New System Build for customer...

[Airbozo]

Have a look at my next project. I get to build this system next week and follow it down to Orlando to install it;

Asus Striker Extreme
Antec P180
Thermaltake W0128RU 650w
Intel E6700
Corsair 1GB DDR2 667
Western Digital WD740ADFD (74gb Raptor w/16mb buffer)
Western Digital WD5000KS (500gb Caviar w/16mb buffer)
PNY GeForce 7900GS, 256MB DDR3, PCI-E (2 of these _not_ running SLI driving 3 monitors)
IO FWX2-PCIE10-4 Quad Port OHCI 1.1 Compliant FireWire (IEEE 1394a)
Microsoft XP Pro SP2
Sony Double/dual layer & Dual format DVD burner with DVD-RAM support
Sony Floppy
ViewSonic VG2230WM View Sonic 22" Widescreen Graphic Series LCD (2 of these)
ViewSonic N3251W ViewSonic 32" Widescreen LCD HDTV
ViewSonic WMK-013 Wall mount

...for these guys; http://www.myecoaching.com SHHH don't tell anyone :smoker:

EDIT: Ok I just found out I will _not_ be going to Orlando to install this system. I am still building it, but will go with the next one for the install and training. Of course I will still have to uahem, "burn this system in" with a few rounds of BF2142 and/or Oblivion...(now if I could remember how to display frame rates...)

[derbaum]

something moddet or just a kickass machine ?

[Airbozo]

something moddet or just a kickass machine ?

No real mods yet. This is the first system we are delivering to this company and we will be making suggestions at our next design review meeting on how to "customize" the system for future installs. I am expecting some of the parts to show up tomorrow and will post pictures and info here when they come in.

[slytherock]

I kind of jealous, THE Striker, Enjoy the TESTING times

[Airbozo]

Funny thing is, the Striker was our 2nd choice for the motherboard. The P5N32-E SLI was our first choice, but it can not be had in time to deliver this system (back ordered for at least 2 weeks). I also heard that the Striker mobo did not have any of the 680i bsod issues...

[Zephik]

Funny thing is, the Striker was our 2nd choice for the motherboard. The P5N32-E SLI was our first choice, but it can not be had in time to deliver this system (back ordered for at least 2 weeks). I also heard that the Striker mobo did not have any of the 680i bsod issues...

Was the bsod the issue that the Striker Extreme had? I remember reading something about it having some sort of issue that made it not worth its "enthusiast class" rating. Is that all fixed up by Asus now?

You are a lucky man Airbozo, you always get to work on the fun stuff!

Did they say what they wanted to use it for?

[Airbozo]

Was the bsod the issue that the Striker Extreme had? I remember reading something about it having some sort of issue that made it not worth its "enthusiast class" rating. Is that all fixed up by Asus now?

You are a lucky man Airbozo, you always get to work on the fun stuff!

Did they say what they wanted to use it for?

The bsod's were caused by bad code on _mainly_ the evga boards (kind of ironic since evga was nVidia's release partner and nVidia screwed it up...).

Not sure if the Striker Extreme has been upgraded, but it was not the i680 chipset causing the problems since they got it right the first time.

eCoaching will be using this system for Golf instructions. There are 2 different systems we will be building for them. One is an "on the course" system consisting of a laptop, one or two cameras and portable power (and a large tent-like canopy). The second is an "in house" system which consists of the above system (and all the monitors), 3 cameras, and a specific device that measures force and angle on a simulated golf ball. (real ball, but secured to the base platform on a tether or something (have not seen this piece yet)). The 3 cameras are high speed commercial grade cameras that can run at insanely high frame rates (double or triple that of a regular hand held video camera), able to capture the impact of the club against the ball (and many frames before and after for evaluation). eCoaching will use the video with professional instructors to evaluate and train beginners and professionals. They create a video coaching "book" that you can access on the web that has videos and tips on the lessons you should be working on as well as future requests. Some really neat stuff. There is a demo on their site that shows the video logbook.

http://video.myecoaching.com/myecoaching_marketing/mediabook1/mediabook/PerformanceAnalysis.html

There is a trade show coming up in a couple of weeks that this system is being built for. Hopefully the first of several dozen in house systems that will be built. We are still evaluating laptops, but they have been using one of the Sony Viao models since it has the brightest screen in a sunny environment. My company will be providing the computer hardware and cameras for these systems as well as the support.

