Serenity - Retro inspired Antec Sonata (Modernish) buildlog

This one has that corsair link thing too (fancy USB cable).. It confused me, so I left it alone... does have a test button though which is how I knew it actually worked..
As for load test.. I got rid of all my modern ATI/AMD GPU's years ago so have no accurate way of testing loads.

if you want to max out a PSU you need an AMD 9590 running 2 290X's in crossfire. That's the only TRUE way to stress a PSU! (and the whole countries power grid)

but now proof of concept has been proven, I have to make an order for some fans and a cooler. the Hyper T4 fits the bill perfectly (in terms of cheapness and capability over stock cooler plus I can fit a nice Noctua redux to it.)

 

if it has the cable connect it up you can set the fan to be on via corsair link. corsair link also reads load.

it can also monitor an unhealthily stupid amount of stuff, lol.

 

EH. If it's the same corsair link my H80 used.. pass. piece of shit software

 

your call, i know it can manually turn the PSU fan on though.

i have read that it is quite accurate as well.

 

more fans mean more noise! I want this computer to be silent..

How's the serenity??

(I also just like the word)

 

i'm with you there, i intentionally bought this PSU because i know the fan won't turn on.

 

Well I made the order: Cooler Master Hyper T4 CPU Cooler and 3 Noctua 120mm Redux PWM Fans.

And it never arrived... So after dealing with the ebay system, I have my money back, but now the problem is I can't go out and buy more because 1 the funds need to go to essentials, and 2 all the shops are closed.

But when I do get out again and buy the required parts, the build is finalised, with me having decided to block the side ports... they simply take up WAY too much dust, and blocking them I haven't seen a problem.

The only other problem aspect of the build is that I will have to clean up the whole lot again, because it's gotten quite dusty these past couple of months... So when I do FINALLY get the hardware I've been waiting for, it will need an overhaul.

I will also be starting from scratch on the software front for the first time since... SHIT, since I first built the core components in 2014.

 

Well small progress has been made. Many moons later.

and the dust, Oh THE DUST!! Bust aside from the front filter, antec holes and back fan, the dust levels were actually less than expected after nearly 6 months of daily use:





I tried many different methods and materials to block the holes (including but not limited too: Reusable bag material, Clear plastic and electrical tape, thin wood painted glossy black)
but it all looked a bit shitty or out of place.

I fixed the sides after about an hour of experimenting, in the end the best result was A bit of Spalding shoe box.
The matte black of the shoebox actually compliments the glossy sides much better than my potato pictures would have you believe.

I used double sided tape in between all the letters, and then masking tape over the back for a nice seal:


Now it's time to clean the parts and build.
I've got me some case fans, they're older models, but they passed my my sound test:



but Still undecided on CPU cooler. I'm going to do the stock cooler with the last of my noctua paste, and see if it keeps temps at a decent level.

 

heh, i do not miss cases that suck in this much dust

FYI, the dust filter in front pulls down with the bezel still on if you wish to not have to remove the bezel. you just squeeze the little tabs and pull down.

 

no matter which case I use ATM is going to be covered, because it's right on my desk and I'm always cleaning older stuff up right next to it. with the sides plugged and as long as I remember to keep the door closed, it won't be too bad.
I do have a habit of leaving the door open for extended periods, which is not ideal either.

I know about the filter removal, it's a bit difficult in this one. it kind of gets stuck and I don't have fingernails to pry it out. I have to move the whole PC anyway to remove it, so once it's finished and how I like it, cleaning will be with a leafblower every now and then (2-3 times a year usually).

inside of the case, and most parts are clean now, and I've got the front ready well in place and mounted ready, the outside can stay filthy till I'm done:

Having a card reader and easily accessible USB 3.0 ports won't help me with the leaving the door open often problem though.

At some point I would like to get a USB 3.0 Card reader and port, but funds are currently at 0 for extras
I Was going to use some retro mismatched SATA cables, but since the ones in it are working also have the benefit that I know where they are.

 

yeah there's not a lot you can do from memory a lot of it came in around all the holes and stuff - very common in those days but nothing a good blasting with some compressed air won't sort out.

 

PFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFT, shows what I know! TONNES OF ROOM:

You could park a bus in that gap! (it is a gap, and you could get a hair through)

Fitting and removing the GPU is an exercise of patience and perfectly measured angles.
Now that the GPU is fitted, I can fit the other cards going in, the front fan, the hard drives and the cables. (in that order)

 

Well. I'm an idiot.

I thought I had a fan header up the board near the 24pin connector for some reason.
Nup! Aside from System fan 1, they're all along the bottom, so out comes the GPU so I can plug the front fan in

Update tomorrow when I have got the card out, plugged the fan in (will probably use an extension cable and rout it along the bottom so I have a plug under the hard drives if I ever want to change fans for some reason)and put the card back in.

God damn it! I miss my Corsair 750D where you could just throw hardware in anywhere at any time and still have a cavernous void in which you could put anything else.

