TheInfamousMrD

Been traveling but I brought the rig with me to do some on-the-road-modding with a familiar face

 

 

 

Anyone recognize?

 



 



 

Unfortunately it will not fit

 



 

Back to Bitspower...

 

Had to shave down the hole we drilled earlier in order to make the plug flush for the lid to close properly

 



 

Started sleeving...

 



 

While none other than Peter Brands (L3P) started cutting the Lightning stock cooler

 



 

Great photo! But all sleeved

 



 



 

The plan! MSI wanted to maintain their branding, this way I can have it hooked it up the GPU still and plus it will bring more air into the radiator  

 



 

To accommodate the pwm cable from the Lightning fan assembly we needed to cut the radiator

 



 

Yours truly doing the honors:

 



 



 



 



 



Perfect!

 

We had to cut down the 120 rad too... super tight fit, every mm counts!

 



 



 



 

Now... to extend the slot in the front of the case that would normally be used by the DVD drive...instead we are putting the RGB glowing logo from the Lightning

 



 

Cleaning up the cut...

 



 

Now with both the RGB logo and fan assembly:

 



 

Coming together again...

 



 



 



 



 



 

Now in Zagreb for InfoGamer show!

 



 



 



 

Thanks!

Well it's been seven years coming but I finally got the chance to update my daily driver from an old Core 2 Quad into a modern monster!

 
 
While a capable rig, it was starting to get really long in the tooth... and anyone who's owned a COSMOS of any flavour knows how bloody huge those things are!! I'd been dreaming of an update for some time.
 
Well, at the start of the year I bagged myself a new job & a pay rise!! After a couple of paychecks & once I had a bit of spare capital to invest, I went ahead and specced myself something a bit special!
 

 
The day came & I took delivery of my components...
 
 
 
It had been a while since I'd put together my own rig, although I'd had experiences inbetween helping others with theirs. I was salivating & ready to roll!
 
However... best laid plans and all that...
 
The first hurdle I encountered was a broken Maximus VII Impact. After test assembly, it was clear the board was having issues POSTing properly, with strange errors about overvoltage on the USB bus. This was despite any and all USB devices being unplugged.
 

 
So it got RMAed, and a new one shipped & tested as working! The initial fit & boot...
 

 
Although there was another issue... I'd originally ordered a i5-4690K which I intended to overclock the nuts off.
 

 
Initially everything seemed fine. Until it came to trying to overclock. No matter what I tried, I could not get the multiplier to go higher than x39. Scratching my head as I'd bought a 4690K, I checked the ASUS forums, ROG forums, overclocking forums and everything seemed futile. Then I looked at the box again.
 

 
The part label confirmed my fears. I'd been shipped a bog standard i5-4690. Bugger.
 
RMA number 2... away!
 
Once the replacement i7-4790K had arrived (yes, I relented and went for a higher spec...) I was pretty much up and running! Well... aside from some annoying cable management caused by a excess of non-modular PSU cables.
 
 

 
Although despite the rat's nest of cabling, it was a real shame not being able to see inside. The Corsair H105 lit up beautifully. The Spectre PRO had a lovely red LED that made the components glow.
 
Then a little peek on BitFenix's forums revealed some interesting accessories...
 

 
Case windows, you say?? Oh well, why not!! 
 

 
Admittedly the larger windows panel was meant for the Prodigy M, which is the mATX version of the Prodigy - however they were totally compatible and I was prepared to ghetto it up for the sake of full side panel goodness!
 
Except (and this might explain why the drive bay cover is missing for those eagle-eyed viewers out there) when I replaced the side panel with the Prodigy M window version, there were a couple of features I neglected plan for... features which were pretty important to the operation of a PC...
 

 
*to be continued*

I did consider white lights instead, not sure if they would look too washed out? Might have to try it though. Thanks
 
Been away on holiday for a few weeks! Just got back to find they've delivered some mesh... and one of these little beauties!!
 

 
Looking forward to mounting this over the weekend!

The same way I got everything else - I bought them from Amazon.co.uk
 
 
 
Definitely - my next step is to either mod the existing PSU to remove the extraneous cables or to invest in a modular PSU with some sleeved cables. Not quite decided yet, depends how brave I'm feeling! 

I did consider white lights instead, not sure if they would look too washed out? Might have to try it though. Thanks
 
Been away on holiday for a few weeks! Just got back to find they've delivered some mesh... and one of these little beauties!!
 

 
Looking forward to mounting this over the weekend!

I had plotted to make my own custom sleeved cables... as well as trim all the unnecessary Molex & SATA cables - I only need one SATA connector!

Minor update - been experimenting with interior case illumination. Not sure if the red lighting is a bit excessive...
 

 

 

Yeah, Bitfenix do a µATX version of the Prodigy, the Prodigy M, which is exactly the same outer dimensions, although probably with much less wiggle room inside; my Prodigy has plenty of dead space for pumps, reservoirs, etc (which I have considered!). For me, 4k is a way off - I'm still gaming at 1080p and quite happy with it for the time being. And yes, the high-end parts are simply not a sound investment, unless you need to be at the bleeding edge. That said, the R9 Fury X did make me drool just a bit.
 
I cannot wait for the day when we get to that point - in terms of the technology, we're pretty much there excluding the most high-end CPUs and GPUs. But with things like HBM making smaller, more power efficient GPUs possible, it is exciting times ahead 

Yeah totally agree - SFF is the way forward to my mind. Having owned an enormous ATX tower for years, there is no real need for modern rigs to be huge leviathans any more. Sure, they look imposing - however I'd love to see a newer, more power efficient standard as a successor to ATX where the connectors, standards and power requirements are simplified instead of power-hungry parts which take up huge amounts of room & require monstrous cooling solutions. Not to mention bulky connectors first defined in the standard 20 years ago.
 
 
Thanks I've wanted to use non-standard screws in a build for some time. Finding custom screws is not the easiest thing to do - I had to order those from the US

Minor update - delivery from fastener-express.com - red #6-32 1/4 socket screws to replace some of the otherwise ordinary black ones!
 
 

 

 

 
 
*to be continued*

So the HD 5870 was a real bottleneck. I'd contemplated making a jump to a more modern card - I opted against an R9 Fury X or R9 Nano due to cost (£500-£550!) and settled on a £200 R9 290X 4GB.
 

 
However, while the frame rates were astonishingly good, the fan noise under load was HORRENDOUS!! Not to mention the heat belching out the back of the thing. As such, I looked into AIO cooling and ordered a Corsair Hydro H75 and a HG10 GPU bracket.
 

 

 
Cleaning the die was straightforward, the RAM was coated in thermal gunk and took AGES to clean! However once they were done, the bracket went on without a hitch.
 

 
As the 290X was likely to have a greater thermal requirement than the 4790K, I swapped the H75 and the H105 over - the H105 was cooling the 290X and the H75 was mounted in the front in lieu of the Spectre PRO.
 

 
Hurrah! The noise was abated and a lovely quiet hum was present in its place. And the temps had gone from upwards of 85°C to a much more palatable 45°C under load!
 
However... because of the reduced noise... I could hear something else I'd not noticed before... OUTRAGEOUS COIL WHINE. 
*to be continued*

The coil while was totally unbearable, even when I put the side panel on & moved the case off the desk top... it was too much to live with. I tried using the PCP&P Silencer to power the system to see if a different PSU would alleviate the whine. It just got much worse. So that had to go back. RMA number 3.
 
Reading up on the 290X and coil whine, almost all the reference designs were susceptible to it. As such I opted for an ASUS R9 290X DirectCU II OC 4GB instead.
 

 
The difference was astonishing. The cooler which ASUS use is streets ahead of the reference design. Taking a look under the shroud they use totally different chokes. More importantly, no whine! The fans were also still pretty reasonable under load at a decent 65°C even with the side panel on.
 

 
After reinstalling the Spectre PRO as an exhaust rather than an intake, I reorganised the cables as best as I could and took some beauty shots.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 
*to be continued*
 

The coil while was totally unbearable, even when I put the side panel on & moved the case off the desk top... it was too much to live with. I tried using the PCP&P Silencer to power the system to see if a different PSU would alleviate the whine. It just got much worse. So that had to go back. RMA number 3.
 
Reading up on the 290X and coil whine, almost all the reference designs were susceptible to it. As such I opted for an ASUS R9 290X DirectCU II OC 4GB instead.
 

 
The difference was astonishing. The cooler which ASUS use is streets ahead of the reference design. Taking a look under the shroud they use totally different chokes. More importantly, no whine! The fans were also still pretty reasonable under load at a decent 65°C even with the side panel on.
 

 
After reinstalling the Spectre PRO as an exhaust rather than an intake, I reorganised the cables as best as I could and took some beauty shots.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 
*to be continued*
 

So the HD 5870 was a real bottleneck. I'd contemplated making a jump to a more modern card - I opted against an R9 Fury X or R9 Nano due to cost (£500-£550!) and settled on a £200 R9 290X 4GB.
 

 
However, while the frame rates were astonishingly good, the fan noise under load was HORRENDOUS!! Not to mention the heat belching out the back of the thing. As such, I looked into AIO cooling and ordered a Corsair Hydro H75 and a HG10 GPU bracket.
 

 

 
Cleaning the die was straightforward, the RAM was coated in thermal gunk and took AGES to clean! However once they were done, the bracket went on without a hitch.
 

 
As the 290X was likely to have a greater thermal requirement than the 4790K, I swapped the H75 and the H105 over - the H105 was cooling the 290X and the H75 was mounted in the front in lieu of the Spectre PRO.
 

 
Hurrah! The noise was abated and a lovely quiet hum was present in its place. And the temps had gone from upwards of 85°C to a much more palatable 45°C under load!
 
However... because of the reduced noise... I could hear something else I'd not noticed before... OUTRAGEOUS COIL WHINE. 
*to be continued*

Quick unboxing of the MSI 980 Ti Lightning here. MSI did an amazing job keeping a high end GPU, classy. 

 

So shiny, like a holographic Pokemon card



 

Details and such on the back



 

A chest!



 



 

Beautiful finish



 

The king has arrived



 

So cozy



 



 

Accessory box



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 



 

I'm scaling down my current ITX build for something that will fit under my TV a little better no name yet, but I'm sure it will come soon. 

 

I'll be using this build for streaming from my main rig, HTPC activities, and recording console peasant game play. Might give Steam OS a try for a bit as well! 

 

Onto the specs!

 

Intel 4790k or 5775C - Haven't quite decided this yet, I'm going to attempt to delid for my first time so maybe whichever one survives eh?
EVGA Stinger Z97 WiFi - this unfortunately might have to change due to the WiFi card sticking up like it does, but hopefully not.
2x4GB Corsair XMS RAM + EK Monarch Modules
MSI 980 Ti Lightning!
Silverstone SFX 600W 
2x Intel 530 180GB SSDs in RAID 0
Slot Load Blu-Ray drive
Silverstone FTZ01
EK Liquid Cooling!
 

​

Soooo as most builds start, I had very small plans with this, was going to air cool and everything. Then the more I sat on it and saw others doing liquid in this case, I figured I may as well do it as well, of course. So without further ado... lets start.

 

Don't mind the fingerprints, will be cleaned up a bit later.

 



 

Pretty standard SFF case. I went with the FTZ01 for the aluminum unibody



 

Whoever started doing this layout first with the GPU brackets is genius.



 



 

Very subtle logo, love it.



 



 

Got two fans on the bottom for GPU/radiator and one for the PSU



 

One on the top for CPU/Rad



 

Looks a bit crowded already...



 

Take that bit off though and it reveals a bit more space



 

Lovely 15mm thick fans



 



 

Cable management going to be fun...



 



 

Board fitted



 



 



 

SSDs + Slim slot ODD



 

The beast...



 



 



 

Not that you can tell, but man is it a tight fit



 



 



 

I put an SSD between the GPU and fans to hold off on the sag for now.

Well it's been seven years coming but I finally got the chance to update my daily driver from an old Core 2 Quad into a modern monster!

 
 
While a capable rig, it was starting to get really long in the tooth... and anyone who's owned a COSMOS of any flavour knows how bloody huge those things are!! I'd been dreaming of an update for some time.
 
Well, at the start of the year I bagged myself a new job & a pay rise!! After a couple of paychecks & once I had a bit of spare capital to invest, I went ahead and specced myself something a bit special!
 

 
The day came & I took delivery of my components...
 
 
 
It had been a while since I'd put together my own rig, although I'd had experiences inbetween helping others with theirs. I was salivating & ready to roll!
 
However... best laid plans and all that...
 
The first hurdle I encountered was a broken Maximus VII Impact. After test assembly, it was clear the board was having issues POSTing properly, with strange errors about overvoltage on the USB bus. This was despite any and all USB devices being unplugged.
 

 
So it got RMAed, and a new one shipped & tested as working! The initial fit & boot...
 

 
Although there was another issue... I'd originally ordered a i5-4690K which I intended to overclock the nuts off.
 

 
Initially everything seemed fine. Until it came to trying to overclock. No matter what I tried, I could not get the multiplier to go higher than x39. Scratching my head as I'd bought a 4690K, I checked the ASUS forums, ROG forums, overclocking forums and everything seemed futile. Then I looked at the box again.
 

 
The part label confirmed my fears. I'd been shipped a bog standard i5-4690. Bugger.
 
RMA number 2... away!
 
Once the replacement i7-4790K had arrived (yes, I relented and went for a higher spec...) I was pretty much up and running! Well... aside from some annoying cable management caused by a excess of non-modular PSU cables.
 
 

 
Although despite the rat's nest of cabling, it was a real shame not being able to see inside. The Corsair H105 lit up beautifully. The Spectre PRO had a lovely red LED that made the components glow.
 
Then a little peek on BitFenix's forums revealed some interesting accessories...
 

 
Case windows, you say?? Oh well, why not!! 
 

 
Admittedly the larger windows panel was meant for the Prodigy M, which is the mATX version of the Prodigy - however they were totally compatible and I was prepared to ghetto it up for the sake of full side panel goodness!
 
Except (and this might explain why the drive bay cover is missing for those eagle-eyed viewers out there) when I replaced the side panel with the Prodigy M window version, there were a couple of features I neglected plan for... features which were pretty important to the operation of a PC...
 

 
*to be continued*