, along with a liquid cooling system. 


























SORRY FOR THE HUGE PICS


----------



## magnethead

that's a good bit better. 

I'm looking at the 9600 GT's now. Didn't realize how cheap they are. I got my 7800 GT for $60 i think it was 2 years used...144 (or 124 after rebate) wouldnt be a bad investment. As long as it worked on my PCIE 1.0 mobo.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817153034 << what I have

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817153036 << my suggestion

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817153055 << if you think you'll need 1.2 Kw (only $50 more than 1.0 Kw)


----------



## Tchesco

magnethead said:


> that's a good bit better.
> 
> I'm looking at the 9600 GT's now. Didn't realize how cheap they are. I got my 7800 GT for $60 i think it was 2 years used...144 (or 124 after rebate) wouldnt be a bad investment. As long as it worked on my PCIE 1.0 mobo.
> 
> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817153034 << what I have
> 
> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817153036 << my suggestion
> 
> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817153055 << if you think you'll need 1.2 Kw (only $50 more than 1.0 Kw)


thanks for the links, the thing is though is i need to try to find the most power for the cheapest price. i have to do a lot of research of PSU and find one that is at least 800 although it is hard to find a cheap one, let alone a 1kw one.


----------



## magnethead

Tchesco said:


> thanks for the links, the thing is though is i need to try to find the most power for the cheapest price. i have to do a lot of research of PSU and find one that is at least 800 although it is hard to find a cheap one, let alone a 1kw one.


that 750W unit should be more than enough for a GX2. now running a pair of GX2's is iffy. But 1 GX2 will make less heat then triple cards. As i said before, 155F is absolutely normal for a GX2, if not on the cool side. I think mass initial reports have been in the 65-70C range (?).


----------



## Tchesco

magnethead said:


> that 750W unit should be more than enough for a GX2. now running a pair of GX2's is iffy. But 1 GX2 will make less heat then triple cards. As i said before, 155F is absolutely normal for a GX2, if not on the cool side. I think mass initial reports have been in the 65-70C range (?).


ok. sooner or later im probably going to get a the 3870s (two or 3) would 1000 watts be enough to support 3 + liquid cooling???? i found this http://www.buy.com/retail/product.asp?sku=207951717&listingid=22992991&dcaid=17902


----------



## magnethead

I'd get the 1200. It's only $50 more. Compare prices for 1 Kw and 1.2 Kw unit though between toughpower and the other main trustworthy units..I don't have the list memorized like others.


----------



## Tchesco

magnethead said:


> I'd get the 1200. It's only $50 more. Compare prices for 1 Kw and 1.2 Kw unit though between toughpower and the other main trustworthy units..I don't have the list memorized like others.


i updated my post like a second before you posted so check it. (the one above this)


----------



## emosun

I wouldn't get 2 or 3 3870s they won't be as good as one 9800 gx2


----------



## magnethead

i posted in your other topic. I'd say go for the 1200.


----------



## Tchesco

ok, the thing is my motherboard is crossfire ready, and not capable of SLi. Eventually i want to bust out the 2 GB of memory, so i would either sell my gx2 and get 2 3870 x2s or crossfire with the 4870. is the powersupply i showed you as good as the ones that you showed me?


----------



## magnethead

not sure, honestly didn't look.

If you do get ATI cards, I'd take the GX2 off your hands but i aint got 500 to burn strictly on gfx....I'll get a 96 GT.


(I could get an SLI mobo and 2 96GT's for less than a single GX2 or ultra...sad)


----------



## Tchesco

magnethead said:


> not sure, honestly didn't look.
> 
> If you do get ATI cards, I'd take the GX2 off your hands but i aint got 500 to burn strictly on gfx....I'll get a 96 GT.
> 
> 
> (I could get an SLI mobo and 2 96GT's for less than a single GX2 or ultra...sad)


sli 9600 gt would be really good, im just running one right now and the performace is great.


----------



## magnethead

Like i said, i might crack and buy one.

If nothing else, I may simply get a 9600 GT now, then an SLI approved mobo, and see if drivers will allow a 4 display 9600/7800 GT combo (not SLI'd).


----------



## forcifer

magnethead said:


> Like i said, i might crack and buy one.
> 
> If nothing else, I may simply get a 9600 GT now, then an SLI approved mobo, and see if drivers will allow a 4 display 9600/7800 GT combo (not SLI'd).


they will



emosun said:


> I wouldn't get 2 or 3 3870s they won't be as good as one 9800 gx2


=.= not getting started on this again but just get a 4870, save some money, kick some 9800GX2/GTX260/some GTX280 butt


----------



## forcifer

sorry please delete


----------



## stressfreesoul

Hey magnethead, was that a CB radio I saw next to your tower?


----------



## magnethead

stressfreesoul said:


> Hey magnethead, was that a CB radio I saw next to your tower?


it was. It has weatherband, and out here in the middlem of nowhere of texas, we used it for NOAA till we got a real weather radio.


----------



## ebackhus

My room mate doesn't have account here but I'll post the specs of the new PC I built for him this week.

AMD Phenom X4 9850 2.5Ghz/core
Gigabyte DS5 (790FX)
2GB PC6400 DDR2 RAM
200, 300, 500GB SATA
VisionTek Radeon 4870
Windows XP pro SP3

12.6K in 3DMark06


----------



## stressfreesoul

Just got on with it. Was supposed to be watching the Star Wars saga with the missus, got bored with her constant questions of why the world of star wars is as such and disappeared for an hour.
As you can probably see, Ive left a hole for a 120mm fan, im thinking of *this one*, however I'll probably change my mind and get one of *these.*

Any other suggestions?


----------



## HawMan

:grin: I hate my Case but heres another one.


----------



## emosun

Your case just needs modding hawman , its not bad.


----------



## crunchie

Here is my latest;


----------



## stressfreesoul

Yay!! Another Zalman lover!!!! Youve got a good start point there, plenty of scope for mods!!!!


----------



## crunchie

Have got an 8800GT in there now and water cooling is next . The case is a monster!


----------



## emosun

When I first saw that picture it looked like just a case and mobo. Didn't even see the psu and video cards , I thought you were like midway into building it ,lol.


----------



## magnethead

I don't see a hard drive? 

very good cable management. What case is it? And is that a BTX board?


----------



## crunchie

Hard drive is on the bottom right of the picture and goes in with the connectors to the other side. You should be able to see the sata cable (yellow) running to the board.
DFI LP nF4 UT Ultra-D ATX.
Case is the latest alumunium ThermalTake Armor+ and photo was taken just before I booted it up.
Have also added two optical drives now. 
Here is a photo from the other side.


----------



## Tchesco

crunchie said:


> Hard drive is on the bottom right of the picture and goes in with the connectors to the other side. You should be able to see the sata cable (yellow) running to the board.
> DFI LP nF4 UT Ultra-D ATX.
> Case is the latest alumunium ThermalTake Armor+ and photo was taken just before I booted it up.
> Have also added two optical drives now.
> Here is a photo from the other side.


Great job managing your cables man.


----------



## magnethead

no kidding. Plus that zalman is right in front of the side fan...killer!

do post CPU temmps so we all can be jealous.


----------



## stressfreesoul

I wont be :wink: cos mines like a fridge anyways teehee.


----------



## crunchie

Running the cpu @ 2790 CoreTemp registers 48-50C running Orthos. Not too shabby for an almost 1000Mhz OC . Still @ stock volts too.
Side fan is 230mm.


----------



## sot-steve

this is mine, just had it built for me and thinking about modding it (more lights/fans etc)

and advice guys on where i can get the parts or what would be best for my system?


----------



## emosun

You need a fan for the fan port on the back , and I would say neons would be cool too.


----------



## sot-steve

thanks ill have a look round


----------



## stressfreesoul

Just watch for helicopters trying to land on it :wink:
I agree about the rear exhaust fan. Thermaltake 120mm low RPM ones are cheap and quiet. Or these 130mm (fits 120mm hole) are very quiet and shift a lot of air.
I just found this too on eBay. A pair of 120mm, a pair of 80mm and a fan controller for about £15.


----------



## sot-steve

i like them alot, especially the two £15 ones.
but i wanted leds in so i found these two and bought them for just under a 10er

one for the side, 80mm
and one for the rear, 120mm

but thanks anyway:4-cheers:


----------



## jaggerwild

TheMatt said:


> Do your specs say TWO 3870X2's? Got enough video processors?
> 
> I agree, you could push the video cards because they are on 55nm and have good overclocking potential.


Hey Matt!
Good to see you, I have been using CCC to over clock with not sure how much higher I can go? Any suggestions on tools to use for clocking on the GPU'S? Tried to use rivatuner will not clock the second card, not sure why(it always reverts back to under defaults)?
Yes it say four GPU'S as I have two of the 3870X2 cards. Just got my loops running finally, major problems. Tubes not big enough:4-dontkno So had to wait on them, now my major problem is heat as both loops use the same reservoir so the CPU heats up the GPU'S too. Will try ice tonight, see what it gets me may have to redo the loops to separate resivours and shorten the hoses as there too long right now.
Thanks for looking :wave:


----------



## stressfreesoul

sot steve,
what make are those fans?
I originally suggested any of the ones I did, cos I hate my PC sounding like a helicopter taking off, ie all of them will be quiet. Even with all my fans running (including two Zalman coolers and 3 120mm fans) the noise is below 20db and my temps are excellent. All down to well planned airflow and Thermaltake.:grin::grin::grin::grin::grin:


----------



## magnethead

stressfreesoul said:


> sot steve,
> what make are those fans?
> I originally suggested any of the ones I did, cos I hate my PC sounding like a helicopter taking off, ie all of them will be quiet. Even with all my fans running (including two Zalman coolers and 3 120mm fans) the noise is below 20db and my temps are excellent. All down to well planned airflow and Thermaltake.:grin::grin::grin::grin::grin:


look like logisys to me?


----------



## emosun

Mine sounds like helicopter missing a few vital cables and hoses.


----------



## sot-steve

well to be honest im not sure but they are now baught and on thier way. but i will reply when i find out. i have also got some wireing coming to keep up the green theme, but may mix n match blue and green...

any suggestions?


----------



## emosun

Yea mix colors. I just happend on blue and red and I like it more then just one color.


----------



## stressfreesoul

As you can probablky see from the pics, I've gone for a mix of Red and Blue too. The inbetween colours like purple etc sort of just happened. I'll change my mind by christmas and give it an overhaul.


----------



## sot-steve

this green exhaust fan im using is 120mm thunderblade series, made by thermaltake

21.dba
78.cfm


n it looks pretty cool to me


----------



## sot-steve

i would like to do something to the front, like have the strip bar things to be colour changing.
can you get those??


----------



## emosun

You chan change the leds in the strip bars to multi color leds

http://www.frozencpu.com/products/6116/ele-280/5mm_BlueRedGreen_Triple_Color_LED.html?tl=g6c77s666


----------



## magnethead

posted in another thread, might as well put here.




magnethead said:


> screen shot 1 is full graphics with level 4 AA.
> 
> screen shot 2 is full graphics with no AA.
> 
> screen shot 3 is high graphics with no AA.
> 
> screen shot 4 is full graphics with no AA
> 
> high graphics (at least at daytona) with no AA didn't have a frame rate difference.
> 
> and is it me, or am i getting REALLY good temps for this card???


----------



## TheMatt

In racing games AF will really make a difference in making the road in front of you look better quality.

Lol a 7800GT.


----------



## magnethead

TheMatt said:


> In racing games AF will really make a difference in making the road in front of you look better quality.
> 
> Lol a 7800GT.


just a bit of a difference, no?


----------



## pharoah

7800gt to a 9800gtx id say HUGE difference.:grin:


----------



## magnethead

pharoah said:


> 7800gt to a 9800gtx id say HUGE difference.:grin:


I'm just glad it fit my case. is 60C idle good for that card? IT dont even get to 65C under gaming.


----------



## phantomXVI

took me freaking long enough, but here is the finished top panel




































btw i know it looks dirty, but it really isnt THAT bad. its from all the blue stuff that melts a little bit when the router goes through. lots o friction....


----------



## emosun

looks like it needs a bit of sanding.


----------



## sot-steve

that looks SWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEET!


----------



## phantomXVI

it is clean  that was after some 400 grit just to get rid of plastic that stuck.


----------



## floydfan

it looks much better! here's my mod-under-construction:


----------



## emosun

Yea that looks much better. I got an old dell I just started cutting up tonight. Its getting a space themed mod.


----------



## pharoah

magnethead said:


> I'm just glad it fit my case. is 60C idle good for that card? IT dont even get to 65C under gaming.



if your card isnt breaking 65c under load your fine.


----------



## stressfreesoul

PhantomXVI, you gonna put nome neons with frosted perspex under that? It'd look even more awesome than it does now :grin:


----------



## phantomXVI

yup some transparent green acrylic and maybe a cathode or 2. im going to force oxidize the copper into this cool blue color  google oxidized copper to see what i mean


----------



## magnethead

i know copper oxidized green (see statue of liberty, old pennies), not sure on blue?


----------



## forcifer

i believe its a greenish blue. its a very light color though


----------



## forcifer

i believe its a greenish blue. its a very light color though


----------



## stressfreesoul

All it needs now is a custom surround. Problem is, the Thermaltake Mamba has a dip in the middle of the door, so the fan cant sit on top of the original drive bay covers. Some black mesh would look good, maybe with a small cold cathode behind it, or LEDs.


----------



## stressfreesoul

ps. love the custom case floydfan...


----------



## Tchesco

My Rig. 
Specs:
Antec 900 Case
Asus M3A32MVP Deluxe Wifi/Ap
AMD Phenom Quad Core @ 2.6 GHz
Western Digital 500 GB Hard Drive
2 GB RAM [Upgrading to 4 soon]
2 x Visiontek Radeon 3870 x2
Coolmax CUG950B 950 watt modular PSU
DVD/RW Drive 

Sony Home Theater system. - Subwoofer + 5 Speakers
Dual Dell 17' Monitors


----------



## emosun

Looks neat. Nice amp. I hate computer speakers , just using an amp with regular speakers is so much better.


----------



## stressfreesoul

I never have it any other way. I cant even stand buying a midi or combination stereo. It has to be seperates. I cant wait till I service my old Leak TL50+. Ive had to wait what seems like a million years for one damned valve to arrive. 
Anyone else have a valve amp?


----------



## Tchesco

Valve amp? Not quite sure what that is. The only computer speakers that I like are those high performace logitech ones, but I would still prefer my home theater.


----------



## stressfreesoul

Read this if you are technically minded and this for the Wikipedia opinion. To simplify more, a valve amplifier is an older, much simpler, method to power your speakers. While they arent as energy efficient as some of the modern equipment, they produce an amazing sound, akin to what orchestral musicians use to amplify an instrument. Ive spent 15 years of my (23 year) life tinkering with stereos and music, to find the best way to reproduce audio perfectly, you need a valve amp and perfect source material (i.e. a musical instrument).
Dont get me wrong though, I still have a 1Kw Peavey setup running my movie rig :wink::wink::grin::grin:


----------



## WereBo

WOW!!! That brought back some memories of my 2nd ever job after leaving school - mending B+W TV's, radios and record-players









Transistors and IC's are brilliant for everything non-audio, but you can't beat the 'warmth' and richness of valve amps when listening to music. That's why most decent guitarists still demand them to play through.


----------



## stressfreesoul

:wink: yep. 








:grin::grin::grin:


----------



## emosun

I just don't like pc speakers because there tiny and sounds bad and papery. I like big speakers. lol


----------



## stressfreesoul

Indeed. An old friend of mine once took that dislike to a whole new level. He bought a used sound system from a night club and set it up in his apartment to replace a modest pair of monitor-side speakers. Space sort of became an issue really quick with a full PV and Peavey setup (two stacks, 10ft tall, 4500w output).
Luckily his neighbours were already deaf.
Those PC speakers sound like the recieving end of a cup and string telephone...


----------



## WereBo

I hope that system isn't still being used as a PA system.









Many moons ago, a guitarist pal of mine used his guitar amp rig (2 100W Marshall heads + 4 '4 X 12' speaker cabs - 1 amp and 2 cabs/channel via a mixer from turntable, CD player etc.) as his stereo system when at home. 

All was fine until he had a gig one night, and his lady arranged for a friend's birthday party at the house. You guessed it - people arrive for a party and no stereo!!!

The poor guy suffered a week of glaring silence for that


----------



## Tchesco

That is such an awsome guitar. What kind of music do you play?


----------



## stressfreesoul

Im a massive fan of Paul Gilbert. Power metal. Look up Herman Li on Youtube and you'll see what Im into.


----------



## vIrUs_32

cainmosozihcs said:


> What type of thermal compound are you using? I know it can make a big difference in heat transfer. I personally like the Arctic Silver Ceramique... Ive got a p4 3.2 with the stock heatsink and it idles around 22 C and at load it doesn't go much over 37 C.


daaaang, mine idle's at 50c


----------



## i_am_pumpkin_ma

Have you tried replacing the thermal compund to help out with that temp?


----------



## Tchesco

Yes! Herman Li! Btw Ultra beatdown is their best album up to date in my opinion.


----------



## V0lt

Tube amps are great if you want to color the sound. For _accurate_ reproduction, however, you need a good solid state amp with good output transistors and a clean signal path. 

For guitar amps, you can't do better than a good tube amp - 6L6/6V6/el34 tubes pair well with stratocasters for their legendary clean sound, and for a solid rock sound, el84 tubes are pretty good. 


I just bought a '63 vibroverb reissue the other week. It's got some strange issues... I have to smack it to get the bass circuit to kick into gear. Sounds pretty good cranked though.

Here I am rocking out with my peavey classic 50 (4x10, 50-watt, with 3(?) 12ax7s in the preamp section and 4 el84s in the power section). Never mind the AC30 behind me - I wish it were mine, but it's not . Mine's stage right of me.

I'll warm my camera up a little later - I have an extremely elaborate hifi rig in my dorm room.


----------



## stressfreesoul

John Shearne make awesome amplifiers. I used to have a 50W per channel power amp of theirs, gave the volume and quality of a 100W+ item.


----------



## V0lt

I wouldn't doubt it. That's where tube amps really shine - they put out more volume for ratings.


My friend and I were considering building a project tube hifi amp. It's pretty costly, but we're thinking it would resell for a considerable amount if we made it look nice 

The only downside to that is that there's more distortion, so we'd have to choose the speakers we mate it to carefully. This might not be audible, but it still has to be taken into consideration, especially if you have hifi speakers with sensitive drivers, like the membrane tweeters you see in Infinity speakers. My friend has a pair of RS-IIb's, and the lady he bought them from blew out half the mids and tweets by overdriving a pair of tube amps into them. Killed both monoblocks too.


----------



## stressfreesoul

No no, John Shearne only did solid state amps, I think they have stopped trading though. We're hijacking this thread. Howays folks, show us your rig!!!


----------



## emosun

The dual pentium 3 rig :laugh:


----------



## Jtsou

Im not a pro Photographer and dont laugh at my cable management .

*Obviously ive never heard of image resizing  Will fix in a min.*

SPECS:

Motherboard: ASUS P5K-E
Processor: E8400 3.0Ghz, 45nm
Memory: 2gb Crucial Ballistix 800mhz 4-4-4-12
Graphics: eVGA 8800GT Dual Slot edition
Power supply: OCZ GameXstreaM 700W
Case: Figure that one out yourself


----------



## stressfreesoul

You got two machines there Jtsou?


















And the missus wonders why I sit there for hours on end!!!


----------



## stressfreesoul

What GPU you running with the dual P3 emosun?
(and I think your cable management is just fine, it actually looks quite effective)


----------



## HawMan

Unfortunatly im only running 1GB of RAM, and its Killing me with how slow it is. :laugh:


----------



## stressfreesoul

Your System Spec on the left says you have 2x1Gb Geil?
Makes all the difference having lots of fast memory. I think my next machine will be using x64 and 8Gb PC2 8500 for sure.


----------



## emosun

stressfreesoul said:


> What GPU you running with the dual P3 emosun?
> (and I think your cable management is just fine, it actually looks quite effective)


A geforce 6200. And hawman , you have the same case I put the pentium 3 machine in.


----------



## stressfreesoul

ray:ray:I bow down to your budget build masteryray:ray:


----------



## emosun

It was actually very expensive. lol. For what it is. But its surpriseingly fast. Since it has dual cpu's and not two cores any old program will use both cpu's. Games that aren't dual core compatible will work on dual cpu's. It's neat. It just needs more ram. It can support 2gb.


----------



## grimx133

Well, it isn't much of a picture. Must have taken close to a hundred in all sorts of different settings and light levels etc. Even used a tripod for some with the lights off and then used night panorama or whatever it's called. Still not too too pleased with the result, will have to try again someday. Hope this attachment thing works. It's cropped and resized to make it fairly small.


----------



## magnethead

grimx133 said:


> Well, it isn't much of a picture. Must have taken close to a hundred in all sorts of different settings and light levels etc. Even used a tripod for some with the lights off and then used night panorama or whatever it's called. Still not too too pleased with the result, will have to try again someday. Hope this attachment thing works. It's cropped and resized to make it fairly small.
> View attachment 33729


how much bigger is the 1200 over the 900 internally?


----------



## grimx133

I'm not sure, never had a 900. The outside dimensions are 22 1/2 height, 20 1/2 length and 8 1/4 wide. Massive compared to the Centurion 534+ that most of the parts were in before. There's about 4 inches between the top of the hsf and the top fan. Floor of the case to the bottom of the motherboard is 6 inches, of course the psu takes up a lot of that space. And the back of the case to where the drive bays start is 12 inches, 11 if there are any hdd's in that particular bay. Would take a longish card, having an 8600GT, it looks kind of empty eh, with the side fan you have to look hard to see if there even is a video card in there.


----------



## magnethead

I have 9800 GTX, it goes from PCI slot and would hit a hard drive if i had one in front of it. 1" from board to top fan, PSU is sandwiched between board and case bottom. Front is probably 7.5-8ish inches.


----------



## grimx133

I should of measured from the psu to the board, probably close to a couple inches, though I can't check right now as I'm at work. Lots of room around all 3 sides, and it's a standard atx sized, 12 x 9.6 in. P5K-E series. Can't imagine how bare it'd look if I had my EP35-DS3L in there with the stock fan.


----------



## Chrisman

Wrong topic. Edited.


----------



## Jtsou

Ok, i have an antec 900 case. Most of you know what that is, but ill give a little diagram:






I am buying a 130CFM fan, should i put it where the rear exhaust fan is and switch the one that is in the back currently to the side window? or should i put the 130CFM fan in the side window?


----------



## stressfreesoul

It depends on whether it will fit in the 120mm slot on the back, I bought one of those 130mm ones, couldnt fit it in the normal back exhaust hole. I used it as I could in the 5.25 inch empties at the front.


----------



## Jtsou

Its 120MM, here: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835185054


----------



## grimx133

You'll need to put it in the rear exhaust position. The door fan (at least on the 1200) has clips for 120x120x25mm. With the 38mm. thickness, you'd have to find another way to put it on the door. The existing fan will go nicely on the door with the premounted plastic clip.


----------



## V0lt

I got an antec 300 for $48 shipped. It's a really fantastic case - my temps almost never get above 30C, and I keep my cpu fan at 15-20% all the time because the fans do such a good job of keeping everything cool. 5x120, 1x140. It's a good setup.


----------



## Jtsou

Aha, thanks.


----------



## stressfreesoul

> I am buying a 130CFM fan


DUUURRRRR
Im sooo blind sometimes. My eyes saw CFM but my head saw MM.
Thats a hell of a fan. I just couldn't bear the noise. If I ever bought myself a decent GPU and overclocked the whole thing (fully), Id probably fork out the extra few bob for a res/block/rad setup.


----------



## magnethead

stressfreesoul said:


> DUUURRRRR
> Im sooo blind sometimes. My eyes saw CFM but my head saw MM.
> Thats a hell of a fan. I just couldn't bear the noise. If I ever bought myself a decent GPU and overclocked the whole thing (fully), Id probably fork out the extra few bob for a res/block/rad setup.


If my GTX wasnt factory overclocked (the 98's are superclocked 88's aren't they?) I'd tack a few onto it here and there. 

MY fan controller solves any of my problems.


----------



## Luda




----------



## stressfreesoul

I was considering getting one of those passive coolers you have on your 8800. Are they any good?


----------



## Luda

passive cooler in and of it self couldnt keep the 8800GT cool [but im running modified bios w/ a fairly heavy OC] with the 120MM sunstone fan strapped on my 8800GT never breaks 50C


----------



## Jtsou

OK im getting a 110cfm 120-120-25 fan. Side panel or rear exhaust. I already think i have enough exhaust with a 200mm fan on top. Also will a side fan inturrupt airflow much?


----------



## stressfreesoul

As long as your main flow is strong enough, I wouldn't think so.


----------



## magnethead

Jtsou said:


> OK im getting a 110cfm 120-120-25 fan. Side panel or rear exhaust. I already think i have enough exhaust with a 200mm fan on top. Also will a side fan inturrupt airflow much?


side panel.

it's there for a reason. watch your GPU temps before and after.


----------



## Jtsou

Will it affect it that much, it is a dual slot version, all it seems like it would cool is the back of the card unless it sort of forced air into the fan that is already there. 

That card is now deactivated for some reason, but it had a lot of good reviews:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130359


----------



## Luda

Luda said:


> passive cooler in and of it self couldnt keep the 8800GT cool [but im running modified bios w/ a fairly heavy OC] with the 120MM sunstone fan strapped on my 8800GT never breaks 50C


definatly ment 60C 

with folding @ home running on both graphics cards and the processor, proc @ 100% usage, and a full 750/1800/2000 Co on the 8800 and a full oc on the 8400 the temps are:

CPU: 41C
8800GT: 55C
8400GS: 64C

and the 8400 is 100% passive, and as you can see from the pics i posted earlier there is almost no airflow in the system.


----------



## Jtsou

What does your 8400gs do for your system? I have one just lying around, i could use it.

Also how do you run [email protected] on BOTH gpus AND the CPU? 

Im just running on my 8800GT but im getting a good output.

My 8400 is passive too.


----------



## magnethead

Jtsou said:


> Will it affect it that much, it is a dual slot version, all it seems like it would cool is the back of the card unless it sort of forced air into the fan that is already there.
> 
> That card is now deactivated for some reason, but it had a lot of good reviews:
> 
> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130359


having my side fan off vs low speed vs high speed is a big difference. 

If i'm gaming with the side fan off, it hits the 75's real easy. With it on low speed it's around 68, on full bore 65, if i crank all the knobs to full, it's around 62.


----------



## Luda

Jtsou said:


> What does your 8400gs do for your system? I have one just lying around, i could use it.
> 
> Also how do you run [email protected] on BOTH gpus AND the CPU?
> 
> Im just running on my 8800GT but im getting a good output.
> 
> My 8400 is passive too.


FAH multi GPu guide: http://forum.xcpus.com/xtreme-folding-home/12627-guide-running-client-multiple-nv-gpus.html

i run the two GPU clients then the CPU client, although this is only if im away for a while. or when i was testing for heatsoak.

running the 3 clients im aproaching 10K ppd with everything fully overclocked, granted the 8800GT is pushing about 6K of the ppd. under normal usage i leave the 1 GPU client running on the 8800 and go about my day. although i do pause it to play games or when i start photoshopping [usually 15+ 5-6MB images] 

as for the 8400GS its my PHYSX processor [psst look @ the sig]


----------



## Jtsou

I know it is your physx, but how do you use it as a physx?


----------



## Luda

install the latest nforce and physx drivers, install cards, open up physx properties, assign a card.

google is your friend:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=Enabling+physx+on+Geforce+8&btnG=Search


----------



## stressfreesoul

Looks a bit OTT to me. Suppose if I had a couple of grand spare I'd have one, maybe.
Im interested in this physx setup too. It could give a massive boost to my system, will my motherboard support it? (in SLI it downs to 8x).
Also, is the only application gaming? Or is it useful for general performance increase across the board?


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d

look at that beast....


----------



## Jtsou

Oh...i dont have an nForce motherboard, so i guess i cant do that..

Hah i bet that system cant even run solitare at 5fps.


What case is that? I like it.


----------



## stressfreesoul

Some sorta Lian Li. Not mine. It was a four G setup about 5 months ago, aparently it has the computing power of a supercomputer. So yeah, pretty much solitaire at 5FPS.
They say they built it for [email protected] running multiple clients for all the GPU heads (8 in total).


----------



## Jtsou

Hehe that was a joke. Wow...4 9800GX2s? Thats a lot of money not to be gaming . I bet that will crush some [email protected] work units!


----------



## Luda

physx is only used as for gaming as far as i know


----------



## Jtsou

But you have to have an nforce mobo to support it right?


----------



## magnethead

Jtsou said:


> But you have to have an nforce mobo to support it right?


for sli i believe so.


----------



## stressfreesoul

But not for the Graphics/Physx split, no?


----------



## Jtsou

What drivers does this require?


----------



## akashanksta

Aite i think its time we get some pics going again.. come on guys
here ill start with pics of my comp. feedback is welcome


----------



## stressfreesoul

Is that a dell (alienware)?


----------



## V0lt

Doesn't appear to be... I have a friend with a case like that and she built the computer herself.


----------



## stressfreesoul

my eyes decieveth me. 
Akashanksta, nice 1.
Two words, cable management.


----------



## akashanksta

its custom built the case is a NZXT Apollo Black i was about to upload some pictures with the flash off because this computer is insane in the dark, but then a BSOD effed me over 
i think i have bad ram
ill upload the pics of my comp in the dark later
and my cable management isnt as bad as it looks i have all the wires cleared at the bottom where my intake fan is so my airflow is pretty good


----------



## emosun

Its always hard to do good cable management in those cases with the power supply on the bottom.


----------



## Jtsou

emosun said:


> Its always hard to do good cable management in those cases with the power supply on the bottom.


Tell me about it...


----------



## magnethead

emosun said:


> Its always hard to do good cable management in those cases with the power supply on the bottom.


not for me. I just have a big loom going to the very bottom 5.25" bay, and it's all coiled in there, with a fan controller on top then the hdd cage.


----------



## emosun

I just put the cd drive in the second slot down from the top and put all the wires in the space up there. I like the power supplies on top because there performance isn't really effected from the rising heat from the rest of the components , plus you can't see the extra wires.


----------



## Jtsou

Well i put my wires in the bottom HD bay too, but its hard to keep them from hitting the fan in that lower HD cage.

Ole Bessie(enjoy the nice wiring and the fingerprints on the side of the case):



Cable Management support appreciated. I have a OCZ GameXStream PSU so there are plenty of wires. :\


----------



## grimx133

I had room to run every cable from the psu behind the motherboard tray, except for the sata power to my hdd's since they are right there I didn't bother. It's a real octopuslike jumble back there, good thing there's no window on that side eh. Should try an stick my fan wires back there too, maybe get some longer sata data cables and run those the scenic route.


----------



## magnethead

Jtsou said:


> Well i put my wires in the bottom HD bay too, but its hard to keep them from hitting the fan in that lower HD cage.
> 
> Ole Bessie(enjoy the nice wiring and the fingerprints on the side of the case):
> 
> 
> 
> Cable Management support appreciated. I have a OCZ GameXStream PSU so there are plenty of wires. :\


mine aren't in the hdd cage- they're below it. second pic is from when i first built it, but it's still got the big fat loom going to the front.


----------



## Jtsou

Oh. Ill try and get a few more pics to show you what it looks like from all views.


----------



## emosun

Turn your hdds arround , that cleaned up my case pretty good.


----------



## Jtsou

explain please.


----------



## emosun

Install them backwards , the cables will be out of sight and you can hide them better. I did it in my computers and it just look like the hdds are sitting in there unplugged , you can't see any drive cables or power cables.

I'll take a picture of it after i clean the dust outa it.


----------



## magnethead

emosun said:


> Install them backwards , the cables will be out of sight and you can hide them better. I did it in my computers and it just look like the hdds are sitting in there unplugged , you can't see any drive cables or power cables.
> 
> I'll take a picture of it after i clean the dust outa it.


You can't do it on an antec 900 without custom connectors. there is about a quarter inch between the edge of the drive and the cage fan when the hard drive is in backwards. It requires a special right angle SATA or molex power connector, and even that has to be sanded or ground down a little bit more i believe.

When i get back to the dorms i'll post images of exactly how mine is set up.


----------



## Jtsou

I have some right angle sata connectors, but it is still going to be tight. I dont think that the SATA connectors are really a problem as of now though. 

Hehe also, i took my IDE cable and separated the wires and rounded it off.. Gets like 2x the airflow now :X


----------



## emosun

same here , if i was useing sata drives mine probably wouldn't fit either.


----------



## stressfreesoul

Whichever cables I dont use are stashed behind the power supply (there is always a space between it and the opposite side panel that never gets removed). All power cables in use are braided up with UV reactive braiding and IDE? Well, I decided to use the big flatness to my advantage. I have formed the cable into a diagonal slant, to still allow the air from the 120mm fan blasting all my HDDs to flow, this allows me to direct it a bit too so I pointed it at the passive Northbridge HS. I'll post new pics later on today.


----------



## magnethead

what emosun suggested has beenn done before, specifically with sata drives (ide would defeat the purpose), just the data and power connectors have to be at a right angle to the plug. some PSU's come with right angle connectors on the middle connectors, some don't.


----------



## emosun

and why would ide defeat the prpose?


----------



## magnethead

emosun said:


> and why would ide defeat the prpose?


ribbon cable right in front of the fan makes the fan stall out from high pressure.


----------



## emosun

Jtsou said:


> Hehe also, i took my IDE cable and separated the wires and rounded it off.. Gets like 2x the airflow now :X





emosun said:


> same here


----------



## Jtsou

If i get a little 80GB HD, can i put Linux on it and boot from it? Will there be any conflicting issues with my current setup of 1 160gb hd with vista and games on it?

Is Linux good? If so, what for? 

How do i install it?


----------



## grimx133

Yes, you can put linux on a separate hard drive and dual boot, either with the vista bootloader or some linux bootloader like grub. Before doing a physical install, you should play around with some live cd's. Run the OS from a cd and see how you like it. I've got a few of those, but rarely use them, it just doesn't do it for me. If all I did was browse the internet and check my email, linux would be fine. Any games and you can pretty much forget it. There is WINE (windows emulation), it does support windows some programs on a case by case basis. Only way to find out if you like it or have any use for it is to try it. Here's the live cd distro list, check out a few links from there and download a few iso's and take it for a test drive.
http://www.frozentech.com/content/livecd.php 

One of the distro's I've tried is Puppy Linux. It's kind of a stripped down basic version, but has one advantage. You create a pup_save file on your c: drive, so you can save data, settings, and install programs and all that and still run from a cd without doing a full install and having to use a boot loader.
The slickest distro tried would be PC Linux OS Gnome 2008. Also referred to as pclos gnome 2008. Very nice interface and I'd install that one on a partition, but I'd probably never use it.

So, is it good? Short answer would be yes. Way too many buts for me though.


----------



## stressfreesoul

If you have any programming knowledge though, you can pretty much make linux whatever you want it to be.


----------



## emosun

The pentium 3 machine has been modded. Its also getting a gig of ram and an x1600 in a few days.


----------



## jaggerwild

This is my latest build as I keep having to redo stuff so no more case for now........ Enjoy! :wave:


----------



## magnethead

very nice. little bit of everything there. one heck of a setup lookin at ur specs.


----------



## stressfreesoul

You've got the engineering skills to patch this monstrosity together, Im sure you have the skill needed to form a custom case, incl. reservoirs and pump storage. It'll be massive, but at least you will get it how you want. You'll also be able to incorporate an easier access design, which IMHO is missing from nearly all cases. Things like side access slides for HDDs (maybe incorporating an anti vibration membrane in the slides) and alternative placement of optical drives. The sky is the limit when you are making it as needed.


----------



## magnethead

stressfreesoul said:


> You've got the engineering skills to patch this monstrosity together, Im sure you have the skill needed to form a custom case, incl. reservoirs and pump storage. It'll be massive, but at least you will get it how you want. You'll also be able to incorporate an easier access design, which IMHO is missing from nearly all cases. Things like side access slides for HDDs (maybe incorporating an anti vibration membrane in the slides) and alternative placement of optical drives. The sky is the limit when you are making it as needed.


that's how the idea for my hybrid computer started out. Too bad cost made me have to rescale it. One of my ideas was using drawer sliders to make everything accessable.


----------



## Fewmitz

jaggerwild said:


> This is my latest build as I keep having to redo stuff so no more case for now........ Enjoy! :wave:


That is the coolest thing I've ever seen.


----------



## stressfreesoul

I think this Case is quite cool. Not sure about heat and fans though, I mean, which end should the exhaust fans go at?


----------



## emosun

:laugh:Exhaust should always go at the back:tongue:


----------



## magnethead

stressfreesoul said:


> I think this Case is quite cool. Not sure about heat and fans though, I mean, which end should the exhaust fans go at?


now that is different.


----------



## magnethead

reverse chronological order:

















And for those wondering about breaking the board...this is about how much force it took to put the darned thing on (replication of force)


----------



## grimx133

Been meaning to put a few 1200 pictures up, was cleaning the filters the other day. Good time now, can see some of the differences compared to the 900. As you can see, plenty of space for cables, but it's a real rat's nest back there. 

A while since I put an image in, hope this works.


----------



## magnethead

grimx133 said:


> Been meaning to put a few 1200 pictures up, was cleaning the filters the other day. Good time now, can see some of the differences compared to the 900. As you can see, plenty of space for cables, but it's a real rat's nest back there.
> 
> A while since I put an image in, hope this works.


what ticks me off, is that the 1200 only has 2 5.25" bays. It has the second rear fan and third front fan, but removed a 5.25" bay. If it had 3, you could do as I did (which i made sure to document for references)


It looks like the top 120 fan in back is almost useless- It doesnt really pull air off much of anything, like the bottom would do the cooling, the top and the 200 are there just to pull a vacuum. They woulda had a better chance at making a well cooled system by putting a second 120mm intake in the door as upposed to on the back wall. But then i guess you'd have pressure difference issues.


HOLY ***** at your heatsink!!!!!!!!! Got enough surface area and heat pipes? It's passive i'm assuming, using the mega CFM of the case fans to cool?


----------



## grimx133

It can be used either passive or with a fan, have a 120mm clipped on. It's the Scythe Ninja 2 6heat pipe, I like it more than my Kingwin RVT-12025 (rebranded Xigmatek s1283). Think the Scythe model # is SCNJ-2000.
There are 3 x 5 1/4 bays, I've got dvd burner, fan controller, and one empty.

The top rear exhaust isn't working, gotta pull it out, maybe tomorrow if I get finished with another machine. I'll just slap another TriCool in there and connect it to the fan controller methinks. How much of a difference it makes, I dunno, lotta empty space at the top of the case.
Pulled out the 8600GT a few days ago and put in a 9800GT, day after I took the pics.


----------



## magnethead

grimx133 said:


> It can be used either passive or with a fan, have a 120mm clipped on. It's the Scythe Ninja 2 6heat pipe, I like it more than my Kingwin RVT-12025 (rebranded Xigmatek s1283). Think the Scythe model # is SCNJ-2000.
> There are 3 x 5 1/4 bays, I've got dvd burner, fan controller, and one empty.
> 
> The top rear exhaust isn't working, gotta pull it out, maybe tomorrow if I get finished with another machine. I'll just slap another TriCool in there and connect it to the fan controller methinks. How much of a difference it makes, I dunno, lotta empty space at the top of the case.
> Pulled out the 8600GT a few days ago and put in a 9800GT, day after I took the pics.


are there 3 bays? I thought the newegg image only showed two.


----------



## grimx133

Nope, I've got the burner in the top, then an empty, then the fan controller. Just looked at the newegg photos, there's a foam backing behind the mesh on the covers for the 5 1/4 bays. Two of them still have the foam in and look different than the one without.

Edit: Noticed the newegg price, 175 with an additional 20% off bonus code. Talk about inexpensive! I paid 164CAD on sale for mine, usually 200.


----------



## magnethead

grimx133 said:


> Nope, I've got the burner in the top, then an empty, then the fan controller. Just looked at the newegg photos, there's a foam backing behind the mesh on the covers for the 5 1/4 bays. Two of them still have the foam in and look different than the one without.
> 
> Edit: Noticed the newegg price, 175 with an additional 20% off bonus code. Talk about inexpensive! I paid 164CAD on sale for mine, usually 200.


That's dropped way down from when it first came out. It was way up in the low 200's origionally..the 900 is only like 110...Still wouldnt be convinced the space and size would be worth 60 bucks.


----------



## magnethead

Tell me 3 things that are wrong in this image: 



Here's the whole setup. You can see the control speaker for Hybrid stuck between the two displays. The 900's is to the right of the CRT. Laptop of course has onboard audio. White keyboard and dell mouse go to hybrid, logi's go to 900. Laptop uses own display, CRT goes to the 900, LCD has digital to 900 and analog to hybrid.


----------



## magnethead

I benched my laptop and hybrid for the heck of it. Laptop got a blistering 297 3DMarks in mark06 (114/91/1419) with a 2 GHz turion x2 and a nv 7050M graphics card and 2944 reported RAM.

hybrid doesnt have pixel shader 2, had to go back to 3dmark01. got 3061 marks with a 1600mhz AMD Duron, GeForce4 MX4000, and 512 MB of ram.


----------



## grimx133

Funny you should mention 3DMark06, was playing with it some last night, and found that I had registered in the past. Once I got a password reset, I found that I had two old benchmarks listed. Your laptop, slammed my P4-3Ghz's amazing 225 3dmarks. That was from 2004 and I had one from 2006 for my laptop which got 3700 and someodd 3dmarks. T7200(2.16Ghz C2D) and an x1400 in that.
OC'd this machine's E7200 to 3.277Ghz (9.5x345) and the 9800GT to 694-core, 1762-shader, and 1025-memory. 2 gigs of ddr2800 running at 1034 as well. 
13156 3dmarks on that run.


----------



## jaskel

some nice rigs there guys...mine is boring..lol


----------



## emosun

jaskel said:


> some nice rigs there guys...mine is boring..lol


Get some spray paint and some 10$ neons on ebay and make it pretty.


----------



## jaskel

and it site under the desk where no one can see it


----------



## Zombeast

are there any windows for the antec performance plus 1080


----------



## emosun

Just snag a universal window.


----------



## Zombeast

will i have to cut up my case side to put it in, if so, what kind of tool should i use(its a big side panel(full tower))


----------



## magnethead

Zombeast said:


> will i have to cut up my case side to put it in, if so, what kind of tool should i use(its a big side panel(full tower))


have you tried asking antec if one exists? If not, buy a "replacement" side panel that you can cut up and save the solid panel.


----------



## stressfreesoul

Dremel Multi Tools.
Or the equivalent. I just used a jigsaw on mine, running at full speed with a metal bit. Before cutting, you should brace the panel with a piece of thin plywood, to stop bends and warping, and tape the edge with masking tape (or similar) to stop paint chipping. Then for a nice clean edge you could use any edging strips (the stuff they use on RV windows and edges is adequate).
You can just about see what I used in this picture...


----------



## magnethead

I'm a die-grinder with cutting disc person myself.


----------



## emosun

I Use a jigsaw , but wouln't mind a nice dremel tool. Do those little dremel cutting discs wearout quickly?


----------



## magnethead

emosun said:


> I Use a jigsaw , but wouln't mind a nice dremel tool. Do those little dremel cutting discs wearout quickly?


I use a die grinder instead of a dremel. Dremel is probably more accurate, but die grinder can be faster. jigsaws and sawzalls vibrant material too much for my liking. The die grinder ones dont wear out too much if you use em right, if you use em wrong (from experience), you better have a full face mask on, or be clear of where the blade shards can fly, or fly, reflect off, and fly again. 

I had one bust, where i cleared the first shatter. But chapnel got me when it reflected off a wall and came back at me.


----------



## Zombeast

will using these tools leave some jagged edges, and how much would it cost to do it, i just want to get a window kit and not have to do tooo much cutting, cause im not the most cordinated person


----------



## stressfreesoul

I spent about £8 in total.


----------



## magnethead

I re-did my dorm.

Much more efficient with the space. Before and Afters. The fridge door can hinge either way, i gotta switch em over.


----------



## emosun

Neat setup. You still have that wood case?


----------



## magnethead

emosun said:


> Neat setup. You still have that wood case?


lok at the lower right corner. It's very neatly tucked in there.

I'm going to bed at 4:30 for an 8 am class. 

My record is 6:30 for an 8:00 class i think, but it was a tuesday- when I have 1.5 hours of english, 1.5 break, 1.5 hrs of chemistry, 15 minute break, 3 hours of engineering lab, and 1 hour of engineering lecture, all back to back to back. 

At least thursdays I have english, 1.5 break, chemistry, and I'm done. Lets me catch up.


----------



## magnethead

can't let this thread fall off the second page. bump.


----------



## Jtsou

magnethead said:


> can't let this thread fall off the second page. bump.


SPAM :spam3::spam3::spam3::4-thatsba

 its all good


----------



## HawMan

New rig


----------



## emosun

Nice. Whats the specs. That one neon looks a bit out of place , lol


----------



## HawMan

As it stands its 


Intel Core 2 Quad 6600 @ 3.4Ghz ( Thanks Joe ! ) With Arctic 7 Cooler
2GB Crucial BallistiX ddr2 800mhz RAM
MSI P7N SLI Platinum Motherboard
8800GTX 
Corsair TX 650W PSU
LG Blu Ray / HD DVD player



As for the neons - Yeah i just quickly through them in haha.


----------



## stressfreesoul

> Intel Core 2 Quad 6600 @ 3.4Ghz




How? It must have taken a few months of tweaking!


----------



## HawMan

Actually it only took a few hours Thanks to Linderman - He's the man ! ! !


----------



## emosun

You know my mobo has no overclocking options , makes me wonder if its even worth getting the q6600 at its stock speed fo myself.


----------



## stressfreesoul

HawMan said:


> Actually it only took a few hours Thanks to Linderman - He's the man ! ! !


Its entirely possible, Im having some issues with my rubbish motherboard so I can only dream of those speeds.


----------



## HawMan

You raising the Volts too?

I had to bump my Vcore, NB and SB Voltages up. RAM at 2.1V


----------



## raybisjr88

*acer al1916w*

i unpluged my monitor and when i pluged it back in black screen, but the green light says its on, after couple minutes the monitor goes on stand by, but still no picture


----------



## Lifeismusic

Here's my rig. First pics are from when I was reciently rebuilding it, adding a new mobo and cpu. Last pic is from my dorm room.

Specs:
Case: Antec 1200
CPU: Intel E8500 @ 3.16GHz
Mobo: DFI LanParty DK X48-T2RSB Plus
RAM: 4GB OCZ DDR2-1066 5.5.5.15
HDD's: 2x WD 250GB's in RAID 0 (OS) + 4x WD 750GB's in RAID 5 (Data)
GPU: eVGA 9800GX2
PSU: Silverstone 850W
OS: Windows Vista Business


----------



## HawMan

Nice rig.


ive saw a good 32" LCD Monitor for sale. Really thinking about getting it.


----------



## stressfreesoul

HawMan said:


> You raising the Volts too?
> 
> I had to bump my Vcore, NB and SB Voltages up. RAM at 2.1V


Yeah, tried that.
The CPU is demanding 1.5v+ for anything above 2800. Ive had it at 3108 for a few hours, but it didnt take. I clocked it back straight away to 2800 which it seemed stable at (Orthos @ 48hours, hence my absence recently...:wink, Ive since clocked it back to stock and OCd the RAM to 1066 to match the FSB. Its this damn P5N-E SLI. I repaired the vcore capacitors to at least give it a chance, the BIOS seems screwed (random no POSTs and POST screen corruption) and it doesnt report correct voltages in the BIOS (3v shows zero, vcore is wrong by .05v). Oh and the v-droop is massive, even under normal circumstances.
Damn Asus. Im buying Gigabyte next time!


----------



## emosun

HawMan said:


> Nice rig.
> 
> 
> ive saw a good 32" LCD Monitor for sale. Really thinking about getting it.


I'm still useing really old crt's. Both are beige (or yellowed rather) , I have them in dual mode both at 1280x1024.

But one is kinda starting to die , there both at least 12 or 13 years old now , maybe I should buy a new monitor sometime soon , lol.


----------



## magnethead

emosun said:


> I'm still useing really old crt's. Both are beige (or yellowed rather) , I have them in dual mode both at 1280x1024.
> 
> But one is kinda starting to die , there both at least 12 or 13 years old now , maybe I should buy a new monitor sometime soon , lol.


I have a couple 15"ers in my closet, and i think a 14


----------



## HawMan

I hate old CRT monitors, We use one in work and its terrible, Blurred writing and stuff.


----------



## Lifeismusic

Yeah, I still have an old 17" CRT in the closet. It's just taking up space at the moment.


----------



## emosun

I don't have a problem with crt's as mine are not blurry , infact I like how they don't throw any light when they display blackness because there's no backlight on em. But one's just not working properly anymore (appears slightly wavy).

Usually when I upgrade I want a significant increase in quality , but monitors really haven't changed much over the years in image quality. Just become flat and useing dvi.


----------



## WereBo

I found that Windows is a lot 'crisper' on flat-screens, but movies are a lot better quality on CRT's - Whether I use Win Media-Player, VLC Player or whatever :4-dontkno.


----------



## stressfreesoul

Isnt there also a difference between 32 and 64 bit GUIs? Ive noticed the difference between Ubuntu x32 and x64. Much crisper, brighter and more fluid GUI movement (even with little in the way of GPU and memory).
I have x64 running on an old Fujitsu Siemens 15 inch LCD. 
I, too, have a 17inch CRT in my bedroom stored away. HP monitor that came with a desktop. Im thinking of giving it away with the next PC I sell, its no use to me and takes up far too much space. Ill shortly be mounting all screens in use on the walls. My 19" Idek is already up on an arm, but the 37" Sharp needs to go up too (grubby fingers are growing by the minute). The 15" Fujitsu will end up mounted on the solis wood cabinet its presently in with an older desktop compact I use for emulation. I'll dig out the camera and take some new pics.


----------



## emosun

I'm amazed at these 1920x1200 monitors. So my old dell crt (the yellowed one) has a maximum resolution of 1600x1200. That means that from the day it was made (1997) to nowadays , 11 years later , we have gone up by 320 pixels.

Granted todays monitors are flat , still only 320 pixels. Just goes to show todays lcd technology just passed as far along as crt's were back then. Theres crt's that go up to 2048x1536. While the monitor isn't flat thats a nuts resolution , make blueray look like a little movie window , lol.

I should try to snag one of those high res crt's , or two.


----------



## WereBo

I'm waiting for true 3D holographic monitors to appear - I'm not holding my breath in this lifetime, though :grin:


----------



## HawMan

Just spent abit too much money today !


TSF on a 42" Plasma


----------



## magnethead

HawMan said:


> Just spent abit too much money today !
> 
> 
> TSF on a 42" Plasma


to do that with a laptop is one thing. You're using a friggin desktop!

using VGA, DVI, or HDMI?

I'd take a pic but my desk is a mess, dad got me a 22" LG flatron LCD to replace my 19" LG flatron. So now i have 2 LCD's instead of using a CRT to my left 

And i have 4 inputs


----------



## HawMan

Its connected through DVI just now - Cost me £40 just for the cables !! i nearly died.


Thats my old rig thats connected up - Not tryed the laptop yet. Next Payday ill get it done though HD. Just needing a Wireless keyboard and mouse for now.


----------



## magnethead

HawMan said:


> Its connected through DVI just now - Cost me £40 just for the cables !! i nearly died.
> 
> 
> Thats my old rig thats connected up - Not tryed the laptop yet. Next Payday ill get it done though HD. Just needing a Wireless keyboard and mouse for now.


!!!

That's alot of money for a friggin DVI cord! And it's only a 3 metre cord?


----------



## HawMan

£20 for a 3M cord, but that was too short, so it was another £20 for a 1.8M Adaptor.


----------



## magnethead

that sure dont look like 15 foot between TV and comp.


----------



## stressfreesoul

£20 is still too much, my 3m DVI-I to HDMI gold connector cable cost £7 with free postage.
Im presently needing an 8m one to go from one side of my living room to the other. Think I might get a 10m+ though, so I can store the tower away out of the room somewhere.
What make and model is that Plasma?


----------



## HawMan

http://www.dixons.co.uk/martprd/product/seo/025057/?int=deal-1-LG 42LG7000


----------



## richard2k84

Here is my rig. I got the Zalman CPU for Christmas


----------



## Jtsou

Nice but that thing is pointed the wrong way. Should blow out of the back of the case, or you wont get rid of that warm air.


----------



## richard2k84

Yeah I know that, but that is the only way i could get it to fit. as the clip will not go through the heat pipes. The back is pointing at the PSU which has a extraction fan. So that in theory should pull the hot air from cpu, into PSU and out the extraction fan in PSU.


----------



## Jtsou

Therefore overheating the PSU and causing a malfunction in the PSU and causing complete system destruction.

Lol JK i guess that would work.


----------



## richard2k84

lol, that is possible. I need a new PSU anyway hahaha. CPU is running at 30c so i think it will be ok.


----------



## Lifeismusic

emosun said:


> I'm amazed at these 1920x1200 monitors. So my old dell crt (the yellowed one) has a maximum resolution of 1600x1200. That means that from the day it was made (1997) to nowadays , 11 years later , we have gone up by 320 pixels.
> 
> Granted todays monitors are flat , still only 320 pixels. Just goes to show todays lcd technology just passed as far along as crt's were back then. Theres crt's that go up to 2048x1536. While the monitor isn't flat thats a nuts resolution , make blueray look like a little movie window , lol.
> 
> I should try to snag one of those high res crt's , or two.


The thing is, you're not just adding 320 pixels. You're adding 320x1200 pixels, which is 384,000. That's a lot of pixels the video card has to deal with. And there are also 30" monitors with resolutions of 2560x1600. The problem with making larger and larger resolutions on and LCD, is you have to manufactuer each individual pixel, and they have to be smaller and smaller, unless you simply increase the screen size. With a CRT, you're dealing with a beam of particles and phosphorus, so everything is continuous in a way, rather than individual.

But there is no question, CRTs have much better color quality.


----------



## emosun

Yea I wish they made widescreen super figh res crt's today.


----------



## WereBo

Coooo, can you imagine how deep the case would need to be? :laugh: It would take 3 guys to get a hernia, with it :grin:


----------



## Jtsou

They strain my eyes to look at those CRTs, even the flat ones. If you have light in the room you get a huge glare.


----------



## emosun

See it's the opposet with me , the lcd strains my eyes. Only becuase it looks like more a peice of flat paper then a screen. I like the depth with haveing to look through glass with a crt. 

Ofcourse my situation is different then others. My computers are in the basement so I can just turn off the lights and have no glare , plus it's practically empty down here so I don't mind how thick a screen is. But to each there own you know?


----------



## groudon185p

I really do prefer my dual screen setup with a 22'' lcd and 15'' lcd, And because LCD are much higher definition and widescreen would not look... well... weird on a CRT.


----------



## stressfreesoul

Ive found the higher the definition, the more my eyes hurt. But thats my own stupid fault for not wearing my glasses! DUUURRRR....!!!


----------



## groudon185p

Swart one hehe


----------



## forcifer

emosun said:


> I'm amazed at these 1920x1200 monitors. So my old dell crt (the yellowed one) has a maximum resolution of 1600x1200. That means that from the day it was made (1997) to nowadays , 11 years later , we have gone up by 320 pixels.
> 
> Granted todays monitors are flat , still only 320 pixels. Just goes to show todays lcd technology just passed as far along as crt's were back then. Theres crt's that go up to 2048x1536. While the monitor isn't flat thats a nuts resolution , make blueray look like a little movie window , lol.
> 
> I should try to snag one of those high res crt's , or two.


1920*1200=2304000 pixels

1600*1200=1920000 pixels

thats a difference of 384000 pixels  2048x1536 is still quite a bit. i would still take my 1680x1050 screen over any 50lb behemoth any day...


----------



## emosun

Yes I stand corrected , your right , its not a difference of 320 pixels. But rather 1.92 million and 2.30 million. So let me rephrase that, In 11 years we have gone from 1.92 to 2.30. :laugh:lol


----------



## forcifer

lol yea i got what you meant though  i still am not a fan of CRTs. i might of just had a poopy one, but it was so big, had a pretty bad picture also  it was NEC...


----------



## HawMan

Greeeen


----------



## groudon185p

is than an antec twelve hundred or nine hundred?


----------



## magnethead

groudon185p said:


> is than an antec twelve hundred or nine hundred?


9- 1 rear fan. 12 has 2.


----------



## groudon185p

Nice still


----------



## grimx133

The intakes are a giveaway too, 3 for the 1200 and 2 for the 900.


----------



## magnethead

grimx133 said:


> The intakes are a giveaway too, 3 for the 1200 and 2 for the 900.


i actually cant tell on hawman's from the front. too much black to tell if a front bay was removed to open up 3 more slots.


----------



## grimx133

It is kind of hard to see where the second fan ends, I could just make it out. Then one empty and 2 dvd/cd drives.


----------



## nonamedsomebody

http://picasaweb.google.com/kingcobra47/Computer#


----------



## HawMan

Yep 2 fans, 1 blank, then the DVD RW and then LG Blu Ray 



Been speaking to a mate of mine - I think he's going to watercool mine but i wont know till monday for sure :wink:


----------



## darklord_v

man thats one hell of a rigray:...how much did you spend on it...in dollars....in pakistan your rarely see these kinds of rigs:wave:
tell me whats inside it and how much did that cost


----------



## HawMan

If you're referring to mine then its :

Intel Core 2 Quad 6600 @ 3.4Ghz ( Thanks Joe ! ) With Arctic 7 Cooler
2GB Crucial BallistiX ddr2 800mhz RAM
MSI P7N SLI Platinum Motherboard
8800GTX
Corsair TX 650W PSU
LG Blu Ray / HD DVD player



Plans -

Watercool ( Hopefully )
New Modular PSU
Nvidias new 295GTX 


Total spent so far, about $1200 ish


----------



## darklord_v

and this 1200 is normal for a american to spend on a pc....meaning a ordinary man can buy this at that price...cause i cant even dream about this.......................................:sigh::4-dontkno


----------



## darklord_v

i have a rig currently costing 310us$ and in future planning to buy a graphics card appr.ad another 110us$ so max i can take is 420us$


----------



## HawMan

Im from the UK so in GBP it cost me around £650.


Im working and live with my mum and dad, so i have no bills to pay etc - And i work 40 hours a week, so on payday i can afford little bits & bobs.


----------



## darklord_v

okkkkkkkk........well thats one pc.....i dont work and this my dad bought me....in the future will look forward for something like this when i start to work...thats i think will be in a yrs time...wish i had thats much bucks to spend


----------



## HawMan

You're time will come :wink:

There was a day when i wasn't working, and had the crappiest computer ever. All i wished for was a good job that allowed me to build my Dream Rig, And thats happened - Well, sort of :laugh:


----------



## darklord_v

well its a long story...you dont find jobs here that easy...:sigh:..and relatives dont allow to work in stores or something like that..but i will have to work around it and will do something..cause i had a pc when i was 9 yrs old in 2000 ...a p3 for 600us$..so i love my computers....i have come a long way........


----------



## WereBo

The PC itself can cost a lot, but the 'modding' side is relatively cheap. A pair of CCFL tube lights cost approx UK £10-£15.00 (PKRouble 1,144-1,716). Some imaginative drilling in the side panel, or cut a section out and fit a perspex or acrylic sheet.

The rest is up to your imagination, as to where the lights go etc. :grin:


----------



## magnethead

I'm around 800-1000 USD in mine now I believe, counting now-removed parts

Antec 900- $180
E6750- $180 (now spare)
7800GT- $100 (now in dad's computer)
P965-DS3- $120
DVD RW drive- $50
Fan controller- $50
Toughpower 650- $120 (now in dad's computer)
Fan controller- $30
1394 card- $30
9800GTX- $200
HVR-1600 TV Tuner- $75
Real Power Pro 750- $150
Q8200- $150 (was a gift, i didn't pay)
Arctic Cooler Pro 7- $60

Roundabout figures.

OK, my bad. Closer to 1500 USD on those figures.


----------



## HawMan

Just managed to get the CPU to 3.5Ghz

Temps are 65max


If i can get this Liquid cooling sorted out id love to try and hit 3.8 !


----------



## magnethead

HawMan said:


> Just managed to get the CPU to 3.5Ghz
> 
> Temps are 65max
> 
> 
> If i can get this Liquid cooling sorted out id love to try and hit 3.8 !


If i could get past this derned FSB wall.....


----------



## grimx133

Almost funny here, reading the thread so I opened up cpu-z to see what I was at.


----------



## magnethead

not a bad OC there, grim. 

I'm at 1.87 GHz cuz BIOS flaked on me and I need to reset it. Except i have to remove the gfx card


----------



## grimx133

Yah, wish the battery wasn't right under the card, pain to reset cmos. I did have 4 or 5 BSOD's tonight, but that was from OCing the 9800GT a wee bit too much, kept on artifacting out in 3dMark06. Oh well, couldn't get a personal best tonight, but there's always tomorrow. Running out of time though, planning on an E8400 or 8500 in a few weeks.


----------



## forcifer

im on a laptop  but dont worry...i got some mods to post up  lets just say i have been practicing airbrushing/copper cutting in my absence. 

darklord: dont worry, your time will come! i had to wait seemingly forever to build my first computer. even then, it had an x300se (a $49 card back in 2005. maybe 25c now?) upgrades are just part of the fun


----------



## darklord_v

yeah i think in 6 months time if god blesses me than you'll be seeing me posting my specs at the very least a core 2 quad or extreme........just need help from him up there.............but before that i'll put my current rig to one hell of a test..currently not oc because i have a very dumb,stupid,dull mobo a dg31pr


----------



## darklord_v

you wouldn't believe that i bought this graphics card a month ago............:sigh:had gone for buying ati and had done research on it and i ended up buying this .had at least gone for 3670,4870,3650


----------



## HawMan

ill be sticking here till Watercooling time.


----------



## nonamedsomebody

nonamedsomebody said:


> http://picasaweb.google.com/kingcobra47/Computer#


Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Wolfdale 3.0GHz 6MB L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor
Evga 8800gt 512mb oc edition
zalman 92mm heat sink and fan
Biostar I45 T-Power Motherboard
2gb G skill ddr2 800mhz ram
Western digital raptor 150gb sata hard drive
1TB samsung hard drive
Raid max smilodon case
ultra 600watt power supply
Memorex dvd burner/rom
Acer 19" wide lcd 5ms response time


----------



## Jtsou

@ Hawnan, 

Im running an E8400 overclocked 20% to 3.6Ghz (1.15V) that runs 38/33C at idle....

Same heatsink as you.


----------



## nonamedsomebody

idle mine runs around 28-30c that was temps running the cpu burn in application


----------



## nonamedsomebody

under load the cores get up to around 60c and the cpu temp gets up to around 40-45c


----------



## groudon185p

Wow, Might wanna be careful! I used to crash (q6600 hellz ya) at 75'c
But that was my old case (some random generic piece 'a' ****) my 300 is awesome!


----------



## nonamedsomebody

I've had mine up in the 70c range with the stock cooler actually ran pretty stable.


----------



## darklord_v

and if something goes wrong ,your warranty would be void...then what will you do


----------



## groudon185p

Exactly, Thats what I'm talking 'bout.


----------



## HawMan

Ive just moved my case 


Idle Temps are now

24 - 30 C

:laugh:


----------



## magnethead

HawMan said:


> Ive just moved my case
> 
> 
> Idle Temps are now
> 
> 24 - 30 C
> 
> :laugh:


thats where mine were with E6750.

reemeber you can't trust the sensors anymore though because nobody really knows how to read them...


----------



## groudon185p

You know, Hawman. Why are you using the better power supply in you're pc that needs less... (in you're my system you're AMD Has the 750w) why not put the 750w, seeing though the gtx takes much more power than the GT.


----------



## Jtsou

magnethead said:


> thats where mine were with E6750.
> 
> reemeber you can't trust the sensors anymore though because nobody really knows how to read them...


That is so true i have 4 programs, 4 different temperatures.


----------



## HawMan

groudon185p said:


> You know, Hawman. Why are you using the better power supply in you're pc that needs less... (in you're my system you're AMD Has the 750w) why not put the 750w, seeing though the gtx takes much more power than the GT.


The Toughpower 750w has Way to many wires. The Corsair TX650w is sitting neatly in the Antec 900. Although im looking at a New Modular PSU.


----------



## HawMan




----------



## Jtsou

He means on the newer CPUs.


----------



## magnethead

Jtsou said:


> He means on the newer CPUs.


Ann C2D and C2Q CPU's are DTS sensor, not thermistor or thermdiode like Pd/P4 and lower.


----------



## Jtsou

I thought programs read temps fine until the 45nms came out.


When i had an E6750, all of my programs agreed. Now with my E8400, i get three different readings.


----------



## darklord_v

look at this...these are some readings ,aren't they
four different moniters and there readings,,,


----------



## Zombeast

I have a question, which controller panel would be the best to buy, not a really expensive one, i mean a 20-30 dollar one, i am currently looking at the thermaltake xcontroller and i see it doesnt have the best reviews

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811999137

and what would be a good LED controller panel to tell me what my cpu temps are


----------



## HawMan

I cleaned my little corner

sorry for crap pics


















Wall mounted 5.1 now, yipee !


----------



## Zombeast

lol, nice computer, are you playing in a closet


----------



## HawMan

Yeah, Not room in the Living room since we got a Fish Tank :laugh:


----------



## Zombeast

how big is that monitor, i just recently upgraded to a 22'


----------



## HawMan

only 19"

But im getting a wireless keyboard / mouse to use on the 42" plasma TV


----------



## Zombeast

i just got a saitek red eclipse light up keyboard, i love it. Im sittign here waiting right now for my DVD drive to arrive in the mail, its taking forever


----------



## HawMan

Yeah i was looking at that keyboard - Looks good for the price.


I was about to order a Toughpower 850W PSU but im waiting till next week. Im also waiting to see what the 295GTX Prices are ! :grin:


----------



## Jtsou

I've heard $450-500 for the 295gtx


----------



## Zombeast

Man i love this keyboard, it is so awesome and worth the price


----------



## emosun

Is it the eclipse I or II. I have the eclipse I , and its not bright enough , I can see why they made a II. lol. But for 20$ I shouldn't complain.


----------



## Zombeast

i have this one
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16823175104
its the eclips 1 but it has red lighs


----------



## CLAY_JoE

Zombeast said:


> I have a question, which controller panel would be the best to buy, not a really expensive one, i mean a 20-30 dollar one, i am currently looking at the thermaltake xcontroller and i see it doesnt have the best reviews
> 
> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811999137
> 
> and what would be a good LED controller panel to tell me what my cpu temps are


I just got this one, Scythe Kazemaster

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811998038

I know its a bit over your budget, but it looks awesome, is a doddle to set up, and gives you temp readings where you place thermal sensors. Reccomended :grin: Also comes in silver:beerchug:

Wow, this thead has been going for years, I'll post up a pic of mine when I get home :wave:

I have the eclipse II, great little keyboard, although after lots of use my WASD are very worn, lol.


----------



## Zombeast

I think that controller panel would look good on my antec 900, is the LED blue or what


----------



## darklord_v

hawman its kinda good setup...nice pc there....wish i had one like you...mine it decent except the lousy gpu


----------



## Zombeast

Here is a pic of my system


----------



## HawMan

Its here !!


GTX295

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/155777

but £400 ! Damn :laugh:

Cheaper in the US At £320 ( $500 )


----------



## CLAY_JoE

Zombeast said:


> I think that controller panel would look good on my antec 900, is the LED blue or what


The temperature readings are blue, and the fan RPM's are green, it will look pretty buff on your rig imo.

This isn't my case, just a pic i found for you.










By the way, is that a magazine of a pornographic nature I see in the top right of your picture Zombeast, lol :4-thatsba



> Its here !!
> 
> 
> GTX295
> 
> http://www.ebuyer.com/product/155777
> 
> but £400 ! Damn
> 
> Cheaper in the US At £320 ( $500 )


Wow GTX295! Theres goes my holiday budget yet again 

I know, lucky Americans with their cheap prices and their damn Newegg :sigh::grin:


----------



## Zombeast

CLAY_JoE said:


> By the way, is that a magazine of a pornographic nature I see in the top right of your picture Zombeast, lol :4-thatsba



heehehehehehe:grin:.........Its a issue of maxim, i have a few under my tower to keep it up from the floor. Thats using it for good


----------



## Zombeast

I really like that controller panel that is on that picture, where can i get that


----------



## CLAY_JoE

I live in the UK and I got mine from scan.co.uk

Moreno Valley sounds American so here's a link to newegg $42.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811998038

People have had issues with the thermal sensor tape supplied, they're not going to be very accurate anyway, better for recording ambient temperatures in your case. Just use some Black electrical tape instead of the supplied stuff.



Has anyone here modified a Thermaltake Shark? Also, has anyone been able to get to the front intake fan on it, took a quick look and it seems impossible without industrial tools, the stock fan is crap lthumbsd


----------



## grimx133

I've got a similar controller, Scythe Kama Meter, the panel lights in a half dozen colours. You can either have it cycle through, or select whichever you want. And yes, the tape sucks, had one sensor drop into my psu when the tape wasn't sticky enough.

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Scythe/KamaMeter


----------



## Zombeast

so if i buy the $40 one i should use electrilcal tape instead of the crap they give you


----------



## Jtsou

Yes definately.


----------



## Zombeast

and what do i put the tape on, directly on my processor or where


----------



## Zombeast

cause i have never had a controller panel if you havent noticed


----------



## Jtsou

Zombeast said:


> and what do i put the tape on, directly on my processor or where


I'm pretty sure you shouldnt do that it will interfere with the heatsink drawing heat from the processor. Refer to the manual.


----------



## Zombeast

can i sync it to read temps from my video card too


----------



## CLAY_JoE

Like i said earlier, your better off using Speedfan to monitor the temperatures of compenents, think this is more of a gimic imo, but it is useful to monitor maybe the ambient temperature of your case/agaist the ambient temperature of your room and things like that.

I guess putting them on the hard drive would give you accurate readings, but as for the CPU and GPU, I wouldn't bother. Definately don't put it inbetween the CPU and the heatsink.


----------



## Jtsou

I would use Core Temp or Real Temp to monitor temps also just to check. Especially with some 45nm CPUs.


----------



## magnethead

Jtsou said:


> I thought programs read temps fine until the 45nms came out.
> 
> 
> When i had an E6750, all of my programs agreed. Now with my E8400, i get three different readings.


my 6750 always read low...in the 24-28-32 C range. Not sure that's exactly attainable when it's OC'd to 3.0 GHz on air?


----------



## CLAY_JoE

magnethead said:


> my 6750 always read low...in the 24-28-32 C range. Not sure that's exactly attainable when it's OC'd to 3.0 GHz on air?


Yea my Q6600 reads all cores in the 19C - 21C range, which is obviously wrong, same with all the programs I use, so its quite hard t judge when overclocking.


----------



## magnethead

CLAY_JoE said:


> Yea my Q6600 reads all cores in the 19C - 21C range, which is obviously wrong, same with all the programs I use, so its quite hard t judge when overclocking.


after comparing real temp numbers with SF numbers, It's about an 8 to 10 degree difference on my computer


----------



## HawMan

Well, I might be selling my computer(s) now 



Im Thinking of building a new machine with the I7 CPUs

Ive been reading about my M/B and i hear that there are some small problems with fitting the 280GTX ( CD ROM Audio connector or something ).


Anyway, we'll see.


----------



## Jtsou

Are the i7s good gaming procs?


----------



## magnethead

HawMan said:


> Well, I might be selling my computer(s) now
> 
> 
> 
> Im Thinking of building a new machine with the I7 CPUs
> 
> Ive been reading about my M/B and i hear that there are some small problems with fitting the 280GTX ( CD ROM Audio connector or something ).
> 
> 
> Anyway, we'll see.


if so, those 4 pins are extint. It's safe to say you can use a pair of wire cutters to cut away the plastic, then needle nose pliers to turn the pins parrallel to the board.

Also, something I came up with eoecifically for NB's. Since NB's (or at least, the 965) just has the die rather than a heat spreader, you can put the thermal paste on the HS, then put a thermal sensor pad right NEXT to the die, attached to the HS. So when you mount it, the heat goes from die to HS to pad, a journey of all but maybe 1 cm?


----------



## magnethead

Jtsou said:


> Are the i7s good gaming procs?


the FSB and ran specs i've seen make them appear good for gaming, but the cost is what turns me off right now.


----------



## Zombeast

yah just to upgrade to an i7 is a costly thing, for the memory to only be ddr3 and to get a good mb and video card plus the processor, that s quite a bit of money for the basics


----------



## CLAY_JoE

Apparently the difference in gaming between an i7 and a dual/quad core is negligable, unless you get the extreme version. And definately not worth the money or hassle right now, wait until they are tried and tested, and optimised for gaming first.

The extra gaming performace you would see from having an i7 would be similiar to the extra girth you would get from using a condom....


----------



## Jtsou

It is all too confusing to me at the moment. Like the triple channel memory etc.


----------



## magnethead

CLAY_JoE said:


> Apparently the difference in gaming between an i7 and a dual/quad core is negligable, unless you get the extreme version. And definately not worth the money or hassle right now, wait until they are tried and tested, and optimised for gaming first.
> 
> The extra gaming performace you would see from having an i7 would be similiar to the extra girth you would get from using a condom....


ROFLMAO *chuckle*


----------



## emosun

So what's so great about the i7's beside the 8mb cache. There somthing else I'm missing or? I've only really skimmed the specs on newegg.


----------



## groudon185p

that everyone's gonna switch to only making new lga 1337 boards (pun intended) which means ddr 4 (hopefully cheap instead of ddr3) pcie 3 (When it comes out) sata 3 or super ultra mega scsi type interface will only come out on the i7 boards.


----------



## emosun

I ment the i7 cpu itself. It's 1000$ , there a reason or?

I did a little search and it appears to be a quad core (nothing new there) with hyper threading (again nothing new there). And it has some kind of turbo thing. Reminds me of the turbo button on the old pentium 1 computers. lol


----------



## Zombeast

the old pentium 1's had a turbo button? LOL that seems kinda funny


----------



## groudon185p

Wow P1 Overclocking  Probley the closest thing to P1 Overclocking


----------



## emosun

Yea , in the old days the pentium 1 pc's and amd k6 machines had a button on the front that said Turbo. Push it and you get another 33mhz , woohoo.


----------



## Zombeast

was it for a limited time or just for when the pc was on, cause that is kinda retarded


----------



## magnethead

Zombeast said:


> was it for a limited time or just for when the pc was on, cause that is kinda retarded


some P2's had them..I had several 350MHz PII slot 1 systems that had the turbo option. Had jumpers for static OCing as well. Was used to "improve gaming performance".


----------



## stressfreesoul

You should read this and this. Overclocking is slightly easier.



> To put into perspective what a touch of liquid nitrogen can do for Intel's Core i7 alone, Paul overclocked the 3.2GHz part to a whopping 5.2GHz.


----------



## groudon185p

5.2JIGGAWATTS!?!?! Hehe it might take you a while to get it :biggrin:


----------



## stressfreesoul

That was under nitro anyway, so you are unlikely to get those figures without it. Phase change might be an option. Or a water block with an iced reservoir.


----------



## magnethead

stressfreesoul said:


> That was under nitro anyway, so you are unlikely to get those figures without it. Phase change might be an option. Or a water block with an iced reservoir.


CO2 or liq nitrogen would be the only thing i could think of for a OC like that.


----------



## stressfreesoul

> Phase change might be an option. Or a water block with an iced reservoir.


