Gaudv

HELIOS - Build Log
Table of Contents
2013-APR-27: The SMH10 - Unpacking and Assembly 2013-APR-28: Radiators 2013-APR-29: Making a New Workshop 2013-APR-29: My Old Rig 2013-APR-30: The Raystorm CPU Blocks 2013-JUN-16: PSU & Pump Mount, Making the 24 Pin Cable 2013-JUN-21: Small Cable Progress Update 2013-JUN-21: Some Sketches and Information About the Cable Lacing 2013-JUL-06: What 40 Hours of Cabling Will Get You... 2013-JUL-18: Various Smaller Bits 2013-JUL-22: A Copper Face Plate for the Lamptron FC5V2 2013-JUL-25: The Aqua Computer Aqualis Copper Edition 2013-SEP-14: Prototype: The Bitfenix Spectre Pro Copper Edition 2013-SEP-15: Painting the M/B Block Screws 2013-SEP-20: Fan Disassembly: How-To 2013-SEP-22: Quick Status Shot of the Unfinished Rig 2013-SEP-23: The Bitfenix Spectre Pro Copper Edition (cont.) 2013-OCT-01: Colour-Coordinating the Kryographics Titan 2013-OCT-08: Loop Planning 2013-OCT-09: Colour-Coordinating the Raystorms 2013-OCT-13: Deciding on a Backplate, Small M/B Teaser 2013-OCT-13: The EVGA SR-2 Black Edition 2013-OCT-28: Requesting Opinions on Fittings... 2013-OCT-29: Colour-Coordinating the RAM Blocks 2014-FEB-20: Temporary Ghetto Setup 2015-SEP-03: Progress! Motherboard Looped Up! 2015-SEP-06: Assembled PDF Version
http://alpenwasser.net/repository/files/helios.pdf
Current Status

Prologue
Yes, yes, the SR-2 is old news by now, I'm well aware of that. However, it was not yet when I started this build almost two years ago. Health troubles intervened soon after that (again) and put a stop to my plans. Since I really did not want to sell the hardware I had already bought (the SR-2 among it), I decided to stick it out and finish it when my health and funds allowed for it.
Originally, this was going to be a scratchbuild, but the nice thing about having such a long delay is that Caselabs have brought out pretty much the perfect case in the meantime. My own box would have been pretty similar in its layout to the SMH10 and also made from Alu. But buying all the raw materials and the tools necessary to do it properly would have probably cost me more than the SMH10, so I just decided to go for that.
The Name
Hysterical Excess Labouring Independently Of Sanity, aka HELIOS. Because: It's been going on for almost two years. And I am definitely starting to question my sanity .
Also: I've been naming my PC's after Greek deities since forever. The first PC I built was an AMD Thunderbird C 1.4 GHz machine back in 2001, which lasted me for a few years, and it was called Helios (I use the name as the PC's host name within our network, for those wondering what practical use it has).
It died a fiery death at the hands of a water cooling accident: Using the Eheim 1048 I had been befallen by the rattling pump wheel. Naturally, I wrapped some tape around the axle which solved that problem. Unfortunately, the tape became brittle over time and eventually, a piece of tape broke off and clogged the loop. Killed the flow, cooked the CPU (no overheating protection back then). I'll see if I can get some pics of the damage to the Cuplex and post them later. After that, I took that name out of use, until now. It's time for a revival.
Oh, the original HELIOS was name after the A.I. from the original Deus Ex game, but I've always had an interest in Greek mythology, so it was a nice fit.
The Inspiration
Originally, PrometheusCU. I'm sure many of you are familiar with it, and those who aren't: Go read it, now! I'll wait a few days. Sadly, its creator passed on and never finished it (it did go to a friend of his, but no activity since last summer, at least not in the original thread ). I don't nearly have his set of skills and/or tools, but that doesn't change the inspiration part. Also, B Negative's SR-2 rig.
Main Hardware
As a side note: The computing power of this rig will mostly go to BOINC (I might use it for gaming from time to time, we shall see). If F@H ever get their stuff together with regards to GPU folding on Linux (highly unlikely ), I might switch over to folding again, since I'd been doing that for about 18 months before switching to BOINC due to the GPU problem (and a few other niggles I have with the project's behavior towards its donors).
The O/S will most likely be Arch Linux (since I've been using that for about two years now and am quite comfortable with it), or if I feel experimental Gentoo or even FreeBSD. Certainly not Windows. I need my xterm and Z shell and UNIX utilities.
This is also why I won't get an Aquaero; the Aquasuite is Windows only, and an Aquaero without Aquasuite is, if possible, rather pointless imho :(
Anyway:
M/B: EVGA SR-2 CPU: 2 ⨯ Xeon X5680 (not ES, normal retail version, got them for half price on eBay, brand spanking new) RAM: 24 GB of Corsair Dominator 1866 GPU: 1 ⨯ Geforce Titan (should do well at computing), 1 ⨯ GTX 780 (later addition). SSD: Intel 520 120 GB HDD: TBD PSU: Enermax Platimax 1200 W (don't need that much power, but the weaker models aren't fully modular, more reasoning for my decision later on) Case: Caselabs SMH10, reverse ATX layout, obviously in black Originally, I was going to use a Koolance 1.7 kW liquid cooled PSU, but it turned out to be incompatible with the SR-2. I'm not kidding, the PSU is fine, as was the M/B last time I powered it on with a different PSU. Somehow, the initial self-check of the SR-2 is not liked at all by the Koolance PSU, so I've had to get a different one.
W/C Parts
Well, of course it will be under water! . In fact, all my PC's for the last 12 years have had to get wet.
CPU blocks: 2 ⨯ XSPC Raystorm Copper Edition GPU block: Probably the Aquacomputer Titan block in copper with the acrylic top. Haven't ordered it yet though, so this might still change. RAM blocks: Alphacool Dominator water blocks in copper with plexi (update: replaced /w acetal) tops. Yes, cooling your RAM with water is absolutely unnecessary. I just like how it looks. M/B block: MIPS SR-2 block in Acetal/Copper Pumps: 2 ⨯ Aquacomputer D5 without Aquabus Pump tops: 2 ⨯ Alphacool D5 pump tops in Acetal Reservoir: Aquacomputer Aqualis Pro Radiators: 2 ⨯ Hardware Labs SR-1 560 + 1 ⨯ Alphacool NexXxoS XT45 Full Copper 480 (that's the equivalent of ~14.89 120mm single radiators, for those wondering). Fans: For the moment, Bitfenix Spectre Pros in 140 mm and 120 mm, respectively. Some people seem to be having bearing troubles, if that happens, I will probably go for some Noctuas. Fan and Pump Controller: Lamptron FC5v2 Flow Meter and Display: Koolance INS-FM17N with the DCB-FM01 as its display. I know flow monitoring isn't really necessary, and the Koolance flow meter doesn't really look good. This is mostly about satisfying my curiosity, and there's enough places in the SMH10 where I can hide the display and the sensor so that it doesn't uglify the build. Fittings: 16/10 mm compression fittings, Alphacool shiny copper and possibly also in black Tubing: 15 mm OD copper tubing (possibly some normal 16/10 tubing in some parts, to be determined). And yes, I have figured out a way to fit 15mm OD tubing into 16/10 compression fittings and getting it watertight (at least according to first tests, let's hope it keeps working). I'm not yet absolutely sure how the RAM blocks will look, maybe it will just be too much or I will have to accent them with some black in order to avoid "Copper overload". We'll see.
Pictures
Aka the thing that people actually care about. I have my own web space and will be uploading the pictures to it. Quite a few reasons for that, none of them relevant here. There are a few scripts in the background which resize the pics to any desired resolution. I'll be resizing them to 800px width for now, which should not overload people's connections while still providing enough detail. If that's too much, let me know, I can reduce the standard size. Most pictures are stored in 1920x1440 on my server, so if anyone wants to see some additional detail, I will hyperlink each image to its own full-res version. You can also specify any arbitrary desired resolution with the following pattern:
http://www.alpenwasser.net/images/w000/h000/imagename.extension Where w000 and h000 are the desired width and height in pixels (you do need the preceeding "h" and/or "w" though). It's sufficient to use one of the two. If you use both, the image will be resized proportionally and the pixel values given will be treated as maxima. So, for those brave few who have not been deterred by my introductory novella, let's get started :)