My new rig!

[SuperChango]

I'm inlove...

HOLY S*1T !! 9Kg !!!

 

[Thagarr]

Indeed SuperChango, that is a nice case mate! I looked at that one when I was looking for my case. For a midsize tower, that thing is huge! The option to install two power supplies is something ya don't see often at all. I also like the fact that it has a lock, something that is very, very rare anymore. Beats the hell out of passwords! The door is why I didn't get it though, it opens on the wrong side for the way my desk is set up. If the door were reversible, or opened the other way, I might very well have went with that case.

 

[Stallion]

Nice new siggy Stallion! Looks great! I am working on a couple of ideas for my new sig, I just keep changing it ...:

Coolermaster makes nice cases, I almost got one of those instead. I just happened to run across this Lian LI PC-61 on sale and got it for $79! The design of the case was several years old(came out in 01 i think) when I found it, probably why I was able to get it so cheap. There is nothing really fancy about it on the outside, just simple black anodized aluminum and a couple of extremely bright LED's! The Coolermaster I was thinking about getting was around $180 if I recall correctly, it had all the fancy stuff like a side window, LED 120 MM fans and a few other bells and whistles. The only real drawback to my Lian Li case is that because it is a few years old in design, it only uses 80 MM fans. So it's a little more noisy than the newer 120's, and doesn't move quite the amount of air that the bigger fans do. That Temjin TJ10B-W care your getting looks pretty sweet too! Tool-less removable motherboard trays are damn handy! It looks like great build quality, and appears to have more than enough airflow to keep your PC running nice and cool.

I don't believe I have ever seen one welded like that, apparently HP was under the impression computer fans last forever! Luckily, Dremels come with one of the handyist gadgets ever invented, the cutting wheel! What's the model number on your HP Stallion? I'll look it up online, I'd like to get a look at that cage.

Thanks! I think this bug with the signatures might be a good thing - for a while there, I changed mine every day. :

Tool-less with the case was a big thing with me - I've dropped screws before when taking stuff out of this tower, and it takes ages to get them out. Aside from the possibility they might give something in there a good whack before leaving. :

I've got an a430n - good luck finding a picture of the cage, though. I tried, and many things pointed to the fact that the fan is supposed to be accessible and basically the same as what's on the CPU. I have a sneaking suspicion this computer was a refurbished model the guy at Best Buy claimed was new. The more I here about that store in the news, the less surprised I'd be if that's what happened.

 

[Stallion]

Indeed SuperChango, that is a nice case mate! I looked at that one when I was looking for my case. For a midsize tower, that thing is huge! The option to install two power supplies is something ya don't see often at all. I also like the fact that it has a lock, something that is very, very rare anymore. Beats the hell out of passwords! The door is why I didn't get it though, it opens on the wrong side for the way my desk is set up. If the door were reversible, or opened the other way, I might very well have went with that case.

That case looks like something you'd expect to find in a secret underground server farm, or something. Very cool. I had another computer before this one, but not for very long - it never really worked right from day one. I called it Big Blue since, well, it was blue. :urgh Got it on XP's launch day - it was a dual-core AMD, and in all other aspects identical to the HP I'm on now. Ran great, so long as you wiggled the power cord on startup until it got enough juice to get going. : A brownout finished it off late one night, along with the PowerPoint project I'd been finishing for school the next day. It had a lock on the front panel and the side panel, along with a whackload of LEDs on the inside. It looked wicked at night.

 

[rupertlittlebear]

A brownout finished it off late one night, along with the PowerPoint project I'd been finishing for school the next day.

Live and Learn
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/CyberPower+-+425VA+SL-Series+Battery+Back-Up+System/6201585.p?id=1069297060711&skuId=6201585&st=ups&cp=1&lp=1

 

[Thagarr]

Your right Stallion, not much out there at all on that one. However, I was able to come up with something that might be close to what your describing, does that cage look something like this only attached to the back of your case?

Yup, your right rupertlittlebear, UPS's are a must! Brownouts and voltage spikes are a real pain in the ass! That one doesn't have quite enough power for Stallions new system though, he would need something more along the lines of one of these :

http://www.amazon.com/Ultra-ULT3304...?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1258456803&sr=8-12

A little pricey, but well worth it to protect that $2000 system!

 

[Stallion]

Take that metal screening on the arse end of that PSU in the picture, Thagarr, and wrap it entirely around the fan, and you'll know about what I'm seeing - weirdest setup I've ever seen.

