The Practitioner, by Stifle
As a public high school science teacher, I found this project to be the perfect way to marry several of my personal passions with my profession.
The Ultimate system for me is the one that allows me to share my personal interests in PC building/customization and gaming with my science students. Only when a student gets excited about something will they exert themselves in order to learn more about it, and if I am not excited about what I teach, most of my students will not be excited about it either.
Functional Build:
Processor+Mobo:
Intel Core i7-3930K + ASUS Rampage IV Extreme Motherboard combo for $1004.98
RAM:
CORSAIR Vengeance 16GB (4 x 4GB) at $82.99
Graphics Cards:
2x ASUS ENGTX580 GeForce GTX 580's for $999.98
Hard Drives 1:
Samsung 830 128Gb SSD at $229.99
Hard Drives 2:
2x SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 1TB (Raid 1) for $219.98 (Even after rebate)
Case 1:
Mountain Mods U2-UFO CYO at $349.99
Case 2:
8x 120mm Chrome Grill - Black for $7.92
Case 3:
4x 80mm Chrome Grill - Black for $3.96
Case 4:
4x 80mm Fans for $23.80
Case 5:
8x 120mm Fans for $55.60
Case 6:
Scythe 8-Channel Fan Controller at $19.95
Case 7:
Universal card reader at $21.99
Case 8:
120mm Hard drive rack at $ 15.99
Case 9:
Lamptron anodized aluminum case handles at $39.99
Power Supply:
Antec High Current Pro HCP-1200 at $269.99
Water Cooling 1:
Swiftech Apogee HD CPU Waterblock at $69.95
Water Cooling 2:
2x Danger Den GTX580 Liquid Cooling Blocks for $239.90
Water Cooling 3:
XSPC Acrylic Dual 5.25” Reservoir at $49.95
Water Cooling 4:
2x XSPC EX360 Radiators for $111.90
Water Cooling 5:
Danger Den SLI water-bridge kit at $11.95 <combo with blocks>
Water Cooling 6:
Swiftech MCP655 Water Pump at $84.95
Water Cooling 7:
20x Hose Clamp for 3/4" OD Tubing (9579K69) for $10.58
Water Cooling 8:
12' of Primochill LRT 1/2"ID, 3/4"OD tubing in UV-red for $21.60
Water Cooling 9:
12x Bitspower Black Sparkle Compression Fitting for $83.40
Water Cooling 10:
PT_Nuke -PHN Concentrated Biocide at $3.25
Water Cooling 11:
2x Silver kill coils for $11.98
Water Cooling 12:
AS 5, 12g at $24.98
Water Cooling 13: Distilled water at $.83/gal from WalMart
Blue-Ray Burner:
Lite-ON BD-R at $69.99
ASUS VH238H 23" LED Monitor at $159.99 (After Rebate)
Logitech K750 RF Wireless (Solar-powered) Keyboard at $49.99
Satechi SP400 RF Wireless Presenter at $37.99
Logitech Wireless Anywhere Mouse MX at $44.99
Other necessaries…..
Logitech Z506 5.1 surround sound system at $79.99
Creative Sound Blaster Recon3D SB1350 at $91.62
6x RCA 10ft extension cables for $10.50
3’ Tygon ¼”ID tubing for $6.00
2x Koolance INS-FM17N Coolant Flow Meter with frequency adapter for $79.96
2 x ¼” ID compression fittings for $17.90
2 x ¼” to ½”ID barbed reducer for $11.98
20 Hose Clamps for 3/8" OD Tubing (9579K63) for $7.83
Black and Decker TLD100 IR thermometer at $24.99
2x UV cathode tubes for $39.98
Molex 4 Pin On/Off Power Switch for $4.00
P3 Kill A Watt Electricity Load Meter at $25.99
Mastech Digital MultiMeter at $42.00
2x½” ID T-fitting at $3.98
Enzotech Drain plug at $6.99
¼” ID T-fitting at $2.25
¼” FPT to ¼” barb at $2.10
¼” FPT to ½” barb at $2.14
2x 0-5 PSI low-pressure gauges for $49.00
Teflon Tape at $1.05
Portal 1&2 bundle at $34.98
Universe Sandbox (full version) Software at $9.99
Instant Rebate Codes:
$40 off each HDD with code EMCJHJE29, ends 12/21
$30 off ASUS monitor with code EMCJHJA47, ends 12/25
Total Cost: $4,990.49 (As of 12/17/2011) - I hope the "graders" allow for price fluctuation b/c its crazy how often prices change out there
I think the main build choices above speak for themselves. The goal was the greatest bang for the buck and moderate utilitarian styling (NO annoying internal LED lighting) in a large case that will allow for lots of customization and freedom later on, because I will think of more to do later.
