The Elusive SLI Rig

Well, as described below I got all the stuff. I even picked up a second radiator, a simple little Swiftech 120 rad to add to the loop. I got a nice Bitspower 5.25" bay reservoir, which I like a lot. I've replaced a few of the connectors with Koolance quick-disconnects, which have already saved me literally hours of work. I love them.

Now for the bad news. Shortly after getting the SLI system up and running, the new card fried. One of the ram sinks from the top card fell on the bottom one, shorting it and causing the voltage regulators to fry. They were literally smoking. Not good. The replacement card arrives tomorrow. Gotta love EVGA's service! I refuse to buy from anyone else.

Additionally, the new board, an Abit IN9 680i, does not like my quad-core one bit. It's not stable at 300mhz FSB with the CPU underclocked, which is retarded. I spent hours working on it, messing with voltages, etc. Nothing worked. So a new processor is on the way, an E8500. I'll have to update my BIOS, but having the lower-power chip should be a boon.

Anyway, it's all a big work in progress right now. I'm crossing my fingers that by the end of the week, everything will be installed and running smoothly with all the innards tidied up nicely. Here are a couple of pics of the partially assembled, currently messy-looking rig with the new res and rad:

Thoughts on boutiques

I've always thought the boutique PC was kind of cool. There's something about the merger of technology and creativity that is appealing to me. I mean really, in the grand scheme of things, it's not that big a deal to play every game at maximum graphical fidelity. There's no particular reason why anyone needs a liquid cooling system or overclocked parts or fancy high-end cases. They're just luxuries, and expensive ones at that. I enjoy building and tweaking PCs so much that I've often contemplated starting my own business. But I have to admit that I don't think boutique PCs are really all that they're cracked up to be, or at least hyped up to be.

I think the operative term here is depreciation. On the OPC forums, there was someone trying to sell an old AMD-based rig on eBay, with a 500w PSU and a pair of 7800GTs. He probably paid around $4,000 for that rig a mere two years ago, and he didn't get a single bid at an asking price of $800. And why would he? You can build a brand new PC that's a shitload faster for a fraction of the price. Hell, you can buy one that's a shitload faster for about that much. Technology moves at a blistering pace, and PC components devalue faster than just about anything else.

That's why I prefer to build my own systems. If I want to change something, I just do it. Swap out this or that component, add this or that, whatever suits me. I don't have to chuck the whole PC, and I save tons and tons of cash. I feel like boutique PCs are for people who have tons of disposable income, and are just too damn lazy to do it themselves. Free time isn't an issue here, because these are usually gaming rigs. People don't buy $10,000 PCs for Microsoft Word and YouTube. The worst part is that boutiques generally standardize components, meaning you often pay for much more than you need. You don't need a 1200w power supply for anything but the most over-the-top, tri-SLI/quad-core rigs. Why get an SLI board if you aren't going to get two cards? Why get DDR3 2000mmhz RAM when cheap DDR2 800 will provide the same real-world performance?

The new Voodoo Omen starts at $7,000. $7k (likely much more in the end) for a PC that uses off-the-shelf components and would be lucky to fetch a grand on eBay in two years. I love technology too, but I think that unless you're just rich and lazy, you should do a little homework and slap together your own rig. It's really not that difficult, it makes upgrading much easier, and you'll save far more money not just up front, but in the long haul.

Upgrades officially on the way!

I've purchased the second 9800GTX and a second MCW60 water block. While I was shopping I just so happened to find an absolute steal on my current RAM, so I bought another 2GB.

I was watching the video for the new Voodoo Omen, and there was a feature there that caught my eye – "quick disconnects" for the tubing. Basically you just turn the connector a quarter turn, and it cuts off the loop and disconnects. That's infinitely less messy than trying to yank those sticky tubes off of the water block fittings. I was pretty intrigued by the concept, and I figured that someone, somewhere must make stuff like that for DIY enthusiasts like yours truly. Turns out I was right – Koolance makes them. There's a male fitting that screws into the water block in place of the normal fitting, then a female fitting where you thread the tubing on one end then lock it to the male fitting on the other end.

I was pretty excited about the coolness of the concept, and wanted to replace all the fittings in my rig. But, unfortunately, they're pretty pricey. I decided to buy a dozen (six male, six female); that will be enough for both graphics cards and the processor. Those dozen alone cost me close to $100. I'll get more of them down the road. It will actually solve some problems that I have with the liquid cooling when tinkering around with it (like I'll be doing this weekend when my buddy and I trade motherboards), which is that sometimes the tubing can slide off just enough to cause some leaking, even with the clamps on. The quick connects will make working inside the case much easier, reduce the chances of a leak, and make it much easier to swap out components – I'll be able to swap out graphics cards without draining the loop! So even though they're expensive, they seem like a good investment.

Upgrade time, and the pains of selling an 8800GTX

Depending on how my finances look (which I assume will be fine), I'm looking into grabbing a second 9800GTX. That's right kids, SLI. I traded my SLI motherboard with a friend of mine, but he is a strictly single-card user, so it won't be a big deal to swap again.

After looking at the new generation of nVidia cards, I have to say I'm not very impressed. Both the GTX 280 and GTX 260 are horribly overpriced. Right now, the 9800GX2 is actually faster than the 280, yet goes for around $250 less. Two 9800GTX cards are going to be even faster, and with the 9800GTX going for under $200, now seems like a great time for an inexpensive performance boost that should last me a good while. I'll be getting another Swiftech MCW60 and adding the new card to the liquid loop.


In other news, I still haven't sold my 8800GTX. Or wait, correction... first I sold it, then the idiot who bought it claimed it didn't work. He claimed that he tried everything I suggested and that he even contacted EVGA tech support. He returned the card, and unsurprisingly it still worked just fine. So after that fiasco I relisted the card, this time for a little less. No sale. I relisted again, and sold the card last week, except the asshole who bought it is MIA three days after the sale (I've sent him both an invoice and a reminder), so it looks like it's no sale. At this point I'm thinking about seeing if any friends will want it, because the eBay thing is a pain in the ass and those fees add up. Honestly, if I'd known it was going to be this much of a hassle getting rid of the 8800GTX, I wouldn't have bought the 9800GTX.