Kermit v2.0

jedihobbit · As of 02/01/11

As yâ€™all have probably noticed, my builds donâ€™t stay around very long before I mess with them. When I started moving components around to justify new computer equipment I was sure Kermit the Folder would no be affected. The reason being Kermie was my dedicated Linux SMP folder. So much for the best laid plans of mice and menâ€¦â€¦.

Kermit has been moved over to the Ultra MX6 chassis that was first DreamCatcher & then DreamCatcher v2.0
before it became Yodaâ€™s SMN v2.0.

Because of this most of the case mods wonâ€™t be covered in this worklog. Originally an Ultra MicroFly that had been totally disassembled, chopped up, and painted before ultimately receiving the top, sides, and front of an Ultra MX6.

The mechanicals are some leftovers from DreamCatcher and Yodaâ€™s SizeMattersNot variations with some new stuff. So here is what the system will consist ofâ€¦â€¦.

CASE: Ultra MX6 Hybrid
PSU: Enermax Infiniti 650W
MOBO: Asus M3A78-CM
CPU: AMD Kuma 7750BE
HSF: Zalman CNPS7500-CU
GPU: XFX GTX 260-216 Black Edition
MEMORY: F2-8500CL5D-2GBPK (2 x 1024)
HDD: WD Raptor X, 150 Gigs
Optical Drive 1: TBD

First off the PSU is overkill, but this is where the â€œblingâ€ factor comes into play. The modular cables that originally came with the Liberty 625W PSU used in the earlier variants were custom sleeved. With the Liberty now poofâ€¦..these cables work with the Infinity with a little â€œsnippingâ€. Then when I â€œaccidently wonâ€ the GPU on the bay figured the extra oomph would be useful.

While I would like to use the GTX in my primary build that is now YsSMN v3.0, the Sapphire HD4870 1 GB that I have will not fit in this case. SO that leaves Kermit as my GPU folding flagship.

Here we have the Asus M3A78-CM / Kuma 7750BE w/ 7500 / F2-8500CL5D-2GBPK mounted on the MX6â€™s mobo tray. Then along comes the XFX GTX 260-216 BE, that is one long cardâ€¦â€¦.

Going into this build I knew there would be some possible fitting issues, especially with the optical drive cage being where it is and the GTX having its power connectors â€œon topâ€. Here you can see them partially covered by the chassis.

On of the things that I hadnâ€™t planed on was how the GPU covered the IDE socket on the mobo. Thank goodness it was mounted at 90 degrees!

Started setting up the cables and wiring with routing and neatness in mind, but one can be only so neat with mATX cases as there just isnâ€™t anywhere to hide stuff. To add to the clutter I now had a second GPU power cable and decided to power the HDD separate from everything else. So had to â€œplay aroundâ€ with two more than before, but as it turns out I was able to use a wee bit of â€œflexâ€ engineering and didnâ€™t have to cut anything to hook cables to the GPU. As I wanted to get this up and running as quickly as possible I didnâ€™t take the time I usually do to tidy things up. So you have the left and right sides for test fitting and routing.

One of the other â€œrevisionsâ€ over the original layout(s) is trying to convert everything over to green from my usual blue. Swapped out the front 80mm and rear 120mm for the green and Iâ€™m hoping to pick up a green zalman fan for the 7500 HSF. Actually I do have a CNPS8700 NT coming for this system that Iâ€™ll swap led fans with. Anyway here it is in the dark running.

I left with one last engineering situationâ€¦â€¦.as Kermit will GPU and single client fold Iâ€™ve come up with a heat issue. It seems there are some GPU clients that will make things quite toasty with the case buttoned up. Right now Iâ€™m running without the left side panel on as internals got up to the upper 30sC while the GTX was running upper 70sC with the fan at 100%. I'm looking at possibly drill holes in the side window if the material will take it. Similar to what I did with DC v3.

Okay now it is back to YsSMN v3 to figure out why I canâ€™t get it to boot up!

04/08/09[color=] [/color]

As usual things don't stay in place long.....the GTX has gone to YsSMN v3.0 and looks like a 9800GTX+ or another 260 will take its place. Running with my Evga 8800GT SC (w/ GTS cooler) for folding right now.

Need to sell the 4870 1GB from YsSMN v3.0! :rolleyes:

Other updates coming down the pike is the CNPS 7500 will be replaced with a CNPS8700-NT and replacement fan. It seems the green led fan from the CNPS9700 will fit and also update from 3-pin to 4-pin plug/header.

Also still need to see what can be done with the window.........

04/19/09

Okay the 8800GT didnâ€™t stay very long as I replaced it with a 9800GTX+, getting it to fit was the same as the 260. Also finally got around to swapping out the fans in the CNPS8700-NT which was real easy. On a side note I took that fan and mounted it in the 8700 used in YsSMN as that required a total disassembly to fix its issues.

I delayed swapping out the HFSs because of another dang GPU buy. Seems eWiz had a deal on an Evga GTX260-216 that was just too good to pass up!

So I spent today mounting the â€œnewerâ€ stuffâ€¦â€¦â€¦.. just for a visual here is the 9800GTX+ and the 260-216. They do not look all that different, but one thing is for sure the 260 is a lot heavier.

The 8700-NT sure is shinny! Didnâ€™t think Iâ€™d like the nickel plating as Iâ€™m a big copper fan, but this changed my mind. Here we have a several views of the HSF and GPU before cramming it all back into the case.

The reason for the fan swap was the fact I wanted a total green theme for the interior. First is a repeat to show the blue fan and then with the replacement.

The biggest thing about the replacement fan is the fact Iâ€™ve lost 300 â€“ 500 rpm at the top. Not sure why but did.

The heat, even with the GTX, is a major factor when folding. Ran the system with out the side panel and then put the panel in place. In less than 15 minutes the GPU temperature had climbed 15C, so decided to drill the holes. Not going to show you anything as the window has been removed and was thrown over in a corner. I flat a$$ ruined it and with the holes I do have there was still a 10C increase in temps. So this will be â€œreevaluatedâ€ in the near future as to what I can do. However my main attention has now switched over to DreamCatcher v3.5 as the I/O backplate has come in and I trying to get that up and running.