Elvis-Virtus: BLOG - The Rise of 'Cordoba'

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

BLOG - The Rise of 'Cordoba'

5:10 AM | Posted by Eijan Ochoco | Edit Post

*Warning: Post contains lots of picture

Due to time constraints and concentration, i wasn't able to create a video about the assembly of 'Cordoba' but i was able to take a lot of pictures during the 4-5 hours assembly. 'Cordoba' is the first PC i made from scratch from all the calculations of maximum wattage, the capacity of the 12V rails and to the maximum theoretical overclock ability of the whole system, everything was researched and thought by me, so 'Cordoba' is really special to me. I used to buy those package systems from computer manufacturers like Dell or HP and then upgrading the parts like crazy but one thing that really irritates me is the limitation of this system to upgrades especially when you realized that you can't upgrade this pc with a particular hardware you want because of compatibility after using it for the last 2 years, that part really irritates me. With 'Cordoba', i know the strengths and limitation of the system and upgrading it is less of a hassle than those pre-build PCs.

These are all the hardware that i will be using to build 'Cordoba', its Frankenstein 101

Removed RV02 from the box, this thing is heavy; already weighing 28 pounds just the case alone. I had a sore back the next day because of lifting it over and over again

Removed the cloth cover of the RV02, This the top cover of the case, see all the air holes

This is a nice explanation of the Stack cooling of the Raven series, this test was done on the RV01, take note, RV02 has better Stack cooling characteristics,Cool ain't it.

This is the bottom part of the front panel, the logo of the RAVEN series is embossed on it; one sick logo by the way

This is the Side panel window of the RV02 still with protective plastic on it

This is the top of the RV02 without the air hole cover on it, as you can see there is a lot of air holes even to the Expansion slot covers

The inside of the case

Those are the tool less locks for your 5.25" drive bays and also at the bottom is the removable HDD cage

This is the removable and washable dust filters for those massive 180mm fans

Unboxing the Logitech X-210 Speakers

This is the Logitech X-210 unboxed

Removed all the hardware from their boxes, lets get it on!

A closer look

Another closer look

Removed the other side panel of the RVO2, this is where you gonna run all those cables coming form the PSU

Starting point, attach the PSU to the case

Unscrewed a part of the case,so that the PSU mounting would be easier

The PSU is now mounted to the case

Had an easy time mounting the PSU to case, took me just around 10 minutes.

Next step was to attach the CPU to the Motherboard but first i had to get it from my Dell Optiplex 755 system, *Tanan, this is the inside of the Optiplex, its all dusty.

First time removing the CPU cooler since i acquired the system 2.5 years ago, and the accumulated dust looks like ashes that came from mt. Pinatubo

The dusty and thermal paste covered Q6600

Removed the Q6600 from the Optiplex 755's Mobo

Cleaned and attached it to the ASUS P5Q SE PLUS mobo

Attached the OCZ Vendetta 2 Cpu Cooler on top of the Q6600, the easy installation feature that the Vendetta 2 bragged about...took me 2 hours to install it perfectly to the mobo, Those damn push pins won't lock with the mobo, had to remove and reaaply thermal paste like 3 times.

Mounting the DVD RW drive to the case

Locking it with the Tool less lock

Mounted the Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB to the HDD cage

Mounted the MOBO to the case and also mounted the 2x2gb Patriot Gamer Series Rams and HiS Radeon 5770

Attached the cables to their intended slots, due to some stupid placement of some power slots especially the 24pin Mobo power slot which is located on the middle of the Mobo, the mobo is preventing me with some good cable management because of this imperfection

A closer look