DREAM ENGINE - M1 / Z170 / 7700k / GTX1070

[asone]

Update VIII

 

NCASE M1 feet are done. I think they look great, gives the case a nice stance. Printed at 100% infill ABS, with a TPU layer for traction which worked really, really well.

 

Some other goodies arrived today!

 

Arctic Silver 5 to keep the CPU temps nice and low. 

 

Cryorig M9i - a stealthy but fairly low profile cooler that'll fit the M1 nicely. At $35 I'm interested to see how the temps are.

 

Corsair SF450 Power Supply - holy crap, the unboxing experience was epic. I mean, look at these damn pouches that the cables and unit come in..

 

Cable sleeving supplies from Ensourced. Stuck with plain black and white paracord for now. Attempted some sleeving today but it was an epic failure. Couldn't get the paracord to weld nicely to the wire, and when it did, it was too thick to insert into the PCIE plug. Very frustrating to say the least but willing to give it another shot. Hopefully better luck tomorrow..

[asone]

Update IX

 

Some sleeving progress made today. Lots of frustration, patience, and learning.

 

Decided to take on the 8-pin PCIE cable first. I wanted this in white, so that it reflects the LEDs nicely.

 

All the tools. Wire crimper, wire stripper, side cutters, lighter.. you get the picture. You need the right tools for sleeving or you'll have no hope.

 

a couple hours in, learning through repetition. 

 

About 4-5 hours in at this point.. frustration levels were peaking and I was one more failed cable away from giving up. I learned that I was crimping the wires way too hard. It would flatten so much that when I came time to weld the paracord over it, it was too thick to make an entry into the PCIE plug.

 

Here's my first two successful cables..

 

Some planning for the junction wires..

 

First junction wire complete! 

 

And the finished product. 

The heatshrunk junctions will be hidden behind the GPU, so I'm not concerned. Very happy with how it turned out for my first cable.

 

Going to do the 24-pin this Sunday, as well as order the remaining parts (CPU and SSD). By the end of next week I should have a finished build (aside from the glass side panel).

[asone]

Update X

 

EVGA sent me out the updated BIOS chip with Intel 7th gen support for my Z170 board. Thought i'd install it while getting some measurements for the motherboard to PSU cables.

 

 

Those are damn long cables. Thankfully the motherboard and power supply are right next to each other so I'm hoping to do a nice, tidy, minimal cable.

[asone]

Update XI

 

24-pin is done! 

Went for the smallest cable length possible. I don't want to draw attention to the cables at all, I'm going for that stealthy look. 

 

The smallest cable is 74mm long, and the longest is 140mm. The black paracord is a lot easier to work with for some reason, the melting and welding was much more willing and forgiving.

 

 

Im very pleased with the end result.

 

CPU and SSD coming this week

[asone]

Update XII

 

Aaaaaand the final parts are here. No glamour shots as I'm not at home right now. 

 

Intel i7 7700k

 

I went back and forth between this and the 7600k. I was originally planning for the i5, as the original planned GPU was a GTX1060 or an RX480. 

 

By the miracle of Boxing Day sales, I was able to grab a GTX1070 for $529 (AUD), compared to the usual price at the time of $679. 

 

I want to avoid bottlenecks at all cost and really get the most out of the 1070 at 1080p, so the 7700k was the final decision.

 

The SSD also came, I decided to just go with 240GB for now. OS (30GB) + BF1 (50GB) + DOOM (50GB) + Witcher 3 (35GB) sits me under 200GB easily and I plan on those games lasting a long time. I'll add a ~500GB SSD when I need it in a several months time.

 

Lastly, my choice of lighting - the Adafruit Neopixels. I'll be using their Feather M0 microcontroller to handle the lighting effects. It's a lot smaller (and cheaper) than the NZXT Hue+ which is why I went for it.

Going to commence building this Thursday and absolutely cannot wait!

[asone]

Update XIII

 

Everything went smoothly today, and the build is now assembled and running. The only thing left to do is the side panel window, but that can wait a couple weeks.

 

I couldn't be happier with the way it looks and runs! 

[Kinda Bottlenecked]

I've seen this build for quite some time now. Pretty neat. 

 

But your last few updates have peaked my interest. How did you set up your Micro controller?  I looked up the specs of the one you're using and it seems to only output 3.3v. Did you stick a lipo battery to that? 

 

I've got a esp8266 powered micro controller that outputs the same. If I can set it up for less than half the price of a hue+. That'll be pretty neat.  

 

[asone]

6 hours ago, Pohernori said:

I've seen this build for quite some time now. Pretty neat. 

 

But your last few updates have peaked my interest. How did you set up your Micro controller?  I looked up the specs of the one you're using and it seems to only output 3.3v. Did you stick a lipo battery to that? 

 

I've got a esp8266 powered micro controller that outputs the same. If I can set it up for less than half the price of a hue+. That'll be pretty neat.  

 

Thanks! I'm using an Adafruit Feather M0 to control the lighting. There are 3 pins for the Neopixel RGBW strip: 5v, GND, and Data in. 

 

Here are my pinouts

Feather -> Strip

3.3v -> 5v

GND -> GND

6 -> Data in

 

I have it connected to the PC via USB, so that I can program the lighting to however I want.

 

hope that helps!

[Kinda Bottlenecked]

5 hours ago, asone said:

Thanks! I'm using an Adafruit Feather M0 to control the lighting. There are 3 pins for the Neopixel RGBW strip: 5v, GND, and Data in. 

 

Here are my pinouts

Feather -> Strip

3.3v -> 5v

GND -> GND

6 -> Data in

 

I have it connected to the PC via USB, so that I can program the lighting to however I want.

 

hope that helps!

 

Oh, did you notice anything weird with the leds? That strip is 5v but your signal is only 3.3v

[asone]

Update XIV 

 

Tempered glass panel goes on  

 

The original plan was to have someone laser cut the original side panel, but no one wanted to take on such a small job. I 3D modelled the side panel with the correct mounting pin layout and with the window cut out, then printed it in 4 segments.

 

I then attached the printed panel parts to the glass panel with 3M tape, then applied tint over the top. 

 

This is is exactly what I envisioned for the project, and I'm very happy with the outcome.