Nephanor

Okay, this one has been a HUGE pain and a lot of time. I literally had to convert it to air cooling, because not only was my loop terrible for water cooling (the layout made it near impossible to fill/drain) but I could not get it to post. I finally got in there, converted it all to air, and got it to post properly with air. And then I went in, changed some settings in the BIOS that would let all four video cards post, and it's good. It boots with all four, and runs fine with all four! I got all the addons for the UV and control of the RGB working great too. Now, my fun is removing all the water cooling stuff (still have the pump and some of the tubes screwed into the case) and deciding what to put to make the glowing worth it all, as the big space where the pump was is now empty. Any suggestions on what would look cool in the pump's spot? I have green and yellow UV reactive filament, and a decent 3D printer. Also, another issue I never even thought of.....my UPS can only output 900 W, and with all four video cards running, it draws WAY more then that. So, now UPS is needed >.<

I got it posting with ONE GPU, rather than all four. I know, I know, I should have.

Welll, this isn't good. I can't get the damn thing to post. It cycles through a bunch of numbers on the status display, then goes to 00 and never gets past it. Looks like I may have to empty the damn thing and try to remove parts one at a time till it works. Already tried memory, no luck. Luckily I kept all the fans for the CPUs, because if it REALLY comes down to it, I may just make this damn thing air cooled. I am THAT pissed off right now. This is a LOT of work that isn't working. And worse then that, a lot of money.

Well, I need to learn to not rush. I was trying to fill the system today with the final fluid after getting the system prep done and I made a rookie mistake. I forgot to put a plug back on before moving the computer. Fluid got EVERYWHERE. Luckily, since it's a water base, it is fairly easy to clean up, and just letting it dry up in other areas, but damn, what a mess. Still giving it some time before I connect any power to it, just in case. Just glad it didn't stain the carpet where it hit it, and I was able to get a towel to soak most of it up. I was in full panic mode, thinking one of the tubes had gone loose till I noticed the plug not in place. Boy was that a relief.

Well, it's all together and it survived the leak test. SysPrep is currently flushing though the system and will be the rest of the day. I did learn one VERY valuable lesson: Setting up a simple way to fill is MORE important than preparing how to drain. In my setting up the layout, I completely neglected to determine how to fill the damn loop. This is a LOT bigger pain in the ass than I expected for this one because of the Res placement. Luckily, I found a way. By tipping the computer on it's face, I can make it easier to fill. It's a bit of a pain, but it works. It's also a bit of a chore getting all the air bubbles out, but again, it works. Will finish up prepping the system today, and tomorrow will flush and work on filling with the final fluid and getting all the cabling squared away.

Getting closer! All done the bending! Just need the 90 degree adapter, and I will have that all done! Going to wash out all the pipes with soapy water, as I did have to use olive oil on the insert to get it in and out of of some locations. Also, with that last bend I also ordered some stuff so I can make a fan extension cable, which I will need to connect some of the UV lights to the controller, as the cable isn't long enough. Didn't have the terminals or the pins for the male end, only the female end. In the end, I also didn't use a Primochill 90 degree adapter, and it's not even green, but it's in a location you can't even see, so it won't matter. While I wait for these parts (probably end of the week or early next) I will work on organizing cables and securing the UV lights, which seem to want to wiggle all over the place. One disadvantage of the hard board lights I suppose.

One more tube done, room for 3 mistakes. Yeah, only got 5 tubes left. Should be good for the next tube, since it's simple. That means I have 3 full tubes to try and get the final tube done, with it's 4 bends, and it will use the WHOLE TUBE, so if I mess up a little bit, it's a whole redo. Also, it's going to be tough to install because of how it will be shaped. This has led me to push for just having a single 90 degree fitting so I can cut the bends down and make it easier to install. It will add a couple days to the install time, since I need to wait for the fitting, but I think in the end, it will be worth it for ease of install.

Just got another tube done, so that's 4/7 done. Done: Pump to splitter, Splitter to Reservoir, GPU block to rad, rad to reservoir. The splitter is where the drain also is, lowest point of the whole loop. Needs to be done: pump to GPU block, front rad to CPU block, CPU block to back rad. The first of the three needing to be done will be the pain one. Probably going to work on the 2nd & 3rd one first, get those done. If it REALLY comes down to it, I may even just do the ones I can't get done in hard tubing. I have 25' of soft tubing (so I could use a little bit for the drain) I'd just need to get a couple appropriate fittings, which I know won't take long, especially from Performance PCs. Here's some pictures of what's done and it all installed. Back side of case, showing splitter to res Closeup of the splitter/drain, hard to see the pump to splitter as it's under the cables. Front side showing GPU to rad and rad to res.

Well, getting tubing started. Sadly, I screwed up a few already and wasted the equivalent of 2 full tubes at least. But I have completed 3 of the 7 tubes needed. Problem is, one of the ones left will require an entire tube and have at least 3 bends in it. It will go from the top of the pump (the visible fitting) turn to the right before it hits the divider, then turns back into the back half, then it will turn up towards the back of the GPU distribution block, then turn into that fitting. I am saving THAT one for last. I may end up having to buy more tubes if I screw that up. Or just get a fitting and turn it into two separate tubes, which probably will be the best method and save some issues. Going to be some strange ones, but mostly not visible I realized. I may even just say screw it and get a bunch of flex fittings and make this whole thing out of that for now. I am gonna be honest, now that I have started on the tube bending, I realize it's NOT as easy as I had hoped. Especially in this case. But I will do what I can with what I have left in the way of tubing.

Phase 4: All cables done, tested and installed. Next step is the tubing, which will be REALLY fun.

Phase 4: Ran into an issue. I got the pins a day early, but when I completed the first GPU cable, I had accidentally put the pins facing the wrong direction, so had to take it apart. Then when I put it back together, I found I did it again, and so had to re-do it. Then I noticed the 2 separate pins had the same issue and had to do it again. So I finally finished the cable and put it into the tester, I found that I had mixed the pin order up on them. I had forgotten to account for the cable being 'flipped' as it was plugged in, and now I have to go through each cable and likely re-order all the cables in their various combs. In the end, I finally got the one cable finished, but since I had cut the length for a different cable order and curve, it messed up the lengths. Not only that, all the re-building the terminal caused the heat shrink to get tugged loose, so the cable is very rough looking. I decided to keep that cable in the back, and was able to hide all the length issues down in the power supply area where it can't be seen.

Phase 3: GPUs installed, distribution block installed, major cable routing completed. Now I just have to wait for the pins to finish the power cables, and then begins the part that makes me the most nervous: tube bending. I got 12x 30" tubes, so I should have more than enough, but this is something that I don't want to mess up on. Going to start simple, make the outlet (which is going to be connected to the "In" part of the pump assembly) in the rear back part since that will be just a straight piece going to a splitter (one to the output flow valve, the other to the the rest of the system)

Phase 2: Pump secured, and as best as I can get for now. Also did the first part of phase 3 and got power to the SSDs.

I'm going to be honest, I have been slacking big time on this build. Partially due to real life and partially my own laziness. So I smacked myself and decided to give myself a goal: Complete it by Mid October as a birthday gift for myself. In that vein, I have set myself tasks based on getting this done. Here are the tasks in order: 1. Complete GPU cables on one end (since they need to be fitted and measured before I can seal the other end) 2. Get mounting holes for pump drilled and mount the pump, and organize cables and controller boards (not visible in the latest picture, they are on the other side of the bottom) 3. Ensure SSD's have power connected and route all power cables for pump and controller boards, install all 4 GPUs and fluid distribution block 4. Finish all GPU cables (need some more pins or that would be sooner) and test them to ensure they work. 5. Get tube bending done (this will be likely the only multi-day task) 6. Leak test and system prep (will take a day for the prep to run it's course) and then get the good fluid into the system 7. Start installing and getting things going software wise, provided there's no issues between here and there, and test out lighting (since it's software based) 8. Enjoy powerful new render machine. And to prove to myself I am going to do this....I went from one GPU cable completed 4 days ago, to this: Yup, that's all the GPU cables done. Yes, I know, I have loose pieces of heat shrink at one end. That's for the other end's sealing, I just put it on that end so it wouldn't get lost and was in a safe spot.

Also, after trying to fit the pump in the back area, I found it wouldn't work. No good mounting spots and worse, it will make it too hard to get the tubing in and out, so I gave up on the idea of having the cool 'power core' on the front part and just am moving the pump there. Will have to do some mods to the bottom so I can attach the pump to it, but it has a perfect spot to put it. Grabbed the drill bit today to put the mounting holes. Here's what things look like so far with the two CPU cables installed, and some of the cabling for the front panel plugged in. Also, the UV LEDs are all set up (except 1 group) so I need to look at where I will be mounting the aqua computer controller for that and the RGB, and getting all that connected in next. I want the cabling done before I start getting the tubing bent. May have to re-work the order based on things too. Also, you can't see it (because it's clear) but there is a "Clearneon" UV purple paint on the sides of the radiators, so they will have a little glow too. Since I don't have the pump down there anymore, I may move the optical drive down to the bottom so it's not visible from this side (which has the tempered glass panel to see the inside). The other side doesn't have a panel (only went with one) so it's not worth having that messing up the view. So re-thought order of system: Res -> splitter (for drain) -> pump -> GPUs -> front rad -> CPU -> back rad -> Res I do see two areas of issue: 1. The GPU block will have a VERY tight bend coming in right by the tempered glass, and I do mean TIGHT. 4 inches to make the right angle turn, maybe more. Likely will have that one the output going to the front rad, since it will be short. 2. The back left side where I was looking to have the output from the res will have a fan awfully close for another tight fit. But I can swap it to output from the other end. Not sure what that will do in terms of the system, pushing and pulling from the same end. Thoughts?

