New Rig

Post by **FlyingPenguin** » Tue Jan 12, 2010 1:21 pm

Came in yesterday right on schedule. Some quick photos. I'm not into fancy cases, and the window don't mean jack to me (won't be visible anyway since my workstation sits with that panel right up against my server).

My only consideration in getting this case was that it was the only one that offered a front-panel eSATA jack.

Photo actually doesn't do it justice though because the front panel is covered in a clear plexiglass panel with the black metal under it.

eGoCeNTRoNiX · Post by **eGoCeNTRoNiX** » Tue Jan 12, 2010 1:25 pm

Looks Pretty Cool

Have Fun!

I'm going to have to break down and order parts soon for a new blu-ray/gaming rig..

eGo

Post by **FlyingPenguin** » Tue Jan 12, 2010 1:31 pm

Some stats. Keep in mind Core i7 CPUs are all Quad Core and hyperthreaded so each core supports 2 threads, thus task manager sees each core as two CPUs and displays 8 CPUs total (same way that the 2nd gen PentiumD CPUs were single core hyperthreaded and showed up as dual cores).

Funny that the Win7 performance score for the hard drive is low. That's with a Velociraptor installed. I guess the high side of the scale is for really fast RAID 0 arrays.

I had to put the system under load to allow CPU-z to show the actual clock speed since at idle Win7 throttles it down to 1.2GHz at the default settings I'm using now.

I haven't played with any of the Asus utilities but this thing apparently has on-the-fly Turbo Mode - I can overclock it by just clicking on an icon. No really interested in doing this since I'm more concerned with stability, but I'll try it at least once to see what it does.

Post by **FlyingPenguin** » Tue Jan 12, 2010 1:47 pm

Okay, Turbo mode by default just bumps the clock 5%, although this is adjustable. Sure makes playing around with overclocking easy if you're into that.

Seems like a nice mobo. It also has that "Express Gate" functionality that lets you run a web browser and basic apps from BIOS without ever booting from the hard drive. Kind of useless on a desktop PC IMO but something I will be very happy to see in more laptops.

normalicy · Post by **normalicy** » Tue Jan 12, 2010 2:30 pm

The wiring is shameful, but I'm a perfectionist.

I agree with the BIOS browser, no point really. Don't think I've ever been in that much of a rush to surf the web. Heck, with your setup, it should be under a minute from off to running a browser anyhow.

On overclocking, I've found the recent Intel CPUs to be incredibly robust. 50% overclock seems to be a given. After that, it gets questionable. It's very much like in the early days.

Err · Post by **Err** » Tue Jan 12, 2010 2:43 pm

Nice rig FP. I would've thought the HD would be higher too for a Velociraptor.

wvjohn · Post by **wvjohn** » Tue Jan 12, 2010 3:18 pm

because FP OVERCLOCKED 4 CPUS AT ONCE!

Post by **FlyingPenguin** » Tue Jan 12, 2010 7:00 pm

The wiring was a bit neater originally. They had tie-wrapped things too tightly and I needed to extend some wires to reach the 2nd HDD I installed, so I pulled that whole bundle down. I also ran that SATA to the optical drive and re-routed the original cable to the 2nd HDD. However, I agree, not the prettiest cable job.

They do have an "artistic" cable wrapping option which includes coiled cable wraps, etc, for people who want more of a pretty interior to show off, but it costs extra.

Frankly as far as the look of the case and the look of the interior is concerned, I'm completely utilitarian. Couldn't care less about looks as long as it's functional and easy to work inside.

normalicy · Post by **normalicy** » Tue Jan 12, 2010 7:18 pm

Like I said, I'm a perfectionist. It totally bugs me to have wires anywhere over the motherboard area, because I always seem to need access to some part of it & I hate moving wires to get it. Really hate the 24 pin connectors wiring because of how it totally blocks everything & top it off by it's being ugly. Also, I try to keep the wires out of the way for air flow.

Yeah, I saw the $30 or so professional wiring option. Not worth that much to me.... well now that I think of it, some times I do spend hours doing the wiring on my computer, so it may be worth it after all.

DaMaN · Post by **DaMaN** » Tue Jan 12, 2010 11:44 pm

Nice FP congrats. That Windows 7 sticker made me do the Neo (Whoa).

DaMaN · Post by **DaMaN** » Tue Jan 12, 2010 11:45 pm

What kind of PSU is that in there?

Post by **FlyingPenguin** » Wed Jan 13, 2010 1:10 am

XtremeGear SLI/CrossFireX Ready 700watt Power Supply with dual 12 volt rails totaling 44 amps. I was going to upgrade it to the 700 watt CoolerMaster but I forgot. Looks adequate, but I may upgrade it down the road.

I also upgraded the case fans to the quieter Enemax 120mm fans. The rig is very quiet. I am only using the front intake and rear exhaust 120mm fans (plus the PSU fans). Not using the blow-hole fan since it's unnecessary - especially since I'm not overclocking.

Nomad · Post by **Nomad** » Wed Jan 13, 2010 9:30 am

Well wouldn't being able to use a browser from bios be useful if say your HD was being finnicky and for whatever reason you could not load into an OS? This way you could still retain the ability to garnish a solution to the problem at hand even when you have no other way of accessing the 'ol internet. At least, this is what this means to me... first time I have heard of it, just might do some looking into it.

normalicy · Post by **normalicy** » Wed Jan 13, 2010 9:35 am

That's true. I guess I'm so used to having multiple computers that I hadn't considered it.

b-man1 · Post by **b-man1** » Wed Jan 13, 2010 12:28 pm

i did a ton of cable management in my Antec Twelve Hundred case, but then realized it makes any changes take 10x as long later on...since you have to rip everything apart or from behind the motherboard (which then requires taking the other side of the case off, etc). looks good going in, but you pay later if you want to keep it that way.

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