Show Us Your Rig [4]

[Element7]

That's a great rig, Dallas. Good job!

 

[ZaLiTH]

Not sure if any of you have found your answers to the 4-pin vs 8-pin CPU power connector yet, but just in case... I did quite a bit of research on that topic after I saw my XFX 750a board had the 8-pin. It was time to replace my PSU and that was one of the points that weighed in with the end choice.

The 8-pin connectors are pretty common on server boards, if I remember correctly, they first came out on dual-CPU server boards. Later this idea was also adapted by dual-CPU consumer boards and those designed with overclocking in mind. The main reason is to provide more stable power at higher loads, so unless you're running two procs or (if possible) making your single proc do the work of two, you shouldn't ever need to worry about it. Hope that helps..

 

[Britton30]

Lady F you certainly are patient one. I think you are the only member who can disassemble you connectors to sleeve them.

Dallas7 that is a nice and clean build. You can also upload original pictures. Hit the big orange reply button to get to the Advanced editor, click the then browse to your image and upload. A full size pic is better to see detail. Ex.


When you open it in a new tab and click on it once more, it's full size.

 

[linnemeyerhere]

Lady F you certainly are patient one. I think you are the only member who can disassemble you connectors to sleeve them.

Dallas7 that is a nice and clean build. You can also upload original pictures. Hit the big orange reply button to get to the Advanced editor, click the View attachment 260078 then browse to your image and upload. A full size pic is better to see detail. Ex.

View attachment 260079
When you open it in a new tab and click on it once more, it's full size.

I agree Britton30, she not only sleeves the darn things but cuts them to length where possible and routes the wires so that they look like hard piping with zero twist in the cable/sleeves.....just amazing. You think people don't notice.....we do and totally understand the level of attention. Your mad woman....mad....and I love it ! You really do need to get out the Nikon and special lights for a final group of detailed pictures when it's all done!

 

[kbrady1979]

Dallas 7, that is a VERY clean build that you should be proud of! I can tell you put a lot of work into it.

 

[essenbe]

Lady F you certainly are patient one. I think you are the only member who can disassemble you connectors to sleeve them.

Dallas7 that is a nice and clean build. You can also upload original pictures. Hit the big orange reply button to get to the Advanced editor, click the View attachment 260078 then browse to your image and upload. A full size pic is better to see detail. Ex.

View attachment 260079
When you open it in a new tab and click on it once more, it's full size.

I agree Britton30, she not only sleeves the darn things but cuts them to length where possible and routes the wires so that they look like hard piping with zero twist in the cable/sleeves.....just amazing. You think people don't notice.....we do and totally understand the level of attention. Your mad woman....mad....and I love it ! You really do need to get out the Nikon and special lights for a final group of detailed pictures when it's all done!

Not only that, but she colors them with magic markers. Now, who would do that?

BTW, Lady Fitzgerald, this is what a bench test should look like. :busted:

 

[kbrady1979]

BTW, Lady Fitzgerald, this is what a bench test should look like. :busted:
View attachment 260085

Mad scientist at work!

 

[essenbe]

Kelly, you got the first part right at least. Just testing to make sure everything works. 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.

 

[kbrady1979]

Kelly, you got the first part right at least. Just testing to make sure everything works. 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.

Yes it is! Made a little easier with modular power supplies, but still quite a bit of work if something isn't working right.

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

Thanks for the kind words, guys! Except for the two hardwired cables, the PCIe cable (it was already nicely sleeved), and an extension cable that doesn't show from the front, I custom made all of the PSU cables, occasionaly cannibalizing connectors from other cables but usually just buying new ones. It's not that hard, just time consuming but, then, I'm retired so I can afford to take the time. I did do a bit of cheating, though. I was afraid to dismantle the PSU 24 pin connector to sleeve it since I'm color blind and trying to get it back together would have been a nightmare so I just covered the parts that showed with sleeving that wraps around the original, nearly transparent sleeving. I did the same thing with the two breakout cables since the sleeved portion was a straight run (except for that one little kink). Getting all the SATA data connectors through the sleeving I had on hand would have been a nightmare (it would have been impossible with the mini-SAS connector) so I cheated and used the wrap sleeving. Thank God for 3-1 heat shrink tubing.

I got my inspiration for this madness on the Overclockers Forum (the initials would be OCF but think of it as OCD). Some of those guys are into building custom cases as well as custom cables and resleeving existing cables (I would have loved to have built a custom case from oak—I toyed with the idea of going steampunk with it—but I have enough projects waiting to happen already so I limited myself to cutting away a brace and adding some cable routing holes to a stock case). I'm a rank amateur compared to most of those guys.

Btw, great job Dallas, grest job! Nice and clean looking!

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

...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.

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

...
BTW, Lady Fitzgerald, this is what a bench test should look like. :busted:
View 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]

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

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

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:

 

[Thorsen]

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:

If you build that, I will idolize you forever :shock:

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

LOL! Don't hold your breath.

 

[essenbe]

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

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

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

View attachment 260106

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).

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

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.

 

[ganjiry]

Again a great job on those cable's. I've not seen the back of a case look so tidy before lol.