Jab33

[tt0ne]

In case some aren't following what is going on over at the 'bot we've got a ROG Team member in 4th spot for G.Skill OC World Cup Qualifier. 5 more days, Jab - pretty cool to watch!

[1mluer]

Good stuff

[jab383]

Yeah, enjoying it while I can, but those feeble water-cooled submissions won't rank so high at the end. This is the only contest that is a qualifier for a head-to-head meet with a real cash prize. It draws the best elite and sponsored overclockers. The standings are based on only one or two stages from most of them. When their sandbags are full, they will crush me. I'll be lucky to end up in the top 30.

I am trying to improve these, but ... I've had to reload Windows 7 twice and Windows 10 three times due to damage from all the crashes. Maybe I'll learn how to run the internal graphics some day. Contest work is over when the KPE gets here this weekend.

My Z390 motherboard is coming into question, too. How is the M11A working out? Have you got an OC Panel working, ttOne?

[tt0ne]

I think you should make the jump to LN2 - you can even avoid the initial screw ups because I already fried enough CPUs for both of us. Benching with dry ice is way more difficult because we have to pay so much attention to condensation and insulation. Anyways, I'm fairly certain you are going to qualify - meaning - your score isn't that far out from 1st, 2nd and 3rd. The thing is, once you get to China and if you don't get arrested for being American (just kidding - I think) I think LN2 is all they give you. Not sure where you are in the USA but in California it's fairly cheap. Which reminds me - I was going to ask you - can we make our own dry ice cheap? Have you looked into anything like that? I'm sick of having to run down to Albertson's - I'm fairly certain the employees there think I'm doing something like manufacturing drugs or making home made weapons. A new cashier asked me the other night what I used it for and I didn't really know what to say so I took out my phone and showed her a photo and she said "ok, don't worry - it's none of my business." WTF? Obviously overclocking a computer didn't jump out at her.

Haven't needed the OC Panel since the Apex XI is in my daily but I will follow the instructions that were posted on the Maximus XI hwbot thread when I do.

The EVGA Dark board you got - man - everyone who is using them is in beast mode. And the fact that you can do XP benching with it is so sweet. I'm seriously thinking about getting one. So you do have an Apex XI or you are waiting for one? Sorry - wasn't sure what you meant by saying your Z390 is coming into question?

[jab383]

I think the energy burn to make dry ice for a day's use isn't worth it, let alone the cost of equipment. I can go to the nearest grocery and get dry ice for $1.50/lb. There is also an industrial outlet 30 miles away by toll road - price $1.00 per pound plus round trip tolls and fuel. The carefully figured breakeven point between those two is 30 pounds. A VGA plus a 7980XE can easily take 60lbs in two days of benching. I'll go to the nearby store for 15-20lbs to do the iGP and memory frequency contest stages with a 9700K today.

I think the 9900K and 9700K I got from Silicon Lottery are winners within their top bin. That is, it's the CPU running like a beast and would on either mobo. I get frustrated with memory tuning and miss the ASUS BIOS in that area. So many users are doing better with low-latency memory profiles on M11 Gene and Apex. Maybe that's a case of the grass always looking greener... The mobo is in question because CPU socket pins keep getting bent just a little out of line. I fix them, but you know how well that works. One of the DRAM sockets might also be borked because it works so much worse than the other one. I'm trying to decide on a M11A vs another one of these that is sold in North America to replace this one if it goes out -- nothing ordered yet.

I know how that works frying CPUs, but I'm harder on motherboards. My first dry ice experience toasted a very good 6700K and the M8E it was sitting on--the CPU failed to a short circuit and the magic smoke got out of some VRMs. Since then, I've lost a M9A, two M10A and an R6A. Those were all strange intermittent performance drops that I suspect were socket solder joints cracking open because of thermal shock. I'm using a heater under the socket now -- Kingpin inferno -- but that didn't help one M10A and the R6A. R6As were unavailable by then, so my current X299 board is also non-ROG.

Why is condensation less of a problem with LN2? I see just as much frost on LN2 pots and I get with dry ice. To me, cold bugs, overvolting risks and alternating LN2 cooling with torch heat seem so much more complicated.

[tt0ne]

In regards to the LN2 vs Ice condensation I believe from my own experience it comes down to this. "Frost", "Ice Particles", "Frozen Water" - whatever you want to call all that stuff that would make Santa Clause happy isn't a problem since it isn't electrically conducive. We aren't putting all those paper towels down because we are worried about frozen ice particles getting on our components but rather what happens to it when it turns back into water. With Dry Ice it's a major problem because you know that a certain percentage of it will most definitely become water particles and especially around the CPU socket. I, like you, had to blow three Apex IXs, one Apex X and two Z190 based Gigabyte boards before I figured out the best way to do insulation around the CPU. I'm not 100% sure why this isn't an issue as much for liquid nitrogen but possibly because despite both dry ice and LN2 are gaseous one is considered a liquid and the other considered a solid. Whatever the process is that happens when the CO2 in solid form turns back into gas it seems to leave quite a bit of water behind but when the LN2 goes from its liquid form back into gas it doesn't leave hardly anything. I can't tell you the science behind it but I can tell you the experience I've had with it and I think it's backed up by all the LN2 sessions you see when the boys go to places like Asus HQ and are provided tons of LN2 and they are not even being careful and dumping the LN2 all over the place and pouring with Quad-SLI setups, etc. I'm not that experienced yet with the LN2 but after using Vaseline on my board I simply don't put nearly the amount of time into wrapping stuff up like I do with the dry ice.

Just out of curiosity when you buy your dry ice where/how are you storing it so that you still have some when you wake up the next day?

I hear you about the memory timings - there is no doubt the BIOS for the Asus boards is one of the biggest selling points.

Marco

[1mluer]

I think this guy has the best plan for overclocking

https://youtu.be/iQIFF1OVic4

Just a funny

[tt0ne]

haha - that was pretty funny!

[tt0ne]

Well, you were right, Jab - the guys in the Elite league went crazy the last 48 hours - even Lucky_Noob looks like he missed the 9th spot by a few points which is mind blowing.

Still got the lucky draw, man - hope you win some free hardware!

[jab383]

Integrated graphics ended up defeating me. Grrrr.

Free hardware is always nice, but 1 chance in 30? #9 Micka can't make it, so Lucky-Noob got in.