Thanks for the help so far. I now know that the fans in my case are 4-pin whilst the fan controller is 3-pin.
Also so far to my understanding, the 3-pin fan controller will control the 4-pin fans by regulating the voltage (because the 4th pin left out is the Pulse Width Modulator). And, because (from what I have been told) the Scythe includes 3 to 4 pin adapters anyway, everything fits (it's a tight space between fan headers on the FC), so it should be fine.

But, if anyone can confirm or deny parts of this, it would be very much appreciated...

KenzieB wrote: Ohhhh, very, very pretty.
I sooooo want one!

LOL. Thanks Kenzie...

Fantasic pics! Before you start unpacking tho, ever point a static meter at that table cloth ?? :-) Sure, it's low wattage, but ridiculously high voltage.

Oops! Was I meant to? ;). Hopefully everything will be fine because it was still in the casings...

Another thing of note... I measured the area where the graphics card fits and compared it to the specifications of the card on the EVGA website, and boy is it going to be a tight fit!

- Luke.

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- Luke.

One part...

and boy is it going to be a tight fit!

I assume you mean the nvidia card length. Yes, the beefier cards get longer. Looking at that case photo at bottom, you might be able to unbolt that lowest piece of aluminum if the GPU hits it (or it might be welded, in which case either RMA it or dremel the crap out of it). Also, the slot you want is the nearest one to the CPU for full data path (all covered in motherboard manual, great toilet reading over the next week).

One part...

and boy is it going to be a tight fit!

I assume you mean the nvidia card length. Yes, the beefier cards get longer. Looking at that case photo at bottom, you might be able to unbolt that lowest piece of aluminum if the GPU hits it (or it might be welded, in which case either RMA it or dremel the crap out of it). Also, the slot you want is the nearest one to the CPU for full data path (all covered in motherboard manual, great toilet reading over the next week).

It might fit by a few millimetres or it will not fit by a few millimetres. The aluminum frame you mention at the bottom is for the HDD's (Screwless installation). So, I'll see if it fits when I receive the GPU. Either way I'm not too bothered, because if it doesn't fit, I'll just shave a few millimetres off the graphics card at the end, or perhaps rotate the HHD slots 90 degrees.

---

- Luke.

I have received the 1.5TB WD HDD today and the EVGA GTX260 Core 216 SC GPU as well. Good timing on the couriers part.
I will try and post some pictures of those components tomorrow night (Friday).

And then on Saturday, I hopefully shall be able to order everything that is still remaining. Except for the keyboard, since it is not available in NZ yet :(.
Logitech are promising it to be available before Christmas...
It damn well better be!

If there are any vague compatibility issues remaining, I would like to know!
And all opinions are welcome...

- Luke.

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- Luke.

Well, here is the Graphics card and the Hard Drive. Up next is everything else!

I hope to be able to start building in about a week and a half...

- Luke.

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- Luke.

Looking good! I don't know how you have the patience to get it piece by piece and then have to wait for the next bit to be ordered.

I always buy my gear in one lot then feel guilty about having to shut crunching down to get the new build up and running as for my last couple of builds, I've not had to update all of the system.

As an aside, I've just got a set of z4 speakers as mentioned earlier in the thread by Fred W. The power just died on the old set and it wasn't anything obvious like the fuse, so they went in the bin.

I found the best price online at PC World of all places, which anyone in the UK will know, is not normally the most prestigious or normally cheapest of the UK suppliers. I guess they're a bit like Fry's or Best Buy in the US... Big retail presence, not normally great prices, and the staff are normally sadly lacking in technical knowledge.

Good set of speakers for not many pennies!

regards, Gizbar.

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A proud GPU User Server Donor!

Looking good! I don't know how you have the patience to get it piece by piece and then have to wait for the next bit to be ordered.

I always buy my gear in one lot then feel guilty about having to shut crunching down to get the new build up and running as for my last couple of builds, I've not had to update all of the system.

As an aside, I've just got a set of z4 speakers as mentioned earlier in the thread by Fred W. The power just died on the old set and it wasn't anything obvious like the fuse, so they went in the bin.

I found the best price online at PC World of all places, which anyone in the UK will know, is not normally the most prestigious or normally cheapest of the UK suppliers. I guess they're a bit like Fry's or Best Buy in the US... Big retail presence, not normally great prices, and the staff are normally sadly lacking in technical knowledge.

Good set of speakers for not many pennies!

regards, Gizbar.

Gathering expensive parts takes time, I should know, My amazon wishlists cover 76 items total(there are some 22 extra items beyond the 1st 76 or a total of 98 as some are in multiple quantities), So I attack It as quickly as I can without over extending Myself financially, Doing this just takes time.

