Project of the Day : New Computer

[shilala]

Fixed it. I used the fourth onboard video setting, got some artifacting on my old lcd monitor, hit the auto settings button on the monitor, and there ya go.
It never gets old, does it, boys?

[shilala]

Originally Posted by JE3146

Interesting choice with the dual PSU setup

With the mobo and the six core on the one psu and all the peripherals on the other, neither psu will ever even get warm.
It makes a lot more sense than a single 1000w or 1500w psu, and the price is right. It may not be a straight out of the box solution, but everything lasts longer. It's worth a little messing around and soldering.
Another thing it's good for is that there's tons of connectors. It makes wire management easier and makes a much cleaner job when it's done.
If I decide to go to xfire later, it's not a problem, either. It just leaves tons of expandability.
The only reason I haven't done it in the past is because of the lack of dual psu compatible cases on the market. The stuff that's out there now is simply awesome and never-ending. I could sure waste tons of money.

[jmsremax]

Damn.....nice setup. I dont think Ive ever seen a PC with dual psus.

[BlindedByScience]

Looks like a great system, but I've got to tell you, after many years at the custom PC game, I don't even start to load an OS on the system until I get some basic reliability testing done.

If I were you, I'd download and burn a copy of the Ultimate Boot CD. It's free, and it will make you a bootable CD for your new system. Before I even go for an OS load, I run a minimum of:

- Memtest86+, for at least 12 and usually 24 hours. At the end of the run, "No Errors" is the only acceptable answer.
- The manufacturer's "long" diagnostic on every hard drive in the system....twice. Again, "No Errors" is the only acceptable answer.

The UBCD has lots of other burn in tests that a guy can run, but those two are my "golden minimum". I can't tell you how many hours I've saved by those two simple steps....my

Good luck and have fun - N.F.H.

[Apoco]

That is some sexy technology
Posted via Mobile Device

[shilala]

Originally Posted by NotFromHere

Looks like a great system, but I've got to tell you, after many years at the custom PC game, I don't even start to load an OS on the system until I get some basic reliability testing done.

If I were you, I'd download and burn a copy of the Ultimate Boot CD. It's free, and it will make you a bootable CD for your new system. Before I even go for an OS load, I run a minimum of:

- Memtest86+, for at least 12 and usually 24 hours. At the end of the run, "No Errors" is the only acceptable answer.
- The manufacturer's "long" diagnostic on every hard drive in the system....twice. Again, "No Errors" is the only acceptable answer.

The UBCD has lots of other burn in tests that a guy can run, but those two are my "golden minimum". I can't tell you how many hours I've saved by those two simple steps....my

Good luck and have fun - N.F.H.

I used to use the Ultimate Boot, I'm surprised it's still around. I know lots of guys swore by it. It never cost me anything but time, and I've long since abandoned it (prior to 05, iirc).
If I was building a whole rack of rigs, it'd probably appeal to me more. I know I built a lot of Barton rigs when I was using it, and there was a specific reason I used it, maybe it had to do with that core?
Anymore I'd just as soon get windows in, get all my components in, then run tests. That way "real world" problems will show up, too.

I quit doing this stuff for lots of years. This build is reminding me why.
My wife used to build computers way back when, and when I was telling her about all the goofy problems I had so far she said "that's why I'd just as soon buy a factory box".

I got seven years out of my last build until I decided to upgrade, and it'll last a lot more years once I clean it up and shake it down. It'll still be reasonably tight, and a good, stable, powerful rig. This one will likely remain problem free for a good ten years without me thinking of an upgrade. I think that's worth the trouble.

[shilala]

I should say, I went up to 11TB of storage, thanks to Jordan. I had a couple 1.5TB platters, and decided to use them.
I just partitioned a boot sector and I'll just be happy with that.
I'll see how it plays, and if I don't like it, I'll switch to a 300GB boot drive.

Windows is loading, so it won't be long till I can take this thing for a spin around the block.

[RevSmoke]

A fire-breathing dragon there, ouch! Never tried such a thing, putting my own together. Don't even want to try.

You are a much braver man than I.

Peace of the Lord be with you.

[shilala]

Don't be afraid, Todd. The toughest part is buying the right pieces. That's maddening. After that it's easy.

[Eleven]

Originally Posted by RevSmoke

A fire-breathing dragon there, ouch! Never tried such a thing, putting my own together. Don't even want to try.

You are a much braver man than I.

Peace of the Lord be with you.

Putting together your own PC is one thing, what he is doing is NOT indicative of just 'building a pc'.

[Bill86]

Yeah Scott just went all out

It's much better to build your own PC. It's almost VERY self explanatory. You'll either save lots of $$$ or have a twice if not three times as good PC by doing it yourself.

Coming along nice Scott

Glad you like the tower.

[J0eybb]

Originally Posted by Bill86

Yeah Scott just went all out

It's much better to build your own PC. It's almost VERY self explanatory. You'll either save lots of $$$ or have a twice if not three times as good PC by doing it yourself.

