New Build Log

[Polypro]

I've actually already completed 95% of it, but no pics yet!

Zalman HD135 (Black)
P5W-DH MB
C2D E6600
2 Gigs DDR2 800 Dominator 4-4-4-12
Silverstone Nitrogon v2 Passive Cooler (From old box)
2 500 Gig WD YS RE2's (From old box)
1 PVR 500 Type "A" (From old box)
1 nVIDIA DualTV (Encoder Merit will prefer the DualTV)
Plextor PX-712 (From old box)
Seasonic S12 430 (The 380 died right after a BIOS update...that was a fun few minutes)
XFX 7950GT Passive
Dynamat Extreme

The case is beautiful. I'll need to do a simple rectangular cut in the lid for the 7950GT, but it looks easy...measure twice, cut once I removed both Drive cages and the bayonet mounts on the floor. I've got the drives mounted vertically in the right bay (from the front), with screw/washers through the floor vents. The DVD setup looks like CE gear...a lot better than the LC17's stick-on cover. I'm still working on fan size/placement. Right now I have 1 SilenX 60mm mounted to the cooler and one Nexxus 80mm in the left hand bay blowing diagonally to the right. The 60's are 18CFM and quiet at full bore (~2300rpm). With the top off as it sits, CPU is at 25C and the Vid Card is at 54C. HD's are at 37C and 40C, but I'm going to add an 80mm Nexxus blowing on them. The Seasonic is mounted backwards, with the fan sucking out the hot air. It fit in the PSU tray with about 1/2" to spare, so I rolled up some Dynamat and stuffed it in there...it doesn't move. I *might* have it done tonight...in any case, I'll put up some pics. I was worried about cooling because of some reviews on the HD135...but I don't think it will be a problem.

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[Polypro]

The replacement Seasonic should be here tomorrow.

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[mayamaniac]

Just curious, is it better to mount the drives vertically? I always think it looks unnatural vertically.

Also, is the PVR-500 and DualTV working nicely in the same system?

It does look like a nice case and with fanless cooling on both the CPU and the Vide card, noise level should be minimized alot provided the 2 WD drives and PSU don't make too much noise.

[Polypro]

I mounted them vertically because I wanted to get a fan behind them, blowing to the rear. The stock drive cage wouldn't allow this. Right now with the Nexus at 65%, the drive temps are 32C. It also allowed for quieter mounting: A hard drive bolt with a washer, goes through a rubber grommet placed in the floor opening...the drives are also sitting on adhesive backed padding. As far as the orientation, I have a stock VAIO that came with vertical mounted HD's, and a check of SPCR's forum indicated there was no harm (The LC-18 mounts them vertical too). A quick test run of Sage showed that the PVR500 and DualTV were both able to be set up...preview screens and Guide data were G2G, as was watching a program on each tuner. The fans, HD's and PSU were all in use in my old rig, they are silent from 5 ft away. (The HD's are the loudest part of the system but are quiet enough to not even need AAM enabled...WD500YS RE2's are awesome drives). The HD135 got slammed on SPCR...I took what was wrong with it, and fixed it. The M-Play VFD is real nice for relaying information.

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[Polypro]

Seasonic installed, Hole cut. Done.

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[bjterry62]

Nice work. Personally, I don't care for the HS coming out the top, but if you need the power, it's your best option. FWIW, I use an Antec NSK2400 which also has the hdds mounted sideways. Orientation of Hdds usually isn't an issue, I even have some mounted upside down.

The ripping the HD135 received from SPCR was well deserved. They provided the "opportunity" for great air flow and then nullified it by their fan placement. Current CPUs don't need an extra fan blowing on them from above. Most can be cooled with something like a CNPS7000 AlCu at lowest RPMs (seems Zalman would know this since they make the HSF). I say stock setup should have been 1 80mm on the floor (better designed opening) and 2 60mm (high grade / quiet) fans on the back. Then, position the PSU so that the fan is on the INSIDE, also pulling air out of the system. That way you have 4 fans exhausting air causing enough negative pressure to flow plenty of air in all the intakes. Of course, you'll have to perfrom periodic cleaning, but who doesn't?

BT