The Official PC building thread -3rd Edition

Cheap, but 400W wouldn't be enough for my current system, much less a newer one. 450W would be lowest I would try to run my system on although for extended use I would prefer 500W minimum.

About your WC PC, hope you didn't lose to much money on it but it must have been fun to build Been wanting to do a WC build for a while except an acceptable cost-to-benefit ratio isn't there for me right now.

 

About your WC PC, hope you didn't lose to much money on it but it must have been fun to build Been wanting to do a WC build for a while except an acceptable cost-to-benefit ratio isn't there for me right now.[/quote]


I like the WC PC for it's looks not much of anything else. When you have new air with heatpipes that can almost match anything with water. Like you cost-to-benefit does not fit the bill.

However, you want cooling and the benefit for the cost you go to phase change cooling. Your talking CPUs temps all the way down in the single digit if not negative numbers!

But if you want a cheap water-cooling solution just to say you built one here is a link:

http://www.coolitsystems.com/index.php/domino-alc.html

Only 80 bucks basically the price of a really good air heatsink. I'm thinking about getting one for the i7 only because the heatsink I want cost the same but I would get a few temps lower with a WC system.

 

If you have Vista or plan to use it in your next build, here's how to make it as Win 7 like, as possible!

http://cnettv.cnet.com/turn-vista-windows-7-free/9742-1_53-50076796.html?tag=nl.e758

Russ

 

Never understood the appeal to change OS as quickly as possible. I'm still running XP in 32-bit for a number of reasons. But the two biggest is that it's still reliable (Vista after 2-3 years has finally came around) and that there are still very few apps that fully utilize the 64-bit tech.

I mean my wife has Vista 64-bit and most the apps have to have the OS convert back to 32-bit just to use it. Other than gaining RAM I just don't see the need for it.

 

Hehe I won't touch vista ever again.

Generally I've seen much better temps from WC then air though I have seen them pretty close in some situations. The only reason I avoid phase, beside the cost, is that I don't want to mess with insulating the system. Worrying about condensation is something I don't want on my mind.

The Domino A.L.C. might work, but I don't really trust prebuilt WC units and that doesn't count as "building" one imo. For the sake of saving money I'll be on air for a while longer :|

 

Mike,
You would be very surprised. I know I was! When I decided to give XP 64-Bit a second try about 6 months ago, the first thing I discovered was how much more there was in the 64-Bit program folder this time. There was only a couple of programs that Lacked Drivers, and one of them was Alcohol 120%. I used imgburn, and it does the same thing, only much slower! Alcohol has already said no to a 64 bit driver, but with Win 7 coming out, I think they will change their minds! I have to use Win.rar a little differently than I'm used to, and I had to figure out a different way to use my DiscStakka to get a DVD out, but it works the same as before when putting one back in it. I got used to it! I like 64 bit! Noticeably quicker than XP 32-Bit! I can move the eye candy up a notch in FC2, and it plays the same as it did before, but looks better!

Best Regards,
Russ

 

cheers russ


well it took 3 months to build, from starting with the case modding, my radiator leak and my cpu dying lol. but the night it work i was in awe

temps were insanely low aswell.

heres some pics:

(clickable thumbs)









this is my case:



i like keeping my OS's updates asap, so i jump on the newest one. i tried the beta for win7 but its crash every 10 mins, but this RTM is superb

i also <3 vista 64, its been the best OS i have had.

the corsair H50 all in one watercooling is aparently better than a TRUE with an i7 @ 4GHz.

the review are very good for it.

 

What did you take 3 or 4 of those pictures with, Hellen Keller's Cell Phone? LOL!! It's Cool!

Russ

 

LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL RUSS!!!

HAHAH

but yes it was a phone camera lol.

 

Generally I've seen much better temps from WC then air though I have seen them pretty close in some situations. The only reason I avoid phase, beside the cost, is that I don't want to mess with insulating the system. Worrying about condensation is something I don't want on my mind.

The Domino A.L.C. might work, but I don't really trust prebuilt WC units and that doesn't count as "building" one imo. For the sake of saving money I'll be on air for a while longer :|[/quote]

I hear you on the condensation that was why for the longest time I wouldn't go with water cooling till I learned more about it.


The Domino is built more for newbies to water cooling imo who want the benefits of WC without the risk of messing their system up.

I'm going to have some spare cash in the next few weeks to get a chance to try it out on my AMD 5600+ CPU. I'm going to have to check if it will work on my board first. I have the old AM2 board and not the AM2+ which they provide the backing for so I'm not sure if I can try it out or not.

If someone on here knows if it will work on ASUS M2N SLI-Deluxe just let me know thanks.

 

Well I must say a very nice build. Do you try any of the Mark3D versions to test out the scores? I very curious to see how high it would score.

 

thanks

i got 3dmark 2006 benches:

 

Very nice you must be in the top 2 percent =). Even when I built my system 2-3 years ago I was only in the top 8% I believe. So my system was better than 92% of people on 3DMark.

To be better than 98% is quite the feat in my book.

 

haha, the thing is i only play cod4 LOOOOL. so i guess downgrading didnt hurt my gaming what so ever.

i loved making that rig, but realistically i was using hardly any power, by only playing cod4. though the expeiance is priceless.

 

Very nice rig Shaffaaf, liked everything but the window on the case. Thinking about going with a lian-li for my next build.

As far as OS's go, I like to adapt early, except vista was an exception. The only reason I don't use a 64bit OS is that I can't find a dvd shrink replacement. Not sure if the problem was me or the Windows7 RC but both dvd shrink and nero refused to burn dvds so I'm still using good ol 32bit xp pro lol.

 

Red_Maw,
I had that very problem the first time I installed XP 64 bit! I installed it on a second drive, and just switched boots with the boot manager. I had many problems that when away with a fresh install on a clean drive! I used to have trouble with DVDRB/CCE. It would encode, but get about 20% and it would just stop! That went away too!

Best Regards,
Russ

 

I'm thinking my PSU finally after two years is hanging on it's last life. But what do you guys think here is my issue:

Problem- My computer just shut off by it's self hitting temps of 50C+.

Possible solution: Thinking my CPU just couldn't handle it anymore I set it back to default settings. Where I got temps of 28C-32C idle and 36C-40C load. However, after 10 or so mins on load of 39C my computer again just shut down.


Solution: I'm thinking it's time to replace the PSU. Somewhere along the lines there just isn't enough power going through it which causes a shut down.


I'm I right in this conclusion or could I have another culprit?

Thanks

 

mike09198---I hear you about the PSU. One more thing before spending the money, run Memtest86 or similar memory testing/benchmarking application. Random shutdowns can be attributed to failing RAM also.

 

Thanks I'll have to try that. I use to have a floppy that did all the diagnostics for my hardware back about 5-6 years ago when I was in a class designed for PC repair.

Lol a lot of good it does now since most people myself included got rid of the floppy drive. Instead I installed a memory card read for only 15 bucks at the time.

 

That's how I tried my first 64bit OS too, although my problems persist even with fresh installs on clean drives. Just occurred to me that I didn't try saving the files to the hdd and then burning with a different program. Think I'll try that as soon as my copy of win7 arrives.