Kongratulations to Mikey !

All i can say is rules were meant to be broken. Ok, they are more like guidelines than absolute law as handed down by a higher authority !

As long as we are having FUN !

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Sorry I was off the air for a few days there. Lots to do with end of month stuff. I worked starting at 7:30am yesterday. I had to get some done before the store next door opened at 10am as I'm having noise problems with them again. I did get the boss to go over and talk to them, they agreed they will try to sound proof thier store and also keep certain speakers turned off during the day. the problem is they turn it up at night after we close and forget to turn it down or turn the speakers off when they come in the next morning. So then the wall thumps and vibrates and after 10 minute of that I can get a pounding headache and even if they then turn it off, it can be an hour before my head clears. My hand is bruised as thursday i beat on the wall so hard, i was really in a foul mood by that time. Anyway maybe if I get a couple of days rest i'll feel better by next week.

So on to sales. I made my internet sales quotta by 131%. I think I had orders every day of the month except one, that is a pretty good thing. Already this month i've hit 8% and have orders waiting to fill.

I did not make my goal of adding the most items, but i did pretty good getting about 166 added last month, the record was 207 back December 2009 which was my first full month of operation. I am working hard away at it now, i got 12 items added Friday.

So after adding all this stuff i'm up to 1449 in the catalog, yet I only have 780 items in stock. Many will not be restocked as they were old leftovers and some no longer available, but even with that the shelves don't even look like a dent was made in clearing them.

I did try something new, I re-ordered about a dozen differnet items, about 500 bucks our cost, that i think are hot movers and i know too we can sell locally. While they are on the way in, i went ahead and added them to the inventory, but i can specify a restock date, so people can order now for the order to be filled when i get them. Guess what, already sold 1 piece. I actually gave myself 2 extra days, in case i sell them all as it would be too many orders for me to fill when they arrive. So some of them may be filled a few days ahaed. Depends on hao many orders come in.

As far as physical orders the number is about 43% of last years, even though the dollar amount is not which is only about 20%. I don't mind selling cheap stuff, but this number of orders is a good sign things are picking back up. Soon people might order the more expensive things.

i'm also still waiting for that second laod of close out mercahndise, the boss man is suppose to go pick it up as some of the items are larger than can be shipped by ups and it would be just cheaper for him to drive down to Newbern than to have it shipped by truck. I think he just wants an excuse to get out of the house on the week-ends. ha.

They also gave us a list of more stuff. i saw many things on there we could sell and I told the boss get them and some of them I maybe could sell, but wanted a cheaper price to help move them out, so I asked him to try to offer a lower price for the lot. I'm sure since they went out of business they would be happy to just get something for it and not be stuck with it.

---

Other good news, my boinc team is growing, gaining 1.45 members a day. These must be some weird aliens with 3 legs or something since they are bigger than 1. By the 17th of this month, we should hit 2 billion credits !!! This is a fantastic milestone, we only hit 1 Billion 7 months ago and it took us 5-6 years to get that far. How things have changed and grown. I'm excited about this even though we are the 40th palce team, but number 2 in the country.

---

Still kold here in the 50'sF, at least the sun is coming out today and the sky has some blue in it. Doens't look too much better, temps should be about the same for the next week.

Well back to relaxing, i watered all the plants indorrs and out, but i'm not felling my best so i need to stay horizontal and warm for a while.

Just plain ol' average WINNING !

Well since Mikey is not WINNING, let me jump in and I'm WINNING !!!

This is not the place for team recruitment, but since we are breaking rules today, this is a slight team recruitment post. Actually i wanted to let everyone know about a new feature at one of the [url=free-dc.org]Free-DC.org[url] stats site. They have created subteams. What you ask are these ? Well if you belong to a team and put [subteam name in brackets] in your name on enough projects, it creates a subteam with that name under your team. This way for example, you can belong to the [Firefighters] subteam of your team and compete again other subteams. I belong to the subteam USA within our team USA as I had already done used [USA] in my boinc name, see my name at left for example of how your subteam name should look in your name. But for my team I am promoting other subteams, like for US Navy, US Army, colleges, Firefighters, sports teams or whatever. I will also create within our forum separate subforums and allow access to those only by subteam members. You don't have to join my team, but it wouldn't hurt. I just wanted to let you know about this function and maybe pass it on to your team members or join my team and start your own subteam. Kind of a kool feature. This might actually promote more boincers to join teams. It seems some low number belong to a team, like 14%, but i never could find out if that was out of all that ever participated or only active members. Still its a shame

Starting to warm up some. It was nice outside for a while in the sun at ground level, but one story up on the porch it was windy and not so nice. I've sort of got a cold starting and fighting it off so I was not outside very long yesterday. My roommate washed his dark blue car, then later it stormed and now it looks worse as it is covered with leaves and pollen. On the other hand my artic white blazer doesn't look as bad.

I'm back online today. I had a battery backup unit suffer a meltdown over the weekend. I just pulled it out with difficulty, expecting to be able to replace a battery. It seems both the batteries in the main unit had split, some acid leaking maybe and were swollen, had to loosten screws to get battery to slide out, it was wedged in there good. Then I took apart with much difficulty the add on battery module (i had to use brute force and break the plastic) which has four batteries in it. Two of the Four were severly swollen, i as afraid they were gonna pop, so I put all the bad ones outside, i'll take them to recycling first thing tomorrow as I don't want them around. Having seen that I decided to recycle the unit and just buy a new one. I feel if I repalce the batteries, that there might be something wrong in the unit and it might burn up new batteries. So for now both my computers are running off the same backup unit. I prefer to have one for each computer. I'm not sure if I will buy jsut a backup or a backup and second battery pack. I may need more batteries soon for this other unit and there is also on on my hdtv. I've not replaced any batteries in these yet, they are all about due. I think there goes my computer budget for this year. The burned up unit was 4 years old.

not winning today.

I have several and mine too ALL need new batteries! Right now all of mine are not running on the battery backup they are just using it as a surge suppressor, or in a few cases just an outlet strip. I agree batteries are NOT cheap! I too need to go by and see how much my individual ones cost, I have several different models of UPS's.

Keith I just have my UPSes just sitting on the floor collecting dust right now, I may have to do something about them here shortly I guess!

Yes it is now Friday!! Congratulations on your internet sales still rising, but don't get lazy just because you got lucky and didn't have to post one that is now sold out! Hey did the boss man make his trip to get more stuff yet?

My weather is CRAZY, yesterday I put sweat pants on and it got into the 70's, so today I put shorts on and it is only going into the high 50's! I wish it would make up its mind!!! Sunday is now supposed to be in the mid to upper 70's with no rain, that is good baseball game weather.

Keith I didn't mean YOU got lazy, I meant you got busy doing other things, and got lucky!!

Yeah, that Piezoelectric power roadway stuff has been around for several years. I seem to remember hearing about it in Isreal and then Califormnia. Weather it got into the roads or not don't know.

I see one big catch here. I bet the govenrments, whomever conrtrols the roads has no moeny to put these in, much less rip up the road to do it and rebuild the road. So where do they get moeny. form taxpayers. Ok no problem, but will they give the free electricity generated back to the taxpayers ? I'm certainly not going to drive on generating roads i paid to build and not have a lower electric bill. Then electric companies will have to raise rates in other aress because they are not making enogh money, i've heard that one before too. I suppose if it was built somewhere the local government would claim the energy will be used for public service and to reduce expenses. Still it means taxpayer support and will we get a cut in taxes, no, they will just spend the money they would have paid on electricity on some other thing we don't neeed.

Good idea, but in real world workings, It will be a long time to catch on. Just like a lot of other things it takes 30 years or so for them to catch on. For example, recycling or electric cars.


Yesrday i decided to switch my webmail from my new internet provider back to my old provider as I liked thiers better. My company uses the old provider and i have an extra email box, so i decided to use that. Well something wasn't going right with my domain and the email was forwarding to the wrong box. Every time I fixed one address, another would go to the wrong box. I spent half an hout playing with it. Then the problem cleared up. After thinking about it, if I had just waited 10 minutes it might have been ok, i bet it was an indexing problem and system lag at my domain provider. It seems to be ok now. Then i ended up spending 3 hours transferring email from the old box to the new one, sorting it and setting up filters. Much more work than i though it would be. A bunch of emails are there, but all the pictures in them are gone. those must get cached on my computer but are linked to the specific email so when retrieving old email they don't transfer. weird. I gave up long ago on even thinking about keeping all email forever. programs tend to crash and suck it into the black hole. So now i use webmail as i can access my mail from work, home, mobile or anywhere else, so i'm not limited to one computer for access. i laways have a backup like google to send in case my provider is offline. no matter what you do is is never easy.


Today looks to be warmer, sun not up yet and its shoing 58F so there is a good chance it will warm up although it is suppose to be overcast but the wind will be coming out of the east. I hope so i'd like to go out on the porch and work although i have a lot of inside stuff to do to like wINNING.

[EDIT]
Plant Photos, part 1 - Thumbnails, click for larger view

Amarylis, it is about 2 feet tall.


Closer view of man eating flowers.


Another full view


Flowers again


Same Flowers differant angle


Flowers again without the flash

I think i found they came out better without the flash even though the room was not sunny. It only took about 2-3 weeks for the stalk with the flowers to grow, it grows rapidly. They opened up about 3 days ago.

More to come later, i've got some of the sweetpotaoto plants and the allamada.

Read about this artificial leaf. It uses no electricty, it produces hydrogen and oxygen for fuel cells from water by photosyntyhesis, which is free energy from the sun. Although this idea too has been around for years, it has actually been done now. Of course mass production is another thing.

I image going to the store, buying a fake plant, taking it home, pouring in water then plugging it in, only when the sun comes out it puts electricity into you house reducing you dependancy on the grid.

Search the web for something like artificial leaf mimics photosynthesis, I forget where I saw the original artical.

more photos part 2
This is the sweet potato in the living room, yes it is living so it is allowed to be there.

First two phots are of entire plant, also my 7 year old pineappless plant.
You can see also the amarylis to the left.

The biggest plant near center is the pineapple plant (less pineapple), then there are two enmpty old pineapple pots and then the sweetpotato root pot. You'll see brown stalks gowing up, it grows over to the window on the right with leaves in the lower left corner of that window, it also has a vine going up to the middle of the window by all the leaves are gone. Then two vines shoot off to the left, one going up and over the pineapple, the other going to the window on the left and all those leaves in the window are the sweetpotot leaves. This is the smaller of the sweetpotato plants. This one has no flowers yet.



Part of the plant growing up the pineapple plant:


Part of the plant over in the windows to the left


Part three to follow later, now i've got to go out and water some now. I've got baby tomato plants. They sprouted last night. I planated them on the 20th last month, so it takes about 3 weeks for them to start, i swear there were none there yesterday, i've been checking every day when i come home, now there are many dozens. i was actually worried none would grow. What i did was take a bunch of the last ones from last season, stick them in a ziplock bag and put them in the frig, they've been in there for about 5 months. yes they can be nasty looking coming out, mushy, but just break them open while not breathing, squeeze out the seeds into the dirt and put the rest in the dirt too. It works and the seeds are free.

I'm seriously thinking of getting a laptop. Nothing extravagant, by my definition, not my wife's. I will at least crunch MC with it, any GPU crunching would be nice but coincidental. Any ideas to look at, or things to steer clear of?

Ok, sometimes I can be stupid. Yesterday when i transfered email from one provider to another, the pictures or graphics did not appear in the new email. I thought it had sometime to do with they were cached somewhere and being different providers i was not going to get all the old ones. So today an email comes in to the new email boxa nd it too is missing all graphics, only has big blocks with a red x in it. So i guess being fueled up on bacon my brain fired and i thought, check the email preferences, and i found the default is unchecked for "downlaod iamges immediately", so i checked it and most all the images appeared.

here is part four of three of the plant photos
This is the Allamanda, I just call her Amanda. She is about 8-9 years old. I posted before about the spikey seed pods on here, i've got to plant some of those soon.

Whole plant


Close up of pretty yellow flowers


Side view of flowers


She has a lot of flowers, they don't last long, but she grows more as fast as they fall off so there is always a nice supply of color.

I've got a sore spot under my jaw on the left near mt throat. I think this is the salivary gland and it has gotten infected, or else it is cancer, can you get cancer from drinking coffee ? It only kind of hurts if I poke it or lift my head up which stretches the neck. It started yesterday and i had been sort of sick the week before. I'm hoping that an infection is all it is and goes away.

I think its time for me to buy some new knrucherz. I'm still running P4-HT cpus. Since i've missed all the dual and quad core stuff i might as well jump to the top of the heap. I thinking of something all new, along the lines of an AMD 6 core, intel i5 quad dual core or i7-970 hex dual core. Jumping from two to Twelve will blow my socks off, only i'm not wearing any becuase it is hot in here. And some kind of mobo with 3,4 or more pcie x16 sockets. i've seen some nice ones with up to 7 and at least one that could support 4-way sli, although we don't need sli mode. Then of course i'll get new gpus too, maybe a mix of nvidia and ati. I can afford them it just might be once I price it out I might back down but i may treat myself. The twins are gonna be 5 years old this year and the other sort of dead ones are 6 and 9. I think its time to modernize and hopefully too get more energy efficient. i've got to read up on some of the features, they're talking about stuff i don't know much about DDR3, DDR5, Triple channel memory, USB 3, True Sata. About the only components I have i could use would be my 3-aging nvidia gpu's and dvd maybe my current hard drives. Everything else needs to be new. I could use my power supplies but if i'm gonna load it with gpus, i'll want like a 1250W i guess. I don't know if i could build another set of twins but that is what i would want. Right now i'm in research and planning mode.

[beep beep beep]

I must have dozed off and been dreaming. Am I WINNING Yet ?

Andoboinc and dnetc. Yeah, from what I saw on boincstats site in the forum, the server was siezed by police. It is unclear but to me it looks like they went after andoboinc and dnetc was on the same server or co-located and just caught up in it, but the psots there seem to bee half speculation and the whole issue is not clear. i've done a NNW and project reset on dnetc which zapped everything out and stopped all communication. Shame to loose work but even it it comes back up soon it might be wasted work, so jsut best to free up my resources for other projects at this time.

Mikey, Good lukc in Vegas and hope you win some krunchin money.

My throat is feeling better, it was not as bad yesterday as the previous two days. It hurts still a little if i push hard a little farther down, but doesn't hurt when i stretch my neck so i guess it is clearing up.

Off to work now, i've been goin at 7-7:30 am so i can get a head start on orders. I've got another 3 this moaning to do. It has been amazing that since march 1st i get about a minimum of 3 a day. Yesterday i had 4 and two more came in between me getting to work and the trip to the post office. It is not the middle of the month yet, when i should be at 50% of quotta, as of yesterday i was at 60& and got rid of two more older stock items, one was from 2008 and one from 2003 or before. For the boss it is a boon to just get something (cash) for it, but my motivation is different, for me it is one less item to count come the end of the year. What people will do to make a buck.

WINNING.

I've got a sore spot under my jaw on the left near mt throat. I think this is the salivary gland and it has gotten infected, or else it is cancer, can you get cancer from drinking coffee ? It only kind of hurts if I poke it or lift my head up which stretches the neck. It started yesterday and i had been sort of sick the week before. I'm hoping that an infection is all it is and goes away.

That sounds like it could be a salivary duct calculus Keith.

I'd one of those about 10 years ago in the position you describe. The flow of saliva becomes blocked by the stone, with occasional pain as the pressure builds up. In my case it was periodically relieved when the saliva found a way through and released in a proverbial flood.

My stone had to be surgically removed under general anaesthetic, discharged the same day. The incision wasn't stitched and closed up in less than a week (mucous membranes heal very quickly). I've had no problems since.

Snow tonight and tomorrow. Ugh!

Ka-Ching, Mikey drops 5,600 pennies on the floor. While he is busy kolelctiong his winnings, I'm sneaking in for big WIN.

Got my two new UPSes yesterday. One was damaged, I guess during transport by the guess in the white and green truck. I noticed the case was popping apart. Then flipping the thing around heard loos parts. I took a few screws out and got the end off, shook it and got five pices of plastic to fall out. Put 5 of 6 screws back in, one wont stay in as the piece of plastic to hold it fell out. I'm guessing it was only physical damage. I plugged them both in now to charge up over night before i put them into use tomorrow and turn off my other good one which i keep as a spare. I should look at the batteries, they may be the same and i could keep those for future use in these units or my other unit on the hdtv, in fact i should unplug the extra battry pack on that, i don't really need it and save the batteris in it. At one time there were computers over there but they got moved over here.

i'm still reasearch new kruncher parts, I'm feel more and more like i'm gonna do this, repalce my stuff with two new killer kruncherz. I ahven't ahd any new toys in 5 years which these were jsut basic units, about 600 bucks each. My previous ones were higher tech at the time i got them 1000 bucks for about the 7 year old and 2000 bucks for the one that is 9 years old now. i feel its time for some more almost top of the line gear. I'm not gonna get the cheapest compnetns, but i'm not going for the most expensive, biggest, faster one either, but something above average.

Heck i was look at gpus. Mine hasw 112 stream processors, well all 3 together ahve 336. one new gpu has 480 so that alone will give me a boost. And i'll go from 2 2x2 cpus to probally 2 at least 6 core cpus.

I may keep these current working units online but may end up shutting them totally off and reusing some of the parts (fans,gpus,hdds,dvd) in my new builds or for spares. i won't totally get rid of them. My other two older units though i think will remain unrepaired as they eat to much power to run at this time.

Still i've got some more research to do and then pick the pieces i want, i've sort of got a lsit of several of each so far, that is cpu,mobo and gpus i may want, i've just got to now go back though and pick the ones that give me waht i feel i want. See what parts i can use out of my current stuff and make sure i've got all my bases covered. Oh i still have to look at new pwoer suplies again, i was looking over those and keep finding ones that were not quite making me happy, feature wise they had one or the other i didn't quite like, i din't quite come up with a perfect match.

At least it is Friday and WINNING time.

@Mikey

Glad the vacation is going so well.

I doubt that my catching up will be much. Since DNETC is offline I am averaging 350K short of what I was doing. It looks like DNETC is offline a long time, and all complete work will be weeks over due.

Winning by just being here

Too late Mikey. I bought my components last night. Spending over 5K bucks for twin units, excluding dvd, lcds, keyboards and micey whcih i'll be using my current parts. The thing of buying prebuilt is i then have to tear them apart, they come with more parts i don't need or can use and a lot are underpowered, by the time iw would upgrade i've spent more than what i jsut did. Also all the parts i bought have a warranty, some as long as a lifetime, other 3 or 7 years which in most cases is better than what you get with a prebuilt. I got 1200w psu because i paln to put 4 gpus in. I'm starting with two, one each nvidia and ati. After i see some performace i'll decide what the other two might be although there are more nvidia (9) projects than ati (4). also i need to measure power draw trying to determine what each draws and what each computer draws, hoping i can add more without overloading psu or circuit i'm on. I've run 4 computers in room before. the two i'm running now use 450-550 watts. someone else on team jsut built and amd 6 core with 2 gpus and it draws 505 W, so i'm thinking i can run two new rigs instead of 4 ok, the questions if i can add gpus. it might end up i can only run 3 each. i['m on 15 amp circuit and can't change that. all i could do is maybe run heavy duty extension cords from another room (not recommended) soemone could trip over them and it would not be pretty looking. i can't put any holes in walls either.

There is a hardware list on my team site with some notes on why i made certain chocies, but not total notes as all my intended uses would take too long to explain. msotly it was a gut feeling. i ahd trouble finding parts, after setting on one found it was probabbly discontinued and had to look for another syle. spent 4 hours picking that out friday noght so then i spent another 8 yesterday researching all over again. i'm sometimes very aprticualr.

I bought windows 7 home preimium upgrade 3 pack, i'll have an extra for another rig. I was gonna take the windows key from my two older dead units and install windows xp on the new units using that key then apply the upgrade to win 7 64 bit. According to what i read on ms site i can do this.

since i'm repalcing all this old gear with new uptodate feartures i feel its time to treat myself, after all the two dead ones are 7 and 8 years old and the two basic ones left running are now 5 years old. some still ahve agp video in them. thime to modernize.

i'm basiclly now going from P4-HT (2 cores) at 3.20GHz to i7-950 3.20GHZ 6-core-HT which is 6x2=12 cores. Plus going from one nvidia 112 shaders to one nvidia with 480 plus an ati, and then of course i get all new features like sata 3 and 6, esata and displayport, usb 3, dual 1GB network and also onboard raid. i'm getting 2TBx3 low power hdds for that. boinc will have its own usb stick like i do now. i'll use some of my old parts too. maybe my current 1tb low power dirves might end up in there or my current gpu's. i'm building two computers to repalce my two working ones, so multiply all that by 2. So i'll be able to use new items going forward. i spent a lot but it was only half or less as much as buying the biggest-fastest perforing parts.

They should perform to do what i want plus have some extra, ok a lot, of power for krunchin for science. i'm gonna add more projects to my active list and spread the pwoer some, although i'm thinking i may limit cpu use to 6 or 8 tasks, one to keep heat down even though it will be water kooled and the other so it has power to service me and the gpus without any overload. i'll ahve to see once i get it going how everything works.

Now since i'm broke and can't go anywhere except to the front porch, all i can do is try WINNING.

I'm trying to untangle mr pototo head. Been working since 8am.

It appears that 3/4's of the plant in the right window was actually the left plant plsu all the stuf that grew up to the top window was the left plant. i finally got the right palnt isolated, it takes up one of the four planes on the right window. I had thought it was the bigger one. To make matters worse the left one had grow up the window blind cord spiraling around it. took sime to to get that loose. I've got 4 vines free, laid out through the living and dinning room. the enxt one is being difficult as it put out so far three offshhots i had to untangle which where all on the right side and then it crosses back over to the left and goes down, i havn't found the end yet. There are two more vines to go after this one. This left plant is also the one that takes up four pots and i am transplanting. I've got it dug out of 3 so far. i did get two huge about a pound or more potatoes, good eats tonight and later in the week. there are more potatoes in the forth pot. This is gonna be an all day project as once i untangle all the vines, plant it in the new pot, then i've got to do the third plant only it is not tangled and then move them outside and arrange the vines. i'm trying not to break any of them, so far i have not even knocked a flower off.

Done. Well sort of. I didn't get plant number 3 moved.

Number one is outside, it was easy as it had two vines, one short about 6 feet and the other is doubled over, maybe 20 feet but was easier to run. That was the one on the right, now outside it is on the left. This one was already transplanted into a tub in the fall.

Number two was the beast. I had to transpalnt this one from the four pots, all the vines are connected, into one tub. after untangling and digging it up i laid it in the tun, coiled the vines up liek rope and took it out, untangled the vines added soil to the tub, water and then to the task of straightening out the vines. this one was on the left inside but is on the right outside, because it wraps around the side rail. two vines go up for porch level to the rail, wrap around and then back to the front of the porch and one goes down to the stair railing and along that. the third goes up around then down and along the front of the 8 pepper pots. the fourth goes up to the ftont right corner. the fifth up the middle and the sixth up o the left, up the center post and across the top rope at the top of the porch. There is about 131 feet of vine there total, the longest is 26 feet. i hope it survives, it may be too long to bring in next fall.

i did have to stop in the middle and spend an hour changing out my battery backups. turned off the old one running two computers and put in the two new ones so each is has one computer.

Still now i have to go vacuum all the dirt out of the dinning room and put away yesterdays laundry and so on..... i'm behind schedule this weekend.

Hey Keith!

Reading some internet articles about the storm coming through NC...looks like it puts my 3 hr power outage to shame. Hope you didn't get caught in any of it!

GOOD GRIEF!!! It is buying season around here!!!

Mrs Mallard & I each just bought a Nook too.

Looks like we're all doing our part to stimulate the economy.

Now if I could just get a raise to pay for all that stuff!!!

WINNING!!!

Hence, Boxing Day!

You guys are all just silly!

Hey I went to the casinos yesterday, 2 different ones, at the first, the Riveria, I put 100 dollars into a penny machine, that is what the ATM's here give out, and when I cashed out after almost 2 hours of having fun and because it was lunch time, I took out 240 dollars! Then later on we went to the MGM Grand casino for dinner and afterwards as some folks walked around I put 20 dollars into a penny machine and when they came back to get me after just 10 minutes, I took out 60 dollars! I had a VERY good day!!! I told the people I was with I should not have stopped, I should have just kept going as days like that are few and far between!!

There are a total of 8 of us here, 7 of them are going to the Grand Canyon today, I am not as it involves a ton of walking and a couple of weeks ago I twisted my knee and it hurts when I walk too much. So today is a rest day for me, hang out by the pool, play on the computer, take naps, watch some tv, etc, etc.

The game continues but we ARE closer to the end now then when we started this game. So keep on posting and who knows, your next post could be the winning one!!

Weird thing today. It's the bosses b'day. Strange that his age is my birth year and my age is his birth year. How did the numbers know to align like that.

Report on internet sales. Almost hit 100% of quotta with orders shipped. then before the day ended another sale came in, pushing me to 100.01%, then another bigger one came in. and after i got home i got another, so tomorrow moring will be busy as i'm sure to get some more before tomorrow morning.

I gave the plans for my new desk to our installer today. He was going to start on it some today. He will build it at his home workshop with screws, then take it apart and bring it in for assembly. So maybe soon. Moving however will be the biggest chore as I or we have to move stuff around the already crowded showroom. Moving my stuff in will not be to big a deal, i can move all the computers in a day one weekend, rerouting cables is the hardest part, up down the ladder, move ladder up down again. The rest of the paerwork, boxces, spare parts, tools or whatever i can move over a little at a time, go in early each morning or as time permits during work hours if it is slow.

I had a revelation this morning. My old krate design is nice, but 5 krates do not stack well, they want to fall over. So in my new build i was thinking of a change. Maybe a differnet crate. Then it hit me. i've got these two honey-can-do tables in the bathroom holding up a fish tank. at amazon where i posted pics of that. Also note that he fish tank is the home of my teams' mascot, Krunchy the fish and he is a neon tetra which is appropiately Red-White-and-Blue for USA.

So the space above one shelf and below the next is about the exact height needed, well they are adjustable shelves so that cen be changed too. Also they are wire shelves so they are open. The shelf surface area is a little bigger than a krate shelf area so this is a plus. Being open tables suspending the mobo from one shelf to the next will be easy with a couple of cable ties, give it something to rest on at the bottom and also allow max air flow all around. Think of the orientation of you mobo in your towe case, this is the same.

Power supply can sit top of dvd drive and they sit on a shelf. HDD cage might be suspended under shelf above and i can still attach fans as needed. The forth side will be open where as a krate has a solid bottom that becomes a side. So the tables will be more open and allow more air flow.

Next is important, they are stackable but they jsut don't stack, they have bolts so the legs are bolted together, more sturdiness.

Also important, if i get 6 tables, the total hieght will be 96 inches. Then there are also leveling feet that add some height and i can put those top and bottom and the floor to ceiling height is 97 inches. I can fit in in with no chance of it falling over and with the feet cranked out it will be snug.

I'll be able to put two upses under the bottom shelf on the floor and then have 6 instead of 5 spaces for komputers or gear. I bought 7 kits. so i'll also have 4 extra legs. I needed the 7th so i could have a shelf at the ceiling, only for hanging stuff under and to give support to the top legs.

The only disadvantage i see is with krates i can build them say out on the kitchen table, then stack them up versus the single stack i'll have to build the computers between shelves in place which may have limited access on certain shelves making it a little more difficult, but not impossible.

I now plan to build my two new super killer krunchers in it, plus then move out of krates at least the twins and maybe the third and forht unit's that next some fixing. i'll worry about power later but i think i have a way to get some up here without having too ugly a layout like a gazillion cords running across the floor or having to put any holes in walls which is a no-no.

It sounds complicated but to me it seems easy, will be really kool looking, for sure it will be the koolest looking multi kore kruncher ever.

i definatly will post pics when it is built, both day and night views (lighted fans). Also i could put a vornado fan at the bottom and blow kool floor air up through the entire stack, thus keeping dust and hot air out. one ac fan to kool 6 computers. Well they would need some of thier own fans, but in the summer it might definately help. i've already got one and want to try it.

WINNING beacuse i can.

WOW Mikey, you're having fun while i'm here busting my back. I sort of had the feeling i wasn't really going to get my new space. So the boss was cleaning up things today and i started moving some stuff. He then helped and we cleaned out the new area. So I feel better as now it seems a definite go. Our guy is building the counters when he can between his other jobs. I lined off the floor with blue tape to pretend there was a counter there and stuck a chair over there so i could sit behind the imaginary counter to get the feel of what the new view will look like. Still could be a week before I move in, after the counted get in, i have to wait for power.

I definately will take photos of the new computer stack. i'm also gonna take some along the way as building it is also a project for my team and i will be writing an arcicle on how-to. I'll psot them or a link when it is all done. As for power at home i'm limited to 15 amp circuits mostly. comupters with 3 gpu's draw over 5 each, so you can't even run 3 on one circuit. but the older ones i was able to have 4 plus a few other things going. I think what i can do is use some heavy duty cords. There is power in the attick space i think not on my circuit and the stairs are in my room so maybe i can run a cord from up there through the hatch, along the ceiling across the top of my shelves and down to the stack, it would be out of the way and not noticable. I could use two cords and split th laod up, 1-2 old computers each. Another option is to use the bathroom socket. i could loop a cord around the wall maybe, under the door, then up and around the same shelves to the stack. Same thing use two cords. I have to see. The attic would be 1st choice. I'll see tomorrow by turning on a bunch of lights and going down and flipping a breaker off to see what cuts off. Either way i think it is doable without modifiying wall or having cords people would trip over. This way i could at least have all the computers in one spot.

Next choice will be to put some of the in the laundry closet up on a shelf and only have remote wireless access to them. I could maybe put some downstairs and do the smae remote wireless access.

I may have turn some off or move them if it gets too hot, but i was also thinking i can kool the house and just vent my room out a window, keeping the door closed so the heat does not go into the rest of the house.

As for now I'm WINNING !

I'm all for Easter. I just don't subscribe anymore to the commercialization of holiday's. But i will do my part by eating some eggs.

It looks overcast here also, must be a huge cloud if it covers NC and MI. Yesterday was kold. The temp had dropped back intothe 50F's. Today the wind has switched around and now it is up into the 70F's even thou there is no sunshine.

Since I need some rest, there is not much on my list today. Water and Feed the plants, A little laundry and kleening. I need to rest up for the big days ahead. I'm due to get a bunch of parts today, but not enough to build complete units. i still of course nend to wait for the stack but amazon shipped that friday. I'll have some stuff today to look over, a mobo, ps, cpu but NO memory which is in the package arriving monday, wahhh. I think gpu cards arrive next week too. At least i can read some books and think about parts layout, plus a plan to build the stack and transfer software and stuff, make a loooong todo list.

Maybe too i'll take my good vacuum to work and suck the 10 years of dust out of the carpet.

Oh, Mikey, my boss is going to Wilmington today to visit his daughter and step daughter, they both go to UNC there. That out of buiness palce is in New Bern which is some where nearby or en'route and he will bring back, finally, that second load of stuff to sell.

Anywat my internet sales are booming, i hit 117% of my quotta so far, this includes any returns taken back off. In fact the number of orders so far this year are 2/3rds of lasts years, although the total sales amount is only 1/3rd, smaller orders but i do think the margin is higher. But the number of orders is encouraging, if it keeps up this pace i would have more tha ndouble last years orders by the end of this year. I had 5 to ship on Friday. I'm sure i will beat out January which was 119% and March was about 127% which i might beat that too. February doesn't count since i was on vacation and closed for 2 weeks.

time for three important things, Breakfast, Koffee and WINNING.

Yes, creative on power.

Here's the deal-e-oh, daddy-oh

The older computers use about 2.5amps each, say less than 300watts. Ateamate reports his new amd 6 core with 3 gpus is using 660watts at full throttle. I may not run my new ones with all 12 cores but if i did the draw i expect will be greater. 660W is about 5.5 amps and x 2 that i've got 11 amps needed.

My circuit is 15A. Running HDTV and blu-ray via one UPS and my computer stack which for now is two running old computers and two UPSes. Then there is one receptacle in the living room (not used) which is on the other side of my wall and in this room the ceiling light and ceiling fan, walk in closet light, two window fans if used, 3 other lights, desk light and as I found out now the bathroom light, bathroom ceiling fan and the attic light and receptacle, although the last two are never used.

So scratch steeling power from the attic. The a/c inside unit is up there but that i believe is hard wired and i'm sure on it's own circuit.

Option two is to use the bathroom receptacle. it is one on a 20A breaker. It is above the sink, but on the wall against my room. So runnin a cord to the floor as it has to go under the door and it is a pocket door in that wall. Then from there it can rum behind shelves across the top of the walk in closet door and then down to the floor behind some other shelves, across the floor and then it will be at the computer stack. Most of it would be unseen, only the part in the bathroom. Since i never use tyhat socket that is an ok choice.

No wait, i have another choice. I forgot there is a wall socket in the hall, it is behind 4 barrister book cases. They run up to my door. I could maybe use that, run behind the cases, under my door and then up to the ceiling as it would have to cross over the bathroom door and then follow the rest of the path described above. This is attached to the kitchen lights, no none of the wall sockets. So there are 6 x 75W bulbs for about 3.75 amps leaving 11.25amp and I need about 297W x 2 or 3 which about 2.5 amps per older computer. Running 3 computers of that would 7.5 and still leave room to spare. Kitchen lights are not on all the time and usually not all 6, they are gouped 3, 2 and 1.
My roommate usually only turns on 5, i usually only use the 3. The 1 over the sink is not used much.

I could use the living room circuit, it has only Roomba and the ceiling light and fan, but then there is a chance of something else like the vacuum getting pluggged in. It would be a longer run and not as sightly as my other choices.

I've got a couple of options to consider.

Maybe i should consider running two new computer from the bathroom and old computers from the hall, thus spreading out the load. i'll measure some runs and see what kind of heavy duty cords i can get, one cord per ups which would break the loads at about 5 amps per cord. Then i need to think on this awhile.

Needless to say, this house has some weird wiring choices. Some of them don't make sense other than it was easier for the install guy to run less wires.

ps,
I've not got 3 nice big boxes to unpack. Oh I get so excisted when i get boxes.

Only thing i'm krunchin is a sweet potato that accidentially rolled into the oven that spontaneously turned on. Had to eat the poor thing. Buuurrrrrrrrp. Xcuse me, that was more than good and i deserve it for all the hard work of watering and caring for that plant. Now i'm full and all i can do is roll into bed.

Oh, I love my new mobo. i've been drooling on it all day. Don't worry it is still in the antistic-antidrool bag. If i only had enough parts to build one. Been trying to look at the manual between other projects, only made it to page 7.

Did i mention a really kool feature, Mikey will love this one. With my smart phone i can remote to the unit, overclock it, monitor mobo temps or turn it off. Also solves that problem if your monitor dies or does not have power.

Another good feature is the onboard power button and reset button. Since i'm building without case i have no front panel buttons.

The cpu by itself is nothing fancy, but the i7-970 came with a rather decent fan-fin cooling unit. Almost the size of my butterflies, only it is sqaurish and not all copper. But it looks rather respectable. I'll save those for another project or as backups since i already bought liquid kooling units.

Still haven't unpacked a psu.

Well I was only reading the manual as I have an extra few days before building. I went through the hole thing but didn't really read it all. The only important part is if you have 2,3,4 DDR3 sticks instead of all 6, but i have 6. Put memory in the wrong slots it won't work. The part on the raid is sort of important i think i have to make a special driver setup disk to use during windows install for windows to recognize the raid array, otherwise it won't work. i didn't know that part, but i'll have to read it again once i get going. But win7 was not mentioned. humm. does win7 do this automatically or am i out of luck.

today was fun, wehn shopping. hit home depot to buy extension cords and got something useable but not my first choice, 50ft beige. i wanted 40ft white. Went to Walmart next door to it to get something else and found the exact 40ft white ones i wanted, so i took the first ones back to home depot. Lucky i only drove 1/10th mile instead of having to make another 5 mile trip back.

So at walmart i also got sticky goo to fix the car. When i got home the roomy was out washing his prius, so we started ta;king and i decided i should open up the back hatch and get it fixed. the hinges we half rusted off. if the door slams open it might break off. i don't open too much anyway. i used the whole tube of goo. I need more. He did agree to left me park on the oposite side of the drive. We think his is built so leaves won't get in the cracks. i was only on that side really because my kayak is in the garage on that side, but i can still get it out and on the car if needed. his trailer is in the carport, now behind my car, but there is enough room to get it out without me movbing either.

I've been up since 5:30 and i just had breakfast.

Now i've got to run ac cords so i had better get a hoppin'.

This must be Moanday.

How can I tell. Well i had 4 orders to do and vacuuming so I wanted to get to work by 7am. Behind scedule i show up and it is like 95 degrees in here and one of the UPSes has a red light and beeping complaining it wants a new abttery. The vacuuming was actually going to wait until later. But I decided to knock that out quickly not doing a super good job so i could take the cvacuum back home and bring in a spare i had at home. Try vacuuming in a 95 degree room and see if your mood improves. So i did that, went home. By now it is after 7:30 so this means driving through the school zone which slows down traffic. Also i had jsut been passed by a screechin fire truck so i was hoping there was not an accident on the road, even slower traffic. Got home and I had two differnt size batteries, so i borught them all. Now back to work and by this time i'm into early moaning rush traffic and back through the school zone. So after all that the battery i had that fit did not help. so i turned everything off, yanked the ups and stuck in a smaller backup ups hoping it was still good. Then finally i can begin my work, of which it is almost 9am by this time. then there was a problem with a printer not powered on and an external hdd as i had knowcked the plugs loose in the wire switching, so shut down again and restart again.

Yadda Yadda Yadda and more wasted time later,

So i've got normal moring stuff to do and i haven't got to orders yet, which two more had come in since i left the house first thing. And before i got to the end of filling those 6 orders yet another had come in.

So now just as i'm about to get going and make progress, the electrician shows up. Well as much as i want a new counter and power, i did not need to have that today. We made it quick so i could show him around and give him the scoop. Today he was just sizing up the job nad buying supplies actuall wiring yet.

Also too the boss had the laod of stuff from the closeout. It got unlaoded and piled up as i have no time to fool with sorting that out and inventoring it today.

Finally by now, 11:30am the UPS Truck just pulled in so now i've got more to do, fortunately he is an hour late and i actually got through all the orders and some other paperwork.

Good news is boss ssaid it was OK to buy some new UPS supplies.

Also my internet sales hit 130% of quotta, making this the best month so far this year.

Gotta run, more busy work to do.

Heat in the forcast, its 72F before the shinny thing pops out.

It might rain Thursday.


Not sure what progress has been made on my new counter desk, but if is going to rain Thursday possible our installer whom works outside will have time to work on the counter inside then. The Electrician was there yesterday and looked ouver what he will need to do and measured and when and bought wires. He may run those at least from the breaker box to the counter area before then but won't be able to finish until the counter gets built as they will run down under the counter. I'll have two 20A circuits for computers.


While i was on a spending spree and since i've solved my power situation i decided why not have new monitors for my new systems. I went ahead and got 2 new LED LCDs. They use 25W each where i think my current LCDs are 60W each. I also got 22inch widescreen which is the biggest i can fit two wide on my desk and still have room for a 19inch for the old computers. Then i ordered a dual vesa mount, not for those, but to stack my two older 19inch lcds vertically for use still with on the old computers occasionally at least for a while. After i switch things totally over then maybe i'll use them as second monitors on the new rigs and only remote to the old systems if needed.

I have enough parts to start building, but might wait for some more to show up and the stack to get here. There will be a lot of rearranging to do and i'm not sure how to accomplish it all. Totally moving everything out to a temporary space and then builing everything new in place moving oldd stuff back after seems, well not the easiest but easier than moving everything 5 or 6 times.

Hope Mikey gets home ok with pocketses full of pennies.

Mikey. i hope all your stuff works too. I'm afraid to turn my stuff off. That one time i did when i went on Christmas vacation, when i game back was when both my network hard drives would not restart and lost a lot. I don't think i've still recovered yet. i actually gave up on a lot as it seemed too much to recover and some projects i had i just abandondened.

Good day. Weather not too bad although the boss man likes to have the AC on 72F F as in F for Freezing, I'm surprise ice cubes don't fall from the ceiling. I'm use to 78F I guess 'cause the 'puters pump out heat and i've lived with them or other heat pumping electronics all my adult life.

I solved a problem in the bathroom of how to sort of hide the power wires some more. i actually had this idea before but for another reason. When i put in that tub to ceiling shelf pole and cleaned up the clutter, i thought it would be kool to put one on the vanity top, only just buy one of those 20 buck ones and not the 100 buck one i put in the shower. The reason i din't put a cheap one in there is they rust out. But on the sink top it won't get as wet so it would last longer. I ahd actually got one and stuck it in, but it was on the oposite side. so tonight i thought, hey move it over and the plugs hide behind it. i was able too to snug it up against the plugs so it kind of holds them in and someone can't just unplug them. the wires then hide behind one shelf and then hide beind the towel rack, mostly. Anyhoo i put some small things, trinkets and stuff up on the shelfs and it looks good, plus being in front of the mirror it sort of has the kool effect of doubling everything.

Did i tell you the scare mazon gave me. I oepned one box and the packing paper sort of popped out so i read it first. it said something about a 20 buck lawnmower part. panic atttackkkkkk-tack. but when i looked in the box my correct 700ish bucks of items were in the box. The only thing wrong was the wrong packing list.

Well now to unpack three more brown boxes. When i get all the boxes out of the boxes, i'll take a photo, then there will be some how to photos for my how to build a monster 6 level tower killer kruncher.

As much as i want to build these kwickly and get them a krunchin' it still may be a week or more. i might have to move my office at work first kutting into my building time, that will take a least a day, maybe two and my only choice is to do it on a weekend as i can't be wiothout computers that long during work time. And that is done on my time without pay since this is a special project, some sacrifices have to me made but mental sanity is worth it.

Now for sales and a report for Mikey. I started yesterday putting those items from the second load of buy out stuff on, only as it was moanday i didn't get to start until around 2 i nthe afternoon and only got 3 done before the end of the day. Between 5 and 6 i sold one of the items. That is the fastest record sale of any one item listed. About 4 hours, maybe less as it might have been the last item i did and the item only was in my stock 1 day. So todays total is 145% of quotta and it has become the highest sales month of this year. I did make progress listing more of that batch today, i'm about half way though it. A lot of things too i put on cheaper than normal, since we have less than out normal cost in it, so as to be lower than any other seller. i'l lwatch some items and if they undercut me i still can lower my price, and still make more than normal. I set up my spreadsheet to track sales for both batches, only i can only track what i sell via amazon and we sell some of it in store. But it will give me an indication when i've sold more than we paid for it. It was quiet today and frankly if I got no orders overnight i would be glad for a change as i need a little rest break.

@Mikey

Just think of all the new crunching you can do, now you are back?

ALL the pc's came right back up last night when I got home with no problems except none had internet access! Turns out I forgot I had turned the hub off going from the top floor to the basement, I went up and turned that back on and everything is up and running this morning and producing credits too! WOOHOO!!!!

While on vacation I saw an Ati 5770 on sale for only 85 bucks, I have not bought it yet, it is at NewEgg and that is after both an instant and mail in rebate, normal price is 135 bucks. Oh man the rebate expired YESTERDAY!! Oh well I will just keep looking, my wife is done with her old desktop and my Win7 64 bit disk is finding its way back to me, a friend borrowed it to try Win7 on his Mac. If he likes it he will buy his own copy. The desktop only has an Ati 4670 in it now and a 5770 would be MUCH better, it already has a 750 watt power supply.

Keith I am glad your website is still selling things AND that you are setting new records, keep it up!!!

Mikey, there is a on mazon for 136 less 25 mail in rebate which expires in two days.

Turns out I blew the money for the card in Vegas, hmmm how did my wife find that money?! Oh well, it's okay for now, I will just have to go to another computer show and sell some more memory soon.

Keith I like the floor tile idea for the counter, it seems easy and should last a long time and look good too, and it certainly sounds cheaper too! As for building your new pc's, do you have the metal stands yet? I think you will have to be careful when you build these, your old 'krate computers' used plastic 'krates' while this new system is made of metal shelving stuff, that means more of a chance of problems.

We had TWO tornadoes touch down near me yesterday, one near Quantico Marine Corps Base and one a few miles further away, neither was close enough for me to worry about, but the News was FULL of warnings etc. Both were at least 5 miles or more away from me. I got lots of rain and some wind but nothing special.

If Keith uses plastic ties to hang the components and secures them from swinging, then it should be OK. Although finding some kind of rubber wrap or spray to coat the metal might be a good idea too.

I just saw a news article that the death toll in the south has been doubled from the original 85 (bad enough!) to +178!!! Nasty bunch of weather. Got a load of rain up here overnight and on the way in to w@^k this morning too. Safe, sound and still dry, and of course...

WINNING!!!

Mikey, there is a on mazon for 136 less 25 mail in rebate which expires in two days.

Turns out I blew the money for the card in Vegas, hmmm how did my wife find that money?! Oh well, it's okay for now, I will just have to go to another computer show and sell some more memory soon.

Keith I like the floor tile idea for the counter, it seems easy and should last a long time and look good too, and it certainly sounds cheaper too! As for building your new pc's, do you have the metal stands yet? I think you will have to be careful when you build these, your old 'krate computers' used plastic 'krates' while this new system is made of metal shelving stuff, that means more of a chance of problems.

We had TWO tornadoes touch down near me yesterday, one near Quantico Marine Corps Base and one a few miles further away, neither was close enough for me to worry about, but the News was FULL of warnings etc. Both were at least 5 miles or more away from me. I got lots of rain and some wind but nothing special.

If Keith uses plastic ties to hang the components and secures them from swinging, then it should be OK. Although finding some kind of rubber wrap or spray to coat the metal might be a good idea too.

I just saw a news article that the death toll in the south has been doubled from the original 85 (bad enough!) to +178!!! Nasty bunch of weather. Got a load of rain up here overnight and on the way in to w@^k this morning too. Safe, sound and still dry, and of course...

WINNING!!!

At least you didn't get any snow!!! And yes the South did get hit really bad, I am so glad I don't live there!!! As for Keith's 'problem' I was thinking of maybe those plastic cable wraps that you can wrap around cables to keep them all together, like this: http://www.mmnewman.com/news.html If he wrapped them around the metal legs and anywhere else metal could be a problem he could have a blue computer, a red computer, etc, etc.

Keith pci-e cards 'clip' into the motherboard and are held there by the clip, they are not just pushed in and can then fall back out again, they must be un-clipped first.

I got a letter yesterday my unemployment has finally run out! That means I will no longer be getting a check while doing job searches. It is ok though, I am not hurting for money or anything, my wife started her new job with the State April 1st and she makes more than I did from unemployment.

Randy, Kool. Yeah target sells them, but for me that is a 30 minute drive away. I got the two under the fish tank on a amazon warehouse sale deal once. The 7 for the stack i just ordered and didn't bother spening a lot of time looking for. They are reasobably priced at 18 bucks each so spening a lot of time to save a buck was not worth it to me at this point. If you read the reviews at amazon i left a nice one and have been getting replies directly from the manufacturer on it, i've never had that befoe. Apparently they really care about thier products and what people say.

Mikey, no to football, i'm a surfer. That is indoor surfin'. when people ask what sports i like, i say i'm an indoorsman. Well ok sometimes i do kayakin' but i've always went more for inside stuff than being in they great outdoors, but i do like fresh air.

Ok for a quick long report:

Well i've done some testing on parts placement. I've had to adjust the shelves 3 times but finally got this figured. First time i had the shelves all the same space apart. Then i decided i could make some smaller to just fit the mobo, but when i went to put the 3rd gpu in it hit the top shelf and would not be 90 degree in the slot. after careful study and measuring of all mobos i was able to adjust the shelves again to best fit and give 1 more inch to the two new rigs. With adjusting the foam thickness i'm putting under the mobo and this new height i can make it work.

This gives me an easier way to secure the mobo and to secure the gpu's The mobo will be sitting on a strip of foam but also straped down through the 3 screw holes along that edge to the shelf below. The top edge of the mobe wil be strapped to the shelf above, but it will be sort of hanging, there is a gap and it does not touch.

Next will be some carefull building, i've got to plug certian cables in first as the 3rd gpu covers the cable plug ins so they can't be plugged in once gpu is in socket.

This is a slight drawback in my design but doabale. Then i have to plug in the 3rd gpu as in my design this is the highest up. It will get strapped to the shelf above so that it remains sturdy and hangs at 90 degress to the mobo. once power wires are plugged in and can stapr those too at that end. The 2nd gpu goes in and it straps to the 3rd on those metal brackets you normally put a screw into to secure to the back plate which i don't have. then the 1st goes in and straps to the 2nd. Problem solved of how to secure them. although to pull any out will be not so easy but that is not a dialy event.

And speaking of gpu's, i had forgot about those vga dummy plugs needed to run gpus without monitors on them under win7. I've got the adapter but need the resistors. I was barley able to find 10 75ohm resistors at work under the dust, we don't use those things much anymore and this unopened pack looks to be 20 years old. We had no 68's and nothing else close enough. Radio shack did have 75's and was out of stock on 68's, lots of empty racks there. It was easier for me to order some than run all around thsi small town looking here and there. I've probbaly got some in the garage but then too they are over 30 years old and still boxed from when i moved, so finding them would take too long. I got 20 new ones for 2 bucks plus about 5 bucks shipping. That will give me enough to build. if they don't arrive by the time i turn on the i7's then i'll just run one gpu until they do but i think they will be here before needed.

So today i've got some building planned.

First is to clean up any computer paperlesswork i need quickly, i've got a few financial things to take care of. Next power down the krate stack and move each of those out. I guess dust out the hole while i'm in there.

Next i'll have to take the new stack rack apart but i think i can unscrew half of it without having to take each section off which would be about 4 sets. Then i should be able to lift the bottom section over the desk and into the hole, put the top back on and screw it back in. Nice feature of this design is even though the shelves are on supports that clip around the leg, they are no so tight that the legs can't be turned whiel they are on, hence i can unscrew them, although it wil ahve to be a few truns on each leg so it lifts up straight.

After this i plan to dissassemble, one at a time my working twins and put them into the stack and turn back on. A few parts from them are getting taken off for use on the new i7's like the dvd drive and maybe some fans with long cords and i'll have to put some older non-lighted fans with short cords in the twins. After all is built and working i'll decide on if i want to repalce any non-lighted fans with lighted ones, what colors and then have to order some. Make it work first, make it look pretty later.

I hope i can get all that done today. The transfer of computer parts is not to abd a job, the cables however take time, all the cables on the stack now have to be pulled, one at a time as they get twisted up no matter what you do. then after ahrdware rebuild cables go back in one at a time and i hope i didn't forget any and they are long enough.

Then i can start actuall assembly on the new i7's.May take me awhile and to build and get win7 installed but i'm hoping within a week from now. First i'll get boinc going for burn in tests. I'll figure out my software later and install that on them and trasnfer data a little bit here and there. i'm waiting on a lcd dual mount to put on my old lcds on the old twins as the new i7's will have new led hd 1080p widescreen monitors. Once those are all in place software shuffling will be easier while i can still do day to day stuff.

I will take some pictures as i get into the actualy build and maybe post them once i'm done.

So for now, signing off.

Anyone seen any spare MFC42u.dlls lying around?

I seem to have lost mine ...

Last problem will be how to hook 5 computers plus the blu ray into a 4 port router. i guess i have to pull and old 8 port hub out and power it up. Does anyone know if a computer with two network ports can be used, one for network access and one to go to another computer ? If i could do that i'd be set with the 8 port deal as the new i7's both have two ports.

Keith, you're doing some sloppy thinking on this. It's called ICS - Internet Connection Sharing. From way back in the dark ages when you had dial-up to a single computer and ran your network off of it.

Got almost all of the toxic chemicals applied to the lawn now...just the crabgrass preventer to go. Waiting to see if the mole repellant and grub killer is going to get rid of those pests once and for all.

WINNING!!!

Mikey,
Thanks for the usb stick link, i was actually going to do that maybe. I do have 32Gb sticks for the new i7's, but these are going to be my boinc drive, so as not to wear n tare a hdd. They are working good in my twins but they are on 8G's, although maybe today i've shut down boic and make a backup copy. if the thing barfs it won't be that hard to replace and restore an old copy of boinc with my settings.

No what i needed the dvd drive for is install of win7. i do have usb drives too. in my current setup i use the usb dvd-ram drive to read most of my cd's, it is slower than the one on ide, but that is ok as it give me time to watch what it does. using the ide goes to fast sometimes. Beside i', not going to be doing anything requiring dvd on the twins anymore and if so i have an extra usb dvd. i like thes slim lines one at 5x5x1/2 inch. got three stacked on my desk. taking up little space. Some of my other usb hubs and hdds will transfer to the i7s. After a while the twins will be mostly krunchers only, maybe some surfin use. i've also got like 6 older ide ones of various qualities. i haven't used those in the older computers since i start using the twins.

As for switch or hub as they use to be called., i've got 4 ports on router. i've got 2 8 prot switched not in use. what i was trying to avoid was another box and plug in transfomer. i'm thinking there is a thing called bridge mode, that might link the two ports toegther, i have to check on that to. there msut be a way to run one computer through the other with two ports and still access the network and internet with both. If not i can always try to put my blu-ray back on wireless anjust have 4 computers, but i was at some point going to run the 5th. if i try any more then of course i will have to have a switch or wireless cards, which i do have 2 and a usb wireless adapter. For remote crunkers it would not matter to me too much it they did not have top speed connections.

OK photo time:

The evolution of a computer:

It grew up as a box. These are my old ana older and older (not oldest, there is a 486 in kloset) computers. White box is a piii i think, but it my win98 machine. it looks here i had already started conversion as the dvd drives are gone.
Black stack is an old ups at bottom with green lights. Then my 9 year old p4-ht heat pumper which is malfunctioning but i forget why. The is my next now 7 year old p4-ht 3.8GHz machine, no gpu as it only has ega slot. thats the one that kept getting worse and worse and win xp is so fouled up in it it won't boot anymore but it does have 1 gpu. ps 3 in background.


Beware the wire monster lurking behind computers and it looks to be overtaking a ups or two.


Inisde view of box. How ugly, you can't tell what is in there.


First attempt at krating. Decided after to rote krate 90 degrees as this way the top sags with stuff hanging from it but there is no room to put them much anyplace else.


Had to use a strip of wood to keep add in cards 90 degrees or from falling over. They look ok but wait until you put heavy video cable on.


The komputer evolves again into a vertical krate. noice the stick still hold cards straight. now there is nothing hanging from top. the psu and floppy and cd and dvd are just sitting there at bottom all neatly stacked. hdd is bungee corded to side and mobo has 2 or 3 plastic twister ties holding it to side. easy to get inside to change parts or take apart as not much is screwed down or up. This is the white win98 machine, smae as in previous photos.

It worked last time i used it and i may take it apart and put at the top of my stack in cube #1.

Next we have the new tower stack.


First trial to place new i7 parts. the front is on the right, the rear panel of mobo is the front. psu will be in rear left corner. the coraise liquid cooler, fan is not attached yet will be at front. both of these blow heat away. the pump of the liquid cooler is not attached yet but laying just below the empty cpu socket. Two of three gpu's in place. no memory installed yet. The other fan is on a 3 hdd cage, whcih actually is now in the a twin. I ahve a 4 hdd different one the way for these and instead of ahning it, may put it under the psu. See foam strip unde bottom edge of mobo and a foam pad under psu, because i had some sheets of foam to use, no other reason.

In the background you can see off to the left new widescreen led monitors.

On the right in the background is the glow of some blue fans in the twins still running in krates.

Mikey, i don't think these have water in them but some kind of coolant like anti-freeze. i'll have to READ the manual to see. it looks to be a pretty well sealed system with no add water here cap.


Mobo close up. Sitting of foam cut from the corsair psu packing. The packing the thing has must cost more then the psu. 1 inch thick black foam all the yway around, velvet black drawsting abg and a pouch to keep all the plug in adapter cables.

Oh i had to notch the foam out, no to clear in photo, as the heat fins on the mobo looked like they would touch the foam and maybe melt it. i've got to cut a little more out.

Twister ties work fine for hold mobos and cables in place. just make sure the plastic is in good shape so the wire inside is not exposed. Everything in my stack will be held in with these, and they are easy to untwist if needed to change out or move parts.


This shot didn't come out too well. trying to show how these will hang from under shelf above. This actually turned out to be easier than making a stick to hold them. Gpu #3, the upper one is held up by twister tie, GPU #2 is held up by tieing to #3, gpu #1 is not installed yet.


Backside of mobeo, foam at bottom, 1 twister tie (I will add more when final). Another piece of faom at top and then will put 2-3 more twister ties in to hold top secure.


Back to twin #2. it is a little clutter in the krate. A stick hodl gpu up. Lighted psu. Red fan blowing on cpu. Blue exhaust fan. small fan blowing on 3 hdds. Twin 1 loos the same and is stacked above twin #2.


This is the 7 year old p4-ht 3.80Ghz with single gpu and the butterfly cooler (copper thing) which you can't fully see. Two ehasut fans. Again dvds and psu are just sitting there. A stick holds up add in cards and they are screwed into a short stick.

The 9 year old p4-ht 3.06GHz is below. Twins are stacked above.



The krate stack, too tall to fit in one photo.
There are only 5, twin #2 is overlapped.
So again it is 9 year old, 7 year old, twin #2, twin #1 and then the win98 unit.

Notice white pole and a bungee cord at top to hold stack to it, even so it was a little twisted and leaning. I found out after 3 high the plastic is just not stury enough to hold the weight and keep it straight up.

Look at all those pretty fans.


Part 1 of how to build the kaptain's new kontorl room. Buy looks of pretty boxes, and ther is more to come. i hope i can fit all the parts together. Most are still packed in this phot, except the hdds which i took out of the brown boxes and they are piled in front of them. a couple of gpus are open. still waiting on two more to show up.


Temporariy placement of new tower with one new i7 testing placement.


New towe in place and tinw # 2 unkrated and cubed. Notice the much cleaner look as a little more space to work in. This is a side view. the red fan still blowing on cpu. psu changed to exhaust out side instead of front. new hdd cage with bigger and lighted fan blowing on 3 hdds. Still some temporary cable runs but most will be strapped with velcro straps to the legs going up and down.


Front view. That poer led is bright if you catch it just right. Still have the short strip of wood holding up gpu. i notched it slightly and is sit on one of the wire shelf bars.

PSU sits on shelf and same for hdd cage. i did twister tie down one each cable. mobo is tied in with about 4 twister ties. At the rear top is an extra audio port front old front panel, now routed to side where it will be closer to the lcd's with speakers. , that is twister ties to the shelf rail. Above blue led is the medai card rader, held on to shelf above with 3 twister ties. Again a few temporariy cable runs cutting across as every thing is not in final place and they don't reach where thing are.

This is twin #2, tiwn # 1 yet to be built above. The new i7's will go below.


Shot of tower with twin 2 running. there is part of one i7 at bottom and a space between the two for the other i7. twin 1 will go above tiwn 2 and then maybe the old win98 will go at top which i might run once and a while for fun.


Poof ! Twin #1 suddenly appeared out of nowhere. See they look identical. Actually the i7s will also be twins but since i've already used that name i decided to acc them 11i7a and 11i7b. The 11 is for 2011. Really put a lot of thought it to that.

Now the kool parts:


Night shot with one light on in room, no flash. the wall is sort of red or pinkish.


Another shot in the dark, the light turned off. Everything seen is by fan light. The wall turns bluesish. it looks much more glowing blue than in the photo.


Please excuse any typos, my cts seems to be causing me problems, or maybe i'm getting senile and as my fingers type faster than i think.

More to come when i take more pictures.

Now that i've spent, holy COW, 4 hours writing this and fixing the photos, what a daymare this was. I need breakfast and koffee. First i ahd uplaoded the 1.4Meg copies. Then i reduced them to 252K but the phoots were still to big, so i uploaded them to imageshack so they all came out to fit, but then each url for each photo is now different, a lot of retyping.

Well today has been a total disaster.

Nothing useful done all morning. Ruined breakfast. Tried to watch a movie taht should be rated -1. Gave up half way through when the music made no sense. Come on this is a movie not a music video, put action and dialog in it not a 5 minute music sequence.

So my eyesite is getting worse, sort of. I can't read books very well but computer screens are very clear and i just have standard size text, no big font or anything. so i had to download the digital copy of my mobo manual as i wanted to review some stuff before building so i know exactly what will plug in where, i would have got that anyway i like to have digital copies of all manuals if i can find them. Next i discover the usb header cables i ordered for extra on usb ports are all wired wrong. good thing i checked. so i've wasted more time finding suitable replacements, i don't trust to try to order the same one again even from another seller. problem is half the ones listed have poor info, no cable length, bad pictures. I found a compromise but had to order header extension cables from some place else on the internet that had the worst site, must have had a server on dial-up connection. i ordered then some short usb to header adapters to make total cable length 18 inches. the one foot ones seemed to short to me and there were no longer ones. The ones i had are 18 inches. This place had the adapters too but more expensise so i split my order. Cost comes out acceptable to me for this. I probabble don't even need them but figured hey, while i'm building, lets build everything. I'll end up with 4 on the mobo back panel and front he mobo headers add 6 more but these will route to the side of my cubical space. Two would be enough but since i'm doing 2 I might as well do all 6.

So now it is 3pm and nothing done all day.

i'm still having trouble typing, my left wrist, although it does not hurt is giving me problems and my one fingers are weak on that hand, and apparantely now it is just a tad slow so keys get hit out of sequence. i've had to proofread and correct every fifth word. either letter paris are backwards or words are missing letters. this is depressing me.

Well back to reading, i still need to read this raid stuff, although some stuff i read on the internet maybe seven does not need that setup disk. i suppose i can just try and if it don't work, go back and make it. I did figure out i need to mount cpu and the kooler before i fasten mobo in to cube, otherwise i won't be able to get my hand under the mobo to bolt it in. I'll probally put DDR in to as it will be easier. But i think i've got enough figured out now to have no surprise and have to pull everything back out.

So much for a productive day building as nothing has been built yet.

Good news i guess: orders are pooring in. I'm up to 8 now. only problem is tomorrow is the first work day of month and i've got two extra hours of work to print reports and statements out. plus since it is moanday it is the heaviest papperwork day of week as there is mail from saturday and moanday. There's gonna be lots of moaning tomorrow. And i can't type or see !

I'm probally not even winning today.

Keith you have posted more in one day than I have in two years!!! I am impressed and LIKE the pictures!! I think that is very well documented and anyone trying to duplicate your work should be able to do it. Sorry about the wrist though, I am not sure the typos come from that or just getting older. I too must reread what I type and I do not have a wrist problem, I get LOTS of letters out of order too!!!

Somehow i broke the speed limit.

I awoke this morning to see my modem show green-blue-green-green-blinky blue. Normally it is 4 greens and blinky blue. So i had to look in manual to see why the 2nd green was upgraded to blue as blue is better. It means my download stream is connected with bonded channels. My advanced ready to go modem can do up to 8 channels, but the number you get to use is determined by the cable company. And it is already rated to go upto 120Mbps

Now, DOCSIS 3.0 opens the door for something known as channel bonding. Channel bonding means that data is transmitted to or from modems using multiple individual RF channels instead of just one channel. No, the channels aren't physically bonded into a gigantic digitally modulated signal. Rather, the bonding is logical. As DOCSIS 3.0 cable modems become available, forward path data throughput speeds won't be limited to the current per-channel max of about 38 Mbps. You have the potential to bond four or more channels, so do the math: 4 x 38 = 150+ Mbps throughput.

I awoke this morning to realizxe it is Sat Wars Day.

Happy Star Wars Day - May the Forth Be With You.

---

Oh my back hurts. A Muscle has a knot in it. To much lifting of heavy computer parts, desk parts and too much reaching up over my head. Last night i moved the stack over which meant turn everything off, unconnect some cables and untwist them, move all monitors off desk, move all stuff under desk, move 4 desk pieces. And move the two piles of parts for the new i7's not built yet. Then i had to deal with the 4 UPSes but could not unplug one as it has the router and cable box plugged in and had to keep connection on.

Moving the stack over was then quiet easy, jsut jack down the upper leveling feet wich hold it firm to the ceiling. lift over a few wires and move it 16 inches right. Make sure straight up and turn the levelel top feet back out to hold firm.

This actuallly worked out to be a good thing. I moved it about so it is2 iches from wall. The two taller UPSes for the twins now fit under bottem shelf and the two new UPSes for the i7's fit jsut to the side of the stack, but there is air flow around all side of all UPSes.

I did some cable routing next before moving the desk in palce as i could stand there closer. I guess now my sides have changed names without moving parts. The front side will be facing the desk and will be the side with most of the fans pointing towards it. The left side which was the side against the bookshelf is now open and the side where the UPS sockets are. The right side was the front and still is the side with the mobo rear panel connections. So routing power cables from the front where the PU?S vents face to the left side where the UPS sockets are made cleaner look. Yeah they are blowing right across in front of my face, will be nice in winter. They don't blow out that much heat as thet are only sucking in fresh air and exhausting thier own heat, not like in a box where they ehaust a lot of the cpu's heat too.

Now I see a design change, but i'm not going to make it as it would mean moving everything i jsut did again to turn the stack 90 degrees. the PSUs and any ehasut fans should be on the right venting toward the window, so when i have the window open and window fans on they suck the hot air out. this was my original orientation for the krates, but they were too far from the window. I can turn the two PSU of the wtiwns on their side so i see the intake fan which is lighted and then the heat would ehaust to theleft into the room. I don't know about the i7's as they have 1200W PSU's which are not sqaure, they are longer than most PSUs. That is way i needed to rotate the stack 90 degrees so the longer edge was then going left to right instead of no where it goes front to back. bummer.

Anyway i got the desk reassembled in place, got the four monitors on top in a nice all viewable pattern. Fisnished rewiring what is built so far, the twins.

There is now an access hole to the right rear of the desk, behind the two double stacked LCDs to the left side of the stack and the rear of all the UPSes, i can jsut slide in so i can better work of the stack or crawl in enough at the floor to reach pwoer cables. Access all around the stack is easy and it has much air flow. The A/C vent now directly blows kkol air on both twins. and the open shelf design allows it also to flow down to the i7's.

Now for the bad part.

Twin 2 fired up OK.
Twin 1 fired up OK, sort of.

Both went into a fit and had to reload all USB devices, which i have a sound event for, so they were wizzing and beeping like crazy, ther are 8 or so devices.

Next after all that, Twin 1 works for about a minutes and then freezes. not even a BSOD. Had to poer off PSU and back on to reboot. Then it boots up making staticy noise in with the startup soundand events. So i try to browse the web, and it is slow and not very responsive. Twin2 browses fine. Twin1 keeps reactiing very slow, the mouse pointer freese, then jumps. Something is wrong. So i pwoered off again. Jiggled all plugs, replugged the usb stick and usb hub cable. Powered on and it has been fine since, still runngin fine this morning and i'm typing all this on it ok. Must have been a shorted wire soemwhere ?

Oh and i found a nice palce for the router, it sits on top of the upper lcd and with a short strip of wood on the pole mount at the back to hold it up. i can easily see the blinkly lights. The cables i can strap to the pole and even put the pwoer packs ontop of one of the lcd mounts to the pole so all are pretty much out of sight and out of the way. I might be able to put the cable box thre too but need to make a little creative support for it.

All in all the overall lok of everything is improving and i like it so far.

Now maybe tonight i can actually get to some building of the new i7s, get the mobo assemmblies with liquid kooler raiator attachment strapped in and maybe the PSUs. i'm still waiting on 2 gpu cards and the hdd cages. they should be here soon, i hope today.

i think to not over complicate things, i will build with 1 pair of hdds to be mirrored and only 1 gpu, get seven installed, then add the other two hdds and two gpus.

I decided to run the ati gpu as my primary in the x16 slot as it has 2048mb memory. The two nvidia gpus wil run at sx8, because when you use the second slot of that pair they share bandwidth. But since they will mostly be krunchin away i think that will be ok, and still leve much pwoer on the other gpu for the monitor and to game on.

Not winning with my ADSL speeds at it's current lickity splick performance.

Been complaining about it for more than a month,

I should be getting about 750kb/s down and 488kb/s up at my current synchronised connection.

Just tested with Speednet.com and got the following -

Well slight builing progress. Had some paperwork to do which went a little slower as i'm not use to the new position of the double vertical LCDs and my keyboards are in temporariy positions. Before twin1 keyboard was in front of me, which it still is but i have to look right to see LCD instead of straight ahead. Twin2 keybaord was to the left of keyboard 1, now it is to the right but have to look up to see it's lcd as it is the upper one. For now this is temporary, as i get the others going and software/data transfered and running, my daily tasks with fall back to my old positions. Then the twins will get new positions and tasks. So alos now my meese are at opposite hands.

I wired together my USB headers. To make these work i had to buy some 12 inch extensions. Thes plug into the mobo under a gpu, so they go in first. Then the can run around the gpu and across the case. Then a 6 inch adapter plugs in which goes from the other end of the extension and becomes the usb port. There are 3 10 pin extensions and 5 then 6 adapters, 2 per extension. All 6 of the adapters i then ziptiied tightly together in a column stack which when in place will get strapped to the front leg. These i will use for temporary devices. I also zip tied the conenction of two adapters to the male end of the header extension, so they will remain tight and won't vibrate apart or get knocked apart if working on the hardware.

Next ia assembled my 4 HDDs into the HDD cooling cages. Cage with a fan blowing on HDDs. I got Kooler Master for these as they had one that held 4 HDD.s

The ide DVD drive will stack on top of or maybe under these. I have still 6 more sata ports avaialble so if i expand in the future i can put another cage on top of first, still room,

That was all for builing, but now maybe tonight i can strap some parts in. i've got everything needed for this. asseblmed mobo, assembled hdd stack, psu and 3 gpu's for each i7 rig.

Now i see some design changes. this is the fun part of building open style computers, i'm not limited to putting parts where someone else thinks they function for me.

on the twins i can move the usb bay with had 1 usb port and the media card slots. i hung it on the side ove the mobo so those faced the same way as the rear panel of the mobo. Now that i've moved the tower, i could put these on top of the hdd cages and they would be facing the new front side and me. Cables will reach. i don't use them much but it will lokk ok and be more usefull.

