Crazy Homeless Guy Posted February 19, 2005 Share Posted February 19, 2005 ok. i decided to build a new computer a couple of weeks ago, only i decided this time around i would build the case myself too. it is something i have been meaning to do. i guess i shouldn't really say build a case, since it is more of the lack of a case. i am planning on mounting my components to a board, and leaving them exposed. i know dust and all of that, but i am not worried. i will keep a can of air close by, and clean it ever couple of weeks. i don't foresee dust build up as being a problem. one of the main criteria i have is to build a quiet machine. the computer i am using right now is rather loud and annoying. i have to turn the stereo up more than i am sure my neighbors care for so i can listen to music. i could just replace the noisy component in my machine, i think it is the power supply, but it is time to build a new machine anyway. i am not a person to buy cutting edge components, and i tend to value shop on my components. here is what i decided on for the guts of my machine... motherboard: MSI K8N Neo4 Platinum processor: AMD Athlon 64 3200 ram: Corsair PC3200 DDR400 (4x512gb) videocard: Leadtek Geforce 6600 256mb heatsink: Zalman CNPS7700 power supply: Thermaltake Silent PurePower 480w other components for the machine will be salvaged from extra parts, or bought later. as i stated above, noise decibels put out from the machine a big concern for me, and the fact that i making an open machine, adds to the problem. this is why i spec'd the power supply and heat sink that i did. they are both great performers with low noise output. there are websites dedicated to analyzing the decibels pc components create. as you see, i am building a 64 bit machine. i plan to load windows 64 bit operating system. it is still in beta, but anyone can download it from there website, and i think the license lasts from 1 year after it is installed. i know the vast majorities of apps are still 32 bit, and will be for a long time, but the 64 bit machine is basically the same price as a 32 bit machine. the geForce 6600 is a gaming card, but i have never been able to justify the enormous price increase to buy a quadro card. i think the price difference between the 2 are a joke. the components are not that different, and the technology is not more advanced. i really should have sprang for a 6600gt or a 6800, but i do like to build on a budget. the 6600gt was only $50-$60 more, so i should have gone for it. the 6800 would have been at least an additional $200. i plan to soft mod this card to perform more like a quadro than a gaming card. also, i am spec'd this machine with PCI express. i don't think there is a big performance difference between AGP and PCIe yet, but i think there will be in the future. the only other comment i have about the components right now concerns the processor. it is by no means a beefy processor, but it will do for the workload i place on it. at least for now. in hindsight i should have went with a AMD 64 3000 instead of the 3200. the 3200 only offers a 5% performance increase over the 3000. the 5% comes from a higher bus speed, it may actually clock lower than a 300o in ghz though. the motherboard i am buying will support AMD FX processors, so that may be an upgrade i look into sometime in the future. so as you can see, mainly all mid level parts, that should perform decently well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Nelson Posted February 19, 2005 Share Posted February 19, 2005 So, what's the whole point of not having a case? Sounds pretty dangerous to me. One drop of water could fry the whole thing, or anything else that accidentally makes it's way into it besides dust. I picture it being a total mess with the hard drives & cd drive just laying all in pieces. I know you said you are a budget man, but come on! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crazy Homeless Guy Posted February 19, 2005 Author Share Posted February 19, 2005 ok..... on to problems i found with the components, and the early stages of 'building' my non-case case. problems with the components. the motherboard i bought was only released a couple of weeks ago. i ought a recently released motherboard once before, and got burned on it, but MSI has a good reputation. the motherboard is only spec'd for AMD 64 3500 or higher, and AMD FX 64 series. i bought a AMD 64 3200, but i have confidence that this will not be a problem, and the motherboard will recognize the processor. at least i hope. i bought the processor OEM, and already have installed it, so i may not have an option for returning it for a faster one. the best i will be able to do is sell it at auction, take my losses, and invest into a faster one. another conflict i have with the motherboard is with the ram. the motherboard manual does not recommend installing 4 double sided DDR400 chips. if you want to install DDR400 chips, you should use single sided. it does not really go into the details of why, but only says that the ram may not run at the speed which is listed with double sided DDR400 in the second and third slots. hmmmm. i am going to try it anyway, and hope that the extra ram will component for any lost speed in the ram itself. building the case. i decided to use a sheet of MDF to build the case. it is an easy material to work with, and i have used it in the past. the sheet was 3/8" thick. i glued to pieces together to double the thickness, and make the edge detail more interesting. i am rubbing a white oil paint into the MDF, and then wiping it off. i have also done this before, and decided it would be a nice settle effect for the case. i probably should have given more thought to the lay out, but i am more or less winging it, and making changes as i proceed, so we will see how that goes. i am attaching the power supply to the bottom of the board to give the board vertical stability, and allow it to stand by itself. up until this point i and planned on mounting everything to the board, the mounting the board on the wall. the power supply will be attached to the board using aluminum channel, and threaded rod. it will be held into place with compression. the hard drives will be held into place in a similar fashion to the power supply. this may be a poor game time decision on my part since i run the risk of torquing the hard drives which would be very very bad. i am thinking it might not the balance off inside of the hard drive, and cause them to be ruined, loosing all of my data. i must remember not to tighten the compression to much. the motherboard will be held away from the case board by half an inch to allow airflow, and prevent damage to the board. as you can see i have notched the board on what will be the bottom. i plan on running cables through there, and mounting the hard drives on the opposite side. i think this will make the presentation of the case more artful and less crowded. geesh, i don't really think i should be considering this kind of stuff when i am building my own case, but in reality, it is part of the reason i am building a case like this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elliot Posted February 19, 2005 Share Posted February 19, 2005 Hey Travis, My experience in building XEON systems with MSI is OK. On the other hand AMD's on MSI boards has been a horrible experience. They are noisy. Do not have enought sapace for a nice cooling fan. Sometimes they use a XEON fan clip on an AMD chip. XEON operate cooler so the XEON fans do not push enough SCFM to cool the AMD. Be careful with MSI and AMD's. My experience with Tyan has been good. At least get an old shoebox and place the motherboard there. The electrostatic on the board will atract to much dust. Or get a small compressor to blow it off every day.... Remember that Dichlorodifluoromethane (Freon) on those cans have some chemicals that could cause damage. If you get a straight can of compressed air.... it could have oil from the compressor used to produced the pressurization. Also compressed air can accumulate water condensates due to the pressurization of the normal water vapor contents the day they filled the can. It all depends on the Dew Point and the water contents at the time they filled the can. At any rate you could be spraying your board with oil and water... I don't think that is advisable.... If you try it, perhaps you should write an article on how to operate under humidity....! If you really want a silent board there is a silent passive cooler with a massive cooper heatsink with pipes that is supposed to really cool the chip very well. It is passive radiation, no moving parts..... quiet, quiet, quiet. Of course there is also the water cooler that is less nosiy than a straight fan. Good Luck Elliot Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crazy Homeless Guy Posted February 19, 2005 Author Share Posted February 19, 2005 So, what's the whole point of not having a case? Sounds pretty dangerous to me. One drop of water could fry the whole thing, or anything else that accidentally makes it's way into it besides dust. I picture it being a total mess with the hard drives & cd drive just laying all in pieces. I know you said you are a budget man, but come on! the lack of a case is not about budget, but has to do with the aesthetic of computer components. before cases were all beige, and recently, mainly thanks to apple, people have discovered that they can do so much more to a case to make it more appealing. whether it is apples sleek sexy look, or a custom case with bling bling flashing lights. i am just trying to minimize the case in the equation of what a computer is, because in reality it is the only thing that does not actually improve the performance of your computer outside of things like case fans, and of course as you mention, the vital issue of protection. i am running into problems already, about how tings have to be mounted, and how easy a case makes this. i did get slightly discourages, but i am going to try and see this through. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crazy Homeless Guy Posted February 19, 2005 Author Share Posted February 19, 2005 Hey Travis, My experience in building XEON systems with MSI is OK. On the other hand AMD's on MSI boards has been a horrible experience. They are noisy. Do not have enought sapace for a nice cooling fan. Sometimes they use a XEON fan clip on an AMD chip. XEON operate cooler so the XEON fans do not push enough SCFM to cool the AMD. Be careful with MSI and AMD's. My experience with Tyan has been good. At least get an old shoebox and place the motherboard there. The electrostatic on the board will atract to much dust. Or get a small compressor to blow it off every day.... Remember that Dichlorodifluoromethane (Freon) on those cans have some chemicals that could cause damage. If you get a straight can of compressed air.... it could have oil from the compressor used to produced the pressurization. Also compressed air can accumulate water condensates due to the pressurization of the normal water vapor contents the day they filled the can. It all depends on the Dew Point and the water contents at the time they filled the can. At any rate you could be spraying your board with