 

Got there in the end:


Wouldn't boot at all with the card reader plugged in, I won't say I tried EVERYTHING, but everything I could think of and it just wouldn't accept... some sort of gravity boost or something??
I don't know.
but I'm not taking everything out again untill I absolutely have too.
I pryed the card reader out with a knife (a fork wouldn't fit under the GPU cooler)
as soon as it was removed, my old install booted right up.

now I get to spend the day using it, and seeing how it gets on as I HWmonitor the situation.

 

not well:

Just a bit of light gaming.
the PC at idle is so quiet I cannot hear any fans sitting next to it.
all I can hear at idle is an occasional double donk from one of the hard drives. Which will be annoying, so I will ditch the drive doing it, well not ditch, but use as a life support backup (keeping it IN the computer, but I pull the plug once a backup is done)

At load though, the serenity was shattered by the CPU temp alarm (set to 90 degrees), and the CPU fan ramping up to a million RPM.

I'm not sure if those temps are due to the stock cooler being shit, or the toothpaste TIM getting old, or a combo of both.
Before I put the hardware in this case, my CPU had literally always been under water since new.
I am happy with every other temp (all my testing takes place in a 20 degree room)

so to address my CPU temps and I'm suspecting the hot air being blown onto the northbridge.
I will first be finding a decent cooler that can fit a 120mm fan (hopefully an older and cheap higher end one)
then if that doesn't fix the problem I'll step up to lapping CPU and cooler, and ramping up the case fans a smidge.
and if those things don't work, I'll go for a delid.

Now the hunt for a cooler begins.

 

Found a cooler. A thermalright ultra 120 extreme.

It's old but if I remember correctly, these were the best you could get back in the day. A friend was using it on an 1155 media PC, so agreed to let me have it for some work on his computer.
Pretty sure 1155 and 1150 use the same mounting holes and pressure, and pretty sure it will fit height-wise.

Now I just have to get another Noctua fan to fit it. (which holy shit they're $50 now)

so with a cleanup, hopefully this helps CPU temps.
Will have to take the whole thing apart to mount it, so I'll have to get more anti vibration fan mounts, good thermal paste and a fan when we're allowed out of our homes again.

Before I tear the whole thing down for the millionth time, I want it to work this time

 

Update time: Serenity still eludes me.

so the 115X mount for the above thermalright got lost, so it is useless.
Fortunately, another friend let me have an old coolermaster Hyper TX3 EVO from a busted old rig. it technically doesn't clear my chunky RAM. The fan is pushing the stick almost too much for comfort... Almost.
Why do we always have to cut these things so close:


But the test fitting left a tiny bit of play in the stick, so I cleaned it all up and got it ready to go back and finally get me my quiet PC:


With this new cooler fitted, I was hoping for some nice temps, I got acceptable ones. In the same place in the same 20 degree room, with all identical setup and identical software, the new cooler has had a PROFOUND impact:


That's a 31+ degree improvement over stock cooler. I'm actually happy with these temps. and even more satisfying, when the cooler is at full pelt, I can't even hear it over the system fans when I set them to full pelt (which I only had at full for testing, I can't even hear the computer typing this)

as I expected, the shitty stock cooler was blowing hot air all around the board and increasing all the temps, this new one has actually helped with board temps, northbridge temp and SSD temp, and RAM temps too, but I never checked those to begin with.

updated shitty phone pic:


I've also fixed some other problems.
1: The hard drive Donking occasionally was my 5TB WD blue (D), it has been relegated to a life support back up (still in PC but unplugged until next back up) and I'm now using my 4TB WD blue as my D drive.
2: The USB card reader that was causing me boot issues was I think a shitty solder joint. So it was showing up sometimes and not others, and each time it got detected, it re-registered as a boot device. I cracked it open and fixed a solder joint on the board, and now it's not showing up and dropping out all the time, which meant I could turn it off as a boot device, and it stays off. working perfectly now, so I'm happy.

So this would be the end of the build... BUT.
with slightly older stuff, there's always a chance something will go wrong. And it has.

now when my GPU fans spool up or down. I'm greeted with an alarming grinding sound.
so NO SERENITY FOR ME.
I will live with it for now, because it's only when they come on or off, at 20%-100%, the grinding disappears (even if over 65% I can sure as hell hear them anyway).
but I know when they come on, I will probably set them to stay on at 35%, or will just replace the fan that's buggered.

Goes well with mismatched parts:


Retro case (2004), draws (1982), mousepad (2003), keyboard (2005) and CD's/DVDs (1985-2020) goes quite well with the modern desk (2013), monitor (2014), mouse (2013), and speakers (2011).

Bridges the old and new gap quite well. Will have a nice CRT on the desk again soon, but it was used for testing other old computers.

Calling it done for now though, will update if I fix the GPU fan issue.

 

I'bve had a few gigabyte gpu's and they all devolped this noise. They just used shitty fans in in the windforce cards.

 

I've had plenty of grinding and rattling and stuck and just plain loud fans in my time, but never had this happen when only spinning up or down.
I've had the card a while now, and at least it's not a constant drone.
since taking it out is quite difficult, I'll live with it until I am sure I have good replacements and it's all due for a clean.

 

That keyboard takes me back a long long time to playing battlefield 2 and pizza hut noobs.