Coming along nice Scott

Glad you like the tower.

Or you have a giant paper weight

[shilala]

Welp, Windows files on that 1.5TB EcoDrive have been expanding for 3 hours and are only at 79%. I'm not happy with that, so it's coming out.
I'm going to format this 300GB I have and use it for my boot. I'll format it and change the volume from dynamic to basic on this machine, then swap it out. Odds are, I'll be looking at the same thing, though.
Without the proper ide controller drivers in there, it may just be the speed I'm gonna be looking at until I get that done.
I'm glad I talked that out. lol
I'll get that 300GB ready and just let the install finish up on the new rig. Once I get the new drivers in, I'll see if I can live with 1.5TB as my boot. Doesn't look good, but I suppose it's best to wait it out and go from there, right?

[shilala]

Originally Posted by Bill86

Coming along nice Scott

Glad you like the tower.

I absolutely love it, Bill. I'm so glad you pointed them out. I'd have probably bought Antec or Lian Li, otherwise. I could not be more pleased with this case. The only way it could be any better is if there was another 3/4" behind the slide-out mobo tray to chase wires. Don't get me wrong, there's plenty of room back there (which is brilliant thinking on their part), but another inch would allow a guy to mod it real heavy and do all kinds of wacky sh1t.
As is, I give it at least a 10/10.

[shilala]

Got her all running, OS loaded, drivers in, it's doing great. Just finished up wire management, what a pain.
Now I have to move it to my desk. That'll be awful.
Anyways, a couple pics till I can get good "done" shots...

[Apoco]

Originally Posted by shilala

Got her all running, OS loaded, drivers in, it's doing great. Just finished up wire management, what a pain.
Now I have to move it to my desk. That'll be awful.
Anyways, a couple pics till I can get good "done" shots...

image1

image2

Jeeeeeez! That thing is bigger than some of my friends' apartments!

And well done with the cabling. It always makes me sad to see a custom built PC with cables everywhere to where it looks like the computer vomitted in itself.
Posted via Mobile Device

[shilala]

Thanks Alex. I've seen some rigs that kids built that are amazingly awful. They used to have "ugliest computer" contests at anandtech.com, and some of the stuff was truly scary.

I got the new rig to my desk and it's all hooked up. Now it's just all software and getting stuff to work right. I'm tweaking and she'll run at 4.0ghz easy, all six cores. That's insane.
I can't get all my monitors to work yet. They'd probably start working faster if I actually tried to fix it. I'm too busy updating drivers and utilities to bother with it just yet.

[shilala]

I finally finished the new build today.
I wanted to run three monitors and I had a shortage of analog outs, so I went and got a new 23" widescreen samsung that was on closeout. It was that or add another video card, and that would have cost just as much.
So the whole deal is done. <balloons and a parade>
As soon as I clean up the pigsty that is my desk, I'll post some proper pics.
I still don't have Photoshop loaded on here either, so that's another problem.
I'll eventually have my rig reloaded with all my software, I just haven't been working here much. I'm sure it'll wait till I get back.

One other thing...
Surprisingly, I'm enjoying Windows 7 Professional. It just plain works. No muss, no fuss. I was worried I'd want to go back to XP, but it hadn't even crossed my mind till now. Lisa has been using 7 for quite awhile, if I can't find something I ask her. She's been a big help.

I may have a few more kinks to wrangle out. I need to get the Spyder out and calibrate my monitors, and I need to get a new non-kidproof plugbar/surge protector. The one I have is ridiculous. Aside from that, all is well.
Thanks again for everyone's input!!!

[Apoco]

Originally Posted by shilala

I finally finished the new build today.
I wanted to run three monitors and I had a shortage of analog outs, so I went and got a new 23" widescreen samsung that was on closeout. It was that or add another video card, and that would have cost just as much.
So the whole deal is done. <balloons and a parade>
As soon as I clean up the pigsty that is my desk, I'll post some proper pics.
I still don't have Photoshop loaded on here either, so that's another problem.
I'll eventually have my rig reloaded with all my software, I just haven't been working here much. I'm sure it'll wait till I get back.

One other thing...
Surprisingly, I'm enjoying Windows 7 Professional. It just plain works. No muss, no fuss. I was worried I'd want to go back to XP, but it hadn't even crossed my mind till now. Lisa has been using 7 for quite awhile, if I can't find something I ask her. She's been a big help.

I may have a few more kinks to wrangle out. I need to get the Spyder out and calibrate my monitors, and I need to get a new non-kidproof plugbar/surge protector. The one I have is ridiculous. Aside from that, all is well.
Thanks again for everyone's input!!!

Sounds fantastic! And Windows7 is freaking awesome. With professional you can always run a program in XP compatability as well. That has saved my hide on a couple of old games.
Posted via Mobile Device

[shilala]

I just backed up one of my movies.
With the dual burner setup, it took 13:02 to read/burn, start to finish. If I get another LG, that'll come down to around 10 minutes. I'm shocked, to say the least.