Hardware > Show off your rig!

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#1375981 by rooieboel (Power User) at 2011-02-08 07:58:00 (2 years ago) - [Quote] - [Report]

now look at the same card again and imagine it will be watercooled, like the majority that buy this motherboard will do

#1376034 by Angelitta (Power User) at 2011-02-08 13:45:50 (2 years ago) - [Quote] - [Report]

I'm really trying to picture it but honestly, can't see any reason why that layout would be more suitable for water cooling.

I'll admit though, I don't have experience with water cooling but I wouldn't mind learning, so if you guys can explain why that's better I'd appreciate it.

#1376044 by VizlaN Donor

(Power User) at 2011-02-08 14:12:42 (2 years ago) - [Quote] - [Report]

Angelitta: Look at WHY the thing are placed as they are.
I fail to see the point of providing pics for other designs that are virtually the same and, as you claim, traps heat around the CPU. Hell, the 4/8-pin is even worse placed there if you have a psu at the bottom with a short wire.
Granted I agree about the PCI-e part and the heatsink if it is flat for the purpose of putting a sticker on it, I wouldn't complain if the sink provides adequate(sp?) cooling.

Last edited by VizlaN at 2011-02-08 14:22:15

#1376054 by Angelitta (Power User) at 2011-02-08 14:47:20 (2 years ago) - [Quote] - [Report]

Believe me, I'm looking.
The two designs I've shown, don't trap heat around the CPU area, the chipset cooler is made of thin fins that allow the air to move between them and from ... let's say a fan in front of the hard drives towards the cpu area and then it gets pulled out by the heat pump fan, if it's gonna be mounted near the motherboard connectors.

On both motherboards i recommended, the pci-ex x1 on top would be usable even if you use all three pci express x16 slots, and it would make sense to be there, for example if you'd want a sound card there (who would want the sound card ports at the bottom of the case?)

As for the 4-8 pin power connector, imagine the board with one long pci-express video card, or even two. if the cable is short and you can't route it through the back, it will have to go OVER the video cards in some sort of diagonal direction, because if you have to 2 sli cards, you'll have the sli bracket connecting the two cards, as you can see here:

So I really can't picture the power cable going over the cards, only going through the back, but then it would get trapped between the voltage regulator heatsink and the water lines for the water cooler or the cpu heatsink/fan

#1376064 by Yinchie Donor

(Power User) at 2011-02-08 15:29:21 (2 years ago) - [Quote] - [Report]

Angelitta wrote:

I actually have an Intel system... haven't used AMD since the Barton days. Processors i mean, I do have a Radeon 4850 as video card, where I may be biased.

The motherboard sucks for several reasons ...

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/277244/upgrades/IMG_1095.JPG

1. the 8 pin power connector is in a bad position
If you have the psu on the bottom
- and the cable is short, there's a chance it will touch the video cards, with cards staying at 70-90c the unshielded cable's isolation on a cheap power supply could melt and cause short circuits and unexpected reboots.
- and the cable is long, you can move the cable behind the board and feed it from above but then it may block the airway between the cpu cooler heatsink and the voltage regulators - the air cooler is supposed to blow air through the cpu heatsink and over the voltage regulators and out of the case. As you plan on using water cooling the voltage regulators may overheat if there's no airflow there.

So? Do you know how huge my case is? Corsair Obsidian 800D.
I am using Corsair 850Watt modulair PSU and the cables are short, at this moment I am using a extender to my Gigabyte (EX58-UD5) motherboard and it goes behind the back of the motherboard tray.

Airway? Do you know my setup?
I use watercooling. And the 8 pin power cable is so thin, it wouldn't block anything.
And the waterblock for my motherboard is thinner than all the heatsinks, plenty of space for any airflow.

This motherboard has the biggest space around the CPU and CPU voltage regulators, plenty of space for any air.

The UD5 from Gigabyte is more cramped than ever.

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Compared to:

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Quote:

2. they could have abstained from making those waves in the chipset heatsink on the left and place a pci-express x1 slot there that would actually be useful for something, as it currently is all slots are covered if you do 3x sli. The heatsink could have been just a bit wider and maybe less tall and they could have just done a ribbed top or those fins to increase the dissipation surface instead of using a flat top just to write there the name of the card. Now i don't know if there's some traces on the board there that would prevent mounting a pci-ex 1x but I doubt it, such connector doesn't need that many traces.

Pointless points.
For one, all heatsinks will be removed and replaced by a full waterblock.
I am never going 3x SLI, even only a small chance for a SLI. One videocard is enough for me unless I want to do something funky.

By the way, the flat heatsink is not fully flat, only the top part is flat.

Quote:

3. The only PCI slot there would be covered by the cooler of the second video card - high chance of that if someone's buying such motherboard. So if this happens and guy has just dual sli, he's left with 2 pci ex, but no pci.

PCI? which noob is still using outdated hardware?
This mobo doesn't even have a IDE port.

Quote:

Someone's more likely to have a pci card that he/she wants to keep like an audigy or some tv tuner- if they wanted to mount there some sound card on the last pci ex 1x or some killer nic, they could do it at the top above the pci express x16.

I use a killer nic and a creative soundcard, both using PCI-E and I am able to use both PCI-E 1x ports because my videocard will not be using 2 slots because of single slot custom bracket and a waterblock for the videocard.

Quote:

4. Oh and look at that... big heatsink, big ram modules with heatsink fins.. can you say cpu surrounded by big warm things, trapping heat there ... less than optimal air flow ?

Here's some more sensible designs, though slightly more expensive, I admit:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a … 6813131614

http://savedonthe.net/image/854/mb1.jpg

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a … 6813130226 (cheaper than yours but no usb 3.0 though gets the design better imho)

http://savedonthe.net/image/855/mb2.jpg

You know that the EVGA X58 SLI3 is one of the few minimal design motherboard that is currently available on the market? If airflow is so important for you, there is no other mobo around that is as spacey/roomey and clean like the SLI3 from EVGA with features that are the same as the top boards.

All the boards you posted all come with junky heatsinks

Also not to mention, all the boards main components are all placed at the same locations like any other motherboard.
There is a standard for such kinda things, if it works, why change the layout.
Motherboards with better designs, rofl...

So I can conclude that you find the motherboard to be suckey because of how heatsinks looks.
If you pick motherboards based on how the heatsinks look instead of feature wise, than you sure are fail.
Also the location of the 8 pin, so what, its just a few more centimeter down.

Airflow, airflow my ass, you wont find a other motherboard with so little junk on it as the SLI3.

EVGA LE with waterblock (this is not a SLI3, SLI3 simply has similar layout hence the waterblock fits on the SLI3 as well)

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I feel like mounting the waterblock right now and post a good quality picture of it �D

==================

Some more pictures taken by me of the EVGA X58 SLI3, so you can have a better overview.

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Last edited by Yinchie at 2011-02-08 16:10:10

#1376090 by remyxx87 Donor

(Power User) at 2011-02-08 17:28:22 (2 years ago) - [Quote] - [Report]

I've got the original EVGA X58 3x SLI and the bloody fan annoyed the hell out of me that I custom fitted a quieter one and the heatsinks were quite shit at 4ghz.

I'm glad that they did a passive one and the heatsinks seems a lot better then the original one.

#1376100 by Yinchie Donor

(Power User) at 2011-02-08 17:53:45 (2 years ago) - [Quote] - [Report]

Picture Galore (using IMGW tag) but I am sure geeks will like it

Especially since majority of the posters in this topic don't even post a pic of their system, so my pics makes up for it

So much pics just for a motherboard, guess how much my entire rebuilt will be, lol

Sorry if some pics are bit blurry, hard to hold a camera steady while having it in your hand

So decided to remove the heatsink and install the full motherboard waterblock...
Don't mind the fittings, going to use other ones, simply had these 2 laying around and used them as a example.

Heatsinks removed:

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Waterblock installed:

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Closeup view of the waterblock installed:

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As you can see the 8pin won't be a issue for me.
It will hide nicely next to the waterblock.
And since I am already using a extender, it isn't a issue to reach.

