gipsy danger01

Awwww snap, guess what I have.  Expect some updates later.
 

Hey guys!
Here it is, FINAL PICS!
Hope you've enjoyed this build log!
Please check out the MSI PRO MOD here and cast a vote once ready!
http://gaming.msi.com/event/msipromod_s3
Keep in mind that this mod has all been done by me using hand tools only!




























If you would like to see pics in higher quality you can check out the album on my Facebook page here - https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.928925223862405.1073741849.772776719477257&type=3
Thanks a lot for checking out this build log and stay tuned for many more builds to come in 2016!
Cheers,
Alex

Update:
packed and on the way to CES Las Vegas
cant wait to see it coming back to home
3 layer of thick cardboard, another very thick cardboard on each corner , build in bubble wrap and use 2 inch of high density grey foam, hope no damage to my little demon

Ah I love international orders...



Thankfully everything in the box was unharmed. The only casualty was a corner of the thermal pad for the passive backplate. Not anything that's concerning, though. The package from Performance-PCs came later in the week. That was the interesting one: fittings, pump, CPU block, tubing, fittings, fittings, and more fittings...
One thing I need to say about the pump: how in the hell is it capable of the specifications Koolance declares? And I mean that will all sincerity. If you look at the specification drawing, it's about 47mm square. I was expecting this to be almost as large as a D5. 47mm, for those in the US who don't want to pull out a calculator, is just under 2". And no I didn't look at the dimensions ahead of buying it.
On the plus side, it uses just 1.8A and runs off a 3-pin fan header, meaning it can be powered by the fan controller, if I decided to do that. The maximum flow rate is about 25% less than the D5 at max speed, but I bought this for the head pressure. So when the cabinet is built we'll see how well it'll perform.
Next step, though, was Home Depot to pick up some of their "random length" oak boards for making the cabinet.
Building the cabinet
I'll have plans available toward the end of the build log for those who may want to build one of your own. The design here is for three double-120mm radiators on one side with everything else on the other and one side of the cabinet being bottomless to allow for airflow while the cabinet still looks like a cabinet.
As I mentioned, initially I thought about making it out of red oak, until I looked again at the price of it and decided to go with yellow pine, which cuts the cost of the cabinet in half. I bought two 18"x48" laminated pine panels along with a 6' length of 1"x3" pine. Nominal width is 17.25", which puts it a little wider than what I was aiming for. This would provide <em>most</em> of what I'd need to build the cabinet.
I started by ripping 18" off one of the panels to give the 30" long tabletop. The second panel was ripped in half to make two 24"x18" pieces for the sides panels. This will allow for a 6" clearance under the cabinet for airflow into the bottomless side of the cabinet. I'm sure my neighbors didn't hugely appreciate the table saw (read a review of it here), but I can say that at least it's not nearly as ear-piercing of a sound as my circular saw. And easier to clean up.
Though ripping the piece in half down to two approximate 24" side panels required a little ingenuity, and a little cleanup of the cut afterward to ensure the boards were about as square as I could make them. The table saw has a maximum rip fence distance of only 18", which was good for the first cut, but not so much for the second. Basically the clean-up involved clamping an adjustable T-square I bought at Harbor Freight at the right spot to guide my circular saw, then using an aluminum compound square from Home Depot for the little bit at the end the T-square blocked.
I initially thought of using dowels for this as well, but opted instead for #10 wood screws. To avoid problems, I wanted to also drill pilot holes in the end grain of the side panels, and #10 screws use a ⅛" pilot hole, the smallest size supported by my V-Drillguide. Through holes on the panels were 3/16", which I would later discover is too skinny for the #10 screws to glide through cleanly. Not a problem as it means I can start the screws to line up and glue the panels before driving them home.
The holes are spaced every 3.5". The downside was I didn't have a self-centering dowel jig that could go down to 1/8" -- I don't even think anyone makes one -- so I had to improvise a little.
In cutting the bottom for the cabinet, I hit a little snag. I initially tried to cut a hole about 1" in from the front and side and 3" in from the back. Unfortunately in cutting out the hole using a jigsaw, I forgot to account for the weight of the board in the middle and when it got loose enough, it took out much of the side of the board. So instead of having a clean hole, I have a U. Oh well. It'll still look good either way, and there will be plenty of support in the 3" section for the radiators, especially since the radiators the radiators will be supported using brackets at the top and bottom.

