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Messages - VastLite

#1
News & Discussions / Re: Knot.A.Del
January 09, 2011, 06:46:11 PM
I'm using a Freezer 7 Pro Rev.2. It's decent but it started making noise this morning, I think my computer spit out a twist-tie while I was sleeping; it may have borked the fan a little. It's still spinning, and the noise slowly subsides as it warms up, but it's still disheartening to hear a one day old fan make the same noise my three year old ones used to make before I replaced them. The Freezer 7 uses a fluid dynamic bearing, which should last a long time; the thing has a 6 year warranty. I guess if the it gets any worse I'll just get a replacement. Perhaps I can just replace for the fan, it's pretty easy to remove, in fact you have to take it off to install the sink.
#2
News & Discussions / Re: Knot.A.Del
January 08, 2011, 06:16:24 PM
The Turbo is 3.3GHz and the CPU gets its maximum voltage, which is about 1.45, and on my motherboard it supplies around 1.5, which is way too much for this chip. I have it set to 1.30v for 3.0GHz in the bios and even at that, my motherboard will feed it up to 1.4 volts at full load. I just got after-market cooling yesterday. The HSF that comes with this proc is okay but is low-profile and has a loud, tiny fan. I don't plan on over-clocking but I feel much better the cooler this computer runs, I plan on keeping it a while.

This motherboard's ITE sensor is not widely supported by any program yet, so it is very difficult to determine temperatures and voltages. Just to be safe I'm just trying to run things cool. The HSF I purchased was a pain to install and I ended up having to re-seat and mod it for it to have the same performance as the other Arctic Cooling HSFs I have.

It came pre-applied with mx-2, but apparently it doesn't like it when you miss the processor and smear half of it on part of the CPU that's not going to end up contacting the sink. I'm glad mx-2 keeps so well, after years of storage the tube I have of it was fine. Properly applying it dropped my temps down to what I expect from a 92mm fan.

As I'm typing this, coretemp reports the CPU as running at 27c, while Hardware Monitor says it's running at 39c. I really like this motherboard but it seems like I'm paying quite a steep early-adopter's fee in using it.
#3
News & Discussions / AuxComp 2.0
January 08, 2011, 06:46:18 AM
CPU was changed to a Phenom II X4, running at 3GHz

Ram is now 4GB, DDR2 800 running at a CAS latency of 4 cycles.

Motherboard is now my old 790GX, still running strong.

Graphics card is now my old Radeon 4850, also still running strong.

My dad kind of inherited my nice keyboard, mouse, speakers and monitor, so I'm pretty much using crap.

A Sony Trinitron (I don't even know the size, the thing weighs as much as my TV) that I run at 1600x1200-70Hz.

Like I said, the mouse and keyboard are just horrible, I don't even want to know what they are.

I'm using my old stereo as a set of speakers. They're quite large and the bass is nice but way too loud to be propped up against a wall like they are. They are usually turned off and I just use headphones.

I switched to 64-bit with this one as well, it's not as bad as I thought.

I really have only used this computer for video-conversion so far. It's actually pretty decent at it. It can rip a DVD in Handbrake at about 45fps using the High profile with pyramidal b-frames enabled. (Set to 6 reference b-frames.) Not too bad and only about 15fps slower than the 6-core.
#4
News & Discussions / Re: Knot.A.Del 2.0
January 08, 2011, 06:08:45 AM
Over the Christmas holiday this computer got quite the upgrade.

CPU is now an AMD Thuban, Phenom II X6 1075T @3GHz with turbo disabled (it would over-volt the thing horribly.)

Ram is now DDR3 thanks to my new AM3 socket motherboard. 4GB (2x2) running at 1333MHz with a CAS latency of 7 cycles.

Motherboard is now an ASRock 870 Extreme3 AM3 (it's the only 870 series board on the market capable of 8x/8x CrossFireX)

Graphics Card is now a Sapphire Radeon 6850 1GB with the core over-clocked from 775 to 900MHz. (Ram didn't need any boost, it's already running at 4gigabits/s across a 256-bit bus, an insane 128GB/s)

Everything else is pretty much the same. I do have a SATA-3 hard drive as the primary now, a Western Digital 1TB Caviar Black, but my windows score for it is still just 5.9 (it scores just like 4 other computers in my house. Microsoft is doing something really weird with their hard drive performance test.)

