Stew i love you

[thorilan]

ill let you all guess what that means but im sure a few of oyu can guess.

once i a camera ill be able to elaborate more. ( room mate has one just have to beat him down for it)

[CoreGamer]

uhhh....Ill just wait for the pics

[learning curve]

OMG you got your G7 !!! :drool: you lucky dog. I want one tooo :bang head But I don't see that happening :cry:

[Maviryk]

Thor, your avatar scares the bejeesus out of me.

[thorilan]

my avatarscares you?

and learning curve guessed it =)

[learning curve]

If that avatar scared me? Well she could scare me to death any or every day of my life. :drool:

[nikhsub1]

my avatarscares you?

and learning curve guessed it =)
:clap: :mad: :clap: :mad: :clap:

[Flip-Mode]

Nice, I want pics!

[thorilan]

lol no look at mavs post.

false alarm its just a g5 while the g7 is getting finished ( still only 1 g7 in the world and thats sitting on his main rig)

only 59 impingement jets ( g7 has 117)

i guess this will just have to do untill he can kick the machinist in the hidden motivational button

[learning curve]

I am hoping I can get Stew to make a optimized top for my G5, and I would be happy. Sorry about the false alarm. Should'nt be much longer of a wait for you. PS you are still one lucky dog to be on the short short list!!!

[thorilan]

hehe i better be on the short list lol i had to carry the silver all the way to the post office from the smelter and it was around 19 kilos . not that heavy but when you have to be extra carefull that nobody bumps you ( in tokyo on the trains durring business hours) you sweat a few liters

[thorilan]

for those that want pics of what a g7 looks like here is the only one in existance right now ( well finished one)

[thorilan]

resized cathars pics so you can see them from his website

[thorilan]

and more of cathars resized pics

[thorilan]

#4

[learning curve]

I knew you supplied the silver plates to Stew for the G5's and now the G7's. I would like to extend a hearty THANK YOU for helping me to get the G5 I now have......

[thorilan]

#5

[thorilan]

#6

[thorilan]

#7

[learning curve]

YES that the type of top I want for my G5. 2 outlets in the middle plate and the optimized top.

[thorilan]

#8

[thorilan]

last

[Flip-Mode]

Sweet!

[thegreek]

Is he taking orders yet or you just an early sample?

[learning curve]

Rumor has it that there may not be a g7 run made available, and if there are most if not all the silver plates are spoken for. If the g7 run is'nt made the remaining thirty some silver plates may be made into G5's. Stew is always busy as all get out!!

[thorilan]

as far as i know there are only 3 or 4 people guaranteed g7s.
stew ( because he makes them)
Billa ( because he is billa )
me ( because im me)
and possibly a few more

you see its not about money but it is kinda and time . he does this as a hobby but it takes a lot of time and work and at the intricacy level it demands odds of a failure are higher and cost more .
you are talking going from an already outstanding and astounding 57 jets with cups and nipples to 117 increadably small jets very tightly packed. you would almost swear its not possible to use conventional machines to make them without the use of lasers.

seriously if you look at just how small the jets are on a G5 and imagine there are literally TWICE as many jets in the same space ... taking it apart is a risk i would not even want to take

[-aDaM^]

as far as i know there are only 3 or 4 people guaranteed g7s.
stew ( because he makes them)
Billa ( because he is billa )
me ( because im me)
and possibly a few more

you see its not about money but it is kinda and time . he does this as a hobby but it takes a lot of time and work and at the intricacy level it demands odds of a failure are higher and cost more .
you are talking going from an already outstanding and astounding 57 jets with cups and nipples to 117 increadably small jets very tightly packed. you would almost swear its not possible to use conventional machines to make them without the use of lasers.

seriously if you look at just how small the jets are on a G5 and imagine there are literally TWICE as many jets in the same space ... taking it apart is a risk i would not even want to take

or if you got lots of $ and send him lots of $ your guaranteed a g7 hehe :)

[learning curve]

or if you got lots of $ and send him lots of $ your guaranteed a g7 hehe :)
It isn't about the $$ with Stew. go ahead and offer him all the $$ you can spare and see if you get one, you probable still would'nt get one then! Stew is a honorable gentleman and when he does a run he make's it known on some of the forums. You expresss an intrest and if you are in the lucky first group to respond you get one. PERIOD It aint about the money

[TreeNode]

So um, not that I knew pretty much how the Cather blocks work. How much better is the G7 in comparison to the G5 or G4? I mean, more cups the better? I would imagine, based on the way the impingement jets work that there would be some 'optimal' size/amount/position that's possible and more is not always the merrier. Just looking for an answer, don't freak out at me and call me an idiot, heh, cuz I know how these type of questions get nasty responses...

Good job on scoring a G7 thorilan. Eerrr G5 for now.

[learning curve]

Yes the more and smaller jets you can place directly over the core the better it will cool. Provided that you have a strong enough pump and that pump does not dump too much heat into the loop. Also the machining to do this can only go so small.

[SolidxSnake]

Yes the more and smaller jets you can place directly over the core the better it will cool. Provided that you have a strong enough pump and that pump does not dump too much heat into the loop. Also the machining to do this can only go so small.


Wonder when the holes will start becoming micron sized, a million or so holes in a block :D

[Maviryk]

So... when the diminishing return set in for the number of holes due to pump strength say for, an Iwaki. Surely it would be greater for a pump of lesser force like the D5. Too many holes?

I've always wondered how would you go about cleaning those jets when they get clogged also...

[Voodoo Rufus]

I was under the impression people could still sign up for the G7 production run if they emailed Cathar.

If it's still the case, it may be one of my first and only splurges when I get a job.

[-aDaM^]

It isn't about the $$ with Stew. go ahead and offer him all the $$ you can spare and see if you get one, you probable still would'nt get one then! Stew is a honorable gentleman and when he does a run he make's it known on some of the forums. You expresss an intrest and if you are in the lucky first group to respond you get one. PERIOD It aint about the money

sure he's a gentleman, but money talks.

[thorilan]

I was under the impression people could still sign up for the G7 production run if they emailed Cathar. thats for the g5 as machining is to much to handle i think. i may be wrong but that is what i gathared from talking with him

sure he's a gentleman, but money talks. not with someone that makes as much as stew . keep in mind he spent thousands in development of a hobby that could have yielded 0 results . that the g7 is not for the masses so offer what oyu think will convince him and CC a copy to any of us as proof and i can bet you that will not get you one

[thorilan]

oh and yes more jet tubes into cups not only increases surface size it also lowers stagnation zones

[-aDaM^]

thats for the g5 as machining is to much to handle i think. i may be wrong but that is what i gathared from talking with him

not with someone that makes as much as stew . keep in mind he spent thousands in development of a hobby that could have yielded 0 results . that the g7 is not for the masses so offer what oyu think will convince him and CC a copy to any of us as proof and i can bet you that will not get you one

i'm not trying to start anything here, but I'm sure if i wire transfered him $20k he'd send me a g7 ;)

I got a first batch G4 off him before tho.

[citronym]

Flames are not allowed, consider this your ONLY warning.

nikhsub1
Forums Moderator

[Maviryk]

I loled.

Lets chill before this gets too heated fellas.

Thor's avatar still scares the bejeesus out of me.

[situman]

I thought the G7 was cancelled? Cathar hasn't replied to the thread in OCforums Australia. Lots of people pretty much gave up on it I think or just checking everyday hoping for some kind of response. Well at least I check that forum everyday and read thru my emails very carefully so I don't miss his emails. Its good to know it will eventually be made.

[BWR]

I loled.

Lets chill before this gets too heated fellas.

Thor's avatar still scares the bejeesus out of me.
What is so scary about it?

[-aDaM^]

What is so scary about it?

manly japaneese woman :(

[Oper8or]

Wow. That block looks fantastic. No I dont even want to ask for one. To many people in line for something like that. Just please tell him one thing for me. Thank you for someone taking the time to try making something like that. Even as a hobby. Hes good. Real good. I dont know who he is. But hes one hell of a machinest. I've never seen something that tightly cut.
Ok. Now one question. How does the water flow through it? In the middle hole. Through the black plate (the jets) then flows back through the 2 holes in the back plate then out? Am I seeing this right?

