[Build Log] Project Purple Horizon

[easynator]

banner by Rumikarimu

 

Introduction

Welcome to my next build! This time, I'll go with an ITX build so I stay in the Small Form Factor (SFF) area. As you might realize, I really like computers with a small footprint. My main goal will be to have the rig as clean and as simple as possible. I have a few ideas at this moment and I am working out the details on a daily basis.

You can expect me to post a good quantity of photos that shows the details and the making-of my second build. All photos will be taken with my newest OnePlus One smartphone.

See this build log #ProjectOrangeHorizon if you missed my first build!

Sponsors

I would like to thank you Parvum Systems and Bitspower for making this build happening.

Table of contents

• The components
• The first order
• Unpacking the first order
• The cable sleeving options
• The PSU, the CPU, the SSD and the motherboard
• New sponsor and the photo environment
• The reservoir and the pump
• The motherboard - Part 1
• The memory waterblock - Part 1

Social

• Instagram: #ProjectPurpleHorizon
• Facebook: ProjectPurpleHorizon

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The components

Standard

• CPU: i5-4690K [Received]
• Motherboard: Asus Maximus VII Impact (z97 mITX) [Received]
• PSU: EVGA SuperNOVA 650 G1 [Received]
• SSD: Crucial M500 [Received]
• Video card: EVGA GeForce GTX 970 Superclocked ACX 2.0 (04G-P4-2974-KR)
• Memory: GSKILL

Watercooling

• Radiators: Darkside 120mm low-profile radiator & Darkside 240mm low-profile radiator

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Reserved #2

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Reserved #3

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The first order

I submitted my first order two weeks ago and guess what, it has already been shipped and received! Trust me, Dazmode is awesome!

 

The components

I already know what the computer case will be but I'm waiting to finalize a few details before sharing that information with you. I'm not under any NDA, I just want to confirm a few things before sharing this exciting news with you! That being said, the case will allow me to put a 120mm and a 240mm radiators so you can expect the system to be fully watercooled. I don't think I will be overclocking this one since this is an ITX build. My #ProjectOrangeHorizon will remain my main gaming system. This second build will be used for something else including casual gaming. It will still have enough torque to play big games, but I don't want to spend another 5k for this build (at least for 2014-2015).

 

Photo

[kameshss]

Parvum Systems are too good!

I'm going to follow this topic!

 

Going to be Subbed I guess!

[xvantok]

Wait wait wait, sounds awesome but how did you get sponsors for your build?

[easynator]

Parvum Systems are too good!

I'm going to follow this topic!

 

Going to be Subbed I guess!

Thank you sir

 

 

Wait wait wait, sounds awesome but how did you get sponsors for your build?

This is a really good question. Well, as you might know, Parvum Systems is expanding to the public their computer case line to ITX in the next following weeks/months. For now, they wanted me to play with one of the ITX model since I'm involved in the Parvum Systems community and documented a few things about the S2 case. As for Bitspower, I simply contacted them to see if they could help me with this build...

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Unpacking the first order

I received my first order just a few days after I submitted it. As I said, the team at DazMode is really great. I submitted my order in the morning and it was ship the same day. It took the standard two business days to travel from Ontario to Quebec.

I took a few photos and I tried to be a little bit more professional with my setup. Last month I changed my Nexus 5 for a OnePlus One and I hope the quality of the photos will be better. The name of this build if the Project Purple Horizon so I thought it would be nice touch to have a little bit of purple in the background for each photos... What do you think?

I still need to set a better photo-shoot environment, but it will do the job for now

Photos

The package

The reamer

The 120mm rad

The 240mm rad

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The cable sleeving options

I'm at the point of designing the cable sleeving colors. I'll probably order them from ensourced unless someone convince me to go with another company. I'm open to suggestion and my final choice hasn't been taken yet.

My idea was to use the Acid Purple Paracord Sleeved Extensions (#4223bf) as well as the standard White color.

Which option do you prefer?

