Seems quiet in here…. Anyone building a z690?

[TimF]

For future reference to use the Hdplex motherboard mounting screws I believe it is: 

2.5 drill bit - not sure yet what is required as to the type of metal used - trying hss cobalt gold 

M3 tapping kit 

I have not done the work yet so this isn’t confirmed. 

 

Bought Iswiss SN-28B crimp tool. 

 

Hope this helps someone. 

 

[Lebouwsky]

This weekend I finished the build of my new music which contains following parts:

Asus tuf z690 ddr4 

intel i7 12700K

GSkill Trident Z F4-3200C14D

intel optane 800p

jcat femto usb card

paul hynes sr7 2 rail (dc-atx and cpu)

hdplex 400w dc-atx

neotech jssg360 dc cable

 

I have 2 older servers to compare with: a low power supermicro intel celeron and a z390 i5. Both build in a streacom fc10 case.
 

The new server sounds so much better from the moment I pressed play. Even YouTube sounds good, which I really like for listening and watching live studio performances like Tiny Desk and KEXP. But when using Jriver I really got goosebumps. Later at night I like listening to “melancholic” jazz from artists like Lester Young, Zoot Sims and Chat Baker. Some of the older recordings are from the fifties and it really feels like I’m there.
 

Sound has a greater density, bass is much more accurate, more controle and the speakers seem to disappear more. But what I like most is a further reduction of what I call digital glair. You know, that harshness that makes you skip songs or turn the volume down. 
 

There are more potential improvements to come like using windows server 2019 as OS, stripping the OS with audiophile optimizer, installing the jcat network card, using neotech dc cables for both usb and network card. 
 

As for the H5 case, the build itself was quite easy and the temperature of the cpu is around 40 degrees Celsius without upsampling. Stressing the cpu more with 4K movies the temperature went to 50 degrees. This massive cooling block with the 8 heatpipes and the 2 heavy cooling ribs as side panels really work. The aluminium front is very thick and heavy. The rest of the panels are sprayed black which I feel scratches quite easily. Overall I’m quite happy with it, mostly because of the cooling performance. I think streacom is less vulnerable to scratches but cooling performance is less.

[TimF]

 Brilliant work! 
 

Thought about different operating systems for it? 
 

Post some pics 

[dequad]

First post here.

Z790 boards are now out on the market so this might seem a bit late. Anyway...

Over the last six months I gradually assembled two new Z690 builds to replace the Asus P10WSs in my dual PC JPlay set up. The two Z690 boards used are an Asus Z690 Apex and a Gigabyte Auros Z690 Master, chosen for their hefty power supply capacities and supposedly superior DDR5 overclocking capabilities (which pales in comparison with pretty much any Z790 boards based on the reports I've seen).

 

One of the builds consists of

• Auros Z690 Master
• i5-12600KF at 5250MHz: BCLK at 128MHz with a ratio of 41x; Ring ratio at 40x (5120MHz)
• Klevv DDR5 2x16GB, overclocked to 6400MHz at 32-37-37-28 CR1
• System disk is an Optane 900P U.2 on a CPU-direct M.2 slot via an adapter
• Mellanox ConnectX-3 InfiniBand network card, connecting control PC and audio PC, on a CPU-direct PCIe slot; one-meter copper DAC (Direct Copper Attach) cable
• Corsair AX1600i

Only one fan is installed on the BeQuiet! DarkRock 4 Pro and is actually disabled since the temp. seems stuck at at 45 degrees Celsius or so. The fan on the AX1600i only spins for a second or two at system start-up, so the system is basically fan-less and silent.

 

I am running Windows Server 2022 on both PCs. The static memory latency as measured by Intel MLC is a very consistent 49.6 nS (and in the 30's per Aida64, but due to the higher BCLK frequency used it's likely a false reading).

 

The Z690 Apex was sent back to Asus (instability when RAM overclocking, a known issue on most of the pre-2022 batch boards). Upon receiving it back, I am now planning to upgrade to a Raptor Lake i5-13600KF or 13700KF, and a pair of the new Hynix A-die 16GB DDR5, which is said to be able to run at up to 7000MHz on Z690, and 8000MHz or more on Z790. I will report back once the updated build of the Z690 Apex is completed.

 

Sound-wise, in line with what Lebouwsky said above, these new generation PCs are so much better than my previous Asus P10WS builds. I belong to the school that pursues low latency and high speed/bandwidth, perhaps having something to do with my preference for OTL (actually OCL) tube amp and electrostatic speakers. I also prefer high capacity switching GaN PSU (fast transient and low ripple ones) over the linear PSUs I've tried.