Project: Eldritch

[NFC]

*EDIT 5/24/10*
Done with the build, thanks for all the support!









A big hello to all my idols and friends at Xtreme Systems! Like the creepy old man at the playground I have watched the forum and its denizens from afar and now I am making my first appearance--don't worry--I have already been ticked once today for public nudity and its hard to undress in a straightjacket...

With PAX less than two weeks away now and tickets to the BYOC, I decided it was time to get working on a system. I have a few dusty ideas I found lurking in the darker corners of my mind that I can use for this project, and I think it will be fun to see how things turn out...

The Cast:
ASUS Rampage II Gene – a micro-ATX board with a shady past looking for a new chance at life...

i7 920 – A frenzied speed-addict whose last chance for salvation lies in the hope of one man and his dremel...

Corsair Dominator: Triple-pack – These triplets only have two things in common, one is amnesia, and the other they can't remember. Will they be able to overcome their ironic handicap to save the day?

With a cameo appearance by “Dr.” Pyle (of Acrylic)...

STAY TUNED!!!!!!!

Yeah so, basically all the junk I have sitting on my desk. I haven't decided on what card I am going to use, but I am going to grab a pair of SSDs now that they have decent write speeds and lifespans. I want to learn all I can about these puppies while they are still obnoxiously difficult to wrestle with so that when they become plug-and-play I can whine to my grandkids...

THE DESIGN

Normally I work in various versions of CAD and either Max or Maya, depending on if I have a PC up and running or if I have to use my Mac. Because I am pressed for time, I am going to use Sketchup for my prelim drawings...and because I already doodled up a design in Sketchup while at a friends house over the weekend...

I call it: CRUCIFIXTION OF PEARS:A CONTEMPORARY LOOK INTO LINE TOPOGRAPHY AND THE MENTAL ABSTRACTIONS OF THE PYGMY ARTHSAURAPOD

Actually scratch that, I'm going to go with Eldritch instead. “Its classy, has street cred, plus I can keep my monogrammed slippers.” Points to the individuals who get the reference...


I am now taking any and all questions, such as:

Q. Who the **** are you and why do we give a ****ing ****?
A. You don't, however your mother knows who I am and she apparently gave quite a few ****s last night. I have a Sketchup model of that too should you need proof.
Q. Instead of showing us a picture of one of your sins against nature and expect us to understand it how about you break it down so we can mock you step by step?
A. That's not a question, that's a request. Apparently you fail at asking questions, Mr. Pretend Question-Asker...what kind of figment of my imagination are you, anyways? I will however honor your request in a series of annoying, bandwidth-hogging posts...

[NFC]

Before I begin I want to be honest with you guys. Not in the “because I'm noble” sense, but in the “I don't wanna get called bs-on” sense. But seriously, these screens were taken late in the design process and just reflect my train of thought and work process, and omit obvious needs such as alignment and re-position...ment...that sort of thing. Don't worry, the assembly will be a live process where you can witness what happens when my lack of talent combines with zero hand-eye coordination and $250 worth of acrylic supplies. =D


1. First I threw in what parts I knew I was going to use in some sort of form, and played with them until I knew how I was going to orient the power supply and the motherboard. When I figured both out, I built the base. The cubes are ¾ an inch and come in a bag of 100 for the cool price of $34 from my favorite acrylic supplier, Delvie's Plastics. Most PSUs (I haven't decided on one yet) have a 140ish sized fan on the bottom, and the base accommodates this with a big hole. The idea is that cool air will be sucked through the staggered cubed base and through the PSU and jetted out the back.



2. I positioned the radiators and fans accordingly, and then slapped some front panels on them. At first I used two Black Ice radiators using the components from http://scc.jezmckean.com/home, where all the other components I use come from, but then I ditched them for Koolance's new HX-CU1020H because I wanted to use some of the extra-low rpm fans I have laying around. This widened the case considerably (about two and a half inches) and presented problems with the barbs as they would now come out from the bottom, but after some adjustments I decided I was still happy with its proportions. I had decided from the start, obviously, that I wanted a dual-loop system.



3. I added the “second floor” and cut out a section in the front panel for a LCD, make and model not yet determined. I figured I would stuff an LCD and a DVD burner down in the first channel along with the pumps, and use the second channel for a relay board, fittings, and lighting.



4. At this point in the model I needed some closure on how I was going to mount the motherboard. Rather than just screwing in some stand-offs directly into the back panel, I decided I wanted some kind of removable system. At first I decided on acrylic hinges, because I was drinking. Later I realized how crappy that would look and came up with a much better solution, albeit a bit unorthodox.

[NFC]

5. Magnets! Magnets are hella-fun, and they are historically known to cause damage to computer components, just like water! Of course magnets shouldn't actually hurt anything inside my case, but I did a bit of research just to be extra safe—especially on their effect on SSDs. So I made a sandwich with an old PIV system with a stack of retarded-strong neodymium magnets as the bread. After running along side me for the weekend (and still running as my web-server now) I decided we were good in that area. As I didn't have any SSDs on hand to subject to this torture, I had to rely on the internet for information, as well as a basic understanding of physics. Basically, in this way if my SSDs fry I can at least blame the internet and physics, my two arch-rivals.



6. Cut some holes for the IO ports. Everything in the model is to scale with the numbers already recorded so I can hopefully replicate this, in case people were wondering if my cuts were arbitrary. I also positioned some of those cubes for use as braces. Oh, right, the orientation. This case is fairly small as you probably can tell using the 120mm fans as a reference. Because I do game, and attend my fair share of LAN parties (both public and private) convenience is something I look for in my PCs. I always seems to battle with plugging in my system and moving it around, and having the ports on top just seemed like the logical solution. It might suck, and I will admit I was wrong—but I want to put it in practice.



7. Time for the front/side. I prefer PCs to sit behind my monitor with their “front” side on the edge of my desk. I call the side the front because that is the side I see while using the system. I wanted this PC to take full advantage of this orientation—another argument for having the ports on top. I spent quite a bit of time on this part, as I am a firm believer in the window being the most important feature of the case. When it was proportioned to my liking it looked like this:



8. The case as you see it so far is going to be one piece and assembled in this order. I am going to weld it together using acrylic cement. The windows both in the front and back will serve as access areas to the components. I did measure, and I should have no trouble replacing parts as I need to, save for the radiators, which will be a tight squeeze. I should never ever have to replace them though. The lower rectangular cut-out is for the reservoir, which I am going to assemble using several 1/4” acrylic pieces and lay them on top of each other. This should assure me a perfect seal without using any of that noxious-smelling aquarium caulk, as well as being damn near indestructible.



9. The finished reservoir. The middle section will be made out of clear acrylic and boast my logo, so everyone will know who to laugh at when my project fails horribly. I plan on illuminating the logo using LEDs, and hopefully with the water turbulence and its 3d positioning I will have a cool little effect. If this has been done before, then I apologize for going into detail. If it hasn't, then I call dibby-dib-dibs until September 9th. =P



10. I added five pieces as extra interior trim to neaten things up. Four of them are just flat pillars that seal the radiator channels to increase the fan efficiency. The fifth piece creates the “third floor” and is a thin piece of translucent white acrylic that will showcase the SSDs and hopefully illuminate the components with a soft, warm glow when I get some lighting under it.

[NFC]

11. I exploited the case's curvature and added some handles. I plan to reinforce them with those nifty cubes I mentioned earlier.



12. Because the windows are going to be the only form of access this chassis allows to the components, they need to be removable. Because magnets would be too strong, I opted for some dual-layer trim, which I think looks more elegant anyways. Basically the “glass” is sandwiched between two layers of acrylic, and can slide straight up and be removed. Because both the “glass” and trim only add up to 3/16” thick, they still appear slim when viewed from the side. I took this opportunity to make the LCD hole a frame too, even though I will have to redo it when I decide on a screen...



