INFRARED Build Log

[Pri]

Started overclocking and I've got some results. I ended up settling on 4.5GHz across all cores which is a nice medium between performance and heat. It runs 4.5GHz 100% load @ 1.125v which is pretty incredible I think, quite a low voltage.

Today it's quite hot in the UK, 29c in my office right now in-fact so the temps are probably a little higher than they would be otherwise but below are the screenshots.

Cinebench Score:


You can see it more than doubles my old CPU which was the 3930K in the screenshot. The 2,200 score is my 7900X @ Stock (4.2GHz or so with Turbo 3.0) and the 2,400 score is the 4.5GHz result.

Prime95 after 15 Minutes:

(Click to view full screen)

I did manage to get the CPU to run at 4.7GHz which is what it's binned for. However the voltage required was 1.180v and I felt that was too high. At those voltages it would instantly hit 75c doing a Prime95 run and I don't want to run it that hot. I could get 4.6GHz working at 1.175v but again this is still quite high and temps were about 73c under Prime95 so again too high for me.

With 4.5GHz at 1.125v the temperatures are much better, maximum 61c after 15 minutes. It wasn't going any higher so I took the screenshot at that point. And this is under Prime95 which is quite brutal on the CPU. On "normal" tests/applications like for example Cinebench it was only hitting around 53-54c.

So that's the overclocking finished. I don't intend to overclock the RAM because it's already 3600MHz and there's not really any point. My 1TB 970 Pro SSD is coming tomorrow so I will post some benchmarks of that and compare it with my 840 Pro's which I have in RAID0.

[Pri]

Got my 1TB 970 Pro today. Was meant to be delivered yesterday but delivery got all screwed up. Anyway it's in and runs great!

[Pri]

CPUz Validation of the system, lists all the specs etc

https://valid.x86.fr/kht4rc

[Pri]

Did some more overclocking today. I raised the voltage to 1.230v which allowed me to OC to 4.7GHz stable.

I found that setting it to 1.2v was stable under Prime95 and AIDA but the Cinebench score wasn't as high as it should be, only about 2,300 points. Which indicated the CPU needed more power. So I raised the voltage to 1.220v and the score improved to about 2420, then to 1.230v where it consistently scores 2,515 points. I also tried 1.24v to see if the score would continue to increase but it didn't, it stays at 2515.

Cross referencing that score with what other people are getting online that seems to be about right for a 7900X at 4.7Ghz (Another users score: https://i.imgur.com/4K49Aa0.gif) - But where others are needing 1.6-1.8v I'm able to get it at just 1.230v which is quite impressive. This must be a golden chip of some kind.



Under Prime95 / AIDA64 and Cinebench the temperatures maxed out at 77c on the package and 68-76c on the cores. Quite a bit below the 105c tjmax temperature though I would not feel comfortable running the processor at 80c day to day these high 70c temps are only under a complete 100% CPU load. under normal usage like gaming it's around 45-50c on the most used core while the idle cores are running about 32c each.

[Pri]

I decided to wrap my SSD's today and I got some vinyl wraps from Slickwraps in the USA. They turned out really nice:



They have this brushed finish that you can actually feel under your fingers and the vinyl itself is quite stiff, so it's not like a sticker it feels more like card. The bottom of them has this like rubberised membrane so it can be lifted and reused on another SSD later which I will likely do once I upgrade these.

These two SSD's are the ones you see through the window in my main build they are each only 128GB and I have them in RAID0. I will likely upgrade them both to 1TB or 2TB EVO SSD's from Samsung in the future so I'll be able to move the wraps over.

[Pri]

Finally after much annoyance with the seller I've received my thick 4mm red single braided cables with inline cable combs:

This image is a bit dark as I had the exposure set on the red cables coming from the GPU.



And here is a full side shot which I don't think I've showed before, it really shows the huge side window on this case and the fans.



Also it turns out I can adjust the brightness of the white lightbox. I simply have to change the fan header speed from 100% down. If I set it to between 100% and 70% it will change in brightness. Below 70% it turns off. Quite neat, I thought it just always turned off but turns out it works and I was just not adjusting it correctly.

[Pri]

Bit of an update today, installed more memory. Now has 64GB (8 x 8GB). Same spec as previously as the new kit I bought is identical, 3600MHz CL17.

I was concerned that perhaps the build wouldn't be stable with 64GB of RAM installed with my CPU overclock but that was not the case, I didn't have to change any settings and I did a bunch of stress testing and it's completely stable.

[Zxqfer]

Pri Zxqfer here been in hospital for months but be home soon!

[Pri]

It's time for some upgrades

I have decided to have another go at Hardline tubing and this time I'm going with all EK parts. EK Tubing, EK fittings. The RTX 3070, 3080 and 3090 were just announced by NVIDIA and I'm for sure upgrading.

I was thinking initially to go with the RTX 3090 however it's twice the price of the RTX 3080 for only 25% more performance so I'm still on the fence about whether to get an RTX 3080 or RTX 3090. We don't know what the prices are yet for the partner cards and I'm wanting a watercooled one, preferably with a really great PCB and a waterblock already pre-installed.

For fittings I've gone with the all-black Torque series from EK with glossy colour accent-rings. I think these look really nice. For tubing I'm not using PETG like I did in my original hardline attempt, instead I'm going with Acrylic tubing which has a higher melting point so it's safer as it won't deform as easily under high temperature loads (which is a leak risk) and it has even higher clarity and scratch resistance.

Overall I think this upgrade both the watercooling parts and the new graphics card is going to come out to about £1500-£2000 depending on which GPU I purchase. Just the new fittings and tubing alone has come out to just over £200. (EK sure aint cheap).

Here is a photo showing how these fittings look in a build. I have the same colour, except I've gone with black inserts on the fittings while the ones in the photo use red inserts (these are interchangeable).




I'm quite excited though a lot of this stuff will be sitting around for a while as it doesn't look like the RTX 3080/3090's will be available until September 24th and maybe availability of the higher end watercooled cards appropriate for my build in October. I'm pretty adamant that I'm not going to be pre-ordering a founders edition card or anything like that, I definitely want a higher end PCB for better power delivery, probably something with triple 8-Pin for power.

[iNook]

Going to look sweet! I'm 99% sure I'll upgrade this year to an RTX 3070 and a 4th gen Ryzen chip, either 4700X or 4900X. Can't wait to see the tech porn when you complete the hardline build