Specifications
| Item | Value | Upgrades | Upcoming changes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Era | 2008 | ||
| Built | 2009-11-19 | ||
| Rebuilt | 2022 | ||
| Condition | Dismantled | Working | |
| Name | Cold Fusion | Cold Fusion Mk2 | |
| Case | Lian Li PC-A70A | AVP Galaxy 3 | |
| Motherboard | ASUS Striker II Formula | ASUS Maximus II Formula | |
| Chipset | Nvidia 780i SLI | ||
| Socket | LGA775 | ||
| Processor | Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 | Intel Core 2 Quad Q9300 | Core 2 Quad Q9300 (Q9650 maybe) |
| Speed | 2.4 GHz | 2.4 GHz | 2.4 GHz |
| RAM | 4GB DDR2-667 | 8GB DDR2-800 | 8GB DDR2-800 |
| Storage | 3 x 500GB SATA | 256GB SATA SSD | |
| GPU | GeForce 9800GX2 | EVGA GeForce GTX 260 | nVidia GeForce GTX 280 |
| Other | Custom Watercooling loop | Cooler Master Hyper TX3 EVO |
Most of the original components that made up this machine were donated from the previous machine: Danger of Death.
I purchased the motherboard from SpecialTech UK in Nov. 2008 after I was no longer satisfied with the headroom offered by the ASRock ConRoeXFire-eSATA2.
This machine briefly ran with a second 9800GX2 in SLI, but one of the cards failed shortly just a few months after, I was reading up recently on building a new SLI machine, and it seems like heat fatigue may have been to blame. My research shows that the card in the lower slot may have overheated as it was getting hot air from the card above instead of fresh air from the 3x120mm fans in the front of the chassis. A design fault on NVidia's part perhaps as I was also never warned through the driver software, that being said, I also ran Afterburner and Speedfan and they never said anything either.
Update: 2022-11-21
I am planning on returning this machine to working status with a few small changes but re-using the motherboard, CPU and GPU which I still had in storage.
It's 2008 and PCI-E 2.0 was fresh on the block, the nForce 780i SLI chipset dropped, hitting the market in the final weeks of 2007.
SSDs were now in the hands of the public and quad cores were becoming mainstream.
Windows 7 was just around the corner in October 2009 (which is what the primary OS will be for max compatibility)
But to make this happen, I need to vacate the case that is currently occupied by the Athlon system As it is the only case with enough room to accommodate future upgrades that I have planned.
To have pair of cards in SLI, I will also have to change the PSU from the 450W in there to a 750-800W unit to ensure enough amps on the 12v rail.
Update: 2022-12-15
Seems like a motherboard failure (details in the latest blog post). New board on the way.
I also replaced the GTX 260 with a 280 assuming that might've been the issue but it wasn't.
Update: 2022-12-19
More headaches, new motherboard arrived but it is also dead. What's with these Asus boards??
Tried a different PSU and CPU, the same result.
So for my last attempt, I've gone with an Asus Maximus II Formula in the sheer hope that at least one Asus board survived.
All the other 780i motherboards are either dead, missing parts or very expensive due to being located elsewhere in the world.
I know that this board isn't based on the 780/790 nVidia chips, so it doesn't support SLI but to be honest, even if I can get it working at this point, I'll take it.
Gallery
Unfortunately, I do not have any photos of the case when it had the custom water-cooling loop, but they were the same parts donated from Danger of Death
