My board has 3 PCI slots, 3 PCI-Express x1 slots, and 1 PCI Express x16 slot. That's why I bought it, though I'm only actually using one slot (PCI), for my wireless card.
This is what I have been noticing with many new cases especially the bigger ones. The Corsair D800 has also been criticized for not being great when set up for air cooling. The original ATX standard had cool air flowing from the lower front and warm air being exhausted on the upper back through an exhaust fan and the PSU fan combo.
With some of these new cases, there are so many holes that to maintain an air flow in order to get the warm air out of the case, you need lots of fans. If you don't, the exhaust fan will probably just be sucking air from the hole adjacent to it instead of from the GPU area. Sometimes less (fans) can be more when the case is properly designed.
I normally hate cases that have any type of bling on them, but that case doesn't look *that* bad. Perhaps if the accents were a different color and that phoenix just wasn't there. (In my opinion, the Antec P182 is one of the best looking PC cases out there.)
Although it's kinda ironic that the more holes there are in a case, the worse the cooling is by default.
I still have 2 PCs (with Pentium 4s) with the Zalman HSF similar to the one on top. For a while Zalman was king of heat sinks especially when they came out with the 2nd model pictured above. However they appear to relinquish the crown when Thermalright and then the others released the now popular Tower style HS. I have a Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus heat pipe direct tower HS on my latest build. Price can't be beat at around 20 bucks. It doesn't look as good as the Zalman above but it works well. It even comes with a PWM fan.
You and approximately 6,889,500,000 other people don't "get" my graphics, which look better in a dark room, not competing for attention from a light box. I am only stating my own preferences and am not putting down your love of box bling--it certainly is more sane than my spending all my time making things very few people find interesting. I was surprised by this side of you, but that is probably only because I don't pay enough attention.
I relate to my computers as toys--extremely high tech toys. I want power, capacity, speed and ease of entry. What sets my computers apart from others is on the inside. Those LED panels add almost no heat, but they do insulate the box, which means more fans and more noise.
You should have a custom case built for you with lights that form a double helix--The Gene Machine. I'm good at spending others' money.
It used to be wine, women, and song. When I was single, I would go to parties to find some of that. I find that I'm not that interested in driving 150 miles to say "Hi, how's it going - wife, kids?" these days. I'm looking for some new motivation to go to the parties to consume the wine, meet the women, and sing the songs.
We do have 8 women come here to the house to sing the Beatles' "Because" every Sunday. We've got other songs on the waiting list. Ruth - my wife - used to go sing in a Community College choir and met a lot of singers. They got tired of doing only religious-type songs and started dropping out. There are liberals in both genders - I guess. So, Ruth invited them to come over.
We wrote out the parts for soprano, alto, and tenor. The original music (written in E major - 4 sharps)has three endings. The piano accompaniment part is very hard to read while working out all those sharps, which ending did we just play, oops, I didn't jump to the Coda on page 3, etc. I need to write out my part, so I wouldn't have to jump all over just to stay with the singers. There is a minor chord at the beginning of the second ending. It's a Piccardy 3rd. It gives the singers a hard to accomplish goal. It has been fun.
Sabuk's High School Dungeons and Dragons club is also staying alive. There have been three successful meetings and the participants don't want to leave when we make the pizza and start them thinking about calling Dad for the ride home. They are definitely enjoying having a place to hang out without the overzealous, protective parents watching every step they take.
I'm finding that I still spend money on keeping my cars on the road. But, I don't enjoy getting greasy and cold as much any more. I often can't see the bolt holding the shield on the back of the exhaust header. Wearing trifocals in the cold steams them up.
It would sure be nice to have a warm garage with a lift or a big hole in the floor I could park over. I have emptied the garage enough. So, I could park a car in there, out of the weather. But, I'm not buying a hydraulic lift. I could buy a new car for the money.
I've got 5 of 9 old cars able to get to town - 10 miles away. I found that the Golf needed an electric fuel pump. I was holding off changing that part part because it was about $150. But, it did make a major change in the operation of the car. It now doesn't snap and popple as it climbs the hills. I have replaced many sensors that I'll eventually recycle as the car ages. It is really pretty sporty. Only 100 hp. But, good suspension, decent brakes. I'm getting to like it...
Surprised you liked bling on your computer. I see how much time you spend in virtual space where no ones can see your computer--I surmised you were like me and had your computer tucked under your desk and few "real" people saw it. And I know you can love your bling without anyone else seeing it. It is good to be surprised by people--reveals their complexity. It is also very good for you not to be like me.
If you care to understand what I do: There is nothing to "get" about my graphics--they (for the most part and I have no way to enforce rules I make for myself) have no meaning, no story. Try explaining that to an animation/video teacher who starts the course with, "it all starts with a story." My art begins and ends with color and form. The story is: there is no story.
I have spent the last year studying by experimenting with the way we (I for now) perceive colors when they change, that is, how one perceives a color when it comes after another color, after another color......
We have rods and cones in our eyes. The rods are spread across the retina, the cones are concentrated in the middle. Rods fire for all frequencies and are interpreted as shades of gray--so they are said to see black and white. (Question: what is the difference between seeing nothing and seeing black?) Cones come in red, green and blue. They are mostly in the middle of the retina, where we focus incoming images. Equal amounts of red, green and blue are also perceived as shades of gray. I am tediously experimenting with how fast the colors change and degree of change around the color circle. I have found I can play bright colored (highly saturated) frames that change every frame and it comes out a spooky gray.