I bought a UPS after the whole brownout thing for this computer, but I know 350W just won't do it for the new one. :

Would there be any chance an 850W UPS would do the job? There's one by American Power Conversion in an indie computer shop not far from here for a little over 200 bucks.

 

[Thagarr]

Weird... maybe they were afraid the Case would overheat, sending the fan into turbo overdrive, causing it to spin so fast the plastic fan blades would start to melt and fly off throwing hot shrapnel everywhere and the whole assembly would become a nightmarish vision of death! ....:? ....k

Or it was just designed by a bunch of morons! My vote is for #2!

You MIGHT be able to get by with an 850 Stallion, it has a lot more to do with the VA(Voltage Amps) rating more than the wattage though. Your computer setup the way it is now will probably draw between 600 and 800 wats when it is first turned on, I am just guessing here though. Without looking up the manufactures ratings for the voltages on all your equipment, I really couldn't give you an accurate guess for those. After you first turn it on, the wattage needed by your system will drop a bit, maybe down to around 450 or 500, again, just a guess. I believe the voltage will remain fairly constant though. There is a possibility that your PSU will draw 1000 wats or maybe a little more when it is first turned on to fully charge it's capacitors, and then drop back down to what your system is actually pulling. With an 850 wat UPS, that may trigger it's built in protection circuit and prevent the battery from charging properly, although your computer would still turn on and you would get the voltage spike protection and line conditioning of the UPS, you wouldn't get the battery function and your system would just shut down if you ever had a power outage. Using an 850 UPS on a 1000 wat supply might also affect the UPS warranty should you ever need to use it. I would recommend you ask the indie computer shop if they can order you a 1200 wat UPS with at least a 1400 VA rating on it and see what kind of price they can get for you. You probably won't even ever need 1200, if they can get you a 1000 wat UPS with around 1200 or 1300 VA, you should be fine with that. If they quote you anything over $300, I would look elsewhere. Electricity can be a tricky thing, I always like to have more than what I am ever gonna use just in case I want to add hard drives or run dual video cards. Hope that helps mate!

 

[Stallion]

: Never thought it might be the first one myself.

The 850W model is from APC: http://www.apcc.com/products/resource/include/techspec_index.cfm?base_sku=BR1300LCD&total_watts=200 , except the one I'm looking at is a Back-Ups XS 1300VA model. Can't for the life of me figure out what the difference between RS and XS models is, though.

And now for the wacky bit: the new computer arrived yesterday (HOLY EXPLETIVE DELETED'S! IT JUST SCREAMS!! ), and I decided to try running it off the old Belkin 550VA/350W UPS I have for the old computer (which I'm using until I get the new one fully set up). Low and behold, it started up just fine on the battery-protected outlets, and, so long as I wasn't gaming, power use hovered at around 55%, including the 19" monitor. Gaming, well, let's just say the UPS doesn't appreciate that. : Power use worked its way up to 80%, but never overload, likely because I stopped gaming after seeing it climb to that.

I'd really prefer to get the 850W from APC, if for nothing else than it has eight outlets, six of which are battery backed-up. As it stands, I've still got two things plugged direct into the wall outlet, which I know basically negates the surge protection.

 

[Thagarr]

Congratulations mate! Glad ya got your new rig and she is up and running!!!

 

[Thagarr]

I did a little research on that UPS Stallion, I didn't have time the other day as I was headed to work at the time. accodring to what I could find, the RS model has additional phone/fax/model/10/100base-T ethernet protection. The XS only has phone/fax/modem protection. You should be OK with the 850, just make sure it's plugged in to a 3 prong grounded outlet.

Btw, have you done a Windows Experience Index score on it yet? Here is mine :

 

[Stallion]

I ended up going with the 780W model, since the 850W's supposed "adapter friendly" design turned out to be a farce. The outlets on this one, too, are close together - makes hooking everything up rather interesting. : Even with FUEL running maxed out, the 780W model shows I've still got 20 minutes of back-up power. Plenty enough for me.

My overall WEI score is the same as yours, 5.9 - my HDs are what drop it to that, just like yours seems to be. Otherwise, mine are:

7.4
7.5
7.4
7.4
5.9

I'd have put up a screenshot, but I haven't figured out how to do that yet.

