Core 2 Duo/Antec Solo

|Romeo| · Post by **|Romeo|** » Thu Sep 21, 2006 3:56 pm

I built this a little while ago (a month or so I guess), but forgot to take any pictures of before it was physically installed. However, it's had to be powered down to move it, so I quickly had the side of to get these snaps. They're done in a hurry, so they aren't particularly good unfortunately. Thankfully not too much dust has built up yet.

Unfortunately, I couldn't source a Ninja within the time frame, hence the Intel stock cooler (which actually gets it below the noise floor anyway, so really only matters because it's got twice as many fans as I intended). Apart from that, I see that the HD should have gone in the other way around, and I could have done better with the front panel connectors. And if Foxconn had been a little more generous with the cable on the extra USB ports I could have routed it with the front audio

Still, it only draws 60W under normal operation which is not too shabby all things considered.

Dave S · Post by **Dave S** » Sat Sep 23, 2006 6:31 pm

Why not share: what is the mobo , psu, drive? You found the stock cooler OK? I'm building a Core 2 Duo in a Solo as well. Did the Solo meet your needs? Your system looks pretty good to me...

Dave S · Post by **Dave S** » Sat Sep 23, 2006 7:12 pm

I'm following up my own post again, second thoughts are my life...Is that the Badaxe, Intel D975XBX? I shoulda recognized the blue heatsinks...What are you using for video?
I have a different PSU (Zalman 460), heatsink (ThermalRight SI120) and drives ( 2 WD 320Mb Sata something or others). maybe we should compare notes here, for the benefit of SPCRers.

|Romeo| · Post by **|Romeo|** » Wed Oct 04, 2006 2:39 pm

My (very) delayed response (I had one earlier, but Opera crashed and lost it all and I haven't had time to retype it before)

Yes, that is a BadAxe. And quite nice it is too. Underneath the heatsink is an E6600, in the DIMM slots are 2x 512MB ECC Kingston (DDR2). The PSU is an FSP Zen, I can't remember if I grumbled in the original post, but an extra 6" on all the cables would have meant I could route them far more out of the way (but not enough of a problem to replace the cables). The drive is a 320GB 7200.10 (cost 24 pence per gigabyte, which was much less than anything else when I got it, not so good now). It's mounted on the Antec tray, because I like the ease with which I can remove drives in those trays and I don't really car for elastic.

The graphics card is a cheap XFX (7300 something I think) with DVI and no fan ( I should explain, according to the makers of CAD software used on this machine, any DX9 card should be able to accelerate the level of CAD done on this machine quite happily, so I picked the cheapest with the thought that if a Quaddro was needed in the end there was no point in spending more on a graphics card that might well just be pulled out).

If I was building it again, I'd replace the Zen with a Pico PSU (or maybe one of its close relatives that accepts 24V input - which would be better) and I'd fit a Ninja and replace the Tri-cool Nexus connected to the CPU fan header. And I'd test it with that fan jammed.

Dave S · Post by **Dave S** » Wed Oct 04, 2006 4:25 pm

Thanks for the reply! I think it may be the only BadAxe in SPCR. I'm still cobbling together a post with some pictures, but have been sidetracked by my quest for PWM fans for the 4 pin CPU and auxiliary rear fan (?) connectors. http://www.jmcproducts.com/products/pwm ... ndex.shtml I have one for the CPU, getting another for the case.
I like the idea of a Ninja or similar tower/side exhaust heatsink, but was worried the BaxAxe needed some powerful cooling on the voltage regulators. From the manual: "INTEGRATORâ€™S NOTE:Use a processor heatsink that provides omni-directional airflow (similar to the type shown in Figure 27) to maintain required airflow across the processor voltage regulator area." Figure 27 shows a stock type heatsink with fan blowing down. I probably overreacted. But the SI-120 and fan combo work well for this. Using TAT: the processor temp rises to 68C, as the CPU fan accelerates to max, the other temps do not increase. My "problem" with the Zalman 460 PSU is that it has enough unused cables that I could maybe extend power to another PC! Video is a EVGA GeForce 7600 GS which I got basically because it did well on an AnandTech review of passive GPUs, and its simple, ungimmicky design.

