Time.Sync.

[ALXAndy]

Block doesn't fit.

It seems there are about ten different models of this "dual" and this one has analogue caps. So it's not even close to fitting.

I'm so angry right now at Asus. RTX blocks are so confusing and Asus haven't done anything to make it easier given they seem to change things without any notice.

Not even sure what to do right now.

 

[ALXAndy]

The whole block.

This is Asus' fault. They make about 12 variants of the same card but they have different components. It's even more their fault because in pics on the sites the cards are for sale on they hide the analogue components.

This is a digital 2080 reference board.



And this is a Dual Advanced Evo board. Note the caps are analogue.



Unfortunately there is no way to get it to fit. Not unless I used 6mm or so shims which would look awful and probably burn the card out. I did some more research and thankfully there is a block designed solely for this card.



You can see how EK did it in this pic.



Looking on the bright side OCUK had it for £125 with free DPD. This is a lot of money, but I guess it was better than having a GPU I have voided the warranty on and a block that totals £450 that I have absolutely no use for. I already have a 2070 Super in my AFK rig at my mother's here



So why would I swap that out for a slower card? and at home I am not using a GPU on air. That EK block is very expensive. Like, touching £200 with shipping on EK. OCUK have it on sale, thank god.

So I'm £80 plus shipping in the hole, depending on whether I can be arsed to pack it all up and send it back. It's absolutely tipping with rain right now, and TBH I've had a lot of personal issues lately that just make me think "balls to it".

I already ordered these because I wasn't a huge fan of the Barrow badge.



Which should cover up the EK badge and look pretty nice.

Looking at the performance figures I won't lose any, and will gain all of the new features. I was surprised how close it was to the 2070 Super, and that is with a 1900mhz limit on the 2070 non super.

 

[ALXAndy]

Nah got it in the UK. Might return if I can be ersed.

It fits the 2080ti so it may be worth keeping for the future.

 

[ALXAndy]

Thank the heavens, and OCUK for being ninja like fast.



Bit of 3M when I get home.

 

[ALXAndy]

Card is in.



Need an adapter for the RGB, but it does work. My old adapter doesn't fit.

 

[ALXAndy]

I'm loving how this latest update seems to have modernised the look massively.

I didn't want the clear EK block for the XP tbh. I wanted a black one, but blocks for them when I bought it were really scarce. All I knew was it looked way better than the AC block on there which was partial cover and copper (ugh). It really looked bad. I've always preferred the muted "Mike Tyson" look of black stuff.

I'll sort the RGB soon. I didn't post about the nightmare it caused because I've been pushed for time, but here goes.

OK so I got home. First thing I did was put the perishable food in the fridge and freezer, then dropped it all and drained the rig lol. As you do, when you have been waiting a week to do something.

Immediately I had issues. Like, signal kept dropping to the monitor. I thought "Oh no, the VRAM is that bad stuff" but it didn't make sense as when it did run it ran perfectly. So then I thought I had borked the card

I recall having issues very similar to this when upgrading. I went through three ribbons (if you are a reader you'll remember me bleating about it). Any way now I am having the same issues with that ribbon and a GPU that requires one power connector. Not good.

Eventually after about four hours of fighting it just died, and a message appeared on the screen. "Please insert the power cable for your graphics card". I felt sick. I even heaved a couple of times, thinking I had stuffed the card up when putting on the new block.

I walked away and sat gutted for about 30 mins. Then I got another wave of "let's try and fix this". PCs, roller coasters...... So I came back and obviously the 8 pin braid was in perfect. Went round the back to where the extensions clip into the main runs from the PSU. It all looked fine, and was still cable tied in place with three ties. So I cut them and as soon as that happened the two ground pins for the single 8 pin immediately fell out. "No, it can't be?" and sure enough it was.

This has been an issue since I modded the PC in the first place. I would imagine the only reason I ever got away with it was because I was using the powerlink, which does carry grounds. However, it doesn't carry them back to the PSU hence the instability.

And now it is stable. Better than it's ever been. So I've been gaming tons.

The RGB does work, but the converter I made had pins that were a little fat and thus snapped when I tried to push them in. So I've tucked it under the GPU for now and will address that when I get my next wave of energy. I really like the way the light reflects off of that carrier piece of stainless steel though.

 

[ALXAndy]

I'm currently planning another one.

Well, tentatively planning another one based on the fact I may win the lottery soon (and I don't even play).

TBH I can't think of much else to do. I can't order any food and my autism is stopping me going out (because I would explode if I saw the sort of behaviour at my supermarkets) so I am going to have to bail to mum's or starve. I don't get why people are acting like this. There are over 6 million ways to die, and a virus with a 3% mortality rate is about the same odds as falling over and banging your head. Idiots. Like food and toilet paper are going to help when your lungs are full of crap. The last thing people WITH it would want to do is eat.

Oh well.

 

[ALXAndy]

Yeah, I'm about out of that tbh. The rig was very stable, so I am going to leave it there. Possibly hook up the RGB on the GPU block then use it to fold for COVID.

