My New Rig

Asher · October 1, 2003, 02:40

Athlon 64 3200+ @ 2100MHz (2000MHz stock)

Radeon 9800 Pro @ 420MHz (380MHz stock)

1GB OCZ Platinum DDR SDRAM (CAS 2)

ASUS K8V Deluxe

SoundBlaster Audigy 2

Dual 120GB SerialATA Seagate Barracuda 7200.7 HDs (8MB cache) in RAID 0 format (doubles reading/writing speeds)

Antec Sonata ultra-quiet case with piano-black finish

Zalman videocard heatpipe cooler with noiseless fan (20dB)

Zalman CPU cooler (20dB)

16x DVD-ROM

52x/24x/52x CD-RW

Not only is this machine insanely fast, but it's also noiseless. The only noise you can hear from it is when a CD or DVD drive spins, and the muffled clunking of the HD when things are saved.

It overclocks very well: The Radeon 9800 Pro can hit 486MHz core (380MHz stock) and 720MHz RAM (680MHz stock) before artifacts start showing. The Athlon 64 hits 2140MHz (2000MHz stock), and the RAM hits ~430MHz (400 stock), at CAS 2 timings.

And image of the outside of the case is attached. They don't do it justice (the flash mostly ruins it): those blue LEDs on the front are actually designed like a car's headlights, with a reflective, curved back, but aimed towards the ground mostly. At night it illuminates floor all the way across my room with a gorgeous blue light.

The metallic thing between the LEDs rolls up, where it has 2 USB 2.0 ports, 1 FireWire port, and an audio out/line in jack.

Asher · October 1, 2003, 02:41

Inside.

Note: I plan to clean up the wires now that it all works.

Was a bit hasty in the install.

Inverse Icarus · October 1, 2003, 02:44

sick box. you do a lot of lanning? how much does it weigh?

Asher · October 1, 2003, 02:45

I don't do LANing (or at least where I need to lug my computer). It weighs a ton, the case is actually steel, not aluminum like most are these days.

ixnay · October 1, 2003, 02:47

As I've stated before, me and my old system are jealous of this >:(

H Tower · October 1, 2003, 02:47

what was the price for her?

Asher · October 1, 2003, 02:50

Quote:

Originally posted by H Tower
what was the price for her?

~$2700CDN, including tax and shipping on some of the components, or $2000US.

Zopperoni · October 1, 2003, 03:07

Quote:

Originally posted by Asher
Was a bit hasty in the install.

Bit hasty with the picture as well? =)

It took me some time to notice it was upside down =)

Looks very nice though; I hope all the heat disappears quickly enough through one outtake fan.

Asher · October 1, 2003, 03:16

Yes, hasty with the picture as well.

Heat isn't a problem, the box has been running for two days straight now and the CPU is currently at 36C (and this is overclocked to 2100MHz), while the video card heatsink isn't even warm to the touch.

The outtake fan is 120mm rather than 80mm, so that helps too.

"ANTEC" is spelled on the side of the case with a bunch of holes, conveniently right above the AGP and CPU sockets, so most of that hot air just goes right out the side rather than needing an exhaust fan.

Harovan · October 1, 2003, 03:17

Nice box. What a pity, that WinXP will consume most of its performance.

Zopperoni · October 1, 2003, 03:19

120? It looked like 92 to me, but yea, that's cool, you've almost approached Pentium-level temperatures =)

(Mine's running 30ºC right now, but I just turned it on thirty minutes ago.)

Asher · October 1, 2003, 03:21

I can turn up the fan on the CPU cooler to 2400rpm (it's at 1400rpm right now), which brings the CPU temp down to 31-32C, but it's also audible. It's still NOTHING compared to most of the fans I've heard (still way quieter than the Dells we have in the house), but not as nice as the noiseless 1400rpm that does the job well.

The Mad Monk · October 1, 2003, 03:24

So...are you going to re-install that Zalman fan right side up?

Asher · October 1, 2003, 03:25

Other cool things I love about this case:

Hard Drives are mounted sideways! All of my other cases I've always had to somehow slide in the drive from the "inside" of the case towards the front. Now I just snap it in from the side, much easier.

All of the drivebays utilize rails to connect: You pop out the bay cover, remove the two rails attached to its' back, and screw those into the side of the drive. Then you just push it into the computer, and it securely snaps into place. Voila. Hard Drives work the same way.