So while waiting for the brackets to arrive from Performance-PCs, I tried to get the cabinet pieces to a point where all that would be left to drill were the holes for everything to be mounted. This also meant needing to figure out how and where to mount the pump and reservoir. My back made sure to complain later from being bent over the boards cutting and sanding.
Radiator brackets
Before finishing the cabinet, structurally at least, I needed to get the XS-PC brackets in hand and mounted to a radiator for a visual test for marking the screws. I surmised looking at the brackets that the screws would be best spaced about where the fan screws are, which would put them about 225mm apart, but as much as 240mm apart. The radiators themselves will be positioned such that the fans are centered on the "ledge".

To mount the brackets, I drilled holes for 1" long #8 countersunk machine screws. I needed the holes on the cabinet top and bottom. Then I turned my attention to drilling the holes for the bulkhead fittings. Here is where things got a little interesting.
With how the bracket is positioned and using an AlphaCool 90-degree rotary fitting, the intake for the radiator measured to about 1.75" from the back. Measuring using diagrams for the bracket and radiator puts the center of the fitting at about 1.5" up from the bottom (1.54" when converting mm to in, so close enough). So I measured and drilled the side panel for that.
Only there were a couple minor hitches I ran into. I initially tried to drill with a 3/4" spade bit, thinking that would be wide enough. Not quite. If I knew that was going to be a concern, I would've picked up a set of spade bits from Home Depot or Harbor Freight since I only have a 1/2", 3/4", and 1" spade bit -- something I'll likely do in the near future anyway.
But I did have step bits, one that went to 7/8". That allowed for the bulkhead fitting to sit, but not completely the way I wanted. It was just barely long enough, so I needed to sink it. That's where another step bit came in handy, drilling a 1" sink around the outside, allowing the fitting to sit flush with with the side panel.

The fitting's position should allow the return line to go straight to the bottom radiator. Unfortunately I was not going to know until the cabinet is put together whether that is how it turned out.
With the bulkhead fitting set, though, I didn't turn my attention to the second bulkhead fitting. Not immediately at least. I planned to place it immediately above the return fitting, though. But first I'd need to mount the pump and reservoir to know where it would go.
Knowing where the bulkhead fitting would sit made measuring for most of that significantly easier. I chose to line the reservoir up so it would be centered along the same line as the bulkhead fittings. It would just make it much easier and leave the pump as the only complication.
And my thanks to Koolance and Bitspower for accurate drawings on their website. And thanks to my primary and secondary school teachers for the math education I received. No joke on that either. Let me show you what I mean.

I was able to determine from Bitspower's website that the reservoir mount I'm using was designed to fit onto an 80mm fan mount. And when mounts are designed to fit onto a standard layout such as that, it always makes measuring layouts so much easier.
Koolance's diagram of the pump and 90-degree fitting allowed me to determine how far off the center line I'd be mounting the pump: about 40mm from the center of the bulkhead to the center of the pump, and shy of 1/2" from the bulkhead center to the center on the closest mounting screws.
To figure out where on the board I'd be mounting it, I needed to know some details about the two EK 45-degree fittings I'd be using to connect the pump to the reservoir. Except there wasn't any documentation available showing any kind of dimensions on the fittings, a situation that EK should rectify since everyone else from what I've seen makes such diagrams available. The diagrams are invaluable when making a custom project like this one. So I had no choice but to eyeball it.


Once I had the pump mounted, I needed some ingenuity to figure out where to put the bulkhead fitting. Sure I could've just tried to line my square up under it, but I wanted to be a little more precise. From what I could gather, the pump top is about 18mm long, and the G1/4" port appears to be middle-aligned, putting the center about 9mm in from the edge. This means that from the center of the lower screw hole to the center of the fitting port is about 46mm.
So I measured and drilled, following a procedure similar to what I did for the first bulkhead fitting.