Lesson learned, never make a mod so complicated unless you intend to leave it well alone after. Going back is confusing and troubleshooting problems with something with so much crap in it is a real headache. The USB system still isn't working properly either, and AquaComputer blame it on AMD.

 

[ALXAndy]

Despite Asteria II not being finished yet, I'm working on a follow-up that's even more of a pain. Just when I was happy with the choices and modelled everything up, I realised there's no way in hell I could get to any 1 component without literally dismantling the entire build, and even some assembly would be possible so lots of reworking to do, and abandoning the distro plate as well (which would've looked immense in such a tiny build).

Leave Time Sync alone for a while dude, come back and tweak the niggles later. Looking boss as she is.

Yeah I'm going to just use it as a server, file server ETC.

 

[ALXAndy]

Well I decided that basically I was going to use this rig for gaming in the bedroom. Right now I have nothing in there, and where I live sucks in winter. I am about 80ft from the sea, and believe me it's very cold and windy down here.

I was going to put one of my consoles in there, but I would rather have a gaming PC. Right now it is sat in my kitchen waiting for the data to come off.



I gave it a good clean, then put the side panel on (just to keep the dust out for now). Once the data is off it would be really sad to see it just sitting there though, as it has a lot of SSDs and so on in it. Like, about 7. I can't fit any more in my new PC and I don't want to sell any of it.

Only one issue. My bedroom TV is 4k. I know that the 2070 isn't going to be enough. Maybe in a few things, but in the rest it would struggle. So, today I bought one of these for £475.



Now I swear I looked up the model number and everything, yet for some reason all I got was rev 2, which has a stock 2080Ti PCB.



And I thought cool, I have a block for that sitting doing nothing.





So I thought I was all set. Only I wasn't. Someone quickly noticed (I didn't I was off my face on Diazepam lol) that the power connectors were in the end. Oh FFS no, not another gargantuan **** up on 20 series PCBs? Yup.

It turns out that Zotac released two models of this card. And, as luck would have it my block wouldn't fit the one I got (sound familiar?). So I wanted to find a block that would actually fit it.



And then I thought "WTF that is the same block with some more plastic machined off !" and it was. I checked the Quadro RTX 8000 and 6000 boards and the memory, phases and caps are laid out exactly the same. So basically my block will fit, I just have to take a chunk out of it with a Dremel, or send it to Cenedd and let him machine it or something.

I really hope that with the 3000 this ball ache ends for you guys. It really is a complete bleedin' nightmare. Thankfully this time I am literally a chunk of plastic from it fitting, not an entirely different PCB with different components all over it.

 

[ALXAndy]

Oh the fun I've had.







What a dead 2080Ti looks like. Thankfully the return was painless and I got a refund today, so I have sourced another.



Not a sight I enjoy.

 

[ALXAndy]

Whilst it was apart for the upgrade I decided to splash somewhat.



I don't dislike the Byski block. I just don't like the gold accents around the G 1/4, or the way it fits (it's a sod) or the way it cools. That said at less than £30 inc it got me what I needed then. I also spotted these.



So I grabbed four. Look at the CPU block in this pic, you can see where two are going.



When I changed from the old X99 set up I could have done with more fittings tbf.

I have also ordered a proper DRGB adapter for Gigabyte's quite frankly stupid connector.



So the rig may finally have a working RGB GPU block in it !

 

[ALXAndy]

Thanks man. The seller had an AIO on it and apparently put new pads on etc. I reckon he bought the wrong thickness pads and cracked the solder.

Thankfully I have the money back in my account, so nothing lost (apart from time. hah !)

 

[ALXAndy]

....and sanity!
Anyone blessed with lots of spare sanity these days?! Tell me the secret (and booze is no secret!) if you do!

I think the worst part of it was that I had to go around the post office and do the walk of shame with my mother's granny trolley ffs. I packed up the 2070, and its box, and its air cooler, and some other gear I threw in and it wouldn't fit in a bag or even a black sack. So when taking that to the PO for collection (sod's law he lives on the IOW so it's Parcel Farce or GTFO) I had to take a tartan trolley. So not only was I annoyed but I got to do a 1/4 mile walk looking like a total tit.

It's funny but the thing I am most pleased with is those cheap fittings. Tiny things eh? lol.

 

[ALXAndy]

Got a new res. Two reasons. 1. I wanted something slightly larger. 2. I cracked one of the brackets on the other one. It still works fine, it just annoys me.





So same res, just longer.

 

[ALXAndy]

The res hasn't cracked dude. Just the bracket that goes onto the fan plate thing. It was totally my fault. I over tightened it.

That res was £38.99, and I would hate to use anything Ewwwwfacool in my rig. I've had my 100ml Z multi for 5 years and it still looks amazing.

 

[ALXAndy]

New GPU in. I took the block apart and cleaned it. I thought about polishing the nickel but I would rather leave well alone. I say this because as soon as you add moisture it vanishes.



I gotta say, that is one big heavy friggin card tbh.



