PCPartPicker
  • Log In
  • Register

Build

Athena

by GilParnon

23
17 Comments

Permalink

Part List View full price breakdown

Details

Date Published

Sept. 6, 2017

CPU Clock Rate

4.4 GHz

CPU Temperature While Idle

31.0° C

CPU Temperature Under Load

60.0° C

GPU Core Clock Rate

2.1 GHz

GPU Effective Memory Clock Rate

10 GHz

GPU Temperature While Idle

31.0° C

GPU Temperature Under Load

50.0° C

Description

My first ever custom watercooling loop. I wanted to do a purple build for a long time. I was able to part this out using mostly used parts over roughly a year. Everything went pretty smoothly, no leaks, no messed up bends. I did mess up my routing of tubing and had to do a completely new bend because I routed the water so it bypassed the GPU accidentally. I definitely wouldn't recommend the S340 for a loop. The pump mount on the radiator almost hit the GPU, I actually had to change how I had it setup so that it didn't. Also the fans had to be mounted outside the case and I had to remove the front panel to get them to have airflow. I sleeved the cables myself and I'm pretty happy with how they look.

I mostly use this for gaming, but I also do photography as a hobby so this build is also my workstation for school and photography. Wasn't planning on getting a 5930k but I got a bundle on the CPU, motherboard and ram on craigslist that was too good to pass up.

I used vinyl to make the pattern on the ssd as well as making the cable management bar. All the cables I sleeved myself and I removed the steel on the front panel and cut the plastic to allow air in.

Part Reviews

CPU

Intel - Core i7-5930K 3.5 GHz 6-Core Processor

This CPU is a monster. It's handled everything I've thrown at it incredibly well. Photography, gaming and rendering all have been very smooth. It overclocked without too much voltage and it runs fairly cool.

Motherboard

ASRock - X99 Taichi ATX LGA2011-3 Motherboard

First ASRock motherboard and I'm blown away. The BIOS is incredibly easy to use, it overclocks well, looks gorgeous and the built in bluetooth and wifi are very nice.

Memory

G.Skill - Trident Z RGB 32 GB (4 x 8 GB) DDR4-3000 Memory

Holy **** this RAM looks incredible. The customization in the software is pretty nice, my only problem is that it 1. failed to boot running in quad channel mode and 2. the software can be a bit glitchy. I get that it's still in beta, but it's the big selling point of this RAM.

Storage

Kingston - SSDNow V300 Series 240 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive

First PC part I ever bought, it was cheap and it does the job.

Video Card

EVGA - GeForce GTX 1080 8 GB Video Card

This card is an absolute monster. Runs everything at 3440x1440 maxed at above 60 FPS. I cannot say enough good things about this graphics card.

Case

NZXT - S340 (White) ATX Mid Tower Case

Clean, looks beautiful. Would not recommend watercooling in it. I had to remove the front panel so I could mount fans without them having 1mm of clearance so they got no airflow. It's pretty tight and there isn't much radiator support. For any non-custom loop build it'd be perfect.

Power Supply

EVGA - SuperNOVA GS 550 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply

Fully modular is nice, docked it 1 star because holy hell this is a monster to sleeve. The amount of capacitors is ungodly and it makes it horrible to sleeve this PSU.

Case Fan

Corsair - Air Series SP120 High Performance Edition 62.74 CFM 120mm Fan

I wish I'd sprung for the PWM version, thought I ordered it and realized once they arrived. They're not too loud though, and they move a lot of air.

Keyboard

Logitech - G710 Plus Wired Gaming Keyboard

I've had this keyboard for four years and never had anything go wrong. Docked a star because the orange on the side is really ugly. Luckily it was easy to disassemble and paint that white.

Mouse

Logitech - G502 Proteus Spectrum Wired Optical Mouse

Definitely the nicest mouse I've ever used, not the RGB version but I'll survive. It's comfortable, has lasted a long time and is amazing for games.

Headphones

Sades - SA-902-B 7.1 Channel Headset

For 18 bucks I cannot complain. This headset has served me well although the mic broke in the first few weeks of owning it, I have a webcam so I haven't minded too much.

Comments Sorted by:

mlach 4 Builds 3 points 17 months ago

correct me if i'm wrong, shouldn't the ram be alternating slots on both side of the cpu?

Permalink
ProxyTani 3 Builds 3 points 17 months ago

It's fully dependent on the configuration of the motherboard - though I believe most quad-channel memory are alternating on both sides of the CPU.

However, upon review of the Taichi user's manual, you are correct - on a quad channel setup the memory should be assigned to A1, B1, C1, D1 which are (counting from left to right) slots 1, 3, 6, 8.

Permalink
GilParnon submitter 3 Builds 0 points 17 months ago

Wouldn't boot in quad channel. Luckily the performance gain for most tasks is negligible so I don't lose much.

Permalink
FurryJackman 3 Builds 2 points 17 months ago

Really? Update the BIOS if you can. For content production quad channel isn't negligible in terms of performance. Premiere and Blender benefits greatly from quad channel.

You may have to set it to the XMP profile to get it to post. Put 2 sticks in at first in Channels A and B, then gradually add more sticks where the mobo recommends for Channels C and D.

Permalink
GilParnon submitter 3 Builds 1 point 17 months ago

I do photography and use Lightroom and Photoshop, but it's plenty fast.

Permalink
customgtp 23 Builds 1 point 17 months ago

This is really a nice build... Great looking loop, LOVE the monitor, and the motherboard is pretty bad azz too. It will get overlooked by all of the other cool things you got going on here!!

Permalink
GilParnon submitter 3 Builds 1 point 17 months ago

Thank you very much! I put a look of work into the cables and the vinyl on the ssd and the cable management bar

Permalink
customgtp 23 Builds 1 point 17 months ago

This looks like a bedroom pc right? Do you utilize the projector that I see you have? I have one one my pc's mainly on a projector and love it for movies/shows and games

Permalink
customgtp 23 Builds 1 point 17 months ago

And I'm surprised by the lack of likes and comments.... This is a really interesting and great build. Maybe the first picture didn't grab people to look at it or maybe the title... Just a thought. I expected more as probably you did too

Permalink
GilParnon submitter 3 Builds 1 point 17 months ago

Thank you!

Permalink
GilParnon submitter 3 Builds 1 point 17 months ago

I moved one of the pictures of the custom loop to be the first image.

Permalink
GilParnon submitter 3 Builds 1 point 17 months ago

This is in my dorm room, so it's also a bedroom. The projector is on my laptop, I've done some steam in home streaming as well as castle crashers on it. Also has been used to watch the league of legends playoffs on what is effectively a 75" tv

Permalink
chris76816 1 Build 1 point 17 months ago

Love the name, love the build! Greek mythology is awesome.

Permalink
ProxyTani 3 Builds 1 point 17 months ago

Interesting color choice! How do you like the pastel color? I'm more of a transparent color-guy myself, but the pastel is unique!

Great prices on the parts!

Permalink
GilParnon submitter 3 Builds 1 point 17 months ago

Yeah, almost everything was bought on Craigslist or hardware swap. I love the pastel, although apparently this particular one clogs and is bad so I bought mayhems blue and red pastel and I'm gonna make myself a purple that matches better.

Permalink
ProxyTani 3 Builds 1 point 17 months ago

Oh - clogging is no good! :|

Get that stuff changed out quickly :)

Permalink
annasoh323 3 Builds 1 point 16 months ago

Is this iteration of the graphics card a reference PCB? I remember there was some brand that claimed that their blower card was actually a custom PCB but I couldn't remember if it was EVGA or not. Really nice build and theme!

Permalink