Reader's Rig Photo Gallery

[Kayden]

I need to post up mine, but I think I will wait till I get my EK Supreme HF Rev1 (I like the looks of the oval shape better )

I had no idea what you were talking there so I had to look it up, that looks a pretty snazzy cpu water block. Defiantly have to give us a pep show when it's all said and done (c;

 

[Optix]

*reserved for when I finally get off my duff and install the Vantage C240 prototype cooler*

 

[DarkStarr]

Well I ordered the block today so I should have it hopefully by Friday at the latest, since its 2-3 day shipping I could get it Thursday possibly.

 

[Kayden]

Awesome, look forward to it. I like to run nonconductive coolant in my rig what is your preference?

Optix your just teasing us now!! (c;

 

[DarkStarr]

I run distilled with some water wetter to keep it clean. I haven't had a problem so I think it is all good

 

[Optix]

After having it in my closet for close to 6 months, it's finally installed.

Behold!

That last shot is the coolant temperature, not the CPU temperature. Under full load at 4.2Ghz it runs no warmer than 55 degrees on the hottest core. It could run cooler if I were to run the fans at 100% but even at 55 degrees, the fans do not spin up beyond the minimum because the coolant doesn't reach the throttle up temperature, plus it stays dead quiet.

 

[Kayden]

That's a sexy lookin setup. I have to admit when I first saw the case though it reminded me of the ship from The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy movie from 2005, just not use to seeing so much white. (c;

Glad to hear it is so silent, that was one of the reasons why I got the riser on my case there wasn't enough air flow with the amount of fans that I had at the time and it was causing some cavitation, opening the case helped but not particle. Then when I decided to go with the riser I decided to upgrade to the 4 fan/radiator system and get a little more heat displacement, might as well upgrade if the thing is going to be torn apart and give me a few more options down the road if I want to WC any of my other components.

How is that Killer NIC working out for you? I have considered getting one in the past but I have heard the performance gain is very marginal compared to onboard gig NICs.

 

[Optix]

Rob thinks I'm crazy but I noticed an immediate difference in Call Of Duty: Black Ops. So much so that it took me a about an hour or so to adjust my game to account for a lack of lag. My connection speed is terrible here thanks to the crappy wiring in the building so every bit helps and where processing the data is offloaded from the CPU to the NIC, there's that extra bonus considering my i3 530 isn't exactly a screamer.

The white 600T has always seemed more like...

...a scout trooper than...

...the Heart of Gold.

 

[Kayden]

I should have mentioned the interior of the ship cause that's where I was going but I got side tracked with a call from my docs nurse and my brain skipped that thought process for some reason and just moved on. Proof reading it's your friend Kayden, hehe.

I would want to try one of those Killers out my self, but I do not doubt on a low end system the benefits are beneficial. I do think that's Rob's pov is based on a high end machine like his and the benefits would be insignificant and not worth the investment, which would track with some of the reviews I have seen.

*proof read done* (c:

 

[DarkStarr]

Here are updates, they shipped me the wrong block (error somewhat in my favor):

Here is what I got in:

I know I ordered the oval 1st revision due to being $20 cheaper (Only $60 not $80) They screwed up which is fine with me.

After mounting the block and then getting in my Acrylic today I decided to make the "backplates" for my GTX 275's. The look really good, and I really need to grab a pic with normal lighting in the case rather than the flash.

I also replaced the 230/200mm fans up top with 3 120 fans to help move a bit more air.

 

[Doomsday]

awesome!!

 

[Tharic-Nar]

Be careful with the plastic... it's better known for its insulative abilities than conductive. I have a 5870 with a metal back-plate and that gets seriously hot... I presume the panel is for support more than anything; just be careful and keep an eye on it for a while. Great setup otherwise, I can't use my second card till I get a new audio card (or I live with the power of integrated audio... *shudders*). Speaking of which, I should really take some decent shots and get my build posted...

 

[Optix]

Yes, you should! Especially since I know some of what is in it...yes, you should!

 

[DarkStarr]

Well, my 275s are 55nm which apparently means they don't get very hot on the back, (hence the no stock backplates) especially since they only hit about 42C on water with the cpu now. The cpu increases from 30c at idle to 44c full load with the gpus running full power.

 

[Kayden]

Great looking setup you have there DarkStarr. Those are some nice temps and hopefully nothing changed with those back plates. Glad to hear that screw up worked in your favor though on that CPU WB, which is always nice. (c:

You should send a back plate to Optix for his VC, it would match his case. (c;

EDIT: Those look aftermarket WC blocks for your VC are they Danger Den? BFG used them for the 8800's so they look a little familiar.

 

[DarkStarr]

The blocks I have are EK WBs, got a fairly good deal on em. (if they were 280s, I could have got 2 GTX 280 EK blocks locally for $20 but they wont even remotely fit a 275)

 

[Kayden]

That sucks! The 295 is a heat monster my bro just put a water block on his after Q&A me for like 2 weeks on how to do it right, for some reason he is using that as a phsyx card and run his 3rd monitor, I told him to do it as a joke and he took me seriously. I told him it was too much with 2 580's in there but he got a 1500 watt and said forget it I'm doin it anyways.

I understand he want's to run 3 monitors but they are all different sizes, he could have saved the cash for 295 WB and get 3 alike monitors and run them all together and saved some some electricity while he was at it. I don't understand him and he's my twin! Thank god I don't have to pay that power bill. Also he needs to learn how to do a little thing called cable management, pic below of his machine explains it all. /c:

 

[DarkStarr]

wow..... tell him... BUY A NEW CASE!!!! Right now XD oh and tell him, that 295 is a giant waste, its like running a 260 for physX since is a dual gpu and as such is clocked lower and only one gpu can be used for physX.

 

[Kayden]

I know right! I have told him to change his case but he is in love with his Thermaltake he bought like 9 years ago. I have no idea why, he will not part with the thing but to each his own and you can't argue with crazy, and that's crazy.

I plan on using a 9600 (since I have one laying around) myself for Phsyx when I get a 1500w, but that's going to happen after the monitors and stand. This is also dependent on other devs picking up Phsyx and using it more in their games, no point in spending the money on more hardware and power if the games won't support it down the line. I did tell him that btw about only using one side of the 295 for the Phsyx so it is a huge waist of energy to have that in there he should just go buy a 240/250 or something, but again I don't pay the elec bill.

There are only 2 other upgrades I am going to do and that is going with a PCIE soundcard (haven't decided which one yet) and going to 12gb of ram Corsair GT. There is a 3rd I am considering and that's going with the 6 core i7.

 

[Doomsday]

Hooly shittballs! Snakes in a Mo**er F***in' chassis!!