Long time no see. Upgrade time.


So aye. Two custom made black EPS cables and a Strimer, and one finished RGB thing. Will hook up the EK screen shortly to make sure it is good. I am hoping Lconnect shows on that and scales...

rr6qh4u.png


If not I will have to buy AIDA and pee around making my own.
 
Santa came. I was trying to figure out when OCUK was open yesterday. I found out they are indeed open after Xmas between NY. DPD arrived this morning, and so did the other things.
 
OK so things done. Remove retention (squeaky bum time). Fit CPU, install frame.

I then removed the top NVME cover and reversed it. Like, 180'. It then fits the middle one. 1tb installed in there. The big old Thermalright one will go up top on show. Part of me wonders why they couldn't just add another fiver and give you three, but I suppose then it looks the same as the one costing 3x as much. My little hack on the other hand makes it look that good any way.

4d6gmL2.jpg


Other things. The other week my new TV PC was fired up for our game night. Went to connect my controller and uh oh... No bluetooth. "OK I will use my USB wifi card !". Still no bluetooth ffs. So I had to play wired. Really not wanting to buy a wifi card I found that you can buy £5 dongles for BT only. Perfect then, they are also tiny so nice and stealthy and tidy.

The CPU block concerns me. They provide the block, one set of post screws with springs on and another without. No instructions and no labels on the baggies to tell you which are to be used for which. I hope Barrow have instructions on their site ffs.

Also Ross.... They are M3 now. So I guess they realised like every one else that M2 sucks monkey testes?? I mean even tapping M2 is a bloody nightmare.
 
ALXAndy said:
They are M3 now
Click to expand...
Good to hear. The posts I have suck bawls lol

Assuming the mounting is the same, I just dug out my brass one and refreshed my memory. On mine I have a plastic backplate with threaded inserts on each corner, those inserts are just long enough to poke flush with the top face of the motherboard. I only have 4 of the post thumbscrew things and they have springs. The posts go through the block's mounting plate with the springs above the mounting for pressure, and just dial them in.

Because the block's mounting bracket is just through holes, the only thing that can even keep the block in place would be the springs. I presume the extra posts you have are just spares.

I actually got paranoid about inconsistent pressure because as I was measuring real-world install height so I could update my CAD model, I noticed significant discrepancies in height from block top to motherboard face on each corner. It was like trying to level a bloody four point printer bed lol
 
Last edited:
This is why I'm looking at bodging a different mounting mechanism :P was originally looking at my spare EK Supremacy EVO but I think the knurled portion of the mounting posts as actually taller than the space underneath the Barrow's mounting bracket; the EVO's coldplate is thicker than the Barrow certainly.
 
Meh I crumbled. £15.99

KZlBYpw.jpg


I am not going back until Friday, and I know NYD will be boring. I can also literally install the entire OS, all of the software I need and so on. I don't have any spare air coolers at all so I need one any way.
 
Yeah the no network thing sucks, mostly cos they deliberately make it as hard as possible to install with a local account! I would always prefer that to having to log in with an MS account (although it does make carrying a key over to new hardware easier - I haven't paid for Windows since XP SP2!)
 
I just buy a £6 or so pro license. I do have a ms account but I've not signed into it yet. It's all activated and done now though and I fitted the wb and test booted it. Just makes less to carry when lugging it all home.

N64 stuff has started arriving too which is cool.
 
Good afternoon.

I didn't want to make this post yet as I am sat on the floor with a really bad back lmao. Problem is the photos were building up and otherwise it would have turned into a monster post.

So to catch up. I got home on Friday and started to strip the PC down.

After which I installed the new second rad.

IfB4xzW.jpg


End tanks are linked down here.

v2qPjkD.jpg


Not much else needed changing apart from a new return line. That is up here.

kzwxprO.jpg


The new SSD and cooler came just before I left.

KB1Wbo5.jpg


And so.

TMLBVok.jpg


IBmLaRF.jpg


Unfortunately I had a spill and the GPU had to come apart and be dried and rebuilt into the block, as well as all of the boards and stuff in the bottom.

Then I fitted the board.

8s2kiVp.jpg


The long return hose will go into the CPU block at the top... I think the hardest part of that was fitting and positioning the Strimer EPS that never existed and stopping it fouling the fan. I got there eventually, however. Now obviously the rest was a known entity at this point, so about 7 hours later and it was back in one piece.

bWf3lAq.jpg


z4oX8WF.jpg


It is still enormously stealthy on the hoses which was awesome.

P87ew3o.jpg


K5ahiUB.jpg


wbv4IDE.jpg


And then a side quest. I rebuilt my Hunstman Elite a while ago using phantom caps from Razer after two sets failed to fit. I have a spare now which is nice. However, the wrist pad pleather was rotten and falling to pieces. Cue Ferrari coloured leather.

swkvxnW.jpg


Then.

RO1hMdL.jpg


Before finally

8mghlaG.jpg


This is why they are called phantom caps.

rKW7qfl.jpg


OK so why am I not working on it and finishing it? well, it seems I have a jonesing for pain.

SMnnPc3.jpg


Ugh. The reason for this extra pain is I want it done and never have to do it again. I will leave you with this parting shot. Totally too bright and over blown, hence why I have not showed the new lighting scheme. I will have to darken the final pics to make it match the real world.

rg3EzZ5.jpg


Until next time....
 
It's still on the floor lol. It's all finished now but I'm addicted to Indy Jones and can't stop playing it. Mind you I guess I can excuse myself there to say I'm testing it properly before putting all of the panels on and etc. It's much easier to fix where it is.

That said it's performing amazingly. The new CPU has improved it a lot and it's much quieter now too. It's also only pulling 450w max rather than the 750 it was before. The TEC alone when running pulls 250w lol.

I also neglected things like washing and housework for many days and for the last two that's all I've been doing really.

There is one more thing I want to do. I'll go into that later when I've resized the images and etc.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom