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cmcquistion
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Step-by-Step: How to build a cheap and quiet AMD dually.

Step-by-Step: How to Build a Cheap and Quiet AMD Dually.

This thread is an attempt at explaining, once and for all, how to build a cheap and quiet AMD dually. I will start by telling you that I am, by nature, a very cheap guy. I'm also very, very picky about computer noise. It has been a serious mission, for me, to build an AMD dually that was both cheap, and very quiet.

I have built five AMD duallies in the past two years and I have learned a lot. Many times, I learned by doing research. Many times, I learned by messing up, the first time (or the second time, or the third time...)

Hopefully, this guide will help you to build a very fast AMD dually, without making the mistakes I made, or making bad purcahsing decisions. This is not an Intel-vs-AMD discussion. It is simply the instructions for building a cheap, quiet, and very, very fast dual AMD computer.

This is targeted, mainly, to people building their system completely from scratch (i.e. no case, no nothing), although the information can be just as useful to upgraders and system modders, too.

PURCHASES


*MOTHERBOARD*

MSI K7D Master ($182)
(search http://www.pricewatch.com/ for "MSI K7D Master", but do not get the K7 Master, which is a single CPU board.)

MSI K7D Master-L (has onboard LAN) ($195)
(search http://www.pricewatch.com/ for "MSI K7D Master-L")

(The MSI K7D Master is considered the best dual AMD motherboard for overclocking. The Asus A7M-266D holds second place.)

(Whenever using Pricewatch to find resellers, make sure to run every reseller's name through http://www.resellerratings.com/. Most of the resellers listed on Pricewatch are not very good. ResellerRatings is a good way to find out who is worth ordering from, and who isn't. Personally, I don't order from any reseller who doesn't have a score of at least 8 out of 10, at ResellerRatings.

*PROCESSORS*

Two XP1700's, preferably T-bred B's ($50 each)

(These are great overclockers, often reaching 2.0-2.3 GHz on air.)

*MEMORY*

512 MB Samsung Registered ECC PC2700 ($111) (search http://www.pricewatch/ for "Samsung Registered ECC PC2700)

(You can use regular, unbuffered DDR, but AMD duals REQUIRE Registered DDR if you want to use more than two sticks. I prefer the Samsung Registered ECC PC2700, because it is capable of overclocking to 150 FSB, the limit of the motherboard, at fast memory settings. This is why I suggest the Samsung, over Crucial Registered ECC PC2100. If you already have some unbuffered DDR, you can use that. All of the dual Opteron boards that I have seen REQUIRE Registered ECC PC2700. If you plan on upgrading to a dual Opteron someday, when they become affordable, you would already have memory you could use, if you got the Samsung Registered ECC PC2700.)

*HEATSINKS AND FANS*

Two SK-7's ($20 each) (http://www.svc.com/ is a good reseller for these.)

(See this thread for a list of heatsinks verified to fit on the K7D. I believe the SLK-800 and SK-7 are the best heatsinks, because their performance is fantastic, even with low speed, low noise fans. I suggest the SK-7, for the budget-minded, because the SLK-800 costs 50% more, yet only cools about 1 degree C, better than the SK-7, with the same fan.)

Two Panaflo L1A fans ($10 each)

(These are great fans. They are very quiet and perform well on the SK-7 or SLK-800. Don't forget, when ordering, to order tails for the fans. Stock, they only come with bare leads. These also make good case fans and replacement power supply fans. If you would like more flexible heatsink cooling, consider the Enermax Manually Adjustable 80mm fan. It has it's own rheostat, built in, on a long cord, so you can manually change the fan speed. At low speed, it is fairly quiet. At high speed, it pushes a mountain of air.)

*POWER SUPPLY*

500-550 Watt Power Supply ($20-75)

(AMD duallies require a LOT of juice from their power supply. Most won't run, or will be quite unstable, on a power supply less than 450 watts. There are a few exceptions, such as the Antec True 430, but these are VERY few. I have used cheap "Power Magic" Brand PSU's, between 500 and 550 watts. They have worked just fine, for me. They are VERY, VERY cheap, but I have used them on two AMD duallies and haven't had any trouble out of them. Other well-respected Power Supplies include Antec, TTGI, and Fortron. I have used Enermax and Vantec, too, but they, like almost every other PSU, are too loud, for my tastes. The Fortron- P530XF530W 530 Watt PSU is supposed to very good and is only $75.)

*CASE*

Antec SLK3700AMB Case ($68) (search http://www.pricewatch.com/ for "SLK3700AMB")

One additional 120mm fan for intake. ($10)

(Duallies require a case with good airflow. A case with a single 80mm exhaust isn't good enough. The Antec SLK3700AMB case has one 120mm intake and one 120mm exhaust. It also comes with one Antec 120mm fan and a 350 watt Antec Power Supply. This power supply isn't enough juice for an AMD dually, but it is a great freebie that you can use on a single CPU system. There is a great review of this case, with some good pictures, here. If you have a different case (using 80mm fans) you would like to use, make sure it has at least two 80mm exhausts and two 80mm intakes.


MODIFICATIONS


*CASE MODS*

The Antec SLK3700AMB case is a great choice for quiet computing for two reasons. First, it comes with rubber grommets for mounting up to five hard drives, which really lowers the amount of transferred vibration from the hard drives. This transferred vibration is a major cause of system noise. Second, it comes with mounts for 120mm intake and exhaust fans. 120mm fans, at low speed, move more air and produce less noise, than a couple 80mm fans.

Here's a shot of my SLK3700AMB:



The only thing this case needs is a mod to the intake and exhaust fan grills. The intake and exhaust ports, unfortunately, are just little holes drilled into the metal chassis for airflow. This greatly restricts airflow and causes cavitation noise.

The ports, ideally, need to just be just one, big 120mm hole in the chassis. I suggest either a dremel (the slow, clean way) or a jigsaw with a metal cutting blade (the quick, dirty way). Cut the port completely open. Make it one, big 120mm hole, instead of that swiss-cheese look they give you, at the factory. When you're doing the cutting, make sure the case sides are on, because they give the case strength and stability, while you're hacking away at it. Also, it is a good idea to set the case on a towel or something, to keep it from getting marred, and put tape all around the hole, where you are cutting, to keep the chassis from getting scratched up.

The 120mm fans don't attach to the case. They actually attach to a plastic housing, which is then attached to the case. This housing also needs some work. It has cross braces all over the place. There are too many of them, and they are restricting airflow a bit, too. Grab a pair of angle-cutters and cut some of those out.

This is what the rear should look like, after you cut out the hole and trim those cross braces:



(I know the picture quality is bad, but you get the idea.)

The case comes with one 120mm fan located at the exhaust. It is an Antec and is pretty good. I suggest getting one more 120mm fan for the intake, too, preferable one with a Molex connector. The last case mod, is really a fan mod. For lower system noise, mod both fans for 5V or 7V. They will still move a good amount of air, keeping the system supplied with fresh, cold air for those soon-to-be-overclocked CPU's.

*MOTHERBOARD MODS*

There is one main mod to do. The K7D comes with a fan on the northbridge heatsink. It is noisy and unnecessary. I have three K7D systems. I have removed the Northbridge heatsink fan from all of them and haven't had one problem.

No other mods are required, yet. The MSI K7D Master allow multiplier change in the BIOS, up to 12.5, with CPU's that are unlocked by default. Those T-bred B XP1700's can reach up to 2 GHz, or higher, though, so 12.5 won't be high enough. Higher multipliers can be used. I will address this, below.

*CPU MODS*

Athlon XP's can be modded to run as MP's. For all the information on this, including instructions on how to do the "L5 mod", see this sticky. The first reply includes links to articles explaining the mod, with pictures! Note: if you bridge the L5's, you will need to scrape the bridges a little bit, first, to expose the copper. There is a thin coating over them. You can use a thumb tack or needle or similar to give those a little scrape, first.