[thorilan]

yes but 1 of those 2 sides is actualy closed and does not have a barb so its only 2 barbs. stew found that it did not really effect performance to have only 2 barbs

[vudoo]

G7 is sooooooo nice...
I recently got a used G5 from someone. I'm interested in this "optimized top" you guys are talking about. Pics?

[thorilan]

the pic of the optimized g5 top is the same as above. basically you see a ring cut in the last photo if i got it right

[vudoo]

Ohhhhh I see now. Thanks.

[Chunkylover763]

That is possitively amazing, it looks like the ultimate flowrate killer, I would prolly only hook up something with at least 15feet of head to that block. I wonder when it would cease to be productive to keep adding jets, if you were able to use something with a much lower viscosity than water like alcohol you could prolly have about 1000 jets. Imagine, a jet for every cpu pin!

[kimochii72]

hehe i better be on the short list lol i had to carry the silver all the way to the post office from the smelter and it was around 19 kilos . not that heavy but when you have to be extra carefull that nobody bumps you ( in tokyo on the trains durring business hours) you sweat a few liters


Your supplying the raw metals for this block? Or was this just kidding here?

[kimochii72]

manly japaneese woman :(

Why? They are great lovers. And they give you Soapland!

[thorilan]

Your supplying the raw metals for this block? Or was this just kidding here?
not just this block
all blocks ever made

[ls7corvete]

Havent seen cathar for a while. Maybe hes just losing interest?

Anyways I would get my g7 with three barbs if it was up to me. heh.

[Chunkylover763]

How on earth did you afford that Thor? Silver goes for about $10 per ounce and 19 kilos is 670 ounces, so your talking about nearly 7000usd after shipping.

[kimochii72]

not just this block
all blocks ever made

How? Are you an importer. Does the silver come from japan? Where does their copper come from in the storm rev 2? That's a cool gig you got there. If that metal is comming from japan then that's some top notch starting material.

[thorilan]

the rest of the details are between me and stew and yes its expencive ( and heavy)

[learning curve]

the rest of the details are between me and stew and yes its expencive ( and heavy) :shrug: I'm sorry if I opened a can of worms for you Thorilan :bang head

[thorilan]

np.

just when i tell people the details they think they can do better and then they find out that i actually loose money and if they try it the will not only loose money but odds are ruin the community by using un verified non pure metals . all kinds of factors go into large investestments.

[kimochii72]

I would definately say if his sources is of Japanese origin at all, weather locally or just brokered in japan that their requirements are absolute strict. I've worked at the toyota plant in kentucky and the avalons they shipped to japan went through so much more rigorous testing and standards than the cars to be sold in the US. I'm sure that grades of metals over their in japan probably exceed iso standards.

[Oper8or]

yes but 1 of those 2 sides is actualy closed and does not have a barb so its only 2 barbs. stew found that it did not really effect performance to have only 2 barbs
That was what I meant.. But didnt say. What I meant was flows in through center barb down the block through the jets up through the two holes and out the other barb. Ok. Got it. Do they even make a pump that can handle the pressure this block needs? From what I've read about other blocks on here like this it takes a LOT of pressure to push water through those.

[thorilan]

well prior to leaving the building i visualy inspect and measure and inspected each block for major warpage and scratches that would make the block un recoverable.
sometimes scratches on edges areok where it will get machined down anyways and they gillotine cut the sheets so if they arnt carefull it can warp the blocks on the edge

[thorilan]

Do they even make a pump that can handle the pressure this block needs? From what I've read about other blocks on here like this it takes a LOT of pressure to push water through those.this block will perform just as well at lower flow.

cathar was aiming at making this block flow agnostic which means its going to work great at a lot of diferent powers

[Oper8or]

That is cool. At least hes thinking of the other end of the spectrum. But seeing that they are limited.. Makes most of us just drool. I'd use one just to see how well it did in comparison to what i have.

[TreeNode]

After researching a bit more, it's nice to know that the original price for the G7 is (was) roughly $225 USD. I'm wondering if anyone here would (have) boughten one if (and could still be) mass produced?

[thorilan]

oh there are a few people here who are interested in them. well enough that would take up all the plates anyways. unfortunately withought using lasers they will never really be "mass produced" because they just require so much care in making with conventional means.

