Still lucky to have a girlfriend after this

[zac_w]

Hey guys, I have spent the last couple months designing my new computer build and now the beast is complete. I previously gamed on my 2011 Macbook Pro but I felt I needed an upgrade. This is the first computer I have built in 10 years so it was exciting and fun to build let me know what you guys think.



System Specs:

Motherboard: Asus Maximus V1 formula

CPU: Intel 4670k @ 4.8Ghz with 1.3 V core, 4.7Ghz with 1.27 V core and 4.5Ghz with 1.25 V core depending on how I am using my computer the respective clocks match either idle, gaming or benchmarking.

RAM: G.Skill Trident X 2400 Mhz @ 1.65v (standard)

Graphics Card: Nvidia Geforce (Evga) 780 TI reference design. I chose the reference design for the aesthetics and I believe I was lucky with the silicon lottery.

Max Overclock: GPU clock offset +320 Mhz
Mem clock offset + 530 Mhz

When GPU boost 2.0 kicked in this effectively boosted my card from 911 base boost to 1386 Mhz while bringing the memory up from 7000 base 8020 Mhz. Here is a link to my 3D mark http://www.3dmark.com/fs/1891042

That setting was used only for benchmarking as my GPU is not watercooled yet I am surprised and happy with these results.

For a strong gaming overclock I used GPU offset + 300 and Mem clock offset to 500

and for a strong but more relaxed overclock i used GPU offset 250 and Mem clock offset to 400.


Storage:

OS Storage & additional programs: Samsung 840 Pro 128 GB

Main Storage: Seagate 3TB 7200 RPM, I chose Seagate over WD Black because I personally have had a couple bad experiences of failure with them (3x laptop and 2x desktop) and no failures with Seagate. I have four Seagate hardrives and two of which have now been running for 8 years with no problems.

Power Supply: Silverstone Strider Gold Evolution 850W

Case: Cooler Master Storm Stryker

Watercooling Components:

CPU Waterblock: XSPC Raystorm

Radiator: XSPC RX 240mm Radiator

Tubing: Primochill Clear 1/4

Fans: 2x 120mm Noctua NH-P12 radiator fans set to pull. ( I know these are not as good as their Nf-f12 series with better statick pressure, but I had some lying around as I previously had the Noctua Nh-D14.
My back Exhaust fan is the Noctua 140mm and the rest of my fans are stock with my case. These will be upgrades soon to 6x Cougar green L.E.D fans. two at the top, two at the front and two more for my radiator for push/pull configuration ... just lack of funding for fans at this point.


I am looking for a new way to mount my radiator though as it doesn't seem to be getting enough air. So any suggestions to my water cooling loop set up would be awesome.

Also I would like to incorporate my water cooling into my motherboard with Asus Crosschill I have read numerous forum posts strongly advising not to use it but hey they built it in for a reason and they have demonstrated that after three years with there salt water test it seemed to be okay but is there any guarantee or anything on there part? I would love to get some clarification that.

Cheers,

Zac

[Dr__Zchivago]

It looks as though you have room for a push/pull configuration on the radiator, but the image might be deceiving me.

Something you might consider, since you're using only one graphics card, is that you could hang the radiator from the back of the case (inside, of course) where all of that empty space is between your PSU and GPU.

Z

[zac_w]

Hey thanks for a quick reply, the radiator is a 240mm with two fans the picture is deceiving as I cannot get a photo of the second half. So it wouldn't fit in that spot. Though I can run push/ pull configuration where it currently is once I get more fans. Also sorry for the last photo I was eating lunch didn't realise it was was in the photo.

[Nackers]

Looks great mate, very nice.. The blue and white lighting to me looks the best.

[zac_w]

Nackers wrote:
Looks great mate, very nice.. The blue and white lighting to me looks the best.

Yeah, I am still unsure which colour is my favourite, I have an RGB Led strip that wraps around my case. Luckily for me I have it set to random so it changes about once a minute though I absolutely love this pinky purple colour I made goes quite nice with the green. And thanks =D

[Tokens210]

yea very nice build, green and blue seem to be your best showing colors, the red one shows a bit light but that may be due to the brightness of the case

and also id say yea you got a pretty decent chip, my 4770k requires 1.3+ just to be stable at 4.5GHz lol cant even boot anything past that, well probly could if i went 1.5v but i dont really wanna sacrifice my processor to the gods lol

[zac_w]

Tokens210 wrote:
yea very nice build, green and blue seem to be your best showing colors, the red one shows a bit light but that may be due to the brightness of the case

and also id say yea you got a pretty decent chip, my 4770k requires 1.3+ just to be stable at 4.5GHz lol cant even boot anything past that, well probly could if i went 1.5v but i dont really wanna sacrifice my processor to the gods lol

At first I had difficulties but I have been tinkering with it for a couple months now. I find there to be a on of variables that influence total potential, such as ram speed and its required volts setting to an XMP profile caused instability until I set it manually and slightly tweaked. Also balancing out the cache ratios is also a big factor. At 4.5 Ghz i can match its cache ratio at the voltage I specified however I cannot get it higher then that or I experience crashes past that. I try not to go over 1.3V on air but now I have water I was contemplating a new max at 1.4 but obviously there are tons of different opinions as to what is safe and what isn't... I cannot afford a new chip right now. However at 1.27v my computer Idles at 30 degrees and under gaming circumstances goes to 45 degrees. only under stress tests does it bounce around though I am considering de lidding my chip as when I run intel burn test it jumps up to like 102 degrees then back down to 45 giving me extreme inconsistency. Perhaps I have a bad mount was difficult to get on

[zac_w]

Tokens210 wrote:
yea very nice build, green and blue seem to be your best showing colors, the red one shows a bit light but that may be due to the brightness of the case

and also id say yea you got a pretty decent chip, my 4770k requires 1.3+ just to be stable at 4.5GHz lol cant even boot anything past that, well probly could if i went 1.5v but i dont really wanna sacrifice my processor to the gods lol

At first I had difficulties but I have been tinkering with it for a couple months now. I find there to be a on of variables that influence total potential, such as ram speed and its required volts setting to an XMP profile caused instability until I set it manually and slightly tweaked. Also balancing out the cache ratios is also a big factor. At 4.5 Ghz i can match its cache ratio at the voltage I specified however I cannot get it higher then that or I experience crashes past that. I try not to go over 1.3V on air but now I have water I was contemplating a new max at 1.4 but obviously there are tons of different opinions as to what is safe and what isn't... I cannot afford a new chip right now. However at 1.27v my computer Idles at 30 degrees and under gaming circumstances goes to 45 degrees. only under stress tests does it bounce around though I am considering de lidding my chip as when I run intel burn test it jumps up to like 102 degrees then back down to 45 giving me extreme inconsistency. Perhaps I have a bad mount was difficult to get on

[zac_w]

I have a question to the community at large regarding my radiator placement and fans. I couldn't install it above my MOBO because the wireless card that comes with the formula is in the way so I went for a bottom mount. As it is down the bottom, I thought It would be best to set my fans to pull, and then yes in theory I would be blowing warmer air over the rest of my components however as it's location is close to the two intake fans I find the air mixes and cools everything right down or at least it would appear that way with a heavy gaming session my CPU goes from 30 degrees up to 45 and my GFX from 33 degrees to 45-55 depending on the title. My question is though would setting my fans to push yield any realistic better results I know this is an age old debate but I was hoping somebody with a scientific hypothesis could explain it to me. The other option I was considering was taking out my HDD cages and somehow mounting it near the front of my case standing up so I can get a push pull effect from my front two intakes. I know this might all sound weird without pictures, I will see if I cannot draw one up now quickly and edit this post to include them to illustrate what I mean

[PowerOver9K]

Nice build. I would however invest in a 45 degree rotary or two for that bottom instead of having that S curve in the tube. Also one where you exit your res.

They did demonstrate that it works 3 years in salt water but that's not the issue. The issue is that it's aluminium and aluminium and copper in the same water loop cause heavy galvanic corrosion. If they had done the test instead with the block sitting in salt water with a block a copper in the same water and it lived I would be more impressed. If there's a micro scratch in that aluminium anodizing whatsoever that's all you need. It's really not worth it. 😞