Feeling the need for speed.

[James Shadle]

Image file sizes are growing and so is the popularity of software like HDR, image stitching, etc.

To combat the time it takes to process large image files (1GB .tiff is my record) I have designed and assembled a very fast (IMO) computer.

Here are the specs:
CPU Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550 Yorkfield 2.83GHz Running at 4.012GHz
Motherboard Asus P5E3 Premium with WiFi
Memory 8GB OCZ DDR-3 1600
Video Card BFG 8800 GTS OC 640MB
Power Supply Antec TruePower Quattro 1000 Watts
Hard Drives 150GB Raptor for System , 36GB Raptor for Cashe / Virtual Memory / Page File
74GB Raptor for Programs, WD 500GB for File Storage, Seagate 1TB for Cataloged Images, Seagate 1TB for Non-Processed Images.
Computer Case CoolerMaster Cosmos
Operating System Widows Vista 64
WorkFlow Software Adobe Photoshop CS4 64 bit, Nikon View, Nikon Transfer and Nikon Capture NX2

This is a water-cooled machine! The reason I chose water cooling was my plan to significantly overclock the CPU.
Overclocking a 2.83GHz Quad Core all the way to 4.012GHz with 8GB of Ram is significant(the more memory in the machine, the tougher it is to overclock).

This is the water-cooling set up.
Swiftech Pump, Koolermaster Reservoir, Heatkiller 3.0 CPU Water Block, EK-FC8800GTX-ACETAL GPU Water Block,
OCZ Ram Water Blocks, (3) 120x38mm Delta 151CFM Fans sandwiched between (2) XSPC RX360 Extreme Performance Radiators. I also have 3 120mm Thermaltake Case Fans.

Cool air is pulled through the top radiator and then pushed through the bottom radiator. The case fans all blow out of the case to prevent pressure build up that could reduce radiator fan efficiency.

I designed this water-cooling system as a parallel system rather than a series system.
Series systems are easier the build, however warm water runs through multiple components.

This is my parallel system..

Top Radiator: Pump>Radiator>CPU Water Block>Reservoir>Pump 1/2 Tubing

________________________________GPU>Reservoir>Pump 1/2 Tubing
Bottom Radiator: Pump>Radiator>T>
________________________________RAM>Reservoir>Pump 1/4 Tubing

As a result, the temperatures on this overclocked machine are better than the stock temperatures!

[Lance Peters]

Nice work James - Have had water cooled systems myself - but have always been wary of water and computer gear in the same vicinity - LOL :)
Should provide you many hours of enjoyment.

[Robert Amoruso]

That looks good James.

My new Dell Studio XPS desktop screams with 64-bit PSCS4 and my largest file to date a stitched pano at 2.4 GB.

# Intel Core i7 920 @ 2.66GHz (8MB L2 cache)
# Memory: 12GB tri-channel DDR3 @ 1066MHz
# Hard drive: Two 640GB SATA @ 7200RPM in a RAID 0 stripping configuration for speed
# Video card: ATI Radeon HD4850
# Networking: 10/100/1000 Gigabit ethernet
# Operating system: Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit
# 360W rated power supply

[Axel Hildebrandt]

James, the specs look pretty impressive. Is this setup louder than a regular desktop computer?

[James Shadle]

James, the specs look pretty impressive. Is this setup louder than a regular desktop computer?


Axel,
Yes a little louder than a stock computer, much quieter than an air cooled machine that has been overclocked even slightly. Going with the 120mmx38mm fans instead of 120mmx20mm I can keep the fans speeds on low and still move more air through the radiators than with the smaller fans on high.
James

[Randy Stout]

James;

This one sounds powerful enough that you could use it for auxiliary propulsion on the Hooptie!

Randy

[Doug Brown]

Awesome rig James! Almost makes me want to switch back to Windows............almost. ;)

[Roger Clark]

James,
Looks like a nice setup. The one thing that surprises my is your disk drives for data seem pretty small. Why only 1 TB drives? 1.5 TB drives are common and cheap, and 2 TBs are out. With luck we'll see 3's this year. With 1 GB tiff images, it won't take long to fill up. (My largest image at home is 5 GBytes from a digital mosaic. At work much much larger.)

Roger

[Rocky Sharwell]

Awesome rig James! Almost makes me want to switch back to Windows............almost. ;)

Agreed....

[Alfred Forns]

Sweet machine Darth Well designed and impressive ... got all bases covered ... about water cooling remember your recent plumbing experience :)

... I guess I will have to slug along with my dual quad Mac :)

[Rene A]

James,

Beautiful specs..that machine will serve you well and fast. I build a machine 18 months ago with similar specs but no water cooling. I also put 2 150GB WD Raptor HD's in 1 for os Vista ultimate 64 and 1 as scratch drive. Meanwhile in the past 18 months 3 out of my 4 150 GB WD raptors crashed WD seems to have quality control issues lately). One of the hd's had the OS from one of my husband machines on. We had NOT backed it up. WD replaced all 3 drives. We finally learned the hard way and all PC's including laptops are backed up on seperate hd's so I have to just take the crashed one out and pop in the one backed up with the Acronis Image I made earlier!

Reinstalling an OS is more painful then making a backup:)


Renate

[James Shadle]

I have 3TB backup in external hard drives.
I only turn them on to do backups or maintenance.

If they are on during a lightning strike, virus attack etc. they are toast along with your machine!
Safer to power up only when needed.

James