My home pages www.burgerman.info
My "Build your own Nitrous Kits" page! www.nitrous.info
email burgerman@ntlworld.com
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My system specs as of 18/12/2002
Monitor
(Click!)
21 inch flat screen HP/Sony FD Trinitron
p1130 ultra fine dot pitch. See
link, you really
do need one of these! Just don't check the price out first it may
cause a shock...
Possibly the best quality conventional monitor you can get, but at a daft
price... I didn't have to pay for mine though fortunately!
Case
201c-SX1
Cooler Master all aluminium server case, with 3
cooler master billet hard disk trays. Tons of space, smart looking, room for
eight hard disks, all thumbscrew assembly, 4 quiet case fans built in, slide out
motherboard etc... Kewl case - Recommended! Again stupid price...
Power Supply
Enermax 431Watt ATX AMD Approved EG465P-VE
Quiet, (silent!) temperature/speed controlled twin fan, stable advanced power supply, with loads of long leads for all my drives and one of those Square Pentium power plugs that you can use on the Abit AT7 MAX2 Motherboard..
CPU
AMD
2400 Athlon XP
This is meant to run at a real 2.00GHz and a 133 (266ddr) Front side bus speed. But the core is a "thoroughbred b" and these can all apparently run at a 333 bus speed as well, although 333 rated chips are much more expensive and at the time of writing almost impossible to find still! The only real difference seems to be the "default" identification and bus/multiplier settings. A good motherboard BIOS allows all these things to be set as you want them manually anyway, so save your money! 100 pounds cheaper than the official 333 CPU! But it runs fine at the 333 speeds and at the equivalent multiplier (speed) to the 2800 XP very easily... So a real bargain!
This one was running happily at 333 (166) bus speed x 13.5 reliably (in the BIOS it was set as if it was a stock Athlon 2800 XP 333 bus CPU) but then it was further clocked up to 185 x 12.5 ). After a solid week of this, and running Prime95 torture test, ripping, defragmenting all 8 hard drives at once, and SETI 24/7, I consider that this is reliable now too! Not a single error or blue screen for weeks. I will try for more soon? But I suspect that this is about it.
Settings... This is at 2.175v CPU Core voltage, and a DDR voltage of 3.05v and "enhance for benchmark" enabled, but not "fast decode" as this causes it not to boot! (BIOS C5)
The memory is 2700 (166 or 333 if you prefer!) and it runs at 185 (370) with
non aggressive settings no problem, actually I tried this memory at 400 and it
gave no problems... So the limiting factor on Front Side Bus (around 185 or
370DDR) is actually because the highest (or is that smallest!) PCI divider on
this board is 5 so the PCI bus is running at 37 instead of 33. So setting faster
causes either the motherboard or some PCI/AGP device to fail. If the 6 divider
was possible then I suspect that the FSB would be fine at 400 with a lower
multiplier setting. This would allow an even better memory bandwidth! Shame it
doesn't work! Still 370 is LOADS better than the stock 266! And at 2.3+ GHz too!
Motherboard
Abit AT7 Max 2 KT400 with IDE 1 & 2 (4 devices) + Raid 133 (4 devices) and
Serial raid 150! You can connect about 16 hard disks to this board in total!
 CPU compatibility |
Memory
2x 512Mb sticks of Corsair platinum XMS 2700 Cas 2 Extreme performance with
heat spreaders. 1Gb total RAM
This stuff is increadible for 2700 memory... Generic (read most cheapo) 2700 memory gives errors and problems if you run at STOCK 333 FSB speeds and test with the torture test on Prime95 for an hour or so. You usually struggle to get any that will run this test reliably overnight....
This XMS stuff (1 GB of it!) runs Prime95's Torture test for a week solid, at cas 2.5 and at 400DDR! Not a single error...
It will not run at Cas 2 and at 400DDR rate though... Still I didn't expect it would!
Hard Disks (8 total)
2x40Gb 7200 ATA100 IBM GXP120s on Raid "0" giving a 80Gb primary raid array
for booting / operating system.
