Sunday 19 August 2007

Assembling my new rig

Installation of the Zalman 9700 NT on a Gigabyte P35-DQ6

This blog will summarise the assembling of my new PC. First, I had to work on installing the Zalman 9700 NT on the Gigabyte P35-DQ6 motherboard, keeping the Crazy Cool installed (back plate situated behind the CPU). To do so, I used a different braket, the Zalman ZM-CS1 clip support. Check the pictures for the installation:






































Time to install the video card: The Sparkle Calibre P880+ OC / 8800 GTX

This card really catched my attention because it looks great because of it's unique Perlier cooler, it's overclocked and it was supposed to run cooler than traditional 8800 GTX. Well, do not believe what is written on the sticker ! This card is very loud and running at 70 degres idle ! So what was the point to spend an extra 90€ on this card ? None !!! Therefore, I am not keeping it, I am returning it and will purchase the Leadtek Winfast 8800 GTX instead. Here for the picture of the final layout (before getting the new 8800 GTX):











Thursday 16 August 2007

Lian Li PC-A10

On wednesday, I received the Lian Li PC-A10 for my new computer. The package was well made and the case was very secured inside the box to garanty that the product won't be deteriorated during transportation.










The quality of the case is simply excellent, the aluminum feels really good and the colour make this case very classic. I particularly like the top openable area where sit 1 Firewire, 2 USB and the headphone and microphone jacks.










There is plenty of space in this case, particularly for a 8800 GTX !!! I like the fact that the case has been divided into sections, the bottom one for the hard drives (up to 5 in 2 hard drive enclosure (3xHD horizontally and 2 HD vertically) mounted on rubber ring to avoi any vibrations, and the PSU compartment. It is even possible to add a 12 cm fan from the HD section to the PSU to increase the airflow.

I like the fact that all fans are mounted using rubber rings to stop vibrations. Unfortunatelly, the fans manufactured by Lian Li are noisy and need to me changed if you want to have a quiet computer.










When I opened the door of this case, I was amazed by the quality of the design and the finition of the manufacturer. It looks great and feels great ! The 5.25 to 3.5 enclosure will be very handy when I'll get a card reader (there is no way I put a floppy disk drive in my computer). I really like the door system, very quiet when opening / closing and stay in place because of the ball system on the top and bottom of the door. The front panel has a 12cm in-take fan, a power and a reset button. The door has holes on the side to let the air in for the in-take fan. Well designed !










I was very surprised that the case did not correspond to the case advertised on Lian Li website. Indeed, the 2 watercooling holes on the top of the case are not mounted via a set of screws, but simply cut and put in place via welding. Another surprise, the backplate of the PSU area should present 2 holes with a removable plat in case you wanted to install a second PSU. On my version, the removable plate is not removable and welded to the case.

As I need to get the rig installed to test all components, I will keep this case and probably contact Lian Li in a couple of weeks to ask why this case is like this. The funniest part is that the Quality Control was done on the 27/07/2007, less than 3 weeks ago...

Saturday 11 August 2007

It feels like xmas morning !!! More components..

Today I received the Xclio 650W power supply, 4x 1Gb of G.Skills 1066HK and the Sparkle Calibre 8800 GTX (P880+ Edition OC). I would like to thank Sparkle supplier in Taiwan that check with me by phone the model I ordered and for the gift set containing 2 Calibre pens, a crystal block with the Caliber logo and a rotation light socle to mount the crystal (cf last 2 pictures). Here are some nice pictures for you:





























Friday 10 August 2007

First components in detail

I promise many friends to share pictures of my new rig, so, here they are for especially for you: