PCA Forums

Woohoo, new rig time! I have to admit, it's been a while since I made a change this drastic, but all in all, I'm extremely happy with it. Picked up a new case at the closing CompUSA a few days ago, so I figured... why not?

Anyway, specs first.

AMD Athlon 64 X2 4000+ Brisbane, OC'ed from 2.1GHz to 2.7GHz
2GB (2x1GB) G.Skill DDR2 800 RAM (F2-6400CL5D-2GBNQ)
Abit AN52 Motherboard, nForce 520 MCP Chipset
Sapphire Radeon X1900GT 256MB PCI-E, OC'ed 515 Core/657 Memory to 580/855
2x320GB Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 SATA II HDDs
7 120MM Cooler Master fans (Hovercraft, anyone?)
Gigabyte 3D Rocket Cooler Pro CPU cooling
Zalman VF900-CU VGA Cooler

Also some random DVD-RW, random Lite-On DVD reader, and a 7 year old floppy that I've used in all of my systems forever. But enough of the tech stuff, lets get to piccies!

The case is a Cooler Master CM 690 I got from CompUSA. Woohoo liquidation!



The front and top of the case is covered with a metal mesh. There are chrome spacers running along the edge to give it a nice touch. But warning though, this case is HUGE! I had to take a shelf out of my desk to make it fit.



Simple steel side panel with room for two 120MM fans. One already installed, which was nice. The case came with 3 fans installed: One blue LED in front, one in the back, and one on the side panel.




Top ports are two USB, the usual headphone/mice, plus a nice Firewire, and to my surprise, an eSATA port. Passive connector, just run a cable to an open SATA port on your motherboard. Firewire's a no go for me at the moment, since my board doesn't have it, but you can easily disconnect the cable from under the top panel, so you won't have any extras.



Again, the case is huge, inside and out. I have to admit, I was really impressed with it. Not only does it provide you with all of the screws you need for assembly (Running up the back of the 5.25" bays), but it also provides small clips you can screw into any open hole of the motherboard tray to help keep the wiring clean.





Pictures of my behemoth cooling systems.



I love these little trays. Five in all.



Since I have two fans on the side panel, I ran these (provided) 4-to-3 pin adaptors to the top of the power supply, and used double-sided tape to keep them there. This is just a temp solution. Later I'll extend the wires and mount them somewhere nicer, but I was too lazy to for now.



Tool-less PCI brackets. I admit, they are a bit loose, but it also provides space for you to put a screw if need be. I don't really have to, since it holds my cards in place just fine.



Pre-drilled holes for watercooling, which will be coming on down the road XD



You either love or hate the buttons. Instead of the normal push in buttons, you push these to the side. The positioning kinda sucks, since I have my case near the ground, but I love them just the same.



The final "on" shot XD

A bit on the noisy side?

Nope, it's actually pretty quiet. The Cooler Master fans are low RPM fans. The loudest one is on the CPU cooler, but it also has speed control on it

When I finished mine, I was impressed with the latest technology improvements such as the cpu not having any pins. The pins are on the motherboard inside the 775 socket. Looking back, I should have spent more time testing it with MemTest before loading my apps and files. I had an issue with running the memory at 1066MHz. I discovered that 1066MHz is actually 800MHz chips that are over-clocked to run at 1066. According to what I was reading on the Corsair forums:

here is no such thing as 'native 1066Mhz' for this memory. The memory is only certified under JEDEC standards for a top end of 800Mhz, and thats because there is no JEDEC standard for 1066Mhz. Actually the bandwidth for this memory is 400 Mhz but its been designed to run at 800Mhz, so the operating 'native' frequency is 800Mhz, and not 1066MHz as its labeled.

Next time, I'll be a little more cautious when using the latest components.

Typically when your Ram isn't running stable on overclock ones like that, is because you need to up the voltage on the Ram a little bit. The two new 2GB sticks I have needed the same adjustment.

I love the no pins on the cpu by the way, makes you wonder why they didn't do it years ago. I am sure everyone has worried about a bent pin or one breaking off, etc.

I was kind of surprised that AMD didn't adopt the same principle with their processors. AM2 is still pinned, not LGA like 775. At the time of buying these things, I couldn't justify the extra cost incurred going Intel. And maybe because I'm just an AMD fanboy, I'll be sticking with them until the end, if there is one. My next planned upgrade is an 8800GT or a 3800, something along those lines, then perhaps a new motherboard.

Nice, I may have to grab one of these. I've been eyeballing them for a while now.

nice one there

I must host a garage lan so you can show it off.

Duckie, you really DO need to host a garage lan >.> Not just so I can show off (XDD), but just for the hell of it

Update: Woohoo, 2.9GHz on the core! Plus I dropped in an XtremeGamer Fatal1ty card into it too. I also finally cleaned up those wires like I wanted to. Might post new pics later

Duck dude....... Local Lannage MUST HAPPEN. Remember I still have your Folding tables. And no they are not in the way or anything.

Was thinking about another LAN at my house soon also.

Yeah.. a Lan... wait.. I haven't been to one.. since I hosted one.. grrr need lan.. but now I am back in Az..

If a Lan happens.. I request Pictures..

Nice stuff. I'm a big fan of the slot load drives. They've been good to me. I always wondered if having the power supply on the bottom would mess with the temperatures.

I'm still using the same case that I got when I first discovered NewEgg. It's had everything from a Celeron 366 on up & I still love it. It's the old style Alienware case.

Midnight and Guardian.... I have 4 maybe 5 for a LAN... Let me know if are serious about the LAN tomorrow

LAN! LAN LAN LAN LAN LAN YES I'M BLOODY SERIOUS LAN LAN LAN!

*cough* A-hem... sorry... haven't been out of the house too much lately... >.>

Yeah Duck I am serious about a LAN... Just let me know when and where. I'll see if I can pull together a few more folks for it. Tableleg and Chong will be back this week I think and there are a few others I can see about.