[Build Log] Blood and Ice - Another Prodigy Build

[Bagmup]

I like the look of the black, but I wish you were faster.  :wub:

 

Haha, thanks, currently awaiting a delivery from Frozen CPU and the release of Devils Canyon in Australia.

[Mistgrim]

Looks awesome...makes me wish i was a bit more handy with tools

[ciobanulx]

I like what you did with the feet there. And I agree, the original feet are pretty wobbly and unstable. Looks good like this, also makes the case look smaller

[Bagmup]

I like what you did with the feet there. And I agree, the original feet are pretty wobbly and unstable. Looks good like this, also makes the case look smaller

 

Yeah, that's what i was trying to do, make it look smaller and take the wobble out. Waiting for parts is slowly killing me though

[Bagmup]

Seeing as I'm waiting for Australia Post to deliver my goodies, i thought i should tidy up a couple loose ends before everything arrives.

 

First, it's story time, so grab your teddy and come sit and listen

 

On my very first ever PC build, i used a CM 690III case and it was bundled with CM's seidon 120v cpu cooler.

 

As shit as they may be it was able to keep an 8350 under 65 degrees with a 4.8GHz oc @ 1.4v.

 

But then the dreaded ticking noise that seems to plague these little coolers kicked in so it quickly needed to be replaced. I didn't want another AIO because, they're ugly and not expandable.

 

I settled on a XSPC Raystorm kit, and it seemed awesome, but something was off. Suddenly my 4.8GHz oc was burning up the joint, i tried reseating, i tried different paste, but nothing worked. In the end, i had to settle for a piss weak 4.2GHz oc. I was pretty disappointed, when i disassembled and parted out that PC, i noticed some strange marks around the Raystorm cpu block. The cpu itself had left a mark around the edge of where the cpu was.

 

I put my straight edge on the block and sure enough, daylight was seen. Oh well i said and threw it into the back of my spare parts cupboard.

 

Fast forward to now and this build. I'm putting everything thing under water on this build, what to put on the cpu? Everyman and his bastard dog has an EK or Bitspower block on their cpu and i was about to buy an EK myself but then i remembered the XSPC block I'd thrown into the cupboard.

 

I can give it a paintjob and save myself $80 by not buying an EK block, and the XSPC block isn't too bad to look at.

 

First i had to fix that warp, and so here we are. Sorry for the long winded story

 

XSPC Block Repair.

 

This is what we started with, yep, it looks crap, you can see the outline of the 8350 around the outside.

 

 

First, we need a flat surface, some various grit wet and dry sandpaper and something to keep us sanding in a uniform direction.

 

I used 240, 400, 600, 800 then finished with 1200 grit

 

I used a nice thick piece of ply on top of two saw horses, put my wet and dry down, then clamped a piece of acrylic with a straight edge on top for our guide.

 

 

You can see the low spots already after a couple passes.

 

 

We keep going with the 240 grit until we are nice and flat.

 

 

Now the rest of the procedure is basically scratch removal to get back to a nice shiny surface.

 

Note to say when you're doing this, swap directions after each grit, dont keep sanding in the same direction.

 

With 400 grit.

 

 

600 grit

 

 

800 grit

 

 

Then finally we start on the 1200 grit, this takes the longest because the paper is so fine and blocks up easily, make sure you're using plenty of water.

 

 

Starting to look better.

 

 

Better...

 

 

 

And, we're finally done, ready to hopefully keep Devils Canyon nice and cool.

 

 

Camera wont focus on the block, but on the reflection

 

 

Thanks for looking, hopefully the postman come bearing gifts next week and i can get stuck in.

 

 

 

 

 

[nj4ck]

who doesn't love shiny blocks....   

[Monti]

did you polish it or did the sandpaper do that. Either way the transformation is cool!

[Bagmup]

did you polish it or did the sandpaper do that. Either way the transformation is cool!

 

Little bit of metal polish on a lint free cloth.

[Monti]

Little bit of metal polish on a lint free cloth.

Ah, I didn't think that sandpaper could polish stuff.

[Bagmup]

Ah, I didn't think that sandpaper could polish stuff.

 

The photos on the ply board are all wet and dry paper only. The polish just hides the micro scratches, but i'll clean all the polish off before i mount it. It was just for the glamour shots

[Bagmup]

Mini update seeing as Australia Post doesn't seem to want to deliver my gear...  :angry:

 

XSPC CPU Block.

 

Decided to spruce up the cpu block with a quick paintjob. Ignore the barb fittings.

 

 

 

 

 

[NotSoEpicMods]

Love the build so far, I like that people still sand down blocks. I for one do have that kind of patience. 

[Bagmup]

Love the build so far, I like that people still sand down blocks. I for one do have that kind of patience.

