Zhivago's PC-2013 update


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This is a follow-up to the earlier thread...

 

And, once again, I'd like to say thank you to everyone who came along!

 

Ok, so, here are the parts I've ended up getting:

  • Case: Corsair Obsidian 800D;
  • PSU: Corsair AX860;
  • Mobo: ASUS Z87 EXPERT;
  • CPU: 4770K;
  • GPU: ASUS GTX770-DC2OC-2GD5;
  • RAM: 16GB Corsair Vengeance 2400Mhz (2x8);
  • HDD1 (OS): PCIe-SSD OCZ RevoDrive 3 X2 240GB;
  • HDD2 (archive): 2xWestern Digital Red 3TB (RAID 1);
  • CPU cooling: Noctua NH-U14S;

The rationale, the impressions, and the final words.

 

Mobo: In the beginning, I wanted a DELUXE/DUAL motherboard because it was fully-loaded. I've bought the EXPERT version because I've figured that the NFC express pod, which I had been hooked on before, is pretty much useless. It's being advertised as a cable-free device to quickly transfer, for example, the photos from your mobile to the PC. What they don't disclose is its speed. It's 424 kbit/s according to Wikipedia. Even Bluetooth is faster, so I'll just stick to USB in order to connect my phone to the PC when I need to.

 

When compared to the DELUXE/DUAL, the EXPERT lacks the following:

  • the second thunderbolt port;
  • two sata ports (8 vs 10 - this was the hardest choice);
  • nfc express (useless).

 

CPU cooling: I'm very impressed by Noctua! It's the best heat-sink. Period. Even the single radiator version, the one that I got, NH-U14S, is HUGE and I used to want the NH-D14 before - it would have been a total overkill. 

 

CPU: 4770K is a really hard-to-tame beast. To overclock it is truly a challenge. Ideally, I want 4800Mhz, but I haven't been able to reach this speed yet with the memory running at 2400Mhz simultaneously. So, I am currently sitting at a very cool and stable 4000Mhz rate with 2000Mhz RAM for 1:2 ratio.

 

GPU: The ASUS GTX770 is very silent...and uber fast for the single monitor setup!

 

PCIe-SSD: The RevoDrive is an amazing device!

 

zc23.jpg

 

 

And, finally, here comes the photo report!

 

2mdqo1e.jpg

 

The Fan!

 

93t1.jpg

 

6sdt89.jpg

 

e8u3.jpg

 

dn1x.jpg

 

2c75.jpg

 

The hidden wall of fame:

 

pwbk.jpg

 

n7j0.jpg

 

Cheers!

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The NH-U14S is an amazing cpu cooler indeed, it simply doesn't emit sound. :P Great choices on the parts  :)

 

I'm running my i5-4670k at 4000mhz as well, I'm just too lazy to try to do better, and this thing is just stupidly fast as is anyway.

 

Keep in mind that among all those sata ports only the first 6 run on the chipset, so for best latencies favor these over whatever extra ports are bundled with the motherboard.

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Noctua owns I love their quality I have the NH-D14 and its super quiet as well and the temperatures are awesome at 4.5GHz.

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The NH-U14S is an amazing cpu cooler indeed, it simply doesn't emit sound. :p Great choices on the parts  :)

 

Thank you, it wouldn't be possible without your input ;)

 

Overall, the system has turned out to be very silent. It's as quite as a laptop. Usually, I don't hear the PSU at all and when I push the system to full load, all the fans start, at the most, barely whispering :)

 

And i'm very impressed by how quite the WD Reds are! :woot:

 

 

I'm running my i5-4670k at 4000mhz as well, I'm just too lazy to try to do better, and this thing is just stupidly fast as is anyway.

 

 

Noctua owns I love their quality I have the NH-D14 and its super quiet as well and the temperatures are awesome at 4.5GHz.

 

yeah, my heart now melts when I hear Noctua :blush:

 

And I've already tried succefully revving the CPU upto 4.8Ghz too....no problemo with <1800Mhz RAM! :) It's when I OC both CPU and RAM higher than 4.4Ghz and 2.2Ghz at the same time that I start having issues.

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I'm curious how you're testing stability at 4.8 ghz and what sort of voltages you're running at.

The few videos of 4770ks going that fast are using pretty advanced water cooling configurations and hand-picked chips (ie: the Asus OC demonstration videos). It seems almost inconceivable that you'd get that sort of performance with a $70 air cooler.

I ask because I can throw the settings on mine to 5.0 GHz and reboot but if I try to do something demanding for any length of time (say run aida64, or transcode some video) the thing will either thermal throttle like crazy or lock up depending on how high voltage is.

If you're able to run something like handbrake to encode a movie at 4.8 GHz on pretty low-end (relative to the high-end enthusiasts) cooler then you've lucked out and won the silicon lottery. Congratulations!

 

Hey, dude!

 

I've had this system for less than a week. And I'm still excited about it like a little kid with a new toy :D So I haven't been able to perform brute stability tests at high speeds yet. And when I said it was stable at 4.8Ghz, it was purely subjective because I was able to boot to windows and to play SC2 for an hour :D The voltage was set to 1.35V at that time while the temps were below 80 degrees C under full load.

 

However, I've also considered writing a detailed review of my overclocking experience with the 4770K. So, stay tuned!

 

I'll probably use Prime95 for torture tests in the future :)

 

I think my 4770K is average. It's certainly not a stellar one. I've heard that if you could make a 4770K run at 4.5ghz with 1.2V than you are golden. My unit failed this test miserably :D and needed a higher voltage.

 

It seems almost inconceivable that you'd get that sort of performance with a $70 air cooler.

 

You underestimate Noctua, buddy :)  It's a giant radiator capable of absorbing crazy amounts of heat. It's the pinnacle of the German engineering thought!

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The CPU is rated lower than the drive!  :woot:  I think it's the first such a result for me. 

 

post-1520-0-14353200-1374684443.jpg

My old CPU (i7 860) was rated lower than the SSD, just like my new i5 4670 is also. Nice build! I would've gone for the i7 4770, but I didn't even use the i7 860 to its fullest potential. 

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