Upgrades

[wazzickle]

A token I bought at IEO prices (nahmii) has gone through the roof recently, so obviously, the first thing I'm looking to do is upgrade my system. PSU, case fans, and storage will all suffice for now.

The main upgrade I'm making all my other choices around will be the Raw S1. Fits my aesthetic perfectly, and as a gaming machine that sits behind my monitor, I'm not too bothered about acoustics.

It comes with a PCIE gen 4 riser, and my current 1070 will ultimately be replaced by whatever 3070 or similar (non FE - the blower style works badly in sandwich-layout cases) I can get my hands on.

However, with the recent 11th gen intel chips being badly reviewed, I'm thinking about going with the following combo:

i7 10700kf
Gigabyte Z490I Aorus

I.E. no PCIE gen 4 support; what I'm reading is that 30xx GPUs don't hit the gen 3 bottleneck, but M.2 SSDs do, so it's not that relevant to my system. Can anyone confirm this please?

My current cooling is a noctua tower-style blower and I'll be keeping that until I upgrade the case; at that point I'll be looking to get the Noctua NH-L12. Will this be enough to overclock a 10700kf?

When I upgrade the case I'll also need to upgrade my ram which is quite low frequency and not low-profile. The motherboard supports memory speed all the way up to 5000 MHz. Can anyone recommend a good LPX kit please?

Any other comments or queries on my upgrade path please?

[cptwhite_uk]

Have you considered the SSUPD Meshlicious? It's a collaboration between Ncase and Lian Li, which if you know your case manufacturers, should definitely get you interested. It's also going to be around $120 USD, whatever that converts too.

[wazzickle]

Have you considered the SSUPD Meshlicious? It's a collaboration between Ncase and Lian Li, which if you know your case manufacturers, should definitely get you interested. It's also going to be around $120 USD, whatever that converts too.

I have thanks - looks interesting and good and would probably be jointly my second choice with the Ghost S1. Quite a few contenders at the moment!

[cptwhite_uk]

I do love the look of the Raw S1, but aesthetics seem to have been prioritised over performance, and it's going to be around £300 ($299 according to Hardware Canucks' review). He was very luke warm towards it due to it's shortcomings, so I'd give pause for thought before you splash $300 on it!

[wazzickle]

Ah - hadn't seen that review, that puts things into a different light. Thanks, will keep on looking for a case. Any thoughts on the CPU + mobo combo?

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

The Intel 500 series motherboards work with the Intel CML CPUs. Also the H570 motherboards should in theory allow RAM tweaking with a Core i7 10700KF,but you can't overclock it. You did miss some recent deals on the Ryzen 7 5800X which were well under £400. For the money you are looking at spending a B550 and a Ryzen 7 5800X is an option IMHO.

However,have you considered getting an H570 mini-ITX motherboard,re-using your Core i5 10500 and running your RAM faster:
https://www.scan.co.uk/products/asro...2-gen2-mini-it

[wazzickle]

The Intel 500 series motherboards work with the Intel CML CPUs. Also the H570 motherboards should in theory allow RAM tweaking with a Core i7 10700KF,but you can't overclock it. You did miss some recent deals on the Ryzen 7 5800X which were well under £400. For the money you are looking at spending a B550 and a Ryzen 7 5800X is an option IMHO.

However,have you considered getting an H570 mini-ITX motherboard,re-using your Core i5 10500 and running your RAM faster:
https://www.scan.co.uk/products/asro...2-gen2-mini-it

I have not considered that option, thanks, I'll look at that.

Considering that my upgrades are not at all time-sensitive, and that they aren't bottlenecking my current play, what do you think about waiting to see what 12th gen intel can put out, or good deals on ryzen? I must admit that while I've built ryzen systems for friends, I've always gone intel for myself.

[CausingIt]

I've got a very similar pairing in my built. Got the i7-10700K with the Gigabyte Z490 Aorus Elite. Having some issues with RAM at the moment, but could be a RAM issue rather than a Mobo/CPU. Have got the CPU running at 5GHz, havn't really pushed it at all yet.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

I have not considered that option, thanks, I'll look at that.

Considering that my upgrades are not at all time-sensitive, and that they aren't bottlenecking my current play, what do you think about waiting to see what 12th gen intel can put out, or good deals on ryzen? I must admit that while I've built ryzen systems for friends, I've always gone intel for myself.

Alderlake and Zen3 will be better than what you have currently. AWD-IT for example does some decently priced bundles:
https://www.awd-it.co.uk/amd-ryzen-7...pu-bundle.html
https://www.awd-it.co.uk/amd-ryzen-9...pu-bundle.html
https://www.awd-it.co.uk/amd-ryzen-9...pu-bundle.html
https://www.awd-it.co.uk/amd-ryzen-9...pu-bundle.html

However,your Core i5 10500 has potential. For one its not only the fact you can run faster RAM,but also secondly with a better CPU cooler,you cap up the TDP limit,so the CPU will end up boosting much higher too.

[wazzickle]

Took the plunge and ordered me a Ghost S1 Mk2 - doesn't seem like PCI 3.0 will bottleneck any GPU I'm planning on getting anytime soon - and the Noctua NH-L12S from Scan which somehow arrived only 18 hours after ordering and today - i.e. on a sunday!

Also, as it's my birthday, I got me a Ducky Mecha Mini 60% keyboard which looks both sexy and exciting

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Took the plunge and ordered me a Ghost S1 Mk2 - doesn't seem like PCI 3.0 will bottleneck any GPU I'm planning on getting anytime soon - and the Noctua NH-L12S from Scan which somehow arrived only 18 hours after ordering and today - i.e. on a sunday!

Also, as it's my birthday, I got me a Ducky Mecha Mini 60% keyboard which looks both sexy and exciting

I assume you got the Ghost S1 Edition of that Noctua cooler? I have the NH-L12S myself,and at 70MM it needs to be bodged into a Ghost S1 apparently - the Ghost S1 Edition is a few mm lower so can fit fine.

[wazzickle]

I assume you got the Ghost S1 Edition of that Noctua cooler? I have the NH-L12S myself,and at 70MM it needs to be bodged into a Ghost S1 apparently - the Ghost S1 Edition is a few mm lower so can fit fine.

Nah - what sort of bodge are you talking? As long as I don't have to bodge wam the RAM in

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Nah - what sort of bodge are you talking? As long as I don't have to bodge wam the RAM in

Last time I checked the Ghost S1 has a maximum cooler height of 66MM,and the Noctua NH-L12S is 70MM high. Hence you need to bend the heatpipes a bit:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6HlKnN3koVg

The Noctua NH-L12 Ghost S1 Edition is 66MM tall:
https://noctua.at/en/nh-l12-ghost-s1-edition

It has more in common with the earlier Noctua NH-L12:
https://noctua.at/en/nh-l12

[wazzickle]

Thanks a lot.

No stranger to bending heatpipes with my HTPC silent builds! Didn't realize I'd have to bodge and I'm no expert modder but I'm getting more comfortable with a 'what works' philosophy.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Thanks a lot.

No stranger to bending heatpipes with my HTPC silent builds! Didn't realize I'd have to bodge and I'm no expert modder but I'm getting more comfortable with a 'what works' philosophy.

I have been primarily using Shuttle form factor or mini-ITX systems from 2005,and there is always some bodging involved!

Having said that I managed to pick up a 5 litre Velka 5,so had to use a 47mm Alpenföhn Black Ridge with my Core i5 10400F,and with a few tweaks in the BIOS it seems to be fine. The Noctua NH-L12S should work well with a Core i5 10500 - it works fine with Ryzen 7 3700X,and the Ryzen 7 CPUs do tend to run hotter(due to the way the chiplets are arranged). I would expect the Core i5 to present a more even thermal load.

[wazzickle]

I have been primarily using Shuttle form factor or mini-ITX systems from 2005,and there is always some bodging involved!

Having said that I managed to pick up a 5 litre Velka 5,so had to use a 47mm Alpenföhn Black Ridge with my Core i5 10400F,and with a few tweaks in the BIOS it seems to be fine. The Noctua NH-L12S should work well with a Core i5 10500 - it works fine with Ryzen 7 3700X,and the Ryzen 7 CPUs do tend to run hotter(due to the way the chiplets are arranged). I would expect the Core i5 to present a more even thermal load.

Where did you get the Velka from?

I'm not really clear on why so many people still go with ATX these days given where ITX is, the market share does seem to be increasing though