FlogItLogIt

Friday, August 18, 2006

It's been a while...

So I know it's been a while since I posted a blog, but I have not been totally idle during this time. I have started a new website called www.FlogitLogit.com.

On this website I am collecting computer hardware reviews from around the web into one database. This will facilitate easy comparisons and searches.

The really unique thing about FlogitLogit is that all the products have an object in the database. This means you can link to all the reviews to a certain product from one screen.

I think this makes researching purchases much easier. To further ease the process I have also rated the products based on how they were reviewed. These scores are available as both an average and a raw score.

So, take a look and let me know what you think.

Josh

Sunday, June 25, 2006

New Stealth

I just finished the build of my new "Stealth". This will be my new main computer. I will be using the old parts for the ammo can pc if it ever comes. I scored 10629 on 3Dmark 05 with the new box.

It is as follows:
Athlon X2 3800+ (AM2 version)
Asus M2N-E Mother board
Corsair XMS DDR2 8000 2gb
X1900XT Graphics

I have let the nTune software run its automated coarse tuning tests. It overclocked me 5%. I think this box will do much more that that, especially given the water cooling which keeps the cpu at an icy 28 C at idle and 33 C at full load on both cores. I am also water cooling the graphics card.

I am using the swiftech system. I'll post some pics later.

Josh

Saturday, June 17, 2006

New Projects

Ok, Sorry for the long lapse from the last post. So here is the update now:

I won a couple of big ammo cans on ebay so I am going to build a computer in an ammo can. I know it has been done to death, but I was inspired by the case ZapWizard built and you have to start somewhere right?

The second project will be an update to my main computer. I just ordered a new AM2 mobo and CPU and RAM and video card. I am going to water cool this box and see what kind of 3d mark I can pull on it. I will post later with an exact set of hardware.

For now I am shopping for all my parts to build the ammo can computer.

Josh

Saturday, June 10, 2006

Stealth to a good home

I am told by the purchaser of "Project Stealth" that he is very pleased with the computer. I am happy to hear it. Hopefully many more of my projects will have the same effect.

Josh

Liquid Cooling the Athlon XP

I am thinking about getting this liquid cooler for my athlon XP machine. It is not too expensive and should work fine. I am not sure if it will support looping the the video card but I am looking into it.

Josh

Thursday, June 01, 2006

Next System Build

For my next system build, after the Athlon XP cooling project, I am thinking I will use the Intel D 920 CPU. This CPU is an interesting option because it has the same multiplier as the EE version of this core.

The difference is that the D 920 runs at 200MHz FSB and the EE runs at 266MHz FSB. I think it would be interesting to see how a D 920 clocked to 266MHz would stack up against the EE. I assume results would be similar, but the D 920 would probably need to be clocked past that to actually defeat the EE chip due to some other premium features of that chip.

It would probably be worth doing though because there is about an $800 dollar price difference between these two chips and the D 920 is supposedly an easy overclock.

More on this to come.

Josh

Stealth Reflection

So my thoughts on project Stealth are these: If I were going to build it again it again I would change a few things about the way I put it together.

1) I would wait to plug in the USB connector for the media card reader until after windows was installed. Plugging this in before installing windows resulted in the primary hard disk being assigned the letter F:. This was sort of a problem because many programs assume that windows is on C: drive.

2) I would deactivate all of the onboard components that I did not plan on using right away, such as the secondary SATA controller. This device was a little tricky to deal with on my first installation of windows because the O/S kept re-detecting the controller and asking for the driver disk again and again and again, ugh!

3) I would have ordered a larger capacity power supply. I have a 600W Seasonic supply now but the buyer for stealth may not want it so I may have to wait until the next build to use it. This would have allowed a higher overclock. I made it to 3.4GHz as you read before, but this is coincidentally the same clock as the EE version of this chip. The core in the D 805 just consumes to much power anywhere north of 3.4GHz for the Stock 450Watt PSU that came with the Antec Sonata II case.

If the buyer for Stealth wants this power supply I may be able to do a test and post it before I ship it off.

Josh,

Next Cooling Project

For my next project I am going to design a cooling system for my somewhat unique needs. I have an Athlon XP computer that I use as my primary desktop. As you know the Athlon XP chip produces a ton of heat.

Recently I purchased a computer armoire for my living room to house this computer system. Unfortunately I am used to leaving my computer running all the time and the enclosed armoire gets very hot with the doors closed.

It is inconvenient for me to leave the door open as this sort of defeats the purpose of the armoire. I also want to have access to my network printer and storage which are managed by this machine.

My plan is to devise a liquid cooling solution that will pipe the heat out the rear of the armoire and dissipate it silently. I may be able to use traditional water cooling parts to do this, but I would like to try something different.

I am going to try and connect a large flat passive radiator to the cooling system and mount it on the rear of the armoire. I am going to see if I can find the radiator off of small refrigerator or something like that to use.

I will begin my search for parts and post when I find something.

Josh

Sunday, May 28, 2006

3DMark05

Stealth pulled an 8603 on 3DMark05 FYI. This was overclocked to 166MHz with the X1800XT pushed to the limit.

Josh

So you all know.

I have decided that for anyone who wants to copy these projects I will provide a detailed PDF manual describing in detail what I did. For this I will charge $25.00 payable by paypal.

I take a lot of pictures, and I don't but them all on the blog because it would take way to long to load, but I know some of you who copy these projects may want a more detailed set of pictures and notes.

I guess just email me through the link if you are interested.

Josh

Buyer for Stealth

Looks like we have a buyer for Stealth. Check out the auction here. I will be a little sad to see it go, but I'm already thinking about the next project. I have some ideas.

First, I'm thinking about building another D 805 system but trying to do it with less expensive parts. I worried a little that might not work out so good.

Second, I'm thinking about doing a water cooled box with a D 920. It has the same multiplier as the Extreme edition based on the 65nm core. I have head it overclocks like a champ.

Third, I've always been interested in building a media center PC. I think it would be neat to do one of these, but soooo many people build media center PCs. It seems sooo done.

Anywho that's what I'm thinking about now.

Josh

Friday, May 26, 2006

Seasonic PSU

I just ordered one of these for project Stealth. This seasonic PSU should provide more power to try and attain stable operation at 3.6 GHz.

Josh