"New" system setup..

[Karlsweldt]

Now another 'kick in the teeth' concerning the Nvidia-BFG GTX280..
Seems the BFG organization is closing down, and will not honor any "lifetime" warranties or repairs on any video products! Have found several Web links noting this. Some page links were dated more than 3 years ago!
Did note some references about the premium BFG video cards failing due to inferior or improper heat sink compound on the GPU!
Sent an Email to the Nvidia tech forum, requesting suggestions as to repair centers for the video card. Reply was that Nvidia only provides the chipsets, does not manufacture the video card. So I now have to seek out an independent repair service to see if the GTX280 cards are salvageable. Looks like I may have some expensive "bookends".
If the GTX460 suffers the same fate, then I may consider an AMD product. But this 'project' has cost me several hundred dollars more than intended.

Edit 06.10.14..
New video card arrived Monday afternoon, installed and working by 4 pm. Authentic EVGA driver downloaded and installed (216 MB!!). But looks like my "turbo" folding speed with the GPU is done. No advance in points for 8 hours running last night. Que sera sera.

[Karlsweldt]

After a few days, seems like the GTX460 is banging out WUs nicely! Got 13,000 points in two days!! YES!!

[ATrebeau]

Cheers! That's great, Karl. Sounds like you really like that card.

[Karlsweldt]

Decided to do a test setup with the first Intel D975 mobo, and the first GTX280, to see if still good. Was going to use an older Compaq ATX case.. but too tight for the mobo!
So got an Antec Sonata Proto mid-tower case, new 650 watt Antec Earth watts PSU and 2 x 1 GB G-Skill DDR2 modules.
All from New Egg, about $160.00 USD.
Surprise, the GTX280 did work in BIOS pages with no problem! Will have to do a test setup with XP to see if the video is toast or useful. But the mobo is in good health. If that first GTX280 fails again, will do surgery on it to see what went wrong. The second GTX280 may still be useful for light gaming or general use. Shame they had problems.

The present #3 system with Win 7 and the GTX460 is still cranking out WU points nicely. When I shut down at night, the system gets about 2 minutes of 'cool-down' time before powering off. "Heat soak" is avoided.

[Karlsweldt]

Finally got around to completing the Antec case build.. mounting two new DVD R/RW drives.
But no slides or rails for the 5.25" bays?
HA! Found out that behind each front blank plate, two mount rails are clipped there.
Spent maybe an hour looking in the case, hardware box, but no. Then I pop the blank plate, it rattles.. WTH..?

[Karlsweldt]

The D975 F@H system is still working great! Knocking out F@H points nicely. No more problems.

Update on the Antec Sonata test system.. it is sitting in the box, assembled, for the past three months!
Did get decent video with Win XP test install, on one of the GTX280 cards. Maybe salvageable?
But had several bad side effects from a BP medication, got sort of "stomped" by a "horse". Still recovering, but slowly. Have been off the meds for about 5 months now, feeling "decent". Starting to get ambition again.
As to the old Compaq case, that was a 5716 model. Slide out chassis. Heavy duty case. Found a PSU for it that needed very little "adjustment" to fit perfectly.. a bit of filing on the screw mount holes and power socket hole. Rosewill Capstone 550 watt, from New Egg.. model N82E16817182068, $75.95 USD delivered! The case can accept almost any standard ATX mobo.
Setup is intended for testing older device cards I have, before they go up on eBay. My old Chaintech S848P fits nicely in the Compaq case. But that project is also sitting in the corner.. for now. Spring is just around that long corner, somewhere.

[evasive]

Good choice on the Rosewill capstone power supply. There is a SuperFlower under the label, all-japanese capacitor design.

[Karlsweldt]

Took me many hours of looking at PSU back sides to find one that was near identical to what was in that Compaq case.
Only problem with the PSU is that it did not have long enough Molex power plug spacings. But "Y" splitters are cheap.
Made sort of a "pocket rocket" out of the old beast!

[bdub]

you coulda gotten a cheap case, they cost only 25 bucks at times. why continue to service that old Compaq case?

[Karlsweldt]

you coulda gotten a cheap case, they cost only 25 bucks at times. why continue to service that old Compaq case?

Same as when doing a mod on a "common" car, making it a "hot rod". Plain Jane variety outside, but don't look under the hood! There was a craze years ago, putting Corvair engines in VW Beetles!
Some of those older cases were decent, and don't need much alteration to fit a modern system.
Plus, did not have to buy another ATX case!
So it has a fancy front panel.. but the bay drives are 'standard', not specific to the model, as many other PC designs are.