Desk

The desk now.












I also got a WD500AAKS 500GB hard disk, to replace my three year old 160GB and 250GB hard disks.

Changes in Zalman case

Case front.
















Hard disks and ODDs.















M/B, CPU cooler block, Northbridge heatpipe.
















Graphics cards.












I wanted to get a new board and processor for my main PC, it's been almost three years since I built it. I bought an Abit IP35 Pro board and an Intel E6750 processor. I had bought new RAM a few months ago, so I was set. Of course, when I got to the shop to get them, it was almost closing time, so when I found out I forgot to get a new HDD it was too late...
Sooo, I installed everything on my old hard disk, and I will image the drive when I get the new one.
I had many problems initially, Windows wouldn't install, I had BSODs when it was almost done installing and did it three times. I couldn't find the reason. I had bumped the memory voltage to 1.9 Volts and kept all other settings at default. Even after installation I had a few BSODs. I then reset CMOS, played with the settings, and found out that for some reason, default CPU voltage was not enough. I raised it at 1.36V from 1.35V, and that was it! Many stress tests proved that it's very stable now. A little overclocking to 3.0 GHz completed the tests.
By the time I was finished it was 7 in the morning... A simple switch that usually takes 2 hours with Windows, took 12!
I then proceeded to connect my old N6600 graphics card, modified to be fanless, which was the most important reason for switching, 3 monitors all connected with DVI. Two were not enough any more.

Final configuration:
Case: Zalman TNN500AF
CPU: Intel C2D E6750 @ 3.0 GHz
M/B: Abit IP35 Pro
RAM: 4x1GB OCZ Gold DDR2 PC6400
GPU: nVidia 7600GT, N6600
HDD: WD160JD, WD250JD
ODD: Plextor 716A, Teac 516
PSU: Zalman fanless in case

The system runs very cool, the CPU never gets above 46c core, the board never exceeded 35c, GPUs at 40-55c, measured with a digital thermometer. Power consumption is also much lower than my Prescott build, I had read many reviews of the board and they all agreed on it.

Samsung 245B is bad...

I went to the shop where I usually buy my PC stuff yesterday, to get some cables I needed.

The manager greeted me, we started talking and walked around, and I saw it. The new and very cheap Samsung 245B, first 24 inch monitor with a TN panel. The viewing angles were horrible in store, but I was willing to give it a try in my controlled home environment. After all, all I needed was more pixels, and I would always face it straight on in my home office. And I got a good discount! Right? Wrong!

After a tuning session, I got to my preferred brightness level, which is LOW, good colors and correct gray scale. Then I started browsing, checking photos, and the usual stuff I do on my PCs.

When you watch from 50-60cm away, the image is darker and warmer at the top, brighter and cooler at the bottom. You HAVE to adjust the monitor angle to be exactly perpendicular to your eyes, or this effect gets you dizzy. You can't move up or down, left or right, or the color temperature shifts. TN panels really suck at larger monitors. And, as I checked when viewing a black screen, the bottom bleeds light, making the image even brighter there. The saddest thing is that the image quality is excellent when viewing a part of the monitor.

To conclude, in monitors, as in many other things, you get what you pay for...
My old Eizo monitors haven't found their big brother yet, but then, each 19 inch cost more than the Samsung.

Northbridge cooler

I had a Zalman ZM-NBF47, that I got last year along with other stuff, and put it on the northbridge.













The cooler needed some modification, these pads were put there to stabilize it a bit, because the original cooler has four hinges and this has only two. It still moves a bit, but I'll be careful, if of course I remember it next time I change something ;).





























The southbridge gets hotter in my case and I have another Zalman chipset cooler, but changing it meant motherboard removal, and I was NOT in the mood!

7950GT

I got a used XFX7950GT from eBay last week, for about half the retail price. The guy probably had the card in a badly ventilated case and was getting artifacts. I removed the heatsink and applied some AS5, just in case. It idles at 50c, loads at 75c. Since I don't game, it's perfect. Double Dual Link DVI, HDCP (maybe ;)), everything I need for present and future.






Updated Specs:
Case: Antec P180
CPU: Intel C2D E6400 @ 2,6GHZ
M/B: Asus P5B-E
RAM: 2x1GB OCZ Platinum DDR2 PC2-6400
GPU: XFX nVidia 7950GT
HDD: WD250JS, WD250JD, WD300JD, WD400KS, WD500AAKS,
2 external Maxtor 250
DVD-R: NEC 4550, DVD-ROM: NEC DV-5800E
PSU: Antec NeoHE 430W

New memory

I bought 2GB of new OCZ Platinum memory from eBay for the HTPC. They are Revision 1 and I had read lots of horror stories about them and Asus boards, so I updated to the newest BIOS first and raised the memory voltage slightly. It didn't POST with tight timings but I had my old memory handy, switched, loosened them and everything is perfect. CPU is currently set at 325MHZ FSB, multiplier at 8, for a 2,6GHZ frequency. Memory is set at 812MHZ with 4-4-4-12 timings, CPU undervolted at 1,2V, memory voltage at 2,0V. It's higher than an E6600 and totally stable, cool at 37c idle and 55c load in TAT because of the low CPU voltage. I'm very happy with it and I'm tempted to also upgrade the Zalman...

I also got a new WD 500GB drive and a DVD-ROM, as the external LaCie ripped DVDs in 25 minutes, and the new one rips in less than 10.

Home Theater pics

Bad pictures of HTPC and projector.

HTPC upgrade

Not much visual and no noise change, but I switched to a Core2Duo E6400 and an Asus P5B-E for my HTPC. Not needed for DVDs and light browsing, but the Asus P4GPL-X board I had and loved, died on me the day before Christmas. I quickly picked up a DFI Expert 939 board, a 3800+ AMD CPU, and started installing Windows, only to find out that the DFI hates my Kingston RAM... on Christmas day! After a lot of frustration, it finally worked with VERY loose memory timings for 3 months, randomly stuttering during playback, not being able to resume from sleep or allowing me to stop the HDDs, and then died, on a Saturday of course... After lots of swaps and tests I took it back to the shop I got it from, where they confirmed it was dead. They asked what I wanted to do, replace it or switch. I asked if they could take back the processor as well, and they did!


Now the dual core goodness is in my HTPC. Everything worked quickly without problems, I even used the old 533 DDR2 from the TNN case (where I have 2GB now), and I slightly overclocked to 2,4GHZ.