2x60Gb 7200 ATA100 Maxtors also on Raid "0" giving a 120Gb FTP & Web server
drive.
1x Standalone 80Gb ATA 133 Storage and Backup drive.
2x 60Gb 7200 ATA100 IBM GXP120 for general use.
1x 46Gb 7200 ATA 100 IBM GXP60 Alternative operating system boot drive.
Total hard disk space = 386 Gigabytes of which 75 percent is FAT32 and 25 is NTFS.
LAN Card
HP Netserver LAN adapter
CD Writer
LITE-ON LTR - 48125S 48x12x48 Burn proof, raw read write and over burn supported
DVD Writer
Sony DRU-500A
Internal DVD±RW Drive
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Specifications
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Floppy disk drives
2x NEC 1.44
Graphics Card
MSI G-Force 3 Ti200 64Mb DDR Memory.x4 AGP + Digital Out.
Mouse
Microsoft Intelimouse Optical
Keyboard
Hewlett Packard D4950B
Printer
Epson Colour photo 740 1440Dpi Variable inkjet droplet technology.
Optical Imaging Devices
Sony DSC 75 Digital camera
Logitech USB webcam
Scanner Flatbed USB A4
Modems
E-Tech PCI 56SRSV Dial up modem (for faxing + voice mail)
Surfboard Cable 512 (capped at 600mbps) for web server, FTP server, and surfing
use!
Water cooling...
Lets get this straight first!
Water cooling does NOT allow the CPU to run any faster (maybe just a few
percent, if right
on the "edge" of stability and you have a heat problem) but that's not the reason for it.
It is there
only because it is completely silent and more reliable than bloody failed
squealing fans... I hate fans - seem to spend all my time cleaning dust out
of them/computer or replacing them because they wear out...
This thing lives 4 feet from my bed! It also runs 24 hours per day, every day as my Web, and FTP server... In the daytime it is also my workstation for Website building, DVD ripping and DIVX creation. Also it runs SETI 24 hours per day so the thing is always at 100% CPU Usage and being hammered!.
The system I use is home made because the commercially available stuff has stupidly large sized pipes (and prices!), and still needs a radiator and some fans...
Mine is quieter, cools better because my water is always at 11c since the temperature underground never changes winter or summer, and was almost free except for the pump!
My system was originally built and set up for my old Athlon/KT7A Raid setup. This has remained unchanged - never even needed topping up in 18 months! - and is now used on this new CPU/Board. Photos below...
Ist I made this cooling block 50mm x 50mm x 17mm from a bit of old brass bar in my
very old Myford lathe, with a 4 jaw chuck. Took a couple of hours, some
patience, and a 8mm drill, 1/8th BSP Tap, and a few cheap pipe fittings. See
below.
And lapped it on a bit of wet and dry paper on a flat glass plate, to ensure
flatness. Then I polished the side that faces the CPU. Shame about my finger
nails!
Then added the pipe connections that let me connect the 6mm bore Silicone tubing
to the block. This stuff does not age, harden, leak or deteriorate at all, so is
ideal for the inside of the computer. It is also extremely flexible. Two pipes
are for filling and venting the system, and two for the circulating coolant
mixture. And before anyone says I have no hose clips, or other fasteners, then
listen here! (Sick of emails from dummies...) YOU DONT NEED OR WANT ANY!
Because... Silicon does not age or harden. It is permanently a soft rubber, and
a very tight fit! Actually to get it off again you need a knife! And... Any clip
or cable tie, may cut into it, and/or cause leaks by making the rubber "not
round" as you tighten it. OK lecture over!
I do agree that some kind of clip wouldn't hurt on the hard Neoprene reinforced hose on the outside of the case, but there is no real need, since there is no pressure, and if it leaks then its OUTSIDE the computer so has no real consequence. And it doesn't leak anyway! Clips deform the tubing and CAUSE leaks on small sizes like this. And those oversized nylon "push lock" type tubes and fittings that come with commercial systems are really designed for high pressure air. And without the pressure they can come undone! Great... And they are too stiff, putting lots of forces on to the CPU.
