PUBG crate. The spares build.

Monkey Puzzle · 10 Jul 2023 at 19:48

ALXAndy said:
Thanks dude. Really has been a great build. Premium looks for low end to mid range money. Always a good thing !

So I decided to turn my £55 cooler into a £410 Asus one lmao.

Cost me £24. I already grabbed the software. Looks very easy to use, too.

Will create my own. Also has the tools in there to do so. Apparently they have AIDA baked into them somehow, so they are a lot easier to use. Of course the housing will be going in the bin. CNC has been dormant for quite a while now, so I feel something custom to clip onto the pump head coming on.

That looks very nifty - screen looks decent quality as well

ALXAndy · 10 Jul 2023 at 21:32

It's IPS too apparently. You can get a nicer enclosure one for about a tenner more but I CBA. I don't like, or want, either. I will machine my own. At least now I won't have the wrath of my mother sitting directly below the machine trying to watch TV. Weather how it is now she can go in the garden.

Well today was a bit of a p1553r.

I finished TLOU again, this time at 4k. AVG FPS 55. A couple of stutters here and there, but then it was like that on the 2080Ti at 1440p too.

What was nagging at me though was testing the new card. I ran Timespy Extreme for an hour or so. However, for some reason the score was below average and just "Good". I wasn't that fussed. Figured maybe because I am using a lower rent CPU based on gaming that could be why. I also thought that maybe it was the MBA card letting the side down, as I hear the higher priced models are a little bit faster.

I thought "Hmm, I will open GPUZ and see !". Well firstly GPUZ isn't even on the rig. IDK why, I *always* put it on to check everything is as it should be when I do a build, but because the GPU was over 4 years old I didn't bother.

I should have.

So yeah, installed it and opened it. "AMD Radeon 6950XT X4 @ PCIE 3.0". Erm, WHAT? "OK so I will just have to run the render test and it will pop up correctly". NOPE !

So now I am starting to panic a bit. Like, what if something is wrong with the GPU?. Or, what if something is wrong with the mobo I have now had for many months and there will not be an RMA replacement for? panic set in.

I went into the BIOS and had a poke around. Looked at the Bifurcation settings but the X16 was not showing there either. Just X8 X8 or X4x2 and X8. What I did see though was a list of the lanes. And the X16 one was empty. Eh x2.

So I got the mobo box out and looked at the manual. Can you see it?

Who in the heck does that? Like, what dude thought it would be a good idea to make the top slot AKA "INSERT YOUR POWERFUL GPU HERE" X4?

Melons. Any way, fixed. Sadly fixed too late to play TLOU as I am finished that for the second time in a month.

So I bought myself Uncharted lol.

ED209 · 11 Jul 2023 at 11:02

ALXAndy said:
Who in the heck does that? Like, what dude thought it would be a good idea to make the top slot AKA "INSERT YOUR POWERFUL GPU HERE" X4?

Melons. Any way, fixed. Sadly fixed too late to play TLOU as I am finished that for the second time in a month.

So I bought myself Uncharted lol.

After you posting this I thought I would check mine to make mine (no issues just curious if it could happen on more mobos)

Mobo for me is an Gigabyte Z390 Gaming X and they followed the norm and made the top slot x16 lol

Common mistake as everyone uses the top PCIE slot for the GPU

ALXAndy · 11 Jul 2023 at 12:56

ED209 said:
After you posting this I thought I would check mine to make mine (no issues just curious if it could happen on more mobos)

Mobo for me is an Gigabyte Z390 Gaming X and they followed the norm and made the top slot x16 lol

Common mistake as everyone uses the top PCIE slot for the GPU

Aye. I can only imagine it is because my board is a turbo nutter overclocking board, and maybe X4 is more stable on massive CPU overclocks?

Gawd knows.

Monkey Puzzle · 11 Jul 2023 at 13:25

ALXAndy said:
Aye. I can only imagine it is because my board is a turbo nutter overclocking board, and maybe X4 is more stable on massive CPU overclocks?

Gawd knows.

Could be wrong, but might be laid out like that with the x16 below x4 slot since x4 would likely be a single slot card anyhow, and allow for shorter pcb traces for better data line integrity compared to having the x4 slot located further down by the 2 x8 slots (as would need space for x16 card multislot cooler).

Cenedd · 11 Jul 2023 at 13:27

Monkey Puzzle said:
Could be wrong, but might be laid out like that with the x16 below x4 slot since x4 would likely be a single slot card anyhow, and allow for shorter pcb traces for better data line integrity compared to having the x4 slot located further down by the 2 x8 slots (as would need space for x16 card multislot cooler).

Nah, they just did it to annoy him! :cry:

ALXAndy · 11 Jul 2023 at 17:22

Cenedd said:
Nah, they just did it to annoy him!

I didn't know you worked at Gigabyte. That's one slap I owe you when you come down next

MP - yeah I would imagine that is why they have done it. Buildzoid reckons it is one of the best boards ever made for overclocking, so there must be a reason.

ALXAndy · 12 Jul 2023 at 12:34

Screen was delayed. Coming today apparently. I'll test it first quickly, then get on with measuring it for the shell I will make.

Bought this for the front. Don't want it too bright in there.

This for the body shell. Will use black also.

I then turned this into something I can work with.

ALXAndy · 5 Sep 2023 at 18:26

Hi all. As you probably noticed I put this on hold. I started the Tag Mclaren project, and ended up using my acrylic on that. I then started getting nagged by AIDA, as the naughty version they send you with the screen does not work on Rocketlake. TBH I could not be ersed with nagging screens on a PC I only switch on to game with.

