Post your Last Purchase

[BWG]

I currently have a 12k btu one somewhat like that. They work fairly well, but the real solution is to isolate the heat and exhaust it outside somehow. I just can't bring myself to cutting holes in my walls in here even though it's just a garage office. 

 

My dishwasher stopped working almost right after I placed the order for this unit. That will be my next purchase most likely.

[EHW Ai]

A few more supplies for my war on 3090 heat. I'll cut the shims down to 12x14mm, which is the size of the memory chip package. I'm thinking 0.5 or 0.8mm thick on the backplate side; I'll know more about the front side once I disassemble the card. 

 

 

 

[J7SC_Orion]

..."for science Linux"

 

[axipher]

Just ordered a Varmilo VA108M Moonlight White LED Dye Sub PBT Mechanical Keyboard as a replacement for my dying OCN Ducky with a few bad switches on it:

https://mechanicalkeyboards.com/shop/index.php?l=product_detail&p=4912

 

Will probably order some separate switches to try to repair the Ducky at another time as they are soldered and shouldn't be too hard a repair as my travel gaming keyboard.

 

 

[EHW Ai]

Starting my Christmas shopping early: putting together a system for someone close to me. It was available at a mildly elevated price, so ordered it: 

 

 

I'll add a 5950X to it as well as we move along time wise, as well as everything else it needs. 

[The Pook]

18 hours ago, iamjanco said:

Starting my Christmas shopping early: putting together a system for someone close to me.

 

thank you! 

[J7SC_Orion]

...bought out the lease of the company car today; had been driving it anyways since new...only real problem: Neither Starbucks venti nor I are a good match for ivory-coloured leather 

  

[catmmm]

Blue bubble mailers  

[Bastiaan_NL]

On 28/05/2021 at 04:59, J7SC_Orion said:

...bought out the lease of the company car today; had been driving it anyways since new...only real problem: Neither Starbucks venti nor I are a good match for ivory-coloured leather 

  

They did a great job cleaning the leather, looks brand new

 

@iamjanco How do you "install" those copper shims?

[EHW Ai]

3 hours ago, Bastiaan_NL said:

 How do you "install" those copper shims?

 

Carefully.

 

Seriously though, you have to ensure you don't short out anything like the surface mounted caps surrounding the vram packages.

 

To do that:

1. I cut them down to the exact size of the vram packages (12x14mm);
2. file/sand the burrs off the cut edges;
3. coat the vram chips with a thin layer of TGK tim;
4. place a shim on top of that;
5. carefully compress the shim to get as much of the excess tim out from between the vrm package and the shim.

Once you're happy with the results and done cleaning off any excessive tim that eeked out:

1. put a dab of thermal putty on top of the shim, and spread it out evenly a bit;
2. then carefully place your block on top of that making sure you don't shift the shims around doing so.
3. Secure the copper plate/block slowly like you would a cpu block going from corner to corner and side to side.

Once the block is secure, the shims will stay in place. 

 

The thermal putty is what helps with that as it has the consistency of playdough and helps keep the shim from moving once everything is compressed. The putty I bought also has thermal conductivity rating of 10W/mK.

 

I imagine you could also use the slightly higher rated thermal pads instead of putty, but you've got be more exacting as far as the thickness of the pad goes (the shim changes how much space you have to fill between the vram and the copper plate/block; and the higher the thermal conductivity of a thermal pad, the less that pad will compress). There's also a greater risk of the shim shifting a bit while you tighten things down, so you've got to be aware of that.

 

Let me know if you have any additional questions. 

Edited May 29, 2021 by iamjanco

[J7SC_Orion]

7 hours ago, Bastiaan_NL said:

They did a great job cleaning the leather, looks brand new

(...)

 

...hehe - that's because that pic was from when it was brand new on the showroom floor.(see also spoiler) ..but it will look just like it when they're finished with it as it is in superb shape. Apart from cleaning, they're doing a handover inspection plus new brake pads, so we're tooling around in an X1 courtesy car for the weekend...M package and all - peppy, but a bit small... 

 

fyi...at the exact spot where our X5 was in the showroom back then now sits a BMW Alpina XB7 (black on black on black)...menacing-looking 3-ton beast w/ 620hp...dealer kept on 'casually walking over to it' during our negotiations for the lease buy-out ...

