Following in the foot steps of CTBlankenship I thought I would start a show and tell thread on my Haswell build. There might be some unique aspects to it that folks might find interesting. I am following Nicks guide so I don't get any creditJ

 

It will be just a log of the build and photo's

 

So here it is:

FSX PC Build and setup Log:

 

The Goal:

 

To build a Haswell based FSX Air Cooled system and overclock it to 5ghz plus using natures freezer to address heat removal (system will live outdoors in the Great White North during winter)

 

 

Components:

 

• i7 4770k
• Asus Sabbertooth Z87 Bios version 1205
• Gigabyte GTX 780
• G.SKILL Trident X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 2400 (PC3 19200) Desktop Memory Model F3-2400C9D-8GTXD
• SAMSUNG 840 Pro Series MZ-7PD128BW 2.5" 128GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) For Windows 7 64 bit OS
• SAMSUNG 840 Pro Series MZ-7PD256BW 2.5" 256GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) For FSX plus Acceleration Pack
• SAMSUNG 840 Pro Series MZ-7PD256BW 2.5" 256GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) For XPX 64bit
• Seagate Barracuda ST2000DM001 2TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive For FSX data addons others that don't need to go in the FSX main folder.
• Seagate Barracuda ST2000DM001 2TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive For XPX Files and addons that don't need to go into main XPX folder.
• COOLER MASTER HAF X RC-942-KKN1 Black Steel/ Plastic ATX Full Tower Computer Case.
• Thermal Right Silver Arrow SB-E Extreme
• Silverstone Strider ST1000 1000W Modular Power Supply ATX 20/24PIN 135mm Fan High Efficiency Black

 

Additional cables, Fans, TIM etc not on list

 

 

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August 11th 2013

1. Build completed with exception of the Silver Arrow SB-E Extreme because it hasn't arrived yet. Installed Stock Intel CPU cooler in the mean time.

      Observations:

• Got the impression that the Sabertooth Z87 had been returned by a previous buyer and then shipped to me by Newegg.ca! Everything in the box was sealed in bags. The board was in a static bag but it had no seal on it. Main suspicion was that the top of the box was bulging a bit and it looked like everything was just thrown in there when opened. Also there was no seal on the box. Perhaps all of this is normal for Asus but I doubt it. It all looked new; no fingerprints CPU socket was covered. Checked pins with magnifying glass etc. My last MB was open box but I got it $100 less than retail. I called Newegg about it and they had no problem RMAing but that would take about 2 weeks at least so I left it alone. A bit ###### though! One the other hand love the whole Armour thing on this board! The board has a steel back plate and virtually the whole top is covered by a plastic mould that channels cool air supplied by 2 small fans to cool the hot parts of the board. It makes handling the board a breeze.
• The HAF-X case is huge and I am very happy with it but for one thing. The access hole for the back of the CPU socket on the MB does not line up with the access hole on the mounting plate! Therefore if you have an aftermarket CPU cooler with a back plate you have to install the CPU cooler before you install the Motherboard in the case! The whole point of having the access whole is so you can remove and install the CPU cooler without having to completely disassemble the system. Maybe not all Z87 MB's have the CPU socket in the same place. I don't know but be aware with Sabbertooth Z87 you will have this issue with this case. For me it is not quite a deal breaker but I will miss that feature when the Silver Arrow SB-E Extreme arrives. It will be virtually a complete disassemble to install it instead of just a matter of switching the coolers.
• Although there is a large fan at the top of case there is a space for a second one that is not included. So I will pick one up and install it.

 

 

 

August 12th 2013

 

1. Memtest86 V5 completed on both Sticks of Ram set to XMP profile. 6 Passes in about 2.5 hours each. CPU temp from 58c to 65c with Stock Intel cooler and TIM.

Observations:

• Modules where warm to the touch on completion of the test.
• Don't know how those CPU temps compare under these conditions. My thermostat showed 78F (Its hot here right now). Eventually the CPU will be undergo surgery to remove the Intel TIM between the die and heat spreader and replace it Coolaboratory Liquid Pro.

 

 

August 13th 2013

 

1. Installed Windows 7 Ultimate on Samsung Pro 840 128 GB. Used Diskpart to format the drive and disable BitLocker and VhD
2. Disabled UAC and Windows Defender.

      Observations:

• Windows Defender may already be disable on some fresh installations as was mine depending on how old the install disk. Mine disk is a very early disk and Windows Defender was already disabled when I checked but I went through the motions anyway to be sure.

 

 

1. Installed Drivers form the CD supplied with Mother Board. Chipset driver first followed by SATA driver and then the rest. Didn't install Intel RST for Samsung 840 Pro as per Samsung Instructions.

      observation:

• Screwed up here! Installed chipset driver without with using the GUI on the ASUS CD. Explored the CD to find the driver and used the setup.exe which was in fact the asussetup.exe file so no big deal. But got to wondering if I should have used the ASUS GUI on the disk to install correctly so proceeded to reinstall again. Got to thing about reinstalling without removing driver already installed. It all went downhill form there. decided to start again form windows reinstall. That started with a secure erase of the Samsung 840 Pro with Samsung Magician. That turned into a nightmare. Made bootable USB but could not booth form it! Made bootable DVD but the Samsung GUI was unreadable. Installed SSD in another computer to Secure erase in a windows environment but Magician could not find it. The system was probable IDE. Installed Windows on one of the HDD's in the new build and tried to secure erase the SSD in that windows environment. Samsung Magician found the SSD and started the Secure erase process but after all of that I got a error message. Gave up on secure erase and reinstalled window 7 Ultimate on the Samsung again using Diskpart formatting the disk. It would have been easier to do that in the first place but I didn't want to take any chances and I got bogged down. Also had to do no.2 above all over again. Whole day on project wasted. Not to self quite when tired!
• One other screw up. SATA drives should be installed after the chipset drivers. Samsung say not to install the Intel RST drivers but there is another SATA controller! I did not install the ASmedia drivers second but it seems that is OK.

 

1. Installed Nvidia drivers using the Gigabyte GUI form the CD supplied leaving out the unnecessary Stuff and then downloaded the latest driver and performed a clean install of the new drivers.

 

1. Updated DirectX

 

August 17th 2013

 

1. Silver Arrow SB-E Extreme arrives yesterday. Plan to make ideal over ambient temperature comparisons for Stock Intel and TIM vs. Silver Arrow SB-E Extreme with supplied TIM vs. with Coolaboratory Liquid Pro vs. CPU heat spreader mod. For stock Intel heat sink and TIM the BIOS shows the CPU temp after running for some time to be: 39C at an ambient temperature of 23C. For Silver Arrow SB-E Extreme and supplied TIM the Bios Shows the CPU temp to after Running for some time to be: 30C at an ambient temperature of 22C. I didn't try the Stock Intel cooler at 100% duty cycle but the Silver Arrow SB-E Extreme set to 100% duty cycle after some time gets the CPU temp in the bios to: 26C at an ambient temperature of 22C. The Silver Arrow SB-E Extreme fans are however very load at 100%. The noise however is not an issue because the System will be in a location remote from the gaming room and completely inaudible. Currently the 2 fans connected directly to the mother but I will try the Supplied Y-cable later to see if that will get a higher RPM.

Observations:

• As suspected it is in fact possible to the install the Silver Arrow SB-E Extreme on a Sabertooth Z87 even with tall Dram heat sinks. I reversed the flow and the second fan now on the opposite side from the DRAM slots. The fan touches the Motherboard armour but it fits!

 

 

 

August 19th 2013

 

1. Connected all SATA devices and used all 8 SATA ports on the MB. ASUS ships the Sabertooth Z87 with only 4 SATA cablesL
2. Formatted and Aligned SSD's to 1024k and HDD's to 64k
3. Installed the 3 Thermisters included with the Mother Board. One is outside the case to detect ambient temp. Not sure what to do with the other 2. Put both of them on the Silver Arrow SB-E Extreme for the time being.

Gallery:

 

Thanks Avidean!

 

A picture of my Haswell build.

 

De-lidded, but crappy 4770K. With expertise help from Nick N over at SimForums I managed to establish a clock at 4.5GHz with NB (uncore or cpu cache) frequency at 4.3Ghz.

 

My goal was to build a high performance, but still very silent system. The case i a silenced mid tower. Replaced all original fans with Noctua fans. The CM Seidon 120XL liquid cooler isn't very efficient, but small enough to fit in the case. The original radiator fans were very loud at high RPM and I replaced them with Noctua fans.

 

Dispate the small and silenced case (only 2 front fans and 1 rear fan) the temps are very low. At idle cpu temps is about 28C - 33C depending on ambient temps. Mobo temp at 27C - 30C. With OCCT Linpack (64Bits and AVX) the cpu temp is max 82C (ambient high summer temp at 28C here in Sweden).

 

The Asus GTX780 is very, very fast. The reference cooling fan is very silent. I've setup nvidiainspector and fsx.cfg following Nicks advice here http://www.simforums.com/forums/drivers-nv-inspector-fsxcfg-complete-guide_topic36586.html under the last section ADVANCED USE OF NVIDIA INSPECTOR AND THE FSX.CFG FILE

Very smooth and fluent flights in FSX.

 

A lot of disks in the case as you can see in the picture below. As I enjoy shooting a lot of pictures with my cameras, I need a lot of disk space. And a lot of space is also needed for backups. I have two SSD's, one for OS and one for FSX.

 

 

 

 

The liquid cooling sure helps to get a good airflow over the mobo.

 

 

 

 

Great looking System. Very similar looking to mine although we don't share any parts in common except the CPU and I suppose the Graphics card are all but Identical. I cant say anything yet about the quality of my 4770k since I am not there yet. Only thing I can say is with the Silver Arrow SB-E Extreme mounted with the supplied TIM and fans at 100% duty cycle the CPU temp in the BIOS is 26C at an ambient Temp of 22C. I really don't know if that is relivant but It looks promising to me before Coolaboratory Pro and deliding. Anyway its the load temps that really matter. You are quite a bit ahead of me so it is great to here your positive feedback about what I can expect. thanks

Avidean, 

 

Maybe you should consider modding the back CPU access port of your case. It's probably not mis-aligned by much. The judicious use of a dremel tool and cutting disc will make short work of enlarging the hole. You can acquire plastic liner to cover the exposed metal edge after you cut. There is a lot of info available on the net as to how to do this mod.

 

Of course, now you would have to dis-assemble everything to do that. You sure don't want metal cuttings in any of your components. 

 

It's a good looking rig. Keep us posted.

 

Thanks

The heat is on thing. Due to a very thick layer of TIM on some processors, heat is a problem.

 

The ability to OC the CPU is another thing. Some will easily OC to 4.5 with low voltages (http://forum.avsim.net/topic/416434-do-you-have-a-good-haswell-i7-4770k-how-to-tell/) while other processor won't reach even 4.5GHz due to over voltage. The difference between processors vary, as it usually does.

 

Here are some threads at SimForums where Nick is handing out advice on OC:ing:

 

http://www.simforums.com/forums/haswell-48ghz-on-air-building-a-haswell-system_topic46180.html

 

http://www.simforums.com/forums/haswell-build-questions_topic46392.html

 

http://www.simforums.com/forums/is-a-vcore-at-142v-safe-with-4770k_topic46761.html

 

This thread started out about 780 and Haswell, but contains a lot of discussions and info on OC:ing as well:

http://www.simforums.com/forums/gtx-780-settings-discussion-haswell-revealed_topic46112_page1.html

 

If your'e not an expert on OC:ing with the Asus Z87 booards: Do not use Adaptive or Offset mode when adding VCORE in BIOS. Use manual mode.

 

Allways stress test with OCCT CPU and OCCT Linpack (64Bits + AVX) for at least 1h. Watch out on the max VCORE and VCCSA (System Agent voltage). Info on safe settings in those threads at SimForums.

 

Very time consuming to find the highest possible CPU and NB clocks at the lowest voltages.

 

Do not ever perform system maintenance with your system OC:ed and not thoroughly stress tested. I personally always install software, windows updates using default clockspeeds. In this way I avoid having any trouble with corrupted system files. Saving your BIOS settings as profiles in the Asus BIOS makes it very easy to switch between an OC to a default none OC BIOS settings.

 

Good luck and many happy hours with FSX

 

 

Maybe you should consider modding the back CPU access port of your case. It's probably not mis-aligned by much.

 

Good idea and I have considered it but I will likely not need to remove the back plate again until the system is decommissioned in about 4 year :lol:

 

I did consider it but then I thought resale! I might change to Water if the CPU is a good one and my plan doesn't meet expectations which would require disassembly.

I would be nice to be able to switch coolers without removing the MB but its really only one step further.

 

Main reason for mentioning it is as a heads up to any thinking of buying the Case or the board. I don't know who is the culprit. But it is not a deal braker by any means. It a great case. Not as well built as the Lian-li I just retired but more versatile.

 

 

Good luck and many happy hours with FSX

 

Took note of that :smile:

Just started installation of FSX to D:/FSX which is on Samsung 840 Pro 256GB :biggrin:

FSX and FSX Acceleration Installed :lol: more to come. Might be boring until I get to the Clever stuff. Stay tuned!

Going to start installing addons so made clip for before and after comparison.

No overclocking and all. the slider are set to pre optimization values as indicated in Nicks guide. No windows optimization yet either. It is the smoothest I have seen a fresh FSX install run. Landing on 27L (guess) at CYVR in default 737-800 using an xBox controller :lol:

Well there is some stutters in the Video but it was as smooth as glass in FSX

http://youtu.be/qUu-je9PxfI

The build continues! Progress is slow but I promise this is going to get interesting. I have just finished the install of about 30 addon's and am about to embark on the install of about 10 to 15 no FSX related programs. All boring stuff but the sim room has been negociated. It sure cost a lot of cuddling and spooning and $100+ romantic dinners for 2 but I now own this room. it was used for storage and for the home network. But now its empty and mine.

Its a 5.5' x 6' paradice. I also picked up the last piece of hardware for the build. A 60" Plasma :LMAO:  :unsure:  :ph34r:

As a final thought on addon's Pre optimization I Added A2A C172 but no 777 yet

:biggrin:

Making progress! Nicks Bible complete. FSX optimization and overclocking next.
Also plan to move PC to Subzero environment in the next week or so.
Should be getting sub-zero temp in a month or so. Sim Room is all but complete.
Latest piece of hardware is 60" Samsung Plasma. :lol:

 

Here are some pics and Video

 

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Cool!

Cool!

Thanks, Glad you like it.

 

Here is the same Circuit in XPX. Granted there are not cool addon's here just the default 64bit XPX C17s at KHQM and I have to say that XPX runs great on this hardware but TrackIR is a nightmare and that's a deal breaker me. I would stick with this sim but for the fact that it is not TrackIR friendly. P3D V2 Will be taking its place on that SDD!

 

[/url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZX9AnHRmoa8&feature=youtu.be[/url]

 

What about those Donkeys running Across that Apron? :LMAO: