Serious help needed, will pay well for a few hours

[Pseudonym]

Actually, they seem like they have stand up customer service.

Wait wait wait until they get back to you i guess.

It will all be worth it when you get your awesome PC.

 

[RADCOM]

Wouldn't you be better off with a professional graphics solution rather than the commercial gaming solution? Something from the Nvidia Quadro or the ATIfireGL range.

 

[jasonp36]

The water cooling is on the CPU only isn't it?

If they don't have decent cooling on the two 8800gtx's then i guess they will get a tad warm.

Hi m8, yeah my cooling system only went from the CPU. I am aware of 1 x Massive fan in the rear of the case, one medium sized fan above this one behind my hard drives and then 3 large fans with the radiator in the front door of my case. Thats it I think but I was supplied with about another 3 mini fans but didn't know if it was safe to add them. Presumed that they would have been installed already if needed or if this was possible.

Thanks,

Jay

 

[Mr. Smith]

You don't need a 1000w psu for a simple sli rig... iirc NickS proved this with the corsiar 530w, gtx sli, quad core, ram, hdd's everything OC'd, all worked fine.

Thermaltake watercooling is pretty crap BUT will do the job.

5 weeks to build a pc? Are you kidding me? A few hours to put it together nice and neatly, another couple of hours installing software, if overclocking add 24, maybe 48 hours to allow tonnes of stress testing...

It is a very nice pc, you might as well stick with them now, unless they will refund you and get marcus to knock you a better one up for the same price

 

[jasonp36]

mmm. i wonder if whoever built it remembered to take the little plastic sheet off the base of the water block,that would cause some serious temp problems if they didnt(that is the voice of experience speaking,i forgot to do it with mine at first)

Hi there,

I would like to think this wasn't the case as the company I used had it on test for many days before shipping it out and have apparantly sold more than 100 of the liquid coolers I have. However, it would make sence if the liquid couldn't flow that it would get too hot etc. I would seriously like to think not though.

I presume this would stop the flow then?

Cheers,

Jay

 

[Pseudonym]

No, i think it's a plastic sheet that protects the surface that comes in contact with the CPU. If not removed, heat won't be transferred from one to the other properly.

 

[jasonp36]

Wouldn't you be better off with a professional graphics solution rather than the commercial gaming solution? Something from the Nvidia Quadro or the ATIfireGL range.

Maybe, but I couldn't find a better spec machine for less than £3500-£4000 and then the only decent suppliers I could find with such options were Dell or Alienware and both seem to have a really bad reputation for build quailty and customer service too. I just couldn't afford any more than this and would it really be worth it anyway? I would like to think (and hope) that even if I spent another £1000 on a pure workstation machine, there would not be a massive difference in performance. In the end though, it all came down to budget. However, for the small amount of time my machine did work it seemed to be MEGA FAST and I have used many various computers over the past 10 years to compare it too. Hopefully, I have chosen some great components as I did research them all very well before choosing them.

Thanks again,

Jay

 

[jasonp36]

No, i think it's a plastic sheet that protects the surface that comes in contact with the CPU. If not removed, heat won't be transferred from one to the other properly.

Lol, I don't know. This whole thing has really stressed me out m8. I suffer from bad stress as it is and have become somewhat ill with all this hassle. I stupidly hoped that the computer would be delivered and just work perfectly without problems, as least for a while anyway and especially after waiting 5 weeks for it. My fault for spending so much money on equipment I don't fully understand. However, I presumed it would all be done for me. Doh!

Cheers,

Jay

 

[RADCOM]

what sort of graphic design do you do? The quadro's are not as hot as the GTX. You don't need 1000w but better to have a PSU running at 80% than a lower rated one at full pelt all the time. When you say the PC crashed did it just lock up or did you get BSOD ( Blue screen of death)?

Don't get stressed m8.... you only have one life and it;'s way too short to be stressed about women, money, jobs and definitely not computers

 

[jasonp36]

what sort of graphic design do you do? The quadro's are not as hot as the GTX. You don't need 1000w but better to have a PSU running at 80% than a lower rated one at full pelt all the time. When you say the PC crashed did it just lock up or did you get BSOD ( Blue screen of death)?

Don't get stressed m8.... you only have one life and it;'s way too short to be stressed about women, money, jobs and definitely not computers

Cheers for that m8, much appreciated. Just want this thing sorting u know. Here's my site (hope this is allowed by the way, sorry if not) Its easier to show u what I do than describe it.

www.visualrebel.co.uk

www.nikmacdj.com - another popular site I did from ground up, logo, graphics, web site, photographs etc.

not been updated for some time though as been way too busy. Specialise in Complex photo manipulations, modern graphic design and Flash.

My computer just froze so nothing would work at all. Didn't get any blue screen at least but don't know whats worse?

Right off to bed as eyes knackered.

Thanks again,

Jay

 

[Sammo]

OK Jason ….you sound pretty stressed out …perhaps I can help….

First of all I would point out that I have a similar setup

Striker 2.…Quad 6850.…with 3 raptors jn raidO ….and 3 8800 GTX cards in tri-sli

I have water cooled the chipset with my own block….the rest is a mixture of K-Tek and koolance and the whole setup is over clocked and stable NOW…..but it wasn’t at first…let me explain

It`s usual before any system is water cooled to run it for awhile on air and give it certain stress tests to check it`s stable…however it soon became apparent that the chipset on the striker was getting very hot …idling at 70 C ….this gave the symptom you have described ie, freezing up ….so I fitted a spot cooler as a temporary measure….This immediately gave stability but the Northbridge was still idling at 65C ….. however the board was a lot more stable, although still not right…..Later the water cooling was carried out and now the computer is completely stable …..

