Today I wanted to share the upgrades I did on my main system. The last month or so my i7 7700k build been bugging out with constant BSOD's. So I ended up deciding to finally break down and call it time to upgrade.
I present to you my journey towards the new i9 9000k build...and this time my friends, i am really happy with the outcome.
It All Starts With The Right Case
Pretty sure my family thinks I want ape-shit nuts when the package for my Corsair Obsidian 1000d Case showed up to the front door. Pictures online does not do this case justice, this thing is massive...almost as tall as my TV Stand for my #65 inch OLED. But this is what I was aiming for in my new setup, a case that has enough room for constant work and one that I can build in over and over.
The Corsair Obsidian 1000d is so worth the price tag, its solid, the smoked tempered glass has a really cool effect on lighting and best of all, I have room to be a little more aggressive with water cooling. Really good addition to this build and I think the case that will last for years to come.
Best part is the fan and radiator trays. I swear these need to be a standard in all cases after working with them. Makes things so much easier for installs and changing out. Win for Corsair on that one!
Cable Management seems easier to work with on this case, though this is early on in this pic, got a little messier later on but not bad seeing you can hide it with the doors lol
Overclocking Mobo Not For The Faint Of Heart
In my last build I had the Asus Maximus IX Formula, while I love the VRM cooling option, it was a finicky board sometimes for me. I think more or less though it was due to my love of overclocking things so I decided this time to go for the Asus Maximus XI Extreme z390 board.
I ended up pairing this board with the i9 9900k, I know the reviews are bad about the heat issues so I went with Silicone Lottery to get a pre-binned and delidded cpu from them. Clocks stable at 5ghz and right now running very cool. Mobo helps a ton with that, the phases on the EXTREME mobo seems very stable, so they seem to be a good combination.
Early stages of the build, just when I got the PSU and MOBO in
Watercooling and Reusing My Asus GTX 1080ti OC Cards
When it came to watercooling this setup, I had to keep my old loop for my GPUs. This mainly is due to the cost but it worked out very well. For the CPU with it being the i9 9900k, I ended up getting an Alphacool 420mm ut60 radiator. For the pump and reservoir I went with the EKWB Xres 140 Revo D5 RGB PWM and EKWB Velocity CPU Block.
So far this has been keeping temps down very well. At 5ghz with 1.31 volts, its running at an idle 34C which is not bad for a chip that should be running pretty hot. During stress testing I am getting on load about 69C at tops, which is okay for the overclock I am running.
With GPU, Radiators installed
End Results Came Out Amazing!!!
Though this build isn't actually completed, I had to save money on it and wait for a full custom loop on the GPUs, I will say I am very happy right now with the way this thing runs and looks. Plans are to add 2 480 Rads in the front, probably get another EKWB pump and res, then I think I am good. Fans of course, so many damn fans to buy lol.
Anyways thats the build, and here are a few more pics of it completed. Let me know what you think in the comments.
