zippytek
for those of you interested in the z690 kingpin / classified, I noticed the z590 dark now offers free shipping. makes me think they'll be quietly dropping the auto notify links for z690 this week or next. be ready

I hope it's coming soon.. I have some DDR5 en route and a 12900K sitting here gathering dust. I wonder if the Z690 Classy will be launched first and the KP delayed, which would not be unusual (I'm hoping to grab the KP board...). I'm also wondering about how long the queues will be and how many scalper-scum will be jumping on these like they do everything else. Maybe the scarcity of DDR5 and the delay in EVGA's Z690 boards will have already pushed a lot of potential buyers into buying other branded Z690 boards already, or Z690's with DDR4 dimm slots. I'm hoping for the best, but somewhat expecting the worst.
 

rblaes_99

Nereus

zippytek
for those of you interested in the z690 kingpin / classified, I noticed the z590 dark now offers free shipping. makes me think they'll be quietly dropping the auto notify links for z690 this week or next. be ready

I hope it's coming soon.. I have some DDR5 en route and a 12900K sitting here gathering dust. I wonder if the Z690 Classy will be launched first and the KP delayed, which would not be unusual (I'm hoping to grab the KP board...). I'm also wondering about how long the queues will be and how many scalper-scum will be jumping on these like they do everything else. Maybe the scarcity of DDR5 and the delay in EVGA's Z690 boards will have already pushed a lot of potential buyers into buying other branded Z690 boards already, or Z690's with DDR4 dimm slots. I'm hoping for the best, but somewhat expecting the worst.

lets hope they are working on better/stable XMP profiles this time.....

Amen. AND.. source a better quality post code display!
 

Were up n running....posted right away no issues...love this Apex Board and UEFI....
will have to create a W11 boot drive.....install all FW/Drivers and programs...then move over to my 900D and loop likely next week...
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

rjbarker
Were up n running....posted right away no issues...love this Apex Board and UEFI....
will have to create a W11 boot drive.....install all FW/Drivers and programs...then move over to my 900D and loop likely next week...
 

 

 

 

 
 
 
 
 

why don't more people do this?  a quick benchtop build saves so much hassle.   people that start right off assembling in the case (and pipe the loop even sometimes) are animals.....  

zippytek

rblaes_99why don't more people do this?  a quick benchtop build saves so much hassle.   people that start right off assembling in the case (and pipe the loop even sometimes) are animals.....  

 
prob 90% excitement, 10% don't know any better (or someone else does the build for them)
 

I'd say 90% excitement, 10% I do know better, but like to take chances sometimes. Life is short. Live a little lol. No this is not serious advice for anybody on this matter anyway. I have done both methods myself. I think the bigger one for me that I will do every time is test the water loop with just the pump running, no other parts. I even have a little external 30W power supply with a molex connector and switch wired to it just for this purpose. That way my PSU can be in the chassis and not "live" on as well.

fragility_V1

B0baganoosh
I even have a little external 30W power supply with a molex connector and switch wired to it just for this purpose. 

Oooooo... where'd you get one of those?  I've just been using whatever spare PSU I have laying around with a jumper.  But this sounds like a cool little tool.

I have a junker 500w on the testbench for the pump only leaktest.  30w would be sweet.  

@nereus:  That is a good find.  I use an old 750W for flushing and filling and I may just recycle it for the above. 

I use a Corsair SF 450W Gold with one of my EVGA 24-pin jumper plugs for water cooling testing/filling. Picked it up new a few years ago for 50 bucks on a whim and I like how when I pack it away (in my tub of everything partially useful I keep near), it doesn't take up much space.
 
Speaking of size... I just replaced my WiFi router (the number of wireless devices in our house have outgrown its capability) with an ASUS ROG Rapture GT-AX11000 I picked up at the Boxing Day sales close to 45% off - boy, does it consume desk space! With the antennas installed it's more than a foot square but at least it has a 2.5GHz port plus it has AURA RGB for... reasons 

Nereus

fragility_V1

Flint 1760
@nereus:  That is a good find.  I use an old 750W for flushing and filling and I may just recycle it for the above. 

Definitely.  Thanks for the link.  Putting one on order.  Now to find a molex to 2x SATA adapter.

Ta-dah!: (link)
https://www.amazon.com/CRJ-Female-Connectors-Sleeved-Splitter/dp/B07CT7GP35/
 

Sleeved?  Far too fancy for me.  I went with the old bare mustard.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0002GRUV4/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
If there's an adapter/splitter, Startech will make it. 

rblaes_99

rjbarker
Were up n running....posted right away no issues...love this Apex Board and UEFI....
will have to create a W11 boot drive.....install all FW/Drivers and programs...then move over to my 900D and loop likely next week...
 

 

 

 

 
 
 
 
 

why don't more people do this?  a quick benchtop build saves so much hassle.   people that start right off assembling in the case (and pipe the loop even sometimes) are animals.....  

Since running full fairly large loops (as in 480 / 360 and 240 Rads) with up to 16 Fans in my 900D I will always build this way, especially with brand new "unproven" hw (mobo, cpu, ssd's and ram).
My steps:
1. Build on bench, update bios, install OS and install all my programs (pc is basically "finished").
2. Install all Radiators and fans into the case - power up all fans and ensure all running properly (I can do this as all my fans run thru a fan controller), use a cheap psu with a jumper (just like leak testing).
3. Disassemble from bench and re-assemble in tower, plumb and leak test.
 
Not that my method is the "right way", but for me it makes sense and Im able to isolate any problematic components right away.
 
I have had the same $10 psu with a jumper and I/O switch (purchased in 2014 at a garage sale) that I use for both "fan testing" and "leak testing"....works perfect!
 