EDIT: I am waiting for all the parts now and will make sure and post plenty of pics and info as I build the system. Just found out that the 7900's are back ordered so we will be using 7950's temporarily. I am also going to try and run some benchmarks on both video setup's.


EDIT2: Just got the motherboard and it is sweet looking. Had a little show and tell for the sales guys and techs, now I gotta wipe the drool off the package (no way am I letting sales guys touch this baby without protection!). Also have the processor, memory, HD's and DVD. Waiting on the case, power supply and video cards. Now we are worried we only got a 650w. Pictures on monday! BTW, this thing has 2 _external_ sata connections and a small lcd on the I/O area!

[simon275]

Why would a company like that need a gaming comp? Anyways enjoy spending other peoples money on computer stuff.

[Ronyx]

1: Yes they have fixed all the BIOS issues and everything with the Striker board.

2: For anyone who didn't know, the P5N32-E SLI is in fact the exact same motherboard as the Striker without the following: shiny leds that light up, boring LCD on the back and an eSATA port. If you consider those "acceptable losses" then you will save yourself around 150$ on the motherboard.

3: Very nice setup =D

[Airbozo]

Why would a company like that need a gaming comp? Anyways enjoy spending other peoples money on computer stuff.

They spec'd this system because it will run the video stuff they hook up to it with no delays. The software developer uses gaming cards to develop on due to the cost and ease of development. More bang for the buck than the quadro or firelgl boards. Plus this is for a tradeshow and they/we wanted a system to show off. I wish we had some time to do custom logo stuff on the case.


1: Yes they have fixed all the BIOS issues and everything with the Striker board.

2: For anyone who didn't know, the P5N32-E SLI is in fact the exact same motherboard as the Striker without the following: shiny leds that light up, boring LCD on the back and an eSATA port. If you consider those "acceptable losses" then you will save yourself around 150$ on the motherboard.

3: Very nice setup =D

Thanks for the info on this. That is something I left out. We originally ordered the P5N32-E SLI, but it cannot be had in time to deliver this system. We pulled in a few favors and got this board at cost.

[Ronyx]

kool
for me it's the exact opposite, i couldn't get the striker in til sometime next week so i decided to go with the E-SLI instead =]

[Airbozo]

Well I was supposed to start this build today, but so far not all the parts are in. The case came in today and I was hoping to get a start installing the motherboard. Turns out the case showed up with damage on the side panel (not too serious, just a broken piece of plastic that holds the door closed...), and also a broken piece in the front door (inside on the bottom where the door touches).

My first impressions of this case are NOT good. Looks and feels like junk to me. If it had not been spec'd by the customer, I would reject it as trash. That said I do like the inside layout. We should have a replacement by tomorrow. Funny this thing looks good until you touch it or try and work with it then you feel how cheaply it was made...:down:

EDIT: Got a hold of Antec, and since they are just across the bay from us, they are going to swap the broken plastic bits. I am starting on assembly and will take mucho pictures of the install. Still waiting on the video cards. Would have helped if the company in NJ would have shipped them friday like they promised. Now they will not be here until wednesday, just in time to load XP and ship the thing. I HATE this last minute crap!

[Airbozo]

UPDATE: Got all the case crap solved, a sales guy was waiting at the Antec receptionists desk for my sales guy and had all the parts, swapped them no questions asked. That was the easy part of the day.

One of our vendors "forgot" to ship the power supply and video cards. Good news is that the 7950gt's we ordered for another customer showed up and their order has not been finalized so this system will get these cards for now. Also had to pick up a power supply and the only one in stock was a Corsair HX620 Modular. That works and will look ok too.

