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Leveling Hades (Hand-made acrylic case, acrylic tubing, crossfire watercooled build)

GregEl

Greetings from Greece!

 

It is that time of the year again. I must tend to my creative needs.

 

This build is sponsored by EKWB.

EKWB_Facebook_logo.jpg

 

So to begin, my rig looked like this before.

I wanted to try new things. Hard tubing and riser pci-e cables are popular among modders nowadays. As always I fooled around with sketchup for the concept and this is the idea (not in detail)

concept.jpg

 

This idea is best made possible with 290 GPUs that don’t need a crossfire bridge and the R4BE EK monoblock that has the same spacing the GPU waterblocks have. It would have been the perfect parallel solid tubing and with the correct length risers a very flat assembly. But it would actually cost double the budget I had for this build, so I had to improvise and make some changes.

 

Then a lot of stuff arrived from EKWB, aquatuning.de and highflow.nl

newstuffarrived.jpg

 

And this is the bane of my existence: Short crossfire bridges!

crossfire.jpg

 

As I stated above changes were made to the original design. So the new crossfired cards will be connected like in the picture below

crystallink.jpg

 

I started by making some of the parts of the case from foamcore for the first rough measurements

firstmeasurements.jpg

 

While waiting for the acrylic to arrive this is how my desk is temporarily

 

tempsetup.jpg

 

2 acrylic sheets 70x100cm 3mm thick arrived. One transparent and one milky. I started making a support for the first (lower) graphics card

 

graphicsplexisupport.jpg

 

After about 300 cuts with my jigsaw, some gluing and some drilling the case is almost ready.

Here are some in progress shots.

makingof.jpg

 

mobopanel.jpg

 

The aftermath

20140726_004.jpg

 

And finally the tubing is done. I am happy with how the bends turned out.

tubingdone.jpg

 

Let the assembly begin!

20140726_001.jpg

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I plugged in 2 additional sata data cables, because realistically the only change that I might do hardware-wise is and another SSD because my steam drive is getting full (6 games bundled with my 2 280x cards). And that fifth fan left of the radiator will be mounted at an angle to provide some air flow to the motherboard heatsinks.

 

20140726_007.jpg

It’s time to fill the loop and test for leaks

20140727_002.jpg

 

It’s filled and no leaks thankfully

20140727_003.jpg

 

The system is almost complete. I am waiting for my fan filter to arrive from south Africa. It is a magnetic demciflex with white mesh and blue frame. I hope that with the ferrous tape it will be a nice fit. Until then this is the system.

20140727_004.jpg

20140727_005.jpg

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And it is plugged in and working well. I left one cover off so that I can adjust the D5 pump’s speed to get rid of the few air bubbles left in the loop. And yes, it will be vertical and probably wall mounted at some point. There are safe orientations for the pump and res to work well. This one is the best I think. Another is rotated 90 degrees with the fans at the bottom. With other orientations you have the risk of the pump getting air at the inlet.

20140728_002.jpg

 

I am planning to make a drawer and some type of gadget oriented assembly for those holes in my desk. I am thinking an infinity mirror at the desk surface area so that it also provides some external light for the case. I am also thinking of integrating my qi wireless charging pad there.

 

I know the photo quality is not very good as most are taken with my Jolla smartphone.

 

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*jaw drops*

CPU: Intel Core i5 4460 | GPU: XFX r9 280x DD BLACK OC EDITION | RAM: 8gb Kingston HyperX Fury 1600Mhz | Mobo: Gigabyte h97n-WIFI | PSU: EVGA 600B | Case: Cooler Master Elite 120 | Cooler: Stock intel | SSD: Samsung 840 EVO 120gb | Storage: WD 150 gb

CPU: Intel Core i7 4710MQ | GPU: NVIDIA Geforce GTX 850M | RAM: 8gb Corsair 1600Mhz | Mobo: Metabox WA50SJ Motherboard | Case: Metabox WA50SJ case | Cooler: Stock | SSD: Sandisk 256gb

:wub:  :wub:  :wub: 

Best purchase this year, bcuz forza

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Pretty nice build, although I don't really understand the whole case-less computer fad, I prefer cased PCs.

"How hard can it be?" - Jeremy Clarkson

"Speed has never killed anyone. Suddenly becoming stationary, that's what gets you." - Jeremy Clarkson

 

"There's an old saying that God exists in your search for him. I just want you to understand that I ain't looking." - Leslie Nielsen

 

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Awesome idea of a different form factor, and it looks excellent, Very well done :D

Have you considered ventilation for the motherboard heatsinks, as these may get hot, expecially when overclocking?

"PSU brands are meaningless, look up the OEM."

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How come you didnt go for Silverstone AP123 fans? Its the only thing i am missing from this build :( Too much white. I guess we will have to wait for the filter to arrive to see end product.

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I would have waited until I had done something about the massive hole I'd cut out of my desk before posting it as complete, but the system itself looks great well done!

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Thanks everyone for your comments!

 

@BonBon Scott

I also like cased pcs and especially in corsair graphite cases and my new favourite phanteks cases. What I have made is actually a case. A quite slim, no-space-wasted acrylic case.

 

@FizzyFantom

There is a noiseblocker above the RAM slots blowing air at an angle towards the RAM and chipset heatsink with air intake slots on the "top" of the case. You can see it well in the picture with the paper towels before I fill the loop. :) I hope that answers your question.

 

@Manny Calavera

I already had the noiseblocker fans from my previous build and honestly I think they are very good fans. Indeed some more blue accents are needed, I agree. I hope the blue framed filter will do the trick, but I might also do vinyl sticker design on the cover below the graphics cards. And maybe with the external light it will look much better.

 

@Askew

I don't really think it is complete.  I just wanted to show a "turned on/up and running" picture. Did I mark the thread as a completed build log by mistake? I am waiting for the fan filter and the hole will be covered with quite a few stuff (drawer, lighting, wireless charging pad). I already have the LED strips, the qi pad and most of the materials.

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Sexy.

Ketchup is better than mustard.

GUI is better than Command Line Interface.

Dubs are better than subs

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  • 2 weeks later...

Update time :)

I decided to lay the case on the desk, I added some LEDs and I did some tidying up to the desk. Wireless charging and arduino projects are not embeded yet in the setup, but as a pc and desk it's ok for now.

20140809_004.jpg

I added the filter. It is a bit more overflowing than I would like. I did want it bigger than the cover below it, but I might use shorter screws or glue some acrylic supports to make a better sized frame.

20140809_005.jpg

The LED strip is powerfull. My smartphone's lens can't accurately capture the color. The brightest parts are as blue as the rest in reality
20140809_011.jpg

 

20140810_0021.jpg

And finally my desk as it is right now.
20140809_012.jpg

It overhangs I know, but it is positioned this way so that no fan is obstructed.
Thank you for your kind words and comments.
I might upload better quality images, if there is interest.
 

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