Beast is Built!!

I did it!

Bought my bits and built my pooter :-D

Figured I'd post this in here instead of hardware for a reason I'm not sure of, but I've had maybe 2 hours sleep... maybe thats why :-D

So new PC.

Antec Nine Hundred Case
Rosewill Lightening Seies 800W 80+ Gold Cert
Asus Sabertooth 990FX
AMD Phenom II X6 1100T 3.1 (3.7 Turbo Charged)
Zalman 9900NT Heatsink/125mm fan
2x 4GB G-Skill Ripjaw DDR3 1600
Saphire Radeon HD4890 Vapor X 2GB (my old card but it's still up there with the best)
Sentry 2 digital touch screen fan controller :-D

Win 7 ultimate 64 bit

This thing is awesome, I'll post some pics when I get the chance, it's all pretty lighty colours :-D

Only issue I had was fitting the heatsink, it's retardedly huge and getting my hands in around it to fit it was a nightmare, missed the CPU a couple of times and then missed the AMD clip slot and got it stuck (panic set in and pretty much opened up my fingers in an attempt to save it.... which I did
Not overly confident about the old AMD clip holding this heatsink, it's heavy heavy and my old simple heatsink snapped the AMD clip, this is nearly 3x bigger and heavier, so I'm a little nervy. Any simple ideas for switching the AMD clip system for screw in would be muchly appreciated

The Sentry fan controller is very nice, works well too although I havn't yet set the temp sensors. Not sure where I want them yet.

Basically I'm stoked as hell because in all the years I been messing with this stuff it's the first time I havn't had to cheap out and finally I have a PC worthy of my attention :-D

 

I don't understand this 'clip' that you're talking about as there is a backplate included to remove the strain relief from the clips by being screwed in.:confused You may shed some more blood before this is over.

Hehehe on christening your PC with blood ATT.:-D Been there, done that!

Congrats on the new monster!:drink

 

This is the Heatsink.

http://di1-4.shoppingshadow.com/ima...ch+zalman+cnps9900max+r+cooling+fan+heats.jpg

And this is the AMD clip that sits through the middle of the HS, hook on 1 side and spring clip on the other.

http://www.anycallstar.com/item/com...90NT/Zalman_Cpu_Cooler_CNPS9900NT_parts_4.jpg

This is the connecting plate...

http://www.btecanada.com/images/amd-retention-bracket.jpg

Hope that clarifies

But you see what I mean, the HS is long and heavy and there is a lot of pressure on that bracket.

 

Yes but that bracket or some such similar should be mounted on the backside of the mobo. I agree that a 1.5 lb. HS/F puts a lot of strain on the clips, that's why there's a rear bracket. Did you screw the cooler in?

I was looking at this cooler. The rear bracket should have screws that go through the standard holes to the front side of the mobo or vice versa. I don't have that particular cooler but they're all similar in spreading the strain over a larger area of the mobo.

 

Thanks Laura... I kind of pissed off the boy and missus this morning when I grunted at them when they said good morning.... and then walked over to my new love and kissed her and said "Good morning sweetheart" :-D

@Auggie.... I think we are misunderstanding one another. The piece that broke last time was the small hook that the clip hooks onto , it actually snapped and the HS fell onto my graphics card, I was very lucky it didn't fry the whole thing.
While this is rare it HAS happened to me so I'm a little nervous of it now.

And yes, that is the HS in your link. I wanted the one you suggested , the H-50 but nowhere had it in stock without paying retarded shipping costs.

Basically what I would like to do is fit the HS via screws rather than clip, like Intel HS's. I havn't looked into it, I just thought I'd mention it while I was here lol

 

I'd luv to know the Windows Experience Index (WEI) scores on your rig. :-D :major :wave
Has anyone ever achieved 7.9 in all 5 categories? :cool

Bazza

 

CPU 7.5
RAM 7.5
Graphics 7.6
Gaming Graphics 7.6
HDD 5.9

Unfortunately I cheaped out on a HDD, got a Barracuda 7200 6GB/s SATA. I'll be getting something more substantial in the new year but for now this HDD will do.
Also remember both CPU and GPU are currently set at standard, I can clock the crap out of both of them :-D

Playing AvP maxed out with flawless (and I DO mean flawless) frame rate my card got upto 72C, using my little fan control I brought it down to..... ready.... 49C !!! :strong
Pretty loud though :-D

 

Thanks Ned. :cool or maybe that should be :dood

Bazza

 

Classic hard drives never go above 5.9, you need an SSD to get higher. Which of cours begs the question, when are you getting one?

 

You have no idea how close I was :-D
But at current prices it just seemed crazy for the amount of space you get.

I just ran a test, although not the test I wanted but next best thing... Crysis 2 ultra'd, ran like a dream. I wanted to throw in Crysis but for some reason it wont read, maybe wait for that to go on sale on Steam :-D
Got Empire Total War on the way in from Steam, interested to see how that is... and if they have fixed anything yet lol

Having some teething problems with Catalyst CC scaling keeps reseting, but I'm working on that.
Oh and my damn optical drive keeps getting stuck, I think the drawer is catching inside.

Otherwise so far so good

 

Just out of curiosity i ran mine and was a bit surprised that my ram did not reach 7.9.

