Author Topic: Kind of a "First Computer Build" journal thread. *LOTS OF PICTURES*  (Read 5818 times)

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Offline Alisaihin

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Spoiler tags are gonna be my friend starting...NOW!

Here, I will start off with the pictures of the computer pre-teardown.  Laugh at its antiquity all you want!

Spoiler for Hiden:

Poor thing.  Busted hard drive...and it's unaware that it's getting completely overhauled.
Spoiler for Hiden:

First panel off...simple enough, right?  Wound up saving that fan.
Spoiler for Hiden:


Talk about a hot mess of 7 year-old-plus wiring.  And dust!  Had to take it out and use dust cleaner.
Spoiler for Hiden:


All cleaned of old parts.  Still very dusty-had to redo dusting.

Okay, so that was pretty much...the easy part.  Here are the old parts...

Spoiler for Hiden:


Yep, you are reading that right.  Only 350 watts.
Spoiler for Hiden:

The old motherboard with the HSF still on.  Only had a single 512 MB RAM stick on it.
Speaking of which...
http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x155/red7js/IMAG0115.jpg
Spoiler for Hiden:

This video card is ancient. nVidia GeForce 6200 256MB...the p362.
Spoiler for Hiden:

Left to right- 1394 card, 56k modem, wireless card.  The wireless card is kinda cool, actually :D
Spoiler for Hiden:

IDE cables.  Talk about airblock CENTRAL.
Spoiler for Hiden:

Busted 80 gig hard drive.
Spoiler for Hiden:

Floppy drive.  And, unlike what Tran assumed, it DID have an IDE cable, silly :3

And...for the rig builds to this point (this should only be a couple more pictures.)

Spoiler for Hiden:
http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x155/red7js/IMAG0128.jpg
Oh god yes.  I about squeed like a girl when I got this :3
Spoiler for Hiden:
Hard drives, CPU, PSU, DVD drive, 120 mm (original at that o0o) fan, and front faceplate off (to install 80 mm fans, and boy did the case injure me for doing that)
Spoiler for Hiden:

Computer as of first actual operation.  Has the video card in.
Spoiler for Hiden:

Oh, what's this?  A second card?  Alis...you are one insane person XD
Spoiler for Hiden:

Second card in and successfully SLI'ed.  Computer hated having the second card in at first, but it seemed to iron itself out.

Spec pictures (warning, large pictures, not gonna use img tags on them)
http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x155/red7js/WEIPicture-afterDualCards.png
http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x155/red7js/ComputerPartList.png

ALL future updates will be in other posts, as I DO NOT wanna make this longer than it already is (lol)

Offline sweffymo

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Re: Kind of a "First Computer Build" journal thread. *LOTS OF PICTURES*
« Reply #1 on: April 10, 2012, 03:47:42 PM »
Not bad.  Now all you need to do is put an aftermarket cooler on there and overclock your CPU! :P  Your motherboard, CPU, and PSU would be able to handle a 4.8ghz or higher OC. ;)

By the way, Floppy drives normally take cables that LOOK like IDE cables but have less pins.  They're caled FDD cables.
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Offline wisekill1

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Re: Kind of a "First Computer Build" journal thread. *LOTS OF PICTURES*
« Reply #2 on: April 10, 2012, 03:53:18 PM »
Looks good to me, hope it will run smooth for a long time.
...
...
...
Boo!

Offline Alisaihin

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Re: Kind of a "First Computer Build" journal thread. *LOTS OF PICTURES*
« Reply #3 on: April 27, 2012, 12:30:05 AM »
Not bad.  Now all you need to do is put an aftermarket cooler on there and overclock your CPU! :P  Your motherboard, CPU, and PSU would be able to handle a 4.8ghz or higher OC. ;)

By the way, Floppy drives normally take cables that LOOK like IDE cables but have less pins.  They're caled FDD cables.
Interesting...I will take that in mind if I decide to try and adapt it to my system in the end (I do recall him saying it was SATA though hehehe >_>).  Nothing says awesome like having an overkill system then...plunking a floppy drive in it XD
Looks good to me, hope it will run smooth for a long time.
It's run fairly smooth actually.  I get a very, very periodic bluescreens.  HOWEVER, most of those are my damn fault.  Live and learn...

And by god I have yet to truly test its limits.
« Last Edit: April 27, 2012, 12:33:00 AM by Alisaihin »

Offline Alisaihin

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I must say this now, despite what my father said about custom built PC's having issues out the ass, I have got quite a stable system (though I learned that Nvidia drivers, PARTICULARLY with the GTX 560 and 560 ti, don't like Firefox+Hardware Acceleration).

However, I will say this...I won't try overclocking my GPU's anytime soon.  I tried that once for excrements and giggles, but my system HATED it.  I would get bluescreens out the ass from doing it, and promptly downclocked back to factory and system restored to wipe any trace that I did it from my computer.  It stopped immediately.  If I do upgrade my computer's graphics performance, safe to say, I'm just gonna get a better card.  The money, from THAT experience, tells me it's worth plunking down cash.  Especially since I could just sell my old cards for like, 150 each on eBay, which is 110 less than I bought them for anyway...nyeh.

