"David" Lee Chong Yew

Member since 2019-02-16

Web dev.

Chinese Garden, Singapore

Most Recent Build

Best Build

Journey START!

Several cables meant for the built

Gen 4 NVMEs meant for use as cache.

One step closer

The CPUID to prove that yes, this is a 7950X3D

Made in Malaysia. And yet Malaysia is the last country to get the CPU. What gives?

Got over the barrier.

Small hole in the box. Hope this is not a bad sign.

It's beautiful...

Back of the card.

Colorful fans and fans of color

SSDs. Nice packaging considering the budget price.

One of the SSDs.

Air filter. Apparently these only comes in black. I will wedge it between the case wall and the fan to minimize visibility.

Cablemod SATA. we’re almost there!

Black and White.

First impression: it's lightweight.

ARGB connector... And PWM fan connector. Name a more dynamic pair.

Four wires. Definitely PWM.

Noctua fans have arrived

Second gen Gen5 NVMe.

Pearly shells

The pinnacle of sound?

The last compulsory part has arrived, along with one more optional part for me to explore alternative plans.

Every journey begins with a single step. This is part 1.

Hope I got the CPU installed right. My fear of LGA and the fact that this is my first time dealing with AM5 made this a nightmare to install.

Black or White? How about both?

Looking like a good start.

Back of the case. The case came with a single DC 3-pin, ARGB configured for exhaust. I replaced the fan and configured it for intake, adding a filter so air comes in clean.

The bottom intake fans. Yellow to the front and blue to the back

A DRGB strip hidden in the front of the case. Doesn't rally serve any real purposes I suppose.

Can't install the rad...

The RGB cable was a complete PITA to install.

Mobo bottom. Looks like the Thunderbolt4/USB4 card will be wedged in pretty tight.

Did a bit of tweaking to the mobo, installed the pump mounting and moved the cable for the Blazing M.2 cooler to the bottom right fan header.

Modded radiator with slim fans and Phanteks Halos to compensate

Thermal paste

Pump in.

More wire hidin'

More thermal paste. Of the Thermal Grizzly variety.

Installing the pump before the rad

I'm probably the first madlad who succeeded in installing a radiator on the top in this godforsaken case.

ARGB extension cable connected to the mobo. I'm not going to want to deal with that connector once all the cards are in place.

Four WalRAM 1TB SSDs along the back. These probably won't have any onboard cache, but that's okay. They're the "slow" tier. The three NV2s are these drives' RAM cache.

Too bad view of these cables would be obstructed by the GPU...

In the end it comes down to this.

100-240v, but is it really? Because someone at Reddit says it's not.

EPS Wired in

ATX Wired in

Wiry mess.

Silverstone's PP-08. Fits fine here, but the PSU doesn't fit.

Does not fit

Remaining headers populated. TB4 card installed.

SFX to ATX bracket round 2

Replacement bracket to ATX PSU mount.

PSU installed, finally.

Preparing to finalize mounting the PSU.

Compromises were made.

The cables were made to be as flat as possible to ensure enough space for the GPU

Back brackets removed in anticipation for the GPU

*”March of The Toreadors” from “Carmen” intensifies*

Sound card went in easy enough.

And now the princess.

Damn card was a pain to install…

At this point, it’s time to install the power for the card. You know what? Fukuwachita. YOLO. And all that. We’re using the daisy chain cord.

More compromises were made.

It’s over. Or is it?

Now with FG-122!

Red, red...

Blue, blue...

Final build- focus.

Test rig.

Another shiny

So thin, it slips between tight spaces!

Cable Management attempt

You couldn't even tell there's something over there

Unicorn barf. In CGA.

Final resting spot.

Sakurako 2.0: You (must) upgrade.

Don’t need the FG122 anymore. The port is going to be used for something else.

Removing the rad. Painful.

Replacement CPU.

We’re using the new Duronaut from Thermal Grizzly

Phase 1 test.

Replaces the funky nobrand USB2 to USB3 adapter with a reliable one from Silverstone.

The FG-122’s ARGB connector is replaced with an extension

I underestimated 322mm…

Another tight fit.

Final for now.

Operation: M.U.S.S.E aka The Senbonzakura Project

Operation: M.U.S.S.E
AKA
The Senbonzakura Project

The Momotaro-Sakura hybrid

The pinnacle of AMD computing, dedicated to my anime waifu.

Color(s): Brown Orange Pink Purple White Yellow

RGB Lighting? Yes

Theme: Anime

Cooling: AIO Cooling

Size: ATX

Type: General Build

Build Updates

Changes Pt. 2

1d 11h ago

Lunch over. Now comes the big step. Upgrading (or rather, sidegrading) to a 9070 XT.

