Virtual Rig a Reality! (Not 56k friendly)

Follow-up thread of "Virtual Rig Complete." Here is the hardware configuration:

[Motherboard] GIGABYTE GA-EP45-DS3R Intel P45 Core 2 Quad/Core 2 Extreme/Core 2 Duo/Pentium/Pentium Extreme Socket 775 1600 MHz PC2-9600 (DDR2-1200) ATX ($129.99)
[RAM] G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1000 (PC2 8000) Dual Channel Kit ($91.98)
[CPU] Intel Core 2 Quad Q9450 Yorkfield 2.66GHz 12MB L2 Cache LGA 775 95W Quad-Core ($279.99)
[Case] Cooler Master RC-690-KKN1-GP Cooler Master 690 No P/S ($60.03)
[PSU] Corsair Memory CMPSU-750TX 750W TX750W ATX12V ($77.87)
[CPU Waterblock] D-TEK FuZion v2 ($59.99 + $3.99 + $9 = $72.98)
[VGA Heatsink] Accelero S1 Rev. 2 ($25.95)
[Heatsink Fans] Turbo Module ($7.99)
[Video Card] VisionTek 900241 Radeon HD 4850 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported ($169.99)
[Case Fans] YATE LOON 120mm Case Fan - D12SL-12 ($3.20 * 3 = $9.60)
[Controller] Logitech 963326-0403 Cordless RumblePad 2 USB ($38.94)

Total Cost w/ Shipping w/o MIR: $1094.82
Total Cost w/ Shipping w/ MIR: $1054.82
Mailed in all rebates in time? Yes


RAM, Controller, Video Card










Power supply





Comment: Fancy covering for the PSU! D:




Three Yates 120mm Fans





CPU





Comment: Wow, technology has certainly improved since the SocketA days!


Turbo Fans for VGA Heatsink





Motherboard







Case



Comment: Lot's of screws! I later realized that I didn't have any motherboard mounting screws, so I just took some from the case (maybe those were intended as mounting screws?). Worked perfectly fine.



Putting the parts together

Comment: I installed it in upside-down. I had to take it out and install it right-side up.

Comment: See?


Comment: Card isn't as long as I thought it'd be.


Comment: I had to have my brother's 750GB Seagate Barracuda RMA'd to NewEgg because the plastic covering the power pins on his harddrive broke off and got stuck inside the power plug from my PSU. Either cheap plastic or a very tight plug! I think it was cheap plastic. :\ I still have to get the plastic out of my plug somehow.


Up and running!




Water cooling leakage incident during install (Click here for thread about this.)





Comment: This is what popped off by the way. I later found that specifically this short tube in the whole water cooling system was an eighth of an inch bigger than all the other hoses! I wonder why my cousin did that. D: I replaced it with a stronger 1/2" hose later on.




Comment: That's the amount of solution (coolant+distilled water) I had remaining in the water cooling system that I could get out after cleaning up the spillage. Hardly enough to fill the system.

Comment: This is the setup I will / am using. I presetup the whole system so that the hose angling would be at their most optimal position to produce the least amount of hassle, bending, and potential breaking/pop-offs.


Comment: Testing the system for leakage. Somehow I got it "untangled" from the presetup I had, and since I'm not good with illusions or puzzles...had a wonderful time trying to figure out how to put it back into that positon! (Sarcasm intended.) Dad figured out the illusion for me. X_x



Assembly complete


Comment: Tight but perfect fit. Makes absolutely no contact with the HD4850, but temperatures are slightly (if not quite) affected by the HD4850's temperature range (idle and stress) of 70C to 79C. Mainly adds warmth to the closest portion of the radiator, and of course, some of the tubing (but the tubing probably doesn't get anywhere near as warm). The only hot component is the video card; the components around or near that don't make contact are either warm or slightly warm. Not enough to produce any ill effects or damages in my opinion.




Assembly complete (New as of 8/11/2008 @ 12:28AM -6GMT)

Comment: Clean room!







Overclocking
Right now I have the CPU clocked at 3.2GHz (8x400) with the VCore voltage set to auto. 3.4GHz wasn't stable enough, but that's probably because I didn't set a VCore value or didn't set it high enough. I'm planning to try bring it back up to 3.4GHz or around 3.52GHz as soon as I get my VGA Heatsink and install it onto my HD4850. I get rather decent "overall" temperatures, and the CPU seems to like hanging around 100F or around 38C. Each core has a varying temperature, but they seem to be around 40C to 50C depending on the core and whatever condition it is that determines those temperatures.

Comment: By the way, I think the temperatures it shows specifically for HDD and CPU are fake. The temperatures shown for each core I think is legit though.