Offline mikethor007

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(though I learned that Nvidia drivers, PARTICULARLY with the GTX 560 and 560 ti, don't like Firefox+Hardware Acceleration).
Driver crashes/restarts?
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Offline Alisaihin

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Driver crashes/restarts?
Yes.  I looked it up, and I am DEFINITELY not the only one.  I changed browsers to Chrome for now, and so far no more bullexcrement from my drivers.

Offline Alisaihin

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Re: Kind of a "First Computer Build" journal thread. *LOTS OF PICTURES*
« Reply #7 on: June 21, 2012, 07:56:17 PM »
So, in my neverending quest to improve upon my computer's heat efficiency (lower overall component temps, yah) I did some crazy changes.

So, behold in the spoiler tag below...my improvements.  I changed my case to a Corsair C70, got myself an ASUS GTX 680 DirectCU TOP, and a Corsair H100, with a the cherry on top being the 4.7 GHz overclock.  As a note the radiator on is on the top fan slots of the case.  I did that so it spat out the hot air where it would have little resistance-straight up.  This means the rest of the case is pulling in cool air-most of which is being thrown onto the 680, which already has an impressive cooler design.  Overall my CPU idles in the low 30's (only a few degrees above my average room temp).

Spoiler for Hiden:



^I'm still a noob to cable management.




^A bit astonished when I opened the 680...so I compared it to my forearm AND:

One of my old 560's

Offline electromage

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Re: Kind of a "First Computer Build" journal thread. *LOTS OF PICTURES*
« Reply #8 on: July 16, 2012, 10:15:30 PM »
I like the new case. How is that cooler working for you, what are your full load temps? Idle temps are low, but at load is what counts! One of my clients had an issue with the H100, his i7 was running at around 95C full load, stock clock. I replaced it with an air cooler and it dropped 20C. I'm thinking his H100 was defective, but I'm interested to know your results.

Offline Alisaihin

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Re: Kind of a "First Computer Build" journal thread. *LOTS OF PICTURES*
« Reply #9 on: July 17, 2012, 12:23:42 AM »
I like the new case. How is that cooler working for you, what are your full load temps? Idle temps are low, but at load is what counts! One of my clients had an issue with the H100, his i7 was running at around 95C full load, stock clock. I replaced it with an air cooler and it dropped 20C. I'm thinking his H100 was defective, but I'm interested to know your results.
My H100 seems to do fairly well under load.  The highest I've seen is 60C, and that's in a room that is about 31C.  So, rather impressed.  It may he had a bad fan profile set?  I always have mine set to kick at full speed once it hits about 65...

And the case...it's awesome.  I'd seriously recommend it to anyone wanting a good, but (relatively) inexpensive case.

Offline mikethor007

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Re: Kind of a "First Computer Build" journal thread. *LOTS OF PICTURES*
« Reply #10 on: July 17, 2012, 04:23:55 AM »
I like the new case. How is that cooler working for you, what are your full load temps? Idle temps are low, but at load is what counts! One of my clients had an issue with the H100, his i7 was running at around 95C full load, stock clock. I replaced it with an air cooler and it dropped 20C. I'm thinking his H100 was defective, but I'm interested to know your results.
The fan on that thing is finicky. If you set a bad profile, or speed setting, the thing does heat up like that.
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Offline electromage

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Re: Kind of a "First Computer Build" journal thread. *LOTS OF PICTURES*
« Reply #11 on: July 17, 2012, 07:22:21 PM »
The fan on that thing is finicky. If you set a bad profile, or speed setting, the thing does heat up like that.

While I was troubleshooting I connected the pump and fan to a separate 12V supply to run them both at full speed. I'm thinking perhaps it leaked slowly and was running without much fluid in it. It was easier and cheaper to replace the unit than try to disassemble it. Good to know they're not all that bad though.

Offline mikethor007

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Re: Kind of a "First Computer Build" journal thread. *LOTS OF PICTURES*
« Reply #12 on: July 17, 2012, 09:13:02 PM »
While I was troubleshooting I connected the pump and fan to a separate 12V supply to run them both at full speed. I'm thinking perhaps it leaked slowly and was running without much fluid in it. It was easier and cheaper to replace the unit than try to disassemble it. Good to know they're not all that bad though.
O.o

How did the thing manage to leak without dripping onto the boards and shorting them?
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Offline Alisaihin

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Re: Kind of a "First Computer Build" journal thread. *LOTS OF PICTURES*
« Reply #13 on: July 17, 2012, 09:44:01 PM »
O.o

How did the thing manage to leak without dripping onto the boards and shorting them?
Maybe it was the fact it never had enough fluid to begin with?  I dunno.  Either way...it sounds like it could have easily shorted any board below it.

Offline electromage

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Re: Kind of a "First Computer Build" journal thread. *LOTS OF PICTURES*
« Reply #14 on: July 24, 2012, 02:08:24 AM »
Maybe it was the fact it never had enough fluid to begin with?  I dunno.  Either way...it sounds like it could have easily shorted any board below it.

Yeah, no signs of leaking, but he'd taken it somewhere else before, so you never know. Also, could have been a manufacturing defect.