So got two CPU cables made and ready to roll. Tested them with my multimeter and it has the same output as the base one. Yes, they have a curve, but they kinda need it to get into position. Still working on soldering to get the PCIe and 24 pin cables done so I can finish them. My main thing I need to learn is how to ensure the wires are all the same length, including the pins. Any suggestions?

Oh, also, forgot to mention, I have converted all the GPUs to being water cooled now, which had some delays. Two of the GPU kits were missing some of the thermal pads, and then when I got them all done, I found out that the terminal, while it DOES work with these, does not include the proper length of screws to fit. So I had to wait for EK to send those out to me. Thanks to them for sending them out promptly, even though it ended up being two separate shipments. They ended up getting to me from Eastern Europe in LESS than a week.

Everything is here now, except a couple cable ends which will be arriving monday. I have all the pins, all the cable sleeving and even have started making cable combs on my 3D printer. So I found two different styles and am trying two different materials. Here's how they look.... Those are the two styles of combs and the two materials. The bottom style fits better, so I went with that. Here's how it looks on the sleeved cables (my first PCI-E cable) While the purple fits in better with the cable itself, it is lacking in another area. Since the computer itself will have both green and purple, as well as having UV lighting, I wanted to see how they would look under UV. So I picked up a nice UV flashlight (which is also handy for around the house with a pair of cats) After seeing this, I was sold, the purple comb's style, but the green color. (Special thanks to Atomic Filament, that is some AMAZING UV reactive PETG, picking up some of their other filaments as well) So then I made enough for one cable, and this is what it all looks like: Before anyone comments, the heat shrink is actually not cut extra long, that's an extra piece on the sleeving already to slide down and use on the other end of the cable. Why is the other end of this PCI-E cable not done? Well, the Corsair ax16001 does NOT use the same pinouts that the ax1200 uses, and I literally had to re-do it. Not only that, it takes one output and splits it into two on the other side with one cable being completely useless. Need to practice my soldering and double up that cable on the PSU side, so I can have the combs make the cable look it's best when it is out in the open. I will likely post my results of the pinouts for the ax1600i when I am done to help future cable makers.

Most of the major parts are now in! Video cards all tested and good, now it's time to start putting the water blocks on then and start work on measuring the cables and buying the materials for that. Due to the size of the cards, I am going to be moving the reservoir from the front to the back, didn't realize just how much room they would take up. Also going to pick up a second holding cage to make sure it's stable. Just wish I could do something about the white cables with that monitor. It's absolutely gorgeous, but the white is annoying. May end up just spray painting them to match.

Got the next shipment of parts, thanks to Performance PCs. The water blocks for the CPU and GPUs, as well as some more UV lights of shorter length and cables to connect them to the system. Next things to get: pins, connectors, cables & sleeving for all the cabling. Then begins the construction. I have a 3D printer arriving monday, so I can start learning that to make the parts to have the 'power core'.

So, the first shipment of toys for the cooling system arrived today. Huge props to Primochill for getting this to me faster than it took Perfomance PCs to ship out my stuff, despite ordering the Primochill the day after. Either way, still love Performance PCs, they are awesome. Now, I am doing things...in a way that makes sense. Since I do need to drain the system, I am setting up the drain from the start, and having it so that it has a flex tubing which will be used to drain, even though the entire system is with the rigid tubing. This is why I have both flex and rigid tubing and fittings. Luckily, Primochill has both the valves AND the splitters with the UV green, so that color theme will be the same all throughout. Even in the flex part. Also picked up the pressure value, which I will put in place of the fill port on the reservoir when I am done filling the system. I DID NOT pick up the fluid yet as not only am I not ready, but the weather here is REALLY cold (-30 C) so I don't want to take ANY chance of it freezing and breaking the container it is in. After talking with the guys on the Primochill discord, I am looking at likely the True transparent. Don't want to mess with opaques quite yet. I also decided what to do with the lower bay, and it actually solves a problem I had. The Photon 270 for the pump combo I had is going to be converted. It's going to have some parts added onto it (likely from a 3D printer) and turned into a 'power core' with an aesthetic similar to the NovaCore Extreme reservoir, but looking significantly more like it's from something sci-fi. I had been looking to get a 3D printer for ages, and this gives me a reason, and since there are some UV reactive materials you can get, and I do have a UV light for the Photon's inner core, I can add some of the UV fluid to it (in a sealed environment) and some UV 'fins' or parts, and turn it into something that looks it belong on some alien spacecraft.

