My New PC Build |
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The Building of Daedalus |
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The time has come for a
new computer. My old computer, Icarus, became a home use computer.
Icarus was named for the son of Daedalus. When his father invented wings that would enable Icaurs to fly, he was admonished to neither fly too high nor too low. The ατη or "folly" of Icarus led him to fly too high thus causing the sun to melt the wax on the wings. He then lost control and swooped too low, crashed into the sea and drowned. I named this box Icarus because during the build, in a moment of ατη, I fried the motherboard and had to purchase another one. |
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Daedalus and Icarus |
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CaseA sale on my selected case, the Coolermaster Cosmos 1000 led me to the second purchase. The Cosmos is a massive unit with good modular tool free concepts, four x 125mm fans (one rear, one bottom, two top), and it is designed for easy water cooling system. This unit was specifically designed to hold down noise.
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This case is larger that my previous case, an Antec case used in the Icarus build.. I used to think of that case as being huge. Icarus build: Antec case= 18 H x 8 W x 18 D The box that the Cosmos shipped in was so large that Cindy wondered if I had ordered her a Christmas "pony" over the Internet. In this photo, the box is shown alongside a normally sized PC. |
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The design of the Cosmos provides ample interior space. The easy-off side panels are double-panel-thick and have noise dampening material added. | |
MonitorsSamsung 226BW 22 " LCDx 2 dual monitor setup currently in use with Icarus
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Step 1:Installed the Rosewill PSU. It has a serious mirror finish. The "jumble of snakes" in this photo are the 12 sheathed connector bundles listed below. 1x 20+4 pin Main Connector
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MotherboardAsus P5K Deluxe Wireless AP
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CPU CoolingCoolermaster Aquagate S1Universal design for Intel Core 2 Quad
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Step 2:Prepped the motherboard CPU section to accept the Aquagate S1. Installed 4 bolts and washers from the backside of the mobo. Put on 4 washers and nuts on the frontside. |
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Step 3:Special input/output panel had to be installed in the rear of the case to accomodate the unique I/O panel of the P5K mobo.
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Step 4:Installed the ATX form factor into the case. Used 9 6.5mm stand offs and then 9 screws through the mobo to secure. |
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ProcessorIntel Core 2 Quad Q66002.4 GHz |
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Step 5:Installed the Q6600 CPU into the LGA 775 type socket. |
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RAMCrucial Ballistix
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Step 6:Installed one 2 GB RAM kit, matched pairs of 1 GB DDR2 DIMMs,
into Channel A on the motherboard.
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Step 7:Dry run connection of the cooler install to work out the directionality of the water block and hoses. Permament install had to wait for Arctic Silver 5 thermal paste. Decided not to use the paste that came with the unit. |
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Hard Drive - SystemWestern Digital Raptor X
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Step 8:Installed the system drive. This is the Raptor X, a very fast drive with a unique look...the case is clear and you can actually see the drive platters. The SATA drive is secured in one of the 6 removable hard drive bays. The bay is then slipped into the frame and secured. |
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Video ProcessoreVGA 8800 GT 512mbSuperclocked |
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Step 9:Installed the GPU. This eVGA 8800 GT card is massive and quite long. The end of it extended so far as to make it difficult to use the mobo SATA1 connection. It can still be used with the 90° SATA cable end. |
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Step 10:The card installed in the PCI Express x16 slot.The card also has a separate 6 pin 12v connection from the power supply. The Aquagate Viva GPU water cooling device is on backorder. That install will come later. |
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Step 11:Made all the connection to enable the Cosmos case front I/O panel. IEEE 1394a
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Step 12:Case connection continued: all of the LED leads...power, hard drive function...plus power on and reboot, were connected to motherboar via the Asus Q-Connector for quick install and release. |
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Step 13:Ready to connect the cpu cooler. |
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Step 14:Cleared out the air bubbles from the water cooling assembly. Removed the rear 120 mm fan from the case. Installed the Aquagate radiator/exhaust fan assembly into the rear fan location. |
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Optical DriveSAMSUNG Writemaster
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Step 15:Installed Samsung DVD unit. Easy SATA install. |
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Hard Drive - StorageWestern Digital Caviar SE 16
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Step 16:Booted for first time, the software build begins. |
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Step 17:Booted for first time, the software build begins. |
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VPU CoolingCoolermaster Aquagate VivaUniversal retention plate supports nVIDIA card
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Hard Drive - StorageWestern Digital Caviar SE 16
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Click here to check out the creation of Hephaestus