I also have some spare parts to make the bench build a bit easier, as in spare monitor, keyboard / mouse, psu and aio cooler.

zippytek

rblaes_99why don't more people do this?  a quick benchtop build saves so much hassle.   people that start right off assembling in the case (and pipe the loop even sometimes) are animals.....  

 
prob 90% excitement, 10% don't know any better (or someone else does the build for them)
 
RJ: get that bios updated to improve XMP support, and other little fixes. looks like you're about 3 back on the official channel https://rog.asus.com/motherboards/rog-maximus/rog-maximus-z690-apex-model/helpdesk_bios
 
Set up my 12th gen bench last night as well. 12900K, apex, z5 6000. heatkiller 17xx backplate + mounting kit is a dream. looking forward to playing later tonight. passed out early last night but managed to get the bios updated (0022 tho, i have some 6200 oloy blades coming this week) 
 
enjoy!
 
PS-looks like the z590 FTW is removed from the products page! soon

Yep was on ROG last night getting all the latest Drivers from Mochiku.....bios version looks like its 0811...
Once OS installed I will try XMP, but if any issues I'll go straight to manual and try the pre-loaded Memory profiles for my Dominators (Micron).
 
Hopefully you guys get your Evga Dark boards soon, I'll be curious to see results!!!!

rjbarker
*snip*
 Hopefully you guys get your Evga Dark boards soon, I'll be curious to see results!!!!

From what I heard last night, the Z690 Classy will be out very soon, but the Z690 Dark KP will be quite some time away...
 

rjbarker

Nereus

rjbarker
*snip*
 Hopefully you guys get your Evga Dark boards soon, I'll be curious to see results!!!!

From what I heard last night, the Z690 Classy will be out very soon, but the Z690 Dark KP will be quite some time away...

I personally like the looks of the Classy....

I like both of them!
 

rjbarkerYep was on ROG last night getting all the latest Drivers from Mochiku.....bios version looks like its 0811...
Once OS installed I will try XMP, but if any issues I'll go straight to manual and try the pre-loaded Memory profiles for my Dominators (Micron).
 
Hopefully you guys get your Evga Dark boards soon, I'll be curious to see results!!!!

 
Nice! Didn't get much time last night but was able to get XMP to post with some slight voltage adjustments that made for a pretty decent GB5 run (ambient 5.6 oc, HT off, 3P, 0E) https://browser.geekbench.com/v5/cpu/12007664
 

Nereus

rjbarker
*snip*
 Hopefully you guys get your Evga Dark boards soon, I'll be curious to see results!!!!

From what I heard last night, the Z690 Classy will be out very soon, but the Z690 Dark KP will be quite some time away...

man, i hate that they do this but i guess better to wait for it to be dialed in...for now we will play and prob take the apex cold this weekend, and when the 690i unify is out i'll snag that to see how hard we can go on the hynix ddr5
 

Braegnok

rjbarker

zippytek

rblaes_99why don't more people do this?  a quick benchtop build saves so much hassle.   people that start right off assembling in the case (and pipe the loop even sometimes) are animals.....  

 
prob 90% excitement, 10% don't know any better (or someone else does the build for them)
 
RJ: get that bios updated to improve XMP support, and other little fixes. looks like you're about 3 back on the official channel https://rog.asus.com/motherboards/rog-maximus/rog-maximus-z690-apex-model/helpdesk_bios
 
Set up my 12th gen bench last night as well. 12900K, apex, z5 6000. heatkiller 17xx backplate + mounting kit is a dream. looking forward to playing later tonight. passed out early last night but managed to get the bios updated (0022 tho, i have some 6200 oloy blades coming this week) 
 
enjoy!
 
PS-looks like the z590 FTW is removed from the products page! soon

Yep was on ROG last night getting all the latest Drivers from Mochiku.....bios version looks like its 0811...
Once OS installed I will try XMP, but if any issues I'll go straight to manual and try the pre-loaded Memory profiles for my Dominators (Micron).
 
Hopefully you guys get your Evga Dark boards soon, I'll be curious to see results!!!!

Vary nice looking system RJ,
 
With 0811 microcode, my system will run all the Samsung pre-loaded profiles just fine with the G.SKILL kits, you should be good to go. 
 
The 4800MHz Dell kit has the SK hynix ICs, will run 6200MHz 1T fully stable with fairly tight timings @ 1.43v
 
https://imgur.com/GBLVuR3
 
 

 
Going to put them under water tomorrow. 
 

https://imgur.com/U5HPcJV

Thanks man!!
Finally got going yesterday n today, clean install W11 and just getting all my Programs installed.
Something aint right with my Chipset / MEI Drivers so may have to go thru an uninstall process and re-install......cant seem to figure out this annoyance...
 
See under "Other Devices" (hoping someone on ROG gets back to me with some guidance)...and of course fumbling my way around a new OS like my dogs wanders around the front yard looking for a place to have a #$%& ;)
 

 
Other than annoyance above all went fine with W11 install:
- Both my 980 Pro M.2 Drives running at x4 (M.2_1 & M.2_2 populated).
- 3080Ti in PCI-E_1 running 4.0 x16
- Yes Flashed to ver 0811
- Installed W11 with no OC, so RAM at 4800, set XMP I and no issues running Dominators at 5600 / Cl36.
 
Dont know if my sound is working properly as no speakers, likely rob a set from another pc and try it out.
The cheap Corsair 240 AIO is not that great at all (or I got a crappy mount), as R23 saw a few cores hitting 92c...R23 got 26,882 but hot (perhaps some thermal throttling ?)
 
Timespy was around 21.5K (Amazing watching that CPU portion of the benchmark vs watching it on my old 9900K)
PR 14.585K (3080Ti OC 165 / 1100)
 
Want to get this system completely squared away on the table (still have a couple of SATA Drives to install), then move into the 900D and my Loop.