Also did not want to put the piece of crap intel stock cooler on this new cpu, so I replaced it with a thermaltake Sonic Tower. Too bad there is not going to be a window in this system because it will look sweet, _and_ it clears the VR heatpipes by just a hair. And I mean one of those _really_ thin hairs... I have had to remove the mobo to install it, but that is fine with me since I hate that stock cooler.

Had a few cabling issues since the PS is on the bottom, but I got creative and solved the issues (had to run the 8pin EPS12v cable under the Video card release bracket and around the VR heat pipes) I have some pictures and need to reformat them before uploading them. I should get some of them up tomorrow for you to feast your eyes on.

The Boss (company GM) came by to check on me and saw what I had done to clean up the case and he commented on the work and said I was an Artist! I told him what they pay me is close to a starving artist's salary. He got a chuckle.

Pictures and more info tomorrow...

[Zephik]

Sweet mother of god I envy you. You have to be one of the luckiest geeks ever to walk this earth. I like that you took off the stock HS, good decision on your part. So how does that work? Did you pay for the new HS or did you charge them or did you just have one laying around? lol I can understand that VERY THIN hair statement. Those things are HUGE. What case are you using? You might of mentioned it, but for some reason I can't find it. I need to get glasses! **jeez!! I DO need glasses. lol Its like the second thing you listed... ><

Can't wait for those pictures! God it sounds sweet... :drools:

[Airbozo]

ok, busy day, that is why no updates. I worked non-stop on this system with a couple of breaks today. Most of my work today was supposed to be the customization of the system, including installing software and creating restore images in case there was an issue. Got all that done and was changing the windows splash screen and the bios image when the system locked up after a reboot. There was our bios graphic neat and pretty. That's it. Nothing else. Would not boot! :eek: Could not even get into the bios. :think: I used all the recommended software, followed the ASUS procedure from the website and cross referenced it with the manual, because I know what you can end up with when you dork up the bios. A box full of expensive paper weights. :mad:

Something is dorked up and I did it. Only my fingerprints on this hunk of metal.

I tried clearing the cmos, including enabling the cmos reset switch via jumpers. No go. Did not try the battery, because I was frustrated and needed to leave. I will try that tomorrow, first thing.

I have four options;

Try removing the battery ( and re-try the cmos clear).
Send the cmos chip back to asus...(missing the deadline).
Find another striker board local and swap the chips.
Or.... As I was driving home I remembered that there was an old bios flasher sitting in the warehouse collecting dust. I would be so lucky that we have the correct socket... :(

Oh well. Knew something had to go wrong...

[Zephik]

Yikes, good luck man! Sounds like you need to eat a bunch of lucky charms tomorrow morning.

I'm sure everything will work out fine in the end, nothing of this caliber ever goes perfectly smooth.

[Airbozo]

Yikes, good luck man! Sounds like you need to eat a bunch of lucky charms tomorrow morning.

I'm sure everything will work out fine in the end, nothing of this caliber ever goes perfectly smooth.

Thanks SnowFire, for the words of encouragement.

I tried removing the battery and re-shorting the pins for 20-30 seconds like asus recommends, but no luck. I will have to get a replacement bios drop shipped to Orlando and have the customer install it (he is tech savy enough to do this). This machine has to be there tomorrow. I contacted Asus this morning and they will replace the chip for free, we just pay shipping. There is also an ASUS rma department across the bay from me in Fremont and I am checking to see if they have a chip on site I could pick up...

Please stand by....

(jeez, I feel like this is turning into a diary...)

[GT40_GearHead]

do you have any idea of what went wrong :(
?

[Mitternacht]

Odd. That jumper should work and reset the BIOS without fault. Stupid question, but after arranging the jumper on the mobo for the CMOS reset, did you press the power button once?