There are very few people with the education I have who have spent most of their money and all their time creating art almost no one sees in its uncompressed state and no one buys because I have never tried to sell it. Having been a professional musician from 15-32 yrs, I learned to hate producing what the "audience" wanted. I have supported my very expensive CGI art habit by doing forensic animations. That field has been marginalized, but I am now old enough for SSN and I get VA disability so I can continue pointlessly making things I like--my bling is all virtual.
My favorite computer configuration was MeanBean's parts hanging from a peg board over his workbench. As much a work of art as any minimalist painting!
Hey, don't blame me for your dandruff! I was a government slave for two+ years and was forced to march;I march no more, but you are free and encouraged to send money to keep me safe indoors anytime, preferably in large gold coins.
Comments
With some of these new cases, there are so many holes that to maintain an air flow in order to get the warm air out of the case, you need lots of fans. If you don't, the exhaust fan will probably just be sucking air from the hole adjacent to it instead of from the GPU area. Sometimes less (fans) can be more when the case is properly designed.
Although it's kinda ironic that the more holes there are in a case, the worse the cooling is by default.
I relate to my computers as toys--extremely high tech toys. I want power, capacity, speed and ease of entry. What sets my computers apart from others is on the inside. Those LED panels add almost no heat, but they do insulate the box, which means more fans and more noise.
You should have a custom case built for you with lights that form a double helix--The Gene Machine. I'm good at spending others' money.
in driving 150 miles to say "Hi, how's it going - wife, kids?" these days.
I'm looking for some new motivation to go to the parties to consume the wine, meet the women, and sing the songs.
We do have 8 women come here to the house to sing the Beatles' "Because" every Sunday. We've got other songs on the waiting list.
Ruth - my wife - used to go sing in a Community College choir and met a lot of singers.
They got tired of doing only religious-type songs and started dropping out. There are liberals in both genders - I guess.
So, Ruth invited them to come over.
We wrote out the parts for soprano, alto, and tenor.
The original music (written in E major - 4 sharps)has three endings. The piano accompaniment part is very hard to read while working out all those sharps,
which ending did we just play, oops, I didn't jump to the Coda on page 3, etc. I need to write out my part, so I wouldn't have to jump all over just
to stay with the singers. There is a minor chord at the beginning of the second ending. It's a Piccardy 3rd. It gives the singers a hard to accomplish goal. It has been fun.
Sabuk's High School Dungeons and Dragons club is also staying alive. There have been three successful meetings and the participants don't want to leave when we make the pizza and start
them thinking about calling Dad for the ride home. They are definitely enjoying having a place to hang out without the overzealous, protective parents watching
every step they take.
I'm finding that I still spend money on keeping my cars on the road. But, I don't enjoy getting greasy and cold as much any more.
I often can't see the bolt holding the shield on the back of the exhaust header. Wearing trifocals in the cold steams them up.
It would sure be nice to have a warm garage with a lift or a big hole in the floor I could park over.
I have emptied the garage enough. So, I could park a car in there, out of the weather. But, I'm not buying a hydraulic lift.
I could buy a new car for the money.
I've got 5 of 9 old cars able to get to town - 10 miles away. I found that the Golf needed an
electric fuel pump. I was holding off changing that part part because it was about $150. But, it did make a major change in the operation
of the car. It now doesn't snap and popple as it climbs the hills. I have replaced many sensors that I'll eventually recycle as the car ages.
It is really pretty sporty. Only 100 hp. But, good suspension, decent brakes. I'm getting to like it...
If you care to understand what I do:
There is nothing to "get" about my graphics--they (for the most part and I have no way to enforce rules I make for myself) have no meaning, no story. Try explaining that to an animation/video teacher who starts the course with, "it all starts with a story." My art begins and ends with color and form. The story is: there is no story.
I have spent the last year studying by experimenting with the way we (I for now) perceive colors when they change, that is, how one perceives a color when it comes after another color, after another color......
We have rods and cones in our eyes. The rods are spread across the retina, the cones are concentrated in the middle.
Rods fire for all frequencies and are interpreted as shades of gray--so they are said to see black and white. (Question: what is the difference between seeing nothing and seeing black?)
Cones come in red, green and blue. They are mostly in the middle of the retina, where we focus incoming images. Equal amounts of red, green and blue are also perceived as shades of gray. I am tediously experimenting with how fast the colors change and degree of change around the color circle. I have found I can play bright colored (highly saturated) frames that change every frame and it comes out a spooky gray.
There are very few people with the education I have who have spent most of their money and all their time creating art almost no one sees in its uncompressed state and no one buys because I have never tried to sell it. Having been a professional musician from 15-32 yrs, I learned to hate producing what the "audience" wanted. I have supported my very expensive CGI art habit by doing forensic animations. That field has been marginalized, but I am now old enough for SSN and I get VA disability so I can continue pointlessly making things I like--my bling is all virtual.
My favorite computer configuration was MeanBean's parts hanging from a peg board over his workbench. As much a work of art as any minimalist painting!
large gold coins.