linuxfanatic

In the context of Scrapyard Wars, where no name power supplies manufactured ca. 2006 are the baseline, a CX600 certainly is a "decent" PSU. When you are building a hard-line, water cooled X99 ROG Mobo based, 3-way SLI system in a 900D? 

Different context

Wow that was sure close on the final score!  I did expect the general categories (aesthetics vs performance) to go the way they did, though.
 
@Slick's comment on depleting the local supply of good parts, and suggesting doing a future SYW somewhere else reminds me of an idea I had.  ...
Basically, you'd build a silent "heater" in a very small case, and test it in a warm area.
 
In more detail...
For the case, the maximum size would be one of @JoshFractal's Node 202s.  (If you could use a case so small that a mini ITX board takes up the entire inside surface area, and there isn't room for the I/O ports on the back to stack vertically (like about the thickness of a laptop/tablet), that'd be interesting too.) For the CPU, I'm thinking something like a 130+-watt Intel.  (I'd suggest the AMD FX-9590 as well, but there aren't any mini ITX boards compatible with it.  However, ASRock does make a mini ITX Socket 2011-v3 board.) The GPU would be something like an R9 295X2, or GTX 480. On both the CPU and GPU, they would be overclocked so that each one requires its own dedicated 1600-watt PSU (like the EVGA 1600W T2).  In the case of a dual-GPU card, that applies for each GPU. (Of course, having the PSUs outside the case isn't only permitted, it would be required due to space considerations.) The CPU and GPU cooling would have to be absolutely silent, as well as the case.  (If it registers *at all* on LMG's best microphone when it's in direct contact with the cooler, it fails the test.)  I'm primarily thinking heatsinks only, but maybe there's another type of silent cooler whose existence I'm not aware of? Also the heatsinks must be contained entirely within the case.  It is permissible to also use the case itself in heat dissipation, but it must not be so hot you can't comfortably hold it in your bare hands while the PC is under load. Shopping for the parts could be done in places like San Diego, Los Angeles, Bakersfield, Barstow, Las Vegas, Yuma, Palm Springs, etc. The actual benchmarking would take place in a fairly warm area, like Death Valley or east of Palm Springs, CA, in summer, when/where the ambient temperature is at least 50°C. Also, one of the heat test programs should be Prime95 28.7 small FFT, or a similarly-heat-producing equivalent.  (On my i7-4790K with a 212 Evo, it was hitting 100°C at 3.8-3.9 GHz last week before I cleaned about a year's worth of dust out.  After, it was around 91°C at 4.2 GHz.) Or, if it's not possible to have 3,000+ watts of heat in a laptop-sized case cooled silently, what would be the most TDP/heat in the smallest case that @LinusTech and Luke could pull off?
 
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Or, another idea I have would involve at least one using an APU (or Intel iGPU).  Then, instead of Linus opening Luke's system (like in SYW1) and saying "wh--how did you get a 290?!", it'd be one of them opening the other's system and saying "wh--HEY WHERE'S YOUR VIDEO CARD?!!"
 
Also, maybe a few suggestions for rules on one season, for a bit of a challenge:
When shopping, don't just willy nilly make offers and pick and choose, just take the first part in each category that's available.  (Available meaning the seller responds and is willing to sell.)  Some fudging is acceptable when you need to ensure compatibility, though. *ALL* shopping must be completed BEFORE you start building. After building, and when benching, an overclock is permitted, BUT... as *soon* as any issues are experienced, *ALL* overclocks must be turned off (CPU, GPU, RAM, BCLK, etc), everything reset to factory/stock settings. In the case of a second crash/glitch/whatever, you have the choice of either... Underclocking all the way (for example taking a recent Intel CPU to a multipler of 8 and lowering BCLK to like 80 or 90 or whatever is the lowest it will go), or Choosing the lowest-end part in LMG's stash (like the 9500 GS GPU, for example) that will at least run the benchmarks/games.  In this case, though, for calculating price/performance, you'd assume you had bought the highest end components made in that category (for example Quadro M6000s in 4-way SLI). I'd  thought of a few other future SYW season ideas, but they seem to be escaping my brain at the moment...
 
 
 

Yes, SYW requires the homes and offices and workshop studios and cars of LMG to work. It's too expensive to do a San Jose version -- or even a Toronto version. Won't work.

