My dual xeon mainboard (2011 v2) died. The bios chip is toast and I haven't been able to find a replacement for 2 weeks. I decided the right thing to do is to blow up a credit card.

Ryzen 5950x, asus pro art x570, 64gb 3600 ram, corsair 1200hx, new gen4 nvme drive, k95 keyboard, Liqmatrix's wireless mouse (its a logitech master) and the Corsair d5000 case arrived yesterday. The video card is a 6900xt that I got for Christmas.

All told, i'm out $5000. Half of which was the video card. But it mines Etherium @ 60 Mhash, so I got that going for me. I wasn't planning on replacing my case, but the AIO cooler for the 6900xt doesnt work in my current case, so that was an extra $250. 😜 The only used part is the 4-drive nvme raid card I was using for games. NVME drive are NUCKING FUTS in speed!

Wow, enjoy!

But I think you're gonna need to double up the clocks on the video card, my back of the envelope reckonings say it's only earning you half the minimum payment 🤣

Nice build! I miss my 6900xt - I exchanged it for a Galax 3090 SG purely for doubling up on hash rate and it wasn’t much more back then.

I keep an eye on the ProArt range cos of their bang for the buck compared to EIZO / NEC and am curious how they are in terms of colour accuracy and uniformity. I once cheaped out and got a BenQ SW2700PT that was so embarrassingly bad in terms of uniformity despite the rave reviews, bundled extras (monitor hood included, side eye at you EIZO / NEC!) and price that the retailer simply shrugged, laughed and welcomed it back with open arms for the return.

For my money the stock 3080/3090 FE coolers are on par with AMD’s 6900xt cooler in terms of design aesthetic. Though there is a desire to push the MSRP as high as it’ll go, they are making some real strides keeping these beasts cool and (relatively) quiet.

All the searches online show ~60mhash. I swapped to the overclocked bios setting (2600mhz boost) it hits 65 ish. thanks to the winter cold, the die temp is only 48C. ^.^ My goal isnt to "make money" just to keep my house warm. Thanks to solar, I have effectively free power. I just play games on this machine right now, I'm not going to devote any time to fine tuning it for mining.

@pixelatedscraps

I didnt get the pro art display, but the x570 motherboard. I wanted 10gb Ethernet onboard and I really dont care for the RGB bullshit. It also was quite a bit cheaper than the other brands. My monitor is a cheap MSI 32" @ 4K. I got it before covid.

ODwilly wrote on 2022-01-31, 23:06:

Ah man I didn't see this and already decommissioned it, the GPU and single case fans had to work so hard to keep the GPU at 80c I lasted one night of using it. Dont worry the Dimension will get it's own build at some point soon. Iv got a Aptiva SS7 board that needs a home 😉

I've tried something similar with a NetVista case, Athlon II X4 640 & HD4850 and trying to get air flow inside the case to keep the GPU and CPU cool was impossible. After a few nights of trying I downgraded it to an Athlon64 X2 3600+ & HD5750 - that is more manageable and does not sound like a jet turbine. But if I ever grow tired of this I'll also throw in a mATX SS7 motherboard and call it a day 🤣.

luckybob wrote on 2022-02-01, 04:45:

All the searches online show ~60mhash. I swapped to the overclocked bios setting (2600mhz boost) it hits 65 ish. thanks to the winter cold, the die temp is only 48C. ^.^ My goal isnt to "make money" just to keep my house warm. Thanks to solar, I have effectively free power. I just play games on this machine right now, I'm not going to devote any time to fine tuning it for mining.

@pixelatedscraps

I didnt get the pro art display, but the x570 motherboard. I wanted 10gb Ethernet onboard and I really dont care for the RGB bullshit. It also was quite a bit cheaper than the other brands. My monitor is a cheap MSI 32" @ 4K. I got it before covid.

It’s pretty much the ceiling for the 6-series AMD cards this time round. I get 50MH/s from a 5700 flashed to an XT bios and believe if memory serves, only about 63-65MH/s with the 6900xt. The 3090s if tuned well can hit 125-128MH/s.

My bad about the ProArt, I didn’t realize they had that line for MBs as well as monitors. Definitely would be keen if they made them in ITX!