  

Spoiler

 

 

 

[Bastiaan_NL]

8 hours ago, iamjanco said:

 

Carefully.

 

Seriously though, you have to ensure you don't short out anything like the surface mounted caps surrounding the vram packages.

 

To do that:

1. I cut them down to the exact size of the vram packages (12x14mm);
2. file/sand the burrs off the cut edges;
3. coat the vram chips with a thin layer of TGK tim;
4. place a shim on top of that;
5. carefully compress the shim to get as much of the excess tim out from between the vrm package and the shim.

Once you're happy with the results and done cleaning off any excessive tim that eeked out:

1. put a dab of thermal putty on top of the shim, and spread it out evenly a bit;
2. then carefully place your block on top of that making sure you don't shift the shims around doing so.
3. Secure the copper plate/block slowly like you would a cpu block going from corner to corner and side to side.

Once the block is secure, the shims will stay in place. 

 

The thermal putty is what helps with that as it has the consistency of playdough and helps keep the shim from moving once everything is compressed. The putty I bought also has thermal conductivity rating of 10W/mK.

 

I imagine you could also use the slightly higher rated thermal pads instead of putty, but you've got be more exacting as far as the thickness of the pad goes (the shim changes how much space you have to fill between the vram and the copper plate/block; and the higher the thermal conductivity of a thermal pad, the less that pad will compress). There's also a greater risk of the shim shifting a bit while you tighten things down, so you've got to be aware of that.

 

Let me know if you have any additional questions. 

Thanks a lot for the information! I will keep this in mind if I ever need to do some shimming myself

Like you said the shim changes how much space you fill with a pad/puddy, but will it also increase the heat dissipation because of the high thermal conductivity of copper? I understand it's limited by the puddy/pad and paste tim used, but having to go through less of the 'higher' resistance stuff would mean it will cool a little better if I'm correct.

 

4 hours ago, J7SC_Orion said:

 

...hehe - that's because that pic was from when it was brand new on the showroom floor.(see also spoiler) ..but it will look just like it when they're finished with it as it is in superb shape. Apart from cleaning, they're doing a handover inspection plus new brake pads, so we're tooling around in an X1 courtesy car for the weekend...M package and all - peppy, but a bit small... 

 

fyi...at the exact spot where our X5 was in the showroom back then now sits a BMW Alpina XB7 (black on black on black)...menacing-looking 3-ton beast w/ 620hp...dealer kept on 'casually walking over to it' during our negotiations for the lease buy-out ...

  

  Reveal hidden contents

 

 

 

Haha, hence the 'rolleyes'

But I've seen it in person, the transformation from brown to white leather and it's always a lot darker than you think it is. If they are not done yet you should ask them to take a picture with half of a seat cleaned!

That dealer gave it a try, but I'm sure that XB7 is an expensive beast! I really love the Alpina's but it's a bit above my budget...

[EHW Ai]

 

39 minutes ago, Bastiaan_NL said:

Thanks a lot for the information! I will keep this in mind if I ever need to do some shimming myself

Like you said the shim changes how much space you fill with a pad/puddy, but will it also increase the heat dissipation because of the high thermal conductivity of copper? I understand it's limited by the puddy/pad and paste tim used, but having to go through less of the 'higher' resistance stuff would mean it will cool a little better if I'm correct.

 

Yup, that. When you compare the thermal conductivity of thermal paste/putty/pads to that of copper itself, it makes sense (roughly 6-17W/mK, depending on what you use, vs. the ~385W/mK of copper).

[J7SC_Orion]

1 hour ago, Bastiaan_NL said:

Haha, hence the 'rolleyes'

But I've seen it in person, the transformation from brown to white leather and it's always a lot darker than you think it is. If they are not done yet you should ask them to take a picture with half of a seat cleaned!

That dealer gave it a try, but I'm sure that XB7 is an expensive beast! I really love the Alpina's but it's a bit above my budget...

  

...my dad had a (used) BMW Alpina in Europe; and I have had Alpinas (full editions, or just ECU + related), but yeah, the referenced XB7 is a different beast and has a price tag of C$ 182,000 - no thanks. You can't use all that power anyway in a big metro area...plus I'm genuinely happy with my current ride.