So it should be clear how this is going to run. The pump outlet is going right to the bulkhead fitting that will feed to the system. And the inlet to the box will go straight to the radiators. And the radiator will feed straight to the reservoir.
Unfortunately, though, this is much too close to make use of hard tubing fittings. So instead I'm going to use a Swiftech SLI fitting. I just need to get one from my local Micro Center when they're next open.
The only question really still up in the air is how I'm going to power all of this. Current plan is to use a small FlexATX power supply I have laying around, provided it is quiet enough for the job. We'll see when I flush the radiators and blocks later in the week. And I have an Add2PSU for synchronizing it with the main system, if I decide to do that.
But what you see above isn't how the pump is going to be mounted in the final configuration, as I plan to use some 00 rubber washers for vibration isolation plus a couple 1/4" nylon spacers. That should get the pump's inlet lined up with the reservoir, and I'll use PETG tubing as a short channel between them. But the 1" screws I have are too short for that. And given a lot of this was all done on Christmas Eve night, I couldn't just run to Home Depot to get the screws I needed. That will have to wait till Sunday after all of the Christmas festivities with mine and my wife's families.
So until then, Merry Christmas.

Sexy Icemodz cables and LED strips are here! Thanks a lot for supporting me yet again
 
This means I can get them all in and finish the build!
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
These LED strips are awesome and Icemodz can do them in any length both the LED and cable.
 

 

 

 
Very strong 3M double sided tape too
 

 
Can't wait to get all these in!
 
Thanks for checking it out and stay tuned for the finish line!
 
Cheers,
 
Alex
 

The mod is done, i just need to do few more cable sleevs and then to fotoshoot. 
Here are a few pictures from assembly day, i would like to thank my friends Atila Gobor aka Steamrooler and Dusan Srbljak aka animaN for great assistance!
 

Damn, this is an really nice build!!!!

So I finally got my cnc working properly, I got the latest version of ugs and it worked!
Then the spindle broke. So I guess all that work went to nothing. Luckily Inventables customer service is super fast. (They replied within a day of my email.) And they gave me the option of either getting the same spindle again or upgrading to the quiet cut or a dewalt 611. I was considering the dewalt for its shear POWER!! But inventables told me that it would only run of 110v, and in australia we use 240v, so I would have to use some sort of transformer. The other problem with the dewalt is that you have to adjust the speed on the actual spindle and you can't control it through gcode, plus the dewalt would be a whole lot louder, meaning that i would have to stop work earlier in order to not annoy my neighbours. So the natural move would be to go with the quietcut. What it lacks in power it males up for in quietness and gcode control, not to mention the er11 collets, meaning I can use all of my bits without an adapter.
So no more updates in the build for this year since I will be on holiday. So a merry christmas and a happy new year to everyone.

Hey guys!
Started working on the new loop!
Graphics cards have been dismantled and EK waterblocks are being installed!
You can also see I've started redoing some of the tubing!




One beefy cooler



The top bend was pretty tricky do to as the fittings were not lining up

I had to extend the top pass through fitting lower a bit but I'm happy with the end result

Thanks for checking it out!
Cheers,
Alex

Thank you!
 
 Cooler Master H.A.F. REBORN - project (finished)  

Announce!
 

Build is done.
Turns out the leak test outside was a good idea. Fitted everything in the case and no leaks
Getting the air out was a challenge as this thing ways a ton and I should have thought about it while doing the design. Anyway it's done now. No on to stress testing and overclocking the thing.
I'll need to add a light to the Reservoir as it's a bit dark now

Here's a pic with flash:

The botttom fan is one that came with the case and will need replacing as it's too noisy compared to the rest.
For first time watercooling I'm pleased with the results - would I do certain things differentl, yes. Do I regret my decisions, not the least
Thanks for reading

I came to the end of the project , I am pleased with how it looks , expect tomorrow the final photos and videos
 

