[In-Progress] Project Comilinx (updated 3 August 2015)

[handymanshandle]

I don't care for Black/Red stuff but actually subtle so I like...

[CtW]

I don't care for Black/Red stuff but actually subtle so I like...

Thoughts on how I should proceed w/ the build?

[handymanshandle]

Thoughts on how I should proceed w/ the build?

What is Option 3 for $400? (Eh felt like formatting my answer to Jeopardy even though I don't watch it).

[CtW]

I have decided on getting the rest of the parts for my loop as well as buying a Define S. This will be done because I'd need to get less fittings (that saves me at least $100 if not much more) and so that I don't just have my watercooling parts just sitting around on my shelf. Once I actually finish the mod, The rest of the fittings will be ordered and  the build will be migrated into it and I'll sell the define S.

[CtW]

So things have happened and stuff and i promise I'm going to write a proper huge update soon. For now, here's a pic of the finished build in the Define S. There is so much hype right now. I'll post how the build got here and what has happened to the Phantom in 2 separate updates. If you thing that this thing looks good, just wait until it's in the modded phantom with some custom cables!

I'll get better pics of it tmw once I charge my camera.

[Lays]

IMO you should leave it in that case, never been a fan of phantom series personally

[Trik'Stari]

If you're going to move it into another case, please consider changing that pastel coolant for a translucent coolant. Pastel just looks ugly in my honest opinion.

 

 

It just looks pointless, why not just have gone with a solid, opaque, colored tubing instead?

 

Just a thought. The layout of the loop looks nice though. For a second I thought you were using the Gigabyte GA-Z97MX Gaming-5 motherboard, which is the same as mine lol

[CtW]

If you're going to move it into another case, please consider changing that pastel coolant for a translucent coolant. Pastel just looks ugly in my honest opinion.

 

 

It just looks pointless, why not just have gone with a solid, opaque, colored tubing instead?

 

Just a thought. The layout of the loop looks nice though. For a second I thought you were using the Gigabyte GA-Z97MX Gaming-5 motherboard, which is the same as mine lol

I personally love the look of the pastel coolant and translucent stuff stains like a bitch. Also, the pastel in clear tubing looks more clean imho since you can see the edges of the clear tubing vs it just being straight. I've never been a fan of colored tubing either, especially translucent colored tubing. That stuff is nasty.

[Trik'Stari]

I personally love the look of the pastel coolant and translucent stuff stains like a bitch. Also, the pastel in clear tubing looks more clean imho since you can see the edges of the clear tubing vs it just being straight. I've never been a fan of colored tubing either, especially translucent colored tubing. That stuff is nasty.

Meh, I just think non-translucent stuff looks bad lol

 

As for staining, I plan on counteracting that by paying a professional glass blower to make me a glass tubing water cooling loop. Insane I know, but awesome, and expensive, especially with quartz glass tubing.

[CtW]

thanks to @Rumikarimu for the banner!

Update 4a

At long last, I am finally getting around to updating this build log! At this point in time, the log is going to be splitting into 2 parts. This part will be dedicated to the mod and the other part will be for my actual pc. Why is this? Well as you can see in an earlier post, the build is somewhat done and in a new case (Fractal Design Define S). I did this because I had all these watercooling parts lying around collecting dust and it was cheaper to purchase enough fittings for a basic  loop + the case than to purchase all the fittings I'd need for the build in the phantom which wont be done in a while due to lack of proper tools (My dremel's broken still and my dad's drill press can only cut wood). However, since the last update, enough has happened with the mod to warrant a pretty big update none the less. So let's get to the update!

 

I will be cutting  out a ton of the images that I've taken due to the sheer amount of them. Here's a link to an album of all of my build photos that are of things that happened in this update. http://imgur.com/a/lNyke

 

So I have done quite a few things since I last updated this build. I've put a window in the case's side panel and painted it, I've removed the hdd cage and rear  I/O panel, I've cut out a new motherboard tray along with top and rear panels, and I've cut a little hole for the main cables to be routed out of in the top panel cover thing.

 

Due to my camera being weird with ISO and auto-focus some pics are blurry. Also sorry about the spacing. Idk why it does that

 

Part 1: Side Panel Window 

 

 

The panel that is going to be cut up

 

 

The window is out!

 

Time to find the jigsaw

 

Found it!

 

Taped and marked up

 

Measuring out the plexiglass

 

For my first time using a jigsaw, I don't think I did to badly!

 

The panel is cut to size

 

Doing this got me covered in plastic shavings

 

Since I was dipping the side panel, I thought why not dip the ram?

 

Ready for paint!

 

After paint

 

Time to put on the window! For this I used gorilla adhesive.

 

Now to pain the edges of the inside of the panel so it doesn't look bad.

 

Here is a close up of the paint on the edge

 

The final product

 

With the RAM

 

In the PC

 

Part 2: Cutting up the case

 

The top panel of the case was held on with screws but I had to remove quite a few rivets to take out the I/O plate and HDD cage

 

Now to cut a hole in the top cover

 

Taped out an outline

 

The hole has been cut!

