Case Mod - In Progress Project "Caution! Overclocked" - CrossFire 7970 / X58 Extreme / Xeon / Corsair 800D

Hey peeps - I recently finished my Killer Panda PC

But I actually don't know how well I did, so I need something to compare it to - therefor I have decided to build a "new" system just as "crazy" as the Killer Panda - but with all used parts from a few years back, the most bad a$$ system I can build with hardware that used to be top of the line.

This time around I will try and sort my thread and updates way better than I did in the Killer Panda, that thread got out of hand...



So for now I have and idea of all the parts and are waiting for them to arrive. This is going to be so much fun!


Will tease a little by giving you a slight idea what it's all about:



In the end I will compare it against the Killer Panda and two other systems I own, Xeon my recording rig/streaming system, build out of awesome server grade hardware and an extraordinary dual GPU card, and my Mini3, tiny little PC build out of parts I once just had laying around but was too good to sell.




Wait and see in the coming days the parts I'm going to show you, maybe you know them, and maybe you have never seen them before, this is a journey back in time to some really great hardware.

 

This post will house the pictures when it's all set and done, so this is the last post to be updated on. Wait and see what comes in between, I promise it's interesting if you are into hardware

 

Today I received the last of my in total 3 CPUs. Why 3 CPUs you might ask - first of, I need to use a i7 920 to verify what BIOS my motherboard has installed right now, and if it's not the latest, then update it.
After that has been done, Xeons are in general way more fun from this era than the higher end i7's, so I could not decide if a W3680 or a X5675 is the way to go for high overclocks, so ended up ordering both of them and will conduct my own experiments.



What CPU would you choose, W3680 or X5675??

 

W3680 has an unlocked multiplier. Generally overclocks quite good

 

The X5675 might clock further as it has a lower TDP and is a year newer, so from a newer generation of the Westmere products. It has a 23x multiplier, so you should be able to get to 200 BCLK giving you a 4.6 GHz (not likely) OC with ease.

Why not play with both and you tell us which one is better?

 

Well, the X5675 is not officially unlocked, but some boards turn on manual control in bios of the multiplier, no matter what cpu is installed - im pretty sure I got that kind of board i think i will reveal board sometime later today

What cought my eye is their TDP differences, but when I look up both models OCed then they end up really close in performance, so yes I will proparbly end up playing with both.

 

Hey Peeps!

I will try and lift the curtain for 1 component every day until the list is empty, because I don't have time to build at the moment anyway.

Today: Motherboard!

As I showed yesterday, I will build the system around old Xeon chips that are not really build to be overclocked.

So to be able to produce a great OC result, I was thinking I need extreme cooling, and the motherboard from that generation I could find that have the most insane cooling is: Gigabyte GA-EX58 EXTREME




I am trying to make the pictures "old school sexy", to emphasize that these are not new parts, in this case the mb is about 10 years old.


I hope you will come here another time and look, Im slowly but steady building a pretty bad a$$ old machine here

 

Oh yea, by the way, it IS a water cooling head on the chipset AND a big finstack similar to what you find on lower end GPUs

...I am so much going to utilize both, and absolute love the seller threw them in without extra cost (they were not mentioned on the listing I bought)

 

Todays reveal, chassis!


Corsair Obsidian 800D, bought for what in GBP would be £24! A total insane low price, best of all, I actually got two things for that price, the other one will be revealed another day.

Read more about it here




I'm really looking forward to build in this case, it has so many very nice little details that for the time it was released was very futuristic. Stay tuned for more awesome hardware the coming days

 

Funny detail actually, the case is SO big I dont really have any place with a uniform background to take a picture of it - so ended up laying it down on the floor on top of my green screen and then replacing the background to something almost similar to the wood on my desk, where the other pictures are taken.
Maybe its cheating, but I want the pictures to look like they are part of the same story.

 

How on earth did you get that case for so cheap?! I need to hunt eBay more than I already do.

How much did you pay for that X58?? Can’t have been cheap...

 

Let me update the picture in first post with the items and prices, you just need to convert the prices from Danish Kroner, DKK
We have a site called DBA, it's actually owned by eBay, but its more similar to Craigslist or such places.


Just wait until I tell the rest of the story what I otherwise got in the same trade, that deal is just unbelievable

In fact, there is more to the story that I can reveal now, the guy who sold his 800D, sold it primarily because it was taking up space and was no longer used - and taking up space it can! I do not have a car, so it was a public transport trip, but it's a bit of a challenge when I live a little out in the country and the seller lived at the other end of Zealand (the large island here in Denmark where I live).

