Thank boss, I hope to have a ball with it...  once I've had a few coffees to ensure I'm awake and alert.

Rick Astley, huh? If memory serves me correctly, Hippy is a big fan if him. Mark is a bit odd, though.

On another note, I received my Corsair 650 case the other day but have yet to move everything from the Lian-Li to the Corsair. I've been debating with myself which case to use and which case to sell.

Odd isn't the word!!!  Odd only goes part of the way to describing a Rick Astley fan.  Peculiar; weird; troppo,; seriously bent; warped; nut job, are just a few others that come to mind... not the mention bordering on the lunatic fringe and/or certifiable or both.

Hippy's redeeming factor is being called Mark... such a noble and proud name and the only reason I haven't rung those nice young men in their clean white coats to come and take him away he he, ha ha, ho ho.

Me, I'd keep 'em both and build a spare rig out of left over parts... just in case... to have one upstairs one downstairs... to keep visitors off my main beast.

It's nice to see this thread revived.  I've slowed down on upgrading/modding since I first posted this thread.  After all, I don't want to burn a hole in my wallet.  This is what i've done since my first post (I may be double posting, please forgive me if I do):

->Added a red LED fan (mainly for looks) on a side "vent" of my PC's chassis.  This is where my hard drive used to be when I first bought my machine (an HP, HPE-400f, a rather budgety consumer model PC [$850 with stock components])  I have my stock fan stashed in a box somewhere in case my newer fan breaks.  Since there are no screwholes on the side of my machine (BTW, my PC was NOT designed for modding, it's a consumer model.  Had to use some creativity for this tweak.) I'm holding up my fan by a couple pieces of duct tape.  Go ahead, laugh.  So far, it has yet to peel off.

->Purchased a NexStar 3 external hard drive case.  This is where my 1 TB stock hard drive resides now, and i'm mainly using for backups/fault tolerance.

->Removed my SATA III add-in card.  Since I don't have a SATA III SSD yet (and not for a while), there isn't a need to waste the additional power to run it.  Still using my MOBO's SATA II ports for peripheral connections.

->Installed a 550W power supply. Replacing the PSU was not much fun, but I was able to pull it off successfully and all devices and peripherals work just fine.  MY BSOD problems went away after installing the new PSU, so I was overpowering my machine (the HPE-400f comes with a measly 300W PSU stock).

->Installed a green cold cathode light (I may of mentioned this already).  Since my PCI-e slots were all taken at the time, I had to kink out a mini-PCI-e slot which has no connectors to the mobo.  The PCI bracket switch was on the inside of my machine due to lack of space, and it became really irritating to open up the side of my machine every time to turn the cathode on and off.  So I duct-taped (from the inside) the PCI bracket switch onto the mini-PCI-e slot.  It looks pretty bad, but at least I can turn on/off the cathode without opening up the machine anymore.  Like with the fan, the tape has yet to peel off.

It seems that i'm the only "modder" so far who has ever used tape on the inside of the machine.  I wouldn't recommend it to anybody, unless if you want to be REALLY creative and go beyond typical screwholes for mounting.  But tape isn't very sturdy.  And it looks HORRENDOUS if placed on the outside (especially the front).  On the bright side, my machine is pretty spacious on the inside to accommodate all of these mods (it's a mid-ATX form factor tower).  And the best part, none of the wires are hitting against any fans, touching RAM/other hot parts, etc.

Next time I get a PC, i'm gonna try to build one myself.

There's just only so much you can do with a consumer model PC, which was not meant to be modded.

*reads posts*

@Starkers:  That would suck to have to wait and wait and wait to have your "dream machine" delivered.  I've had a few things (not necessarily computer related) that came in really late, and it's frustrating.  I'm like, "how long is this gonna take?" or, "is my stuff even being delivered in the first place?" kind of thing.  What would suck even more is if your current PC's on its' last legs, and not having a reliable (or any) internet connection.  (Remember, if your PC sucks, chances are the internet will suck too).  All you can do is wait.  And waiting sucks.  I hope you'll get your dream machine assembled by tomorrow. 

     MY STUFF HAS ARRIVED HO HO, HE HE, HA HA.... 

MY STUFF HAS ARRIVED... HO HO, HE HE, HA HAHAAAAA.

Yeah, about half an hour ago, he he, ha ha....

I unpacked it and everything is there so now I'm shutting down to rebuild.... see ya's.

