Project: City of Light

[norim_13]

You're doing a great job! Continue!

[Gabe_CA]

The CF looks awesome, and like the lighting as well. But why not use some bigger rads for cooling? They're more cost-effective, and you can run some really silent fans with them. If you have the space for them, go for it, you won't regret it...

[ballzD33P]

i really like the 'city of light' concept
very unique!

lets got some moar updates!

[Borys]

It look's great. It's another interesting WC mod. I'm waiting for more updates.

[headala]

You're doing a great job! Continue!

Thank you, sorry it hasn't been as regular as I intended.

The CF looks awesome, and like the lighting as well. But why not use some bigger rads for cooling? They're more cost-effective, and you can run some really silent fans with them. If you have the space for them, go for it, you won't regret it...

Yep, some bigger rads would probably be a good idea, but right now it is what it is. That may be in the cards for a future update, though.

i really like the 'city of light' concept
very unique!

lets got some moar updates!

Thanks, coming right up!

It look's great. It's another interesting WC mod. I'm waiting for more updates.

Thank you, I'll have an update momentarily.

[headala]

Okay, I'm so sorry I haven't updated this in a while. I appreciate those who have been 'ing and 'ing me to get this going.

Here are some brief teasers for you all. I thought it would be fun to see if you can guess the parts...some are easy and some are probably pretty hard: I have faith in you guys and your addiction to hardware!


A:


B:
Okay, the first one was a little hard, so here's another:


C:


D:


E:


F:


G:


H:


I:



Ha, now isn't this fun?? I'll post the full pics tomorrow.

[headala]

I guess nobody likes my little 'game'.

Okay, I'll try to update later tonight.

[Metric]

A: White and blue dimm slots. I'm guessing an EVGA X58 SLI board.
B: 3GB or 6GB of DDR3-1600, guessing 1.65v (Can barely see the 5 in the photo)
C: 3x GTX280?
D: GTX280?
E: Velociraptor heatsink
F: 90-degree SATA connector cable
G: Lots of heatshrink or possibly C-strip molding
H: Swish on the K of a delrin EK block
I: Core i7 Extreme Edition logo

[rioja]

enough game, show ur system in prospect

[NameTaken45]

A: White and blue dimm slots. I'm guessing an EVGA X58 SLI board.
B: 3GB or 6GB of DDR3-1600, guessing 1.65v (Can barely see the 5 in the photo)
C: 3x GTX280?
D: GTX280?
E: Velociraptor heatsink
F: 90-degree SATA connector cable
G: Lots of heatshrink or possibly C-strip molding
H: Swish on the K of a delrin EK block
I: Core i7 Extreme Edition logo

lol, that was cool.

[shazza]

I like your game, but I think I could get only 3-4 of them. Looking forward to some more updates.

[theseeker]

I know his game but I cannot give it away.

[headala]

A: White and blue dimm slots. I'm guessing an EVGA X58 SLI board.
B: 3GB or 6GB of DDR3-1600, guessing 1.65v (Can barely see the 5 in the photo)
C: 3x GTX280?
D: GTX280?
E: Velociraptor heatsink
F: 90-degree SATA connector cable
G: Lots of heatshrink or possibly C-strip molding
H: Swish on the K of a delrin EK block
I: Core i7 Extreme Edition logo

A: you're half right!
B: you're quite smart!
C: gosh, I wish!!
D: ditto
E: you're very smart!
F: you're smarter than me
G: maybe
H: you're a genius
I: I wish, again

enough game, show ur system in prospect

Okay, full pics coming soon.

lol, that was cool.

Yeah, I was impressed!

I like your game, but I think I could get only 3-4 of them. Looking forward to some more updates.

Thanks, Shazza!

I know his game but I cannot give it away.

Thanks for that, Rocky. You're a class act!

[headala]

Thank you for participating and humoring me in my little game! I'll get to the full pics of the parts. Let me first say that almost all of these parts were acquired second-hand, and I got some amazing deals on them mostly from folks on this forum. I won't point them all out since I don't know if they want that, but you know who you are. Thank you so much!

First of all, my new mobo: Asus Rampage II Extreme (pictured here with my ram)



I guess next is my ram: OCZ Platinum 1600 (3GB)

Installed:


Primary video card: EVGA GTX 8800 768


And its waterblock...wow I just love the beauty of precision-machined metal:



Secondary video card: Asus Geforce 6200 LT
Note: I chose this card because it has a composite out, which I needed


OS HD: WD Raptor 74GB


PSU: PCP&C 750 (got it for around $70 AR!!!)


And of course, a Core i7 920 (new but a great deal!):


Other bits and pieces:

Some nice right-angle SATA combo cables:



And one of my favorite finds, an all-black rubber cable 24-pin ATX extension.! No Psychopack needed here, I'll just put on a black connector! (though I admit won't look the same)


I'll try to update again ASAP!

[theseeker]

Your are very welcome Alan!

[rioja]

exactly, my batch is 1 less than yours - 3841A579 with packdate 26\01
i wish it will be good proc's

[headala]

Your are very welcome Alan!

I'm enjoying the R2E!

[headala]

exactly, my batch is 1 less than yours - 3841A579 with packdate 26\01
i wish it will be good proc's

Yeah, I'm still figuring it all out but seems good so far. Good luck!

[headala]

This will be a quick post...just getting rid of the stock HSF and replacing the thermal paste on the heatpipe

Denatured alcohol: cleaner extrordinaire!