Much Progress has been made, and unfortunately, some changes to the build. So, I was going to swap the motherboard for a Gigabyte Auorus Extreme, but when I tried using it, there was an issue. If I had all 8 sticks of the RAM installed, it wouldn't post, but with 7 it did fine. The guys at Memory Express helped me figure that one out, and tested a motherboard they had in stock with the CPU and RAM and it worked fine. So, the new motherboard is the MSI X399 Gaming Pro Carbon AC. The processor also got upgraded to the Threadripper 2 2990wx, so it's a beastly machine for threads, which are useful for 3D rendering. I'm actually not going with EK's fittings, but instead going with Primochill's. Both to match the color of the tubing (using their UV reactive green PETG) and the fluid itself. Not sure if I mentioned before but the fluid itself can't be the Primochill Vue, since it isn't designed for computer which will be powered on as long as this beast will be. The GPUs are going to be ASUS RTX 2080 TI Turbos, since I don't care what they look like, once they have the water blocks on them. The Reservoir I chose accidentally was one designed for connecting to a pump, so I got the Singularity Computers Protium. I have a pair of 860 EVO Samsung SSD's under the motherboard (standard slim SSDs) in 1 TB and 2 TB sizes, and a pair of 970 EVO M.2 drives that will be going on the motherboard (1 & 2 TB again) which should cover all storage needs. I have a bunch of InWin Polaris RGB fans I am using on both the rads, and helping case cooling on the front and will have a CoolerMaster RGB on the back to complete that. The PSU was also upgraded to the Corsair ax1600i, since it has an even better rating than the 1500i. But what you REALLY want to see is a little tech porn. So here's most of the stuff set up in the places where it will be. Yes, I have an air cooler on the CPU now, so that I could do bench testing with it. That will be removed once I get the liquid cooling in place. In the bottom right corner you can see all the front panel cables I will need to hide, and behind the wall, the pump itself. The PSU is completely hidden, so that's good. I am thinking this for the order of the loop. Res -> pump -> Splitter (for drain) -> CPU -> back rad (There are two on top) -> GPUs -> front rad -> Res I kind of want there to be extra tubing to show off the fluid, which is why I chose not to go from one rad to the other. Now, the big fun now is deciding what to do with all the open space in the bottom front. I could add another Res if I really wanted to, but that kinda seems meh. Honestly I was thinking something cool and interactive. The color scheme for the build will be purple and green with a focus on UV reactivity, so, any ideas? Also, I didn't even realize it, but the name Devastator for this build is extra funny. This machine will be a 3D render machine. Apparently, during the rendering of the final scene in the Michael Bay Transformers 2 movie, the one where Devastator is getting the machine in the pyramid free, ILM had some of their machines LITERALLY die due to the massive workload the scene passed on to them. So here I have a 3D machine being named after the transformer which killed other render machines. I hadn't heard that story till tonight, so it made me chuckle.

According to Otoy (the makers of the render engine) having the cards separate is best. It actually utilizes them separately, so it doesn't need them 'linked'. It just sends a portion of the data to each of them and lets them do their own thing.

For this render engine, the RTX is the best. I have seen the results of a Titan V compared to a 1080 TI and there's not much of an improvement of speed. The RTX is twice as fast, they've gotten some benchmarks already and it's not even finished the optimization. It's pretty impressive.

Well, things have changed since I started this. The computer is still in the process of being built, but there was a stall as I waited. I had heard the rumours of new cards coming from nVidia and was surprised with both the new Quadro RTXs AND the new Geforce RTX line. BOTH of these are great for 3D rendering, but I need to decide which to go with, in terms of price point. Not only that, generation 2 of the Threadrippers have come out, and so that has changed another aspect of the build. And to top it off, I realized far too late that I had gotten a reservoir that was designed to be attached to a pump, so it had to be replaced, and I am left with a spare reservoir. Since nothing more has been done in terms of what is built, I will hold off on too much more in the way of updates. I am just waiting for the render engine (Octane Render) to post some results with both the Quadros and GeForce RTX cards so I can see which gets the best bang for the buck. Then the mass purchasing will begin of the cards, the mobo, RAM and CPU. Then I will need to get the cables made after getting all the materials for those. Oh yeah, and sometime between now and then, maybe I can find a good deal on a couple SSDs. I may also do some modifications on the case to make sure the UV LEDs fit properly. All in all, I'm still in a holding pattern, but things are coalescing into a direction, just need to get the final details. Sorry to all following and hoping to see this. It's my first liquid cooled system as it is, and I want to take the time to be sure it is what I need. The sad part is, I have the money to make a MASSIVELY powered system (I COULD afford 4 top end Quadros) but I want this to be as efficient as it is powerful.