Project Viking

Cenedd · 24 Jan 2016 at 18:07

Cheers Ohjay. Now I just have to wait for my friend to make a final decision on which case we'll be abusing

One of them has space to mount 3.5" hard disks there which are I believe are about 35mm so it might just work.

Hope your 1st boot went well and that the 3 hours since have been spent gaming (or otherwise enjoying your new PC) rather than seeking consolation in vodka!

Ohjay · 24 Jan 2016 at 20:51

Let me know if you need any other measurements Cenedd

I'm not going to say these are the final images of this build but at least they will show it completed apart from the case exterior. I'm going to start doing some overclocking before putting the case together and once that's done I'll do final build shots for you guys

The SLI bridge sticks out when powered off:

I hadn't noticed that my cable combs had moved after I did the final cabling. This will be fixed:

Don't know why but I really like this image:

Bubbles for everyone!

When you make short extension cables and don't install them early you might have to improvise "a bit":

Not quite a rat's nest but pretty close. Still the best cable management job I've ever done(mostly because I never cared before):

Who's got fans? I got fans! 16 of them in fact

Rear window? Not with this cabling

I'll have to do better in the final photos when it comes to showing the system under power, but at least this will give you an idea:

I noticed later on that one of the GPU leds had come loose so I have to fix that as well. The yellow LEDS match the fittings really well, but in turn it makes the yellow cables a bit too bright.
The reservoir is lit with white LEDS so it is purple, not blue as it looks here.

First boot went fine but for some reason it took three reboots before I could get the computer to recognize my monitor. Really strange but it works fine now.

Temps at idle and fans at 300 RPM and pump running at 50%(ambient temp is 24 degrees).

Firestrike Extreme test:

I have no idea if that is good or not, but 3DMark says it is.

Temperatures peaked at roughly 46 degrees during the test. I thought it was a little high until I realized that fans were still running at 300 RPM :rolleyes:

After doing a quick setup of the Aquaero I redid the test and peak temperature was roughly 38 degrees(pump still at 50% and fans at slightly less than 800 RPM(I think)).

Did the normal Firestrike test as well

Next up for this build is overclocking. Something I haven't done in 15 years so much have changed and I've honestly forgotten most of it.
I've got some reading to do, and then system tests before I'll start, but I'll keep you updated.

Bossman · 24 Jan 2016 at 21:04

Absolute garbage mate, it's a right mess.

Cenedd · 25 Jan 2016 at 09:35

All looks good to me. Just to give you a reference, I have a 3x120mm rad with 3 Noctuas at about 800rpm. Pump is a DDC 18W at around 8V and I also have 8 Alpha cool Cape Coras (passive rads) on the side of the case - portable went out the window a while ago! 6700K and 980Ti. Under heavy gaming my 980 Ti settles between 44 and 46C. Considering you're running two and the pump and fans so slow, I think you're doing pretty well. I had to look back through the thread to see just how immense your rads are!

I didn't think the 2200rpm Varders would spin as slow as 300rpm? I thought the spec'd 40% duty cycle would mean 40% of 2200rpm ~> 800rpm. Curious how slow they will run and what sort of volume (sound) they make as I'd be interested in using them for the static pressure but they'd need to be quiet. I'm thinking to cool (intake and exhaust) my under-stairs server cupboard.

How have you got all the fans hooked up too? The Aquaero 5 only has one PWM header but your fans and pump are PWM. Are you using motherboard headers too or are some of the Varders voltage controlled?

Your project overlaps so many that I have in mind at the moment...very useful! Just to amuse you, I have my wiring fairly tidy and my blocks lit. Even have an RGB LED controlled by the Aquaero shoeing the temp of the res. It would all look lovely...If the case had a window!!

Ohjay · 25 Jan 2016 at 10:35

Thanks Bossman & Cenedd!

As for your questions Cenedd, I bought the F4-120ER Vardars which have a greater PWM span. So they can be controlled from 300 RPM up to the full 2200 RPM through PWM control. If you use voltage control you might be able to make them go even slower if you wanted.
The non ER Vardars should be around 40% as you mention.

As for sound, I can't hear the fans at 300 RPM. In fact, when I ran the first Firestrike Extreme test I could hear the GPUs working over the fan noise.
Even at 800 RPM I consider them to be fairly inaudible.

I have connected all fans to a Phanteks PWM hub(with splitters) and then I connect that PWM hub to the Aquaero. The pump is connected to a PWM header on the motherboard.

Cenedd · 26 Jan 2016 at 10:06

Thanks Ohjay. I was blissfully unaware of the ER version. OCUK conveniently had a B-grade Aquaero 6 which should be perfect for controlling fans under the stairs. I've also ordered a couple of Varders to play with: one 140ER and one Furious 120. Now I can spend a few days being frustrated when cables aren't long enough and the power supply (external to PC for autonomy) isn't powerful enough. Gotta love this stuff!

Luggs · 26 Jan 2016 at 11:00

Excellent build Ohjay, love seeing everything come together at the end. The final pics look outstanding. Really like the unique colour scheme you went with. Hopefully, you can now sit back and enjoy some quality gaming time on your new rig!

OJ46 · 26 Jan 2016 at 11:33

Brilliant build mate, and bravo for having the balls to do something completely different with the colour scheme & actually pulling it off! Looks stunning

TechMinerUK · 26 Jan 2016 at 17:59

Stunning build, I haven't seen a purple and yellow rig complete before but this looks fantastic. Great job on the build (Especially persevering and the tubing)

Petelock · 26 Jan 2016 at 21:36

It's been a roller coaster of a read, but really interesting and good to see that you triumphed in the end. It looks class and really come together with the colour scheme. Go Vikings ^^.

Zeeflyboy · 26 Jan 2016 at 23:28

You must be very happy with that... Looks great.

Congrats!

Ohjay · 27 Jan 2016 at 21:24

Thank you everyone for your kind words!

Been tweaking the cooling with custom fan & pump controller curves which has made the cooling slightly better while still being virtually silent.
I've tried two other benchmarks, Valley & Heaven, but don't really know if my results are good or not(I'll post screenies in a day or two). I ran these mostly to have a reference value when I start overclocking.

And speaking of overclocking, I've been reading up and am beginning to get the hang of it. As soon as I can dedicate half a day(or a whole) I'll start the OC adventure. First with the GPUs and then the CPU & memory.

colinmcr · 28 Jan 2016 at 17:45

Looks awesome, well done mate.

russlee · 28 Jan 2016 at 21:15

Love the colour combo on this!

Ohjay · 4 Feb 2016 at 15:17

Thank you for the kind comments.

So I've slowly started my OC adventure and it sort of follows the rest of this build... unforseen issues.

The GPU's are sort of okay with a 150 core clock and 300 memory clock without any added voltage. Anything above this and Heaven crashes during benchmark.

The CPU is a whole different story. Unless I'm missing something obvious I think I've really lost out on the silicon lottery.
I keep getting stuck on loading Windows, no matter what sort of multiplier and vCore I'm using. I tried up to 1.26 vCore and 38x multiplier for 3800 clock and it just won't get past the Windows loading screen.
I tried the built in overclock settings on my motherboard and same story.
I also played around with LLC but it did not help either.

Just for giggles I tried to keep vCore at auto and then using a 38x multiplier and I actually get into Windows then and can run Intel Extreme Tuning Utility but it crashes after 7 minutes. The really funny thing is that my reported vCore during this was 1.075.
I guess I'll have to keep reading and see what I'm missing... or just keep it at stock speeds :rolleyes:

Zeeflyboy · 4 Feb 2016 at 18:38

Does Asrock have anything like the Asus DIP (dual intelligent processor) or 5 way optimisation software?

