New computer - yey

[Oni]

* Oni C@ as a really bad cheer leader

GOOO BRACKET

[Catwiesel]

alrighty,

today arrived my x-fi and the new top cover for the lian li. i would have said now everything is here, but i started sleeving my cables yesterday and realised that some fan cables are too short. so i ordered a few cable extenders and the sleeving material for those. should arrive tomorrow.

still, work can and is proceeding. sleeving is done (well almost, since 4 cables are yet to come)
I will start on the noise absorb mats now.

if all is going well, i should be able to have the thing up and running in a few days!

oh and here the first pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/43003732@N05/sets/72157622356057363/

[Taylor-MadeAK]

That's a lot of dynamat, man. 

[Catwiesel]

not really, i was told (and calculated myself) that i would need 5 packs.

now im done and I have more than 2 packs left.

edit:

Update:
- final cables got here, are sleeved...
- all the dynamats (sound proofing insulation) are installed
- drives, fans and PSU installed
- watercooling system installed and filled

now comes the fun part: installing the REAL hardware and firing it up. but first, a smoke...

I've also updated the pictures at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/43003732@N05/sets/72157622356057363/

[Oni]

and this cost you how much. lol

[Catwiesel]

box is running fine (so far)
just installed xp, now installing win7

after that ill go to bed. tomorrow I will get the data hdd from this computer and put it in the new. at the same time, all the cables get tied away and the whole thing cleaned up a bit. will make pictures too...


cost? a little more than 1000 euro.
but I feel it was worth it.

lemme make pictures of the old computer, too. so maybe you understand, if not agree with my decision

however, it will have to wait. its 9am now...

[Catwiesel]

yeah, i've got an update for you guys...

you want the good or bad news first? right...

- because im such a retarded stupid f***, i partitioned and formated a harddrive where i put all the desktop data from the old pc (i.e. lots of recent stuff i was working on). part was recoverable, part was backup somewhere else. part is lost forever. F U C K!!!  well i will live...

- i just can not get the x-fi to work. ive tried everything, different slots, windows xp, vista, 7. automatic and manual installation. different pcs. old windows, new windows installations. with, without live drive. it-just-wont-work. which leaves me with only one conclusion. i was sold faulty equipment. of course i already wrote the seller, hopeing for a refund, however since it was a end-user to end-user deal on ebay, it is quite likely he will tell me "it always worked for me, must be your fault. i keep the cash. f*** you" god damn it!!!!


good news? after losing 12hrs for a fucking soundcard and most of my text files, i dont feel like good news... however, windows is up, most drivers are installed. i am in fact writing this from the new system. so everything is working except the soundcard and yeah, i will get used to the data loss. if i feel like it later, i will put a few more pics up that i made yesterday...

edit: with some patience and try and error I was able to save all the important files. i might not have everything but if i cant remember something is missing, it was not important to begin with. only problem: they lost the filenames so i have to rename quite a few...

anyhow...

1) pictures:
i just uploaded the last one. I will upload a few pics of my old system later, right now im still using it...
also, there are still a few changes going on, the x-fi, maybe switch the top fan from pwr_fan to sys1_fan so i can change the speed etc

2) sound:
for a system with 8 fans, its quite quiet. however, the expensive pwm 120mm papst fani bought for cpu_fan/radiator is quite noisy. and cool'n'quiet isnt made for watercooling. so I am using speedfan to regulate the fan itself (at around 35% and 600rpm) and it is quiet. same as before, maybe a fraction louder.
on load/going hot the fan will go up to 50%/2500rpm - which is definately pretty loud. 100% sounds like a helicopter is landing on your roof!
I might go and buy a 2nd 120mm quiet papst fan, maybe even go from 12 to 7v and use that later...

3) overclocking:
- tried to unlock the 4th core: no post. doesnt work
- tried to push the ram from 1333 to 1600 (and it IS 1600 ram!) - boots, but prime will abort. went back to 1333
- tried to OC the CPU by raising the multi (remember, black edition) - stock is 2800MHz, so far i went from 14x to 17x (=3300MHz), temp keeps under 45°C (prime all 3 cores for 1 hr) and so far is stable
So I went back to 16x (3200MHz), still 400MHz over stock and under load at around 42/43°C (with the fan barely running at 35% and 600rpm) and will be testing over night with prime. I might raise and test again tomorrow.
btw: i am not raising the multi by bios or some OC software, i manipulate the P states (cool'n'quiet) with k10states. quite awesome!

what else? right... gonna install winxp on the old system now and try again with the x-fi...

[Taylor-MadeAK]

Ouch.  Sorry to hear about the sound card, man. >.<

[Catwiesel]

yeah, as expected the seller is quite adamant that he sold me working equipment and that it must be my incompetence that the card is not working. i am too stupid to install it, handled it incorrectly and anyway, what good would it do to him to sell none working equipment...

f*** that. lets just hope the next card that sells will be mine for a reasonable price. if it is working (and I expect it will), it is proven that the other is faulty and I will give him the worst recommendation ever possible. and sell it as "bought working, cant get it to work" on ebay - maybe i can get half of what i payed him...

I've updated the photos on http://www.flickr.com/photos/43003732@N05/sets/72157622356057363/ and added 3 pictures of my old system.
As you can see, the case was getting old and ugly. Also, it was moddified once or twice too often. But most importantly, the hardware was so packed together with to few fans that the heat was really getting problematic.
On the other hand, the front-slide-door I really loved. Wish Lian-Li had something like that. Also, it is pretty solid steel, not some light and flimsy aluminium... Still, I am happy with the Lian Li

[Catwiesel]

One more (and final) update:

bought a 2nd x-fi, put it in the system, works like a charm.
added the I/O drive (from the other, broken x-fi) - works like a charm as well.

hurrah! working x-fi. i declare my new computer done...

then again, i could get a real quad-core and dx11 graphics card now ...
nah, lets talk about that in a few months.

thanks all for your patience. this should be the last post (for) now...
Catwiesel