For the answer to almost any non-SMP-specific question you could ever have about AMD CPU's, please see this excellent FAQ.

If you want to overclock, you can overclock up to 12.5*150=1875 MHz, just using the BIOS, no mods to the chips, other than the L5 mod. If you want to overclock higher than that, then you will have to mod the multiplier.

There are two main popular methods that I have used. One is called "bridge blowing" and involves popping some of the L3 bridges, using electricity. Sounds dangerous, but it isn't. See this thread to find out more about this method. Please read the ENTIRE THREAD. Personally, I prefer the 5V method. It has worked consistently, for me.

The other multiplier mod, called the "pin-mod", involves modding the CPU socket, on the motherboard, to change multipliers. You just use little pieces of U-shaped wire, dropped into the appropriate socket holes, to achieve the desired multiplier. Here is the interactive diagram for the method and here are the instructions. There is an alternate method to doing this mod, here. This method has three main benefits. First, it is somewhat less nerve-wracking then blowing bridges. Second, it is easily undone, or changed. In the bridge-blowing method, if you blow bridges and don't like your results, you may have to re-mod the chip. Sometimes, this involves re-bridging a bridge you have previously blown (not too difficult, but still.) In the pin-mod method, if you change the multiplier and don't like your results, you can just remove the CPU, and remove the mod or change it. Third, this method may be better because of a new chip design from AMD. Some of the newest T-bred B's, now have a thick coating over all of the bridges. This can make it very difficult to get to them. For the L5 mod, it's not a problem. You can just put some conductive paint in the pit of the appropriate L5 bridge, and that will connect the bridges. For bridge-blowing multiplier modification, however, this is a problem, because it is hard to get contact with the L3 bridges.

There is a third way to modify your multipliers, but I haven't personally used it, yet. I recently found out, here, about a product that is a new version of the classic Golden Sockets adapter. This product claims to let you change the multi on any AMD CPU to anything from 5X-24X. Looks really promising. Here is a link to the manufacturer's spec page about the product. The manufacturer does admit that you have to use CPU's that are unlocked (the L1's are not cut) to be able to use this product. Fortunately, that includes all T-breds and Bartons, as far as I know. This would be a good thing to have to test the overclockability of your CPU's. Once you know, you can blow the bridges (or do the pin-mod), set the multi, and be done. That way, you don't have to blow bridges more than once, or screw around with reconnecting bridges and such. There is a review of this product here.

*POWER SUPPLY MODS*

Every 500+ watt PSU I have ever used has been too noisy, in my opinion. I always take them apart and replace the stock fans with Panaflo L1A's. You can find a few articles that explain the process of replacing fans, here, here, and here.

INSTALLATION AND TESTING


*CPU SMP AND MULTIPLIER TESTING*

First things, first. The hardest thing about building an AMD dually, with modded processors, is modding the CPU's and making sure that they really do show up as MP's... consistently.

There is one sure-fire method, in my opinion, for getting this right and making your life easier.

First, do the L5 mod and let the conductive paint dry for a few hours.

Second, set up a stipped-down system, outside of the case. Set the motherboard on top of a non-conductive surface, such as a wooden table, or FedEx box Connect the system with ONLY the following components... Power Supply, Motherboard, one stick of RAM, and one video card. Do not plug in the PSU, yet.

Third, put your first modded CPU in the primary CPU socket. This is the one in the middle of the board. Put on its heatsink and fan. Set the FSB jumper to 100 (this is useful for initial testing, because it removes a few variables.)

Fourth, hook up your monitor and keyboard, then plug in the power supply. Boot up the system and make sure, when it shows the CPU, that is shows up as an "MP". If it shows up as an XP, then your L5 mod is bad and you need to shut down, unplug the PSU, remove the CPU and redo the mod. If it shows up as an MP, verify that it is showing the right multiplier. Your FSB is 100, so your XP1700, at stock, should be showing up as 1100 MHz (its default multiplier is 11X.) If you already modded the CPU for a higher multiplier, then verify that it is showing up properly. If you modded for 15X, then it should show up as 1500 MHz, etc. (If you plan on doing the pin-mod, wait until you have finished testing both CPU's.)

