SidewinderB4

<3 
 
Awesome build dude. Props!
 
Yes I'm here too..... *stalk* 

I've only ever used EK blocks for my builds, but the XSPC one does look smart - plus it's cheaper.

Neeeeeeeeeeeeown!

this came out nicer then I realized

FH3 Shinies.

Some boxes! With plastic stuffz inside...
 
 
 

Nothing like being a couple years too late to the show... 

I spent a couple of hours last night overclocking and benching, so I hope #1 in the world for the CPU/GPU combo is good enough? >>link<<

 
I didn't get any screenshots of temps (I'll do that later today when I have time) but after ~2hours of continuous benching the GPU (core clocked to 1100MHz) capped out at 57c and the CPU (clocked to 4.5GHz) topped out at 81c
 
For daily driving though, I'll most likely drop the CPU back to 4.4 or 4.3 as the temps really spike at 4.5GHz

Singularity, I actually loved that game! haha. Good choice.

Final update time!
 
So carrying on from the last update, as I had everything connected I figured it was time to leak test. Time for lots of paper towels and a light color tint to the water to highlight any problems.
 
As the res was so small and the connection to the pump is right near the top, I had to add a temporary tube to the fill port that would give me enough liquid to cycle the pump on and off without it running dry for too long.  The tube also helped with the bleeding as it allowed air top bubble up and escape wit the water level higher than the res.

 
To my complete and utter surprise absolutely nothing leaked at all and after adding a bit more dye to the loop it looked like this:

 

 

 

 
Here's a better look at the res when fully topped up.

 

 
And finally... here she is with everything in place and ready to roll.
 

 
I haven't done a great deal of benching and haven't done any overclocking yet, but the CPU idles at 24c and peaked out at 67c on the highest core when benchmarking. I definitely plan to push things beyond stock but with such small thermal capacity I imagine things will spike very quickly beyond a certain point. I also have plans to cut the top of the Node202 out and replace it with some beveled tempered glass so I can actually see all the hard work that has gone into it.

Uuuhm...
 
 

As @SidewinderB4 said, I am just using a 256GB M.2 on the underside of the motherboard as I just need an OS and a few racing sims installed. All of my media is on a NAS and streams across the network.
No I can't as the radiator has to be pushed as far to the back of the case to allow for the inlet/outlet at the front. This means that the "2nd" fan actual finishes under the GPU by about 8mm (using a full size fan there had originally been my plan/hope though).
 
I actually shit bricks when I saw the baity title on youtube from Kyle as I was halfway through my project at the time when he uploaded it and I thought he beat me to the punch.
Cheers

im SURE i hit the follow button but aparently not, didnt see this build untill now. looks absolutly awesome and i love it. good job man  

Thanks  I got all the sleeving supplies from MainframCustom. I think it was something like 20ft of each color (black, gray and orange), I ordered 200 terminal pins so I had plenty of leftovers, all the various terminal blocks, 8ft of 3:1 heat shrink (got some left over), Gosumodz aluminum wire combs  plus some crimpers, wire strippers and some flush cutters.
 
Honestly, I can't see myself building a system where I don't do my own cables from now (I'm actually looking at my cablemods ones in my main rig with a certain amount of disgust as well.

Most definitely not a GPU Problem then! Get those fans installed!
 
My 970's run at 60(Windforce 3) & 75-80(PNY Reference style blower) under load but my case is always freezing to touch. I've started to leave my can on top of it now and again to try and keep them cool.  

Looks like a Hamilton Jazzmaster Day Date Auto.
 
I have a Hamilton Automatic as well - nice watches.

Random GTA V Pic when I was first trying out my new screen
 
DOOM when I figured I was carrying a  new Prototype S.H.I.E.L.D Helicarrier in my hands.. 

Another day, another update then....
 
Now that I have the painting out of the way, my attention turned to the complete lack of space for a custom loop as well as all of the cables being the wrong length.
 
