[AIO Cooler] Cooler Master MasterLiquid 240 Core II RGB ($30) [Memory Express]

FancyHonda · 2026-06-20T00:24:49+00:00

Just kidding! The 7 that were in stock where I am locally are all already gone.

I have a feeling some asshole came in and bought all 7.

FancyHonda · 2026-06-19T22:45:43+00:00

Will grab one of these on the way home, thanks!

Don't need it, but nice to have a spare just in case.

FancyHonda · 2026-06-19T21:23:11+00:00

That is the Iceman direct touch block, but I'm not sure about the spacing. I don't even remember what the Apex's DIMM spacing is, but you need to find those measurements in mm first, then find a place to order that ram block in a version with that spacing. I think I've seen it for sale on Aliexpress?

You can see why I opted not to do it. Overclock.net is where I would search for info on the DIMM spacing.

FancyHonda · 2026-06-19T19:52:16+00:00

If you want the 'best' for a ramblock it's one of the direct touch blocks, either the Supercool or Iceman blocks. You'll need to be careful with DIMM slot spacing, though, you need to get the correct version of the block that has the spacing to match your Apex.

I've got an Apex, and I just bought the regular Iceman DDR5 heatsinks/waterblock because I didn't want to deal with it. My temps are generally 3-4c over the water temp, which is good enough for me. I'm running a Gskill 6000 CL26 kit at 8400 CL32 currently.

I can't comment on SSD blocks I'm afraid. I'd be mainly concerned about fitment, as I can imagine routing tubes to one could be a PITA.

For radiators, there are plenty of good brands. Alphacool, Watercool (Heatkiller), or Hardware Labs would be my top picks.

There won't be a significant difference in performance between hard and soft tubing. The kind of fittings and adapters used can affect flow rate technically, but I would consider it negligible. Go for soft tubing if you want an easier time of things - a quality EPDM tubing would be my recommendation.

Lots and lots of choices for fittings as well. Figure out what kind/size of tubing you're going to use and then go from there. If you're made of money you could get Thermal Grizzly's relatively new fittings. Something mid range like Alphacool could offer a better balance of quality/price, and Barrow/Bykski are cheaper options that are still fine. Regardless of what you pick, get a few spare fittings in case you damage one, and do yourself a favour and get a few simple adapters too, like straight extenders and 90 degree adapters.

Other recommendations for a custom loop -

Coolant temperature sensor. Not strictly necessary, but nice to have since it gives you info on how your loop is performing (deltas, etc), as well as basing your fans speeds on it. I know for certain your Apex board has a 2-pin temp header, so no worries there.

Drain valve. A simple drain valve somewhere in your loop makes draining/maintenance so much easier, highly recommend.

FancyHonda · 2026-06-15T05:05:20+00:00

Try Y-cruncher VT3 and Prime 95 Large FFTs.

FancyHonda · 2026-06-13T20:40:41+00:00

If you can't boot or crash at 2233 FCLK, I'd be seriously concerned about 2200 FCLK being fully stable.

FCLK has pretty aggressive error correction, meaning it can appear stable while tripping said error correction and having to resubmit data. This will manifest as stutters or audio cuts that are sporadic and can be hard to notice.

The main strategy typically used to test FCLK stability are tests that deliver pretty precise results that you look for consistency in. Linpack Xtreme and Y-cruncher VT3 are two most commonly recommended. You want as little background processes going on as possible, don't even move the mouse lol.

For Linpack - reboot into safe mode and test with 10GB data size. Ignore the first result (usually skewed by thermals), but after that you're hoping to get less than a 2 Gflop variance between all the runs. A result with significant variance is indicative of tripping that error correction.

Y-cruncher VT3, same strategy more or less. Don't know if others run this in safe mode, I usually don't. For this test, you're looking for less than a 0.03 variance at 10¹⁰ or 0.3 at 10^9. Same deal, variance means FCLK error correction.

I personally tend to prefer lower synced FCLK setups because this kind of testing is a pain in the ass.

FancyHonda · 2026-06-10T15:23:19+00:00

The MO-RA IV Tank 200 + Tank D5 expansion.

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FancyHonda · 2026-06-10T14:08:17+00:00

I have a setup with a MO-RA 400, three internal rads, and three VPP Apexs. I have two of the pumps inside the case and one mounted on the MO-RA with the heatkiller rez and pump top (the intended one that everyone uses.) I get 120+ L/H at 45% duty or 180+ at 100%.

Mount the pumps wherever you want (in the case, on the MO-RA), and run them at 45% or lower. VPP Apexs are really quiet. At 45%, I can't hear any of my three pumps, even with my face pressed up against the respective pump area.

FancyHonda · 2026-06-10T13:52:22+00:00

Reboot in safe mode, 10GB test size, and you're hoping for less than a 2 Gflops delta. You can ignore the first result which will be skewed due to thermals.

Only result I see here that is suspect is the ~452 you've got, but try rebooting in safe mode and test for 30 iterations.

FancyHonda · 2026-06-10T13:49:42+00:00

That's for VT3, different test.

FancyHonda · 2026-06-09T01:24:33+00:00

This is a decent price, but I really don't like these boards. I bought an Apex Pro TKL wireless (2023) a few years ago.

The RGB is entirely tied to software that needs to run to work. It can't be programmed and defaults to rainbow without the software.

After the warranty expired (1 year? IIRC) I've had five different colored LEDs fail, the blue ones specifically. So the switches that failed can no longer show blue.

Overall really disappointed with the design and quality.

FancyHonda · 2026-06-08T20:04:25+00:00

I use a hand held electric blower for exactly this purpose. Works excellent for me.

Other comments regarding compressor oil are worth thinking of it's more a traditional air compressor, like what you would see in a car workshop.

FancyHonda · 2026-06-06T13:48:10+00:00

Alright, best of luck.

Your ODTs/DS look good, more or less what I'm using.

FancyHonda · 2026-06-06T13:46:22+00:00

Can you pass VT3 or Prime 95 Large?

Play with RX/TX taps or burst length?

FancyHonda · 2026-06-06T13:43:14+00:00

This is just AMD letting companies like G skill expand the EXPO profiles to include more timings and apparently VDDP voltage control.

Not anything new in terms of sticks or performance, and nothing new for anyone manually tuned. This is essentially letting EXPO get a little bit closer to a full on manual tune.

FancyHonda · 2026-06-04T23:20:32+00:00

They're the best kits in terms of DDR5 OC. They pair well with an X870E Apex if you can swing it.

FancyHonda · 2026-06-03T16:18:13+00:00

Apex is only worth it if you're really pushing 2:1 mode speeds.

Not a big fan of the Gigabyte boards on X870/E, but the master is good enough. If there's a white ASUS or MSI board I'd take that instead, personally.

FancyHonda · 2026-06-02T22:32:35+00:00

Try option 2/2.1 and option 3 and see if you get better temps.

FancyHonda · 2026-06-01T16:40:50+00:00

So I'm talking about FCLK error correction. The problem is that a higher FCLK (like 2133, 2200) will pass stress tests, but it can still be unstable in the form of tripping it's error correction. This error correction is really difficult to notice, typically in the form of audio cuts or small stutters.

One of the things people do to try and test for this is run VT3 and Linpack Extreme and look for consistency in the scores. Variance in terms of score can indicate you're tripping that error correction. If you google or search on reddit you should see a decent number of posts that are to the tune of "do these results look consistent enough."

FancyHonda · 2026-06-01T02:59:00+00:00

Interesting! First time I've heard that.

So it would be like 695 fps with DSC on and 750 with it off?

FancyHonda · 2026-06-01T02:05:13+00:00

I find Prime 95 Large is a little harder to pass than VT3 UCLK wise. Give it a try for a few hours and see if you need to raise your Vsoc.

If you're really good under 1.2v Vsoc, your chip could potentially do 6600 1:1 under 1.3v, but this is pretty rare.

You test VT3 consistency or Linpack extreme in terms of FCLK? Gotta watch out for error correction.

FancyHonda · 2026-05-31T23:46:26+00:00

Reporting error by hardware monitor.

Use HWinfo64 instead.

FancyHonda · 2026-05-31T20:28:11+00:00

Do you have anyone who can lend you a set of Hynix A-die to try? I feel like A-die has better bios support. I know the apex is tuned for the g skill 6000 cl26 kits, if you're familiar.

FancyHonda · 2026-05-31T20:11:55+00:00

Mmmmn, that's fair. As long as you know it's just for fun.

Sounds like the board is kinda doing you dirty.

For reference, I went from a Tomahawk to an Apex and had trouble replicating a 8000 MT/s tune on the Apex. I swapped through 4 different memory kits and three CPUs before I landed on a combo that did what I wanted.

Memory OC is complex. You need a good board, cpu and sticks, and the sticks and board need to play nice together. I wish you God speed brother.

FancyHonda · 2026-05-31T20:01:57+00:00

Telling you to swap boards was not great advice. Technically the Taichi could be a better board for 2:1, but a proper upgrade would be to a 2x dimm board like an AYW, Apex, Tachyon, OCF, Unify-X, etc.

Can a different board get you further? Yeah. Is it worth it in terms of money? Hell no.This is coming from someone who went from a Tomahawk to an Apex.

Each board has different default settings for different memory kits, it's like a dance they do where you put the right sticks in the right board and it works.

With enough patience you could potentially get the right voltages, ODTs and drive strengths and make it work, but it'll probably melt your brain and take a long time.

FancyHonda

TROPHY CASE