Kiwi's Squad Build / Refresh

[1kiwi]

History & Purpose of the New Build

It's been about 6 years since I've upgraded my entire PC so after convincing the wife I finally started to order some parts. I play allot of Squad which is built on the UE4 engine and very very CPU hungry. Sadly I'm CPU limited and need something that will push me beyond 4.7 and improve clock for clock performance. I also feel like Sandy is finally starting to show it's age so it makes sense to upgrade

Spoiler: Old PC build specifications

Old PC:

Single Loop:

PA120.3
PA120.2
XSPC D5 Dual Bay Reservoir/Pump Combo V2
EK-LT - Acetal
EK Water Blocks EK-FC Block and Backplate
EK Compression Fittings
Mayhems Pastel - Orange Coolant

Kit

Modded Lian Li G70
Asus ROG SWIFT PG278Q
2600K @ 4.7Ghz
Gigabyte Z68X-UD7-B3
Corsair Vengeance 16GB
MSI Reference GTX980Ti
Asus Xonar DX
1 X Samsung 256GB SSD Pro
1 X Crucial MX200 1TB SSD
OCZ Gold 850w Power Supply

Spoiler: Pictures of old build

These pictures were taken the last time I put my loop together for the 980Ti launch. Watercooling is very expensive so I typically try and time my upgrades around the nvidia Ti launches. I've run both crossfire and SLI before and if you ask me these setups are more trouble than they are worth - it's also double the cost which can get prohibitive give how expensive GPU full cover blocks are

 

[1kiwi]

Latest Build Pics - Last Update: 2nd April 2017

 

[1kiwi]

Reserved

 

[1kiwi]

Start of Build Log

New parts:

Cooling:

EK-FC Titan X Pascal - Acetal
EK-FC Titan X Pascal Backplate - Black
EKWB EK-Supremacy EVO CPU Water Block (Nickel Acetal)
Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut Thermal Grease
Rockit 88 - Black Body × 1 with Re-Lid Kit - 1150 × 1 (enables you to delid the CPU lid to reapply thermal paste to the internal heat sink improving contact and reducing temps)

PC Parts:

Intel Core i7-7700K Quad-Core 4.2 GHz Kaby Lake LGA 1151
G.SKILL F4-3200C16D-16GTZ TridentZ 16GB
ASUS ROG Maximus IX Hero Z270 LGA1151 DDR4 DP HDMI M.2 USB 3.1
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti Founders Edition

Having already pre-ordered the 1080ti I decided to put the card in before watercooling it as I had seen a user who had gone straight to watercooling in the UK only to find that his card was dead. The card works well however I'm excited to get the waterblock on.

I'm away for the rest of the week but will post pics of progress when I start building on Friday

 

[1kiwi]

Been researching fan and pump controllers tonight and mechanisms to monitor my loop temperature. It's been a while since I've looked at this but one brand keeps coming up in the forums; Aquacomputer Aquaero. I want to move away from my existing fan controller to something more hidden and found the Aquacomputer Aquaero 5LT to be highly recommended. To monitor temps I'm looking at a Alphacool Eiszapfen Temperature Sensor which should screw into the port on my XSPC D5 Bay Res. Here's a pic of the controller.

I did look at other internal fan controllers but none of them seemed to offer the level of software control that Aquaero does. Let me know guys if you disagree or have any additional thoughts - given build day is on Friday this will likely be an addition after I have the build setup but it's something I've wanted to do for a while given Los Angeles can get pretty warm.

 

[1kiwi]

just plumbed one in myself. Using a Strix E board and only has one sensor, just under where a second GPU would go in... such a stupid place.

Comes with a male to male in the packet which i didn't know about so have a spare lol.

Hasn't leaked at that point, and like you, i've attached to outlet port of the rad. Will leak test the system tonight

Cool! Any chance you could send a picture? I'm not married to the idea of plumping it to my rad

 

[1kiwi]

Hey kiwi, not sure if you're aware, but I've just been forced into a custom water setup after my EK predator 360 leaked.

It leaked at the CPU water block (https://www.overclockers.co.uk/ek-water-blocks-ek-supremacy-mx-wc-796-ek.html)

The base part of the blocks have the retention bracket pushing them onto the CPU, but then the top part of the block is then just screwed on top of that. When mine cooled (Copper base acetyl top), water would leak from between the retention bracket and the top of the block (which is also subjected to any mechanical stress if you're moving tubing about). It may have just been a dodgy o-ring, but I feel much more comfortable with my Raystorm PRO where the top and base of the cooler are both held down by the retention bracket.

I've not got my GPU in the loop, so for monitoring I'm just using the motherboard's PWM CPU header and one of these so that all 3 fans run at the same speed:
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/phanteks-pwm-fan-hub-ca-009-pt.html

Anyway good luck with the build mate. (Maybe look at getting a new keyboard? )

Hello mate!! That sounds rough regarding your block. I'm assuming your block was defective. Reason why I want to alphacool is that I was interested in the software. Does the device you linked work with a PWM pump?

 

[1kiwi]

Few packages arrived over the week but I'm unfortunately short a CPU It should come tomorrow but it's put the build back a little.

 

[1kiwi]

It's got it's own power drawn from sata power so I guess it probably would, but it only takes one pmw input so it's more suited to turning one CPU fan output into many (upto 11 apparently) rad fans using the motherboard's temperature probe and fan profile settings. I've just got my D5 pumps on the lowest flow settings at the moment.

I see the Swifttech version is also pretty popular. http://www.swiftech.com/8-WayPWMsplitter-sata.aspx

I think this one also supports PWM control of pumps

 

[1kiwi]

Looks like it's basically the same thing. One input from PWM CPU motherboard output and drives multiple fans using sata power. You couldn't use either to run pumps and fans at different speeds.

That's what I'm thinking. The Aquaero seems like the best solution on the market. I'll try and get on discord if/when my new PC is up. Do you still game on Sundays?

 

[1kiwi]

Build time! It's getting late here (had to wait for the CPU to arrive) so I'll try and get the CPU and GPU prepped tonight and do the rest of the cleaning, install and loop tomorrow morning.

 

[1kiwi]

First step, delidding the CPU. Let's hope I have not created a $250 paper weight

 

[1kiwi]

Installed the CPU block. Compared to my previous LT block I found the instructions to be lacking a little. I.e., the plates you have to install are not marked so you have to guess regarding thickness. The screws which you install for LGA 1511 are also not clearly differentiated from the other screws. Other than that it was fine and not that different from any other install

 

[1kiwi]

Build went well today! Will update with pics tomorrow.

 

[1kiwi]

So after getting the CPU sorted on Friday night I was straight back into it on Saturday morning. Max was not happy that I would be spending most of my day working on the PC instead of playing with him hah.

The GPU was next on a list. Another warranty voided

One of the annoying things about these cards is the screws they use to hold the block down. It's like they are intentionally making it more difficult to dissemble the card.

Unfortunately for me my precision screwdriver set had seen better days so I had to drive down to the local computer shop to get a new set. With LA traffic this cost me the better part of 1.5 hours.

Another example of great thermal application. No wonder these cards run so hot.

The card looks much better this way

Leak testing after cleaning out the case with compressed air. I highly recommend this method for those of you that struggle with dust. After putting everything back together I successfully installed windows and have been setting everything back up. It's been able 6 years since I've had to play around with a new bios so it's been a fun learning curve playing around with the settings.

With that said I'm happy with my temps at stock so far. Will post another update once I start clocking the GPU and CPU.

 

[1kiwi]

Well I had a bit of a play this morning and this chip is a keeper Does 5ghz with 300mhz AVX offset at 1.34 volts LLC5. Most importantly I have doubled my frames in Squad

 

[1kiwi]

Well she is more or less done for now. I'm considering replacing the case - however the only case I would buy right now is Caselabs and they are expensive. Fortunitely they are based in California so I would be able to pick it up direct.

 

[1kiwi]

Nice clock on the kaby, it's just a little cooler than my 4.4GHz 8 core too. I take it the boost in squad is mostly the new GPU.

You would think so right? Because it's an alpha it's actually very CPU limited. I used to get around 70fps using the 2600 @ 4.7 with the 1080ti. Now I get 120fps with the 5Ghz clock. I have also seen that memory makes a difference and the DDR4 @ 3200 is a big upgrade from my DDR2 @ 1600.

 

[1kiwi]

Is it highly threaded? (I'd be interested to see if my 4.4GHz CPU could best your 5GHz..) Memory wise I'm only at 3Ghz, but that's quad channel

It is multi threaded but not as optimized as say BF1 - one of the reasons why I went for raw single threaded performance. Squad also does not really work with SLI. PS: Sorry I didn't make it on for Sunday - I was still benching at that point

 

[1kiwi]

Did some more shopping today as part of my quest for better airflow and control. I purchased the following:

• Aquacomputer aquaero 5 LT USB fan-controller
  
• Phobya temperature sensor G1/4 - silver nickel
  
• Phobya extension 3Pin Molex ultra long 90cm - black
• Extension 3Pin Molex 30cm - black

I also brought one of these which should push more cool air into the case.