Priorities

Once I finish my UFO case build I will probably scale back my overclocking activities. I think my cat's recent illness made me realize that I have to re-examine my priorities. My cat is doing much better, by the way. He's back to his old self. I will continue to overclock, but probably not with the same intensity as before. My wife will likely be retiring from work soon and I need to make sure I take good care of her.

I think overclocking was a lot more fun a few years ago when you could put together an Athlon XP system for fairly cheap. The playing field was also more level back then. In order to get the killer benchmarks nowadays, you need a lot of cash. I still enjoy the personal challenge. But it's not as fun as it used to be.

Goals

I've always believed you should try to get the most out of any CPU you have, even if it's not a great overclocker. I sometimes wonder how good the big-name OC'ers would be if that they didn't have golden chips and expensive cooling. I have a 3500+ Venice that doesn't OC that well. But I'm constantly using it to test everything from RAM to motherboards. Under single-stage cooling it will do around 3.2GHz, and only 2.8GHz with air-cooling. Still, I've held onto this chip longer than any of the others. What I like about this CPU is that it can take more than 1.8v.

Courage

Every now and then I'll see something that's not only inspiring, but also redefines bravery. One of those moments was during the Olympic figure skating pairs competition. Zhang Dan of China had a horrifying fall while trying to execute a quadruple Salchow, something never before done by an Olympic pairs skater. The accident probably would have sent most skaters to the hospital. But she got up and after a short break, finished her program with her partner. They ended up winning the silver medal. One of the most courageous performances I've ever seen, in any sport. She's a true Olympic hero.

Case

I installed the fans and casters on my UFO case. I hope to have the build finished in a week and a half. Would have liked to have finished the build this coming weekend. But I'm still waiting on a CPU. I tested the Yate Loon's on a back-up PSU. They are indeed very quiet.

I have four working DFI boards and plenty of other spare parts, so I'll be able to build another system after I finish with the UFO case.

Fans

Okay, I think I have enough fans to last me awhile. :) Eight Yate Loon 120mm's and several Sanyo Denki's. I also have some Delta 120mm fans (152CFM) sitting around. Most of the Yate Loon's will go into my new case.

Opteron

I purchased the final major component for my system upgrade. Opteron 170 0550UPMW. I don't have it in my possession yet. This will be my first dual-core experience.

Whisky PC

Saw these pics on the internet. They made my day. Someone managed to turn an empty Whisky bottle into a working computer. Pretty cool.

http://www.metku.net/index.html?sect=view&n=1&path=mods/whiskypc/index_eng

Case arrived

My Mountain Mods U2-UFO case arrived today. It's BIG! But it actually weighs less than my full tower steel case. The U2-UFO comes with casters and motherboard standoffs and screws. But the 5.25 bay covers cost extra.

Still waiting for the Yate Loon fans to get here. I found a place that sells Sanyo Denki 120mm fans, so I ordered some of those too. Sanyo Denki's are legendary and the 120mm's are very hard to find. Last major decision is a CPU. I want a dual-core, but I haven't decided which one to get.

Weird weather

The weather in California has been weird. December and January were fairly mild. Now the overnight temps are near the freezing mark. And there's even talk of possible snow where I live. It does snow here maybe once every ten years, usually enough to get the locals all excited. Having lived back East for many years, I can honestly say I don't miss real winters. I can think of better things to do than scraping ice off the windshield of my car. The Sierra mountains are a short distance away. So if I want to see snow, I know it's close by.

Zippy

Another likely purchase down the road, the Zippy Emacs 700W power supply. Expensive and built like a tank. Also hard to find in the US, though I've located a reseller. The Zippy has a single 12v rail rated at 45A. I think that should be enough. ;)

Buddies

Here is a recent photo of me and my cat, Pasta. He's doing well. I can't find a single decent photo of me. Maybe I'm just not the photogenic type. lol. My cat doesn't like having his picture taken. I'm holding him like that because he's trying to run away.

Proposed system

Here are the components I'm looking at for my new rig:

Case: Mountain Mods U2-UFO
Motherboard: DFI NF4 Ultra-D (current board)
CPU: AMD dual-core (exact model to be named later ;))
RAM: TeamGroup 2X1GB
HDD: Seagate NCQ SATA (current drives)
Video card: EVGA 6600GT (current card)
Case fans: Yate Loon 120mm

I went ahead and ordered the Mountain Mods case. I'm told TeamGroup will be coming out with 1GB modules that are even better than the ones the company currently offers. I like Seagate drives because they are quiet and reliable. Also, they have very good warranties. I don't feel any compelling need to upgrade my video card because I don't game and I don't bench anymore. The only thing I care about is being able to occasionally watch DVD movies on my computer.