Thanks mate, I'm just a bit of a perfectionist...and tight arse

[NotSoEpicMods]

Thanks mate, I'm just a bit of a perfectionist...and tight arse

Yea I think I just suffer from ADD or something cus I have a hard time sticking to one task for a while yet I like things looking perfect. Anyways to bad you couldn't fit that 3.5" drive in somewhere. I assume you have some sort of other external storage?

[Bagmup]

Yea I think I just suffer from ADD or something cus I have a hard time sticking to one task for a while yet I like things looking perfect. Anyways to bad you couldn't fit that 3.5" drive in somewhere. I assume you have some sort of other external storage?

Oh the 3.5" is going to go in, I was going to use a 2.5" but I didn't realise they had such a small cache, 16Mb compared to 64Mb for the 3.5" hdd. So I'm gonna make it fit somewhere

[theMLGbro58]

Haven't been following to closely, are you going to use compression fittings for the water loop?  If you are, with that block I think silver fittings would look amazing.  I see the barb fittings, but also saying to ignore them, so I'm just confused on whether you are going to change it.  

[Bagmup]

Haven't been following to closely, are you going to use compression fittings for the water loop?  If you are, with that block I think silver fittings would look amazing.  I see the barb fittings, but also saying to ignore them, so I'm just confused on whether you are going to change it.

I'm using acrylic tubing so yep, compression fittings.

[Bagmup]

Not much of an update, I've had a parts delivery but hurt myself during the week, so haven't done much to the build, hopefully over the weekend.

 

Parts Delivery 

 

 

 

 

Jeeze EK, don't be a dick...

 

 

What's inside? A heatsink for the hot little DDC pump.

 

 

 

Oh yeah, that's better.

 

 

EK DDC pwm pump/res.

 

 

 

 

And now...The star of the show, I went with the Aquacomputer mainly because it's dead sexy...And i don't have to worry about nickel flaking Sorry EK fans, but everyone uses them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'll try and get some action happening over the weekend.

 

 

[GeekySole9354]

Oooh, nice. Btw WE NEED MOAR PICTURES

[Tearass]

Not much of an update, I've had a parts delivery but hurt myself during the week, so haven't done much to the build, hopefully over the weekend.

 

Parts Delivery 

 

 

 

I'll try and get some action happening over the weekend.

 

At first I thought it was dirty, then I noticed the plastic bag/wrapping.

[Bagmup]

At first I thought it was dirty, then I noticed the plastic bag/wrapping.

Actually the dark spots in the pics out of the bag are my finger prints, one of the downfalls of polished copper, I'll have to get some gloves to handle it

[d33g33]

I dont think ive ever looked through this thread in detail, followed.

 

Fitting the rad in the top really reminds me of my R4 build. Good luck with it all!

[SAV1OUR]

@Bagmup made your mind up on cpu and mobo yet? 

[Bagmup]

Update.

 

PSU Sleeving...

 

I'd been putting this off because i hadn't chosen a motherboard yet so wasn't sure where the 24 and 8 pin would end up.

 

But mainly because my psu is semi-modular, so a bit of extra work is involved.

 

Now i know everyone seems to spit on ThermalTake psu's but i had this particular one in my previous PC build with an 8350 @4.8Ghz and a couple of R9 270X's is crossfire and it never missed a beat. Who knows, maybe I got the only ThermalTake psu that isn't shit and i couldn't justify buying a new one with this one sitting around (and it keeps the missus happy thinking I'm saving money)

 

I've taken the gawd awful stickers off of the sides for starters.

 

 

Much better.

 

 

My initial plan was to basically shorten the cables to half their length to keep it nice and tight.

 

But then i noticed that it would be covering my beautiful EK pump/res combo...and we can't have that.

 

 

So I decided that if I'm going to go to the trouble of sleeving the cables, I should make a feature of them and use them to kind of frame the pump/res combo to draw your eyes to it...if you know what i mean.

 

 

Oh lawd...what have I gotten myself into??

 

 

Yeah...I don't think this hole is going to cut it anymore..

 

 

 

About an hour later the 8 pin was done.

 

And I turned my attention to the big Rainbow Serpent in front of me..

 

 

Pretty much done, just need to make it all fit again.

 

 

 

Wow, that sleeving really does make you look fat, sorry honey.

 

 

 

Nothing a bit of emergency surgery can't fix right?

 

 

All done and nicely tucked away.

 

 

Not bad for an Aussie bogan

 

 

Until next time...

 

 

 

 

[Bagmup]

@Bagmup made your mind up on cpu and mobo yet? 

 

At this point in time probably the Asus Z97i-Plus and I'm trying to tell myself, all i need is an i5, hard to do when you know theres a perfectly good i7 available.