A big moment of solitude...

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Chrisax
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A big moment of solitude...

Post by Chrisax »

A moment of solitude...

Image


Thoughts at that time of the assembling, contemplating the spaghetti mess...
  • Actually, before I connected the front panel to the motherboard, cable management looked fine...

    Could someone say something kind to me?

    I DID do a rehearsal of the cabling so when did Hell break loose?!

    I'll just go test the new screen on the old computer for the time being...

    Why did I forget to connect the ETAX12V 8 pins which is top left now hidden behind the cooler?!

    Why can't the Asus user's manual tell you what the maximum fans wattage the motherboard can control is? So I know what I can connect...

    Is it really reasonable to have a not-that-far-from 1kg graphic card?

    How easily does an Intel i7 explode if I make an error?

    We call this progress.

    Everything in the World is a plot by Cooler Master, Asus, Antec, Western Digital, Crucial and Kingston.

    That was not a good day to start a diet...
:beta:
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noobas
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Re: A big moment of solitude...

Post by noobas »

uhh, soo, solitude meaning you fried something? :(

I see a dangly thing. is that the 8 pin fan controller?

Boss, can you please confirm that you can still buff us CM and cost?

How come you can put pics of your machine online, but we can't see your face... are you a bot?
" I Don't Like That Man. I Must Get To Know Him Better." -Abraham Lincoln
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Chrisax
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Re: A big moment of solitude...

Post by Chrisax »

No, thanks for worrying, but I didn't fry anything. (yet?)

My moment of solitude came when I was contemplating the spaghetti mess in the making after weeks thinking "THIS time, I'll achieve clean cables organization". ](*,)

It's true that the reason for my little breakdown was clear to me but maybe less clear to the reader; I changed my text a little. :)

Boss, can you please confirm that you can still buff us CM and cost?
I feel the love! #-o
How come you can put pics of your machine online, but we can't see your face
are you a bot?
I'm afraid I can't do this, Dave... hmmmm Noobas....

Image
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noobas
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Re: A big moment of solitude...

Post by noobas »

I can confirm!

Our president is a BOT! I will start calling you by your true name: HAL9000!

I remember the movie AI.

As I recall, you become "real" once you can elicit "love" in others... or something along those line.

Therefore, you're 50% there! I've seen you elicit "LUST" in others! I saw my AI dog tryin to hump your leg!

@ buffing us CM: phew!

edit: spagetti wires=more surface area=more cooling for high amperage wires. I dunno if computers have any high amperage wires but, who knows.
" I Don't Like That Man. I Must Get To Know Him Better." -Abraham Lincoln
mobstar
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Re: A big moment of solitude...

Post by mobstar »

A zip-tie? Or was that just tied in a knot? :biggrin:

Good looking system regardless...
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Chrisax
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Re: A big moment of solitude...

Post by Chrisax »

:) Love all!

Well, the picture was taken while the system was in the making and not final at all; hopefully i'll finish it today. Several cables are not even plugged in. That's the case for the top fan wires Mobstar circled in red. (I won't probably even worry about the path me cables before testing it, in the case I had to remove something.)

Even more, I made no effort to make the picture look good, all the contrary. I wanted to share the "OMG what a mess" feeling I experienced at some point.

The case comes with many accessories to deal with cables. I'll take a new picture when it's all done... let's hope!

You have a good point about cable temperature in general, Noobas, and, actually, the best cabling and the best design electrically-wise is rarely the most beautiful. And, yes, there is some relatively high intensity on the 12V lines that power the CPU, but mostly the ones for the GPU which can eat 300W+ sometimes.

Fuze, the case is a Cooler Master ATCS 840 (the strict-looking elder brother of the HAF series). It's just HUGE. This is something no one can maybe guess from this specific picture but imagine the motherboard here -which looks tiny- is NOT a mini or micro ATX: it's a full size ATX. :shock: And the video card is a gigantic Nvidia 570 with dual fans. And I can easily put my hand between its bottom and the hard drives array.

There is no such thing here as a case wall BTW, for the simple reason the MB is installed on a fully removable drawer (on ball bearing rails!). Thank you, Cooler Master, you save by poor back here. Just remove the drawer, put it on your desk as you want. Rotate it, flip it,... Install the MB, the CPU, the RAM, the cooling system, the video card, comfortably sitting down in your chair most of the time. :D

Still several things are supplied to handle cables. They were not installed at the time of the picture. I'll see.

I'll start a thread about building the whole system and why I picked those specific components, with links and pictures, as I think it can be interesting for several of you, even if you don't buy the same thing. I had to do a serious bit of research, so as well sharing it! :)

Now the problem is that the case is cooled by 3 behemoth 230mm fans (plus the CPU cooler extracting air, and there is another 12cm fan I can use if necessary at the bottom of the case or in an air duct; the PSU being isolated in its own air path). And guess what: the Asus MB can control fans in various ways, except Asus doesn't say what max power the MB can handle for fans (for the main CPU fan, they say it's 12W though). So I don't know if I can connect the huge 230mm fans to the MB or not. ](*,)
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Re: A big moment of solitude...

Post by Elrojo »

nerds.... :cool:
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Chrisax
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Re: A big moment of solitude...

Post by Chrisax »

Fuer, I'll have plentu of pictures and info. :) Just need a little time.