oil and water... I don't think that is advisable.... If you try it, perhaps you should write an article on how to operate under humidity....! If you really want a silent board there is a silent passive cooler with a massive cooper heatsink with pipes that is supposed to really cool the chip very well. It is passive radiation, no moving parts..... quiet, quiet, quiet. Of course there is also the water cooler that is less nosiy than a straight fan. Good Luck Elliot i never said this was a sane thing i was doing, actually it would probably leans closer to idiotic. there are obviously more things i should have taken into account after reading your post. my first 2 posts in this thread actually contains things i have done or discovered over the last couple of days, and i should have started he thread before i began, but i am already well into the project, so i can do now is adjust for issues as they come up. well i guess i could also just buy a case and be done with it, but come on.... what fun is there in that. why i should be ore worried about dust, really is not hitting home in my head as hard as it should be. i have been running my current computer for about a year with out the sides to th case on it. the were taken off for an upgrade, and i just left them sit beside it. no problems, and little dust. you can slap me up side the head and tell me you told me so later. i did a fair amount on what limited reading there was on this motherboard given that it had not been released yet. anandtech had a really good review on it, which is what influenced my decision to go with it. also, it was one of a few boards available for the configuration i wanted. 64 bit processing, PCI express, and the geForce 4 chipset. even though it was only released 2 weeks ago, i think there are a few more options out that would have fit what i was looking for. i have never heard of MSI and AMD issues before. this kind of concerns me, since it will be another wrench thrown into the problems category. i looked at a few fanless heatsinks, but most of the regrading material i found stress that you must have a good case fan, so in reality they are not fanless, but rely on a separate fan. i ruled against going with water form the beginning, mainly because it is not a common solution, and i didn't want to have to deal with the issues that might arise. although i did see a really cool site on how to convert an old car radiator into a water cooling system for your computer. i would love to give that one a try. the Zalman fan i bought was kind of an on the fly decision. i had decided to hold off on an after market heatsink and fan, and just use the AMD one. if the AMD one turned out to be to loud, i would then replace it. what i didn't account for was that i bought the processor OEM, which in this case, meant it did not come with a heat sink and fan, so i wound up at Microcenter, and bought the one i thought best suited my needs there. after going back to the ratings website, i have learned that it was not the best choice i could have made. i think it will work good for me though. here is the quiet pc website that i did some reading on.... http://www.silentpcreview.com so i guess the question after i am up and running will be how long i am up and running before i short out my mother board. could be interesting. i am not sure how i will clean it if i am not using compressed air. i did not think there was an issue with compressed air. ....??? i will probably still use, and just try to be careful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crazy Homeless Guy Posted February 19, 2005 Author Share Posted February 19, 2005 i guess i should clarify... not using a traditional case is not a budget issue. it is more of a design/art statement about computer cases, and will probably cost me twice what a case would have by the time i am done. when i was referring to budget, i meant more of the satisfaction i get with building a decent machine within a certain budget. ya, i could buy more powerful parts, but i like to look at the amount i am spending for that part, compared with how much of a performance boost i will get from it. which really makes me question why i am building a 64 bit machine since only the operating system will be able to truly take advantage of it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crazy Homeless Guy Posted February 19, 2005 Author Share Posted February 19, 2005 the biggest problem i have had to deal with yet came earlier this morning. i forgot about the power on/off button. whoops. my original thought on how to solve this problem turned out to be a bad idea, so i am glad i ran it by someone before i tried it. the thought was.. as of right now my power supply will be facing the front of the computer. i may change it later, but right now it is facing the front. i was thinking i could simply use the power switch on the power supply to power on and off the entire system. i would stick a jumper pin on the board to make the completed connection. this is where the problem is. it was pointed out to me that this would leave the connection open, and possibly damage the motherboard. most power switchs simply make a quick connection to start the system, and then release. what i was going to do would be the same as you reaching down pushing your power button in and holding it there. i am pretty sure that is not recommended by the manufacturer. so i need to shop for a power button that will work for me. come to think of it, i am willing to bet if i read the fine print on my warranties, i am probably voiding all of them by not using a certified computer case. as