Sinning in luxury

[Skybird]

After I already had migrated all non-gaming activity to notebook and Linux longer time ago, my remainign W7-gaming rig
this year had reached a state where it needed to be replaced. I prepared this for severla months, by getting information,
and waiting for new hardware released. Yesterday was the day. The Black Force is upon me.





In the past twenty years, I always bought 1 or 2 generations behind the latest technical status, especially when replacing
the GPUs. You still get good bang for the buck, and save a lot of money. This time however I went "all in". I want to try out
VR, and if you want to avoid certain compromises that could seriously hamper the experience, you need a beefy platform.

And it cannot get any beefier currently in the segment of so-called enthusiasts' CPUs, than with this:

i7 8700K (6x3.7 MHz), Asus ROG Strix Z370-F, 16 GB RAM 3000, Asus Strix GTX-1080TI OC (388.31), SSD Samsung
960 Evo 250 GB, HD WD Black 2TB, PSU BeQuiet! Dark Power P11 750W, CPU fan Noctua NH-D 15S, monitor
1920x1080, Fanatec CSL Elite for PS4&PC, Fanatec CSP v3, Oculus Rift, CH Fightersick, CH ProThrottle, TrackIR 5.x

The thing is in idle and normal Windows activities and during setting up not noisier, even a bot more silent , than my
current system, i5/2500, GTX660. Considering that it has so much more power and speed and so many more ventilators,
that is remarkable, but I used stelathed components and chassis (BeQuiet! Silent Base 800 Black-Orange). Two rotors on
front, one on the rear. Options for having one more at the bottom beside the PSU, and two more in the roof, two more on
both sides. Lets see in how far I need that. With the GPU going on duty, its three rotors make themselves heard, but it is
acceotable, and I use headphones anyw ay. When messing with desktop things and Windows, these all come to a
standstill. The beatstcurrently defragmentates the HD, and I sit 6 meters away - and can almost not hear it.

I am still in the process of setting it up and tuning things, then comes games installation. Windows 10 Pro over here, and
yes, it is the expected enemy, and it is ugly as hell, but that was clear. I try my best to make Microsoft's life as miserable
as possible, with help of these three to-do-lists, amongst other inputs:

https://www.computerworld.com/articl...te.html#slide1

https://www.infoworld.com/article/31...s-10-less.html

https://www.computerworld.com/articl...10.html#slide1

Since this rig is only a game console and VR platform, not much of my privacy can be at risk anyway, as often said, I
strictly separate gaming and any other computer acitvity by using two physically unconnected systems.

I hope to have my first gaming experience later today, in the evening. VR hopefully tomorrow.

This was sinning in luxury, and not the cheapest. For once in a life...

My last system held together since late 2010. Lets see how far this one will carry me. More performance in coming
years I cannot expect to need, I wonder about the technical durability, however.

[Reece]

Just keep the temperature down as low as possible and should be ok, one of my machines had a water cooled system, it worked very well but bulky and costly. Do they still use them? Has anyone ever tried Peltier devices for cooling CPU's?
I hope you get a good run with this one too mate.

[Skybird]

A real good air cooler and any AIO design are not that much apart if efficiency, only that an air cooler is more silent. and if you think of it, an AIO or water cooler cool again ith air, in the end.

With serious maximum overclicking,m other rules may apply.

So far I find everything working very well. The GPU is hilariously silent even under load. The two beasts, CPU and GPU - are extremely beefy, my frames in games went up by factors between 2.5 and 3.5, the internal Assetto Corsa benchmark so a raise of 130% in total performance.

And today I had my coming out with VR. Wahn-sinn, einfach Wahnsinn! Racing is no more the same. Google Earth is no more the same. Diving is no more the same. Its madness.

The system maitnains stable and solid 90 fps with the Oculus, loike it shouzkld be on this headset. No matter what I threw at it so far, the GPU and fans stayed somewhat bored and kept a laid-back attitude.

i7 8700K and 1080TI-OC is a killer combo. And VR is Wahnsinn, simply Wahnsinn.

And no nausea, thanks to real frames=90, and some being-used to computer gaming.

I admit, Linux cannot keep up with this stuff so far.

[Reece]

Wow, that is great performance, now I'm jealous!!


I'm not talking to you anymore!!

[Skybird]

I tuned the fans a little bit, thy were in stealth mode, now I manually tuned them to reahc max at 50°. Thew result is stunning: No matter what I try and throw at the CPU, the temp does not get beyond 75° . For a CXPU of this type, that is a good ans safe value. You may get it coller with expensive and deliberate water collers, no AIOs though, but what for?

I fin summer room tempertaure is 5-7 degrees higher I can still undervolt and underclock a little bit. -0.025 V and -0.2 GHz should be safe to try and by what I read could give me another -5 to -10° in temps. I have more performance reserves than I can make use of.

The GPU - I have nothing to torment it with that brings its fans to leave the lower third of their operation range. Most of the time they are not even idle, but sit still. When a game is played, they operate in the lower third of their rpm.

Yesterday I did the Nordsschleife in VR - with 90 cars on track. LOL.

[Reece]

Yes I think your new machine will be more than adequate for years to come. The temperature range of the cpu, I assume you are talking degrees C, seems rather high, I run my old machine around 50C but as you say for CXPU that is low.
I'm from the old era working with mainframes that had to be kept around 25C so I try to keep the CPU and GPU temps as low as possible. What is the norm for a CXPU chip?

[Skybird]

I would agree - with lesser CPUs. I kept my older system cooler as well, but these i7s of Kaby Lake and Coffee Lake are known to be hot runners. I am surprised, tbh, that it gives me no greater problems and that I can get away with no dedicated massive water cooling (which would be much noisier).

Critical temperature is 100°C.

[Rockin Robbins]

Originally Posted by Skybird

The system maitnains stable and solid 90 fps with the Oculus, loike it shouzkld be on this headset. No matter what I threw at it so far, the GPU and fans stayed somewhat bored and kept a laid-back attitude.

i7 8700K and 1080TI-OC is a killer combo. And VR is Wahnsinn, simply Wahnsinn.

And no nausea, thanks to real frames=90, and some being-used to computer gaming.

I admit, Linux cannot keep up with this stuff so far.

Very nice. One good thing is that present generation equipment runs cooler than that of generations past because it's not just piling on more GHz to go faster.

Makes me wonder what my budget system will be like when I break down to buy the RAM. Only thing we will have in common will be a 1080TI video card, and that won't be in my initial recipe. It will come after I do some tuning and evaluation. 90 fps in Oculus is exemplary! Congrats on your success!

[Skybird]

I love it, and I boast with it at every opportunity. This VR stuff really has send me into orbit. Yesterday IL-2 Battle for Stalingrad, and I tought it hardly gets any better - and today Dirt Rally, which made it even better, the so far most intense experience and spectacular graphics. Rushing up Pike Peak, or the flying cars of Finland - its madness.

VR really is a game changer, imo. Not perfect, not wiothout compromises, but still: a game changer. The whole system was designed to support it as best as possible - and I made just correct decisions, it seems.

[Jimbuna]

^ That's great to know and possibly my next step forward with my new system