Options

Option 1

http://choosemypc.net/sleeving/?p=5496d65ef2fff

Option 2

http://choosemypc.net/sleeving/?p=5496d68c8bbc8

Option 3

http://choosemypc.net/sleeving/?p=5496d6c635a94

Option 4

http://choosemypc.net/sleeving/?p=5496d6fa9316c

[kameshss]

- snip -

I like Option 3.

2 Purple 2 White!

[Guest]

I like the first one

[Captain Matt]

Option 3 for pcie extensions
Option 4 for 24 pin

[easynator]

I like Option 3.

2 Purple 2 White!

 

 

I like the first one

Thank you guys!

 

 

Option 3 for pcie extensions

Option 4 for 24 pin

 

 

Subbed

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The PSU, the CPU, the SSD and the motherboard

I'm starting to receive some components. It has taken so much time... I'm still waiting for the GPU as well as the memory so I have everything to bench test before adding the different watercooling blocks. I'll be announcing a new sponsor within the next few days. Stay tuned!

 

Components

• CPU: i5-4690k
• PSU: EVGA Supernova 650W
• SSD: Crucial M500 240GB
• Motherboard: Asus Maximus VII Impact (mITX)

Photo

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New sponsor

Have you noticed something different with the banners? I'm glad to announce that DARKSIDE (the product line from Dazmode) has sponsored a few products for this project (mainly LEDs and sleeving).

You should expect a big update for this week-end since I've received a few orders since my last update.

Photo environment

I really wanted to work on my photo environment, as I was saying a few posts ago. I recently bought a Sony 5N and wanted to have a semi-professional environment to take my photos. I'm learning as a fast-forward speed how to take good photos. I bought a photo-tent as well as a tripod... Anyway, here is what it is looking like. I still need to work on the background used behind each item, but I'm getting there. I initially wanted to use white or purple for my background but I learned from a friend of mine that I should probably use black to create a nice contrast with the different white components (which make a lot of sense).

[nchilds98]

That's a really cool setup. I took Photo 1 my freshman year and hated it but I would LOVE to learn how to take great pictures digitally, not with a film piece of crap. Don't want to spend the money on a camera if its just for fun though

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The reservoir and the pump
I have decided to go with a small reservoir since the space available in the Parvum Systems The Veer case is quite limited. It doesn't require a top mod. It's already crafted in the reservoir itself. It has 3 inlets and 1 outlet. It measures 62mm x 62mm x 95mm. I have also selected this reservoir because I wanted to go with a DDC pump. I initially wanted another model of the DDC pump but it was back order so I picked a DDC 3.2 PWM 18W pump. A DDC pump cooler is always a must to have. The installation guide of the cooler can be found on the Bitspower's website [here]. It is pretty straight forward and was really easy to assemble.

By the way, it was my real first attempt with the photo-tent and some post-processing. Let me know what you think.

Components

• The reservoir: Bitspower DDC Mini Water Tank Ultra (BP-DDCT3-CL) [LINK]
• The DDC pump: Laing DDC 3.2 PWM 18W Pump - MCP35X (DDC 3.2PWM) [LINK]
• The DDC pump cooler: Bitspower Pump Cooler For DDC/MCP355 - White (BP-DDCPC-WH) [LINK]
• The sleeving (White): DarkSide HD Cable Sleeving - White (DS-HD4-WHT) [LINK]
• The sleeving (Purple): DarkSide HD Cable Sleeving - Purple UV (DS-HD4-PUR) [LINK]

Photos

[nchilds98]

Looks awesome, I really like the cables!

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The PWM fan splitter
I decided to use the Swiftech 8 Way PWM Splitter because this is what I used on my first build and I still wanted to use a SATA connector instead of Molex connector.I sleeved the PWM signal cable and you can find below what it looks like. The process is quite easy since you just need to unglue the wires because they were stick together. I have not found a way yet to sleeve the SATA cable but I'm working on that. Let me know if you have a suggestion for that!

