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Lean Machine 2006 Part 2

10.11.06 - 07:34pm

I figured a small update was in order for this mammoth project of mine along with an update about myself. It has been a hectic few days here lately as I have once again moved locations from one apartment to another while being hammered with school work. To put it briefly, the management of the complex I live in would receive a negative score if I were asked to rate them between 1 and 10. However, rather than post about me whining, let’s discuss the progress that has been made lately on the Lean Machine.

The Lean Machine is slowly gathering steam as Fedex continues to deliver parts to me. I have so far been unlucky in regards to getting free parts for this build or even reduced cost parts however I have made up for those problems with a few slick deals and adjustments. The largest adjustment coming to the build is the replacement of the OCZ Gold sticks with Corsair XMS2 sticks. The OCZ sticks had me a bit worried as the higher initial voltage requirements could make it a pain to get them working within the DS3 motherboard I chose as the DS3 only pumps out 1.8 volts at default and the OCZ sticks required 2.0 volts. While .2 volts isn’t a big difference when considering such things as residential power, in the computing industry .2 volts can mean the difference between working and non-working memory. I have also decided to include a second powersupply to raise total amount of available power to a little over 1200 watts. I am certain I will never tax the dual power-supplies but I am trying to eliminate any problems that could occur especially if the system is upgraded to the upcoming DirectX 10 cards(with possible 250+ watt power requirements).

The phase cooler that will cool the processor has been finished and I am just waiting for the right time to gas it up and begin stress testing it. I am debating between a custom carbon fiber case or stripping and painting my SOHO case a lovely Laguna Seca blue.The painted case would be considerably easier as I would have to read up on working with carbon fiber but I think the carbon fiber would add a supreme cool factor. Otherwise everything is going to plan and I’m looking at the assembling the computer within a week, testing it outside of the case, and once the case is ready then I’ll stash the computer within the case.

That is about it, just a little update to show that progress is being made on this project. I’ve decided that I need to tie up all the projects I never completed and this will be the first of 4, luckily I have fall break this weekend to wrap all this up. Earlier tonight my roommates and I decided to stash my file server into our linen closet, if you like to see ghetto rigged computers I suggest checking it out for a laugh or two. Thanks for reading, back to the grind.

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