Craptastic build Log

[paddy-stone]

Ok, first I'd like to just say that I am not a modder... if you're looking for that kind of build log you may as well stop here as I am not artistic, I might be a bit autistic but that's another matter entirely

 

This is just a build log of me putting together my newest PC, with some fairly nice parts, whilst not being over the top... this build is just to make my life a bit easier with it being a little bit more portable than the behemoth I have been using for the past 18 months. I am mostly doing this build as I need a bit more grunt than my laptop can provide whilst I am away from home base. I'm not a big fan of AIO watercooling, but wanted to at least give it another go with a cheap one to see if it can come anywhere near the same performance of the beast that is the Noctua D15 air cooler that I have. If it doesn't measure up then the beast will be swapped to the new build and the seidon 120 will be burnt at the stake for being a witch, or sold along with my old parts.

As this is a very straight forward build and have done dozens if not hundreds of builds/upgrades/downgrades etc... then I should be pretty much done by tomorrow when my case finally turns up, for now All I've done is got the main parts together, frankensteined my old build for parts that I need for this one, whilst still keeping that one useable I might add... then putting the backplate on, chucking the horrible TIM on the CPU and bolting it together and giving it a test POST and boot. And taking a couple of photos for now.

 

New Parts as in tags^^^

 

Older parts that I am re-using:-

 

Crucial M500 240GB M.2 SATA drive... might upgrade to NVME in the future, mobo supports both types

Keyboard(s) and Mouses, various logitech ones ranging from a k750 solar rechargeable/k360 to the crappiest wireless m185 that is my daily at the moment as it's dependable.

Noctua fans (if needed) - have about 4x 140 spare at the moment.

 

Ahhhhh you get it, basically all that crap I have in my signature pretty much what I have gathered in the past 20 years (if it still works and isn't outdated/defunct) - and re-purposed as needed.

 

Just the Hardware still in, and taken out of the boxes for this post. Will try and get better pictures tomorrow when I actually have some daylight building I can do so that I don't have to use the flash and get horrible pics.

 

In the boxes... except seidon 120 as I did a test build already... and except case as not here yet. Just new parts of course.

 

And... out of the boxes. see above about new parts.

 

OK guys, that's it for this session as I am beat... will post more, if not all, tomorrow. Will try to include POST test etc etc if I remember, sometimes I get in the zone and then go "Ahh damnit, I was supposed to be taking pics"  - followed by the sound of more cursing and possibly a few bashes of my head on the wall depending on how long it took me to realise

 

 

[paddy-stone]

(edit) update on 24th Sept

 

I had a few minor problems with the case and screws... it is a BIG pet peeve of mine about the motherboard screws, they are so annoying and strip the threads really easily. After a while spent dealing with that and trying to come up with something I eventually settled on using spare stand-offs to use in place of screws - it's actually a lot easier to fit this way too as you can use a 5mm hex socket (same as the one you use for unscrewing GPU stand-offs for the connections). It has worked out really well and is a nice solid fit.

Anyway, after that whole deal and getting very frustrated I gave up on taking pics as it was taking waaaay too much time to build - I only had the afternoon/evening to get it done and with the mobo screws and a few other little problems took me way longer than any other build I have ever done.So I'll just leave a few comments and notes about the build and how it is performing etc if anyone cares

 

 

Edited September 24, 2016 by paddy-stone

[paddy-stone]

For more pics and the rest of the log hopefully.

[paddy-stone]

I got bored with taking pics, sorry to anyone that was looking at this... most likely no-one. But build is complete now, if I update the build soon I will re-do this entirely.

[paddy-stone]

OK, so on with the (finished?) build conclusions etc.

 

The case is quite nice, it has a lot of good features:-

 

• Raised screw points for motherboard, negating the need for stand-offs, in fact you can't use stand-offs as the I/O panel wouldn't line up.
• Magnetic dust filters on the 2 non-windowed panels.
• 200mm fan isn't bad actually, would be better if 4 pin PWM, but as long as you have a motherboard that can control the speed anyway it's fine. Not loud.
• Rails for fan/rad mounting that can be used top or sides... only thing is could do with more than 2 pairs and some of the mounting holes don't seem quite right, nothing that can't be fixed though.