Block installed, held in place with a pretty blue anodised "Universal hold down
clamp" from the
www.theoverclockingstore.co.uk And only three pipes were used in the end, as
the power supply got in the way! Still it fills ok anyway, and you only do this
once.
Silicone - expensive and very flexible on the inside connect to the block, and cheap re-enforced
but less flexible tubing go from the outside of the case to the pump located
under the bench...
And here it is From this pump the pipes go out through the wall... And converts
to 8mm nylon tube, as it needs to be tough but not very flexible as it goes
underground from here!.
Pump before it was fitted, with brass fittings replacing the crappy plastic ones it came
with...
This empty Oxygen bottle was found laying about near a hospital, it will be/is my
radiator! Its cold underground! A pipe (nylon this time) was added to the top, as the return water
will go in here, and drilled and tapped at the bottom to allow a pipe to be
connected to the other end...
Like this! This will be where the cooler water comes out and goes back to the
CPU to cool it. (hot goes in the top, because hot water rises. The coldest water
sinks to the bottom, where we take it out again.
You see, this bottle will be going underground! Deep underground... Below the
water table in fact. The water table here is only a few feet down, so I'm lucky.
Or Brian is! I made him dig the hole because it difficult to do from a wheelchair!
He was not best pleased when He found out what he had to do!
Bottle being lowered into 7 feet deep hole, the bottom 3 feet of this hole was
full of very cold water. The "return" pipe (the black one) is insulated with
plastic "bubble" wrap so as to keep the water as cold as possible on the way
back to the computer. Actually always 11 degrees Centigrade.
Adding 6 litres (of automotive antifreeze (Ford Motor-craft actually!) as this
stuff prevents freezing, and electrolytic corrosion that would otherwise happen,
and it "wets" the water... This amount is about a third of the systems capacity.
Benchmarks
A few benchmarks here for anyone interested. Remember that these are NOT due to water cooling, that is simply for quiet and because I was bored!
100 % CPU, 1Gb memory - but already using 3/4 of it! - About 230Mb left as I
took this screen shot... People say "you don't need a Gig of memory!"
Wrong... If you have it, and you actually USE your computer XP will use it to
advantage... XP is greedy!
Check out the numbers...
Raid IS fast!
Memory benches, at slow non aggressive but fast bus speed timings.
OK, Voltages and temps... Some "think" and say that the water cooling is the reason it can clock so well. This is not true, because the board was air cooled, with a "whisperock something" heat sink and fan when testing it before it was fitted into the case. At the SAME speeds.... It ran hotter, but it makes little or no difference. The water cooling is for reliability (no more cleaning crap out of fans!!!) and mainly QUIET! It simply silent. So peaceful! Love it.
Voltages, monitored. Can't monitor the DDR Voltage because its set to
3.05v which is higher than this monitor goes... If the temps look high then they
are a little strange... The motherboard sensor (the one that reads the SYSTEM
temp) gets hot because it is surrounded by voltage regulators, and capacitors...
Hot to the touch! So stupidly gives a false and high reading. In reality the
system temp is about 26 degrees, measured in the centre of the case with a
thermometer.. CPU temp is debatable, as different monitoring software gives different results! But
I suspect that this is the right temp, at 49 under full load, (at its very
highest) due to the high core voltage and
the overclocking, plus SETI running all the time, and about 27 to 31c at "idle".
Idle really is irrelevant though as the important temp is the full load one.
Downloads Mid Jan 03
Current settings details (BIOS C5)
here! - (lots of screen photos of bios settings to give the above results
except that it was set to 13.5 x 170 instead of 12.5 x 185 in these pics)
Bios for Abit AT7 Max2 Original version AD
here!
Bios for Abit AT7 Max2 version B2
here! (Ist update)
Abit AT7 Max2 motherboard manual .pdf file
here!
Abit AT7 Max2 motherboard compatibility report .pdf file
here!
Latest Via 4 in 1 "Hyperion" 455 driver here!
