Show Us Your Rig [4]

essenbe said:

...I really hate to take the motherboard out because there is something not working. After putting everything together, it's a real PITA to remove everything to remove the motherboard.

You got that right. I'm praying I never have to replace the TIM on the CPU cooler (it's warranted for six years but we'll see how that goes) since I would have to yank the MOBO to do so and to do that, all the cables going to it, all the cards on it, and the rear case fan and speed control will have to come out.

essenbe said:

...
BTW, Lady Fitzgerald, this is what a bench test should look like.
Attachment 260085

That's not far from what my desk looked like when I bench tested my MOBO, CPU cooler, and GPU card. I didn't bother with a HDD since all I wanted to find out was if the darned thing would post.

Thorsen said:

Lady Fitzgerald said:

I would have loved to have built a custom case from oak

first thing I thought of was this one: MDPC 035 | Cygnus X1 by Attila Lukacs aka oldnewby


worklog is on overclockers (I read the whole thing ) : Cygnus X1. - Overclockers Australia Forums

That is sweet looking.

I had thought about something like this:

LOL! Don't hold your breath.

essenbe said:

For a Woman of your talents, this would be easy.

You are too kind but, actually, that would be easy. Most of that is stock pieces of gingerbread, either from cast brass or bronze or from wood pieces that were gilded and antiqued or bronzed. Crafts stores, such as Michaels or Jo-Anns sell a product that goes on like shoe polish to give that effect. Last time I saw the stuff, it was available in gilt, silver, and bronze. Antique brass furnace grates are a good source for front and side panels. Other pieces can be salvaged from other antique items. The reproduction market is another good source. Any of you could do it if you are insane enough (I am but, as I said earlier, I have too many projects needing doing and/or finishing before I even think about it).

I got the breakout cables installed, tested, and everything seems to be working alright. Whoo Hoo! The job was a bit of a bugger but nowhere near the nightmare I was expecting.

Ok, here are the obligatory photos:



Notice the sheet of paper saying SATA connections? Being the anal coward I am, I actually made a list of all the SATA ports on the MOBO and LSI card with where each one went. Since I didn't know if the LSI card would let me hotswap HDDs (it did, whoo hoo!), I also had a Plan B worked out. In case the LSI card didn't work out, I also had Plans C & D in place (I'm later going to erase Plans B-D since I don't need them anymore). That list made routing the breakout cables a bit less maddening and will make future troubleshooting (hopefully not needed) a lot easier. Since it's a bit hard to see the newly sleeved cables in this shot, here's a couple more.





The little red thingies are dust caps for the ends of the unused SATA connectors (I got them from a couple SATA cables I used in this case: I also have dust caps on the unused SATA power connectors). Even though the drives aren't installed yet (and won't be until I need them; I won't even buy them until then to assure maximum warranty life), I routed the SATA data cable ends on the breakout cables and tied each one by its associated SATA power connector so I would have a place to park them for the time being and so I won't have to deal with finding and routing them when I do install the HDDs.

And here are a couple of shots of the backside, the second one featuring the mini-abyss. I was calling it a rat's nest until I got a knock on my door the other day. It turned out to be a rat attorney (I swear, everyone has lawyers now!) demanding I stop calling it a rat's nest since no self-respecting rat would ever live in a mess like that. Sigh!





That weird connector on the bottom right is for joining two SATA data cables. The front e-SATA port on the 3.5" swap bay has a cable coming off it. I had an extra SATA cable on the LSI breakout cables so I figured I would connect the front e-SATA to it and find out if would actually work. I haven't tested it yet since all I have that uses e-SATA is the 3.5" HDD dock I got to use until I had a working 3.5" swap bay on the computer.