 

Now to cut out a hole in the top panel (this is where my dremel broke)

 

Time to cut out the back panel

 

I used a big ass sheet of aluminum from Home Depot for the panels. Here is an HTC One M7 for scale

 

I then cut out the top and rear panels

 

In order for the new motherboard tray to fit on the old one properly, I had to remove a raised portion of it which was where the cable management holes were.

 

I did cut out a motherboard tray panel (and ruined a band saw blade in the process) but forgot to take pictures of it. I guess that will go in the next update to the mod!

[CtW]

thanks to @Rumikarimu for the banner!

 

Update 4b

 

As stated above, this part of the update is dedicated to the actual computer and its parts, not the case mod. I'm doing this because at the moment, the actual computer and watercooling loop is pretty much done. All that I need to do is get a backplate from EK for my 970, white LED strips, and some sweet looking custom cables (idk if I'll get them made or if I'll do them myself) until I eventually complete the mod and either migrate the parts into the phantom or start a new build in it. The pics you will see in this post are of the various states of the PC over the last few months as well as the watercooling parts that went into it. Since I started to do more of the major case mods a couple months ago, I took the components out of the case and the only place I could really put them while still using them was assembled on a shelf.

 

Idk what else to write so let's get to the update!

Part 1: It's on a shelf

It started out on the shelf under my desk so it was out of sight and the noise was more covered up and stuff. Yes that is my hard drive wrapped in a towel on top of another towel to muffle noise.

 

Then the PC moved up one level onto my desk/shelf for when I did ice benching and tried to get 4.8 ghz stable on my cpu (the ice melted before I could get it right). 

 

The cable management of this setup improved later down the road and I replaced the 770 with a 970 G1 gaming

 

The rest of the computer was on the shelf below it

Part 2: The watercooling parts

First I got my res and tubing because they were the only parts microcenter had that I needed when I got them a couple months ago.

I really need to find the mounting hardware to the res...

 

Next came an EK Coolstream PE 240 and 360, the best looking radiator(s) imho

 

I purchased the pump (birthday money ftw) with a pump top pre attached and with its cables sleeved because doing it myself would have only saved ~$10

 

Dat sleeving tho

 

I then was able to get fittings, fluid, and a cpu block with  more of the birthday money I got

 

All the parts together

 

I then used the rest of the birthday + job(ish) money to get the gpu block used off of hardware swap

Part 3: Putting the parts in the case

Oooooh, pretty

 

The interior

 

Pre-cable management and the psu is installed.

 

And now the build is in the case

 

I got bored while waiting for my gpu block to come and started to make some tubing runs.

 

Once I got the block I put it on the GPU

 

The Supremacy EVO is properly installed

 

The tubing runs are halfway done!

 

The runs are done!

 

Now it's all filled up with water and sysprep and the leak testing begins!

 

After a few hours I drained the loop.

 

and put the pastel coolant into it

Part 4: Plasti-dipping the wifi card because the green PCB looks bad

I brought it into my dad's shop and disassembled it

 

Here it is taped up and ready for paint

 

The coat on the front was a bit too heavy and kinda did the orange peel effect thing. Thankfully you can't see it

 

The back is much better though

 

Here it is reassembled

Part 5: Glamour shots of the finished loop

That's it for now! Let me know what you think of it! Also, should I keep everything in the Define S and do something new with the Phantom or stick to what I'm doing and shove these parts into the Phantom when I finish it.

[CtW]

One other thing: I need to get a backplate which will happen soon probably idk.

[Necrodead]

I've seen this build while looking through google before, very nice red/black theme execution.

 

Also love your avatar. Its just Smashing!

[CtW]

I've seen this build while looking through google before, very nice red/black theme execution.

 

Also love your avatar. Its just Smashing!

Thanks! I've been thinking of painting the pci-e slot covers on the case to get rid of the white and maybe doing something about the fan's color or removing it and putting some kind of plate over it idk. I've also been wanting to paint the mounting plate on the evo red but I don't want to disassemble the loop.

 

Also, how did you find this build on google?

[Necrodead]

Also, how did you find this build on google?

Swear I saw it during a google image search, it probably linked here but I only looked at the pic at the time.

[CtW]

 

Update 5

 

Recently, i noticed that the fluid in my build started to discolor a bit. I decided that rather than draining the loop and buying new fluid, I'd top up the res with what fluid I had left and see if it made a difference in the color. Since filling the thing was a royal pain in the ass last time I did it, I decided to buy an extra fitting that I could put on the res with a small length of tube and make the fill up process easier. With the fitting I got an LED strip to make the build look more sexy. 

 

This pic is kinda bad but you can see how discolored the fluid in the pc is compared to the unused fluid

 

Onto the stuff I got today!

 

Here's the package

 

What was inside

 

 

Here's the tube I used for filling the thing up 

 

 

Now it's topped up and the difference in color is pretty noticeable.

 

God damn that strip is bright

 

After about 30 minutes of trying to find the best place to put the led, here's the finished product!

 

I'd say that it looks pretty good, although I wish I had another strip to go somewhere else so that way the cpu area is illuminated.