The CPU waterblock that I will be using later on (obviously not installed atm, simply placed on top of the CPU socket):

This image has been resized, click here to view the full-sized image.

This image has been resized, click here to view the full-sized image.

My main reason to switch motherboard and CPU waterblock is mainly for cosmetic and performance reasons.

1 - Less tubing since the motherboard waterblock is one piece rather than 3 seperate pieces that I currently have on my Gigabyte X58 UD5 since there is no full motherboard waterblock available for it.
2 - And less tubing equals better performance.
3 - Other CPU waterblock because this one EK Supreme HF has far less restriction than the Switchech Apogee XT and more room to fit bigger fittings. Better flow equals better performance

4 - All black, suits better for my setup. Dislike the blue from Gigabyte. Cosmetic reason

5 - Not to mention USB3 and SATA III/6G/600 whatever....
6 - Also the onboard buttons and voltage measure points.

The only downside I see is that it might be bit annoying to remove the videocard because of the cramped space.
Not like I will be planning to remove the videocard that often so it isn't a issue.

=======
For those trying to be sneaky...
This motherboard is already registered on EVGA website

So pointless to try hehe.

@Angelitta

Btw, only good motherboards and or hardware have watercooling community support

You won't be able to find waterblocks specifically made for the "type" that isn't popular or good.
Unless you custom make it.

The waterblock I have shown here was specifically made for the EVGA X58 (SLI) Limited Edition (http://www.evga.com/articles/00481/ - no longer available for sale) and since the SLI3 (http://www.evga.com/articles/00571/) is a improved version of that, feature wise etc, so the Limited Edition waterblock fits on the SLI3.

=============

Pics and some old ones also at https://picasaweb.google.com/yinchie

Last edited by Yinchie at 2011-02-08 18:37:24

#1377733 by unknown[322083] at 2011-02-14 14:06:43 (2 years ago) - [Quote] - [Report]

antec sonata elite case
xeon 3450 @ 3.89
asus p7p55d deluxe
intel 80g ssd
3x western digital caviar green 1tearbyte
2x xfx 5770
samsung 2494 24" monitor
ocz ddr3 pc 12800 6gigs

#1377744 by EQ Donor

(Power User) at 2011-02-14 14:31:16 (2 years ago) - [Quote] - [Report]

Yinchie wrote:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/277244/upgrades … G_1133.JPG

What's that figurine thing in the top left corner of the pic. It looks like some little person thing. I want!

#1377955 by Yinchie Donor

(Power User) at 2011-02-14 23:13:15 (2 years ago) - [Quote] - [Report]

EQ wrote:

Yinchie wrote:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/277244/upgrades/mobo/IMG_1133.JPG

What's that figurine thing in the top left corner of the pic. It looks like some little person thing. I want!

Haha, I have a lot of different ones.
They are a supermarket marketing toy, that you get for every certain amount of Euro spent.
Limited quantities for a short amount of time

The reason I use that one in my photos is to show that it is really owned by me or made by me.
Kinda like a signature.

More pictures coming this week, getting the rest of the products before the end of this week I hope.
One item was out of stock so the store had to order it which takes some days.
Than I start building it all up

Going to try to keep it all black and silver, color theme.

Last edited by Yinchie at 2011-02-14 23:17:00

#1379720 by pcgamer Donor

(User) at 2011-02-21 04:42:04 (2 years ago) - [Quote] - [Report]

Was bored during my reading week so I just built an HTPC for my living room:

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Specs:
Intel Core i3 540 3.06GHz
Gigabyte H55M-D2H Socket 1156
Hitachi 1TB 7200 RPM
Lian Li PC-C37 Muse Link Sexy case
Mushkin Silverline 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 1333MHz
Gyration MCE Remote controller Video Demo
Sony KDL-46EX500 Bravia 46" LCD

The i3 on chip video processor plays all high def content flawlessly so there is no need for a video card. Worked out pretty good. Cost = $500

Last edited by pcgamer at 2011-02-21 04:46:03

#1379853 by Yinchie Donor

(Power User) at 2011-02-21 18:07:45 (2 years ago) - [Quote] - [Report]

Hmmm that is actually quite interesting, been interested to build a HTPC for quite some time with my spare parts but never got to it since I barely watch or do anything with the TV

Would be sweet if you could post pictures of the inside of the HTPC.
Geek here, so inside is what matters

What is that thing on top of it?