The reason for this is two fold. Firstly, the entire system is already PCIe 5. However the 7900 XTX is only PCIe 4. This doesn’t sit well with me. The 9070 XT is a PCIe 5 part.

Secondly, the 7900 XTX was kinda behaving funky. It was frequently glitching and then crashing the entire system. Opinions I received were mixed, with many saying that the card is defective from factory, while Yeston pointed out the need for a 1000w PSU for this card (either the BIOS is heavily modified, or Chinese components are just less efficient and needs more power to power the GPU). Yeston says that their 9070 XT part only needs an 850w PSU which is what I have. Either way, swapping was the only option. I left the 7900 XTX back in Malaysia anyway.

First thing first, replacing the no-brand USB2 to USB3 adapter with a good quality one from Silverstone.

Next I attempt to install the GPU.

First I plug an extension cable into the ARGB port previously used by the FG-122.

See, the 9070 XT Sakura series of cards from Yeston are the first Yeston cards to have ARGB. However instead of including a controller on the GPU itself (and thus potentially requiring proprietary software to control), they wisely chose to allow the user to wire the GPU’s ARGB into the motherboard. Which is what we’re doing here.

Next I connected the other end of the ARGB extension cable into the card, and start to try to install it.

Ugh, I underestimated the size again. However I managed to eventually get it in.

And there lies the second issue. This card is much wider than the 7900 XTX. I have to leave out the Soundblaster Audigy RX.

Everything else fitted fine, including the Thunderbolt 4 card.

So yeah, the option is there. I need to buy a Thunderbolt PCIe enclosure to continue using my Audigy RX. Except that it’s going to cost me. For reasons unknown to man Thunderbolt enclosures are far from cheap.

I also need a plate to cover the exposed hole left behind by the Audigy RX…

This is going to cost me.

For now tho:

Replaces the funky nobrand USB2 to USB3 adapter with a reliable one from Silverstone.

The FG-122’s ARGB connector is replaced with an extension

I underestimated 322mm…

Another tight fit.

Final for now.

Changes Pt. 1

1d 11h ago

It’s April 2025. In the past 10 months I have moved countries, and last Monday, M.U.S.S.E and H.E.L.L.R.a.I.S.E.R, my two mains, finally joined me. And while I intend to leave the latter unchanged, I do still have some plans for the former. As teased before, the CPU is to be sidegraded to a 9950X, and the GPU to a 9070XT.

The first order of business would be to get rid of the FG122. I have something else in mind for the port.

Next I started the upgrade process for the CPU. First order of business is to tear out the rad temporarily (well, this case…).

Next I carefully removed the 7950X3D and switched it for the 9950X. This part was nerve wrecking because LGA. I had bad experiences with LGA in the past and thus am a bit worried when working with them.

For our thermal paste, we’re using the new Duronaut paste from Thermal Grizzly. Really nothing to write home about tho.

Finally we get everything reassembled and did primary test. We got to the BIOS successfully, so that’s a good sign.

After that, I decided to break for lunch.

To be continued.

Don’t need the FG122 anymore. The port is going to be used for something else.

Removing the rad. Painful.

Replacement CPU.

We’re using the new Duronaut from Thermal Grizzly

Phase 1 test.

If something is working right, don't fix it!

2024-01-07

Vlog Finale: Ignition!

2023-12-27

VLOG Update: The Smoke Test

2023-12-19

VLOG Update: Things went pear-shaped

2023-12-16

VLOG Update: "The Mendoza Path"

2023-12-13

VLOG Update: Things start to go wrong

2023-12-11

VLOG Update: Case open

2023-12-05

VLOG Upload: Starting the build

2023-12-01

Addendum A: Meet Me Halfway

2023-11-26

Closing this chapter

2023-11-22

It's over. Operation: M.U.S.S.E is deemed complete and have been moved into my lair.

Which I stripped apart to remove legacy components before the move.

So Sakurako is hooked up to a 1.2KwH UPS originally used for the Red Dead Re:Birth build (currently mothballed - failure determined to be the PSU, 1.2KW is not enough for four glorified RX480s and a Threadripper 2990WX after all. )

The storage configuration has been finalized as the sole PCIe5 stick for OS and high rank software (ie Visual Studio), A RAID-10 array of 1TB SATA SSDs (2TB effective storage space) for games and short term storage, and the three PCIe4 SSDs being combined into a RAID-0 volume used by PrimoCache for cache-boosting the RAID-10 array (RAID-0 is normally foolish, but in this case it's used on a bunch of cheapo Gen4 SSDs to work as non-volatile cache memory for the RAID-10 backing store). In all honesty I'd like to go RAID-5 on the slow SSDs but AMD's Ryzen SoftRAID only supports RAID-5 on select high end CPUs like Threadripper Pros.

