It's time to upgrade...

[3.0charlie]

It's that time of Year again; time to explain to She-who-must-be-obeyed how it is important to stay on Top (or as near as possible) of new technology. And fail miserably while doing so. Sorry Honey, I still love you. But I digress - here's the list of ordered, received and transfered parts:


Transfered parts:

• Lian-Li PC-V1000
• OCZ StealthXtream 600W
• Swiftech WC setup with Dual rad, 4 Noctua NF-P12s in push-pull config.
• Primochill tubing (a first for me)

Received parts:

• QX9650
• Mushkin XP2-8000 2x2Gb

Ordered parts:

• Gigabyte GA-X48-DQ6 (shipped from Direct Dial; that was hard to find)
• Sapphire HD4870 (shipped from PC Village; that one was even harder)

The X48 board should arrive Tuesday, and the video card is set to be delivered via Canada Post ExpressPost this Monday...

A little preview of the up-coming action, now with the GA-P35C-DS3R. I'm not too concerned by the high temps, since I haven't modified the bottom of the case and remove the extra material to allow free air flow from the fans... Screenshot taken while folding, with CPU at 100%.



Stay posted, pics coming up this week-end of the rig as-is, the assembly of the new board and most definitely benches.

[matsta31]

If you conviced She-who-must-be-obeyed how it is important to put a QX9650 in your PC and she accepted, you sir are a master. You should write a book for guys like me on how to convince your significant other to spend 1k on a cpu. I disgress to...

So how to you plan to cool that Cpu ? Are you going water, because you transferred the rads....

On a side note, do you find realtemp to give more reliable temperature data ?

I easily get 10 degress difference between speed fan, core temp, real temp and asus probe. Real temp being lower than the other.

[Eagle Eye]

There isn't any convincing to begin its after it arrives and the explanation of what, why and the importance of what it will do for "us"

[3.0charlie]

Do you really think I managed to convince her? I'm good, but not that good. What counts is that I bought both the chip and the ram sticks from forum members, for very good prices.

The chip is under water, since I already replaced my Q6600 with it, and I re-installed my Swiftech WC parts just for it. Real Temp? I find it more "stable" than Core Temp (temps are less jumpy), and the temps are closer to the BIOS temps.

I forgot to add that the temps shown are while folding, with the chip at 100%.

[3.0charlie]

Here is a pic of the rig as-is. I still need to open up the bottom of the rig, where the 2 rad fans are. And since I'll be replacing the board, I'll take the time to add a few more holes on the board tray for easier cable management.

[3.0charlie]

It's alive... IT'S ALIVE!

Pics to come tomorrow; the assembly is now complete, with the X48-DQ6 and the HD4870 at their respective locations. I also took the time to puch the bottom of my Lian-Li case to allow better fan airflow and added another hole for the secondary power line. Cleans up the mess I used to have.

[SKYMTL]

I am SO disappointed that Lian Li has shifted to producing standard ATX layouts...I loved their reverse ATX layout from day one.

[3.0charlie]

Mine is still reversed... and I love it.

[Eldonko]

How do you like the primochill? Pretty sweet eh, I just got 10 feet of it today.

[3.0charlie]

Originally Posted by Eldonko

How do you like the primochill? Pretty sweet eh, I just got 10 feet of it today.

First time I've tried it: I must say that I find it a tad too flexible, for the 3/8" tubing. But it installs like a charm and follows every bend you give it.

Pics of the final rig. As of now, the QX9650 is stable at 4.0 GHz with 1.42V Vcore and 55C-57C across all 4 cores under load. I'm pretty sure I can still push it more with no further adjustments.



Push-pull Noctuas:



Internals: