Quick Slants – 19 Feb 2010 Edition

Quick slants for today:

• Every new day at work is a reminder of just how much I will miss the people I work with when the inevitable time for separation comes.
• It will hardly matter if it’s me or if it’s my friends at work (there are a select number of people here with whom I consider to be friends) doing the leaving; it will hardly matter if the reason for leaving is entirely voluntary or if it’s a consequence of hard fiscal realities.
• As things presently stand, I absolutely do NOT know whether or not my position is one of those which will be on the chopping block.  In the absence of facts, however, I must assume the worst and prepare accordingly.  I refuse to be caught with my pants down, so to speak.  
• Turning to more pleasant thoughts, I’m looking forward to making the trek to the family homestead this weekend.  Being with loved ones is a very comforting thing, indeed.  
• Truth be told, though, I’m also looking forward to putting more miles on my new bicycle.  Perhaps I can convince my dad to overcome his reticence and push the pedals with me.

I’m feeling a renewal of enthusiasm, however slight, for the hobby of performance computing.  Perhaps I’ve come to realize that it’s not really all that necessary to keep on spending a lot of money to be able to indulge in this hobby.  The fact is, I’ve got a stockpile of parts that are presently not doing anything, including components for a water-cooling loop for one machine.  By design and intent, the water-cooling system will be for the CPU only.  

I’m also looking forward to doing some case painting.  Well…  I’ll only be painting part of the case’s interior.  The interior will be in flat black, which hopefully will convey a certain dark, even aggressive, intent.  

Perfect for a machine dubbed “Darth Tyfon,” no?

Quick Slants – 18 Feb 2010 Edition

Quick slants for today:

• My desktop PC’s primary RAID controller chip kicked the bucket last week.  Since the system’s OS was mounted on this RAID controller on a RAID 0 array, recovering and resurrecting this system will be difficult without getting an identical motherboard, OR maybe using a slightly different motherboard with the identical RAID controller chip.
• I question the dubious wisdom of acquiring an identical motherboard, simply because it’s now an old model (it’s from circa mid-2005).  While such a machine would still be more than powerful enough for my needs, it’s a questionable decision to throw money at such things given the current economic climate.
• I’m sad to realize it, but lately my enthusiasm for overclocking and performance computing has been on the wane.  I think that, again, economics has something to do with this.  Overclocking/performance computing is an expensive hobby, and it’s all too easy to allow your passion for something fun to override a necessary fiscal discipline, especially during times like these.
• It’s hard to tell how well my back has healed, or if it has at all.  Ironically, the medicines I take make such a determination difficult to make.  When I’m medicated, my back problems recede to a feeling of just general tightness; when I go without the meds, the muscle tightness is even more pronounced, and they also spasm.  My mobility and comfort suffer a lot as well.  For sure, whatever is wrong with my back isn’t healing/hasn’t healed.  The medicines only mask the symptoms.
• Back to performance computing:  I do have a decent stockpile of vintage S939 gear.  I wonder what the best thing to do with such a stockpile of parts is.  I could keep a smaller stash for myself and sell the rest; I could sell the whole lot.  I could stand pat with what I’ve got.  I do know that many of these parts (motherboards, CPUs, and RAM) are desirable to people who maintain a healthy enthusiasm for S939.  Do I just let the profit motive genie out of the bottle?

I’ve thought about simply going to AM3 and not bothering to even overclock at all.  It’s the simplest solution, and given the performance available from these modern-day parts even at stock speeds, the appeal of just having a trouble-free yet potent and quick system is quite difficult to ignore.  

On the other hand, overclocking is a heck of a lot of fun.  It’s essentially a “free” performance boost, as well as a good stroke to one’s geek ego.  It’s a black art using scientific methods.  The cachet of exclusivity is part of overclocking’s allure, I have to admit, even though elitism to an extreme degree is something I personally abhor.

UPDATE:  The Los Angeles City Council has approved a further 3000 layoffs of City employees.  Source 1.  Source 2.  What does this mean for me?  For now, I’m pretty sure that this is an exercise in sabre-rattling on the part of the City Council.  The Council wants the labor unions to agree to making further and bigger concessions, that is, to take bigger cuts in pay and benefits to alleviate the drain on the City’s budget.  It’s a high-stakes game of chicken between the unions and Council, to see who blinks first.