On that note, my Primocache license is now one reset less because of the transfer.

I still could not get tiered storage working. Windows was crippled because Microsoft doesn't think normal users need tiered storage and should rely on cloud for data reliability and backups. Blah! Trying to get tiered storage working was so much of a nightmare I had half the mind to just go full Linux.

In any case, the book is closing on this build. It has been a painful and bumpy ride.

But yeah, as this book closes, another book is opening soon. Stay tuned.

Final resting spot.

Post completion updates 1

2023-11-05

Also I did not get Starfield

2023-11-16

Defending my use of the daisy chain cable (ie you worry too much)

2023-11-15

Post completion updates 2: our work is never over

2023-11-08

So I did some measuring and determined that I could stuff a 12cm fan into the front of the case.

So that's what I did.

Installing it was a breeze. I initially thought I needed to remove the PSU to install it, but nope, it slipped right in between the GPU and the case easily.

Attempt to cable manage it went smoothly too. The cable was generously long that I could slip it to the back of the case and then up and over towards the top.

Now, you may wonder how the heck I'm going to hook it up given that all the headers on the motherboard has been exhausted. Simple. Remember how the AIO came with a three way fan splitter box? And how the pump's ARGB cable has a breakout for splitting the signal that I intended to connect to the Super Flower until I realized it was too big? Yeah.

After that, another smoke test confirms that everything is working as it should.

Personally, I think it was a good call. Despite the fan mostly focused on the GPU, temperature in the case apparently fell about 5 degrees Celsius. For the records, the case is mostly positive air pressure, there are (as of now) four fans pumping in air while the two fans behind the radiator exhausts them while cooling the CPU radiator. Hot air naturally rises so the radiator fans just help move hot air out from the case faster.

One minor issue is that the FG-122's lights tend to overpower the NO-12015-XT's. It's not noticeable all the time, only when viewed at a certain angle. However, given that I will mostly be working with the RGB turned off or to all white, it is also a non-issue.

Another shiny

So thin, it slips between tight spaces!

Cable Management attempt

You couldn't even tell there's something over there

Unicorn barf. In CGA.

The final furlong

2023-11-04

This is it. The replacement SFX to ATX bracket is here.

It’s Time to finally finish the build.

The bracket went into the ATX PSU mount effortlessly and unlike the last time, the PSU fitted into the bracket fine.

Well, I say fine, but in actuality compromises were made.

For example, my wish to have the PSU fan face outward had to be scrapped because the screw points on the SFX PSU doesn’t line up if I try to install it the other way. Also, after much consideration, I decided to have the power input side face upwards. This is because the part of the PSU is a grill meant for hot air exhaust. If I face the grill down hot air could be trapped inside the PSU due to the law of thermodynamics demanding that hot air always rises to the top, and the modular cable side of the PSU is solid metal and does not have a grill.

With the PSU in place, are down to the home stretch. I removed the remaining brackets in anticipation to installing the final cards.

The sound card, the Audigy RX, went in without problems.

The same couldn’t be said for the GPU. Despite the case being supposedly bigger than the GPU, it initially refused to go in. I stopped to cool down, and then, after clearing my mind, began trying to solve the puzzle again. After contorting and inserting the card at esoteric angles, it finally went in.

Then it came time to install the power lead for the GPU. At this point I’ve decided to just YOLO it and use the daisy chain lead. It’s AWG18 cable. According to Google AWG18 can take up to ~~800~~ 480 watts of power(*1). The 7900XTX consumes 355w at full load- not a big issue. Besides, I’ve run Vega cards off daisy chains and they were fine.

Also, it was so packed in there that there is no space for the GPU anti sag holder. So I ended up using the ARGB strip after all. It was a real pain to install but in the end, it was worth it.

So how did it all turn out?

Yes, I did not cable manage the GPU power cable. It wasn’t long enough that I decided it wasn’t worth the pain.

Smoke test 2 was also successful. Both the onboard and the Sakura GPUs were detected as was the SoundBlaster Audigy RX. Initially the Thunderbolt card wasn’t showing up but I managed to find the entry in the BIOS and enabled it. I will document this an upcoming video as the location of the BIOS option to enable support is neither mentioned in the manual that came with the Thunderbolt card nor was it mentioned in the motherboard manual.

But, this is not the end…

It’s over. Or is it?

More compromises were made.

At this point, it’s time to install the power for the card. You know what? Fukuwachita. YOLO. And all that. We’re using the daisy chain cord.

Damn card was a pain to install…

And now the princess.

Sound card went in easy enough.

*”March of The Toreadors” from “Carmen” intensifies*

Back brackets removed in anticipation for the GPU

The cables were made to be as flat as possible to ensure enough space for the GPU

Compromises were made.

Preparing to finalize mounting the PSU.

PSU installed, finally.

Replacement bracket to ATX PSU mount.

SFX to ATX bracket round 2

Smoke Test: Huge Success

2023-10-30

So it has come down to this

2023-10-30

Cooler Master's white PSU availability was a lie. They apparently actually didn't bring in any. Should've figured this out from the start since they also won't bring in the PL240 White Edition because "White parts don't sell in Malaysia" (their words). Well, their funeral.

I wish Cooler Master HQ would just fire that idiot who biases to black parts.

So now my only choice is a Lian Li SP850. Tier rating B by the PSU list. Said to be a potential fireball-cum-smokebomb that could cause catastrophic damage to the components according to Reddit. But since no other white SFX PSUs are available in the country, not even FSP's Dagger Pro white, it's what I'm stuck with.

Also, since I'm already working with "the worst case in the world", (Gamers Nexus calls it an "oven"), why the fsck not.

Also, it doesn't fit Silverstone's PP08 SFX-to-ATX adapter. Because of a fricking lip on the adapter, no doubt to ensure only Silverstone's PSUs would fit. And there's no mention of this on the box. RM30 wasted.

Ordered a generic adapter (for half the price) from Shopee. But it's going to be a long wait since it's coming from China (AGAIN!). In the meantime, I've wired in the two 8-pin EPS and 24-pin ATX power cables. I've also gone ahead and repasted the radiator pump's plate with more Kryonaut that I bought late last week.

I'm just going to smoke test the thing and power it on with the PSU outside the case tonight. I don't know when the Starfield promo ends but I sure as hell want my free copy of Starfield (especially if it costs RM350 in my money).

Wiry mess.

ATX Wired in

EPS Wired in

100-240v, but is it really? Because someone at Reddit says it's not.

In the end it comes down to this.

Silverstone's PP-08. Fits fine here, but the PSU doesn't fit.

Does not fit

Very angry

2023-10-28

Rethinking the PSU

2023-10-22

Radiator Stories

2023-10-21

Excellent news: I managed to find one inch long 6-32 screws locally. And they work awesome.

So I managed to get the radiator in now. It looks good, all the cabling are well hidden enough, that I suppose I will become the first madlad to get a radiator into this case in the top position.

Feeling accomplished, I turned my attention to the PSU, aiming to at least get a bootable system by tonight.

Then disaster struck: Apparently an ATX PSU is just too much for the case, at least with the radiator installed. Even slim fans on the rad won't save this.

So I have only one option left. This option is extreme but I already come this far. I can't turn back now.

I need a SFX PSU.

Modded radiator with slim fans and Phanteks Halos to compensate

Thermal paste

More thermal paste. Of the Thermal Grizzly variety.

Installing the pump before the rad

Pump in.

More wire hidin'

I'm probably the first madlad who succeeded in installing a radiator on the top in this godforsaken case.

ARGB extension cable connected to the mobo. I'm not going to want to deal with that connector once all the cards are in place.

No thank you

2023-10-14

Another barrier to get over

2023-10-14

Went to Cameron Highlands to film my next installment of Kiddie Ride Hunter.

Got back tired, but decided to finally put the motherboard into the case.

And yeah, it was a pain. Maybe if I installed the fans and the control panel later. Still, I managed it. Manhandled the motherboard a bit, hopefully noting got damaged.

I also had to remove the rear fan to facilitate the case installation. Installed it back after the board was successfully in. They were not kidding when they said this case is a real PITA to work with. I reinstalled the fan after.

Anyways, after all that's done I turned my attention to the radiator.

Those replacement screws I bought? They don't work. Too short even after installing the Halos Lux Digital lighting, and the groove doesn't match up. Chalk it up to Malaysia using metric screws (ie M3, M4, Etc) instead of imperial (ie UNC 6-32, 4-40, etc).

So I swapped the Slim fans out for a pair of NF-F12s from the Pinkeye Revenger's NH-U12S and used the replacement screws that came with the Halos Lux Digital lighting. It works, but now the radiator is too thick to fit into the case and is obstructing the rear fan and PSU mounting point.

Looks like the project is on ice until I can find a good source of #6-32 1" screws locally. And as mentioned before, importing is not an option because of the former Mahathir government's archaic laws prohibiting the import of certain raw parts still being in effect.

*sigh* looks like another barrier to cross

Can't install the rad...

Mobo bottom. Looks like the Thunderbolt4/USB4 card will be wedged in pretty tight.

The RGB cable was a complete PITA to install.

Did a bit of tweaking to the mobo, installed the pump mounting and moved the cable for the Blazing M.2 cooler to the bottom right fan header.

One more step closer to completion

2023-10-07

Worked on the case today.

Pretty much not much to be done, but boy this case a real pain to work with.

Also, recording didn't go smoothly. At one point I stopped the recording and forgot to restart. Then the camera just ran out of battery halfway through. Good thing I was able to keep powering it with a USB power bank. But yeah, expect parts of the recording to be missing.

Put on two of the fans before realizing that I forgot the silencing rubber pads and thus had to remove them, attach the rubber, and put them back.

Also, after much testing, it turns out that I cannot mount the FG-121 to where I want it due to lack of space either. But that's okay, since I had a contingency plan in the form of a no-brand RGB LED strip (actually, the brand is DSpace, not to be confused for DBrand, but you try adding that).

So all the stuff are now in place. The control panel has been moved, fans installed and LED strip installed. Time will tell if it works since I removed and restuck the strip at one point.

Back of the case. The case came with a single DC 3-pin, ARGB configured for exhaust. I replaced the fan and configured it for intake, adding a filter so air comes in clean.

The bottom intake fans. Yellow to the front and blue to the back

A DRGB strip hidden in the front of the case. Doesn't rally serve any real purposes I suppose.

Late but...

2023-10-01

Saturday it is

2023-09-28

Radio silence

2023-08-30

I can build anytime now

2023-07-16

Right, Audigy has arrived

2023-07-01

And not the one I bought from Shopee. The one I bought from Creative direct as a second try, out of frustration after the Shopee one appears to be a scam.

The Audigy RX is a weird beast. It’s built on a two decade old but somehow still in production E-MU 10K2.5 SPU that was used in the Audigy 2 Value and Audigy 4, linked to a PCI to PCIe adapter chip made by PLX. The tech somehow outlived it’s more able E-Mu 20K siblings. But because of the fact that it’s still based on two decade old SPU, hardware accelerated Wavetable MIDI is still fully supported on it in Linux. Which will be useful when the day comes for me to dump Windows.

So now I’m ready to build… if it wasn’t for the fact that the Phanteks Halos were short of one Phanteks proprietary to ARGB adapter (seriously, why do these companies deviate from the industry standard?!?). I could daisy chain it to the first grill, but then I’ll have one free ARGB header on the mobo and I don’t want that. In my head the pump ARGB daisy chains to the PSU’s ARGB and the Phanteks are independently controlled over two separate ARGB channels. I’m not gonna change that. Unless I can get my hands on a ARGB GPU holder? Hmmmm….

Also, Unfortunately for me, my last chance to do the build passed on the day before, and my next free day is in another 3 weeks. Still it will give me time to make some last minute small changes. I’m still arguing with myself over the GPU stand (current plan is to Jerry rig one using merch with images of my waifu on it, but that might not come to pass if the end result is too short to reach the GPU, or is too tall that it pushes on the GPU), whether to get different thermal paste (been using Noctua NT-H1 for a long while now, but part of me wants to try Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut for this build).

I even considered Thermal Grizzly Carbonaut at one point, but then snapped out of it when reviews show that it performs worse than traditional thermal paste.

Also, amazing how the scene changes. I remember when Arctic Silver was THE thermal paste to use. Then the crown was snatched away by the Noctua NT-H1. Now it seems that Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut is the new go-to thermal paste. Time changes. I’m growing older…

The pinnacle of sound?

The disappointment never ends

2023-06-29

Remember what I said about the cooler being ready to mod?

2023-06-21

I’m just reminded on why I hate Malaysia.

2023-06-18

Preparing to mod the rad

2023-06-03

The Thermalright stays

2023-05-31

We're almost ready to build!

2023-05-30

RAM collected. Special thanks to Convergent Technologies for helping me get the White sticks- looks like not many shops here in Malaysia will be carrying them.

The black sticks are 6000MHz 36-38-38 8GB modules with a total effective capacity of 16GB, while the white sticks are the same specification but 16GB modules with a total effective capacity of 32GB. This gives us a total of 48GB to play with.

I've also changed option on the cooler again, apparently Thermalright Frozen Prism 240 AIOs are also PWM and comes in white, and are readily available in Malaysia. I'm getting mixed messages about them (some review sites say they're not PWM) but after examining a picture of the installed cooler, I've decided to bite because I'm seeing 3+4 wires in 2 groups and am confident that the 3 wire group is the ARGB cable while the 4 wire group is the PWM pump cable. So I have it locked down. However I will return the pump if it turns out I am wrong. Therefore I won't update the build component list until I confirm the pump is correct.

