fire219

All anyone is going to do is comment on the lack of SSD, until you give in and get one.
 
Seriously, just get one now, so you don't have to deal with moving loads of programs and files later. Also, your old computer + an SSD would feel much better than your new build without one. The difference is that dramatic.

Understandable, and I don't think anyone else wants it to happen as it will slow down your progress on the build log. But you've gotta do what you've gotta do.

Depends on your definition of extreme cold. If you mean something like -10C, it'll be fine. If you mean -50C, you may encounter some minor problems.

For the RAM: Yes, you can just select 1866 and it should run at that speed. You can try the higher speeds. It may not be stable, but it won't damage anything. You would just have to set it back to 1866 or lower in that case.
 
For the CPU: Messing with the base frequency is usually a bad idea. Almost everything in your system is referenced to that clock, and changing it very far from stock can make things go very wrong.
 
 

Go to your local office supply store and try out the office chairs they have on display. Find one that feels good to your butt and buy it.
 
Specialized "gaming chairs" are basically a scam.

Seconding this.

I found this, wouldn't recommend his way though, cutting up a mobo.
http://imgur.com/gallery/MF5P4
 
 
Hello again it's Monday, everyone enjoyed their day at work/school? I sure did, had a day of  
 
Anyways as promised a little update:
so everyone sees all these plastic lines/spacers. they need to go.

 
 
So lets grab a dremel and start cutting away. (sorry for no in progress shot)


 
so that's the initial cut where I made room for the mobo and io shield, also yes those screw's are going to be the mobo stand off's.
After this I had to do a test fit with the mobo to see if I've messed up.


 
And it fits like a charm, so lets get going on the top panel.

 
that's a nice beginning however there's one more problem.

 
the entire shroud needs to be exposed without cutting in to it.
so let's hope I've got a steady hand and the right technique.

 
Seems to be going alright.
so how I managed to do this is put a screwdriver in between the panel and mesh to keep them separated and cut away little bits at a time:


 
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO I messed up, not to bad though:

 
and mostly finished here:


 
not bad if I may say so myself. In the end there were only 2 mis cuts and you can barely see them, so mission accomplished.
so now lets get back to the bottom panel because we where not done yet.
we need to drill some more holes in order to cool this machine.
first let's see how far we want them seperated:

 
seems to be alright, lets draw some more and start the tedious work.

 
luckily I don't need to use a hand drill because that would be murder to my arm.

 
and yes that is a really old machine.
and then now the finished result

 
now I'm almost done because I decided to change it up a little bit, so some more drilling and cutting was necessary.

 
and done. at least for now.
If you are wondering about those wire's, I'll need them as a ground since I don't use a metal case on the inside.
 
now last but not least the front-panel, I really wanted to keep the touch sensing so I had to make something up for that.
So I bought some touch sensors to mount to the front ribbon cable.

 
So i got those but it doesn't work like that sadly enough. so lets get creative.
I needed to tap into the capacitive sensor so I could wire it to the ribbon cable, I had 2 options, number one solder a wire to this little pin:

 
But that thing is so tiny you would almost need a magnifying-glass in order to solder on it.
so option 2 it was, actually quite simple, drill a hole, scrape away some solder mask on the front, feed a wire through and solder it on there:


 
then all I needed to do is mount it to front ribbon cable:

 
but it still doesn't work, I need to power the thing and make it work with thew mobo.
so grab a servo wire mount it to the sensor and remember what color is what.

 
then grab a relaid and wire it up to the sensor.



 
Now the last part about the front panel, lighting up the xbox logo:



 
seems like a perfect fit to me.
 
now here is the finished result, I just glued the led that's why the tape:

 
Power to the touch sensor comes from the on-board usb 2 header, because those things have standby power. and I definitely need that.
 
 
Lets leave it at that for now, was already more than planned  
anyways next update is going to be wire harness and mobo/cpu.
 
Hope you enjoyed

The experience will be the same, build quality and maybe comfort may vary. If you want to control that, just make it your own. That's kind of the point of it.

