Leaderboard

I decided a while ago that I wanted to get a small pc to use with my headphone rig and also as an HTPC for watching the occasional movie on. My recent acquisition of a new dac, the Auralic Vega and it's ability to do hi-rez pcm and dsd over usb made this more of a priority. Now normally I'd just go ahead and build something like this myself as I've built well over 100 desktops/servers over the years. After considering that I didn't want to spend my time dealing the tight spaces of really small cases I decided to buy something fully assembled. Naturally I did keep a close eye on parts cost vs cost of the assembled system, if the difference was high enough I'd just build it myself. After doing quite a bit of research I settled on the Echo II from Puget Systems. It's small enough for my needs, has enough room for the components I wanted and is dead silent. The price was also pretty fair, only about $200 or so more than if I had built it myself. Here's the final spec list: Case : Antec ISK 310-150 MB : Asus H87I-Plus CPU: Intel Core i5-4570S Memory: 8GB Storage: Samsung 840 Pro 128GB SSD (OS Drive) and Western Digital Scorpio Blue 1TB CD/DVD: LG Slim 6X Blu-ray burner Onboard video HSF: Zalman CNPS8900 (silent cooler) I've dealt with a lot of computer companies in my lifetime and I have to put Puget right up there with the best of them. The order process was simple and the build process was very fast. I put my order in on a Friday and it was shipped the following Tuesday. Probably the most surprising to me was their order status page. It's by far the most detailed order status I've ever seen for a pc or well any product really. I could spend all day explaining it but it's easier to just show you. See the attached PDF for full details. I do want to highlight a few parts of the build process that impressed me. First, my build was coming without any OS since I have plenty of Windows copies around. Now despite this, they still go through the process of doing a temporary OS install to run all the benchmarks and tests the results of which are uploaded to your account page for you to see and download. Second, they take photos of not only the system (including thermal images at idle and fulll load) but also take a screenshot of every bios screen so you can have a reference for what settings they are using. I probably sound like a bit of raging fanboy but it's rare to deal with a company that puts this much effort and level of detail into a pc build. It was a very refreshing experience and oh yeah the pc works great so far. It's more than powerful enough and really is dead silent. I can only hear it if I put my ear right up against the power supply fan. puget-order.pdf

well its probably not measuring 100 anymore

I would like to see me kiss Katy Perry.

Today's lesson kids - Nate did not successfully find and/or close the bat entrance to his bedroom. Results: 1. The NH bat population has been reduced by one assuming another spawn of satan has not already sprung free from the clutches of hell. 2. I will now sleep with a tennis racket under the bed. 3. It's 2:45est and I'm drinking. It's noon somewhere, right? FML

Okay, here's a tip. The posts that say "great job" etc are good search terms for you to use. Here's why... these are often posts that follow a successful build with lots of tips and pictures. You know, the stuff that you actually want and have difficulty with (like wiring, putting in parts etc.) Make use of the search terms you "don't like" to do the things you want to do. When you find those posts you can quickly scroll back to find the ones that you're looking for without having to weed through all the posts that you're finding so troublesome. The vast majority of us aren't electronic engineers, too. You don't need to feel out of place. The folks here get agitated only when you ask questions - when it's clear you haven't tried to search. If you're looking for clarity over certain things with which you've researched you'll find help and answers really quickly from very helpful folks (I know I've benefited from that very quickly). I'm also going to bring to attention something that you've not picked up on also. The boards that you've just ordered (I'm assuming the onboard version) are based on a new revision (new layout; new replacement parts etc). The only folks who have really built this version are Lil Knight and Spritzer, I think. So please note that the vast majority of us don't know all the details, either. The majority of us have built it with the older (more expensive; hard to find) parts. If you're still not getting what I'm saying, it'll be good for you to focus on images for wiring, layout and things that have caused folks to blow their amps (which it seems to indicate you'll have problems with?). There really shouldn't be a need to worry about board issues like traces being reversed etc... the KGSSHV platform is relatively mature IMO. I'm going to wish you good luck and hope you can turn things around for you on the forum. Like I said, the folks here are really nice and helpful as long as you don't demand things from folks who don't owe it to you.

First episode of Game of Thrones

Your optometrist should get modern equipment so you don't need to be dilated. It's been years since I last had to deal with barbaric method.

I tried. Surprising how many folk just don't get it. Oh well.

Lazy git, get of your god dam backside and do some reading, especially the welcome pm.

Used heat shrink to fix a shoelace. Spent four hours this afternoon clay barring an outrageous amount of high-rise overspray off my Smart. Getting ready to go to dinner with Brent.