Using the 5 way software mine happily overclocked itself to 4.7ghz on single/dual core and 4.6ghz on all 4 cores with a single click (i7 6700k) and it's proven to be a very stable overlock. Not sure how it works with others, but the asus software does actually do all the changes in UEFI so it's not just a software overclock.... if nothing else it's a good start point to then tweak further manually if you like.

I have to say it's pretty impressive what the "artificial intelligence" stuff can do with it these days - just need the same for the GPU's and then I'm set to remain ignorant

Scores look good btw - I got just over 23,000 on firestrike with a broadly similar setup with the overlocked CPU and +100mhz on both memory and GPU core (haven't tried pushing further until I change the fans on my radiator).

Build looks great too - lovely job

Ohjay · 4 Feb 2016 at 19:04

Thanks.

I'll have to look into DIP and optimization software. I don't recall seeing either tbh.
I'm not really sure what is wrong with my OC attempts and it's sort of frustrating

Ohjay · 5 Feb 2016 at 13:12

The strangeness continues...

Today I decided to try something different. So I set my bclk to 125, adjusted memory memory settings so they still run at stock settings, set core multiplier to 30 (3750Mhz) and vCore at 1.220.

Booted just fine, did a 10 minute Intel XTU test without hiccups.

Then I bumped multiplier up to 32(4000Mhz) and once again it boots just fine and can do a 10 minute XTU test.

As I write this(on another computer) I am finishing up another XTU test with a multiplier of 34(4250Mhz), still at 1.220 vCore. And there it's done, finished just fine but the timer on the test was lagging(visually).

This is just so strange, why would a 125 bclk make everything better? Sometimes computers really don't make sense.

CPU temp was at max 41 degrees during that last test, it could probably be lower if I adjusted my fans slightly.
I'll probably try to get to 4500 Mhz in the coming days, hopefully it'll work.

If there is anything negative though, then it is that the computer is much slower to boot now. Well, everything is relative, it boots in under 30 seconds, but it's at least 10 seconds slower than without overclock. Just another little something I need to check up on.

russell664 · 7 Feb 2016 at 14:53

Ohjay said:
The strangeness continues...

Today I decided to try something different. So I set my bclk to 125, adjusted memory memory settings so they still run at stock settings, set core multiplier to 30 (3750Mhz) and vCore at 1.220.

Booted just fine, did a 10 minute Intel XTU test without hiccups.

Then I bumped multiplier up to 32(4000Mhz) and once again it boots just fine and can do a 10 minute XTU test.

As I write this(on another computer) I am finishing up another XTU test with a multiplier of 34(4250Mhz), still at 1.220 vCore. And there it's done, finished just fine but the timer on the test was lagging(visually).

This is just so strange, why would a 125 bclk make everything better? Sometimes computers really don't make sense.

CPU temp was at max 41 degrees during that last test, it could probably be lower if I adjusted my fans slightly.
I'll probably try to get to 4500 Mhz in the coming days, hopefully it'll work.

If there is anything negative though, then it is that the computer is much slower to boot now. Well, everything is relative, it boots in under 30 seconds, but it's at least 10 seconds slower than without overclock. Just another little something I need to check up on.

When you change the BLK this is normal mate.

On my X79 RIVE with 125blk and @4.675ghz my system takes longer to boot from cold as the motherboard spends more time training the RAM timings etc...
But it trade off it worth it as the speed increase is awesome!

I have to say your build is bloody epic, never seen a colour scheme like it!

Ohjay · 7 Feb 2016 at 17:00

russell664 said:
When you change the BLK this is normal mate.

On my X79 RIVE with 125blk and @4.675ghz my system takes longer to boot from cold as the motherboard spends more time training the RAM timings etc...
But it trade off it worth it as the speed increase is awesome!

I have to say your build is bloody epic, never seen a colour scheme like it!

Thanks!

I did not know that changing bclk affected boot time(I definitely need to read about this!) but it's a shame really since I liked the boot time with standard bclk but then I can't overclock for some strange reason.