[Burdman27911]

Sort of OT, but is Stew still making (or planning on making) more G5's? I wouldn't be surprised or blame him at all if he had decided to hold off on making any blocks, but I was just interested.

Thor, I really hope you enjoy the G7 when it comes, you deserve it!

[TreeNode]

If I'm not mistaken, he's opting to use what metal/parts he has to actually make more G5s instead of G7s. If you are interested in a G5, you can get something very close and newely available today by getting the Storm G4 Rev. 2 which has the same "optimized" mid/top plate design as the G5, but probably not the same number of cups or care. This just increases the flow rate slightly.

[situman]

I'm surprised Cathar doesn't ask Swiftech to do the machining for him with the relationship they have.

[thorilan]

its beyond thier skills . it requires increadably high resolution percision and specialized tooling made specifically for the block.

if you ever tried to make a very sharp lathe bit from carbon steel and then use it for a day you will notice it will get dull and its a simple matter of re sharpening it. its large and easy to handle but when you get down to something as small as whats required for these bits you cant re sharpen them you have to make a new bit because sharpening them would literally wear through the bits.

[wa77ss]

That G7 block does look quite nice I must say :cool:

Everyone talks about this Cathar guy, but yet I dont know who he really is. I am just gonna assume he is the water-cooling God that made it all come to PC's :shrug:

[situman]

its beyond thier skills . it requires increadably high resolution percision and specialized tooling made specifically for the block.

if you ever tried to make a very sharp lathe bit from carbon steel and then use it for a day you will notice it will get dull and its a simple matter of re sharpening it. its large and easy to handle but when you get down to something as small as whats required for these bits you cant re sharpen them you have to make a new bit because sharpening them would literally wear through the bits.

What about a diamon tipped drill bit? Anyways, I'm surprised to hear Swiftech doesn't have the necessary skills or equipments. More surprising is that Cathar only charging 225 per block for such high level machining.

[SuperFarStucker]

You know on a lot of levels I'm impressed with the thought and expertise that has gone into designing these blocks and the quality of materials used but I can't help but think it is somewhat wasted effort. Even if you realized a 50% reduction of delta-C (heatsink-chip interface) over easily manufactured products such as the apogee this would only be a marginal performance benefit at an extremely high cost-benefit ratio. Further, more effective solutions are known to exist, i.e. it is much easier to lower the temperature of the heat exchange medium then it is to improve the interface further.

Anyway, nice work done by all parties involved, it is a shame it is not practical.

[citronym]

But where's the fun in that? :)

[thorilan]

well super its the same thing as , why paint your car to look good when you can just paint it all 1 ugly color and it will still do its job . for a lot of people its a hobby and a way to be n control of something . its also a way to expand the mind and learn . the majority of the people that visit here dont even understand the basics of the DT as it is so for them it gives a whole new world to learn.

i could never call that wasted effort.
now i could call it extremely in efficient money management in some cases or cost to performance ratio but in the end its still fun.

[ls7corvete]

yea Cathar does talk a bit about the cost to performance aspect and the limited gains going beyond g5 yet the demand has pushed him to go further. Similar things going on with rads as well.

This is alot of the reason that I am looking into TECs and Cathar was the one who inspired all my TEC antics as well. TEC can be very cheap if done right.

[TreeNode]

Regarding the "optimized" top mentioned earlier, I would bet that you could buy just the Rev. 2 top from Swiftech that could go on your current [EDIT: SwiftTech] G4. This would theoretically give you a 7% increase in performance (thermal conductivity) for your block. You could get this today, np.

[phide]

A couple points to be made here.

G7 isn't a flowrate killer. In fact, it should be slightly less restrictive than the G5.

The Swiftech tops will not work on Cathar-made G4s or G5s, and the Rev 2 tops don't really result in any additional performance. They should, theoretically, offer slightly less restriction than Rev 1 tops (assuming Swiftech implemented the principles properly).

Pre-ordering (in the Cathar world, these are "expressions of interest") has come and gone. This happened at the XtremeSytems forums and at OCAU. I imagine 40 or so expressed interest, at which point Stew basically dropped off the planet. I, and others, don't really know why, but it happened, and it doesn't seem like there will ever be any other Cathar blocks made beyond the four or five G7s. This sort of thing certainly happens, though.

