New Build Pics

[aardwolf]

Well, I've finished my build.... at least to the point of an initial working system, and thought I'd show some pics. I'm currently running at stock for now, and even though the pics show the crossfire bridge on, I can't actually run 2 HD3870x2's in crossfire yet (drivers, etc).

This thing is sweet, even in crysis (although I'm more surprised it can run simcity 4 at highest settings -- that thing was a beast to run). I get 13460 3dmarks after installing SP1 of vista64.

Here's the parts, before I started.... ahh, that was fun getting those boxes. Only problem is that they arrived on Valentine's day, so they stayed right as you see below for a day:

Here's the whole system assembled. Note at the bottom, the 1200w Thermaltake supply fits ok in the Antec 100 case. The zalman 9700's perfectly positioned in front of the rear exhaust fan.

This pic shows something I'm not happy with. Check out how the power leads from the first HD3870x2 have to slightly bend to get around the second one. Not great placement for those jacks!

Here it is all powered up:

And finally, closed up. The system runs pretty cool, but there's room for improvement on the northbridge cooling. It's at 111 degress fahrenheit idling.

Here are the final specs:

Core:
CPU INTEL Q6600 2.40G
Dual GPU: 2 of the VGA GECUBE HD3870X2-F3 RT
MEM 2Gx2 GSkill F2-6400CL5D-4GBPQ R
MoBo ASUS MAXIMUS FORMULA X38 ICH9R R
hd primary: dual 150gb raptors, striped
hd secondary: seagate 1tb 8200.11

Enclosure
CASE ANTEC|NINE HUNDRED BK RT
PSU Thermaltake 1200W RT
CPU COOLER ZALMAN|CNPS 9700 NT R

Assorted:
SDCARD CREATIVE|SB0570 AUDIGY SE RT
CPU CLEAN|ARCTIC CLEAN ACN-60ML %
S/W MS WIN VISTA 64BT ULT 1P DVD%
CPU THERMPASTE|ARCTIC SILVER5 3.5G%

 

[M4er1c]

look at them wires ahaha. are you gonna drill holes in your case like people do? im getting the same case but with 1 cd rom drive, 1 harddrive, 1 8800 gts g92, and 1 modular psu looks nice though except for that green LED fan. cant wait to see my case at night time.

 

[Shadow703793]

^Agreed. That PC could use some cable management.

 

[aardwolf]

I kinda like the mix of green & blue LED's, actually. I do need cable management, but I'm not really sure where to get started, especially considering that most of the cable issues are the thickness of the PSU cables. Where can I get leaner replacements for a thermaltake modular psu? Or where could I get cable extensions, so I can properly route cables?

 

[f0rkl1ft]

Good lord, what did that monster cost you? They need to start making bigger cases. Can't wait for my taxes, (if my wife lets me spend some of it.)

 

[Gambini]

I'll give you an idea of what I did with my PPC&C PSU wires. I apologize in advance for the bad quality. I couldn't really tell if yours had the two holes pre-cut right next to the mobo or not, so if it doesn't then this won't help you at all. I did this without cutting any holes, and only used some genius and cable ties.

An outside view:

Top hole thingie:

The 24-pin connector is as tight as I felt comfortable going, and some of the molex connectors for the fans are hanging out in the top bay.

Bottom hole thing:

I stuffed all the PSU cables in there, excluding the ones going to the HDD, which I turned around to make the cables not hang out in the middle. I also have the video card power cable crawling up the side and hanging out in the middle bay.

Back:

I put the Fanmate cables out of one of the water cooling holes and stuck the controller on the outside back. Not as inconvenient as you'd think as long as your computer is on top of your desk and not on the floor. (I plan on getting a fan controller sometime soon.)

I would have showed you the right side, but I was too scared to open it. I had a kind of hard time closing it last time. Overall, I have about 25% less than you, but it should still be about the same idea

 

[aardwolf]

Good lord, what did that monster cost you? They need to start making bigger cases. Can't wait for my taxes, (if my wife lets me spend some of it.)

Hehe... it went over w/ the wife better than I thought it would... a hair over $3000...

 

[aardwolf]

I'll give you an idea of what I did with my PPC&C PSU wires. I apologize in advance for the bad quality. I couldn't really tell if yours had the two holes pre-cut right next to the mobo or not, so if it doesn't then this won't help you at all. I did this without cutting any holes, and only used some genius and cable ties.

Wow... thank you SO much! Didn't even notice those holes, or if I did, I didn't put 2 & 2 together to use them for cable management. That'll help out quite a bit (I hope the Mobo power cable will reach back there... guess I'll have to give it the old college try.

I think that'll help a bit, but I also have to figure out what I'm going to do about the thick diametered leads going to the vid cards (2 leads to each card, one six-pin, one eight-pin.