Sprocket....dripping wet (again)

**clocker** · 11-04-2004, 02:13 AM

Just a head's up- Sprocket is about to be watercooled again.
This go round the gear is going to be better, I hope the results warrent the effort.
I find myself perversely attracted to the whole water cooling concept and, despite the extra complexity and cost, cannot resist giving it yet another try.

I already have the bigmama server case to cram all this goodness into and over the next few days will spend some time trying to work out the logistics of the installation while I await the parts.

I also want to try some software configuration experiments so I can decide exactly how to lay out everything after the final hardware install.
Mostly I want to try a RAID 0(striped) set just to see for myself how it works and if it's noticable to the average human ( yeah, I KNOW what all the forums now say about striping....I just wanna try for myself).
My twin 80GB SATA Seagates will do quite nicely I think, and I'm reserving the baby Raptor for the 64-bit Mandrake Linux OS that I hope will supplant XP altogether once I get comfortable with it.

As an aside....Ultra will send you free SATA cables if your X-connect PSU was an early shipping model that did not come with them in the box.
Mine are on the way ( I hope) which will eliminate the unsightly adaptors that I'm now forced to use.

I am researching the optimal CPU/motherboard combo as I have the opportunity to sell off my current x64 3000+/Chaintech rig.
Can't really decide between socket 754 and socket 939...more work to be done there...any suggestions?

Let's see if I can actually finish a project for a change, shall we?

**kaiweiler** · 11-04-2004, 02:34 AM

What are the actual specs on the WC system you intend to install?? What rad/heatercore, pump, blocks, etc....
and here we go again, another 10 page thread!

**clocker** · 11-04-2004, 04:34 AM

Gee, I was hoping for 20 pages or so...it's been kinda slow in here lately.
Outside of Lynx's thread about his HSF, we've sunk to such oddities as clocking toothbrushes....

New loop consists of an Eheim 1250 pump, a TDX waterblock and an unnamed radiator with a 120mm fan.
Here's the block....

and the radiator...

Sorry, no good pic of the pump.

Reportedly, the temps on a system very much like my current setup were quite good.
This loop features 1/2" lines, a substantial increase in flow from my previous watercooling kit, so I am hopeful of a proportional drop in running temperatures.

We can all find out together....

**S!X** · 11-04-2004, 06:59 AM

Whats "Sprocket"

**bigdawgfoxx** · 11-04-2004, 12:06 PM

Why are you switching to Linux

**lynx** · 11-04-2004, 01:25 PM

Now that really is a closed loop system.

Socket 754/939? I'd go for the 939, twice the memory bandwidth, higher speed hypertransport, high end processors are 939 so more likely to be futureproof.

**clocker** · 11-04-2004, 01:44 PM

Hi Dawg.
About a month ago I downloaded the three disk install of Mandrake 10.1 on a whim.
I've read/talked to Linux advocates ( they are as rabid as Mac users!) and decided to see for myself what the deal was.
The install was amazing.
Keep in mind that during a normal day at work I might do 2-3 Windows installs, so I'm very familiar with the process.

It was a bloody revelation.

The entire install takes about 12 minutes ( including formatting) and once past the initial "I agree" to the EULA there is no interaction at all...Linux just handles the whole process.
Even the SATA drives, which bring XP to it's knees until you feed it drivers, didn't faze Mandrake...it sees the drives and plucks drivers from it's own database and carries on.
Linux can see the Windows drives and read from them....Windows is confused by Linux and knows that something is over there, but doesn't know what, so it just calls it "unknown partition".

Basically, the Mandrake Linux seems smart and makes XP look stupid and slow.
It's also a fully functional 64-bit OS, so it's using my x64 chip in ways that XP cannot.

The terminology used in Linux is odd ( at least in the beginning), but the interface is not too intimidating and I think that with a bit of study I'll get it down.
I know that Mandrake is a "noob" distro, but it's a cool intro to the world of open source OS and I think I can make it work for me full-time.

Since I first installed Mandrake, every time I have to click through ten screens to get SP2 to install, I realize the MS thinks I am an idiot and I resent it.....

Edit....
Mofos- Sprocket is my PC, a shameless exhibitionist and a black hole into which I pour money and effort and in return receive abuse and frustration.

Very much like my ex-wives....

Lynx- put like that it seems a no-brainer doesn't it?
939 here we come....