UFO Case

Above is a pic of the Mountain Mods UFO case I may end up buying. I've already ordered some Yate Loon 120mm fans. I'm not going to load up the case right away. I mean, do I really need nine hard drives which is the number this case can accomodate? I just want the extra space. My full tower case is very cramped. And I'm one of those people who likes to change out parts all the time. :)

One month later

My blog is now a month old. Thanks to all of you who've stopped by and offered your comments and best wishes. My cat is doing much better now. He eats like a horse. My wife was munching on a Snickers bar the other day. Our cat grabbed one end of the candy bar with his mouth and started pulling. He didn't count on the caramel being so elastic. My wife said it was pretty funny. I'm glad we sought a second and even third medical opinion for our cat.

Objective

So why do I overclock CPU's? For me, it's fun to take any chip to its limit, whether it's a good overclocking CPU or not. There's a part of me that believes I can get the most out of any CPU. There will always be people with better cooling and faster chips. But that usually has more to do with money and luck.

Tweaking involves skill, but it also takes patience to do it right. Overclocking is not for people who are in a hurry.

More divider testing

SuperPi time is not that great because I was using an untweaked XP Pro. Still, this gives you an idea of what this CPU is capable of with just 1.45v.

CPU: Opteron 148 (CABYE 0528GPMW)
Motherboard: DFI NF4 Ultra-D
BIOS: FX60TEST
RAM: G.Skill PC4400LE

Still looking

I'm still searching for another good CPU that doesn't have the cold bug. A friend may be able to help me out. Trying to decide between an X2 and an Opteron. Doesn't necessarily have to be a dual-core chip. But it has to be able to take extreme cold, otherwise my phase change cooler and dry ice tube will be collecting dust. And of course it must be a good overclocking chip. ^^ I'm sure something will come up. When the AM2 platform comes out later this year, a lot of people will probably be dumping their S939 CPU's.

Eating again

Our cat is back home tonight. Much to our relief he's eating again. In fact he was so hungry he bit my wife's finger as she was handing him some food. He was staying at the UC Davis Veterinary Hospital which has an animal heart specialist. The doctor did a lot of tests and said our cat's heart has a problem with one ventrical but that it's not critical at this point. Our cat seems to be his old self tonight. My wife and I have been on an emotional rollercoaster the past few weeks. I keep praying for his recovery.

Dividers

RAM dividers can sometimes help you achieve higher CPU speeds. I was having problems getting my Opteron 148 Prime-stable at 274X11 (3014MHz) with the 200MHz divider. But by using the 166MHz divider and dropping the RAM speed to 253, I was able to do 304X10 (3040MHz). Unless you are doing benchmarking, 253MHz is perfectly fine for general computer tasks. Worth a try. The nice thing is you can use lower memory voltage. I'm now running at 3020MHz with memory at 251 and 2.65v.

Opera 9.0

The latest beta version of Opera 9.0 (Preview 2) web browser is now available. It has a few new features including these things called widgets. They're web-based apps that you can call up at any time. There are only a handful of widgets available now (clock, calculator, calendar, etc). You can pick whichever ones you want to use. Just press F6 to show them, and F6 again to hide. As soon as you close the browser, the widgets will disappear.

I use Opera and Firefox side by side now. I still need FF to update blog entries. Also, some websites seem to function better with FF.

UC Davis

Our cat is spending the night at the UC Davis Veterinary Medical Hospital. UC Davis has one of the top veterinary schools in the world. The vets there say our cat's heart is very weak right now. I'm sure they will do everything they can to help him.

CPU's

Not much to report on the overclocking front. I have a new FX-57 (another week 0516). Actually I traded with someone else. It performs about the same in 32M as my old FX-57, but needs less VCore. Did manage a personal best in Pifast (see screenshot). Actually had a time below 33secs, but there was an "error in computation".

I can't believe how much computer junk I have in my room. I'm going to toss out more non-working components today. Not sure why I've hung onto this stuff. My father used to hold onto things forever. Like father like son.

Maybe in the Spring, I'll build a new dual-core system, using a UFO box like gocchin's. We'll see. I'm trying to find a good dual-core that doesn't have the dreaded cold bug. I'd like to be able to test it with phase change or dry ice cooling.

My most satisfying CPU is the one I use everyday, my Opteron 148. It does 3GHz air-cooled with 1.46v. Can run 32M up to 3.1GHz on air. I wish I could find a dual-core with similar performance.

Back to the vet

Our cat is back at the vet hospital. He suffered a setback last night. He began throwing up. This morning he seemed a little better. This is very difficult emotionally for both me and my wife. He has so much fight left in him. I can tell he wants to live. I'll have to wait to see what the vet says.

Update: Vet couldn't find anything wrong with him. She says he's in better shape now than when he first came in. I think the medicine is making him sick. I know he doesn't like taking it. But at least he's back home tonight.