Not a mod, just a log
My first project log (for practice). Not really a mod unless you count the simple things. This post is mainly for practice and may even be in the wrong place. Let me know it wont hurt my feelings...
Ok, so this is my first ever worklog although I have been doing mods on computers since the early '80's. This is the first one I really documented since my company may have to make half a dozen of these a month, and I will have to duplicate most of the work or at least train someone to do it.
First a little background:
We were contacted by a customer that usually buys sgi octanes and fuels to interface to thier digital editing and transfer system, to provide them with a high powered linux system. They were evaluating several boxes(hp, Dell), but thier comment was "These boxes are boring, give us something with a little more flash!", so we spec'd out a moderately flashy system for them with top of the line electronics. Once they evaluate the system we will be in a design review meeting to iron out the details.
Here are the specs:
Case: Thermaltake Armor VA8000SWA
Power supply: Green Power NSP-550P4DL-XEON
Motherboard: SuperMicro H8DCE
Processor: 2x AMD dual core Opteron 2.6 Ghz
Graphics Card: Nvidia quadro 4500 (one for now)
Memory: 8gb (4 per proc)
Disk: Seagate 500gb sata (performance doesn't matter here)
Keyboard/mouse: No name brand since this will probably change anyway
OS: RedHat elWS4 update 3
So I pulled the work order and did a quick inventory on the parts. Turns out the PNY nvidia 4500 was on backorder so we substituted a cheaper card until we get the proper one. The unit ended up shipping with the cheaper card and I will have to re-do some of my cabling to get the power to the 4500 when we install it at the customers site. No big deal and it gives me and the sales guy an excuse for a trip to socal...
This is a pic of the case:
This is the first issue I ran into and will affect future power supply purchases. Two things to note here, first, the sales person ordered a black power supply for a silver case... Second and more important is the fact that the support member for the power supply sits very tight against the power cables. (see pic);
A pic of the cable mess before installing the mobo;
some of the most usefull tools in my toolbox.
Screw holder.
This thing is probably older than some of you...;
Tie wrap gun.
This tool is GREAT for dealing with tiewraps. It tightens them (adjustable) and cuts them off without the little nasty sharp bit on the end.
Again this is probably older than some of you...;
Here is a pic with the mobo installed. I thought I had run all the cables and thought of everything, but I ended up removeing and installing the mobo 4 times...;
and a pic of the backside where I ran most of the cables. (note) If this was my personal system, I would have spent more time on tidying up the cables in the back, but I'm anal like that and I did end up making them neater, but didn't take any snaps of it.;
This is the system powered up the first time. Note the cold cathodes installed on the left and behind the support crossmemeber. Also note I repaced the stock ide ribbon cable.;
System after the OS load...;
And finally the finished system as shipped to the customer;
That's it! My first official worklog and the quickest mod I have ever done. Took about 6 hours total, including the os install time and dealing with the paperwork for the order. My goal is to get a reproducable setup that can be done in less than 3 hours. Of course this is _only_ a demo system for the customer and I expect them to ask for some changes including a custom etched side panel with thier logo. We will be doing a design review with the customer next week and I will update this log with thier thoughts.
MY conclusions:
The next system will have a silver powersupply and one that does not interfere with the support memeber. I will also work on some cabling issues and the size of the cold cathodes since the one on the left _slightly_ interferes with the top door latch, but not enough to worry about for this demo. We will also be supplying a different keyboard/mouse combo as this one has all the fancy keys for windows apps, but they will be running linux. My thought was the saitek backlit keyboard since the blue color matches thier logo and the case lights, and they will be using these systems in editing rooms so there will be minimal light. If we could find a DVD rom/rw with a silver face that would be nice too, but so far no luck and we probably will not get into painting it unless they request it and pay for it. They also may be asking for an SLI version (did you know you could use these 4500's in sli mode? (think $5000 of 3d cadd quality graphics!)), so the power supply may have to be upgraded to more than 550 watts.
Any thoughts or recommendations would be great and if we use them you will get credit for your ideas (at least on paper)
I will be posting a review of this case in the near future, since there are some gotchas and some unique features.
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Originally Posted by leprosy