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The T1 Trust, PRR T1 Class 4-4-4-4 #5550, 1 of America's First HST's

That GTX260 is a fine card for a single GPU. I got a pretty decent OC on mine. Helped my Q9450 quad rig hit a RAC of 19,212 currently, the fastest rig on the project with a single GTX260 card at #47.
You should be able to pass me with an i7 running shotgun for your 260.

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"Freedom is just Chaos, with better lighting." Alan Dean Foster

I have ordered everything except for the keyboard, which I will be waiting on until late December.

Here is what my current build stands at:


Gizbar said:

Looking good! I don't know how you have the patience to get it piece by piece and then have to wait for the next bit to be ordered.

I always buy my gear in one lot then feel guilty about having to shut crunching down to get the new build up and running as for my last couple of builds, I've not had to update all of the system.

As an aside, I've just got a set of z4 speakers as mentioned earlier in the thread by Fred W. The power just died on the old set and it wasn't anything obvious like the fuse, so they went in the bin.

I found the best price online at PC World of all places, which anyone in the UK will know, is not normally the most prestigious or normally cheapest of the UK suppliers. I guess they're a bit like Fry's or Best Buy in the US... Big retail presence, not normally great prices, and the staff are normally sadly lacking in technical knowledge.

Good set of speakers for not many pennies!

regards, Gizbar.

LOL. Thanks Gizbar... I am ordering things by what I perceive to be the most important components first. Some will tend to disagree.
I am not really sure when exactly I will have time to build this thing. I think perhaps next weekend, if all the components are here by then. I need to get the room set up, AS protection installed, move a desk in here to build on, clean the room of cat fur, and make sure the kitty's can't get in!
I was contemplating the speakers a while back. Do I need something better? Do I need them at all? I should be fine with what is there since I have my laptop and iPhone, and since they are running off Mobo audio, there is no point getting a more expensive set...

Mark Said:

That GTX260 is a fine card for a single GPU. I got a pretty decent OC on mine. Helped my Q9450 quad rig hit a RAC of 19,212 currently, the fastest rig on the project with a single GTX260 card at #47.
You should be able to pass me with an i7 running shotgun for your 260.

LOL. My aim in #1 in New Zealand (Hidden agenda!). Might be a bit tight though since the leader is with a RAC of 22k. If this doesn't quite reach that goal, I'll find a C2D if I have to, bring it home, and get it set up!
Looking at your rigs and setup now, I might be able to squeeze past your Q9450 if I am lucky.

- Luke.

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- Luke.

Mark Said:

That GTX260 is a fine card for a single GPU. I got a pretty decent OC on mine. Helped my Q9450 quad rig hit a RAC of 19,212 currently, the fastest rig on the project with a single GTX260 card at #47.
You should be able to pass me with an i7 running shotgun for your 260.

LOL. My aim in #1 in New Zealand (Hidden agenda!). Might be a bit tight though since the leader is with a RAC of 22k. If this doesn't quite reach that goal, I'll find a C2D if I have to, bring it home, and get it set up!
Looking at your rigs and setup now, I might be able to squeeze past your Q9450 if I am lucky.

- Luke.

I'll even help ya'...
Meow.

---

"Freedom is just Chaos, with better lighting." Alan Dean Foster

Mark Said:

That GTX260 is a fine card for a single GPU. I got a pretty decent OC on mine. Helped my Q9450 quad rig hit a RAC of 19,212 currently, the fastest rig on the project with a single GTX260 card at #47.
You should be able to pass me with an i7 running shotgun for your 260.

LOL. My aim in #1 in New Zealand (Hidden agenda!). Might be a bit tight though since the leader is with a RAC of 22k. If this doesn't quite reach that goal, I'll find a C2D if I have to, bring it home, and get it set up!
Looking at your rigs and setup now, I might be able to squeeze past your Q9450 if I am lucky.

- Luke.

I'll even help ya'...
Meow.

I'll need all the help I can get with OCing, Mr. BIOSking... perhaps a friendly 3.5-3.8Ghz OC?
What do the Macs use instead of BIOS? Isn't it EFI? Or something stupid like that?

- Luke.

---

- Luke.

Mark Said:

That GTX260 is a fine card for a single GPU. I got a pretty decent OC on mine. Helped my Q9450 quad rig hit a RAC of 19,212 currently, the fastest rig on the project with a single GTX260 card at #47.
You should be able to pass me with an i7 running shotgun for your 260.

LOL. My aim in #1 in New Zealand (Hidden agenda!). Might be a bit tight though since the leader is with a RAC of 22k. If this doesn't quite reach that goal, I'll find a C2D if I have to, bring it home, and get it set up!
Looking at your rigs and setup now, I might be able to squeeze past your Q9450 if I am lucky.

- Luke.

I'll even help ya'...
Meow.

I'll need all the help I can get with OCing, Mr. BIOSking... perhaps a friendly 3.5-3.8Ghz OC?
What do the Macs use instead of BIOS? Isn't it EFI? Or something stupid like that?

- Luke.

Don't know Macish.........

But if you approach OCing with the same patience you have shown with getting the bits to put the rig together, you should do fine.

A little bit at a time.....until you finally find the limits.

I have had a bit of success on the project fielding the 'best in class' rigs......
I currently hold the 'best in class' records for single GTX295 and single GTX260...

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"Freedom is just Chaos, with better lighting." Alan Dean Foster

I think you'll find you should be looking at hitting 3.8 easily and pushing on for 4.0 Ghz for the processor, going on other postings on the net. Not sure about ram timings, Mark seems to be the expert on that.

Again, not sure on overclocking the gfx cards. As I bought a highly clocked GTX260 card in the first place, I didn't try to overclock it any further. My 9800GTX+ overclocked successfully, but i found that it didn't respond very well when I was using the computer, and at that time, it was in my daily driver which I use for gaming, web, email, blah blah blah...

So anything I can do to help, just ask. I'm sure everybody here feels the same way.

I use Coretemp for tracking CPU temps (32+64 bit versions available), and GPUZ for tracking GPU temps. Obviously room temp plays a small part too. My main rig sits in a room that varies between 15 and 36 celsius, depending on the time of year.

Nearly time to play!!! :-)

regards, Gizbar.

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A proud GPU User Server Donor!

For temps, you could try Real Temp - it can display the GPU temp, too.

-Dave

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For temps, you could try Real Temp - it can display the GPU temp, too.

-Dave

As can Speedfan - with the added bonus that you can (if you wish) use it to control the speed of fans connected to the connectors on the MB.

F.

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For temps, you could try Real Temp - it can display the GPU temp, too.

-Dave

As can Speedfan - with the added bonus that you can (if you wish) use it to control the speed of fans connected to the connectors on the MB.

F.

Speedfan last I looked only displayed the cpu temp in the tray area, Not all 4 cores or the gpu as RealTemp does, that's why on My 2 Intel PCs I use RealTemp 3.40(PC1) & 3.00(PC2, PC2 is off so I haven't updated It in a while), Sad to say the author has been asked about AMD support, But He has no AMD System of any type, So He can't do any work there, He's lucky If He can continue as the donation rate has been pitiful as It's not enough to cover development costs, Me I'd like to donate, But I'm always squeezed for extra cash, sigh. I did help to solve a long standing problem He had and the solution was My QX6700 B1(ES) cpu which runs @ 3.52GHz on air 24/7, On water? Maybe 3.96GHz... Maybe.

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The T1 Trust, PRR T1 Class 4-4-4-4 #5550, 1 of America's First HST's

Speedfan last I looked only displayed the cpu temp in the tray area, Not all 4 cores or the gpu as RealTemp does, ...

With Speedfan you can choose any one temp (CPU, CPU core or GPU core) to show in the system tray; I choose the highest. Hovering the mouse cursor over that temp in the tray displays all the temps instantly.

F.

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Speedfan last I looked only displayed the cpu temp in the tray area, Not all 4 cores or the gpu as RealTemp does, ...

With Speedfan you can choose any one temp (CPU, CPU core or GPU core) to show in the system tray; I choose the highest. Hovering the mouse cursor over that temp in the tray displays all the temps instantly.

F.

The hovering trick doesn't always work here, So I like them all on display, all at once and I can vary their color or not too.

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The T1 Trust, PRR T1 Class 4-4-4-4 #5550, 1 of America's First HST's

The hovering trick doesn't always work here, So I like them all on display, all at once and I can vary their color or not too.

Being able to vary the colour is a good facility. Never had any problem with the hovering and my task-bar is quite long enough without adding 6 separate temp readings to it.

Not trying to suggest any one way is "better" here. Just exposing the options available.

F.

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The hovering trick doesn't always work here, So I like them all on display, all at once and I can vary their color or not too.

Being able to vary the colour is a good facility. Never had any problem with the hovering and my task-bar is quite long enough without adding 6 separate temp readings to it.

Not trying to suggest any one way is "better" here. Just exposing the options available.

F.

Understood and It's just 5, 4 cores and the 1 gpu is all RealTemp supports, the overall cpu temp reading of speedfan? Nope. Two gpu temps or as many as one has would be great, I'd have to ask.

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The T1 Trust, PRR T1 Class 4-4-4-4 #5550, 1 of America's First HST's