I still don't like the idea of not having a G7, though. Still bugs me :)

[learning curve]

A couple points to be made here.

G7 isn't a flowrate killer. In fact, it should be slightly less restrictive than the G5.

The Swiftech tops will not work on Cathar-made G4s or G5s, and the Rev 2 tops don't really result in any additional performance. They should, theoretically, offer slightly less restriction than Rev 1 tops (assuming Swiftech implemented the principles properly).

Pre-ordering (in the Cathar world, these are "expressions of interest") has come and gone. This happened at the XtremeSytems forums and at OCAU. I imagine 40 or so expressed interest, at which point Stew basically dropped off the planet. I, and others, don't really know why, but it happened, and it doesn't seem like there will ever be any other Cathar blocks made beyond the four or five G7s. This sort of thing certainly happens, though.

I still don't like the idea of not having a G7, though. Still bugs me :)
rev2 tops lower restriction thus increasing flow = better performance

[Vrykyl]

jeez if i ever get rich im buying cathar a ton of aerospace quality machinery just to see what he could do with it...
when your g7 arrives all we ask is pics and temps :D [hides swiftech storm in shame]

[thorilan]

well pics are ok but i never post my temps . read some of my other posts concerning what i think about people going by temps and youll understand why

the pics and stable overclock increase are whats important anyways.

[nachosyumm]

I do not care about trying to *replace* you as a silver supplier, but how do you transport the silver? Do you just put it in a box with heavy packaging?

I am just curious since i thought silver would get damaged easily.

What hapened to cathar, he seemed to just disappear. I wish he would do another run of the g5s for the watercooling community. It was nicer when he was more active, but now he seems to have locked himself in a cave somewhere and he only cares about himsef.

[situman]

It was nicer when he was more active, but now he seems to have locked himself in a cave somewhere and he only cares about himsef.

Since when was he obligated to care about anyone else but his friends and family?

[thorilan]

stew has to be one of the nicest people around . the fact that he has a real life and a job that requires him to travel all around the world withstanding , he is still doing this for the comunity as a service that he does not make a lot of money on. to say otherwise or to phrase it as thinking of himself is not only totally against the way stew is but people here that know him will be very inclined to take offense so

[learning curve]

What hapened to cathar, he seemed to just disappear. I wish he would do another run of the g5s for the watercooling community. It was nicer when he was more active, but now he seems to have locked himself in a cave somewhere and he only cares about himsef.Comments like this could earn you alotta flames. Would'nt take long to see this thread locked up tight as a drum.

[nachosyumm]

I need something so i cant post when im angry. I have no excuse to how i worded that sentence. I will not edit that post unless people want me to since it was my mistake to post on the forums after i had a really bad day. You can think lesser of me for that post, which most probably will, but usually i do not make posts like that and i deeply regret doing so.

What i meant to say (kinder) is that cathar seams to be not very actve in the watercooling community. He has any and all rights to do so. Cathar is very intelligent and has done a lot of research. His posts seem to be the "bible" of watercooling. When he hasn't been around for awhile more and more unproven myths seem to pop up and be spread on without any proof.

[thorilan]

When he hasn't been around for awhile more and more unproven myths seem to pop up and be spread on without any proof.

thats why im here.

just so people know ,cathar has a job that requires he take business trips all around the world and sometimes at short notice. he also has a family that has been very understanding of his hobby. not to mention i know of at least 2 times he has been very sick. so there are a multitude of reasons for him to be gone that have absolutely nothing to do with water cooling

[TreeNode]

jeez if i ever get rich im buying cathar a ton of aerospace quality machinery just to see what he could do with it...
He's not a professional machinist, he doesn't work on the blocks himself he just designs them. Aerospace machinery would of course help him build the theoretical G8s though (155-169 jets) :attn:

[phide]

rev2 tops lower restriction thus increasing flow = better performance

Performance increase due to the minute increase in flow is insignificant. (to most, including me - a big deal) We're not even sure if the modifications were done properly. As I understand it, Stew sent Swiftech some photos of the G7 and they simply guessed at the dimensions. The dimensions are important - if they aren't correct, relative to other components and other dimensions, the positive effect is diminished. The Storm design is all about the right dimensions.

