Scratch Build – In Progress Project: Aperture Science Laboratories Workstation v.o² Update 30 Sept 11

If your chips are hitting 65c, those heatsinks should be about the same temp. That's uncomfortably hot to touch... What heatsink compound did you use on those heatsinks? It doesn't sound like it is transfering the heat properly to the heatsinks from the chips.

 

Well the heatsinks are uncomfortable to touch, using Artic Thixotropic.

The K6/2 heatsink is on the nForce chip, not the cpu's

 

OH!!

I thought you were saying you put those on your Opterons! I left the stock heatsink on the board and simply added a 40mm fan and it works like a charm.

What are you using on the Opterons? Those are what you really need to worry about. They should be 45c or lower.

 

Just stock crappy socket 754/939 HSF's.

Will see how the dual 100mm fans go before I chuck more money at the cpu heatsinks

EDIT: Performed some in-game testing. Portal runs smooooooooooooth. Level load times are 1/4 as long as on Aurora. which is weird as:
Aurora: Dual channel DDR2 800, 7200RPM 8mb cache SATA HDD
o²: Dual Channel DDR-400, 5400rpm 8mb cache SATA HDD

 

Have to remember, load time also is dependant on how quickly the processor can process the programs loading into memory and starting to run.

Using identical hard drives and identical memory configuration, Pheonix loads POST to Logon in about 15-20 seconds and Beast (my old main) loads POST to Logon in about 1min 15 seconds.

Difference:
Pheonix: 2x Dual Core AMD Opteron 2.2GHz, eVGA GeForce 220 GT
Beast: AMD Athlon XP 2.9GHz, eVGA GeForce 5900se

Both using: 2Gb DDR PC2700, 80gb HD 7200rpm 8mb Cache, Windows 7 Ultimate (Fresh Install)

_____

Found one error with our board concerning the Cool-n-Quiet features of processors. Copied from Windows 7 x64 System Event Log:

Code:

Log Name:      System
Source:        Microsoft-Windows-Kernel-Processor-Power
Date:          8/16/2010 7:54:46 AM
Event ID:      6
Task Category: (6)
Level:         Error
Keywords:      
User:          SYSTEM
Computer:      Memory-Alpha
Description:
Some processor performance power management features have been disabled due to a
known firmware problem. Check with the computer manufacturer for updated
firmware.

Already using the latest and last BIOS update for the K8N-DRE...
Very concerning...

 

Hmm - I'm using an older BIOS version so not worth upgrading I see. Will check the ASUS website to see where I stand in regards to updates.

Aurora is a Athlon Dualcore 2.8ghz, and o² is a Dual Dual 2.2ghz.
So it seems processor speed is not everything

 

Some good news and bad news:

Bad:
Got booted out of the house by the (ex) missus, now living in a garage at my brothers house. Quite broke and my car has just stuffed a wheel bearing (a weeks pay for me to fix!, and I work 45 mins drive from home) so plans are put off for a short while. Was hoping for a MOTM nomination but no chance now! :S

Good:
Watercooling is now the order of the day, dual 95w processors so close to eachother is a nightmare.
Just thinking on how to mount a 2x120mm rad, pump and res in the already cramped case! I have to use slim 120mm fans on the front opening due to the board's placement.. I don't want to have to make a extra box for the rad on top of the case. Maybe a pedestal? Hmm.
Also found a mini-pci wireless card I hope will work in the board's mini pci slot (marked as a Boot management console slot)
System is quite stable during normal (non intense gaming) use so not too bad (left project Aurora with the ex so o² is my only rig now!)

 

Understood and don't worry. Having power issues here so mine is on hold as well.. (need to make note on my own project page).

I figured out the memory problems as well as the reason teh cool 'n' quiet doesn't work.

cool 'n' quiet = CPUs with the OSP designation are designed with "Power Now" feature not "Cool 'n' Quiet" feature. Similar but not compatible features.

Memory of 4gb or more = To get TOTAL memory while using an add-on PCIe video card you MUST select an arpature size in portion to the memory on the video card (1gb video ram = 1gb arpature). IN ADDITION, you must also turn on Hardware Memory Hole remaping. If you do not select the aprature size, the CPU's memory controler will make the choice for you.

My system with these 2 coolers when under MAX stress and heat load max out at 58c so having no heat issues. I'm not even in an airconditioned room. It IS a tight fit with both heatsinks touching each other at the tops but they DO fit and work nicely. What I did at first to ensure the heat isn't dumpped onto the board was to take the heatsink fan and flip it upside down to draw the air across the motherboard and push it up and away from the board. Now that I have a side case fan drawing cool air and dumping it across the center of both fans I have them blowing air through the heatsinks like normal. Temps are only 2c cooler than the reverse but every little bit helps. For the noise levels, I have the fan control in the bios turned on and adjusted the CPU trigger temps to 55c. This way, when the chips are getting warm, at 55c the fans crank up to full power and cool the CPUs back down to low 50s. Under REALLY heavy stressing, and I'm talking about rendering an AVI to a DVD on one monitor while playing Fallout 3 at max settings on my main monitor, my CPU loads reach about 75% and the fans are usually on until one program or the other is done. Even Prime95(x64) running all night couldn't push me past 58c and I don't even have an air conditioner in my room (or house for that matter).

You shouldn't need water cooling unless you are planning to over clock the chips. With the bios configuration, not sure how you would do the over clocking if you even chose to do it.

 

OW! You should have kept a woman on the side... If just to have a place to crash when the primary goes postal.
(Advice from someone with NO woman.)

 

<thread necromancy>
[2011-11-28-23:05]

Power on
>System Recovery Initiated
[|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||]
Recovery Complete
>Bringing worklog online
>Done

[Post]
Well, after a long hiatus, we here at Aperture Labs have resumed construction of the ALPACA² (Aperture Labs Personal Access Computer v0.²)
The system hardware has been completely refreshed due to the fast moving demands of Aperture Science Corp. Progress pictures will follow in the next few days.
</thread necromancy>

 

Lol as status updates, comic gold