The drives all have rubber mount things to prevent vibration noise.

Washable air filter at the front.

Asher · October 1, 2003, 03:26

Quote:

Originally posted by The Mad Monk
So...are you going to re-install that Zalman fan right side up?

No.

That is rightside up, for whatever reason the label is on upside down. I could disassemble it and fix it, but I don't care enough -- it's inside the case.

Zopperoni · October 1, 2003, 03:30

I see you also didn't bother installing a diskette drive.

Asher · October 1, 2003, 03:32

Actually, I did. But only because I had to. I originally didn't buy one, and was installing Windows XP.

I use a SATA RAID, which wasn't around when WinXP first came out, so it required a third party RAID driver. And the only way to give it the third party RAID driver was to use a floppy.

So I went down and begrugingly bought a $20 black floppy and put it in. I think that'll be the only time I'll ever need to use it.

Damn Microsoft.

Zopperoni · October 1, 2003, 03:37

$ 20?! Dang, those things are expensive.

I got three for free from the guy who repairs the computers at the University of Amsterdam. They were old drives that no-one used anymore, but they still work.

H Tower · October 1, 2003, 03:52

$20? You paid triple the cost of an expensive one.

Asher · October 1, 2003, 03:59

$20CDN, and I went to the closest store because I wanted to install Windows and play with my toy!

Gangerolf · October 1, 2003, 04:16

Zopperoni · October 1, 2003, 04:49

Quote:

Originally posted by Asher
$20CDN, and I went to the closest store because I wanted to install Windows and play with my toy!

Couldn't you taken one out of the other computers in the house? =)

Urban Ranger · October 1, 2003, 04:50

Nice rig.

The only thing I will do different is to use an Ultra320 RAID at mode 5.

These days though I have graduated to clusters.

Q Classic · October 1, 2003, 07:40

it's nice, but mine's still better.

not in any specification sense, but because it's mine.

Kassiopeia · October 1, 2003, 08:05

Great case, I have an Antec Sonata myself (but the insides are radically different, my box cost about half of what yours did). The only real source of noise is the fan on the motherboard chipset, and the drives of course. The HD placement is neat, although it did get a bit tricky to cram all the cables in, and I almost nicked one of the IDE cables on a sharp edge.

I wonder though if the hard drive slots get enough cooling? My own HDD feels a tad too warm. I'd rather not install another fan in the chassis.

I didn't get a floppy drive at all, I did have to update the BIOS without installing an OS but I managed by pulling the cables from the new box to my old box's floppy drive (I couldn't remove it, damn that old noisy beige crate).

Stuie · October 1, 2003, 09:06

I just built a system with an Antec case. They are very nice. Quiet, too. And for the first time ever, my wife said: "Wow. That's a nice looking computer case."

Nice system, Asher. I had to build mine for about 2/5 of what you spent, so mine is a bit slower.

Datajack Franit · October 1, 2003, 09:12

My, I can't imagine how is it possible to throw in the garbage 2000 $ for a computer that will last at most 5 years before getting obsolete.. not that I wouldn't want it

Just a question: during which period of the year are the new processors expected to come out and put down prices of the old ones? December-January?

SpencerH · October 1, 2003, 09:14

Quote:

Originally posted by Asher
Other cool things I love about this case:

Hard Drives are mounted sideways! All of my other cases I've always had to somehow slide in the drive from the "inside" of the case towards the front. Now I just snap it in from the side, much easier.

All of the drivebays utilize rails to connect: You pop out the bay cover, remove the two rails attached to its' back, and screw those into the side of the drive. Then you just push it into the computer, and it securely snaps into place. Voila. Hard Drives work the same way.

The drives all have rubber mount things to prevent vibration noise.

Washable air filter at the front.

One of my cases has the same features, its very handy. Congrats on the new machine, you lucky bastard. Just how do you continue to afford these new toys anyway?

Tiberius · October 1, 2003, 09:16

What do you need all that power for?

Q Classic · October 1, 2003, 09:18

my, i can't imagine how it is possible to throw in the garbage 60000 $ for a car that will depreciate and lose over half of its value in at most 5 years..

and i don't want it.

at least with an old comp, you can cannibalize its parts or shift its purpose elsewhere: gateway server, or file server, or stress reliever...