I just wish I could get my scanner working with Windows 7 - the printer sure didn't want to, so I decided to let Windows go and find an updated driver - lucky me, somebody had one. I've got a CanoScan D1250U2F, and I'd rather not part with it since it still runs as good as the day I got it. Silly Canon just says to use the Vista drivers for it and my printer, an i550. Neither driver worked, of course.

 

[Thagarr]

You have 64 bit Ultimate right Stallion? I have an I550 as well, Windows 7 picked it up on install without a problem, but I have 32 bit. I'll have a look around and see if I can dig up something for your printer and your scanner. I know what ya mean about being attached mine both work fine as well. Canon would rather make you spend another couple hundred bucks to by new top of the line equipment though, than actually support what you have bought from them in the past. Typical corporation.

To do a screen shot, just press the Prt Scn key, bring up Paint and paste it in there. Microsoft did a pretty good job with Paint this time around, it actually functions as an image editor! You could also give Paint.net a try, it's more of a full fledged image editor, and it's completely free.

It sounds like that UPS is gonna work fine for you mate! Glad to hear it! I hope you don't get to test it out anytime soon!

Yeah, the hard drive is a killer for the WEI, about the only way to change that is to set up a high speed raid array, or get and SSD.

 

[Stallion]

I've been reading quite a bit on how lots of older hardware doesn't get along with 64-bit Windows 7 - perhaps I should have went with 32 instead. : I was able to get the printer working last night - I let Windows go and hunt for a driver, and it found one that works. No such luck on the scanner, though. I did find something that might hint at why I can't get it working, though (second post): http://ubuntuforums....d.php?t=1262309 . That Vuescan program mentioned doesn't work, since I tried it even after reading that post.

Ah, so they didn't change that part of Paint! There's so much different on here, I just assumed that would be too. There's piles of stuff on here that's a vast improvement over previous versions of Windows, but there's some oddities too (like whatever happened to Space Cadet Pinball?! I used to love that game! : ).

Sadly, I did get to test the UPS out last night - the power went out for about eight minutes, but the computer just kept on running. These higher-wattage UPSes sure do stink, though - even when they're not running on battery back-up. :eww Apparently, that's normal.

Edit:

Turns out that the XP Mode thing on Win 7 Ultimate isn't just for software. It works for things like scanners, too. : Problem solved! :warr

 

[Thagarr]

It didn't even occur to me to try Windows XP mode for your scanner, but that is one of the things it was designed to do, glad ya found a solution mate! That virtual machine is pretty cool, it's almost like having two computers in one. Windows 7 is actually quite impressive, I don't like the way it handles some things though, some of the annoyances from Vista are still there. UAC is still a pain, but less so in 7, and some of the file permissions can be quite annoying! But overall, it is a major improvement in speed and stability. I think yo made the right choice going with 64, most of those incompatibility issues will get worked out eventually, it's just a matter of time. Just wait till Windows 8 comes out in 128 bit!

That pinball game was pretty cool! If you have already downloaded and installed XP mode, check the games listed in XP, it should be in there!

Ah well, at least ya know your UPS is working!

 

[Stallion]

I curse UAC at least 15 times per minute some days. : I don't like how the error logs have been changed - maybe it's just me, but the way they looked before seemed a lot more easy to understand.

The pinball game is there! I wonder if they'll ever bring back Ski Free? :blah: http://ski.ihoc.net/ Was the first computer game I ever played.

Got another chance to test it again this morning. I wonder who I phone to tell the power company I don't need to do any more tests? :

 

[Thagarr]

Got another chance to test it again this morning. I wonder who I phone to tell the power company I don't need to do any more tests? :

http://www.highlandsolar.ca/ :

I have UAC completely turned off, at one point, it was asking me if I was sure I wanted to let windows explorer run!

Other than Pong! This is probably the first real computer game I played, I think it was on a tape drive on an old Radio Shack CoCo :

http://nitros9.lcurtisboyle.com/startrek3.html It kicked much butt!

 

[Stallion]

That's what my UAC has been doing. : Stupid bloody thing.

The older games are always the best ones.

 

[Captain Maggee]

My new rig is on its way

Be so nice to have a laptop that doesnt need to be plugged in and has a video card 4 times more powerful than my current and works : (my current video card cant even handle a monitor being plugged in anymore)

 

[Stallion]

Wow - your old machine is in way worse shape than mine. : Good to hear you're getting a new one.

What're the specs of it?