Orright, so the beast is up and running... has been since last night, after a few stoppages... some fun and games [not].   A few months back I unplugged the top case fan because it was fitting something and making an awful racket, so yesterday I decided to fix it while I had the case open.  All went well until I was ready to put it back prior to installing the new parts.  Somehow I managed to lose the 4 anchoring screws, didn't I... without going anywhere/leaving the room, I friggin' lost them. 

Without them I couldn't put the case back together to start on anything else, so 3 of us spent the next 4 and a bit hours scouring the room from top to bottom, then searching for replacements when we couldn't find the piddling little things.  I ended up having to cannibalise an old VCR remote for 3 of them, and eventually an old audio cassette for the 4th. With all that wasted time, having to stop for dinner, I lost close to 6 hours all up and I didn't get finished on the rebuild until near 11.00pm... but better late than never, eh!

Aside from the screws hiccup the build went really well and I was really happy with the outcome.... like all the cabling went very well and is really tidy, so the case interior is neat and tidy and probably the best build I've ever done.

Startup was a bit nervous for me [like what if I f***ked something up] but it went like a dream.  The initial boot took a while due to it being a new hardware configuration n' all, but next time around the post beep took just a couple of seconds and I was looking at my desktop inside 30 seconds... more like 20ish, and WOW, no having to rewrite Windows or anything.  In the past a major hardware upgrade required an OS rewrite, but not so with Win 7.  There were a few drivers that needed updating and stuff but for the most part everything was as I left it and working fine.

So, am I impressed?  Hmmm, just a bit, perhaps.   Nah, I'm totally wrapt... over the moon... enraptured, even.  I got a WEI of 7.1 and everything just flies along.  For example, I had to uninstall the old sound card drivers prior to updating the drivers software for the new one, and like it was all over in 6 minutes or so. In the past uninstalling and reinstalling the Sound Blaster software could take up to 20 - 25 minutes, but no more.  

To sum it up, it is the absolute fastest and best PC I've ever used.... SUPERB in every way.

i get the impression starkers is happy.

i'm glad you like the new rig. enjoy.

Thanks, John, and may you also be blessed that which makes you happy.

Yeah, this rig... um, yeah, it's like a wet dream for a technogeek.... the technical climax to end all climaxes. 

Thing is, it's so fast it suffers a bit from premature computation.

When I fired up this one I pushed the button then closed my eyes and stuck my fingers in my ears.....

Worked a treat....didn't hear or see any dramas at all.

I figured if I'd REALLY stuffed up I'd smell it anyway...;)

I was worried that my arm wasn't long enough when I pushed the button... that I wasn't far enough away if/when it went up.

Like running is no longer an option... and shrapnel wounds are something I do not need to suffer this late in life.  In my younger days I used to be able to brag to the girls: "Well I got this scar abseiling down the Matterhorn, and this one I got when I crashed at 250mph at the World Motorcycle Drag titles... and this one I got while scuba diving with man eating sharks in Pirate Bay."  Nowadays the scars are going to take longer to heal and they're just gonna say: "Silly old bugger... probably tripped over your walking frame!"

Using my walking stick as an extension to push the button did occur to me... but then how was I going to plug my ears with my fingers?

In the end, cotton wool served as ear plugs and I put on my sunnies just in case my eyelids weren't enough to keep out the flash.

Fortunately, neither were needed... and the only smell I detected was the fresh coffee mrs s had made for me.  Bonus!!!

Seriously, that initial startup is always the worst, wondering whether or not it's going to go because you have failing eyesight and may have connected the front panel leads incorrectly or something.  I usually get it right, but there was a build back a while ago where it wouldn't start because I hooked up the front panel leads slightly wrong.  It took a while to figure out... that I'd gotten the + and - the wrong way around.  Yeah, those symbols can be quite small, so these days I use a magnifying glass... to be sure, to be sure.

Hey!!!  Walking frames can be bloody dangerous....;)

Yeah, I was outside a store one day waiting for the mrs to come through the checkout when this old bird trundled up in front of me and parked her walking frame on my foot... then promptly sat on it [one of those with a built-in seat].   Worse still, she was as deaf as a post and couldn't hear my protest... er, cries to get off "my effing foot".  Fortunately for me, she was a 'little' old lady with not much meat on her, so I was able to lift her off.

