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Loading ...CPC PLOGGING SYSTEM IS BORKED
Elemental Dragon ¦ Bex
Nice, CPC’s system doesn’t tell you when your over the character limit and has lost half my plog…. I’ll post a new 1 when the PC is finished - until then check the full plog here
::: For the full plog - http://www.watercoolinguk.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=4217 ::
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Loading ...The Real Elemental Dragon!!!
Elemental Dragon ¦ Bex
Ok, so it’s been a very, very, VERY long time since I posted! But what can I say, alot has happend since then. I’ve moved out with my fiance, I’ve changed job, moved town, and changed my PC a fair bit.
Some of you might remember my 3870X2 dying. Well 9 months (yes I’m not kidding!) later, Asus give in and give me a 4870X2 and a discount on an upgrade from my other 3870X2 to a 4870X2. Woohoo! I also picked up a QX9650 for £300 retail and new. I retired my E6750 after many months of it being at 4.0Ghz, and also handed down my 4.8GHz E8600 to my partner (who then traded for a QX6800 along with a 2nd 4850 - its looking rather hardcore in that little box of his!)
Speaking of retirements, I also retired my Eureka. After finally running out of room and modifications, I decided something new was in hand. I have to thank KingDaza for the sale on his Lian Li V2110, which arrived speedy and in perfect condition! Upon seeing it though, I realised it couldn’t all be about the lights and bling, it was going to have to have some taste, alot of effort and something extreme!
The case itself for anyone who’s not familiar with it ;
- http://img182.imageshack.us/img182/2025/dscf0006wm4.jpg
- http://img182.imageshack.us/img182/9465/dscf0007su0.jpg
- http://img182.imageshack.us/img182/8369/dscf0004in9.jpg
- http://img93.imageshack.us/img93/6192/dscf0003qf1.jpg
I sat down and thought long and hard about what I wanted to do with the case and sat and read through my old art book. I came accross an old picture that just cried out to me!
- http://img76.imageshack.us/img76/1036/completeconceptri3.jpg
- http://img76.imageshack.us/img76/1036/completeconceptri3.jpg
- http://img93.imageshack.us/img93/8193/windowconceptsc0.jpg
- http://img297.imageshack.us/img297/30/sidepanelqu9.jpg
Now a shiney new case needs some shiney new toys!!! My Swiftech kit was starting to show some wear and I decided I should increase my cooling capabilities as well. So I ordered myself a TFC 480 and Swiftech MCR 320 along with ALOT of Zalman F3 fans to keep it nice and cool, yet hopefully remain quiet! (although to be honest, anything would be quieter than my Thunderblades) I also decided to go for something a bit smarter than barbs and clamps, so I got some BP compression barbs (which are far nicer than the feser barbs in my honest opinion).
Looking at my blocks, fitting 1/2″ comps was going to be cutting it close, but I found alot of the Feser 3/8″ hosing kinked very easilly, and I prefered to not use coils in this build for a cleaner look. Then I found the perfect solution. XSPC 3/8″. It’s thicker walls meant it was as flexible, if not more than my 7/16″ masterkleer whilst still remaining slim enough to fit and I’d only lose ~0.2c in cooling overall.
- http://img219.imageshack.us/img219/9333/dscf0002ys5.jpg
- http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb22/Elemental-Dragon/DSCF0035.jpg
- http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb22/Elemental-Dragon/DSCF0038.jpg
- http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb22/Elemental-Dragon/DSCF0042.jpg
- http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb22/Elemental-Dragon/DSCF0048.jpg
Now the picture being as complicated as it was was going to have to be re-drawn for the cutting. I re-drew it around 4 times until it was clear enough to export with illustrator. I owe a big thanks to Marcus and Craig for helping me clean these up!
- http://i179.photobucket.com/albums/w292/marcus000/laser/dragonsketch.jpg
Now, this was the early plan for the watercooling layout. This then had to change due to a few problems such as there wasn’t enough room or flexibilty to mount the pump and reservoir - the angels were far to extreme and coils would be required which would spoil my clean look. This I resolved by investing in a dual bay pump combo from XSPC - a pump/res that really doesn’t get enough attention in my opinion. I also then sold my restop pump to a friend as I was given an awesome XSPC res, which later had to be changed to an EK multi-res due to vortexing implecations (where the pump pulls too much air through and the air won’t bleed out).
