Finally got the new PC built (3MB of pics)
Finally got the new PC built (3MB of pics)
Well... after some hassles with Mwave about the "retail" yet refurbished/unboxed looking CPU I recieved, I finally got my system (as well as all my files, documents, pictures, bookmarks, etc) up and running again.
I hate typing, so I'll just delve right into the pictures and use a cheap cop-out such as: "a picture says a thousand words". Don't worry, I'll provide a short blurb on the pictures just in case, so you'll know what I'm doing.
So, with that said, on with the show!
The reason I bought the new PC.
(Ok, and also because school is starting soon and I wanted a new PC to use, and an old one to tinker with, test software on, etc.)
Self explanatory I hope.
If that wasn't, you're on the WRONG FORUM.
Total damages including shipping: $876.91 (minus Oblivion)
Seagate 250GB SATA.
Samsung DL DVD-RW.
1GB PC3200 Corsair ValueRAM.
Gotta love combo deals. Got both for $350.
Socket 939 Opteron 144.
Foxconn 802.11g PCI adapter (with magnetic external antenna).
Popping the case.
Screwing in the motherboard standoffs.
Installing the motherboard and plugging in the 24-pin connector.
All right, Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my close-up.
Stock coolers. Can't live with'em, cant live without'em when you're on a budget.
Launch Control, this is Houston. We are go for launch!
Houston, we have a problem.
We've got multiple caution and warning, Houston... We've
got to reset and restart. (With Arctic Silver 5. )
Houston. We're at stable one. The ship is secure.
Rubber grommets? Brilliant!
Me? Not so brilliant for installing the hard drive backwards.
Odyssey, you are go for pryo arm and docking. Repeat. Go
for docking. We recommend you secure cabin pressurization.
Houston. We have hard dock.
Nice storage area for the brackets, they simply snap onto the back of the drivebay covers. Keeps them from getting lost too.
Docked and secured.
While not readily evident in this picture, the PCIe power plug here does not fit because the top middle prong was improperly molded. Forcing me to use the adapter that came with the 7800GT.
Didn't have any use for the extra molex connector, and there was no way I would plug another device into that line, so yeah...
$10 Soundblaster Live and Foxconn 802.11g adapter secured.
Adjusting the air duct to allow the graphics card to share the duct.
Complete!
Air fliter looks good, ready to go!
Hmm... something is missing here...
Oh yeah, the badge!
Much better.
Success!
I hate typing, so I'll just delve right into the pictures and use a cheap cop-out such as: "a picture says a thousand words". Don't worry, I'll provide a short blurb on the pictures just in case, so you'll know what I'm doing.
So, with that said, on with the show!
The reason I bought the new PC.
(Ok, and also because school is starting soon and I wanted a new PC to use, and an old one to tinker with, test software on, etc.)
Self explanatory I hope.
If that wasn't, you're on the WRONG FORUM.
Total damages including shipping: $876.91 (minus Oblivion)
Seagate 250GB SATA.
Samsung DL DVD-RW.
1GB PC3200 Corsair ValueRAM.
Gotta love combo deals. Got both for $350.
Socket 939 Opteron 144.
Foxconn 802.11g PCI adapter (with magnetic external antenna).
Popping the case.
Screwing in the motherboard standoffs.
Installing the motherboard and plugging in the 24-pin connector.
All right, Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my close-up.
Stock coolers. Can't live with'em, cant live without'em when you're on a budget.
Launch Control, this is Houston. We are go for launch!
Houston, we have a problem.
We've got multiple caution and warning, Houston... We've
got to reset and restart. (With Arctic Silver 5. )
Houston. We're at stable one. The ship is secure.
Rubber grommets? Brilliant!
Me? Not so brilliant for installing the hard drive backwards.
Odyssey, you are go for pryo arm and docking. Repeat. Go
for docking. We recommend you secure cabin pressurization.
Houston. We have hard dock.
Nice storage area for the brackets, they simply snap onto the back of the drivebay covers. Keeps them from getting lost too.
Docked and secured.
While not readily evident in this picture, the PCIe power plug here does not fit because the top middle prong was improperly molded. Forcing me to use the adapter that came with the 7800GT.
Didn't have any use for the extra molex connector, and there was no way I would plug another device into that line, so yeah...
$10 Soundblaster Live and Foxconn 802.11g adapter secured.
Adjusting the air duct to allow the graphics card to share the duct.
Complete!
Air fliter looks good, ready to go!
Hmm... something is missing here...
Oh yeah, the badge!
Much better.
Success!
Just did some testing, and framerates are fairly decent after messing with a few ini tweaks.
