Quantum Reality

And we have liftoff!

The first batch here shows the CPU being unpacked and placed on the motherboard.

Y'all will probably notice I didn't really try for any cable management other than "shove cables out of the way if they're not where they should be".

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whe3ls

looks nice so far


much better lol. or a d50 with a 4g63t

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Quantum Reality

And now for the final-ish batch of pics showing the case overall with my junky 7600GS as a test card inside the case plus a floppy drive and proof that we have liftoff.

I panicked for a sec there when the computer wouldn't turn on but it turned out to be a cheaply made Q-connector, so I just yanked it and made direct connections to the board instead. In one of these shots you should be able to see the green status light glowing indicating electrical power is being applied.

LIFTOFF ACHIEVED.

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superon

I'd say the cables are managed pretty damn well -- I've seen much much worse- like you actually tried - whereas it seems with some cases the people actually tried to have cable mis-management.

edit: damn what happened? The cables were lookin really good - then they exploded all over the place.

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Quantum Reality

Yeah, I started yanking at cables to plug in the floppy drive and then left the SATA ones down at the bottom of the case in prep for when I put the HD in. I'll probably do some more ad hoc rerouting when I get the 8800GTs in. Meantime, off to clean up after myself as that white table is actually the coffee table for when roomie watches TV.

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Quantum Reality

Unfortunately for me the camera eats batteries like crazy so I only got one shot of the Galaxy 8800GT in my 'SLI Sleeper' box. I also flashed the BIOS up to the latest on Asus's website but memtest86+ persists in thinking the memory is DDR2-900. Odd. One of you AMD experts mind shining a little light on this?

Pending installations to do:

1. Valicious's 8800GT
2. DVD-writer drive
3. Hard drive
4. Operating System

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Quantum Reality

Well, first off, I finally put the stupid hard drive in and my god was it a major PITA. I ended up having to remove a couple of cables and the floppy drive, slide the HD in, then put everything back the way it was. Then...

I got Valicious's PNY 8800GT and put it in! I unfortunately have no pictures yet but will do some benches and things like that and get pics later. In the meantime, to hold you folks, I have the CPU-Z validation for this system, and a screenshot of the various diagnostic programs from the Sleeper box (see attachment)

So, whaddya think, folks?

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KusH

Well I think there is 3 things that need to be done.
1. Get some Fans in there.
2. Cable management is a must if you want to keep that computer somewhat cool.
3. What is the floppy drive for honestly? Waste of power, space, time.

Other then that

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Quantum Reality

First off - I'm a big believer in the belt and suspenders approach when it comes to computers. When all else fails, the floppy drive is the device of last resort.

Second off, some snaps as I promised

First is the 8800GT box

Second is a snap of the lower half showing the SLIed cards in all their glory.

Third is a close-up showing the hard drive below the floppy drive - a fairly unusual location for me as I usually place them near the bottom of the case.

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Quantum Reality

Hmm - some problems have cropped up and I'm not sure where to trace them to.

Basically it's a fairly sure chance that at least 75% of the time trying to run a 3DMark06 test results in a lock-up of some kind. I originally suspected the antivirus or the North bridge being undervolted until neither of these being dealt with seemed to fix things.

It looks to be traceable to a heat-related issue since aiming a big fan at the case from about 4 feet away seems to at least delay this effect for some time.

I will have to test the effect by looking at prime95s and such now.

Edit -

If the issue is heat-related it seems to be GPU-related. The CPU alone generating that kind of heat does not seem to be causing lockups; Prime95 blend will be the indicator of whether or not this thing is for sure working.

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