New Computer

DiscoHasBeen

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Motherboards are the one component I have trouble making a decision on. You can get on NewEgg/Amazon and I don't care if the board has 356 reviews and 4.5 stars you'll find enough "DOA on arrival, DOA after a month, won't post, blah, blah, blah" that it will make you nervous. Not making gaming systems for the most part with everything else I mostly look at cost vs value. Like most of the time I'll buy a generation old processor. They'll have all the performance l need, the cost has come down, and it will be thoroughly reviewed.
 
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kennith

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Apr 22, 2004
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Motherboards are the one component I have trouble making a decision on. You can get on NewEgg/Amazon and I don't care if the board has 356 reviews and 4.5 stars you'll find enough "DOA on arrival, DOA after a month, won't post, blah, blah, blah" that it will make you nervous. Not making gaming systems for the most part with everything else I mostly look at cost vs value. Like most of the time I'll buy a generation old processor. They'll have all the performance l need, the cost has come down, and it will be thoroughly reviewed.

Yeah, it's annoying as hell, because quite often people don't really review motherboards. When they do, the reviews are often shockingly negative.

There's so much going on in the things that you wonder if they really have it right; if there really was something wrong in the first place. You know darn well a few thousand more bought the board, but they never pop in to say hi, so you're left wondering if a DOA truly was the motherboard, or if it was something else.

Hell, if you wanted to build a Threadripper machine today, you'd not be able to settle on anything if you let the reviews get to you. People are happily running those left and right, but the reviews on all of them are terrible. Obviously thousands of those boards aren't bad, but the fifteen people in the nation who review them seem to think they're terrible.

I'm certainly with you on waiting a generation when possible (this machine is on the tail end of AM4, actually), but there's one more thing to add:

Motherboards commonly are revised relatively quietly. Sometimes it's just the shipped BIOS, but there are occasionally changes that are more important.

You generally want to be on the lookout for that revision number, because sometimes it makes a difference. That older computer in the previous post has an NF7-S R2.0 board in it. That board supported the Athlon XP 3200+, but revision 1.0 stopped just short. If you wanted to run the hottest CPU available for the socket, you needed the latest revision.

That's still something that happens. There are people waiting right now for a revision of this Gigabyte board to get Thunderbolt, because the PCB supports it, but the pins are gone.

Cheers,

Kennith
 

kennith

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Apr 22, 2004
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It's coming together.

I'll be rolling by one of my storage units to pick up a spare GPU to fire it up.

Right now, it's missing one USB 3 header cable, because the new board offers a different way to route it that I like better, and I can't use the one I've got unless I want to fuck with it (don't want to, as I might be able to use it later), so I've ordered another. If you don't want blue, it takes a while to get them.

There are a couple other missing cables, but you wouldn't be able to see them anyway. The only stuff coming in that requires tightening down are the SATA cables for the optical drives. Currently, the Esata port on the 5.25 I/O device is wired and (hopefully) functional, but the optical drives won't be too hard to keep clean. It's always one of the bigger headaches, but it tends to work out well.

There will be pictures of the other side of the case, and better pictures in general, but right now, here's this:

WP_20191209_10_58_38_Pro.jpg

You can see at the bottom where I'm "training" the wires with Velcro wraps. With most PSUs it takes more effort, but with a Seasonic... Oh, it's very nice.

No heat gun required to get there, and it'll be better when I'm done. It's a breath of fresh air working with a genuine Seasonic PSU on one of my own machines. Damn I love their products. Keep the vents in mind when you're determining case pressure, though, because they are functional; that's not just a style feature. When the fan kicks on, it creates a vacuum that draws warm case air into the vents for a bit of supplemental cooling.

That's important to consider if you're really trying to roll for positive pressure. You need to pick the right product in their lineup for that application.

I'm trying not to put too much stress on the front panel and USB3 headers, because I'm not using any super flexible cables or extensions there. It'll be better eventually, but there's no sense stressing anything if I'm going to keep bumping it when doing other stuff. I probably won't make it look much better than that, in the end.

The other straggler cable behind them will be tidied up, but for now I'm not sure if that's where I want it.

Currently, I have not cheated at all. There have been no fancy tricks used, and the only extensions used were required to fit the larger case; not just to make things look cool or make the job easier. I thought I was going to get to show off one trick anyone can do, but unfortunately I don't need to. I'll describe it later.

Cheers,

Kennith
 

kennith

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Apr 22, 2004
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Few things are more annoying during testing than modern monitors that turn off after a while if there's no signal. I don't see why I should be burdened with all these "standby" and "sleeping" devices, just because someone else is a moron.

I despise yuppies, and if I had my way, I'd sterilize all of them. If you're too fucking stupid to turn off a display, turn in your breeding card.

People wonder why I gripe about stuff like that, but if more people did, we wouldn't be surrounded by inconvenient bullshit like that. I guess I could go back to storage and pick up something that doesn't do that, but I shouldn't have to, and it doesn't change the fact that a proper on/off switch is almost a thing of the past.

Cheers,

Kennith
 

kennith

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Apr 22, 2004
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North Carolina
Well, six loops of MemTest so far with zero errors and XMP enabled at 3600mhz. I was expecting a conflict. We'll see if it survives a burn and then puts up the same results after. If so, I think the RAM will be fine. It didn't like it at first, but a BIOS update cured that. This may not sound important, but Ryzen is sensitive to RAM, and this was not on the QVL.

For that matter, no 32gb kits with two 16gb DIMMs were on the QVL.

If it holds up to testing today, I got really lucky. That kit isn't in stock anywhere, and it just feels like it'll take a solid overclock. It was one of the few such kits still running Samsung B dies. I've also got three XMP profile options, which I wasn't expecting on an AMD platform. This stuff is selling for twice what I paid for it, and I paid almost $300 for the RAM.

Part of that is the season, but part is also people scooping up as many B dies as they can while they're still available. It's also sitting at a CAS of 16. Lucky.

I've found over the years that Gskill assembles very solid RAM. There are more workstation-oriented units that are obviously going to have a higher potential of reliability in the long haul, but I have popped far fewer Gskill DIMMS than most manufacturers; certainly quite a bit fewer than Corsair, which is kind of a shame.

Kingston has still held in there, though; as well as a few other manufacturers. Corsair just dropped the ball at some point. Either that, or they just can't handle demand while keeping yield up. They're a solid company, and fun to deal with, but they may have expanded faster than they should have.

Cheers,

Kennith
 

kennith

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Apr 22, 2004
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Oh, man. I think I won the silicon lottery. That CPU is a tank. :cool:

Now I've got to decide how I want to cool the thing, but it doesn't seem to give two flying fucks what I do to it. The RAM is solid as a rock, as well.

I normally wouldn't bother on my own rig, but I do believe I'll be trying to see just what I can get out of it.

There will be some wire pictures coming soon. I'm just fucking with it on the kitchen table right now. Dropped an old 6970 in the junker so I can still use something while I'm taking my time. That's what I couldn't do last time, and why it was such a pain.

Cheers,

Kennith
 

kennith

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Apr 22, 2004
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Not done yet, but here's a look:

The bundle in the top left is being sorted tomorrow, and it'll blend right in. In the lower left are nested molex connectors; all used. The USB hub is still in there, and visible underneath the drive. That cage is still going to be removed. I just need to mount the SSD to the bottom of the 5.25 bays, and didn't feel like it.

WP_20191210_20_55_53_Pro.jpg

This is all right off the rack. No mods beyond a couple of required extensions for the large case, Zip ties, and one... Zip tie holder sticker thing.

You can tell I'm not quite done here, but it's only a couple of minutes to finish it off.

WP_20191210_20_54_01_Pro.jpg

Cheers,

Kennith
 
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kennith

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Apr 22, 2004
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Thanks. It's getting there. It'll be a while before that USB3 extension shows up, so I've still got one cable back there waiting for it. The one I bought before won't work for this spot, but it'll handle something else. It's possible to extend those yourself, but it's a waste of time, and custom-length cables are a pain in the ass on a daily driver. The second you change the configuration, all that effort is wasted.

The time to do that on your personal stuff is when a computer will no longer be altered. Imagine staggering the joints in all those wires... It's not fun.

Once I'm done testing and ensuring everything is configured in the OS and BIOS, I'll drop in the sound card. I already have a solution to keep that power cable as clean as is reasonable. RGB on that GPU support is plugged in now, and it works just fine with everything else. The second one should work just fine here, as well.

It's on to optical drives and a bit more tidying up after that.

