My PC is pretty generic...no delidding...no overclocking.  I'll probably overclock my next PC.

First mistake ... after reading the manual on the motherboard ... the ASUS Power Supply Wattage Calculator ... said I needed an 850W PSU.

 

I can tell this full disclosure thing is going to get a bit embarrassing over time ... :blush:

 

C. T.

Ah ... good news ... this Extreme Power Supply Calculator ... which takes into account overclocking wattage (4.5GHz @ 1.25 Vcore) calculated 728W ... the original 760W PSU should work just fine ... can't add another video card though ... doubt I ever will want to either.

 

The plan is to put it all together without delidding ... just to make sure the CPU is not dead before I void the warranty and smoke test it at 4.4 to 4.5 GHz.  If it stays in the low 80s I'll leave well enough alone.  If it spikes into the 90's before the recommended 24 hour burn in period it'll be time to tear it apart and delid.

 

Update on Thursday.

OK ... warning taken ... I'll try it stock and see where I get ... if all else fails I can always take it out and do it if the temps go too high.

 

Not to mention ... I will have a chip that is still under warranty!

 

C. T.

 

Delidding (as well as overclocking) voids your warranty.

Delidding ... YES!

 

Overclocking ... NO!

 

I bought  a Performance Tuning Protection Plan for $25.00 from Intel ... well worth the money in my opinion.

 

C.T.

Delidding ... YES!

 

Overclocking ... NO!

 

I bought  a Performance Tuning Protection Plan for $25.00 from Intel ... well worth the money in my opinion.

 

C.T.

 

Here is my opinion!

 

1) No, you do not need to delid.  If you do, buy a cheaper CPU to experiment with.

2) Overclocking voids warranty.

2) No, you do not need to delid your CPU for what I believe you want to achieve (specifically for FSX). Take it like this: It will take 500+ MHz for an Ivy or Sandy Bridge to equal performance of a Haswell clock speed.

3) You are getting ripped off by buying that PSU. A FULL modular PSU by itself increases prices exponentially.  You don't need anything more than Gold and, judging by the set up you have put here, you will use all the cords provided by the PSU (minus 2 or 3 cords) and save $150 by doing so.  Don't get me wrong, I loved Full Modular too, and I didn't realize how many cords I used until my PC was completely built, but you will use a lot more cords than you realize - and it isn't worth the money you think you'll save).

4) I'm glad you decided to go with 8GB (and in your configuration would still go with the RAM I recommended in my earlier post - it's faster and you will never utilize more than 8)

5) If that 265GB SSD is purely for FSX than I think you have out-down yourself. A 128GB will be more than enough.

6) Unless you are using more than 1 monitor I don't believe you need more than GTX 770 for FSX,

7) Do not buy a Velociraptor as a primary hard drive - I do not believe they are worth the performance of money they will give you for the cost.  You can get a 1TB Western Digital for $75... it is perfectly fine for Windows, other games, etc... In my opinion, you either go HDD (for the normal Windows applications and games you honestly don't care about loading EXTREMELY quiclkly - and if you do - put them on the  SSD.

 

If you don't care about the money you are spending, than; if you decide to take these recommendations, for the amount of money you saved, than upgrade that GTX 770 to a 780.  Your CPU will already be a monster.

 

Just remember - future proofing on a PC doesn't exist.  It is all about what you want your PC to do for you.

Delidding ... YES!

 

Overclocking ... NO!

 

I bought  a Performance Tuning Protection Plan for $25.00 from Intel ... well worth the money in my opinion.

 

C.T.

 

Really? I was under the impression that you would be overclocking, but anyway.

 

If you're not overclocking, then there's not much point in delidding. Remember, delidding does void your warranty. If you happen to damage the CPU, then your money will go to waste. So if you don't plan to overclock, for your safety, you shouldn't delid.

 

Also, what does that protection plan do?

Would not recommend 5.0 GHz for Haswell. Requires 1.5 V core, 2 V input.

That great voltage efficiency only lasts to 4.6 GHz

4.9 GHz @ 1.44 V with classical watercooling no delidding necessary.

 

HLJAMES

Here is what the PTPP does (one time replacement):

 

The Plan will cover the processor running out of specifications for the remainder of the standard 3 year warranty.

 

As for the PSU ... there is a 15% restocking fee ... and an approx. $10 shipping fee ... that's roughly $30.00 to get a lower class CPU (albeit adding 100W to the mix) ... you are probably correct but it is what it is now.  The reason I went with the Platinum is Linus Sebastian's great overclocking video ... the cleaner the power the longer the life of the components ... now does it actually work that way ... probably ... but I really liked the concept and it was only a $60 gamble.  The last build I did was three years ago ... and I don't remember buying a super awesome power supply ... and that machine is still running strong.  As a matter of fact, it was running the NGX at 18 fps on flights from KFLL to KTPA.  Now it wasn't 100% smooth but 15 to 18 fps is not too shabby for a $1,200, three-year old build.  . 

 

Yes, with the PTPP I won't be delidding ... I'm going to first get everything tweaked as fast as possible at stock voltages and speeds ... and then use the OC Module that came with the EXTREME motherboard to bump the OC only when playing MSFX.  Then I'll start the process of slowly OCing to higher and higher speeds as I have time to properly overclock.  I'll go as high as I can with the OC and V until my monster aircooler just won't take "no mo".  I want to keep voltages in the low 80s to low low 90s ... wherever that ends up is where it ends up.    When I fry (if I ever do) this first chip, I'll wait for Intel to replace it ... at which time a new I7-4770K arrives and I'll play with it as I need to.

 

As for never utilizing more than 8GB ... you might be wrong there... but only in this special instance.  I'm ordering an additional 16GB of RAM to try and put as much FSX stuff on a RAM Drive ... I have never heard of anyone attempting this ... I'm interested to see if it will work.  It will impact the boot speed on every boot though ... depending upon how long that is (and whether or not it will even work) this may not be an option ... but for now it is a novel idea.

 

Continuing on with the memory and the 2400 speeds ... two sources of that information were NickN and Linus Sebastian.  Both seem to think that the 2400 memory speed, at the 4.2GHz overclock, can be completely utilized.  Once the OC heads into the stratosphere then the speeds of the memory start coming back down to the 1600 level (regardless of speed rating).  Now, am I, a novice, going to be able to see the difference between 1600 and 2400 memory speeds to such as an extent that it justifies the price?  I may or may not ... I just don't know, but I like the concept of matching fast RAM with a fast motherboard and I like the reputation on the sources offering the opinions (not that I don't respect yours ... you have been a wonderful participant in this thread ... and I thank you for that)  :wub: . 

 

The SSD and the Vrap ... I had to have 250GB because of all the software development I'll be doing on this machine ... I have to install Visual Studio 2012, SQL Server 2012, StrataFrame, DevExperience 13.1, Xamarin, Report Sharp Shooter for Win, IIS (for ASP.net and MVC web applications) ... and many other tools for my "real" job as this will not be just a flight simming machine (but, in fairness to you ... I didn't make that clear when I started this thread, sorry).  I keep the large databases and their log files on the Vrap.  It simulates the monster servers that my clients actually run their SQL Server databases on without actually buying the equipment (absolutely necessary ... nah ... but I'm writing the entire cost of the machine off ... I don't have to depreciate assets in an SCorp over the years of the asset's estimated service life ... I can depreciate the entire cost in the year in which it was bought).  Trust me ... I WISH I had a client that needed to process a TB of information ... if I did I wouldn't be trying to be as efficient as possible with my build!  And, I screwed up so much that I can't even claim this build is anywhere close to being efficient ... live and learn.

 

As for the GTX770 ... NickN says that this card is only really "necessary" if overclocking the CPU to more than 4.2GHz.  I think that even after 4.2GHz I cannot justify the extra $200 for something I only use 2 - 4 hours a week).  I was also thinking last night that the AIDA64 stress tests are a 100% max load 100% of the time ... if I only press the CPU to 4.2GHz + for 2 to 4 hours a week then I don't think this heat problem is going to hurt too much (unless it goes to 90C+ for even that short period of time).  As a side note, that CPPC build hit 90C after 15 minutes of Prime95 with water-cooling.  I just feel something was wrong there. 

 

I'm just not one of those guys who "flies" from KBOS to KSAN.  For me the fun is the T/O, landing and negotiating the STAR and SID with online ATC with complex and realistic models ... like the NGX, the Majestic Q400 and the soon to be born PMDG T7 ... then the PMDG 747 V2 ... if that ever sees the light of day.  I don't want to stay at cruise for any longer than it takes to go from KATL to KFLL and back.  The two airlines that I fly and record time with do not grant advancement on hours logged but rather complete flights made.  I get the same benefits from a 583 nm flight (the longest I ever want to fly) as I get for a flight from KJFK to  Accra Ghana (DGAA) ... a 10:42 minute flight ... why would anyone put their machine through that???

 

I want to thank everyone for their participation ... all of you (y'all here in the South) have made this thread very valuable to me.

 

C. T.

Hi everyone,

Just two quick questions?  For the guys or gals using a z87 Asus mother board has any one just used the AI suite + 4way optimization like Asus's JJ demos at this link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BoaAT5TkXc4 . If so, how is it working.

 

JJ does alot of helpful videos and I would like to also know the perfered Video card you are using in your systems as I'm going to order all my parts next week.  Thanks much.

This is very good info.  Thanks for sharing it.

Mr. Caveman:

 

NickN recommends that if you are OC'ing at speeds greater than 4.2 GHz then the NVidia GTX 780 is good ... if you are at 4.2 or lower ... then the GTX 770 is a good choice (saves $200 ... if you don't care about price or saving $200 ... go for the 780).  If price REALLY doesn't matter ... you need the TITAN  .

 

C. T.

Mr. Caveman:

 

That video you provided was excellent ... here is another for the ASUS MAXIMUS VI EXTREME ... my mobo.

 

C. T.

What does the Extreme have that is lacking in the Hero?  Thanks

 

Bruceb

Greg:

 

Your words were haunting me about the PSU ... but not for the reason you might expect ... I just started digging a little deeper into the Corsair and discovered that it has this "technology" that puts the PSU into "fanless mode".  This occurs if the system is not pulling a certain level of power ... or ... if the OS is earlier than Windows 7 (Vista) ... well, anyway ... this is what the guy posed on a review.

 

This got me to thinking ... what is the best PSU out there?  One name kept popping up ... Seasonic ... I first heard Linus Sebastian talk about it ... then I discovered this ... so the Corsair is being returned.

 

You are one handy guy to have around!

 

 

Other Thoughts: I was not going to post another word here; however, I have been confronted with NEW information about this power supply. I own a modest pc service and had a call from one of my customers who had purchased this very unit and wanted me to install it in his gaming pc, which I had previously built.

I installed it and it fired up w/o any issues at all and the PSU fan spinned as Windoze XP loaded for him. He has a clear side case, so it was easy to see the PSU fan spin at startup. What happened next stunned me as the PSU fan failed to spin again at all! The case temps rose to a point as to where his 120mm case fan began to spin faster attempting to keep up with the ax760i's extreme heat buildup. No matter how heavy a load I put on this PSU fan failed to spin. I began to wonder about my own pc.

Sure enough what I thought was the ax760i fan spinning turned out to be my case fan spinning frantically trying to keep up with this power supply's massive heat buildup. At this point I knew there a missing link of information to this, so I began to read all I could on Corsair's site and in Corsair's tech support forums too. After reading the link, "My Corsair PSU fan does not work" here are my findings:

The power supply fan speed is at default set in "fanless" mode", which means it spins at 100% until your OS loads then it stops and will not spin again until you reach a heavy load of approx. **70% load (532 watts.) If you do not have an extremely powerful pc that pulls at least approx. 532 watts to activate the PS fan, in "fanless" mode this translates into massive heat buildup inside your pc case! Your case fan will respond by spinning faster, but it will be unable to keep up with the extreme heat generated by the power supply itself. There are two other power supply fan speed settings called "quiet mode" and "cooling mode." In quiet mode the PSU fan runs at low rpms and in cooling mode fan speed and airflow is adjusted to maximize thermal performance. The fan itself is proprietary, so you must replace it with a Corsair fan or the PSU will only power up a few seconds then shutoff. Here is the CATCH 22 to this unit. IF YOUR OPERATING SYSTEM IS NOT COMPATIBLE WITH THE CORSAIR LINK SOFTWARE YOU CAN NOT ACCESS QUIET MODE OR COOLING MODE TO TAKE THE PSU OUT OF ITS DEFAULT SETTING OF FANLESS MODE!! **Corsair shame on you for not default setting the power supply fan speed to cooling mode!!

I advised my customer to return his ax760i since he is using Windoze XP and can not access the Link software. After discovering mine was the same way and it was my case fan spinning wildly attempting to exhaust massive heat generated by this PSU and not the power supply fan I removed it. Furthermore, I contacted a local pc shop who sells the AXI series and the owner informed me, "I have seen five returns all fan related." Why in the world, Corsair, did you default set the AXI series PSU's cooling fans to "fanless" mode instead of "cooling" mode?? Ticket # 6002806 unanswered!

 

To Bruce Bartlett:

 

Frankly, it is probably just as good ... however, the reason I wanted to get the Extreme is so that I could play around with the OC panel that comes with it.  At this point I'm getting pretty tired of second guessing myself ... which is good ... since by the time I get like this it means I'm just about done!

 

Some other things I discovered Spectre Pro LED fans from BitFenix have some really cool screwless mounting hardware and Noctura has some of the highest quality 120mm fans money can buy.