Components

• The PWM fan splitter: Swiftech 8 Way PWM Splitter (8W-PWM-SPL-ST) [LINK]
• The sleeving (White): DarkSide HD Cable Sleeving - White (DS-HD4-WHT) [LINK]
• The sleeving (Purple): DarkSide HD Cable Sleeving - Purple UV (DS-HD4-PUR) [LINK]

Photos

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The fittings

As you know, Bitspower is helping me with this build. I have a design in my head on the tubing routing so I ordered what I think I'll need for this build. I have not seen the case yet, but I'm sure everything will work out. In the [Project Orange Horizon], I went with straight lines supported by 90° fittings. For this build, I wanted to go with 30° and 60° fittings. I'm still not going to bend the tubes. I guess I found my own style, I love those big blocks in my loop. I feel it accentuates the character of the beast... 

 

I decided to change all the black o-rings to the UV purple. I couldn't find any flat purple o-rings so I went with the UV version even if I'm not going to have an UV LEDs. The color is really bright and more pink-ish than purple but I'm sure it still do the job. I took a photo with the default black o-rings and one with the UV purple o-ring. After seeing the UV purple one, you almost feel that the black o-ring version was done in black & white. What do you think?

 

I have some spare Bitspower white fittings from my last build, but I might have to buy a few more if my design doesn't work out. I'm crossing my fingers!

 

Components

• 1x Deluxe White Mini Valve With Black Handle (BP-MVV-DWBK) [LINK]

• 8x Bitspower Deluxe White Enhance Rotary G1/4" 60-Degree Multi-Link Adapter (BP-DWE60RML) [LINK]

• 8x Bitspower Deluxe White Enhance Rotary G1/4" 30-Degree Multi-Link Adapter (BP-DWE30RML) [LINK]

• 1x G1/4" Deluxe White Q Plus-Rotary IG1/4"X4 Extender (BP-DWFR-C) [LINK]

• 8x G1/4" Deluxe White Stop Fitting (BP-DWWP-C09) [LINK]

• 4x G1/4" Deluxe White IG1/4" Extender-15MM (BP-DWWP-C60) [LINK]

• 2x Bitspower Deluxe White Enhance Rotary G1/4" 90-Degree Multi-Link Adapter (BP-DWE90RML) [LINK]

• 2x Bitspower Deluxe White Enhance Rotary G1/4" 45-Degree Multi-Link Adapter (BP-DWE45RML) [LINK]

• 4x G1/4" Deluxe White Multi-Link Adapter (BP-DWWP-C47) [BLINK]

• 4x 10PCS Purple UV-Reactive O-Ring Set For G1/4" (BP-WTP-O10-UVPL) [LINK]

Photos

 

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The PSU

I don't really need a powerful PSU as this is going to be an ITX build. Therefore, I decided to go with the EVGA SuperNOVA 650 G1. It was on sale during Christmas so I got a really good deal for it. I also read that it performed well even if it wasn't as silent as the Corsair AX series. Finally, I like the design so it's worth a try. I'm planning to paint it in white for the case body and purple for the fan shield (or the other way around). The other advantage of that PSU is that it's quite easy to paint since you can easily unscrew the different parts. I quickly sketched what it is going to look like. I'm waiting for the case to decided which tint of purple I'm going to take. I personally prefer the white case and purple fan shield compared to the other one, but the purple case and white fan shield is uncommon so I'm struggling to decided which way to go... What do you think?

 

Components

• The PSU: EVGA SuperNOVA 650 G1 Power Supply (120-G1-0650-XR) [LINK]
  

 

 

Photos

 

(Photoshoped)

 

(Photoshoped)

[Nup]

-snip-

 I prefer it with the white body, the full purple one is too strong, and may catch the eye too much. 

[nchilds98]

White definitely looks much better with the purple fan.

[Valaris]

I can't wait to see the final product, I just finished building my purple rig, aptly named "Violette".

 

Just fyi, the Mushkin Ridgeback is amazing to paint since the heat spreaders  unscrew easily. I plasti dipped mine purple.