Kevin's "Trouncer" PC Project

[aud19]

Geez Kevin! With the heatsink mounted you can really see the scale, the sheer size of that thing. Yikes! :E :lol:

Jason

[Trevor Schell]

Nice pics Kevin,,
I have to download 3Dmark2003 as well.
Are you going to run some Seti benchmarks??

That fan totally rocks!! :-y

[Kevin P]

I'll put SETI on after I de-RAID the drives and set up to go "live". RAID isn't going to affect SETI scores.

What's "cool" about the tower cooler, besides the fact that it's "cool" and keeps the CPU "cool", is it's 100g lighter than the Zalman. You wouldn't think so given its size. 8O It's lighter since the fins are aluminum, just the base and heatpipes are copper.

[Kevin P]

Here's some more Phantom Stalker (aka Trevor Trouncer) pics:

Three Generations - 2 MHz, 800 Mhz, 2.2 GHz (3.5 Ghz Intel comparable)



All my Computers! (laptops included)



Phantom Stalker now occupies the computer desk nook!



My trusty Micron (P3/800) will be going to my sister.

[Kevin P]

The third time's the charm when it came to the LiteOn Combo DVD/CDRW drive. I had returned the first one because it was slowing down while reading certain CDs, such as my Windoze XP CD. Second one was DOA. I finally gave in and picked up one locally. It cost more, but I figure I'm breaking even by saving on shipping charges. The 3rd drive is working fine, though it still slows down when I use my XP CD with a speed test. It's probably the CD's fault and not the drive.

I ran into an interesting conflict between AMD's Cool and Quiet and WinDVD Creator, which caused my machine to run at 1 GHz even while cranking on SETI. I discovered WinDVD creator installed its own power management scheme (why, I don't know), but when I reset it back to Minimal Power Management, I'm back to cranking SETI at 2.2 GHz. Still, at least for a while I could brag that I was getting 28C CPU temps while running SETI. 8)

[Kevin P]

Ok, now that my system has been up and running for a while and everything is (hopefully) stable now, here's my latest benchmark results:

Super PI (1M): 0:41
3DMark2003: 10075
HD Tach: Seek: 16.8ms Avg read: 48.7 MB/s Max burst: 123.1 MB/s

Here's a rough estimate of boot-up time:

Power-up through POST: 15 secs
XP boot to desktop: 25 secs (this included me clicking a user name to login)
Total: 40 secs

[Trevor Schell]

Good Stuff Kevin!!:T
Have you tried to OC your CPU yet?
What are you running at.?

[Kevin P]

I'm running my A64 3500+ at stock, 2.2 GHz. I haven't attempted to overclock... yet. I finally got my system stable by updating the video driver. Maybe someday when I'm feeling daring.

[Kevin P]

I just threw SETIWatch and SETILog on my box... looks like my last two units processed in 2:11 and 2:10, to give an idea of where the Trouncer fares in SETI performance! :-y

[brucek]

A8v Bios

Hey Kevin,

I have an ASUS A8V motherboard BIOS question for you. :roll:

Can you explain what the following statement means from the manual with regard to CPU Q-Fan Controls. (same goes for chassis fan).

"Feature allows you to enable the cpu fan control function.
When enabled, the item CPU FAN RATIO appears.
The CPU FAN RATIO allows you to select the fan speed ratio. Options are [11/16], [12/16], [13/16], [14/16], [15/16]."

What are these ratios? Are they saying the fan cycles (depending on temperature) between full on, (which would be [16/16] ratio) and the ratio you set .i.e 11/16th of full on?????

brucek

[brucek]

OK Kevin, I have yet another question or two for you. I hope you see the question before this one two - I still haven't figured it out. :roll:

1: You mention using AMD's Cool and Quiet feature, but everything I read says it doesn't work unless you use the 'stock' CPU heatsink and fan? Is this true?

2: On the A8V motherboard, does the HDD LED work when hooked to its usual spot (which I believe monitors IDE drive activity). I only have a SATA drive. Does the HDD LED work when hooked to its usual spot on this motherboard with only a SATA drive?

brucek

[Kevin P]

To answer your questions in order, Bruce:

1. The ratios aren't very well explained in the manual, but the lower the ratio, the lower the fan speed. My box has never gotten hot enough to cause the fans to speed up under Q-Fan, but I would expect it would be a gradual increase.

2. Cool & Quiet has nothing to do with the HSF being used, though the "quiet" aspect would depend on the use of a fan that would slow down when the CPU is cool. All C&Q does is drop the clock speed and VCore when the CPU is idle, so it runs cooler. Coupled with a variable speed fan (or Q-Fan), it leads to quieter operation as well.