[Airbozo]

...
Yeah I tried all kinds of voodoo, even shorting the pins directly on the bios chip. I was using the bios flash utility and the asus MyLogo program to put our company logo on the bios so it shows when the system boots. From what I can tell with my searches on the web, NEVER USE THE WINDOWS UTILITY TO FLASH A BIOS! Always use the dos floppy method. So it was either a corrupt graphic or the windows flash utility dorked the bios. Thing is, the MyLogo program is supposed to check the file integrity of the graphic before inserting it into the bios file. All the posts I found from people with bad bios' mentioned that they were using the windows flash utility to upgrade the bios when it went bad...

I picked up an evga nForce 680i sli board. Mainly chose this one because I read that they have fixed the bios issues and it is the only board I could find with this chipset that worked. Fry's had the model below the Striker, but it was in a returned box and when I made them test it, it would not post...

Am installing it now (heat sink barely fits in this one too), and will be able to power on within the hour.


EDIT: System powered up and loaded right into the previous install of windows (I am sure it was because they had the same chipset). I had to remove the old drivers and then re-install all that and then clean the registry. Had a friend come over and double check the windows instal (He is an MSCE+ so he does know what to look for. He even went right to the point in the registry where the chipset drivers get put and cleaned it up). Every thing worked fine. I am heading up to Tahoe for the weekend (the wife is taking me on a snowboard trip for my birthday), and will be on call in case they need assistance setting it up this weekend.

[GT40_GearHead]

the wife is taking me on a snowboard trip for my birthday

IT'S YOU'R BIRTHDAY ?!?!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MAN (hope i'm the first to say it)

have a gerat time boarding, and be carefull

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

[Zephik]

IT'S YOU'R BIRTHDAY ?!?!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MAN (hope i'm the first to say it)

have a gerat time boarding, and be carefull

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

LoL

I'll second that! Happy Birthday man! I hope you have a great one!

Do some crazy stuff on your board so you can tell us some sweet stories when you get back! :p

[GT40_GearHead]

oh and dont forget the photos, we must have photos, but dont over do it, we dont want you moding you'r leg or neck, do we !

HAPPY BIRTHDAY !!!.... again

[Airbozo]

IT'S YOU'R BIRTHDAY ?!?!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MAN (hope i'm the first to say it)

have a gerat time boarding, and be carefull

HAPPY BIRTHDAY


LoL

I'll second that! Happy Birthday man! I hope you have a great one!

Do some crazy stuff on your board so you can tell us some sweet stories when you get back! :p

Thanks and thanks. I always try and be careful and I do wear a helmet. Since this is my first day of the season, I am going to take it easy and use the time to get my gear adjusted. Plenty of time for the crazy stuff this season... Need to build up my skill for the 20' super pipe at Sierra... I will land that 360 grab with at least 15' of air!

This is where I have my season pass this year;
http://www.kirkwood.com/winter0607/


I have a bunch of pics to post when I get back to the office Tuesday. This system is being setup and configured this week for a trade show next weekend.

[Airbozo]

Ok since I got all the pictures and the system has been gone for a week, I thought I would delight with some pictures. I will start posting and see how far I get before I _have_ to go home (manager gets a little upset even if I have .02 hours of overtime...)

Here we go. I bubble wrapped the top of one of our carts so I could have a nice surface to toss the case and parts around on;
http://www.lotechdesigns.com/host/images/8924DSC01522.JPG
Mobo and case just came in and were delivered to my work area;
http://www.lotechdesigns.com/host/images/9999DSC01521.JPG
Here are a couple of shots of the broken side panel and front door assembly;
http://www.lotechdesigns.com/host/images/2020DSC01523.JPG
http://www.lotechdesigns.com/host/images/9375DSC01524.JPG
The mobo packaging;
http://www.lotechdesigns.com/host/images/5442DSC01525.JPG
...and all the included bits;
http://www.lotechdesigns.com/host/images/7106DSC01527.JPG
Top down of the mobo, lots of shiny copper!
http://www.lotechdesigns.com/host/images/8965DSC01528.JPG
The sound card and mic;
http://www.lotechdesigns.com/host/images/49DSC01529.JPG
The El-Wire I/O plate;
http://www.lotechdesigns.com/host/images/3295DSC01531.JPG
The processor box;
http://www.lotechdesigns.com/host/images/8136DSC01532.JPG
Interesting fact; We have 2 options when buying processors. Buy the package you see here, or buy in bulk with no heat sinks. Now common logic would tell you that buying in bulk is cheaper, but not so. It is almost $15 more to buy in bulk with no heat sinks, PLUS the bulk cpu's only come with a 1 year warranty, whereas the boxed product costs less and has a 3 year warranty. Go figure. Kind of a waste since we refuse to use the stock heatsinks anyway. We recycle the xeon copper ones (won't fit in the 1u systems) and these aluminum pentium HS's as well. The money goes into the company "party fund".

I will post up more on monday if I am not too busy. I have 4 of the dell 690's with the Cintiq 21UX displays to setup and install with M$ server 2003 x64 (plus other stuff), so I may not have time on monday. I will try though.

[klingelton]

i take it the striker board is basically the intel version of the crosshair... looks to have additional cooling on the northbridge chip too.

[Produkt]

ZOMGOHT!

:D You've got a wonderful board there :D my best wishes to your modding project :D

[Airbozo]

OK,, some down time to finish posting the pics.

The OS. Notice the OEM packaging...
http://www.lotechdesigns.com/host/images/1040DSC01534.JPG

closer look
http://www.lotechdesigns.com/host/images/4447DSC01535.JPG

The drives the OS will install on (well one of them anyway the other is for data storage);
http://www.lotechdesigns.com/host/images/8661DSC01537.JPG

The drive cages removed for easy viewing and drive assembly;
http://www.lotechdesigns.com/host/images/686DSC01539.JPG

A nice little stash box for all the emergency supplies (so long as they are small and you don't mind removing the HD cage to get at it);
http://www.lotechdesigns.com/host/images/4739DSC01542.JPG

Notice the rubber grommets in the drive mounting holes;
http://www.lotechdesigns.com/host/images/9207DSC01540.JPG

...and the screws and spare grommets;
http://www.lotechdesigns.com/host/images/3835DSC01543.JPG

Since this is a black case I will need to swap the face plates on the DVD;
http://www.lotechdesigns.com/host/images/2623DSC01544.JPG

Handy dandy drive tray opener;
http://www.lotechdesigns.com/host/images/1022DSC01545.JPG

Done;
http://www.lotechdesigns.com/host/images/99DSC01547.JPG

With the mother board in and the drive tray installed you can see the close fit with the sata cables;
http://www.lotechdesigns.com/host/images/8491DSC01548.JPG

Power supply, heatsink, and video cards (did I mention I hate the intel stock coolers?);
http://www.lotechdesigns.com/host/images/7339DSC01549.JPG

The power supply mount (notice the silicon gaskets for reducing vibration);
http://www.lotechdesigns.com/host/images/1468DSC01554.JPG

...Which mounts onto this...;
http://www.lotechdesigns.com/host/images/8711DSC01555.JPG

Installed. (I am suggesting a different power supply that matches the frame color);
http://www.lotechdesigns.com/host/images/1226DSC01556.JPG

Here are the cables and stuff that came with the PS. Not sure I would ever use the pouch again, but it is nice quality...;
http://www.lotechdesigns.com/host/images/4597DSC01557.JPG

Some more pics in a few minutes. Have to call a custy and should be done in a few.

[Airbozo]

OK that was a quick call. Some users need you to spell out commands, some type ahead a screw it up and some are patient enough to let you finish before hitting a return key. The later get my attention faster and more detailed help.

OK more photo's...

