Batman's CaseLabs Mercury S8 Work Computer

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My 12month old 8700K binned at 5.2Ghz scoring a Cinebench ST at 5.3Ghz of 233 (screenshot below).

My 8086K scored a Cinebench ST of 236 TPU high score, but that was at 5.5Ghz!

What the heck is going on?

It's the exact same silicon for goodness sake!

Going to push the 8700K further, maybe it will surpass the 8086K at the higher bin. Muhuhaha Muhuha (mad scientist laugh)

WOW, if I only had a magical appearance from the Siliconlottery guy to help me sort out this conundrum. How wonderful would that be?


Still on Noctua good air, the 8700K is the 2ndary rig, not the Batman build, cooler photo attached. It ain't pretty, but it's superfast ultra responsive with Optane 2X M.2s in RAID 0, and perfectly inaudible with the single 140mm fan dialed down to 650rpms open air baby, no closed case interference.

This is the very best Single thread and Slightly threaded bleeding edge performance you can possibly get from any CPU on planet earth in 2018.

Multi-threaded, no

For Single and Slightly threaded work applications and for gaming. YES, Coffee Lake high bins. There's nothing greater.

...unless the Coffee Lake Refresh 9700K and 9900K clock high, or simply overlap, we don't know yet. Only small samples of the 9900K have been tested so far.

and no laughing at my NVidia 1050Ti MSI low-profile graphics card in the Cinebench ST score. It plays Doom 2016 in 1440p just fine. lol I know it's not a water cooled 2080Ti or anything fancy, but I'm a seldom gamer, and the 1050Ti only cost $159. It's a great little card 2-slot super thick heatsink, idles at 28C all day long while researching online material.

 

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Waiting for the Maximus XI Apex to launch and the Optane 905P 280GB PCIe Add-In-Card to finish the Batman Build.

Have you noticed the older Optane 900Ps in 280GB and 480GB capacity are all ON SALE at Newegg? $269, and $259 with another 10% off on top of that.

That's because Intel is pushing out the old stock, it's a fire sale all the 900Ps must go to make room for the 905Ps with the cool blue LEDs, oh yea.

The superfast SSD is gonna look sweet in peripheral vision (just to my right) while working.


Sometimes, you just have to see the Big Picture. lol

 

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This is an awesome little mod anyone can accomplish, to save a great deal of money creating some external backup storage for an inaudible workspace.

A sidenote: the storage reviewer at CNET was complaining and scored down these drives for not being what he really wanted in a portable drive - he felt they were too large. Sony makes these drives both HDD and SSD for the film and photographic industry and never claims they can store in your top pocket. They really are for mostly desktop use and only semi-portable throw in a duffel bag or camera bag and working on-site. I've traveled with these drives and they do fine, dropped them a few times on carpet etc, no issues at all.

Those very tiny pocket size SATA drives do the job, but I wanted something that looked great on my desktop, where the drives will spend most of their time.

Sony wanted 62,640 yen or $590.07USD for one ($1180.14USD for two) of their new external 480GB USB C and 3.0 SSD drives, which seemed excessive simply to have a silent running external and redundant backup on the desktop. So picked up two (2) of the Sony external HDD 1TB spinning disk drives from B&H Photo for only $84.99 each and replaced the noisy (at least to me) 1TB Seagate 2.5inch HDD with Samsung 2.5inch 850 EVO SSDs, since the enclosures are exactly the same as the $600 Sony SSD sku. Simply needed to crack open the enclosure and replace the drives: HDD out - SSD in, a small bit of hard drive surgery to create a silent solution at less than half the cost.

https://item.rakuten.co.jp/systecintl/psz-sc48/

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produ...ernal_hdd.html

Using (2) Samsung SATA 850 EVO SSDs in the two Sony external enclosures and (4) Samsung SATA 860 PRO SSDs mounted within the Supermicro 8-bay internal 2.5in drive mount. Why EVO vs PRO? 860 vs 850? Any rhyme or reason to this decision or use case? Not really, after spending so much on the four Samsung 860 Pro drives which are new for 2018, just wanted to save a little money so opted for the two 850 EVO SSDs for the external replacement drives, don't believe there's much difference 850 EVO vs 860 PRO really except maybe endurance if the drives are saturated daily over time, that I'll most likely never experience.