3. The HDD LED works fine with my SATA drives.

[brucek]

Thanks Kevin - good information.....

1.

My box has never gotten hot enough to cause the fans to speed up under Q-Fan

Mmmm, so you're saying, for example, if the [12/16] = 3/4 setting would be it's regular speed and if the CPU got hot then it would go to [16/16] = full speed...Interesting

2.

All C&Q does is drop the clock speed and VCore when the CPU is idle, so it runs cooler. Coupled with a variable speed fan (or Q-Fan), it leads to quieter operation as well.

Great..So I loaded Cool & Quiet and it works perfect. CPU runs at 1000MHz and 1.075 volts at idle and ramps up to 2200Mhz and 1.5volts at full tilt. Works great...The manual is real poor on this indicating you can't use it without a stock fan and heat sink.

3.

The HDD LED works fine with my SATA drives

Great.. this provoked me to look closer and I found the HDD LED plug not marked or keyed for +/- and of course I had it on backwards - works good now - cool blue led.....


Thanks again. I'll have to post some pictures etc on my thread when I get the time this weekend. I have an interesting story......

[brucek]

BTW,,Once you install direct x 9 , you can't run 3D mark 2001.

With Second Edition this is no problem. I downloaded this test because the rest of them (03 and 05) are sooooooo large.

Anyway my scores for a A64 3400+ 939pin with a NVidia FX 5900 video card are about what I expected. Not up to trouncer level, but still OK.....and my temp are very good. This is no overclocking.

3DMark2001 = 16578

brucek

[Kevin P]

R.I.P. Trouncer

Well, the Phantom Stalker, aka Trevor Trouncer, was a screamer while it lasted. It succumbed to a house fire on 1/25. Today I pulled it out to perform an autopsy and see if maybe it would still fire up so I could copy some things off.

Alas, the power supply is toast. The machine wouldn't power up at all. I pulled the machine apart and salvaged the hard drives, CPU and RAM, I have hopes that these parts are ok at least. Go figure that my other PC, a 486 running Linux, still powered up fine (though I didn't have a AT keyboard adapter handy so I couldn't actually boot it up past the POST as it stopped with a keyboard error).

Stay tuned for another thread chronicling the building of the Phantom Stalker II in the next few months!

Here's some pics I took while I dismantled the box.

Front View


Side View


Rear View


Side View - cover off


Silent Tower heatpipe cooler - a bit gunked up with black crud

[Kevin P]

Some more autopsy shots...

ATI Radeon X800 Pro - doesn't look too bad on this side, but the other side is all coated with black crud:


Asus motherboard w/CPU and RAM (HSF removed) - doesn't look bad at all


Hard drives - I'm going to pick up a SATA card and put it in my eMachines to copy data off

[Ten 99]

You might try taking that computer all apart, and doing some thorough cleaning of it. I would take that X800 video card and pull the heatsink fan combo off of it, and get a sponge and some isoprophyl and some some good cleaning. Get you some compressed air in cans to help blow out the alcohol from small places when you're done. Try to get a 100% or as high as possible content isoprophyl. If you buy some sponges, cut them up into smaller pieces that you can dab into a small cup that you've poured the alcohol into. When you've used the sponge, either wash it out with water and keep it later for another day, or chunk it. This will take a lot of time, but it may help you salvage some of that nice gear you have there. If this is too much work for you, and you plan to junk any of that stuff, let me know. I'd love to pay you for the shipping and take a shot at it myself.

Good luck Kevin. I'm glad that you and your family survived. I'm extremely sympathetic about your pets and the overall misfortune of the incident.

[Kevin P]

Well, Ten 99, if it was just the gritty stuff you see in the pic, I'm sure I could salvage that X800. However, the backside of the board has a thin solid coating of smoke, which isn't going to come off as easily. Also, even if the card works, it's still going to smell bad. :fart:

I might test the individual components (motherboard, CPU, memory, videocard etc.) to see if they still work. Maybe when I start building the new box. I suppose if I order a case and power supply first, I could see what components still work.

Anyway, I do have some good news. I picked up a SATA PCI card and was able to access the hard drives and copy at least some of my data off. Since I was copying from 2 160GB drives to 1 80, I had to be selective, but at least I know the drives are still working fine, so I'll be able to copy the rest of the stuff off when I build my 2nd Trouncer.

Here's a pic of my data-copying dojigger...