Red October Mk2

[GavX]

18 month mark is coming up soon for Red October, so it is overhaul time!

Not so much a mod log but more a build and overclocking log, with some minor mods, but I thought I might as well contrubute more to this place, so here we are!

Red October Mk2 is already in the works, but the major work will commense after Christmas, when I get some damn time off!

Specs will be as follows:

Core i7 920 - £200

X58 Motherboard (not sure what one, below £200) Update: Rampage II Extreme... went over budget. Whoops

x2 4870's in Crossfire (Got)

6Gb 2000Mhz Memory - £140

64Gb Solid State Drive (again, not sure, Kingston V+?) £150 -/+

What is being salvaged from Mk1 will be the case, the lovely TJ07, the watercooling parts, possibly new radiators though, and optical drive/PSU.

Red October is PURELY a gaming/overclocking machine, so storage will be delt with Le Marquis De Carabas, Toms A70 he done for me, and its 4.5Tb storage, so it will only be Windows 7, a few games and a few benchmark apps that go on, hense the puny 64gb drive. As for motherboard, I really don't know what is good value these days as far as X58s go, but ideally I want the remaining parts to weight in £750 or less.

I was tempted by a 5870, but they are a rare as hens teeth and far too expensive, £250 maybe, but not £400...

Any input is much appreicated, and Tom you never know, the TJ07 might be coming your way to get powdercoated, depends how hard Christmas hits me!

I will try and get some photos of Mk1 up, as it will be doing its last Hurrah tonight with the x2 4870's in it and clocked to hell, going out quite literally in a blaze of glory!

 

[Rastalovich]

Always bear in mind, just as a gaming pov versus cash and reality, that ur above initial rig proposal with the i7, will play games slower than an E4300/IP35/4g/HD5870.

But ofc in terms of forward progress, ur i7 concept is more up to date, for how long tho ?

Expressing the figure of £750 latterly, I'd have to assume seriousness in the build and although 5870 would be the biggest gain for a gaming rig right now, the budget is severely hampered by the current hyped pricing. When normal pricing is established, I'd suggest dumping most of ur cash into getting it and see what u can do with the balance. Even if it means scrap the ssd idea for now.

Tough in the current climate imo. What is ur existing rig specs ?

 

[GavX]

Q9450, can do 3.8 but I'm a bench junkie, 4ghz! 4gb 800mhz ram, x38 mobo. Still excelent, but I want shiney new toys. And a 5870 is on the cards, but 4870s will do til stock levels become reasonable.

 

[GavX]

Ok, a whole load of delays sadly, car being crashed'ed means alot of money went to getting that beaten into shape, and college/work has been hell, and I have aquired a girlfriend which leaves sod-all GavX time Good news is money rolls into my account tomorrow!

2000Mhz RAM, or save and 1600Mhz?

P6T D mobo a good choice?

Will *hopefully* be buying the start of my toys tomorrow.

Oh and the guy buying my old guts pulled out, so thats another delay...

One day, it might start

 

[GavX]

Shopping today! Decided to treat myself to some toys!

Asus rampage ii extreme

Intel core i7 920 d0

6gb 2000mhz ocz ram

Fun times, arriving Monday, expect pics!

 

[thestepster]

cant wait to see it mate!

 

[GavX]

Good and bad news.

Good news, my Core i7 920, Rampage II Extreme and Trident 2000Mhz memory arrived.

Bad new, my camera is well dead. Will try using my phone camera later, but I must say, its looking pretty.

One small oversight, and tip to builder:

Don't just spend all your money the day you get paid on computers. Got £300 to last me a month, and seeing as the car guzzles £50 a week, this will be interesting!

Needing to wait til next month to get a CPU cooler sadly, as my EK Supreme doesn't fit, only got the LGA775/AM2 mounting.

 

[thestepster]

ha ha yeah thats a good bit of advice! sounds like u need to attend the jeremy clarkson school of super efficient driving

 

[tinytomlogan]

You can get a new mount for the supreme Gav, costs less than 10quid

 

[GavX]

I do drive efficiently, sadly 400+ miles a week though

Good shout Tom, just noticed one of WCUK for £6! Saves me buying a new block for £60!

Well with the CPU mount on the way I think I just about have everything for the PC, obviously some parts will be updated, but as it stands:

Core i7 920

Rampage II Extreme

6Gb 2000Mhz

Velociraptor (To be replaced by 60/64Gb SSD)

HD4870 (To be replaced by *Unknown*)

Razer Baracuda (To be replaced possibly by the Megaladon)

Housed in a lovely TJ07 with a 240 and 120mm rad in the base, to be replaced by a 480mm rad, as daisy chaining radiators was cheap at the time, but a pain to actually do nicely.

Also spotted on WCUK Bitpower compression fittings, but black. They looks amazing, may have to get me some of them.

Thoughts on colour of tubing? Liquid will be as ever red, but the tubing? Stick with silver? Or go clear? (Can't go black tubing, Le Marquis De Carabas is black).

Going to try and steal a camera of a mate, or failing that use my camera phone, pictures soon peeps!

 

[Youngie1337]

Not a fan of silver tubing, go for clear.

 

[m0o0oeh]

Wahey, the Gav lives!

Looking forward to this matey, when you get ten mins, jump on the old MSN, be good to catch up.

I vote clear BTW.

Can't wait to see this!

 

[Ham]

Pics faster!

And yeah, clear tubing, its red October not silver!

 

[Runebeard]

Definitely clear tubing man. Looking forward to seeing some photos as I'm planning on using some of those parts myself in the future!

 

[GavX]

Ok, this was quite a Fail log, no can this be deleted? Didnt have enough time to do pictures etc (was working on this at about 1 at night most times and my camera is dead) but hey... its finished!

Just imagine what awesome looks like, but going at 4.2Ghz...