Last week I struck a deal with @Wing-Man for an 11700KF. I mean, I may as well make it as fast for gaming as I can. Very reasonable price, tbh only around £4 more than I paid for the 11400F when I built it and unlocked so a definite upgrade. The cooler has annoyed the crap out of me ever since I fitted it though. It just randomly farts RGB and there is nothing you can do about it. Given it literally sits side on right in front of me it is distracting. Even if I turned off all of the RGB there is nothing you can do about the pump RGB. I did look into changing it to ARGB so I could make it static, but the RGB LEDs are on a complicated looking circuit board with all of the pump controls. So basically cut the wrong wire? you have no pump. I have tried in vain to ignore it, but because it whirls and in the completely wrong colours it still annoys and distracts me.

I got paid today, and decided to get a better cooler. I budgeted quite high, with a healthy £300 ready to put into it. Basically everything I have put in this rig, even the 6950XT was cut price. So I wanted a really nice cooler. Searched on OCUK, but choice at the moment seems a bit limited. I did find an Aorus I liked for £240 or so. Decided to have a quick look elsewhere, and well, this might have happened for £55.

Yes, you did read that right. £55, brand new. A cooler that cost £350 when it launched. It is also nice and black, with no lights at all. Good ! I can let my case just be lavender and stop annoying me. Hilariously it was the cheapest AIO I could find, but easily the most ridiculous. It only fits Socket 1200, which is why I would imagine they are so heavily reduced right now, but I have S1200 so game on. Looking forward to having its huge box in my sweaty mitts

Cenedd · 5 Sep 2023 at 19:06

ALXAndy said:
Even if I turned off all of the RGB there is nothing you can do about the pump RGB

Duct tape*. BLACK duct tape

Good for POST counters too!
Nice steal though!

*Insulating tape works too and is a smoother finish but it's narrower so it depends how much area you have to cover.

LePhuronn · 5 Sep 2023 at 21:23

Pfft, have some pride. Black vinyl cut to size.

Electrical tape my arse lol

Cenedd · 5 Sep 2023 at 22:28

LePhuronn said:
Electrical tape my arse lol

Well I can't say it's the first use for electrical tape that would have come to mind....but to each their own!

LePhuronn · 5 Sep 2023 at 22:31

This is why commas are important

ALXAndy · 6 Sep 2023 at 10:15

I thought about sticking tape over them. I did, honest. Problem is then the cover is white which would have meant painting. Can you see where this is going?

This rig was done to be completely nag free. It is for TV gaming, not fiddling modding and tinkering. I turn it on, game for 8 hours straight and then switch it off.

ALXAndy · 6 Sep 2023 at 16:36

£19 B grade here.

And this.

ALXAndy · 14 Sep 2023 at 13:16

Got all the things. CPU was several days late, but it is all here. Hoping to get it done tomorrow, before the weekend. Bit last minute but there you go...

ALXAndy · 15 Sep 2023 at 13:47

OK. This was not supposed to happen until today but you know how new and shiny go.....

I got home around 1pm yesterday and set to work. It took many hours to reach this stage.

At which point I realised the pump was upside down. Oops. Removed it and put it up the correct way, then spent many more hours sodding around. Eventually I got there.

And I am very happy. Sorta kinda.

The good.

It looks ace (IMO).
The horror stories about it guzzling power whilst just sitting there are untrue. Well, unless of course they have optimised it since. It uses no more power than a regular AIO at idle, and even with the 11700KF now in there it is the same as it was before. So that's good.
It works. Tremendously well. I saw idles of 17c last night (trust me, it was extremely hot in here) and when overclocking I got it to 5ghz very easily on all cores. Like, very easily. Max temp was 72c. Which is pretty amazing, given these are known to hit 95 very fast.
The cooler can obviously dissipate a lot of heat. The CPU was drawing well over 200w and it still remained at a very sensible temp level.
£55. Superb value.

The bad.

Yup, the CPU likes power. A lot of power. Can't blame the cooler for that, though. The cooler also likes power when the CPU does. I don't mind this, though. It uses around 140w by the look of it capped out. Power prices are dropping on Oct 1, so I am not worried about it in any way.
The pump noise is absolutely horrendous. It wires straight into a SATA power connector and I know it is running 12v. I can tell because you can literally hear it whipping the coolant into a froth in there. This is a pain, due to the SATA connector.
The Lian Li Strimer is a bit crap. I mean, it works, but yeah it's a bit crap. Glad it was only £19, and it does add some light so whatev.

The fix.

That will allow me to try it at 12v, 7v and even 5v. I just hope the cryo suite does not sniff for pump speed. I don't think it does, because obviously you can put it on any header (the sensor wire) on the board. I think the quick test will be remove the tacho PWM wire and see if it complains.

Cenedd · 15 Sep 2023 at 16:55

May just be a pic but aren't both of those connectors on "the fix" the wrong gender?
Don't shoot the messenger, it's better to know now than find out when it arrives!

ALXAndy · 15 Sep 2023 at 17:15

Dunno. Lol

Cenedd · 15 Sep 2023 at 17:22

Well, if your pump connects to SATA power and you want to convert that to molex, the SATA end of that cable needs to be female (opposite gender to that pic) so the pump lead can connect to it and the molex needs to be male/socket (again opposite gender to pic) so you can plug a molex power lead from the PSU into it.
The pic shows a lead to plug in say an old DVD (taking molex power) to a PSU that only offers SATA.