Yah, I'd have everything from the R9 390s down to HD5850s hashing if I was on electric heat. In theory, I'd displace CO2 production by doing that anyway, since electricity should be coming from the local mix of hydro and wind, and heat is natural gas fired, but it would cost me 3x as much... well less than that if the crypto was sold as I made it, but I prefer to fit expenses inside regular income and hodl... Not that I feel too bad about natural gas while it's still legal for the assholes to burn off the surplus at wellheads... and I think we should preserve the infrastructure for biomethane if we shut down extraction.

pixelatedscraps wrote on 2022-02-01, 07:05:

luckybob wrote on 2022-02-01, 04:45:

All the searches online show ~60mhash. I swapped to the overclocked bios setting (2600mhz boost) it hits 65 ish. thanks to the winter cold, the die temp is only 48C. ^.^ My goal isnt to "make money" just to keep my house warm. Thanks to solar, I have effectively free power. I just play games on this machine right now, I'm not going to devote any time to fine tuning it for mining.

@pixelatedscraps

I didnt get the pro art display, but the x570 motherboard. I wanted 10gb Ethernet onboard and I really dont care for the RGB bullshit. It also was quite a bit cheaper than the other brands. My monitor is a cheap MSI 32" @ 4K. I got it before covid.

It’s pretty much the ceiling for the 6-series AMD cards this time round. I get 50MH/s from a 5700 flashed to an XT bios and believe if memory serves, only about 63-65MH/s with the 6900xt. The 3090s if tuned well can hit 125-128MH/s.

My bad about the ProArt, I didn’t realize they had that line for MBs as well as monitors. Definitely would be keen if they made them in ITX!

*pats Radeon VII, pish to all the people who hated on this card back when it released, now its one of the most sought after mining cards out there, paid 400 for it at release and now it'll fetch 5 times as much without issue or I could swap it for a 6900xt .. I have had offers 🤣.

Player 3 entered the arena, i5-8400 machine with 16Gb, 128GB M2, 1TB SATA, $340 CDN pre-dicker, no GPU, but I could go with an already owned R9 390 and power/noise optimise it... CPU wins, by a lot, motherboard looks sucktastic though, barely anything on the back panel, mATX so expansion options were slim, but a 2 slot PCIe 16x card will block out the 1x (unless I screw around with extender) ... not sure it has wifi, so either has to dangle a dongle or use up the 1x on an extender, eww. IDK if it's too much of an "it is what it is" machine, coz it's staying pretty much as it is, due to lack of options.

TrashPanda wrote on 2022-02-01, 15:20:

The Radeon VII is/was a great card for heavy lifting work - it was very well appreciated by CAD / 3D users in both PC and Mac environments, just a hot, stonking great card when it came out and totally not for the consumer market at all.

pixelatedscraps wrote on 2022-02-02, 09:18:

Yes, I initially used it for rendering which it made short work of but quickly realised that undervolting it and keeping it in a […]
Show full quote

TrashPanda wrote on 2022-02-01, 15:20:

The Radeon VII is/was a great card for heavy lifting work - it was very well appreciated by CAD / 3D users in both PC and Mac environments, just a hot, stonking great card when it came out and totally not for the consumer market at all.

Yes, I initially used it for rendering which it made short work of but quickly realised that undervolting it and keeping it in a secondary rig as a mining card was a better use for it. It’s paid for itself and my new gaming machine quit handily.

Now it helps pays for retro hardware and house bills, keeping it undervolted and liquid cooled means it has a long life ahead of it.

Just a damn nice gpu.

If you like Sound Blaster you’ll love this.
The Creative X3 is Awesome !….
Crystal clear audio output.
Whether you like Clear Treble or Heavy Bass you’ll love this DAC.
It works with Windows and Mac. ( Plug and Play )
Just plug it in and it works. You actually don’t need the software app.

I like the quick select buttons on top. Let’s you switch modes from predefined Music, Movie, or a Custom EQ setting.
With the push of a button you can switch from headphones to PC speakers or surround sound. So you can always have your
Headphones plugged into this DAC. You don’t have to keep plugging in and out your headphones.

Has a Toslink output too so you can connect this to your AV receiver for 7.1 Stereo or Surround sound.
Works great with my old Yamaha AV receiver too.

Too bad is does not support Dolby Atmos but you need HDMI 2.1 for that.

Now I just need to get some better headphones to pair with this DAC.

Link:
https://us.creative.com/p/sound-blaster/sound-blaster-x3

After 10+ years it's time to upgrade my desktop machine (some parts are old, some used, some new)

Case: Antec P180 ... Antec P280
Mobo: Asus M4A87TD/USB3 ... Asus Prime X570 P
CPU: AMD Phenom II X6 1055T ... AMD Ryzen 5800X
Cooler: Scythe Ninja 3 ... BeQuiet Dark Rock Pro 4
Memory: 4x8GB DDR3 PC1600 ... 2x16GB DDR4 PC3200
GPU: Geforce GTX660Ti 2GB ... Geforce GTX1060 6GB
Boot drive: Kingston SV300 250GB SSD ... Samsung EVO Plus 1TB NVMe
Monitor: AOC Q3477
Speakers: Logitech Z-2300

I guess it will be some change... Can't show more as pretty much everything is still in the mail 🤣

null

I see I forgot about PSU. I have several and will decide what to use when I put it all together. Old one uses Corsair HX620. As I will have a "new" case, the old computer will stay as is.

kixs - well i would move to ALL in one CPU water cooler, these ne cpus are pretty hungry and hot.

I think water cooling doesn't belong in PC unless it's some heavily customized project PC.

RandomStranger wrote on 2022-02-08, 20:27:

I think water cooling doesn't belong in PC unless it's some heavily customized project PC.

Or its a CPU that has a TDP higher than 250 watts, the 10980xe I have in the work machine could work ok with a NH D15 but runs much nicer with a 420 AIO or a Custom Loop, Same with the 5950x in the gaming rig I built, sure it could run okish with a NH D15 but again the 360 AIO it has lets it run much cooler for longer, both of these CPUs can happily pull 400+watts at max load and the 10980xe can pull over 600 if I let it.

It used to be water cooling was only for them high end rigs but modern CPUs with high TDP and ability to draw 300+ watts from the PSU really do benefit from a good quality AIO or custom loop, same can be said for modern GPUs they all run HOT with 300 watt power draw at minimum for the Top GPUs 3080ti, 6800XT and the ones that use AIO or custom loops get the best out of an expensive product. (Heck there is a 3090 that has a 1Kw power draw, try dumping that heat with a air cooler)

You have to dump the heat as efficiently and as quickly as you can and air alone no longer cuts it as an efficient cooling solution, and sure you can be a stick in the mud and refuse to move with the times but you would be under utilising expensive hardware you paid for, hardware that is designed to be ran at limits that air coolers can barely handle. The NH D15 is the biggest air cooler available and honestly it barely handles the 10980xe, mostly its fine till the CPU has to run all cores and starts pulling 400watts at which point the NH D15 falls on its arse and the CPU ends up throttling. (I say "you" as in a general you not a personal "you")

I have had AIOs fail, nothing fear inducing and it certainly hasn't stopped me from using them again, I did get smarter and now stick to the fabs I know are trustworthy with their fabrication.

Only time I would say use an air cooler is if you are buying anything below a Ryzen 5800x or below a 12700k above that and you either need to increasingly spend a lot on bigger TDP air coolers or use an AIO and honestly . .the NH D15 doesnt fit into a lot of cases due to how big it is and has a lot of clearance issues with both Ram and GPUs.

You are of course allowed to think how you want but there are many who wont share that view in regards to modern PCs.

Watercooling has been a plug and play thing since 2005 at least, when cheaper sealed ready to go units were starting to price around what heavy and screamy aircoolers were. You could get a bit of peace by going to a 150mm slow turning radiator fan vs your 5000RPM 80mm on the monster sink.

As early as 2002 there were complete open loop kits you just had to cut your pipes to size and thread together.

A couple of years before that though, it was all pond pumps, automotive heater cores, hose barbs and whatever you could hack out of a block of aluminum or copper. Experimentation was beginning in the late 90s.

I was thinking about it in the 5x86 days... what if I took soft copper 1/4" tube and hammered it in between the fins on the Cyrix??

Suffice to say it's got at least a 20 year history of "off the shelf" availability as an option for unloudening or unheatening your bleeding edge CPU.

Yup and reliability from proven fabs these days is longer than its ever been, sure there are outliers like the shit Enermax AIOs but they are far and few between now, that said AIOs are not perfect or a fix for every build either, production builds should never use an AIO and nor should office machines or machines that require 24/7 100% uptime reliability.