Some things that are bad or need more work:-

• Side panel fitting is a bit on the loose side, I can flex some of the side panels when fixed a good mm or so just with the tip of my finger pressing lightly on it... this is with the thumbscrews tightened as far as they will go.
• And about those thumbscrews, the thread on them is unreal... some are really hard to screw into the case. It's attrocious how this case is classed as tool-less, believe me, if I hadn't used a screwdriver I wouldn't have even been able to undo some of the side panels to begin my build.
• The PSU bracket... whoever came up with that design and/or idea should be shot on sight. It's finicky to build. The rubber "dampeners" would not fit through the holes assigned for them, they are another waste of time that was spent on this case build. Would have been better with a proper cage... but TBH they could've just left it off anyway, PSU is really sturdily held by the screws.

 

 

I'll get to some more points about certain aspects of the build that could've been better or was great later, for now I'll get to the good part. How does it run?

 

It runs brilliantly

 

I am amazed at how good the pre-defined OC function of the ASrock mobo is:- I usually think they are garbage, for most of the other mobos I have worked with they have been... but wanted to give it a shot at least. The OC ran first time out without any hiccups at all, so thoroughly tested it and came out OK, voltage was good, temps etc... so amped it up, a lot!  was expecting it to blue screen or something, but no it handled it no problem. So after running my own experiments with the advanced OC settings and coming up short compared to the auto OC function, decided to stick with it.

Here are my settings:-

 

I have it Oc'ed to 4.7Ghz, everything left on Auto.

Voltage sits at 1.25 Vcore max.

NB is set at 4.2Ghz auto (max)

I have my RAM on XMP profile 1 @ 3000Mhz - 1.3V I think it was (will check)

 

I'm only using a 120mm rad for CPU cooling, wasn;t expecting much, but to be fair it's a nice little runner. I know it'll probably fail in the next 6-24 months if I'm lucky, but as long as it's only a pump fail, that's fine.

 

Sitting here on idle at the moment at 22-24C (Ambient around 18-20)

On load, hits approx 45-72 depending on how much load really.

And during stress testing with AIDA64 averages around 65-74, with very brief spikes into the 80-84 range.

The only other cooling I have in the system is the 200mm intake fan that is set on a fan curve that is mostly set up for silence. Same goes for my 140mm Noctua exhaust fan.

 

The only real downside to how I have this at the moment is the pump noise... whilst it's not what I would consider loud, it is pervasive and annoying/distracting. I am getting used to it now I think, but for the first few days I had a headache caused by the constant "buzzing?" sound, like a high frequency ticking really I guess.

 

 

[paddy-stone]

Have finally gotten around to taking some more pics, have had a busy couple of weeks doing various things and building/repairing more PCs etc

 

So, here's some pics of my desk area/work station, it's a little hectic on there at the moment and not fully cable managed at the moment because of needing to change stuff and still doing my regular things. So please forgive the clutter... I wish I had the time/energy to fully cable manage the desktop area and have everything how I'd like it, might get to it someday I guess

 

Ok, so here's the pics,

In the above pic, you can see from left to right on the desktop first:- we have the New PC, HDD docking station, New LG 29" ultrawide, Blu-ray read/writer, K360 keyboard and wireless mouse on my big mousepad. 55 inch TV can just be seen, with my bluetooth soundbar beneath and PS4 controllers. Underneath the desk and in the cubbies from left to right again, we have: first cubbies contain my PC toolkits etc, desk chair, Dell colour printer, multi-gang power strip and New server (it's proped on it's side), second set of cubbies contain my HP proliant server that is running FreeNAS and is used for streaming media to the entire house and contains PC/laptops etc backups and files, undernaeth that is just where I keep my laptop and accessories when not being used. Next set of cubbies is my PS4 up top, where the mess of wires is in front, lol... all other cubbies are vacant at the moment.

 

 

 

Just a better pic of my "work" area above.

 

 

Above, better pic of the server under the desk. Not ideal placement, but I have a few things to work around at the moment and need it near the ultrawide as the 3rd input (HDMI).

Much better pic of the work area and my New PC build.