Of course this was achieved with my own water block on the chipset and the trouble is at the moment the chipset blocks for this board are not readily available …The only one I have seen so far is from MIPS in Germany…..

Your system is certainly man enough to cool the Chipset and the Graphics cards as well as the CPU so it would seem you have 2 alternatives.

If you want to stay with the Striker II , then set a large spot cooler like the Antec

http://[url]http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000I5KSNQ?smid=A2R0FX412W1BDT&tag=dealtime-ce-mpfeed-20&linkCode=asn[/URL]

playing on the Northbridge sit back and wait..…this will get you going until water blocks are freely available….

Or…change the motherboard to the EVGA 780i as the blocks are now available from both EK and viper John...now..

….relax…

..

 

[Deshman]

Hmm the whole thing sounds a little dodgy to me..

Once you get a watercooling system fitted you shouldn't need to send it back any more often than you'd send back an air cooled system (hopefully not at all ).

If you're running 64-bit it could be quite likely that a bad driver install is causing Windows to freeze, in this case they should catch it quite quickly and have it back to you shortly.

Worst case scenario is you have a hardware problem in which case they'll have to test each piece individually, and if they take so long building a pc I wouldn't care to think how long it would be to actually diagnose and fix a problem.

Good luck with it and hope you inform us if you get word from them. Bring all your troubles here first - there are plenty of people who know can help you

 

[jasonp36]

Hi Deshman and Sammo,

Thanks for your really sueful comments about my issues here, it is really appreciated too. Sammo, its also good to hear from someone who has a similar set up too, that really helps a lot and its good to hear you have yours all working.

So far I have been kept up-to-date with all changges and progress by computerplanet, so fair play there. They also phoned me to talk it through whilst I was at work. This really helped calm me down and understand the issues better too.

Latest changes are:

Case upgrade from Kandalf lcs4000 to Antec P182 Advanced Super Mid Tower. Apparantly this allows for more cooling and fans too? Plus, there was not much point keeping my original Kandalf case if I was not having the liquid cooler that comes with it, built in. This would have left me with a front heavy case with a redundant radiator and 3 fans in the door which to my knowledge would also be useless without the liquid cooler.

My motherboard is most likely being upgraded to the latest 780i evga board and my ram is also being upgraded to 8GB CHANNEL EVOONE with a big heatsink & lower latency.

Will have to see what happens now with testing but so far so good and they have said it should be back by Monday or Tuesday next week.

Thanks again for all your help and concern with this guys. I will defo. be around here more often for sure. Have so much to learn too.

I will keep u all updated on what happens next when I find out myself.

L8rz,

Jay

 

[Pseudonym]

Damn, that is one sweet rig.

Fair enough with getting rid of the W/C. It's not everyone's cup of tea, and not really a necessity for you.

Like i said, they seem really hot on the customer service. Which is great, and worth the extra cost. Especially if you don't know much about the subject.

Keep us updated and when you get it back take some pics.

 

[jasonp36]

Damn, that is one sweet rig.

Fair enough with getting rid of the W/C. It's not everyone's cup of tea, and not really a necessity for you.

Like i said, they seem really hot on the customer service. Which is great, and worth the extra cost. Especially if you don't know much about the subject.

Keep us updated and when you get it back take some pics.

Thanks man, much appreciated. Liek I said already. The customer service computerplanet offer is seriously impressive in my opinion. I spent months searching the net for reviews about Dell, Cyber-power systems, Alienware and most reviews were terrible and slated those companies for build quality and especially aftersales support.

I just hope that my problems are corrected the next time I get my computer back. That would certainly help rectify the issues I have had so far. I think I am also getting Marcus to come and give me a hand modding my machine up too. As soon as I get it back that is

Anyways, take care m8 and speak soon,

Jay

 

[Deshman]

Latest changes are:

Case upgrade from Kandalf lcs4000 to Antec P182 Advanced Super Mid Tower. Apparantly this allows for more cooling and fans too? Plus, there was not much point keeping my original Kandalf case if I was not having the liquid cooler that comes with it, built in. This would have left me with a front heavy case with a redundant radiator and 3 fans in the door which to my knowledge would also be useless without the liquid cooler.

Yeah if you're taking the liquid out that is a good case to change to, as you say; the Kandalf isn't as effective without water in it.

Might want to watch the GTX's don't get too hot in there though as it is a much smaller space and made from more plastics than the Kandalf.

 

[jasonp36]

Yeah, will have to see if this new case and the upgrade of both motherboard and ram help correct the issue. I was going to take the opportunity to upgrade the processors to a Zeon,along with a compatible board too. However, from what I have been told and read so far. There isn't a big enough difference in performance to warrant the extra cash so I decided not too.

Thats the problem with having all this time on my hands. I start thinking, hey lets change this or upgrade that whilst its being tested.

Suppose whatever i go for will be out of date relatively quickly anyway.

L8rz and have a good weekend,

Jay

 

[Pat123]

Right. Can you get your money back from the company you bought the pc from? if so head up someone like marcus ask him to put together a nice rig for you.. living 40 minutes would be ideal. With a budget of £4000 you could get one KICK ASS RIG.