New AMD mid-year build

[The Old School Gamer]

Build Log...

[UPDATE 26/07/19] This build is now complete.

The rest of the pretty pictures: https://www.guernsey-ci.com/public/ocuk/index.php?dir=New AMD Build

Purchased.

• Fractal Design Arc Midi R2 ITX case (Picked up on clearance for next to nothing)
• Icy Dock ToughArmor MB607SP-B 5.25" Internal Drive Bay (4x 2.5" front removal bays)
• Pioneer BDR-S09XLT Blu-ray Writer 5.25" Internal Drive
• 4x Be Quiet! 140mm PWN case fans
• Alphacool CPU block/pump, 10/8 fittings, clear tubing, 240mm Copper Rad, 2x 120mm Be Quiet Silent Wings 2 fans
• Asus Rog Crosshair VI Extreme
• AMD Ryzen 3900X
• Seasonic Platinum 760w PSU
• Coolermaster Angled ITX Connector with capacitors (cannot use it now as the mobo has a right angled ATX connector)
• Samsung 970 EVO 500Gb M.2 SSD (OS/Apps)
• Crucial MX500 2Tb 2.5" SSD (Games)
• Team Group Dark Pro Red DDR4 @ 3600Mhz 16-16-16-36 (4x8Gb Samsung B-die) (picked up on offer for £308)
• EVGA RTX 2080 FTW3 Ultra
• LG 34GK950F 34" Ultrawide IPS 144hz Monitor
• Lindy 3m v1.4 Anthra Displayport cable
• RAIDON Safetank eSATA 4-Bay External Storage (RAID5)
  RAIDON Safetank eSATA 2-Bay External Storage (RAID1) currently.
• 2x WD Red 8Tb 5400rpm Internal Storage (RAID1)

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[orbitalwalsh]

Just before end of year, would have said avoid Asus boards as VRM was naff , but seems they've followed suit with 2 other vendors that white washed then with z390.

Get Zen2 on pre- order.. it'll shoot up in price like intel chips normally do. Believe demand will be high, and a lot of takers before reviews hit out

 

[The Old School Gamer]

I don't like blindly pre-ordering as there is so much that is not known about Zen 2.
Really need information on clock speeds and operating temps and OC potential (hopefully their will be some pre-launch leaks).
The 12 core may very well clock higher and stay cooler than the 16 core CPU, that would probably make it more appealing.

I reckon we are going to get screwed on the price no matter what lol.

 

[Troezar]

I don't like blindly pre-ordering as there is so much that is not known about Zen 2.
Really need information on clock speeds and operating temps and OC potential (hopefully their will be some pre-launch leaks).
The 12 core may very well clock higher and stay cooler than the 16 core CPU, that would probably make it more appealing.

I reckon we are going to get screwed on the price no matter what lol.

We may be okay as production had been going since Nov18 AFAIK so there should be massive availability. There shouldn't be just a few retailers monopolising the supply. I suspect motherboards will be a bigger issue as I read there had been delays with the chipset production.

I'd say preorder, you can always cancel or return it if it doesn't meet your expectations.

 

[The Old School Gamer]

Apart from knowing these products are coming there is very little actual factual information (atm).

I don't need to see any reviews to pick and pre-order a motherboard.
But I do need to see detailed specs and features to make a informed choice.

The CPUs will have day one reviews. (so no problem there).
On YouTube the tech reviewers will be falling over each other to get them out first for the hits and likes a new product launch brings to their channel.

 

[Troezar]

Apart from knowing these products are coming there is very little actual factual information (atm).

I don't need to see any reviews to pick and pre-order a motherboard.
But I do need to see detailed specs and features to make a informed choice.

The CPUs will have day one reviews. (so no problem there).
On YouTube the tech reviewers will be falling over each other to get them out first for the hits and likes a new product launch brings to their channel.

Agreed re. the facts. With motherboards there are a lot of factors not least of which is you can't rely on reputation any more. More than a few higher end boards have been found lacking when reviewed over the last two generations. Then there is the BIOS vs warranty vs hardware features debate.

To me CPUs are much simpler, price, clock speed, power draw(and therefore temperature) and cores (how many do you want/need). All pretty simple stuff to decide on.

5GHz (1or 2 core), 8-12 cores and around £350 or less and I'm in.

 

[The Old School Gamer]

Yeah that's it.

This build will eventually become my general purpose, always on, 24/7 PC.
Day to day I'll be doing some AV encoding, streaming, running a couple of VMs and other services in the background etc.
So I'm thinking that core count above clock speed will be the more important factor IF I can keep the temps under control with quiet air cooling water cooling.

12 Cores would be double what I have now, but I may hang on even longer for the Ryzen 9 / 16 core CPU.
That would give me time to add another 16Gb of RAM (Done) and maybe sell the Dark Rock and go with a larger dual tower CPU cooler.

Dunno I'll give it some further thought.

 

[The Old School Gamer]

Ok I'm ponding watercooling the CPU with a modular Alphacool Eisbaer 240mm.
Now I don't like the long jeopardy and added maintenance that comes with water over a traditional ' fit it and forget it ' heat sink on a 24/7 system.
But I like the clearance and the cooling performance which I think I may need to prevent throttling of the 12 or 16 core Zen 2.

Still giving it some thought. (Done)

 

[The Old School Gamer]

Cut the tubes and pumped her full of juice today.
[Edit] In hindsight I should have measured up first, doh!

Spoiler: 280mm Alphacool Photo

 

[The Old School Gamer]

Ok well this one might be a controversial decision, and a bit of a stab in the dark not knowing how well the new Ryzen 12-core will perform on it (if at all).