Probably not the most interesting build log ever but I had fun so far and thought might as well post what I got so done so far.
Introducing Blackwater: specs see here
I sold off my last system (i5 2500K, 16GB Ram, 256+512GB SSDs,2xTB HDDs Raid1) and started off with a Corsair 780T (the best I could get localy that would fit everything). This will change eventually as I don't like it very much - probably will go custom in a few years unless something that realy ticks all the boxes for me comes out by then. Really wanted something with a reverse motherboard tray or horizontal (although the later makes cases a bit too wide for my taste as it's sitting under my desk on tile floor).
As I've bougth a Synology NAS 2 years ago I decided to have only SSDs for this build. A Intel 750 400GB as system drive and for now recycled the 512GB SSD from the old system. Will get 2x 512GB 850EVOs in Raid 0 over X-Mas and gift my Crucial to a friend who's running out of space.
As temps in my office easily reach 25-30°C during summer I decided to go for a custom waterloop (first time watercooling, excluding AIOs) so I don't have to throttle back my overclock during the hotter season.
To keep things silent I went a bit overkill and managed to source 2x EK XTX 60mm thick 360 radiators from old stock and half a dozen Noctua Industrial Fans. A Primochill CTR2 D5 (variable edition from Watercool) enabled reservoir will take care of water circulation. I wanted to get the red tube to match the red rigid PETG tubing but it was always out of stock so I opted for a frosted one and will illuminate it with a red LED.
CPU and GPU waterblocks are from of Watercool and after sourcing some different screws I managed to use the stock EVGA backplate too
So to fit the rads in the case all HDD cages had to go as well as the 5.25" bays (the later took some effort as it was riveted in place). If I ever go custom case I would make it so I could fit the two rad next to each other at the front. The 780T is technically wide enough to accomodate that idea but the design tappers at the front, top and bottom so I couldn't make it work without major surgery.
Anyway enough typing on to pics
tl|dr: building a custom watercooled PS here some pictures




leak test after cleaning and flushing all the parts

next will be final assembly inside the case - wish me luck

Thanks guys! I'll keep you updated
 
arrived last night

For now, a group picture

Fits well with the Christmas season.  :lol:

Damn, that RAM tho.
Looks great

This morning I received the HSC marks for each subject. In Australia we call the final school test the HSC, this is the final tests before you head into University. I was put on the 2015 Honours Roll for high achievers. I scored 92/100 for Timber. This score was a collaboration of my project you see here and all school tests that I did. I will not know what my score was for this project alone as I don't find out till end of Feb next year (2016). A lot of effort was put in on this project and for a prototype it worked out well.
 
Thanks for all the support.
 
#ProjectRavageV2

Hi guys!
 
Here is the build up and running with the tablet! 
 
Just need to take some final pics of the build to post but it's pretty much done now
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
Thanks for checking it out guys!
 
Cheers,
 
Alex
 

Thank you, I appreciate the feedback! I was going to go with the 780t but it didn't look like it had the radiator support like the 760t does. Beautiful case though.

Hey guys, it’s been a few days since I posted about the status of the build. In my spare time between college life and work I have been putting everything together.
 
I can’t believe how pretty the graphics cards are without a cooler on them.
 

 
I have been working on cable management and now on to tubing.
 

 
Here are some pics of the unfinished rgb system, I couldn’t get a great shot for some reason..I’ll have to try again later once I get the case lighting installed.
 



 
 

So I've got some Updates for the interested ones.
 
I got my Shroud a while ago and no I finally found time to drill the holes for the Pump wich will be mounted on there. And I painted it black, tomorrow when it dried I will paint the logo on it.
 

 
     
And then here my Watercooling stuff...
 
first the Waterblock wich is custom and I love it.
 


 
And here almost the rest.
 


 
I am still wainting on some stuff but the main parts I've got.
I also got sleeved cables. If somebody is interested I can leave a pic or a link.
 
Thank you for reading my post folks.
Have a nice and smooth day

Hi guys,
 
You can see the decals I did on the case here, mainly for sponsors for the PAX display. But I really like them, give the build a sorta race car look!
 

 

 

 
Also the SLI bridge mod. It's a piece of acrylic stock over the original Gigabyte eye. I didn't want to ruin this SLI bridge as it's pretty unique so making a cover made sense
 

 

 

 

 

 

 
Thanks for checking it out!
 
Cheers,
 
Alex
 

He said he would do something special with it

Here it is guys, just after filling up
 

 

 

 

 
Cheers,
 
Alex