I most sincerely have a newfound respect for the Xenon GPU in the Xbox360. My friend who has it can run Oblivion so smoothly at 720p, yet my frames at 720p will drop to an unplayable 10fps in grassy areas with maxed IQ and the default ini settings, and this is without AA (since Oblivion can't do HDR+AA on PC). Windows or not, that's a big performance hit.
Of course, I've not had the chance to make a direct comparison, and am not exactly sure how comparable the maxed settings on the PC version are to the 360 version, but I didn't notice any significant differences.
But yeah, anyway, after doing a few ini tweaks, primarily tweaking the grass density from 80 to 125 (don't ask me why higher is less dense), the frames are plenty playable for a FPRPG, and the grass still looks plenty nice, just not as realistic and dense as before.
I most sincerely have a newfound respect for the Xenon GPU in the Xbox360. My friend who has it can run Oblivion so smoothly at 720p, yet my frames at 720p will drop to an unplayable 10fps in grassy areas with maxed IQ and the default ini settings, and this is without AA (since Oblivion can't do HDR+AA on PC). Windows or not, that's a big performance hit.
Of course, I've not had the chance to make a direct comparison, and am not exactly sure how comparable the maxed settings on the PC version are to the 360 version, but I didn't notice any significant differences.
But yeah, anyway, after doing a few ini tweaks, primarily tweaking the grass density from 80 to 125 (don't ask me why higher is less dense), the frames are plenty playable for a FPRPG, and the grass still looks plenty nice, just not as realistic and dense as before.
- Illuminati
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thats sweet. i like that case! i love the rails.
comp specs- too lazy to make a cool looking sig... MB:GIGABYTE GA-MA790XT-UD4P, AMD Phenom II X3 720 Black Edition 2.8Ghz, CORSAIR TW3X4G1333C9DHX 4GB PC3-10666, ASUS Radeon HD 4870 512MB, SB audigy gamer, WESTERN DIGITAL Caviar Black 500GB, antec P180 case (extra 120mm fan and 80mm fan), Corsair HX Series 620W: ASSEMBLED June 2009
I noticed some matching hardware too when I looked over the guides some time ago too.Apoptosis wrote:Awesome post and thanks for taking the time to put it all up! Did you look at the LR system guides at all before you built it? Just noticed some hardware matching ;)
So do you like it?
"Hey! That's the case I'm looking into getting!"
"Mmm... very nice taste in hardware."
Love it so far. Only gripes so far are that the Opteron runs a bit hot for my tastes (idle 40, load 55), but with a stock cooler, I don't have much room to complain. Guess I'm a tad spoiled by my old P4 2.4c Northwood that never fluttered above 35*C, then again, I guess it's not an entirely fair comparison.
Also, if the Sonata-II is supposed to be the quietest case available, I don't even want to think how loud some of those other cases might be. In my quiet little room, the sound is absolutely deafening when I try to sleep. Looks like I'll need to replace some fans if I want to quiet this thing down to the level of my old P4 cube.
More writing?!?! Ehh... I'll think about it.-mogwai wrote:that looked very review-esque you should write an article about it hehe
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- gvblake22
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Very nice build Kerii!
The chipset fan on that motherboard probably doesn't help either ;)
I don't think the Sonata II is the quietest case available, that would probably be the P180 or P150; but the Sonata II is definately still up there. But the deafening sound is most likely coming from that stock AMD heatsink; I hear those things are pretty loud. The Sonata is a quiet case, but there isn't much that can tame the roar of stock CPU heatsinks, unfortunatelyKerii wrote:Also, if the Sonata-II is supposed to be the quietest case available, I don't even want to think how loud some of those other cases might be. In my quiet little room, the sound is absolutely deafening when I try to sleep. Looks like I'll need to replace some fans if I want to quiet this thing down to the level of my old P4 cube.
The chipset fan on that motherboard probably doesn't help either ;)
I understand what you mean, but the case has been for the most part been marketed as being able to suppress noise whatever it may be coming from, and from what I can tell in the last day or two, it's still pretty damn loud.
Messing with SpeedFan has allowed me to lower the CPU fan speed, but as soon as the fan gets to a quiet level, the CPU temp spikes to 50+.
As for the chipset fan... well... what can I do? It's located right below the PCIe-x16 slot. I could replace it yeah, but only with another whiny little 40x40x10mm fan.
I miss my old P4.
Oh well, not a really big deal in the end, I just have to shut it off before going to bed.
Messing with SpeedFan has allowed me to lower the CPU fan speed, but as soon as the fan gets to a quiet level, the CPU temp spikes to 50+.
As for the chipset fan... well... what can I do? It's located right below the PCIe-x16 slot. I could replace it yeah, but only with another whiny little 40x40x10mm fan.
