End of Year PC Build

Swords & Shields" by Varric Tethras😜

Higher FPS means less input lag. You need it for a lot of things like competitive gaming and racing sims.

I could tell you all about the benefits of having a high refresh rate monitor too, but it's not like it would convince anyone. In the end it's something that you need to see for yourself.

After having a couple 240hz and 144hz monitors, I can never go back to 60hz. At least not on PC.

Build started! Happened so far:

Due to time constrains I haven't documented as much as I'd like to, and I didn't take many pictures either. First I flashed the BIOS with the latest version. Then I serviced the loop, fitted everything inside the case and tested the loop. Everything worked fine. Installed Win11, no problems, but the memory was still @5400mhz. Luckily the G.Skill Trident Z5 Neo comes with a built-in Expo profile (6000MHz CL30-38-38-96); all you need to do, is enable the profile, and that's it. Easiest memory setup ever, can't recommend enough. Ran Memtest 10 times, no errors.

Installed drivers and benchmarking software and entered BIOS again. I didn't test the baseline, because we pretty much know at this point how a 7800X3D is going to perform. Just in case someone wonders, the 7800X3D will run at 85C on a full load, like when running Cinebench R23, regardless of the cooling capacity, unless you're sporting some sub ambient cooling, like a TEC plate.

So, in BIOS, OC -> Advanced config -> AMD OC -> PBO -> Curve Optimizer, and I set all cores to negative 20. Then I set the Platform Thermal Throttle Limit to 85C. Finally I set the PPT (Package Power Tracking, limits the socket power consumption) to 88W.

With these settings, the CPU boosted to 5.050GHz, while staying at 77C. Cinebench score was 18600, which is pretty normal for the 7800X3D. Going higher would require a MoBo with an external clock generator; check the video here: 5 Minute Overclock: Ryzen 7 7800X3D to 5403 MHz

My TimeSpy result was 22 000, which is okay-ish. The 4070 Ti Super really is a poor man's 4080; not bad, but not great either. Overclocking it did next to nothing, like Jay showed here: This is just pointless... But hey, my previous score was 8600, so there's that.

More to come, and I do have some pics to show you.

Yep the icons for cut/copy/paste are not working well here either, though I more use ctrl-c/v but still.
Remember to disable fast boot from power settings, some drivers dont like that and at least on my machine it added 1s to login and shutdown so its not THAT much faster

Disabled, thanks for the tip!

Here's one for ya:


I tested temperature and fan/pump speed correlation in BIOS. At a glance, it doesn't make much sense, but there is a reason I wanted to show this. The temps were pretty much flatlining throughout, but every time I ramped up the pump to 90%, the temperature went up a notch, and I think there's a reason.

I don't remember Youtubers talking much about the pump introducing heat into the loop. This is obvious when testing the loop: the reservoir feels warm to the touch, not much, maybe a few degrees over ambient, but the difference is there. And it makes sense, because the D5 pump is water cooled as well, bringing maximum of 30W of heat into the loop.

So I was at Bestbuy today lookin for some screen cleaner, and while I was wandering around I saw the new Logitech G503 X Plus HERO w/ 25,600 DPI.....They wanted 219.99 CAD for a frickin' Mouse! And I thought my G502 Hero was expensive at 79.99

Canada COmputers has a 12GB RTX 3080Ti from EVGA on Clearance for 968.00+ Tax......VERY TEMPTING!    Would it be worth the upgrade now, on my existing system and the money for Forbidden West and Ghost of Tsushima?   OR should I just wait till next year once Windows 10 is EOL and rebuild new?

Because once Windows 10 reaches EOL and is no longer supported, I plan to rebuild new anyways and switch over to either Windows 11 Pro or Windows 12 (if it is out).

Let's talk about my build, finally. Pictures are poor, sorry about that. So here you are:


Yes, that's a zip tie holding the optical drive; more about that later.

About Fractal Define 7 XL: It's a big case, sure. Is it big enough for water cooling? Yes, if you're not doing anything crazy, like a push-pull with a Alphacool Monsta. Do I still like the case? It's okay, but I won't buy another one, and hopefully I don't need to. It's not as good as the regular Define 7; it's heavier, and the metal isn't any stronger, so it can and will bend if you're not careful. I managed to bend the bottom, when I was installing the PSU and I needed to move the case a little. I was really baffled when I couldn't push the PSU in to the case. Of course it is easy to bend back, but that's not ideal.

Keen eyes will notice, that the optical drive bracket is actually from my Define 7. With the Define XL you get this bracket:

Why, oh why it isn't split in to two? Now it takes up valuable fan/radiator space. You can use the bracket from Define 7, but it'll require some bending. Would've been nice if they were interchangeable.

So why did I install another Alphacool 280? Just for the fun of it, I suppose. I had fittings from my previous build, and the rad wasn't too expensive. And if I feel even more frivolous, I can water cool my GPU in the future.

This will segue nicely to the EK Quantum Velocity 2. Uhm, I would not recommend it, simply because it's a pain to install, a very nasty experience indeed. The screws are pre-installed into the block, and they are reverse threaded with a torx 7 head, which is tiny. To make things worse, the screws are spring loaded and tend to get stuck from time to time. There's no telling when they bottom out, and you have to tighten them from the backside of the MoBo:

You can't really see anything from the other side either:


What I would recommend though, is the PSU, Seasonic Vertex PG-1200, very nice, quiet and well built. I tested the auto shutdown with no ventilation, and it worked just as promised. Also, a shout-out to the Asus anti-sag pencil thingy, it's simple and it works.

Finally we've got pictures of a new build.

It's refreshing to see actual PCs getting built instead of talking about building them.

One can change the position of the taskbar row to left as traditionally. I did