Again: when I finish, I'll run a few tests and report.

wpb · Post by **wpb** » Fri Oct 27, 2006 11:53 am

Thanks for the inspiration. I have the same MB and case and I'm almost done re-routing and securing all of the cables, using your rig as a guide.

A dumb question, is the 1x4 connection not necessary with a 2x12 power connection?

Dave S · Post by **Dave S** » Fri Oct 27, 2006 1:45 pm

Which connector?

"2.7.2.1 Power Supply Connectors
The board has three power supply connectors: Main power â€“ a 2 x 12 connector. The board requires a power supply with a 2 x 12 main power cable. Processor power â€“ This connector provides power directly to the processor voltage regulator and must always be used. Depending on manufacturing options, the board will contain either a 2 x 4 or a 2 x 2 connector for the processor voltage regulator. Auxiliary PCI Express graphics power â€“ a 1 x 4 connector. This connector provides the required additional power when using high power (75 W or greater) add-in cards in either or both the Secondary PCI Express x16 (electrical x8) and the PCI Express x16 (electrical x4) bus add-in card connectors."

I don't use the Auxiliary PCI Express connector.

wpb · Post by **wpb** » Fri Oct 27, 2006 5:51 pm

I was refering to the Auxiliary PCI Express connector. I didn't realize it wasn't necessary. Removing that connection will clean up the cables even more.

Thanks.

RasmusseN · Post by **RasmusseN** » Sat Oct 28, 2006 9:18 am

you really should replace the stock cooler with something quieter/better.

jaganath · Post by **jaganath** » Sat Oct 28, 2006 9:52 am

RasmusseN wrote:you really should replace the stock cooler with something quieter/better.

Unnecessary, considering:

Unfortunately, I couldn't source a Ninja within the time frame, hence the Intel stock cooler (which actually gets it below the noise floor anyway,

From this I presume the PC is located in a work or noisy urban environment.

|Romeo| · Post by **|Romeo|** » Sun Oct 29, 2006 12:37 am

No, the 1x4 (Molex like you find on HD and CD drives) is not necessary if you have a 2x12 main ATX connector

|Romeo| · Post by **|Romeo|** » Sun Oct 29, 2006 12:56 am

jaganath wrote:
RasmusseN wrote:you really should replace the stock cooler with something quieter/better.
Unnecessary, considering:

Unfortunately, I couldn't source a Ninja within the time frame, hence the Intel stock cooler (which actually gets it below the noise floor anyway,
From this I presume the PC is located in a work or noisy urban environment.

A noisy enough environment anyway. Not withstanding, the stock fan (and Bad Axe fan control algorithms) are a drastic improvement over the stock fan that came with socket 478 CPUs

I should probably also add that since I had an eardrum rupture (that was a very cheap way of silencing everything for a few days) I can't really hear annoying high pitched whines any more. Which probably makes noisier components acceptable to me.

As a final note on the stock CPU fan noise, I'm in the middle of building another almost identical system, but the Zen PSU has not arrived on time, so it's using a borrowed Antec Basiq, which is clearly audible over the CPU fan.

jaganath · Post by **jaganath** » Sun Oct 29, 2006 1:17 am

since I had an eardrum rupture

Ouch!

How did that happen?

|Romeo| · Post by **|Romeo|** » Sun Oct 29, 2006 4:02 am

jaganath wrote:
since I had an eardrum rupture
Ouch! How did that happen?

I don't honestly know, I woke up one morning with a terrible pain in the ear, and by the evening blood pouring out of it (and in between consulted a doctor who claimed there was no problem and it would feel better by the end of the day). I could literally shut noise out just by turning my head though! The ear drum has grown back, but I still can't hear as well as I could before.

Dave S · Post by **Dave S** » Tue Oct 31, 2006 7:18 pm

"I woke up one morning...."

Ain't life jolly...