Anyhoo, a great external silent solution for anyone willing to get their hands a little dirty. Could not grasp spending $1200 for the same simple setup, and you also get a nice performance boost external transfer speed is 480MB/s for SSD vs 138MB/s HDD.

Before and after pics below:


Anyone attempting this, please note there's a hidden screw on the Sony enclosures underneath the sticker that you need to "feel around for" with your finger to locate, must be removed gently in order to open the drives.


Warning: yes, this will void your $85 Sony enclosure warranty, thought that was a given, just like delidding a CPU.


Apologize for the step by step excessive number of photos, but they should be helpful anyone attempting this disassembly and reassembly, and yes you do need to remove the PCB entirely, with the power OFF, of course.

First pic is the completed drives stacked and working just fine, something about black silicon housing and blue leds is very stealthy and Batman to my eyes. Cheers!

 

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Another storage mod, this time internal.

I'll do a write up on this Supermicro 8-bay 2.5inch drive cage/mobile rack if anyone is interested in adding the unit into your work rig or all-around rig. Benefits for gaming? I can't think of any, unless your gaming rig is also your multipurpose all-around rig. Benefits for work are almost endless: simple backup, complex backup, category redundancy, offsite storage, hotswapping drives, offline OS reformatting etc.

Supermicro produces four skus

TechPowerUp readers and members will probably want the complete (NON-OEM) SATA 3 sku with fan (even if you disable the fan, you need the rear metal casing). The Aquaero 6 LT will also lower the 10,000rpm stock Sanyo Denki crazy loud 40mmx28mm "server room fan" down to an inaudible 1,200rpms and still provide a PULL airflow front to rear for HDDs if that's your choice of drives. SSDs should not need any active cooling. Still, I'm running 4 SATA storage SSDs and keep the 40mmX28mm fan running at an inaudible 1200rpms, figure why not the Aquaero 6 LT is right there, ready to help with an empty fan bay, so why not use it?

This one:

https://www.supermicro.com/products/...SE-M28SACB.cfm

The 8 blue front drive activity LEDs are vibrant and beautiful in peripheral vision while working, and blend with the CaseLabs blue PWR LED switch perfectly. Also comes with red drive failure LEDs that power on as a self test each and every boot.

Picked one up from Wiredzone.com since they are in Florida and thought shipping would be superfast. Ended up, the unit shipped from Supermicro direct from their California warehouse, and took 8days, which was fine with me.

http://www.wiredzone.com/supermicro-...8sacb-10023425

The dual 5.25inch bay sku mounts with these CaseLabs Flexbay mounts, easy and so clean. Picked up a pair from Performance PC in gunmetal gray. (no longer available since CL is gone.)

Addendum: the extremely loud pwm fan arrives plugged into the Supermicro backplane, which does offer some PCB thermal regulated relief from the full 10,000 rpm insanity. That tiny little fan mounted in the drive bay, mounted in the CaseLabs makes my entire desk RUMBLE and vibrate at 10,000rpms.

Of course, the Aquaero 6 LT does so much more, obviously you can dial in the rpm of your choice.

All I did was pull the fan plug OUT of the Supermicro backplane and push it INTO an Aquaero 6 LT PWM fan port/bay/header, the cable was an ideal length, so no modification was needed at all.

For those who don't own an Aquaero 6 XT or LT and are running all SSDs, and wish to use NO FAN. All you need to do is pull the fan plug out from the backplane. Your pc will restart with the drive rack sounding off nonfunctional fan alarms and lights, don't worry, just reboot one more time and the PCB then understands you do not wish to use a fan, everything goes silent and resets and the warning lights turn themselves off. It's a well engineered part.

Temps on the (4) Sammy 860 Pro drives mounted in the Supermicro (pic below) are pretty good with the 10Krpm fan turned down to 1200rpm. With fan unplugged/disabled, temps only rise about 1C-2C, not a huge increase, but the Aquaero 6 is right there so I figured why not plug in the fan and drop the 40mm Sanyo fan rpms to an inaudible level, which turned out to be 1200.

Temps of the four drives are 22C 22C 21C 22C, pretty much ambient room at the time. Cheers again!

