The (now the death of) Dolby DP600 Build (BEYOND COOL BUT PIC HEAVY)

[Topcat]

Re: The (now the death of) Dolby DP600 Build (BEYOND COOL BUT PIC HEAVY)

The test of some LED lighting for the bay:





These will attach nicely under the lip on both sides and make it nice & bright in there.

To make this work the way I want, it will require adding a switch and a few wires. I'll place the switch under the four on the far left side. Fourth one down is the test bay fans. Number five will be under that; for bay lights.

[sam_sam_sam]

Re: The (now the death of) Dolby DP600 Build (BEYOND COOL BUT PIC HEAVY)

Just to update the thread
Revision 1:
Revision 2:
Everything else as far as function has been stellar so far!

I will be following this post to see what you come up with

[Topcat]

Re: The (now the death of) Dolby DP600 Build (BEYOND COOL BUT PIC HEAVY)

Just to update the thread, the machine has 383.7 hours on it now. I don't have an ETA of when I'll do this, but there are a few revisions I want to make that would require pulling it from the rack.

Revision 1: Remove the CF card reader with IDE interface and replace it with a SATA Optical drive. I've had too many modern boards that simply did not like the IDE to SATA adapter for the IDE interfaces of the ODD and the CF. Two opticals (IDE and SATA) would be far more beneficial. I've also ran into some compatibility issues with the CF setup all together, overall it hasn't been all that practical. For diagnostics utilities, trusty optical media has proven to be the workhorse for older stuff. USB bootables for more modern.

Revision 2: Add test bay lighting and a switch to control it; powered by the IPU. I already know in my head how I want to do this, but it would require a little modding and of course some additional wiring.

Everything else as far as function has been stellar so far!

[sam_sam_sam]

Re: The (now the death of) Dolby DP600 Build (BEYOND COOL BUT PIC HEAVY)

Just a FWIW after the fact..... I should have added interior lighting inside the oven / test bay. I've had to use a flashlight a few times in order to see things, usually the front panel pins for the buttons. Adding it probably wouldn't be difficult in itself....but it'd have to be removed from the rack.... I'll pass for now.

I would say if you have to use a flashlight few more times it might worth the time and effort to make the time and have the resolve to complete the modifications that you did even know you needed it has happened to me a few times in the past but it is a hindrance as well because it takes a long time to complete something sometimes just because you think to much and for to long

[Topcat]

Re: The (now the death of) Dolby DP600 Build (BEYOND COOL BUT PIC HEAVY)

Just a FWIW after the fact..... I should have added interior lighting inside the oven / test bay. I've had to use a flashlight a few times in order to see things, usually the front panel pins for the buttons. Adding it probably wouldn't be difficult in itself....but it'd have to be removed from the rack.... I'll pass for now.

[sam_sam_sam]

Re: The (now the death of) Dolby DP600 Build (BEYOND COOL BUT PIC HEAVY)

That is the vendor mine came from. I remembered the name once I saw it. I never had a problem with any of hte meters as far as function & accuracy.

Thanks for your reply and help with this question

[Topcat]

Re: The (now the death of) Dolby DP600 Build (BEYOND COOL BUT PIC HEAVY)

Would these meters be accurate enough for this purpose for a battery charger monitor for 21700 battery cells

https://www.ebay.com/itm/401723265510
https://www.ebay.com/itm/371863979615
https://www.ebay.com/itm/401274655779 —> ( this one is going to be used for charging and discharging and being able to use the same meter )


I would be appreciate if you could find the eBay seller that you got them from thanks

That is the vendor mine came from. I remembered the name once I saw it. I never had a problem with any of hte meters as far as function & accuracy.

[sam_sam_sam]

Re: The (now the death of) Dolby DP600 Build (BEYOND COOL BUT PIC HEAVY)

They came from ebay. I'll see if I can find the vendor. Their quality is good and they are accurate.

Would these meters be accurate enough for this purpose for a battery charger monitor for 21700 battery cells

https://www.ebay.com/itm/401723265510
https://www.ebay.com/itm/371863979615
https://www.ebay.com/itm/401274655779 —> ( this one is going to be used for charging and discharging and being able to use the same meter )


I would be appreciate if you could find the eBay seller that you got them from thanks

[Topcat]

Re: The (now the death of) Dolby DP600 Build (BEYOND COOL BUT PIC HEAVY)

Now where did you get the analog meters where the voltage and current meters are the same physical size and the same dimensions

They came from ebay. I'll see if I can find the vendor. Their quality is good and they are accurate.

[sam_sam_sam]

Re: The (now the death of) Dolby DP600 Build (BEYOND COOL BUT PIC HEAVY)

Now where did you get the analog meters where the voltage and current meters are the same physical size and the same dimensions

[Topcat]

Re: The (now the death of) Dolby DP600 Build (BEYOND COOL BUT PIC HEAVY)

I have one question for you do you think digital meters would do the same exact thing that you are doing here with analog meters that you use are using and if not where did you get those analog meters from and are they still available

That's a good question and something that was taken into consideration during the design stage of this. The reason I went with analog meters is because subtle fluctuations in readings can be missed by digital metering versus analog; IE they won't refresh fast enough....and in the case of this machine, these fluctuations can be critical at times and would be missed if digital meters had been used.

[sam_sam_sam]

Re: The (now the death of) Dolby DP600 Build (BEYOND COOL BUT PIC HEAVY)

I can see how and why you like using your creation if you are doing a lot of computer building or troubleshooting I can see how this would be very helpful l pay close attention attention to this post for inspiration on how to use some of what you have here in this post

I have one question for you do you think digital meters would do the same exact thing that you are doing here with analog meters that you use are using and if not where did you get those analog meters from and are they still available

[Topcat]

Re: The (now the death of) Dolby DP600 Build (BEYOND COOL BUT PIC HEAVY)

You know what you can use this machine for - matching an old PC motherboard to the "right" PSU for most balanced voltage operation.
E.g. socket A boards tend to use the 5V rail... so seeing how much one draws and then matching that with a 12V-heavier GPU, you can use even a crappy PSU with terrible voltage regulation, and still get very nicely balanced voltage out of that.

Here was one today that surprised me...and it takes a little doing to accomplish that these days.

The board in question is an Asus P6X58-E WS LGA1366 motherboard. I've had it a while....was just not sure what I wanted to make out of it. Something came to mind but I needed to verify functionality; as I need to buy some RAM for it....and didn't want to spend the $25 bucks on the memory if the board didn't work. It only has 6gb in it, I wanted to max it at 24gb; the most the X58 can run.



Here's where I was surprised.....get a load of the draw on the 3.3v rail and how much isn't being drawn from all the others. I figured this would be a 12v heavy board, most of this species are......



All it was doing was memtesting the existing RAM....



So again, that was a fabulous suggestion and something I've paid attention to with builds for motherboard versus power supply specs. A board that's so 3.3v heavy, I will watch the PSU selection closer and make sure it has a hefty 3.3v rail.

That's one other weird thing I've found to be helpful when powering up boards with this, various draws on all rails prior to actual POST. If it's a dud board or there's a POST issue, a draw will go to a point (or stay on or close to zero) and just stay there. A board attempting to POST, you can watch fluctuations in draws prior to POST as things are 'turned on', and shazam, it comes on...if it doesn't you do the usual things to eliminate stuff, but with every power cycle, watch for changes in behavior....this has speeded up troubleshooting on more than one occasion of a no-post situation that wasn't the fault of the motherboard.

FWIW, 'the oven' has 294 hours on it now. It is used frequently.

[Topcat]

Re: The (now the death of) Dolby DP600 Build (BEYOND COOL BUT PIC HEAVY)

Testing a Dell GX745 that had been freshly recapped....I don't see these much anymore....but I got one for repair....and the only form-factor that hasn't been 'officially' tested in the 'oven' (besides outright proprietary); the BTX form-factor.

Because it's the weird BTX layout, had to use the standoff slats to test it.



Cookin'



Draws... The CPU was a single core LGA775 Celeron....don't remember the speed....but it wasn't heavy in the power department.



Now I can say that every common form-factor type has been tested in this machine!!

[TechGeek]

Re: The (now the death of) Dolby DP600 Build (BEYOND COOL BUT PIC HEAVY)

probably slightly above half that; as prescott is pretty much the same core as irwindale....and this test was with a dual board. I don't have a prescott that's not in use to verify that though.