- http://img391.imageshack.us/img391/678/conceptjv6.jpg
Cuts were then made on the motherboard tray and case roof after adjusting the final concepts to perfection.
- http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb22/Elemental-Dragon/DSCF0021.jpg
- http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb22/Elemental-Dragon/DSCF0019.jpg
She then got stripped down naked! The case lads, not me!
- http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb22/Elemental-Dragon/Stripped01.jpg
- http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb22/Elemental-Dragon/Stripped02.jpg
- http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb22/Elemental-Dragon/Stripped03.jpg
- http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb22/Elemental-Dragon/Stripped04.jpg
Oh yeah - and the final main piece concept!
- http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb22/Elemental-Dragon/Bex_Dragon_Window_Paneltweak.jpg
For the past few months, I’d been running stock cooling on my motherboard and even though it was under water, it was still getting rather hot, so it had to go if I wanted to take my overclocking and cooling further! The motherboard is an Asus Maximus Formula (X38) that has been BIOS flashed to the Rampage X48 (w00t! free upgrades!)
- http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb22/Elemental-Dragon/Mobo.jpg
-http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb22/Elemental-Dragon/Removal1.jpg
!!! - ASUS HORROR PICS!!! PUTS ASUS TO SHAME!!! - !!!
These next photos show how poor the build quality for my motherboard actually was. I’ve seen some nasty pics of the paste being gloopy, majority made up of glue and some with yucky gloopy looking stuff - but all had some form of contact….
- http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb22/Elemental-Dragon/MoboStripping.jpg
- http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb22/Elemental-Dragon/LackOfContact.jpg
- http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb22/Elemental-Dragon/Horror3.jpg
- http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb22/Elemental-Dragon/Horror2.jpg
- http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb22/Elemental-Dragon/Horror1.jpg
And once the trash was taken off and thrown away (no point keeping it, I showed Asus the pictures and thus, completely voided my warranty LOL - it was for a good cause though) I got some real cooling involved!
- http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb22/Elemental-Dragon/SB-Cooling.jpg
- http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb22/Elemental-Dragon/NearlyThere1.jpg
- http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb22/Elemental-Dragon/XSPCDeltaV31.jpg
- http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb22/Elemental-Dragon/NearlyThere.jpg
- http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb22/Elemental-Dragon/NB-Block1.jpg
- http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb22/Elemental-Dragon/NB-Block2.jpg
- http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb22/Elemental-Dragon/NB-Block3.jpg
- http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb22/Elemental-Dragon/CloseNB2.jpg
- http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb22/Elemental-Dragon/CloseNB1.jpg
Oh yeah, I also got the guts to lap my new QX9650! ………it was also my first ever lap >.
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Loading ...F*CK THIS SH!T!!!
Elemental Dragon ¦ Bex
ARGH!!!! GOD DAMNIT!!! I’ve still not got a reply from godamn Asus! This is going no where! I hate having to use work PC’s all the time to play games etc. It’s not the same. So you know what? F*ck it! I’m rebuilding my PC right now witht he 1 card!!! >:(
And d’you know what? No sparks. No Bangs. No puffs of smoke. It just works cool and fast! However it’s not as quiet as I’d want it. Somethings up with the fan controllers. Still haven’t quite worked out what but I’ll find out soon enough. I’m more interested in getting it up and running…
[UPDATE] Ah - hooked the molex up wrong for the controller. My bad! Silent now 
Rated: 60% (1 votes)
Loading ...RMA Hell
Elemental Dragon ¦ Bex
Well after trying to get my card RMA’d through my old placement, they don’t seem interested. They supposedly can’t get me a replacement or else it’s liek a 3 month wait for stock returns etc n all that crap. And they don’t want to give me my money back because they just don’t. Fair dos. I didn’t expect this to be simple or that they’d except. So next step - ASUS!
I’ve not heard bad things about Asus returns, just that they ocasionally take a bit of time… I’ve done returns through BFG before and that was easy as pie. Emails replied within minutes and a new card sent out within a week. So why would Asus (a company just as big if not bigger) have any issues?
Well I didn’t know how wrong I’d be. It’s been 3 weeks now and I’m still getting no where. I’ve had to ask to speak to someone higher up because the person who I’ve been in contact with is slow and isn’t helping me and sending me incorrect links!
So with someone higher ont he line, I’m a little bit further. The card number finally confirmed but now I’m told they can’t help me because they want it done through a store. I told them they can’t get me a replacement and what not so they humphed and moaned so I humphed and moaned back until they decided “we’ll transfer you to UK support”. WTF!? ARGH!!!! I’m told it can take up another 2 weeks for UK services to get in touch, of which, they’ll want me to pay to send the card away jsut to get it looked at before they’ll consider RMA’ing it!!!
I’m not a happy bunny… no PC.. no replacement card… no internet at home… HMPH! That means alot of internet LAN cafe money has to be spent….
[UPDATE] You can see the on going hell I’m going through on CPC here - http://www.custompc.co.uk/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=281210
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Loading ...When It All Goes Horribly Wrong… :’(
Elemental Dragon ¦ Bex
No one ever wants to think that their project will go wrong, but sadly mine did…. I’m absolutely heart broken. My boss and I carted my PC out of the office and into the work area where I could hook it up to a keyboard, mouse and monitor. All the wiring had been checked and double checked. Hooked everything up and checked once more. I pushed the button. Nothing… Something was wrong…
I pushed it again, life. What had it not started for? Got it up and into Windows, ran 3D mark 06 for testing. Then it went al wrong… BANG! My boss and I startled immediately saw there were sparks and smoke coming from my top graphics card. I just yanked the power lead out. Falling to my knees, I checked as best I could to see what was wrong. Nothing… No leaks had sprung. My fiance ran down as soon as he heard what happend to comfort me.
My fiance took the lead and earthed the PC just incase and helped draining and taking it apart. Bit by bit we took the top card apart. Beneath the block we found blackness. The card had blown. Theheatsink blackend. My next concern, “Have I just killed my PC?!”. I couldn’t even bring myself to trying… My fiance had to move my bottom card into the top slot. We used the cables that were attached to the card that had blown incase it was the leads. Cautiously he turned it on. Life… From such tragedy, something had survived… I hadn’th blown it all away… my many months of work…
Sadly I just can’t bring myself to having another go just yet. I’ve already started to try and RMA my card piecing it back together. However I’m guessing it will be difficult as I bought it from my last place of work. But we shall see…
[UPDATE] No longer trading. Oh great. This is going to be fun. just going to have to be direct with Asus.
Rated: 100% (2 votes)
Loading ...Here Goes nothing!!! WATERCOOLING!!!!
Elemental Dragon ¦ Bex
I know I know, I’ve been saying it for months that I’d watercool my PC. So nowI’ve finally got around to it. With the aid of my fiance, I’ve put my waterblocks on my test cards and rigged up the piping. My work has said I can build and test the PC in the workplace downstairs incase anything goes wrong. *Fingers crossed*
So here it is after all the plumping and filling during it’s 1 week leak test…
Nearly there…
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Loading ...Internal Case Painting
Elemental Dragon ¦ Bex
So I decided I hated the colour of my case. I just quit my current job so I’m a bit low on money, so powder coating isn’t an option. So whats my cheapest option? Answer - DIY. Something I’m not very good at. But oh well, let’s have a bash! Can of primer (which just also happens to be my colour of choice), 600,800 and 1200 wet/dry sandpaper, cloth, masking tape, mask and newspaper.
Equipment :
- Swiftech Apogee GT
- Asus Fusion Block
- 2x EK 3870X2 Blocks
- Swiftech Laing 5 Pump
- 2x Swiftech 240mm Rads
- Lots of 7/16″ hosing
- XSPC 5.25″ Reservoir
- 2x Feser Coolant UV Pink (I wanted red but oh well)
A word of warning - it’s a dirty dirty dirty job and you’re probably going to get cuts n scuffs!!! There’s alot of blood, sweat and tears (quite liturally)
I did have some photos but unfortunately they’re no longer available. Totally gutted at that. Step by step and everything. Oh poo!