....for about 4.5Ghz ray::grin:


----------



## darklord_v

hey stress how did you overclocl your gpu to 525...my 8400se goes only to 480 and 318


----------



## darklord_v

i htink you all know this but for rookies.
ok..heres the deal...the inquirer managed to get the 965 engineering to a core clock of 4ghz wiht fan cooloing and turbo alone,,..
it taiwan oced it engineering sample of the 965, to 4.20 GHz with a QPI speed of 200 MHz and a multiplier valuee of 21.0x...this they managed it with the vcore to 1.75,,the stock setting is 1.25v


----------



## darklord_v

mind you the extreme addition has 3.20 ghz the stock speed


----------



## emosun

darklord_v said:


> hey stress how did you overclocl your gpu to 525...my 8400se goes only to 480 and 318


Becuase his is the gs not the se.


----------



## stressfreesoul

And also because its covered in copper.










I use Rivatuner. It doesnt give you much (as its only got so many pipelines) but it stretches it out a bit further. HD video/Bluray processing is smoother, runs much better in 1920x1080 @ 60Hz.
Suffice to say, this 8400GS I have is a strong one. The OC on it now is only a mild 18-19%. I could easily reach 25-28%, possibly more.
Next step might be a Pencil Mod (once I have a replacement at hand!) or even a variable resistor from IC pin 5-9.


----------



## drew16387

well just noticed this section and im just getting into modding my pc so thought i share a few pics i have the side panel windowed just no pics yet








































snazzy pic








standard fan i modded (painted)


----------



## CLAY_JoE

Nice pics man :wave:


----------



## nonamedsomebody

Did you remove the little retaining clip on the back of the fan and pull the blade out? to paint.


----------



## drew16387

nahh just mashed it off this fan dont seem to have the clip looked for it but it didnt so i just left it. if you decide to do the same ide advise to take it easy on the paint as for sum reason the white one is alot lot slower than the other and can be stopped very very easy. for example a 4 pin connector sliped down onto it and stopped it lol


----------



## WereBo

I noticed you've got a 2-fan HD-cooler sitting on the bottom of th PC - Have you seen 'The Shadow's trick of mounting the cooler using the 1/4" brass stand-offs, the types used for mounting the mobo to the case? It gives the air 'room to move', without causing an air-dam effect.


----------



## magnethead

drew16387 said:


> nahh just mashed it off this fan dont seem to have the clip looked for it but it didnt so i just left it. if you decide to do the same ide advise to take it easy on the paint as for sum reason the white one is alot lot slower than the other and can be stopped very very easy. for example a 4 pin connector sliped down onto it and stopped it lol


If you're saying you popped the fan/magnet off the housing/coils, that could be why it's not as torquey. I'da just brushed it myself.


----------



## emosun

Those dual fan hdd coolers are really bad , I had one. The key word there is one. Both the fans on it burnt out in only 2 months of use. It was only a 10$ thing so what did i expect? lol


----------



## CLAY_JoE

Do they actually do a decent job of cooling, I don't mind replacing them if they break often, but if they're only lowering temps by like 2 degrees theres no point. Can any recomend a particular model of HD cooler?


----------



## emosun

Nah ,there not very good at cooling. They just blow the case air on the hdd circuit board which isn't actually the hot part on the hdd. The best way to cool the hdd's is to blow cold air past the hdds.

I honestly say there not worth the 10$ even for a few months. Spend the 10$ on case fans.


----------



## magnethead

emosun said:


> Nah ,there not very good at cooling. They just blow the case air on the hdd circuit board which isn't actually the hot part on the hdd. The best way to cool the hdd's is to blow cold air past the hdds.
> 
> I honestly say there not worth the 10$ even for a few months. Spend the 10$ on case fans.


on my antec 900 i see a ~5°C differences between fans on/off


----------



## drew16387

the twin fan does actualy work as my hdd is always cool to the touch and the other two used to hot but a bigger fan at top of case sorted that out . and sorry for putting mashed instead of masked lol

i sprayed the fan in its housing just masked the housing off i put it down to the extra weight as thats all i can think it is


----------



## shotgn

Here is mine


----------



## magnethead

drew16387 said:


> the twin fan does actualy work as my hdd is always cool to the touch and the other two used to hot but a bigger fan at top of case sorted that out . and sorry for putting mashed instead of masked lol
> 
> i sprayed the fan in its housing just masked the housing off i put it down to the extra weight as thats all i can think it is


paint doesnt weigh that much. What does the label say? Should say something like 12VDC .14A.

My other guess is paint got in the magnets and coils, but less likely.


----------



## magnethead

Here's mine. Typical messy desk.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v295/magnethead/0120091655-00.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v295/magnethead/0120091708-00.jpg

Taken with my phone, so not good res/quality


----------



## emosun

Clean your room young man.:laugh:

Honestly , mine was wayyy worse today before I cleaned it.


----------



## nonamedsomebody

What is the best way to run cabling mine is a mess and I just got my new power supply I want to make it look Nice I seen Shotgn had his ran around the rear fan I may try to route them that way. I only have like 3" between my video card and my drive bays. In a raidmax smilodon case.


----------



## magnethead

nonamedsomebody said:


> What is the best way to run cabling mine is a mess and I just got my new power supply I want to make it look Nice I seen Shotgn had his ran around the rear fan I may try to route them that way. I only have like 3" between my video card and my drive bays. In a raidmax smilodon case.


simple answer = empty 5.25 bay


----------



## nonamedsomebody

I agree with that but routing the ones I need down to the other components gets messy.


----------



## emosun

Zip ties.


----------



## stressfreesoul

magnethead said:


> simple answer = empty 5.25 bay


Even simpler answer: anywhere you can hide them!
Most of the un-used ones are behind the PSU and motherboard tray.

As for HDD coolers, I only have a low RPM Thermaltake on mine and it stays 6C cooler. Its in the front to back split flow.


----------



## drew16387

magnethead said:


> paint doesnt weigh that much. What does the label say? Should say something like 12VDC .14A.
> 
> My other guess is paint got in the magnets and coils, but less likely.


its not that high compared to the 120mm for the hdd,s its a 12v o.10a used to be abiit more torgey befor maybe abit of overspray got into the coils as i never mashed them off too well



> What is the best way to run cabling mine is a mess and I just got my new power supply I want to make it look Nice I seen Shotgn had his ran around the rear fan I may try to route them that way. I only have like 3" between my video card and my drive bays. In a raidmax smilodon case.


 hide most of them up top behind psu and squeezed do the side of the drive bays then run them down behind the bays to the bottom. just popein the one you need out on the way down 
most of my fan wires and power button wires ext are behind the motherboard still alot to do as i hade to pull most the wires out of hiding


----------



## nonamedsomebody

> Zip ties.


They worked like a charm still a little messy due to the one ide drive I still use.


----------



## emosun

Slice up the ide cables and make them round. I use ide drives and you can't even see the ide cables. I just turn my hdds backwards.


----------



## nonamedsomebody

My cable is a rounded ide cable still bulky. It is needed for my dvd burner. Both my hard drives are Sata.


----------



## Jtsou

emosun said:


> Slice up the ide cables and make them round. I use ide drives and you can't even see the ide cables. I just turn my hdds backwards.


I did that to my IDE cables and it worked quite nicely. I heatshrunk some electrical tape around them and it worked like a charm.


----------



## drew16387

never thought of splicing them hmmm


----------



## magnethead

drew16387 said:


> never thought of splicing them hmmm


i have, but an 80 wire cable is hard to splice. I want to go SATA, but my main OS (vista) is on the IDE drive after XP crashed on the SATA drive. 

Ideally I want to stuff all the crap (my docs, prog files, etc) on the SATA drive into a folder on my IDE, then ghost IDE to SATA, ghost IDE to another SATA (backup), then wipe and sell the IDE or put it in hybrid as part of my server array.


----------



## emosun

magnethead said:


> i have, but an 80 wire cable is hard to splice.


Naw , you just pull it apart into little half inch strips , you can do it with just your hands.


----------



## drew16387

ok so guys this splicing do i just cut or can i pull lol is there a sata disk drive by any chance as ide love to get or the daft bulky ide cable


----------



## magnethead

I've always been afraid to put a sharp blade anywhere near a computer component. But thats about the only way to split them that i know of.


----------



## Jtsou

I use a sewing needle to get between them and pull then pull the needle down and it splits them right apart.


----------



## drew16387

hmm i have a spare like off to find needle i will post up again soon


----------



## drew16387

managed to split it now just to built the cable back up to tired to consentrate on stuff like that so i shall let you know reults tomoorw


----------



## HawMan

Ive just ordered a 280 GTX.


£220 which is REALLY cheap in the UK - These still go for around £320 ish !


Plus its a Pick & Mix. I may end up with a lower end GTX, or i could end up with an Extremely OC'ed card with a free game.


Cant wait, roll on monday :wink:


----------



## emosun

For 220 you'll be lucky if it comes with a heatsink , lol/


----------



## HawMan

I've been assured by the OcUk Admin that the worst card i can recieve is Asus ( Im sure it was them ). Seems a bloody good price :grin:


----------



## stressfreesoul

I just got a brand new 8800GT (Alpha Dog)for £66! I should have bought two at that price, but I really have no need for more than the one.
Also got a GA-P35-DS3 coming tomorrow.... Its all falling together nicely.


----------



## HawMan

Have fun with the 8800GT, Ive got one in my old rig, and they are excellent cards !






Edit




> The worst cards we have are Asus cards, but they have a good warranty so its swings and roundabouts.


Bonus for me, either way :grin:


----------



## nonamedsomebody

8800gt's are sweet thats what im running the super clocked edition factory overclocked 50mhz.


----------



## emosun

You know whats weird , I have yet to see someone who can beat my cards factory core clock. I know it's doesn't help it much since it's just a old midrange card , but still it's a crazy factory clock.


----------



## darklord_v

haha emosun i was viewing gpu bench marks and wolla my card was the last of the cards.......


----------



## derek_jones_36

Well I was doing some spring dusting on my system and I decided...hey what better time to take some pics. I have to say that cleaning it out actually sped up my load time by more than a few seconds.....about 45 seconds actually. I started up afterwards and holy moly speedy.....woooooosh. I have never had my system go that fast in a boot before. Anyway here are some pics...there are alot of them.....a whole lot.

Jones


----------



## derek_jones_36

some more pics.....


----------



## derek_jones_36

Yet some more pics....


----------



## Jtsou

Lookin goodray:ray::luxhello::luxhello:


----------



## nonamedsomebody

> Well I was doing some spring dusting on my system and I decided...hey what better time to take some pics. I have to say that cleaning it out actually sped up my load time by more than a few seconds.....about 45 seconds actually. I started up afterwards and holy moly speedy.....woooooosh. I have never had my system go that fast in a boot before. Anyway here are some pics...there are alot of them.....a whole lot.


yep dust is the #1 pc killer gotta keep them dust free and they will last forever.


----------



## nonamedsomebody

I like that heat pipe setup on that ram.


----------



## Blue445

*Re: lets see your rig (thanks)*

Hey guys, its nothing to special on the outside, but it can fun left 4 dead on full specs with no lag at all  Thanks to everyone that helped, here are some pics.

Also some pics of left 4 dead.


----------



## derek_jones_36

Thanks....Yeah I had decided to go for the Reaper HPC RAM from OCZ PC6400. It's Overclocked right now to about 1000Mhz which keeps it in pace with the CPU at 3.62 Ghz. I want to perhaps get a bigger set up for the CPU with perhaps a bigger Heat Pipe and fan combo. I'm not sure right now but I like the unit that I have in my system. 

Jones


----------



## darklord_v

how many fans do you have installed.......????????//


----------



## darklord_v

and how did you clean it.compressed air???????????//very clean but the wires not looking googd


----------



## derek_jones_36

I have a total of six fans. One 120mm in the bottom front (the LED Fan) one 120 mm adjustable side fan, one 80mm top fan, one 80 mm rear top fan, the PSU Fan and the CPU Fan/Heatsink. Yeah I know the Cables are a bit of a mess. Most of them are kept together by the ties that came with the PSU. I have them bunched together as best I can for the amount of them that I have. I may go back in and rearrange them...perhaps shove them into the bay just below the Optical drive.


Jones


----------



## derek_jones_36

Oh and I used Compressed Air/Very slightly damp clean rag to wuipe some of the interior areas of the case.

Jones


----------



## Jtsou

derek_jones_36 said:


> Oh and I used *Compressed Air/Very slightly damp clean rag* to wuipe some of the interior areas of the case.
> 
> Jones


Compressed air = good
damp rag = bad


----------



## HawMan

I hate compressed air, Too much Liquid in some cans !


Cotton Wool / Cotton Buds = Win !


----------



## derek_jones_36

The rag that I used was not on any sensitive components and I made sure that it didn't touch any components. I only used it to perhaps clean some of the fans and the clear plastic side and some of the other flat areas that required dusting. I definitely wouldn't touch anything that might have a current running through it. 

Jones


----------



## Jtsou

HawMan said:


> I hate compressed air, Too much Liquid in some cans !
> 
> 
> Cotton Wool / Cotton Buds = Win !


Dont hold the can upside down!


----------



## derek_jones_36

Yeah you gotta keep that thing a good distance back from your case interior or else you might get that white discharge from the can inside the case....stuff looks like frost. 

I'm not too sure how that might react with any interior components. I would imagine that since the can gets so friggin cold so quick you really have to limit the amount of consistent time you keep the air going.

Jones


----------



## darklord_v

HawMan said:


> I hate compressed air, Too much Liquid in some cans !
> 
> 
> Cotton Wool / Cotton Buds = Win !


how do i clean it with a cotton bud/wool????/any pointers?


----------



## Jtsou

It doesnt seem like that would capture the dust really good without some sort of dampness.


----------



## derek_jones_36

Seems like it might get snagged on all sorts of corners and edges.

Jones


----------



## darklord_v

i tried this but the dust wont come of the back fan..the dust on it is quiet hard to clean..for the cpu it is brush free no dust gathers on it


----------



## derek_jones_36

That's the precise reason I used a very lightly damped rag. What better to wipe the fans.

Jones


----------



## drew16387

i use the damp rag idea too cleans fans up easily and nice.just on painting the interieor of my case. having a brreak befor second coat is applied i shall make a new thread


----------



## drew16387

yet








ok anyone got any ideas where as to put the two hard drives in this case other than where they are now. two of them have hard drive coolers one blue and one gold. and ahard drive in one of the floppy bays. ive just sprayed a new case and would like to have it abit more on show as i think itl look sweet. the one on the bottom is bolted. 

other idea i can think of is if i can buy a kind of cage to fit under my bays to house the two with coolorsany ideas?


----------



## derek_jones_36

Yeah I was just thinking you could get a nice big hard drive cage inside that case at the bottom. Actually it looks like there may have been on at one point. Perhaps a nice little mod...hard drive cage would really spruce it up. I would change the tape on those cords. Perhaps some zip ties of some twist ties would do. With my Motherboard I was given a little rouns white clip with a sticky peel away underneath. I attached the sticky part to the interior of the case and there was a round part to insert the cables and it had an unlockable feature to add more cables in there. I'll take a pic of it and show you what I mean. The Pic is a little blurry but I think you get the picture (no pun intended).


----------



## drew16387

so i could buy a cage that would mount into my case. i wasnt sure and no theres never been a cage for hard drive all it came with was a mounting bracket for one.it just slides under the drive bays and thumbscrews in. yeah the tape was there to hold the wires there till i got the case sorted and hide most of them hopefully lol


----------



## derek_jones_36

I'm actually not too sure if you could actually purchase one as much as you might be able to get one perhaps from a scrapped case much like you would getting scrap peices from a car. Perhaps even just use some home made mounting holes and then install it that way but you might really have problems with dampening the shock and keeping the hard drive from making loud noises inside the case if it was not mounted right.

Jones


----------



## drew16387

looked on the net and i canm find hard drive cage but there the external ones i may just make a snazzy external box for them all and move them all out leaving a nice clean looking case. then just put one of theose sata board things in and expansion slot hmmm worth pondering on this one


----------



## derek_jones_36

How about attaching an external drive enclosure to the outside of your case with say some two way tape or velcro to keep it secure. I like the clean look inside the case though....looks good and gives good airflow.

Jones


----------



## derek_jones_36

Here ya go below.

http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1580897&CatId=340


----------



## derek_jones_36

http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3301340&CatId=805


----------



## drew16387

lol your the maaan. im guna have to see if theres any local first then if not i shall be ordering that one thanks man it looks cool to. plus the fan is great as i can stiull have them cool and remove the collors


----------



## derek_jones_36

Hey no worries....I love searching for items online..Just gotta know where to look. I got a secret weapon........GOOGLE...LOL


----------



## magnethead

and at 26 bucks its cheaper than antec wants i think.

In hybrid, i just have basic sheet metal for the HDD array mount, no vibes. Also, i've used an abit case HDD cage in a dell before, worked good.


----------



## derek_jones_36

Yeah I would imagine that there are interchangeable components that might fit into other cases. You just never know what will fit in one case that you might have picked up from another. I've actually been toying with the idea of getting a hard drive cooler for my two WD 750's. Maybe change the location of the two of them and then installing perhaps the device between them. Not too sure of that's an option due to the useage of the fan thats at the front of the case which may interfere with that purpose. The Problem I see is that the airflow coming in through the front of the case might become totally useless if I install a second fan so close to the hard drives. Perhaps a heatsink might be better.

Jones


----------



## drew16387

ive only got the one hard drive cooler installed now which is on the main one. the other 2 drives are in the floppy/hdd bays. above then is the drive bay which is spare and has a 120mm fan blowing down onto the top hard drive which is used for my films.
the front fan sucks air in then the cooler having less powerfull fans takes a little from that airflow to the hard drive and most of the air from front fan continues on through the case to the rear exhast. 

oo i also forgot to mention i managed to split the ide cable i just need some white heatsink or lectriction tape to heat sink round it then install it should be sweet


----------



## darklord_v

DREW16387........\
WHATS THAT at the bottom of the rig.that blue thing lying on the rig's floor


----------



## magnethead

darklord_v said:


> DREW16387........\
> WHATS THAT at the bottom of the rig.that blue thing lying on the rig's floor


believe a HDD cooler unit


----------



## derek_jones_36

Looks like this unit below from Tiger.....

http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=993560&CatId=495

or this one....


http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=39596&CatId=495


----------



## drew16387

its the main hard drive with the cooler on not there now its a lovely colour thou lol anodiesed blue


----------



## nonamedsomebody

New power supply installed TX 750w corsair.


----------



## darklord_v

how can we install a harddrive in it?? or do we just keep it under the hdd


----------



## nonamedsomebody

it mounts to the bottom of the hard drive


----------



## darklord_v

how do we cool a gpu?


----------



## magnethead

I'm assuming thats a new 45nm E8400 or are you upgrading?

6 /sataII ports..now i could like that!


----------



## Jtsou

A lot of boards have 6 ports dont they? My P5k-E does.


----------



## HawMan

3dMark06 Stock CPU Speed









And again with CPU OC











The Card


----------



## magnethead

Jtsou said:


> A lot of boards have 6 ports dont they? My P5k-E does.


only 4 on my DS3.


----------



## nonamedsomebody

Mine has 6 and yes that is a E8400 im running now. I don't like the way they face to the side though. on the right hand side of the board little black squares.


----------



## nonamedsomebody

nonamedsomebody said:


> New power supply installed TX 750w corsair.




























I cleaned up the cabling a lot with the new PS install. That stock piece of junk heat sink had to go what a hokey design the pegs did not want to stay in the holes so in went the zalman:smile:


----------



## magnethead

CPU: 2.66 GHz Q8200
GPU: 675 MHz
VRAM: 1100 MHz

3DMarks: 11256
SM 2.0: 4580
SM 3.0: 4752
CPU: 3757

CPU: 2.66 GHz
GPU: 800 MHz
VRAM: 1200 MHz

3DMarks: 11602
SM 2.0: 4603
SM 3.0: 5027
CPU: 3851


----------



## HawMan

Get that Q8200 overclocked :smile:


----------



## magnethead

HawMan said:


> Get that Q8200 overclocked :smile:


That IS overclocked..stock is 2.33!

hahaha. that said I went to 395*7 with a .05 volt bump to 1.1925 and changed ram from auto (6-6-6-18) to 5-5-5-15

CPU: 2.765 GHz
GPU: 675 MHz
VRAM: 1100 MHz

3DMarks: 11672
SM 2.0: 4758
SM 3.0: 4866
CPU: 3996

CPU: 2.765 GHz
GPU: 800 MHz
VRAM: 1200 MHz

3DMarks: 12247
SM 2.0: 4855
SM 3.0: 5321
CPU: 4046

vista says:
CPU: 5.9
RAM: 5.8
GFX: 5.9
game GFX: 5.9
primary hard disk (IDE): 5.4

I'm downloading the other test you found that does HD.


----------



## magnethead

Hawman, the "into the pink" tester doesnt seem to want to run. What do i have to do?


----------



## nonamedsomebody

I downloaded it and ran it what are your system specs?


----------



## magnethead

I run the picoStandAlone.exe and vista immediately pops up saying it needs to stop the process.


----------



## nonamedsomebody

I have uploaded it http://rapidshare.com/files/190450904/IntoThePink_final_by_Plastic_v1.04.rar try dowloading and re running.


----------



## magnethead

I can predicti i'll probably end up make this split off..but

after a re-download.

Problem signature:
Problem Event Name:	APPCRASH
Application Name:	picoStandAlone.exe
Application Version:	0.0.0.0
Application Timestamp:	48ff46c6
Fault Module Name:	picoStandAlone.exe
Fault Module Version:	0.0.0.0
Fault Module Timestamp:	48ff46c6
Exception Code:	c0000005
Exception Offset:	0006403a
OS Version:	6.0.6000.2.0.0.256.1
Locale ID:	1033
Additional Information 1:	746a
Additional Information 2:	59f16a527c08542a0bdf87694943aa1e
Additional Information 3:	6ac7
Additional Information 4:	2ce999fccf709a4ba77cd62d05f7fe4f

Read our privacy statement:
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=50163&clcid=0x0409


----------



## nonamedsomebody

What operating system 32 64bit?


----------



## darklord_v

hawman my god thats pure ****.....
swear to god i wanna steal the thing from you:-;


----------



## magnethead

nonamedsomebody said:


> What operating system 32 64bit?


look left...

<-----

Vista ultimate 32.


----------



## HawMan

darklord_v said:


> hawman my god thats pure ****.....
> swear to god i wanna steal the thing from you:-;


The 280GTX? :grin:

If my mobo allowed the card to fit in the second slot, id have another for SLI .


----------



## magnethead

HawMan said:


> The 280GTX? :grin:
> 
> If my mobo allowed the card to fit in the second slot, id have another for SLI .


Hawman, howbout you get a 295, give me that 280, and i'll sell my 9800? hahahahah


----------



## darklord_v

magnethead said:


> Hawman, howbout you get a 295, give me that 280, and i'll sell my 9800? hahahahah


and while you get the gtx280 iget the 9800


----------



## HawMan

280GTX is not much different from my old 8800GTX to be honest.


8800GTX is King, and will be for a long time IMO.


----------



## HawMan

My 3 Babys !


8800GTX Top.

Bottom left - BFG 8800GT OC2 Box
Right - 280GTX box










So much bigger than each other. The 280 is the same size as the 8800, but the PCB is covered completely unlike the 8800GTX.


----------



## nonamedsomebody

> My 3 Babys !
> 
> 
> 8800GTX Top.
> 
> Bottom left - BFG 8800GT OC2 Box
> Right - 280GTX box
> 
> 
> 
> So much bigger than each other. The 280 is the same size as the 8800, but the PCB is covered completely unlike the 8800GTX.


your power consumption must be through the roof lol


----------



## magnethead

nonamedsomebody said:


> your power consumption must be through the roof lol


Hawman's in scotland so it's all 220V..not as many amps. But yea, the electric meter must be spinning off it's shaft.


----------



## magnethead

my caseless and controlboardless GX260 motherboard from a mini tower

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v295/magnethead/001-2.jpg


----------



## magnethead

Ok, here's what i came up with.

It's the GX260 (project "Gone Xtreme 260") hanging by a pair of solid 22AWG wire going to a 3M command hook. The power supply sits on my desk, the hard drive above it.


----------



## stressfreesoul

You running out of desk space?:wink:


----------



## darklord_v

thats a lot of mess on that table


----------



## stressfreesoul

New setup:
19" monitor, keyboard and mouse routed to my armchair...









The PC on the other side of the room next to the TV (for Bluray and better gaming)









The PC itself...









XFX8800GT, Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3, Thermaltake Cyclo LED CPU fan, etc (see system spec left)









In the dark (UV cathodes, thermaltake UV Fans)









Close up of the 8800GT with Zalman VF700LED and RAMsinks.
I couldn't stand the single speed hairdryer that came as stock and the Zalman knocks 5 celsius off and keeps it lower under load too.


----------



## darklord_v

thats beautiful........


----------



## darklord_v

have anyone here has a dual psu??


----------



## Jtsou

Ive got a PSU that is made just for the graphics card that fits into a 5.25 bay


----------



## stressfreesoul

Thermaltake Power express? Or a Fortron?


----------



## Jtsou

VisionTek Juice Box.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817206001


----------



## stressfreesoul

oooooo. Thats nice. Isn't it just another heat source though? Would it not be wiser to buy a more powerful main PSU?


----------



## Jtsou

It doesnt seem to heat anythign up too much. I just bought it cuz i could


----------



## derek_jones_36

This new post had peaked my interest so I was looking at some of the PSU units specifically for GPU'S and I had no idea they even made PSU's for Video Cards. I thought the idea was very smart since there are so many of us out there who complain about game lag with regards to possibly overheating issues when it comes to not enough power for the really high end set ups in gaming rigs. I thought it was a very innovative idea and I have three empty 5.25" bays which I could cerainly use for this type of unit. I can see it really being that much of a heat issue since right now my CPU runs under 55 degrees at load and that's overclocked and I have under 50 degree load for my 4850 anyway so the way I see it I can always install an extra double fan unit in the rear expansion slot right beside the GPU or even replace the GPU fan/heatsink altogether with a more efficient aftermarket unit....good stuff

Jones


----------



## Jtsou

It is better to just get a big powersupply to power the whole system, it does create a bit of extra heat, but really i dont see any change in temps.


----------



## Jtsou

They are really for people that dont want to upgrade to a very expensive powersupply but need the extra PCI-E connectors for their cards.


----------



## derek_jones_36

Yeah I hear ya. The Enermax PSU I have is great and I have never had any worries using it. I was just thinking about temps because I had scaled back the Overclock on My E8400 and the Temps, eventhough they were never really that high to begin with didn't really drop that much. I went from 39 to 30 and even lower to 27 for a few seconds with the CPU and Motherboard Temps dropped to 39 from 47.

Jones


----------



## HawMan

Sweet - 1024x768 on Low Settings...




























As for Other games,


GRID - Max everything, 60FPS
Fear 2 - Max Everything, 60FPS

This is using FRAPS, seems they are capped at 60fps.




Farcry2


Settings: Demo(Ranch Medium), 1280x1024 (60Hz), D3D9, Fixed Time Step(No), Disable Artificial Intelligence(No), Full Screen, Anti-Aliasing(8x), VSync(Yes), Overall Quality(Ultra High), Vegetation(Very High), Shading(Ultra High), Terrain(Ultra High), Geometry(Ultra High), Post FX(High), Texture(Ultra High), Shadow(Ultra High), Ambient(High), Hdr(Yes), Bloom(Yes), Fire(Very High), Physics(Very High), RealTrees(Very High)


* Total Frames: 5774, Total Time: 150.02s
* Average Framerate: 38.49
* Max. Framerate: 66.71 (Frame:1, 0.03s)
* Min. Framerate: 21.53 (Frame:4876, 123.49s)


----------



## emosun

Pretty much just comes down to vram when you turn everything to low as the gpu then doesn't have much to do.


----------



## nonamedsomebody

If i put in the /fps command into diablo II I run around 25 frames. It's an old game I will have to install cod or something to see if that changes


----------



## stressfreesoul

Hawman: Whats your 3DMark 06 scores?


----------



## magnethead

stressfreesoul said:


> Hawman: Whats your 3DMark 06 scores?


last i heard, up in the 18K range i think?


----------



## HawMan

Just shy of 18K. Around 17800 or so.


----------



## Jtsou

Magnet, where did your green go?


----------



## Mack

Antec Nine Hundred black case(Little bit tight. If I was to build again I would get something bigger. Other than that it's really nice, quiet and very functional)


----------



## derek_jones_36

Hey I bet that thing stays nice and cool. Cool Set Up.


----------



## Mack

derek_jones_36 said:


> Hey I bet that thing stays nice and cool. Cool Set Up.


I have to say it was a major job getting it all into the case but your right, it stays very cool and quiet.


----------



## magnethead

the 1200 and TT armor are the only cases i know of that have the size + cooling effectiveness or better of the 900?


----------



## derek_jones_36

I was checking out the tiger site and really liked this case which seemed to be pretty roomy as well as stylish.

http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3433317&CatId=1520


----------



## emosun

Nah , 265 bucks and only 2 120mm fans. This is way better

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129043&Tpk=antec 1200


----------



## derek_jones_36

Yeah that Antec unit is pretty sweet. There's plenty of room and the number of fans makes it pretty good for cooling. Don't forget however that the Ultra is a mid case and the antec is a full tower unit which makes the comparison not too fair except for the price comparison.


----------



## derek_jones_36

The Ultra Case would be great for a Case Mod with all the clear sides. Plus is has the Power Distribution Bar popular with Ultra Cases.


----------



## Old Rich

This is my new testbed pc . . I can attach PATA or SATA, 2.5" or 3.5" drives to recover data or repair the files


----------



## derek_jones_36

Yeah I like that one. Very Airy and it looks pretty well secured to that trolley or whatever it is....Oh I know..A TV Stand...nice thinking...Mobile.


----------



## grimx133

Looks like a Highspeed PC techstation, nice!


----------



## nonamedsomebody

I need to make me something like that I have a 1.5ghz athlon board I could use. It's in a minicase now just installed xp on it. I wouldn't have sata support though.


----------



## Old Rich

grimx133 said:


> Looks like a Highspeed PC techstation, nice!


That's exactly what it is!!

http://www.highspeedpc.com/Merchant...ROD&Product_Code=BinStdTech&Category_Code=Bin


----------



## stressfreesoul

> I wouldn't have sata support though.


PCI card


----------



## CLAY_JoE

Right, here's some long overdue pictures of my rig, taken just after I finished installing a new Asus Xonar DX and Corsair HX1000 PSU.

It looks messier than it is, believe me I spent about an hour sorting out the mess, a lot of duck tape was involved


----------



## stressfreesoul

Nice setup. Nice rig. I added a couple of purple cathodes today. I'll wait for a darker room to take a new pic though.


----------



## nonamedsomebody

I have one green led fan and the front of my pc has like 3 led's the raidmax smilodon case and it lights up the whole room in the dark.


----------



## nonamedsomebody

stressfreesoul said:


> PCI card



That's true how well do those pci sata controllers work?


----------



## stressfreesoul

They are limited by the PCI bus, but it gives you the functionality at least.


----------



## M3guy

Most Beautiful Rig in the world.

Intel Core 2 Duo 3.16 ghz E8500

4 gigs of Corsair Dominator 1066 ghz Ram smooch: **** has it's own fan)

500 gig seagate hd

19 " Compaq Anchor Monitor

Asus P5Q-E mobo

CoolerMaster RealPower Pro *850 Watts*power supply.

Logitech Revolution laser mouse 

Crappy Microsoft Keyboard


----------



## nonamedsomebody

CLAY_JoE hows that 1000watt power house run haha


----------



## nonamedsomebody

M3guy the only think I would change is the hard drive I've had nothing but bad luck with seagate drives. They fail prematurely. hope you have better luck than i did the 200gb drives are the worst the 250gb I bought after the 2 failed drives I returned lasted the longest and finally failed this year used the seagate warranty and got a drive that had to be even worst than the one i sent in. re certified drive. I am a western digital fan now been trouble free.


----------



## derek_jones_36

WD Drives are amazing. I have two WD Caviar Black 750's in RAID 0 in my rig...running great and nice and fast too. Definitely reccomended as a good all around solid peice of gear.


----------



## grimx133

Kind of a "six of one, half dozen of another" thing to me. I've got 2 WD laptop drives, 1 WD raptor (sitting in with spare parts) 4 Seagates (3 x500, 1 x 250). Couple externals 1TB with a Samsung Green Power inside, a 500GB Iomega, but can't remember what's in it, and I don't leave them powered on. 

Luck of the draw, sometimes you eat the bear, and sometimes the bear eats you. Any and all drives go bad at some point. If you're prepared for that certainty, you can deal with it.


----------



## derek_jones_36

Holy Freakin Crap....Now I know why on your system profile it lists too many hard drives to mention....talk about storage...what the heck you got in those drives....every movie ever made....Nice stuff.

Jones


----------



## grimx133

I'd say the biggest consumer of drive space is images. Very handy way to stay decently backed up. Saved my butt a few times, convenient to be able to restore an image and get to whatever point with whatever OS anytime it gets hosed. Anytime I do anything that could smoke my OS, I take an image first, then if I screw it up, doesn't take long be be back up and running right where I left off. Think the last one I took was 60 or 70ish GB, doesn't take long to use up some serious space. Another handy thing is that you can mount the image and browse the files and copy them out when you just need a file that you don't have handy at the moment, but can remember when you did.


----------



## M3guy

nonamedsomebody said:


> M3guy the only think I would change is the hard drive I've had nothing but bad luck with seagate drives. They fail prematurely. hope you have better luck than i did the 200gb drives are the worst the 250gb I bought after the 2 failed drives I returned lasted the longest and finally failed this year used the seagate warranty and got a drive that had to be even worst than the one i sent in. re certified drive. I am a western digital fan now been trouble free.


Yeah so far it has been ok definitely not the fastest hd out there but 500 gigs for like 30 dollars seemed like an amazing deal at the time so I guess I am stuck with it for now lol.


----------



## darklord_v

clay_joe has a perfect computer..m3guy your specs are so good but the condition you have kept the rig in ,is way to bad...


----------



## CLAY_JoE

Lol, nonnamedsomebody, I can't even tell you how happy I am with it, I didn't think it would have such a huge impact. Not only is my comp running as sweet as a nut now, but before I could only get around 50-60fps on medium settings no AA in Call of Duty 4, now since installing it everything is maxed out full AA and I never drop below 90FPS :O. Just goes to show how much the PSU was bottlenecking my system. Thanks to everyone at TSF for persuading me to get it .

I'm guessing you got really bad luck with Seagate then, I have used nothing but and have never had a failing hard drive. Maybe this is a problem with the smaller models. The newer larger seagates are such a big improvement, my older 320gb one runs around 8C hotter than my newer 500gb model.]

Can't wait for Solid State Storage drives to come into mass production, omg 

Keep the pictures coming guys :smile:


----------



## HawMan

Some more of My Heap.


----------



## CLAY_JoE

Nice rig man, GTX 280..sweet :smile:

Looks pretty darn tidy as well.


----------



## stressfreesoul

Bit dusty in your house eh Liam?


----------



## darklord_v

hawman the rig of yours is (a beast)..but why keep it in such condition...
you aint punishing it are for crashing or something:4-thatsba


----------



## M3guy

darklord_v said:


> clay_joe has a perfect computer..m3guy your specs are so good but the condition you have kept the rig in ,is way to bad...


Explain.


----------



## darklord_v

mate thats to untidy....all those wires...the same goes for hawman...
the rig it self is very clean no doudt about that but the atmosphere...you get that...
clay_joe has a perfect computer because he kept it in a very good condition...


----------



## HawMan

Mines gets kicked by my feet due to it being on the floor. My Subwoofer is right beside it so the PC Gets blown to bits, And the system is so overclocked it sometimes doesn't want to start.


I see no problems. :grin::grin::grin:


----------



## stressfreesoul

> so overclocked it sometimes doesn't want to start.


That the Q6600 rig? I got mine up to 3.4 but it wasn't stable enough for my liking. Knocked it back to 3 and its solid as a rock (in sig below).
I could probably sustain 3.2Ghz if I tweaked a bit, but I cant be bothered TBH. It runs faster than I need for web travel and a bit of gaming here and there.
Ive had issues with my Ballistix though, at 1000Mhz (DDR) I started getting file system errors, I think I'll get some 1066 Dominators next.


----------



## HawMan

Mines is at 3.5GHZ. Ill push it till it blows. :laugh:


----------



## derek_jones_36

I'm gonna get my system cleaned up a bit and then post some more pics. I must clean up the wiring, perhaps install some funky lighting as well. I also wanna add a fan below my GPU (below) and possibly change out the top exhaust fan. I may even change out the rear for a new one...more efficient. gonna blow so much air through this bad boy. I'm gonna get a new CPU cooler as well. This one below.

http://www.zalman.co.kr/ENG/product/Product_Read.asp?idx=333

http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=120565&CatId=804

Jones


----------



## CLAY_JoE

I recomend this fan 

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/120mm-Noctua-NF-S12-1200-RPM-Quiet-Case-Fan

Perfect balance of high airflow and noise, its virtually silent.

Its the fan attached to my CPU cooler in the pic.

Why did they have to make it brown though, looks vile, lol. :4-dontkno


----------



## grimx133

Vile works. I just picked up an NF-S12-800, and an NF-R8.


----------



## darklord_v

hawman where is your second rig????????does that also gets treated like this one>


----------



## HawMan

darklord_v said:


> hawman where is your second rig????????does that also gets treated like this one>


It doesn't get used. Not used it for a month or two now. Its sitting here gathering Dust.


----------



## derek_jones_36

I really like that fan. Easy to find down here and It'll work nicely in the rear and top to replace the stock fans, even in the side by the clearside.

Jones


----------



## stressfreesoul

HawMan said:


> It doesn't get used. Not used it for a month or two now. Its sitting here gathering Dust.


Flog them both and buy an I7 rig!!
That Zalman looks nice, though I gave up on mine. I replaced it with an Asus one that works better.


----------



## derek_jones_36

Which Asus One we talking here?? I have this one for my system. It has kept it pretty cool...I would say I've gotten temps below 30 on Idle and on full Load during/after a game about 55 degrees.

http://ca.asus.com/products.aspx?l1=16&l2=66&l3=0&l4=0&model=2259&modelmenu=1

Jones


----------



## nonamedsomebody

That zalman is sweet when was it released? I have this one now http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835118003


----------



## derek_jones_36

The new Zalman that I just saw in the PC Mag hasn't even been put up on the tigerdirect site yet. It has the fan in the middle and there's a plastic shroud in the middle to install the fan easier. It was noted in the product description that if you take the plastic off the unit you risk cutting wires I guess because it spins so fast. Also it was noted that the copper fins were sharp enough to slice your fingers up.

Jones


----------



## darklord_v

i managed to overclock my geforce 8400se to core clock/core memory/shader 580mhz,320mhz,1183mhz
at stock it was 450mhz,266mhz,900mhz respectively


----------



## darklord_v

and it idles about 55-56c at the moment


----------



## derek_jones_36

Just got this exhaust fan this morning from TD. I now have idle temps of 49 degrees. It seems pretty good for the time being. I can't adjust it from the AI Suite so I'm assuming it'll run at full tilt all the time (2200rpm). It has blue LED and it went into the PCI slot. Not bad for $13.99.

Jones

http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3516736&CatId=804


----------



## nonamedsomebody

Wth man they are all blue that don't mix with green so well haha. don't look like i'll be running one of those anytime soon.


----------



## grimx133

They're loud too. Have one sitting in with the rest of my spare parts. Guess I could hook it up to my fan controller, but I have plenty of exhaust anyway.


----------



## derek_jones_36

Yeah I was running from between say 49-54 Degrees steady on idle. The card is also overclocked as well pretty well almost as far as it will go. I have the specs, will post later on them. I figured it can handle any of the games I have right now even without the OC so I'm gonna scale it back and then see what happens because the exhaust fan is right above the sound card which is right above my 4850 so the heat being generated and then floating upward should be shooting out the rear of the case. I also have plans to get this fan to replace the stock on at the top rear of my case. It can go right into the PSU Via Molex and it has a dial that installs to adjust fan speed or I can just let it go full out.


http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=925067&CatId=801

Jones


----------



## derek_jones_36

Well here are some new pics of my rig with the new lighting courtesy of the new PCI slot fan. I also tidied up a bit with regards to the wiring. Don't mind the sata cables I had to put them that way so they wouldn't rub up against the front fan. I'll post some more pics after these. I can't wait to see how it looks when I put the vantec double fan below my GPU. Today when I got home from work I had a 21 degree temp on the CPU and 41 for the motherboard. Also the 4850 was a nice 46 degree temp.

Jones


----------



## derek_jones_36

A few more pics....


----------



## derek_jones_36

Has anyone used this fan before? I want to get it but I was concerned because of the potential for a ton of noise due to the high rpm's. I was thinking of the second choice which has a speed dial

Jones


http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=674635&CatId=801

http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=925067&CatId=801


----------



## CLAY_JoE

Yea, that fans going to sound like a high pitched Jet Engine.

Noise: 52.2 dB(A)

:wink:


----------



## emosun

put headphones on


----------



## derek_jones_36

Yeah that's what I thought. I am thinking the Vantec fan for the pci slot and I should be good for now. Maybe just some more efficient fans for the top and rear.

Jones


----------



## philheckler

Here's mine - enjoy



























Since these pictures were taken the 8800gt has been swapped for a gtx260 which almost didn't fit - would like to swap the antec 900 to a 1200 for improved cabling / more space - the antec 900 isz a little cramped.


----------



## CLAY_JoE

Nice pics, thanks for posting.

I like it when people put 'enjoy' after their pics, like we get off on it, lol :wink:

I have the same motherboard, great for overclocking but has no RAID 

Your cable management is good, I guess thats one of the advantages of having your PSU at the bottom.

Yea you should get a bigger case, get this one


----------



## philheckler

Now that's cool!!


----------



## WereBo

I bet it's a bu**er to clean, though :grin:


----------



## philheckler

A couple more pics but now with the gtx260 installed - i did have a 4870 512 but never really got on with it so i sold it - really love my gtx260 though - it's a keeper..


----------



## CLAY_JoE

Get some more RAM in that machine 

They're practically giving it away nowadays :tongue:


----------



## Jtsou

They are practically giving it away nowadays, but hes already got 4gb and his OS doesnt even support that much. He needs no more.


----------



## derek_jones_36

Looks like thereès some good airflow in that case with the two heavy front fans and the big rear top fan....wooooosh. I really like the PSU on the bottom. Gives the case some good stablility.

Jones


----------



## CLAY_JoE

Oh rite those are 2gb sticks, for some reason it wont let me open people's specs.


----------



## philheckler

Yeah they are 2x2gb sticks - will be going for a 64bit o/s soon afer i get a new 1TB drive - probably wait until win7 now though...

Antec 900 keeps my hardware nice and cool - my overclocked gtx idles at around 38c and maxes out at about 58 - 60c (running crysis) the e6750 really needs a new cooler to o/c over 3.2, not to worried about that at the mo though as its plenty fast enough for gaming.


----------



## derek_jones_36

Nice Temps U got there. I just picked up these two bad boys today (120mm & 80mm) to replace the stock rear fan and the lower rpm fan I have in the front which I will move to the side to replace that stock fan. Hopefully with the manual control for the rpm I should be able to bring temps down all around inside the case. I will have only one stock fan left and that will be the top fan which I'm thinking another smart fan (80mm).

http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=925072&Sku=T925-2009


http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=925067&CatId=801


----------



## swingman011

omg! look at those fan! it's a dust sucker. lol =P


----------



## derek_jones_36

I think that should say Hoover on it. I can't wait to install the two fans I picked up. The main reason I got these two fans is because I was disappointed with the fact that I can't regulate the speed of the fans when I want to. I love the fact that I can use the controller. It actually has three modes (AI Fan they call it) with one of the modes actually involving putting a temp sensor under the CPU and the other mode just being regular "always on speed". The manula control is definitely the way to go with these fans.

Jones


----------



## nonamedsomebody

that under the cpu censor is about worthless nowadays haha with the new socked types you almost have to go between the heat sink and cpu instead of the underside of the cpu.
another thing i recommend with pci-e video cards is removing the top cover and blowing out the heat sink they get clogged pretty fast especially the 8800gt it has no space between the heat sink fins


----------



## CLAY_JoE

Thats a good suggestion, my GPU seems to be heating up more than ever over the past couple of months.

Has anyone here got experience with the Thermalright HR03 PLUS?

http://www.thermalright.com/new_a_p...hr03plus/installation_vga_cooler_hr03plus.htm

Was thinking of getting one of these soon along with a PCI exhaust fan to help bring temps down.


----------



## derek_jones_36

Yeah I have no intentions of using the temp sensor anyway. I always had plans to use the manual speed control. I just want to get some good rpm's on my fans. As it stands right now I don't really get any high rpm's at all from the case fans that are controlled by the motherboard. They all run below 1000 rpm's. I need some control over them so I can manually move the speed up. Just enough anyway to move some better air than I have now. Eventuallually I'll change out the rooftop fan with another TT smartfan. I have a cheap LED Aftermarket fan in the front but it spins too slow. I was inside the case the other day and accidentally touched the fan and it almost stopped right away...not fast enough. Manual speed control fans for the front intake (120mm) and the top rear outtake (80mm) and then we'll be iceboxing in no time.

Jones


----------



## McNinja

Modded my side Case fan

its called using a bread knife and a bone knife!

My new OCZ CPU cooler is too big for it to fit before, now it fits like a charm

My GPU is 45C on idle
CPU is 34 to 36C on idle

and I'm back to 5 case fans

2x 120mm front fans sucking in air
1x 120mm side fan sucking air in
1x 120mm rrear fan blowing air out
1 x 200mm top blowing air out

My 120mm CPU fan blows air to the top
The grills are perpendicular to the rear fan so air can be sucked through easily
its not overclocked anymore since I don't trust my particular AMD CPU
fan stays around 1300 rpm

I found out my PSU fan sucks in air but its pretty cool and case can sort push the air out

and my GPU fan is at 60% on idle and goes up to around 70% on full load since I customized the bios for it


----------



## derek_jones_36

Well It took me some serious time and a few curse words but I finally got the TT Smart Fans installed. I of course went with the Manual Mode and let me tell ya I went through some hectic times during installation. First the wiring just made it worse since I don't have a great big case I had to wind them all over the place. Second I finally got everythin installed and ready to go and when I turned the system back on HOLY....%^#$&*.....what a noise. I thought to myself "what the hell did I do now"? Well I accidentally had the jumpers on which automatically puts the fans at high speed all the time. I was freakin. Then I got the jumper caps taken off started her up and voila...instant fan control. Not only do i have an idle temp on my 
CPU of 20 degrees with my motherboard at 36 down from 47 my GPU is at 39 idle temp simply because these fans are blowing sooo much air over my system that there's no way my system can get hot at this point. I have perfect temps right now......TIME TO OVERCLOCK.....LOL.


----------



## McNinja

I like those temps derek. what case are you using?


----------



## derek_jones_36

Thanks. I have a Lian Li Case. This One below. It's all aluminum and there's pretty good airflow. Right now I'm at a 3.5 Ghz overclock and my CPU is at 24 degrees. GPU temp is 42 where it would otherwise be 54. Motherboard is at 38 where it might be close to 50.

This is the case.
http://www.canadacomputers.com/index.php?do=ShowProduct&cmd=pd&pid=019261&cid=CS.664


It's the same as it's pictured but it has a side window. I would have liked the same case perhaps a bit bigger but this one seems to do the trick for what I use it for.

Jones


----------



## derek_jones_36

I would acredit the lower temps to the new fans more than the case. I have the new fans at 1577 & 2280 RPM's....I'd say that would do the trick in dropping some case temps. I have ais blowing out the rear of my case liker a little gust shooting out...

Jones


----------



## McNinja

its a midtower case most people have those, and your temps are verynice so whats to worry now right!:jackson:


----------



## derek_jones_36

Exactly. I just want to have nice temps when I game so I can keep good fps and performance should be right on par.

Jones


----------



## McNinja

well what do you think of my modded case fan?

its ghettoriffic eh!


----------



## derek_jones_36

I really like how you modded it to attach to the side of the case. Is that attached through the holes? I've seen those cpu coolers...freakin huge those things. Not too sure if I could attache that to my E8400...don't know if I would have the case room. I have a pretty low profile cpu fan/heatsink which seems to do the trick. Whats the second pic ypu have there? 

Jones


----------



## derek_jones_36

We do what we can to keep those temps down...heat is the enemy.

Jones


----------



## derek_jones_36

Temps with a 3.62 Ghz Overclock with my OCZ Memory at 980 Mhz are between 28-33 and the Motherboard temp is 39. GPU is still at 42 with the fan at 60%

Jones


----------



## McNinja

see my CPU is 90nm technology and your is I guess 65nm technology so mine will be hotter even with a better CPU cooler

the side fan is held in place by a prebuilt 4 little pins and two clips setup

and the cpu cooler is just held on by the regular AM2 clip

yea the CPU cooler is about a finger width from the side of the case

yea I count the fans at 8 in my case
5 case fans
1 PSU fan
1 PSU fans
1 GPU fan

I really want a Intel system later on. My next upgrade will be Core i7


----------



## derek_jones_36

Actually the E8400 is the 45nm architechture. I have the overclock pretty steady at 3.62 Ghz and I have never went beyind that yet. I imagine I would really have to put the fans at a nice speed to keep that cool. I'm at 25 degrees right now for my CPU but mind you I have the two new fans at 3125 and 1704 whoch has made mt rig rather noisy. I could probably handle scaling back a bit and taking the overclock off and use it for games only. The GPU is still at 42 idle with no OC. All in all I would probably keep everything the way it is for now. 

Jones


----------



## McNinja

my GTX 260 goes like this for auto clocking

on idle
Core Clock 300mhz
Shader Clock 600mhz
Memory Clock 100mhz

on full load
Core Clock: 720mhz
Shader Clock: 1520mhz
Memory Clock:1220mhz

yes I really like the coolness of 45nm technology but I've got the old 90nm so bleh


----------



## nonamedsomebody

45nm cooling is very nice thanks intel. That is a big jump from idle to full Mcninjaguy. bet it helps on keeping gpu temps down.


----------



## McNinja

yea my GTX 260 uses 25 watts on idle and 35 watts while watching movies

and then 190watts when playing games


----------



## fireboy2010

well this is my first rig so far.


----------



## McNinja

post your specs Fireboy2010

go into user CP
and go into options

then put all your info there

I'm not very big on the blueness, and your case is way too flashy for me. I like a pratical case with slight flashiness. Like the clear panel on the side of my case because my computer is pretty! I just don't like the led's too much on the front fans I have.

can you take a wider pic of your case Fireboy? I want to see it as a whole

like this


----------



## fireboy2010

well now because its my first computer its not the greatest and its a almost a year old.

lets see my cpu is an intel 2.20GHz duo core
bus speed is 800
i have 4G ddr2 ram 
a 500G hard drive... i didnt need that big of one.
i have a peice of crap 550W logisys PSU
i am planning on getting a new one plus a new video card for it also
i also have an Xtreme sound 7.1 24 bit Diamond sound card
and i am also planning on getting a network card for it also

my desk here is kinda messy and yes that stereo is connected to my computer


----------



## McNinja

Iwould say leave the network card out out and focus on getting a better graphics card and PSU

my desk is messier
and I got my logitech G9 gaming mouse man what a beauty to use.


----------



## derek_jones_36

I see from the pics you have FEAR 2 there. Good Play...???

Jones


----------



## McNinja

just beat it a minute ago freaky scary man!

people blowing up good stuff


----------



## nonamedsomebody

good god clean up your desk we can play I spy with that pile haha. jk


----------



## McNinja

not as bad as my stacking abilities

the left stack is as follows
Printer
Clo0ck radio
Oblivion game guide
Dreamweaver by Stephen king
50 Blank DVD's
couple empty DVD cases 
piece of paper
Toilet paper
dirty bowl

Right stack is just this
Printer
Fallout3
Lord of the Rings Conquest
Lain (anime series)
almost empty DVD stack

EDIT: bowl is gone now stack remains the same and so are the pepsi cans

second EDIt new and improved stack


----------



## derek_jones_36

Geer I wonder if we should hold a pool on just how old the food is over there.....LMAO.

Jones


----------



## fireboy2010

yea that mouse is really nice but you should also try the logitech g11 keyboard it kicks butt


----------



## derek_jones_36

U know What I have been having just the best time with the keyboard I grabbed when I was building my system. The Ideazon Merc Stealth Keyboard has a great keyboard Layout, very nice directional buttons all on the left and a nice raised reload button. I've got some sweet pics of it as well. It's very responsive and the Logitech MX518 Mouse is Awesome as well. Some very nice gaming with this combo.

Jones


----------



## McNinja

I don't mind my keyboards plain but I like a fancy mouse


----------



## CLAY_JoE

I agree with that, I just got a Saitek Eclipse keyboard, pretty standard. But my baby is my Razer Copperhead, I would spend upwards of £40 on a mouse, its so worth it. Plus its just as important having a good surface to use it on, I'm using an ICEMAT at the moment, loving that to :smile:

I love your pile of "stuff" McNinjaGuy, hahah, I just hope that toilet roll you have there is for spillages and not its intended use


----------



## stressfreesoul

I use a Microsoft Natural Ergonomic 4000 Keyboard (the weirdy shaped qwerty) and a Logitech Trackman Wheel (I cant do without a trackball now).


----------



## McNinja

I spent $110 on that mouse there

The toilet paper is there for my nose.


----------



## CLAY_JoE

Wow, that must of been a while ago, its only around $35-$40 now.

Never used a logitech mouse tbh, always felt they looked a bit clunky, and uncomfortable, although i'm sure they aren't.


----------



## McNinja

ahh no this mouse is still $100
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16826104079


----------



## HawMan

Mcninjaguy said:


> I don't mind my keyboards plain but I like a fancy mouse



I've got the same speakers as you. 5.1?


They're the best i've used.


----------



## stressfreesoul

Mcninjaguy said:


> ahh no this mouse is still $100
> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16826104079


Holy Moley, that much for a mouse?


----------



## CLAY_JoE

Strange, more expensive in US that England :O

Never seen that before.

Can pick it up here for £25.


----------



## nonamedsomebody

I am using a Logitech cordless internet pro keyboard and mouse setup running through a kvm this is all wireless. I am also using a logitech basic corded mouse as well I don't like the feel of the wireless mouse so it basically gets used for the second pc hooked to my kvm.


----------



## derek_jones_36

Wow that Logitech Mouse looks overweight....pretty wide I'd say. I like the red lights on the side with the Adjustable DPI but it looks a little to big for me. My MX18 mouse also from Logitech seems a bit thinner and more ergonomic. I still need a good mouse pad though. I've been using the wooden surface of my desk which is pretty smooth and works well but a mouse pad really is what I should have. I've been looking at this one.

http://www.canadacomputers.com/index.php?do=ShowProduct&cmd=pd&pid=019975&cid=PE.13

Jones


----------



## CLAY_JoE

Yea thats similiar to what I have, very good, definately recommend it if you game alot.


----------



## derek_jones_36

Very Nice. Well I should grab that one this weekend if they have it in stock. I need something that's not going to be too oversized that it will be cumbersome. I was going to go for the glass surface mouse pad but I was worried it might be too fragile.

Jones


----------



## McNinja

actually the G9 gaming mouse is super light and it has adjustable wieghts you can put in

4 x 4 gram weights 
4 x 7 gram weights


----------



## derek_jones_36

The G9 Gaming Mouse is at Futureshop for $80 Off at $69.99. Not too sure if that's a good deal or not.

http://www.futureshop.ca/catalog/pr...angid=EN&sku_id=0665000FS10094050&catid=27320

Jones


----------



## McNinja

that is a good deal

I mean it was overpriced to begin wit but now the price is actually reasonable

when I sad I bought it for $110 that includes Canadian taxes at 13%

so I think it was $90 and then with taxes around $101.70

The mouse is real nice cuz you can totally change your play style with adjustable DPI
I have 5 settings perconfigured in the Setpoint driver
3200 dpi
2800 dpi
2400 dpi
2000 dpi
1600 dpi

I like my mouse fast and I can snipe very well with 2400 dpi and lower and plus it has 1,000 reports a minute for where the mouse is so its super accurate. and the mouse whell clicks side to side and the normal down. it can roll freely too, like I press a button on the bottom of the mouse it disengages the clicking action of the wheel and it spins freely - real handy for scrolling through big documents


----------



## derek_jones_36

I Know this is a little off topic right now but in my online travels I was looking for something I could use to tidy up my case on the interior with regards to cable management and I found this kit for cable clips. The Six cable holders in the bottom left of the pic are amazing. I had one of these in my case but it snapped off when I was installing a fan. If you can place these in the right spots then you can really eliminate alot of what I like to call "CC" for Cable Clutter. I plan on getting this set (or two) to really neaten up the inside of my case. They really look like they would be great for PSU Cables .

Jones

http://www.staples.ca/ENG/Catalog/cat_sku.asp?CatIds=73,77,4014,4017&webid=623567&affixedcode=WWt from Staples. Well the


----------



## derek_jones_36

These one's aren't bad either.


http://www.staples.ca/ENG/Catalog/cat_sku.asp?CatIds=73,77,4014,4017&webid=623568

&afhttp://www.staples.ca/ENG/Catalog/cat_sku.asp?CatIds=73%2C77%2C4014,4017&webid=MMM17303C&affixedcode=WWfixedcode=WW


Jones


----------



## derek_jones_36

oops sorry about the second one....didn't go through.


http://www.staples.ca/ENG/Catalog/cat_sku.asp?CatIds=73,77,4014,4017&webid=MMM17303C&affixedcode=WW


Jones


----------



## derek_jones_36

Yeah then I was looking at the Tiger.ca site and the tool that I am I never thought they would have the same clips in a bulk pack for $27.99 from Cables-to-Go.

http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=984270&CatId=85

Jones


----------



## stressfreesoul

I just stick to cable ties. Cheap as chips and you can get a thousand for a couple of bob.
I always route cables before any other item is fitted with the case as a skeleton. Those commonly used cables like the 24pin, the 4pin ATX and the 6/8 pin graphics cable can be routed part way, then left with a bit free for removal and if you change motherboards.


----------



## nonamedsomebody

> I just stick to cable ties. Cheap as chips and you can get a thousand for a couple of bob.
> I always route cables before any other item is fitted with the case as a skeleton. Those commonly used cables like the 24pin, the 4pin ATX and the 6/8 pin graphics cable can be routed part way, then left with a bit free for removal and if you change motherboards


This is a good Idea I also before I begin figure out which plugs im gonna need and tie up what I don't need before I even start building.


----------



## grimx133

Similar here, I separate the cables into two bundles, the ones I'm going to use, and the ones I'm not. Then I stash the ones I'm not, first thing. Much more difficult to hide unused cables if you don't do it right away. That's one of the best things about the 1200, there's enough space behind the tray to run and/or hide all your cables.


----------



## stressfreesoul

I always leave a 5.25" bay empty at the top for them with a drive in the next one down. Unless there is enough space behind the PSU. 
I dont get why modular PSU's arent as highly recommended as wired ones though, the lack of the cables there cant change much, can it?


----------



## grimx133

They're recommended, just a tad pricey for most. One more thing to accidentally unplug too, but not really a prob. One of these years I'll get a monster video card and psu.


----------



## M3guy

Alright Guys cleaned up my personal area now what do you think ?

Also added a small vent on top for the massive fan on the 850 watt Cooler Master.

Even cleaned the slurpee off of the wall lol.


----------



## CLAY_JoE

Nice one man, definitely looks a lot better than before.

Next I think you should modify your sofa, i.e. get rid of it :laugh:

What case is that btw?


----------



## CLAY_JoE

Nice one man, definitely looks a lot better than before.

Next I think you should modify your sofa, i.e. get rid of it :laugh:

What case is that btw? Micro ATX?


----------



## McNinja

that looks more like a mid tower to me


----------



## WereBo

M3guy said:


> Alright Guys cleaned up my personal area now what do you think ?
> 
> Also added a small vent on top for the massive fan on the 850 watt Cooler Master.
> 
> Even cleaned the slurpee off of the wall lol.


Looking a lot better indeed :wink:

1 little suggestion I'd make though, through personal discovery :grin:

Instead of having the case on the floor, try lifting it up at least 6" off the carpet - The dust quantity will be reduced drastically. 

I was evicting dust-bunnies and cleaning my PC on a monthly basis, until I sat the case on couple of strong boxes. Now it needs only cleaning approx. 8-9 months.


----------



## HawMan

My PC is for sale now, Woopee !



Back to my AMD rig if poss !


----------



## nonamedsomebody

thats not so bad if its the one in your system stats. the amd 5000.


----------



## stressfreesoul

HawMan said:


> My PC is for sale now, Woopee !


In the papers? Private sale? Im interested in buying.


----------



## CLAY_JoE

Can I buy that GTX 280? :smile:

Question, why are you selling what looks like the better system? (Intel)


----------



## groudon185p

I'll take the blu-ray then if you're taking the gtx, Been looking for something good to use on my really nice screen hehe.


----------



## M3guy

CLAY_JoE said:


> Nice one man, definitely looks a lot better than before.
> 
> Next I think you should modify your sofa, i.e. get rid of it :laugh:
> 
> What case is that btw?


It is an antec sonata I think it is ok nothing fancy but pretty quiet and cool.


----------



## HawMan

Its for local sale just now as i've never posted anything before and would like to avoid it if i can ( as i have no idea how to do it anyway lol ). Selling as i really only play BF2 and even my AMD rig with the 8800gt plays it at 100FPS solid. Plus i fancy a new hobby, something like Remote Control Nitro cars.


However if i get an offer for my AMD rig that could well be for sale too :smooch:


----------



## CLAY_JoE

Will you break it for spares or you wanna keep the whole rig as a whole?


----------



## HawMan

CLAY_JoE said:


> Will you break it for spares or you wanna keep the whole rig as a whole?


It would have to be as a whole.






Anyway, Todays update.












Dust Bunnies 












Corsair TX 650W Out - - - 750W Toughpower in.


My LG Blu ray player blew though :embarased


----------



## McNinja

yesterday Corsair 750w out
and a shiny Corsair 850w in

weee!


----------



## emosun

That empty fan hole would drive me nuts.


----------



## emosun

Like when you buy a new car and theres a piece of plastic covering a hole on the dash where some kind of better option would go.


----------



## derek_jones_36

Holy friggin dust....look at that rig. I bet it'll fly once it's nice and clean. 

Jones


----------



## McNinja

holy batdust BATMAN!


----------



## HawMan

Just got a 32" plasma which will be used for my monitor. Pics to come !


----------



## M3guy

Tried to update as I have made it better. Is it possible to display images as png ?


----------



## HawMan




----------



## McNinja

Beastly!


----------



## HawMan

Its brilliant so far.


----------



## McNinja

the pic isn't too high quality but how does it look on the TV?


----------



## HawMan

Pic was taken on my mobile ( cell phone for you americans ! ).


The Image Quality is amazing so far. I have the HDMI cable here but lost my DVI - HDMI adaptor, so ill need to get another.


----------



## John Von Trapp

Here is mine:


















































Same specs as on the side. I will probably pull the entire thing apart tomorrow and rebuild, actually thinking about my cable management.


----------



## McNinja

@John Von Trapp

is that a PCI cooler below your video card?


----------



## emosun

I've heard lots of horror stories about those.


----------



## grimx133

They are loud, had one in briefly, very briefly.


----------



## emosun

I've heard they melt a lot. Although I have a vantec one with two fans and it's been very good. I seem to have nothing but good experiences with bad products , lol. Windows me , pci fans , gateway hardware , maxtor hdd's , lol


----------



## John Von Trapp

Mcninjaguy said:


> @John Von Trapp
> 
> is that a PCI cooler below your video card?


It is, its the Antec Cyclone Blower, the 2 slot version of this one here.

I heard a few horror stories about it as well, but it has done a pretty good job pushing air out. Nice and quiet, and dropped the case about 7 degrees pray:ray, so I am happy with it. I am considering buying a second one. Its not a PCI cooler per se, as it doesn't actually plug into a slot, but it fits into their back slots.

@Emosun, LOL at the Windows ME reference. Mine worked exactly for one year, to the DAY. Then the computer just refused to boot it :4-dontkno:4-dontkno:upset:


----------



## emosun

I'm not kidding either , I had a compaq deskpro that had windows me on it and I liked it. It was like windows 98 only it had a few extras. Worked very well too. I know now that it's bad but can't lie. lol

About the pci fan (i'll just call it a pci fan). I would skip getting another one and just add a couple 120mm fans to the side panel. Those will do much better then just another pci fan. Think you can get two led ones for 15$ but regular black ones are even cheaper.


----------



## grimx133

It was the Cyclone Blower I had, just checked. Didn't like it at all, not that I have any need for it now, tried it with an older case that didn't have airflow like the 1200. 
Did put in a great fan a few hours ago though. AC Accelero Twin Turbo to replace the stock on my 9800GT, dropped the temps 20C both idle and load. So much quieter too.


----------



## John Von Trapp

emosun said:


> I'm not kidding either , I had a compaq deskpro that had windows me on it and I liked it. It was like windows 98 only it had a few extras. Worked very well too. I know now that it's bad but can't lie. lol
> 
> About the pci fan (i'll just call it a pci fan). I would skip getting another one and just add a couple 120mm fans to the side panel. Those will do much better then just another pci fan. Think you can get two led ones for 15$ but regular black ones are even cheaper.


Sadly, the side of my case only has drilled holes for one 80mm fan. And there isnt enough room there for one with the Noctua sitting there anyway. I have a 120mm down the front there as an intake. I am taking that stupid LCD panel out of the front, and am probably gonna custom job a pair of 80/90 mm fans in there, acting as another intake. Just looking for some mesh or something to cover it

PS> Dont you just love how well squared those badges are on the front of my PC?? :grin::grin:


EDIT: Well, now I am just proud of my little PC. I had an In-place Large FTT Prime95 test running on one monitor, along with everest and real temp to watch my Temperatures, and on the other monitor Crysis Warhead running @ High GFX ("Gamer" settings according to in-game) @ 45 FPS, 1680x1050, Temp maxed out at 60C after 3 1/2 hours straight gaming and Prime95-ing. With an overclocked E8500 running @3.66 :grin: Thats good enough for me.


----------



## emosun

That's why you get a jigsaw and make some 120mm holes , lol. Don't let your case tell you what fans go where , tell your case it's getting lot's of giant fans whether it likes it or not. lol


----------



## John Von Trapp

Hahaha, I huess your right, I just dont want to bugger up the measurements. Bah, it'll just mean more airflow, all those little holes


----------



## emosun

It's really easy , just grab any old cd or disk and trace two holes on the case side and cut them out. Ones of the cheapest and easiest things to do to any computer is add side panel fans.


----------



## HawMan

Heres my great wiring.












Another of the monitor/tv. I totally love it. Played FEAR 2 on it and was just totally amazed. I love it so much i feel like getting another and mounting it on the wall above.


----------



## emosun

I got that same microsoft mouse.


----------



## McNinja

is that 5.1 speaker system?


----------



## HawMan

yup, 5.1


----------



## McNinja

Sweet!

wheres the other 2 speakers? pretty far back in the room? right behind where you sit?


----------



## derek_jones_36

Nice and airy that rig is....I just got the antec double fan today. Put it below My GPU right at the bottom of the case. It's not bad actually. It's obviousltnot meant to push as much air as a case fan since it's right below the Graphics Card so it does the trick. Pics below....more to follow....

Jones


----------



## derek_jones_36

more pics...


----------



## derek_jones_36

Pics...


----------



## Warfare

I see you like the color blue... LOL

Once I get the money Im gonna try to make my case all orange.. If I can find orange lights...


----------



## derek_jones_36

Yeah my Wife's a real sucker for blue. What I have planend later on is to cut out a hole in the side window and attach perhaps a 140mm fan or perhaps a darker coloured one...perhaps a Noctua Unit so it's not so visible but I can still get the airflow I need. I figured all I really need to do is get the dremel and drill the holes in the side and then either drill multiple holes in the plastic side or just cut it right out and attach a grill or leave it open.

Jones


----------



## HawMan

Mcninjaguy said:


> Sweet!
> 
> wheres the other 2 speakers? pretty far back in the room? right behind where you sit?


They're mounted on the wall behind the TV.


To be honest - Its a cracker, but its getting pretty sore on the eyes. Im going to buy a 20" LCD or something, and have this hooked up as a secondary monitor ( For movies etc ).


----------



## McNinja

I think a 22" LCD Monitor is the perfect size with a resolution of whatever it is 1680 x 1050


----------



## HawMan

1920 x 1080 is the max i can go, but id turn blind in a night trying to see the screen :laugh:


----------



## derek_jones_36

Yeah My LG Flatron is a 22" and goes max to 1680X1050. I really think it's probably the perfect blend of picture/colour for gaming. You wouldn't want to be too far away from the screen or else some of the gaming elements might get lost....spotting bad guys/targets...etc... I did see some really nice units from Samsung that are 24-25" in size that have the nice HDMI Inputs for 1920X1200 which would be really sweet with my Blue Ray/HD DVD Player.

Jones


----------



## emosun

I still love my old dell crt , 2560x1600! lol. It doesn't actually support that res but it still shows it. Rather then just turning off or saying "out of range".


----------



## magnethead

if it weren't for a 22" widescreen LCD, 19" 5:4 LCD, and 4 big blue fans, I wouldn't know i had 3 computers sitting there. You can see hybrid at lower left and my custom painted dell at the bottom right.

(click picture for bigger one)




I'm hoping to get it cleaned by wednesday so i can install the new motherboard same day that I get it.


----------



## McNinja

is that speaker taped to the wall!


----------



## Tiber Septim

Why not, everything else is. =)
Nice setup, any chance we could get a close up shot of the custom paintjob?


----------



## magnethead

the speaker is hung from a 3M hook using kite string. But yes, my cabling mess is painters taped to the wall (no residue) but there's a 3M hook over the door to keep them supported.

I have it posted on here somewhere..lemme get the link...

edit- http://www.techsupportforum.com/f76/project-gone-xtreme-260-a-340802.html

The ethernet and cable TV jacks are on another wall, constituting the cables from the right, the 2 wires from the left are the FM and OTA DTV antennas (one line) and the USB IR sensor.


----------



## McNinja

yea I recently changed my setup to this

I have a rather large coffee table that my comp now sits upon

and look at my beautiful poster of Chewie!


----------



## magnethead

a picture of a picture? 

And i see the X-530's are quite popular.


----------



## McNinja

my speakers are the X-230's (only 2 speakers)


----------



## HawMan

Before











My Two babys - The One on the Right isnt being used, Cant be bothered rebuilding it.










After


----------



## McNinja

is that a temp monitor? 
looks PRETTY!


----------



## HawMan

Yeah, using it as a monitor just now.. Got it hooked up to Freeview TV too.

Although it cost a fair whack. £400 ( around $750 i think ).


Looking to get a 22" LCD Monitor soon though,


----------



## McNinja

I don't think the exchange rate is that much

£400 probably = $480 or so


----------



## magnethead

shoulda just got a Tuner card???


----------



## HawMan

magnethead said:


> shoulda just got a Tuner card???


haha yeah. i was actually going to buy a projector at first tho...


----------



## magnethead

I wouldn't mind a small $300 or so projector...that could get fun.


----------



## magnethead

have you guys with the 900 been having front jack audio problems? Mine will tend to cut in and out, and the "select device" box will come up repeatedly from the realtek controller.


----------



## McNinja

my nice logitech X-230's have microphone jacks in them so I just use that and not the front jacks


----------



## emosun

HawMan said:


> The One on the Right isnt being used, Cant be bothered rebuilding it.


Sweet can I borrow that corsair 650 for the mean time? lol.

I gotta take some pics of mine too it's been a long time.


----------



## HawMan

If you lived in the UK then yeah as i can send it out through my work free of charge.


But since your in the states i cant.


----------



## McNinja

yea and I've got a Corsair 750w lying around too

yet to test it with a multimeter though


----------



## emosun

HawMan said:


> If you lived in the UK then yeah as i can send it out through my work free of charge.
> 
> 
> But since your in the states i cant.


awwwww


----------



## emosun

I'm so low on power supplies I'm actually using a free one that came with a case. It's so cheap there is only two screws holding the fan in , no joke. It actually came like that. lol


----------



## McNinja

thats ghetto-tastic man!


----------



## magnethead




----------



## Jtsou

magnethead said:


>


Wow Magnet, you look at mine and then look at yours and the only way you can tell the difference is that I have a crappy Graphics card.


----------



## McNinja

I don't understand why do you guys like leaving the side of the case off and with you Jtsou leaving the front off?


----------



## HawMan

I need a 120mm side fan, and a 120mm top fan.


but im too lazy to fit them.


----------



## Jtsou

Mcninjaguy said:


> I don't understand why do you guys like leaving the side of the case off and with you Jtsou leaving the front off?


I dont remember taking the front off but i take the side off to take pictures only.


----------



## McNinja

ohh sorry Jtsou I only glanced real quickly yesterday since I ate some bad food at a friends house - I should've and he should checked expiry dates

I was meaning to direct my question towards magnet head


----------



## emosun

The case I have my secondary rig in is weird , I currently have 6 80mm fans in it. It actually has 4 spots on the front for 4 80mm fans. But the face plate completely covers them up , what a bad design. I should snap a pic of it.


----------



## McNinja

yea I hate the cases with face plates on them it just blocks a lot of airflow that could be happening!


----------



## CLAY_JoE

Yea, my case is the same (Thermaltake Shark), just leave the faceplate constantly open though. Although the air that comes through the front is still almost negligable, don't understand, new high powered fan and the dust filter is clean:4-dontkno


----------



## emosun

Maybe you just keep a clean house , lol.


----------



## magnethead

i think he means the fan pressure. 

Thefilter may be hampering the airflow. Generally, the more visibly transparent the filter is, the less dust will be trapped and more air flowed...more visibly opaque, alot of dust trapped but no airflow, and constant cleaning.


----------



## emosun

Just clean your house and you'll never have dust. lol

No but really I just opt for no filters and clean out the dust every now and then , it's not to hard if you use a shop compressor or caned air.


----------



## CLAY_JoE

Yea I may take it out tonight then, its a really dense dust filter.

I just run out of compressed air actually, had like 16 cans, lol, the guy on ebay I got them off is no longer there, wheres the next best/cheapest alternative? (in UK).

If anyone says PC World I'll shoot them :tongue:


----------



## HawMan

Long shot, But Wolseley Parts Center ( Where i work ) does them. Im sure its around £5 a can, lll double check tomorrow.


Im lucky - i get them for free.


----------



## Jtsou

HawMan said:


> Long shot, But Wolseley Parts Center ( Where i work ) does them. Im sure its around £5 a can, lll double check tomorrow.
> 
> 
> Im lucky - i get them for free.


I dont live in the UK but i know 5 pounds is a lot, how big is the can?


----------



## CLAY_JoE

Yea that is pricey, I got 4 x standard size cans for £8


----------



## HawMan

Its 400ml cans.

Trade price of £10 each.


----------



## Jtsou

Hmm we get 400ml cans for about $4 here.


----------



## grimx133

If I go to Staples or FS or somesuch it's at least 10 bucks a can, order from ncix and get 16oz./450g. cans for about 5 bucks. Ordered 4 cans when I was ordering some other stuff last week.


----------



## McNinja

I've been getting my cans for $6 per 315ml can


----------



## emosun

Seems weird you should pay at all considering it's canned air. lol. It's the result of "I bet I can get people to buy air".


----------



## McNinja

I think its canned nitrogen as its cold when used or something

its also fatal if you inhale the air directly up your noise or mouth


----------



## emosun

Oh well thats good. lol


----------



## McNinja

read the warning label! its true


----------



## grimx133

You can tell us...........who did you test it on?


----------



## McNinja

you mean apart from myself clearly being a ninja (look at name I'm an Irish Ninja!) that has no morals but thats done with training.......


----------



## grimx133

What, the no morals, or the irish part? Actually, I've got some cousins who are finn/irish, interesting combination.

Starting to think about going to canadian tire one of these years and picking up a compressor..............


----------



## McNinja

I dunno I was tired last night....


----------



## John Von Trapp

emosun said:


> About the pci fan (i'll just call it a pci fan). I would skip getting another one and just add a couple 120mm fans to the side panel. Those will do much better then just another pci fan. Think you can get two led ones for 15$ but regular black ones are even cheaper.


Well, I bought a new case off a mate at work for $20 check the photos for my mad PC mods :laugh::laugh:


































LOL as you can see I bought another PCI cooler, and fit it into the slot above my HDD, which is sitting in the floppy rack. Dropped it about 6C.
I had to cut a hole in the side of my case so that I could have that 80mm fan on the side still work thanks to the bloody noctua :upset: Its caused so many ripped shirts haha
I also added another 120mm fan to the other side of my Noctua, slams the air through so quick its good.


----------



## emosun

Lol , reminds me of my case , same company probably , diablotek.










Did you put a pci fan in the 3.5 drive bay blowing outward?


----------



## John Von Trapp

Yeah mate, it sucks hot air off the HDD and blows out the front. I drilled a bunch of holes in the front of the PC, its one of those hidden compartment ones, so it gets air out that way if its closed. Its normally open anyway, so not much point in the end I guess haha


----------



## emosun

Typically when the drives are in the drive bays the front intake will move cool air over them and then port it out the back of the pc.


----------



## John Von Trapp

Yes, but I cant reverse the fan without pulling the cooler apart. And I cant be bothered to do that. I have two intakes, one on the side and one on the top, this is because they are exposed to the coolest air to bring into the case. Then I have 1x80mm on back as exhaust, that Antec twin fan PCI cooler, 2x 80mm fan down bottom of case at front and the one above the HDD. Once I get some fan filters I will be reversing the 80mm and using them as intakes probably.


----------



## emosun

You fans seem to be blowing all over the place. When you do case cooling the air should be moving in one direction only. This generally is from front to back. The front and side panel are used as intakes , and the top and rear are exhaust. The top is exhaust because it removes the rising heat in the top of the case. This may help










The way you have it now is your pc is intakeing hot rising air and porting it out the front and back , which changes it from one direction into several , causing the airflow to be slower moving in random directions.


----------



## Apartment_Trash

I just got a regular old Compaq with Win XP. But a green rope light in it and made 10ft extension to the USB ports so I could put my internet receiver in my window for better signal. Also made some custom speakers and hooked a massive base speaker to it. Other than that, thats it. The ethernet you see going up the wall goes to my 360, which I've yet to succesfully connet to my PC. (made a post about my problem in console gaming section)


----------



## HawMan

testing phone camera out

YouTube - Liams PC


----------



## McNinja

What kind of Camera Phone is that?
The new 8MP ones?


----------



## HawMan

Yup.

Its the New Tocco ultra

http://blog.rightmobilephone.co.uk/samsung-s8300-tocco-ultra-review/


----------



## floydfan

Here's my latest incarnation of my case


----------



## emosun

yikes!


----------



## stressfreesoul

I like the frontal artwork.


----------



## McNinja

I've never seen a case like that! Nice artwork on the side and I like the fake temp drawing on the front.


----------



## WereBo

I like the idea of the handles, for easy carrying :grin:


----------



## grimx133

Yes, the frontal artwork would go well with the floyd pajamas I'm currently lounging around in.


----------



## floydfan

Mcninjaguy said:


> I've never seen a case like that! Nice artwork on the side and I like the fake temp drawing on the front.


what's a temp drawing? Everything was done by hand, if you mean its some sort of an applique?


----------



## grimx133

I'd guess mac doesn't know the wall eh.


----------



## emosun

It hard to tell from the angle but I thought it was like notebook paper with drawings on it.


----------



## floydfan

here's what the front looks like.


----------



## McNinja

I thought the two hammer's picture was a fake temperature reader! 

Does the front open like a door?


----------



## floydfan

yes, the front is a door.


----------



## philheckler

Update on some earlier pics....

I attacked the motherbaord tray on my Antec 900 last weekend with a hole saw , wanted to hide some of the cable mess because my seasonic s12 psu is non modular - also put a hole in the bottom of the case so i could put the psu the right way up. 

Before and after pics are below - pretty happy with the results - now just waiting for my freezer 7 to arrive to replace the intel cooler..

Before...










After..





























I was pretty happy with the results - now i dont have to unplug a load of cables just to remove the graphics - note the constructive use of duck tap to line the holes... :grin::grin:


----------



## McNinja

YES DUCT tape we need to see more modifications using duct tape!
So that duct tape is to line the hole so the wires don't get frayed!

good thinking!


----------



## philheckler

Yes i put a couple of squares of duck tape over each hole - cut an x in each piece and folded the triangle pices back through the hole.


----------



## WereBo

:4-clap: :4-clap: :4-clap: Ingenious :grin:


----------



## Warfare

I did the same thing to my Antec 900.. Yes, the duct tape helps a lot but is a way different color of gray. Also, my cables aren't as neat as yours are. I cant seem to get most of my cables to stay in the back, they will usually make the one side look like it has a bubble in it.


Edit...

IS that a newer or older version of the Antec 900? The sleeve of the back fan is black for me and also the speed selectors are black for me. And next to the pci slots that grate is a water tubing pass for me.


----------



## derek_jones_36

Sometimes I wish I didn't have so many fans then I could have a neater rig on the inside. I did get it pretty neat with the velcro method but I feel it could be better perhaps with a fan controller that way I could avoid having the mess.

Jones


----------



## McNinja

I have all my cables stuffed in below my HDD's!
I have a Antec 900 too!

Everything stays cools and most of my fans are on medium except for the top fan and front top fan are on high


----------



## philheckler

My Antec 900 is a rev1 , it wasn't easy getting the side panel back on i acn tell you as there are a lot of cables in there - but with more duck tape an patience i managed to get the whole lot to sit ppretty flat aloowing the side panel to go back on..


Just waiting for my freezer 7 cpu coller to arrive now - any aponions on whether I should remove th mobo or not for fitting ? also which way should i point hte freezer 7 - towards the back fan or the top fan ?


----------



## McNinja

I have my OCZ Vendetta 120mm CPU fan pointed to the top fan.
I figure the rear fan can still pull air through the grills and top fan is better at pushing out more air. I think it facing top or rear will be fine. depends on what fits.

I had to take a knife to mys side fan and cut of a bit of the corner since my CPU heatsink is friggin HUGE! It has about 3 cm clearance from the side of my case

I really like having a top fan. it allows a lot more heat dissipation, since you know heat rises.

I get around 34C on idle with my room at around 23C


----------



## Acuta73

MUCH prettier wire-wise than my Antec 900. Like the idea of pointing the PSU out of the case,but more air-gap (feet) seems like a good idea.

I have a fan controller, interior CFL, and temp probes to deal with for wires. I guess I just have to deal with the extra spaghetti.

Mebbe I need a new hole or 2 to lose all the cable from my PSU into the tray. LOVE how clean the floor is on yours. The majority of the PSU cables on mine are stuffed under the lower HDD cage.

WONDERFUL wiring job!


----------



## philheckler

Many thanks for the nice feedback guys :grin::grin::grin: - it's great getting positive comments form users around the world for my rig here in Wales :wave::wave:. @ ssrog , the original feet are still on my case , even though from the pics it looks as though it's flat on the floor there's about 1" clearence - I was a little worried about my psu overheating in this configuration but it seems to be nice and cool so far..


----------



## Jtsou

Warfare said:


> I did the same thing to my Antec 900.. Yes, the duct tape helps a lot but is a way different color of gray. Also, my cables aren't as neat as yours are. I cant seem to get most of my cables to stay in the back, they will usually make the one side look like it has a bubble in it.
> 
> 
> Edit...
> 
> *IS that a newer or older version of the Antec 900? The sleeve of the back fan is black for me and also the speed selectors are black for me. And next to the pci slots that grate is a water tubing pass for me.*


Probably not the stock fan.


----------



## philheckler

It is the stock fan - all my 12cm fans are the same - clear body - black blades....


----------



## philheckler

With reference to my pics above - i've just bought an Akasa Nero cpu cooler - i'm in a quandry whether to point it at the top fan on my antec 900 or the rear fan - my concern with pointing upwards to the top is that it may pull hot air directly off my gtx260 , so at the moment i'm inclined to point the cpu cooler towards the rear fan any thoughts anyone ?


----------



## McNinja

I have a GTX 260 and a AMD AM2 6000+ 3ghz dual core. with a a OCZ 120mm fan heatsink. It is pointed upwards and in the bios when my room is around 21C it reports my CPU as around 30C.

I don't think it matters if its pointed up back it'll still really cool off your CPU.


----------



## philheckler

Had no choice but to fit it pointing up in the end - only way it would fit! , great results though - 23c idle / around 44c 100% load (prime) , used to get around 35c idle / 75c fully loaded... :grin::grin::grin: The akasa nero is reccomended by me!!


----------



## dahaxer

Manufacturer: HP Pavilion 061 
Processor: Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 3.06GHz 
Memory: 2552MB RAM (3.0GB If it didnt use System Memory 
Hard Drive: 1TB (Too Much For Me) 
Video Card: ATI Diamond 9250 Raedon PCI 256MB 
Monitor: Plug and Play Monitor HP 
Sound Card: Realtek HD Audio rear output 
Speakers/Headphones: Logitech
Keyboard: USB
Mouse: USB Root Hub 
Operating System: XP Pro Sp3 
--------------------------------


----------



## stressfreesoul

I think I need to reapply AS5, mine sits at 50c full load.










Seriously considering water cooling at the minute. 
Get those load temps down to 40c max.
Just had to replace my CPU fan, siezed up last week.
Temps never breached 60 though, which aint too bad ;-)
I replaced it with a Scythe Kaze 1900 (110CFM) which disappointingly only knocked 3c off my previous temps.
Seriously considering water. Whats the word on using a high ethenol solution?
I gather I'd probably need suitable hoses and connections, does it give better heat absorption than water?
Or am I barking up the wrong tree again (woof!)?
There must be something more efficient than water or the solutions you get by the litre?


----------



## McNinja

I changed my motherboard from my crappy ASUS m2n SLI deluxe (I despise Nvidia chipsets). 

Changed to a nice Gigabyte MA790GP-UD4H. I no longer have retarded freezing as I thought it was the stupid nvidia chipset I had.


----------



## sethy666

Just completed the side window and fan grill mod tonight... :smile:


----------



## HawMan

Stressfree - You're CPU is 10C Hotter than mine.


----------



## emosun

Mines like 20c cooler. Only because my board doesn't actually have any overclocking options , lol.


----------



## stressfreesoul

HawMan said:


> Stressfree - You're CPU is 10C Hotter than mine.


Well, is this such a bad thing though?
It never ever breaches 55 which is 9 below redline (at least in my books)
It doesnt fluctuate too much either, from 33 to 55 at all times (1.375v, droop to ~1.3).

I guess its my Asus triton that isnt up to the job.
It'll do until I hit watercooling.


----------



## McNinja

I forgot to plug in my CPU fan right after I installed my new motherboard and it was running around 45C on idle.


----------



## Jtsou

Mine screams at me when I do that.


----------



## McNinja

Well my CPU heatsink is a big 120mm sucker so just the case fans in my Antec 900 cool it down fine.


----------



## Jtsou

I still dont think that it gets enough direct air movement to cool efficiently, though im sure it does ok.


----------



## stressfreesoul

Mcninjaguy said:


> Well my CPU heatsink is a big 120mm sucker so just the case fans in my Antec 900 cool it down fine.


Technically speaking, mine is too.
However the design of the Triton means the heatpipe risers are supposed to be nearest the I/O plate, which leaves the louvres facing in the wrong direction for decent removal by case air-flow alone.
It'll do until I can get all the W/C parts I need.

EDIT: Just did another quick blast of Prime to get the temps up to max, it now doesn't breach 50c with the Scythe 110CFM fan blasting. Bloody loud though!


----------



## McNinja

My CPU fan blows up ward towards a 200mm on max (not that loud) and there's a 120mm fan in the back on medium. The fins are going fron to back so the air in the front fans pass air through them nicely.


----------



## adrianparke2002

heres mine sorta bad camera srry bout that

500watt max psu "logisys"
2.0ghz sempron 2800+ cpu
128mb gefoce fx 5200 "overclocked"
2 hard drives 40 / 80 gigs
1.51gigs of ddr1 ram
thermal take duel slot pci blower with blue leds


----------



## Zombeast

cute keyboard....lol


----------



## adrianparke2002

thnx i did that when i was bored lol


----------



## McNinja

Aw yes I do feel the love when I try to execute the hundreds of zombies in L4D too! I need some fly moves on my keyboard


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d

Check it out =] small stress run on my overclock


----------



## Peachez

Asus M2R32-MVP crossfire motherboard
Thermaltake Soprano
AMD Phenom 2 940 black edition 3.0Ghz
4Gb DDR2 pc2-6400c5 corsair ram
2x Seagate barracuda 250gb HDD
antec truepower 650w power supply

Slowly upgrading some parts last thing is my Graphics card atm ive got
ATI 2600 512mb

Next payday
4850 x2 1024

Pics coming soon in the middle of respraying the case, will post when all is finished


----------



## McNinja

Hey Peachez

You should be using a Corsair 750w or a Corsair 850w for that strong of a graphics card.


----------



## grimx133

Nice bus. Did you let it error out, or stop there?

4Mhz, short though. that's the bonus of the E8500, 422x9.5 is so easy to hit.


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d

grim you talking to me? ive been running this stable for ~3-4 months


----------



## Peachez

Mcninjaguy said:


> Hey Peachez
> 
> You should be using a Corsair 750w or a Corsair 850w for that strong of a graphics card.


Ive been trying to search to see if the PSU i have would of been enough for it, but as the graphics card is the last thing on my list to upgrade, i suppose ill fork out for a n ew PSU at the same time.
Cheers


----------



## grimx133

1 g0t 0wn3d said:


> grim you talking to me? ive been running this stable for ~3-4 months


That's excellent! I can't run on a bus that high with this board, get a tad unstable just below 430, though I can boot and run at higher, it just isn't prime stable. 
Should pull the E8500 and slap it into the EP35-DS3L I have, too much going on right now, maybe when I have some time, whenever that is. Either that or try a wc loop, been thinking about that a lot lately. 
Tried to reply here last night, got dinged by the everpresent site update, be nice if they ever get the bugs sorted eh.


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d

yeah i could probably make it go higher but im content with the proformance for now =] i got a low voltage chip


----------



## Gandalph

www.shinybalz-case-mods.com


----------



## McNinja

Those lasers would give me a headache. Why do they need the fancy lights?


----------



## Trickedoutstz

AMD X4 955 @3.7 w/Thermaltake ISGC-300
Gigabyte MA790XT-UD4P
Muskin DDR3 Dual Channel @1600 Mhz
Seagate 500GB @7200RPM SATA
Nvidia Geforce 260 216 Core
Corsair 750W PSU
Antec 900 Case


----------



## emosun

cooool


----------



## ebackhus

Those 900's are great to work with. The most recent PC I built was inside of an Antec 900 and it was great!


----------



## Phædrus241

My desk:








The CRT monitor is functional but isn't hooked up at the moment, that's waiting on when I get a second ATI video card.


















This one is sideways.




















Specs:
Antec 900 + Apevia 120mm
Asus P5Q Pro P45
Intel Pentium Dual Core E2200 [email protected]
Thermaltake V1 110mm HSF
OCZ Platinum 4GB (2x2GB) DDR2 [email protected] 5-5-5-15
Sapphire Radeon HD 4870 1GB
BFG Tech 9500GT 1GB (non functional atm)
Corsair tx750w
Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeGamer
Western Digital Caviar 320GB SATA 7200RPM 
HP 1160d 22x DVD+/-RW


----------



## Tyrael

My setup:


My lovely dual monitors
ps3
Optimus Receiver 
mx5000 keyboard
mx revolution mouse
and of course who could forget the beanie babies? =D



My crappy old vaio =D

intel pentium D 830 
1gb ddr2 ram
250gb hard drive
radeon X300 128mb
running xp


----------



## McNinja

I didn't know sony sold desktops?!


----------



## emosun

Yea the vaio dude. The laptop vaio's are slightly more popular.


----------



## Tyrael

ya my desktop is kinda old =p my friend was going to throw it out....so i took it because my computer was broken at the time so i replaced it with the vaio! =D


----------



## McNinja

I just installed Windows 7 Ultimate RTM 64 bit off of MSDN. Its nice.


----------



## Tyrael

random...but very nice =D i still havnt decided what OS im going to buy for my upcoming build =/


----------



## McNinja

Forget Vista, XP is old and won't be supported forever, Windows 7 is nice and very stable. I've been using it since April and its been nice to me.


----------



## Tyrael

ya i want to try it out but i dont have the drivers for my computer so i cant really...


----------



## emosun

Neither did I but it still worked anyways , it even installed the display driver by itself.


----------



## Tyrael

ya but when you have to buy it or they start like shutting down your computer ever so often i dont have the drivers to put xp back on my comp


----------



## madmatt10583

My rig


----------



## WereBo

Following my PSU going 'Phhutt' (along with some 'phhizzy' noises') a few weeks ago, I replaced it with a new 'Icute' 700W unit. The 'Branded' names were outside my budget, so I'm working on the principle that a 'mid-quality' unit running at tick-over' should last as well as a branded unit being run harder.

It also gave me the opportunity to neaten the spider-web of cables that were originally scattered about - The modular PSU helped lots with that :grin:










I also added a 120mm fan to the front of the case, which has dropped the 3 SATA drives by 10C and the general temps by approx 5C, although it took some careful carving of the plastic front panel, to get access to the right-hand mounting screws - Thank goodness for butane gas-powered soldering irons :laugh:


----------



## emosun

Ewwww......

A moth was attracted to my blue neons and crawled in the side panel fan and I watched it explode. no joke. It was like seeing a bird get sucked into a jet engine. lol


----------



## Tyrael

lmfao that would be sweet =D


----------



## WereBo

I hope no-one from the 'Moth Protection Society' read that :grin:


----------



## Jelly Bean

http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n198/jelly-bean_a1/DSC00067.jpg

http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n198/jelly-bean_a1/DSC00068-1.jpg

http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n198/jelly-bean_a1/DSC00069.jpg


http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n198/jelly-bean_a1/DSC00072.jpg


http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n198/jelly-bean_a1/DSC00071-1.jpg


http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n198/jelly-bean_a1/DSC00070-1.jpg


http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n198/jelly-bean_a1/DSC00181.jpg

I did clean up the cables before any one asks to help air flow and cooling.


----------



## Dacads

nice case, lights and tidy desk, I like the jelly bean sticker :tongue:

You not getting neck strain from those high monitors?:laugh:


----------



## Jelly Bean

Thankyou Dacads.

Actualy the monitors are eye level.

The picture is missleading.

Most women do keep there desks clean.


----------



## ebackhus

I have a case like that. I think it's the old brother version of yours. Good space but lousy power supplies.


----------



## Dacads

*My New PC*

*Specs:*
Foxconn M61PMV 
AMD Athlon II X2 240 2.8GHz
Crucial Ballistix 4GB (2x2GB) PC2-6400
PowerColor Radeon HD 4670 1GB DDR3

*Pictures:*
http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m37/dacads/Picture001.jpg
http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m37/dacads/Picture002.jpg
http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m37/dacads/Picture003.jpg
http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m37/dacads/Picture004.jpg
http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m37/dacads/Picture005.jpg
http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m37/dacads/Picture006.jpg
http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m37/dacads/Picture007.jpg
http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m37/dacads/Picture008.jpg
http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m37/dacads/Picture009.jpg
http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m37/dacads/Picture010.jpg
http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m37/dacads/Picture011.jpg

Have a look guys/girls and gimme some feedback:grin:

Thanks


----------



## Done_Fishin

Not much to look at .. it's been this way since March this year .. 

it's an Asus P5QL-E Motherboard, E8400 & 4 GB's DDR2.

I put whatever HDD I feel like, whenever I feel like it and Boot into Win7, Ubuntu, XP SP3 and anything else I feel like .. ideal for testing and trying to recover data or HDD's ..




















Of course I do have a few others .. but that would take up a lot of space


----------



## WereBo

Then again, the dust-bunnies don't even get a look-in at claiming squatters-rights..... :grin:


----------



## Phædrus241

And of course dust bunnies breed like rabbits. :grin:


----------



## intelfan

I got this case for $10 used and it's big with 7 fans.


----------



## Done_Fishin

I'd say you got a bargain ..


----------



## Jelly Bean

My Apivia case did not come with a PSU installed I bought OCZ psu.

That case had to be rewired and I advise no one to buy it.What rubbish I bought.

Looking into building a quad core now and pass my dual core onto my 7 yearold child.

Nics job Dacads.

Done_fishing?


----------



## Done_Fishin

My case came with a 400Watt supply, it gave something like 12Amps on the 12Volt supply ... so it was promptly removed and replaced. I just haven't gotten around to putting all thge bits together yet .. it's far more convenient like this. I was thinking of getting a large block of wood and screwing it all down on it then mounting it on the wall :laugh:


----------



## Jelly Bean

Done_Fishing now your just laughing at us.

Although I would say many others have used diffrent items to build a computer into.


----------



## Done_Fishin

Not at all!!

I am quite serious .. I work with my PC's all the time .. swapping drives, data recovery, trying different OS's etc .. what better way to have the PC "ready" ?? I'm a technician and whilst a good looking case with lamps and flashing lights etc, works for most people, including me, I also look for the convenience of access. I may well get around to doing this but building a perspex cover over it as a wind tunnel to ensure cooling .. filtering the air through pipes and an extractor to keep things cool & quiet!


----------



## ebackhus

I've seen a few of those wall-mounted PCs. Totally weird but at the same time awesome.

I'd post pictures from my rebuild but my digital camera has vanished.


----------



## Dacads

shame about the vanishing camera ebackhus:4-dontkno

My next possible move will be a new HDD and case. Temps are better then I was expecting but I don't like the look of this old and heavy case:laugh: I've only got a 80GB HDD at the moment, I would buy another 80 but it's not worth it when you can get a 500GB WD for around £36($60).


----------



## Done_Fishin

I'm gonna wait some time before going for another large drive .. Since I see so many new WD's & Seagates' Drives with problems only a few months after purchase and within 6 months of manufacture .. I am very wary about getting anything except if its to be used for backup purposes. I have several 160GB's & 200GB's whilst only 1 500GB WD .. bought before I noticed the trend towards failure.


----------



## ebackhus

Never once had a WD die prematurely on me. Seagate I avoid like the plague, same for Maxtor.

------------edit-----------

We bought a new digital camera so I can get photos of the new setup!


----------



## Done_Fishin

Until I started at my last place of employment nearly 3 years ago now, I swore by WD and gave everything else a miss unless it was begging for a new home FOC.

I have had the occasional WD go faulty, one belonged to my ex supervisor, a 10GB drive that sprung a shorted diode, whilst the other was a 40Gb that had an open circuit capacitor. However recently I have seen many drives both Seagate and WD coming in for bad sectors. Seagate have supposedly corrected a Firmware problem to correct for their recent problems whilst I have read nothing about WD's method of correction. I now wait for developments hoping that WD get a grip on their problems. I am sure though that most problems are down to heat .. even Maxtors whose reputation is worse than Seagates.. I fitted a fan to the underside of a Maxtor 40GB drive and it's been running sweetly ever since ..


----------



## derek_jones_36

Well I still have to get some pics but right now I just added some new stuff to my rig after I got it working due to some serious system glitches and a failed system restore with a simple solution...boot normally instead of selective. Just got two Vantec HDD coolers for my 750g WD's, an Ultra four channel fan controller which felt very cheaply made but does the trick and two after market Thermaltake fans, one 120mm to mount to the inside of my clear side panel and an 80mm to mount on the top...gave me 30 degree motherboard temps and 25 degree cpu temps with room temps of 86F. Photos to come soon.

Jones


----------



## WereBo

I read somewhere here, that one of our members (The Shadow, I think) mounted his HDD cooler using 4 brass 'stand-offs' (as used to mount mobos in the case) - The extra approx. 1/4" gap gave the air room to move, cooling the drive a lot more efficiently :wink:


----------



## emosun

My main rig is getting it's first rebuild in like two or three years , and in turn a new paint job 










Should be dried in a few days


----------



## derek_jones_36

That sounds like a great idea. Would that go into the 5.25" bay because I found that when I placed the Drives in the cage that was inside My Lian Li case the fit was very tight because the cooling units were slightly wider than the HDD's so they stuck out a bit on the sides which made the fit very tight. I was wondering if moving them to the smaller bays might be better. I was also thinking that if I moved the drives then the airflow from the TT fans might be better for the intake at the front lower section of my case. I have a reallt nice set up right now I just have to go back in the case and tidy up the wiring a bit. The inside glows like a Christmas tree now but I have better airflow which is all that matters. Four fans are all on dial control at the front and the CPU unit is system controlled however that's the next thing is to replace the Asus unit that doesn't seem to have enough cooling power eventhough I have between 36 Degree temps on a air conditioned room with say compared to a 45 degree temp with an ambient temp of 76F. Photos to come.

Jones


----------



## greenbrucelee

my pics aren't very good because my phone is crap


----------



## Done_Fishin

try using a local light source and blanking out that light source from behind .. you will get a better picture. Give lots of Room light to show your rig then try again to take your pictures


----------



## Phædrus241

Try blocking that window/door behind the computer in the first pic, it's forcing the camera to compensate by getting darker, thus making the computer hard to see.


----------



## greenbrucelee

Phædrus2401 said:


> Try blocking that window/door behind the computer in the first pic, it's forcing the camera to compensate by getting darker, thus making the computer hard to see.


I'll try but my camera is poor and I do have a dark room


----------



## greenbrucelee

this is about as good as I can get


----------



## derek_jones_36

Not bad....I like the red lights by the memory..

Jones


----------



## greenbrucelee

derek_jones_36 said:


> Not bad....I like the red lights by the memory..
> 
> Jones


they are actually the dragons eyes on the ram


----------



## emosun

Got it all back together shiney and clean , and red at that...


----------



## Critchell

Awesome case dude. Sweet mix of colours.


----------



## WereBo

The really sad thing is that, having seen these excellent paint-jobs, I wanna paint my case but I couldn't bear to have my PC down for the days it would take to do a decent job of it :grin:

I've got some nice ideas using 'neon-glow' blues and purples, that I want to experiment with :sigh:


----------



## Phædrus241

I was thinking of painting the edges of my CPU heatsink with UV-reactive paint, then put a blacklight at the front of the case. It'd probably look really cool. Can't justify the cost right now, though, especially since I'm probably one of the only people who's going to notice.


----------



## WereBo

Oooh I dunno 'bout that - Once you've posted the pics here, you'd have lots of folks from around the world admiring it :grin:


----------



## grimx133

If you want to paint, just set it up outside the case during the process. Put all the components on some cardboard and connect it all up and there you go. Of course, with all the dogs and cats in this zoo, it could be hazardous, not that I'm planning on any, I like the black inside of mine.


----------



## Phædrus241

Hm. Maybe some silver paint on the outside of the case... Haven't done this before, though.

How would one go about painting the outside of a case? Do you need a special primer? What type of paint is best to use? Should I use a brush or an airbrush? Should I disassemble the system if I'm just going to paint detail on the outside? Or just put tape over all the openings?

Also, any ideas for painting an Antec 900?


----------



## emosun

Critchell said:


> Awesome case dude. Sweet mix of colours.


Thanks , some versions of this case have a red interior , I liked the look so I did the same.

http://www.cluboc.net/reviews/cases/black_demon/index.htm


----------



## ebackhus

If I were to do that I'd want to use electrolytic coating rather than spray. It's a smooth and even coating over all the surfaces, and very expensive. Since I can't even see into my PC due to the way it sits I'm not in a rush to make that change.


----------



## emosun

meh , spray paint is fine. It's a just a pc case , don't put to much time and money into it.


----------



## HawMan

Nothing new with mine.


Infact, i seem to be taking it to pieces, No Rear fan, No Side fan, No top Fan, No side cover. :laugh:


----------



## derek_jones_36

Nice Heatsink. Is that a Coolermaster or another brand? I plan on changing the aftermarket cooler I have over my E8400 to something more capable of better cooling efficiency. Right now it's a little Asus Cooler that was only about $23 which doesn't seem to really have the maximum cooling power I'm looking for. I still get 36 degree temps with an ambient room temp of about 70f which most might consider amazing and with 8 system fans the rest of the case is golden but that cpu heatsink just keeps me wanting cooler.

Jones


----------



## FlashMyBIOS

http://s275.photobucket.com/albums/jj294/Atech66/?action=view&current=upnrunnin.jpg

wires messy installed new RMA'd PSU I'll get it all cleaned up.
still running stock heatsink because there is not squat fore room between the side panel and cpu if anyone has any low profile suggestions.. that fan sits dead straight across from it.


----------



## emosun

Paint that chassis , a medium metal flake blue would look pretty good.


----------



## Dacads

FlashMyBIOS said:


> http://s275.photobucket.com/albums/jj294/Atech66/?action=view&current=upnrunnin.jpg
> 
> wires messy installed new RMA'd PSU I'll get it all cleaned up.
> still running stock heatsink because there is not squat fore room between the side panel and cpu if anyone has any low profile suggestions.. that fan sits dead straight across from it.


What case is that?


----------



## FlashMyBIOS

Raid Max Sagitta 2
and ya that would look sweet metal flake blue.. hmmmm
winters comming so maybe I'll make that a project.


----------



## McNinja

I'm hoping soon to replace my current AMD 6000+ windsor 3ghz CPU with a nice AMD Phenom II X4 945 CPU. I'll probably overclock it to around 3.7 ghz. I have a giant 120mm OCZ vendetta heatsink so it should be well cooled.


----------



## Dilyn

Just finished up the paint job portion of my case mod. Went off pretty well, although I should've let it sit longer than 2 days 
Paint chips pretty easily, as I found out.


Next step is to pickup a side window (12"x12") and then put it on there... Use some Scotch 3M tape to keep it on there nice 

I'll put in a 12" cold cathode on the side right underneath the window.. Or maybe along the side. Only need one, though, as those things are bloody bright! The blue will match the rest of my case quite nice. Went with a black paint all over with blue fans. Looks pretty awesome.

Hopefully gonna figure out how to slip a neon blue fan onto my Artic Freezer 7 Pro so that I can have a neon blue fan there as well. Then it'll look awesome sauce 

I'll post pics in a different thread. Too many for this one place XD


----------



## Imranq

*General picture of my setup -*










*Inside the computer -* 










*My speaker system, pictures included are the front, sub/center and rear.*


























*Keyboard and mouse/mousepad - *










*So what am I running?*

Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550 at stock. (2.83GHz)
Galaxy Geforce 8600 1GB
Asus P5Q Motherboard
4GB Corsair Ram
1x 500GB main internal hard drive
1x 250GB secondary internal hard drive
Zalman 8700 CPU cooler
Windows Vista Ultimate SP2 64bit
Thermaltake Kandalf Case
Viewsonic 24" Full HD Monitor running at 1920x1080 resolution
Hyundai 5500 5.1 speakers

*What I am going to improve on.*

ASUS Xonar Deluxe sound card
Razor Lycosa keyboard
Razor Copperhead/Diamondback mouse
850W Corsair Power Supply
A further 4GB of Corsair RAM to make it a total of 8GB of RAM
XFX 285GTX video card (needs 650W of power to power it)

So, do you like it?

Rate/Hate and comment on what I can do to improve on it.


----------



## McNinja

Don't bother with a GTX 285 and go for a 5870 or 5850 as they're double the speed of a GTX 285.


----------



## Imranq

Mcninjaguy said:


> Don't bother with a GTX 285 and go for a 5870 or 5850 as they're double the speed of a GTX 285.


I hate ATI with a passion.


----------



## Dilyn

Sexy mousepad mate!!! 


Where'd you get it??


----------



## skwurl nutz

WereBo said:


> Looking a lot better indeed :wink:
> 
> 1 little suggestion I'd make though, through personal discovery :grin:
> 
> Instead of having the case on the floor, try lifting it up at least 6" off the carpet - The dust quantity will be reduced drastically.
> 
> I was evicting dust-bunnies and cleaning my PC on a monthly basis, until I sat the case on couple of strong boxes. Now it needs only cleaning approx. 8-9 months.


I never could understand why people put there tower on the floor 'cuz of the dust issue. I have mine on a 2 drawer file cabinet next to my desk. I clean it once a year. :grin:


----------



## Dilyn

skwurl nutz said:


> I never could understand why people put there tower on the floor 'cuz of the dust issue. I have mine on a 2 drawer file cabinet next to my desk. I clean it once a year. :grin:




I'll have to try this out!!

But I'd have to change the location of the box... Right now, it just barely makes it underneath my desk :laugh:


----------



## Done_Fishin

I used the filter material that is sold in supermarkets to replace the "matting" in overhead extractors for cookers in kitchens to seal off all places where air might be sucked into my PC, including fans. But only the PC's I don't use are sitting on the floor ..


----------



## McNinja

well then wait for the new nvidia GTX 300 cards.


----------



## Imranq

Mcninjaguy said:


> well then wait for the new nvidia GTX 300 cards.


I seriously can't be bothered. I don't know when they would come out, but by the time I'll have a video card that I am happy with.


----------



## McNinja

Currently the ATI 5870 is about 10% faster than the GTX 295 and the Nvidia GTX 300 series cards or whatever is being brought out first will have 500 processing cores. The GTX 295 had 240 x 2 cores. You should expect major improvement over the current cards out there.


----------



## emosun

Yea dumping large amounts of money into a dx10 card now is just a dumb move. Dx11 is the future now.


----------



## derek_jones_36

Too bad that they won't have DX11 compatible games for some time to come I believe. I can't really see them rolling out all those games for DX11 just yet when it's pretty much a brand new thing. I really would love to get one of those brand new shiny 5xxx cards bit I can't really justify that just yet. I haven't really immersed myself in an intense 3+ hour gaming session to warrant a new 5850 or 5870 set up. I would perhaps like a better cooling option than the one my 4850 has but I can always just swap out the heatsink/fan unit anyway.

Jones


----------



## emosun

Basically your going to buy a 7950 rather then an 8800 , to put it in simple terms. Obviously the 8800 would be better because it's a next gen card and supports dx10 over the 7950's dx9.

Just as the 5 and 3 series will be better because they are next gen and support dx11.


----------



## McNinja

Even if your using XP a 5870 will still be faster than a GTX 295 and cheaper too.


----------



## stridermccagh

Hey,

Just bought a new PC last Friday. Got a Antec Case 900 series 2, AMD Quad Core 955 at 3.2Ghz, 4Gb DDR3 1333Mhz, Gigabyte Mainboard, Zalman 9700 Cpu Cooler. Works very well and very happy with the result!
The Zalman cooler was put on a few days after and its ALOT better than the AMD stock heatsink. Stock AMD heatsink was showing 44c on idle, the Zalman is showing 35c on idle at the lowest fan setting 
Also used some Artic Silver when applying the Zalman.


----------



## derek_jones_36

Doesn't look like there's enough room for any RAM. That things a beast.

Jones


----------



## ebackhus

I like what they've done to the 900 series 2. The original is already a great case to work with but that 2 looks even better!


----------



## danny slots

just looks standard but Ive tweaked things around


----------



## danny slots

two more


----------



## emosun

Just got my 5770 , power supply and motherboard in. I like how the card is black and red just like my case lol.


----------



## Phædrus241

Nice, but it's missing that familiar yellow-on-black "TX*50W" on the PSU... Did you get a mislabeled unit? :laugh:


----------



## emosun

I only had 300$ gimme a break lol


----------



## Imranq

Why get an mATX Mobo?


----------



## emosun

Imranq said:


> Why get an mATX Mobo?


Hmm , your right , gimmie 100 sum bucks and I'll buy a full sized one.


----------



## jack-o-bytes

stridermccagh I like the way ur zalman cooler blows the hot cpu air straight into the suction of the big fan on the top of ur case. great set up.


----------



## philheckler

Update on my pics from a while ago , just upgraded to a core i5 , with an asus p7p55 pro mobo , 4 gb ddr3 , freezer 7 pro v2 , build went really well , loving my i5 so far , great preformance , love the turbo boost....:heartlove


----------



## Dilyn

My AC Freezer 7 has busted pins 

Next stop is a DK after selling my BlacX Duet though. And a bolt thru kit for the AC Freezer. Great cooler, just not cooling enough for the clocks I wanna push my E7300 to 



Pics of my rig. Not fully updated because I just added a fan controller and two high speed Yate-Loons (120mm). Fun times 


I'll just leave you with a before and after pic though!

Before:


After:



Looks loads better IMO. This case is absolutely terrible for cable management though.


----------



## Cameron_Faust

Specs:
Case: Danger Den Double Wide [Bruiser]
Mobo: Asus Striker II Extreme
CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad Q9650
GPU: EVGA nVidia GTX 280
Ram: DDR3 OCZ Platinum
HDD:32GB SSD [OS]
300GB Raptor[Games]
OS:64Bit Vista [Windows 7 in the next few days]

Cooling:
CPU: EK Supreme LT
GPU: Danger Den Tieton w/copper backplate
Chipset: Stock Fusion Block
Reservoir: EK Dual Bay Spin Reservoir
Pump: Laing DDC 12V
Radiator: TFC X-changer 360
Fans:
9 CM 120mm Black Blue LED fans
4 SilenX 90MM Fans
Ram Cooling: OCZ Ram Cooler Rev 1 [Not Shown]








PS: Sorry about the sideways pics XD


----------



## WereBo

Oooohh, now THAT is sweet







ray:


----------



## emosun

I actually said woah out loud


----------



## Cameron_Faust

Would you believe that this is my first major build? :smile:


----------



## emosun

Yea I'd believe that.