Here is a shot of the new heatsink's mounting plates. Notice how close the top one is the the HS fins;
http://www.lotechdesigns.com/host/images/8236DSC01558.JPG

...and the caps underneath...;
http://www.lotechdesigns.com/host/images/2684DSC01560.JPG

Shot of the video cards. For some reason those heat sinks seem, uhm, well, WIMPY!;
http://www.lotechdesigns.com/host/images/2056DSC01564.JPG

Since the power supply is on the bottom of the case I had to route the cpu power cable under the pci-e release clips. It was a tight fit;
http://www.lotechdesigns.com/host/images/5349DSC01565.JPG

The second video card sits really close to the plate that separates the power supply from the rest of the system and the cables were tight;
http://www.lotechdesigns.com/host/images/7560DSC01567.JPG

Getting crowded at the back of the video cards...;
http://www.lotechdesigns.com/host/images/7104DSC01568.JPG

Top down with everything installed;
http://www.lotechdesigns.com/host/images/3672DSC01569.JPG

Notice the tight fit between the power supply cables and the PS compartment cooling fan;
http://www.lotechdesigns.com/host/images/31DSC01571.JPG

Shot of the side panel where some wires are routed;
http://www.lotechdesigns.com/host/images/8352DSC01573.JPG

System powered on and loaded. The middle screen is theirs. They have another on on site already and a 32" LCD as well;
http://www.lotechdesigns.com/host/images/8501DSC01581.JPG
http://www.lotechdesigns.com/host/images/5030DSC01582.JPG


So here is where things get a little screwy. We were trying to load a custom image into the bios and I screwed it up. Yes! I admit it. I loaded the wrong file size image into the bios (should never rely on others for something like this). We could not get the bios in time so we popped down to our local fry's and picked an eVGA i680 board (need that chipset for later upgrades). I was worried this board would not work well due to all the horror stories I read about the initial launch fiasco so I crossed my fingers and went to work on a transplant. SCALPEL PLEASE!

Here they are side by side;
http://www.lotechdesigns.com/host/images/3519DSC01588.JPG

...and single images for comparison;
http://www.lotechdesigns.com/host/images/5815DSC01589.JPG
http://www.lotechdesigns.com/host/images/2529DSC01590.JPG

New board installed in the system;
http://www.lotechdesigns.com/host/images/4882DSC01591.JPG

Notice the clearance... WHEW!;
http://www.lotechdesigns.com/host/images/9947DSC01593.JPG

And a shot of the final cabling mess;
http://www.lotechdesigns.com/host/images/7561DSC01594.JPG

Still had to route the cpu power cable below the pci-e release clips and I am not really happy with the cabling, but I had to let this system go since it had to be there the next day. This is the first of hopefully many of these systems so the next one will be a little different based on what we learned putting this system together.

Things I am recommending be changed;

Case. This case looks great so long as you don't actually touch it, then you feel the cheapness of it. I doubt the front door will last very long if they start burning training dvd's for clients and have to constantly open and close it.

Power supply. I just don't think it fits both visually and physically.

CPU Heat Sink. I have used this heat sink before and really have no complaints other than the fact it is sooo top heavy I am worried about it coming loose in shipping. I may come up with a simple shipping bracket to make it work.

Mother board. We originally spec'd the NON striker version of this board which was not available. We may go with that or standardize on the evga board, Now that the bios issues are mostly fixed on this board it is a good cost effective solution over the ASUS board.

Keyboard and mouse. We did not provide the input devices for this system, but the next one needs to have a high quality setup that includes media controls. We are looking into a couple of products including one made specifically for the video editing market. More on that later.

Video Cards. This system is way over powered for what it is used for. We may go with the 7600's in the production model depending on performance issues.

FireWire card. We ordered the firewire card specified by the customer because ALL ports were supposed to be powered. Turns out only one is. We need power to all ports for the cameras attached.

BTW I got the replacement bios chip within a week. NO cost since it was under warranty and because I think there was an issue with the earlier release of the software that inserts the custom graphic in the bios. They would not confirm this, but told me not to use the earlier version due to "unrelated bugs". Yeah, right... Good thing is I now have this board under my desk and hope to lay claim to it at our cost (not quite sure what that is, but I know it is at least $50 below retail)

[cbelmo159]

good job. where did you get that storage box on the side of the HDD cage?

[Airbozo]

good job. where did you get that storage box on the side of the HDD cage?

It came with the case. Not sure of it's real usefulness since you would have to remove the drive cage and hence the drives to actually use it.

[cbelmo159]

I would guess it would be used to hold left over screws.