The availability of hardware issue in Vancouver area isn't generally that large, even if at this specific time it was. I think the bigger issue is whether Linus and Luke are too well known and that knowledge undermines the validity of the transaction.
 
Because the guy who sold the Reference Radeon R 290 to Bob for a VERY low price in the market absolutely knew that was going to Linus for SYW, imo.
 
This is addressed in future seasons by getting a team-mate to make the call from the very start.  

With the commentary in between the show and everything else this almost looks like a TV show or something... Perhaps it could become one some day. It definitely has a lot going for it. I absolutely love what you did this season and I can't wait for the next one. For me, the Scrapyard Wars alone was probably worth the yearly Vessel subscription.
Beside that I also got some ideas for the next seasons (not all are good, but some are worth thinking through):
most "futureproof" PC Nvidia vs AMD (one team only uses Nvidia graphics and the other one AMD; there are more variants of this, for example Intel&Nvidia vs all AMD, Intel vs AMD CPUs... tho I kinda feel like that would give one team an advantage) only allowed Intel/AMD CPUs or only Nvidia/AMD graphics (similar to the previous one) most compact/portable build best Editing build (IMO the best one here) Let me know what you think about these.
 
Also @LinusTech @Slick when approximately is the next season coming?

I like these ideas. I've thought of a few too...
Spend at least "half your budget" on one of the 2 major parts (CPU/GPU), but weight the benchmark the *other* way.  (Remember @LinusTech in S01E03 guessing @Slick had a 7970; he had a 290 but got rekt because of weak CPU.) Do a vintage/nostalgic build season - use parts from, for example, their first ever computer or their parents' first, or equivalent-age, or, parts that were already discontinued before the year the oldest contestant was born. A NAS/backup server where just one 5-8TB (appropriate-purpose- no Green or Archive in a RAID, although Seagate 8TB Archive drives may be used in single-drive mode) hard drive costs more (when bought new at normal market price on Newegg/Amazon/etc) than the rest of the entire system combined, including software and peripherals. Hot-part-using ultra-compact silent build - CPU at least as hot as a 50%-OC'd FX-9590, GPU at least as hot as a 295x2 with heavy OC - in Fractal Node 202 or smaller case, passively cooled (also no case/PSU fans, although the PSU would sit outside the case). Use Prime95 28.7 small FFT to heat CPU if using Haswell-E, or equivalent-heat stress test if another platform.  Bench in southwest USA desert when/where ambient air temp is >50°C and ground is >80°C. (PC would sit on the ground.) On the other end of the ambient heat scale - build a system with no cooling at all (even de-lidding the CPU). Take it to Vostok Station, Antarctica, and see what performance you can get out of it. Some of these may need extended shopping time so ebay could be used.
 
Also, some ideas for rules for one future "normal-build" season (like 1 & 3):
When shopping, take the first available part in each category (based on when the seller responds and is available for pickup), no leveraging options for better deals.  (Be careful which ads you reach out to in the first place.) All shopping must be completed *before* building starts. OC may be used, but if there's *any* instability or crashing during benching, then first time, *ALL* OCs must be reset to stock.  2nd time, they have the choice of Underclocking all the way (bclk 60 or whatever the lowest is, multiplier 8 on CPU) on all components, Choosing the lowest-end/oldest part off a warehouse shelf capable of running the benchmark (like the Pentium 4 from the season 3 troll system or the 9500 GS from 2 gamers 1 CPU), but calculating price/performance as if you'd bought the most expensive part in that category (for example, for GPU it might be 4-way SLI Tesla)  

Got the lid on finally   was able to do some testing for about an hour until my wife demanded the tv back lol.
 
My thermals stayed very good ,had to adjust the fan curve on the gpu ,now that it is set the fans don't go above 60% and my highest temp was 64c .The cpu on the other hand did not even go above 50c was pretty dang impressed with that. Still have to seal up the console more to get more accurate temps on the cpu.
 
also one thing I am pretty happy I made the two vents for the gpu ,If i did not i would be making them now.
 
quick checklist of things left to do 
 
mount hard drive
make new I/O panel (had one made, but took a bad measurement today and have to make a new one)
install exhaust fan (have to modify the old setup to make room for psu)
make new beauty panel/psu mount
install led light
 
some pics enjoy!