----------



## Cameron_Faust

Im very happy with it


----------



## Done_Fishin

lots of fans, is it noisy ? is it windy ?


----------



## Cameron_Faust

Yes its a little noisy. It doesnt bother my too much but the switches allow me to turn them off so if i want it to be quieter I keep just two fans on the rad on so i can still stay cool.
Oh and I just upgraded to Windows 7 yesterday I love it =D


----------



## Cameron_Faust

And if you're wondering about temps:
Running Borderlands all settings maxed @1680x1050 while running dual 22" Samsungs
Temps never get higher than:
MOBO:23
CPU:24
Core 0: 41
Core 1: 28
Core 2: 37
Core 3: 37
GPU: 50ish
SPP: 44
MCP: 55ish
GPU Memory: 40ish
GPU VRM: 45ish

I plan on overclocking during Christmas break.


----------



## squigglethecow

I want one of those cases now......


----------



## Acuta73

Really cool looking rig and nice numbers!

Looks like an awesome case for serious liquid-coolers. Just not into the maintenance that requires, and man, I'd hate to be you when it comes time to dust the inside of that thing!


----------



## Gack




----------



## Gack

That's a 50 dollar case and the total cost of the tower was less than 350.
This is the first PC I've ever built.


----------



## Done_Fishin

have you got LED's on your memory heatsinks ??


----------



## Gack

Thats not a memory heatsink. thats the memory itself haha.
is that bad? thats the old fashioned DDRAM


----------



## emosun

It looks surprisingly good for it's specs , definitely had me fooled.


----------



## Gack

haha  thanks?


----------



## jaggerwild

Nice Job Gack!









My current build, W3520 under water EVGA SLI X58A1/758, Dominator 1600,2X HIS5770,OCZ V2SDD.
ORB action 3Dmark06=28150  same system but 2X4870X2 30,100
http://service.futuremark.com/compare?3dm06=12819361


----------



## FriedPC

Thats some nice hardware there jagger. What did that run you? Wait a second, after looking at it a little closer is that an NVIDIA motherboard with 2xHD5770 cards in crossfire?


Gack is that a Zalman CNPS9700?


----------



## Dilyn

I changed some things on my setup 


























I think it looks pretty ghetto, with those zip ties just BAM RIGHT IN YOUR FACE.

Plus, keeps me pretty cool


----------



## emosun

Get some black zipties and you really won't even notice. Is that 3 120mm fan on that cooler?


----------



## FriedPC

Cool > Looks?


----------



## Dilyn

It goes (from right to left)
Stock Xigmatek Fan>Shroud>DK>Cooler Master fan>SPACE>High speed Yate-Loon exhaust
I've got black zip ties, but they aren't long enough. I'll be picking some up when I go to get the rest of my stuff for my next project


----------



## Done_Fishin

zip ties, I assume you mean what we call tie wraps, can be used together to make a short length longer. just feed enough of one into the other to catch then connect the other two ends around the stuff you want to keep together. If still not long enough , add another!


----------



## Dilyn

The length that my black ones are, it'd stop about halfway through the DK. So that'd be a no go.
That's what I did with my white ones, and it works great.


----------



## jaggerwild

FriedPC said:


> Thats some nice hardware there jagger. What did that run you? Wait a second, after looking at it a little closer is that an NVIDIA motherboard with 2xHD5770 cards in crossfire?
> 
> 
> Gack is that a Zalman CNPS9700?


Thank you!
Its a few months old so it cost more last summer(EVGAX58$300,XoenE3520$300,Dominator 1600mem $180) had the PSU added the GPUs just over $300 all the rest is old except the water blocks $150 and adapter plate for the CPU water block witch used to be a 775 block:1angel:.


----------



## GZ

My Sleeper... 









Open the hood...








A little closeup...


----------



## Trickedoutstz

Update from my last pictures. New Video Card 


















































Taken with an Iphone 3Gs so if the quality is crappy, I suck :[.


----------



## crucial09

My rig=]
<---------Specs over there. Go read them!

Here is the pics. 
SKULL on motherboard lights up with the hdd usage=]










Two pics attached.
Also I have a 22inch LCD ViewSonic screen via dvi


----------



## derek_jones_36

Nice Rig...Can't wait to get my new CM 690 2 Advanced Case when it comes out. Of course I will have to wait until the option to add a window to it. I really like to see my gear inside the case especially when You have a really sweet heatsink. I plan on getting the darknight from xigmatech or the mehashadow from Prolimatech ala TJ Harlow.

Jones


----------



## crucial09

I love having a window in my case! Especially to see that sweet light up skull on my motherboard!=]

I'm not a fan of giant sweet heatsinks. They look stupid to me.
I prefer my smaller permanently sealed liquid cooler. Takes up hardly any room and looks fine too.
Leave room for the air to flow through.


----------



## Joe2209

crucial09 said:


> I love having a window in my case! Especially to I'm not a fan of giant sweet heatsinks. They look stupid to me.
> I prefer my smaller permanently sealed liquid cooler. Takes up hardly any room and looks fine too.
> Leave room for the air to flow through.


Amen.


----------



## emosun

I hate water cooling. It's just a total unnecessary mess.

Except for that system you got there crucial09. I like those swiftech prebuilt water cooling systems just for the cpu , there nice and simple.


----------



## crucial09

Thanks Emosun,

I agree. Asetek offers a lot of different permanently sealed option, for both gpu and cpu!
They daisy chain them together.
Its really convenient that the pump for these coolers is on the actually apparatus that attaches to the cpu. Save a ton of room and no clutter looking mess.

My core i7 870(which run hot) hits 32C on idle, and only 60C sometimes after stress testing ALL four cores. No program even used all 4 cores for a 100% cpu usage so it never hits 60 in real time =]


----------



## burrell

It's got no lights or any of that hulabaloo but here i go

i got a close up my Corsair H-50 push/pull setup.


Burrell


----------



## crucial09

@burell, Does that push pull theory help cool down your radiator better then 1 fan pulling air through, such as I have a few threads up?


----------



## burrell

Yeh Definatly, if you don't mind the extra noise!

1 Fan
Idle - 29
Load - 45

2 Fans
Idle - 24
Load - 39

Burrell


----------



## crucial09

Oh nice!
I might have to try that out and see. 
Fans are cheap enough to experiment with.


What kind of fan do you have pushing air threw? It doesn't look like the same fan that is pulling air through.


----------



## burrell

I have mine as an exhaust as per the "Corsair H-50 owners club" recommendations!! Just play about till you get the best temps for your case.

Burrell


----------



## crucial09

alright. 

The only thing left to do for your case is to do some cable management! looks like a forest of cables in there! lol

http://www.maximumpc.com/article/howtos/tidy_your_pcs_wires?page=0,0


----------



## burrell

crucial09 said:


> alright.
> 
> The only thing left to do for your case is to do some cable management! looks like a forest of cables in there! lol
> 
> http://www.maximumpc.com/article/howtos/tidy_your_pcs_wires?page=0,0


Yeh i know! it's a right mess!

Thanks for the guide! 

Burrell


----------



## burrell

Better?

That was one hell of a job!

Burrell


----------



## crucial09

100% better! That might even help with air flowing.

I see you switched your front fan and your top fan around?


----------



## burrell

crucial09 said:


> I see you switched your front fan and your top fan around?


Yeh! i put the HDD in the HDD cage so the 140mm didn't fit anymore, so i did a quick swap around!

Burrell


----------



## crucial09

Nice thinking haha.

Great system! Looks good now.


----------



## crucial09

Some one else post a pic of their rig, I want to see all your cool computers and cases!


----------



## burrell

crucial09 said:


> Some one else post a pic of their rig, I want to see all your cool computers and cases!


Me too! 

But it makes me so jelous.... ray:


----------



## emosun

Most of us have you gotta go back through the thread , it's up to 117 pages now. lol


----------



## burrell

emosun said:


> Most of us have you gotta go back through the thread , it's up to 117 pages now. lol


Yeh, its a pretty monstrous thread!

Most of the cases are in the first few pages though.

Burrell


----------



## HawMan

Heres my little gaming corner, not that its changed much.


32" TV for my Xbox 360 and PC, and its also hooked up to a 42" TV for lying in bed watching movies.


----------



## crucial09

Nice case. Love that 32 inch screen. That would be tough to fill that resolution on Crysis with a good frame rate though.


----------



## HawMan

Believe it or not i very very rarely game on the PC


Xbox has taken over :grin:


----------



## crucial09

haha Well that looks good on the 32 inch. Maybe even the 42 inch?


----------



## guitarzann

May look familiar to some(http://www.techsupportforum.com/f76/paint-job-386579.html)










































Specs:
AMD Phenom 8650(2.3ghz) Overclocked to 2.8ghz
4gb ddr2 800 RAM
Nvidia 9600gt
not great but works for me :grin:


----------



## burrell

Guitarzan!

I am diggin that side panel!

NICE JOB! :grin:


----------



## guitarzann

burrell said:


> Guitarzan!
> 
> I am diggin that side panel!
> 
> NICE JOB! :grin:


thanks:tongue:
I actually do play the bass guitar so thats why its there!


----------



## crucial09

UPDATE ON MY RIG.
Put new fans on the radiator doing the push pull theory and got lower temps on load and idle with the 3 speed antec fans on low!


----------



## Armymanis

Man, so many awesome rigs here! I am really starting to get into the PC world. I am doing an AA in information technology, and am learning so much that I never knew about computers. You guys sure put a lot of hard work into these PC's! Keep it up!  

Maybe one day, I will build a computer of my own when I've got the money. Right now I enjoy looking at your guys computers.


----------



## crucial09

When you get the money and get a list of parts, post them all here and we will make suggestions and let you know if it will all work together! :grin:


----------



## Armymanis

blackduck30 said:


> ok just sorta finished putting my new case and cooling together, I still have a bit of organising and a general spruce up. I have to reroute a few cables and work out how to clean a few bits up but it is very close to how i want it.
> 
> The new case is the thermaltake Armor LCS. it comes with water cooling in the front of the case ( 240 X 120mm radiator with 2X 120mm fans ) I also added a VGA water block and a level and flow meter to the front bays.
> 
> anyway tell us what you guys think


That case is really awesome! ray:


----------



## jack-o-bytes

That is one thing that annoys me about the Coolermaster 330 case is the lack of space to put the info stickers like the CPU, GPU, and motherboard stickers.


----------



## philheckler

Just moved my rig into a collermaster 690 v2 - it's a sweet case !




























My next upgrade is going to be a quality modular psu - probably corsair 850w , i may then drop in another gtx260 when fermi comes and prices plummet...


----------



## guitarzann

I love that case - all you need to do is mod yourself a window an show off that gorgeous black interior - or buy one: http://cmstore.coolermaster-usa.com/product_info.php?products_id=460


----------



## philheckler

Thanks fro the link - i was planning to pick up the windowed side panel - unfortunately i can't find one in the uk at the moment...


----------



## WereBo

guitarzann said:


> .........
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ...............


I love the 'Coal-Fire' effect - That really appeals to my sense of humour :grin:


----------



## emosun

I got the coal fire thing on the front of my tower too. lol


----------



## jack-o-bytes

Hello everyone, This is my rig at the moment. I am planning on putting a see through LED power supply into it but at the moment the 120mm fan on the top is in the way. I am trying to find a way round this.


----------



## burrell

Nice side panel there mate!


----------



## emosun

What brand is the see through led power supply because I've never seen one that was good.


----------



## jack-o-bytes

Thanks guys,

Well, The power supply is made by Atrix. Very unknown PSU brand. I have heard some bad things about them but I have never had a problem with it running my other computer. All the voltages are at a good level. Is there another PSU that has LED's and a 120mm/135mm fan that I could buy instead of having the Atrix one?


----------



## emosun

You don't buy power supplies based on their looks. Thats probably the last thing to look for.

http://www.techsupportforum.com/f210/power-supply-information-and-selection-192217.html


----------



## gcavan

> Is there another PSU that has LED's and a 120mm/135mm fan that I could buy?


In fact, there are many available. Many are of questionable quality and none are on the TSF recommended list.


----------



## Acuta73

See-through LED lit PSU? Buy a good PSU and Mod it (understand it will likely void your warranty...).

Perspex or even just going to Tap Plastics (they cut to size while you wait...for free up to 10 straight cuts and only charge for the material YOU used).

I know the fans can be replaced, but I'm not aware of how or sources for parts.

There are any number of custom fan grills out there, not gonna link any.

For LED and some basic know-how I like *these guys*. They ship USPS so no shipping charges, fast turnaround, and reasonable prices. They also sell controllers. OR you can do something like *THIS* for a few bucks and an hour of work.

This IS the Mod section, no? :grin:

Eric


----------



## emosun

Power supply fans can easily be changed out with any standard case fan of the same size , however it has to be hardwired in. Probably be best to get decent 15$ fan too and not a crap 3$ one.


----------



## hhnq04

philheckler said:


> Just moved my rig into a collermaster 690 v2 - it's a sweet case !
> 
> My next upgrade is going to be a quality modular psu - probably corsair 850w , i may then drop in another gtx260 when fermi comes and prices plummet...


Nice job with cable management. Case looks real neat and clean!


----------



## jack-o-bytes

Thanks guys I think I am going to look for a Power Supply that has a 120mm fan and change it. Thanks


----------



## madmatt10583

Excuse the 'decor' :grin:


----------



## burrell

Hey guys, i posted my system a few pages back, but i just ordered a GTX 260 and an Antec 1200!!

Can't wait to get them set up, i'll post on here ASAP!


----------



## Acuta73

Built my son a new rig. $1700 well spent, IMO.

Specs:

W7 Home Premium 64bit

GA-770T-USB3 Motherboard

4Gb DDR3 1600 OCZ AMD Black Edition RAM

AMD Phenom II Black Edition x4 running @3.8GHZ

Sapphire VaporX HD5850 @non-referenced full clocks (Think it's 775 Core and 1200 Memory)

Western Digital 640Gb 7200RPM Black HDD (will add a second one soonish)

Corsair 750w Modular Power Supply

Zalman CNPS9700 LED 110mm Ball Cooler

LG Lightscribe DVD/CD RW

Scythe Kazemaster 4 channel fan control w/ 4 channel temp probes

Sure-LCD 4*20 Multi-Media display (Mod)

NZXT Tempest Camo Case

Acer H235H 23" 1080p HDMI monitor

Steelseries Merc Keyboard w/gamepad (I got one, too!)

Logitech G500 5700 DPI gaming mouse.

Logitech USB headset w/mic

2x 12" 12xSMD LED white strips (instead of crappy CCFL that burn out in a year or less)

Pics? Yeah, we got those! = )














































Some of you may remember Project: Prowler on the right (Antec 900 mod)

This one I called, Project: Urban Tempest

I likes it.


----------



## emosun

1700$? wow


----------



## Acuta73

This was essentially the $1200 AMD build posted here in the Building section. But due to the fact everything he had was hand-me-down from my wife or I, he needed everything.

The mouse, keyboard, a little higher-end case, headset, monitor, and case furniture pushed the price up a "bit".

Almost a month later, and this machine is flawless. I just wish it was mine, not my 15 year old's!!! God willing, this thing will last until he's old enough to buy his OWN! lol


----------



## Dilyn

It's beautiful :heartlove


----------



## philheckler

Love the camo case paint job - at first i thought it was a painted antec 900...

Anyway - here's an update on my rig - i added a second gtx260 for sli (which i picked up for 30 quid off ebay , also have a new corsair hx850w psu....


----------



## Dilyn

Got a new PSU (Seasonic M12II 620V) and so now I have much less cables to manage. 





















I will be getting an E8400 E0 soon, so I will be lapping this E7300 as a test CPU 
Can't wait to finally hit at least 4 GHz stable. This C0 doesn't really enjoy it too much and I have to pump an ungodly amount of vcore into it to make it remotely stable.


----------



## stressfreesoul

Almost completed my budget HTPC. Nothing much, just enough to manage MKV and Bluray

Trashy MSI motherboard
P4 3Ghz HT
2Gb DDR
Sapphire HD3850 512Mb AGP
PCI sound
About 300Gb SATA storage
SATA DVD (next is a Bluray)
Seasonic 500W 80Plus PSU
Akasa Fan Contoller Jr
Zalman CNPS7000B CPU cooler
Zalman GPU cooler
Various quiet 120mm fans
Coolermaster Elite 360 case


----------



## stressfreesoul

Probably gonna flog the internals of my aforementioned rig now. Seen a P5Q-EM I want instead. Should handle Bluray just as well as this old P4 monstrosity.


----------



## HellionOverlord

I didn't have a case, there is no room in my travel trailer that I'm staying in till done with college. I decided that the ceiling was out of the way, and probably less prone to gathering dust. This took two tries, and there are now about 16 screws in the wall, shelf, and ceiling. I have an old cd rom drive from a laptop glued to the shelf and screwed down with a piece of cardboard. It used to open with a startling WHACK until I glued rubber bands to the front so that it never reaches full extension without slowing down first.


















Right now the wires are a mess because I'm testing all my old optical drives, but they usually hang out nicely behind the laptop CD ROM drive. I also am trying my latest sub woofer design so there are bare wires where it is plugged into the sound card. (no big deal cause they won't be touching)

I have to hot wire it to turn it on though. :scared:


----------



## Done_Fishin

Now that is what I call customizing .. keep promising myself I will mount my bits and pieces on a wall but you have done it and done us proud ray:ray:

hope you made sure that your screws don't poke through into the outside world or you'll regret it the next time you get a downpour. Water loves to find even minute holes to leak through into what starts as a dry place ..


----------



## HellionOverlord

Done_Fishin said:


> Now that is what I call customizing .. keep promising myself I will mount my bits and pieces on a wall but you have done it and done us proud ray:ray:
> 
> hope you made sure that your screws don't poke through into the outside world or you'll regret it the next time you get a downpour. Water loves to find even minute holes to leak through into what starts as a dry place ..


I actually did use long screws, but only threaded a little way into the ceiling to hold the Main Board. The screws are all at different angles for a reason, they brace against horizontal movement by not being perpendicular with the ceiling, and when they are tightened closer to the ceiling, they pull or push against each other. There is about a 3/4 inch gap between the ceiling, and the main board.

I have another main board on it's way here, ASUS M4A785-M if anyone cares. and will have to redo all this work. Seems like a good time to do some relocation so perhaps I will move my computer to a new location. I used the main board as a template and drew lines on the ceiling with tape once i measured the N260 GTX video card and got the clearances worked out. That way I had an idea where Everything was going to be before I put them there.


The fans seem not to collect dust, but the ceiling is warmer in my trailer than the floor would be. I'm thinking about working a water cooling system into the design, and possibly a secondary computer with a KVM so they will share the same monitor, mouse, and keyboard. I'm thinking about running cololant through copper lines that snake around the bottom of the walls in the room, no radiator, just a really long copper tube with copper fins brazed or otherwise affixed to it for the whole say, 30 ft. 


If I do that; I will probably be using a synthetic coolant that is dielectric which means that if it leaks it makes a mess, but unlike water, it doesn't conduct electricity and short things out.

I hope I can do something like this before college starts again in fall. I will keep posting at least until then and show you guys what I'm doing.

HO


----------



## philheckler

Ok another update from a few pages back , sold my 2 gx260's and picked up a gtx470 - i'ts an awesome card , overclocks like stink very quiet (almost silent!) at idle but slightly noisier than my gtx260's once the fan hit 70% and above.


----------



## emosun

Be careful it doesn't have a meltdown now! lol


----------



## philheckler

Actually the 470 runs cooler than i expected - at 40% fan speed the card idles at 38 - 40c - at full load it maxes out at 78c (75% fan speed) - i've got a fan profile set up with MSI afterburner that increase the fan with temp also note i have a 120mm fan on the side of my hard drive cage blowing directly into the cards intake which helps...

Currently i have the card overclocked on the core from 600mhz - 750mhz - i'm pretty sure it will got up to 850mhz with a voltage tweak on the core but i'ts early days yet... :4-thatsba :smile:


----------



## emosun

Yea 78c is considered overheating... It's shouldn't ever exceed 70c. I'm sure somebody else thinks 78c is acceptable but it isn't really.


----------



## shotgn

Phil....What case is that? The Corsair case?


----------



## philheckler

It's a coolermaster cm690 advanced.... superb case....










Soon to be pimped out with a windowed side panel i might add...


----------



## Tyree

As a rule I do not do any case modding for myself but my Son left some paint in the shop last year and I got tire of moving it so I decided to use it on my shop PC.


----------



## jack-o-bytes

what type of paint is that it is lovely. Is it the pearlescent type paint that changed colour from where you look at it?


----------



## Tyree

jack-o-bytes said:


> what type of paint is that it is lovely. Is it the pearlescent type paint that changed colour from where you look at it?


I don't know exactly what it was but it is supposed to change colors as you change your viewing angle but basically it's metal flake. :grin:
It was Krylon brand.


----------



## emosun

There's actually a lot of brand that make it , it's called chameleon paint


----------



## jack-o-bytes

I love the look of that stuff. I think I am gonna get me some.


----------



## HellionOverlord

I am wondering of anyone else has thought of using a dielectric liquid rather than antifreeze for a liquid cooled system. regular everyday mineral oil will not conduct electricity, and as long as there are no fumes, everything sealed up tight, there is no chance of shorting things out and ruining hardware if it leaks... wait, if it leaks there will be fumes... maybe not a good idea?

idk


----------



## Tyree

If it leaks, fumes are the least concern. Liquid and electricity do not play well together.


----------



## HellionOverlord

Tyree said:


> If it leaks, fumes are the least concern. Liquid and electricity do not play well together.


Transformer oil, or insulating oil, is usually a highly-refined mineral oil that is stable at high temperatures and has excellent electrical insulating properties. It is used in oil-filled transformers, some types of high voltage capacitors, fluorescent lamp ballasts, and some types of high voltage switches and circuit breakers. Its functions are to insulate, suppress corona and arcing, and to serve as a coolant.


----------



## HellionOverlord

HellionOverlord said:


> Transformer oil, or insulating oil, is usually a highly-refined mineral oil that is stable at high temperatures and has excellent electrical insulating properties. It is used in oil-filled transformers, some types of high voltage capacitors, fluorescent lamp ballasts, and some types of high voltage switches and circuit breakers. Its functions are to insulate, suppress corona and arcing, and to serve as a coolant.


I guess it's already been done!!!

http://www.hardcorecomputer.com/Index.aspx


----------



## emosun

I'd like to meet the person that justifies building a machine that actually uses one of those submersion cases.

Maybe if it was dozens of government super computers but for just a home pc it's ridiculous.


----------



## grimx133

It's a novelty for sure. I've seen the videos, quite some time ago. Would be a real pain changing hardware, specially at the rate I do. Might look a little funny trying to RMA a dead component too.


----------



## stressfreesoul

I'd still have one, just for the novelty


----------



## HellionOverlord

emosun said:


> I'd like to meet the person that justifies building a machine that actually uses one of those submersion cases.
> 
> Maybe if it was dozens of government super computers but for just a home pc it's ridiculous.


Actually, it looks like there are benefits to having an oil cooled system. 

http://www.pugetsystems.com/submerged.php#update3

If what they say is true, they ran a natural convection oil bath type at 88 degrees C running 3DMark06 for 48 hours and the system was stable. That's the one without the radiator on the back!

I want to make one with bubbles, but maybe set up a little differently to increase efficiency. I have all the parts of a C.P.A.P or constant positive air pressure machine.:magic:


----------



## HellionOverlord

grimx133 said:


> It's a novelty for sure. I've seen the videos, quite some time ago. Would be a real pain changing hardware, specially at the rate I do. Might look a little funny trying to RMA a dead component too.


This video looks like it would be a LOT of fun though. What would a reactor do with dry ice in it?

YouTube - Oil Bath Computer #3: Overclock B - Dry Ice & Cooling System

I have heard that it is possible to get a P4 to 6 ghz with dry ice.

Dunno though, I wish I had not given my socket A system away now. I think this looks like fun, but I don't want to sacrifice my "fast" computer. I bought this one back when all the hardware was totally like ray: and it's still like:heartlove. 

Asus M4A785-M motherboard
Phenom x3 CPU
n260gtx Nvidia Graphics
4g DDR2


----------



## emosun

Looks like all it does is wreck components to me , those are air fans not liquid propellers , they look like they spin to slow. That and once you take a part out good luck selling it.


----------



## HellionOverlord

emosun said:


> Looks like all it does is wreck components to me , those are air fans not liquid propellers , they look like they spin to slow. That and once you take a part out good luck selling it.


The fans in the Peugeot aquarium do spin slowly, but they also have worked non stop for a year. They actually push the oil around pretty well. I have an idea for cleaning parts like they were never submersed, though I don't know where to buy SC-10.

:edit: btw, Mineral oil does not harbor micro organisms and does not go "bad" like the regular cooking oil these guys in the video are using.


----------



## HellionOverlord

http://www.pugetsystems.com/submerged.php

Looks like these sell pretty well in Auburn Washington.


----------



## Chyrio

Ok this is my rig, its my first build and i have like six I'm doing right now. I cut all the windows and plexiglass and stuff myself (the windows were so hard cause i dont have any power tools so pretty much i did it with a hack saw :sigh i also did the painting and stuff myself. It used to be one of those beige monstrosities from like 1997, i think it had a pentium 2 in it. :laugh: I tore everything out of it accept the 20 gig hard drive. I started building this right after i learned there are places you can actually buy computer upgrades!!! (i know... it took me long enough) Sooo, i went to micro center ray: and bought me a new gigabyte motherboard, a sempron from amd, and a crappy stick of ram. Pretty much i spent like all my money on the motherboard and didn't have any left so i bought the cheapest i could, but the processor has already proved to be awesome!!! everything else i ripped out of other computers my friends gave me that have also been sitting in silence for years. It finally ended up with a 300 watt psu, another 160 gig hd, and no disc drive. However i did upgrade the ram (3 gigs now) and the cpu cooler to a cooler master. :smile: But i do know what I'm getting (once i can manage to get a job) which includes a new power supply (thank god) i cant even overclock with the 300 watt!!


----------



## emosun

Cutting windows by hand must have been terribly slow. You know at most department stores they sell cheap jigsaws for like 20$ that come with blades , might be a lot faster then by hand.


----------



## HellionOverlord

Chyrio said:


> Ok this is my rig, its my first build and i have like six I'm doing right now. I cut all the windows and plexiglass and stuff myself (the windows were so hard cause i dont have any power tools so pretty much i did it with a hack saw :sigh i also did the painting and stuff myself. It used to be one of those beige monstrosities from like 1997, i think it had a pentium 2 in it. :laugh: I tore everything out of it accept the 20 gig hard drive. I started building this right after i learned there are places you can actually buy computer upgrades!!! (i know... it took me long enough) Sooo, i went to micro center ray: and bought me a new gigabyte motherboard, a sempron from amd, and a crappy stick of ram. Pretty much i spent like all my money on the motherboard and didn't have any left so i bought the cheapest i could, but the processor has already proved to be awesome!!! everything else i ripped out of other computers my friends gave me that have also been sitting in silence for years. It finally ended up with a 300 watt psu, another 160 gig hd, and no disc drive. However i did upgrade the ram (3 gigs now) and the cpu cooler to a cooler master. :smile: But i do know what I'm getting (once i can manage to get a job) which includes a new power supply (thank god) i cant even overclock with the 300 watt!!


Look for temporary work. They get you by until you can get more permanent work and sometimes if you are good the company you end up working with will hire you permanent.

(how I had to do it)

Hope that helps.

Oh, and BTW NICE case! I totally understand not having power tools as I did not have a job for 3 months after moving to Washington.


----------



## Chyrio

:smile: well thanks i felt for a while there mine was just like "an easy thing to do" compared to other peoples and thanks for the job advice so far im just putting in apps everywhere i can with no luck :4-dontkno


----------



## Chyrio

o and trust me my next build will be with power tools!!!!! but i started working on one of those mineral oil comps this afternoon after reading the thread. im building one out of a dell precision 360 i have had laying around  the only problems i have are where do i buy the mineral oil? do they sell it at like ace hardware or something? other than that i have the fish tank but its only 14" in width and 5" in length so its really tight in there


----------



## Chyrio

and does anybody know if it matters whether you use "light" mineral oil like in the video, or normal mineral oil?


----------



## Chyrio

sorry i dont mean to be like a forum hog or something but today i found this give-away that tigerdirect was doing and it was an evga mobo with 24 GIGS :grin: of ram and 12 CORES :heartlove (x2 intel xenon hexacores), plus 3 Nvidia 460gtx's or something like that. but anyways could you imagine building a mineral oil pc with a big radiator out of that and overclocking everything as high as you could? that thing would be like the ultimate super computer that plays garrys mod :tongue:


----------



## emosun

Until 6 months later when they come out with something faster , and then every walmart pc has 24gb of ram. technology moves fast .


----------



## Chyrio

true true but still its awesome. i had the same situation, my motherboard is a beast but like 3 days after i bought it ddr3 became like standard to now its outdated but it still works great minus all the crap its missing


----------



## ssd-tweak

I'm not really sure if my rig will fit in here, as it's not very modified. But I did build it. A couple of times, actually, as the initial motherboard had a DIMM slot fail on me - so I got another board and started from scratch. It was built in may last year, and I've only added a couple of SSD's since then. System specs are below my username.

Here's a pic that has the initial motherboard (Asus P6T WS Professional):










And after I got the current board:










And a full figure (old board again):










Highest overclock on CPU:



Highets overclock on RAM:











Can't seem to find the screen from GPU-OC, but it's close to 1095/860.

I'm not an extremely experienced overclocker or builder, but I do like it. A lot. Any comments are welcome.


Regards,

tweak


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## emosun

I like it visually , nice and clean. That and the water cooled cpu , if you had water cooling on the video card funny enough I wouldn't like it , but just on the cpu is good.


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## ssd-tweak

Thank you.

But I have to disappoint you though. I'm planning on getting new ATI's and I want to have them in the loop. Reason: The rig is in my livingroom, and the noice factor is important in such a case. It will be in the future though. Right now I have a broken PSU, so I need to replace that first. Personal economy isn't fantastic atm.


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## Chyrio

nice rig :smile: i have never been one for water cooling though its just to complicated. i would much rather just submerge the whole thing like I'm doing with the mineral oil pc :tongue:


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## ssd-tweak

As much as an oil-filled solution is tempting to have tried, it's way to messy if you constantly keep swapping components for various test-purposes.


----------



## ssd-tweak

Edit option expired...

Chyrio: Sorry, where are my manners? Forgot to thank you for the kind feedback! Is your oil-pc on here? I'm not so great at searching on theese forums yet. Registered only a few days ago.


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## Chyrio

not yet im on the hunt for a job now and that light mineral oil stuff is not cheap  and none of my friends have a tank that works so im gonna have to buy one. but i do have all the electronics laid out against my bed to see how it will all work. so far all i have are designs i drew up thats about it but i will build it eventually!!! :smile:


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## HellionOverlord

Chyrio said:


> not yet im on the hunt for a job now and that light mineral oil stuff is not cheap  and none of my friends have a tank that works so im gonna have to buy one. but i do have all the electronics laid out against my bed to see how it will all work. so far all i have are designs i drew up thats about it but i will build it eventually!!! :smile:


one place to buy big quantity of mineral oil : http://www.steoil.com/catalog.asp?productgroup=70t

There are kits here : http://www.pugetsystems.com/aquarium_kit.php

If you build it I want to make a bubble maker for you. I think that big bubbles will be more efficient at carrying heat away, and will cause less foaming.


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## Chyrio

sounds good we can try it, they could carry more vast amounts of cool air or hot air and make a difference


----------



## Mottoman216

intel qx9650 4.0ghz 1.4vcore 1600/400fsb bus 
corsair h50 liquid cooler
gigabyte p43 ud3l
4gib ocz ddr2 2x2kit reaper series ram 5-5-5-18 2.2v @1066
Pny nvidia GTX 470 1.087v 800core/1600shader/1900memory idle 30c max load temp gets to 80c (notbad for being oc'd balls out)
windows 7 64bit
Azza solano 1000 fulltower 5 fans 2 120mm 2 230mm (1 intake on the side 1 exhaust on the top 2 120's in the front of the hard drive cafe)


----------



## HellionOverlord

Hey Chyrio, about the water cooling, and messiness, Won't regular isopropyl (sp?) alcohol cut mineral oil well? I think that is what I was using at Rockwell Collins. I was working there soldering components to planar boards for use in the navigation systems in commercial airliners and we used something coded SC-10 to clean the flux off the the electronics so we could inspect it visually at 10x magnification. (Just TRY to find what you just soldered onto a planar board that is 15 inches square through a microscope that sees only 1 1000th of an inch in the view finder! it is not easy!)

Anyways, I think maybe the "SC-10" was actually alcohol because of the smell and feel. Could be worth looking into.


----------



## HellionOverlord

HellionOverlord said:


> Anyways, I think maybe the "SC-10" was actually alcohol because of the smell and feel. Could be worth looking into.


Oh, I finally found it. and it is not just alcohol.

http://www.petroferm.com/datasheets/131_TDS.pdf


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## Chyrio

dude look at the flash point. if im thinking clearly isnt that the temp at which it lights on fire? if so my comp would burst into flames in like a minute


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## HellionOverlord

Chyrio said:


> dude look at the flash point. if im thinking clearly isnt that the temp at which it lights on fire? if so my comp would burst into flames in like a minute


NO, no this is for cleaning the parts after they have been submersed. Sorry for not being clear.

EDIT: Though you may want to think about letting your computer cool before cleaning it. 

Quote from PDF: It is also selected for
removing white residues sometimes observed when
defluxing with isopropyl alcohol (IPA).

Flux melts and causes the solder to flow nicely between the metal parts. Defluxing is the process of removing the left over flux. Which means that it is used to clean the "white residue" left by cleaning with plain alcohol. You could just clean it with regular rubbing alcohol, but you might have some residue left behind. I dunno, Maybe the white residue is only left behind if you are cleaning soldering flux.


----------



## gcavan

> dude look at the flash point. if im thinking clearly isnt that the temp at which it lights on fire? if so my comp would burst into flames in like a minute


From Dictionary.com


> *flash point *
> –noun
> *1. Also, flashing point. Physical Chemistry . the lowest temperature at which a liquid in a specified apparatus will give off sufficient vapor to ignite momentarily on application of a flame.*
> 2. a critical point or stage at which something or someone suddenly causes or creates some significant action: A 10 percent drop in mortgage rates will produce a flash point in the housing market.
> 3. a critical situation or area having the potential of erupting in sudden violence: The Mideast has been the flash point for a series of conflicts.


Take note the flash point of Isopropyl Alcohol is about 11 degrees C.

The term you are referring to is the Autoignition temperature.


----------



## HellionOverlord

gcavan said:


> From Dictionary.com
> 
> 
> Take note the flash point of Isopropyl Alcohol is about 11 degrees C.
> 
> The term you are referring to is the Autoignition temperature.


The whole point of my post was to say that the components of a computer can be cleaned with Isopropyl Alcohol after being submersed in mineral oil to the point where nobody could tell by look or feel that they had ever been submersed. Sorry this went so far off track.


----------



## Chyrio

no its cool sorry i guess i sounded a little irritated in that post i didnt mean to be. thats a good idea to keep it clean though  i still think its cool how those guys didnt clean it for like a year and there was like no grime or nothing


----------



## HellionOverlord

Chyrio said:


> no its cool sorry i guess i sounded a little irritated in that post i didnt mean to be. thats a good idea to keep it clean though  i still think its cool how those guys didnt clean it for like a year and there was like no grime or nothing


oh, that's not what I meant either. 

ssd-tweak said "As much as an oil-filled solution is tempting to have tried, it's way to messy if you constantly keep swapping components for various test-purposes."

That got me thinking that if someone needed to pull parts out of an oil submerged PC and RMA them, then they could clean up all the oil nicely with SC-10, but then after research i found that alcohol will probably work. 

I really want to build a submerged PC, but I am disabled because of Autism and live off government funds. I am savant with electronics, but have trouble living with other people, or working with other people.:4-dontkno


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## Chyrio

ahhhh ok that works  good advice


----------



## PoWn3d_0704

Thats what I want to do... Find a sweet fish tank and cut the Motherboard tray out of my existing case. So... according to you guys, I can clean the oil out of my parts using straight rubbing alcohol? Just bath it in the alcohol to wash out the oil, and then let dry?


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## Chyrio

no according to hellionoverlord it has to be a specific kind of alcohol but if you look in the older pages and find that link to pugetsystems.com/submerged (i think that was it) they ran it fine for a year and didnt have to clean it once. but still you probably should clean it before you stick it in there to keep dust and stuff out of the oil from the first place. :tongue:


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## burrell




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## Chyrio

nice comp, how much are those nice mac keyboards?


----------



## burrell

Ty, http://store.apple.com/uk/product/MB110Z/A?mco=MTY3ODQ5OTY

It is an excellent keyboard! Keys are really smooth, and are silent when pressed, i even use mine for gaming, and it works really well.

I am going to get a 360 rad in the top, get a 480, and WC the lot


----------



## shotgn

burrell said:


>


Nice rig man ray:

Jealous cause you have the case I want.....wife wont let me buy it, she said for the price its just for looks.....lol


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## Chyrio

that sucks dude i build my own cases much more fun


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## Chyrio

what do you guys think? i just stripped a dell precision 360 down to the chassis and kept some of the small things on it. idk i think it looks kinda cool, what you think? im thinking about paintin the silver chassis red and turning it into a linux box and painting like the ubuntu symbol on the side


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## Chyrio

oops sorry forgot to include the pic:tongue:


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## gcavan

shotgn said:


> wife wont let me buy it, she said for the price its just for looks.....lol


I'll bet she buys makeup.


----------



## Chyrio

possibly...


----------



## Acuta73

Try these arguments:

It offers great expandability so I won't have to buy another case for YEARS!

Due to heat zones, it cools more efficiently. Therefore the components will last longer = less $$ spent on hardware.

"But honey, if I paint it to match the decor, it will blend in better!" (random mod excuse)

Something about it fitting better in the space you have...