Fifth, now that you're done with the first CPU. You know that the L5 mod is good and you know that the multiplier mod is good (if applicable.) Shut down the computer, unplug the PSU, remove that CPU and put in the other one, again, in the Primary CPU socket. Test this one, individually, as you did the other.

Note, the reason for checking each CPU, individually, is that if you don't, and you have a problem, then you don't know where your problem is. Finding and fixing this can more time consuming and frustrating, then just doing it right, the first time. I have built five AMD duallies. I have learned these lessons the hard way. There is a smart way to do things, and there is a dumb/fast way to do things. Save yourself some headaches and learn from my mistakes.

Sixth, now you're done with both CPU's and you have verified that they both, indeed, show up as MP's. Now, Shut down the computer, unplug the PSU, do your pin-mod to both sockets (if applicable), then put in both CPU's and their heatsinks and fans. Boot up the system, still at 100 FSB, and verify that both CPU's are showing as MP's and the multiplier is right. Now is a good time to check to see what BIOS version you are running. The latest (as of 8/4/03) is version 1.82. You should see the BIOS version on the top of the screen, above and to the left of the CPU speed, during bootup. I suggest running BIOS 1.5, or later. Now, go into the BIOS, because there is one important thing to change, before you start upping the FSB. The memory settings on this board sometimes have problems with certain kinds of memory. The Auto settings, for some kinds of memory, are too aggressive for the system to boot at 133 FSB. This affects several kinds of memory, but most notably, Corsair brand PC2700 or higher. Set the memory settings to Manual. The best memory settings for this board are this: 16,16,6,2,2,2,3. Use those settings, if possible. If you're running PC2700, those settings should be fine, all the way up to 150 FSB (the FSB limit of the board.)

Note, if you are going to run a multiplier higher than 12.5X, then you need to leave the multiplier set to Auto in the BIOS. If you change it, the system won't boot.

*INSTALLING THE OPERATING SYSTEM*

Now that you've verified that the CPU's are showing up as MP's and their multipliers are correct, it would be a good time to install an Operating System. Keep in mind that the only Microsoft Operating Systems that support dual processors are: NT, 2000, and XP Professional. You want to install the OS, when the system isn't really overclocked, so you won't possibly corrupt system files, during installation. I suggest just leaving your FSB jumper at 100; this will let the CPU run slower and more stable, for the OS installation.

Your system should still be running, outside the case. There is a reason for this. I will get to it later. Go ahead and hook up your hard drive, CD drive, and other PCI peripherals and install the OS.

Download and install your chipset drivers. You can get them here. (Ignore the five LAN drivers on the top of that page. They are for other motherboards.)

Download and install Motherboard Monitor. You can get it from here. Set the sensors to this:

CPU1: Winbond 2 2N3904
CPU2: Winbond 3 2N3904
Case Temp: Winbond 1

For testing purposes, configure it to start when the computer starts, and to open the dashboard as well.

*CPU STABILITY TESTING*

Once the OS is installed, and your drivers are up to date, download and install Prime95 from www.mersenne.org/freesoft.htm. This is an excellent CPU testing program. For instructions on how to install and run this program on TWO processors, see my post in the thread here.

Once that is installed, shut down, move the FSB jumper to 133 and boot up.

If the system won't POST, then move the FSB jumper back to 100. Boot up, go into the BIOS, and set the Vcore to a manual value higher than the default value. T-bred B XP1700's have a default Vcore of 1.65. Try 1.675, then shut down, move the FSB jumper and try again. Repeat as necessary.

If the system does POST, but you Windows won't load, or you get a error message during bootup, then restart, go into the BIOS and give the CPU's a little more Vcore. Just take it up one notch at a time, until Windows loads.

Once Windows loads correctly, run two instances of Prime95, for at least 30 minutes, to check for initial stability. If Prime95 fails, reboot, up the Vcore a notch, and try again. If you can run two instances of Prime95, overnight, without errors, then your system is solid. An additional test is to run two instances of Prime95 and loop 3DMark2001, overnight. If that can run, overnight, then you should be pretty darn stable.

The steps, below, are optional. Burning in the system can help you overclock higher and require less Vcore to get there. Less Vcore = lower temps.

After checking for initial stability (and making sure your temps aren't too high) start increasing Vcore and running two instances of Prime95. Watch your temps and make sure they don't go too high (50-60C is ok) and let the computer chew on Prime95 for a few days to burn the CPU's in (keep increasing Vcore, until your full-load temps are too high.) After a few days of this, start jacking up the FSB, all the way to 150 (you'll probably need PC2700 to get this high, with the aggressive memory timings I listed above.) If you can get up to 15*150 with stability (tested and verified with Prime95) then start lowering the Vcore and re-testing. Keep lowering until the system fails at Prime95 or can't boot. Keep in mind that there are two primary reason for CPU instability: CPU Overheating and Insufficient Vcore. These are opposite extremes. If your temps are too high, your CPU's could be unstable. Adding more Vcore will only make this situation worse. If your CPU needs so much Vcore to be stable that it overheats, then you shoot yourself in the foot with Vcore.


Now, you will have a good idea of your CPU's MHz potential at a certain Vcore (and temp.) It is a good idea to record your stable speeds at different Vcores. If your temps are good and you have some room to play with, then consider upping the multi again, or lowering your multi, so you can raise your FSB (higher FSB generally yields higher overall system performance, then higher multiplier.)

At this point, you know your system is stable, you know that your modifications are done, and you shouldn't need to mess around with the CPU's, anymore.

PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER

It is finally time to put this thing in the case! I refrained from telling you to put the system in the case before, for a couple reasons. For one, it is pretty hard to install the heatsink on CPU2, when the motherboard is in the case. If you decided to remove the CPU's, to further mod them, sometime during the installation and testing phases, then you would have a really hard time getting the heatsink back on CPU2 (I killed a processor, because of this.) Also, the sockets wouldn't be as easy to get to, if you wanted to re-mod them. Another reason is that the systems temps should remain fairly stable, when the system is run open-air. This is useful, when you're doing burn-in and running high temps, on purpose.

Anyway, now you can take all your PCI and AGP cards out and unhook everything from the motherboard. Leave the CPU's, Heatsinks and memory on it, though. It is SO MUCH EASIER to mount those, before you put the motherboard into the case.

Put it all together again. Boot up and enjoy. Remember to keep an eye on your temps. They will likely be a little higher, with the motherboard and CPU's inside a close case. This depends, largely, on the amount of case airflow.


OTHER QUIET COMPUTER PARTS I RECOMMEND


*HARD DRIVES*

Hard Drives are a major contributor to system noise. Over the years, I have discovered three hard drives that I just love. Each is quiet, and is suitable for different needs.

The Western Digital JB series of drives is just great. They are one of the few IDE drives that are still sold with a 3-yr. warranty. They have an 8MB cache, their performance is great, and they are quieter than most other IDE drives. The only exception is their drives below 80GB. For some reason, those below 80GB, such as the 400JB, are designed slightly differently, and are VERY loud. 800JB and up are very good.

The Seagate Barracuda V is the quietest IDE drive you can get, I believe. It, too, is 7200 RPM and features a 2-MB cache. Its performance is quite as good as the Western Digital JB drives, but it is still very good, and it is quieter than the WD's. If you want the absolute, quietest computer you can get, get a Seagate Barracuda V.

The Seagate Cheetah 15K.3 is the quietest 15K SCSI drive, available. It is also one of the highest performance drives, anywhere. If you can afford to go with 15K SCSI, I highly recommend it. I think that my upgrade to 15K SCSI gave me more of a performance increase than any other upgrade I have EVER made. For a SCSI controller, I highly recommend the LSI U160. It is a great SCSI controller and only costs about $45. http://www.svc.com/ is a good place to get cheap, round SCSI/IDE/Floppy cables. On my Primary machine, I have a Seagate 15K.3 for my Operating Systems and Games partitions. I have a Seagate Barracuda V for my Files partition, where I keep backups and stuff I need permanent storage for.

A great resource for good hard drive data, including performance and noise, is http://www.storagereview.com/. You can access their Benchmark Database here. Change the drop down menu and click "Sort" to see how drives compare in a variety of real benchmarks and measurements. They have one especially useful database just for Drive Idle Noise.

*INSULATION*

I have used a product called "Akasa Pax Mate" on many of my computers. It is available from http://www.svc.com./ It is a thin, foam insulation that you put on the sides, top, and bottom of your case. It is supposed to absorb some sound and make your computer quieter. I don't know if it really works, or not. I do know that it makes your temperatures higher, since some of the heat inside your case can't radiate through the metal sides.
This should be considered a luxury item for the truly noise-picky, who aren't afraid to have slightly higher temperatures.



This thread is published as an article HERE.

This thread/article is the first in a three part series, on Quiet Computing. The second part "Step-by-Step: Building a Quiet PC from the Ground Up" is published, HERE. The forum version of that article can be found HERE.

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Step-by-Step: How to build a cheap and quiet AMD dually.

Step-by-Step: Building a Quiet PC from the Ground Up.

Last edited by cmcquistion on 08-23-2003 at 05:45 PM

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Old Post 08-05-2003 03:57 AM
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Disco_Stu
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wow. I'm floored.

I wish you had written this a few weeks ago, it would have saved me a mountain of forum searching!

Best SMP post ever!

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Old Post 08-05-2003 04:04 AM
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Rav
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Sticky

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+ AMD Athlon XP 2400+@2233Mhz Watercooled = WXP/FAH/Gaming
+ AMD Athlon MP 1700+@1800Mhz (2) = W2K/FAH/Desktop
+ AMD Athlon XP 1800+@1610Mhz = W2K/FAH/Office
+ AMD Athlon XP 2600+@2100Mhz = W2K/FAH/Office
+ AMD Athlon XP 1600+@1766Mhz = W2K/FAH/Server
+ AMD Duron 1200@1200Mhz = 98SE/FAH
+ AMD Athlon 700@700Mhz = W2K/FAH
+ Pentium III 500@560Mhz = W2K/FAH
+ Borged: P4 3.2C, P4 2.4B, P3 933 - all offline!

+ Top 20 Folder for Team 32, 20Ghz Total Power

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Old Post 08-05-2003 04:43 AM
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AdvanS13
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def sticky...always quality posts from cmc ...will be digging this thread up when i go duallie

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Old Post 08-05-2003 06:31 AM
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Maxvla
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perfect timing cmc

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Old Post 08-05-2003 06:50 AM
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TLhead
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I was kind of wondering when you would get tired of sending everyone to various threads.... Now there's just one nice one that covers it all. That will be a great article!

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Old Post 08-05-2003 06:58 AM
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Krowa 02
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Very good guide, might make me jump over to make a dualie, thanks alot.

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Life was much more simple before dual channel memory.

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Old Post 08-05-2003 10:29 AM
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Krowa 02
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Btw I forgot to add, this would work well as a sticky

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Life was much more simple before dual channel memory.

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Old Post 08-05-2003 01:16 PM
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Spl Engineering
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Great post .....

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cmcquistion
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*EDITED* With additional content, links, and a few pictures.

This thread is now more updated then the published article version.

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Step-by-Step: How to build a cheap and quiet AMD dually.

Step-by-Step: Building a Quiet PC from the Ground Up.

Last edited by cmcquistion on 08-16-2003 at 03:19 PM

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Old Post 08-07-2003 05:48 PM
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Deathknight
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Good lord this is thorough. Great work! I am getting the dualy itch lately and this has made it 10x as strong hehe.

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Old Post 08-15-2003 11:43 PM
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cmcquistion
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quote:
Originally posted by Deathknight
Good lord this is thorough. Great work! I am getting the dualy itch lately and this has made it 10x as strong hehe.


