in-progress [Build Log] Project Nalu 1.2 (2004 Retro Build)

[crosstiger]

13 minutes ago, Modzy said:

Your not the only one. It's something I've been looking into even before i started building it. But finding the right water blocks is proving very hard.

 

Nice!

I did a really quick google search and I found that Aquacomputer is selling a rebuilding kit to fit their "cuplex XT" to socket 478 and 775.

Don’t know if this is helpful.

http://www.aquatuning.de/water-cooling/cpu-water-blocks/cpu-mounting/3297/aquacomputer-umruestsatz-4-loch-halt.-p4-sockel-478/775-fuer-cuplex-xt-und-cuplex-xt-di

[potoooooooo]

That purple is out of this world

 

I would do horrible things for one of them

[samiscool51]

i had a Pentium 4!

it broke...

was not the first CPU i ever owned!

i owned a original Pentium running winxp

it was slow....

really slow.....

[Modzy]

All thats left is to the CPU/Northbridge coolers to turn up. Then all the software/drivers all over again. (ssd is a placeholder for the 2.5" HDD still waiting to come also.)

 

[Modzy]

So with the 1.2 parts almost all here, I'm only a week away from permanently switching to the Pentium 4 kit. So I thought I'd share some final photos of the AMD 3200+ & Shuttle AN35N-Ultra motherboard before they retire to my display cabinet. the green 80mm fan + 40mm blue fans turn out looking rather nice. To the eye the case has a nice wash of deep blue covering it, from the Riing fans & the blue cathode. The subtle bits green don't look out of place at all. 
 

But I have some awesome news, after almost 2 weeks of searching ebay, trade forums, friends of friends of friends on facebook. I have finally managed to find something rather special that will bring up the P4 build. I've managed to find an EK Supreme plexi top waterblock for the socket 478. I have also been hunting a waterblock for the 6800 ultra. Koolance & swiftech both do one, but sadly these seem even harder to find now 13 years beyond their release. I will keep looking however.

But this means guys I will actually be watercooling the P4.... bring on the OC'ing

Here are a few final photos of the Athlon bits.

 

[crosstiger]

1 hour ago, Modzy said:

But this means guys I will actually be watercooling the P4.... bring on the OC'ing

Awww yis!

[EldarNi]

10 hours ago, Modzy said:

But this means guys I will actually be watercooling the P4.... bring on the OC'ing
 

I've got all of water cooling gear for my Retro'04 from that time too. but been lazy to put it together. Need a new case with a radiator support.

Would be interesting to see your gaming scores against mine)

[Modzy]

10 hours ago, EldarNi said:

I've got all of water cooling gear for my Retro'04 from that time too. but been lazy to put it together. Need a new case with a radiator support.

Would be interesting to see your gaming scores against mine)

I've been playing some games on the 3200XP like Stalker & BF2 and noticed that the CPU is pegged at 100% while the GPU sit at 50-70%. So im guessing the extra performance from the P4 will evening things out a little. But yes Ill be posting benchmarks & game results.

[Modzy]

So after doing some more searching for GPU water block for the 6800. I've found a solution by Swiftech that is made up of a core block & memory block. So I've got those on the way as well. I've also changed which pump/res ill be using due to space constraints. Decided to go for the XSPC ION pump/res combo.

Its a bit love/hate with watercooling the GPU. The reference cooling is a feature for the build with the Nalu logo. bad, its very loud & hot its air flow orientation is really not ideal. I wish there was a way to keep the reference cooler shroud & block but sadly not.

GPU Block 

[Modzy]

Incredibly sad news... today was the first day i powered up the Purple Pentium 4 motherboard to test it. And... nothering... not even a hint of it posting, just black screen of nothing... 

Tested 2 cpus, my 3.4ghz northwood &  a 2.8 ghz prescott. nether worked, tried 8 different sticks of ram of various speeds/size configs.. nothing.. 

tried a PCI radeon 9200 SE & several different AGP video cards. nothing. 

