Build to tide me over, and perhaps build apon... - Page 7

Yeah...

I've since looked around a bit more, and I've seen two other cases this bad or worse with pics.

eVGA doesn't build the cards, they just warrant them. I wonder if they're having quality control issues with a supplier since they were so quick to approve my RMA after one hiccup.

Most all of the card sellers get their cards made by the same manufacturers, so it's not eVGA. They have the best warranty and step up program going, so it's still a good way to go.

I can't remember if it's the GT, or the GS, but one of those two cards has heating issues to the point that eVGA offers their own aftermarket cooling for their own card, called the Akimbo cooler. Might be worth looking into if you're getting that card.

If the 4870's are all they say, I might go crossfire, and replace my E8400 with a quad when the prices come down a bit more...

http://www.evga.com/products/moreInf...202-F2-EV03-A1

It is the GT. It apparently runs pretty hot. The warranty will still be valid with eVGA whether you use stock or aftermarket cooling. Just be sure to register the card on eVGA's website within 30 days, or the lifetime warranty changes to one year limited warranty.

Decided to order more stuff while waiting for the exchange stuff, now I've got more exchange stuff...

I ordered a logitech bluetooth revolution mouse/keyboard combo, and a logitech G25 racing wheel from Dell.com. They got here yesterday. The keyboard/mouse combo is fine, but the steering wheel has a loose part in the motor housing. It voids the warranty to open the housing and see what it is, so i'm returning it to Dell for an exchange. It's relatively painless though, as Dell pays all shipping on defective item returns.

Monitor and VGA cooler/fans get here Friday, fan controller replacement got here yesterday, so I'll finally be able to get the work log done next week.

Oh yeah... I had surgery on monday this week. I had abdominal surgery a few years ago, and part of that incision didn't heal right. Monday, I had that repaired. I've been hanging around the house all week napping and swallowing percocets... They say not to mix alcohol with percocets, but I highly recommend it. It makes Jerry Springer VERY entertaining...

Time for my pills...

Okay...

Got all my hardware, started putting the thing back together, and my camera died...

sigh...

I'll do what I can to get pics up soon.

Put the Thermalright cooler on my 8800gtx, dropped the idle temps from 56-57 deg C, to 44 deg C. Under load with 3dMark06, it used to get into the high 60's, I just ran it overclocked, and it got to 54 degrees under full load. That's less than the idle temp with the stock cooler with stock clocks... Remarkable... Some incredibly good, and bad engineering in the thermalright cooler...

Put the new Scythe fans in, much quieter than the stock Alienware items. The biggie was the 120mm exhaust fan. The original was huge, looks to be 35-40mm thick, and it was the loudest fan in the system. It also only had two wires, so it didn't work right with my fan controller. The Zalman needs three wire fans to report right. It uses the drop in voltage out and voltage back to display the fan speed diode correctly. It shows blue at low to medium speeds, but when it's turned to high it turns red. I replaced that fan with a 25mm wide 120mm Scythe fan. It's much quieter, and it moves more air, and it works with the fan controller...

I also put a low noise Scythe fan on the Thermalright VGA cooler. The cooler doesn't come with a fan, so I ordered the Scythe in a PWM format, so the video card could control the speed of the fan, but alas the four pin connector is different than the one on the eVGA card, so unless I want to change the connector, that feature won't be working for me. I suppose I could carefully take off the connector from the stock cooler and use it... eVGA keeps the warranty intact for aftermarket cooling, but if you have to return the card they ask you to reinstall the stock cooling. The fan on full is only 18 db though, so it might as well run at full speed all the time...

Ah, percocets... I'm mixing them with vicodin today, and white russians...

CPU E8400 @ 3.825G, 8800gtx @ 625 clock, 1455 shaders, mem 2000...

3dMark06 12841

Tomorrow, I have to get my Alienware ALX 5.1 speakers mounted to the wall and ceiling... 26" lcd is on articulated arm on wall mount, speakers will be wall mounted next to, and above the screen for the fronts, from the ceiling or back wall for the backs, subwoofer goes under the coffee table... the computer case is in a cooled cabinet, and I'll be using wirless mouse/keyboard, so it'll look like a home theater until the mouse/keyboard come out. The monitor has a 4 socket USB hub, so my nostromo, gamepad and other usb devices can plug right into the monitor.

Got the new monitor, it's flawless. There were two stuck pixels, but I massaged them out. Oh happy-happy, joy-joy....

Yep, but I leave it at 100%. The 9500 doesn't make much noise.

I have a six channel controller. First is the cpu heatsink/fan, second is the 120mm exhaust, third is the door fan, fourth, fifth and sixth are three intake 80mm in the front bottom of the machine. They're in front, so turning them down when not needed really quiets the system.