Rated: 88.57% (7 votes)
Loading ...Box Of Shiney Things!!!
Elemental Dragon ¦ Bex
YAY! My bits finally arrived!!! Just a shame I can’t play with them yet due to my arm being all broke n stuff….
List of bits I’ve now got :
- 2m Black coils
- 1m Blowhole trim
- 2x 3870X2 waterblocks
- 2x Xilence fan controllers
- 5x TT Thunderblades Red LED fans (78CFM, 21DB)
- Hose cutters
- 1/2″ Barbs
- 1/2″ Hose clips
(and yes that’s this month’s issue of CPC you spy!)
Rated: 93.33% (12 votes)
Loading ...2x 3870X2’s Crossfire!!!
Elemental Dragon ¦ Bex
And so the bad boys are here… although very girly looking compared to the box…
Huge boxes for huge cards!!!
Longer than my mobo!
My case seems…. er… small?
So hey ho - add the crossfire bridge and we’re off! Power up! Very quiet… Can’t hear them over my other fans! Downloaded my drivers (Driver Packaging Version 8.471-080225a1-059752C-ATI ) and gave it a reboot. Time to test….
CSS with everything maxed out at 1920×1200 - ~200FPS (up from previous ~100FPS)
TF2 with everything maxed out at 1920×1200 - ~100FPS (up from previous ~50FPS)
COD4 with everything maxed out at 1920×1200 - well I can’t tell you because the game actually didn’t work with the FPS bar on! Happy as larry with it off though!
DODS with everything maxed out at 1920×1200 - ~100FPS (up from previous ~50FPS)
That’s all I’ve managed to test so far - but just about everything is an average of doubled FPS! (That’s with averages over a few maps taken). I do have more games such as GOW, WIC, BF2, Oblivion, GH3, TDU etc to test on though! Oblivion should be the interesting 1 seeing as how it’s always hated crossfire stuff…. purple lines etc.
The cards run fine off my Enermax 650W PSU, and OC to the max but they do get rather warm in a case with very little airflow. Stuck a spare Thermaltake Thunderblade 120mm fan in front of the 2 cards to keep the cold air flowing over them and seems to have brought temperatures down to a more normal level. No glitches so far, and every game has been extremely stable.
I will be ordering water blocks for the cards in the next few weeks. Thinking I’ll be going with the EK 1s as they’re the best designed in my opinion. By then I should have finished all my case mods too (fingers crossed). So next entry will be a biggy! I will keep this plog updated with more FPS results as will I in the forums.
Forum Topic : http://www.custompc.co.uk/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=262268
Rated: 100% (6 votes)
Loading ...My BFG 8800GT OC2 Gets a new home…
Elemental Dragon ¦ Bex
Well boys and girls, I’ve went red over green… I’m sick fo this waiting game and from what I’ve seen I’m not entirely impressed… So I’ve went and bought 2x 3870X2’s. So what’s happening to my old 8800GT? I’m selling it to my fiance! 
For some wierd reason his PC just will not produce the correct resolution on his HDTV with his card on the HDMI lead! We tried his mum’s PC on the VGA cable and it worked straight away using on board graphics, so why his 7950GTX wouldn’t puzzels me. We tried everything we could think of (Drivers, Nvidia control panel, power strip etc. - tried forcing the res but nothing worked! Had to use reg edit to get his games working at an unatural res and most didn’t like it 1 bit!) and nothing worked.
As soon as we installed the 8800GT though it took to the HDTV res straight away, as did his games and films without any errors or aid of software! Hurray!
Now he play’s every game he has maxxed out!
Click to manage your blog
- #@$%*" GFX!!! (100%)
- Is it done yet? NO!!!!!! >:( (100%)
- My BFG 8800GT OC2 Gets a new home... (100%)
- Here Goes nothing!!! WATERCOOLING!!!! (100%)
- The Little Case That Turned Huge!!! (97.8%)
- Under-estimated Power of 7600GT's (96%)
- When Cable Tidying Gets Outa Hand!!! (96%)
- Bringing New Life! (95.6%)
- A Sad Goodbye... (94%)
- 2x 3870X2's Crossfire!!! (93.4%)
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