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**DJS2** · December 23rd, 07:21 AM

Hey all, not sure if I will stick with this thread or not, but if anyone is interested ill try. I built my first comp about a 1.5 years ago. Lately Ive been having some problems. They are all mainly because of a bad PSU... but i use that as an excuse to put $700 worth of upgrades into my computer

CURRENT SETUP:
Mobo: DFI nF4 SLI Infinity
Processor: AMD 3500+ Venice
Videocard: Leadtek GeForce 6800GT
PSU: Antec 500watt Smartpower 2.0
Memory: CORSAIR XMS 1GB DDR400(PC 3200)
Hard Drive 1: Western Digital Raptor 36.7GB 10k RPM Serial ATA150 (Drive for mainly OS)
Hard Drive 2: Seagate 300GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA
Water Cooling: TDX block, D5 pump, X-Flow Stealth GTS 240 Black Ice radiator. Running coolant through it, no need to get a block for my GPU as its stock cooling is awesome.

$700 later:
Mobo: ASUS P5B-E Socket T (LGA 775)
Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo E6400 Conroe 2.13GHz
Videocard: Leadtek GeForce 6800GT
PSU: CORSAIR v2.2 and EPS12V 2.91 520W Power Supply
Memory: CORSAIR XMS2 1GB (2 x 512MB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit
Hard Drive 1: Western Digital Raptor 36.7GB 10k RPM Serial ATA150 (Drive for mainly OS)
Hard Drive 2: Seagate 300GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA
Water Cooling: TDX block, D5 pump, X-Flow Stealth GTS 240 Black Ice radiator, and Swiftech MCRES-Micro Hi-Flo Reservoir.

Switched over to Intel, New motherboard, processor, power supply, and RAM. And for my water cooling, since i switched to intel i bought a new lucite top as well as a reservoir. I plan on OCing to 3.4GHz, should be able to get that pretty easily, especially with WC. Im also hoping to notice quite a bit of difference with the C2D and DDR2 800 RAM.

I am going to strip down my case, and rebuild it from the ground up. Im actually going to try to make it look appealing, which i didnt do last time. Right now it is an absolute mess! Wires everywhere, water cooling system not mounted and hanging out of my case... bleh just not pretty. So for my build my goal is to make everything work (obviously), hide wiring as much as possible, and mount water cooling pump, radiator, and reservoir inside my tower. Im going to reformat windows on my Raptor drive and clean up all the files and such on my 300GB storage drive.

I will have pics of my current rig (yucky) sometime soon. As i receive my various parts I will try to take pics of them as well and give my thoughts (if anyone is interested). I will also take pictures of the building process if i remember. I really do have a passion for this stuff even though im still learning. Building computers is fun as hell and somewhat addicting when you start looking for parts and upgrades.

Please leave your feedback. Comment on my hardware choices, your thoughts about the build, your personal experiences, and criticism. Pics will be up shortly.

***Strikr*** · December 23rd, 11:43 AM

Hows the Core 2 Duo treating you? I thought of buying a laptop with core 2's and selling my current gaming rig but most likely the games will be off limits.

**DJS2** · December 23rd, 06:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Strikr

Hows the Core 2 Duo treating you? I thought of buying a laptop with core 2's and selling my current gaming rig but most likely the games will be off limits.

Havnt received the items or installed them yet

I made this thread right after i ordered them (newegg is really quick though). This is just kind of a little journal for myself and whoever else might be interested.

Some pics of my current setup. (yucky right?)

So part of buying a new mobo is to pretty much give me a reason to strip it and really clean it up and pay attention to detail.

Ill update with pics of the parts as they arrive (probably on monday) if anyone is interested. Can also answer any questions or comments anyone might have.

***Strikr*** · December 23rd, 07:17 PM

Logitech X-530 FTW!

Dont worry your not the only one. I got about the same set up you have. I could put about 1 grand in a comp but laziness takes over. After a month or so let me know how it runs. I might upgrade if I feel like it.

Alpha · December 23rd, 10:30 PM

I did the same ****, except last month was my first build ever. Now I'm 1337..

Let me know if you need any help overclocking, I've become very skilled at it in my travels.

Please, tell me all about your water cooling setup. I want water cooling, but I can't figure out what brands/parts to go by. I heard thermaltake water cooling gunks up, and some leak and some pumps fail, etc etc...

You should have gotten a GeForce 7600 GT... They're fairly cheap, and are fairly powerful. I play COD2 and Doom3 on high settings. Its overclocked a bit too.

I want before and after case temps!

Let me know if you need help with the American Megatrends ASUS BIOS. Its pretty straightforward anyways...

**TonyD** · December 23rd, 10:51 PM

Yeah it probably would have been a good idea to go with a 7-series card, but a 6800 will be good for at least a while yet. By the time it becomes "bad" you'll probably be able to pick up a mid-range 8-series for about the same price.

Alpha · December 23rd, 10:53 PM

Dont upgrade until DX10 comes out.

**DJS2** · December 24th, 03:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alpha

Let me know if you need any help overclocking, I've become very skilled at it in my travels.

Will do. I have researched it a lot, but never quite understood it. I can do it but at a snails pace and probably not the smartest way, ya know?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alpha

Please, tell me all about your water cooling setup. I want water cooling, but I can't figure out what brands/parts to go by. I heard thermaltake water cooling gunks up, and some leak and some pumps fail, etc etc...

