Story was happen on some weekend.
My buddy brother ask me to build a system for him.
He want to have new Intel i3 CPU, 'cause people said that i3 has the GPU bundled inside the chip. And very good for Blueray playback.

But I haven't build system for a while.
So I asked the store I used to go,
They've told me that not only i3 has this function, some i5 CPU has GPU inside function as well.
But you have to use it with H55 or H57 chipsets MB.
P55 MB has no video output so it cannot support the integrated GPU.


After I went few more shopes,
I bought some components.
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Then I saw this chassis.

Yes, the left side box is its package.
Griffin chassis produced by IN WIN

Suddentlly I got something on my mind....
Because my Brother's birthday is coming..
Maybe I could supprise him by give him a "Griffin"

So I started to make my own version of "Griffin"

First step have to prepare some materials.
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I used iron wire to make the skeleton.
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When the skeleton finished, I started to cover the paper clay.
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I like to use paper tape to roll on the wire so that clay can stick on it.
Otherwise it might fall apart since the surface of wire is too slippy.

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I coverd the clay a layer by layer, so that the shinkage won't be too big.

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After the main body was formed, I made another two wires to be its wings.
I made holes on its shoulders, then took it off .
When I finished the wings, I will put them back.

I use the heat that came out from my PC to dry it.
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Then I started to make the claws
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Just add some water, it will become gluly.
Combine 4 of it to make a plum.

Then I made its tail and some hair.
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I made some balls then use toothpick to make some lines.
It will looks like hairs.

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Then face.

Time to make wings.
I used scissor to cut it into pieces.
Then put them together one by one.

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Just like the feathers.
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And finally making some details of head.
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I re-make the tough again, this time is bigger.
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Then I started to paint.
I used acrylic colors to paint it.
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Look at my bloody mouth.
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Now I have to put the wings back.

Because it has some gaps between wing and shoulder.
I have to fill it with more clay.
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.........
.........
.........
After 7days hand working
The one and only Griffin has born.
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During the drying time.I could assembled the system.
I love this chassis, Because it has a big LED fan on side cover.
And the griffin painting is so cool.

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I hope my brother will like it,too.


The photo when assemble was done.

The configuration of this system is:

i3 540 CPU
ASUS P7H55D-M EVO
KINGSTONE DDR3 1333 1G x2
LG Blueray DVD
WD1.5TB SATA HDD
450w PSU

I have to mention one point of this special design of front bezel.
The front I/O is hiding inside the door


.....I don't know why it has been designed like this? ....Maybe is for dust covering？？
Well, anyway,
It has two audio jacks, two USB, and one eSATA connector.
Time to power up.
First go to BIOS then set the VGA memory to highest ->128M

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I am so curious to know how i3's GPU performace is.
So I took my AMD system to compare with it.

My system configuration:
Phenom 9650 X4 CPU
ASUS M4785A-PRO
Transcend DDR II 800 2G x 2
450w PSU
1TB HDD seagate
VGA is onboard HD4200


I used Resistance Evil to run a benchmark

HD4200 Resistance Evil score:13.2fps
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i3 Resistance Evil score:16.1fps
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HD4200 Street Fighter score:6679 19.99FPS
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i3 Street Fighter score:6925 20.14FPS
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Although integrated graphic is still not smooth enough to run these two games.
But we can see i3 has a bit better than HD4200 performace.
I read from magazine said that i3 is better cabillty for HD video playing and Video en/decode,
So next thing I did is to test the real Full HD palyback,
..I haven't buy 1080p screen yet, so I borrow a monitor that can supports 1080p Full HD resolution.
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Output with two screens at the same time～～one of them plays Blueray video....um Buleray quality is really amazing.I was so envy about it.
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Later I took my PSP to do another testing.
Some people will grab some video then transfer it into PSP(I am the one of them)
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I used Media Show Espresso to convert a anime to PSP format.
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Finished time
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Phenom 5min27sec

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i3 4min15sec

Ah~~~orz;My 4 cores Phenom lose dual core i3....T_T

I think i3 is not very expensive product with a nice performance
If you are not plan to play extreme gaming, you just want a HD playback, I think maybe you can consider this product.
.....aleast you can save one graphic card money.


Few more pictures I will send it to my brother.

I will visit you sometime,griffin.






Last post picture is made by my colleague.



Thank you for watching.

Wrong place bro, should post it here http://forum.lowyat.net/Worklogs
BTW some cable management will make the air flow better

Oops, sorry.

Can anyone can remove this?

I will goto Worklogs to repost.