Here is some more bling from me

My third shipment arrived, going to be busy this week rebuilding everything.

My new GFX card - it is a GTX 570 and not a GTX 580, they share the same board layout so GTX 580 parts fit on the GTX 570 as well.

Original cooler removed - had to buy a Torx 6 key to remove the tiny screws >.<!

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The bling!

It is the EK backplate, it actually helps lower the temp and makes the card looks nice and not to forget added protection and prevents slight bending of the card because of the heavy waterblock.

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The EK waterblock.

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Bit bad light here so not so shiney

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The BitsPower reservoir for 5.25" drive bay.

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EK dual D5 top, single loop (serial)

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Second pump not installed yet because it is still running in my current system.

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Here is a Bitspower T connection.

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Waiting for EVGA to release the single slot pci bracket in Europe for the GTX 570.

Tiny preview. The motherboard with gfx card and cpu block.

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Last edited by Yinchie at 2011-02-21 20:01:04

#1379898 by unknown[342185] at 2011-02-21 20:25:04 (2 years ago) - [Quote] - [Report]

ummm, i dont know what half that stuff is, but did you post 15 pics of the same motherboard on this page?

#1379902 by malko Donor

(Power User) at 2011-02-21 20:32:02 (2 years ago) - [Quote] - [Report]

Raditzz wrote:

ummm, i dont know what half that stuff is, but did you post 15 pics of the same motherboard on this page?

Well let him have his fun, the tread is called ''Show OFF your rig''

So let him show his build step by step

#1379919 by fash (Power User) at 2011-02-21 21:55:24 (2 years ago) - [Quote] - [Report]

Nice stuff, cant ever imagine i would spend all that money for so little gain though.

#1379965 by pcgamer Donor

(User) at 2011-02-22 04:43:34 (2 years ago) - [Quote] - [Report]

Yinchie wrote:

Hmmm that is actually quite interesting, been interested to build a HTPC for quite some time with my spare parts but never got to it since I barely watch or do anything with the TV

Would be sweet if you could post pictures of the inside of the HTPC.
Geek here, so inside is what matters

What is that thing on top of it?

Here you go, took some pics of the interior and the rear of the case. Lian Li build quality is really impressive.

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That thing on the top is a DVD/Divx player I had from back in the Xvid days. I just thew it away today

#1380038 by DXC Donor

(The King) at 2011-02-22 15:45:55 (2 years ago) - [Quote] - [Report]

Very nice build pcgamer :yes:

Just wondering, what PSU is in it? Did it came with the case? And also, you picked a Hitachi drive?

How come?

I'm still planning on building a HTPC in the future, guess I'll use your setup as a base :yes:

Probably just with a 2 TB Samsung drive and my old SSD drive by then. And a DVD Burner and a wireless keyboard and mouse for it.

Last edited by DXC at 2011-02-22 15:46:25

#1380076 by pcgamer Donor

(User) at 2011-02-22 17:29:32 (2 years ago) - [Quote] - [Report]

Thanks

That PSU was being used in the old Sony pentium 4 system I was using for HTPC purposes. The case fits standard ATX PSU without a problem. Just don't try to fit one of those extra long 1000W PSUs. As for the Hitachi drive it was on sale for $40 :lol:

Is it supposed to be bad?

HTPCs are fun you should definately build one! Did you see the remote I got with it? It's like a Nintendo Wii based mouse for Windows.

#1380077 by Earwig Donor

(VIP) at 2011-02-22 17:34:44 (2 years ago) - [Quote] - [Report]

Loving that HTPC :yes:

Really nice stuff !

You say it plays everything Flawlessly ?

Need to do something similar myself pretty soon. I need to move all my large ass stuff upstairs but still need to be able to watch TV and movies downstairs..... :-/

#1380081 by Angelitta (Power User) at 2011-02-22 18:07:04 (2 years ago) - [Quote] - [Report]

Why didn't you turn the power supply so that the cables come out on the left and not so stretched?

