MikeC's cobbled-together backup PC - Oct 2007

MikeC's external PSU PC - Feb 2004

Ralf Hutter's P4C Quiet Rig - July 2003

Ed's (Effectively) Silent K8 Rig - June 2005

Quiet Lanboy ......Completely Ducted, Running Cool. - June 2003

Ralf Hutter's Tualreon-based server - Nov 2002

So... any updates/changes to staff systems?

Gosh yes, but I never seem to get around to posting any of them.

Here's a quicky of my daily use P4 Northwood 3.4Ghz system ("System #2" in my sig) built on a P150. The pics should be pretty much self-explanatory, so here goes:





PSU duct intake:


Duct removed from case:


HDD cooling fan:

Ralf,
how is your psu duct getting air? i assume that white plate in front of it is not a plate, but it really looks solid... is it some sort of very fine mesh?

i like that your duct is mounted on rails

excellant cablegami as always.

It's getting air from the same place the rest of the case gets it's air, the series of slots around the periphery of the front bezel. The front of the duct is flush with the steel case wall so there's all kinds of room available for airflow behind the plastic bezel.

Ralf, I know you have posted this before but I can't seem to find it, Where do you get the u-channel that you use to line the edges of the cutout fan grills?

I use two sources:

1) 45¢ per foot from http://www.bestbyteinc.com/CMO-WIN-CSM.html

2) 23¢ per foot from www.mcmaster.com (search for part number 8510K11)

Disclaimer.....The "Quiet Lanboy" mentioned at the start of this thread was my first quiet project of maybe three years ago. It's long gone now. And I am not a member of the SPCR staff, even though the OP gives you that impression. Bluefront.

Thanks, just made an order

hey ralf what exactly is that duct made of again? Im going to incorporate a similar design in my next case but im not sure what matterial to use.

It's the plastic off of a 99¢ 3-ring binder from Staples, Office Depot, Target, etc. It's about .035-.040" thick so it's plenty stiff. Easy to bend 90° by scoring the bend line with a sharp knife. Glues well with Super Glue or epoxy type glues.

LOL oh yea thats what it was, I remember someone already asked you, <maybe even me> but I couldnt remember. Thanks.

Now that's some nice wiring. I didn't look too closely and thought there wasn't any cables at all installed. Wasn't until I saw the backside and started looking closer on the first picture that I saw that there was actually cables in there

My cables start out somewhat hidden but eventually they spread around the case like weed... guess we can't all be cable gurus

My new/old system

Specs aren't much to write about, but it's very very quiet.

Greetings,

It's a Athlon 64 4200+, 2GB RAM, 2X XFX 7600GS, a Samsung 80GB and a Seagate 120GB SATA drives suspended (sorta'), in an Evercase 4252. The rear fan is a Scythe DF 120mm (that runs on the one mobo header that is controlled by the BIOS -- it runs only about half the time!), and the front fan is a Scythe DF (2000RPM model) at 5v. And, it was running when the picture was taken: CPU temp is just 43C-52C (depending on the ambient temp) while running 2X Folding@Home.





The wiring may look nasty, but it is a tight bundle and it sits very close to the left side cover, so it works fine. The EIDE cables are folded as flat as possible against the motherboard tray. The one detail that you can't see is I've taped over the upper vent grill on the left side cover, which helps to concentrate the air flow onto the two video cards.

System update: I'm now using a Fortron Source "Green" 300watt PSU, and I have 2X 1GB Mushkin RAM, in place of 4X 512MB Mushkin, since it runs full speed stably. I relocated the 60GB Barracuda into the 3.5" bay below the floppy, and the front intake is now a Scythe Slipstream 500RPM (@12v, so no more 5v/7v adaptor either). It is running SMP Folding@Home while the pictures were taken -- the Scythe DF exhaust is shut off...




Further update: I have 4GB (4X 1GB) RAM now, a new Asus server motherboard, and the dual video cards are replaced by a single 6600GT. The front fan is a 500RPM Slipstream. Everything else is basically the same -- save that I have to trim 1/4" from about 8 of the Ninja's lower fins on one side to fit the sucker... It is very quiet -- much quieter than my older machine with 3 80mm fans.

Poor Evercase... everyone's ripped off their designs of using rubber grommets and side intakes in the front, and almost no one remembers them...

Come on, I know that there is no way that you guys are still using pcs from '03

I'm using the exact same system pictured above in the April 2006 post. No need to upgrade it as it's as quiet as I need and more powerful than I need. For the foreseeable future, no changes will be made unless I have to replace a dead piece of hardware.

If one isn't a gamer, this is actually quite doable. My dad still runs his PC from 2003 as well, and has no particular interest in upgrading.
I on the other hand switch PC's more then i switch lanes on the highway

I've changed my system twice now, but I haven't much time to really write anything up and post it. Sorry...

-Ed

Lol, I still have Slot 1 PIII 500 in use. My friend has Pentium 120 Mhz in use. So its easily doable ^^

Is till got few DOS games, I prefer using real DOS instead emulators. Much less hassle and such.

Scorched Earth!!!

-Ed

I used to have a old pII rig, but it got so slow, it would take an hour (maybe a little exaggerated) to open Google, so I decided to update. Then I got into gaming, and here I am.

I'm still running a pc from 2002, an 'ancient' P4 2.53GHz, 533Mhz FSB, 512KB L2 cache - 2x512MB DDR400.. ok at one point I cheated and got a used X800Pro from eBay, but that's only because my 'ancient' 9700Pro died.

I keep the OS light and tweaked so It's still plenty fast for me, but I still have this rig only because I haven't been into gaming for a few years now.

Until recently I was using an athlon xp as my main puter. I did upgrade to a core 2 quad but this was for the specific task of 3d rendering. In everyday use the perceived difference between the two was pretty much null at least until I added an ssd.

On subject, I don`t know how I missed Rulf`s pc, but it is awesome. Actually I`m going to make a similar duct for my psu right now!

Just curious if there are any updates. That P4 3.4 system is great, Ralf, the PSU intake mod is well executed and everything looks very clean. You still using the system or has it finally been retired?

Oops, missed this post.

I'm still using that exact same system for gaming. My daily-driver(s) for the past 2-3 years has been a couple of different IBM T42's and T60's. Plenty enough power for my needs, idle at around 13W and top out around 35W at full tilt.

Someday I'll update my sig....