My new Build Project, with

[Helios451]

This is the first post in a thread of a few weeks of me building a new rig, testing it, playing with some different RAM, overclocking the GPU for a bit of fun, setting up to dual boot with a Linux distro and finding the system sweet spot.

Processor AMD Ryzen 9 3900X
Motherboard Gigabyte X570 Auros Master
Cooler be quiet! Dark Rock 4 Pro
RAM 16GB Corsair Vengance LXP Black - 2x8Gb
Storage Samsung 970Evo Plus 1TB M.2 SSD Storage Drive
GPU Power Cooler Radeon RX5700
Case be quiet! White Pure Base 500
PSU Kolink Enclave 700W 80 Plus Gold Modular
Monitor Asus VG278Q 27" 1920x1080 TN FreeSync/G-Sync 144Hz 1ms Widescreen
Keyboard Xtrfy XG1-R-LED-UK Mechanical Keyboard
Mouse Asus TUF M5 Optical Mouse
Data sticks 2 x Kingston 64Gb Data Traveller
Thermal Paste Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut Thermal Paste 5.5g

I usually live in France and have been stuck here for obvious reasons. Back home I have my previous build, an i7 4790 which has a 250Gb M2, 250Gb SSD and two 2Tb WD HDDs. When I can return there I'll decide what to do with storage, but otherwise either turn that into a file server or NAS which .

One of the two Kingston Data Travellers is to hold the Windows files for install and the other the Linux distro (haven't decided which one yet - Manjaro, MXLinux, Linux Mint and Fedora are all interesting!), as I will be setting up the rig to dual boot.

So, here goes...!

[ik9000]

Righty I won't hijack but I'll do a sister thread. We have very similar machines, albeit my GPU is way worse, but let's see how the benchmarks stack between the two. (I'll do mine at the w/e as a few work deadlines atm)

Before you apply the kryonaut test on a piece of polished metal somewhere - anything, coke can, whatever. Ideally polished though. You're looking for any scratching and grains. Apply pressure - don't just wipe it. There were bad batches made in 2018 and noone knows if they're still out there. They can do some nasty damage to your CPU lid and cooler base.

edit see these: https://i.imgur.com/Tmr6NVv.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/k9j8p2m/Bad-Paste.jpg
https://by3302files.storage.live.com...673&height=897
(all links from a thread in OCUK forums spanning to 11 pages on this problem)

[Helios451]

Righty I won't hijack but I'll do a sister thread. We have very similar machines, albeit my GPU is way worse, but let's see how the benchmarks stack between the two. (I'll do mine at the w/e as a few work deadlines atm)

No problem - I look forwards to doing some comparisons - and hope the work deadlines aren't an issue in this nice weather!

Before you apply the kryonaut test on a piece of polished metal somewhere - anything, coke can, whatever. Ideally polished though. You're looking for any scratching and grains. Apply pressure - don't just wipe it. There were bad batches made in 2018 and noone knows if they're still out there. They can do some nasty damage to your CPU lid and cooler base.

Good advice, those pics look a little scary, the paste creating the problems it's there to solve. I wasn't aware of these issues, but I'm all about testing and treading carefully. A good excuse to have a coke!

[Helios451]

So, I ordered parts from Amazon and OverclockersUK (not from Scan, due to issues mentioned in the relevant 'Review my Build' thread).

My Amazon orders were as follows:

Processor
Motherboard
Cooler
RAM
Storage
Case

As you would expect, the first to arrive were the various Amazon orders, which consistently seem to exceed expectations. Naturally I had to visually inspect everything upon receipt, and the pictures of all that are below.

The one Amazon order still outstanding is the CPU, which came from Xstra Digital Storage B.V. in the Netherlands. It's not yet late as it's due by tomorrow, so no worries right now.

[MagicWok]

Awesome - looks like you're going to have a lot of fun assembling it. Jealous, as I've put my build on pause for a little while. Post plenty of pics

[Helios451]

Awesome - looks like you're going to have a lot of fun assembling it. Jealous, as I've put my build on pause for a little while. Post plenty of pics

Thanks!

