updates to my CM690









cable management in a cramped WC case is not an easy task

damm.. pay me RM100 and ill be glad to do it for ya

its enough to X-Fire HD2600XT, some time ago i even powered my HD2600XT with a lousy CM Extreme Power 380W

It works well unexpectedly.

a little change in hardware, and no more watercooling for now
Btw, do trust me...cable management 4 HDD aint easy to handle

well... difference in 3dmark boosted VERY minimal, most likely due to my processor bottleneck, the F3 is at its limit already, going for an upgrade this week so ill just leave it till then.

But, despite synthetic benchmark, real life results speaks for itself. COD4 full effect with maxed out AA playing with 1920x1200 reso does not even goes below 40fps. Even able to play Crysis in all high settings @ 1920x1200. And the best part is, performance isnt affected by high AA/AF setting on xfire, well.. a little, but very minimal comparing to a single card.

As for the UV CCFL, yea.. it gets in the way... but till the S1/HR-03GT (whichever arrives first), i luv the way the red stock HSF shines under UV looks pretty awesome.

well, apparently it is indeed reactive to UV as you see in the picture xD

as for performance wise, well... we'll just have to wait for the drivers update. In my experience since cat7.6, each release really do make noticeable performance boost and really does help in fixing bugs and issues unlike those from the green side. Do keep in mind im no fan boy though, been using both the green and reds (2600CF/88GTS).

im not worried about that, i never stuff all my cables, i always give them some room for breather if you noticed. Each and every cable can be pulled slightly(+-4/5cm) just in case of any sudden changes.

A little update here, single card now without watercooling. Specs is as on siggy.



yes yes im aware the vizo exhaust is ugly
gonna switch it to another panaflo later... a lil lazy now lol. And not, the cpu fan aint a screamer, using a fan controller, it produce CFM more than any normal 2.5cm fan @ silent noise level.
the white ccfl on top was originally too bright. Wrapped it with some masking tape, now it produce a very dim subtle yellowish light, just enough to raise curiosity on the hardwares but not to highlight them. A little idea after being bored highlighting hardwares with UV.

Some helpfull part which can be done is highlighted below to guide other forumer on cable management.



1. CPU/Chipset/Back/top/ fan cables are routed through the back of the top fan.
2. Ram cooler tags along with 24pin connector.
3. 3 sata cables are combined to 1 header, ugly colourfull sata cables are sleeved to get matching black.
4. Front IO (on/off/reset/HDDLED/PWRLED) is sleeved and heatshrinked into 1 single header.

Comments are welcomed

This post has been edited by AoiNatsume: Feb 7 2008, 05:55 AM

Thanks bro, but i do believe that we are all still learning, ideas will never stop coming and due to dissatisfaction, comes the motive to do better. Im still unsatisfied actually, i believe there is much i can do but dont have to available time. Nevertheless, CM690 is officially my best bang of the bux for casing below RM300. Heck... its better than many other RM400+ cases as well.

Thanks bro.


on another sidenote, i hate the the black cable clamps that comes with the case, instead of tidying it, i find it rather annoying, Try avoid using it and pretend that those stuff does not exist, you will be amazed by how well you can manage your cables on that casing.

This post has been edited by AoiNatsume: Feb 7 2008, 10:43 PM

thx bro, i was thinking to get the whole rig "thermalright-ed", but there wasnt a need. The team Xtreem stock coolers are rather solid as well, and im not voltage freak so its overkill. As for the GFX, i was thinking to install the HR-03GT too and i even have 2 in hand then again... there wasn't a need to do so, i always prefer a cooler that pushes heat OUTSIDE the case rather than releasing it inside, besides, the stock 8800GTS 512 cooler is quite effective, i never touch 60c with 60% fan speed.

till the end of the day, only 2 chips are thermalright-ed hsf and nb.

This post has been edited by AoiNatsume: Feb 11 2008, 12:19 AM

to me, modular or non modular, both are almost the same. Just that the thing which i like most about modular is, when u get a new hardware (HDD/Fans/etc), you dont have to disturb your existing cable management, you can just add in another molex and find ways to route(hide) it, as for non-modular, its very likely that you have to re-do everything.

i work in a hardware shop and did cable management on ALOT of many different case and hardwares, its all about how you are able to manage them. SFF case are most challenging, ive once did an Xqbox with 8800ultra plus 2 HDD and 1 DVD writer with an Acbel non-modular PSU. Think its easy? try it =)

Oh, and my latest work is a XQbox 901 with dual loop Watercooling kit(D-tek Fuzion + MCW60, Cooltrek DP1202, nirox P2800 and a swiftech MCRES Micro).

Ive posted the 8800Ultra pic somewhere before, but as for the Watercooled SFF case, ill need to request permission from its owner first before posting.

In case u guys are wondering, yes its that XQBox which is sold by NGBH, and yes i am working with him =)

well... the truth is, you dont see high end hardwares everyday and only 5-10% of the customer knows about high end hardwares and appreciates them. Rest are normal mainstream user. You will face alot of S478 P4 and even socket A users sending their PC for servicing. Its rare to see people who would invest on a PC, furthermore, people who has knowledge on hardwares/computing, will not send their PC for servicing in a hardware shop.

The only reason where such customer exist in my shop is because of the service we provide and also the way our staff serve and also, how i assemble thier rig.

the problem with your sata cable is not that you need to route it through the back. Bundle them all into one and just route it straight to your hdd. Its messy because some is router to the bottom while some goes to your HDD straight. Also, another key to neat cabling, try to avoid too many different colours in your case. For the sata, what i did was i sleeved it up with my black sleeves.

Being perfect means hiding everything even during the case is opened
Anyways, nice job there, but i think there is definately alot more room for improvements.

Route the rear fan cable through the top, not the back. As for the ccfl inverter, hide it inside the HDD cage. And the bunch of cables tied up on top there, you can hide it inside your 5.25" bay.


Nice, the colours do match, i'm not really fond of too many colours, but i do find that its nice in a way... it looks like DFI is really killer with UV.

I like it because the lightings isnt exagerated, it shows off a little while hiding certain part raising lots of curiousity. Nice one there.

thats a decent hsf, but do keep in mind copper absorbs heat very efficiently, but not very good at dissipating it passively. Make sure u have a fan on it to help it work more effectively.


Actually, regarding the cable that are exposed. It is indeed understandable that some cables are not possible to hide. In that case, at least try to keep them straight instead of being curly. It will help alot.

This post has been edited by AoiNatsume: Feb 20 2008, 04:40 PM