SUPER MEGA 3970x Build - My First PC Build w/Custom Loop

[Sam I Am Not]

Planning my first PC build with a custom loop. My current 10-core 6950x overclocked to 4.3GHz isn't cutting it anymore and I keep finding myself under 100% load while I'm working so it's time for an upgrade.

 

Below is my parts wishlist. I can't find a Strix 3090 so I'm probably going to be stuck with a 2080 Ti for now until those become available. We will see if a steady stock of 3090's becomes available soon but I'm not getting my hopes up.

 

Wish me luck! I'll be updating my progress here as I go. I might need tips along the way. As of right now, I don't even know what headers the pump and fans go to.

 

-PC Specs-

Case: Lian-Li PC-011DW

Motherboard: ASUS ROG Zenith II Extreme Alpha TRX40

CPU: AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3970X 32-Core

GPU: ROG Strix RTX 3090

Memory: 256GB G.SKILL Trident Z Neo DDR4 3600

PSU: Corsair HX1000i

 

-Storage-

1TB Samsung 970 EVO Plus M.2 NVMe (Operating System)

8TB Sabrent Rocket Q M.2 NVMe (Current Project Footage)

4TB Corsair MP510 M.2 NVMe (Project & Personal Files)

2TB Samsung 970 EVO Plus M.2 NVMe (Scratch Drive)

 

-Cooling-

CPU block: EK-Quantum Momentum ROG Zenith II Extreme D-RGB - Plexi Monoblock

GPU block: EK-Quantum Vector Strix RTX 3080/3090 D-RGB - Nickel + Plexi

Reservoir/Pump: EK-Quantum Reflection PC-O11D D5 PWM D-RGB - Plexi Distro Plate

Radiators: EK-CoolStream PE 240mm & 360mm

Fans: Noctua Chromax (3x NF-S12A PWM, 6x NF-F12 PWM)

Tubing: EK-HD 10/12 Acrylic

Fittings: EK-Quantum Torque HDC

[jaslion]

Wait do you need some advise on the stuff here or is it all ready and set to go?

[FloRolf]

3 minutes ago, jaslion said:

Wait do you need some advise on the stuff here or is it all ready and set to go?

This is the build log subforum so he probably has everything layed out

 

[jaslion]

1 minute ago, FloRolf said:

This is the build log subforum so he probably has everything layed out

 

Oh my bad I didn't notice woops.

[Sam I Am Not]

29 minutes ago, jaslion said:

Wait do you need some advise on the stuff here or is it all ready and set to go?

My parts list is set. Now it's just a matter of executing the build.

[Sam I Am Not]

Not off to the greatest start. Just got my CPU in the mail, opened the box, and there was a 3970x box with two broken seals and no CPU inside.

[SFFDesigns]

2 hours ago, Sam I Am Not said:

Just got my CPU in the mail, opened the box, and there was a 3970x box with two broken seals and no CPU inside.

Ouch. Hopefully you get sent another one soon!

[Sam I Am Not]

6 hours ago, Hymenopus_Coronatus said:

Ouch. Hopefully you get sent another one soon!

Another is being sent out and is supposed to arrive in 3 days. I think there must be a thief in the Amazon shipping department. That seems more likely than somebody buying and returning it with the CPU removed and the empty packaging getting resold. Somebody must inspect returns on items of this price. I highly doubt a CPU ever comes from the AMD factory like this which Amazon seemed to suggest when they asked if I wanted to sort it out with AMD directly.

 

Thankfully the replacement is getting delivered soon. I'd be very upset if I had to deal with starting a claim and waiting for days or weeks of investigating before I could get a refund or replacement.

[Sam I Am Not]

The CPU arrived. Time to start the build.

[Sam I Am Not]

CPU and monoblock installed. That probably should've taken 20 minutes instead of two hours but I really didn't want to screw up that part.

[Sam I Am Not]

Finished! The tubing is sloppy and needs to be redone but it's running.

[Sam I Am Not]

Found out how to tame the RGB party mode. Taming the jungle hiding behind the side panel tomorrow with some Cablemod cables

[spice3d]

I built nearly the same machine at the beginning of this year. Did you have any issues with the double-sided Sabrent Rocket 8tb M.2 SSD fitting on the motherboard or did you put it in the DIMM M.2 module?

[Sam I Am Not]

14 minutes ago, spice3d said:

I built nearly the same machine at the beginning of this year. Did you have any issues with the double-sided Sabrent Rocket 8tb M.2 SSD fitting on the motherboard or did you put it in the DIMM M.2 module?

I ended up populating the motherboard with all 2TB 970 Evo Plus drives. I was going to get the Sabrent for current projects but ended going the NAS route so I can have everything in once place. A 96TB NAS with 2x 2TB NVMe drives for read and write cahce ended up being a better solution. The NVMe cahce drives and 10 Gigabit connection give me more than enough overhead, even when working with 8K footage.

[spice3d]

On 12/15/2020 at 1:00 PM, Sam I Am Not said:

I ended up populating the motherboard with all 2TB 970 Evo Plus drives. I was going to get the Sabrent for current projects but ended going the NAS route so I can have everything in once place. A 96TB NAS with 2x 2TB NVMe drives for read and write cahce ended up being a better solution. The NVMe cahce drives and 10 Gigabit connection give me more than enough overhead, even when working with 8K footage.

Thanks. 96TB. Dang! I’m glad I’m not into video editing. I use my rig for music production.

[Sam I Am Not]

On 12/19/2020 at 7:40 AM, spice3d said:

Thanks. 96TB. Dang! I’m glad I’m not into video editing. I use my rig for music production.

96TB of hard drives but technically it's only 64TB of storage since it's in RAID 6. Thankfully it can be expanded to 144TB on the cheap with a 5-bay expansion unit. The rebuild times after a drive failure must be days on a RAID that size though.