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New toys, and a sexy test bench, sort of.

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  • New toys, and a sexy test bench, sort of.

    So I currently have a Ryzen 1700 system on an Crosshair 6 Hero board (X370); it's been a mixed bag honestly. Since my main game jam lately is Elite Dangerous (unstable), I've actually reverted the system completely to stock, even with 3600/CL15 G.skill B-die sticks. Lately I've been itching to see how much progress has been made with the 2nd generation of Ryzen CPUs, in terms of memory compatibility, the newer chips performance / OC abilities, etc. On impulse (as usual) I decided to drop some cash on new guts. So I went to the local Canada Computers and picked up the following:

    Asus Crosshair 7 Hero X470 motherboard
    G.Skill FlareX 2x8GB 3200mhz / CL14 RAM
    AMD Ryzen 2700X CPU
    ADATA SX8200 960GB NVME SSD (much cheaper than Samsung and nearly as quick)

    The other thing that triggered this purchase was Daz (bastard!). He put a sexy EK monoblock up for sale that just happens to fix both the Hero 6 AND 7 motherboards. He drove me to this!! Didn't take many pics since this was an impulse build, but we'll start with the motherboard.

    It's a lot like the Hero 6 that's my daily driver (shocker). Very sexy in black:


    The astute will notice the missing VRM heatsink. That of course had to go in favor of this baby:


    Yeah it looks sexy, but it has the typical EK lack of attention to detail. Even though the monoblock is board specific, they still don't provide you with pre-cut thermal pads. Lovely:


    They also included the wrong size allen wrench for tightening the block down (LOL). Details aside, it is a nice piece (BIOS flash in progress below):


    Also picked up this little toy from Daz a while back, figuring it would be a perfect match for my 2nd PC / 'test bench', a ThermalTake Core P5 wrapped in black and white marble vinyl. The Barrow boxfish reservoir, 250mm, with built in temp sensor and a bloody metric TON of ports:


    And now for the "read the fine print dumbass" part of the program. The CH7 Hero has a lovely little M.2 port, right above the top PCIE slot:


    It even comes with a heat sink, tucking your SSD nicely away and keeping it cool:


    BIG PROBLEM with that M.2 slot: IF you chose to use it, you cripple your GPUs PCIE slot, as I discovered much to my chagrin after installing Windows 10 with a pair of GTX 980s. Even though both GPUs were detected, SLI wouldn't work. I was scratching my head until I read the manual: using that M.2 slot knocked me down to 8x / 4x PCIE speeds, so SLI was disabled. After moving the SSD to the OTHER M.2 slot, the one that's in PLAIN VIEW and NOT protected by a heat sink, SLI magically came back. That leaves it where it is now, testing on the P5, like so:



    One more crappy photo of a pretty block, now set to purple to match the Boxfish res:


    This test bench is prettier than my main rig:


    -----------------------
    To be continued!
    Last edited by Bartacus; 08-29-2018, 03:15 AM.

  • #2
    OVERCLOCKING, automagically!

    I decided I'd try the latest iteration of Asus software that automatically OCs your system until it crashes, then dials it back a notch, providing you with a usable overclock. Like most hard-core nerds, I tend to ignore this auto-tuning stuff, but I was feeling like playing around tonight.

    Once you kick off the software, it does a dramatic little count down:


    Away it went, cranking up the clocks:


    After experiencing the awesomeness of water cooling, the board decided it was happy at just over 4.2ghz on all 8 cores:


    It topped out at just over 70C for CPU temps running Prime 95 at that speed. Along with running the RAM at it's rated 3200mhz, CL14 timings. So far I'd say either:

    a) the Hero 7 is a MUCH better board than the Hero 6, or
    b) this new 2700X is MUCH better than my old 1700 non-X (to be expected), or
    c) the FlareX 3200 is much more stable than my 3600 CL15 stuff, even at similar clockspeeds
    d) all, or none, of the above.

    I'll be swapping RAM back and forth to see if that makes any differences. Let the games begin!

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    • #3
      I agree Bart, it's all Daz's fault Love that monoblock! I'd like to do a 2700x myself. But you do realize that if I succumb to my urges, it will then be YOUR fault!