Another photographic onslaught!. lol

 

[E-curbi]

Been chatting it up with the Acronis technicians, and they've assured me with the new drivers available in True Image 2019, it's possible to create a CSI - clean system image of the primary OS drive with all my work apps installed and set up mounted on one Optane drive and backed up to another Optane drive, both drives connected internally to the Z390 chipset.

In the past, Acronis always asks for an external source and fails to recognize any internal drives when trying to restore a clean system image.

So going ahead and planning an Optane 905P 480GB 2.5in M.2-U.2 drive along with the Optane 905P 280GB Add In Card (with cool blue leds ) mounted in slot 16_3 on the Maximus XI Apex.


So total storage for the Batman build will be:

-Optane NVMe SSD 905P 280GB PCIe AIC (mounted vertically in Maximus XI Apex slot 16_3)

-Optane NVMe SSD 905P 480GB 2.5in M.2 to U.2 (from the DIMM.2 also mounted vertically onto the CaseLabs horizontal accessory strut) - should look amazing.

-Samsung 860 PRO 2.5inch SATA SSD 256GB (X4) (mounted in the Supermicro 8-bay mobile rack)


Yep, that’s 24 allocated PCIe lanes, the maximum available with the Z390 chipset.

So all 16 CPU PCIe lanes from the 8086K, remaining available for the AMD workstation graphics card in slot 16_1.


Physically mounting the 2.5inch Optane drive sideways vertically on one end to the CaseLabs horizontal accessory mount, since the genius designer at CL made certain the mounting holes aligned perfectly (pic attached) with the 2.5inch HDD-SSD standard of 76mm. So a simple mounting with 2 small fasteners. Thank you again CaseLabs, I miss you guys.


The Acronis people also offered a $14.99 upgrade to get the new Optane drivers in the 2019 version of True Image vs my current 2017 version, that’s not so bad, figured why not to gain internal to internal functionality. External drives are great for mobility, but so slow when packing and unpacking large image files like 80GB to 150GBs at one time.

 

[E-curbi]

Oh and by the way, speaking of Optane. Saw this - this morning: The 900P 280GB Add In Card drives on Super Black Friday Sale today at Newegg, only $244. WOW!

NO cool blue LEDs with the 900P, though still very fast.

Intel in cooperation with Newegg has been pushing out the 900Ps as fast as they can get them in.

I've had the 900P, it's superbly built and superfast. Returned mine when the 905P with the blue lighting was announced. But if the LEDs don't appeal to you, and you want to save a ton of money, grab a 900P on SuperSale. Doom 2016 loads in about 8-10 seconds if that's any reference and/or attribute to Optane responsiveness. And my boot times are about 4 to 6seconds, but boot times with all the Apex boards are very low, it's a cumulative effect.


'Tis the season to grab great gear for almost nothin'. lol

 

[E-curbi]

This processor is the most functional and fastest most responsive lowest latency - for single and slightly threaded applications.

On planet Earth.

Until 10nm arrives 12months from now.

Bruce Wayne approves this message.

 

[E-curbi]

If the Maximus XI Extreme had a larger OLED screen positioned in the northbridge area like the Maximus XI Formula, and also a heatsink/cover for the naked M.2 mounting between PCIe slot 2 and 3 like the Maximus XI Hero, and an aesthetic PCIe shroud like the Rampage VI Extreme, and the 16phase Super VRM like the Maximus XI Apex, and the DIMM.2 was connected to the chipset lanes instead of the CPU lanes so you could actually use the DIMM.2 without dropping your video card in slot 16_1 to 8X, and Asus added Thunderbolt connectivity like every other Maximus Extreme board since the Maximus V series, then it would be worth the $599 price tag.

But the Maximus XI Extreme has NONE of those features.

Sorry for the mini-rant so bummed with Asus, my favorite motherboard maker, really planned on picking up both the Maximus XI Extreme and XI Apex boards this series since it sounds like it's going to be so long until 10nm and Ice Lake get sorted out and become available, maybe not until the 2nd half of 2020, who knows. I've owned the Maximus V Extreme and the Maximus VIII Extreme and so loved both of those motherboards, they had every known technology available at the time, and I really thought that's what the "extreme" board was supposed to represent. Totally understand ROG adding the Apex series, love the idea of a stripped down board for running daily stable high clocks, and happy they've added a few more features to the Apex line for Z390, but it just seems like they took away so much from the Extreme XI and still want to charge $599? That's just crazy.

I understand these Coffee Lake CPUs only offer 16 PCIe lanes and ROG decided to allocate the DIMM.2 to all those CPU lanes to increase bandwidth when running two NVMe M.2 drives in RAID 0 like the Samsung 960s and 970s. But I just wonder how many enthusiasts are going to drop $600 on the M11E and later find out in order to use the awesome DIMM.2 feature they drop their single video card lanes automatically from 16X to 8X. OK, maybe some will not mind and I've heard it's not a big deal when gaming, but didn't TPU and the amazing W1zzard just prove with the NVidia 2080Ti that all 16 video lanes are now saturated when using that card?

So as far as which board to buy, now it kinda places enthusiasts between a ROG and a hard place. lol

Cannot speak for other enthusiasts, but I want all 16 of those CPU lanes allocated to my AMD Radeon Pro workstation video card, and not cut down to 8X.

At least ROG did produce an amazing Maximus XI Apex (with the DIMM.2 wired to the chipset) although I do miss the X-shaped and the EATX form factor of the past two generations. Oh well, at least the amazing and so beautiful 16-phase VRM mounted on the Apex 11 is something to look forward to and get excited about. Makes this hobby so enjoyable.

Maybe I will reunite again with a Maximus XII (12) Extreme in early 2020 when PCIe 4.0 becomes the new standard, and Intel Optane DDR5 memory modules become available for client builds.

 

[E-curbi]

For Newegg Black Friday:

Grabbed (2) Samsung 32GB BAR (metal) flash drives in gunmetal grey for Acronis driver image restores, Intel RAID 0 drivers (needed while installing Win10), Asus ROG bios file updates, and some work application key code activations, no serious storage needs, only simple office tasks.

The promo code subtracts an additional $1.80 so both drives shipped free with no sales tax came to $16.18, not too shabby.

Would love to pick up (2) more Samsung SATA 860 PRO drives for the Supermicro drive cage connected to the Apex 11's (6) SATA ports, but think I’ll hold the category redundancy at (4) SATA SSDs and add the Intel Optane M.2 to U.2 480GB 2.5inch SSD as my folder copy interim partition drive and move the Samsung SATAs to category reference storage.

So wish the last (2) components I need/want to complete this build were available for the Black Friday Sale, but unfortunately neither have yet to even launch. lol

 

[FireFox]

I can see we have the same Motherboard, wait i see you have the Apex

 

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Yep. The Apex X is not the most aesthetic motherboard available, but it seems to accomplish exactly what Asus claims it's primary purpose.

I'm hoping the Apex XI does as well.


Best information I have on the M11A is an early to mid December launch.


Here's the ROG Z390 guide for the Maximus XI series of boards - still no official price or availability. The Apex 10 msrp was $349. After seeing the $599 msrp for the M11Extreme who knows what price point the Apex 11 may reach. $499 would not surprise me.


https://edgeup.asus.com/2018/z390-motherboard-guide-coffee-lake-8-core/2/

 

[FireFox]

It was my mistake, you posted a XI extreme and i thought you owned one but after i checked your System specs i saw you own an Apex.

I have the ROG MAXIMUS XI EXTREME

 

[E-curbi]

It was my mistake, you posted a XI extreme and i thought you owned one but after i checked your System specs i saw you own an Apex.

I have the ROG MAXIMUS XI EXTREME

View attachment 111091
View attachment 111092

WOW! Congratulations. That board costs a fortune.

I had the Maximus V Extreme way back in 2012, and the Maximus VIII Extreme from 2015 in a water build, just tore that build down 2weeks ago, loved both those motherboards so much.

I had planned on grabbing the M11E, created a list of hopeful features for it to have, and only got two out of fifteen. Oh well, too bad for me.

So this generation, looks like I'm only picking up the Apex 11.

I will definitely grab the Maximus 12 Extreme as long as Ice Lake gives us MORE than 16 PCIe lanes from the CPU, crossing fingers and toes. lol

 

[FireFox]

WOW! Congratulations. That board costs a fortune.

Thanks.

Yeap, the Damned Motherboard is expensive 532,98€, Wow seems like we have the same tastes because i had the Maximus V Extreme and the Maximus VIII Extreme too

 

[E-curbi]

Thanks.

Yeap, the Damned Motherboard is expensive 532,98€, Wow seems like we have the same tastes because i had the Maximus V Extreme and the Maximus VIII Extreme too

When you get the M11E mounted up and working, let us know how you like it. I mean like all the details. Woooo.

I'm curious how enthusiasts are reacting to the M11E and M11G DIMM.2 wired to the CPU lanes. One new owner on Newegg and a few over at the ROG forum were a bit disappointed when they found out they couldn't use the DIMM.2 without reducing their video card in slot 16_1 to 8X.

And let us know about the cool matrix lighting panels on the rear I/O cover and the chipset heatsink.

------

I think my expectations were just too darn high for the M11E, at least for my needs with this Batman build as a "work" computer. I rely so much or have simply grown accustomed to the low latency and incredible responsiveness of the Apex 10 and high clocking Coffee Lake CPUs.

I could always pick up the Maximus XI Extreme for my "everything but work" and gaming rig, my other computer, but that $599 price tag. OUCH!

Not sure what I'd be gaining over just continuing to use the older Apex X board as my 2ndary rig with the 8700K 5.2Ghz bin.

------

Very attracted to the VRM section on the new Apex XI board (pic attached)

I counted 16 of the chokes. I guess those big silver square things tucked slightly under the heatsinks are chokes? lol

On the Maximus XI Extreme and Gene I counted 12.

On the Maximus XI Hero and Formula and Code I counted 10.

It seems I transformed from an Extreme guy to an Apex guy, probably because my appreciation for overclocking has increased, since I've had the Apex 10.

 

[FireFox]

When you get the M11E mounted up and working, let us know how you like it. I mean like all the details. Woooo. One new owner on Newegg and a few over at the ROG forum were a bit disappointed when they found out they couldn't use the DIMM.2 without reducing their video card in slot 16_1 to 8X

I got it yesterday and wanted to install it on a new case that i have ordered but i couldn't resist and it is already working, i hate when people buy things and then they complain because only after purchase is that they find out/ realize which are the Cons ( if there is any ) before i bought it i knew that installing the DIMM.2 will reduce the video card in slot 16_1 to 8X but i never had in mind to use the DIMM.2 what it means that point doesn't bother me

And let us know about the cool matrix lighting panels on the rear I/O cover and the chipset heatsink.

Just one word Sexy, they did a great job i was like

Very attracted to the VRM section on the new Apex XI board (pic attached)

+1
I never worry about VRM considering that inside the case the temps are around 7c/8c max 10c

I guess those big silver square things tucked slightly under the heatsinks are chokes? lol

The only thing that it bothered me is in the part where the M.2 SSDs are to be installed, yesterday i was quite pissed off when installing the M.2 SSDs

I wasted a lot of time just installing the M.2 SSDs i almost took apart half of the Motherboard

The funny thing is that if for any reason one of the M.2 SSD has to be replaced you have to removed the Motherboard from the case and if you use a Watercooling Loop like me then you are

 

[E-curbi]

As long as you love the motherboard bro, that's what's really important. Yea, that stinks removing the board and the rear shield from "say" a water loop with hard tubing, just to swap/troubleshoot one of the two M.2 drives.

Maybe leave the fasteners loose or absent from the equation all together and create a quick disconnect and reconnect method(ology) for the chipset heatsink and cover, there has to be an easier way.

Epoxy? RTV? Duct tape? lol. just kidding, something professional looking like plastic quick release snaps.

------

I'm gonna connect this Optane M.2-U.2 480GB 2.5inch SSD to the forward facing port on the Apex 11 DIMM.2 via the M.2 link (red arrow in photo) which means I cannot use the cool included heatsink for the DIMM.2 gen3 but that's ok, there won't be an M.2 drive mounted on the obverse side near the memory modules anyways.

I've heard the new metal DIMM.2 heatsinks on the M11E/M11A/M11G are very heavy and substantial. Is that true?

