A rig for my lady, that she doesn't want....

[ALXAndy]

Update. So shortly after I posted here last the rig became terribly unstable. Now I had changed the motherboard out after the unfortunate incident of being sold a 24 pin ATX cable extension (made by Gelid, sold to me by QUIET PC who completely screwed me over I may add) but the problem soon returned. The problem being - the rig would not even hold stock clocks of 3.5ghz before it started dropping back the clocks (when under serious load) and the voltage.

 

I had an inkling that the power supply was at fault but something just didn't add up. It wasn't cutting out, nor was it shutting down (well, unless the board crapped out).

 

So, I decided to see if it was possible to fit the XFX pro series gold PSU I got free with my 7990. Sadly it wasn't. The Alienware PSU loom has a 10 pin ATX like connector that powers the case, basically. Not good then, time to break out my magnifying glass and torch (flashlight for my colonial cousins) and do some investigating. I removed the PSU itself and took it apart. No bulged caps, no smells, nothing. Checked the output pins on the PSU - nothing. All shiny and silver.

 

So I grabbed the main plug and pulled it closer.. Take a look at this.

 

 

Hmm, serious discolouration... Flipping it over...

 

 

Melted. Seriously, seriously not good at all. I traced the wires and they were both 12v for the 24 pin, or, CPU power cables. Both were fried and dull when stripped about 2 inches up and both pins had basically turned blue and disintegrated. when I poked them with a screwdriver they literally crumbled.

 

So I removed them, dug out the remnants of shrapnel and cut back the plastic. Then I went to work with my solder iron, borrowing two 12v lines from clean sources (extra PCIE power plugs, the case has eight 8 pin so they won't be missed).

 

Made the cables safe by snipping the extra ones and shrinking them.

 

Rebooted, slapped on the 4.2ghz overclock and Bob's your aunty's live in lover - no throttling no crashing and no freezing.

 

What would you know !

[alpenwasser]

Ah, the joys of electronics.

[ALXAndy]

Ah, the joys of electronics.

 

It's a great feeling when you take something that wasn't working properly and make it work again isn't it? such a great feeling of achievement

[alpenwasser]

It's a great feeling when you take something that wasn't working properly and make it work again isn't it? such a great feeling of achievement

Most certainly so my friend. Now if only I could do a similar trick with my wallet.

[ALXAndy]

Most certainly so my friend. Now if only I could do a similar trick with my wallet.

 

lmao my wallet burnt out, turned blue and crumbled long ago.