I figured that one of the largest problems was going to be fitting a pump/res inside the case as well as traversing between the 2 "zones" Fractal have created. They do provide a small cut out for cables but this was going to be nowhere near big enough for what I needed. Time to mask up, mark up and chop up!
 

 
After a bit of effort I had a nice big gap that would help me with the res/pump as well as easily pass the cables and tubing between zones....

 
With that out of the way I wanted to find a way of mounting the radiator that would still let me cleanly(ish) route the tubing around the system so I mocked up a rough template with the mounting points marked out.

 
A little bit of drilling later and it fits like a glove!

 

 
One of the downsides of it fitting like a glove is that the handy power plug at the back of the case no longer fits, so I had to throw that away. And as the cable running to the PSU was attached to this and is specially designed to fit in the tight confines of the case when plugged into the PSU, I had to keep the cable and splice a longer plug onto the other end so it would function as a normal cable and also allow room for the radiator to fit. I also had to cut up a small piece of metal plate to act as a patch panel for the hole left by removing the original plug (apologies for how rough it is, but it is almost completely hidden by the outer shell of the case once reassembled.

 

 
With all the metal chopping out of the way, it's time for a bit more soldering. For some reason, the front USB3 header cable is long enough to keep owners of even the largest cases happy and in a case as tight on space as this one is, that simply won't do. Let the madness commence!

 

 
And here it is all tucked away and the right length.

 
That's it for now. Stay tuned for more cables and the weird little reservoir in the next update!

Random GTA V Pic when I was first trying out my new screen
 
DOOM when I figured I was carrying a  new Prototype S.H.I.E.L.D Helicarrier in my hands.. 

Whys has nobody mentioned Half Life 2?
 
He didn't specificity state on-line FPS games  Sure the majority of the ones mentioned have single player, some of them pretty great too tbf.
 
If you want Old-Skool Lols try Postal 2

I nearly started crying in fear for my life when I got here.... :'(
 

Is this song relevant? It seems like it would be. 
 

This should be the penultimate update for Phase 1 of this project, so lets get straight to it.
 
I pretty much had 1 choice of graphics card for this build, as I wanted something as powerful as possible that I could watercool, was short in length 
(so it didn't block both rad fans) and also only took up a single expansion slot otherwise it would interfere with the radiator. So the R9 Nano it is then!

 
Here it is with the waterblock fitted along with the inlet/outlet block..... Wow that thing is big and I don't think it's going to give me enough room to actually route the pipes inside the case...

 
Luckily EK also offer angled terminals which give me the room I need.

 
So along with the challenges of squeezing all the watercooling gear in here, because it is a hardline loop, I need to think about draining it. This weird little group of fittings - whilst not very pretty, should get the job done.

 
With it in place (temporarily) this is how it should look - and yes I can open and shut the valve without interfering with the fan blades:

 
Hooking up the radiator and the pump was always going to be tricky as this is one of the points where I have to jump between the 2 case "zones" and to make matters worse the clearance of everything was extremely tight.

 
I tried to do this with petg but there simply wasn't enough space and distance to get a clean bend without forcing the pump out of position and meaning the res and other connections would never clear other hardware.

 
I ended up spending a small fortune on 5 interconnecting fittings to get a very sharp turn completed.

 
The next problem area was always going to be connecting the CPU block and the res because it has to squeeze between the RAM, GPU riser and the return feed from the GPU.

 
I really don't know what I was worried about - there's LOADS of room....

 
And believe it or not that is the loop fully connected up to everything. My final update tomorrow will show the loop filled and leak tested with everything finally crammed into place.

Still consider this a very pretty game for being just over 3 years old (I know that's not exactly old...)
 
Running around on 4K Res using DSR and squinting at how tiny the UI is on max.. haha. 
 

Spent a while cleaning the brumbrum today. With some help..



Always nice to have free labour. Mwuahaha. admittedly I never usually let them near it..