If my opinion mattered to the policy-makers, this is the simple fact:  Given a choice between a smaller paycheck and no paycheck, it’s an easy decision.

If only I’d get asked…

AM3 Dawning

Though I’ve had many of the core components in my possession for many months now, I’ve yet to truly embark on my journey away from complete reliance on AMD’s classic Socket 939 platform and move on to Socket AM3.  For the longest time, RAM was the missing ingredient in the AM3 stew I was cooking up, but I managed to score myself a set of a 2 x 2GB kit of Crucial Ballistix Tracer DDR3 1333s, therefore completing the list of parts for my intended build.

So, here is what my AM3 build will be composed of:

• AMD Phenom II X4 965 BE (C3)
• Gigabyte GA-MA790FXT UD5P
• 2 x 2GB Crucial Ballistix Tracer DDR3 1333 (6-6-6-20-1T @ 1.8V VDIMM)
• 2 x 300GB Western Digital WD3000GLFS VelociRaptor HDDs in RAID 0
• Western Digital WD7501AALS 750GB Caviar Black
• Antec Signature Series SG-850 850W
• HIS Radeon HD 5870
• ASUS Xonar Essence STX
• Lian Li PC-V2000B (modified by my great friend Chris L., known as “thlnk3r” on OCN; this case’s interior will be painted by me)

The operating system will be Windows7 Professional Edition.

Not only will this AM3 machine be the first PC I’ll have built for myself (as opposed to machines built for clients) that isn’t based on S939, it will also be my first water-cooled computer.  Accordingly, here are the basic parts of the water-cooling system:

• D-TEK FuZion V2 CPU Block
• Swiftech MCR320-QP Triple 120mm Radiator
• Laing D4/MCP650 Inline 12V Water Pump (sorry, no product link available, as this H2O pump is now discontinued)

I have not added links to the reservoir I bought, or the tubing or fittings, as I don’t remember at the moment what reservoir I have.  I do know I have Tygon tubing.  Regretfully, I also don’t remember the size of the fittings, though I’m fairly certain that the ID (internal diameter) of the parts I’ve chosen are 1/2″.  If I recall correctly, the OD (outside diameter) of the tubes is 5/8″ (with the same ID as the barbs, of course).

Why install a complicated custom water-cooling system, when hitherto all my machines have been cooled by good old air?  Well, I think this is an interesting development in my personal evolution as a performance PC enthusiast.  It’s a challenge to be met and overcome, as well; I’m not fazed at all by the prospect of potential problems or even comprehensive failure (water and electronics in close company don’t exactly inspire a great amount of confidence…).

Then there’s the nod to pragmatism:  I intend to overclock this machine (as I’ve done with nearly every PC I’ve built for myself) and increase its performance potential and output.  Overclocking always results in an increase in heat output from a computer system, so using H2O should result in a good improvement over plain air cooling in terms of heat dissipation.  Water-cooling should also help a lot during the hot summer months, especially if I’m forced by circumstances to live in an AC-deprived environment as I have during the last three or four summers.  The system as presently configured is designed to accommodate more than the thermal output of just an overclocked quad-core CPU, so I’m hoping this will be an effective counter to an 90-100 degree Fahrenheit ambient temperature (my current bedroom gets that hot during the summers; hopefully I’ll have air-conditioned digs this year).

*****

I’m very excited to get this project truly off the ground.  Actually, the AM3 build is up and running right now, albeit not in the near-finalized spec described above.  Presently it’s not housed in its case; only the stock heatsink is installed; the system is not yet overclocked; the OS is installed on a spare 250GB Western Digital HDD; I’m using a weaker video card (though the Radeon HD 4870 is no slouch, make no mistake about it).  Once I’ve completed some preliminary testing and come to grips with the new complexities of overclocking in AM3, as well as after I’ve painted the Lian Li PC-V2000B’s interior, then this project will truly start to take shape.

May the journey prove to be as educational as I’m anticipating it to be!