Well, I just wanted to show off my current rig, its nothing special really, I'm slowly working on upgrading it bit by bit.
Current spec is:
Antec Sonata II Piano Black Case
Antec SmartPower 2.0 450W PSU
Vista Ultimate
E6400 @ 2.8GHz
BFG 7900GS OC
ASRock ConRoe945G-DVI
2GB Corsair XMS2 667mhz
Trust 5.1 Surround Sound Card SC-5250
2 X Samsung HD160JJ 160GB
1 X Maxtor 6L300S0 300GB
I've swapped the rear Antec fan and mounted it behind the HDD's (on silicone backing & mounts) as its adjustable speed, I'm very concious about keeping HDD's cool since hot drives are not healthy drives. I've fitted a Akasa 120mm 18db on a silicone backing as the exhaust and a 92mm Akasa silent fan in the ducting to push cold external air right onto the CPU stock cooler, it does a great job sitting at no more then 46C under load at 2.8Ghz OC - for a stock cooler anyway!
Planned future upgrades:
Zalman Fatal1ty VGA Cooler as rivatuner reports 68C under load
& cable tidying & braiding & akasa round ide cable, then mobo - probably striker extreme as has the looks & more importantly its extremely flexible and upgradeable & coming down in price a bit now. Leading me to a Zalman CNPS9700 NT CPU Cooler as will be able to OC the cpu a load more, by then 1000mhz+ ram and the 8 series nvidia's will have come down a bit so will get a pair of cards for SLi & DX10 games. and a twenty something" + Dell monitor (1400x900 acer will be a bit small by old by then).
It'll take a while, its been since feb this year to get to here, but i like doing bit by bit, easier on the pocket.
I'm pretty impressed with the case, quiet is really nice!
Some pics below:
Lovely very bright LEDs
More sexyness with sticky marks.
http://img249.imageshack.us/img249/8404/2ref1bu7.jpg
Sexy, with a sticky hand print and some cat hairs on the side!
Even less room with BFG in there now, and less again once VGA cooler goes on.
Old 7300 card still in before fitting BFG *
Final wiring, IDE is now folded and tucked under fan.
CPU & PCIE now at 355 & 119 respectively for a ok 2.84Ghz wouldnt post at figures in pic.
http://img126.imageshack.us/img126/5946/8ocyz7.jpg
http://img250.imageshack.us/img250/3322/7clockmh7.jpg
* - Note one thing, Antec makes a sexy case, with bloody great design, rubber damped removable drive trays, quick release optical bays, silent fan & psu .... but was supprised that the rear intake for the vga & cpu ducting has no dust filter. So Blue Peter time kids, you'll notice in the pic that the bracket is wrapped in a cut down pair of my missus tights before being clipped to the case
double layered cat hair protection!!
Current spec is:
Antec Sonata II Piano Black Case
Antec SmartPower 2.0 450W PSU
Vista Ultimate
E6400 @ 2.8GHz
BFG 7900GS OC
ASRock ConRoe945G-DVI
2GB Corsair XMS2 667mhz
Trust 5.1 Surround Sound Card SC-5250
2 X Samsung HD160JJ 160GB
1 X Maxtor 6L300S0 300GB
I've swapped the rear Antec fan and mounted it behind the HDD's (on silicone backing & mounts) as its adjustable speed, I'm very concious about keeping HDD's cool since hot drives are not healthy drives. I've fitted a Akasa 120mm 18db on a silicone backing as the exhaust and a 92mm Akasa silent fan in the ducting to push cold external air right onto the CPU stock cooler, it does a great job sitting at no more then 46C under load at 2.8Ghz OC - for a stock cooler anyway!
Planned future upgrades:
Zalman Fatal1ty VGA Cooler as rivatuner reports 68C under load
& cable tidying & braiding & akasa round ide cable, then mobo - probably striker extreme as has the looks & more importantly its extremely flexible and upgradeable & coming down in price a bit now. Leading me to a Zalman CNPS9700 NT CPU Cooler as will be able to OC the cpu a load more, by then 1000mhz+ ram and the 8 series nvidia's will have come down a bit so will get a pair of cards for SLi & DX10 games. and a twenty something" + Dell monitor (1400x900 acer will be a bit small by old by then).It'll take a while, its been since feb this year to get to here, but i like doing bit by bit, easier on the pocket.
I'm pretty impressed with the case, quiet is really nice!
Some pics below:
Lovely very bright LEDs
More sexyness with sticky marks.
http://img249.imageshack.us/img249/8404/2ref1bu7.jpg
Sexy, with a sticky hand print and some cat hairs on the side!
Even less room with BFG in there now, and less again once VGA cooler goes on.
Old 7300 card still in before fitting BFG *
Final wiring, IDE is now folded and tucked under fan.
CPU & PCIE now at 355 & 119 respectively for a ok 2.84Ghz wouldnt post at figures in pic.
http://img126.imageshack.us/img126/5946/8ocyz7.jpg
http://img250.imageshack.us/img250/3322/7clockmh7.jpg
* - Note one thing, Antec makes a sexy case, with bloody great design, rubber damped removable drive trays, quick release optical bays, silent fan & psu .... but was supprised that the rear intake for the vga & cpu ducting has no dust filter. So Blue Peter time kids, you'll notice in the pic that the bracket is wrapped in a cut down pair of my missus tights before being clipped to the case
double layered cat hair protection!!
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