kevtek

So I'm building a new AMD system. I'm not a member of any PC forums so I thought I'd make this on Yotatech! Not completely finished but I'd figure I'd start while im waiting for UPS.

First I'd like to state and apologize that every picture displayed was taken with my cell phone. It's 8MP, but it's a cellphone lens.

This is my old system:


AMD Sempron 3000+
ABIT NF8
2GB DDR 200MhZ
ATI Radeon 9500 PRO 128MB

I've had this build for about 9 years and it has served me well. However, the new circuit simulation software I'm using, runs less than desirable.

My new build:
Case: LIAN LI PC-7BYCF mid-atx 100% aluminum
PSU: 850W Coolmax CUL
CPU: AMD Phenom II, 3.2ghz x6 AM3
MB: Asus Crosshair 4 Formula
RAM: 16GB, Corsair, 240x4, DDR3, 1333mhz
GPU: MSI, ATI Radeon 6870 (planning on crossfire later)
HDD: Western Digital 640GB sata3.0
Optical: LG Bluray Burner

Will be running Windows 7 Pro 64bit.


*--PC lingo list--*

PSU - Power Supply Unit - Power plant of PC
CPU - Central Processing Unit - Controls all digital tasks
MB - Motherboard/Mainboard - ECU of PC
RAM - Random Access Memory - Stores loaded data
ODD - Optical Disk Drive - Reads/writes CD/DVD/Blueray discs
HDD - Hard Disk Drive - Mechanical disk data storage
SSD - Solid State Drive - Flash data storage
HS - Heat Sink
SATA - Serial ATA - Internal data transfer
eSATA - External data transfer

kevtek

Now for some pics:
Case:

250mm intake fan on mesh side.


120mm front intake fan


back side of the 250mm


80mm top exhaust fan


120mm back exhaust, 140mm PSU exhaust.

kevtek

MB and CPU




MB, CPU, and HS in case.




RAM


HDD

kevtek

I'm big into cable management. It lets air move much easier and keeps all the components much cooler. This little case has no cable system built in so it's good old zip ties.


Front panel controls barely stick out behind the HDD mount.
You can see the rear USB / esata ports and the front USB/IEEE ports tied to the bottom of the case:


The Sata cables run from the devices behind the HDD mount and into the MB:


All PSU cables run behind the MB plate and to the gaggle behind the HDD:


Finally, the side 250mm fan runs on old 4pin molex connector. I ran the PSU cable underneath the HDD mount to easily disconnect for servicing:

kevtek

My GPU should arrive in a few hours. I have class and dinner plans. I should have this baby fired up later tonight or tomorrow!

iamsuperbleeder

how's this coming along?

looks very good!

any plans for a fan controller? in my personal experience, those clear fans mounted straight to the chassis make a lot of noise at full throttle, even if they're 120mm... that 80mm on the top might become rather annoying to listen to

TOYOTA 1

looks good!

a lil noise is worth the extra cooling


i prefer nvidia myself

scuba

Awesome. I'm pretty jealous. Is it noisy with all those fans?

iamsuperbleeder

right, but with a fan controller you can tune 'em down a bit when the computer isn't under a load, when all that cooling isn't really needed

I've got a 4 fan controller on the front of mine controlling the two intake fans on the front, and the two exhaust fans (one on the back, one on the top). I tune 'em all the way down to their lowest setting, and the PC is almost completely silent (it would be COMPLETELY silent if it weren't for that stupid duct-style cooler on my ATI 4870, and the 2 80mm fans in the PSU that I have no control over) and the CPU temp stays down in the 20's celsius. It's idling right now at 25, and I can hardly hear it next to me But if I get into some heavy video encoding that loads the CPU, or get into some gaming that loads the GPU, the temps will quickly climb, UNLESS, I turn those little knobbies up and run the fans at full blast the computer gets a little noisy then, but she stays nice and cool

Philbert

iTrader: (2)

Me too - I work there


What did you end up going with for the GPU?

kevtek

Got my 6870 in:



Finished running and tucking wires away:


I expect some flak for the LEDs...


It's not all that loud really. My motherboard sets fan speed according to temperature(except the 250mm side fan) and they do have a nice wine up and wine down when going loaded vs non loaded. I am ok with the current noise pollution. Then again, my old system had 5 80mms!

I've owned several nvidia cards, all have been fantastic. I got a great deal on all these components and believe them to be excellent quality. Let's see if I can get another 9 years out of a build!

Side note: I am disappointed with the PSU. I thought it was full modular but obviously it's only semi-modular. And I do wish I spent the extra for a solid state boot drive.

kevtek

Pictures are nice but don't mean much without numbers..

First some specs:


Torture Test:


One minute after torture test:


At start and idle the CPU stays below 20C.

Plays Crysis on "Very High" settings with a min of 30fps during cut-scenes and an average of 45fps.

Eats Starcraft2.

That's the tests so far. Pretty satisfied with it, doing everything I ask and then some.

My tuniq turbine 120mm, 8-pipe cooler just came in. Going to wait a bit to pull the mainboard and hook it up. Apparently this board has massive O.C. potential....

iamsuperbleeder

very nice!

numbers look good!

are you going to have room in there for a second GPU when you go to crossfire? looks tight!



nothing wrong at all with LED's, as long as they're not overdone. I've got blue and red LEDs in mine, as well as some UV cathodes

kevtek

I can fit another card provided some case mods...

The rear USB2.0 and eSATA expansion slot will have to be removed. Thats fine because I'll still have an eSATA, 4 USB3.0, 4 USB2.0 on the motherboard, and 2 USB2.0 and a firewire front inputs. It's also possible I could relocate the expansion slot above the top GPU.

I'm going to cut a square hole and put screen on the back half of the bottom of the case. Cut the HDD mount and 3.5 bays off, move the HDD into a cooler above the optical drive, and install a SSD above that. Put a 140mm fan in the bottom front of the case, and move all the wires to the side of the 5.25 bays.



All of that would eliminate any room for internal expansion. I think I could get away with it with my mainboard having decent external inputs.

Thats the plan for future upgrades. Right now this thing runs great stock.

Nice tower bleeder, what are you running?

kevtek

I just added a short PC lingo list on my first post: https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f98/.../#post51596660

If anyone wants to know more about any of them, wikipedia it. Also if anyone has one to add to the list PM me.

iamsuperbleeder

sounds like a good plan


mines running an i7 920 still with the stock cooler (I always have been an Intel guy myself ), MSI motherboard, 6GB DDR3 Corsair XMS of course (hoping to double that soon. 6 has been enough so far, but more never hurts ), a single ATI 4870 (ATI was a leap for me; I've always ran nVidia. this one's been really good, even though I've had to replace it once already due to bad memory. if this one goes bad, it'll get replaced with a pair off nVidias), 1.3 TB of internal HD space, and another 1.5 with an external drive, and the case is an Antec 902

it's a beast, and it's handled everything I've ever thrown at it so far

I dual boot it with Windows 7 64 bit, and Mac OSX 10.6.4


here's a pile 'O parts from when everything came in and it was put together about a year and a half ago

TOYOTA 1

nice!!

ssd's are where its at

here are a couple cell pics of my dinosaur. only upgrade that i have done is a new gpu.

amd 3500+
120gb sata
2gb ocz ddr
msi k8n mobo
msi gts 250 twin frozr

its been a reliable computer though, i built it back in 03. i game at least once a week





yea i know, the cords need some rerouting

Philbert

iTrader: (2)

Hey nice NVIDIA sticker

iamsuperbleeder

two words



zip ties






I'm a stickler for cable management myself...





hey look, it's the first 4870 that I had; the one that crapped out on me

kevtek

Nice PCs guys!

Maybe a Yotatech tower thread is in order...