I miss my old P4.
Oh well, not a really big deal in the end, I just have to shut it off before going to bed.
- gvblake22
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I agree, it is marketed as a quiet case, but I get the feeling their "quiet" claims are more geared around the fact that the fans and power supply included with the case are quiet. You have to remember the Sonata II is still made of plain steel, just like many other cases. If you look at the panel construction of the P180 and P150, you will notice that they are "Sound-deadening side and top panels" that are constructed from layers of material that actually attempt to deaden the noise level. The Sonata II doesn't have anything like that; it's just plain steel.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to bash you, I just don't want you to hate the Sonata II because it doesn't do something it's not really designed to do...
And as I'm sure you are probably already aware of, getting a new, better CPU heatsink/fan is probably the only way to go if you want somthing quieter. I've heard good things about the Arctic Cooling Freezer 64. Seems to be nice and quiet and cools good enough unless you plan on overclocking to the max, then it might fall short.
And about the chipset fan, that is a tough call when it is placed in such a bad spot...
I've heard of several people using the Evercool VC-RE or the Vantec IceberQ Copper on their chipsets. These are primarily the DFI NF4 Ultra-D owners who have the same chipset placement problem. It usually requires some mild modding to get it to fit right, but it's a pretty popular solution.
HERE is another pretty nifty mod I found!
Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to bash you, I just don't want you to hate the Sonata II because it doesn't do something it's not really designed to do...
And as I'm sure you are probably already aware of, getting a new, better CPU heatsink/fan is probably the only way to go if you want somthing quieter. I've heard good things about the Arctic Cooling Freezer 64. Seems to be nice and quiet and cools good enough unless you plan on overclocking to the max, then it might fall short.
And about the chipset fan, that is a tough call when it is placed in such a bad spot...
I've heard of several people using the Evercool VC-RE or the Vantec IceberQ Copper on their chipsets. These are primarily the DFI NF4 Ultra-D owners who have the same chipset placement problem. It usually requires some mild modding to get it to fit right, but it's a pretty popular solution.
HERE is another pretty nifty mod I found!
I gotta do that when I build a new PC at the end of this calendar year. Gonna build at COLLEGE, yahoo!
Play
Q6600 @ 3.2GHz :: 8GB DDR2-800 :: eVGA 9800GX2 :: 7900GTX (secondary) :: abit IP35 Pro :: 150GB Raptor 10k RPM :: 2x750GB WD Caviar :: 120GB WD :: X-Fi XtremeMusic :: NEC 4551A :: BenQ DVD Combodrive (52x32x52) :: Dual 22" Acer AL2216W :: Thermaltake Armor Black :: Logitech Z5500 5.1
Work
Core 2 Duo @ 2.53GHz :: 4GB DDR3 @ 1067MHz :: 3670 :: Intel PM45 Chipset :: 500GB 5400RPM SATA :: Integrated Audio :: BD-ROM/DVD Burner :: 16" 1920x1080 RGBLED
Q6600 @ 3.2GHz :: 8GB DDR2-800 :: eVGA 9800GX2 :: 7900GTX (secondary) :: abit IP35 Pro :: 150GB Raptor 10k RPM :: 2x750GB WD Caviar :: 120GB WD :: X-Fi XtremeMusic :: NEC 4551A :: BenQ DVD Combodrive (52x32x52) :: Dual 22" Acer AL2216W :: Thermaltake Armor Black :: Logitech Z5500 5.1
Work
Core 2 Duo @ 2.53GHz :: 4GB DDR3 @ 1067MHz :: 3670 :: Intel PM45 Chipset :: 500GB 5400RPM SATA :: Integrated Audio :: BD-ROM/DVD Burner :: 16" 1920x1080 RGBLED
Thanks. That mod there looks quite interesting.gvblake22 wrote:And as I'm sure you are probably already aware of, getting a new, better CPU heatsink/fan is probably the only way to go if you want somthing quieter. I've heard good things about the Arctic Cooling Freezer 64. Seems to be nice and quiet and cools good enough unless you plan on overclocking to the max, then it might fall short.
And about the chipset fan, that is a tough call when it is placed in such a bad spot...
I've heard of several people using the Evercool VC-RE or the Vantec IceberQ Copper on their chipsets. These are primarily the DFI NF4 Ultra-D owners who have the same chipset placement problem. It usually requires some mild modding to get it to fit right, but it's a pretty popular solution.
HERE is another pretty nifty mod I found!
I'll have to look into the IceBerQ, been hearing about that thing for years now but never got around to giving it some quality reading time.
The ACF64 looks pretty nice too, it'd certainly be easy to install.