low power, ssd, single fan- it's cheating, really.

porkchop · Post by **porkchop** » Tue Dec 15, 2009 6:23 am

my new pc!
replacing an old 1.9ghz x2 system with integrated nvidia 7050 graphics.

parts list:
antec nsk1380
antec ar350
gigabyte ma785gm-us2h
amd sempron 140
kingston value ddr2 667 2gb
kingston ssdnow v series 64gb
pioneer dvr-111d (in soon)
artic cooling alpine 64
glacialtech silentblade 120mm

sits in my tv cabinet to my left, the power button is external and is double taped in an easy to reach location. painted because grey is boring, red because that's what i had

not much to see here really, alot of wasted space. the psu was modded a little- half the casing removed, and a bit of overhang snipped off for easier installation/removal.

ssd for quiet, i may have to offload files monthly but it's a price i'm willing to pay. bare heatsink, plastic bracket was replaced with some alu to minimize airflow obstruction.

did what i could with the cables, you can see some black tape to the right- covers the red overspray.

temps, ambient is in the low 20s:

(according to gigabyte easytune, temp1 is sys, temp2 is cpu)
things of note- cpu runs 800mhz idle and 2.7ghz load, bios undervolted plus cnq. fan is mobo controlled and there seems to be a linear ramp up with the temps, when first switched on the fan was only spinning at 400rpm, at 12v the fan spins at 1000rpm.

ssd, wd6400aacs bench:

these are not definitive benchmarks, just a little glimpse into the performance difference of these drives. you can see here that this particular ssd isn't great with lots of small random writes, but that's what i paid for and so far i don't regret it.

FartingBob · Post by **FartingBob** » Tue Dec 15, 2009 10:43 am

Nice looking system. What do you use it for?

porkchop · Post by **porkchop** » Tue Dec 15, 2009 3:16 pm

my everyday pc- video, internet and some light gaming.

there's more than enough power for what i do, and if i ever need more i can easily upgrade

Camacha · Post by **Camacha** » Sat Dec 19, 2009 2:35 pm

Reminds me of Meccano a lot, which is a good thing. Looks a lot better than those shiny LED-lit black boxes that everyone seems to have nowadays

porkchop · Post by **porkchop** » Mon Dec 21, 2009 5:57 pm

the hex screws that replaced all the rivets are from a meccano set!
i'm a big fan open case myself, and the lack of a spinning hdd has made it all the easier.

here's some more info after having used it for a few more days:
the sempron 140
the 2nd core was bad so no unlocking goodness here, i tried my hand at overclocking too... i don't think i have the skills. my undervolt is 0.768v at 800mhz, and 1.04v at 2.7ghz (-0.3v in the bios).
the kingston ssd
the most expensive component in my build, but still the cheapest per gb ssd on the (aussie) market, indilinx ssds cost about 50% more. cheap because it uses a jmicron controller, which was responsible for the stuttering issues in 1st gen ssds, kingston teamed up with toshiba and say they've fixed the problem.
the only anomaly i've experienced so far with this ssd is skipping video- i was running utorrent, digsby, zoomplayer and firefox, and once or twice the video would skip a little. not a big deal since the video was just background noise, but interesting nonetheless. i also did the same thing but ran ut2004 instead of firefox, no anomalies there.
ssds are very nice, everything is faster, ut2004 opens in 2-3s, maps load in the same amount of time. in all honesty though it hasn't really made my general 'experience' alot better, i do however very much appreciate it's other advantages over mechanical hdds.
gaming
i'm mainly playing ut2004 atm, good fun just shooting everything that moves. i'm getting an average mid 30's fps with settings maxed out, 1280x960 res and 19 bots in a regular deathmatch.
amd overdrive tells me that in desktop the gpu runs at about 200mhz, and 560mhz when gaming. i'm also looking into reducing the v a little.
temps and cooling
as you can see, no problems here, low powered components +undervolting =not much heat. with the way it's setup however, it takes literally hours for the temps to decrease back to idle, but then again, the difference between load and idle temps is only a few C.
i've touch tested all the heatsinks during load, the sb is hottest- almost too hot to keep my finger on it, the cpu and nb were warm. almost zero airflow in that area is the culprit, and i'm considering a larger heatsink.
summers coming, and last night my fan was stuck at about 700rpm- i'm looking at putting in a good fan once i get the chance, i suspect a nexus or scythe at 700rpm would be quieter than what i've got now.

i think thats all i have for now