It would also keep the cables on the bottom of the case so there's more room for air circulation.

later edit: that's a pretty old power supply, without active pfc (the voltage switch pretty much tells that) and probably very bad efficiency).

It may make sense to buy a newer power supply, there's a Corsair CX430 at 40$ right now, you'd recover the money in about 1-2 years simply due to the better efficiency:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a … 6817139017

Last edited by Angelitta at 2011-02-22 18:13:18

#1380082 by DXC Donor

(The King) at 2011-02-22 18:10:28 (2 years ago) - [Quote] - [Report]

pcgamer wrote:

As for the Hitachi drive it was on sale for $40 :lol:

Is it supposed to be bad?

I got one in my laptop, it ain't worth shit... Most shops around here don't even sell them.

pcgamer wrote:

Did you see the remote I got with it? It's like a Nintendo Wii based mouse for Windows.

I looked around to see if any of the shops over here have it, but none does. Guess my parents won't know how to use it anyways, a Logitech one will work better for them :lol:

Earwig wrote:

I need to move all my large ass stuff upstairs but still need to be able to watch TV and movies downstairs..... :-/

Get a good wireless router, you can then stream it wireless :yes:

I watch movies on my laptop while the movie is on my main PC, 720p streams like a charm on my router. Have to select a stronger frequency so that I can stream 1080p through it, but it's all available in it :yes:

#1380090 by pcgamer Donor

(User) at 2011-02-22 18:29:40 (2 years ago) - [Quote] - [Report]

@Earwig: Yep I threw all sorts of 1080p files and that i3 handles them perfectly fine.

@Angelitta: You are right, I'm gonna go buy a new PSU right now. I will put that crappy one back in that Sony PC. Thanks.

edit: Just bought the Corsair AX850 :lol:

I'll put my OCZ gamextreme 700W in the HTPC because it just wasn't cutting it for my main PC.

Last edited by pcgamer at 2011-02-22 21:05:29

#1380267 by remyxx87 Donor

(Power User) at 2011-02-23 11:40:18 (2 years ago) - [Quote] - [Report]

Powerline is the other way to go as well a lot more stable connection than wifi
I've also got a server upstairs that I stream 1080p downstairs to a HTPC.
Bridging 2 wifi routers together so I get more coverage.
Brick house is thick!

#1380648 by Yinchie Donor

(Power User) at 2011-02-24 20:55:44 (2 years ago) - [Quote] - [Report]

So took me two days to built it up.

Didn't turn it out as I wanted it, still big loops because I was missing certain type of angled and extender fittings and couldn't be bothered to order them so came up with this.

Good thing I had some clear Tygon tubings, they are more flexible (less stiff) than the black ones from Tygon, they are two different types. Still a big loop at the CPU outtake to the radiator, lacking certain fittings

so did it in a certain way atm so tube wont kink.

Also temporarily removed one radiator because of a similar reason.

Also lapped my CPU.

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This image has been resized, click here to view the full-sized image.
Unfortunately I was so stupid enough to forget to take a picture of the nice glossy mirror end result, was so eager to install and try it out... took me 2,5 hours lapping so gotten a bit impatient.
I even lapped my own middle finger! didn't feel anything till I started seeing blood on the sanding paper, lol.... didn't notice my middle finger was even touching the very very fine sanding paper.

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At first I had the pump installed in a other way.

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But turns out the tubing that connects the pump and the reservoir didn't fit nicely and started leaking - blaming the crappy fittings, even when using tightening clips, it still leaked.
And I couldn't use compression fittings because the space was to tight.
So now I have the pump just sitting in front of the side window.

A third rebuilt will probably be coming somewhere soon, I keep getting new ideas and solutions to fix certain things - hey this is the second time I use water cooling, as in built myself so there is trial and error

Last edited by Yinchie at 2011-02-24 20:57:23

#1380670 by DXC Donor

(The King) at 2011-02-24 22:00:30 (2 years ago) - [Quote] - [Report]

This would be an excellent solution for your cooling issue: Great cooling sockets

Other than that: nice build

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