Project: Black I

[shawkins]

This project will basically be a combination of Blue I and Blue II (never finished). It will use most of the hardware from Blue I with some minor upgrades (while I save for completely new hardware) and my ubber custom modded Chenming case from Blue II.


System Specs:
CPU: AMD 64 3000+ Venice (maybe a cheap upgrade to a X2 CPU?) - Have
MOBO: ASUS A8N SLI-Deluxe - Have
RAM: OCZ Gold Edition 2GB (2x1GB) DDR500 (PC4000) - Have
GPU: eVGA 6600GT - Have
HDD: Western Digital Raptor WD740ADFD 74GB 10,000RPM - Need
PSU: PC Power & Cooling Silencer 750W - Need
Optical: Plexor PX-716SA/SW SATA (Black faceplate) - Have
Case: My insanely modded Chenming case powder coated gloss black - Have

Cooling System:
Intake Fans: 2x 120mm x 38mm Panaflo M1 with a gutted M1 120mm x 38mm fan as a spacer (inside of spacer lined with sound deadener) - Have
Rear Exhause Fans: 1x 92mm x 25mm Panaflo M1 with a gutted M1 92mm x 25mm fan as a spacer (inside of spacer lined with sound deadener) - Have
Top Exhaust Fans: 3x 120mm x 38mm Panaflo M1 with a gutted M1 120mm x 38mm fan as a spacer (inside of spacer lined with sound deadener) - Have
PSU Fan: My custom PSU fan contraption:

The outter fan is a Panaflo M1 and the middle is a gutted M1 (inside of spacer and 120mm to 80mm adapter lined with sound deadener) - Have
Fan Controller: Frozen CPU 3.5" 3-Port fan controller - Have

Im still deciding if I want to try water cooling again since the case I will be using was originally built for WCing.

Project Costs:
CPU Upgrade:
HDD Upgrade:
PSU Upgrade:
Case: I think it was around $60
Fans: Probably close to $100
Fan Controller: $20
Fan, PSU Silencers: Around $25
Sleeving: $20
Misc: $20
Total: Around $245 (so far)

It seems like it shouldnt cost that much, but I will be using this case in my next build and wont be touching it at all!


This project started out as a completely new build, but I decided to for the most part use what I have but get a quieter system and then get new hardware.

Thanks

 

[Evilsizer]

cost of the project or how much you are willing to spend on the cpu?

*edit*
if your going intel you may want to check out there new toy in the raid area and scratch the raptors.
http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=467848

 

[shawkins]

cost of the project or how much you are willing to spend on the cpu?

*edit*
if your going intel you may want to check out there new toy in the raid area and scratch the raptors.
http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=467848

I dont really set a budget per say, just a limit on how much I will spend on a certain part.

I was looking at The Egg, and it looks like I can get a E6400 Conroe for around $200. Thats about what I spent on my last CPU purchase IIRC, so Im fine with that.

The two things I have the most trouble with picking out are the MOBO and RAM, there are just so many to choose from.

I had looked at that Matrix thing once before, but hadnt really given much thought to it. I will definately have to look into that alot more!

Thanks

 

[Evilsizer]

plan on ocing then or just stock speeds?

 

[shawkins]

plan on ocing then or just stock speeds?

Some light OCing, Im not going to watercool it, just air.

 

[Evilsizer]

ok to make this easier what is the total you want to spend...mind you cpu locked in...as right now if you want cf or sli is a big factor for a c2d mobo.

on air alone for the e6400 you looking in the 3.4-3.6ghz range for oc.

pretty much your looking at this for ram imo
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820145034
or
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820231065

for gpu no dought the 7900gto
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814130065

psu's:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817163111
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817703005
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817139002
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817703006
or this big gun
http://www.pcpower.com/products/viewproduct.php?show=T1KWSR

gpu sink either the thermaltake hr-03 or zalaman vf-900
cpu sink u-120/infinity/ninja/bt/si-128/TT

 

[shawkins]

ok to make this easier what is the total you want to spend...mind you cpu locked in...as right now if you want cf or sli is a big factor for a c2d mobo.

on air alone for the e6400 you looking in the 3.4-3.6ghz range for oc.

pretty much your looking at this for ram imo
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820145034
or
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820231065

for gpu no dought the 7900gto
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814130065

psu's:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817163111
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817703005
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817139002
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817703006
or this big gun
http://www.pcpower.com/products/viewproduct.php?show=T1KWSR

gpu sink either the thermaltake hr-03 or zalaman vf-900
cpu sink u-120/infinity/ninja/bt/si-128/TT

I was planning on going with the 610W Pc Power & Cooling PSU since that was the one I was going to use on my last project IIRC.

Graphics card looks good. No SLI for me though. I had read that the SLI MOBO's for the Conroes suck right now?

RAM is a lil spendy, but I guess I will have to pay the price to get great stuff. Will those Corsair sticks be good enough if I want to upgrade the CPU in a few months?

Thanks

 

[Evilsizer]

I was planning on going with the 610W Pc Power & Cooling PSU since that was the one I was going to use on my last project IIRC.

Graphics card looks good. No SLI for me though. I had read that the SLI MOBO's for the Conroes suck right now?