"I was thinking about water cooling and this case has some GREAT options for radiators!"


Good luck!


----------



## shotgn

gcavan said:


> I'll bet she buys makeup.


hahaha actually no....its the damn dvd's she buys..lol we have something like over 5000 titles in our collection....~sigh~


----------



## shotgn

Ssrogg said:


> Try these arguments:
> 
> It offers great expandability so I won't have to buy another case for YEARS!
> 
> Due to heat zones, it cools more efficiently. Therefore the components will last longer = less $$ spent on hardware.
> 
> "But honey, if I paint it to match the decor, it will blend in better!" (random mod excuse)
> 
> Something about it fitting better in the space you have...
> 
> "I was thinking about water cooling and this case has some GREAT options for radiators!"
> 
> Tried that as well....answer is still no, My b-day is coming up next month..maybe then
> 
> Good luck!


----------



## Chyrio

man dude i got lucky my girlfriend doesnt care what i do, i just have to confront her and ask for the money


----------



## shotgn

you sound like a kept man....ray:ray:


----------



## Chyrio

Well the first month we got a place together we couldn't pay all the rent  cause I spent all the money on computer stuff  so I agreed that she was in control of the money and I had to ask if I wanted something :/


----------



## llacrossedude7

Here is my rig with a few mods.


----------



## shotgn

Nice rig man.....:3-rockon:


----------



## llacrossedude7

Ty Ty


----------



## TWSARCH

I got board at work and was lurking here looking at the rigs. Here is mine, no moding here, just an assembly. It’s a cad workstation, not a gamer hence the boring looking workstation video card, video card was the single most expensive part of this build, doesn’t look to impressive does it? 

Anyway, what do ya all think?


----------



## TWSARCH

Chyrio said:


> o and trust me my next build will be with power tools!!!!! but i started working on one of those mineral oil comps this afternoon after reading the thread. im building one out of a dell precision 360 i have had laying around  the only problems i have are where do i buy the mineral oil? do they sell it at like ace hardware or something? other than that i have the fish tank but its only 14" in width and 5" in length so its really tight in there


Try asking for mineral oil in a bicycle store. They use it for brake fluid in some of the hydraulic disk brakes on mountain bikes (they also use regular DOT 3 brake fluid in some too)


----------



## llacrossedude7

TWSARCH said:


> I got board at work and was lurking here looking at the rigs. Here is mine, no moding here, just an assembly. It’s a cad workstation, not a gamer hence the boring looking workstation video card, video card was the single most expensive part of this build, doesn’t look to impressive does it?
> 
> Anyway, what do ya all think?


I have that same cooler and the updated version of that case on my other build Lian Li makes great stuff and nice build. My only advice work on the cable management a bit and it will be awesome.


----------



## TWSARCH

llacrossedude7 said:


> I have that same cooler and the updated version of that case on my other build Lian Li makes great stuff and nice build. My only advice work on the cable management a bit and it will be awesome.


I think I did an ok job with the cable management considering this thing got built from 10PM to 2AM one night, really. My bedtime is 9PM so I was tired. The only things I can see to do better are run the hard drive power up from under the drive rack so it’s not going across everything and run the optical sata behind the motherboard pan through the hole near the top and bundle the slack behind that. The power supply is not modular so there is not much I can do there. 

It actually got worse since the photo was taken. I added an in the case USB hub and that has wires and dongles sticking out all over it. It made things under the hood uglier. If I have time and the inclination to re-route some stuff ill snap another photo. 
Is there a photo of your rig to see how it’s done?


----------



## llacrossedude7

Yeah its routed the same way on both of my cases ill take some up-close pics to show you how to do it.


----------



## llacrossedude7

TWSARCH said:


> I think I did an ok job with the cable management considering this thing got built from 10PM to 2AM one night, really. My bedtime is 9PM so I was tired. The only things I can see to do better are run the hard drive power up from under the drive rack so it’s not going across everything and run the optical sata behind the motherboard pan through the hole near the top and bundle the slack behind that. The power supply is not modular so there is not much I can do there.
> 
> It actually got worse since the photo was taken. I added an in the case USB hub and that has wires and dongles sticking out all over it. It made things under the hood uglier. If I have time and the inclination to re-route some stuff ill snap another photo.
> Is there a photo of your rig to see how it’s done?


Ok sorry it took me so long I could not find my camera, but here are some pics on how to do the cable management. I cleaned up mine ever more when I got some zip tie mounts.


----------



## llacrossedude7

And here is my Lian Li build you can use them as a guide on how to cable manage your case. http://www.techpowerup.com/gallery/2293.html


----------



## shotgn

nice llacrosse


----------



## llacrossedude7

I'm about to uni-sleeve all my cables on my psu, so what I'm thinking about doing is make a few tutorials of how to do simple mods, like painting fans, cutting windows, sleeving cable, and cable management. What do you think about that shotgn, fell free to ask around the hardware forum and see what the others think.


----------



## TWSARCH

That’s pretty good. You have to look to see any cable at all from the MB side of the case. It never occurred to me to mount the hard drives cable side to the mother board pan. The hard drive trays (for lack of a better term) in my lian li case have an up turned end preventing the drives from being mounted in the tray that way, but it looks like I can turn the entire tray(s) around to do the same thing. I just put them in the way they came and never thought about that aspect of it. It’s been a dozen years since I built a totally new computer (re-built a bunch) we never thought about this stuff then.



llacrossedude7 said:


> Ok sorry it took me so long I could not find my camera, but here are some pics on how to do the cable management. I cleaned up mine ever more when I got some zip tie mounts.


----------



## TWSARCH

llacrosse - Yep, just like you did on your lian li case, HD trays that is.


----------



## llacrossedude7

I'm glad I helped you clean it up a little bit, what do you think of my idea about making case mod tutorials like cable sleeving, window mods, fan painting, and cable management?


----------



## Iplop

I don't think my computer will be winning any awards. ;D

I didn't feel like paying an extra $50-$70 while building it so I stuck with a case I pulled from a dumpster back in '02. Needless to say, nothing fit quite right. :|









The cooling wasn't adequate so I replaced the top panel with cardboard and added an exhaust fan. (I also added additional shielding to me WiFi antenna's cable a few months ago. To do that I scrapping a coaxial cable I had lying around --quite proud of that if nothing else)









Notice the foil ducting tape holding the fans in position. 
(the only fan mounting brackets on the case were on the back and they were a strange size)









My latest work of ***: my modem cooling solution. 
(this solved the occasional lockups)

The funny thing is that the computer I built for my father a few months ago (Father's day present) looked quite nice and clean-cut --inside/out.


----------



## llacrossedude7

Lol, nice ghetto rig man I can dig that.


----------



## jack-o-bytes

I think that is quite awesome to be honest. I like it when people build ones like that. I used to have one all mashed up it worked fine but the case was a pile of ****

Jack-O-Bytes


----------



## WereBo

Hehehehehe.... An excellent example of 'Rules being meant to be broken' :grin:


----------



## Iplop

Haha, thanks! ;D

In retrospect I wish I put down the $50 for a cheap half-tower but I'm pretty happy with how this case has preformed all things considered. 

While playing ME2 max res/graphics:
CPU: 38C (the hottest I've seen it run in 42C during a benchtest)
Video card: 40-44C (v-card fan @ 100%)
MB: 33C
HDs: cool/cold to the touch. 

Sounds like a jet engine..

MY current dream is to utilize 1 rear air input (perhaps side input with top/front exhaust?): A decent sized blower fan with a square of reusable A/C filter and a dryer duct leading to my PC. 

That'd be much quieter and provide far greater CF/M.

*Edit_1:*
Keeping the 120v A/C fan a good distance away from my PC seems like it would cut back on it's EMI. (and save desk space)


----------



## TWSARCH

llacrossedude7 said:


> I'm glad I helped you clean it up a little bit, what do you think of my idea about making case mod tutorials like cable sleeving, window mods, fan painting, and cable management?


Well……. You gave me ideas to clean it up a bit; I haven’t actually done any of it yet! I will one of these days. 

I think it’s a good idea to offer tutorials on case mods etc. I’ll take a look at them if you do. I am interested in cable sleeving, haven’t done that yet, closest I came is using plastic coiled stuff you wrap around a group of cable, see attached out of focus photo. That bundle has the monitor power and video cable, mouse, keyboard and pen tablet USB lines all in it.


----------



## TWSARCH

I like Iplop’s rig. I think I have that same old case, got mine just before it hit the dumpster. I built what I call a “garbage box” out of it, computer built out of exclusively leftover garbage from old computers. My garbage box “rules” include no pirated software so that one is running win NT. I have another garbage box running 2000 pro.


----------



## shotgn

I think if you do one with cable management, I might be able to get dai or tumbleweed to make a sticky. 

By the way which coolermaster case is that?...my next mod is going to be with a 840


----------



## llacrossedude7

It's the 690 II Basic. Its by far the best case I've owned its better than my Lian Li and it's much cheaper. I think it's 69.99 w/ free shipping on newegg.com 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119215


----------



## dannydrumm9

I'd like to introduce the "Frankencomputer" hahah i had no room on this P.O.S. e-machine so i put a couple bolts in it's neck, and an extra fan.


----------



## rmartz20

Cables are a little messy but give me a break... it was my first build, plus I have a low end case.


----------



## rmartz20

Here two others...


----------



## GZ

@rmartz

I used to have that same exact desk (in black)! I loved it, my old PC used to fit perfectly on the shelf where you have the Optiplex. The only thing I couldn't stand was that useless shelf on the top. I ended up cutting it in half and mounting a support so I had a place to put my printer.

Sorry for going off topic...


----------



## rmartz20

Yeah I like it too. Got it for free from someone! I couldn't stand how the shelf was constructed so i just removed it. 

The best part about it is watching BluRays through my tv with 5.1 surround sound. I only need to leave my room to eat, shower, and go to work... haha.

Just threw fans in two days ago and decided to take a pic and upload it on here. I am thinking about switching cases for a better one.


----------



## llacrossedude7

rmartz20 said:


> Cables are a little messy but give me a break... it was my first build, plus I have a low end case.


Not to bad sir considering the case and all, I like the 470 even though its a power and heat hoss. Nice.


----------



## rmartz20

Maybe for better air flow, would it be plausible for me to put one of the fans on bottom into the cage for another front inflow fan?


----------



## llacrossedude7

You could do that, are you going for negative or positive case pressure?


----------



## rmartz20

If I would do that, it would be positive case pressure. I am feeling I need a different case with more exhaust fans. I would have 2 intake fans, and 1 exhaust fan then if I were to put another fan in the cage. Right now I have negative since the eshaust fan cfm is higher than the intake and my two fans on the bottom are just blowing on the gtx470. I know everyone has their own opinion and should be started on a different thread about positive vs negative but I would think it would be better served for one of my fans to be pulling air in.


----------



## dannydrumm9

I'd like to introduce the "Frankencomputer" hahah i had no room on this P.O.S. e-machine so i put a couple bolts in it's neck, and an extra fan.


----------



## SABL

What?? Self tapping drywall screws?? Coulda used 3" ones and hang your hat on the bottom one.....:grin:


----------



## WereBo

:lol: :lol:....









:grin:


----------



## MoonShadow_1AU

Well just finished replacing my old klunker

Old: P4-32ht 3Gb Ram 4HDD 2Optical

New: i7-960 12Gb RAM 3HFF 1Optical


----------



## GZ

Nice MoonShadow, That sure is a pretty heatsink... How are your Temps?


----------



## WereBo

WOW!!! A classic example of 'Chalk and cheese' :grin:


----------



## MoonShadow_1AU

gavinzach said:


> Nice MoonShadow, That sure is a pretty heatsink... How are your Temps?


My old box ran at 59-75 C with the fans FULL speed

My new box 34-49 C with the fans spinning slow to fast depending on temp.


----------



## MoonShadow_1AU

WereBo said:


> WOW!!! A classic example of 'Chalk and cheese' :grin:


And I built both and was very proud of the first until I saw what it could really look like here


----------



## GZ

I can see those temps on the old one with the stock cooler and that cluster of wires in the old case... what a lack of ventilation.

I'm not entirely happy with the performance of my Antec 300 case that I just picked up. I was getting cooler temps in my 10 year old Gateway case with 2 less fans.

My temps (CoolerMaster GeminII s) 
Idle(bios): 38-39 
Idle(Windows Running as reported by Everest): 45-47
Under Stress(OCCT) Maxed at 57

I have to run OCCT again, now that the ArcticSilver5 has had a chance to set and recheck my max. Something seems a little screwy with those numbers so I am wondering if there is a problem with the temp diode for the CPU. 

I am going to check out that CoolerMaster V6GT CPU Cooler see if I like it.


----------



## 1 g0t 0wn3d

I find cooling works best with one big intake and one big exhaust, if you have more than that i find the air does not move as fluidly and it leaves pockets of heat.

Ambient ~80 or higher,Cpu idles at 34c(94f)


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## GZ

1 g0t 0wn3d;2940661I find cooling works best with one big intake and one big exhaust said:


> I agree with you. I have been at this a long time and I know a thing or two about the mechanics of airflow. But the only things I ever use intake fans for are to cool specific areas or components. I went over all the temps again and realized that the case and my setup is not at fault here. There is either a mis-communication between sensor and monitoring program or I have a bad batch of Arctic Silver. Probably the latter since my CPU temps rose while my system temps dropped. Here is a pic of my rig. (now that I am finally firmly in the present)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Don't mind the cable management too much. I am putting together plans for a new build and I'm not going to chop up my new case before I get my new parts. I am running 1 x 12cm Tri-Cool on low to intake air and cool my HDD, 1 x 12cm Thermaltake Xaser in the rear exhaust spot. If I decide to do the occasional gaming or cpu/gpu intensive app, I crank her up to full to drop temps. (for OCCT testing, I left it on low). And one Cooler Master 14cm fan in the blow hole. System Board temps have been sticking around 27º.
> 
> Here are a couple more pics for the fun of it.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> This is my work area. Actually my kid's bedroom when they come to stay with daddy for the week. In the off time it doubles as my office/workshop. To the far left (and on the shelf) is a test rig, Right now running an overnight MemTest on a couple of DDR sticks I picked up. Next over is project Linux FTP fileserver for my home network. It originally was an mPGA478 P4 running 1GB of PC133 SDRAM. But sadly, the motherboard mysteriously died while in storage for the past year and a half. Currently powering that beast is an AMD Athlon XP 2000+ on a GigaByte GA-7VAX with 768MB DDR-333. Pushing the video is a top of the line, AGP 4x nVidia GeForce 2 Ultra 128. Sweet rig! She should do fine for her task. And to the right is my main setup. Who needs a fancy wide screen when 2 scrap salvo Monitors (repaired by yours truly) work wonderfully. Actually, all but the Samsung are salvo/repair jobs. My rig is off to the right of the desk, just out of the pic.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Lastly is a close-up of test rig #2. Test rig #1 currently resides in the white case destined to be a fileserver. This bad boy is a PCB integrated Duron processor on an ECS board. The best thing about this guy is, he supports both PC100/133 and DDR (up to PC 2700) and makes a versatile memory test rig. Otherwise, pretty much useless.


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## 1 g0t 0wn3d

ray: I wish i had the space for this, my parents would kill me for using all their electricity.

I agree with using intake to cool specific components my single intake blows over the top of my hard drive into the fan for my gpu. I used a 80mm fan out of a power supply, at 100% it hits close to 7000rpm and sounds like a plane. But it also drops temps by 10-15c.

As for the monitor thing, all of my monitors i have repaired it is kind of sad people give these things away and most of the time its just broken soder.


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## Chyrio

ha dude my basement looks something like this :laugh: and my stepdad is so stupid he thinks if i have the computers plugged in but they are still off that its using the same 500 watts from the psu. :4-dontkno so he forces me to unplug them all the time but really i just switch the surge protector off. :laugh: he doesn't know nothing about computers. but its cool cause none of my family does, so all i ever get for christmas is solid cash. this year im gonna build a new 890fx msi computer. i have never tried msi but they are cheap and a friend of mine says it will get the job done. plug 4 gigs of ddr3 gaming ram, 750 watt psu, radeon hd 5770, phenom x6 1090t, and a 1T hard drive. then im just gonna buy an old beige case and cut windows and add lights and paint it. all that good stuff. :grin: a computer is only custom if you build it so no one has anything like it :tongue:. or at least thats my opinion.:wink:


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## shotgn

you want to go for a cheap mobo? or reliable and proven...like asus and gigabyte


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## FriedPC

Here some pictures of my system in its new case. The case is the RoseWill Armor 80% mesh. The rest of the PC specs are the same as in my profile. This was really the first time I have ever taken the time to try to manage the cables in my system, so let me know what you think.


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## FriedPC

Only 2 file limit? Here is the last 2:


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## GZ

Doesn't look bad... Could use a little more TLC on the cables, but it's your first time, so you are forgiven! (you can find some tips and tricks in the cable management tutorial sticky)

That thing has got to sound like a Jet taking off when it is running.

How are your temps?


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## FriedPC

gavinzach said:


> Doesn't look bad... Could use a little more TLC on the cables, but it's your first time, so you are forgiven! (you can find some tips and tricks in the cable management tutorial sticky)
> 
> That thing has got to sound like a Jet taking off when it is running.
> 
> How are your temps?


Its actually quieter then my old case that had only had 3 80mm fans. The only thing actually makes it loud really is the video card fan witch I run at 100% when gaming.

The temps are amazing, especially coming from the temps I was having a week or so ago. 
Before - CPU: Idling 45-55c
After - CPU: Idling 27-29c
Before - CPU: Gaming 66c
After - CPU: Gaming 38-40c

Before - GPU: Idling upper 60's to lower 70's
After - GPU: Idling 57c
Before - GPU: Gaming upper 70's sometimes 80-81c
After - GPU: Gaming 63-65c

The before temps are "around" the area of the different varying temps that I was seeing before the case switch. Towards the end there with that case my temps just started going out of control, even after cleaning every spec of dust that I could manage to clean. It really threw me off though because my CPU was idling at 32c steadily with that case shorty after I fist installed the Zalman cooler. However even after a re-apply of thermal glue last month and a thorough cleaning the temps were still going crazy.

I am quite happy with the results of this case's cooling right now. I just need to get a permanent high pressure air cleaning solution. That way I can very thoroughly clean it as frequently as I would like to(at least once a week).

As far as the cable management I was going to look into cleaning up a few things later. However the main thing that makes it look cluttered is up by the DVD drive where the Main power connector, 4-pin molex cable come out of the top hole on the motherboard trey, there is also the bundled up wires from the front panel running into the top hole and down into the bottom one out to the motherboard. At least the cables aren't all stuffed into the vacant optical drive bays like my last case.


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## GZ

My bud uses this with an air nozzle to clean his computer... I have been wanting to get one for myself too... 3000psi at my command??? 

http://www.amazon.com/Pure-Energy-Compressed-Tank-3000psi/dp/B0008G2W8O


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## FriedPC

I never thought about paintball aircans. I was just thinking about buying the item that was suggested in my thread about the RoseWill Armor case: http://www.amazon.com/Metro-Vacuum-ED500-500-Watt-Electric/dp/B001J4ZOAW
As long as this thing has enough pressure to blast the dust off of my heatsink, video card, psu and case fans I will be more then happy.


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## shotgn

in the long term that vac will save you money, not the cfm as that paintball co2


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## GZ

shotgn said:


> in the long term that vac will save you money, not the cfm as that paintball co2


Actually, that is a compressed air paintball canister. Lol.


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## shotgn

ah i see, still having it refilled would be a pain imo


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## HawMan

New CoolIT CPU Cooler!





























Decent so far :wink:


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## derek_jones_36

Sweet Cooler...love the lcd temp display...what did that run you?


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## Tyree

derek_jones_36 said:


> Sweet Cooler...love the lcd temp display...what did that run you?


$110 on Newegg.

The temperature gauge on the pump doesn't reads the temperature of the coolant -not the CPU temp.


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## derek_jones_36

Gotcha...I wasn't sure. It seemed like it was the cpu temp but I can see that posted separately. Thanks


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## Acuta73

Well, it's certainly a blatant rip-off of the Corsair H50/H70, but that isn't a bad thing.

Can the LCD be backlit? Almost seems a waste, if not.


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## HawMan

The LCD Can be changed different colours. It can also be set to pulse mode ( Light fades on and off )

There are also different modes :

Quiet
Performance
Extreme

When set to extreme the fan is very noisy ( I will be replacing it ).

It has much more feature than the H50 / H70 and thats why i got it :wink:


Heres a little review
http://www.overclockersclub.com/reviews/coolit_vantage_alc/


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## greenbrucelee

dont use speedfan for temps, it can be very innacurate. Nice cooler though.


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## visseroth




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## greenbrucelee

Have you got enough screens?


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## visseroth

Heck no! I'd like another 2 or 4 more, when you're remoting into computers, transferring files, scanning machines, watching a movie and playing wow you have a tenancy to run out of room :laugh:


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## greenbrucelee

ahh so you do remote stuff too.

I do too but I have switch box and the one monitor, I could do with a couple of more switcheds though for my virtual lab.


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## visseroth

Yea, I remote into a lot of places. So what do you use your virtual lab for? What are ya running?


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## greenbrucelee

I use my virtual lab for my IT certifications.

got a couple of cisco switches and a small exchange server run win2k3 networked with 5 virtual xp workstations and windows 2000 box. dont use them that often at the minute but they came in handy when I was doing my network+ and MCDST and they will come in handy when I do any other certs.


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## magnethead

I think I'm the only person to mount a CB to a computer desk...along with the fan controller...CD..and SD card reader. All I have left is to mount the benchtop PSU and run the connections to a panel.

Hoping to clean up some of the desk and get the doors and such put on it so it'll look like a real desk. I built it in like July, and still havent had a chance to finish b/c of school


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## greenbrucelee

Kind of looks like my workstation at work without the 7 monitors though


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## GZ

magnethead said:


> I think I'm the only person to mount a CB to a computer desk...along with the fan controller...CD..and SD card reader.


Looking good. That hard work is paying off. You seem to have a good idea what you are doing. Is this your first time or do you have some carpentry experience? 

Once I get to working on my currently undisclosed project, I will be building a computer into an antique, hand-made desk for a buddy of mine. The project includes a hidden mount optical drive, fully custom enclosure and custom built speakers that are going to be built into a 1930's wooden radio. I have yet to find an antique radio with two speakers though. If I have my way, I will be mounting the LCD panel into a picture frame on the wall behind the desk, to complete the "look". 

Keep up the good work, I am looking forward to seeing the completed project.

-GZ


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## magnethead

I built the desk in 5 days back in July, while my dad was out of town (see: on my own). It didnt come out perfect by any means, i have to take the 2 most central (see: weight bearing) verical pieces out because they're half an inch too long. Probably gonna take a bottle jack or similar with a 2x4 on end to support the span while I have the 2 verticals and the truss pulled out. My racing wheel and shifter will go under the DVD/CB/Fan controller, with a hinged door covering, then the leftside will have 4 sliding trays with a hinged door cover, then the far right under my laptop and desktop will have hinged doors for a big storage area. Not sure what to do with the left side yet. 

The screens are 19" 5:4, 22" 16:9, 19" 5:4. That's 52" from left to right. Plus I use my laptop as a 4th monitor via synergy as needed. The entire desk is 11.5 feet long on centerlines.

Not viewable (on purpose) is the rats nest of wires:
4 power strips
1 wireless router
1 8-port hub
3 DVI cables
1 VGA cable
5 sets of cables connecting the DVD and fan controller to the tower
1 USB going to the SD reader
the soon-to-be-mounted benchtop power supply
4 power strips
- left 6 plus only has wireless router plugged in
- left middle 5 port has the 3 monitors, tower, and USB hub power
- right middle 12 port has desklamp, sound, ethernet hub, racing wheel, benchtop power supply, both printers, i forget what all else
- right 6 plug has camcorder charger, laptop charger, and something else

grand total is probably 50 feet of cabling on/in this desk.


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## GZ

magnethead said:


> Not viewable (on purpose) is the rats nest of wires:
> *4 power strips*
> 1 wireless router
> 1 8-port hub
> 3 DVI cables
> 1 VGA cable
> 5 sets of cables connecting the DVD and fan controller to the tower
> 1 USB going to the SD reader
> the soon-to-be-mounted benchtop power supply
> *4 power strips
> - left 6 plus only has wireless router plugged in
> - left middle 5 port has the 3 monitors, tower, and USB hub power
> - right middle 12 port has desklamp, sound, ethernet hub, racing wheel, benchtop power supply, both printers, i forget what all else
> - right 6 plug has camcorder charger, laptop charger, and something else*
> 
> grand total is probably 50 feet of cabling on/in this desk.


Lol, you may want to have an electrician come an check that circuit to make sure it can handle that much draw. It would be better for you to have a dedicated 20A breaker and 12-2 romex feeding that mess... The last thing you need is to stress the house circuit to failure.


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## visseroth

Dude, you have NO idea!!! LOL

I trip my breakers all the time. My desktop alone draws like 8 amps! Needless to say I hibernate it at night because the electrical bill would be crazy just for my desktop.

But no, I can relate to the radio thing. I have my HAM radio sitting on my desktop though it's not on atm, I need another decent radio for the desk, was going to use this one for packet radio.


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## SABL

The electric can be tricky unless you have a way to run more circuits to the room. Many rooms share circuits even though the code may call for 2 circuits in a room.....they just branch the 2 circuits through all the rooms to pass code. You need a dedicated circuit to your "work area", that goes nowhere else. Pretty much like refridgerator and washing machine circuits that supply only one receptacle but in your case only one circuit that feeds nothing other than your computer desk with as many receptacles as needed.

Desk will look nice when done!! I like the design.......but one exception. The base cabinets are on the floor.....need a "toe space" that is commonly 4" high and 3" deep. The 2x4 won't make a good wrist support.....:laugh:


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## magnethead

I have the left power strip feeding off one outlet, the right one off a second outlet, and the main 2 strips go off the same outlet. My room has a dedicated 15A breaker. I also have my server (glorified desktop) and TV on other side of the room, sharing a 8-plug power strip.

The 2x4 laying across the KB is actually the truss support for the big span shelf over the monitors. I also have one for the main desk span to the left, since it's drooping about a half inch just with textbooks on it.

I had to google "cabinet toe kick" to understand your statement. I'm not worried about that part of it for this application. For a 42" countertop/ect, yea i could see it, but not for a 30" desk. The printers are the only thing on that side of the desk that actually need human input. My old desk was the same way, had the cabinet face all the way to the floor.


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## GZ

I am in the process of running a dedicated circuit to the workstation at my home.

My Wife's computer room has 2 circuits, one a 15A dedicated circuit for her computer, printers and our network equipment.

My workstation area is getting a 20A arc-fault dedicated circuit, run to two Surge protected outlets and UPS. At any given time I will be running up to 4 separate PCs, 6 monitors and various test equipment... Not a task for the 15A room circuit that may (or may not) still be running through cloth insulated knob and tube... My house is an electricians nightmare.


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## TWSARCH

My computer circuit is a 20 amp isolated ground quad. Does isolated ground still help these days?


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## GZ

TWSARCH said:


> My computer circuit is a 20 amp isolated ground quad. Does isolated ground still help these days?


A properly installed IG won't hurt anything.


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## WereBo

Just curious here, but do you have 'Ring-Mains' in the USA house-wiring, where the feed comes out the fuse-box, the loops through every room, straight in/out the sockets, then back to the fuse-box (Each floor has it's own 'ring')?


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## GZ

Here is a link to a web page illustrating a "typical house circuit".

http://www.thecircuitdetective.com/tourcircuit.htm

Code requires all electrical junction boxes to be accessible, so most circuits start with a receptacle. Then the circuit branches from there to all other receptacles in the circuit.

I prefer the lighting circuit to be separate from the outlet circuit, so if a breaker trips from a fault, then my lights don't go out.

I am going to start re-wiring my house soon, to relieve the 100 year old oilcloth knob and tube that isn't supposed to be there. When my wife bought the house, the previous owners told her the wiring was already updated. She had no idea there was still live K&T until I discovered it while remodeling the back room. The previous owner had live knob and tube tying into romex, open (not in a junction box) but concealed under ceiling tiles in a room that was primarily cheap paneling. 

When I start, I am going to scheme out the whole thing and plan it on a new 200A main. My second floor lights (except the bathroom, which must be GFCI according to code) will all be on the same breaker. 2 ceiling fans with light fixtures, and 2 light fixtures. My second floor consists of 3 rooms a Bathroom and a hallway. So my second floor will have 3 dedicated AFCI 115V 15A circuits, 1 dedicated 20A AFCI circuit for my computer area and a dedicated GFCI circuit for the bathroom. The hallway and stairwell will share a 10A circuit with the attic.

Sorry long winded...


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## WereBo

WOW! That looks hellishly complicated









UK Ring-Main

The UK wiring seems a lot simpler and, although each socket is rated at 13A, the circuit can supply 30A. 'Spur' sockets can be fed from any of the wall-outlets and electric-cookers, power-showers and other high-current appliances have their own dedicated circuit. 

The lighting circuit is similar to the 'ring', but with 1.5mm cable and wiring for the wall-switches.


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## GZ

WereBo said:


> WOW! That looks hellishly complicated


lol... It really isn't, but then again, it is the way it has always been for me, so I am used to it.

We also use different voltages. In the UK it is 220V no matter what right?

In the US we have 115V/220V. Our MAIN is 220 on two "legs" then each leg is 115. 220V requires one lead from each leg and the neutral and earth ground to run 220V appliances and tools.

Thanks for the reference though, I know have a better idea how electricity in the UK works.


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## WereBo

Our actual voltage is 240V (just enough to wake you up, if you accidentally touch it :wink, most equipment is designed for a drop to 220V min, and some auto-switches to 110V when used abroad. As you look at the sockets in the diagram linked above, the bottom 2 of the 3 pins is '-' and '+', the single pin above is the Earth (Ground).


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## visseroth

Oh you guys will love my fire hazard of a setup but I do not plan on fixing it until I build my new house.

But here is how it goes... My office is my garage, in the garage are 3 outlets and these 3 are also connected to the front outside outlet.

1 outlet is used for my son's TV and bearded dragon pin.

1 outlet connects all my desktop equipment... UPS for the server, firewall and network switch. Also connected is my UPS for my desktop which consists of 4 monitors and everything that I charge. It also branches and feeds my work bench where there can be as much as 4 machines running at a time which also branches and feeds my friends big screen TV, his desktop and monitors.
Needless to say when all this is running the cords get warm and I get worried.

My other outlet feeds my air compressor, spare refrigerator, copying machine and a freezer.

In order to run the air compressor my desktops have to be turned off or the breaker trips. 

So yea, fire hazard? Maybe LOL, but at least I know what to turn off to run something else and if this place burns down then it just gives me an excuse to build a new house!

Man I can't wait to build a new house!


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## SABL

Off Topic......but......Do NOT need neutral wire for 240V here in the US. AC takes care of completing the circuit but some of the components in an appliance may require 110V and will need the neutral due to internal branching of circuits. With a DVOM, test each "leg" of a 240V receptacle to the neutral or ground......120V. Place one test lead on each "leg" and you get 240V......no neutral required and the alternating current will complete the circuit with 2 "hot" wires. Been there, done it, been hit by it.....ouch!! 

You guys are building some real nice rigs and work areas.....ray:. Just make sure the power source is clean and the PSU can take the punishment of the added hardware. Voltage Drop (VD) can also occur if you are pulling power from a distance and symptoms will show up under load. If the breaker panel is any distance from the receptacle......>50' you may get a drop if the circuit is being taxed. There are two types of VD.....both can ruin your equipment....


----------



## TWSARCH

WereBo said:


> Just curious here, but do you have 'Ring-Mains' in the USA house-wiring, where the feed comes out the fuse-box, the loops through every room, straight in/out the sockets, then back to the fuse-box (Each floor has it's own 'ring')?


I have minimal familiarity with a ring main and they seem strange to me, sort of redundant and introduce an extra chance for getting zapped when working on it, but I can see how it could help with reliability. My father-in-law lives in Ireland and has ring mains in his house; he and I have poked around with his electrical so I have seen some of it. The best way to compare the USA system would be to compare a typical circuit to what you would call a “spur” circuit only the circuit originates directly from the service panel and most would have more than one appliance on it, typical for lighting and general use outlets. We would call this a branch circuit. Some branch circuits are dedicated to one appliance, typically things like a refrigerator, air conditioners and the heating system. The circuit for my computers is also a dedicated circuit, it goes right from the breaker to a pair of duplex outlets and that’s it. In the case of my computer circuit there is an extra conductor for the isolated ground, the normal ground (earth) is connected to the galvanized steel outlet box and the extra ground wire is connected to the ground socket on the outlet. Normally a typical outlet ground is bridged to the external ground but in this case I used a special outlet fixture for computers that isolate the grounds. 
Just for fun and confusion, some typical and random American household electrical info: A typical 110 volt line has a hot, ground and neutral. A typical 220 volt line for something like a big air-conditioner has two hot’s and a ground. There are also 220 lines that have a neutral and 2 hot’s for things that use both 110 and 240 volts like electric clothes dryers. Adding to the confusion; at the main service panel the ground (earth) and neutral have to be bonded (connected together) and it is common for the bus bars to be intermingled with both. At a sub panel (smaller breaker panel feed off the main) ground and neutral must not be connected. The main panel typically has two hot bus-bars, tap either one for 110 volt, tap both for 240, a breaker for a 240 circuit is designed to do this. This type of service with 2 bus-bars is called single phase, a commercial application with 3 bus-bars is called 3 phase, nothing is called 2 phase. Some older houses only have one hot bus bar and are limited on what you can connect; most like this have been replaced by now. Commercial applications typically have different voltages (208, 220, 380, 400, 480 etc) for things that are hard wired in like lighting and equipment, even a lot of small stores and shops like small strip malls have different voltages depending on the utility service in the area.


----------



## TWSARCH

Forgot to mention on my ramble about USA circuits for the Brit, a breaker shall not be a higher capacity than any of the receptacles on it. Most common outlet receptacles are 15 amp, so the entire circuit must trip over 15 amp. We also have 20 amp outlets that can receive a special 20 amp appliance plug and/or the regular 15 amp type; this circuit would obviously have a 20 amp breaker. BTW, its amps that kill, not volts.


----------



## SABL

TWSARCH said:


> a breaker shall not be a higher capacity than any of the receptacles on it.


Good point....can you cite this statement in the NEC??


----------



## TWSARCH

That’s not an actual quote, I just use the word “shall” at work a lot and it slipped in. As it happens I am an Architect (the kind that designs buildings, not software, business plans or policies; give us our name back! But that’s another story, sorry) I have a copy of the NEC around here somewhere; ill see if I can look later.


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## SABL

I know where you are coming from.....I checked your profile....:grin:

I think that what you stated is true for commercial applications and I have seen it often. It makes sense for safety but in all my years I have never seen use for a true 20A receptacle in a residential situation. 20A circuit, yes.....the combined load can approach limit (and exceed) with many appliances connected on one circuit. I think, at one time, I had a washing machine that did have a 20A plug on the cord......but I wired the house for a true 20A circuit that did not branch anywhere else and a 20A device was installed. 

My former house was wired by a friend (commercial electrician) because I did not have the time to work and run down parts at the same time. He ordered parts and had them delivered to his jobsite.....:grin:....and did my house on weekends/evenings. TWSARCH can appreciate this......not only did I have 20A receptacles, they were Spec Grade!! Gonna take years to wear those out!! 

In the case of powering PCs, I don't think the use of a 20A receptacle will do much good....unless the power cords have the 20A ends. In that case, you have been warned and provisions must be made to dedicate one solitary circuit to that device......changing the plug end is not a provision and will lead to failure. If you build the beast, make sure it is well fed!!


----------



## TWSARCH

When I was installing the circuit, I put a 20 amp in because a computer plotter I wanted to get required 20 amps and had the plug to prove it (plotter is a big printer). I have another dedicated circuit in an alternate location where my current plotter is currently located but I wanted flexibility in location and the cost to go up to 12 ga wire was next to nothing for the run I had. I also have a blue-print machine with a 20 amp plug on its own circuit. My tool box contains a 20 amp angle grinder and I have a 20 amp vacuum cleaner too (OK, so that is a commercial appliance) I never did get that big plotter. 

We really strayed from the “let’s see your rig” topic”!!


----------



## WereBo

Hi TWSARCH and thanks for the detailed explanation :wave:

I must admit, the US wiring practices do seem overcomplicated but, as stated elsewhere, it's what you're used to :laugh:

Our mains-ring are each fed top a separate switchable 15A fuse/breaker at the main box, so 1 switch will kill just that 1 ring, when working on it.

When my flat (apartment) was re-wired a couple of years ago, I was just in time for the new wiring-specs, so I had an extra pair of sockets added, at my choice of location in the living room (The 'H&S' have finally updated themselves to modern-day requirements :grin.

My arrangement is now:

1 double-socket powers the TV, video-player, DVD-player and 'Freeview' digital TV box with a 4-socket trailing strip for if I need a temporary socket at that bit of the room

1 double-socket powers the stereo amp and a trailing-strip for Mrs WereBo's laptop-power-brick and a couple of side/desk-lamps. It also used to power the radio, cassette player, vinyl record-deck etc. but they're now buried in a cupboard.

2 double-sockets powering my PC+monitor, Mrs WereBo's PC+monitor+powered-speaker brick, 2 printers, router/modem, wireless land-line phone power-brick and a couple desk-lights - Oh, and a couple of mobile (cell)-phone chargers.

None of the wall-socket plugs get tepid, let alone warm - Though I guesstimate there's approx 1/4 mile of cables tucked behind the furniture, mainly thanks to the moulded plugs that's now used (I used to remove the plug, trim the cable to size, then refit the plug :grin


(*PS* @ TWSARCH - No offence but please, I'm English, not a 'Brit', they're the equivalent of your stereotypical '*******', but not as polite or intelligent :grin


----------



## GZ

Does that mean I can take offense to being called a "Yank"? :grin:

The nice thing about your "ring main" is that you only have 220V. You don't have to worry about the 115 like us "Yanks" use! I prefer the ability to customize the service to my needs.