As for transporting silver, bubble wrap seems to be effective enough. There were some photos posted at OCAU long ago - truly a beautiful thing to behold (and hold!), I'm sure.

We've all locked ourselves away from this stuff from time to time. When you're talking about Cathar, though, it makes something of a real impact. He was often times the final authority on many subjects, and it was always nice to have the clarification on details that he would go into. There are others like Bill who have the same level of understanding (and, more importantly, how it applies to blocks and cooling in general), but getting thorough answers from Bill is a bit of a crapshoot - no offense intended, of course. (I believe that Bill is well aware that his posts are, at times, fairly cryptic)

[thorilan]

just bubble wrap is not enough with 18 kilos of silver . i had to wrap each individual block to make plate layers with wrapping in between. 99.9997 silver is soft and easily damaged so if you ever try it im willing to bet you have a good chance of damaging a few plates.
as for the pics of what cathar showed he did not show the outside box and packing ( which i tried to get him to ecause it took over 100 meters of duct tape )

[Cathar]

Have kept pretty quiet about this, as I'm not one to seek attention.

I posted this over at OCAU, but it seems it bears repeating here before too many others suffer from foot in mouth disease.

Brief summary of my last 4 months. My real job (the one that actually earns me money) had a bit of a shake up due to some curious managerial decisions and over half of our engineering team moved on as a result. This left pretty much me and two others doing the work that 7 of us were doing before. As a result my workload has gone from about 50hrs/wk to around 75hrs/wk. Sure, I got a nice payrise to compensate, but there's only so many hours in a week and I have a wife and two kids too.

This killed almost all my spare time, and I openly admit to being guilty of, but making no apologies for, for spending about my 2 remaining spare days a month doing fun stuff like this (http://www.employees.org/~slf/R1/pird-17-04-06.jpg), rather than slaving over waterblocks. Yes - that is me in the picture. A person has got to have some selfish pleasure time in thier lives.

I never responded to emails because I didn't want to start taking deposits until I could guarantee that I could find enough time to complete the job. If people are complaining now, when no money has changed hands, I can only imagine what it would be like if I was actually holding thier money. That'd be stupid, and so I didn't start the ball rolling yet.

Also, I am STILL waiting for final comfirmation on Socket AM2 specs so that I can ensure that the final blocks will support this format. Last thing anyone wants is to buy a top-end block with limited future support.

Finally, and here's the thing that will cause foot in mouth for some. I had a bad fall a while back. I have a metal plate and pins holding left shoulder together. My left arm doesn't work. 3 broken ribs. Broken collar bone, Shattered left scapula, inluding the rotator cuff socket that supports shoulder arm movement. Cleared of suspected broken vertebrae in neck which worried people for a while there. Oh, and a broken big toe which seems insignificant in comparison.

I'm resting and healing. They had to peel much of the deltoid and lateral muscles away to repair the bone injuries. They're still healing. Left arm strength is non-existent as a result. Muscles still there, just not re-attached to bones yet for strength. Long road to recovery still to go. Am drugged up and all dopey. Not looking forwards to trying to wean myself off the painkillers.

Am alive. Am okay. Plenty of people lots worse off than me, so I'm not going to whinge about any of it as I have no real right to. I consider myself lucky.

Am not looking for any sympathy. Just stating the facts.

Hope that clears up the state of affairs for everyone.

Sorry I couldn't get you your G7 thorilan. No, there is no way I'd be sending one to BillA. The only two people who get that privilege from me is thorilan to whom none of this use of silver (and hence the G5/G7's) would have been possible, and to nikhsub1 because he and I have this weird thing going on where we seem to try to outdo each other with generosity. I love the guy (Scott). It's a pity we're separated by 10000kms of ocean, otherwise we'd have been closest of friends in another life.

Well now you're all up to date on my life, family, work, and injuries. I'll do my best to make a start to getting the G7 emails rolling soon now that official AM2 spec support is imminent, and while I'm taking time off work to reciver from these injuries. It'll be good to have something to occupy my time in the meantime.

Cheers all,

Stew.

[TreeNode]

WELCOME BACK!

[thegreek]

jesus christ dude, glad to see you're OK. My brother was involved in a car accident a year ago and has a metal plate in his head. It not easy at all, I hope you get better in time. The waterblock should be the last thing on your mine.

