Well, then...the pc, I guess

[j2k4]

Any perceived ineptitudes are on the part of the beholder-

Part I: J2 Utterly Subdues Pissy Little CPU Cooler

Once I decided to use my size advantage, it didn't stand a chance.

The relevant aspects are obscured, using a shadow technique I learned in film school.



Different view, less obscurity, same crappy composition.

While I share Clocker's disdain for the push-pin mounting hardware, I added a dollop of outright loathing once I discovered the pins were also possessed of a peculiar (and cheaply-wrought) ingenuity.

On the other hand, I thought the fan retainers to be outstanding in design and function.

Lots of pretty colors and shiny stuff; massive memory overkill - I don't like empty DIMMs, ever since I couldn't afford to buy RDRAM for my first Dell - I had none of the trouble Clocker had seating any of the four sticks, but I used a hammer, so.

Anyhoo-



This is more like it; lots of open space for...stuff

80mm fan in front, 120mm in the back, pretty straight-forward, really.



Front-panel stuff; the fans will both plug directly into the board, saving a bit of the ugliness seen here,



which brings us to this-



The vitals inside the box, with just the modularized cabling and FP stuff hooked up.

This is gonna drive me nuts, because I don't think I have the patience/eyesight to re-terminate all this stuff to proper length, but I'll do what I can.

I think I may look for something I can fashion into a venturi to tie the backside of the cooler to the rear case fan, then buy/fab a controller to overspeed the rear fan slightly relative to the cooler fan so as to draw in air from the sides of the cooler and evacuate the heat more effectively at the rear.

I'll drop the E-SATA/aux-power breakout to the bottom add-on slot to get that spaghetti on the floor of the case for better routing securement.

Something else, too, to get that ugly-ass sag out of my video card.

I'm using a Lite-On Lightscribe (yeah, I know) combo drive and a 250G Seagate to fire it up (Prophesy Vista 64-bit); the cabling leaves much to be desired. but what can I do - I want it to run, and right-frigging-now, but it is precisely this-



kind of crap, plus the cables I'll be installing to connect additional hardware (two 250G Seagates in RAID 0, two 500G Samsung slaves, a card-reader, and another combo-burner) that will try my soul next...

Edit-

By the way, I think I'll call her The Immaculate Contraption.

[clocker]

And so it begins.

No doubt alternate- indeed, better- cable routing options will become obvious as you progress.

Contraption certainly fits, Immaculate, not so much.
Yet.

Fucking 28" monitor.

[j2k4]

That last is an aiming point, you see.

[clocker]

Pics of new monitor?

If I'm to be consumed by jealousy, I'd like to see the object of my lust.

[Acid_death69]

yerr i would like to see this big fuck off monitor. I would always be nervous about fitting such a big heatsinks to mobos. Mobo's aint exactly made out of strong stuff

[clocker]

Mobo's aint exactly made out of strong stuff

This is true-generally- but this series Gigabyte board has an extra heavy duty copper layer in it and is surprisingly heavy.
Maybe not stronger, but noticeably weightier.

[Acid_death69]

well long as it gives it a better structure so i can hold giant heatsinks like that. Heatsink manufacturers must see how much weight mobo's can take so obv they wouldn't sell a heatsink that'll break it.
But i can just see an unfaithful night where you move your pc and knock it over and snap your mobo in half.

[clocker]

Although the Xigmatech 1283 is really not as heavy as it might appear, my hatred of the "push-pin" mount- which is not only stupidly difficult to engage but also prone to spontaneously popping free- lead me to create a home brewed "screw down/backplate" mount.
Fortunately, I have far more loose hardware at my disposal than the average bear and no fear of implementing it.
In a perfect world the heatsink mounts would simply pass through the motherboard and actually mount to the case structure...the motherboard would locate the sink but not be responsible for actually supporting it.
I have done this myself and it works brilliantly but because every board maker places the CPU socket wherever they damn well please, it's hardly a universal solution.

To their credit, Intel has specified a backplate as stock for their new socket, so the problem should be somewhat alleviated in the future.

[j2k4]

Pics of new monitor?

If I'm to be consumed by jealousy, I'd like to see the object of my lust.

yerr i would like to see this big fuck off monitor. I would always be nervous about fitting such a big heatsinks to mobos. Mobo's aint exactly made out of strong stuff

Monitor pics will be posted sometime after work today.

It is incredibly easy on the eyes, even though I'm only running it at 1920x1200 'cuz it's hooked up to my old E521 with 7600GS.

Sure is nice to sit back in the chair and not squint.

I didn't feature wrestling it around the bench with I.C. (the 22" Samsung is plenty for that), and it'll stay where it is when I move I.C. upstairs, so.

As to the cooler/mobo question, I actually gave it some mild shaking to ensure the cooler was secure, then gave everything a minute inspection under the mag glass; the pins didn't move a bit - they still suck, but it's quality suckage, at least.

I don't handle mobos every day, either, but there's real heft to the Gigabyte - reassuring, and the accompanying blurbage lauds it's ability (again, the copper layer) to dump heat.

I like it.

[clocker]

You suffer an embarrassment of riches, boy.
A 22" LCD as a backup monitor?

Maybe SWMBO is due for a dual monitor setup...