The purple board is dead.... :(******* 


Soooo while I communicate with the seller regarding that situation... I will be searching for a different motherboard. I do have a couple backup motherboards bookmarked but sadly they are located in europe not in australia. so postage will still been 2-3 weeks. Due to this, this will be my last update for a few weeks until i have something more substantial worth updating with.

/wrists
 

[Modzy]

Just before i had to send back the Purple motherboard, both the brand new 4x1Gb OCZ PE ram + the EK Supreme block arrived. 
 

Looks sooo good but sadly... I have to return the purple board for being DOA.

RIP, what could have been.

[Modzy]

everything for the GPU arrived. just waiting on the pump & new motherboard to arrive within the next week or 2.

 

[Modzy]

Finally the replacement Pentium 4 motherboard arrived this week and i could sit down and get back to doing this build. Everything is finally all here. AND working! huzzah!

 

[Modzy]

After several days of testing parts, overclocking, benchmarking & building. I've finally finished the build and am very happy with it. 

Here are some glam shots of it. Please keep in mind that the blue led colour do not show up correctly. To the eye it's bright LED blue we all know, I did some photoshop magic and touch up some of the photos to attempt to make them look as close to the real colour as i could. 

Hope you guys like where the build finally got to. I know I am, this has been a long project. 

I have updated the original post with some of the finishing touch I added. 

Benchmark results to follow at the end.

[Modzy]

Benchmark Results.

So I did some research for this over a number of days. because i have 4x1gb cas 2-3-2-5 sticks, the motherboard was very particular about getting them all working correctly and stable to overclock. 

These is what I managed to get stable. for 100% of the games, benchmarks & 24/7 use. I could get higher for 3dmark but games seem to cause instability. 

Max OC 3DMark03/06 

CPU - 3.7Ghz @ 1.65v (but this made also no difference to benchmark scores.

Settled on 

CPU - 3.6Ghz @ 1.6v @ 212Mhz FSB (3.4Ghz 1.55v stock)
RAM - 424Mhz @ CAS 2.5-3-2-5 @ 2.7v (400mhz 2.8 stock)
GPU - 550Mhz Core / 1100Mhz Mem Stock speed (I don't want to push it higher)

Interestingly Hyperthreading ON performed worse than OFF. So for all games & test HT was turned OFF except for Aquamark 3, Half Life 2 & CS:S as they have multicore support and did perform better with HT on.

Also every game/benchmark was run at 1024x768 for consistency vs the old AMD system. 

Synthetic

[Modzy]

Round 1 Game results (UT2004 & other to come in a few days.)

Game 1 - Company of Heroes - Max setting + Low settings.

Maximum Settings




Low Settings




F.E.A.R - Max / Medium / Low (low switched pixel doubling + DX8 + 800x600, I switched them off and back to 1024x768.)


Maximum


Medium


Low

 

[Modzy]

Counter Strike: Source / Half Life 2: Lost Coast - Both Maxed. Followed by Crysis 1, both High + Low results. (Very High dx10 only)


CS:S



HL2: LC




Crysis 1 High (Too laggy for playing)



Crysis 1 Low (Only playable settings that stay above 30fps mostly) testing in single player and it runs mostly between 30-40fps. only dipping below 30 with very wide terrain viewing angles.

[nofxz]

Should get a heatsink on your southbridge.

[Modzy]

7 hours ago, nofxz said:

Should get a heatsink on your southbridge.

I searched for one for a while but finding a P4 compatible one proved difficult. It needs to have the spring clamp and not push-pin mounting. i am keeping an eye out but yeah i had looked.

[nofxz]

adhesive thermal pads are a thing. then you could use whatever heatsink small enough you had handy.

[TheCamba]

Handy Tech for this week was an adhesive Arctic Silver paste.  Luke recommended it over pads.