Recycled Chieftec
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Recycled Chieftec
I have lately been looking for a new case and just found out that a friend of mine had a old machine lying in his basement. He gave me the case and some miscellaneous content inside all for free - so why not? =)
The case is probably closer to 8 years old, branded Chieftec and entirely made of aluminium, which I did not expect. Overall a sturdy construction. Since it is so old, it is unfortunately also designed for 80mm fans, not great. But can certainly be solved, or so I hope.
The case is probably closer to 8 years old, branded Chieftec and entirely made of aluminium, which I did not expect. Overall a sturdy construction. Since it is so old, it is unfortunately also designed for 80mm fans, not great. But can certainly be solved, or so I hope.
Last edited by Wilhelm-Tell on Thu Sep 17, 2009 12:25 pm, edited 15 times in total.
I like it when people recycle Chieftec cases are built to last, it's a pity they have so many holes in side panels.
You can create a separate chamber in your Chieftec. Use those horizontal rails (braces) as a support for a PCV or ply divider. Flip the PSU upside down and you've go yourself a separate chamber for the PSU and HDDs. The PSU will suffice to suck enough air to cool itself and the drives (no need for that Noctua).
The bottom chamber could be improved by putting an after market CPU cooler, for example a Ninja.
Final thought: what do you need 8GB ram for?
You can create a separate chamber in your Chieftec. Use those horizontal rails (braces) as a support for a PCV or ply divider. Flip the PSU upside down and you've go yourself a separate chamber for the PSU and HDDs. The PSU will suffice to suck enough air to cool itself and the drives (no need for that Noctua).
The bottom chamber could be improved by putting an after market CPU cooler, for example a Ninja.
Final thought: what do you need 8GB ram for?
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I like the idea of not trowing perfectly good things away. So I will give this box a chance, but I will probably end up with a P183 like all the rest of you...
8GB RAM is great, if you like me work in Photoshop.
Yes, a new CPU cooler, like you said a Ninja or something must be fitted. Plus two silent 80 mm fans, I can't fit a single 120 mm fan. not enough space.
Here are some pics of the elastic bands, HDD/fan-modification.
Work in progress
Harddrive fitted
Padded with some foam
8GB RAM is great, if you like me work in Photoshop.
Yes, a new CPU cooler, like you said a Ninja or something must be fitted. Plus two silent 80 mm fans, I can't fit a single 120 mm fan. not enough space.
Here are some pics of the elastic bands, HDD/fan-modification.
Work in progress
Harddrive fitted
Padded with some foam
Last edited by Wilhelm-Tell on Wed Sep 16, 2009 3:17 am, edited 3 times in total.
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Wondering the same thing...RoGuE wrote:saber saw + metal file? or big ass hole saw?
just wondering...
Also, how did you mount the fan? I don't see any holes on the outside for screws or softmounts. I'm guessing glue or dual-sided foam tape?
BTW, I just finished a build in a new Chieftec. I love Chieftec cases!
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RoGuE wrote:saber saw + metal file? or big ass hole saw?
just wondering...
I think they call it, surprise surprise..."Hole Cutter". Adjustable between 30-120mm. About $15...
Last edited by Wilhelm-Tell on Wed Sep 16, 2009 3:17 am, edited 3 times in total.
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The fan hasn't been mounted yet, need to drill the holes first. 4mm if I recall right.piglover wrote:Wondering the same thing...RoGuE wrote:saber saw + metal file? or big ass hole saw?
just wondering...
Also, how did you mount the fan? I don't see any holes on the outside for screws or softmounts. I'm guessing glue or dual-sided foam tape?
BTW, I just finished a build in a new Chieftec. I love Chieftec cases!
I'm glad you like your Chieftec case =)
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Update, update...
Side-fan where it belongs -- but how did I attach it?
Answer: velcro and superglue. Quite stable and with good anti-vibration properties. No need for holes either. Only time will tell if it stays in place...
Next? Temps update and blocking of all excessive air intake/holes
Side-fan where it belongs -- but how did I attach it?
Answer: velcro and superglue. Quite stable and with good anti-vibration properties. No need for holes either. Only time will tell if it stays in place...
Next? Temps update and blocking of all excessive air intake/holes
Last edited by Wilhelm-Tell on Thu Aug 27, 2009 1:18 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Ghetto, like the rest of my modds. But it works great!RoGuE wrote:lol thats a ghetto mount.
but I like it.
Anyway, some temps -- all with the excessive holes covered. Noctua runs @800 rpm and the Nexus @7v.
All idle temps.
CPU 34-36°C (stock-cooler @50%, or 900rpm)
VGA 62-68°C (stock-cooler @25%)
HDD 27-30°C
Decent I think. But I will replace the CPU-cooler...