The garage my I do a lot of my computer work in was wired by me. I replaced the 100A service in the main house with a 200A service. Then I relocated the 100A box to the garage. (100A 240V line from the 200A service to the garage). There are only 4 circuits in the garage at the moment. 20A lighting circuit, 30A outlet circuit (Necessary due to use of Arc Welder, Plasma Cutter and various other high energy tools), 20A 220V line for the compressor and a dedicated 15A 115V circuit for the lift.

Of course, that is bound to change. The line feeding the garage is rated at 250A and all the romex in the garage is rated for 50A. I wanted to run braided wire and conduit, but Keith (garage's owner) didn't want the extra cost... It's a little dangerous in my opinion, but it is his insurance, not mine.


----------



## WereBo

*'Aside' post*

Aren't 'Yanks' North of the 'line' and their counterparts 'Southern-boys'? I'm hoping so cos that's the reason I've never used the term for Americans :grin:


----------



## GZ

Pretty much, but I have been called a 'Yank" by your British bretheren, by a Scotsman a few Irish and a bunch of Australians and even one New Zealander.

I heard it is derogatory. And by your definition I am a Yankee. (north of the Mason-Dixon line).


----------



## WereBo

Well, on behalf of the Brit-crowd, sorry 'bout that and thanks for confirming my suspicions of the 'Yankee' terminology :grin:

OK, back to the topic


----------



## TWSARCH

WereBo. Sorry about that Brit comment. As I mentioned I have family in Ireland and they throw that term around, even when referring to family in London and I guess I caught it. If it’s any consolation, If “Britt” = “*******” , myself along with the guy next-door are the neighborhood ********, frequently with a car in some half finished state of repair or a home improvement or repair taking too long requiring tarps and the like being displayed. It ain’t suchsa bad thin bein ha red-neck!


----------



## WereBo

Hehehehehe.... No problem TWSARCH, I'm well used to it :wink: It's not a 'hard 'n' fast' rule or anything, it's just how I define myself in this topsy-turvy world :grin:

*PS* - If those on-line-quizzes that were around some years ago ('How 'Southern' Are You', 'City Boy or Southern-Boy' etc.), are anything near accurate, I'd be one too :laugh:


----------



## philheckler

Not much activity in this thread now... better throw up my latest pics ...


















ray:


----------



## A1tecice

Never knew this was here , Here is my lastest gaming rig.


----------



## Chyrio

dude is that the user guide inside  thats a little odd. idk i would make a scan of the rampage word and make it bigger in fireworks or photoshop then order stickers of it for the case


----------



## A1tecice

Chyrio said:


> dude is that the user guide inside  thats a little odd. idk i would make a scan of the rampage word and make it bigger in fireworks or photoshop then order stickers of it for the case


Means i dont loose it, it covers up the nasty tool less drive bays, and it keeps it warm :tongue:


----------



## WereBo

Surely it doesn't get THAT cold in Glasgow :grin:

It's a neat-looking set-up though, even if it is a bit red.... :laugh:


----------



## A1tecice

Black and red is the sex , and you will be surprised up here it gets pretty cold. My old system was black and blue but i guess it got fed up of me beating it up (Ba dum tssshhh)


----------



## kalibcrone

here are two pictures of mine, one with lights on, one with lights off.


----------



## emosun

Gotta love those diablotek cases. Style over quality. lol (I use cheap flashy cases too)


----------



## kalibcrone

Haha well I didn't see the point in spending a lot on a brand name case when this one works just fine for me. You can tell its cheap but for 20 bucks I think its a deal


----------



## agentRed

nVidia HAF-X mod - you won't find this anywhere else!









I took an standard Cooler Master HAF X case and turned it into an nVidia HAF-X. Cheers!


----------



## A1tecice

Bloody hell, that greens bright!... did you spray paint that? I have the standerd version of that with my pc


----------



## emosun




----------



## agentRed

A1tecice said:


> Bloody hell, that greens bright!... did you spray paint that? I have the standerd version of that with my pc


Yeah I spray painted it. Used some RustOleum paint. You can tell it's not the factory made one because it has the Cooler Master logo on the front and the side window is clear and not tinted.


----------



## agentRed

emosun said:


>


Look closely and you'll see that case is not only a different color - it's also got the nVidia branding whereas mine has the Cooler Master branding.


----------



## emosun

ah , I see now. Your totally right , yours is 100% different and totally unique. It's not the same green and a different badge. How silly of me , how could I ever confuse the two. They are totally different from each other it's like night and day.

I like your nivida mod better without the nvidia branding. Looks way better then coolmasters own nvidia moded case with all those nvidia logo's. What were they thinking making an nvidia themed case with nvidia logos.


----------



## yhayatli

Side case opened: (needs tidying I know I know... )

http://i.imgur.com/1tNSy.jpg

Front view:

http://i.imgur.com/UVpDN.jpg


----------



## Tyree

OEM PC's don't care much about wire management. They just throw the parts in 'cause they know you'll have to replace it in a couple of yrs.


----------



## Encore13

Hi! Here's mine =D










Red Theme. :laugh:


----------



## jack-o-bytes

I have always wanted one of those CPU coolers but I have heard that they can be a bit loud and not cool very well :sigh: also they are not very cheap lol. How much did you pay and what sort of temps are you getting?

Jack-O-Bytes


----------



## Encore13

jack-o-bytes said:


> I have always wanted one of those CPU coolers but I have heard that they can be a bit loud and not cool very well :sigh: also they are not very cheap lol. How much did you pay and what sort of temps are you getting?
> 
> Jack-O-Bytes


Are you asking about my cooler buddy?! they have speed fan control so you can adjust it the speed you want. Mine is not loud, temps is good around 45 - 48 and proce is oce'd.

I'm from the Philippines I got it for 2500php so it's about $62 in US.


----------



## jack-o-bytes

Well that doesn't sound too bad at all  might try and get one of those soon then. I will have to wait until I have the money though 

Thanks for the info 

Jack-O-Bytes


----------



## A1tecice

Nice Rig encore, Almost the same as mine, (black and red)... my ones a few pages back.
Can i ask at the bottom right it looks as if you have stuck an action figure inside your case? or is that just me ?


----------



## Encore13

A1tecice said:


> Nice Rig encore, Almost the same as mine, (black and red)... my ones a few pages back.
> Can i ask at the bottom right it looks as if you have stuck an action figure inside your case? or is that just me ?


Oh! yet, that a gundam wing action figure look nice so i put it =D


----------



## A_D

how are you powering the fan??




Iplop said:


> I don't think my computer will be winning any awards. ;D
> 
> I didn't feel like paying an extra $50-$70 while building it so I stuck with a case I pulled from a dumpster back in '02. Needless to say, nothing fit quite right. :|
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The cooling wasn't adequate so I replaced the top panel with cardboard and added an exhaust fan. (I also added additional shielding to me WiFi antenna's cable a few months ago. To do that I scrapping a coaxial cable I had lying around --quite proud of that if nothing else)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Notice the foil ducting tape holding the fans in position.
> (the only fan mounting brackets on the case were on the back and they were a strange size)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> My latest work of ***: my modem cooling solution.
> (this solved the occasional lockups)
> 
> The funny thing is that the computer I built for my father a few months ago (Father's day present) looked quite nice and clean-cut --inside/out.


----------



## greenbrucelee

I hope you dont mind but if you wanted to shave a few degrees (maybe 1 - 3 degrees c) of your max temps I would get ontop of your cable management. Its amazing how much heat can build up due to cluttered cables.


----------



## llacrossedude7

Yeah cable management helps alot, I have a tutorial on how to do some simple cable management.


----------



## ssd-tweak

Hi guys!

I've rebuilt my system for the Nth time, and this time I got a new case, mobo, radiator, cpu-waterblock and graphics card. After seing the Corsair Obsidian 800D case so many times, I couldn't help myself. Had to get it.

Unboxing the case gave a surprise though. With reviews fresh in mind I thought I'd buy the case as standalone first and then get the upgrades for front panel and SATA3 backplane later on. However, when I opened the case it took me 20 seconds to spot that they were both preinstalled, and nowhere in the product description did it mention this. Boy was I glad I didn't get any of them along with the case. I've informed the webshop about the misleading product description.

Anywho, without further delay - here is my new build:










Now, keep in mind that this is an initial build, a first draft if you will. The pic is not very good either, so I will have to get a better camera.

Specs are as follows:

Case: Corsair Obsidian 800D (with upgraded USB 3.0 front panel and SATA3 backplane)
Mobo: Asus Rampage III Black edition
CPU: Core i7 920 (almost 3 yrs old now)
RAM: OCZ Gold - 12GB (as old as the CPU)
GPU: Asus GTX 560 Ti DirectCUUII
RAID controller: LSI 9260-4i with FastPath and CacheCade 2.0
HDD's: 3x Hitachi 1TB SATA3 - connected to HW RAID controller, and 1x WD Cav. GP onboard single RAID member
SSD's: 2x Vertex2 100GB holds the main OS - W7 Ult x64 (onboard RAID 0), 1x Vertex3 240GB holds Ubuntu (onboard Marvell 9182 SATA 6G), 1x 120GB RevoDrive holds apps.
PSU: Corsair HX1000
Cooling: Combined pump/reservoir circulating 700 litres an hour, Durelene hoses, Swiftech Apogee XT Rev. 2, 3x120mm EK Radiator, EK UV Blue coolant, extra HDD fan for 3,5" bay (in addition to factory installed fan), and Noctua fans on top - for the radiator.
Optical: LG DVDRW/BDRW
Cardreader: Apacer something...

This pic is taken approx 1 hour after unboxing the 800D, and since then I've tidied up a bit. Covered the red breakout cable from the LSI with black tape, and the same for the ATX, CPU 8-pin, SATA cables etc.

I hope to get more and better pics for you soon. If you have any questions or suggestions, feel free to send me a singing telegram.


----------



## Johnny1982

Here's some pics of my rig:
Specs:
Cooler Master Elite 370 Case
Gigabyte H55m-USB3 Motherboard
Intel Core I3-550 Overclocked to 4,10ghz 
Cooler Master Hyper 212+ CPU Cooler
2x 2gb DDR3-1333mhz Ram
Asus GTX560Ti 1gb DirectCUII Graphics Card (max oc: 950/1100/1900)
Deepcool Rockman PWM Fan Controller
2x 120mm Cooler Master SickleFlow Blue LED Case Fans
Corsair HX750w Power Supply
Total HDD Space: 3,80Tb
Samsung DVD Writer
LG DVD Writer
Samsung T260 FullHD 26" Monitor


----------



## ssd-tweak

Johnny1982 said:


> Here's some pics of my rig:
> Specs:
> Cooler Master Elite 370 Case
> Gigabyte H55m-USB3 Motherboard
> Intel Core I3-550 Overclocked to 4,10ghz
> Cooler Master Hyper 212+ CPU Cooler
> 2x 2gb DDR3-1333mhz Ram
> Asus GTX560Ti 1gb DirectCUII Graphics Card (max oc: 950/1100/1900)
> Deepcool Rockman PWM Fan Controller
> 2x 120mm Cooler Master SickleFlow Blue LED Case Fans
> Corsair HX750w Power Supply
> Total HDD Space: 3,80Tb
> Samsung DVD Writer
> LG DVD Writer
> Samsung T260 FullHD 26" Monitor


I love the monitor! 26" should fit a king! And I like the videocard, of course. 

Is that a pedestal I see the system resting on? Wow.. Even I don't have that for mine...

I did, however, recall that I took a pic with my phone after taping some of the cables. I'm not quite done yet, but here it is:


----------



## Laxer

I prefer my hamster death spike ball over liquid cooling :laugh:

















Picture is old... will take a new one after I add an SSD + RAM to my build next week.


----------



## ssd-tweak

Laxer said:


> I prefer my hamster death spike ball over liquid cooling :laugh:
> 
> Picture is old... will take a new one after I add an SSD + RAM to my build next week.


I like it! Though, I'd be scared to death if I were a hamster in there...

How have you set up those two different models in CrossFire? Any special config since they're a little different? Or are you just using them as if they were exactly the same?


----------



## Laxer

XP had a ton of problems with them....

Fixed it by removing CCC and just letting it do its own thing...

With win 7 the new CCC worked wonders and got everything squared away by itself...

My deathball has never hurt me... only my fans have... (Newegg.com - Thermaltake AF0026 Smart Blue LED 120mm Fan with Speed control knob)

I have 3 of these and I sometimes crank them up in the summer to get better airflow in my room... well anyway my finger slipped in... nasty cut... it was out for blood!


----------



## Johnny1982

ssd-tweak said:


> I love the monitor! 26" should fit a king! And I like the videocard, of course.
> 
> Is that a pedestal I see the system resting on? Wow.. Even I don't have that for mine...


The best screen I've had so far. I had to upgrade from a old 9600gt to a HD4870 then my current card the GTX560ti to run at 1920x1200 with no hiccups. It's an expensive hobby, but so worth it. The Asus card for me was the best one that I was looking at, but actually wanted to get the TOP edition, which is overclocked to 900mhz from the factory. Mine is overclocked at 830mhz from the factory, but can push it right up to a max of 950mhz in certain games and 940mhz stable in others. The table my dad made many many years ago and along the way was modified to fit new pieces and size. When I bought the monitor, we had to raise the top of the table to fit the new monitor. I would still like to get a LCD TV of 40" or bigger for watching movies on and also one of the reasons why I purchased the new graphics card for a HDMI port.


----------



## ssd-tweak

Johnny1982 said:


> The best screen I've had so far. I had to upgrade from a old 9600gt to a HD4870 then my current card the GTX560ti to run at 1920x1200 with no hiccups. It's an expensive hobby, but so worth it. The Asus card for me was the best one that I was looking at, but actually wanted to get the TOP edition, which is overclocked to 900mhz from the factory. Mine is overclocked at 830mhz from the factory, but can push it right up to a max of 950mhz in certain games and 940mhz stable in others. The table my dad made many many years ago and along the way was modified to fit new pieces and size. When I bought the monitor, we had to raise the top of the table to fit the new monitor. I would still like to get a LCD TV of 40" or bigger for watching movies on and also one of the reasons why I purchased the new graphics card for a HDMI port.


I have the same video card, and find it more than adequate for my tasks. I've been able to push it towards 1000 MHz for benchmarks, but I run it at stock settings.

Now I want a new monitor...


----------



## Johnny1982

ssd-tweak said:


> I have the same video card, and find it more than adequate for my tasks. I've been able to push it towards 1000 MHz for benchmarks, but I run it at stock settings.
> 
> Now I want a new monitor...


I can't get my card over 950mhz, part of the problem is that my max voltage is only 1,15v and some guys say to get to 1000mhz you have to have 1,25v. I leave mine also stock speed now, just for benchmarking I tested it. Which model have you got? What overclock?


----------



## ssd-tweak

I have this model:

ASUSTeK Computer Inc. - Graphics Cards- ASUS ENGTX560 Ti DCII/2DI/1GD5

Here is the readings, I believe they're fairly accurate:










Any higher, and I start getting artifacts.


----------



## Johnny1982

Mine's exactly the same, but temps are a bit higher at 36c (idle) at 24c aircon temp in summer, just that I can't get 1000mhz out of mine.


----------



## TWSARCH

Hey, I posted photos of a rig I built last year on this forum. Here is one I did this past summer for my desk at work. It’s a cad workstation on the cheap. The photos were taken with an antique point and shoot so they aren’t too good. 3.2 i7, 12 gig ram, nvidia quadro 2000D (1 gig graphic workstation card), ASUS P6X58D-E. The power supply is not modular intentionally, un-used chords would get lost in this office and if you need one in the future…this way they are all with the computer.


----------



## ssd-tweak

Well, you did a very good job with cable management. Nice and clean, just how we like it! 
A non-modular PSU is understandable under those circumstances. Heck, I build systems every day at work, but my workstations there doesn't have a modular PSU either, or especially good specs. At home is where my HPC's are, along with my servers.

Does anyone of your colleagues appreciate your building skills (PC not buildings this time)?


----------



## TWSARCH

ssd-tweak said:


> Does anyone of your colleagues appreciate your building skills (PC not buildings this time)?


Not especially. I am an architect and was trying to do a 3-D rendering in the office with my old computer. It just kept crashing after trying for about an hour. I took the file home and my computer there did it in 10 min. that was enough to get them to cough up $ for parts but if I wanted a new computer I had to build it on my own time at home. I agreed but told them I would have to shop for the parts on their time, which took longer than actually building it but they don’t know that. One other guy here built his workstation and it took him over 6 hours and his cable management is nonexistent. Took me about 3 ½ hours to get to the point where the OS was running, and I wasted time looking at things as I went. Took it to the office to set up the software.


----------



## ssd-tweak

Sounds like you're pretty comfortable with your PC's then. That is a good time for a build including OS install, depending on your internet speed for updates etc.

My most recent build at home was basically just a new case, so still the same OS and configs. At work, there is mostly win 7 installs, because any other preferred OS is usually installed by the customers themselves, like Open-E, Nexenta, Solaris, FreeBSD etc.

I often do fresh Win7 installs, but that is usually when I'm testing SSD's for a major manufacturer, which is generally not applicable to comparison of time as installs fly by with the latest and greatest in SSD's. They usually use SSD's for OS and/or caching, depending on their needs.

I read your profile, and paused a second when I learned that you're a REAL architect. What was running through my mind was "oh, so he's not George Costanza afterall..."


----------



## TWSARCH

ssd-tweak said:


> Sounds like you're pretty comfortable with your PC's then. That is a good time for a build including OS install, depending on your internet speed for updates etc."



I didn’t drop any screws this time! Saved the updates for in the office


----------



## ssd-tweak

LOL! I didn't screw any drops either!


----------



## Chyrio

Here's my setup: msi 890fx-gd65, phenom x6 1090t, two 2 terabyte western digital's, two Adata 64 gig ssd's in raid 0 (these are dieing i have had them for a while im working on the replacement), 700 watt psu, HIS iceq radeon 6950 2 gig model, themaltake spinq cpu cooler, matching (as best i could) northbridge cooler, 16 gigs of adata ram, blu-ray drive, antec p160 aluminum case, trendnet wireless chip, 3 aoc e2243fw monitors, 5.1 channel surround, and a razer black widow ultimate mechanical keyboard


----------



## Chyrio

sorry i took that picture before i got my 6950


----------



## Laxer

Didn't know other people used the spin-Q

hamster ball of death FTW!


----------



## Chyrio

ya i have had it for about a 2 years now never fails its a nice design my cpu is always under 100F they made a new one im going to use for my next build which is even cooler Amazon.com: Spinq Vt Cpu Cooler: Electronics


----------



## Laxer

Chyrio said:


> ya i have had it for about a 2 years now never fails its a nice design my cpu is always under 100F they made a new one im going to use for my next build which is even cooler Amazon.com: Spinq Vt Cpu Cooler: Electronics


I saw that one but I liked the horizontal one more :grin:


----------



## Chyrio

i think that one will be a better airflow design cause it sends the air out into the inside of the case instead of up against the side panel but i never put the side panel on my computer anyway


----------



## Chyrio

maybe ill buy two and put them onto my server case im building right now


----------



## Laxer

Cleaned and dropped my new SSD into my build...

Slight improvement on cable management but not a whole lot I can do :frown:Tried to get a better WEI score but even with heavy OC'ing this is as high as I got(see attached)

my 1090T @ 4.01GHz
RAM upped to 1.65V and 800Mhz(1600) couldn't drop the timing as much as I wanted but still hit the 7.9:nonono:

Clocked my cards up a bit, they sit at 7.8 stock.

Not sure anything I can do about my SSD... sure is better then my WD black drive though :dance:

Edit: Updating the drive FW and my drive controller pushed it to 7.9 :grin:


----------



## PoWn3d_0704

I hate that SpinQ cooler. I have one as well, and it seriously screws with the airflow of my case. Because it shoots air in all directions, it counteracts any form of side fan I could use. I now what me one of these
Newegg.com - ZALMAN CNPS9900MAX-B 135mm Long life bearing CPU Cooler Blue LED


----------



## Laxer

PoWn3d_0704 said:


> I hate that SpinQ cooler. I have one as well, and it seriously screws with the airflow of my case. Because it shoots air in all directions, it counteracts any form of side fan I could use. I now what me one of these
> Newegg.com - ZALMAN CNPS9900MAX-B 135mm Long life bearing CPU Cooler Blue LED


I almost got one of those... was out of stock when I bought my HSF so I got the spin-Q instead...

Lets see your build! :thumb:


----------



## Johnny1982

Laxer said:


> Cleaned and dropped my new SSD into my build...
> 
> Slight improvement on cable management but not a whole lot I can do :frown:Tried to get a better WEI score but even with heavy OC'ing this is as high as I got(see attached)
> 
> my 1090T @ 4.01GHz
> RAM upped to 1.65V and 800Mhz(1600) couldn't drop the timing as much as I wanted but still hit the 7.9:nonono:
> 
> Clocked my cards up a bit, they sit at 7.8 stock.
> 
> Not sure anything I can do about my SSD... sure is better then my WD black drive though :dance:
> 
> Edit: Updating the drive FW and my drive controller pushed it to 7.9 :grin:


I watched a video last night on Motherboards.org's Youtube channel and the guy was building a monster gaming PC. On the video he said that the only way to get a WEI score of 7,9 would be if he overclocked the CPU (I7-3960X) to 5,6ghz, he had it overclocked to 4,5ghz. The PC he built up ran everything at 7,9 except the CPU score.


----------



## Laxer

Johnny1982 said:


> I watched a video last night on Motherboards.org's Youtube channel and the guy was building a monster gaming PC. On the video he said that the only way to get a WEI score of 7,9 would be if he overclocked the CPU (I7-3960X) to 5,6ghz, he had it overclocked to 4,5ghz. The PC he built up ran everything at 7,9 except the CPU score.


That's what I am sitting at now... :frown:

Didn't push my CPU to 7.8 till I hit 3.9ghz....

I can get it just over 4.0 but all my fans are blasting and it is far too noisy :banghead:

for now i will sit at stock clock at a 7.6 opcorn:


----------



## greenbrucelee

Johnny1982 said:


> I watched a video last night on Motherboards.org's Youtube channel and the guy was building a monster gaming PC. On the video he said that the only way to get a WEI score of 7,9 would be if he overclocked the CPU (I7-3960X) to 5,6ghz, he had it overclocked to 4,5ghz. The PC he built up ran everything at 7,9 except the CPU score.


getting the 3960x to 5.3 is easy if you have it in one of these Asus Rampage IV Extreme/BF3 Intel X79 (Socket 2011) DDR3 Motherboard [90-MIBHF1-G0EAY00Z] I never tried for 5.5 when I hada mess about with a kit.


----------



## Chyrio

ya the spinQ is not effective unless you have the side of your case off, i agree its really just for looks than performance i think thats why they made the spinQ vt which has a much better airflow design and the same beastly looks. idk here is my WEI


----------



## Chyrio

i hate how wei always says you have dx10, but if you run dxdiag you have dx11


----------



## Laxer

Chyrio said:


> i hate how wei always says you have dx10, but if you run dxdiag you have dx11


I know :frown:

You could get your 1090T up to 7.8 if you OC it :grin:

Topped mine over ~3.9ghz


----------



## emosun

Not technically a computer , but I still felt like sharing it.

(Well technically it IS a computer now that I think about it lol)


----------



## Laxer

That is quite... pretty? Is that appropriate?

Regardless looks great!

did you make it?

Here is my 360:


















Old picture but the lid is on in it :laugh: I have since added more LEDSs in the console(see above).

Put a clear case on my controller and put ELwire in it :grin:


----------



## Chyrio

i had the 1090t to 4.3ghz before stable and got a 7.9 and i had my 1333 ram at 16 as well but honestly i saw no performance jump other than benchmarks cause my x6 and RAM can already run everything on the face of the planet without breaking a sweat. so i asked myself "why am i reducing the life of my components (very lightly but still) to not even notice my performance jump?"


----------



## Laxer

Chyrio said:


> i had the 1090t to 4.3ghz before stable and got a 7.9 and i had my 1333 ram at 16 as well but honestly i saw no performance jump other than benchmarks cause my x6 and RAM can already run everything on the face of the planet without breaking a sweat. so i asked myself "why am i reducing the life of my components (very lightly but still) to not even notice my performance jump?"


Same, I got my 4x4 1333 rip jaws to a 7.9 by kicking the voltage to 1.65 and the clock to 1600... dropped the timing down to 8-8-8-20...

Funny how alike our systems are :grin:

only you got a 6k card and I got 2 5ks.


----------



## emosun

Laxer said:


> That is quite... pretty? Is that appropriate?
> 
> Regardless looks great!
> 
> did you make it?


ya pretty works I wanted it to look pretty! yes I made it


----------



## A_D

is this thread dead now?? this was an interesting thread


----------



## GZ

error message said:


> is this thread dead now?? this was an interesting thread


No sir! Feel free to post some pics of your rig!


----------



## Flight Sim Guy

Wow! You're really digging!:laugh:


----------



## Solidify

*PC Enthusiast*

Does it make sense that I want to be a PC enthusiast but I don't game? I just like the part about customizing cases and building the computer (assembling all the parts). And to think, I've never had a discrete video card, only on-board. Never needed one. :blush:


----------



## etaf

*Re: PC Enthusiast*

yes, it makes sense , I'm the same, I dont play games on PCs or game consoles 
and on forums, I dont advise on games or hardware if gaming is required


----------



## Old Rich

*Re: PC Enthusiast*

No gaming here!


----------



## joeten

*Re: PC Enthusiast*

None here either


----------



## Solidify

*Re: PC Enthusiast*

What do you guys on computers that makes knowing so much about how they work essential?


----------



## etaf

*Re: PC Enthusiast*

its not essential for me just a hobby 
used to be an electronic engineer and then moved into computer engineering when they took up huge floors and actually needed highly technical engineers to fix.
and just kept an interest with PCs when they came out , and i was in management and consultancy by then 

so in short a hobby


----------



## Solidify

*Re: PC Enthusiast*

I guess what im trying to say is id like to know what most of you do on the pc when ur not on social networking, if u even have social net accounts.


----------



## joeten

*Re: PC Enthusiast*

We spend inordinate amounts of time here helping others,working on problems helps keep your mind sharp, and when you solve an issue you feel you have accomplished something that and when I was starting out others helped me so paying back a bit seems right.


----------



## etaf

*Re: PC Enthusiast*

exactly the same reason i'm here as posted by *joeten* word for word  

plus i would add , i also learn from here looking at other peoples suggestion and know what resolves issues.
and can apply those when dealing with people in their home which I also do.

Not really on social networks like facebook etc


----------



## joeten

*Re: PC Enthusiast*

True etaf always something to learn


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## Solidify

*Re: PC Enthusiast*



> and can apply those when dealing with people in their home which I also do.


What do you mean by this?


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## joeten

*Re: PC Enthusiast*

etaf does some work in folks homes


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## Solidify

*Re: PC Enthusiast*

I've gotten paid for fixing my friends computers (their parents paid me) but im always scared to do it because i have no schooling in this and i wouldnt want to be held liable if something happens. Thats why i tell them that i wont agree to do something ive never done before, or sometimes i just say that i dont want to be paid and just do it as a friendly gesture (favour) that takes some of the pressure off.


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## greenbrucelee

*Re: PC Enthusiast*

lots of people can be enthusiasts from all sorts of angles, you will find most people interested in IT as a career were or are gamers but that doesn't give them an advantage over anyone.

I have gamed for 32 years and I know people who have never gamed and are in better positions than me, but then again its the same as you don't really need an IT degree to working IT. You don't , you don't actually need a degree.


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## Masterchiefxx17

*Re: PC Enthusiast*

I do some PC gaming but I mostly play on the Xbox.

I have started getting into PC gaming but you can be a PC enthusiast and not game.


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## Solidify

*Re: PC Enthusiast*

MC, have you ever tried this game on Xbox 360 called Halo?:grin:


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## Masterchiefxx17

*Re: PC Enthusiast*



Solidify said:


> MC, have you ever tried this game on Xbox 360 called Halo?:grin:


Every single one in fact. :grin::grin:


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## Solidify

*Re: PC Enthusiast*

I used to play so much back in the day. It got to the point that I would ditch plans with friends and just stay home on weekends playing (H3, never played any other Halo's). so I went into my garage and grabbed my tin snip plier and snapped the disc in half. I had no choice. It was taking over my life and I didn't have the will power to just stop playing. 

Eventually, with all the free time, that's how I started getting into PCs. Built my first PC with everyone's help here on TSF. Best experience ever.


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## Solidify

*Re: PC Enthusiast*

Do we have a section or thread on TSF that people post pictures of their computers or setup? I'd love to see something like that if there already isn't...


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## Basementgeek

*Re: PC Enthusiast*

Remember life is a game, but is plays for keeps.

BG


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## Solidify

*Re: PC Enthusiast*

Which is why I didn't wait a second to take mine back


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## Masterchiefxx17

*Re: PC Enthusiast*



Solidify said:


> Do we have a section or thread on TSF that people post pictures of their computers or setup? I'd love to see something like that if there already isn't...


You could create it in the offline section if you wish.


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## Solidify

*Post Your Setup*

Hey guys. I've always wanted to see what all of you TSF'ers are rockin' under your hoods, so here's the time. Post some images of your setup. If this thread gets enough attention, maybe it'll be stickied. Have fun and above all, please ahdere to our rules when posting your images! opcorn:

P.S.: If you have more than one setup, or a workstation with all your computer parts or where you do your builds, feel free to showcase it. :dance:

I'll start this off:

*CPU:* AMD A6-3670
*Mainboard:* ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC. F1A55-M LE R2.0 (FM1)
*Memory:* 4.00GB DDR3 @ 800MHz (9-9-9-28)
*Hard Drive:* 932GB Western Digital WDC WD10EZEX-00ZF5A0, 932GB Seagate ST31000524AS ATA Device (SATA)
*Video:* 512MB ATI AMD Radeon HD 6530D (ASUStek Computer Inc)
*Sound:* Realtek High Definition Audio
*CD Rom:* HL-DT-ST DVDRAM GH20NS10 ATA Device, ATAPI iHAS224 B ATA Device
*Power Supply:* SeaSonic S12II 430W
*Printer:* Lexmark X5450
*OS:* Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate 32-bit SP1


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## WereBo

*Re: PC Enthusiast*

There's a 'Let's See Your Rig' thread *here*, that hasn't been used for a while.... It could use a dusting off









I gave up serious gaming when my reflexes couldn't cope with the latest games, now I occasionally play what Mrs WereBo calls 'god-games' S Maiers Civilisation 5, Age of Empires etc. :lol: - Although my PC is only switched off when I go to bed, most of it's time is either streaming my favourite radio-station, here and a couple of other forums, or messin' around with my latest batch of photos.

Now, I can't afford a new PC yet so I keep up with the new stuff here (ready for a miracle and I can afford it), along with throwing my tuppence-worth of help in, where I can. TSF is great for researching new builds, just check what bits get the most cries for help, then avoid those bits :wink:


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## etaf

*Re: PC Enthusiast*

*@WereBo*i was looking for that when I saw the post here , i remember reading a while back -   
well found
2005 - how things have changed 

modding was all the rage then , is it still ?


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## WereBo

*Re: PC Enthusiast*

It seems not, from the last post there :grin:

I must admit, I fitted a few lights in my PC back then, but the novelty's now worn off and I never use 'em :lol:


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## Solidify

*Re: PC Enthusiast*

Could a mod merge my setup thread with the rig thread that Werebo is talking about?


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## Tyree

*Re: PC Enthusiast*



Solidify said:


> Do we have a section or thread on TSF that people post pictures of their computers or setup? I'd love to see something like that if there already isn't...


Once you've seen one PC you've pretty much seen them all. :smile:


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## Solidify

whoever merged the thread, I meant merge this thread (http://www.techsupportforum.com/forums/f36/post-your-setup-761609.html) with this "Lets see your rig"


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## Old Rich

I'm still using this one, with a motherboard change . .


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## Flight Sim Guy

Nice case. :whistling:


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## Solidify

Rich, is that a test bed?


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## Old Rich

I use it as a test bed, but I also use it as a pc


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## Solidify

Is the test bed home-made or you bought it? Seems very simple and presumably inexpensive. I like it.


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## Flight Sim Guy

Looks like a small magazine rack to me.


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## Old Rich

Flight Sim Guy said:


> Looks like a small magazine rack to me.


It's not nearly that substantial!

I bought it 10 years ago . . 

HighSpeed PC~ Tech Station computer workbench ~ Innovatek water cooling ~ overclocking


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## Solidify

Thanks for the link Rich


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## Old Rich

Jeez . . the little buggers are a lot more expensive than when I bought mine . .

Makes a great test bed . . parts are easy to substitute out


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## Solidify

How much did you pay yours? The link says 79$


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## Old Rich

Long time ago, but less than $50


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## joeten

Inflation it's everywhere


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## Flight Sim Guy

Wow, that's cool. I thought it was just a shelf.


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## Solidify

Funny, you'd think something that old would have went down in price with newer things coming out...


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## gcavan

Not really. Maybe if you were paying for the technology, but production costs are going to stay the same or more likely rise.


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## Solidify

So what you're saying is that when prices go down over time it's because the technology is old..


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## Tyree

Basically, yes. In simplest terms, when new products come out, the price is higher to pay for R&D, changes in tooling, etc. As those costs are met and the newer "improved" model is released the older product price is reduced.
Many considerations are involved in pricing both at wholesale and retail levels.


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## Solidify

R&D? Rights and Distribution?


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## Basementgeek

Research and development 

BG


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## Tyree

Basementgeek said:


> Research and development
> 
> BG


Ditto ^ 
One of the major considerations for determining new product pricing.


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## Old Rich

I'd guess they have added some "bells and whistles" . . mine is very basic ( which to me is a selling point ) . .


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## GZ

@ Rich... Nice setup... I actually did that for a while, with my motherboard sitting on it's box... lol. 

My PC hasn't changed much since I last posted in here...

Even though most PCs are pretty much the same, it's always nice to see the innovative ways people cope with issues, or add a touch of flair to their PC... Not to mention that some people have an uncanny way of tidying up the innards of their rig...

It's nice to see this thread resurrected!!! I used to love coming here and reading everything and seeing all the pictures!

As for the debate over the cost of the product... I think the issue of pricing is about supply and demand... Since the demand for products like that are low, manufacturers won't mass produce them in the quantities necessary for low prices... Keeping prices up in the market.

In the case of new tech products with high demand, manufacturers and companies rely on the neophiles to pay the introductory pricing... When R&D and marketing is paid for, then the prices will drop to more reasonable prices... If a product is over produced, and there is little demand, the prices will drop naturally and often drastically...

This is why I will not buy an Xbox One until late next year, when the new product price drops... (grin)


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## T_Rex

The AMD system they was in my sig previously. 975 Quad HD7870 etc. The 80MM rear fan does just fine temps are nearly the same. I just replaced a broken rear 120MM with it. That 80mm I have had since I ordered it from directron.com about 10 years ago.


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## T_Rex

Little bit better view


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## Solidify

Nice case, too bad they didn't powder coat the inside as well.


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## T_Rex

^Yeah - this case is actually new it was intended for a cheaper Intel build for a family member. It's the Antec VSK 4000. He moved long distance so a laptop was all he needed for a while so I decided to use the case. The old school bright metal look inside is kind of refreshing reminds me of the early building days.


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## emosun

ChronoGeek said:


> That 80mm I have had since I ordered it from directron.com about 10 years ago.


I know what you mean I have a pair of red 80mm led fans that I've had running for like 9 or 10 years and they still work great. they were actually the first led fans I ever bought....


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## ashumann12

Here is mine I just finished over Christmas.

Case: Raidmax Augusta
Mobo: ASUS F2A85-M PRO
CPU: AMD A10-5800K running @ 4.7 Ghz
GPU: EVGA GeForce GTX 760
RAM: 16GB Patriot Extreme 1600
SSD: 256GB OCZ Vector
HHD: 3TB 7200rpm
PSU: Thermaltake 850W

Cooling: 3 120mm case fans main chassis
3 80mm fans in Hard drive bay
4 120mm corsair in push/pull on Corsair H100i CPU cooler


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## ashumann12

Here we go, I did images wrong I guess.


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## gcavan

I don't care for the way you've mounted the radiator and fans. Is it not possible to mount it inside? Or at least put the fans under the radiator.


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## ashumann12

There are 2 fans on top and 2 on bottom of the radiator, almost 3" total. I had originally planned to put them inside bit the shape of the top was almost a perfect fit.


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## WereBo

Hi ashumann12 :wave: - Good to see you're still around :lol:


Well it will definitely stop any cats curling up asleep on top of the PC.... :grin: - Really nice specs though


----------



## emosun

I still use the same diablotek case I bought in late 2006 , This thing came straight out of the cheapo bling era of bad computer cases. Every review of this case was terrible 1 star reviews even back then.

I sort of challenged myself to keep mine in good shape and beat the odds. It's had at least 5 different configurations in it and even though I own better cases this one will always be my main rig. Till the day when atx becomes obsolete at least.


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## ashumann12

Thanks WereBo, I have been collecting parts for about 2 years now. This rig will suffice until I'm ready for an AMD Fx setup.


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## wilson44512

Ok boys its not much but its mine. lol

This what i used this room for in the beging










Then it got expensive. so i tore it down and built this.




























Gaming PC on the left










Alienware Aurora-R3
Intel Core i5-2300 2.8GHz (6MB Cache) Overclocked to 3.3GHz
16GB Dual Channel DDR3 at 1333MHz
MSI Radeon R9 290 4GB GDDR5, PCI-Express 3.0 
1TB SATA 3Gb/s (7,200RPM) 32MB Cache 
AlienFX Color, Plasma Purple
Alienware High-Performance Liquid Cooling 
liquid-cooled processors


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## Masterchiefxx17

I like it! Very cool how you built your own desk!


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## WereBo

Hi wilson44512 :wave:

That's some set-up you have there


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## joeten

Nice, though my son would have loved the other use at one time.


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