Project "XETM" - Worklog (56k Warning)

[Lunchbox21984]

ive heard its a good board, but thats it. all i got is a Intel BX2, so what do i know, lol

[Patriote]

Well, well, well... Guys, ive been to 3 local store i could found near where i live today and neither had an EVGA 680I A1 nor the P5N32-SLI Deluxe...

Also, just a few mins ago, i removed the Tuniq tower and back-plate thinking it would help, i also tried a few other things but neither would make the comp boot on screen with a GPU in the upper slot.

Hell, i tried to boot without any GPU at all and it gave me the same error beep code i get when 1 GPU is hooked in the upper slot. Which i suppose means that the upper PCI-E is really dead. What really bug me is that it has worked for the original boot. The very first boot i did back 2 days ago, I had hooked both card in SLI with the bridge and had connected my DVI cable into the first card in the upper PCI-Express slot. Which means that it was working at that time. Right when i had a look around in the bios and rebooted to save the changes, the upper PCI-Express slot had died. After that, it worked 1 or 2 times again but it would always fail when i'd reboot.

Now, it's true and sure, i need a new mobo.

See? This is how things are for me. It's always like that. I did not even started my watercooling project yet and already problems are starting to take place. What a pain man...

[Spawne32]

such is the horrors of the 680i :/

[disruptfam]

this might be silly but did ya try clearing the cmos?

[Patriote]

this might be silly but did ya try clearing the cmos?

Dozens of times

But hey, im probably going to buy Brother Esau's EVGA 680I A1 mobo for sale. I have contacted him already

[IanY]

Patriote,

I see that you are getting another EVGA A1. You're in good shape. If you ever need, don't buy a P5N32..make sure you buy a Striker Extreme rev. 1.03g (and not a rev. 1.00). But you don't need such advice now.

[Nate P.]

Patriote,

I see that you are getting another EVGA A1. You're in good shape. If you ever need, don't buy a P5N32..make sure you buy a Striker Extreme rev. 1.03g (and not a rev. 1.00). But you don't need such advice now.

I love my P5N32-E SLI Plus... I have found nothing wrong with it, and OC's pretty well. I give it a: For the money.

[disruptfam]

hows the search for a new mobo going?? I hope you get it soon...

This build is gonna be a good one... Very nice stuff patriote

cheers

[septim]

too bad about the mobo, but good luck on sourcing 1 out...

[Patriote]

too bad about the mobo, but good luck on sourcing 1 out...

Thanks I bought Brother Esau's one

[mjassbong]

Wow Patriote! I love seeing all the stuffs you're getting an unpacking. Excellent choices of hardware. Looks like X-mas arrived a little early for you. Congrats!!!

Sorry to hear about your mobo. Two of my friends went through the same ordeal with evga. One went through 2 RMA's and the other 4 RMA's until they all got a working A1 board. ***Becareful of those caps and resistors around the chipsets if you're going to watercooled those.

Looking forward to your progress and more pics of your uber rig.

[Patriote]

Wow Patriote! I love seeing all the stuffs you're getting an unpacking. Excellent choices of hardware. Looks like X-mas arrived a little early for you. Congrats!!!

Sorry to hear about your mobo. Two of my friends went through the same ordeal with evga. One went through 2 RMA's and the other 4 RMA's until they all got a working A1 board. ***Becareful of those caps and resistors around the chipsets if you're going to watercooled those.

Looking forward to your progress and more pics of your uber rig.

Thanks! It's an honor coming from a guy with such rig you have

Yeah, i will be extremely careful with those. And i will also work out something to hook a 120mm pushing air around the CPU socket.

[YugenM]

Well, well, well... Guys, ive been to 3 local store i could found near where i live today and neither had an EVGA 680I A1 nor the P5N32-SLI Deluxe...

Haha sucker, I live within walking distance of an NCIX outlet so I can get dang near anything I want

Very nice project, this is one of the few U2-UFO builds I've actually liked

[Patriote]

Thanks YugenM

[Patriote]

Small update on third post

[disruptfam]

any update's patriote?

[Patriote]

any update's patriote?

Started working on the case. Cleaning the case, cleaning the parts, preparing them for the upcoming EVGA 680I A1 which i am still patiently waiting.

I have a bunch of pics, i will upload and post them later tonight. I just finished reinstalling Vista Ultimate X64 on my old rig. I put back the defective 680I A1 in it's box and am ready to ship it back for RMA to my friend tomorrow.

You guys have no idea how impatient i truly am lol Not only for this build but in general so waiting for a new board when everything is waiting for it is just pissing me... Oh well!

[Spawne32]

haha you know what i just realized, your old desk is exactly the same desk i just got rid of! I just replaced mine with this... its a northfield credenza from bush

[Patriote]

Update! Check 3rd post!

This is really becoming 56K Murder! Way too much pics on the same page, what should i do guys?

PS: Spawne32, the desk looks sweet Except that my killer mouse pad would never fit on that thing

[disruptfam]

This is really becoming 56K Murder! Way too much pics on the same page, what should i do guys?

lol i rekon i click on the 1st page walk off for a few mins to let it load....lol

Looking real good so far mate...Looking 4ward to finished rig...

When u do the pencil mod on your 680i please take pic's of it i want to do the same with my board

cheers

[r4st4m4n]

This is really becoming 56K Murder! Way too much pics on the same page, what should i do guys?

Maybe you can replace the oldest pictures by thumbnails linked to the original size and leave the latest/best in full size

[TheSamurai]

does anybody still use 56k? i don't think so, but maybe it will make a come back like the 80's!?!?!

[Patriote]

UPDATE!

Updates will now be posted by reply since the first page was getting way too long to load...

Sorry for the long wait guys but i have been having major problems getting a freaking EVGA 680I A1 to work! First mobo had a dead PCI-Express slot and the second one just refuse to boot... Nothing not even a beep code or any letters\numbers on the leds. It's basically DOA. I'm sending back the second one to the person i bought it and will get a refund on it. As for the first one, tomorrow im sending it to my good friend and he will take care of getting a replacement from his local store and send me the new one, which i am hoping that will work flawlessly...

All right so here is what i have worked on the last 2 weeks.

Tearing apart and cleaning the whole loop which has been sitting there for a week now...



Parts cleaned!



Some gunk in the FuZion... Of course!



FuZion Cleaned!



Preparing the Rad.



Rad hooked.



Rads and Res hooked.







Still have to find the right place for the pumps. The HDDs will be hooked on the front fan under the 5.25 bays so the second pump can't go there. I think the first pump for the CPU\Chipset loop will be in front of the motherboard and the second pump (for the second loop) might go under the EK res so that i will be able to router the tubing under the HDDs and up to the Pa120.2 barb. I'll have to turn around the Ek Res and remove the side barb to hook it under the res. We'll see! More coming as i receive the new EVGA 680I A1 mobo...

Hope you enjoyed!

[disruptfam]

nice work mate...sorry to hear about your mobo woes...

looking 4ward to more updates

[YugenM]

I'm assuming the hammer in the first picture is going to be used to smash the eVGA 680i board?