Comments
I can run Oblivion at maximum settings with natural environments mod (vegetation at 200%) and with the advanced water mod at a 1024x768 with a decent framerate from 45 to 60+ for the most part. Default Oblivion it will run perfectly on maximized settings @ 1024x768. Also runs PCSX2 (PlayStation2 Emulator) at more than fullspeed for Zone of the Enders, and about or almost fullspeed for Zone of the Enders: The 2nd Runner (both produced by Hideo Kojima, producer of the Metal Gear Solid series). I can run GTR2 at maxed out settings on 1024x768 without detecting any chugging or lagging anywhere (so it must be well above 60). I can run Fraps on PCSX2 with a nice framerate of at least 45 -- but I think I was doing this with 3 Gb/s operations on my SATA-II disabled to 1.5 Gb/s SATA-I. I can also run PlasmaPong at 1024x768 with maximized settings and excellent framerates. To unpack an 83MB KGB archive that is 11GB extracted would take about 100 hours rather than several thousands on my old Socket A system (which you can find some old specs for at http://www.hlrse.net/Qwerty/systeminfo). Other than these I haven't really thrown too much at my rig to test it's capabilities. >.<

I have to reinstall XP from scratch anyway because the Pro Student Edition is a piece of **** compared to my regular Pro version, and this time it will be XP64 instead of running off the old 32-bit architecture. I tried Vista for some hours through VMWare, and it's the GUI that killed me more than anything, which is why I won't use Vista (and image you can find that I put together and posted in http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1331917 would be located HERE; those hinder me from using Vista). More pictures are to come once my VGA Heatsink arrives. I wonder how I'll fit that in there.. :\ I'm sure I'll figure out a way. :]

My rig weighs a hefty 45 pounds and is to weigh a couple or few pounds more in the near future with the VGA heatsink. I don't mind hauling this around (it's heavier than my Socket A machine).

By the way, here's a Zone of the Enders wallpaper I put together thanks to this new rig (I couldn't run PCSX2 on my old machine):


I spent around 3+ hours just writing this post up.


Special Thanks
I must present my gratitude to bassballboy, Cloud15x, Danny Bui, enginurd, farfromhome, gigaxtreme1, thore and tiraides for a tremendous amount of help. Others include commissioneranthony, LstOfTheBrunnenG, TheOneUnibagger, tzk. Thanks guys! This configuration would not have been produced without your help and influence!

Geez, that's a ton of pics.

Nice work! Oh and you're welcome.

I'm happy that it's working out so well.

Glad I could be of service, and thanks for rewarding us with lots of nice photos.

glad to see it all survived, have fun, thats one hell of a rig you got there.

i see one small thing, watch that hose clamp after your T, the one sitting right on your vid card, i would hate to see it short out that nice card... ( stratigicly placed scotch tape can fix this)

Wow, my Lcd was put to the test today! 1024x768 res gateway monitor on my old school compaq pc. Those are some nice pictures BTW. Good luck with your new pc.
Feel free to invite your friends over and show them your new pc, let them drool all they want.
Glad I could help

i see one small thing, watch that hose clamp after your T, the one sitting right on your vid card, i would hate to see it short out that nice card... ( stratigicly placed scotch tape can fix this)

Click to expand...

Might electric tape work better? Perhaps I could mend together a layer of electric tape to sit on top of the backface of the card.

EDIT :: Actually that has a hose clamp on it now, picture is just a bit outdated. I 'lost' my last hose clamp after buying 2 more from Lowes, and then found it in my pocket remembering that I had taken one with me to Lowes just incase I needed visual aide.

Ooohh, even unboxing pics! Nice build. It looks like you need a bigger case, though, lol. Thanks for the pics, and your welcome.

wow, now you just need to upgrade your monitor

Congrats on your new rig! Lots of pictures.


Your cat looks pretty snug, must be relieved you finished your build.

Which box did the cat come in?

Jonnycat99 said:

Which box did the cat come in?

Click to expand...

The "litter" box! LOL

Cerulean said:

Might electric tape work better? Perhaps I could mend together a layer of electric tape to sit on top of the backface of the card.

EDIT :: Actually that has a hose clamp on it now, picture is just a bit outdated. I 'lost' my last hose clamp after buying 2 more from Lowes, and then found it in my pocket remembering that I had taken one with me to Lowes just incase I needed visual aide.

Click to expand...

actually, i was thinking scotch tape because you only need to insulate slightly more than the part that has the potintial of touching the card, by using clear scotch tape, it could remain unseen, you would only need about a 3/4" piece wraped on the bottom of the clamp. Electrical tape usually leaves a gummy residue im not fond of, where as scotch tape, has a chance of falling off after a year or two, if you upgrade the way most of the people on this forum upgrade, you will endup replacing the tape a few times over do to upgrades befor it ever has a chance of falling off on its own. as for electrical conductance, any barrior will do, use thicker tapes if the case sees alot of movement, or just check it for signs of damage befor powering on after a move.