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robbiecfc

robbiecfc

robbiecfc

Associate
Joined
2 Dec 2005
Posts
65
Location
Cork, Ireland
Decided to build a new machine but carrying over some bits from my current box which has lasted me the bones of 5 years. GPU was updated from 6800 to 7900 last year.
Old Machine (well current)
2023-09-29_04-15-32

Coming over will be the following:
Seasonic Vertex 1200W PSU
AMD Radeon RX7900XT with Alphacool watercooling block
AquaComputer Cuplex CPU Block, D5 Next Pump, UltiTube 150mm Resevoir, HighFlow Next, 2 x 2/360 Airplex Radical copper radiators and the LeakShield negative vac device
Samsung 990 Pro Nvme drives - 2x2TB and 2x4TB
LG 32 ErgoPro 4K monitor

New Stuff!
Lian-Li O11D Evo XL
AMD Ryzen R9 9950X3D
Asus Crosshair X870E Hero
128GB Gskill Trident Z Neo 6000 (non RGB)
Samsung 9100 Pro Nvme 2TB
Pimax Crystal Light
VKB Gladiator NXT EVO 'Space Combat Edition'
VKB Gladiator NXT EVO Omni Throttle

I'm a reasonable fan of VR where it works well. ED and IL2, DCS and MS Flight Sim spring to mind as being good candidates but I have a set of WMR HP Reverb G2's which Microsoft in their wisdom decided to axe support from W11 24H2 onwards. Not a big deal, I could / can stay on 23H2 for the foreseeable future but the writing was on the wall. Having a look around and Meta was ruled out (privacy concerns), Vive had gone standalone, Varjo has near enough excited the consumer market and there were a couple of others but lacking an eco system. That left Pimax who have a variable reputation but I took a punt. 2880x2880 with glass QLED sounds nice. We shall wait and see.

Input devices.. I ran with CH Products for years and years (still have the set of Flightstick Pro, Throttle and Pedals) but I shifted to first a set of MFG rudder pedals and then to BRD-N Stork joystick for the last 5 years complimented by a custom throttle setup. All really good for IL2 or DCS but not so much for ED. Earlier this year I moved to a FFB Rhino joystick which is amazing if supported, has quite the kick too. I went looking for a smaller less focused setup for ED and StarWars Squadrons too and the VKB seem to fit the spec. Luckily I found a set of open box for a discount.

The Stork


KK Throttle (fine for a Warbird, not so much for a Cobra MkIII)


MFG Pedals


FFB Rhino Stick
20250206_154951 by Robbie Corrigan, on Flickr

So...
  • Ryzen R9 5950X to R9 9950X3D - fan of AMD, have a K-6iii 400 in a working format from 2000 :)
  • Asus Crosshair Viii to Asus X870E Crosshair - I have need of the 5 Nvme ports and it has strong memory support.
  • Radeon RX7900XT - It'll do, not a fan of Nvidia
  • 128GB Gskill Neo 6000 - Will be interesting to see if I can get the 4x32GB sticks working at 6000 :)
  • Storage - All Nvme, All Samsung - Have been using Samsung Pros since the 950 (about 10 years ago now) and have used the 960, 970 skipped the 980s with no issues. Adding in a 9100 Pro 2TB to try out 5th Gen
  • Seasonic - again rock solid but hard to find the Prime's currently.
  • Lian-Li - They are fab quality and just work.
  • AquaComputer watercooling. My wife calls water cooling a vanity project and she may well be right but I've had my PC's under water since 2003 I think with an Asetek kit and a goldfish tank pump. AC to me are the Mercedes of watercooling. Stuff just works, and works well. Might add in some more hard tubing this time around.
 
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Definitely a bit of a vanity project but that's half the fun with a setup like that, very nice selection of kit!

Wish I had the room for a proper HOSAS/HOTAS setup for sims.
 
It's last week, I'll have to rehome the spider that has moved in.

A spider has moved in

Noctua industrials are not that reliable. these two died on a reboot about 4 months ago to join another 3 dead colleagues. I went back to more reliable Noiseblockers. The silver hyper card holds 2 by Samsung 990 Pro 2TB and the black one has a 970 Evo Plus 2 TB.
 
Gepetto said:
Interesting choice on those Noctuas, did you need the airflow, or are the Noiseblockers just as efficient?
Click to expand...
I had been running Noiseblocker PL2 for years, great fan and when I started building this out about 5 years ago the Industrials were all the rage and I wanted to try them out so I got about 10 in. 5 years later and I've a 50% failure rate. The Noiseblocker PL2, I ran them harder for longer but I think 2 out of 12 died in 7 years. The eLoops are the next step up from the PL2s so I'll give them a try. They are a nicer kind of noise, at least to me. Efficiency wise, I think Noiseblockers hold their own against any fan on a rad. My cooling is complete overkill, the 5950X has not gone north of 50C anytime outside of benches, even then it might hit 70 if ambient is 25C in my attic. The 7900XT has never gone beyond 60C in its life (hotspot included) - that might be that the Alphacool block is special though.
 
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All my OCUK gear is stuck in customs for some reason but I did get a MB in. A bit dusty when taken with a high resolving lens.

Shiny new motherboard waiting... for a dusting

I also have a cunning plan. The Crosshair has a SlimSAS connector, I've ordered in a SlimSAS to U.2 cable and I should be able to spin up my Intel Optane drive. Not so good for sequential but a monster at random I/O - make a nice Gentoo partition.
 
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Think you probably struck unlucky with the Noctuas - they're not normally known for a high failure rate. Maybe a bad batch?
I've got a pair of Noctuas ventilating the amp in my media unit and they've been spinning 24x7 (on a low noise resistor) for gotta be getting on a decade now and there's no sign of problems.
I've got some EK Varders pushed much harder 24x7. One's pulling air into the bottom of the under-stairs cupboard where the servers and switches live and the other is exhaust at the top. The latter pushes the air down a duct that runs through 13" of external wall....and it's still going.

I have had a Samsung M.2 fail on me so they're not infallible. Good though, just luck of the draw.

I'm with you on the AquaComputer stuff... although I've had issues with some of their res modules failing. Very good support though, they just posted me a replacement module.
Are yours the negative pressure leak proof type? I'd be interested to hear what you think of them. I couldn't use them on previous build as I had a section of soft tube that would probably have collapsed but a new case just turned up so I'm back at the planning stage :D
 
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