The Cheap SFF Wonder (alternately: How to modify a cheap SFF PC ghetto-style)
 
So, a little bit of backstory here: As a teenager, I find myself in need of cash far more than previously. Instead of begging the parents for money (or getting a job), I decided to try to buy stuff cheap off eBay, and resell it locally for a profit. One of the things purchased was a 2009 vintage Lenovo ThinkCentre M57 (6073ADU) SFF PC, for $31.
 
What I failed to realize was that not many people around here had much use for a cheap PC (iPhones do all that anyone would ever need, right?). So, I found myself in long-term possession of a system of the following specifications:
 
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E6550 @ 2.33GHz
RAM: 2GB Mushkin DDR2-667
Motherboard: Proprietary Lenovo Q35
Graphics: Integrated Q35 Express
Storage: 160GB Samsung HDD (HD161GJ)
OS: Windows 7 SP1
Optical Drive: 24x DVD-ROM drive
PSU: Some custom 280W mess
(Official Lenovo specsheet here)
 
Far from a performer, but about what you expect for the price. So, I decided to try to build it up into something at least respectable, within the budget of your average high school kid.
 
So, let's get started shall we?
 
The Graphics
Being that many of you are at least casual gamers, you probably felt queasy when you read that this thing sports Q35 Express graphics -- integrated graphics from when Intel still called it GMA and "integrated graphics" itself was a bit of a naughty phrase. I can't blame you for that, and that was the first thing in need of replacement.
 
Luckily, I had just the thing laying around: an AMD Radeon HD5450. It's a half height card, so it actually fits in the case. It's still far from a gaming GPU, but it'll do. This thing will probably never see a serious video game anyway.
(Side note: The half-height bracket for this card was thrown away years ago, so the card was installed without a bracket at all. +1 ghetto point.)

 
The RAM
2GB of RAM doesn't get you too far nowadays. So, some supplementary goats were in order. Luckily, we had an old Athlon 64 x2 system gathering dust, so it's RAM was pulled and placed in this box. We now have 6GB -- still not massive, but quite high for a machine sporting DDR2!
 
The Hard Drive
160GB is not that much either. Luckily, I had a 320GB Fujitsu HDD laying around. Unfortunately, it's a 2.5" laptop drive that needs to go in a drive bay that only accommodates 3.5" drives. Luckily, I can improvise...

(+2 ghetto points. Total is now 3.)
 
Since I largely expected to use this system more for server-ish uses than gaming, I chose to install Ubuntu (14.04 LTS).
 
The CPU
The E6550 was a mid-range CPU.... when it was released in late 2007. It's now 5 generations old, and its Passmark score tells the tale: 1501. This puts it in the realm of modern low-power Celerons. I can not let this stand.
 
Sadly, it's not as easy as dumping a i7-5960x inside. This is an LGA775 machine, with the extremely pedestrian Q35 chipset. To state it simply, this means we have to stay in the realm of Conroe (Core 2 and friends) "uniprocessor" (meaning everything on one die) chips. Also, needs to meet the "teenager pocket change" requirement.
After, days of tediously comparing BIOS microcode compatibility, Passmark scores, TDPs, and eBay prices, I found my answer: The Xeon X3320, a quad core Yorkfield chip. This $20 purchase brings the Passmark score up to 3434, now up into the realm of modern mobile Core i5s. Still not earth shattering (and half the raw performance of my main's i5 3570), but the best I could get within my criteria.
 
As of December 8th, the Xeon has shipped but has not arrived. It should sometime this week.
On December 12th, the Xeon arrived and was installed. Read the next chapter for that adventure!
 
The system as it stands today

 
Updates:
12/12/15 -- How to not cool a CPU!
2/12/16 -- The Cold Never Bothered Me Anyway
 
Prices so far (updated as the build advances)
Prices for me:                                        Prices to buy everything: (averages from a quick google search)
Base System: $31                                 Base System: $31
GPU: Free                                             GPU: ~$30
HDD: Free                                             HDD: ~$40
RAM: Free                                             RAM: ~$15
CPU: $20                                              CPU: $40 (I got a good deal...)
_______________                                _______________
Total to date: $51                               Total to date: $151
 
Ghetto points: 4
 
I will continue this as the build goes on. Until then, hope you've enjoyed reading about my stupid idea project.

I'd be careful. By the name alone, it sounds a bit shady. However, there seems to be satisfied users of their other products.
 
At best, the capacity is lower than it's rated for. There is no magic trick to get an extra 1400mAh out of a battery of the same size. At worst, it's a fire and electrical hazard.

Definitely Win7. 8.1 is a bandaid over the ugly and bloody experimental mess that was 8.0.
 
If you don't mind the potential privacy issues and updates being forced on you, also think about Win10. It's a better OS than 7 or 8.1 under the hood. (The aforementioned issues are keeping me away though). I really need to actually read the OP before I post...

60Mbps, or 60MB/s? There's a massive difference (factor of 8). 
 
If it is 60Mbps, something is very wrong. What are the systems and their storage on either side.
If it's 60MB/s, that's just about normal without serious optimization.

Ubuntu and SAMBA

If you are expecting exactly 1Gbps in and out, you'll be disappointed. The protocols that actually carry data over Ethernet have a fair bit of overhead (bandwidth used for things other than the actual data). The best you can realistically expect is  about 80-85MB/s (720Mbps)
 

You'll be fine with the Intel chipset.
To be honest, Killer Ethernet stuff is not worth it anyway. It promises performance gains, but usually works slower than the other solutions in high end systems,

I use Hitfilm 3 Express. It's a slightly stripped down version of an excellent pro-grade editor. The free version of Lightworks also fits that same description, but I personally find it a little too crippled and don't like the workflow of it.

Not worth it. The thing is, most Z class mobos will still let you OC non-K CPUs. (It's not just Skylake systems. My non-K 3570 clocks up to 4Ghz). 
And of course, OCing only really gets a noticeable performance difference when benchmarking.

Not worth it. The thing is, most Z class mobos will still let you OC non-K CPUs. (It's not just Skylake systems. My non-K 3570 clocks up to 4Ghz). 
And of course, OCing only really gets a noticeable performance difference when benchmarking.

Flashing the BIOS used to be dangerous (like in 2001-2, as your story), but modern mobos tend to have safeguards against being totally bricked.

The Cheap SFF Wonder (alternately: How to modify a cheap SFF PC ghetto-style)
 
So, a little bit of backstory here: As a teenager, I find myself in need of cash far more than previously. Instead of begging the parents for money (or getting a job), I decided to try to buy stuff cheap off eBay, and resell it locally for a profit. One of the things purchased was a 2009 vintage Lenovo ThinkCentre M57 (6073ADU) SFF PC, for $31.
 
What I failed to realize was that not many people around here had much use for a cheap PC (iPhones do all that anyone would ever need, right?). So, I found myself in long-term possession of a system of the following specifications:
 
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E6550 @ 2.33GHz
RAM: 2GB Mushkin DDR2-667
Motherboard: Proprietary Lenovo Q35
Graphics: Integrated Q35 Express
Storage: 160GB Samsung HDD (HD161GJ)
OS: Windows 7 SP1
Optical Drive: 24x DVD-ROM drive
PSU: Some custom 280W mess
(Official Lenovo specsheet here)
 
Far from a performer, but about what you expect for the price. So, I decided to try to build it up into something at least respectable, within the budget of your average high school kid.
 
So, let's get started shall we?
 
The Graphics
Being that many of you are at least casual gamers, you probably felt queasy when you read that this thing sports Q35 Express graphics -- integrated graphics from when Intel still called it GMA and "integrated graphics" itself was a bit of a naughty phrase. I can't blame you for that, and that was the first thing in need of replacement.
 
Luckily, I had just the thing laying around: an AMD Radeon HD5450. It's a half height card, so it actually fits in the case. It's still far from a gaming GPU, but it'll do. This thing will probably never see a serious video game anyway.
(Side note: The half-height bracket for this card was thrown away years ago, so the card was installed without a bracket at all. +1 ghetto point.)

 
The RAM
2GB of RAM doesn't get you too far nowadays. So, some supplementary goats were in order. Luckily, we had an old Athlon 64 x2 system gathering dust, so it's RAM was pulled and placed in this box. We now have 6GB -- still not massive, but quite high for a machine sporting DDR2!
 
The Hard Drive
160GB is not that much either. Luckily, I had a 320GB Fujitsu HDD laying around. Unfortunately, it's a 2.5" laptop drive that needs to go in a drive bay that only accommodates 3.5" drives. Luckily, I can improvise...

(+2 ghetto points. Total is now 3.)
 
Since I largely expected to use this system more for server-ish uses than gaming, I chose to install Ubuntu (14.04 LTS).
 
The CPU
The E6550 was a mid-range CPU.... when it was released in late 2007. It's now 5 generations old, and its Passmark score tells the tale: 1501. This puts it in the realm of modern low-power Celerons. I can not let this stand.
 
Sadly, it's not as easy as dumping a i7-5960x inside. This is an LGA775 machine, with the extremely pedestrian Q35 chipset. To state it simply, this means we have to stay in the realm of Conroe (Core 2 and friends) "uniprocessor" (meaning everything on one die) chips. Also, needs to meet the "teenager pocket change" requirement.
After, days of tediously comparing BIOS microcode compatibility, Passmark scores, TDPs, and eBay prices, I found my answer: The Xeon X3320, a quad core Yorkfield chip. This $20 purchase brings the Passmark score up to 3434, now up into the realm of modern mobile Core i5s. Still not earth shattering (and half the raw performance of my main's i5 3570), but the best I could get within my criteria.
 
As of December 8th, the Xeon has shipped but has not arrived. It should sometime this week.
On December 12th, the Xeon arrived and was installed. Read the next chapter for that adventure!
 
The system as it stands today

 
Updates:
12/12/15 -- How to not cool a CPU!
2/12/16 -- The Cold Never Bothered Me Anyway
 
Prices so far (updated as the build advances)
Prices for me:                                        Prices to buy everything: (averages from a quick google search)
Base System: $31                                 Base System: $31
GPU: Free                                             GPU: ~$30
HDD: Free                                             HDD: ~$40
RAM: Free                                             RAM: ~$15
CPU: $20                                              CPU: $40 (I got a good deal...)
_______________                                _______________
Total to date: $51                               Total to date: $151
 
Ghetto points: 4
 
I will continue this as the build goes on. Until then, hope you've enjoyed reading about my stupid idea project.

At 768p, you could probably get away with using a 370 or 380. 

Decided to screw all reasonable thinking. MUST. MAKE. XEON. WOOOOOOOOOOORK.
 
How not to cool a CPU.
Ok, The Xeon X3320 has arrived. Ain't she purdy?
 

 
 
The family tube of MX-4 has disappeared, so I need a makeshift replacement. After much deliberation, I decided to pull the thermal pads from an old and dead Geforce 7950 GT card.
 

 
Now to place them on the CPU carefully...
 

 
And put on the heatsink.... nope. The extra couple millimeters of height mean that Lenovo's weird lever-based (much like the CPU retainer itself) HS mount doesn't work.
 
Next best thing -- DX-9000 Thermal compound!
 

 
No pictures of the rebuild here. Toothpaste looks the same as cheap thermal goop. Now to plug up power and see if it works.
 
Please let this work
Please let this work
Please let this work
Please let this work
...
 
YES!
 
 
 
Victory! The eBay find Xeon works, and the toothpaste works well enough to keep the chip cool-ish at near-idle. I am NOT stress testing until I get my tube of Prolimatech PK-2 paste and apply it. But for now, this will work.
 
 
+1 Ghetto Point.
Current point total: 4.
 

The Cheap SFF Wonder (alternately: How to modify a cheap SFF PC ghetto-style)
 
So, a little bit of backstory here: As a teenager, I find myself in need of cash far more than previously. Instead of begging the parents for money (or getting a job), I decided to try to buy stuff cheap off eBay, and resell it locally for a profit. One of the things purchased was a 2009 vintage Lenovo ThinkCentre M57 (6073ADU) SFF PC, for $31.
 
