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Chris Light

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May 7, 2011
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for the sake of all things holy.... :pfff:

it is NOT a black&white photo, nor did i change the colors in any way. The "Photoscape" reference in the EXIF info is the program i used import the RAW photo and convert it to JPEG. That is IT.

What Moto reiterated about using drain cleaner to strip off all the blue from the aluminum heatsinks is absolutely the case.

is my rig a damn optical illusion or something? sorry to sound a bit on edge, but i made something that apparantly, to some people, can't possibly be real. Sorry for any confusion.
 

Chris Light

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May 7, 2011
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not sure if you're talking to me...

i submitted the photos to another board i'm on, and a well-known rep from a pc modding company accused me of the same thing! funny. once i explained the changes i made to the mobo, he understood. I guess i can't expect everyone to see right away that i dunked my heatsinks in Drano...it's not a common practice haha
 

striker410

Distinguished

You could probably sum it up with: "Don't hate my rig because it's beautiful!" Chris, I for one am jealous of that sexy beast.
 

Chris Light

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May 7, 2011
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hahaha...thanks!

i just didn't expect people to react that way to a photo, and then not read what i write. it's my first build and i'm willing to fully disclose the "what" and "how" of the build...it's been a great learning experience.
 


Haha I'm referring to, I believe "384-bit"

I understand it wasn't Photoshopped. If it was Photoshop Black and White it'd be obvious, or Hue & Saturation for that matter.
 

Chris Light

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May 7, 2011
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exactly. i go on photo forums to have my photos critiqued, but i put NO effort into photos of my rig...maybe i should :)
 

neograndizer

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Sep 10, 2010
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Okay, I finished this build on my brother's birthday (it was a surprise and boy was he surprised!). It's a work computer, so nothing fancy. Replaced a failing Dell XPS 700 that just broke down.

Case: Corsair Graphite Series 600T White Ed
MoBo: Asus P8H67-M Pro
CPU: i3-2100
Cooler: Stock
Thermal Paste: Noctua NT-H1 (I still had plenty left-so why not?)
RAM: G.Skill Ripjaws X DDR3-1333 8GB (F3-10666CL7D-8GBXH)
PSU: Antec HCG 400w
Gfx: EVGA 8600GTS (stripped and reused from my previous system)
Linksys Wireless-N USB
1x DVD-ROM (from Dell system)
1x DVD-RW (from Dell system)
2x 320GB Seagates SATA II (from Dell system)
1x 1TB WD Caviar Blue SATA III (new)
2x 40GB IDE HDDs (Maxtor and WD)

Fans: replaced included outtake fan with a Scythe Slip Stream (the one that came with the Mugen-2 cooler-it was a spare I had lying around). Turned the 200mm outtake fan into an intake. Wanted postive pressure to prevent as much dust from getting into the case. His room is a giant dust magnet with lots of fuzzy fur from our pets. I kid you not when I say you brush the floor of his room every few days and you would have accumulated fur and dust the size of a tribble each time.

I got the stock cooler correctly installed on the first try I think. Temps running idle at 32-35'c. P95 Blend after a few hours showed temps peaking at 60-63'c. I think that's good for stock cooling with a low end SB CPU.

Well, here are some pics.

CorsairGuts.jpg


CorsairAngleFrontSide.jpg


600Tindark.jpg
 

neograndizer

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Sep 10, 2010
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LOL! The timing seemed almost perfect. His Dell was kicking the bucket, his promotion in late summer and his recent birthday. Initially, it was decided that he would buy the parts I suggested (with this forum's help of course) and I would build it for him. But then, because of the factors involved, I 'secretly' got it all. I 'smuggled' the goods into the house when he was still at work and quielty worked on it. Good thing he's oblivious to the mess in the basement, otherwise, he would have noticed before his birthday. On the day of his birthday, I took off early from work and got home. Moved the system into his room and quickly stripped the components from the Dell. Then transplanted them into the new system and got it working. When he came home, he got a nice white/black box staring right at him and the look on his face was totally worth it. :D
 

triplej

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Sep 17, 2010
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The cutie computer

intel i5-2500k
gigabyte z68ma-d2h-b3
corsair vengeance 8 gb
zotac gtx 460 1 gb
samsung spinpoint f3 1 tb
asus dvd
antec true power 750 watts
cooler master elite 343

I wanted to try out a smaller desktop so here it is for anyone else thinking about making one. I'm happy with it so far. I'd like to add an aftermarket cpu heatsink and fan but the case is only 7 inches wide, with a "max cpu cooler height 148 mm". The stock cpu idles 29-35 C, and it ran Prime95 in the 70s. In the future, I want to replace the video card with something like a GTX 570, and add a 120 GB SSD.

IMG_0447.jpg

IMG_0449.jpg

IMG_0448.jpg

 
Naaaaaah, you put those puppies on a rig, its six on a RX360 sized rad x2, (strip the fans and spray em matt black ofc), push pull and weld them to the case :)
I'd have to keep them leashed on an everyday build, but for pushing O/c's its earplugs and crank em up :p
Moto
 

threefourbeast

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Sep 8, 2011
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18,510
ePtMaMmHvXzFi9dWJAZnDabL.jpg


rUzveUGO0mz8wDe6SAn86Nxb.jpg


S6Eblt3mmGgxvn28lzBBJvyb8.jpg


LqVBOIMt1K1dp2Wyv2LJvi43Y.jpg


Another pic

Another pic

Another pic

Another pic

Another pic

Another pic


Specs:

Antec Skeleton (full-sized)
ASUS Maximus Gene-Z
2600k @4.0ghz
G-Skill Ripjaws X 8GB @ 2133mhz
EVGA GTX 590
Corsair Force GT 180GB SSD 6GB/s
Antec TX750 PSU

Idle MB temp: 24 C
Idle CPU temp: 30 C

I love this build. Once in a while I just sit and appreciate it.

It's fast as hell, obviously, but I'm most proud of how clean it is. GPU, RAM, CPU, and hard drive on a mATX board. Simple and awesome. I also did some cable management with zip ties.

I chose no optical drive and went instead with an Asus USB 3.0 BD-RW.

The CPU cooler is being replaced; just haven't decided what yet. Even now though it stays very cool and so the entire rig is almost silent. With the window right behind the computer open I can get some good passive cooling of cold air (I'm on the 14th floor), if I'm really pushing the 590 (which hasn't really happened yet).

At night the Skeleton's fan LEDs make my room look like a strip club.

When it's time to upgrade I'll add another 590, another Force GT SSD for RAID, up to 16GBs of RAM, and finish it off with water cooling.

I love this computer.
 

threefourbeast

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Sep 8, 2011
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18,510
threefourbeast - that open case only allows for mini-itx boards correct, nothing else not even mATX boards will fit.?

No, it will fit full sized. There is a mini version of this case, though, that will only fit mATX.