Just finished a new build to replace my old PC from 2014 (Asus Z87 Gryphon):
Fractal Design Define R6 USB-C case
- PSU: Corsair Ax1600i
- Gigabyte Z390 Master motherboard (F6 Bios)
- Intel i9-9900K 9th Gen 8-core CPU
- Corsair AIO H115i Pro RGB water cooler 280mm (Front mounted, Pull config: 2 x Corsair ML140 fans connected to M/B CPU fan header)
- 1x 140mm rear exhaus fan (came with case) connected to M/B FAN_SYS2 header
- 64GB RAM: 4 DIMMs x 16GB Kingston HyperX 2666MHz CL16 (2 x HX426C16FBK2/32 kit).
PCI-E cards:
- PCIe 3.0 x8 via CPU: Nvidia Quadro P2000 5GB graphics card with fan (75W, no additional power needed)
- PCIe 3.0 x4 via CPU: Intel Optane AIC 905P NVMe 960GB (Boot drive C:Win10 ENT + D:VMWARE VMs)
- PCIe 3.0 x4 via PCH: Intel Optane AIC 905P NVMe 960GB (Eata drive + VMWARE VMs).
Other:
- Samsung 970 Pro 1TB M.2 NVMe PCIe 3.0 x 4 (via PCH) (F: data drive)
- Samsung 960 Pro SATA3 2TB on SATA Port 0 (via PCH) (G: for backups)
- Corsair Commander Pro (to monitor & control AIO + PSU)
- Delock 5.25 Mobile Rack for SATA 1 x 2.5 SSD + 1 x 3.5 HDD + (2 x USB 3.0 ports: not connected) on SATA port 1 (via PCH) (for backups)
- Dell 27" UltraSharp U2713H 2560 x 1440 monitor connected to Nvidia Quadro P2000.
Software:
- Windows 10 Enterprise 1803 (Host OS)
- Intel NVMe drivers
- Corsair Link software 4.x
- VMWARE Workstation 15.0.2.
- Intel XTU + Prime95 + CystalDIskMarks
Remarks:
- All is at stock speed; no overclocking. Main purpose is VMware workstation running 4-5 VMs (on a very quiet workstation PC)
- PSU fan doesn't run since PSU temps are below 50 degrees celsius (power efficiency is at 93% according to Corsair Link software)
- Corsair H115i Pro runs in Quiet mode (fans at 600 RPM; pump at about 1100 RPM)
- CPU core temps are about 27 degrees celsius at idle Windows running (according to Corsair Link software and also Intel XTU)
- CPU core temps are about 60 degrees celsius with Prime95 (Blend test) with H115i in Quiet mode for 15min; have to swith H115i to Balanced mode (pump at 2100 RPM) after 15min to keep temps from climbing further
- CrystalDiskMarks gives at 4KQ1: 250MB/sec for random reads and 235MB/sec for random writes for the boot drive (Optane 905P AIC).
Future improvements:
- Rear 140mm case fan is audible; hope to replace with Noctua or Be Quiet Silent Wings 3
- on bare-metal host in Device Manager: Intel NVMe driver is shown under Disk Controllers; but under Disk Drives, the old Microsoft ACHI driver from 2006 is still shown for both Optane drives? Don't know if this is normal?
- Have maybe to connect all fans to Corsair Commander Pro to have better control and even less fan noise from rear case fan
- VMWARE NVMe driver for VMs is still slower than the SAS driver (still not fixed by VMWARE)
- Is Corsair iCUE software better than LINK?
Hope above is helpful to someone.
Toad
Fractal Design Define R6 USB-C case
- PSU: Corsair Ax1600i
- Gigabyte Z390 Master motherboard (F6 Bios)
- Intel i9-9900K 9th Gen 8-core CPU
- Corsair AIO H115i Pro RGB water cooler 280mm (Front mounted, Pull config: 2 x Corsair ML140 fans connected to M/B CPU fan header)
- 1x 140mm rear exhaus fan (came with case) connected to M/B FAN_SYS2 header
- 64GB RAM: 4 DIMMs x 16GB Kingston HyperX 2666MHz CL16 (2 x HX426C16FBK2/32 kit).
PCI-E cards:
- PCIe 3.0 x8 via CPU: Nvidia Quadro P2000 5GB graphics card with fan (75W, no additional power needed)
- PCIe 3.0 x4 via CPU: Intel Optane AIC 905P NVMe 960GB (Boot drive C:Win10 ENT + D:VMWARE VMs)
- PCIe 3.0 x4 via PCH: Intel Optane AIC 905P NVMe 960GB (Eata drive + VMWARE VMs).
Other:
- Samsung 970 Pro 1TB M.2 NVMe PCIe 3.0 x 4 (via PCH) (F: data drive)
- Samsung 960 Pro SATA3 2TB on SATA Port 0 (via PCH) (G: for backups)
- Corsair Commander Pro (to monitor & control AIO + PSU)
- Delock 5.25 Mobile Rack for SATA 1 x 2.5 SSD + 1 x 3.5 HDD + (2 x USB 3.0 ports: not connected) on SATA port 1 (via PCH) (for backups)
- Dell 27" UltraSharp U2713H 2560 x 1440 monitor connected to Nvidia Quadro P2000.
Software:
- Windows 10 Enterprise 1803 (Host OS)
- Intel NVMe drivers
- Corsair Link software 4.x
- VMWARE Workstation 15.0.2.
- Intel XTU + Prime95 + CystalDIskMarks
Remarks:
- All is at stock speed; no overclocking. Main purpose is VMware workstation running 4-5 VMs (on a very quiet workstation PC)
- PSU fan doesn't run since PSU temps are below 50 degrees celsius (power efficiency is at 93% according to Corsair Link software)
- Corsair H115i Pro runs in Quiet mode (fans at 600 RPM; pump at about 1100 RPM)
- CPU core temps are about 27 degrees celsius at idle Windows running (according to Corsair Link software and also Intel XTU)
- CPU core temps are about 60 degrees celsius with Prime95 (Blend test) with H115i in Quiet mode for 15min; have to swith H115i to Balanced mode (pump at 2100 RPM) after 15min to keep temps from climbing further
- CrystalDiskMarks gives at 4KQ1: 250MB/sec for random reads and 235MB/sec for random writes for the boot drive (Optane 905P AIC).
Future improvements:
- Rear 140mm case fan is audible; hope to replace with Noctua or Be Quiet Silent Wings 3
- on bare-metal host in Device Manager: Intel NVMe driver is shown under Disk Controllers; but under Disk Drives, the old Microsoft ACHI driver from 2006 is still shown for both Optane drives? Don't know if this is normal?
- Have maybe to connect all fans to Corsair Commander Pro to have better control and even less fan noise from rear case fan
- VMWARE NVMe driver for VMs is still slower than the SAS driver (still not fixed by VMWARE)
- Is Corsair iCUE software better than LINK?
Hope above is helpful to someone.
Toad