Project Rampage

[Pri]

Build Log 2012 for:



It has come to that stage again where I feel like I want to build a new system. And this time I've decided to go all out. Some of you may have heard me discuss the new Dual Socket Z9 board from Asus that takes XEON's this was the board I was going to choose until some reviews came out today which show the board cannot overclock at all. This is quite frustrating for me as I really enjoy overclocking it's something I find fun.

So I've decided to scrap that build entirely and start something new. For this build (named Rampage) I'm going to be replacing quite a few parts and as the logo and name suggest I'm going red with this build (instead of Black/Blue like my current build is) and I'm going to be using a Rampage motherboard by Asus. Specifically the Asus Rampage IV Extreme.

So parts:

1x Asus Rampage IV Extreme = Arrived
1x Intel 3930K (6 Cores / 12 Threads / 3.2GHz Stock / 12MB L3 Cache) = Arrived
2x 16GB Mushkin Redline Ridgeback 1866MHz 1.5v Memory (8x4GB for 32GB total Memory) = Arrived
1x Corsair Single Braided Modular Cable set for AX1200 PSU = Arrived
1x 5m of transparent hose for my Water Cooling = Arrived
1x EK CPU Block = Arrived
1x 2 Litres of EK red coolant = Arrived

A lot of this stuff is red obviously. I'm going to be using red water in my cooling system I'm going to be using clear tubing this time instead of black tubing. The motherboard is red and the RAM is also red to match the motherboard. The Corsair Single Braided Modular Cables for the AX1200 are also red and look awesome.

I'm intending to take this system to at-least 4.8-5.0GHz on water. So let's just go through some of the components I already have that I'll be using:

1x AX1200 PSU from Corsair (1200Watts)
1x Lian Li PC-X2000 Case with W2000 Side window
1x Laing 12v DCC+ Pump (18 Watts model)
1x Phobia 1080mm radiator (9x120mm fans connect to this on just one side)
1x OCZ 120GB Vertex 2 SSD
1x 2TB Samsung F4
3x GTX 480's (I'm intending to replace these with one or possibly two Kepler based GPU's)
3x EK GTX 480 Water Blocks (Transparent Acetyl Top with Nickel Plated Copper Bottoms)
1x Danger Den Acrylic Reservoir
1x Scythe KAZE MASTER Pro Fan Controller

My display setup will be as always 3x30" Dell's at 2560x1600 each. Mouse will be a Razer Mamba (1st Generation) and keyboard will remain the Logitech Dinovo Edge.

Now as I don't have any components yet I'll leave you with a couple manufacturer pictures of the parts I've ordered so far. Once I get them in I'll take pictures and post them here. This may end up being a long build what with the baby etc I don't know when I'll be able to complete it but hopefully before summer anyway.

Motherboard:


RAM:


Corsair Cables:

[Pri]

Yeah I'd recommend it. But as I've said before Water Cooling with a custom loop is all about fun. It will cost a lot of money.

If you wanted to go with a non-custom loop it's a lot more affordable one of them sealed corsair units start around £50 but obviously they don't look as awesome as a custom loop. Cost wise you're looking at about £140 for a custom CPU loop. And about £220 for a GPU + CPU loop. This is on the far low end with the cheapest blocks, barbs and pump. About £250-£350 for a nicer loop with better parts. So it is quite pricey but it is a whole lot of fun too.

One of the things I'm really happy with is that I'm able to reuse every piece of water cooling equipment I bought in the past. The only thing I'm replacing is the tubing which is by far the cheapest part of the whole build. So although water cooling is expensive up-front I'm getting a lot of use out of the parts I already purchased.

[tomisafish]

What's the fan on the mobo?

[Pri]

What's the fan on the mobo?

As this is a premium overclockers board it has a fan on the chipset heatsink to aid cooling. It is really only needed when pushing the CPU to 6GHz or higher, when using for example dry ice, liquid nitrogen or liquid helium.

The board has a few features to assist people who use Dry Ice, Liquid Nitrogen or Liquid Helium. For starters the CPU socket takes 1366 heatsinks which if you're using any of the 3 substances I listed will have a huge copper "pot" machined out with 1366 mount holes on it. These are very costly to replace.

