Megahertz is my current set-up for CAD, Solidworks, lite gaming (from time to time), thermal simulations, electronics simulations etc.

Working as a thermal engineer I reconfigured the case in the optimal at least to my knowledge way. I have two 240 mm radiators cooling the processor and graphics card connected in series. Initially I had the front as intake and the top as exhaust however the thermal performance was poor (a.k.a. not good enough...) because of the design of the top cover. There is a small clearance between the top of the case and the cover leading to huge air turbulence, reduction of exhaust air velocity and thus overall increase in internal case temperature to above typical water cooling readings. I solved the problem by using the top radiator as intake similarly to the the one in front. And I had to flip the plastic air guide brackets on the bottom side of the cover because I wanted to take air from the front of the case and block the intake from back of the case. This minimises the chances of airflow feedback i.e. sucking part of the hot exhaust airflow through the original top cover configuration. Having 4xEK Vardar 120mm fans as intake you might wonder WHY? Well, I run them at very low RPM at idle which given their excellent static pressure performance gives me decent airflow at next to inaudible noise. As exhaust I configured a rather painfully expensive Noctua 3000RPM 140mm fan. It also runs at as low RPM as I managed to optimise it (25% PWM) before temperature threshold transitions start to occur from sudden power spikes. Having fans capable of 3000RPM does not mean that you need to run them at full speed! In fact I am quite happy audibly, the loudest component you could hear is pump noise and believe me that D5 is very VERY quiet pump. Anyway when ultimate Megahertz overclocking is required yes they all run at 3000RPM.

The CPU clock is optimised to a sensible 4.0 GHz and is undervolted down to adaptive 1.075V+0.05V. The input voltage is increased to to 2V. This configuration allows me to get stable 4.0GHz at lower overall thermal output compared to the conservative voltage stock settings. Your mileage may very every die is slightly different.

The memory is set to XMP3200. This is the default XMP profile. However the difference compared to factory settings is minimal in real world applications. It is important to note that DDR4 runs at stock voltage 1.2V, up until 2666MHz. This is important if you have trouble cooling down your CPU. The XMP profile above 2666MHz will affect the CPU memory controller power output not just the DIMMs.

I decided to opt for a GTX 1070 EVGA FTW. In my personal experience EVGA have always been correct with immaculate customer service. I am not a supporter of all the ridiculous FTW accusations against them. In fact I had a personal conversation with representative of their engineering team and I think they handled the mass hysteria perfectly. Overall it is very easy to believe what the media tells you about a certain product if you do not fully understand the problem. Anyway, I replaced all thermal gap pads with the best Fujipoly pads. I made a thermal relieve across the whole surface area on the back of the PCB effectively turning the back plate into a large passive heat spreader. This is conveniently blown across by the top push pull fans of the front intake radiator. The EK FTW water block is excellent. I was thinking of manufacturing my own block because I bought the GPU before the EK release date. However I kept the card on air for couple of weeks and focused on other interesting high voltage valve projects.

I have been through several PSU failures from reputable manufacturers over the last few months. Thus I decided to finally invest into a proper platinum Corsair HX series. This is slight overkill for my current setup but gives me the flexibility to add second GPU if I decide to do so later on. In fact 750W is the perfect spot for my system because at typical gaming, rendering under load my total power consumption is between 350 and 400W thus the HX750 runs at pretty much maximum efficiency >90%. The data logging tool with the Corsair Link software is also a pretty useful tool for me.

The SSD in the system was recycled from my previous build. It is an OEM nvme drive Samsung SM951. It is not the top player anymore but hey 2.2GB reads and 1.5GB writes are not too bad. Being thermally obsessed obviously I installed two DIP28 package heat sinks on it just in case it spontaneously decides to throttle at me.

I made a nice custom side panel for my case. This is not the more expensive ATX tempered glass version, just the mid of the range MicroATX variant. The case has very convenient quick release clips all over the place so I used 4 of them and taped M2 holes into a handmade acrylic sheet. The M2 round head screw fit perfectly in the quick release clips resulting in a very clean side panel mounting. Also now I can see all LEDs right?! :)

Don't ask me why is the reservoir like that. I experimented... liked the looks that is why. Yes it is a pain to bleed out the air but I enjoy spending time on my water cooling loop.

Finally the price tag at the bottom of the page looks pretty horrible but please note that this includes all the hardware, all the tools I needed, the complete water loop, the monitor, the audio and other useless peripherals. These were accrued over time as result of a gradual system upgrades and a lot of hard work to earn the gold. I did not spend 2.5K on a fancy block of aluminium straight ahead.

If you have any questions feel free to ask! Cheers!