Last edited by Wilhelm-Tell on Wed Sep 16, 2009 3:18 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Yes, but.. You should increase your FSB. Assuming your board supports frequency scaling with the FSB increased, you'll use little extra power, for a significant performance boost.Wilhelm-Tell wrote:Nah, it's all done by SpeedStep. The FSB is constant but the multiplier varies.RoGuE wrote:u should up ur FSB..
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@RoGuE
Thanks. I will try that later. I haven't fiddled around much in BIOS yet.
@blackworx
I also think it looks better, from the outside that is... Very easy to install/fix on flat surfaces too. And vibrations are not a problem either. When I first got the velcro-idea I just laughed... So simple, but effective at the same time, and it works!
Thanks. I will try that later. I haven't fiddled around much in BIOS yet.
@blackworx
I also think it looks better, from the outside that is... Very easy to install/fix on flat surfaces too. And vibrations are not a problem either. When I first got the velcro-idea I just laughed... So simple, but effective at the same time, and it works!
Well that makes no sense, considering if you increase the FSB to 400 on a Q9650 and a P43, you are overclocking, no matter the core speed.RoGuE wrote:if ur not into over clocking, just up your FSB to 400, and bring down your multiplier and fsb:ram ratio. your mem clock will remain the same, and so will your cpu, but you will be moving more 1s and 0s across your board
Taken from the ASRock website:Monkeh16 wrote:Well that makes no sense, considering if you increase the FSB to 400 on a Q9650 and a P43, you are overclocking, no matter the core speed.RoGuE wrote:if ur not into over clocking, just up your FSB to 400, and bring down your multiplier and fsb:ram ratio. your mem clock will remain the same, and so will your cpu, but you will be moving more 1s and 0s across your board
LGA 775 for Intel® Core™ 2 Extreme / Core™ 2 Quad / Core™ 2 Duo / Pentium® Dual Core / Celeron® Dual Core / Celeron®, supporting Penryn Quad Core Yorkfield and Dual Core Wolfdale processors
Intel® P43 + ICH10 Chipsets
Supports FSB 1600/1333/1066/800MHz
note especially that last line...FSB 1600. That means that setting the fsb to 400 is the max, NON overclocked fsb speed as rated by the manufacturer.
so I will repeat for the O.P., upping your fsb to 400, and bringing down your cpu multiplier and fsb:ram ratio will not be overclocking anything, but will speed up your front side bus.
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well yeah, think about it. If you bring up FSB and bring your processor down to around the same clock speed, you are giving yourself a performance boost that your motherboard is designed to handle.Wilhelm-Tell wrote:So 400 * 7,5 is better than 333 * 9? My RAM is running @1066/4=266
One tip I might suggest is a SLIGHT overclock of your cpu by bringing the multiplier down to 8,6 instead of 7,5. Your board should more than be able to handle the extra clock with auto settings on voltages.
of course, none of this is neccisary. I just thought you would be interested to know that you can get more performance out of your board without going over spec.
As for the build, I really like the soft mounted fan in the front with the surrounding foam. You did a good job with that. Nice HDD suspension as well.
I really appreciate your reusing the case from an old machine. I have system at my office that reuses a plain vanilla mATX that I recovered shortly being trashed. I saved a considerable amount of money by reusing the case and carefully picking cool and quiet components. Thanks for sharing the picks!
Both the CPU and the chipset (ignore ASRock, the chipset is made by Intel) run at 333MHz stock. You are overclocking if you increase that. It won't do any harm, but it is still overclocking.RoGuE wrote:Taken from the ASRock website:Monkeh16 wrote:Well that makes no sense, considering if you increase the FSB to 400 on a Q9650 and a P43, you are overclocking, no matter the core speed.RoGuE wrote:if ur not into over clocking, just up your FSB to 400, and bring down your multiplier and fsb:ram ratio. your mem clock will remain the same, and so will your cpu, but you will be moving more 1s and 0s across your board
LGA 775 for Intel® Core™ 2 Extreme / Core™ 2 Quad / Core™ 2 Duo / Pentium® Dual Core / Celeron® Dual Core / Celeron®, supporting Penryn Quad Core Yorkfield and Dual Core Wolfdale processors
Intel® P43 + ICH10 Chipsets
Supports FSB 1600/1333/1066/800MHz
note especially that last line...FSB 1600. That means that setting the fsb to 400 is the max, NON overclocked fsb speed as rated by the manufacturer.
so I will repeat for the O.P., upping your fsb to 400, and bringing down your cpu multiplier and fsb:ram ratio will not be overclocking anything, but will speed up your front side bus.
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Thanks all! BTW, I just increased the FSB to 388MHz or 3.5GHz and it works great. But at this speed I really need a new cooler.
Last edited by Wilhelm-Tell on Thu Aug 27, 2009 6:21 am, edited 1 time in total.