 

...a few years back before the previous lease expired, one of the sales folks tried s.th. similar with me - they had just gotten an X5 M Competition (~575 HP?) in and he insisted that we go for a quick jaunt, with him driving...so he puts it into launch mode while waiting at a red light, which revved the engine up while holding it with the brakes, and opened the valves in the exhaust. Just before he launched, I tipped him on the shoulder and pointed to the cop car in the next lane on my side...

 

launch aborted

  

 

 

Edited May 29, 2021 by J7SC_Orion

[EHW Ai]

For the Asus Dark Hero build:

 

 

I also just caved and paid $929 (plus tax and shipping) for a cpu. But at least I can put that issue to bed now (Frank said go for it):

 

 

Would have cost me more in fuel and time to drive down to my nearest Microcenter, where the seller just happens to also be located (even I get to rationalize my exorbitant purchases sometimes).

 

Edited July 1, 2021 by iamjanco
added an item

[Diffident]

Genuine Soviet made Nixie tubes from Ukraine.  These would look good in @iamjanco Frankenstein dungeon.

 

 

[EHW Ai]

2 hours ago, Diffident said:

Genuine Soviet made Nixie tubes from Ukraine. 

 

Neat--you making a "digital" clock? 

[Diffident]

10 minutes ago, iamjanco said:

 

Neat--you making a "digital" clock? 

Yep, Nixie tubes are crude, but still elegant.

[EHW Ai]

On 01/06/2021 at 18:54, Diffident said:

Yep, Nixie tubes are crude, but still elegant.

Cool. I had thought about using them during the earlier phases of my "collage" project, but decided against it. You'll have to share what you end up making with us--I could see them being used for things like (e.g.) temp/flow/stat monitoring.

 

Anyway, two new items showed up at my door today: a desk/keyboard lamp (it's actually a piano keyboard lamp); oh, and another motherboard. 

 

 

Old eyes are getting tired and the keyboard I'm currently using isn't lit. So, I did my eyes a favor and got something to match everything else. 

 

 

Edited July 1, 2021 by iamjanco
added content

[schuck6566]

lol, the Amazon guys are gonna start camping in my parking lot they're here so often.

[Avacado]

27 minutes ago, schuck6566 said:

lol, the Amazon guys are gonna start camping in my parking lot they're here so often.

 

Tell me about it. I literally have 4 baskets with cookies and bottled water on my porch for each delivery service that frequents the house. (UPS, FedEx, USPS and Amazon). 

Edited June 2, 2021 by Avacado

[J7SC_Orion]

9 minutes ago, Avacado said:

Tell me about it. I literally have 4 baskets with cookies and bottled water on my porch for each delivery service that frequents the house. (UPS, FedEx, USPS and Amazon). 

 

...unfortunately, that clever approach doesn't work in high-security high-rises, at least as long as there are Covid-19 restrictions  ...had over 25 deliveries for the most recent build project (Ravens' nest); 15 or so went 'gong-show'

[EHW Ai]

1 hour ago, Avacado said:

Tell me about it. I literally have 4 baskets with cookies and bottled water on my porch for each delivery service that frequents the house. (UPS, FedEx, USPS and Amazon). 

 

Chuckle, my regular UPS guy has taken great care of me for as long as I've lived at my current address. He really is a great guy, and is like that with everyone; but I make sure he gets a clean, crisp President Grant in a card each Xmas. 

 

Next Xmas it'll probably be a Benjamin. Coz inflation, of course.

Edited June 2, 2021 by iamjanco

[Avacado]

18 minutes ago, iamjanco said:

Next Xmas it'll probably be a Benjamin. Coz inflation, of course.

Bant, cause it's all about the Benjamins BB.

 

 

Sorry, couldn't resist. 

[EHW Ai]

On 02/06/2021 at 12:04, Avacado said:

Bant, cause it's all about the Benjamins BB.

 

Sorry, couldn't resist. 

 

No need to apologize, it's obviously true in many cases these days.

 

That said, I lean more toward (than not) being a strong believer in you take care of someone, and they'll take care of you. Due diligence notwithstanding, of course. 

 

OTOH, if you wrong someone, they might just disappear you.

 

I keep a running list 

Edited July 1, 2021 by iamjanco