I know I know, it's really weird how they did it so you can use the stock back plate. Clever though, as many would be peeved about losing the RGB. Talking of which there is a baggy of cables, adapters and all of the stuff I need to sort out the RGB.

CPU block.





Now I need to make a metal plate (will explain that later). There is *no way* the Phanteks vertical bracket will ever support this bugger on one screw.

 

[ALXAndy]

OK so it's done for the moment. Lots of issues, will run through those.

I got home last night and fitted the new CPU block. Went well. I then drilled the reinforcement plate I made the other week and bolted that in. Which allows me to fit all three nuts and bolts to the vertical riser. The Phanteks riser never fitted very well, as I had basically modded the entire case to take the Cooler Master one, yet the ribbons on those are crap and it failed.

Now I could fit and remove the GPU waaaay easier. It's night and day, with literally no sag at all. Before it had one bolt in the bottom, so it sagged even with a 2070 in there (a literal featherweight).

I then ran into issue number one. The res is huge. How they work it out IDK, but mine was a 100mm and this was supposed to be a 150 yet it is twice as long. This is good, because it means I can have more coolant in there, but the whole loop was not going to work as it was. There was just no room.

I removed a stop plug on the flow meter to move it to the bottom hole (so I could come out at an angle) and it cross threaded. The only way to remove it was to take the flow meter apart. All told it took me about two hours to fix this, and it was leaking afterward. I've also fitted the ceramic pole the wrong way around and thus it won't spin now (but flow is still very good).

Issue two then raised its head. The RGB adapter for Gigabyte's unique 3 pin fan but RGB connector was wired with the black wire as 5v. I have never seen something so idiotic. So of course I fitted it with the blue wire to 5v. Problem is once you put the GPU in you can not get to it without removing the GPU which isn't fun when you have two litres of coolant in your PC. Any way I found a way around it (thanks to the new design of the vertical riser) and got that working.

Issue 3. I thought I had two 8 pin extensions in the rig (black). Turns out I had a 8 pin and 6 pin. That's OK though, thankfully I had a spare 8 pin in grey which looks fantastic in there.

Issue 4. Windows killdate. Windows updated itself. The rig rebooted. I installed the GPU driver, tried to run 3dmark (anything just to test the card) and I installed Precision X1. I went into Precision but I had no clock control, no voltage, no power or thermal limit nothing. It was all greyed out. Then 3dmark would not get past the hardware scan. So I disabled the hardware scan and ran Time Spy, card was not boosting and was sitting at 1350mhz which made it slower than a 2080.

By now it was midnight. I had spent two hours just trying to get something running so I could test the GPU. I conceded that in the end I would need to reinstall Windows.

By this time Windows had died any way, and I was getting "unable to find boot device". This was after the killdate.

Great, only one issue. I took every single USB stick I own over to my mother's for building the NAS. I found a SD card, but I have thrown away all of the readers. In desperation I dug through my crawl space and found my PSone mini and thank the heavens there was a 32gb stick poking out of the front. Took the rig down, moved it, put my other rig in and made a boot stick.

By 2am I had Windows back on, this time in UEFI. How it ended up in Legacy I have absolutely no idea. This time, however, it worked. Seems I did well on the GPU front too.





There is one thing left I want to do. Aquasuite still will not pick up my Farbwerk or LT on their own USB splitters. So I am going to have to connect them directly to the mobo.

Then I can get rid of that god awful bloody pink it has defaulted to and have full control over all of the RGB again. Something lacking since I removed my Intel mobo and AquaComputer blame on Ryzen /rolls eyes.

 

[ALXAndy]

It uses these really odd things dude. Maybe to make it look better, IDK. They are not G 1/4 fittings but are in two pieces. There's a metal plate that goes into the hole (just drops in) and fits into a lug. Then you screw the top part into it and it presses against it and crushes out the O ring to seal it. You can use a G 1/4 plug instead, but of course that "looks ugly". I didn't really care, I cared more about their stupid thing getting stuck.

It's deffo not busted. I just put the ceramic spine in the wrong way around. It has a fat end (goes into the back of the meter) and then the thin end goes into the front. I put it in wrong because it fell out and I wasn't sure. Then after I had put it all back together I remembered the fat bit goes in the back.

If when I do a drain it still doesn't behave I will just remove the insides and use it as a glowing hexagon RGB thinger.

Oh and avoid Gigabyte RGB Fusion. It's like ebola for PCs. It actually killed my Windows install stone dead. I ran it earlier and the whole rig was crawling.

 

[ALXAndy]

Thanks dude. I found the bloody culprit of what killed Windows !! Gigabyte RGB Fusion. Blimey, it's truly like infecting your PC with AIDs.

G - nah the weird thing is the hole I was trying to blank with one of the weird two piece blankers (haha) was the one that used to have a fitting in. I have a pic but IMGUR is playing funny buggers atm. I will send it over email. Never seen anything like it, and won't remove any more lmao. It'll end up looking like a WW2 mine.