My Comp Mods

[bartvandenberg]

To think.. it all started with this. A comp i bought, and way overpaid for. But i was dumb and didnt do my homework. Frankly, didnt know enough about comps to have bought one myself. but anyway.. this is how it goes.
http://www.fotothing.com/thumbs/828/82815b9a649f29fe9dc200f396baa3bf.jpg

Then.. i got bored one night, just ripped it apart and painted it black. it sat for a long while like that and i was far from ever happy with it.
so.. another bored night, grabbed the grinder. I dont mean dremel, im talking good ol 4 inch dewalt grinder to cut the window out.
http://www.fotothing.com/photos/a1c/a1c92fea53936e564aa0adb441a723e4.jpg
That grew into this. But then i decided why not just upgrade everything. So....
http://www.fotothing.com/photos/c5f/c5fff639c8c4dc8d82fb17fc97b3ac04.jpg
On to this. New mobo, cpu, psu, hd, gpu and ram

Went from biostar mobo (nForce3)
Sempron 2600+64
Geforce 4 Ti4200 64mb
200 gig SATA (maxtor)
2 * 512 ddr400 Markvision Ram
300watt sparkle psu

TO:
Asus k8n4e Deluxe Mobo (nForce4)
Athlon 3400+64
Geforce 6800 Ultra 256mb
250 gig Seagate Barracuda SATA
2 * 1024 Kingston DDR400
450 Antec PSU
http://www.fotothing.com/photos/aed/aed5e50eb7f4211f266c16ac798fdd39.jpg,http://www.fotothing.com/photos/7a8/7a8e4edf78f8c920a8ff3247c54aefd0.jpg
http://www.fotothing.com/photos/b84/b843ae8934f6c7208323fd67c3c0494e.jpg,http://www.fotothing.com/photos/dba/dbab420455b5ca4051d052bb47eb0725.jpg

And to compare basic black paint with new carbon fibre vinyls in and out....
http://www.fotothing.com/photos/62f/62fe16deed13dc884175d4d96d85e1b9.jpg

And last but not least, my newest addition. My LCD. 19 inch widescreen from viewsonic with 8ms. pretty slick monitor. gotta love sales.
http://www.fotothing.com/photos/ebb/ebbad1526e47ac2b455a31b065bddaf4.jpg

Only problem is now, is keeping it cool inside. ive got 5 ciruclation fans alone, not to mention 7 fans inside keeping components cool. Idle temps about 27C

[tybrenis]

Lol, I bet that thing sounds like a jet taking off when you turn it on. I would consider water cooling.

[qoou]

Sempron 2600+64




i think that needs to be edited, they dont make 64 bit athlons, unless you meant something else.

[bartvandenberg]

i think that needs to be edited, they dont make 64 bit athlons, unless you meant something else.

AMD Board has what appears to be an updated AMD roadmap and a few other graphs showing the end of the socket 754 Opteron processors. The Sempron will have the socket 754 all to itself.

AMD has officially informed European resellers about the end of socket 754 Athlon 64. According to the chart published today at AMDboard.com, orders will still be accepted until March 25 and June 15 for final deliveries before September 25.

Actually, they no LONGER make 64 bit athlons in socket 754 as of VERY recently. but if you mean in general (socket 939 includ), then look anywhere anyone sells athlon/sempron cpu's and 64 bit chips are in abundance.

http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=15654&vpn=SDA2600BXBOX&manufacture=AMD 2600+64 Sempron
http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=14416&vpn=ADA3200BPBOX&manufacture=AMD 3200+64 Athlon

[DaveW]

That's a grand looking case. It's good to see the way you've brought this together, you didn't like the look of it so you made it yours. That's the spirit! :)

A suggestion before you rush out for water cooling? Your case is packed. Your wire management is nice, but youstill have too many wires in there. I'd say shorten a lot of your wires. All you need is wire strippers.

You can pick up molexes and ATX power thingies at most electricians. So you can cut away your excess wire and shorten your cables. If there's any wires you're not using, cut them short, put the connector and the end, then put a female connector onto the end of the cable you've removed. This way, you can simply plug in the cable if you ever need it again. It looks like your PSU takes air in from the right, and with all thise cable, it's got to be in danger of over heating. But either way, 27C is a damn good temperature, so don't be too worried.

-Dave

[qoou]

that didnt have any thing to do..., i messup and put athlon, i meant semprons.

[Omega]

i think that needs to be edited, they dont make 64 bit athlons, unless you meant something else.


i think you meant they don't make 64 bit Semprons.

because 64 bit athlons exist, i am using one right now =/

64 bit athlons are actually very common.

[qoou]

i think you meant they don't make 64 bit Semprons.

because 64 bit athlons exist, i am using one right now =/

64 bit athlons are actually very common.

im not an idiot look at the post above...

i use a an X2 64 bit Athlon 4000+

[bartvandenberg]

problem solved.

http://www.pccanada.com/viewitem.asp?id=3818

http://www.pccanada.com/viewitem.asp?id=1584


Now let me know what you think about my case:) . its my first....

[DaveW]

Did you do anything about those excessive PSU cables? Or would you rather leave it the way it is?

EDIT: That's not meant to sound cheeky or insulting, in case it does. Simple enquiry, before it gets taken the wrong way-there's nothing wrong with the way it is right now :)

-Dave

[bartvandenberg]

id actually rather leave it that way because i took a look at it, and a lot of the wiring, although they seem excessive, dont have a whole lot of extra room. my main power wires are already pretty snug on the mobo, and my pci-e is snug as well. the hd/hd's are at the lower end of the case, so those wires are also pretty much maxed. the rest i do like that way. they arent suffocating my psu at all. The psu has never exceeded 34C, so its never doin bad for temp.

I should really post some more updated pics. these pics are gettin a bit old. since these pics, ive added another 4 led's lighting up the motherboard a lot more efficiecntly, added switches (hidden) to turn on/off the lights, added another 200 gb seagate sata hd, and cleaned up everysingle wire in the case. now there is not a single wire showing, other than the black covered ones. actually ripped the entire rig apart and rebuilt while keeping in mind hiding every wire.

good thing the right side of case has no window. It never was before, but now its def the side noone wants to see with about 400 loose wires and connections, heatshrinks and et.

[bartvandenberg]

oopps. cancel

[X child]

Where did you get the carbon fibre vinyls? I've been thinking of using carbon fibre since I saw Mashie's Y2K bug but between cost and the hazards of using it I haven't given it a shot. The vinyls would be great though.

[bartvandenberg]

Well, i live in canada, and i picked it up at canadian tire. but you should be able to get a hold of the stuff at a sign making shop or something. thats where i got my chrome, and brushed aluminum vinyls. pretty cheap too. think i paid like 20 bucks CAD a square meter or something.

Oh yah.. and i fried that stupid asus board. i never suggest anyone get one. nothing but problems. ended up gettin so frustrated with it, i smashed the chipset fan (which never stopped making noise) and damn near put a screwdriver through it (the board, that is). computers arouse my temper. Now im running an Abit nv8 board, which kicks ass. From the second i hit the "on" button till the time im in windows, is a mere 15 seconds, and only 45 seconds to the time iim PLAYING call of duty 2 from startup.