Thanks to Detale

[clocker]

Well over a year ago, Detale most generously sent me an EK waterblock for my 8800GT vid card.
An added surprise in the package was a pair of 90° fittings (not sure of the brand but they're quite fancy).

Although I installed the block immediately (and it's very nice), the fittings have been gathering dust, along with a new Apogee CPU block I inexplicably bought on a whim.

After recently receiving my OCZ SSD RMA, I decided to get off my ass and redo the loop as long as the computer was going to be open for work.
Here are the results (usual shit pics...sorry):


Incorporating the new fittings made for the most streamlined water loop I've ever created. One fitting went on the inlet to CPU block, the other on the outlet of the EK GPU block.
They saved about 10" of hose over the previous setup and resulted in a very unobtrusive hose layout.

So, a big THANK YOU to Detale!

Sadly, other problems have appeared.
I think the SATA ports are fritzing out on my Gigabyte motherboard.
Although the BIOS will recognize devices on all six of the Intel controlled ports, Windows install will not.
I spent all of yesterday attempting to install on the RAIDed SSDs, to no avail.
RAID was not possible on any combination of ports, Windows install claimed a variety of problems and the RAID BIOS would show "failed" after each attempt.

I now have Windows installed on a regular drive and most mysteriously, Windows will recognize and format the SSDs if they are reinstalled after Windows is in place.
Win install however, refuses to show them as an option during install.
They just aren't there.

Naturally- the computer business being how it is- my s775 platform is already extinct as far as manufacturers are concerned.
Basically, motherboards are simply not available...the few that are for sale are all low end, low spec models with too few SATA ports for my setup (I need eight).
So, I'm fucked.

Sigh.

[Detale]

Wow man I'm honored. Thanks so much for all YOU do for the hardware section. Rig looks good bud. I do however see one issue. It loos like your cpu block is the apogee gtZ right? if so it's directional man. There is a small dot near the left barb signifying inlet man. Here is a pic from swiftech



flowpath6398976.jpg

That sucks about your Mobo but are you sure it's your sata ports? You may want to (if not already) try the gigabyte raid pre install drivers. I recall having to use them once or twice for no good reason other than my mobo was having a bad day. What the hell do you need 8 for?? You don't even have a dvd drive anymore. Maybe this is your mobo's way of saying goodbye

EDIT: It just dawned on me that you have the GA-EP45-UD3R. I may have an extra one in my dungeon bud. I believe it's missing the northbridge cooler though. If you want it it's yours. I'll take a look later today and see if it's down there.

[clocker]

Yeah, that's the block and I do have the inlet at the right port.

I admit I'm flummoxed by the current weirdness but I'm pretty sure it's the ports- I've never had to do anything special before and now it's acting very finicky.
Or, maybe it's the controller chip.
I kind of gave up after a full day of trying...might make another attempt soon.
Maybe.

Despite the fact that I've done nothing in Hardware for months, thanks anyway.
If you do have a spare board, let me know.

[megabyteme]

Thanks to Detale [...] I'm fucked.

Sigh.

There was a lot of unnecessary stuff in the middle, so I made it easier to read.

[clocker]

Every writer needs a good editor.

[Skiz]

I don't know how you keep things so clean.

[clocker]

"Keep?"
I used a shopvac with the hose on the exhaust port and blew the fuck out of it before beginning work.
She was filthy before that, hadn't been touched in a year.

[tesco]

Is that case a flipped ATX and why don't they all come that way?

[clocker]

Yes indeed, it is.
This is a heavily modified Silverstone TJ06, and that's the way it came.
I don't know why all cases aren't like that, I've converted later cases (the TJ07, for instance) to be that way because it makes so much more sense...especially for the vid card (conversely, why aren't video cards designed so they're not upside down in a "standard" case?).

So much about PCs seems based on convention instead of logic.

[Detale]

...especially for the vid card (conversely, why aren't video cards designed so they're not upside down in a "standard" case?).

This has been a pet peeve of mine since I started building computers. Seriously they have to know this by now and no one is making a change at all here. At very least make a back plate on them. Some Evga cards you can buy a back plate for but others like my gtx 260 need to be modded to fit. they could easily charge $20 more and they would sell like hotcakes.

I checked last night man and I do happen to have your Gigabyte board laying around down there doing nothing it's yours if you want it. I had 2 of them and I tore up the work area looking for the other one for about 2 hours. Not until just now did I realize I put it in my server, what a mong.