Okay, when i first started looking at water cooling, i had NO knowledge about it at all. I was basically looking for pre-built systems which looked like they would work and were cheap. I did this until someone said "Make your own, go to www.dangerden.com and buy the parts seperate." Thats exactly what i did and it was awesome. Alpha if you enjoy building and putting things together (such as your comp) than you will probably enjoy putting a water cooling system together.

www.dangerden.com is a good place to start to look at all of the products. I got all my stuff there but you are limited by one company there. Probably something there is tons of info on but if you want i can explain more about my experiences with it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alpha

You should have gotten a GeForce 7600 GT... They're fairly cheap, and are fairly powerful. I play COD2 and Doom3 on high settings. Its overclocked a bit too.

I ordered my 6800gt when they were pretty popular (over a year ago). I think the highest they had out at the time was a 7200gtx or something like that... which would have broken my wallet

I dont mind abusing my 6800gt and just RMAing it a lot for a while. It can run most games on high settings no problem usually.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alpha

I want before and after case temps!

I would love to give you temps right now... but my *(@^ing computer wont even turn on... PSU pretty much died on me. Only lights on are the mobo lights. Power button does nothing. I will try to get it running and post up temps (I also want to reformat my raptor drive BEFORE i install the upgrades into my computer) I THINK my bios said my cpu was at like 22C if i can remember right, might have been looking at something else. The temps shouldnt be TOO different after the re-build, the only addition to my water cooling system is a reservoir, which is to make it look nice but also serves some functionality.

Im gonna go try a different psu in my comp and hope it boots. Ill be back periodically to see what people think and either monday/tuesday (hopefully) to post pics of my new stuff!

***Strikr*** · December 24th, 10:29 AM

Alpha, you do not need a 7600GT overclocked to run DOOM3 or COD. I have a ATI Radeon 9800 pro and I can run DOOM3 and COD on high no problem. When my friend bought his dell he had onboard graphics and ran DOOM3 on medium no problem. They are not too demanding games. Most stuff will run no problem now. Now its more on CPU and RAM.

**DJS2** · December 24th, 07:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Strikr

They are not too demanding games. Most stuff will run no problem now. Now its more on CPU and RAM.

Well i think theres a difference between running it without a problem, and running it with good graphics and resoultion. But either way you are somewhat right.

Update: Merry xmas eve

got family over right now. Since my computer is finally dead i have started cleaning it out.

All my stuff out, trying to get my computer to work one final time... no dice

After cleaning most things out, closer pic of water cooling as well

Working a lot lately, as i get more time to totally take everything out of my tower ill get more pics up, by that time i should get my parts

**DJS2** · December 27th, 06:14 PM

Update, New Parts In
Today from newegg i received my mobo, psu, ram, and c2d cpu. Im still awaiting my reservoir and waterblock top for my water cooling (both from two other sites).

Unfortunately i have work right now so i cant give first impressions and stuff but definately later. I took some pics of my "workstation" in my room as well as the new parts.

"Workstation"

Took off waterblock and removed the system from my tower

Intel Core 2 Duo e6400

Asus p5b-e mobo

Corsair 1gb ddr2 800 RAM

Corsair 520w psu

All Parts

Im pretty excited to start building, and ill have thoughts and pictures while I build. I have to go to work now so i can pay for all this

Alpha · December 27th, 07:37 PM

I hope you've dusted off that radiator... The thing is caked with thermal-insulating dust!

**bobide** · December 27th, 09:02 PM

cool stuff.

I wish I had been able to do a build. However my dad found a dell that offered much more then what I was going to build at an equal cost. I couldn't say no.

But at least i'm putting in another harddrive. I guess that gives me a few points.

**DJS2** · December 28th, 04:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alpha

I hope you've dusted off that radiator... The thing is caked with thermal-insulating dust!

haha, since i was having power problems, i only had 1 fan on the radiator running, so i think that contributed to the dust build up, plus, it was sitting out of my case. Im definately going to clean it and make it look sexay. you should look into building a WC system, a lot of fun.

Quote:

Originally Posted by bobide

I wish I had been able to do a build. However my dad found a dell that offered much more then what I was going to build at an equal cost. I couldn't say no.

But at least i'm putting in another harddrive. I guess that gives me a few points.

Ya, a lot of people dont like dell, personally i dont mind them, except for their support, need a dang translator

Going snowboarding in 7 hours but will probably stay up a little and see what i can get done

edit- Before my build is finished, i will also be cutting a fairly large square into the side of my steel case and put a plexiglass viewing "window." Hopefully it will work.

**DJS2** · December 29th, 06:25 PM

Friday 12/29 Update:
Well, I havnt had a lot of time to work on it unfortunately, im taking it nice and easy with this build. I have been working a lot but I have a few things done.

Replaced the top of my waterblock with a lucite Intel top to fit my mobo. Installed the waterblock and RAM into my mobo.

Installed mobo in my case, i also drilled holes in the bottom of my case and mounted the water cooling pump (bot right).

I still have to put in my graphics card, cd/dvd drives, and hard drives. Then Ill prolly wire everything and set up the tubing for my water cooling. Still have a little to go.

I also just recently cut the side of my case to put plexiglass over it for viewing purposes. A little filing and spray paint and it wont look half bad

Alpha · December 29th, 06:36 PM

Nice little mod... Are you using the rubber gasket stuff around the edges or what?

That's a Full ATX Motherboard, right? What are the dimensions of your case? Looks pretty damn roomy

**DJS2** · December 29th, 06:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alpha

Nice little mod... Are you using the rubber gasket stuff around the edges or what?

That's a Full ATX Motherboard, right? What are the dimensions of your case? Looks pretty damn roomy

Not sure about the rubber stuff, but thats a really good idea. Im going to go to home depot soon and see what they have.

Not sure about the mobo size, but it is a full atx case. Its big and bulky. Im glad i got a big one though because my radiator will BARELY fit.

Just put in the graphics card. Leadtek 6800gt

Off to work