Mini Me.

AlienALX · July 8, 2021

Hey all. Long time etc.

This isn't a serious mod log. Just a PC build, which was fine with me. I currently have about 5 PCs in various states. However, because of my lifestyle I need two minimum. My mother is getting on, and I stay at her house to help her out as much as I can. So I have two setups, as constantly moving computers back and forth would be impossible. There are three (well, were, and will be again soon) three completes. I have my dream build from last March I did when I got a windfall which I will refer to as "big me". I spared no expense on it. Specs are good. X570 TUF, 2080Ti Kingpin, 3950x, 32gb (there are four now) 8 pack 4133 (running 3650mhz CL 14) and etc.

That's him there. Couple of pics.

As I said, RAM has now been upgraded to 4 sticks.

I then have my beloved and very heavily modded Alienware. These are both at my apartment.

Which had a 1920x TR, X399 Aorus, 32gb Dom Plat, 2080Ti Aorus Xtreme under water and etc. Pretty sure you can fill in the gaps.

Then, at my mother's house I had this. I built it using all of my old WC gear last year, literally about a year ago.

It was (it's gone now) a TR 1920x, 16gb 2666 RAM, X399 Carbon and a 2070S under water.

Now here is the issues it had. The LEDs in the distro stopped working. The case was very flimsy, and it originally had a 120 fat rad bolted into the floor. However, when I moved it to work on the cabling the case flexed and the rad in the floor cracked. And leaked. Everywhere. I removed said rad and then it was getting very hot on just the 360. Like, so hot the CPU was overheating at its 4.2ghz overclock and shutting down. I moved the clocks back to 4.1, then 4, etc and then I discovered that even at the stock clocks and voltage it was still overheating. So, I undervolted it. I then used it for a year or so.

However. It was less than ideal. Now I know what you are thinking. "What an ungrateful bastard. That's a good rig with a gold dust GPU etc etc". However, you need to understand that I only play one game now. One game, that is literally it. PUBG. I play it at least 4 nights a week with friends. Now. Again you are probably thinking "Well, both rigs can run that easy" and yeah, they do. However, due to them being different on the CPU IPC (which I suspect was the main culprit) and GPU power? I switch rigs at least once a fortnight. When I do? it takes me three days to get used to playing on the other one. So what I mean is, because of the disparity in specs on the hardware the game feels sluggish, and more jarring on the slower PC. Meaning my aim is off, my reactions are off etc. With a game like PUBG? you don't want that. At all. You ideally want to play it on one rig, and it be the same each time. Or, you have to get used to it all over again. Which messes with muscle memory and all sorts of things.

Now the original plan when I build "big me" was to bring over the Alienware. I bought the Aorus from a guy in panic and paid him £480 for it. He wanted a 3080. However, when I sat down and thought about it I realised that it still would not be the same. The CPU IPC is three generations prior.

Not only that but the Alienware is heavy. And when I say heavy I mean, really really heavy. Like way north of 50kg. As such, when you try to move it it *always* takes damage. The last time I had it moved by professionals I wrapped it in 5" of bubble wrap and they still managed to bend in the front door. Which I have fixed, but it now has a scratch. Also bear in mind I live up 6 flights of stairs, resulting in 106 steps. I didn't fancy my chances.

And thus, the idea for "mini me" was born. Try and match IPC, ram speed and GPU. So I did. First thing I did was order a case. I am sick of having an enormous PC in here. The room is 2.5m x 3m and also includes a bed, TV, Xbox, etc. I decided on the Jonsbo V10. I did not want to spend 4 grand again.

Now note, I did not get the glass version. I also did not get it in silver. I chose black, so it would look like the Lian Li at home just without glass. It comes with a vertical ribbon and it costs £88 all in. Which I thought was great value. Talking of value. I decided to do this on a budget and use my brains a bit. Instead of being stupid like I usually am. So, I got a Ryzen 3600 (IPC match pretty much to the 3950x)

Then for PSU? again I just went smart. There was one in the big green rig, but the fan in it ticks when idle. It's really annoying. It also has capacitors on the cables, which would be a pain in a tiny chassis. So, I got this on sale for £52.

Plenty power, looks nice, does the job. Cooler. Again, I just used common sense. I knew that whatever cooler I bought would have fans I would not use, so I picked this up on Prime Day for £44 delivered.

Motherboard. Again, just common sense. No point in paying for features I won't use.

Now initially I set it up using two spare Eloops in the top on the rad.

And I used the stock cooler master fans as intakes in the bottom. The one let down on the board is only two fan headers. One for the pump, one for the rest. So I got this on Amazon for £7.

The GPU came with the stock cooler, but no pads. That was a nightmare let me say. In the end I figured it out, it was a combo of 1mm and 0.5mm.

And.

The case arrived.

Test.

OK. So I then built the rig.

And immediately noticed a problem. The 2500 RPM Cooler Master cheap fans were running at full pelt. It was so noisy it was causing turbulence (like rushes of air noise). I tried to tune them, and did, but then the GPU's VRAM was overheating. I checked the thermal pads, but everything was fine. I then looked up the spec of the CM fans. 26 CFM @ 2500 RPM. I then looked up the spec of these fans.

1700 RPM 72 CFM. I then realised that I was not going to get off by being super cheap. So I bought two, and I bought these.

Worked out £15 per fan. And then.