      Comment


      • #4
        Yes, the pattern will continue, and Daz will get more money for his "yacht fund", LOL!

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        • #5
          Aha! THAT's the kind of watercooling he is after. You know what they say, whatever floats your boat.

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          • #6
            nice one Bartman!
            My Imgur

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            • #7
              Nice test setup Bart. When you were talking about not being able to use the M.2 SSD in the slot with the heatsink, it reminded me about listening to PC Perspective podcast #500 (1:30:50) back in May where they discuss a Cryorig M.2 heatsink. Al Malventano goes of on a bit of a rant about what a dumb device it is. He says M.2 SSDs wear out faster if they run at 25 degrees C or less and that they have a built in heat spreader to transfer heat from the controller to the flash when they are doing work. So if he's right, maybe it's better in the other slot.
              The SLOB : A 3570K Build
              Down & Out : A 2600K Build
              V-353 : A 4770K Build

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              • #8
                Necro: thanks man!

                Wattermain: I doubt a simple heat sink would cool one of these things to 25C. Maybe with a water block on an M.2 card, but I can't see a HS getting the temps that low. But yeah, since I want to run SLI I really have no choice, so it's in the bottom slot with the peel and stick ADATA heat sink sticker thingy that came with the drive.

                Comment


                • #9
                  Originally posted by Bartacus View Post
                  Necro: thanks man!

                  Wattermain: I doubt a simple heat sink would cool one of these things to 25C. Maybe with a water block on an M.2 card, but I can't see a HS getting the temps that low. But yeah, since I want to run SLI I really have no choice, so it's in the bottom slot with the peel and stick ADATA heat sink sticker thingy that came with the drive.
                  You're right there Bart, although my basement in January might give it a good attempt.
                  The SLOB : A 3570K Build
                  Down & Out : A 2600K Build
                  V-353 : A 4770K Build

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                  • #10
                    Originally posted by wattermain View Post

                    You're right there Bart, although my basement in January might give it a good attempt.
                    Right there with ya. My basement is a lovely 18C most days, unless it's 30+ outside. In winter, it's the perfect place for a warm PC! Cool man caves FTW!

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                    • #11
                      That barrow boxfish res is pimp. Been seeing lots of guys use them lately. Nice choice bart.
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                      • #12
                        Originally posted by EZ's PC's View Post
                        That barrow boxfish res is pimp. Been seeing lots of guys use them lately. Nice choice bart.
                        Thanks bro! Your back plates are still the sexiest part of my main rig. Which now houses the Crosshair 7, as of today!

                        BEFORE: a naked Case Labs M8, prepared for minor surgery.


                        And a few hours and some swearing later, the transplant is complete!


                        I got lazy and didn't want to re-bend any tube, so I got away with only having to shorten one run. But it's mostly fittings, LOL!


                        I use purple light since the "blood red" coolant I use looks a little orange.


                        EZ's PC's back plates.

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                        • #13
                          Originally posted by Bartacus View Post

                          Thanks bro! Your back plates are still the sexiest part of my main rig. Which now houses the Crosshair 7, as of today!

                          BEFORE: a naked Case Labs M8, prepared for minor surgery.


                          And a few hours and some swearing later, the transplant is complete!


                          I got lazy and didn't want to re-bend any tube, so I got away with only having to shorten one run. But it's mostly fittings, LOL!


                          I use purple light since the "blood red" coolant I use looks a little orange.


                          EZ's PC's back plates.
                          Beautiful with or without the backplates man. Thanks for the love tho!
                          Sponsors: Thermaltake, TTesports, Apacer

                          https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100009118150299

                          https://twitter.com/EZgunna82

                          https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYK...nTKQoIX-sPI1UA

                          http://www.thermaltakeusa.com/

                          http://community.thermaltake.com//

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                          • #14
                            cool stuff! Boxfish (stupid chinese name) looks great!
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                            • #15
                              Build looks nice Bart, been wondering about the new gen ryzens nice to see them improving, still rocking the 1700x for the lr pc.
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