Don't you worry, MagicWok, I'll be doing plenty of updates with pics - just got to slow down today as I have to take a cat to the vets!

[Helios451]

Today, the good news is the rest of the kit has arrived, but a little bit of bad news is that the CPU hasn't.

The supplier registered the package with DHL yesterday afternoon, but has yet to pass it in to them to deliver it - it has to be logged into the Eindhoven depot for transport on to the Cambridge depot. At least I'm a patient man!

So, firstly to talk a little about this delivery, which was from OverclockersUK.



1. The Powercolor Radeon RX5700

I've got this on the basis of cost effectiveness and performance. Essentially I don't think my eyes would allow me to notice the benefit of top frame rates and 4K/UHD that more expensive GPUs offer. That said, I do intend to sweat this card as I have been researching how to unlock it and also flashing it with the bios for the RX5700 XT. Apparently, for the cost of voiding the warranty, it's entirely possible to make this card run as well as the more expensive version.






2. Kolink Enclave 700W 80 Plus Gold Modular PSU

This is made by a Berlin based European company which has developed a Europe wide business selling trade and retail cases and PSUs. Their objective is high quality and competitive prices. This cost £75, so lets see if the quality component sings through!





3. Asus VG278Q 27" 1920x1080 TN Freesync 144Hz 1ms Monitor

The first choice monitor was out of stock everywhere and this was suggested - specs are good enough to make the most of the rest of the rig and it's a nice size. I can't road test until the rest is put together,
but I've got a HDMI cable running from my laptop to enjoy the size and colour!







I also received the keyboard and mouse - nothing too exciting, just a nice mechanical keyboard and a simple mouse



Finally, you'll notice an extra set of RAM in the first pic - more about that in my next post.

[Helios451]

Okay, today the RAM subject, but first clarification on the CPU.

I called the supplier direct, and the helpful and phlegmatic Dutchman Stefan said that my 'package' was showing on their own systems as dispatched, but was showing on their DHL portal as not received by them. He said that he would have to request an 'investigation' by DHL to find out what had gone wrong. A later telephone call confirmed that the package had gone missing and so a new CPU would need to be sent out - BUT - due to the CV19 lock-down and it's impact on their warehouse they would not be able to do that until June 16th - nearly four weeks from now! I was offered a full refund but passed that up on the basis that the price of the CPU has increased by 20% since I paid for it and availability is currently low across the board anyway - and the wait won't kill me!

Anyway, onto the RAM, which I had bought to match the 3200MHz key operating frequency of the CPU.

Essentially, when I originally ordered the RAM, despite the large amount of research I had undertaken, I had not fully grasped the relevance of things like Samsung B-Die and latency timings aspects relevant to Ryzen CPUs and overclocking. I bought Corsair Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4 3200 MHz RAM (CMK16GX4M2B3200C16) thinking these would be fine, but these are not Samsung B-die, most likely Micron chips, and not AMD 'optimised'.



So, having considered a number of threads here and videos on YouTube, I decided that I would buy some otherwise identical RAM, but 'AMD optimised', and use them to set up and benchmark my
rig. I'll then see if I can overclock that RAM to 3600MHz as that's the optimal limit at which the AMD system will run (above that and the 1:1 ratio of frequency between the memory and RAM breaks down, making the whole system less efficient).

I'll then put the original two sticks of RAM in and run the same benchmarks and try the same overclocking to see if I can determine any differences between the two.

The new sticks are the Corsair Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4 3200 MHz RAM, AMD Ryzen Optimised (CMK16GX4M2Z3200C16).

[Domestic_Ginger]

You can change the fclk AFAIK on 3000s. If you can find the chips limit you can then match it with your ram speed. I would set it to 1900 without changing anything else and see if its stable and then lower (or raise) in increments.

So in order fclk - best MHz with loose timings- tighten timings.

[ik9000]

bonus points for the use of "phlegmatic" in a legitimate post.

[Helios451]

You can change the fclk AFAIK on 3000s. If you can find the chips limit you can then match it with your ram speed. I would set it to 1900 without changing anything else and see if its stable and then lower (or raise) in increments.

So in order fclk - best MHz with loose timings- tighten timings.

I read a very interesting and useful Anandtech review of Corsair Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4 5000 MHz RAM using a Ryzen 3700X, which like my 3900X is a 3rd generation Zen Matisse CPU.

In summary, that said FCLK is Fabric Clock, UCLK is Unified Memory Controller Clock and MEMCLK is the RAM memory speed (for my sticks 1600Mhz). These three elements have always existed in the world of AMD CPUs, but prior to 3rd generation Zens FCLK and UCLK were always locked to MEMCLK.

In these Matisse CPUs FCLK can be set completely independently while UCLK must be in one of two ratios with MEMCLK, 1:1 or 1:2 (UCLK:MEMCLK). By default, though, all three are still synced together on a 1:1:1 basis, up to DDR4 3600MHz (1800MHz FCLK/UCLK/MEMCLK), so 3600MHz RAM fits this sweet spot without any adjustment.

Above 3600Mhz requires UCLK and MEMCLK to go into the 1:2 ratio and FCLK set to where it'll work. Interestingly, Anandtach could only get the 5000MHz Corsair RAM to get to it's stated speed with much tweaking and adjustment, which was as much to do with the AMD design as it was the strength of the memory controller on their test CPU.

[MagicWok]

The prime sweet spot AMD mentioned was 3733MHz from what I recall, but 3600 being more "affordable" and almost just as good.

It's likely been mentioned many times here I'm sure, but Buildzoid fawned over the 4400MHz Patriot Viper Steel's for AMD that clock down with super timings at 3733.

Anyway, good to you're getting more of your parts. Exciting

[Helios451]

As something to do before the CPU arrives, I tried something that the Gigabyte motherboard allows, which is to flash in an updated BIOS without the board having any other components installed. All it needs is the power via the 24 pin board plug and one of the two 8 pin CPU plugs.

I downloaded the relevant bios, converted it to the right file format, stored it on one of my new USB mem-sticks. Attached and switched on the PSU and stuck it in the relevant USB port on the back of the mobo. The 'Clear CMOS' button lit up, and what was supposed to happen then was, after pressing the 'flash the bios' button, that it and the Clear CMOS buttons would flash for a couple of minutes while the BIOS updated.




However, exactly nothing happened when I undertook the task. I tried again, with RAM in, with the GPU fitted, with a freshly downloaded BIOS update, and all gave the same result. Oh, I thought, what's not working - mobo or PSU?



The easiest to check was the PSU as I have a multi-meter. I just checked the voltages across the ground and power pins of the 24 pin power plug and found that only pin 2 was showing correctly at 3.3V and everything else was dead. Culprit found!

So, last night I sent a webform to OverclockersUK requesting the PSU be taken back and a credit note issued to put against the purchase of another PSU. As its a bank holiday weekend I don't expect a response for a couple of days yet.

In the meantime, I've been looking at what replacement I could get, and was quite shocked at how much stock levels have been eroded by our current lock-down circumstances - out of 179 modular PSUs listed by Overclockers UK, only 51 are in stock and most of what's left is 650W and below or 1000W and above.

Still I think I can use a 650W PSU for what I'm building and will wait to hear back from OCUK before I make my choice.

[MagicWok]

Yeah PSU availability and prices have been going up for a while now, it's getting a bit rough.

That sucks about the fault, but hey you identified it quickly

[Xlucine]

Still I think I can use a 650W PSU for what I'm building and will wait to hear back from OCUK before I make my choice.

450 W would run fine for a 3900X and 5700(or XT), bear in mind the hexus test platform has a 3950X:

https://hexus.net/tech/features/syst...est-platforms/

[MrJim]

That's power consumption whilst gaming though - I would expect the power consumption would be much higher if one were doing other workloads that might use AVX instructions, e.g rendering. I would expect 450W would be a bit close for my liking.