But I'm NOT going with a X570 mobo as I originally planned (at least not for now).

So after doing some research I've opted to purchase a older Asus Crosshair VI Extreme which rocks the X370 chipset.
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/asus...ket-am4-ddr4-e-atx-motherboard-mb-6aa-as.html

Asus have already released a beta BIOS update (7002) which should make it compatible with the new Zen 2 CPU line-up, and that BIOS can be flashed via USB stick directly without having a CPU or memory installed.
Not really that bothered about missing out on PCIE 4.0 for now either, as I doubt it's going to lead any real noticeable performance difference (I'm not saying there won't be a difference though).

Primarily I've reached this decision because I have some doubts about the active cooling that's appearing on all/most of the X570 mobo's being announced.
IMHO they wouldn't go down that route unless they had to, hence it can only really mean the X570 chipset probably runs pretty toasty when pushed.
The other reason is all extra features and the M.2 layout on this Extreme board is quite unique and the board has received some excellent reviews.
And the last reason is the price... originally priced around the £300 mark, it can now be had for around £200, the only real problem was finding some where that still had stock as it's out of production (but I found a couple of places that still did).

[EDIT]

Basically for Matisse / Zen 2 / Ryzen 3xxx CPU support you need a BIOS updated with AGESA 'Combo PI' 0.0.7.0 (or higher).

0.0.X.Xx = AGESA indicates a beta/early release.
1.0.X.Xx = AGESA is a final release.

Reviews
https://www.hardocp.com/article/2017/12/26/asus_rog_crosshair_vi_extreme_motherboard_review/
https://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/8...xtreme-amd-x370-motherboard-review/index.html
https://www.overclock3d.net/reviews/cpu_mainboard/asus_rog_x370_crosshair_vi_extreme_review/1

YouTube Review (OC3D)

Spoiler: Motherboard Image

 

[Plec]

Primarily I've reached this decision because I have some doubts about the active cooling that's appearing on all/most of the X570 mobo's being announced.
IMHO they wouldn't go down that route unless they had to, hence it can only really mean the X570 chipset probably runs pretty hot when pushed.

Edit: I missed your - '"all/most" - but will leave post unedited in the chance there is something useful there to you.

Agreed, they look disconcerting - but not all boards will be released with active cooling - Gigabyte and Asus, hopefully/apparently, being one of them.

And the 'guessing/speculation' is that the issue arises from using RAID with the two NVMe slots or that the PCIe 4.0 slots are greedy on power (or combo of both - who knows) - but neither confirmed. But, regardless, with the release of boards minus active cooling - the 'hope' is that it's a niche issue. All conjecture at this stage -but the release of non actively cooled boards are a relief to see.

 

[The Old School Gamer]

Well I hope they do release passively cooled options on the higher tier enthusiast grade boards.
I may still end up with a X570 mobo yet, will greatly depend if this VI Extreme gamble works out well or not.

[EDIT]

Like you said it's conjecture at this point but ' IF ' that is the main reason I would be happy for them to drop the RAID functionality for NVMe on some models to get the chipset operating temps down.

Hopefully Gamers Nexus or Hardware Unboxed will look into X570 operating temps in more depth soon.
(I've asked the question in the comments on their YouTube channels).

 

[The Old School Gamer]

Purchased this external 4-bay RAID5 unit which will eventually replace the 2-bay RAID1 unit I currently use.

Little point making the switch over just yet though as I still have 1.5 Tb of storage capacity left on the 2-bay unit.
Conventional HDD prices should keep coming down as time goes on, especially as SSDs capacities keep increasing.

 

[The Old School Gamer]

Did a bit of a hatchet job cutting out the top mesh armed with only a axe saw and some clippers. (The A-Team has nothing on me).
I could have really done with a dremel to be honest, but I didn't want to buy one just for this one task lol.

If you are wondering why I've done this it's to cut down the added noise and impedance that blowing air through mesh can cause.

Spoiler: PC Build Photos

As I thought I had made the tubes waaay too long originally.
So had to drain it off and re-cut them. (that will learn me ah).
Then I had a problem where the tighter angle was kinking the smaller tube so I added a bunch of small zip ties to strengthen the tube up.

4x 2.5" removable SATA drive bays.
Primarily there for the convenience of swapping SSDs in and out without cracking the case open.

Just need to drop the 12-core and GFX card in next month and then hopefully I'm in business.

 

[The Old School Gamer]

Spoiler: CPU in da house photo

Benchmarks

CPU-Z Stats
https://valid.x86.fr/97s3na

 

[orbitalwalsh]

thought these are good for 4.4ghz all cores ? or is this limit of x370 ?

 

[The Old School Gamer]

thought these are good for 4.4ghz all cores ? or is this limit of x370 ?

[UPDATE]

BIOS / AGESA updates ultimately fixed the general stability and boosting problems I was initially having.

I've decided to leave everything on auto/stock.
It would appear that manual fixed ratio overclocking negatively effects single thread performance and other metrics.
These processors frequency and voltage have just been designed to run best in a variable mode.

Conclusive - just leave it manage it's own OCing for best results

[UPDATE 21/07/19]

I've been forced to go back to 4Ghz fixed ratio and and manually set vcore voltage.
As I was experiencing some random system freezes and restarts under load, letting it auto clock up and down.
I suspect this motherboard does not like the varying voltage and ramping response times.

 

[The Old School Gamer]

Going to be upgrading the graphics card to something more capable of pumping out those FPS @ 2k ultrawide.

[UPDATE]

I was thinking about going with a 2070 Super but I came across an EVGA 2080 FTW3 (non-Super) card at a really good price which made more sense to me.