Some explanation may be needed for the other components though...
Wall of text incoming:
Many principles taught in high school science classes are blended into the PC; from electromagnetism and light, air and water pressure, materials science, conductivity, chemical reactions… the list is endless.
Below I have outlined some of the areas of science that I could use this specially built PC for in the classroom, more options means a more rich learning experience for my students. Exploring each area may or may not require some special equipment listed above.
After hours I will use it primarily for folding @ home and other cloud computing projects that tend to be extremely interesting to students. When I take it home it will also play my favorite PC games.
(its more boring from here on...)
Physics Curriculum:
•Newton's Laws, conservation of momentum, 1d kinematics, Gravitation, Kepler’s Laws, Astronomy… All through software simulations: Huge opportunity for this proposed PC to be able to fuel a completely multimedia driven curriculum across many different classes.
o Portal 1, Portal 2: Jump pads, “speedy thing goes in speedy thing comes out”, Ch6. The fall, potato batteries…
o Moonbase Alpha: exploring the challenges of colonization/everyday base operations on the moon.
o Universe Sandbox/Space Engine: Coupled with an optional 1080P projector (I have a 720p in my room atm). Exploration of the galaxy, manipulation of mass, size, density etc and seeing what happens in real time is amazingly useful to explain Keplers laws and Universal Gravitation. all day long....
•Conservation of energy – Variations on most efficient WC loop, IR thermometer
o Electricity turns into something, because you are paying for it, where does it go? Identifications of energy loss within the system
o Comparison between water cooling and air cooling, where does the heat go in either case? Why is one more effective than another?
•Thermodynamics – operating PC producing heat…
o Zeroeth, second law: a PC allows for simple and quick demonstration of these laws in action
o Thermal expansion of different materials – plays a huge role in the design of cooling parts for the PC. Though this gets pretty technical, it can me mentioned as being an important aspect of a well made part.
o Conduction, convection and radiation topics are all in operation constantly when a PC is working, this makes a PC an excellent centerpiece to any discussion on the topic. Laws related to conduction specifically are huge for the design of all heatsinks,
o Conductivity of thermal adhesives and pastes are important parts of this area of science
•Wave Mechanics – 5.1 sound system, RCA extensions, Sound card….
o Using the obvious movement of air from a strong sub-woofer to illustrate the movement of particles in the medium that is characteristic of compression-wave motion. Pair this with my fog machine and I am in business.
o Sound source direction experimentation, two ears are needed to pinpoint the direction a sound came from, this also works with depth perception in your eyes.
o Constructive and destructive interference produced in sound waves from a carefully constructed surround sound system (possibly within an enclosed space) using multiple frequency tones, how does the quality of the sound change depending upon where you are in the room.
o Simulation of Doppler Effect sound production using stereo output to 5.1 system + stereo sound clips.
•Circular Motion - 120mm fans, 80mm fans
o Calculating the speed of the edge vs. the speed of a fin near the hub of a case fan given the measured dimensions and rotational speed. This leads to understanding the most effective regions of airflow, designing fans, filters, etc.
o Comparing the effectiveness of a 120mm fan to an 80mm fan based on rotational speed and fan blade distance from the hub.
•Fluid dynamics in the WC loop – Flow meters within the loop (compare at the same height), adapters and couplers for changing hose diameter, pressure gauges, on/off 12Vswitches
o Conservation of momentum in liquids: Pressure variance with flow rate, Bernoulli’s Principle. ¼ “ Venturi section built-into ½” loop. With flow rate gauges and pressure gauge within the ¼” region to show variance. Increasing flow rate by turning up pumps allows the gathering of multiple data points.
o Pressure differential with depth, regardless of shape of liquid cavity. (0-5psi) Pressure gauges at top & bottom of loop. Building in a large excess length of tubing into the cooling loop that can be manually raised at the t-junction where the pressure gauge is located would allow the gathering of multiple point of data which reflect the increasing pressure with vertical distance due to gravity.
o Density of liquids does not change from one end of the loop to the other, which is why a water pump works so well.
o Add extra length to the water loop and 12v molex connection to res. pump so that reservoir can be removed from 5.25 bays and lowered relative to the rest of the loop and remain active. This can be done in order to show height equivalence of fluid level in the loop due to gravity and atmospheric pressure.