Change for the i7's. swap psu and hdd positions. this will put the psu on the right. Before i moved the tower i wasn't able to reach the one side, now i can so i can put the hdds on that side and still easily get to conenctions. Plus the sata ports on the mobo are on that side so the cable runs will look neater. The ide cable for the dvd is on that side making that now not stray all through the middle of the cube. i'd like to wrap that ide cable where it starts at the top, over the mobo and down it's backside to the bottom, then come under the shelf and up through the open frame to the dvd, but it is not long enough. would keep the cable more hidden and out of the way. it's short by 6 inches. First i'll look through my old junk collection, maybe i got some. but i may buy some.

it's looking better, i made the swap and sort of hung the kooler radiator and fan from above. That is being difficult has those hoses are stiff but it is getting there.

Well i'd better get off to w&*k now. Gotta earn some bucks to pay for this stuff, my bill comes tomorrow. Funny thing, We get lots of people send us stuff for repair, then we fix it and call them to get a credit card. And sometimes a small change of a couple hundred dolalrs gets declined. These people own a boat and don't have money to fix a thingy. And this guy yesterday had two cards declinded. he had to call his bank and up his limit. And then he wants it shipped back two day delivery, costing 50 bucks instead of 10, now you know why he is broke.

So when i changed all my komputer parts, my credit card company never made a peep as i've got good credit and always pay ontime. i did spent 10 times as much as i soemtimes do a month but i buy a lot at amazon so it was not an ususual place for me to shop. No worries on payung that off, back to eating beans and franks and not much chance of me getting the a/c in the kar fixed this year, it was either be hot or have kool toys. You do the math.

Happy Cinco de Mayo !.

WINNING.

John, More like you would the one getting shot all the time. They would shoot you up.


Have you reset the router lately. "I ahd problems once with ours, it never gets turned off so after a year something clogs up the internal workings. I was advised to turn it off and even unplug it for a minute. I also now power it off at least once every three months. Our speed was about 1/2 spped and after a rest it went back to full. Just a thought it might help you if you hav not reset in the last three weeks.


Well i've almost got a new desk. the electrican has put in three a/c boxes under the desk, they are on two circuits, 3 outlets per circuit. So i have plenty of sockets and places to plug in. he is back in the breaker box putting the breaker in and wires to the pwoer on that end. The desk is mostly built, half way paneld and has one of two hutches built but neither screwd down yet. Out guy ahd to run out on another job. It definatley should be done by tomorrow which means i've got to come in and move on Saturday, delaying my home building. The last thing to do on the new desk is to cut holes for cables to pass through as i'm going to relocate the desktop computers to be underdesk computers, but i don't want to do that until i position monitors on top and computers below so i can get the best spot for a hole or holes, i'm thinking just one hole between the two monitors and behind them slightly. The third computer may need its own hole but i might be able to make it share the one hole. Printers go on top of one of the hutches so those need to route through too, but if i have a problem with them it is easy to buy longer usb cables if i don't already have some. Actually it is more of a work counter than a desk, 36 inches high and 8 feet long on both sides at a right angle to each other. Then ont top i have two huches each 4 feet long from one end each so the corner is open where my monitors will go. When it gets done and all assembled i photo it. It is heavy duty enough to have three dancing girls on the top.

WINNING while NOT working.

Mikey,

Photos will come later.

At home i'm not making much progress, although last night I got the dual mount for the new LED monitors and mounted those. Since i moved the stack i now have a cable length problem, although i can route some across the front of my desk and reach, but that would have to be temporary. I ordered some longer dvdi-d cables, a couple audio cables and some short 1 and 3 foot ac extensions. And like a dope, i forgot the ide cables, well actually i found one in my old junk that is 4 inches longer, it might reach but i think i needed 6 inches longer. There may actually be a longer one here at work but i can't get into the parts kloset yet as i've got stuff all piled up or i may have a longer one in on of the krate computers which is not in use at the moment.

At w&*k the new desk is mostly done. It needs some trim but i don't care, I started moving a few supplies over. Tomorrow i will have to move the computers and cut a cable hole in the top, but i want to get some things positioned then decide one or two holes. The rest of my stuff and tools will get moved next week as time permits.

Sunday i have reserved for work on the i7's and tackling seven. Hopefully to have boinc running by days end.

Gotta run, it just got busy again.

Todays task is complete.

Started at 6:30am, Vacuum first, Dissassemble cables from computers and move items to new desk. Then there was 2 hours to undo my fax line and reroute and route a network cable over here. Don't need phone as we have wireless handsets.

Then I spent some time making a platform under desk so UPSes sit up 4 inches off floor (2x4's) the the computer boxes sit on top of them. I was able to angle them, photos later, so i don't bump them and being up off the floor if i'm standing anywhere at desk edge do not kick them. I also have a foot rest built in at same level and they seem to be out of the way so far. It also doubles as a seat when i crawl under there for working on cableing and everything is up out of the way. I even have room for a small desk lamp so i can see very well under there.

Took about last 3 hours to rehooking all cables and everything is running smoothly, no glitches. I do have one problem with printers, all the usb cables are too short for where i need to route them, so they are temorarily run with shorted cables and made to work. Also i'm running out of space and the big keyboard on computer three has to go and i need to get another of these mini keyboards. Our server has a bad UPS battery and one of mine had a bad battery last week, not yet repalced so i need to order some repalcement batteries too.

Printer one which also is my main scanner is at arms length away so I can swap out documents without getting up, they are all up ontop of one of the huctches in a row and easy to service or see if paper needs to be added.

Computers are just below desk, at arms reach, one on the left, two on the right so i can mostly reach front usb ports or reset button without getting out ofg chair.

Only did one hole in desk, right in the corner behind and between the two LCDs. It is also hidden by a desk lamp and some fake flowers.

Keyboard placement seems fine and I seem to be able to type, rather well without errors as now my arms are resting on the desk.

I'm pretty pleased so far with the arrangement and i even have a view of entire front showroom over monitors so I can watch people shopping and a clear view of the front door to keep an eye so no one walks off with goodies and i can also see out windows and watch people at othere stores come and go. The UPS and Fedex truck can't sneak up on me anymore.

I'll work out where to put all my paperwork next week and how to fit some more supplies in, still about half the under couneter space is not used. I didn't get themicrowave or koffee maker in yet.

For now i'm done and going home. I hear a pizza kalling my name.

Well i've got now two BSOB's,

That is Blue screen of Birth aka BIOS screen.

i7 #2 is alive as of 10:21pm last night and i7 #1 is alive as of 7am today.

#1 did not come on and i discovered two of the 12v cables i did not fully push into the psu sockets, they are all modular, and the gpu was not fully pushed in. Don't work on computers before having your morning koffee !

After pizza i watched tv and took a knap, then i kind of decided i had better start builing and kept going until 11pm when i had to quit with one more part to go on the second unit. What i did was strap one part in on #2, then strap same part in on #1. Made it easier to remember how it went in. Then strap another set of parts in on each, add a set of cables each and so on.

I did make another design change during last night's building. I put the dvd drive on top of the hdd stack, intead of under it. This made for a better route for the ide cable, up over the gps then down and it is barly visible plus i don't neeed longer ones. Strapping in parts went preety easily as did running cables. I seem to have picked the best order to do them and was not constantly rearrangheing, just luck i guess.

Going thru bios now, have to set the raid mirror drives up.

I guess seven is next. But then there is still hardware to do. I only have 1 gpu in each. I have to also swap some components from the twins, rearrange a bunch of temporary cables running across my desk, and i mean they go over keyboards and across monitor screens but they were short and needed to take the most direct route. When i get some longer ones i ordered and transfer components all this will clear up. I only have two of four sata drive attached as i wanted to get the mirror working and seven installed on them first. These i'm running on the 3gbs third sata controller. The other two will be my data drives and run at 6gbs on the second sata controller, non raid. that still leaves me the first sata contolller with 6 sata ports for future expansion and also the two esata ports on side panel.

After seven and i put the other gpu's in, then i'll boinerize them and givbe them a proper burn in (lets hope not burn up) test.

Of course after this i still have 3 old krate computers collecting dust to work on.

I also want to put a dvd drive back on the twin, or at least on of them. There are 6 older ones in the krate komputers not rebuilt yet, if they still work. What i plan to do is use one of these to watch dvd's while i play or surf or pay bills on the new computers, thus not typing up screen space.

Ps
Mikey,
No problem on usb, i need 10, 12 and 14 feet. All i have there now is all 6 feet and one 8 footer.

I forgot to mention i will have a how to build you own warp kore with parts list on my team website. As for kost, thats a secret i'm keeping from myself as i don't want to know. Anyway prices change.

Yes i could use kvm switch, but with that you can only operate on at a time with lots of switching. i type on three keyboards at same time and move the meese sometime that way too. Would not be practicle for me. After a few years of working this way, it get easier and i rellay do sometime type a few letters on one, a few on the other and never mess up. often while one scans i type on the other, then while that one prints i finish saving the scan on the first. This way i'm not also always togging windows to the front.

pss
As expected windows problems. Well its a minor one, can't find raid mirror drives. I was prepared for this. To make it easy so you don't have to take windows dvd out, i had the driver copied form the mobo cd to a usb stick. plug this in and then browse to folder containg correct driver. Poof, seven found my raid array and iscopying file now.

[metalic voice]WORKING[/metalic voice]

Both new i7's online. Installed seVen ok. Updates etc, addingdrivers for hardware. Transfered some heardware off twins. Added two sata drives so now all four inline. Added two GPUs so now all three running. Not sure what else i added been so busy.

I still have a lot of software to try to insall and data to move.

Now on to boinc.

Keith I see they are both online now, Kongratulations! Remember to go into the Win7 power settings and change it to full power, by default it is set to balanced and that doesn't mean warp 10! It is easiest to just start typing power options in the search box under the Start button, but it is under Control Panel, Hardware and Sound, Power Options.

SeVen did an update to one machine yesterday when i tried to turn it off. This was the first update seVen did on one machine, 73 updates. Holy KOW.

Thanks for the warning about that, too.

Awoke to kold units again this morning, thanks for the warning about automatic updates. Some hit last night and the machines rebooted, only when i set them up i put in a password for seVen, so they rebooted and paused at the prompt, i dodn't have one on my other machines but then also most of mine oare no on autoamtic updates, i have it download them and notify me, and i install when i can so i can be there to reboot and be sure boinc restarts. So hopefully all the automatic goober stuff is off and won't slow down my krunchin' warp kore.

I added a total of 17 projects to both last night, the queues are full, one had 659 tasks at least. I'm burning 6 cpu cores and 5 gpus cores per machine, so they should gobble those up.

On mcdn, my older P4-HT at 3.20 GHz take 45 to 60 minutes. On these i7s at 3.20GHz they were taking 26 minutes average here, sometimes 6 at a time versus 1. Watch my RAC to go to warp speed.

My current overall is about 125K and i'm at 1199th place overall, i was at 459 once, i expect to better that. I'm also 12th on my team down from 2, i hope to at least make #2 again, maybe #1 as i think i have slightly more kores than #1 does now.

WINNING at warp 9.6 !!!

Mikey,
Yes I can use more than 6 kores, but i'm thinking of the heat output for summer. It is going to be hot and air flow in my room sometimes it does not kool down. I'll have to wait and see.

As for now im still in testing phase. The radiators are pretty kool to the touch running 6 kores. I may have to move them though so that the heat if any exhausts to the side not out the front.

But for now i've got a problen. I thought everything was fine. Last night when i got home and started using one, things went krazy. I started having boinc manager and my entire screnne freeze. Then on one I started getting the BSOD, the one with the memory dump for critical errors. Then the other started to freeze up. I finally shut them both down, checked to see all gpus were firmly in palce, did some support tweeking and a litle repalcement on the mobo if i could. I'm not quite happy with the way they came out. The twins are very sturdy i guess because when i un-kased them the mobo from those came out on a metal tray which is still on them. The new ones the mobo can flex some and plugging gpus in has been difficult, i have to be able to have my hand behind the mobo. I did adjust the supports some so that they pull the metal plate end, you normally secure with a screw, back toward the mobo. I may have to put a strip of wood in to screw them in and them fasten the wood to pull all three and help hold them steady. Then when restarting the screen woudl still freeze after boinc got going. I restarted once, exited boinc and played a full game of majongg without problem, restarted boinc and everything froze, only it seems ontly the screen keyboard and mouse, boinc must still be runnng as gpu fans would spin up and down like the laod was changing. I finally tracked it down to the ati gpu and after suspending all ati apps it seems fine. I set my preferences and aborted all ati work and they ran fine overnight, i'll see when i get home. So i've got to solve this problem first. Once stable i may raise the cpus up, but for summer i probally won't, that will be a fall winter thing. I depends on how kool i can keep that radiator. The gpus will be bad enough. I'm going to try to put one or two extra fans blowing on the gpu's and sort of at a 45 degree angle to them, so they force air on to them, into the small gap between them were they have to suck in air and also at that angle it will blow the ehat away and out the side, toward my window exhaust fans.

-

For now i'm working on batteries at work. One ups down. I could not stand the beep - beep of the replace battery alarm i can't seem to turn off except by turing off the ups. I had spare battery and old ups at home, both battery is dead and ups won't acknowledge a good battery so it is foobar'd. Then i noticed too the battery in the server ups is needing replacement, different style. I had two at home but one has rattles inside it like any liquid dried up, the other is dead too, they were old and maybe been sitting there 3 years now. I thought they might be good, or were good at the time i pulled them from service. Age got them i guess. So now i've got to order some batteries. The kar is now full of dead upses and batteries to take to recycling.

Well let me get some work done, i've wasted an hour playing with batteries this morning, now i need to earn my keep.

OH, I forgot, seVen has neatto on screen gadgets, kind of like the widgets on my smart phone. I have one that shows the wattage output by the ups and another that shows cpu usage and memory usage. I found out with 6 cores and 5 gpus i was using about 65% cpu and only 25% memory, which is only 3GB for me. Not bad for all those tasks running on the cpu. Plenty of room to spare.

WINNING but only at WARP 5.0

Well I might have this solved.

I updated the nvidia drivers from 266.35 to 270.61 and the ati from 11.4 to 11.5

Since i have 3 gpus, but only 1 monitor, i went into windows and told it not to extend the desktop onto the other two 'fake' monitors.

When i restarted boinc and enabled ati work on collatz and waited for it to get some, only 1 ati task started running. Before i had 3 running. This is my first ati card and i assumed that was how it worked (?), but now i'm thinking it was running 3 because boinc thought i had 3 monitors and got confused and this was overloading something. I'm not sure which is correct, but it is working now and hasn't melted down.

I did try to access the usb drive and it was a little slow to respond. i'm thinking that with all boinc has to do for 6 cpus and 3 gpus it is pushing the usb read write of that drive to the limit. I may add another hdd just for boinc. If i get most of my data transfer over from the old units, i will have 4 not really needed 1tb drives, and two of them are low power so i may move those to the i7's and use as boinc only drives, or maybe i should get a solid state drive for it.

I also added 1 fan to one unit, i'll have to get some more lighted ones and i want to add 2 each to blow on the gpus. I have more spare non lighted ones, but they have four pin connectors and to plug them in i have to pwoer down the unit and take a gpu out. the lighted one is only 3 pin and i had a 3 pin plug i could reach ok, with the power on.

WINNING again at WARP 9.75, getting closer to full power.

I guess i was lucky to install just at the last minute.

Good news, the ati cards and the warp kore is still online, no blowouts overnight or this morning while i've been using the screens.

So heres a quick estimate, my total rac before was 125K. i estimated that the 6 cpus will bring in 8500, using mcdn numbers, a day. the two nvidia gpus, using gpugrid, will bring in 120K a day each or 240K total. so 8.5K + 240K x 2 units plus the 125K for all older units is 613K. I didn't estiamte the ati yet and i still have the potential to add another 8.5K x 2 in cpu kores.

The fan on the gpus is helping. I can touch them without smelling buring skin. The other unit without an extra fan my fingers burn before touching them, stay away. I will definately get more extra fans and add those, plus the extra blue light will be really kool. i'm gonna get some more red fans, and change the fan on the radiator from blue to red, so it matches the red fan i ahve on the cpus in the other units.

WINNING at WARP 9.95, maybe i'll turn on the afterburners soon !!!

Keith I think going from 125k rac per day to over 600k rac per day is a HUGE jump!!! You tweak you projects a little and it could be even more!! Keith are you crunching with BOTH ati and nvidia gu's in the SAME machine?

It's too early in the morning for any sun !

Actually today I think is a rain day. But i'm going shopping later to get parts to build my thermal exhaust ports. I just hope no x-wing fighters fly by and shoot a ray gun bolt into my warp kore.

Photo's below of new kontrol room and warp kore, which is not complete. i've got new cables to run to clear up all the ones that took short cuts, i'll be doing that today, then there are still a few more thing to by for tweaking, fans, cables and SSDs. Then i've got to pull some old dvd drives from old units and see if they work on the twins, only they won't be twins anymore as i doubt any two left are alike, but similar. Then i've got to try to rebuild the P4-3.8GHz and reinstall XP on it so i can get it and one more gpu back online. If I can build the thermal vents i will feel better about running more of these at full power.

Good news. I ran both i7's at 75% yesterday and last night. No krashes and warp bubbles. So changing off the usb thumb drive was the boinc lag problem and probally causing the bubbles (little window saying manager communication with client and the screen black outs and sometimes unresponsiveness of kontrols).

AS of now the warp kore and kontrol room:

Screens are suppose to show boinc running, but it appears they were too bright.
Two on right stacked vertical are on the twins, center screen is my main i7 and one on left, sort of hard to see at this angle is my secondary i7.
You can see most of the 4 kores. Top is cut off but twin 1, then twin 2, i7 #1, i7 #2 at desk level and an empty cube just below desk level.
Netbook is blue thing in center of desk, to the left of it is my external dvd, hdd stack, to the right one keyboard and in front of it are three keyboards, one got cut off in picture, and two of the meese, two hiding out of picture.


By krunchin_keith at 2011-05-14

Screens:

By krunchin_keith at 2011-05-14

Kloseup of one i7 kore unit.
hdd and dvd on far left, then psu and radaitor fan, in the back is a test fan kooling the gpus and you can see the three gpus, well almost, the third is hiding at the top but you can see the bracket a little.
The red light is down next to the cpu, meaning its running fast.

By krunchin_keith at 2011-05-14

Well i spoke too soon.
While komposing htis i7#2 locked up, hard resety needed.
Then 10 seconds after i posted this i got a bsod on this one. i may still have a heat issue, it seems when i use them something is heating up more and that is when they die.
I throttled cpu's back to 50% - 6 tasks.
It might be the gpu's which i need more fans on but i need the exhaust port so suck heat out so room stays kooler.

No rain yet, although there has been some on the radar.

Sorry Mikey, the heat you are thinking of from stacking is not there, and #2 is on the bottom anyway. All heat exhausts out the side, not up through the stack.

Don't worry about a screen, the vent will be inside the window screen, so a screen is already in place. Little bugs can try to krawl thought the hose, but will get koocked and blow back out.

I'm back online now, have been off the air for 6 hours for a simple rewire job.

Well part of it was simple, replace two dvi cables, two audio cables and add three 1 foot extensions to two computer power cords and one led monitor. This cleared up a lot of the short cut cables across my desk.

Then I added a new numeric keypad for the second computer and rearranged some meeses.

Next I got into trouble. Those gpu's bothered me so i decided to pull them all and figure out what was making the uppermsot one not fit as well as it should. Turns out when you plug in an ide cable or the onboard usb header cables, they hit the bottom of the gpu. I had really forced the gpu in before. Solution was to remove the usb cables, lost 6 ports and break the restraint off the ide cable plug which made it 1/8th inch thinner, enough to klear the gpu by 1/99th of an inch.

Now i had to do that twice.

Then i reseated the gpus and adjust restrait wires. I'm more confident they have a better fit and also won't vibrate loose of anything.

Had to do that once for each komputer.

Next was to move the radiator from the front to the side so the heat exhausts towards the window fan for now. I also changed the fan on the radiator from lighted blue back to non-lighted since on the side it is not seen much, which caused problems as the cord on the fan that came with the radiator is short. Also to reach my hand into this little cubby hole the plug in is in caused me problems, one i pulled out 5 times, not on purpose. Then when i finally powered on the fan was not turning and it took me three more tries to get the thing in there before i got the fan on. I ended up mounting the radiator on top of the psu at 90 degress to the psu and it is strapped down by a wire tie around one hose and a konencotr on the back of the psu and the other korner is strapped to the grill on the psu. Fits rather snugly.

The next tweek was to add two fans blowing on the gpus. I only have 3 lighted blue fans so i also had to use one non-lighted. This was fairly easy as the lighted fans have little adapters to plug into a 4 pin drive pwoer connector and they are pass thru, so ganging two together and still passing power to the dvd worked out ok. On the second komputer the non-lighted fan with a 4 pin plug had to go on the mobo with the forth wire hanging off the 3 pin header.

I put one fan at the ends of the gpus blowing straight into the end and as it works out a 120mm fan is the widthe of three gpus. The other fan is blowing on the top edges of the gpus at about a 30 degree angle so it blows air in and also along and away.

Without the fan at an angle, the heat coming out of the top of the gpu ends up getting sucked into the radiator which is not good. With it there it is creating a wind barrier and the heat exhausts above the radiator.

i'll see what this does before i do more. But i think i would like a red fan or two on the gpu instead of blue. This will make all four units have a similar lighted look. I can mount one of the blue ones in the front to blow extra air in, just so they all have a similar look as the two twins have a blue fan on the hdds in that position.

I'll get to the exhaust hose tomorrow, todays project too ktoo long and my back hurts now and i haven't had breakfast yet. i had two kups of koffee and then switched to something with more kontent, like RUM.

Gotta go check my RAC now, BS shows i got 1.5M credit today !

I think it is also a good thing to put Boinc on a HD instead of a USB drive, the data flow is better and more consistent. If you keep getting those 'error' messages about not connecting though you can change that setting, Boinc Manager, Advanced, Options then Network reminder interval to zero.

Funny story here. Last night i got up to check on the kore. There seemed to be some heat output but not excessive for what is running and i smelled smoke. Counld't track down the source until i realized it is from the forest fire in North Carolina and leaking in through the window around the fan. This is why i want to build the thermal exhaust vents so i can better sealup the window barrier, keept the ac in and the heat out.

Today is nasty outside you can smeel it with every breath, the wind is blowing hard this direction, from the fire and visibility is not the best outside, you can see it in the air off in the distance.

Haven't bought my supplies yet to build the ducts. Yesterday i took too much time rebuilding. Then took some time to install some software. Today i decided i needed to get back to software, clean up email and bills. So far today and most of yestreday after the turn on, everything has been running smooth [knock on wood].

I am running my checbook now on one of the i7's, although the software is installed on all 4 units, just in case i need to use a backup system, its ready to go.

Got my printer drivers installed, all four now have access to my wireless printer/scanner. Added open office, speedfan and GPUZ plus some nvidia tools for the GPUs. Did some personilization with much more of that to do. Speding a little time learning sevens layout but it is easy to pick up on what is different, only slightly so it's not a total konfusion.

I guess next i need to copy my data drive over.

I did overclock my ati gpus, well only the fan. they were over 95C with the fans less than 50%, 34 maybe. I cracked them up tp 70%, about 75% its really LOUD in here with two of them. This borught the temps down to 82C give or take. The nvidia do better, i guess it depends on the app as one had 46% load and a temp about 85C, the other had 99% load with the fan maxed at 85% and a 98C temp. I left them on auto for now.

Of course once things seem to be running most smooth, i can try overclocking, any of the gpus or the cpu. i've got tons of options on the new i7's and gpus.

Keep watching my RAC, i just made 10th on my team heading for 2nd. I had a day of 1.5M and my rac is up to about 450K. That 6 hour shutdown yesterday hurt it some. I want it to stabelize some before i try more power !