10-4

[Topcat]

Re: The (now the death of) Dolby DP600 Build (BEYOND COOL BUT PIC HEAVY)

If that's Netburst, I'd love to see how much power an S478 or S775 Prescott would draw.

Probably slightly above half that; as Prescott is pretty much the same core as Irwindale....and this test was with a dual board. I don't have a prescott that's not in use to verify that though....but my guestimate would be in the 8~10A at idle.

[TechGeek]

Re: The (now the death of) Dolby DP600 Build (BEYOND COOL BUT PIC HEAVY)

If that's Netburst, I'd love to see how much power an S478 or S775 Prescott would draw.

[Topcat]

Re: The (now the death of) Dolby DP600 Build (BEYOND COOL BUT PIC HEAVY)

The burning question answered....how big of a power hog is a Netburst-era CPU.....

The test subject is a Supermicro X6DAL with 2x Irwindale single cores @ 3.8GHz





12A off the EPS (CPU Power) sitting completely idle (BIOS screen).



memtest... had it consistently @ 15~16A



Prime95 had it as high as 18A.....

...and now you know why these can double as space heaters!!

[Topcat]

Re: The (now the death of) Dolby DP600 Build (BEYOND COOL BUT PIC HEAVY)

...and the final test for this project... I won't say perfect, as a clearance issue came up with a full AT size board. This would not be an issue with a baby AT (what pretty much all AT boards are).

By rule, an 'AT' board is AKA a 'FULL AT'. The more common ones were 'baby at'; but just became known as 'AT', even though that was a bit of a misconception. Anyway, an 'AT' (or full AT if you still prefer) is the physical size of an eATX, but there's no such thing as an eAT or Extended AT....so that'll conclude our lesson of the AT form factor....and onto this big ass board!!





Sitting next to an eATX.



It POST's! I had already tested the override...but now it's been officially tested in this format; testing an AT board....which was the original intent of the override.



+5v draw at idle. This board draws from the +5V rail only.



Now here's where the clearance issue came into play. Being AT, it uses an AT keyboard. I tried to use the PS2 keyboard with an adapter....but that was too long and the board was hitting the front IDE & floppy utility housings and not clearing the fan grilles in the rear, so I simply had to use a real AT keyboard....and even then it was a close shave! This would not be an issue with a baby AT, as it would be shorter and narrower, allowing clearance with the adapter by a couple inches easily.



This was also the first time I used the floppy function of the machine, worked without a hitch. I had to update the BIOS; as it was running v1.0.....I'm sure that couldn't be good. Supermicro still had the BIOS for this in their archive; version 1.8d.



Completely changed the BIOS interface from the old AMI with a mouse to this....



Running 'trohbleshooter', it started pulling a bit harder off the 5v rail. It got close to 18a a couple times.



I do have a beautiful heavy-iron early 90's AT case that will fit this that currently has a 486 DX4 @ 100MHz in it....I was never a 486 buff, so I'll definitely yank that for this. This is running a pair of P2 266MHz CPU's with 256mb RAM. I have a pair of 300MHz Klamath's for it, the fastest it can take..but that's for a different thread.

The testing phase of 'the oven' is now complete!

[Topcat]

Re: The (now the death of) Dolby DP600 Build (BEYOND COOL BUT PIC HEAVY)

Here was a real power sucker random test subject; another cheap ebay rescue I bought ages ago, mainly for the Dynatron coolers on the CPU's...I paid less for the entire combo than the normal price of one of those dynatron heatsinks. This is another AMD system; dual skt-f w/ 2x Opteron 2222 SE's @ 3GHz...





Sitting idle....



Running memtest...there were a couple tests where the EPS 12V rail broke 15A!



These CPU's are only the dual core santa rosa's....I envision the quad or hex shanghai's being even greedier. Only 2 memory modules as well. Apparently the 2393/8393's are impossible to find now....I already have 2 pairs of them in other builds....but I'm not taking either of those apart.... I remember buying 4 of the 8393's a few years ago (fastest quadcore shanghai), and they were crazy cheap!! Now, they're nowhere to be found! Weird, didn't think there's really be much demand for them...so I guess this board won't get any 2392's or 8393's.