Hi all,

I have finally built my new sim machine with the specs as follows - please note that the GTX 780 Ti will be replaced with a GTX 1080 Ti very shortly when the custom boards come out:

• i7-7700k CPU - over clocked currently to 5.0Ghz
• Asus Maximus IX Code motherboard
• 32GB G.Skill Trident Z - 3,200Mhz RAM
• Corsair H115i AIO Liquid Cooler
• Corsair HX1000i PSU
• Samsung Evo 960 NVME Drive (Windows/OS) 500GB
• Samsung Evo 850 SSD (Prepar3D only drive) 1TB
• Samsung Evo 840 SSD (maybe a sim spill over drive - from my old system) 500 GB
• Seagate Barracuda 4TB 7,200 RPM HDD (for games, videos, photos etc)
• Corsair 740 Air Case
• A range of Noctua Case silent fans 
• NZXT Internal USB hub - had to get this as the motherboard only has 1 USB 2 header and for my PSU and AIO Cooler I needed 2

For my CPU, I bought it from SiliconLottery.com - I went for a binned 5.1Ghz chip and had them delid it also. This means that it was stressed tested for an hour at 5.1Ghz and proved stable.

I am currently starting to run initial tests. I used Asus 5 Way Optimization this morning and it ran through tests successfully on all cores up to 5.1Ghz for a 2 minute test (thanks Martin for the 15s tip). It completed a 5.2Ghz test on 2 cores but not on all 4.

I ran a RealBench stress test just now for an initial 30 mins - I thought 5WO had set the clock speed to 5.1Ghz but in HWMonitor it suggested it was maxed at 5Ghz - see the following screenshot:

Suffice to say I'm very pleased with the thermal results - max temps of 66 with it staying mainly in the late 50's Celsius. Also love the fan speeds - it's running near silent with low RPM. Voltage seemed to stay around 1.375v for the vast majority of the stress test.

Here are the RealBench benchmark results:

Image Editing: 242551
Time: 20.977

Encoding: 190654
Time: 50.29

OpenCL: 54098
KSamples/sec:  1206

Heavy Multitasking: 192656
Time: 50.764

System Score: 159170

Looks like I have the highest 780 Ti/7700k combination results! Albeit there are not many people paring these together right now!

I'm not sure about how to go forward - I have so far used the "Auto" settings for over clocking that Asus has recommended.

I'd like to do some longer testing at the slightly higher 5.1Ghz but other than just changing the multiplier in the BIOS I'm not too sure what else to change - should I leave the voltage on auto first or try some set voltages e.g. 1.35v or 1.375v? Manual over clocking is a bit new to me and there are a LOT of options in the BIOS that can be tweaked.

Ideally I'd like to set up a couple of profiles - Standard (4.2-4.5Ghz base clocks), Overclocked (5.0Ghz clock) and Maxed (5.1Ghz clock - for pushing my sim when I need to).

Any thoughts appreciated and comments on getting things set up.

James

Slight update - I was misreading the VID and VCore values - when set to Auto in BIOS I don't like the voltages running up around 1.4v.

I just did a stress test at 5.1 Ghz only for 15 minutes but it went fine - temps maxed at 68 Celsius but the VCore was high sometimes going above 1.4v. I want to do something about the voltages though. Should I change it to manual and start at 1.35v and go from there? Do I go lower if it's stable?

I did do 5WO but it didn't really make much of difference compared to the 5 Ghz OC profile already in the BIOS (it put Core 0 and Core 1 at 51 multipliers and Core 2 and Core 3 at 50). As I am not too sure what I am doing here and need some time to read up properly, I will stick to the 5 Ghz OC and try and get a lower voltage to start with.

 

So refreshing to read a good DIY post.

With o/c your main concerns with the cpu, beyond stabilty, are voltage and heat.

For some odd reason auto o/c seems to flirt with high voltages.  My gigabit does this too.  So, yes, I would experiment with setting lower voltages.

Go for manual voltage and LCC 5-6 start  1.35v @5.0ghz as you have a binned cpu something down to 1.3v is ok , i run 5.1 rog realbench stress at 1.32v with a qute good cpu not delidded yet and my best delidded 5.1ghz 1.27v

47 minutes ago, JamesHongKong said:

Slight update - I was misreading the VID and VCore values - when set to Auto in BIOS I don't like the voltages running up around 1.4v.

I just did a stress test at 5.1 Ghz only for 15 minutes but it went fine - temps maxed at 68 Celsius but the VCore was high sometimes going above 1.4v. I want to do something about the voltages though. Should I change it to manual and start at 1.35v and go from there? Do I go lower if it's stable?

I did do 5WO but it didn't really make much of difference compared to the 5 Ghz OC profile already in the BIOS (it put Core 0 and Core 1 at 51 multipliers and Core 2 and Core 3 at 50). As I am not too sure what I am doing here and need some time to read up properly, I will stick to the 5 Ghz OC and try and get a lower voltage to start with.

 

 

1.4 isn't dangerous to be honest James. Skylake max recommended by Asus and Intel was 1.45. I would imagine Kaby Lake is the same.  Your temps are amazing and your volts are under 1.45,  but of course,  fine tuning your voltages is always a good idea. If you do, don't forget to add a little extra voltage to the stable voltage as a safety margin. 

If 5WO set a different  frequency for each core, then you must have selected "per core". I always select "all cores" so that frequency is the same on all cores. I also select TPU 1 in 5WO rather than TPU2, so that it overclocks multiplier but not BCLK.

Fine tuning your CPU voltage is easy enough.  You could reduce voltage in small increments and then run a 15 minute RealBench stress test between each adjustment. When you get to the minimum voltage, add a little extra voltage as a margin, and then run RealBench for between 1 and 2 hours.

As for 5WO adding more voltage than required: With my previous BIOS, it added "slightly" more voltage. With the latest BIOS for my board it matched my manual overclock exactly! 

Install the latest BIOS if you haven't already. So many changes with new platforms it would be inadvisable not to.

 

26 minutes ago, Boomer said:

 

For some odd reason auto o/c seems to flirt with high voltages.  My gigabit does this too.  So, yes, I would experiment with setting lower voltages.

 

Depends what sort of auto overclock it is. If It's a one click, one size fits all overclock it will by necessity, as it has to accommodate chips that require high voltage. Auto overclock that also run stress tests sometimes add a little more, but as I said previously, Asus 5WO is doing a great job on my system. So much so that I left it in place rather than my manual overclock.

The other question worth asking is that if an auto overclock has added a little more voltage than we would manually, who is right? Could be that the board manufactures are wiser than we are.

22 hours ago, westman said:

Go for manual voltage and LCC 5-6 start  1.35v @5.0ghz as you have a binned cpu something down to 1.3v is ok

Thank you for the advice - can I please double check what the "LCC 5-6 start" means? Apologies for not knowing!

22 hours ago, martin-w said:

If 5WO set a different  frequency for each core, then you must have selected "per core". I always select "all cores" so that frequency is the same on all cores. I also select TPU 1 in 5WO

Thanks Martin - I probably did this, you are correct. 5WO made a lot of changes to the settings and not being too sure what they were, I reverted back to a simpler over clocking profile. That said I may play with it again tomorrow and have a look. You're right about the temps - they're really good. Pushing it at 5.1Ghz with a pretty high voltage got me to a max of 69 Celsius. Coming from my 3930k which was AIO liquid cooled but ran at 80+ Celsius at 4.3Ghz I'm very pleased. 

I will experiment further tomorrow when I have more time. 

On a slight aside, I'm just looking at space for my future GTX 1080 Ti - the case is a bit shorter (back to front) than a normal mid tower and with the radiator and fans placed in the front, I'm a bit worried about space. I have just measured my GTX 780 Ti and it's about 28cm long - I'd say there is about 2-3cm room at the end before the fans. Are the card measurements on manufacturer sites just measuring the PCB or do they include the mounting bracket length too? 

Also, if anyone hears/sees the custom 1080 Ti's coming up for sale/pre-order (ideally in the US where I can get things shipped) then let me know. I understand EVGA pre-orders start today (28th) around 9am PST so I'll wait up for that. EVGA would be my preferences but I also like the MSI (colours and size match my set up I think).

For anyone interested, here's a pic of the finished build (minus the 1080 Ti of course) - I'm quite proud of the look, especially my cable management and with it being my first ever build. Please also ignore the beige/brown Noctua clashing - their silence makes up for their aesthetics - who knows? Maybe when I get to Iceland in May I'll spray them to match up! 

One final thing - no sim installed yet. I'm waiting for the 1080 Ti and to be honest, P3D v4 (even if it's a few months off) - I'm going to get limited flying time before June anyway with my move. Once I have a sim installed though I'll run some tests and report back too.

Quote

Thank you for the advice - can I please double check what the "LCC 5-6 start" means? Apologies for not knowing!

 

I think Hasse may have meant LLC, as in Load Line Calibration.

Quote

 card measurements on manufacturer sites just measuring the PCB or do they include the mounting bracket length too? 

This guy...

http://www.evga.com/products/product.aspx?pn=11G-P4-6393-KR

Is...

Height: 4.376in - 111.15mm

Length: 10.5in - 266.7mm

I would imagine that's the total length, bracket too.

38 minutes ago, martin-w said:

Height: 4.376in - 111.15mm

Length: 10.5in - 266.7mm

Thanks Martin - that's the choice! Not sure the FTW is worth the extra money. EVGA also happen to be making the shortest of the custom cards it seems. The ASUS one is massive.

Well after waiting until 1am here for EVGA to open pre-orders, I successfully managed to get to checkout...only to find that they wouldn't accept a non-US credit card! Such a pain, as I even have a US address I use regularly for shipping to me in Hong Kong. This morning HK time they had all sold out pretty much.

Europe has some left for pre-order but unfortunately I'm a bit scuppered with options there. So getting hold of the GTX 1080 Ti that I want before I leave here in May is looking decidedly unlikely.

Guess I'll have to be satisfied with the fastest 7700k/780Ti combo machine for a while longer!

Quote

they wouldn't accept a non-US credit card! 

 

What the hell! What in gods name is that all about? 

17 hours ago, martin-w said:

 

What the hell! What in gods name is that all about? 

Haha, I'm sensing slight sarcasm there? On a serious note this has perhaps been only the 2nd time I have experienced this in the last 9 years of living in Hong Kong so I'm not quite sure why they do it - that said, a computer shop in Hong Kong thinks that it is getting stock of some of the other custom boards this weekend so I may pop in there - I'm not too fussed about it being an EVGA to be honest.

Well, I'm in luck - somehow my computer guy here in Hong Kong, who is usually a good 2 months behind the rest of the world, has one of these set aside for me tomorrow: http://www.aorus.com/product-detail.php?p=169&t=17&t2=&t3=

Happy days and he's not going to scalp me on price either! From the back of the case mount point to the fans on the radiator I have about 31.5cm - the card is 29.3cm. It's going to be tight.

9 hours ago, JamesHongKong said:

Haha, I'm sensing slight sarcasm there? On a serious note this has perhaps been only the 2nd time I have experienced this in the last 9 years of living in Hong Kong so I'm not quite sure why they do it - that said, a computer shop in Hong Kong thinks that it is getting stock of some of the other custom boards this weekend so I may pop in there - I'm not too fussed about it being an EVGA to be honest.

 

Well no James, not sarcasm, I meant it. I'm sure there's a reason, but I can't grasp why. 

7 hours ago, JamesHongKong said:

Well, I'm in luck - somehow my computer guy here in Hong Kong, who is usually a good 2 months behind the rest of the world, has one of these set aside for me tomorrow: http://www.aorus.com/product-detail.php?p=169&t=17&t2=&t3=

Happy days and he's not going to scalp me on price either! From the back of the case mount point to the fans on the radiator I have about 31.5cm - the card is 29.3cm. It's going to be tight.

 

Not sure about Aorus, what's the quality like?