Max Aluminium Monument

[MaratM]

Finished 24-pin cable, it was not easy at all, 4 split wires, every single cable is cut to length, and the cable had to be twisted completely in order to have it all straight at the PSU side.

The next one is the VGA cable but I still do not know what GPU I'll end up buying

Also upgraded my keyboard to COOLER MASTER SK630 (TKL)

next one is probably the mouse

 

[MaratM]

The GPU choice is made

It is Sapphire pulse vega 56, managed to get a deal for around $250 including delivery

unfortunately it is a full size card and I need an ITX one, however it has a vega nano pcb

in addition to that it it has a good VRM cooling solution.

This way the stock full size cooler can be changed to something that will be ITX size

after some search on the internet I found the solution

Thermalright Shaman

8 heat pipes and compatible with 120 or 140 mm fan

So i've done some more research and found that it might fit without any heavy mods

the red is the cooler and white is pcb with mounting holes the cooler will be sitting on vega die with some offset, however it covers the entire die and it will not cause any problems. to have it fixed i'will use a custom made mounting bracket which will sit on top of the coldplate of the cooler.

the final cooling solution might look like this

 

i have 3 fans I can use on this cooler NF-A 12x25, NF-A12x15 and Scythe fan from big Shuriken

Now I just wait until it all arrives and probably will make some custom cables for the GPU power delivery.

[marcelobjs]

Tendras el archivo para compartirlo para pedir que me hagan un corte similar? Se agradecen los comentarios.  Saludos 

[Tristerin]

nice!

[MaratM]

On 9/5/2019 at 12:58 AM, marcelobjs said:

Tendras el archivo para compartirlo para pedir que me hagan un corte similar? Se agradecen los comentarios.  Saludos 

PM me with your email address and try to use English, Google translate does work.

[MaratM]

Da VEGA 56 GPU

it has arrived.

Plugged into the monument and it was DOA!!! Second hand gpu was dead, first I thought it was incompatible hdmi cable with hdmi -> dvi adapter

So I borrowed a different monitor no signal still, cleaned pci-e connector, even plugged it into a different pc (both of my home pc’s are fully watercooled and it is a bit difficult task.

So I started to google the issue. Found one post on reddit that someone flashed the card with vega 64 bios, maxed out the power limit and blew up the fuses, he managed to solve it by soldering a thin copper wire ontop og the fuse.

I checked the fuses 2 out 3 (next to power delivery) on the back side of the card were dead.

I could of gone the hard way and try to fix it by replacing the fuses, but i returned the card. So now I’m back in the search for vega 56

 

[MaratM]

Measuring cooling solution for vega on to the case

Shaman has arrived. Old dusty and with remains of ancient thermal paste but in original box and with all the small heatsinks for the vrm and vram

In order to see if it fits or not it was placed on a gpu it was made for around 10 years ago) on a dead pcb of gtx 470!

The reason to do it is to figure out the size of the fan to be mounted on it

Slim scythe fan

noctua nf-a12x25

looks like both fans do fit but I’m thinking that the mobo has to be shifted up by 12-15 mm and this way I will have around 30 mm of breathing space for a full fat noctua nf-a12x25

However, I will loose access to ps/2 port (omg how can i live without it) and 2 usb ports. 

[Exia 00]

Loving your build so far. I'm a bit partial to the scratch builds but this is a very interesting setup so far. The cost of the frame work isn't too bad either.

 

Are you looking to paint the frame or keep it natural?

 

Look forward to seeing more

[MaratM]

5 hours ago, Exia 00 said:

Loving your build so far. I'm a bit partial to the scratch builds but this is a very interesting setup so far. The cost of the frame work isn't too bad either.

 

Are you looking to paint the frame or keep it natural?

 

Look forward to seeing more

it will remain aluminium (or aluminum) either polished of brushed, anodising would be nice but I really do not want to do it myself. 

[MaratM]

Finally! "New" vega 56 arrived! This time I managed to get it from ebay from France, Shipping took around 2 weeks. And I've picked it up from the post office this morning. Plugged it into the monument and It all booted without any problems.

it was even detected as vega 64 in MacOS, and the Geekbench score was very similar to the ones with vega 64

 

Unfortunately HWMonitor showed 127C at idle as GPU temp

After installing different monitoring software and a few kexts I managed to see the real temp of GPU and fan speed

However the built in MacOS Mojave fan profile for vega is rather strange.

After start of the OS it runs in 0-RPM mode and stays completely silent at idle. however if I run a stress test, such as Heaven the fans rump up to 50% of its speed but afterwards it does not go back to minimal RPM and stays at 50% fan speed

So I downloaded VGtab to get a custom fan profile. set the temp to 65C min RPM to 500 and max RPM to 2400. and it is running same Heaven loop with 1200-1400RPM and stays around 70C.

I think the Shaman cooler with a NF-A12x25 is more than capable of cooling this card and stay almost silent even at load.

 

After that I started windows, run GPU-Z - it is a vega 56 with stock BIOS and Hynix HBM, according to the internet I can not flash it into Vega 64, but it is still a office pc, and a gaming rig.

 

  

[MaratM]

A few weeks ago I’ve ordered an apple broadcom wifi card, which is natively supported by macOS. It has arrived yesterday (took 3 weeks to get to me from aliexpress and an adapter to plug it into m.2 A-E slot (apple uses its own standards, but chinese electronics wizards can make almost anything to work where it is not supposed to work. The problem was with the Big shuriken 3 and corsair vengeance rgb memory, because of the memory the cooler sits on the mobo so it almost cover all the I/o and there is not enough of hight clearance to install the “standard” apple wifi/bt module directly into m.2 slot. The only option was to get an adapter with a ribbon cable.

it has to be cut in half and connected with a 20cm ribbon cable.
the stock asus (intel) wifi card is removed

and replaced with adapter

and it was all installed back into place

so I booted macOS and both wifi and bluetooth were detected and without any kext’s it was working including airdrop. Now i have to set it up to wake my “mac-hack” with touchID on my iphone.

The only problem was to make it work in windows - download bootcamp drivers from apple, the zip file is around 500mb, unzip it and install 2 drivers, and that is it

 

 

[MaratM]

Today I changed the monitor

It is nothing special, Lenovo 24" 1440P IPS

BUT 1440P and IPS make a lot of difference compare to old TN 1080p

So the almost final setup looks like this

here is a screenshot of MacOS 

The problem I found is the size of MacOS interface and fonts, however after few changes in MacOS settings I got it all setup to my likings

And a small teaser for the future update

Shaman's coldplate is naked copper and almost mirror polished and the most important of all it is straight (I managed to shave off a bump in the middle from 0.3 mm to 0.1 mm.

Took me around 4 hours of wet sanding: 180 grid, 240, 320, 500, 800, 1000, 1500, 2000 and finally 2500 grid. 

[MaratM]

Shaman is installed

Looks like it is running hot) but it is absolutely passive, no fan attached

I need to make an adapter for the fan

and saw off the end of base plate

[MaratM]

Shaman has failed!

I’ve made an adapter to connect a 120mm fan to the gpu.

first fan fas scythe 15 mm after a few minutes of heaven it had maxed out to 1800 rpm and gpu hit 80-82c under heaven benchmark

after that I installed a noctua nf-a12x25 but it the clearance between the fan and the case was around 10mm it is a bit too tight and I shaved a couple of degrees off but the fan maxed out as well to it very loud 2000rpm

So the idea was to get it as much clearance as possible. A 15cm riser cable was very handy. And it was a victory!!! 1500 rpm on noctua and 70c flat!!!

Success!!!

So the idea was to get as much clearance as possible! I drilled 4 more holes in the case and shifted the motherboard up by around 12mm that gave me just around 20 mm of clearance for the 25mm fan

hey 20mm is better than 10!!! However it was not enough. I moved back to 78 but dropped rpm to 1800. Noctua nf-a 12x25 is almost silent up to 1500 rpm. But it was not the case.

After that I run windows instead of the macOS. Just to see if it runs any better or worst. At the end of the day I have more control over the card in windows!!! Global wattman is pain but it is a tool to undervolt the card!

So i dropped the voltage by around 100mvolts and it dropped the temp by around 5 c to 75 with around 1600rpm. And i decided to move the powerslider all the way to the max!!! Gpu temp went back to 80 rpm to 1800 and the vrm temp was getting up to 95c. For me it was a fail

But I still have another contender and it is noctua nf-a12x15

we will see how it will perform. I can always low down the power limit in macOS and enjoy underperforming vega 56, or undervolt it in windows and have it a bit quieter

But my gut feeling tells me that a waterblock and a 240mm rad is probably the only solution to get max performance out of this card (unfortunately it is hynix hbm2 and i can not flash it to vega 64 to unlock its full potential)

[MaratM]

Nf-a12x15 failed as well(

so watercooled vega is the only way

ordered 2 nf-a12x25 pwm fans (got them second hand for a very reasonable price) and a 240 swiftech radiator For around $20
due to the fact it has a fill port I might manage without a res

aliexpress waterblock for vega nano pcb will be ordered soon and a aliexpress pump.

I have some fittings lying around and a water temp controller (poweradjust 2) or i might use one of the ports on the mobo to power the pump and a fan header on the gpu to control the fans

[Naxgo]

Very nice work!

I suggest getting a QUADRO from aquacomputer and an inline temp sensor fitting. The quadro can handle pump+fans+temp sensor.

You need to adjust the fan curves based on the coolant temperature, not on the GPU temp.

Best of luck!

[MaratM]

2 hours ago, Naxgo said:

Very nice work!

I suggest getting a QUADRO from aquacomputer and an inline temp sensor fitting. The quadro can handle pump+fans+temp sensor.

You need to adjust the fan curves based on the coolant temperature, not on the GPU temp.

Best of luck!

I already have powerajust 2 from aquacomputer. It is a dc (3 pin) fan controller With a possibility to use a standard (2pin) temp sensor. Most of pwm fans can work with voltage control. Nf-a 12x25 are almost silent up to 1000 rpm. the powerajust can run on its own without any software. This is important due to the fact that macOS is a main working os on this pc.

the pump will be connected to a pwm fan header on the mobo, and tuned up to its max silent performance, the flow rate does not have to be the same as a d5 on 100%

[Naxgo]

17 hours ago, MaratM said:

I already have powerajust 2 from aquacomputer. It is a dc (3 pin) fan controller With a possibility to use a standard (2pin) temp sensor. Most of pwm fans can work with voltage control. Nf-a 12x25 are almost silent up to 1000 rpm. the powerajust can run on its own without any software. This is important due to the fact that macOS is a main working os on this pc.

the pump will be connected to a pwm fan header on the mobo, and tuned up to its max silent performance, the flow rate does not have to be the same as a d5 on 100%

I don't really know if the poweradjust 2 is the right choice:

As you can see, you only have one output. Powering a pump off a motherboard header is a mistake, as they don't provide the needed power, even if it's marked AIO_PUMP. You could use the mobo header ONLY for the PWM signal cable and power it separately.

This is why I suggest using a quadro:

You can connect your pump to one of the fan headers and you have another 3 outputs for the rest of your fans (you can use/make splitters if you have more than 3 fans).

 

This guy can also run without the internal usb connection, just connect it once, boot windows and make the configurations you need, pump speed and fan curves (again, based on coolant temp) then remove the usb cable. The thing to note, is that you can only use PWM fans or pumps, if you use DC ones they will work at 100% (confirmed by aquacomputer themselves)

[MaratM]

1 hour ago, Naxgo said:

I don't really know if the poweradjust 2 is the right choice:

As you can see, you only have one output. Powering a pump off a motherboard header is a mistake, as they don't provide the needed power, even if it's marked AIO_PUMP. You could use the mobo header ONLY for the PWM signal cable and power it separately.

This is why I suggest using a quadro:

You can connect your pump to one of the fan headers and you have another 3 outputs for the rest of your fans (you can use/make splitters if you have more than 3 fans).

 

This guy can also run without the internal usb connection, just connect it once, boot windows and make the configurations you need, pump speed and fan curves (again, based on coolant temp) then remove the usb cable. The thing to note, is that you can only use PWM fans or pumps, if you use DC ones they will work at 100% (confirmed by aquacomputer themselves)

There is no problems to run power for the pump directly from the psu (sata ot molex) and the pwm and RPM signal from the mobo, also I'll try to use NF-A12x25 on a DC fan controller (most of pwm fans do work on DC controller),

I ALREADY HAVE POWERADJUST2. it is not the most up to date controller but it works) also I live in a middle of nowhere and it might take up to a month to get it and the additional shipping cost. 

$59.50

+ No Import Fees Deposit & $13.87 Shipping to Russian Federation

almost $75 is a bit too much for a fan controller (I've got my CPU for $125)

PS I've tried to use NF-A12x25 as a DC fan (use voltage control instead of PWM in UEFI) it's starting voltage is around 5volts (just under 40%) and it spins at 850RPM and it is quiet enough for me, of cause use of PWM controller will give me more freedom and I can run the fans at 350RMP at idle but I've got to use that I have 

[MaratM]

I’ve bought a new ssd

cost me $120 (used), so it was installed in the main home pc. 
tested it with crystal disc mark and copying 240gb games library from nvme (950pro) to it

so it was tested and 500gb drive was placed in my work pc

Firstly I wanted to try to install Catalina on it. But for some unknown reason clover installer did not want to create uefi partition with all the kext’s and drivers. Tried it around 5 times but it just would not do it. So I gave up on it and decided to clone the existing mac OS drive onto new Samsung drive.

So I downloaded cloning software and started to clone it. But I could not make it bootable. I mean clover started but it did not see my cloned drive as an os drive.

I did some research and found that mac os drive (on a real mac) can be cloned under recovery mode.

Thus I made few changes to the clover configurator and had a choice of booting in recovery mode. Used Disk utility to “recover” samsung 500gb (new) drive from WD 120 gb (old) drive and it was a success!!! All I had to do afterwards was to copy efi folder to the new drive!!!
And it became a bootable Hackintosh OS drive

[MaratM]

Looks like the aliexpress apple wifi card or the ribbon cable adapter is dead.

It started to fail with wifi hardware was not recognised by both mac OS and windows. After that BT was dropping off. So changed it back to intel one. It was not hard but a bit time consuming. The problem I have now is absence of Airdrop and my "mac" does not show my iPhone battery level. All the rest of Apple features such as Hand Off, ApplePlay, FaceTime and iMessage works. I'll call it a day and stay with intel wifi/BT. If it works it works.

[MaratM]

Some parts of the loop have arrived
radiator, fans and waterblock

The CPU is staying on AIR but it is very tempting to put a waterblock on it and run CPU-GPU in parallel. I honestly do not know if the plow rate of the pump will be sufficient to run in parallel. 

 

[MaratM]

Tried to test fit vega waterblock

 

[MaratM]

I decided to go full watercooling loop on my rig, I was browsing the internet and found this for around $50

So I could not say no and bought it,

You might say it is for z270/370i but it looks like if I remove one of the VRM stand-offs it might fit on z170i pro gaming.

I plan to run both mother board block and GPU waterblock in parallel hope the Chinese aliexpress pump is powerful enough.

[MaratM]

Most of the parts for the loop are almost here, so I decided to try out how my old poweradjust fan controller works with nf-12x25’s

So I set up all the parts on the table to try how low I can run these pwm fans from a dc controller

after playing with start up voltage and minimum rpm I managed to get 780rpm as a minimum running speed. With 37% of of power that is 4.6volts

there is no doubt that nf-a 12x25 are the quietest fans on the market, but with proper pwm control they can run as low as 300rpm that is probably ideal for standby or light load. There is a very interesting way of changing dc voltage to pwm control with some help of chinese aliexpress wizards)
Also I got a new terminal for the gpu waterblock

so it will display the coolant temperature.