 

Nice one Ed,my GTX590 came this morning just waiting for the water block now,I'll start a thread in hardware when it comes rather than steal your thunder and try to pop it like others have done:-D

It looks like my I7 mount point,for an experiment I installed my old thermalright XP90 onto my I7 using screws through the motherboard just for kick it performs 3C cooler than the stock intel heatsink for anyone who's interested so it wasn't really worth the hassle:-D

The sink uses a bracket using four springy clips,I can see on the plastic mounting bracket you also have four holes and also four clips for a similar bracket,so you'll need to install the springy bracket from your heatsink accessories 'prolly for intel' then make four brackets to clip the heatsink and screw them down through the motherboard using screws "M4 machine screws I believe" and use rubber washers at the back,I used 1/2 inch washers from taps available from plumbers merchants, to protect the motherboard,I made the brackets from small 90 degree shelving brackets.

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b214/Rikky_/DSCF2518.jpg

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b214/Rikky_/DSCF2519.jpg

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b214/Rikky_/DSCF2522.jpg

The last picture shows the bracket best.

 

Good one! :-D

I really have to look into water cooling, maybe next year.

Well installed Empire TW over night. Fired her up this morning, set everything to Ultra with 8xAA and 16xAS and everything checked...Maxed out.
Ran a Naval Battle, you know how they made each individual wave have it's own physics so it cripples anything under a quad core?
Not even a stutter. Perfect.
Next I will be interested to see how it performs when I have a shed load of regions and naval units on the map, obviously going to take a couple of days to get there :-D

So yeah, very happy with it, especially for how it cost me. $967 I think was the final total including shipping UPS under 36 hours from New Jersey to Ontario.

Anyway, I took a couple of pics, I think I really need to paint or polish the inside of my case.
Also having some issues on where to put the fan filters, I want them easy access which it is NOT behind those grills. I also have to cut off the top corner of the side fan because the Heat Sink uses some of the fans space :-D

 

Wow, Someone actually bought that Heat sink! I never thought I'd see one actually in a rig.

 

lol, yeah it's pretty big, that is the 120mm fan, there's a 135mm one too :-D
That sits approx 1 inch from the side case which is about 1/4 inch too close for the side fan.
It was a nightmare to install as I said earlier but just the size to handle reguardless of anything else lol

Is working really well so far though, once I got it seated properly because it moves when you lift the case from laying to standing lol
But once it's there it's fine and all sensors are showing temps within 1C of each other and around the 34C mark which I'm really pleased with.

Want to run 3D mark on it some time, right now..... I have a world to dominate! :strong

 

I wasn't being sarcastic:-D Damn am I that much of a dick :-o

How did you manage to install the heatsink then? I was really tryna help not using your thread as an excuse to post pictures of my heatsink 'seriously I'm not being sarcastic.'

I shouldn't have mentioned my GTX590 coming really so I apologise for that.

Looks sweet,that heatsink is a monster! heatsinks like that are why I've held out so long on water too,took 10-12 years for me to order my first.

 

Nice Pics. I wish I had the cash to put some stuff in my rig.

 

Nice build, but some wire management is in order. That is one nasty tangle of cables. :-D

 

Ditto. Real 'busy' inside that case, reduces air flow but it doesn't seem to hamper your temps with that monster. Do you have a rectangle cut in the metal to the right of your PSU where you could route the cables by the back?

http://forums.majorgeeks.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=142593&d=1280616168

http://forums.majorgeeks.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=144670&d=1283198182

 

lol, Rikky in all the posts here you have never offended me.
The "Good one" comment was actually me extracting the Michael out of you
I figured the "Nice one Ed" was you missing the N and capitalising the E.

As for others rigs, I'm fully aware what you guys are running for the most part and love hering and seeing what others are doing.

You worry too much lol

@Fred + Auggie... Yeah Cable management is a tricky one in that case, due to the front fan housing tunnels, there is nothing behind the 2 front fans.... well there are cables lol
The HDD sits right under the touch screen slot.
Admittedly I could have done a better job than that but by the time I was at that build poiint it was already 2AM and I just wanted to get her up and running.
I have a week off starting the 13th (funny how I got that 2 days after Skyrim is released ... pure coincidence I swear :-D
But I still have some things I want to do inside, better cable routing is one of them. Also the majority of the mess you see is the Touch screen cables, 14 cables in total are perma-connected to it but only 4 of them are currently used. Until I place the sensors. Which I'm still torn as to where to put them.
My main objective with the cables was not so much being tidy but keeping them away from the mainboard, more specifically the heatsink, I wouldn't want to know what would happen if a cable slipped in between those fins and wrapped round the fan! So the mobo is clear 100% with the exception of a corner cross and the right edge.

Edit: Actually if you look at pic 2/4 , look at the bays, from the top the first scre you see is HDD, what looks like 3 black blocks under it is actually the front top fan tunnel sleeve. So while the case is large, those tunnels take up a LOT of room. I may remove the top one, although then it's tricky to fit the fan but I'll figure it out.

So last night playing Empire TW, loaded up Fraps. On main map regardless of whats going on I'm getting a clean 70-80fps. Larger naval battles (3/4 full of units both sides) she sailed through on an average of 55-70fps and in main land battle furthest zoom out I got 40-50fps and zoomed in on hundreds of guys fighting 35-45fps. At one point when there was heavy hand to hand going on and cavalry charged in it dropped to 28fps for a brief moment.
My CPU temp never topped 39C and GPU never topped 58C :strong
Had fans set up manually as follows....
GPU - 67%
Front top - 70%
Front bottom - 70%
Rear Exhuast - 60%
Top Exhaust - 60%

Trying to keep a positive air pressure inside the case, seems to be working so far. When I add the side fan as intake I can probably just run all the fans at 60% to achieve the same result, but I wont know until I test it.
The nice thing about that heat sink is the fan almost lines up with the rear exhaust, so it's blowing directly into the exhaust fan with the same size fan on both.

 

Nice setup Ned.