Oh, I did finally switch over to Windows 7 Ultimate x64, which leaves the option of 8GB of ram open for later. Right now 4GB seems to do fine for what I use this computer for. I don't render or anything, I just play games, and they rarely even use 2GB.

All the components these replaced went into my other computer, I guess I'll go over and update that one now.
#5
This one is made up of all the top tier leftovers of my gaming computer-alpha.

It was made with pretty good components in its day, but seems dog-slow compared to what I'm used to now.

The Motherboard is an Asus nForce 570 SLi, (Again, 2x Pci-e 16x slots that I never seem to be able to use the second one of...)

I really wanted an Athlon 64 X2 6000+ when I was building this, so I waited until I found a really good combo deal on it and the mainboard. So yeah, CPU be a 6000+
Runs way too hot, especially in its confined space. There's next to no airflow where the computer sits. Even with high-end air cooling (MX-2 thermal compound and a nice Freezer 64 Pro) it idles in the high "smelting aluminum's" and in-game I believe it could heat all of Canada.

Memory was over-extravagant, G.Skill HZ's, a matched pair of 1GB sticks at the same timings of my other computer, 4-4-4-12 @ 800Mhz. I should have gone with the 4GB kit at CL6, but not knowing how much damned memory Windows Vista and 7 would take down the road, 2GB seemed overkill on XP.

The videocard in it now is a Radeon HD 3850 512MiB (I really wanted an 8800GT back then, so there was no way after being forced to settle for something cheaper that it was going to have anything less than 512...) It actually still holds up reasonably well for the resolution of the LCD it's attached to.

(Oh that reminds me, my other computer has a really nice Asus LCD monitor I got for Christmas. It's a 23.something inch 1920x1080, it's a TN panel, but really, what isn't today. My light photoshopping will have to settle being done in a 6-bit color-space, oh well.)

Anyway, the 3850 is driving a 17" 1280x1024, and it looks very good in-game for how old it is. The Saboteur looked amazing when my sister was playing it because her computer was too laggy to finish a race or something. She ended up finishing the whole game on it from that point on. Guess that's what the computer is for: other people than me playing it...

Hard drive in it is also very new. It's a 1TB Western Digital "Blue." I have absolutely everything I've ever downloaded on the internet on it and it still has 400GB free. That's with every disk image I have on it too. Some may say overkill, I prefer the term "future-proofing." That or if I ever want to run my own version of redtube. Now if I could just find willing actresses...

Power Supply is just crap. I'm really surprised it's still running (knock on wood and/or insert superstitious ritual here (no, not that one, you know you can't do that in public!) ) It is absolutely value brand. It says 600watt on the side, I've never had it hooked up to half that wattage, I'd be surprised if it could still continuously output 400watts. Anyway, bought the thing before I found out about Newegg, on TigerDirect. I recall it being $49 or something, and I never did get the rebate. It's shining feature is that it has 2x 12-volt "rails" and two pci-e power connectors (Can you see where I'm trying to go with these builds? But by the time I have enough money for a second card, I can by one for cheaper that is more than twice as fast. So no SLi club for me :|

Case is the epitome of ghetto. I took the original mesh lining of my primary case (it was preventing me from installing the extra fans) and taped it to the side where the acrylic window had fallen off with black duct tape. I have about three fans attached to that webbing, one with just bare screws on the mesh, no mounting brace or anything. The rear didn't even have a spot to but an exhaust fan, so I just kind of put one in a place with a bunch of holes. It kinda moves air.

Dvd Drive is very similar to my other one. It's a Samsung "SuperWriteMaster" and yes that is all one word. Imagine that from a Taiwanese company...

OS is the same too, Windows 7 Ultimate x32.

Oh, another thing I forgot to list on the other one: my primary computer is hooked up to some pretty old but very decent Altec Lansing, with virtual surround sound. (It's a knob, you can turn it down if it's too annoying) It also has a really cool subwoofer.

This one has some cheap Cyber Acoustics speakers I bought from RadioShack. They actually sound really good for what they are, and even come with a separate, sort of passively powered, subwoofer. It's the perfect volume for the tiny space it's in.