What I failed to realize was that not many people around here had much use for a cheap PC (iPhones do all that anyone would ever need, right?). So, I found myself in long-term possession of a system of the following specifications:
 
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E6550 @ 2.33GHz
RAM: 2GB Mushkin DDR2-667
Motherboard: Proprietary Lenovo Q35
Graphics: Integrated Q35 Express
Storage: 160GB Samsung HDD (HD161GJ)
OS: Windows 7 SP1
Optical Drive: 24x DVD-ROM drive
PSU: Some custom 280W mess
(Official Lenovo specsheet here)
 
Far from a performer, but about what you expect for the price. So, I decided to try to build it up into something at least respectable, within the budget of your average high school kid.
 
So, let's get started shall we?
 
The Graphics
Being that many of you are at least casual gamers, you probably felt queasy when you read that this thing sports Q35 Express graphics -- integrated graphics from when Intel still called it GMA and "integrated graphics" itself was a bit of a naughty phrase. I can't blame you for that, and that was the first thing in need of replacement.
 
Luckily, I had just the thing laying around: an AMD Radeon HD5450. It's a half height card, so it actually fits in the case. It's still far from a gaming GPU, but it'll do. This thing will probably never see a serious video game anyway.
(Side note: The half-height bracket for this card was thrown away years ago, so the card was installed without a bracket at all. +1 ghetto point.)

 
The RAM
2GB of RAM doesn't get you too far nowadays. So, some supplementary goats were in order. Luckily, we had an old Athlon 64 x2 system gathering dust, so it's RAM was pulled and placed in this box. We now have 6GB -- still not massive, but quite high for a machine sporting DDR2!
 
The Hard Drive
160GB is not that much either. Luckily, I had a 320GB Fujitsu HDD laying around. Unfortunately, it's a 2.5" laptop drive that needs to go in a drive bay that only accommodates 3.5" drives. Luckily, I can improvise...

(+2 ghetto points. Total is now 3.)
 
Since I largely expected to use this system more for server-ish uses than gaming, I chose to install Ubuntu (14.04 LTS).
 
The CPU
The E6550 was a mid-range CPU.... when it was released in late 2007. It's now 5 generations old, and its Passmark score tells the tale: 1501. This puts it in the realm of modern low-power Celerons. I can not let this stand.
 
Sadly, it's not as easy as dumping a i7-5960x inside. This is an LGA775 machine, with the extremely pedestrian Q35 chipset. To state it simply, this means we have to stay in the realm of Conroe (Core 2 and friends) "uniprocessor" (meaning everything on one die) chips. Also, needs to meet the "teenager pocket change" requirement.
After, days of tediously comparing BIOS microcode compatibility, Passmark scores, TDPs, and eBay prices, I found my answer: The Xeon X3320, a quad core Yorkfield chip. This $20 purchase brings the Passmark score up to 3434, now up into the realm of modern mobile Core i5s. Still not earth shattering (and half the raw performance of my main's i5 3570), but the best I could get within my criteria.
 
As of December 8th, the Xeon has shipped but has not arrived. It should sometime this week.
On December 12th, the Xeon arrived and was installed. Read the next chapter for that adventure!
 
The system as it stands today

 
Updates:
12/12/15 -- How to not cool a CPU!
2/12/16 -- The Cold Never Bothered Me Anyway
 
Prices so far (updated as the build advances)
Prices for me:                                        Prices to buy everything: (averages from a quick google search)
Base System: $31                                 Base System: $31
GPU: Free                                             GPU: ~$30
HDD: Free                                             HDD: ~$40
RAM: Free                                             RAM: ~$15
CPU: $20                                              CPU: $40 (I got a good deal...)
_______________                                _______________
Total to date: $51                               Total to date: $151
 
Ghetto points: 4
 
I will continue this as the build goes on. Until then, hope you've enjoyed reading about my stupid idea project.

Really well done! That old girl looks nicer than most new Alienware systems...

Yes, you will have to uninstall the Nvidia drivers.