Well, like it or hate it, this is more or less what I am going to be assembling over the next two weeks. Tomorrow I plan on finishing up the model (after I decide on a LCD) and tweaking a few things here and there, and then drawing out the panels I can't hand-fab myself in vector to be laser cut. So far I think the only qualifying panels are the 1/16” window retainers and the NFC logo... We shall see...

More tomorrow...

[gatecrasherlok]

Nice renders there and I will be following this builds log with eagle eyes.

[cobra_kai]

Very cool project! I am not very familiar with acrylic, are the white and black sections acrylic with some kind of paint on them? Definitely looking forward to seeing the evolution of this project.

[pwolfe]

I wanna see this built!

[Arthur]

Good rendering mate, I am so curious about rest of this worklog.

[dum]

you even write good this should interesting, hurry up and entertain us

[omaryunus]

great start buddy

[NFC]

Today was pretty fruitful, although non-photogenic. Between my day job and my hobby of cataloging mashed potatoes that kinda-sorta look like Elvis I produced the vector files needed to create the more complicated parts of the chassis.

I also picked out and ordered my display--I backed down from the SVGA idea and went with something more tried and true, Matrix Orbital's tri-color Typhoon GX. That and the acrylic should be arriving here tomorrow from California and Utah, respectively. This is where I normally would make a Mormon joke, but all the jokes about Mormons and acrylic have already been done:

"Hey, did you hear about that Mormon who walked into an acrylic bar?"

"No? What's the punchline?

"There is no punchline, it was Plexiglass! Get it? HAHAHAHA!

"..."

*Cough* Moving forward...

I also rounded up various bits and ends from local hardware stores, and there will be IRL pictures of that junk tomorrow along with the other stuff I ordered.

For now all I have is the updated chassis with room for the burner and the screen, and yes, I promise, this is the last picture of an imaginary computer:



Pictures of hardware and stuff tomorrow, and maybe I will get to cutting...

[NFC]

Very cool project! I am not very familiar with acrylic, are the white and black sections acrylic with some kind of paint on them? Definitely looking forward to seeing the evolution of this project.

Nope, although I used paint on acrylic as an effect in previous mods:


The acrylic I am using for this project will come from the press colored. I will take some pictures of it tomorrow, but both the white and black have a mirror finish. I should note that the white is translucent, but the black is opaque.


Thank you for the compliments, I am sure I can try harder to disappoint you over the next two weeks.

[matsjuw]

This is looking hella-cool :P
Very nice intro, looking forward to the rest of it, good luck!

[NFC]

Today was pretty normal. I got hit by a diesel F-250 crossing the street, but luckily my 5 dollah footlong absorbed most the impact. This post is dedicated to the memory of my sandwich:



Yes, I did get work on Eldritch done. And by work I mean I sat on my cushy butt (less cushy without my 1400 calorie Subway though, thank you very much!) and took pictures of stuff that came in the mail. Along with your mom. OoooOoooohhhh snap!

Wait, please don't leave!

Anyways, let's start off with a CHOOSE YOUR OWN ADVENTURE!!!!

You are either:

A. Koolance
B. Danger Den
C. EK Water Blocks
D. ???

Now, when you see the {xXx} substitute for your character. Let's practice.

"My favorite waterblock company is {xXx}!"

If you substituted {xXx} for the Jonas Brothers, you failed. If you gave a respectable answer, such as Koolance, you can continue.

So after work, I headed off to {xXx} where my good buddy Dean was waiting for me with open arms (he closed the door and locked it). After using the alternate entrance I was formally greeted by him and thus began our conversation:

Dean: "JOSH, what the **** are you doing?? I told you not to come here anymore this isn't a store OR your playground. Its a warehouse where I STILL have a job, no thanks to your antics."

Josh: "What's an antics? is that even in season? Anyways I came to pick up some stuff."

Dean: "Fine..." *Dean walks toward the techroom*

Josh: "Can I hang out here in the warehouse?"

Dean: "No. You know why? Because last time you dumped sixteen gallons of Propylene Glycol on the concrete and used it as a slippy-slide, now come with me."

Josh: *pouty* "wasn't..*mutter*...16..."*grumble*

Dean began to work collecting various things on my list while I smiled and nodded at the other employees. We finished up, I paid, and I headed back home with my phat loot, thinking all the way how great {xXx} is. Seriously though, I offer my gratitude to the guys at Koolance who are all very friendly and supportive of my projects, and I am thanking them publicly here for the hefty discount I received as sponsorship. And if you would like to be a sponsor, I am always looking for some. The only company I would decline would be Ford. SERIOUSLY WHERE THE **** DO THOSE F-250s COME FROM? One minute your crossing the street about to enjoy a delectable lunch, and the next...POW..from nowhere man...seriously.

So I got home and found out my order from Frozen CPU had arrived. So here comes the obligatory list of component pictures.

Here is what 550ish dollars of Koolance hardware looks like. I am very lucky to have been sponsored or I would be broke right now. This allows me to go broke later on in the project. I decided to use Koolance hardware for this project, because their blocks are as good or better than the competition, and I think the quality of their products is phenomenal, and increases monthly. EK Waterblocks and Danger Den have great products you can't go wrong with (and I do choose them usually for reservoirs) but in my personal opinion Koolance has the best looking blocks and fittings. You do pay for all this nickel though:


A picture of the nice nickel-plated clip next to the ugly standard one. Yeah, yeah, zipties are cheap as free but I am splurging on this mod:



PUMPS! WE HAVE THEM! Man I love Dr. Tran...Koolance was out of stock of the Acetal tops, but the acrylic ones look great too. The center top is still in the packaging if you are wondering why it looks lumpy:



The CPU-350 in all its glory. And its mounting hardware in all its glory... In and Out, just like YOUR MOM LAST NIGHT OOOOOOOOOOOOOSNAP......please don't leave =(


The CPU-350's contact side.


The radiators I think are the most gorgeous pieces. These are the newish full-copper ones, I was lucky enough to get to test one in Seraphim earlier this year...


...Showing the thickness. These rads are setup for low-CFM fans. Yes, that is a Ghostbuster's trap in the background:


The un-boxing of the old 285 block (for 12xx cards). The new one is for the models beginning with 11xx and would have been incompatible with the refurbished 285 I ordered:


Still in its wrapper. Tasty.


The business side.


FANS! I chose the Cluster from the Enermax Twister series. These fans are very quiet, rated at 8-14 dBA, with a CFM of 23-53. I don't have the equipment to test them, but I plugged three in and I couldn't hear them over my test PSU (Corsair 750), which I found to be very impressive. By comparison the Aerocool 92mm fan on the right is darn noisy, and I will be installing a rocker switch to turn it on and off (it will be the only exhaust fan, which I doubt the system will need). They were expensive, but so far well worth the cost:


The blades are detachable, so you can pop them off and run them under water, as well as having access to your radiator for easier cleaning. My design incorporated this feature, so the blades will have clearance to pop off. There is a problem though, the plastic Enermax used in these fans is EXTREMELY brittle. It isn't a quality issue, the material is very lightweight and these fans feel half as heavy as a normal Yate-Loon 120mm. They also have a very shiny finish because of the material. I just don't think it's possible to remove the fans if they are installed, because I think they will break the brace in the back, if you don't break the blades--as they are VERY hard to pull out. This was disappointing to me but my only gripe about an otherwise perfect fan:


The fans even come with a power switch which disables the four white LEDs and spins at a lower RPM. I could honestly not hear a difference in a completely silent room though, as the normal mode is already extremely quiet. Maybe after all six are running I can see if I can discern a difference.