I think AIO manufacturers should include images of the cables in pictures of their AIOs. Because sometimes their spec sheet lies and it's a pain to find out which really are PWM and which aren't.

I've also decided to go ahead and execute the Slim Fan mod on the cooler and have locked down two Noctua NF-A12x15 fans. As with the original plan the fans will be accompanied by a pair of Silverstone SST-FG122 ARGB fan rings. All that's left is to secure the eight 6-32 20mm screws needed to carry out the mod.

Also all that's left now is the fast gen 5 NVMe SSD. I've locked down on the Crucial T700 but if that turns out to be unavailable I will fall back to the Corsair MP700 which are finally now readily available.

Black and White.

The state of the build so far

2023-05-17

So SATA cables for the build arrived quicker than I anticipated.

You know what? Most of the parts are already here. The RAM has also been finalized and ordered, all that’s left is the Gen5 SSD and the cooler.

I’m taking it out of the Concept Build category and putting it into the General Build category. It’s no longer a dream, it’s happening.

So yeah, RAM has been locked in. We’re going with 2x Kingston Fury Beast 16GB white 6000MHz and 2x Kingston Fury Beast 8GB black 6000MHz for a total of 48GB of RAM. Bold but it should work in theory.

One of the things left to finalize is the SSD. On one hand the MP700 is ready stock just like the Aorus 10000, but like the Aorus 10000 it’s impeded by having first generation Gen5 flash, with a maximum read of 9.5GB/s, while the T700 has second generation Gen5 flash which is 2GB/s faster. People claim that the difference is not visible in real world applications except certain use cases, heck some even claim that for most use cases Gen4 will suffice. But damn it, I paid for Gen5 and I will use it to the fullest.

Also, the T700 is rumored to be RM100(US$20) cheaper than the MP700.

The other thing left to finalize is the cooling. Right now I’m planning to go back to my initial plan of using an EK, albeit a Nucleus CR240 Lux White. Also on the table is the decision to mod the cooler by replacing the stock fans with Noctua A12x15 PWMs, and whether to go with Silverstone FG121s or Phanteks Halo Luxes, mod less by using a Noctua 12x25 PWM fan with aforementioned ARGB grills, or mod even less by just going with a ID-Cooling ZF-12025 Pink ARGB. The cooling is perhaps the most complicated part of the build, not going to lie.

Either way, it’s too late to turn back. There is only one way and it’s forward.

Cablemod SATA. we’re almost there!

Slow SSDs are here

2023-05-15

Cost-cutting

2023-05-09

Change of fans

2023-05-07

I can't believe I'm holding this...

2023-04-19

One step closer to the build…

2023-04-17

Motherboard and CPU secured.

So yeah, we’re one step closer to getting the build done.

Made in Malaysia and yet Malaysia is one of the last countries to get the CPU. SMH.

In any case tho, further musings about the RAM.

Good news: Kingston has just announced white Fury Beast DDR5 sticks.
Also good news: They’re AMD EXPO Certified and available up to 6000MHz.
Bad news: Minimum size is 16GB.

So now I guess I’ll have a mixture of black and white sticks on the mobo. Which is fine, I can work with that.

And oh yeah, I’ve decided to go for max and upgrade the RAM speed to the maximum 6000MHz.

Also bad news: the CoolerMaster PL240 Flux White appeared to be a limited edition thing and is now out of stock. Shit.

But that makes it clear why they won’t sell it here in Malaysia. Malaysia rarely if ever receives limited edition stuff (we didn’t get the Lian-Li Lancool 205 Mesh C Pink Limited Edition either. But for some reason we were lucky enough to score the MasterCase Q500L Sakura edition. On the other hand the Q500L was considered to be so terrible that it sold poorly in other countries that they could’ve chose to dump the unsold stock here. Still, I’m gonna work with it.

Now I need to seek out another white AIO with PWM pump. Only the best for my anime waifu.

One step closer

The CPUID to prove that yes, this is a 7950X3D

Made in Malaysia. And yet Malaysia is the last country to get the CPU. What gives?

Kinda backtracking about RAM and other musings

2023-03-10

Gen5 NVMe: Another Idea

2023-03-04

You're not the boss of me

2023-01-27

Rethinking the RAM Part 2

2023-01-23

Further costcutting

2023-01-18

Seller decides to cancel my order for the Samsung NVMe sticks because they were “out of stock”, in reality I suspect they were being sold for under cost (RM290 as opposed to RM470 other stores were selling them for) and the seller just found out and now wants to jack up the price.

I think Samsung’s asking price of RM470 for a 250GB NVMe is just ridiculous. Why so expensive? Is it because they think they’re the only ones offering a 250GB PCIe 4 NVMe drive?

News for you Samsung: Kingston has 250GB PCIe 4 NVMe drives too.

So I’m switching to Kingston NV2s. Same size, just a quarter of the price. I don’t know if it would last long in my use case (as disk cache for 4TB of spinning rust storage) but they’re cheap enough to replace I suppose.

Next I turned to the water cooler. Found out about the new CoolerMaster PL240 Flex White AIO which ticks all my boxes (PWM pump and white color), although I do still want to try to give it slim Noctua fans. It’s only a bit cheaper (less than RM100 difference) than the EK AIO, but it is full white as opposed to only having a white pump. The only gotcha is that they appear to be a Newegg exclusive and Newegg doesn’t ship to Malaysia anymore. This is going to be a major issue.

Lastly, I’ve decided I don’t need ARGB RAM. It’s still Kingston Beast 5600MHz AMD Expo enabled, but now it’s the non RGB variant. It will only save me RM100 each stick, but in case I can’t stuff low profile fans onto the PL240, it will still guarantee that the AIO will fit (Though just barely- CoolerMaster says that due to overlap, with a normal AIO there’s only clearance for RAM sticks up to 35mm tall In the Q500L. The non RGB RAM barely makes the cut at 34.9mm. The RGB sticks don’t fit, but I was hoping to work around it using slim fans). Just sad that these don’t come in white. Kingston used to provide their RAM with heatsinks that came in a selection of colors- sad that the practice stopped, I would have gotten a pair in white and another in red for this.

Radeon is a no-show

2023-01-13

CPU updated today

2023-01-05

First log

2022-12-26

Ok. I have had this listed for months and only now I am breaking silence. What gives?

So yeah. The last few months had not been kind to me. Hell, the years since 2020 had not been kind to me. Psychological torture endured aside, those of you who watch my Twitch streams should already know this: I finally lost my job- got laid off at the end of September because a jealous cow-orker played me and manipulated people behind my back since 2020 and utterly destroyed a project I had going on in the company and finally got me kicked upstairs, ultimately HR took pity on me and laid me off instead of letting me languish meaninglessly.

I have not been able to get a job since. One recruitment officer cut the interview short the moment the she found out I can’t speak Chinese (I’m of Chinese blood, but raised in an English speaking household). The other, well, my mistake for asking too many questions. The third one strung me along for almost two months then turned me down because I was fat.

Aside from that I was starting to have monetary issues. My layoff compensation was withheld by the IRB (the Malaysian equivalent of the IRS) for over 2 months. After my compensation and clearing all my debt from the YouTube project, and some other family matters, I’m not sure if I can even pull this build off.

Anyways, I’ve decided to try to go forward with the build. Most of the items in the list has been locked down except for three:

The CPU. I previously decided that I wanted to go forward with the 7950X, but then just as my compensation pay was released I started hearing rumors that the 7950X3D would be announced next week at CES 2023. I’m leaving the CPU I put in first as a placeholder, but if the 7950X3D gets announced, I will get that instead.
The primary NVMe SSD. I am eyeing the Corsair MP700 to get the most out of the PCIe 5 bus. But as it stands, even though Corsair has announced that the SSD months ago, it has yet to appear in stores anywhere. Vaporware?
The GPU. I previously publicly stated that it would be a Yeston Sakura 7900 XTX card (now revealed to be the Yeston Radeon RX 7900 XTX Sakura Pupil Water With SUGAR). But then I started hearing rumors that a Radeon RX 7950 XTX will be announced next week at CES 2023 alongside the Ryzen 9 7950X3D. No word on what’s better about it- some are saying it will have more 3D Cache. Others are saying it will be a PCIe 5 enabled version of the 7900XTX. The wildest rumor I’ve heard is saying that it will be two Navi 31 XTXs preconfigured as Crossfire on a single card. TechPowerUp is claiming that it would be nothing special- just a 7900XTX (and still not having PCIe 5) with a newer revision silicon and better clock speeds.

So yeah, the main holdback is the CPU, GPU and SSD. Especially the CPU and GPU- the draw of also nicknaming this build the 7950-7950 build is very tempting. I am also unhappy with the choice of motherboard, but as it stands the motherboard of my choice (Gigabyte X670E Aero D) is also vaporware just like the MP700.

