VOGONS


First post, by nvllsvm

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Hardware

  • Case: FormD T1 (sandwich v2.0) (w/ 2x Noctua 120x25mm exhaust fans)
  • Motherboard: ASRock Z97E-ITX/ac
  • CPU: Intel 4790k (w/ Coollaboratory Liquid Pro TIM)
  • CPU Cooler: Thermalright AXP90-X47 Full (w/ Noctua 92x14mm intake fan)
  • GPU: GIGABYTE GTX 980 Ti G1 (deshrouded w/ 3x Noctua 92x14mm intake fans)
  • Memory: 16GB (2x8GB) G.SKILL F3-1600C9D-16GXM
  • Power Supply: 750w Corsair SF750 SFX
  • SSD: 2TB Samsung 870 EVO (IDE mode)
  • Sound Card: Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium

Notes
This system triple boots Windows XP Professional (32-bit), Windows 7 Ultimate (64-bit), and SystemRescue and uses GRUB as a boot menu. I temporarily connected a SATA DVD drive to perfrom the Windows installs (unmodified Microsoft discs). The fresh installs (no drivers) were then backed up using SystemRescue to hopefully avoid needing to reconnect the optical drive.

Everything works flawlessly. Temps never exceed 65C (CPU & GPU) and the system runs fairly quiet (except for the GPU's coil whine under heavy load).

20230614.png
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20230614.png
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All of these were installed via disc images and Daemon Tools. All working without issue.
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Public domain

Attachments

  • case_rear.jpg
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    case_rear.jpg
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    File comment
    The motherboard only has a single PCIE x16 slot, so I connected the X-Fi to the mini-PCIE slot via an adapter.
    File license
    Public domain
  • case_side_gpu.jpg
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    case_side_gpu.jpg
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    1467 views
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  • case_side_motherboard.jpg
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    case_side_motherboard.jpg
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    1467 views
    File license
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  • desk_setup.jpg
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    desk_setup.jpg
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    1467 views
    File license
    Public domain

Reply 1 of 8, by Standard Def Steve

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OMG, I think I love your computer.
You've absolutely nailed it in every way, from Devil's Canyon to the 980 Ti driving that awesome CRT. Even the SSD is right up there at MBR's maximum 2TB capacity limit. And you even have the Classic theme going so that XP's intense visuals don't bog down your 4970K! 😜

Just 10/10, man.

P6 chip. Triple the speed of the Pentium.
Tualatin: PIII-S @ 1628MHz | QDI Advance 12T | 2GB DDR-310 | 6800GT | X-Fi | 500GB HDD | 3DMark01: 14,059
Dothan: PM @ 2.9GHz | MSI Speedster FA4 | 2GB DDR2-580 | GTX 750Ti | X-Fi | 500GB SSD | 3DMark01: 43,190

Reply 2 of 8, by Cosmic

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This is insanely nice. I love & hate that your specs are almost the same as my daily driver 😂 this is a gorgeous build and I see a lot things I would have done the same way which makes me really love it. It's small, clean, the desk setup and CRT are excellent. Software side is very clean as well and I see a lot of my favorite games in your games folder. Another 10/10 from me.

What resolution/refresh rate do you run the monitor at? I bet it's extremely snappy. I remember using those at school and they're really solid.

Reply 3 of 8, by bbusse

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I love this. I've had this motherboard sitting around with a 4790k for a long time trying to decide what to do with it. I think i found my plan haha. Although i'm not gonna deal with a SFF case, but i'm very into retro builds and have 486, Pentium Pro 200, AMD K6-2 550 (2x Voodoo2 12mb), etc... and i just don't have an XP build. I think it's time 😀

Do you have specifics on the mini pci-e extension cable used for the sound card? I've never used one and there are plenty out there to buy. Which did you use?

Reply 8 of 8, by GokuSS4

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how did you get that PCIe Card working?
Z97E-ITXac%28L4%29.png

do you use something like this?
https://www.adt.link/mpcie.html

61WTOA+5VqL._AC_SL1500_.jpg

Win10 Ryzen 7 5800X | TUF B450M-Pro | 32GB DDR4-3800 CL16 | RX 6800 XT
WinXP Core i3-3220 | H77 Pro4-M | 8GB DDR3-1600 CL9 | X1950 Pro
Win98SE Pentium E5800 | 775i65G R3.0 | 512MB DDR1-400 CL2 | X850 XT