you can see from the photos, things are starting to take shape. i have the motherboard, the power supply, and a temporary hard drive attached right now. the power supply is not offering the vertical stability i had hoped for, so i might need to fashion some type of foot for the back of the MDF board to give it more of a tripod type of stability. another huge issue that i did not think of before hand was securing my video card in place. the one i choose is a smaller card for its model, and will support itself just hanging there, but i am sure this is causing moment tension and compression on the PCIe slot, which can not be a good thing. the aesthetic of the video card is also a poor point. it is traditional circuit board green, while my motherboard is a cool black color. this is something i should not be worried about. i am saying i am doing one thing, and actually worrying about doing another. i say that i building a non-case case to make a pint about computer case design, but yet i am thinking about the color of the components. green is probably a better color than the black because it more truly states function over form. i am not really sour how i am going to solve the video card physical support problem yet.. i'm open to suggestions if anyone has one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ernest Burden III Posted February 19, 2005 Share Posted February 19, 2005 Pretty far out cooler on that thing. My son has a toy that looks a lot like that, it flies around the room by remote control. Watch out, Travis, that thing'll take off on you once you rev it up. I have seen 'alternative casestyles' before, I've seen 'em make out of Legos. Wicker might be a good look. Also watch out for the Pepsi Syndrome! (But don't worry about spilled 7up, it's a non-cola). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crazy Homeless Guy Posted February 19, 2005 Author Share Posted February 19, 2005 Pretty far out cooler on that thing. My son has a toy that looks a lot like that, it flies around the room by remote control. Watch out, Travis, that thing'll take off on you once you rev it up. I have seen 'alternative casestyles' before, I've seen 'em make out of Legos. Wicker might be a good look. Also watch out for the Pepsi Syndrome! (But don't worry about spilled 7up, it's a non-cola). i was surprised by some of the heatsink designs i found when searching. by far my favorite theory was heatpipes. they make the coolers look like they should be in a hotrod, rather than on a CPU. http://www.thermalright.com/a_page/main_product_xp120.htm another odd one... http://www.thermaltake.com/coolers/4in1heatpipe/cl-p0071SonicTower/cl-p0071.htm . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crazy Homeless Guy Posted February 19, 2005 Author Share Posted February 19, 2005 i am also re-thinking the layout of the 'case'. as you can see from the photos above, i have one board with my components mounted on it. i am thinking about fabricating another board of the same size, and creating a case with 2 sides, but open everywhere else. the 2 boards would be held about 7" apart by threaded rod. doing this would solve a lot of the issues i am dealing with right now. it would increase the stability tremendously, so i would not have to worry about the computer tipping over, and smashing all of the components. it would allow me to sufficient and somewhat properly mount my video card by providing a spot to secure it to on the outer edge. it would allow me to mount cdrom/dvdrom drives between the 2 board. ect... ect.. i think there is really no argument that this would be a wise decision. it does not solve tim's concern about water, but it does offer damage protection. also, even thought the case is not done, i am going to try and fire up the machine later tonight. i still have compatibility concerns about my components, and i would like to make sure everything is running ok. i am going to use an old hard drive and quickly load windows 64 on it. to make the connection for the power button i will probably just attach to wires, and tap them together for right now. this should give it the brief current flow to turn it on, but not cause issues about leaving them connected. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ernest Burden III Posted February 19, 2005 Share Posted February 19, 2005 they make the coolers look like they should be in a hotrod, rather than on a CPU. Yeah, takes me back to when I was a kid, reading HotRodder Magazine, building models. It's sort of a supercharger, minus the intakes. And the second looks like a set of high-current caps from the power supply of a home-brewed amp. What'da figure, about 10,000 uf each? Those babies should carry about 20A. Man, now I'm sounding as nuts as you. Time for a beer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crazy Homeless Guy Posted February 20, 2005 Author Share Posted February 20, 2005 hmmm... i started my computer up, or at least i tried to, but did not have much success. i hooked the leads for the power button of my current computer to the motherboard of the computer i am building. i powered it on, the keyboard lit up, the processor fan started, and the fan on the video card started, but nothing posted to the monitor. my motherboard came with an extra plate for USB connections, and that plate included 4 LED's designed for trouble shooting. the pattern they were lit up in means that the machine was stuck on 'Memory Detection Test'. ...at least that is what the manual said. i removing 2 of the ram sticks, and booting with just 1 GB of ram, but still the same thing. i went down to 1 stick, and still