Sometime here I will buy a cooler. There's one I rather like from Alphacool that should last longer than the normal AIOs, and can be serviced/altered. If I get that one, I may run it out the back and mount it outside the case; going a little bit old school. It's expensive, but I think it's a better move than a normal AIO that doesn't last very long. I need to get a fan solution over the VRM/socket area if I go water.

The hard drives will indeed be mounted in the factory location, but turned in the proper direction and attached to sensible brackets instead of that bullshit. You do want that lower fan slightly obstructed in a build like this to get air moving everywhere, but not by much, and it needs channeling. If not, it's a little too easy in a large case to create a current that can lower pressure under the GPU.

So, that space won't be wasted.

Right now, it's still on the kitchen table. I could have done it in the spot I have for that stuff, but fuck it. This way I can just pick at it little by little as I walk by. 🤣

Cheers,

Kennith
 

kennith

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Apr 22, 2004
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I just ran a stress test at 4.6ghz on the stock cooler, and everything worked just fine. Didn't fuck with anything; I just cranked it.

That's not bad at all.

Cheers,

Kennith
 

kennith

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Apr 22, 2004
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Well, I thought I was nearly done.

It looks like the days of that Xonar D2x are numbered. In a not so startling coincidence, Windows finally gave up on it after almost eight years since a stable driver update. Man, fuck Asus. You can't keep your shit updated? There are communities making and updating drivers for that thing, trying to keep them running because they were so damned good.

I'm not going that route, though. Whatever I use here ought to be factory supported. I'll be considering other options. I could make it work, but fuck it. I'm tired of Asus, and I'm tired of constantly having to screw with it.

This didn't bother me before, because it still worked; but the last Windows update must have just walked right past it. Asus has a nasty habit of assuming that it's Microsoft's responsibility to make sure their products work, and that's not how the cookie crumbles. If you make something, you fucking support it.

I could wait around, and maybe it'll come back, but I think at this point I'll try something else. This is one of the best cards I've ever had, but I suppose it makes sense to move on.

I believe that, at this time, even if someone calls out of the blue for a very expensive rig, I will refuse to use any Asus products. I've been wanting to stop for a while, now, and it's finally time. I don't do builds very often anymore, but the rule is now in place. You forego Asus entirely, or no soup for you. I can no longer provide a ten year warranty covering their products.

I appreciate Microsoft making my shit work for so long, though; because I personally didn't put in much effort on that front.

Cheers,

Kennith
 
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kennith

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Apr 22, 2004
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EVGA will be dropping the Nu Audio Pro 7.1 this month, so I ordered one of those.

It doesn't have the capabilities that the Xonar had, but nothing does anymore. I'll just move a dedicated I/O card into this machine to handle some of that.

From what I understand, this should pretty much stay out of the way, though. That's the most important part.

I'll find out whenever it ships, I suppose. It's got a lot to live up to, and it's starting off behind on versatility.

In the meantime, I'm stuck with Realtech.

Cheers,

Kennith
 

kennith

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Apr 22, 2004
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Okay, I have to mention this...

One of the BeQuiet! fans I ordered has a slight chuffing noise, which I think was just a piece of flash in the spindle area somewhere. I mean, I bought seven of them from Amazon, so I'm not giving them a hard time on that. Thing could have been used, for all I know.

So, I called them up just now. The only option was "press zero for assistance". I hesitantly left one message, and a guy called me back within ten minutes. I didn't expect much, but holy crap their service team is nice. They're funny, too.

I just take a picture of it, send an e-mail, and they send me another fan.

We had some fun joking about Mozart, coolant, dissimilar metals, and a bunch of other stuff with plenty of jokes and even the pronunciation of names in Africa, after I made fun of the branding. 🤣

Fuck. That was like calling up Expedition Exchange.

I've never used their stuff before, but I damned well will now; assuming the replacement shows up. It doesn't matter how long it takes, honestly. The fact that I nailed a dedicated US service center, staffed by their actual employees, with a single returned call... You can't put a price on that in the world of Computer stuff.

Normally in this realm, if you want that kind of service, you literally have to pay for it.

Cheers,

Kennith
 

kennith

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Apr 22, 2004
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Bumped up the RAM in my work 5-year-old HP desktop box to 32GB. Enjoying the results.

There was a point at which I never thought I'd need 32gb of RAM. Now, I wouldn't build a machine with less than 16gb; and that's not for gaming...

It's for web browsing while doing other things. A lot of it is ads filling crap up, but people should be blocking those and denying trackers with supplementary plugins. Of course, they don't, so this is where we are. 16gb is essentially the minimum at this point, and you can tell the difference immediately.

Obviously, higher numbers are still related to workstation stuff, but it can still have an effect. So long as the price is right, the more the merrier. :)

Edit: This reminds me of the book I bought: "From Myst to Riven"

The first time I read that, I was blown away by the SGI Indigo workstations they had to buy, each with TWO GIGABYTES of RAM.

Cheers,

Kennith
 
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kennith

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Apr 22, 2004
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North Carolina
Further side note: I used my Amazon points to pick up a Be Quiet! Dark Rock Pro 4.

I normally wouldn't, but I don't have the time or inclination to dick around with a custom loop right now, as I'll get all perfectionist on it.

Since Be Quiet! was so responsive and jolly, I'm happy for Amazon to hand them the $90 or so, because with the points, it only cost me four bucks.

I'm not a big fan of giant anchors hanging off of PCBs, but I've had it with AIOs. They're all made by one of the same two companies (barring Coolermaster and Deepcool, but they suck as well), and they're all piss-poor designs. Literally not a single company makes anything you'd look at and appreciate. It's all crap.

Everyone knows they're crap, but roll the dice anyway, hoping for three years out of one because it saves some time and takes the weight off the motherboard. That second factor is the only reason I've used them when asked; but I burned a lot finding units that worked properly; and still denied warranty coverage when they were chosen.

People hope for the best... I've bought enough to know that's generally not going to happen.

Don't do it. Just don't buy one. Build a custom loop and you'll be fine. You can just buy a kit nowadays that includes everything and is easy to maintain. Do that, or go air if you're feeling lazy like I am right now.

All in one liquid coolers are crap no matter who's name is on it; ESPECIALLY Corsair. They ask for far less out of quality control than some of the other guys, but make no mistake: They're all shit. Some just don't stink as bad as others.

Cheers,

Kennith
 

p m

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Apr 19, 2004
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My upgrade was purely driven by the change in our business.
Before I wanted to keep my development box roughly similar to most of our customers.
Now we run VMs far more capable than my box, and it just kept me down.
With the sensors going up in pixel count, it becomes a challenge to stay under the box's physical memory. And if it ever hits paging file, even on an SSD, it is lunch time.
 

kennith

Well-known member
Apr 22, 2004
10,891
172
North Carolina
My upgrade was purely driven by the change in our business.
Before I wanted to keep my development box roughly similar to most of our customers.
Now we run VMs far more capable than my box, and it just kept me down.
With the sensors going up in pixel count, it becomes a challenge to stay under the box's physical memory. And if it ever hits paging file, even on an SSD, it is lunch time.

I wasn't having issues too often until I started pulling in 6K files and batch editing the frames. That certainly brought my setup to it's knees.

Now it's got breathing room. I still don't know what Resolve really likes, and I don't suppose I ever will unless I run a bunch of cards through the machine; because, while the program is outstanding, the vast majority of users are idiots and Mac morons, and customer service is dedicated to those damnable fools.

They have no ability to answer the question, and they've admitted as much to me. So, screw it. I'll get an RTX sometime within the next few months to make Doom Eternal have ray-tracing, and I'll at least know I've bought a faster card with more VRAM. That's bound to do something.

The 1080 holds up, but I can tell an upgraded consumer card would relax things just a bit. I'm glad I'm not working with 8K. Holy shit.

Cheers,

Kennith
 

kennith

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Apr 22, 2004
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North Carolina
Nice. It looks like the sound cards are about to ship. I'm really looking forward to trying those out.

The on-board audio here is driving me batty. Don't ever let a soul tell you on-board is just as good as a dedicated card. It's almost intolerable, in comparison. Gigabyte's solution is cleaner than Asus, but it's still got a hell of a time even leveling audio. Stop wasting space on the PCB for that crap and fit basic video processing for convenience.

Whatever. I can't wait to see if Evga hits this out of the park or fails miserably. That depends on whether or not those Audio Note cats actually know their stuff, or just like peddling Voodoo, because Evga typically turns out amazing gear with solid support.

I've got some concerns, but firing it up on my Klipsch multimedia speakers should tell me immediately if they've nailed it. I know what they should sound like, because I've been using these for twenty years; long enough to be able to use them for editing and hear what the flat track sounds like in my head.

If it's all good, I'll bring in the monitors and some of my synth tracks to really push it.

Cheers,

Kennith