[Build Log] Oneminde's Mad Alien.

Hello and welcome to my build log, or project page. This is not the first nor last build log or PC build project page you've seen, but I hope I can add something of interest for them who want to follow me and my project. I am a simple swede with a mad plan - to build a super cold, super performance super cool computer. Over the top with those words (?), perhaps, but I believe I will achieve this by mid 2013.

I wanted a performance PC for quit some time and since I am now on a Pentium Dual-core E5200 2,5GHz, I can assure you that what I have is not enough, not nearly enough for what I want or for that matter, need. So I sat down and started to look at options and what I considered interesting, and also take into account a computer that can retain a high level of performance for 4-5 years. Maybe a longer time than most of you guy's set as a marker for how long a computer should last, but I believe that if you carefully plan what you want, such a computer will last a long time and of course, budget or spent $$$ on it will also dictate what you get. So I am aiming high - what I consider high in regards to a "normal" cost for an average home computer.

So, here is a list of what I am considering:

- Corsair Obsidian 800D

- ASUS RAMPAGE IV EXTREME X79 S-2011 E-ATX
- INTEL CORE I7 3970X 6 core 3.50GHZ 15MB S-2011 **(This will probably be replaced with 3980x)
- 3x ASUS GEFORCE GTX 670 TOP 2GB in a 3 way SLI ** This is now changing, look bellow
- Corsair Dominator Platinum: 64GB (8x8GB) 2133MHz Dual Channel DDR3 Memory (kit)
- Corsair AX 1200W PROFESSIONAL SERIES MODULAR PSU

- 4x SAMSUNG 830 SERIES 256GB SSD in RAID 0
- 2x WESTERN DIGITAL BLACK 3.5" 4TB 7200RPM - media storage
- 1x Seagate FreeAgent GoFlex 3TB - back up

Monitors:
- ASUS PB278Q - 27" (2560 x 1440) WQHD monitor
- BenQ G2220HDA - 21.5" (1920x1080)

Of course, this is just some of the hardware that I will incorporate. Motherboard, CPU, GPU and RAM will get liquid water cooling with a twist - I will get back to this at a later time - The target is -5 C - 10 C degree under load and over clocking. The 3970x should under these temperature ranges be able to run at 4.8-5GHZ without any problems, but as you probably understand, you need some serious cooling and normal water cooling cannot achieve this, hence the twist. This is something I am working on, updates will come later.

Regarding the case build, I am a fan of Murderbox, so prepare yourself for inspiration taken from this.

Here is a teaser picture to top everything off. Have a nice day



EDIT: I just checked some info regarding the Geforce GTX 690 and in OC mode aka. NVIDIA GPU Boost speed of 1155 MHZ and the performance is then greater than GTX 680 SLI


Edited by Oneminde - 11/12/12 at 12:05pm

Thnx, but it is just the beginning

Thanks for the advice - GTX 680 in SLI is under consideration and since this build will take a few months, things might happen with that card, like a TOP edition, so we'll see.

I did forget to mention that I am using Razer Scarab mouse mat and Logitect G9x gaming mouse and lovin it so that is a keeper setup. Regarding sound card, I will go for something semiprofessional like the M-Audio Fast Track Pro & Fostex PM0.4W active studio speakers, I think they will sound great.

EDIT; Looking at GTX 680 SLI, the GTX 690 is 2x 680 but on one card, and it uses roughly 100W less in power, that is a good attribute


Edited by Oneminde - 11/12/12 at 11:24am

Here is a list of company's I will use - enjoy

I will search this forum on GTX 680 OC and check if it is any good, if you know of something that is stable then do post a link.

I am heavily into the design aspects of the build and also checking the PSU to calculate the current needed for the cooling units I will use. A teaser for that one perhaps - the motherboard, ram and gpu will get a similar treatment, but there I will use a different approach and I've not seen my approach on other computers, so perhaps something new
http://www.digitalstormonline.com/cryo-tec.asp

Video Card / Graphics Card

1. It didn't take long before I stumbled upon a video card that might be exactly what I am looking for and since I am now a member of overclock.net, I guess it was bound to happen. First of all, I guess the reason for me being an ASUS "fan" is that they have a good reputation for producing quality products, but I also know that sticking to a brand isn't always what you should do, but rather look at the quality, what you get and what you pay for - so a few things to consider there

2. The other part of this is that I am building a computer that should perform for at least 4-5 years, and creating that time-line also demand some serious performance meaning it will be over the top for a portion of the time and even out later on. We can look at one video card or SLI and ofc SLI will be better or should I say more since you one are doubling the performance, and on top of that, if one are OC the card/cards then you definitely want quality. And last but not least one want the cards to run cool as heat is a killer for any components.

3. I found a "honest" article online after looking through this forum briefly for GTX 680 OC and found MSI GTX 680 Lightning
The first thing I noticed was the physical size. The ASUS card is a 3 slot card, meaning it is HUGE while the MIS retain a more sensible 2 slot size and I must say that if I can choose I will go for a 2 slot card. I also later on read what the card was capable of in terms of OC and since I am going for super cooling, I feel very comfortable already with OC these cards - and above everything ells, SLI with the MSI cards will outperform one GTX 690



- EDITED Article -

MSI’s Lightning series is well known and highly respected among enthusiast circles and it didn’t take long to port this design philosophy into GTX 680 form. The resulting GTX 680 Lightning is one of the market’s premier single GPU graphics cards and follows in the footsteps of its predecessors by promising extremely high overclocking limits.

While the race to produce the fastest Kepler-based card may be just starting to heat up, MSI is betting the GTX 680 Lightning will stand the test of time against the competition. It features exclusive technologies like Triple Over voltage, a Military Class component selection and one of the quietest high performance gaming experiences available. As you may expect, this kind of technology doesn’t come cheap and the Lightning edition just so happens to be one of the most expensive GTX 680s on the market at a staggering $599.

With a price that tacks an $80 premium onto EVGA’s SC+ and costs some $60 more than the excellent DirectCu II TOP, one would expect the Lightning to boast some of the highest clocks speeds round. That just isn’t the case. Instead, it has a base clock of 1111MHz while the Boost speeds regularly hit over 1200MHz so performance will be spectacular but MSI hasn’t been able to match ASUS’ achievements nor did they add to the reference memory clocks like EVGA did. This leaves us wondering if MSI is focusing on overclocking skills alone as reasoning enough to justify the Lightning’s high price tag.

The pricing for MSI’s latest Lightning may be extreme and its feature list is nearly endless but that’s not to say there haven’t been any teething pains along the way. Indeed, when we first started this review, the vast majority of Lightning-specific overclocking features were stillborn and just didn’t work as advertised. We’ll tell the whole story within this article’s overclocking section but for the time being, let’s just say that MSI’s AfterBurner software didn’t bypass the GTX 680-specific limitations it promised to overcome.

While we can rag on the Lightning’s price all day, there are some tangible benefits here as well. It comes with a three year warranty (which is longer than most people will keep a single card) and for us Canadians it also includes MSI’s exclusive Canada-based RMA service which has received accolades from our members.

Regardless of clock speeds and price, we have some high hopes for the newest member of MSI’s Lightning family. In the past, these cards have proven to be some of the best around and this one should continue that tradition.

Overclocking Results & MSI's AfterBurner

This section has been a long time in the making since we went on a rollercoaster ride of epic proportions while overclocking the Lightning. Let’s start things off by saying that while some cards offer a straightforward overclocking experience where you can drag a few application sliders and leave things be, this one rewards even the smallest change and features an almost infinite number of options for enterprising individuals. You’ll find yourself constantly striving to one-up your latest accomplishment and luckily, MSI’s flagship is more than willing to deliver.

Unfortunately, until recently we were singing a very different tune than what’s presented in this section. The reason for this is quite simple: MSI’s AfterBurner software just wasn’t up to the task of keeping up with the GTX 680 Lightning’s abilities or bypass the stringent limitations NVIDIA placed upon their Kepler architecture.

With AfterBurner 2.2.3 allowing for an almost infinite number of possibilities, we decided to test overclocking on MSI’s GTX 680 Lightning in two ways. The first will be with the default BIOS paired up with a 1.171V core voltage. The second attempt was with the LN2 BIOS enabled alongside a maxed out Power Limit and a core voltage of 1.325V. All voltages were confirmed with a multimeter rather than software. In both cases, the memory voltage was set to +100mV and the PLL bumped to +50mV. We also disabled the default fan speed profile and set it to 70% which is about as loud as any sane person could stand them. We believe overclocks will go MUCH higher on more exotic forms of cooling but unfortunately, that option wasn’t available to us.

Now, you may notice that the image of the AfterBurner with the LN2 BIOS enabled only shows a +100mV increase, or the same as the default BIOS. Essentially, there is still a 100mV increase (which is quite limiting for overclockers) but the LN2 BIOS has a higher starting load voltage to begin with, hence this is 100mV on top of a “default” voltage of 1.271V.

Anyways, on to the results:

Default BIOS @ 1.171V
Maximum Boost Clock Observed: 1374MHz
Memory Clock: 6.604GHz (QDR)

LN2 BIOS @ 1.325V
Maximum Boost Clock Observed: 1450MHz
Memory Clock: 6.788GHz (QDR)

The results we see above are certainly interesting since in its default configuration, our sample’s core wasn’t able to beat some GTX 680s we’ve tested in the past. 1.374GHz is still VERY impressive but the Lightning doesn’t really shine until switching over to the very capable LN2 BIOS. When that happens, the sky truly is the limit and our 1.45GHz plateau was reached simply because we set 1.325V as the absolute ceiling for our tests when using air cooling.

Memory overclocking was quite good as well with speeds in excess of 6.6GHz being achieved with a minimum of effort. Interestingly enough, the LN2 BIOS allowed these clocks to hit even higher levels, presumably due to the excess overhead granted to the onboard memory controllers.

As you can see, the end result of all this tweaking was some very, very impressive performance.

---- read the ful article here --> http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum/hardware-canucks-reviews/55902-msi-gtx-680-lightning-review.html

Best price on MSI = 4 599,- sek ($676,-)
Best price on ASUS = 4 490,- sek ($660)
Best price on GTX 690 = 7 508,- sek ($1104,-)

2 x MSI = 9198,- sek ($1352,-)

So yes, one pay a hell lot more for MSI GTX 680 SLI than you pay for a GTX 690, but here we must remember that what you could get is a graphics performance in the range of 2900 MHZ clock speed which is very fast and very impressive.

So with this in mind, time for a component update:

--- Update # 1 ----

- Corsair Obsidian 800D

- ASUS RAMPAGE IV EXTREME X79 S-2011 E-ATX
- INTEL CORE I7 3970X 6 core 3.50GHZ 15MB S-2011 **(This will probably be replaced with 3980x)
- 2x MSI GTX 680 Lightning
- Corsair Dominator Platinum: 64GB (8x8GB) 2133MHz Dual Channel DDR3 Memory (kit)
- Corsair AX 1200W PROFESSIONAL SERIES MODULAR PSU

- 4x SAMSUNG 830 SERIES 256GB SSD in RAID 0
- 2x WESTERN DIGITAL BLACK 3.5" 4TB 7200RPM - media storage
- 1x Seagate FreeAgent GoFlex 3TB - back up

Monitors:
- ASUS PB278Q - 27" (2560 x 1440) WQHD monitor
- BenQ G2220HDA - 21.5" (1920x1080)