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[PROJECT LOG] Budget Bench Build

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I haven't abandoned it, but I have another rig I'm putting a custom water loop together for (the owner of the RGB toes) and finances only allow what they allow. Can't get much benching done in Phoenix in the summer without big water, either, so beating up Thubans and Denebs on air is just mean. LOL

Get some old athlons Alaric if ya want. You can usually push them about 90% of their full potential on air. Most have a really low cold bug ie around -20c so using LN2/Dice is not that huge of an advantage, points wise that is. They're also cheap so popping them and letting the smoke out doesn't hurt.
 
I meant for Alaric to grab some if he wanted to bench without having to worry about getting a big loop going. I can only imagine how many Athlons you have Scotty. :D
 
Don't have any regular old Athlons. I have two 64s (One X2, one single). For them I'm still trying to debug a M4A785-M mobo. Sometimes it boots, sometimes nah. It stops recognizing the VGA after a few boots, so onboard is probably shot and trying to default to it. Can I get an Athlon 64 in a 'Kitteh?
 
Nope. Athlon II and one Athlon X2 5200+ The only boards I have for AM2 are a couple with Nvidia chipsets and the M4A785-M. I'm hoping to get somewhere with the -M. I made heat sinks for the VRMs. Just waiting till the 1st to get some thermal pad material.

heatsinks2.JPG
 
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The horrid weather here is really screwing up my benching. 105F and 35% humidity leaves about no thermal headroom for anything, especially with an air cooler. I've got the rig ready to go, even built a rack for the PSU and got the switches and audio/USB panel mounted. 1600 watts and an 1100T waiting to go. May have to get a small A/C from Amazon next month and screw up all manner of project schedules. The stupid bench ended up being my hobby and I'm not getting any benching done with it. Still lacks paint and liquid cooling, but the hardware is in place and ready to rock. First pic is the 300 GB Velociraptor HDD, mounted to the PSU tray, with my XP Pro on it.

Picture 82.jpg

Mobo socket fan just above the HDD.
Picture 79.jpg

From the top you can see the fan I use for the passive HD5450 VGA.
Picture 77.jpg

Don't have my VRM fan hooked up for pics, but here's an earlier shot. It mounts in the black frame. It has a resistor that keeps it below 1000 RPM, but bypassed it screams 3000+ RPM. It's from an old Dell CPU cooling tunnel. I'll come up with a better mounting method, probably from the top of the mobo blowing down parallel to the board so it doesn't interfere with the tower cooler.
Picture 72.jpg

So here's a question: I have to get a product key for a 64 bit OS for the rig. Which one should I get? Is 8.1 faster than 7? Is 10 worth it? Biggest issue with 10 and 8 is swapping motherboards. I can install 7 without a product key for a month before it gets whiny. That lets me validate through CPU-Z, etc.. Thoughts? Would this be a good opportunity to screw up a Linux install? LOL
 
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Doesn't look bad the weather.
Your rig looks like of those reviewers for anandtech or techpowerup or whatever who have a bare mobo sitting on a table and doing runs on new line of CPUs for an article! Looks good, Sir!

Don't forget LEDs though:) can't get by without rainbow theme these days.
 
Triple digits for the next 14 days. Actually, the next 2 1/2 months. I do have some red LEDs around here somewhere...LOL It's mostly trying to keep everything cool but compact in limited space.

Picture 78.jpg
 
I'm always wondering how these would even fit inside a case. The cooler itself is huge and then add the fans, couldn't even route the wires inside afterwards. That thing is probably better than typical AIOs
 
It's 168 mm out from the mobo tray, about the same as the classic Hyper 212 coolers (one of which is currently in my girlfriend's mid tower). It will probably fit most modern mid tower and up cases but it doesn't leave a lot of spare room. LOL Ideally, it's blowing directly in to the rear case exhaust fan. Or just causing a vortex in your living room . :rofl:
 
Alaric, just so you know you can do a custom benching loop fairly cheap. This one consists of an old used xspc rasa waterblock ($25), a used alphacool monsta 360($25iirc) , a fountain pump lockekey picked up for me for about ($15), HD bucket and tubing for around ($20). Works great.

IMG_20180720_113431.jpg

Edit: I have enough tubing to run the rad outside.
 
Yeah, I just have to spread my purchases out. On a good month I can swing maybe $200 on "stuff", some months it's under $100. I've been trying to put together a loop for my girlfriend's rig (FX 8350 in a mid tower) with the best parts I can manage. (Black Ice rad, Monsoon reservoir, Primochill tubing by the foot, D5 pump coming up) and she likes the XSPC RGB waterblock, so... LOL
 
The plastic shelving was really cheap, and my carpentry skills are not best defined as "skills". :rofl:

In fact, from this thread (post #17) https://www.overclockers.com/forums...e-Powerful?highlight=Dalchi+frusche+build+log my description of my carpentry.

Me and carpentry:

Me: "Nail!" WHAM
Anyone: "The nail has to go in the board"
Me:"OK" WHAM
Anyone: "No, in the spot where the two pieces of wood need to be joined"
Me:"OK" WHAM
Anyone: "You'll need more than one nail to-"
Me: WHAMWHAMWHAMWHAMWHAMWHAMWHAMWHAMWHAMWHAM
Anyone: "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING???"
Me:"Nail. More than one" WHAM
Anyone: "OW! OW! OW! OW! OW! Give me that damn hammer!"
 
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