A rather big order of sleeving supplies and some misc stuff from Frozen CPU, one of my favorite vendors:


This momentary key-switch I chose because it was ONLY FIVE DOLLARS!!! It uses a real key too, not one of those crappy chucks that fit all "locks" this size. This way, when I lose the keys, I can be REALLY frustrated! I also want to note that I found this at Fry's for 5 dollars. The reason I mention this is because the other momentary key switch they had was 22 dollars, and made of cheap plastic. Fry's inventory control is piti...well, Fry's needs inventory control period:


These are from Frozen CPU too. They are nifty chrome ?covers? for LEDs. I plan on using two for the power and HDD lights, respectively. I bought two extra because they were cheap, and cool:


Ok, modders: take note. This is JT&T sleeving, which you can find at most Fry's locations. This is premium stuff and in my opinion it matches the legendary murderMod's sleeving in quality (though you don't get the nicely put together kit, or the sata sleeving). It is also fairly inexpensive, at 35 cents a foot. The reason I bring this up, is because I ordered a TON of sleeving from Frozen CPU because if I can support vendors like them and get what I want then awesome. Frozen CPU charges .59 cents a foot, plus shipping, which I am _HAPPY_ to pay. However, when I received my my sleeving, I was extremely dissapointed...


The length on top is from JT&T, and the bottom is Frozen's. Because of my crappy photo, it might not be apparent yet:


How about now? Both are compressed the same amount...Granted, Frozen's expands to the size of Rosie O' Donald's ... um...it expands a lot but sleevers are going to de-pin or cut their cables anyways, and I am willing to bet they would go for quality over expansion any day. Plus, the difference between the two is just staggering in person. I'm just bummed because this is a very poor product that I will not use in any of my nicer systems. If anyone from Frozen is reading this, I love you guys but could you consider carrying nicer sleeving? I am happy to pay more for it, I just don't want crap:


Corsair Dominator, and the Dominator fan unit. Unfortunately, the ASUS GENEII has memory sockets with only one set of clips, so this cool unit will not fit. Which is what your mom said. Last night. I know, I am out of control and need professional help. =/


My motherboard and 920s. What? They both wont fit? WELL NOW YOU TELL ME! I was able to get a nice discount for buying two, and I haven't bothered to look at the batch numbers. I'll just use the "better" one, whichever it ends up being.


The Matrix Orbital Typhoon GX Tri-Color display. It came in a metal drive bay that seriously could survive being inadvertently sat on by Drew Carrey--an impressive feat for screens and chairs alike. It easily unscrewed from the plate:


The backside. It uses a 4-pin USB connector, if you wondered. I'ma going to make an internal cable to clean things up:



The acrylic came today too. I used to use Tapp Plastics because they are a great company and have the best selection, but Delvie's Plastics is my new go-to source for all things acrylic. I ordered this stuff yesterday. I got here today. From Utah. All 60 pounds of it. Yes, that was with standard shipping. I can't guarantee the same results for you guys, but they are freaken fast, and SUPER nice. I have ordered from them in the past and called them up begging them to ship it out same day so I could have projects done on time for various events and even though they don't normally do rush shipping they have always bailed me out. *I*, however, made a large-ish mistake and punched in the wrong order code, and I received the translucent white, instead of the more opaque white. This mistake will DRASTICALLY change the look of the case, though I can't say for better or worse. Instead of ordering more stuff I will live with it and make it work, cause that's the mantra of the modder. The stuff I meant to order is on the right, and the stuff I ordered is on the left:



In normal lighting, they both appear the same, though the stuff I ordered is a little more milky than bright white:


Hold it up to light though, and the difference is night and day. This could look very cool with how lit my case will be, but it might also show joints, welds, and wire silhouettes that I don't want appearing:


This is all for tonight guys. Possibly more tomorrow, depending on if I get anything cut, or if Newegg knocks on the door with the rest of my parts. Cheers, and thanks for taking the time to view this thread. =D

[.::NeO::.]

wow m8, your project seems very interesting this far and u sure have a lot of work to do.

I love your liquid cooling parts, can't wait to see some more pics!

awesome job

[LogAn'sRun]

The length on top is from JT&T, and the bottom is Frozen's. Because of my crappy photo, it might not be apparent yet:


How about now? Both are compressed the same amount...Granted, Frozen's expands to the size of Rosie O' Donald's ... um...it expands a lot but sleevers are going to de-pin or cut their cables anyways, and I am willing to bet they would go for quality over expansion any day. Plus, the difference between the two is just staggering in person. I'm just bummed because this is a very poor product that I will not use in any of my nicer systems. If anyone from Frozen is reading this, I love you guys but could you consider carrying nicer sleeving? I am happy to pay more for it, I just don't want crap:

That's becasue the difference is between normal PET sleeving and Clean Cut. Clean Cut is worlds apart from PET sleeving and would be the only kind I would use (except for MM's sleeving of course) and it's just a shame that the Clean Cut doesn't come in a variety of colors.

