- Joined
- Jun 2, 2017
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- 7,939 (3.15/day)
| System Name | Best AMD Computer |
|---|---|
| Processor | AMD 7900X3D |
| Motherboard | Asus X670E E Strix |
| Cooling | In Win SR36 |
| Memory | GSKILL DDR5 32GB 5200 30 |
| Video Card(s) | Sapphire Pulse 7900XT (Watercooled) |
| Storage | Corsair MP 700, Seagate 530 2Tb, Adata SX8200 2TBx2, Kingston 2 TBx2, Micron 8 TB, WD AN 1500 |
| Display(s) | GIGABYTE FV43U |
| Case | Corsair 7000D Airflow |
| Audio Device(s) | Corsair Void Pro, Logitch Z523 5.1 |
| Power Supply | Deepcool 1000M |
| Mouse | Logitech g7 gaming mouse |
| Keyboard | Logitech G510 |
| Software | Windows 11 Pro 64 Steam. GOG, Uplay, Origin |
| Benchmark Scores | Firestrike: 46183 Time Spy: 25121 |
I wanted to get TR4 and see how good it really was. I was not happy with the PCI-E lanes available on X470 but was also not happy with the cost of TR4 motherboards and the PCIE layout. I had a specific needs case for PCI_E. I have 2 Vega 64s in crossfire and wanted to have them run on fully wired x16 slots. I also have an Asus M2 riser card that can hold 4 NVME drives and wanted to see the performance of 4 NVME drives in RAID 0. On the X470 the not I could do as the best was x8 so only 2 drives were available, on top of that I could only use 1 because there were only 4 lanes available to use.
About a month ago I saw a review for the As Rock X399 Gaming 6 and as soon as I saw the back of the board I was intrigued. Most Tr4 boards are wired 16x8x8x16 so they were a no go for me. The X399 Gaming is wired as 3x16 slots. On top of that it was listed for $249.99 US so I took the plunge and ordered one. I now needed a CPU to pair with the board, I chose the 1900X. I picked the 1900x because it was on sale for $412.99 CAD which was 50% less than any other TR4 CPU. so about $750 CAD for the board and CPU vs the 2700X for $409.99 and a As Rock 470 Taichi for $329.99 or $739.98......and I got a $50 US MIR for the board too.
I got the board first (they are heavy compared to X470) and the CPU came the next day. When installing I used my existing cooler (Alphacool Esibaer 420 AIO) in the Thermaltake Core X9. The installation process for TR4 is much easier than any previous AMD chipset. It was just a matter of using the TR4 adapter on the EIsbaer pump and screwing down the cooler using the mounting holes on the board. I was using the Alphacool to cool one of my GPUs (Sapphire Nitro Vega 64). I already had 16GB of DDR4 Ram and had another 16 that I had picked up on Black Friday. In total it took about 15 minutes to exchange the X470 board with this one. I then connected the PSU cables, fans and RGB headers. I installed the water cooled GPU into the first slot and the riser card in the 3rd slot. I could not install the 2nd GPU (gigabyte Vega 64 Gaming OC) because it is a 2.5 slot card and the slots are 2 slot wide on the board. I went ahead with just one card installed.
I went into the BIOS and OC the CPU to 4 GHZ at 1.27 volts set the RAM to XMP profile (3000 MHZ 16-15-15-36) and set the 3rd PCI_E slot to 4x4x4x4 and went to boot. I went into Windows and setup Raid O on the SSDs in the Riser card. A Crystal Disk Mark score of 7000 MB/s sequential and a 4K of over 400 MB/s a second greeted me write speeds were a little lower at 5000 MB/s. I moved Total War Warhammer 2 onto the new drive and loaded a campaign.
I was blown away by the increase in performance. Loading the game took under 20 seconds from the launcher to the launch video. I then loaded a campaign and turns went from 45 seconds to under 25 seconds. The game feels snappier and seems to run much faster so I decided to do a benchmark and wow. At 4K with everything at Ultra (including unit size) a consistent 75 FPS in the battle benchmark at 4K. The 1900X is faster than a OC 1700 (the only 8 core AM4 CPU I owned) and the R5 2600 OC in every way for me.
There are some issues though. I like to use the As Rock Tuning utility to set my fans but on the Gaming 6 I get a CPU temp of 70 C which makes the fans spin at near 100%. I was worried and used Corsair Link software which showed me 40 C, plus the radiator felt cool so I trusted that temp. I also had some issues with Windows Activation but a key for $8 on Amazon solved that. In terms of not being able to use 2 GPUS I found a solution. I got a cheap....well inexpensive XFX reference Vega 64 on Ebay. It does fit but the fan is too loud. I went with reference (I was looking the liquid cooled version but lost the bid) because I am going to add a Alphacool Eiswolf GPU. I have another Eisbaer 420 sitting around and I am going to use that as the RAD to cool my GPUs everything has already been ordered.
Some would ask or comment that crossfire is a waste but Total War is by far and away the game franchise I play most and all of the current ones support crossfire so it is a no brainer for me. Is TR4 worth it for a gamer. Yes and no. No if you are someone that just buys for gaming and is not interested in doing enthusiast parts or workloads. Yes if you are a gamer and like to tinker, try new products, stream and can afford it. There is also the fact that I can put a 2950X in this but I am really looking forward to the 3rd Gen TR4 CPUs. I am glad to be alive in this age of computing because what is now available to the enthusiast is truly mind blowing compared to just 5 years ago.
About a month ago I saw a review for the As Rock X399 Gaming 6 and as soon as I saw the back of the board I was intrigued. Most Tr4 boards are wired 16x8x8x16 so they were a no go for me. The X399 Gaming is wired as 3x16 slots. On top of that it was listed for $249.99 US so I took the plunge and ordered one. I now needed a CPU to pair with the board, I chose the 1900X. I picked the 1900x because it was on sale for $412.99 CAD which was 50% less than any other TR4 CPU. so about $750 CAD for the board and CPU vs the 2700X for $409.99 and a As Rock 470 Taichi for $329.99 or $739.98......and I got a $50 US MIR for the board too.
I got the board first (they are heavy compared to X470) and the CPU came the next day. When installing I used my existing cooler (Alphacool Esibaer 420 AIO) in the Thermaltake Core X9. The installation process for TR4 is much easier than any previous AMD chipset. It was just a matter of using the TR4 adapter on the EIsbaer pump and screwing down the cooler using the mounting holes on the board. I was using the Alphacool to cool one of my GPUs (Sapphire Nitro Vega 64). I already had 16GB of DDR4 Ram and had another 16 that I had picked up on Black Friday. In total it took about 15 minutes to exchange the X470 board with this one. I then connected the PSU cables, fans and RGB headers. I installed the water cooled GPU into the first slot and the riser card in the 3rd slot. I could not install the 2nd GPU (gigabyte Vega 64 Gaming OC) because it is a 2.5 slot card and the slots are 2 slot wide on the board. I went ahead with just one card installed.
I went into the BIOS and OC the CPU to 4 GHZ at 1.27 volts set the RAM to XMP profile (3000 MHZ 16-15-15-36) and set the 3rd PCI_E slot to 4x4x4x4 and went to boot. I went into Windows and setup Raid O on the SSDs in the Riser card. A Crystal Disk Mark score of 7000 MB/s sequential and a 4K of over 400 MB/s a second greeted me write speeds were a little lower at 5000 MB/s. I moved Total War Warhammer 2 onto the new drive and loaded a campaign.
I was blown away by the increase in performance. Loading the game took under 20 seconds from the launcher to the launch video. I then loaded a campaign and turns went from 45 seconds to under 25 seconds. The game feels snappier and seems to run much faster so I decided to do a benchmark and wow. At 4K with everything at Ultra (including unit size) a consistent 75 FPS in the battle benchmark at 4K. The 1900X is faster than a OC 1700 (the only 8 core AM4 CPU I owned) and the R5 2600 OC in every way for me.
There are some issues though. I like to use the As Rock Tuning utility to set my fans but on the Gaming 6 I get a CPU temp of 70 C which makes the fans spin at near 100%. I was worried and used Corsair Link software which showed me 40 C, plus the radiator felt cool so I trusted that temp. I also had some issues with Windows Activation but a key for $8 on Amazon solved that. In terms of not being able to use 2 GPUS I found a solution. I got a cheap....well inexpensive XFX reference Vega 64 on Ebay. It does fit but the fan is too loud. I went with reference (I was looking the liquid cooled version but lost the bid) because I am going to add a Alphacool Eiswolf GPU. I have another Eisbaer 420 sitting around and I am going to use that as the RAD to cool my GPUs everything has already been ordered.
Some would ask or comment that crossfire is a waste but Total War is by far and away the game franchise I play most and all of the current ones support crossfire so it is a no brainer for me. Is TR4 worth it for a gamer. Yes and no. No if you are someone that just buys for gaming and is not interested in doing enthusiast parts or workloads. Yes if you are a gamer and like to tinker, try new products, stream and can afford it. There is also the fact that I can put a 2950X in this but I am really looking forward to the 3rd Gen TR4 CPUs. I am glad to be alive in this age of computing because what is now available to the enthusiast is truly mind blowing compared to just 5 years ago.