•Fluid dynamics of air flow within the case, aircooling device design based on physics principles – use simple air flow “pom-poms” to test
o Hot air rises due to difference in density. How a PC enclosure is built may or may not use this fact to their advantage, how does one design the airflow in the case to maximize this effect?
•Electromagnetic Spectrum Investigation – UV reactive coils, IR thermometer, Switch for 2x UV tubes, Wireless Keyboard and mouse, Solar powered keyboard
o UV reactive coils, switch to turn on and off UV lights inside case
o IR thermometer to measure temperature of components vs temperature of loop/radiator/room
o Wireless keyboard and mouse are great for demonstrations of E/M radiation, blocking the transmission of a wireless mouse signal using something unexpected gets great reactions
o Solar photo-voltaic powered devices are based on the photoelectric effect, this plays great into one of my favorite lectures on the wave/particle nature of light.
•Electricity investigations – Kill-A-Watt meter, Multimeter
o Power=Current*Voltage investigation, measurement at the wall in Amps, then confirmation using Watts measure at wall
o Electricity conversion to heat in a PC, the worst way to heat a room, Discuss: Efficiency in conversion, other widely used methods
o Power use without PC being on/active, Discuss: vampire load, energy waste
o Cost to consumers over time, cost to the grid in a large scale
o AC to DC conversion, measuring the DC output of different rails using a Multimeter, discussion on how it is done using different Electronic components
o Insulators vs. conductors: a short investigation into the construction of the parts of a PC, specifically the PSU, would show students how insulators help to direct the flow of electrons in the proper fashion needed to power a PC.
o Generator/motor relationship can be easily shown by disconnecting a case fan, and hooking up a multimeter to the leads as the fan is manually rotated in order to produce electrical current from mechanical input.
o Transformers can be illustrated by measuring the AC voltage coming into the PSU and the DC voltage coming out of the PSU, maybe even opening the PSU to show what one looks like.
•Metric System – memory and processor fabrication info, comparing unit size based on file sizes / types
Chemistry curriculum:
•UV water purification, EM spectrum – UV lights for demonstration, connection to other concepts
o UV lights in the box not strong enough to say, give you a tan or purify water– discussion on strength of E/M radiation… Usefulness vs. danger
o Shielding E/M radiation
•Chemical reactions - Kill coils, Biocide agents, multimeters
o Silver kill-coils, Biocide agents – why do they inhibit bacteria growth?
o Oxidation within the loop – annual cleaning
o Loop fluid gaining in conductivity over time measured using a multimeter
o What goes wrong with different fluids – additive breakdown involves chemical change over time w/ elevated temps…
•Materials Science – Different (safe) fluids in a coolant loop to test effectiveness, general discussion about parts in the box, materials used in construction of the parts.
o Conductivity of matter: why are solids > liquids > gases when it comes to transferring heat, energy?
o Why are some materials better at conducting electricity and heat than others?
o Why is surface area so important to heat dissipation?
o Why is one method of cooling more effective than another, holistic comparison project based on principles from the class
General Science Awesomeness and Storage Concerns
•Bill Nye the Science Guy – Need to store every episode locally because our school is only able to access them for a limited time and then they will be gone forever. Will need large storage space with redundancy
•Video projects submitted throughout the year take lots of space on my school-sponsored laptop, redundant backups in one place would be very useful, especially when I need to give an example of a project that a student did 3 years ago…
•Along with needing to store the projects long-term, I generally need to adapt to every possible storage card and wired connector imaginable to collect the work that students turn in, so I would need an integrated card-reader to facilitate this
•I tire of sitting in the same place all the time when I am using the PC in the classroom, so if I had a wireless keyboard/mouse then I could sit anywhere during multimedia lectures or any other presentation that I would give in class.
•I have a "boss" projector integrated into my classroom already so I would not need another one.
Computer Technology Curriculum: Fairly self-explanatory, but some interesting areas that would be much easier taught with this box would be:
•Water cooling vs air cooling
•Overclocking
•Raid 0 vs raid 1, benchmarking in real time
•SSD performance vs Hard drive performance, real world differences that benching does not show so well.
•Cost/performance analysis, needs vs wants
•Building your own, do’s and don’ts
•General maintenance tips and practice
The above curriculum connections are just the beginning, as I know that I would be able to make more connections over time. This is true especially in the area of software that will become available, and that I will be exposed to over time, hence the future-proof-ness of the build. Only so much time for one build concept, though it was fun and beneficial to think about in and of itself.
Now to start implementing these new ideas in the classroom using my real budget >/, wish me luck.
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