Hardware pr0n...w00t!

[clocker]

Maybe if I sold her now on a forum classified I could get a reasonable price, but as the new chips come out and prices fall, any percieved extra value evaporates.

I never plan anything.
Sprocket has evolved organically, many revisions directly attributable to a stroke of good luck in sales/deals.

It's easier and more fun that way.

[clocker]

Right then class, pencils at the ready.

I've been doing a bit more tinkering with my setup and have made a few improvements along with some surprising steps backwards.

With the Gigabyte board I had struggled mightily to break into the 2500's at PC Pitstop (yeah I know it's crap, but they keep having prizes for high scores and I really wanted another Raptor).
Not a prob anymore...

My best Everest memory read test...

Finally, a sooooooo close try at sub-30 seconds at SuperPI...


WinRAR compression test doesn't seem to respond to anything, I can equal, but not best, my previous score of 38.
Aquamark3 still refuses to yeild a score over 80k.

I'm thinking that my CPU memory controller might now be the bottleneck.
The Patriot RAM has performed fine with the original tight timings ( I only dropped the CAS to 2.5), but relaxing further doesn't help. I can't even POST at cas3.
Maybe there are a whole different set of timings I could adopt to try and break 280 FSB...I'm going to research that.
Right now I've settled back to 2.4GHz and am playing with voltages...specifically- undervolting.
Vcore is down from a high of 1.525 (stock is 1.4) to 1.325v and RAM is at 2.7v.

CPU/GPU temps have budged hardly at all through this trip through GHzland.
I have yet to break 30c on the CPU.

I think that Sprocket has turned out quite healthy for a general-purpose PC.
Compared to hardcore sportclockers she falls short, but she's not as single purpose, stripped down as they, either.
The real players are on machines with SCSI RAID, pared-to-the-bone Win2K and phase-change cooling.
SuperPI scores are nearing 25 seconds at that rarified level.
Of course, after the benchmark they can't browse the forums or burn a DVD like I can, either.

Later today I plan on rerouting the waterloop (which might involve a new reservoir also) and tweaking the cosmetics a bit more...I still haven't decided on what to do with the front bezel.
I can also tell that soon I'll have to deal with the northbridge HSF on this board...it is one whiny little bastard. So far, every socket939 board with PCIe that I've seen has suffered from horrible placement of this chip...effective cooling is an impossibility.
I can imagine some solutions, but none that will allow for the second vidcard should I go SLI. Replacing this unit requires removing the motherboard (which is quite involved for me) so I'd prefer to do it but once.

OK LP, bring it on.....

[Spicker]

I think that Sprocket has turned out quite healthy for a general-purpose PC.

I hate you.

[Snee]

Are you getting another raptor then?

[Spicker]

Are you getting another raptor then?

i dont think it will fit?

[clocker]

Are you getting another raptor then?

Not in a contest, no.
Hitting 2600 on this test (which two months ago would have struck me as miraculous) doesn't even ante onto the table anymore.
The big dogs have broken 3000...

I hate you.

That shall be my cross to bear.

[clocker]

In hopes of intensifying Spicker's hatred, here are some more shots.

First, the rerouted loop.
Looks very much like the original, doesn't it?
Yeah, I thought so too.
Trust me though, it's been redone.


And a bit of performance data.


Sprocket had been Priming for maybe 4 hours in this shot.
Oddly, I also had the nvidia temp monitor app open for this shot, but it disappeared during capture.
Dunno why.
It was reading 31C at the time in a room temp of 23-24C.

Soooo.
Rerouting the loop has had zeroapparent effect on the temps.
Neither the GPU nor the CPU went up or down as a result.

Interesting.

[clocker]

Are you getting another raptor then?

As it turns out, yes, I am.
I didn't think I had snagged it, but it showed up yesterday ($85 off the OCForums classified).

RAID 0, here I come.

After I figure out how to mount more drives in Sprocket.
I have a Seagate 120 SATA that would be nice to install also (for no particular reason other than I have it...) so I need to provide space (and cooling) for two more drives.
Just eyeballing the available space, it looks possible to use the rod/suspension method and squeeze all three drives where previously there was one, but airflow (and thus temps) might be an issue.

Tomorrow is my day off so I'll attack this then.

Ultimately I hope to also incorporate the 4GB RAM drive for the bare OS.
Then the 72GB RAID array would hold the page file and programs and the solo 120 SATA disc would be straight data storage.
This would be about the fastest storage array possible, I think.

So much for the lean, mean, stripped-down Sprocket I originally intended, but as I mentioned previously, serendipity plays a big role in my modding adventures.


BTW, I just heard from FrozenCPU and the Hiper PSU pictured in a previous post should be available in 2-3 weeks.
Right after my next paycheck.
Oh oh.

[Afronaut]

Sorry to interrupt but there's a hawt topic on /. and I thought maybe you guys like to take a peek also.
(I know you peps like this stuff)

For hardcore serverpr0n, check the:
Homebuilt 19" Mini-ITX Server Rack.

[clocker]

Oh, that's cruel...link is down.