DreamCatcher AM3 - THE LAST VERSION!
Posted: Thu Jun 24, 2010 6:27 am
Now that more than just the CPU is AM3 (also now a 955BE instead of the 945) in DreamCatcher decided to change the title again. In addition my "bling" tastes have dramatically changed. I've migrated away for lots of copper to nickle.
So to start here be the specs........
Mobo: MSI 785GM-E65
CPU: PII X4 955 w/ Cuplex XT di
PSU: MODU82+ EMD525AWT
GPU: XFX GTX 285 w/ EK-FC285 GTX Block
HDD: Seagate 7200.10 ST380815AS 80GB
Memory: F3-12800CL7D-2GBPI (may get a second set for 4 x 1GB)
OS: M$ XP Pro SP3 (Looking to go Win7 soon)
As usual things don't always go as planned. Origianlly had planned to run 2 x XFX GTX 285s in SLI in another build and mount the EK block on the BFG 285 that was my RMA swap for the dead 280. However it turns out that the water block is a rev 1 and would not fit the 285, but it would fit the XFX 285.
The last several weeks has seen building going at a snail's pace as I’m split in three directions, but hope to pick up speed soon. Did manage to get some of the components transferred over.......
To get things rolling decided to mount the EK water block to the XFX GTX285, which shows my change in bling. Before, I was totally wowed with copper, now it is on to “nickel” for a base color. Zalman can be tagged as the culprit as I’ve always loved their copper coolers, and now the transformation is also because of them. I’m now into the NT series of the cpu coolers which is a “burnish” nickel. On a side note I was originally going to use the BFG 285 OC that was the RMA for the WC’ed 280 but it is Rev2 with the water block rev1. However, was lucky in that the XFX unit was the older PCB layout.
Now on to the “conversion”……..
Here we have the 285 bare and ready for the big drag, EK provides a 1mil and a 0.5mil “sheet” of thermal tape. Because of the limited amount of material a large number of wee squares were required to be cut and applied. For me the only positive was I shanghaied a friend to do that part!!
Now on to apply the TM, try to get everything to line up when sticking them together, and tighten the screws. Unlike other coolers I’ve used no spring loaded screws were used so care was taken in tightening everything up. Here are several pictures of it together, some smaller details, and just shots for S & Gs.
Next up was mounting the water blocks on the 785 and I won’t bore you with the “assembly” part as that has changed from the prior two times. Mobo, water blocks and gpu at the beginning, the 955BE, and the cpu and nb coolers in place. Finished it off by seeing how the gpu looked.
[vimeo][/vimeo]
So to start here be the specs........
Mobo: MSI 785GM-E65
CPU: PII X4 955 w/ Cuplex XT di
PSU: MODU82+ EMD525AWT
GPU: XFX GTX 285 w/ EK-FC285 GTX Block
HDD: Seagate 7200.10 ST380815AS 80GB
Memory: F3-12800CL7D-2GBPI (may get a second set for 4 x 1GB)
OS: M$ XP Pro SP3 (Looking to go Win7 soon)
As usual things don't always go as planned. Origianlly had planned to run 2 x XFX GTX 285s in SLI in another build and mount the EK block on the BFG 285 that was my RMA swap for the dead 280. However it turns out that the water block is a rev 1 and would not fit the 285, but it would fit the XFX 285.
The last several weeks has seen building going at a snail's pace as I’m split in three directions, but hope to pick up speed soon. Did manage to get some of the components transferred over.......
To get things rolling decided to mount the EK water block to the XFX GTX285, which shows my change in bling. Before, I was totally wowed with copper, now it is on to “nickel” for a base color. Zalman can be tagged as the culprit as I’ve always loved their copper coolers, and now the transformation is also because of them. I’m now into the NT series of the cpu coolers which is a “burnish” nickel. On a side note I was originally going to use the BFG 285 OC that was the RMA for the WC’ed 280 but it is Rev2 with the water block rev1. However, was lucky in that the XFX unit was the older PCB layout.
Now on to the “conversion”……..
Here we have the 285 bare and ready for the big drag, EK provides a 1mil and a 0.5mil “sheet” of thermal tape. Because of the limited amount of material a large number of wee squares were required to be cut and applied. For me the only positive was I shanghaied a friend to do that part!!
Now on to apply the TM, try to get everything to line up when sticking them together, and tighten the screws. Unlike other coolers I’ve used no spring loaded screws were used so care was taken in tightening everything up. Here are several pictures of it together, some smaller details, and just shots for S & Gs.
Next up was mounting the water blocks on the 785 and I won’t bore you with the “assembly” part as that has changed from the prior two times. Mobo, water blocks and gpu at the beginning, the 955BE, and the cpu and nb coolers in place. Finished it off by seeing how the gpu looked.
[vimeo][/vimeo]