Actually, we have a walking frame here... one of those on 4 wheels with brakes and a place to sit.  Shaunna had it for when her lymphodema was really bad and needed it for increased support and a place to rest when we were out.  Fortunately she doesn't need it anymore, though it might come in handy for me in the not too distant future.  Mobility is becoming increasingly difficult as I get older and the rigours of arthritis set in, and some day it might just be the thing, though I'm still fiercely independent in that way and would prefer to keep walking while I'm still able to, so I'll put off using it for another year or 3 yet, hopefully.

So, GoComp owe me money... a refund because I ended up with a cheaper mobo, and it has been a while coming so I've decided to put a halt on it and placed an order for one of these instead. 

Yeah, it just seems more convenient than plugging and unplugging drives to show media in different locations, and being that my TV's, bluray players and PVR are all network enabled it fits the bill perfectly, me thinks.  Just thinking, I'll be able to stream all our saved media and live TV throughout the house now.

Hehe, I'll even fit a 22" flat screen to the back of the toilet door so's I never have to miss another moment...

....  cos sometimes the ad breaks just aren't long enough.

Google is going to see you

and give you ads for TP

No they're bloody not.... Google is banned in this abode, and I have ad blockers, script blockers and track-me-nots to make sure I don't the hell pestered out of me by those parasites.  

Oh, and there'll be NO webcam in there.... otherwise I might just suffer from stage-fright.

Well I got my Netgear Stora thingumygig yesterday and I'm not overly impressed at this point.  The hardware is okay but the setup software is clunky and was frequently not responding to commands during installation.  Sheer persistence finally got it done, but there was a battle of wills and the use of a few expletives during the process.  I eventually won that battle but still felt the need to peel off a few more cuss words to release the frustration that had built to a crescendo in the mean time.

I got a clue that the unit was probably released pre-Win 7 when setup offered to do a Vista backup, so rather than continue with a clunky, non-responsive setup I quit and reinstalled using 'best settings' in compatibility mode.  That did the trick but the controls aren't the best as I am unable to configure the drives from a RAID formation to being independent of each other.  The option for that just isn't showing in the preferences page, so I'm going to eject the 2nd drive and start from scratch.

The documentations for this unit isn't the best as the quick install leaflet says that an additional drive can be added on the fly without powering the unit down, but the user manual says the opposite and that the unit must be tuned off when adding a new HDD.  Yeah, well I did it according to the quick installation guide and I think that's why I'm unable to configure the array I wish to use.

Other than that, I can see the unit throughout the home network and the files are accessible throughout, so it does what I intended there, it's just the niggling little things with the drive array, but I will sort those out cos I'm a stubborn and persistent bugger who doesn't accept defeat easily.

Not freakin' happy!!!!   I spent most of the afternoon and part of this evening trying to get these drives out of RAID formation and independent of each other and no go.  No matter how I do it, read the manual, change it, stand on my head, hold my breath, the option just does not show up on the page.  Damned POS just refuses to play nice and I've had a gutful... one more try tomorrow and it'll be going back for a refund if it don't go properly.

if it weren't for bad luck, he'd have no luck at all. gloom, despair, and agony on he. (paraphrasing Hee-Haw)

Unfortunately, I can't tell you the specs of my new computer. The government gave me it, and in return I have to do a "few things" for them. Suffice to say, it plugs into the back of my head and Photoshop looks really different when you're "in" it................. Shhhhhhhh.

Yeah, well me, being a persistent and stubborn old bastard, got it set up how I want it.  It took a few geek acrobatics and some tech gymnastics to get where I wanted to be... oh yeah, best not leave out the frequent and oft repeated expletives along the way.   Turns out it all it needed a firmware update... and what a frakkin' performance to get that to install. 

After several attempts and getting nowhere fast, I read up on a workaround that entailed rebooting the device, then powering it off once the LED's stopped flashing, then holding down the reset button during the restart to do a recovery reset rather than a factory reset that deleted my account and settings, etc.  Once all this was performed the update took effect and the controls I was missing are now present.

But what a friggin' performance... and hopefully the vicar wasn't listening.

Anyway, I configured it how I want it and now it's bedtime... 1.55am here, and I'm bushed (and no, not Georged)

Because you'd have to kill me.... and that's a bit hard from the other side of the world with a blunt butter knife.

Orright, then, just so long as it's not hacking into Pippa Middleton's phone for risque photos.

And from there you can monitor your temperature, heart rate and dietary needs?

Sorry to bump an old thread.

But after all, I started this old thread.

Just wanted to show a picture of the back of my PC and the upgrades i've done so far.

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/194/backofcomputerseptember.jpg/

It's unplugged so there won't be any LED lights on.

Sometimes, pictures speak louder than words.