It also has a slow-mo mode. When you flip the switch on the motherboard the board compensates for sub-zero temperature (-22c around the CPU socket) which can cause what's known as "cold booting" problems. For those not aware, when you freeze integrated circuits they tend to slow down. The slow-mode is to stop this from affecting the machine.

Another feature for sub-zero overclockers is temperature readout points on the corner of the board that let you monitor the CPU even if it's -c, again due to the issues of going sub zero the CPU's temperature monitor may not be accurate.

It has voltage readout pins on the motherboard itself so you can use a multi-meter to get accurate voltages for all parts of the motherboard including CPU, RAM, PCH (Chipset) and power regulators.

And finally it supports the soldering of a cable to your graphics cards so that you can increase your graphics card voltage from inside the motherboard bios. This is an extreme overclockers feature that to my knowledge is completely unique to this motherboard. Before this feature people who sub-zero'd their GPU's would have to modify their cards physically with transistors and penciling to get the voltage they wanted and this takes a lot of time and any time you wish to change the voltages you would need to physically alter the card again. This feature means you can just solder two cables to the card and play about with the voltages inside the motherboard BIOS, saving a lot of time.

I won't be going sub-zero with my CPU or Graphics Cards. I'll be at most OC'ing to 5GHz with Water so most of these features are wasted on me. That fan will thus be turned off throughout my usage but there if I ever should need it.

[PandaOwnage]

Mhm... Mind sending me $10,000 in the mail to build a better system than this?

[Pri]

I've splashed out a bit more this evening and ordered a brand new EK Waterblock, Two litres of EK Red fluid (ty Rick for that suggestion) and 5 Meters of clear tubing. I expect in my build I will only really need about 1 meter of tubing but it's so cheap (about £7 for 5 meters) that it's no bother to buy more.

So this is the new water block:


Now I was thinking about buying the Koolance CPU-370. It is a very nice block and it's really shiny but it does have some faults. First of all my build is more Red and Black so shiny-silver wise it won't look in-keeping with the theme. And the block wasn't see through and I really like to see the liquid in the blocks, especially with this build as I'll be using red coolant.

The EK block fits my criteria quite nicely.

Part wise the RAM, Motherboard and CPU are being held up because I ordered from Aria (they were the only company that had the RAM I wanted) so until they get stock of the memory I ordered they aren't going to dispatch the other parts. No matter I can't build it until I have everything anyway.

The Corsair cables I ordered should be here on Friday if their delivery estimate is accurate. So whatever gets here first is what I'll take pictures of.

[Db696]

Oh! Thanks for building me a computer!



... I wish...

[Pri]

Bit of a delay today on the RAM, Mobo and CPU. I ordered these from Aria and the RAM I ordered was not in stock when I ordered, they were on Pre-Order. So I expected a bit of a delay but I got an email from Aria today to call them about my order due to out of stock memory and they said it could be up to 10 days before they get new stock of the RAM.

They did offer me a side-grade to 2133MHz 1.65v RAM. The speed is better but the voltage is higher and I really wanted the 1.5v RAM especially because I'm using 8 Dimms it will put a lot of strain on the CPU memory controller so the lower the voltage the better.

I decided thus to wait instead of swapping the memory out so there is that delay.

Another issue is today I missed the UPS delivery guy who had my Corsair Cables. Frustrating but my own fault and they are going to re-deliver tomorrow.

The CPU Block, Coolant and Tubing from Specialtech was dispatched this morning so hopefully that will come either tomorrow or Friday.

[Pri]

Got my Corsair Cables today woot. I couldn't be bothered to get my DSLR out so I just used my iPhone and the pictures actually aren't too bad. They look amazing.







There is a ton of cables here. At-least 16 or so. A full compliment for an AX1200 (which is fully modular, even the 24-Pin ATX is removable)

Hopefully more picture porn tomorrow if my stuff from specialtech arrives.

[Dumskalle123]

Ooh, cables. me gusta