Project: Style Over Substance (SOS)

Cyanide

Cyanide

Cyanide

Soldato
Joined
5 Mar 2006
Posts
3,975
Location
Nottingham
Otherwise known as Project: I've lost my mind

As some of you will know from my recent posts around various sections I'm half-way through planning a new system for myself.

I'll be going from my Q6600 & HD5770 to an FX6100 & HD6950/70.

Do I realise the i5 2500k is better? Yes.

Why am I going AMD when I know there's better out there? I fancy doing something different, I want to test out some tech that not many people have before (for whatever reason :p) and I wanted to spend my budget on shiney things rather than outright performance (I got my FX on a TWO + AMD cashback and it's cost me £92.99).

Given that I game at 1980x1200 / 1080p on high settings the processor's going to make next to no difference to the framerates and the other work I do is all in multi-threaded apps where the bulldozer can just about hold it's own.

Now that I've finished my justification on my poor processor choice we can start!

Here's what I've got at the moment -

deskrls.jpg

Cable management fail :( -

interal.jpg

And one of the many benchmarks I've done to compare before and after -

3dmarko.png


So... the plan...

I've already been out and purchased a Corsair 500R, 8Gb of Kingston RAM and the FX6100. I'm going to add to this a Gigabyte 990FX, XFX 6950, soundcard, headphones and cooling loop. My Corsair HX620 and Crucial C300 are being re-used from my current system.

I've also ordered a special present for the build from Germany (any guesses? ;) )

I'm still not completely decided on what water stuff I'm getting and where it'll go but it's going to be a 240mm rad in 1 of 2 possible locations -

550xcorsair500r3.jpg


And that's it for now! Hopefully I'll be able to update within the next week, everything should be finished and I can start benchmarking the Bulldozer by my birthday at the end of next month :)
 
Last edited:
Well there was a parcel waiting for me when I got back from work today... Can you guess what it is? ;)

packagey.jpg

You guessed it!

braiding.jpg

30m of white braiding, 5m of sata and a load of heatshrink :D

And just because I didn't fancy undoing 100+ connectors using the "paperclip method" I got this -

molex.jpg

Gotta love the personal thouch he gives everything :D

More pics later tonight when I've had my first crack at it...
 
Last edited:
Well I've got about half the PSU sleeved up now, hoping to have the rest done tonight so there might be some more pics cropping up later / tomorrow morning as long as nothing blows up! :p
 
SouthEastBlue said:
Nice one with the PSU, looks good! Must have taken bloody ages though! :D:cool:
Click to expand...

It took about 2 nights, maybe 6 hours total.

The hardest part was getting the case back on the PSU, the total thickness of the cables has at least tripled now that they're all sleaved. I've ended up having to bend the case around the cable cut out just to get it all in :p
 
It is indeed Monday and not being one to disappoint -

deliverys.jpg

Gotta say a massive thank you to my wife, this little lot was supposed to be a birthday present but she's let me have it early :D

Hopefully the theme should become obvious now ;)
 
Last edited:
Scryus said:
You going to watercool that hovis? Or air cool, I guess you can have the...

*CSI Miami glasses moment*

...Best of both.

Anyway, nice bunch of stuff. Is that "ice white" I can make out on the Mayhems bottle? This is going to look stellar :D
Click to expand...

Ice White coolant, 500R in white, white braided cables then completely black MB, block waterblock and completely black GPU.

The only black motherboard I could find is the Gigabyte which is the same price on AMD and Intel so the only difference is the processor. Given that the 2500k was, at the time of purchase, some £80 more than my FX6100 I was able to save enough to go custom water :D
 
Slim 120mm rad mounted up top (I've checked, the mesh top still fits) and a paid of Yate Loons underneath -

dsc8445.jpg

dsc8453.jpg

They'll be exhaust fans pushing up through the rad, then I've got 2 120mm inlets at the front, 1 200mm inlet on the side and a final 120mm exhaust at the back. Airflow should be good :D
 
Last edited:
Motherboard's in place and everything's plumbed in, I think I'll fill it up and leave it overnight before transferring the last few bits over from my current rig. The white on the tubes is just condensation on the inside where I heated them up to bend them without kinking.

dsc8454s.jpg
 
Last edited:
Getting there now :D

I've got the pump running off my current rig so I can leave it on overnight to leak test without any risk of getting anything wet.

Then tomorrow I can switch the psu to the new case, tighten up the cpu block, drop the GPU and RAM in and off we go :D

dsc8455v.jpg
 
Last edited:
Quick update and a crappy phone photo. I got the PSU and all the cables put in last night, just waiting 'till I get home and hoping my thermal gloop's turned up so I can power it on :D

img2012020700068.jpg

I've got to say that the case is amazing, not only does it look stunning but the cable management options are the best I've ever worked with. Despite being no bigger than my old P182 there's just so much more space inside - it's like a tardis!

I will admit that getting the 8pin from the PSU up to the MB was extremely difficult but I got it in in the end - I could've used an extension but 1) I couldn't afford it and 2) there would have been loads of excess cable to hide away.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom