Shownotes:
On Brief #528, I start building a PC in a fish tank, otherwise known as the Aquarium PC Kit from Puget Systems. Here are the components:
Aquarium Kit
XFX GeForce 9300 mATX
Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Processor
4GB OCZ Reaper RAM with Heatpipe Cooling
OCZ Core Series V2 120GB SSD
Corsair VX 550W Power Supply
Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro CPU
Windows Vista
We used Tricaster to shoot this episode and we ended up with quality that we’re less than happy with. The whole project is divided into three Briefs, and you’ll notice that they progressively improve, because we experimented with different ways to process the video.
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GBTV #529 | Fish Tank PC Part 2 »
March 13th, 2009 at 12:19 pm
I think the power supply has to be outside the tank. It needs to breathe.
March 13th, 2009 at 12:22 pm
@AlexL Actually, it doesn’t. Take a look at this video: http://www.pugetsystems.com/submerged.php
March 13th, 2009 at 12:36 pm
Cant see it clearly but it looks to me you put the memory in wrong if you want it to support dualchannel. I think you want one in each color bank (eg bank 1 and 3). Im not sure though with this motherboard :). Im sure you read the manual?
March 13th, 2009 at 12:37 pm
I talk about that in Part 2 :)
March 13th, 2009 at 12:46 pm
Ok lol :P
Ah well one or two mistakes are allowed ;). Plugging in the CPU when you were plugging in the CPU cooler powerplug :).
Love your shows. Nearly watch them all.
March 13th, 2009 at 12:52 pm
You do know you can run Mac OS X on commodity hardware? ;)
March 13th, 2009 at 1:23 pm
Hi guys… the .mov file doesn’t look as good as usual. Did something change?
March 13th, 2009 at 1:32 pm
Yes, I posted this in the shownotes:
We used Tricaster to shoot this episode and we ended up with quality that we’re less than happy with. The whole project is divided into three Briefs, and you’ll notice that they progressively improve, because we experimented with different ways to process the video.
March 13th, 2009 at 1:37 pm
wow! impressive!
March 13th, 2009 at 2:26 pm
this was done on systm last week.
http://revision3.com/systm/oilcooling/
March 13th, 2009 at 2:26 pm
Is there any danger of having little blue rock particles floating in the mineral oil? I think it might be wise to rinse those rocks so that you don’t get blue hands – and your computer parts don’t get blue dust.
March 13th, 2009 at 2:32 pm
I washed the rocks off to get rid of the dust, which is why I got blue hands – they were still a little wet I guess. You’ll see what I do with the rocks in the next episode. :)
March 13th, 2009 at 3:15 pm
You’re strength comes from the wonderful originality of your content. It is very disappointing to see you rest on your laurels. This was just done on the most recent episode of Systm. Another example that comes to mind… you wouldn’t touch the Peek E-mail device, that is, until David Pogue reviewed it. The very next day, the seas part and the Peek E-Mail is on GeekBrief(convergence bad). You have one of the best shows around, content, production quality, delivery, community, all top notch. It’s sad to see you settle for merely adequate. This is intended to be a constructive critique, rather than a criticism. Please keep up the great work you are capable of.
March 13th, 2009 at 3:33 pm
just wondering, and definitely not complaining, but why does the video look a little old. just saying the quality is no where near what you have had for the last many videos.
March 13th, 2009 at 3:43 pm
The strength of your show comes from the wonderful originality of your content. It is very disappointing to see you rest on your laurels. This same project was just covered on the most recent episode of Systm. Another such incident comes to mind… when the Peek E-Mail device was released you wouldn’t touch it, that is until David Pogue reviewed it. The very next day, the seas part, and the Peek E-Mail device was featured on GeekBrief (convergence bad). It is sad to see you settle for merely adequate when you are capable of so much more. This is intended as a constructive critique, rather than a criticism. Please keep up the great work you are capable of.
March 13th, 2009 at 4:06 pm
haha oops FAIL! lol just wondering but were you earthed while putting all the components in? because i’ve heard sometimes if there’s excess static in your body and it offloads into the motherboard it can fry some things.
March 13th, 2009 at 4:16 pm
@Michael, I’m sorry, but before you accuse me of copying someone else, I’d hope you’d give me the benefit of the doubt. If you pay attention to my Twitter account, you know that I had no idea Systm did the same thing. The reason both Systm and GeekBrief.TV did the same show? The PR firm contacted both of us separately offering to send the kit. Both shows obviously thought it would make a good show and the timing was a coincidence.
March 13th, 2009 at 5:19 pm
Why is the video quality poor?
March 13th, 2009 at 5:20 pm
@Kevin We used Tricaster to shoot this episode and we ended up with quality that we’re less than happy with. The whole project is divided into three Briefs, and you’ll notice that they progressively improve, because we experimented with different ways to process the video.
March 13th, 2009 at 7:02 pm
@Jacco, a hackintosh is just too much trouble IMO. I like keeping up to date w/ security updates. And wondering if my hack will boot after that is… not most folks gig.
And why not throw the Windows 7 beta on there =) Just for kicks.
March 13th, 2009 at 8:46 pm
Cali,
Do the Puget Sound folks recommend rinsing the dust off of the aquarium rocks? Obviously you would need to let them drain and dry in a strainer.
Will you be adding bubbles and some aquarium toys?
Cheers!
—RASTER
March 13th, 2009 at 9:26 pm
Deja Vu… Monday’s episode of Systm on Revision3 was an aquarium PC build. You might want to make sure everything boots up *before* you put it into the tank and again after it’s in the tank and *before* you start pouring in the mineral oil. Could be a dream come true… Cali all oiled up (grin).
March 13th, 2009 at 9:31 pm
Whats the total budget for the build?
March 13th, 2009 at 10:11 pm
EEKS… so sorry I missed that info in show notes. Referencing my comment on the vid. quality. I’ll pay attention in the future. :-)
March 14th, 2009 at 12:45 am
did you run before & after temperature checks ? The Puget Systems website gives temperature vs time for it in the oil, but not without – or did I miss it ?
Chris
March 14th, 2009 at 2:28 am
Just watched the episode, excited to see how it all comes together! Thanks.
March 14th, 2009 at 8:36 am
Why are you putting a computer in an aquarium?
March 14th, 2009 at 9:17 am
First, of course, one has to ask “What’s the point?” Second, I’m glad you don’t work on any of my equipment! You’re complete disregard for static protection likely caused latent damage to the equipment that will show up later in unexpected ways. The sweater is the worst thing in the world to wear in terms of static electricity generation. You should be working on a grounded mat and use a static strap on your body.
March 14th, 2009 at 11:03 am
That’s defiantly geeky. After you get it done send a pic over to Maximum PC. I figure they’d put in the back for there rig of the month.
March 16th, 2009 at 12:52 pm
Tom in Plano, I have been building computers for the better part of 15 years and I have NEVER used a static mat or strap. I’ve built computers on the carpet in my living room and they have run just fine for years. Sure using static protection is probably the best idea but it’s by no means a requirement and it is far from “likely” that Cali caused any damage to any of the components.
Hey Cali, what’s up with the video quality? ;-)
Sorry…after seeing so many people ask about something that you clearly explained in the notes I just had to :-)
Todd
March 17th, 2009 at 11:40 am
First, let me say that I love GB and I never miss an episode…but, what was the point of this? I never heard you say why you cared/bothered to build a PC, much less a submerged one. Frankly, I feel ripped off to waste ~16 minutes of my time watching an advertisement for a product that I don’t understand the need for. Demoing, or even doing a un-boxing of this product would have been fine. Assemble it, test it, fill it with mineral oil, and tell us how it went…4 minutes tops. I’m sorry to be critical, but I feel like you sold out for some free hardware. Oh well, . Love the show (usually), can’t wait to see the next one.
March 17th, 2009 at 7:22 pm
Todd, of course, you are welcome to your opinion. I’ve also built and worked on many computers over at least the same length of time. I’ve also worked with this kind of equipment professionally for many years. While components today are much more rugged than they used to be, it is just poor judgement to work with static sensitive equipment without proper protections. Static damage can be very insidious by causing internal junction damage that doesn’t blatantly appear as a hard fault. This kind of damage can pop up as transient faults that are very difficult to isolate and repair. Granted, a personal PC is not a mission critical piece of equipment, but, I still regard it as poor practice to demonstrate this kind of work without proper protections. Just some thoughts from a guy who is accustomed to a world of blue conductive lab coats, heel straps, and grounded mats!
April 15th, 2009 at 7:37 am
There is obviously a lot to know about this. I think you made some good points in Features also.
August 11th, 2009 at 10:40 am
What were the video processing issues you had on the show? The TriCaster processes video internally as uncompress and looks A LOT better than that.
What kind of cameras were you using?
Philip
August 13th, 2009 at 12:35 pm
I use different Tricasters for several different productions and I can assure you that any quality problems you are having is not the fault of the tool. If you are having problems with the quality you may want to look at other things starting with your lighting. You might also want to look into proper camera angles and editing to avoid startling jump cuts or awkward angles.
August 13th, 2009 at 1:13 pm
re: the static strap,
Sure you can make a million PCs and never have a problem, but we all know it is proper procedure to protect your expensive equipment.
Seeing as how this is ’suppose’ to be a professional respectable How-To website, and considering the presenter is wearing a huge fuzzy sweater, it would only make the message appear more credible and the presenter appear more knowledgeable if she wore a simple static strap.
December 2nd, 2009 at 6:00 pm
Anti-static procedures be damned.
But in all seriousness, a comment should have been made in the show.
December 19th, 2009 at 12:57 pm
Great Info.
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