Thank you. It took a while, but I tried to answers a lot of the questions that are asked around here a lot, and give some advice to those that have "the itch."

I have two more articles I'm working on, now. One on building a quiet single-CPU computer and one on building a shock-mount hard drive rack, compatible with almost any case, that significantly lowers hard drive noise.

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Step-by-Step: How to build a cheap and quiet AMD dually.

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Old Post 08-16-2003 03:36 AM
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toymaker
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Great and thorough post. I've been considering going dually and your post answered a lot of my questions. Thanks.

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Old Post 08-16-2003 03:54 AM
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Good write up. It helped me alot. Lots of good info and links too.

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Old Post 08-20-2003 08:46 PM
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Deathknight
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Just thought I would share something that I learned regarding the slk3700 case. Its basically a case design that Antec has bought the rights to use. The same basic case is also available elsewhere as the LX-6A19. Directron has it for $39.00 without PSU(a good thing if you are going to remove it anyway).

http://www.directron.com/cslx6a19bl.html

As far as I know it does not come with the grommets for the HDs but it does have the dual 120mm fan mounts. It also comes in black which is a plus for many.

Anyways just figured I would share. If someone was looking to shave a few bucks off the price of their dually and liked the slk3700 this is a good option.

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Old Post 08-21-2003 04:24 AM
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cmcquistion
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quote:
Originally posted by Deathknight
Just thought I would share something that I learned regarding the slk3700 case. Its basically a case design that Antec has bought the rights to use. The same basic case is also available elsewhere as the LX-6A19. Directron has it for $39.00 without PSU(a good thing if you are going to remove it anyway).

http://www.directron.com/cslx6a19bl.html

As far as I know it does not come with the grommets for the HDs but it does have the dual 120mm fan mounts. It also comes in black which is a plus for many.

Anyways just figured I would share. If someone was looking to shave a few bucks off the price of their dually and liked the slk3700 this is a good option.


WOW! Good find. That is the exact same case. It shows the rubber grommets and all. It is exactly the same, as far as the pictures show, except they offer it in black or silver and it doesn't come with a power supply.

Thanks!

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Old Post 08-21-2003 05:54 AM
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thanks alot for the case find!

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Old Post 08-21-2003 09:15 AM
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germanjulian
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the paxmate apperantly isnt very good.
if you do care about noise reduction foam get the foam from
http://www.acoustiproducts.com/en/acoustipack.asp
http://www.quietpc.com/

i got the delux stuff and it makes such a difference!

and my I remind veryone of this article

http://overclockers.com/tips1049/

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quote:
I have used cheap "Power Magic" Brand PSU's, between 500 and 550 watts. They have worked just fine, for me. They are VERY, VERY cheap, but I have used them on two AMD duallies and haven't had any trouble out of them.


Anyone have a link to a good online store that carries these cheap, reliable 500 watt power supplies?

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Old Post 09-01-2003 03:14 AM
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mdcomp
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Wow!! Nice article...very thorough. I learned a lot from that, almost convinced me to build a dual system, but I have no money. Maybe you should get this posted on the home page of overclockers, or at least a sticky.

Matt

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Old Post 09-01-2003 03:35 AM
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cmcquistion
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quote:
Originally posted by mdcomp
Wow!! Nice article...very thorough. I learned a lot from that, almost convinced me to build a dual system, but I have no money. Maybe you should get this posted on the home page of overclockers, or at least a sticky.

Matt


It is a sticky, and it has also been published as an article on the front page.

quote:
Originally posted by poopygood


Anyone have a link to a good online store that carries these cheap, reliable 500 watt power supplies?



http://www.amamax.com/

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Old Post 09-01-2003 02:08 PM
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mdcomp
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quote:
Originally posted by cmcquistion


It is a sticky, and it has also been published as an article on the front page.


Guess I missed it, lol. Glad it is though. Great stuff. Can't wait to see your upcoming articles.

Matt

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Old Post 09-01-2003 02:40 PM
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