That's about it for this computer. I can't list any more because the other ones aren't mine. I just built them. I have 6 to my name in this house. 5 are currently used full-time (as in they are plugged in) and 4 are gaming computers. (2 of those being mine of course. And of course they are the fastest. (They being these two, if you're following along at home) )

Other honorable mentions go out to my old 7900GT that my sister now has, also to my old 19" lcd that I gave my other sister for Christmas. Oh, and certainly to the pair of 80GB SATA hard-drives I used to run as a striped raid. (Somehow no matter what I did, running those two drives in a raid configuration would corrupt my list of installed programs in XP, perhaps it was the drivers, but it would do it every time I reinstalled windows, without fail, the exact same way. It was some eerie stuff.) And certainly, last but not least, my first Athlon 64 I got way back when, the 3200+ that is currently running our office computer. Couldn't have done it without you. (That's usually what you say when you end one of these, right?)
#6
News & Discussions / Knot.A.Del
August 21, 2010, 02:47:51 PM
It is custom made and it's not a dell.

Mother board is an AMD chipset 790GX with two Pci-e 16x slots (I only use one (for now >:-) )

CPU is a Phenom II X3 720 Black edition that I've unlocked to an X4 and overclocked to 3.2ghz (It could certainly do more, but I only ever wanted the X4 3.2ghz) Idles at about 25 degrees, I've never seen it hit 50 in-game. ("Well of course you wouldn't see it in-game, silly" I mean having alt-tabbed or running windowed.) oh, plus I ran 4 instances of prime95 for a day to break it in, and even with relatively unset thermal compound, it was in the mid 40's.

Ram is one matched pair of G.Skill PC8500 2GB sticks (A total of 4GB) run at 800mhz for a silly reason (being the motherboard) but at tight timings. 4-4-4-12 to be exact.

Graphics card is a good old Radeon HD 4850 512MiB (Asus brand, factory over-clocked)

Hard drive has recently been upgraded to a 640GB Western Digital Black, with a 160GB auxiliary drive for game disk images and such)

DVD drive is a Samsung +/- RW burner I just bought, SATA. (I forget the speed, something ridiculous; I stop counting at 16x because never in my life have I seen dvd media capable of being burnt faster)

The case is some brand I can't remember that has been heavily modified over the years to facilitate industrial 120mm fans I got from my dad's work (I don't run them anymore, they were accumulating far too much dust, and I don't need that much airflow.) They came out of a server that was being disassembled and were being run at 18volts (Obviously I could only run them off the 12volt wire so I can't imagine them spinning any faster than they were or being any louder, the server must have been very dusty by the end of its life.)

I do have 3 120mm fans that I've attached to the side-cover through drilling holes. (I had 4 but they are kinda cheap and the sleeve bearing went bad on one of them to the point I finally just yanked it out.) The side cover was already heavily ventilated, (It has like 1000 little holes in it; the hole damned case is full of tiny little holes, it's a wonder I haven't fried the board spilling soda into it.) so I only had to drill the pilot holes for the screws, not a giant circle. It looks a little worse for wear, but it's not too bad. I could probably stand to get a new case, but I think I have the best one in the house as it is.

Power supply was shopped for very specifically. It's a PC Power and Cooling, 80Plus certified, single-rail 380Watt (this is continuous output, if it were rated like old power supplies in "peak" output, it would be closer to 430watts.) It keeps the top of my case far cooler than my old power supply did, and its stable voltages keep my components a lot happier too.

It has a flopppy drive. Don't ask why. I sure don't know.

Some case badges, I've had to tape some back on and transfer others to different computers as the years have gone by.

Hm, other than that, it has Windows 7 Ultimate (32-bit, I was afraid to go x64, so I have to live with not being able to use 768MB of my installed ram :|

Lots of games, if you're really curious you can check my xfire.

I think I covered it all, I'll be posting the specs of my other computer next... gotta think of a name. Does "Closet Comp" sound too odd? I know my sister makes fun of it whenever I call it that and references a SouthPark episode. Something about Tom Cruise and R. Kelly also being stuck in my closet.
#7
Applications / Re: Requesting to join -VastLite
August 20, 2010, 03:02:50 AM
Sorry about the lack of white spaces, I was kind of rushing from the first attempt disappearing.

Also, Doko, that map is completely mine, I don't know if that's what you meant or if you would like to see some more maps that are just mine. In either case, here is an early attempt of mine at a concept map: http://www.mediafire.com/file/izitxbda4z29tbr/circliey.ogz

I'm having trouble joining the irc channel. I tried mibbit at first but it's been banned from quakenet, and then when I was trying to use chatzillia, I kept getting timeout errors. If anyone has any suggestions I would be very grateful.


Just for good measure, her are some off my better screenshots off xfire:

http://www.xfire.com/profile/vastlite/screenshots/?view#45421677
http://www.xfire.com/profile/vastlite/screenshots/?view#48757985
http://www.xfire.com/profile/vastlite/screenshots/?view#48758071
http://www.xfire.com/profile/vastlite/screenshots/?view#48758145
http://www.xfire.com/profile/vastlite/screenshots/?view#48757822
http://www.xfire.com/profile/vastlite/screenshots/?view#49032196
http://www.xfire.com/profile/vastlite/screenshots/?view#60793540
http://www.xfire.com/profile/vastlite/screenshots/?view#60793559
http://www.xfire.com/profile/vastlite/screenshots/?view#60793588
http://www.xfire.com/profile/vastlite/screenshots/?view#61097068
http://www.xfire.com/profile/vastlite/screenshots/?view#84667193
http://www.xfire.com/profile/vastlite/screenshots/?view#86374592
http://www.xfire.com/profile/vastlite/screenshots/?view#86374613
http://www.xfire.com/profile/vastlite/screenshots/?view#86374629
http://www.xfire.com/profile/vastlite/screenshots/?view#91927761
http://www.xfire.com/profile/vastlite/screenshots/?view#92904661

Sorry if that's way too many, but I really want to give you an idea of what I do. :)
#8
Applications / [Accepted] Requesting to join -VastLite
August 19, 2010, 12:12:19 PM
Attemp 2: (the first post got cancelled for the attachment and when I got back to the new topic screen, my entire body of text was gone, so I'm writing this one in word (fool me once, shame on, um, the president? I forget how that one goes)
Anyway, first off, hello. My name is Jonathan, (I'm from the United States by way of California) I go by the nickname VastLite. I've been playing Sauer off and on since Summer Edition, so whatever that is in years (I'm too lazy to look at the sourceforge repository.)
I suffer from a severe case of satellite internet. I'm afraid it's terminal, the only 3D online interaction I've ever been able to have is in Sauerbraten. (More specifically coop editing, I tend to get yelled at and banned when I try to play any other mode so I've stuck to coop for the majority of my time in Sauer.)
Over the years I've certainly gotten better, but I'd still say I lack some of the basic skillsets that are needed for a serious map creator. I've very good at abstract stuff, but I'm not very good at making "real" things. I tend to over-think simple creations and attempt to make something that is either beyond my abilities, or would take way too much time. So, in (hopefully) joining this clan, I'd like to network with people who have these skillsets with the goal of becoming a better mapper. I do have one map I've posted to quad: http://quadropolis.us/node/2480 It's more of an artsy/concept map than a functional level, but I like going back to it every now and then to look at the nice shapes and colors. I really would like to make more serious maps, so I'm eager to hone my skills amongst a group of serious editors. Not to say I don't enjoy a good noob co-op every now and then (They're so amazed that you can make a sphere out of cubes, even if it's only 5x5x5) or even casual/social coop servers with my friends. More than anything I've always liked the Sauerbraten user community. You guys were very helpful when I was first starting out and the user base been nothing but supportive, either in criticisms or acclaim, in the years I've played. I think the main reason that I'm applying to a clan now rather than earlier is that I'm worried of what has become of most of the coop servers in Sauer today. They are full of griefers and general idiots (nothing like they used to be.) I miss the days where I could join a server, build some inane structure until I passed out, and not have it completely wrecked by morning. In the last few days, I've been enjoying co-oping with some of my old sauer buddies who recently started playing again with the release of Justice Edition. Casual play aside, I would certainly like to further my skills, and I think this is the way to do it, if you would have me of course. Either way I thank you for your time, -VastLite