jedihobbit
Rated XXX
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 Posted: Thu, 18 Jun 2009 19:04:41 Post Subject: |
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One of the options that the case gives you is the orientation of the PSU in relation to having the fan pull in or sit over the CPU HSF and draw out some of the heat. Originally I wanted to have the fan facing the opening for aesthetics reasons and also concerned it might interfere with the HSF fan. As it turns out the fan will be facing down. With the fan up, all of the board power cables would be at the bottom with the connectors for system parts at the top. Just the opposite of where stuff is located.
  
In order to figure out cable routing I mounted the GPU as well. It is starting to get very tight!. Also you can see what clearance there is between the PSU and HSF.
  
Work has slowed a bit as I wait on the thermal tape and I’ve decided to swap out the CNPS7500 for a CNPS8700-CU. It is just as efficient (if not better) and weighs less. I’ll use the 7500 in the revised Kermit build as that motherboard lies flat in the case.
03/24/09
Okay due to my usual source (the bay!) and planning for the future (when and if I drop XP) the memory has changed........... picked up a 2 x 2048 set of TWIN2X4096-8500C5DF. Sadly because of the size of the CNPS8700 (or 7500 for that matter) the taller mem will end up in the outer two slots and I will not be able to use the F part. 
Those of you that may have looked closely when I showed the PSU orientation issue pics would have seen them in place!
03/30/09
Thought this was going to be the enty when I showed the system assembled and running........... so much for that idea!
Got it all put together with the exception of the mosfet cooler (waiting on some thermal tape) and fired it up.............everything seems to be on but no boot!! So I swapped out the mem (first time to running the 2 x 2GB Dominator) and still no joy. Reset cmos and still nothing, so broke it down and reassembled it on the tech station, adding one piece at a time to see what might be the culprit. Everything is running fine!! Then it dawned on me the one piece I hadn't hooked up that was different from when I tested everything originally. Remembered the Silverstone cmos reset switch and guess what............... it seems that biostar and Silverstone need to talk to each other as their pin-outs are opposite!!
So, the issue wasn't the hardware or anything else.....I was constantly clearing the cmos!! :p
Now to put it all back together! On second thought....think I'll wait on the thermal tape so I don't have to take it apart again. 
04/06/09
After a major brew-ha-ha with the wife over why more than one computer and a “why can’t you be like everyone else and have just one, you know like a dell?” kind of “discussion” managed to get the system assembled. Sadly I didn’t get that many pictures as I wanted it together before she had more time to “think about it”. Also as the fates and the bay would have it there has been a MAJOR change…….. the 4870 is out and I managed to shoe horn in the GTX260-216 that was in Kermit v2.0.
Anyway here we have the pieces going together………First of course was trying to get the miscellaneous cables laid out (see the 8700 in place), fit the GTX, mount the power supply and then install the FDD rack. Also threw in some pics to show just how “tight” things are, the system fan header under the GPU cooling shroud, and when I installed the 10.5” GTX I had to remove the fan grill from the lower fan so it could fit.
      
Also here is the item that did me in initially, the CMOS reset switch.
 
Finally here it is running with a Tt Smart Fan up top and one of the 120 LED fans from the tech station on the bottom. Also this is one of the disappointments of the build. With the nViews and the M3A78-CM you could control the speed of the system fan as well as the HSF through the bios with temperatures. That is a no go however with the Biostar as “smart fan” only applies to the HSF. If I’m wrong PLEASE TELL ME HOW!! That Tt at full bore is a portable tornado and the other 120 isn’t much better.
 
Now the final kicker. While running the system notice that Temp1 in Speed Fan and (forget the name right now) in Hardware Monitor was indicating that the NB and mosfets were running 62 -65C. I’ve dropped vcore as low as I could to stay stable, but was baffled as on the tech station they were in the mid 40s. So in looking in the backside of the case through the cooling holes (that area is covered by the PSU) thing I found the problem. The sink I mounted on the mosfets didn’t stick and is currently lying up against the back of the case. SO will have to pull the PSU and FDD rack out and figure out why the thermal tape didn’t work. To be on the safe side I ordered some Akasa Thermal Adhesive Tape AK-TT12 from sidewinder computers.
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As of 02/01/11
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