My rig - optimized for cable management

sandness

Wanna see how to properly hide your cables? Look elsewhere.

Hey, I'm cheap. The case was free. Since it's a little small for my stuff, I just added fans to make up for the losses in airflow.

The left knob controls my cpu fan and the other is the dial for my thermostat that I rigged up. With it, 6 auxillary fans kick in when the remote sensor reaches the dialed in temp. Keeps the fans from running constanly.

Dual monitors give me a hard on. Well, not really. But they are nice. As you can see, it makes for one hell of a Halo experience. You can also see the 4 speakers on top. Thats part of my Logitech Z540 system.

This is the other part. I must say, this system is insane. Near Klipsch performance for fraction of the cost. That thing on top of the sub is one of my 500va battery backups. You cannot be an official nerd without one (or 2 in my case).

I was unable to post pics of my ligthing. They didn't show up too well. I have LED's under the case that are orange when the auxillary fans are off, then are red when the thermostat kicks in.

Don't hate on my chitty case.

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JayDubya · Posted: Tue Oct 19, 2004 1:38 am Post subject:

Looks nice. Gotta love the huge nobs on the front panel.
Dual monitor halo. Intersting concept.
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[TN] Nathan · ALMIGHTY PWNER! Joined: 14 Feb 2002 Posts: 7406

Whoa!

Nice! But you do need a new case.
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Xal · Posted: Tue Oct 19, 2004 4:27 am Post subject:

Interseting, I agree with Nate, you need a new case. Maybe a Xaser III.

Nice rig

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Sally · UberTweaker Joined: 31 Mar 2004 Posts: 1158 Location: WA

Clean lines and big ugly dials. Its nostalgic in the sense that it looks unthinkably old.

Perhaps the ultimate theft deterrant
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Sally · UberTweaker Joined: 31 Mar 2004 Posts: 1158 Location: WA

oh yeah, hit us w/ some SPECS!
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Yoshida · UberTweaker Joined: 24 Dec 2003 Posts: 1219

what temps do u get on ur rig? looks uh, messy

ToggleHead · TWEAKGURU Joined: 03 Mar 2004 Posts: 4360 Location: Jersey

Please resize your pics. No greater than 500x300.

Other than that......as long as the case provides good air flow....which, with your wiring, it does not.....i say just mod the hell out of it....=]
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Zero_Fresh · Posted: Tue Oct 19, 2004 10:07 am Post subject:

Looks good. I like the idea of the temp activate fans. Good touch. Now unfortunately I can't show love for the case. But at least its got somehting to be proud of in it. =]
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null_set · TweakNOOB Joined: 22 Sep 2004 Posts: 151 Location: Jersey

TH's got a point.
Extra fans are nice and all, but if there's no airFLOW, they can't really do much. They'll just slowly circulate hot air around. You should consider looming your cables, maybe adding a blowhole. Otherwise, it's kinda old-school nifty.
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null_set · TweakNOOB Joined: 22 Sep 2004 Posts: 151 Location: Jersey

Oh yeah... and another thing... for dual monitor HALO...
how the hell do you aim with your targeting reticle smack dab between the two monitors? isn't that disconcerting?
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JayDubya · Posted: Tue Oct 19, 2004 3:19 pm Post subject:

Bah, you should still be able to see what you a shooting at (i.e. - two halves to one person)

How'd you do that? You have an nvidia based card? Where in their settings did you do that?
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sandness · Posted: Tue Oct 19, 2004 5:15 pm Post subject:

Yeah, I know the case is ghetto to the max. I've tried to organize the cables and tidy it up, but it seems that I've stuffed 20lbs of s*** in a 10lb bag- so it just doesn't work. Yeah, it does provide a great deal of theft deterence. I usually run it with both sides off and the front facia hanging by the dials- looks like I pulled it from Goodwill's dumpster.

As far as airflow is concerned, I figured that some air movement is better than none. The case was an old one from my high school. It had no fans. So, I added the following fans:
Constant running-
1-60mm rear out
2-40mm right side (blowing on my 4 hard drives) in
Thermostat controlled
1-80mm left side in
2-92mm left side in
1-80mm blower fan rear out
1-80mm front in
1-120mm bottom out

As far as the specs go, I'll try my best to list them, as it has been a couple years since most of this was purchased.

Mobo: MSI KT3 Ultra ARU w/ raid
CPU: AMD Athlon XP 2400+
Video: MSI NVidia G4 MX440 dual VGA out, video I/O
Hard drive: 2- Maxtor 80GB 2MB cache in a raid 0 array
2- Maxtor 160GB 8MB cache
DVD drive: Pioneer slot load
CD-RW drive: Aopen 32x12x48x w/ 8MB buffer
Power Supply: Allied 350w
Sound card: Creative Audigy 2 24bit 5.1
RAM: 1GB (2x512MB) OCSystems DDR400
Monitors: 2- 17" NEC Multisync FE700+
Fans: mostly generic or Radioshack
Case: mid 90's Seanix P.O.S.
Thermostat: home brewed
Lighting: High intensity LED's, red and orange
Speakers: Logitech Z540 4.1 system, THX certified

I think that's it. She still performs alright. Not slow enough for me to change. Nothing is overclocked but the video card- by about 10% or less. The ram is ok, but I got what I paid for. It was cheap. I supposedly purchased PC3200 ram, with a latency of 2.5 with the hopes of running it at the 2700 speed with a lower latency. However, it won't post with less than 3-3-7 timings at the 2700 speed. Oh well. I'd like to try it on a DDR400 board to see if will even run at that speed. FYI- don't buy house brand ram from ocsystems.net.

So far, Halo is the only dual monitor game I've played. But, I haven't played much else- Quake 3, Hitman 2, Soldier of Fortune 2- all of which only work on one screen. The only bad part about running Halo in dual display is that the only option is 1200x480. But, it gives me some decent peripheral vision. The gap between the monitor is trippy at first, but I got used to it.

sandness · Posted: Tue Oct 19, 2004 5:21 pm Post subject:

By the way, is there a quick way to resize pics? I mean, besides editing them before I upload to imageshack? Just curious, as I saw no tools to do so, and it doesn't accept HTML.

Just testing thumbnails

Josh · Posted: Tue Oct 19, 2004 5:35 pm Post subject:

Messy, but certainley nice, and even better, you can use it as a burgular device for when one of the wires are tripped on

That sub is huge! and, what is that see thru purple type thing in the top right in the 3rd pic? Is it just me, or is that a wireless keyboard sensor?
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sandness · Posted: Tue Oct 19, 2004 5:55 pm Post subject:

A keen eye you have. It is a wireless mouse sensor indeed. Why is it in there you ask? I was trying to integrate it into the case so I'd have one less thing hooked up outside it. Ultimately, it is unable to get much signal from there and I just left it there, since I am using my old mouse again (prefer the button config).

And yes, that sub is rather large for a pc system. It is great though. The Z540 system came FedEx @ 50lbs. Good thing I had a free shipping offer.

Josh · Posted: Tue Oct 19, 2004 6:59 pm Post subject:

ToggleHead · TWEAKGURU Joined: 03 Mar 2004 Posts: 4360 Location: Jersey

rule of thumb.......always have equal exhaust and intake....if not more exhaust.......not to sure how well that bottom fan is doing sucking all of the COOLer air out of the case.......you should consider flipping the whole thing upsaide down....=]
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