First I would start to carry it in my arms about 1 km to a train, a few times was asked if it was a speaker I was carrying.
On the train, a man thought I was on my way to the airport and asked if he was going to help with my suitcase.
In another train, a Russian guy sat down on the 800D, because it to him apparently looked like a piece of furniture that he could sit on and rest, I was almost starting a fight when I asked him to move, but a hard-pumped guy sat beside me and that made the Russian dude relax and go on his way, thanks for that big guy whoever you where.

So all in all, not only on the price, 800D has been a very interesting purchase so far.

: Cheers:


I have just updated the chart at the top with the 3 parts so far unveiled.

 

what an adventure, , great to follow this project BTW

 

Thanks man, yea it is a adventure back in time

 

Todays product: Power supply!



I have found the funniest and most serious review of it here, see the madness Corsair did at the time.

I will do a, two for tuesday (like Dominos Pizza), so look forward to tuesday when I will show WHY I need this many Watts


...by the way, this is the AX1200 Gold, not the newer editions with either black/red/white label or blue/black/white label - this one is gold/black/white and totally insane for it's time way back

 

I was just sitting here trying to figure out how I totally missed all this awesome hardware back in the days of around 2010-2013...?

Ahhhh yes! I was using Mac at that time!

Not just using a Mac, more like re-building macs and then using them, did at least two builds I got quite the attention on back in the day, first off, I made Black Mini, a black Mac Mini.(sorry the link is in danish, it's apparently the only working link left of that build)



When it got outdated I swapped it to what would end up being the worlds fastest mac mini of its time (actually it was a little bit faster than what MKBHD made a lot of noise about being the fastes mac mini of that time, I was faster)

So thats why I totally missed this period in computer history, but lets fill that void in now.


Follow along tomorrow when another awesome product will be revealed.

 

Todays product: Memory Monday, RAM!.


Not just any RAM, but a sought after item, really low budget but with a kick unheard of. I guess this is the pre-runner for Samsung B-Die.

Read a review about it here



I have never build with triple channel memory before, I have experience with single and dual channel, so in that context my next project should probably feature quad channel...
Also, never had a system with 12GB of RAM before, I have experience with everything from 64kilobyte (the original Commodore C64 was my first computer experience a a kid), and all the way up to 32GB, just never tried 12GB.

At the same time, I will update the excel in the beginning, so you guys can check my prices, RAM was almost the same price as it released for, because of the way RAM is priced now, and the PSU was insane! Because of mining I guess....


Follow along tomorrow for a "2 for Tuesday" deal, will reveal 2 tings tomorrow.

 

Im sitting here starring at water cooling parts and almost building up a headache, if water cooling was just more simple.... Almost forgot I had promised to do a 2 for tuesday, just like Dominos.

This is the reason I need a 1200 Watt PSU and also the continued story of what else I got when I bought the "new" 800D case:



What you are looking at is 2x Radeon 7970 - because I will run CrossFire!

The Asus Matrix HD7970 Platinum with gigantic cooler, the other is right now without cooler, but it came together with a full cover EKWB water cooling block together with the 800D chassis!
Yep, it's true, I got a 800D + a 7970 incl. complete EKWB watercooling block for less than £24!
The Matrix card I won in an auction off eBay.


I got the card free of charge as the seller of the 800D liked my project, and did not have any use for the card anymore.
The EKWB is in really disgusting condition and needs a very good clean, but when that is done this should be a pretty fun experience.


My plan is that the water cooled card will sit in one of the upper PCIe slots, and then the air cooled one will sit below, where the massive cooler is not in the way for anything, so both cards are optimally cooled.


Follow along tomorrow for more old parts being revealed as we wait until I have assembled all the parts and have time to assemble it. : cheers :

 

I would honestly try to grab another water block... they're so stupidly cheap at times that it's just funny.

The two being on different coolers would bother me to no end. That's before you notice that they're two different cards entirely.

 

Well I see your point, the 7970 Matrix is a higly custom card, so there is basically only 1 block made for it as far as im aware, and no one seems to be selling it as its kind of old news so who would buy it - except me.

When thats said, the two cards are really different, my end goal would be to try OC the basic card to somewhere around what the Matrix does out of the box, if I can do that it will be pretty insane.

Lets see how it goes, this is by now means a serious machine but one big experiment, grown up toys.