I found the info on the fans. How syupid of me: they have a label on both side and I was looking at the worng one!

They are 12V and 0.28A, so less than 4W each which is not much compared to their size.

They are not sold separately as generic parts it seems. They are supplied as spare parts if you're an owner of the case. The closest thing to them is the Antec 200mmm "Big Boy" which is just great and can be bought in stores. (I have two at home.)

The Asus P8 Z68-V PRO motherbaord offers 6 on-board plugs for fans:
CPU and Optional (additional) CPU
Chassis fan 1 and Chassis fan 2
PWR (power?) fan 1 and PWR fan 2

All can be controlled by the BIOS but the 4 first ones (so NOT the "PWR" ones) can also be controlled by an Asus software for fine tuning, like defining goals it seems, etc.

Asus mentions the CPU fan can't be more than 12W; if other fan plugs are the same then the monster fans of the ATCS-840 can be controlled. At the moment I connected them and it seems to work but I'm only at the first steps. That said, I'm not totally sure that a well-designed fan controller panel with good old potentiometers and clear display is not finally more convenient.

I don't use the CPU fans plugs (which makes the MB scream at start for the moment), at the MB considers this a danger for the CPU.

The reason is I use an Antec watercooling (made by Asetek on the basis of their servers watercooling solutions) and it requires a steady power source (not voltage variation) and a USB connection onto the MB. The system auto-regulates itself and communicates with an Antec software for fine tuning and reports. When starting the system before installing the OS, the Antec device still works fine.

The Antec power supply is totally independent too, regulating its own PVM-type fan. Side note: the cables Antec used on this High Current Pro (not High Current Gamer) model are so thick that I couldn't leave them behind the MB drawer: the case couldn't perfectly close despite its size!

And, yes, I powered up the whole system like one hour ago... No dark smoke! Did you all hear my joy cry across the oceans and everywhere?! Everything in this complex system auto-set to default values without any intervention and just worked. (OMG I remember positioning switches on motherboards for hours on my first computers...) Of course I have to install and configure everything now.

And... with the Crucial M4 SSD and the I7 CPU, Windows 7 PRO 64 bits loads faster than the BIOS of the computer! :shock: :shock: :shock:
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Chrisax
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Re: A big moment of solitude...

Post by Chrisax »

System is up and running. Crossing fingers. I'm now installing software and praying. Yes, I belong to the anxious type. (I'm not even using it to type this!)

I had an issue with the Antec cooling system: the pump started to make noise and the speed displayed for it looked very high, almost at the max. It looks fixed afetr a few manipulations, not sure what one worked though. I'll try to investigate.

That said, with the Antec Kühler 920 running, the i7 CPU is not even at 35° Celcius (based on Asus probes) when performing normal Windows activity (managing files, installing software, watching a DVD, doing settings,...). The ambient temp in the room is like 21°.

When all looks fine and stable, I'll post mu thoughts about the making of the system, and information.

[-o< [-o< [-o< [-o< [-o< [-o< [-o< [-o< [-o< [-o< [-o< [-o< [-o< [-o< [-o< [-o<
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Chrisax
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Re: A big moment of solitude...

Post by Chrisax »

No I didn't but results seem consistent so far and I'm typing this on the new system. :mrgreen: If there was an issue I think something would have shut it down already. I'll have a look at this temp and BIOS question though. Note the card is very recent so maybe it got the last BIOS.
Axirillon
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Re: A big moment of solitude...

Post by Axirillon »

Holy crap I just looked at those pics and now I know for certain......the flying spaghetti monster IS real.

- Axi
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noobas
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Re: A big moment of solitude...

Post by noobas »

oh gawd.

#-o
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Chrisax
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Re: A big moment of solitude...

Post by Chrisax »

The system has now been running for three weeks and just fine. :D

So I'll post the details soon, as it can be considered final now.

So far I never recorded a CPU temperature above 53°C, whatever I do. At the time of writing it's 44°C. :shock: (Confirmed by both the motherboard temp and the cooling fluid temp.)

The GPU is amazingly "cold" too.

And the fan on my desk makes much more noise than the whole computer. (I'm actually unable to say most of the time if the computer is on or not if I don't look at a LED or the screen.)

ah, and, yes.... Firefox loading in 1s anyone?! :P

* Happy *
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Chrisax
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Re: A big moment of solitude...

Post by Chrisax »

Yep, Fuze, you'll get pictures! Especially as I also promised to Hexy to have a certain leet doll on the picture (only Hexy and Hyde can understand that hehe).

As or the firmware update by Crucial, I saw it and I'll try that this week. It looks nice and could make the M4 series even better, although it's probably the best (not for everything but overall) and most versatile SSD line at the moment.

Well... except that Kingston just released a new SSD series that makes all the competitors bite the dust: the Kingston HyperX SSD (the old one was very average). To such a degree that they can set the price 25% higher than Crucial M4 series.

By the way, here is what Asus records regarding temperature, and I've been working for hours on the system including in 3D: CPU at 37°C and motherboard at 30°C; room temperature being around 22°C. The Antec 920 is a cooling beast or all the sensors are dead.
Image
CPU fan is "zero" because the Antec 920 doesn't use this connection and works on the power supply + internal USB.

One of the "chassis fans" is actually the TWO top 230mm fans together; the other being the front 230mm fan in front of the hard disks.
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