My new HSF: a Xigmatek 92mm: $14 after rebate, plus $10 for the 1366/775 promount....I needed something that's better than the stock HSF but not too big that I can't take it back to Asia in my suitcase; this is just temporary until I get the rig finished. Here it is after I mounted it:


new paste. did I put enough on? I've never used one of these direct-touch ones before


removed the NB sink to replace their paste with MX-2


(also, I pulled the whole assembly off to replace the NB & SB paste, but forgot to take pics )

And lastly, I stole the DVD drive from my wife's laptop (just temporary). Took apart the drive, and low and behold underneath HP's proprietary connector is a SATA connector! So I'll use it for now and buy a proper DVD-R when I get back to Asia.


Thanks for looking! Another update soon!

[headala]

Hey, everyone, I have a quick update and tutorial for you! As some of you may know, I've set everything up temporarily to participate in the Xtremesystems Asus/NCIX Overclocking Competition. I say 'participate' and not 'compete' because I don't think I have much of a chance , but it's good for the community to support these sponsored competitions. There is one way I CAN compete, though, and it's by having the most posts in my thread *here* when the competition finishes at the end of March. So come by and post away (even every day if you like)!!!

Here's where I have everything set up (a WIP pic); it's in the upstairs den at my folks' house - we are staying with them for a while :


And here's my setup:


During my base clock overclocking, I was noticing the NB/SB & QPI getting WAY too hot, so I decided to do something about it. Of course, I needed a fan, but since I don't have a case (my vidcards are even only supported by the PCI-E slot! Eek! ), there's nothing to support a fan.

So, I made this (yeah, it's a really bad pic):


I call it my "grizzly ghetto hanging flying freaking fan".

Just in case you're interested, I whipped up a tutorial for your viewing pleasure. With skill, hard work, endurance, a coat hangar, and 2 arduous minutes of your time, I'm sure you can triumph over adversity and build one yourself

You need a coat hangar. Thin wire, no cardboard.


Stretch out the bottom like so:


Then bend the hook down so it's perpendicular to the plane of the 'loop' of the hangar:



Then bend the 'loop' part of the hangar so it will fit over a bookend/side of your case/shelf, etc. It can bend over most anything. I did mine to fit over the back board of the desk like so (just a mockup so you can see):



Then insert one mounting hole of the fan through the hook, and ziptie/twistie the diagonal hole to the body of the loop:


Hang it over/on your shelf, adjust the height (and maybe spread out the loop a little for better support), plug it in, and you're done (the pic makes it look like it's touching the card, but it's not):


Here are some parting shots (I know you guys like lots of pics!):
Good clearance:









I really liked doing this since it's quick, easy, cheap, doesn't touch the computer at all (well wires maybe), and the coat hanger actually isolates the vibrations from the fan!

Do you like it? Hate it? Think I'm crazy? Post in my competition thread HERE!

[shazza]

Loving your fan-hanger! Will check out your competition thread.

[theseeker]

Alan,
You are crazy my friend! Nice MB.

[stunirvana]

I haven't built a new computer in awhile, but the soft blue glow off your fan on your motherboard is teasing me! I love the blue LED glow from new fans, too bad the glow dies as they age.

The hanger fan is sweet! Keep it coming.

[anubis_is_evil]

I'll try to update again ASAP!

oh yeah, that do looks very good, but i guess it will be more awesome if the atx pin were also comes in black

[headala]

Here's another "ghetto home depot" mod. My air cooling was not cutting it for the OC'ing competition, so i had to go a bit more Xtreme. Now, most of my WC'ing stuff is over in Asia, so I really had to raid the closet and come up with some 'franken-cooling'.

Since I don't have my system mounted in a case (see above), I needed something to mount the rads in so that they won't flop around. Please be mindful that this is temporary, quick-and-dirty cooling and will not be permanent or even last much more than a couple of weeks!

First of all, my best helper with our primary victim: an old Dell Pentium 100.


And my second best helper, Bear, the 10 year old 120 pound baby.


And check out the vid card out of the Dell: An old Number Nine S3 Virge! Blast from the past!


Originally, I planned on just gutting the Dell and mounting everything in the empty case, but I found that there was too much existing structure inside. I was looking to do this in an hour or two on a Saturday afternoon, so i didn't have a ton of time to cut lots of holes, etc. So I was looking at the side panel, and had a moment of brilliance!


It has a metal plate (EMF shielding I guess) mounted to the heavy plastic panel. So, we decided to just make a bunch of U-shaped cuts facing each other, bend them up vertical, drill a hole in each, and mount the rads to that. It worked! Had to use a bunch of spare screws and washers to make it all fit together:



And here it all is mounted on the panel: A TFC 120 rad with Slow speed Yate, a BI Stealth with a San Ace, a D5 pump with Detroit top, and the Dell 200 W PSU.
*Don't worry, he won't be playing with that San Ace when it's running*


It took forever to figure out how to jumper the Dell PSU with its proprietary wiring (no green and purple in the wrong spot!), but I eventually succeeded:


And here it is, with its $5 for 10 feet Home Depot crappy tubing (super stiff and leaky on barbs). Also, BA sold me his GTZ for a good price (Thanks!).


I shoved the whole shebang into the shelf below my system on the desk:


Again, this is only CPU and only temporary as I have a FC block for my 8800 GTX and a NB block in waiting.

So, hopefully this will help me to get a competitive CPU OC for the competition!

What do you guys (and gal) think of my ghetto setup?!

A few last pics: