Clean the mess, cool the rest.

[Ivyk]

So @Paralectic and I have rebuilt this system from scratch, from a crappy Zalmann case and a stock cooler to something more beautiful. We've cable managed and conquered!

 

Pictures:

 

Cleaned the dirty FX first:

 

Omg all da parts!

 

Putting the H100i together:

 

Sleek but not installed yet:

 

Looks good! H100i is in:

 

Power!!

 

Cable management is a must :-)

 

Such new much plastic:

 

Clean and fresh:

 

All assembled and ready to rock:

 

So that's it for this build everyone, it isn't a whole new PC but here are the specifications:

Case: Fractal Design R4 Black Pearl with a window ( New )

CPU: AMD FX 8120 ( overclocking soon! )

CPU Cooler: Corsair Hydro H100i ( New )

GPU: MSI GTX 660Ti Twin Frozr ( Still going strong! )

PSU: 730W Be quiet! bronze

Mobo: Asrock 970 Extreme3

Ram: 8GB 1333Mhz Corsair Value Select

SSD: 128GB from Crucial

HDD: 2TB Seagate Barracuda

 

Monitor: LG 23 IPS 1080p monitor

Keyboard: SOON TO BE UPGRADED

Mouse: Razer  Mamba 2011

[Lord Pantaloons]

No before and after pics?

[Paralectic]

No before and after pics?

Something like this, but worse:

[Lord Pantaloons]

Something like this, but worse:

Gee thanks for the eye cancer, guess I shouldn't have asked lol

[Paralectic]

Gee thanks for the eye cancer, guess I shouldn't have asked lol

Wasn't even the pc itself but an example of a cable mess within a trashy Zalman Z11 case :')

[Ivyk]

Wasn't even the pc itself but an example of a cable mess within a trashy Zalman Z11 case :')

 

My cable management wasn't THAT bad.

[Jeroen1322]

Looks awesome! Tomorrow is my birthday and i'm getting some money! i'm saving up for an R4 to replace my Z11.. How is the noise compared to you previous Zalman case?

 

Looks awesome btw! but the only thing i don't like is that you abused your computer before this upgrade  

[Lord Pantaloons]

Wasn't even the pc itself but an example of a cable mess within a trashy Zalman Z11 case :')

I hate when people have a rats nest and they are able to do something about it and don't. Geez people cable management is free c'mon.

[Ivyk]

I hate when people have a rats nest and they are able to do something about it and don't. Geez people cable management is free c'mon.

My cable management wasn't that bad (luckily). I think I did a much better job this time although I would like some pre-sleeved cable for the best result.

[ALXAndy]

Good luck overclocking a octo core CPU on a board with 4+1 vrms.

 

You'll be incredibly lucky if you get it stable at 4.2ghz.

[Paralectic]

Good luck overclocking a octo core CPU on a board with 4+1 vrms.

 

You'll be incredibly lucky if you get it stable at 4.2ghz.

Explain further, please.

[ALXAndy]

Explain further, please.

 

That Asrock board has 4+1 power stages. Four for the CPU, 1 for the ram.

 

A octo core AMD CPU can eat 240w or so when pushed hard (5ghz, for example). Thus. the VRMs (4+1) can not cope with a CPU that needs that much current. Now back in 'the day' they would simply melt or explode. Now days board makers put a temperature probe in there and when they hit 52c or so (the voltage regs, not the CPU or socket etc) they throttle the CPU back to 1.7ghz until they recover.

 

A good board (there are not that many on AM3+) will have 8+2 VRMS. IE - double the amount of power supply circuitry in order to keep you stable. What's more they will also have huge chunky heatsinks on them to keep temps in check.

 

I used to run an Asrock 990FX Extreme 3 (the same as his board but with a better chipset) and it was an absolute PIG to overclock, even with a H100 on the CPU. The four power phases will get a good octo core (and I mean good by stock volts to the given clocks !) to 4.2ghz maximum. Get a chip that wants any extra voltage to get to 4.2 and you will struggle even more.

 

It's something that no one bothers to study and thus, ends up making a booboo when it comes to picking a motherboard. Now on Intel? it's different as Intel have been driving down core voltage which means lesser power phases to cope. AMD on the other hand need a huge power stage.

[pbenologa]

No before and after pics?

 

Dude. Your avatar looks disgusting. Haha.

[Paralectic]

Needs more LEDS!