the same thing. it gets this error almost as soon as i turn on the computer. i didn't have a case speaker hooked up, so i don't know if it was giving any beeps. i unhooked everything so i could think about it for a little while longer. i really don't think i hooked anything up wrong. my initial feeling is that there is a problem with the mother board. if that is the case, i may send it back on monday, and exchange it for a new one, or possibly look at what other models they have. i bought the motherboard from zipzoomfly.com, so hopefully there is not a problem returning it. the reason i think it is the motherboard is because it is not posting or anything. if it was the CPU, hard drive, or ram, it would at least show something on the monitor. since it did not show anything, that leaves the motherboard or the graphics card not working properly. usually i would just throw another graphics card in, and to check to see if it worked or not, but since this is a PCIe board i can not do that. all of my other graphics cards are AGP. i don't know anyone else who has a PCIe machine, so i can't test the card in their machine. but the video card is getting power, because the fan is spinning. so back to the motherboard. anyway, the fans are exceptionally quiet, but i am a little disappointed with the fan on the graphics card. it the loudest of them, and actually the only one i can hear without putting my head close to the computer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crazy Homeless Guy Posted September 4, 2006 Author Share Posted September 4, 2006 i started this project a long time ago. i finished it to a certain point, then set it aside, because the computer part of it was running. well, i decided to pull it back out, and do more work on it. the pieces i focused on yesterday were bracing the video card, creating a rack for the hard drives, mounting the DVD, and creating a panel for the switches. i am happy with the way the project is coming along, even if i did set it aside for quite awhile. ....but there are a few things that i am going to change. the locations don't work, or the composition it is really bothering me. mainly in the front lower area, where i have the power supply located. when i first positioned it like this, the case was still in its initial design. one vertical board, with the pieces attached to it. the power supply balanced the board. that is how it wound up in that position. as i was mounting the DVD, and hard drives yesterday, i realized how bad the composition of the DVD, hard drive, and power supply looked together. my solution is to ditch the angle bracket holding the power supply in place, turn it flat, and mount it in a similar fashion to the DVD. this should balance things out. the hard drives also need some work. their problem is a practicality issue. it is difficult to pull drives in and out with out pulling the DVD drive, and then it is still not as easy as it should be. i am going to take the enclosure i have them mounted in, which was borrowed from an old case, and cut the front flap off of it. the flaps that stop the hard drive from sliding completely through. then i am going to drill quarter inch or so holes in the side boards to allow screwdriver access to secure them in place. the kind of float in middle of the two boards, not attaching directly to either side, but suspended from threaded rods instead. i may need to upgrade the threaded rod that they are suspended from to a thicker diameter. once i kick in another drive, i think they will sag. i am going to set up SATA RAID 5 system in this case. the hard drive access is also hindered by another problem. ...or will be hindered once i make the access to them from the front. the switch panel. the metal band across the front the my switches will be mounted on. i installed this piece yesterday also. i mounted it dead center on the case because compositionally i liked it there. now i am going to have to lower it to allow for the hard drives to slide out above it. not a major problem. ...oh, and the switches. i had pulled some from a discarded and soon to be recycled case, with the intention of drilling through this band, and using them on this case. i think i am going to change that. i think this case will look really nice with metal toggle switched. not sure how well they will work, but i am going to try it. i am also thinking about slotting the way it is screwed on the front so it can be pulled off easily. which may mean i can leave it in the middle, and just slide the plate off if i need to pull a hard drive. the only other thing i did yesterday was create a nifty system to secure the cards in the back. up to yesterday, the card was plugged in, and being supported solely by PCI slot on the board. not a wise thing to do, although i didn't have any problems when it was setup like this. i have been running this case for over a year now, and have had no problems with it. a slight bit of dust is gathering, but nothing that can't be blown out. the case sits on top of my desk, so the risk of something getting dumped into it is minimal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greg Hess Posted September 4, 2006 Share Posted September 4, 2006 Have you not had any EMI problems? My fathers computer happens to be near the cable modem and wireless routers, and if he takes just the side of the case of for any reason, the performance of the internet is cut down to 1/3 its theoretical maximum. Took us weeks to troubleshoot that one. The amount of electrical interference a single computer can put out is utterly staggering, effecting everything virtually any signal that is traveling through the area...from cell phones, to cordless phones, to wireless routers, to remote control devices, such as garage door openers, or remote car starters. Something to keep in mind if you notice you're having some sort of "odd" problem with a device that relies on a remote signal. Or any device that has its wiring running around the open machine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crazy Homeless Guy Posted September 4, 2006 Author Share Posted September 4, 2006 Have you not had any EMI problems? My fathers computer happens to be near the cable modem and wireless routers, and if he takes just the side of the case of for any reason, the performance of the internet is cut down to 1/3 its theoretical maximum. Took us weeks to troubleshoot that one. The amount of electrical interference a single computer can put out is utterly staggering, effecting everything virtually any signal that is traveling through the area...from cell phones, to cordless phones, to wireless routers, to remote control devices, such as garage door openers, or remote car starters. Something to keep in mind if you notice you're having some sort of "odd" problem with a device that relies on a remote signal. Or any device that has its wiring running around the open machine. interesting to know. i have not noticed any problems. my cell signal is lousy at home. brick walls. ...and i have not noticed or at least preceived a slow down in interent access with the open design, but it is plugged into the network, and not on wireless. so i guess that makes sense. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greg Hess Posted September 4, 2006 Share Posted September 4, 2006 Ya its just something I've observed in certain situations. Something to keep in mind if you ever have an issue with a remote device (quick diagnosis is just shutting the comp off). Other then that, system looks nice! Just keep animals away from it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crazy Homeless Guy Posted January 10, 2010 Author Share Posted January 10, 2010 (edited) Ok. I meant to do this about 4 months ago, but I am just now getting around to it. I originally built this computer about 4 or 5 years ago, and it has only had minor upgrades since that point. So I decided it was time for a overhaul. Originally there was some concern about dust. There is some dust build up, but it is not horrible, though I imagine it is making the machine run a little warmer than what would be ideal. I have only blown this out with a air about two times. The new components are as follows: i7920 Asus P6T Mainboard 12gb of OCZ DDR3 PC3 14400 Intel X25 80gb SSD ABS DB Series 850w Power Supply True Spirit Heatsink Components to reuse: nVidia GTX 260 320x2gb in RAID 1 Configuration The nVidia card is only 8 months old, and I will probably upgrade the RAID configuration to terra byte drives in the near future. But for now, I think it will be fine. I am considering changing the layout from what I originally had. I am thinking I might slide the power supply below the mainboard, and rotate it. The spacing of the current boards are governed by the width of the DVD drive. The new power supply is slightly larger than the DVD drive, not a lot, maybe 1/8th of an inch. I think I can rotate the power supply, and then slightly shim the DVD drive to get a good fit. I don't think you will even be able to notice the shims from the front, so it will be out of site, out of mind. I will need to relocate one of the threaded rods that hold the boards together, but I anticipated the possiblity of mods like this, so I am not concerened about it. I opted for an aftermarket CPU cooler. It looks cool, and provides better cooling than a low end water cooled system. The problem with this is that all of the true 1366 coolers are freaking huge. I needed to cut an additional hole in the side of the case in order to accommodate the cooler. Truthfully, I would not have minded this if Coolage had included a nice integrated fan, or at the minimum a clip on fan that was proportionally elegant as the cooler itself. But, I am stuck with this clip on, so that is what I will use. I still have not fully resolved the way the hard drive are installed. This problem is further exacerbated by the SSD drive, which is tiny. Apparently the SSD drives are the same size regardless of whether or not it is in a desktop, or a notebook. I really didn't expect that. Anyway, I am getting ready to fire up the new installs, and see what it can do. I am going to go ahead with Windows7, rather than XP. My next computer related project will be taking the leftover guts from this machine, and using them to build a Boxee box for my home entertainment center. That should be fun, but I would like to find a case that matches the rest of my old school component system. I think I am going to pass on building another custom case. ....at least until I am ready to upgrade this machine again. Edited January 10, 2010 by Crazy Homeless Guy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crazy Homeless Guy Posted January 10, 2010 Author Share Posted January 10, 2010 Ok, so I have everything assembled, and this is how it looks. i should have snapped a few photos before the cords were in place because it looks cleaner then, and you can tell what is going on. Oh well. Also, I just plugged it in, and everything fired up. Perfect, the hardware seems initially intact. Now I am trying to install Windows7. The installation seems to be running slow, and on first pass I received a copy error. The slowness does not bother me because it could be a driver problem, but the copy error might be a huge headache. I included a couple of photos of the heat sink pushing through the case because that was probably the biggest mod this time around. ....though I am still working on the new set of front switches. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tommy L Posted January 10, 2010 Share Posted January 10, 2010 Oh my lord, just realised that despite the sleek looking boxes we all sit next to we are all just relying on Mad Max-esque technology. Not only is CHG homeless, so are his components. btw, how comes there is a 4 year gap in this thread, were you just too busy fighting in the thunderdome to get around to hooking up a hamster to the power supply? More detail is MUCH anticipated, ignore the previous primitive attempt at humor, Id love to know more about the 'less is more' approach to building a workstation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crazy Homeless Guy Posted January 10, 2010 Author Share Posted January 10, 2010 (edited) Ha. ......I occasionally hint to my lover that I really need to learn C++. She lightly chuckles, but I don't she thinks she believes me when I say I need to know it so that I can re-program the abandon robots and technology when the times flip on us. After a little trouble I now have Windows 7 up and running. So far the machine feels very comfy, and quick. Though I am worried that a few of the initial install errors that I experienced will come back to haunt me at some point. We will see, ...they may have been due to other things, such as a poorly seated DVD drive. Now I need to find a bench mark test or two to see what the machine speed is in relative terms to similar specs, and what needs to be tweaked. Edited January 10, 2010 by Crazy Homeless Guy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ihabkal Posted January 10, 2010 Share Posted January 10, 2010 Travis, the case helps with the suction effect, the enclosure and the fans play a role in sucking air in and blowing it out. without it you won't get that effect. It is cold now but I wonder if you are going to have problems in the summer heat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crazy Homeless Guy Posted January 10, 2010 Author Share Posted January 10, 2010 (edited) Travis, the case helps with the suction effect, the enclosure and the fans play a role in sucking air in and blowing it out. without it you won't get that effect. It is cold now but I wonder if you are going to have problems in the summer heat. Very true. I have thought about adding fans before, and I still might. Everything runs cool, except the RAID drives, they run slightly hot, which I am sure is shortening their life span, and creating a potential situation where I could loose a lot of data. If I add fan, it will probably consist of one on either side of the hard drive enclosure so that one is forcing air across, and the other is pulling air through. The CPU cooler is high performance, and should keep the CPU temperature well within safe range, even under full load. I am busy today, but the computer is still running. When I get back to it either tonight, or tomorrow, I will check the system temperatures, and see how they are doing. This computer stays on about 90% of the time, day and night. It has run this way for over 4 years with no overheating problems. Even when the temperature was in the mid to upper 90's with lots of humidity. Where I am living now it will only get over 75 degrees a couple of times a year. Granted that was with an AMD solution, and not an Intel. I think I remember reading that AMD's in general run cooler than Intel chips. Either way, I do need to get a fan on those RAID/SATA drives. I am thinking of upgrading them to terabyte drives, so maybe I will tackle that part of the project then. Also, ....I think the openness of the case keeps as much hot air from being trapped on the inside, like you would have with a factory case. Even with high performance coolers, the system would probably overheat in an enclosed case without a case fan. Edited January 10, 2010 by Crazy Homeless Guy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crazy Homeless Guy Posted January 11, 2010 Author Share Posted January 11, 2010 OK, I ran PC Probe while running the FryRender bench app in hopes of getting a better idea of what the CPU temperatures were running at both load and no load. While idle, the CPU is holding steady at 36 degrees Celsius. Under load of the rendering test, the CPU temperature went to 56 degrees Celsius, and held fairly steady there. The fan speed on the CPU cooler increased from 1100 RPM's to 1500 Rpm's, which is it maximum speed. The motherboad held steady at 35 degrees Celsius, and exhibited no change under the load. The app I have installed does not monitor my hard drives, or GPU. Does anyone have a recomendation on one that does? ...also, can someone recomend a sustained benchmark test? Something that will put a load on the computer for about an hour to monitor temps and performance hits? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Nelson Posted January 11, 2010 Share Posted January 11, 2010 Have you used Stress Prime? http://sp2004.fre3.com/download.htm Its a simple but a good way to stress your system to the max. Just run an instance for however many cores you have. And to watch temps, just run Core Temp at the same time. http://www.alcpu.com/CoreTemp/ I'm not sure if there is any one program that will stress your system, and then give you a report with temps, etc. at the end. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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