RAM is a lil spendy, but I guess I will have to pay the price to get great stuff. Will those Corsair sticks be good enough if I want to upgrade the CPU in a few months?

Thanks

those 6400-c4's and g.skills linked use the same d9 ic's. oc roughly to the same lvl granted the mobo has a high enough vdimm. the 6400-c4's do ddr2-800@[email protected] and with EPP setting do ddr2-1066@[email protected]. if my mobo had higher vdimm the 2.3v i would have been able to get my set ddr2-1200@5-5-5-16 stable with either 2.35v or 2.4v. my ab9-pro is one of the early boards with 2.3vdimm later ones after july have 2.5vdimm. With 2.3+ vdimm your going to want to use a fan on them as they will get rather warm/hot. if your looking at C2Q down the road then imo you need to look at asus p5b-dl,abit ab9-pro,gigabyte 965p-ds3.

sli mobo's dont really suck per-say but only oc to around 340ish mhz fsb, which is why DFI dropped the nv-5xx from the line up all together.

 

[shawkins]

I just dont want to go SLI due to the fact that I would have to buy 2 video cards, cool them, and have a PSU with enough power for them. I just cant justify that cost since Im not a hardcore gamer.

So the Corsair and the G.Skill linked above are pretty much exactly the same your saying?

 

[Evilsizer]

I just dont want to go SLI due to the fact that I would have to buy 2 video cards, cool them, and have a PSU with enough power for them. I just cant justify that cost since Im not a hardcore gamer.

So the Corsair and the G.Skill linked above are pretty much exactly the same your saying?

well in no order the for a mobo
abit ab9-pro,asus p5b-dlx/p5b-e,gigabyte 965p-ds3/965p-s3. personally i would stick with either abit or asus.

yes the ram sticks are the same pcb's and ic's. as well the team group ddr2-667 are the same ic's for the newer micron D9's. atm the best bang for the new D9's is the corsair@279 since the gskills are 299 and the teamgroup stuff at 294.
teamgroup can be found here:
www.tankguys.biz

 

[shawkins]

well in no order the for a mobo
abit ab9-pro,asus p5b-dlx/p5b-e,gigabyte 965p-ds3/965p-s3. personally i would stick with either abit or asus.

yes the ram sticks are the same pcb's and ic's. as well the team group ddr2-667 are the same ic's for the newer micron D9's. atm the best bang for the new D9's is the corsair@279 since the gskills are 299 and the teamgroup stuff at 294.
teamgroup can be found here:
www.tankguys.biz

It seems like people are having good luck with the ASUS boards, so I was mainly looking at those. That, and I have had fairly good luck with my A8N-SLI Deluxe in my current system.

 

[Evilsizer]

spend the extra then for the p5b-dlx has higher phase then the p5b-e. which if you choose to upgrade to c2q's will help when ocing it.

 

[shawkins]

So what is the difference between the WiFi version and the regular Deluxe version?

And my NooBness has kicked in: what is "C2Q"?

Thanks

 

[Evilsizer]

c2d=dual core
c2q=quad core

yes, only difference between the 2 dlx's is wifi and no wifi.

 

[shawkins]

Well I got to working again on my Chenming case that I have been modding for awhile so I decided to just revamp this project and do a complete new build later when I have more money.

 

[shawkins]

Here is a pic of the case when I left quit working on it for Project Blue II:



So I got to working on it again:


I cut out the front section to replace it with a plate like I did in the back:

I still need to cut out the back for the MOBO and PCI slots in this pic.

I plan on having the fans positioned like this in the front:


I also did some sound testing with some very hi-tech tools (my ears) and concluded that putting sound deadener material on the inside of the fan spacer and the 120mm to 80mm adapter would kill a few decibels:


It seems to help kill some of the "funnel" noise.

Well thats all the progress I have for now. I am hoping to have the case done sometime next week so I can powder coat it. My friend's (who happens to be my next door neighbor) dad has a powder coating shop and also has a small setup at their house so I get to powder coat anything for free pretty much (just the cost of powder).

 

[shawkins]

I just ordered the following:

2x Panaflo 92mm M1A's - SVC
1x UV Blue 92mm fan gasket - Performance PC's
1x UV Blue 120mm fan gasket - Performance PC's
1x UV Blue 12" double 90* ended SATA cable - Performance PC's
bunch of UV Blue sleeving - Performance PC's
10x black thumbscrews - Performance PC's
12x USB/KK female pins - Performance PC's
1x http://www.frozencpu.com/products/986/bus-13/FrozenCPU_Dual_Voltage_3_Port_Baybus_w_BlueRed_LEDs_35_Bay.html?tl=g36&id=vQFBIda4&mv_pc=1635]3-port fan controller - Frozen CPU

Pretty much a bunch of little stuff to help me finish my case.

 

[shawkins]

I was going to order this Lian Li hard drive rack but it was out of stock So I will just have to wait.

http://www.performance-pcs.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=210&products_id=20584

 

[shawkins]

I also just bought a Swiftech Micro-res from sneaky. So I guess Im going WCing!

 

[Seven]

Wow, really nice.

I like the wind tunnel idea, a ghetto version of an idea Delta actually put into use. Very well done.

7