Kevin's Watch

So here's a heads up for everybody, something I learned to my cost this Friday afternoon...

Turns out that some MOLEX to SATA power adapters that you may use to connect your PSU to a drive have a nasty habit of bursting into flames.

Specifically, the ones where the SATA connector is sort of moulded around the wires are prone to this kind of failure.

The ones that are crimped, (where the wires are inserted into little metal collars, which are visible beneath the SATA connector) are apparently much safer.

Here's a vid about how to spot which ones are more likely to be unsafe:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TataDaUNEFc

I was lucky, because I was sitting right next to it when it happened, so I didn't lose anything except the connector, but I suggest checking your drive power cables to make sure. It's like a $3 part that can potentially fry your whole machine.

--A

Oh geez...
On my end, the only hardware trouble I've had is when the g pig ate an ethernet cable

Hahaha, nice to see you around Rigel.

Yeah, my cats chewed through my ethernet cable once. Luckily I could see it coming, so I had a spare on hand, and they've left it alone since.

--A

Well, after many painful missions chronicled in the How Do You Feel Today thread, my PC is finally up and running again. But it's basically a new PC with the old drives and GPU in it. (Not that they were old...)

So my new build is:

Asus Z-390-A Prime
Intel i9-9900k
16GB 3200MHz DDR4
6 GB GTX 1060 Windforce OC
Raidmax Thunder 735W PSU
Hyper 212L CPU Cooler
500Gb SSD
2 Tb HDD

--A

And now I'm adding another 16GB of RAM, another SSD drive, (PCIE) and a AIO liquid cooler which although it will fit, I'm now concerned it will be in a bad orientation.

--A

Noice

Did I post about my HTPC rebuild a few months back?
Ryzen 3500X processor, Radeon 5700XT 8GB card, 32GB of RAM
Same storage as the old PC though. One of these days I'll get around to doing a proper fault-tolerant NAS.

Eh, I'm dubious about networks, unless you mean a LAN-type.

Case thing is really bugging me...can't decide if I should try it in what I really know will not be an ideal situation, or stump up for a new case now and not even attempt it.

Even if I don't have a pump whine issue, I know I might be shortening the life of my component.

Thing is, my current case has a slot for an optical drive which is getting difficult to find these days, and of course cost and waiting for delivery...sigh...

--A

I was quite happy with this case, and it's surprisingly easy to work with. Both sides come off with hand-screws only.

The only thing I don't like is the bay for the power supply... Now that was a pain to put in.

Yeah, it's not the ease...my issue is that where my CPU sits is quite high on the board, and it looks like I can't get the radiator top higher than it.

That means my pump will be the highest point in a closed loop, so that's where the air will eventually accumulate.

Which is not good.

--A

Well, everything works per se...

My CPU is idling at about 27C. Did a stress test and at 100% load for 25 mins, CPU never went over 63C.

So that's great. I ran my box with the side panels on for the first time.

And now my GPU temp went up by like 5C.

Also, my rad is not positioned well, and my HDD's don't fit properly with it in. Got bit of pump whine too, so ordered a new case and when it arrives, will have to rebuild the whole thing again.

Damnit.

--A

Right, rebuilt again.

3 intakes (2 over a 240mm rad) and 3 exhausts. Everything fits fine, AIO pump etc. correctly oriented.

CPU idling at 26/27C and GPU at 28Cish, which is probably only a few C above ambient.

Dropped nearly 15C on my GPU benchmark with everything closed, so all good.

Now I just have to figure out what I want to play...

Also my PSU fan got noisy when I had it upside down...so put it right way up again, may need to start thinking about a replacement.

--A