Everything else here looks awesome and I can't wait to see more pics!

[NFC]

Cool, I love learning things, especially at the expense of my dignity.

What category would murderMod sleeving fall under? Their stuff is hecka nice and if I just threw together a mod every six months I would use them every time, but it just is not practical for how much sleeving I use on a weekly basis. =(

I apologize if my writing made it appear that I was not appreciative of the technical merit of murderMod sleeving; this was not my intent. I just think the JT&T stuff looks as nice and it is much more easily accessible to me.

[genERIC]

I used the same stuff from fry's for my first (and only) sleeving job. I loved it! It was a bit stiff though, but I don't know if that's normal or not. There are two or three fry's in Houston so, for me, it was much more cost effective. And I could always go get more when I messed up. Which I did. A lot. Looking forward to seeing this build come together!

[LogAn'sRun]

Don't get me wrong, I love the Clean Cut sleeving that you have, I found it really nice to work with and sleeved my PSU, Mccubed, McCubed amplifier(or whatever it's called), 6 LED strands, 4 fans, 3 temp probes, all Start button wiring+HDD+Power LED's - the whole shabang. So IMHO, the Clean Cut is tops. However, I have not tried the MM sleeving, but everyone who has says it is even better than CC and it comes in a variety of colors. I would say it's worth a shot if you want colored sleeving, otherwise the CC is the next best option.

[ecidious]

Cool, I love learning things, especially at the expense of my dignity.

What category would murderMod sleeving fall under? Their stuff is hecka nice and if I just threw together a mod every six months I would use them every time, but it just is not practical for how much sleeving I use on a weekly basis. =(

I apologize if my writing made it appear that I was not appreciative of the technical merit of murderMod sleeving; this was not my intent. I just think the JT&T stuff looks as nice and it is much more easily accessible to me.

the MDPC-X.com sleeving (what MM stocks) is better than the clean-cut stuff you have, but there is nowhere near the difference you have between the two types in those pictures. Plus it comes in different colors and a SATA cable size. check out http://en.mdpc-x.com for more info.

[NFC]

This morning I got to work on some of the simpler parts, such as the pedestal. The pics are not very comprehensive, as holding power tools and a camera are usually a recipe for disaster--but I did take a few. Never-you-mind the blood, it cleans up nicely with a mop...

Here is my workbench, where I use a wide variety of high-tech tools, such as my Dremel 300, my Dremel XPR, and my Rotozip. I know, I might as well be NASA.


This is why I use scrap acrylic on the edges...so when the Dremel digs in it doesn't ruin the part I am cutting:


I use one of those stone tips to smooth out the corner and make it look neat:


I cut circles the same way anyone else does with a Dremel, as you can see from this picture:


After I made the cuts, I go back and do the last 1/16" with the sand belt to make it a bit more even and smooth. I still will need to do hand sanding to get a perfect edge though:


When the edge is sanded enough, first with 400 grit and then 1000, I use a propane torch to polish it up. Sorry about the angle, but holding the torch and camera while not burning my edge was a bit too tricky for me:


Then the doorbell rang, and it was Santa:


I thought the packaging for the OCZ Summit drives was fairly well done:


The drives weren't bad looking either, but I expected a brushed aluminum casing for some reason. The backside is, but it is covered in a giant sticker. The black material has a rough finish to it--all in all, a nice looking drive:


Corsair's packaging for all their PSUs:


This particular model boasted in the description "extra-long cables." I have to say, these are extra long:


I set the rig up to test everything out thoroughly before spending hours neatly installing it. Here is a picture of the Windows 7 installation after I updated the SSD's firmware and upgraded the mobo BIOS:


The Comcast guy decided he would knock out my street's internets before I could finish downloading the latest GeForce release, so I decided to test out Win7's stock drivers just for kicks (3dmark Vantage):


The score was a bit disappointing, at least if I had the latest drivers. I am impressed with how well Windows 7 runs out-of-the-box:


I spent the next few mins doing some minor tweaks for the SSDs. I'd like to dig in a little bit deeper when I have the time. TRIM is enabled, but I'm not sure if the drives are actually taking advantage of it...and OCZ's TRIM program, wiper, does not support raided drives. I'm still a n00b at how this stuff works exactly, but give me time.

boot:


500k@100% read--yah, I know this isn't an everyday scenario:


4k random read--more realistic:


After I saw how far I had to go to get the speeds I wanted, I decide to curse a little bit, then give up and move onto something fun:


Ahhhh...that's more like it...


Meh, so it's all setup and it doesn't crash--nothing fancy yet. I'll have it run some numbers tonight and see what happens. I'm going to be busy all weekend, but I plan on utilizing Monday to finish all the acrylic cutting, drilling, sanding, and polishing. I'll try and take some pictures--it will be easy to take lots of them during the assembly, which should happen Tuesday!

Oh, and if whoever can identify the piece of hardware my monitor is sitting on I will award them One. Million. Points.
That's it for now. Thanks for lookin'.

[topdog5050]

haha.....cool looking.

[LogAn'sRun]

hmm , I think that's SUN's logo on that monitor stand, so juust a rough guess, your server?

[NFC]

hmm , I think that's SUN's logo on that monitor stand, so juust a rough guess, your server?

You have a sharp eye, and that is a good guess, but I meant specifically what is the piece of hardware (and yes, it was manufactured by Sun)?

I am going to offer a prize to the first person who names that piece of hardware and the function it was intended for--I'll update later when I have a suitable prize. Probably a set of fans or some spare water-cooling junk...

[NFC]

After screwing around in the 3.5GHz range for a day I felt my components were tested enough to begin voiding their warranties...

This is my first 285. I have been using 250s, 260s, and 275s so I haven't had the pleasure of cracking open a 285--this is the old version (12xx), I might add. It is MUCH easier to take apart than EVGA's 260s--as it has absolutely none of those durn clips, just unscrew, pry and you're done:


Here is a pic with the supplied heatpads installed:


Everyone does their Arctic Silver different. Here is how I did it:


Too bad this side of the card will not be prominent the way the case is laid out--it is very shiny:


When I realized how visible the topside of the 280 was going to be I was disappointed it did not come with a top bracket like the 260 does. I dug through a pile of EVGA heatsinks but I couldn't find a top bracket that would fit it, the 260 was close but it would take too much work to modify. Instead I decided to make my own.

The only acrylic I had at home (my other stuff is at the shop) was too thick, except for some 1/16" clear stuff, so that is what I went with:


This is what it looked like when I got done shaping it:


With holes:


I thought I would be able to use Koolance's included spacers and screws, but I was wrong. I needed to double up on the spacers to clear the circuitry--luckily I had spares thanks to ALL MY FREAKING MONEY going to Koolance all the time. I was not so lucky with the screws--they were too short for the application. I drove to Ace and was able to find some that were perfect. I had a picture for here but it came out bad...

The plate did make me feel more comfortable with the heavy block attached, and it did add some visual flavor, but I wanted something more so I printed off the design I am using for the theme, provided courteously by Megan Smith (Sponge5 on Deviant Art), and began to etch:


At first I planned on "frosting" the whole design, but after I finished the outline I wanted to see how it looked. I am pretty sure I am going to go back and frost it out, but for now I am undecided. What do you guys think?




...Yeah, it is really hard to make out the design from those photos...

I had some extra time, so I began on the 24pin:


And I botched the power line...GG/fail:


Halfway-ish done:


I left the green line for last, soldered it up, and I was done:


Tomorrow will be busy, but I will probably finish most of the PSU. I need to leave the CPU line for now, as I most likely need to extend it.

Bye for now!