Only other minor change is I want to increase the HDD storage to 2TB disks. This machine is supposed to last me 5 years, maybe more if I still can’t get a job. I would probably want a bit more storage to be able to hold out.

Also, my plan for customized cables has been put on the kibosh because it turns out that the SuperFlower can’t have custom cables made because it has special connectors and there is not enough demand that CableMod isn’t going to bother. Bummer, I guess I can make do with just the custom SATA cables. Although I’m also going to need SATA power extender cables due to the disk mounting locations of the case. I did consider changing it to the CoolerMaster V Gold V2 850w white edition which does have custom CableMod cables, but ultimately it turns out that the PSU is so popular here in Malaysia that it’s currently sold out.

To show my commitment to the project tho, I picked up the initial two parts today- Case and PSU.

Journey START!

Hardware

Category / Value

Brand / Part

CPU

$ 683.00

AMD - Ryzen 9 9950X

Socket: AM5

Cores: 16

Integrated Graphics: Yes

Motherboard

$ 480.22

ASRock - Steel Legend (X670E)

Chipset: X670

CPU Socket: AM5

Size: ATX

Memory

$ 87.95

Kingston - Fury Beast (56000Mhz) (Black)

Type: DDR5

Capacity: 32 GB

Memory

$ 59.95

Kingston - Fury Beast (Up to 6000Mhz)

Type: DDR5

Capacity: 16 GB

Graphics

$ 0.01

AMD - Embedded Graphics

Storage

$ 139.20

Crucial - T700

Form Factor: M.2

Interface: M.2 (M)

Capacity: 1 TB

Storage

$ 76.50

Kingston - NV2 (3x)

Form Factor: M.2

Interface: PCIe x4

Capacity: 250 GB

Storage

$ 138.00

Walram - Factory Internal (4x)

Form Factor: 2.5 Inch

Interface: SATA 6 Gb/s

Capacity: 1 TB

PSU

$ 149.99

Lian Li - SP850

Wattage: 850

Form Factor: SFX

Efficiency: 80+ Gold

Case

$ 36.99

Cooler Master - MasterBox Q500L Sakura Edition

Type: Mid-Tower

Side Panel: Acrylic

Case Fan

$ 14.99

ID-COOLING - NO-12015-XT (ARGB)

Size: 120 mm

Case Fan

$ 38.97

ID-COOLING - ZF-12025 Pastel (3x)

Size: 120 mm

Cooling

$ 49.99

ASRock - Blazing Gen5

Type: M.2 Heatsink

Cooling

$ 4.99

Jonsbo - M.2 Heatsink

Type: M.2 Heatsink

Cooling

$ 47.90

Thermalright - Frozen Prism 240 White ARGB

Type: AIO

Size (WxHxD): 240 mm (2 x 120 mm)

Accessories

$ 135.99

ASRock - Thunderbolt 4 AIC

Accessories

$ 2.99

Generic/WL - 12V/4pin RGB Magnetic Strip

Accessories

$ 48.10

Phanteks - Halos Fan Frames (120mm) (2x)

Estimated total value of this build:

$ 2,008.65

Approved by:

Operation: M.U.S.S.E aka The Senbonzakura Project

Most Recent Build

Best Build

Operation: M.U.S.S.E aka The Senbonzakura Project

Build Updates

Changes Pt. 2

Changes Pt. 1

If something is working right, don't fix it!

Vlog Finale: Ignition!

VLOG Update: The Smoke Test

VLOG Update: Things went pear-shaped

VLOG Update: "The Mendoza Path"

VLOG Update: Things start to go wrong

VLOG Update: Case open

VLOG Upload: Starting the build

Addendum A: Meet Me Halfway

Closing this chapter

Post completion updates 1

Also I did not get Starfield

Defending my use of the daisy chain cable (ie you worry too much)

Post completion updates 2: our work is never over

The final furlong

Smoke Test: Huge Success

So it has come down to this

Very angry

Rethinking the PSU

Radiator Stories

No thank you

Another barrier to get over

One more step closer to completion

Late but...

Saturday it is

Radio silence

I can build anytime now

Right, Audigy has arrived

The disappointment never ends

Remember what I said about the cooler being ready to mod?

I’m just reminded on why I hate Malaysia.

Preparing to mod the rad

The Thermalright stays

We're almost ready to build!

The state of the build so far

Slow SSDs are here

Cost-cutting

Change of fans

I can't believe I'm holding this...

One step closer to the build…

Kinda backtracking about RAM and other musings

Gen5 NVMe: Another Idea

You're not the boss of me

Rethinking the RAM Part 2

Further costcutting

Radeon is a no-show

CPU updated today

First log

Hardware

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