Post by Hawkeye on Jan 4, 2013 16:03:24 GMT -6
Stuff to keep busy, during the holiday break, low $ spent....
First one a result of a screw-up on my part....was not able to use something I bought for another machine, but decided to keep it, as it was relatively cheap, and a good product. The Cooler Master GeminII S524 CPU cooler that I ordered for a family machine (gaming and overclock capable) did not fit. This, due to the proximity of the of the socket 775 processor to the edge of the MB, did not fit, even though I checked it out as carefully as I could by measurements given. The cooling fans mounted on the top of the case I intended to use it on made the difference between fitting, and not fitting. So instead, I decided to keep it and upgrade my own machine, using my current cooler on another machine made of leftover parts (here after refered to as "the Frankenstein machine").
First picture below: my own machine, now upgraded with the GeminII. Old CPU cooler, 90 mm, was a good one; has handled mild overclock to 3.6 GHz no problem. The new cooler, 120 mm (will accept 140 mm) is a unit made to mount parallel to the MB. This can offer additional clearance for units with side fans; not really necessary with the case I'm using (Cooler Master HAF [high air flow]). The thing is designed with some overhang, so that the memory can also be cooled by it's fan. Note that even though it can be mounted in any of 4 directions, it only fits in the one, top-offset direction due to: 1) rear fan, 2) North bridge heatsink, 3) memory DIMM's higher than standard due to integrated heatsinks (very common). It only will fit facing the top, and with the case having extra room beyond the upper fan. Also note that the memory cooler fans used are not necessary at all but came with the memory kit I originally ordered, and because the GeminII would not fit in that direction due to the height of the Corsair memory heatsinks, I went ahead and used them again (somewhat offset to the right with their universal mounting).
Below, center: here is the machine that it did not fit on (see fans mounted on the top of the case). Note that the GeminII, facing in the right-offset direction, would have fit over that type of memory, which lacks tall heatsinks on top of it's heat spreaders. In place, the Cooler Master Hyper 212 is used. Note how much higher the Hyper 212 sticks up, but is not an issue, due to the orientation of the side fans being lower down (the left side cover, with fans, is seen above the case):
The result is cooler CPU temperatures at 3.6 GHz, from approx 41 deg. C to now 35-36 deg. C under load (RoF).
The old cooler, a similarly laid out unit (but of more practical size) was transferred into the "Frankenstein machine" that I built out of leftover parts I had, after upgrades made this year. This is that machine, completed, below:
Specs on that machine: E8600 Core2 duo, 3.33 GHz, socket 775; ASUS P5N-E SLI motherboard; 2 X 2 GB (4GB) DDR2-800 MHz memory; EVGA GTX 295 (dual GPU) FTW video card. Very cheap Thermaltake Versa-II case (45 bucks minus 15 dollar rebate) and Corsair TX-750 power supply (85 bucks minus 25 dollar rebate). Copy of Windows Vista Ultimate that I had left over from a long time ago. Here you see the type of memory that has heatsink fins protruding up; this is the same type I have in my machine in the top photo. That's what prevents a GeminII from being installed overhanging the memory, as it's meant to, in addition to it's sheer size.
Turned out really nice, but it was amazing how much time it took to install Vista; literally days because Microsoft no longer posts Service Pack 1 or 2 on it's update site, so those had to be downloaded as seperate D/L's, then over 90 updates added to that. Result: machine works perfectly now, and, call me crazy, but in terms of pure operating system, I actually prefer Vista to Win7 with all the extras and conveniences it has.
The machine is just a back-up to my main one in case of disaster, or if I just want to display a game map on another screen without loading my own. It was fun, and I fancy that it could even run RoF if needed. It's old but has decent speed and is fully functional.
Anyway, just an indication of what I've been up to this holiday break, much of the time.
First one a result of a screw-up on my part....was not able to use something I bought for another machine, but decided to keep it, as it was relatively cheap, and a good product. The Cooler Master GeminII S524 CPU cooler that I ordered for a family machine (gaming and overclock capable) did not fit. This, due to the proximity of the of the socket 775 processor to the edge of the MB, did not fit, even though I checked it out as carefully as I could by measurements given. The cooling fans mounted on the top of the case I intended to use it on made the difference between fitting, and not fitting. So instead, I decided to keep it and upgrade my own machine, using my current cooler on another machine made of leftover parts (here after refered to as "the Frankenstein machine").
First picture below: my own machine, now upgraded with the GeminII. Old CPU cooler, 90 mm, was a good one; has handled mild overclock to 3.6 GHz no problem. The new cooler, 120 mm (will accept 140 mm) is a unit made to mount parallel to the MB. This can offer additional clearance for units with side fans; not really necessary with the case I'm using (Cooler Master HAF [high air flow]). The thing is designed with some overhang, so that the memory can also be cooled by it's fan. Note that even though it can be mounted in any of 4 directions, it only fits in the one, top-offset direction due to: 1) rear fan, 2) North bridge heatsink, 3) memory DIMM's higher than standard due to integrated heatsinks (very common). It only will fit facing the top, and with the case having extra room beyond the upper fan. Also note that the memory cooler fans used are not necessary at all but came with the memory kit I originally ordered, and because the GeminII would not fit in that direction due to the height of the Corsair memory heatsinks, I went ahead and used them again (somewhat offset to the right with their universal mounting).
Below, center: here is the machine that it did not fit on (see fans mounted on the top of the case). Note that the GeminII, facing in the right-offset direction, would have fit over that type of memory, which lacks tall heatsinks on top of it's heat spreaders. In place, the Cooler Master Hyper 212 is used. Note how much higher the Hyper 212 sticks up, but is not an issue, due to the orientation of the side fans being lower down (the left side cover, with fans, is seen above the case):
The result is cooler CPU temperatures at 3.6 GHz, from approx 41 deg. C to now 35-36 deg. C under load (RoF).
The old cooler, a similarly laid out unit (but of more practical size) was transferred into the "Frankenstein machine" that I built out of leftover parts I had, after upgrades made this year. This is that machine, completed, below:
Specs on that machine: E8600 Core2 duo, 3.33 GHz, socket 775; ASUS P5N-E SLI motherboard; 2 X 2 GB (4GB) DDR2-800 MHz memory; EVGA GTX 295 (dual GPU) FTW video card. Very cheap Thermaltake Versa-II case (45 bucks minus 15 dollar rebate) and Corsair TX-750 power supply (85 bucks minus 25 dollar rebate). Copy of Windows Vista Ultimate that I had left over from a long time ago. Here you see the type of memory that has heatsink fins protruding up; this is the same type I have in my machine in the top photo. That's what prevents a GeminII from being installed overhanging the memory, as it's meant to, in addition to it's sheer size.
Turned out really nice, but it was amazing how much time it took to install Vista; literally days because Microsoft no longer posts Service Pack 1 or 2 on it's update site, so those had to be downloaded as seperate D/L's, then over 90 updates added to that. Result: machine works perfectly now, and, call me crazy, but in terms of pure operating system, I actually prefer Vista to Win7 with all the extras and conveniences it has.
The machine is just a back-up to my main one in case of disaster, or if I just want to display a game map on another screen without loading my own. It was fun, and I fancy that it could even run RoF if needed. It's old but has decent speed and is fully functional.
Anyway, just an indication of what I've been up to this holiday break, much of the time.