If the pins are electrically the same as the DIMM.2 gen2 riser card I already have for the Apex 10 I may just "swap them" and use the gen3 with heatsinks for my (2) Optane M.2 drives in RAID0 on the older Apex 10 board, and vise versa.


So many cool configurations to try out - spinning around in my head. Cannot wait to get the new mobo in my hands, taking off work about 3days, going to enjoy this amazing hobby to the fullest for 72hours straight with no distractions except Wings and Beer. lol

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone at TechPowerUp!!! Enjoy yourselves and stay safe!

.

 

[FireFox]

As long as you love the motherboard bro, that's what's really important. Yea, that stinks removing the board and the rear shield from "say" a water loop with hard tubing, just to swap/troubleshoot one of the two M.2 drives.

I couldn't be happier since when Asus announced the Rog Maximus X series Z370 Motherboard i was hopping they where going to release a Rog Maximus X Extreme but that never happened.

Maybe leave the fasteners loose or absent from the equation all together and create a quick disconnect and reconnect method(ology) for the chipset heatsink and cover, there has to be an easier way.
Epoxy? RTV? Duct tape? lol. just kidding, something professional looking like plastic quick release snaps.

The Duct tape idea is the one i prefer

Joke aside.

I found a solution, there are 6 screws that hold the Heatsink those 3 placed under the rear shield can be removed considering that the rear shield has it is own screws.

I've heard the new metal DIMM.2 heatsinks on the M11E/M11A/M11G are very heavy and substantial. Is that true?

 

[E-curbi]

I couldn't be happier since when Asus announced the Rog Maximus X series Z370 Motherboard i was hopping they where going to release a Rog Maximus X Extreme but that never happened.



The Duct tape idea is the one i prefer

Joke aside.

I found a solution, there are 6 screws that hold the Heatsink those 3 placed under the rear shield can be removed considering that the rear shield has it is own screws.



View attachment 111250

12.21 Kilograms?

Great Scott! That's a big-ass heatsink.

 

[E-curbi]

In this video below: Buildzoid breaks down the Maximus XI Gene board.

The VRM is 5 phase + 2, not 10-phase.

Believe it's the same VRM section for the Maximus XI Extreme, Mr. Knoxx.

He says it’s a quite adequate and more than substantial VRM for overclocking the 9900K, although Asus was advertising it as 10-phase? That's what's buzzing right now. Asus was also advertising the Maximus XI Hero, Formula, and Code VRM's section as something called Twin-8?

In another video Buildzoid shows that VRM is only a 4-phase + 2. (skip to 2nd video)

I was only counting the chokes a few posts back, and it seems Asus is now using 2 chokes per phase for the Z390 boards.

If this is accurate, then the Maximus XI Apex would then arrive with not a 16-phase VRM (16chokes), but a 7-phase + 2. Assuming again Asus is using the 2 choke per phase design.

Buildzoid also states, this M11E/M11G VRM section is the BEST ROG has offered to date, even an improvement over the Apex 9 and Apex 10 VRM. Wowie!

OK, now I’m really getting excited about the new Maximus XI Apex VRMs, which should be an even further step above this VRM.

 

[Deleted member 178884]

12.21 Kilograms?

I focused it in, looks like it's actually 122grams

 

[FireFox]

12.21 Kilograms?

122g= 0.122kg

I focused it in, looks like it's actually 122grams
View attachment 111265

Exactly.

 

[E-curbi]

Dayum, thought we had a 27-pound heatsink on our hands. lol

I knew what the scale read, but the joke was so much fun. lol

Thanks for the info Knoxx29.


Wet-Shave pics of the day. Woooooooooooooo!

 

[E-curbi]

My 2ndary 12month old 8700K scoring a Cinebench ST of 235 at 5.4Ghz on Noctua good air.

The TechPowerUp.com record is 236.

...not too shabby for a regular guy.


I challenge anyone at TPU to beat that score on ambient cooling AIR or AIO! lol Come on, the gauntlet has dropped. Beat me. lol

 

[FireFox]

I challenge anyone at TPU to beat that score on ambient cooling AIR or AIO! lol Come on, the gauntlet has dropped. Beat me. lol

I can do that but it is not worthy because i would have to buy a Cooler and i am not willing to do that just to score 236cb