OK, OK, so it never happened

So two YEARS ago I said I'd bought a new board, and was looking at memory and a CPU for it: http://www.gamersonlinux.com/forum/...3-2400-memory-for-sale-cheap.2068/#post-15698

BUT: the build never happened. I sold the board to a friend, and have been without a new computer since SOCKET 775!! [that is more than 8 years, when my QX9650 was the S775 king of the hill]

SO: Stand by. THE MONSTER IS COMING... [clue: all main parts are in possession. Psssssssst: second clue: board is this one: https://www.asus.com/Motherboards/ROG-MAXIMUS-XI-FORMULA/ are you feeling me yet?

SO: it's actually happening, perhaps the bestest, top of the linest, mostest spectacularest Thunderrd box of a lifetime!

Watch this page as it develops!!!! And consider, this might be the last [or second to last] build I ever make, so it's going to be damned good!

I mean, how long can I live?? Daniel, any opinions on this most serious of matters? lolz

Damn that looks deadly!!

How do you see cooling these days? When You say Monster I think overclocked. Is Intel still selling unlocked chips for an extra 20 bucks?

You will have Sooo many choices you have never seen before.!

Mostly well over my head. But I think you will have a blast with them":O}

It's been at lest three years, maybe 4 four since my build out, time enough for everything to have evolved

beyond all recondition.

My last build out was probably the most like my first time at bat. Nothing I knew really helped me all that much.Probably because I never really understood why What I did to achieve my past over clocks worked. I just leaned on my settings until I got what i wanted. But 4.8 gigs out of a 3.2 chip running full out at 100% and maintaining "relatively" safe temps, was worth the hundreds of hours I spent in blind experimentation looking for my sweet spot.

As the song goes
"your gonna have you some fun tonight!"
I look forward to enjoying your frustration , (but not in a mean way)
on the way to the conquest of a lifetime!! ":O}

P.S.

And yes the clock is ticking and the bird is forever on wing.
each moment is our last, is why we can never go back, the next moment is all we have left.

It is madness, but

"rejoice rejoice we have no choice!!"

I'm really looking forward to your adventure! ":O}

The damned thing has an EKWB waterblock built-in on the VRMs, so I plan a custom loop there. For the CPU, well, I'm going to keep that a secret for now, and reveal my intentions in good time...

This board is absolutely spectacular in its physical construction. It's heavy, with a thick, solid backplate to prevent it from warping. The aforementioned waterblock on the VRMs is a huge chunk of metal that accounts for some of the weight. The board is a watercooler's dream, with headers all over the place for the pump, the radiators, and etc. No more running jerry-rigged power to the esoteric extras!

I'm recycling my much-loved Thermaltake Armor+ case, and have disassembled it and sent the parts to an auto body shop to paint the inside of the case professionally. When that returns, I can start to reveal the other components...

[I have to keep you waiting, Dan ]

Waiting is the foundation of every successful endeavor.

So you've decide to go out in a blaze of glory and blinding speed. Well done my man!

Are you going to drag family members into your quest? seems like Daniel might have a few ideas, a fresh look with young eyes.

So let the world know your coming! Hot Rods need color like rubber needs the road!
I'm still running my Asus Sabertooth. I'm still delighted to be running my Sabertooth,
a rock at 4.8 and never a complaint. But it took me much longer, much, than it usually doe to get things to do right by me.":O}

Spent a bit more time looking at your board,,,I know your not the jealous type.":O}

I think I just might be the envious type LOL

You will for sure run out of SATA and USB inputs...right after hell freezes over.

I think I saw an input there for your next holiday vacation!

But why buy a motherboard you have to overclock? LOL LOL LOL!

How you feeling about video cards? You can get them now with a spare bed room and indoor toilets!!

Has Asus leaned any more over towards Linux users? I always thought they should give us a bit more the goodies they give MS. But then MS needs all the help they can get.

I always buy more ram than I need. I always think I use it later but never do. Just saying..":O}

Damn if your planed exploits haven't captured my imagination. Rock on Baby Rock on! ":O}

I got a better look at you board on Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/ROG-Maximus-...=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=B07HM3FRBL

It's a sealed board like the Sabertooth. I had concerns about how well they could cool it. But Asus knew what they were doing with it.

Ok, since you mentioned the RAM, I'll reveal the next part of the puzzle:

https://www.corsair.com/eu/en/Categories/Products/Memory/dominator-rgb-config/p/CMT32GX4M2C3200C16

I have always had faith in the Corsair memory, and I hope this proves to be as good as other memory I've used from them!

It's a 16x2 kit, so I can buy another kit if I wish to go to 64GB.

When is your box due home?

The painting will be done by Thursday. Last parts arrived this morning, with the exception of the 500GB M.2 SSD, which is back-ordered, so I'll have to wait for that.

I'll be revealing the CPU and cooling solutions next...care to take a guess?
[ Clue: it's a 9th gen CPU ]

Your starting to scare us now TR!
How many cores are we talking here... My reading on this was rather brief, but I'm pretty sure I saw 5.2 as the happy ending were looking for.

But as I don't know which chip,So how could I know!!?? Perhaps that was given as your MB limits, but I have never seen a board taking credit for the speed of the chip... Although perhaps mother boards should get the credit...

Oh no! Mystery has propagated confusion within me!!

to recognize a mystery is not to solve it!

This might be the time to grab your hammer and tongs and get her up and screaming for more speed!! ":O}

Visit the bathroom before you kick her over, I wouldn't want you to pee your pants!! A guy could get a shock!!

This ram your acquiring...it wouldn't be water cooled now would it? Or is it a fan that makes it look so "phat"?
(PHAT = Pretty hot and tempting.)

CPU is 8 core, 16 threads:
https://ark.intel.com/content/www/u...9900k-processor-16m-cache-up-to-5-00-ghz.html

Arriving in a wickedly crazy-looking package that you can see here:
https://www.invadeit.co.th/product/...k-processor-16m-cache-up-to-5-00-ghz-p040276/

CPU cooling solution is here:
https://www.corsair.com/us/en/Categories/Products/Liquid-Cooling/Hydro-Series™-H150i-PRO-RGB-360mm-Liquid-CPU-Cooler/p/CW-9060031-WW

After that, the VRM cooling will be a custom loop, via the native EKWB waterblock built onto the board.

I have to say, now that I've taken a closer look at this board, I do believe it is one of the best-looking, if not THE best-looking board ASUS has ever made. Powder black all over, mirror finish panels for the RGB image projection, and that massive waterblock make it a sight to see when it's in one's hands. A truly solid, well-built, and stunningly handsome bit of kit.

There's a good view of the lighting effects in the photo attached. You can see where the RGB lighting is: When the lighting isn't on, those panels are shiny mirror-finished panels.

Will pick up the case tomorrow, and get to work.

Update:

Did a dry run of the parts, assembled without the case, with the exception of the M.2 drive which I'm waiting for. Good news; everything booted right up, no issues. A little bit of a scare in the beginning, when it went into a boot loop for about 5 cycles, but I RTFM'd and discovered that it is normal: the board does some kind of memory 'learning' on the initial bootup, checking for compatibility and mapping the memory specs to the board's own internal system somehow.

I found out the BIOS version in this particular board is the second-oldest version in existence, so I figured out where to find the BIOS update utility in the UEFI, and got the job done, updating the BIOS version to the current version [there were about 10 versions released since the version this board had].

I'm currently taking a look at the UEFI, which is quite complex. There is a massive number of settings, and a long learning curve ahead

Anyhow, it all seems to work, so I'll begin to assemble it into the case tomorrow.

Once your up post pictures of your BIOS pages. I actually might be of some help to you.

And yeah! I tried to tell the world that BIOS settings have turned a corner and pretty much put everything in the users hands.

It took me ages to dope "Most things" out. Given your much greater knowledge base I think you'll be laughing and hugging your self in no time.

Go slow you only get to do this for the first time once.

I'm sitting here like a grinning like a fool thinking of the fun your going to have with this monster of a board.

Good news, the M.2 drive has arrived. I also bought some new case fans and all-black cabling.

The progress is slow, thinking about the cable management, and I have one bigger problem: the new radiator has no place to go except outside the case; I'm thinking that I have to fabricate some kind of bracket and mount it on top of the box. Problem is, the AIO CPU cooler has really short tubing on it, and the tubing can't be replaced/lengthened because it's a sealed unit. At first, I thought mounting it on top would look pretty shabby, but I have some ideas how to make it look interesting. I have to go visit my machinist after I think it through.

But thankfully, everything is working properly except for the custom loop, which I'm planning in my mind now.

Today, I'm going to clone the OS drive to the M.2 drive. I hear these things are scary fast, often with sub-15 second boot times. Let's see...

Your better off I think with the cooler out side the case.My Koolance sits on top of my case. Using just two tubes to pump water in and out of CPU, Case stays very clean. Could be a bit more quite in it's higher range of cooling, but stays within a reasonable sound range.

I agree, especially at this time of the year, when the ambient temps are around 37-41 nearly every day.

That's the single biggest overclocking advantage you guys have over me - it's just too damned hot here. I envy your spring and fall weather, although maybe not the winters, lolz

This may help you as it has helped me. I sit my box right under my Air-conditioner. This always gets me 20 degrees under ambient. So If i cool ambient to say 70 I can safely hit my mark.

What you should do is drill a couple of holes in your caravan, and feed the watercooling hoses through them, with the radiator outside. Then wait for the winter, and go for a world record.

I read a story by a guy in Finland who did this, and ran it year-round. In fact, he had to run it 24/7 because if he didn't, the weather was cold enough to actually freeze the coolant! But he got some amazing overclocked scores on a S775 board at the time, eclipsed only by others running liquid nitrogen...

I'd be dodging bullets if Patti even saw me with a drill in my hand!!

To be fair to Patti my projects haven't always turned out as they might have.

Booting an overclocked machine is no longer problem as you will boot to your chips base speed. You will only see your over clocked speed when you put your chip under pressure. FAH should do nicely! ":O}

I'm sure much has changed since the Z77. I'll be quite interested in what they went forward with and what they may have dropped.

This is going to be all the fun of a build out with none of the terrors for me.":O}
For you?

Well you did ask for this! LOL

The basics are real easy but not very satisfying But the fine tuning is perhaps more fun than it use to be.

So many choices so little time! ":O}.