- Joined
- May 29, 2006
So it's time to rebuild my rig, kinda completed in my last build log, Project Infection. I figure I'll keep with the theme and continue to name my projects/computers about things having to do with zombie movies....
At any rate, the hardware is mostly ordered and I've torn down and dismantled the old rig. The majority of the electronics went to my younger brother for his rig ( I've got plenty of computers at the moment ), but I've held onto the PSU and my monitor, which is in need of repair. I've got the Sunbeam 4 channel fan controller located here and the LEDs are very bright. I'm grabbing some caps from Digikey, and I'll pick up some 10K resistors to stick on there and tone the brightness down ( copying Navig here ). In case you're curious, here's the plan for my VX922.
If you take a look at my last build, I left things half-done. I sleeved one out of 6 fans, kinda threw in the towel on the cable management, actually put the saying on the glass, etc. Time to pony up the time and get it done right, and I mean right. I just spent about 2 hours cleaning the case from top to bottom ( I had dust and such all over it, as well as some metal shavings ), as well as the fans, and other little devices that go in there.
I'm sure you are all clamoring ( all 2, maybe 3 of you who read this stuff ) for the go-fast-bits, so here they are:
Mobo: Rampage 2 Extreme
CPU: i7 920 D0
Ram: Corsair Dominators
Vid: HD5870
HDD: X-25M 160GB ( waiting on UPS to deliver that as we speak )
PSU: PCP&C 750 Silencer
All ordered and in shipment, at the moment. Next to order are the new water cooling bits, namely a full coverage block for the HD 5870 and the i7 hold-down plate for the Apogee GT I have from my last build. I don't imagine I will lose much for not having the latest and greatest CPU block, does OC Forums agree? And while I do have the MWC60 for the GPU, I'm never messing with those memory heatsink EVER again. It'll be a cold day in hell before I screw around with that. My 8800GTS is currently sitting in a box missing a heatsink ( and the top of a RAM Chip ). It ran, but artifacted occasionally. Not doing that again. Watch the classies for a MWC60 sooner or later....
So the plan is much the same as the last one, but I've got higher standards this time:
-Sleeving all over the place
-Cable management through the mobo tray. Last time I covered it all with a piece of black plastic from a cheap binder, what a cop-out. I'm going for the wire's last inch or two being all that's visible
-Better done wire extensions for the CCFLs and the Sunbeam rheostat. I previously used the electrician method of wire nuts and tape, very ugly, plus increased resistance that dimmed the CCFLs visibly. I'm going to have to find my molex tool and redo them with one strand of wire, properly.
-Better routing for the tubing. There needs to be a more straightforward way to put everything. Last time the pump was tucked in behind Mr. Octopus ( the PSU ), not very clean/pretty.
-Better fluid/tubing. The last build used tygon and a Fluid XP+ variant, which while it did work well for ~1.5 years without a change ( no crud floating at least, haven't cleaned the blocks yet ), the tygon is all very stained:
Don't let this happen to you.
So that's the plan, I'll be able to do more once my stuff arrives ( like my toolbag and desk ) and I'm all moved in. So stay tuned.
-Drew
At any rate, the hardware is mostly ordered and I've torn down and dismantled the old rig. The majority of the electronics went to my younger brother for his rig ( I've got plenty of computers at the moment ), but I've held onto the PSU and my monitor, which is in need of repair. I've got the Sunbeam 4 channel fan controller located here and the LEDs are very bright. I'm grabbing some caps from Digikey, and I'll pick up some 10K resistors to stick on there and tone the brightness down ( copying Navig here ). In case you're curious, here's the plan for my VX922.
If you take a look at my last build, I left things half-done. I sleeved one out of 6 fans, kinda threw in the towel on the cable management, actually put the saying on the glass, etc. Time to pony up the time and get it done right, and I mean right. I just spent about 2 hours cleaning the case from top to bottom ( I had dust and such all over it, as well as some metal shavings ), as well as the fans, and other little devices that go in there.
I'm sure you are all clamoring ( all 2, maybe 3 of you who read this stuff ) for the go-fast-bits, so here they are:
Mobo: Rampage 2 Extreme
CPU: i7 920 D0
Ram: Corsair Dominators
Vid: HD5870
HDD: X-25M 160GB ( waiting on UPS to deliver that as we speak )
PSU: PCP&C 750 Silencer
All ordered and in shipment, at the moment. Next to order are the new water cooling bits, namely a full coverage block for the HD 5870 and the i7 hold-down plate for the Apogee GT I have from my last build. I don't imagine I will lose much for not having the latest and greatest CPU block, does OC Forums agree? And while I do have the MWC60 for the GPU, I'm never messing with those memory heatsink EVER again. It'll be a cold day in hell before I screw around with that. My 8800GTS is currently sitting in a box missing a heatsink ( and the top of a RAM Chip ). It ran, but artifacted occasionally. Not doing that again. Watch the classies for a MWC60 sooner or later....
So the plan is much the same as the last one, but I've got higher standards this time:
-Sleeving all over the place
-Cable management through the mobo tray. Last time I covered it all with a piece of black plastic from a cheap binder, what a cop-out. I'm going for the wire's last inch or two being all that's visible
-Better done wire extensions for the CCFLs and the Sunbeam rheostat. I previously used the electrician method of wire nuts and tape, very ugly, plus increased resistance that dimmed the CCFLs visibly. I'm going to have to find my molex tool and redo them with one strand of wire, properly.
-Better routing for the tubing. There needs to be a more straightforward way to put everything. Last time the pump was tucked in behind Mr. Octopus ( the PSU ), not very clean/pretty.
-Better fluid/tubing. The last build used tygon and a Fluid XP+ variant, which while it did work well for ~1.5 years without a change ( no crud floating at least, haven't cleaned the blocks yet ), the tygon is all very stained:
Don't let this happen to you.
So that's the plan, I'll be able to do more once my stuff arrives ( like my toolbag and desk ) and I'm all moved in. So stay tuned.
-Drew