[situman]

Drugs and watercooling is not a good mix. Take it easy and relax and heal up. If people complain, take a pencil and scratch their names off the list or just hit the delete button. They have no right to pester you. Again condolences. Take care.

[voigts]

When you do things Stew, you do them all the way, don't you? I'm just glad to hear that you are still in one piece, even if that is pinned together! Thanks for posting what happened as I was also beginning to wonder why you seemed to disappear off of the scene. Just recover and spend some time with those kids- they grow up sooooooo fast. My daughter is 9 and it seems like only yesterday she was just a little squirt.

[vudoo]

Racing bikes. Pimp. :D

[Moto7451]

Feel better Cathar. I hope your recovery is quick and full. It truly takes strength to work a 75 hour week and travel while all of that is going on.

[gone_fishin]

Have kept pretty quiet about this, as I'm not one to seek attention.

I posted this over at OCAU, but it seems it bears repeating here before too many others suffer from foot in mouth disease.

Brief summary of my last 4 months. My real job (the one that actually earns me money) had a bit of a shake up due to some curious managerial decisions and over half of our engineering team moved on as a result. This left pretty much me and two others doing the work that 7 of us were doing before. As a result my workload has gone from about 50hrs/wk to around 75hrs/wk. Sure, I got a nice payrise to compensate, but there's only so many hours in a week and I have a wife and two kids too.

This killed almost all my spare time, and I openly admit to being guilty of, but making no apologies for, for spending about my 2 remaining spare days a month doing fun stuff like this (http://www.employees.org/~slf/R1/pird-17-04-06.jpg), rather than slaving over waterblocks. Yes - that is me in the picture. A person has got to have some selfish pleasure time in thier lives.

I never responded to emails because I didn't want to start taking deposits until I could guarantee that I could find enough time to complete the job. If people are complaining now, when no money has changed hands, I can only imagine what it would be like if I was actually holding thier money. That'd be stupid, and so I didn't start the ball rolling yet.

Also, I am STILL waiting for final comfirmation on Socket AM2 specs so that I can ensure that the final blocks will support this format. Last thing anyone wants is to buy a top-end block with limited future support.

Finally, and here's the thing that will cause foot in mouth for some. I had a bad fall a while back. I have a metal plate and pins holding left shoulder together. My left arm doesn't work. 3 broken ribs. Broken collar bone, Shattered left scapula, inluding the rotator cuff socket that supports shoulder arm movement. Cleared of suspected broken vertebrae in neck which worried people for a while there. Oh, and a broken big toe which seems insignificant in comparison.

I'm resting and healing. They had to peel much of the deltoid and lateral muscles away to repair the bone injuries. They're still healing. Left arm strength is non-existent as a result. Muscles still there, just not re-attached to bones yet for strength. Long road to recovery still to go. Am drugged up and all dopey. Not looking forwards to trying to wean myself off the painkillers.

Am alive. Am okay. Plenty of people lots worse off than me, so I'm not going to whinge about any of it as I have no real right to. I consider myself lucky.

Am not looking for any sympathy. Just stating the facts.

Hope that clears up the state of affairs for everyone.

Sorry I couldn't get you your G7 thorilan. No, there is no way I'd be sending one to BillA. The only two people who get that privilege from me is thorilan to whom none of this use of silver (and hence the G5/G7's) would have been possible, and to nikhsub1 because he and I have this weird thing going on where we seem to try to outdo each other with generosity. I love the guy (Scott). It's a pity we're separated by 10000kms of ocean, otherwise we'd have been closest of friends in another life.

Well now you're all up to date on my life, family, work, and injuries. I'll do my best to make a start to getting the G7 emails rolling soon now that official AM2 spec support is imminent, and while I'm taking time off work to reciver from these injuries. It'll be good to have something to occupy my time in the meantime.

Cheers all,

Stew.

Get well soon Stew, best wishes to you and your family.

g_f

[-aDaM^]

nice to see you post, get well soon :thup: I know what its like having an accident, I broke my Femar, Forarm and Coller Bone carting. :beer:

[Oper8or]

Get well soon. May you and yours be healthy and enjoy all you can with one another. You dont know me. I dont know you. But its simple. Your human. Therefore, I care.