First,
I have been using an Asus A7A266 board with 256MB of PC133 for the past
6 months.
The board was upgraded last week to an Asus A7V266-E with onboard RAID
and 6 channel audio. The processor is a 1.33TB running at 1551Mhz stable
at around 40C underload (reported by Asus Probe with Bios 1006) and
1.75Vcore. I was able to push the CPU up to 1612Mhz though I found that
running at 1551 would bring the best overall performances.
I also changed the RAM to one stick of 512MB of Mushkin's High Perf
PC2100.
I'm
using 2 40G Maxtor 7200RPM ATA100 in a RAID 0 array (one 80G) and another
60G Maxtor 5400RPM ATA100 on IDE1.
Video card: Radeon 8500 (overclocked OEM)
I've got a DVD and CDR.
To
keep it cool I'm using a water cooling system. I started with a Aquastealth
that I modified by adding an extra radiator and pump. No pelts yet...
but the system is ready to take it!!!
After
running the system for a little over a month with a mid tower, I ended
up ordering a full tower (cheap) for better cooling purpose, and also
for looks. I bought a cheap $45 case that I started to modify.
First
I took it apart, and planned on placing all the
components. Thischeapo case isn't too bad even though you can tell that
it's cheap: the screw threads aren't that great, the case has absolutely
no insulation (just bare metal) and the 300W ATX seems a little light!!!
I
had 2 (at the time HD, a DVD Rom, CDR, the Asus iPANEL, to fit in the
51/4 bay but also the switches since there was no other place where
they would fit.
The switches control: Pump 1, Pump 2, HD Fans, Side and rear fans, Rad
1 fans, Rad 2 fans, and Neon lights.
Here
is the old case on which I practiced. after getting tired of having
the radiator sticking outside I decided to go for a full tower.
Let's start playing with the case!!!!
1) The drilling part:
I
had to drill 3 120MM blow holes. One on top, one in the front and one
on the side. The top and front weren't that bad but since I was using
plexiglass for the windows, it took a little longer and lots of care!!!
I also cut the rear of the case to fit the second PSU (both 300W) and
the inside to let the water hose and wires get through w/o restricting
the air flow!
2)
The painting:
For me this was the easiest part! I decided to spray the case gray and then using some blue to accent the painting and give it a "marble" (or whatever) look. I finished it with a couple coats of clear.
 The bath tub was put in good use over that weekend. |
 Nope you're not dreaming the fan ain't flying! |
3)
The install:
Here
is the top with the 5*5 rad and a 120MM fan blowing thru.
Fitting
the 2 PSU, and my custom rad. I used a 68 Mustang heater core. The rad
had on 120MM up front and one on the back. They both sucked the air
from out of the case. I just recently removed the rear 120MM fan without
apparent loss in performances.
The
next step was fitting all the fans. I'm using 2 80MM fans in the middle
of the case to suck the air out of the bottom portion and direct it
thru the top blowhole. I also have an 80MM fan in the bottom of the
PSU and on the top rear of the case.
I also decided to add a blue power let, leaving me with one unused case led. I connected the led to the network activity led. I also adding 3 3.5mm jacks up front for the audio, connecting them directly to the mobo.
Man, my living room
looked more like a shop for a few days!!!!
The
front fan has a duct. Since the face wasn't flat, I used a grill to
hold the duct tightly against the case.
Here is a shot of the control panel. Behind resides the 60G HD. The 5400RPM drive fits perfectly there and doesn't heat up too much.
4) The wiring:
Easy
part again, even though I had some minor problems with the length of
some cables. Adding another drive for my RAID setup turned out to be
a little harder but I still managed to get it in, right behind the top
3 40mm fans. The second drive is right below and the third behind the
panel of switches (don't ask me how it fitted there, it just did). I
also had to move the purple neon light to the bottom part of the case
since it wouldn't fit on top anymore. I placed it right behind the front
radiator (I'm not too worried about CFM loss...).
Check it the mobo, the key word is ISOLATED!!!! Same treatment on the back. Unfortunately I didn't bother applying the insulation to my new A7V266 E. Maybe I was just a little scared to mess it up (I was one of the first getting one of those). I might be doing in if I ever go for supercooling (peltier or other).
6) The final product:
7) The benchmarks:
After
the upgrade to the KT266A board and a quick switch to a Radeon 8500,
I played with 3DMark2001. Results are simply sick: 10254 for the 3Dmark2001,
faster Athlon/Radeon combo listed so far (as of 10/20/01). I am using
an OEM Radeon 8500, overclocked to 280/275, nothing too aggressive here!!!
But here is what I got with Sisoft Sandra 2001 back when running the
CPU @ 1612Mhz.
The cpu is running at 1612Mhz, 133FSB and the Vcore is set to 1.85V.
The temps are around 43C underload, and without the AC on!!!
After switching to the A7V266-E I managed to run 141FSB on some High
Perf Mushkin's PC2100. CAS 2-2-2-5, multiplier at 11, and got 790/955
for the memory benchmark, 4350/2140 for the CPU and 8530/9697 for the
multimedia benchmark! You'll tell me that's only 1553Mhz but the system
is rock stable at that speed.
