Loramentum - A watercooled, wall mounted rig - Fan and lighting upgrade! 27/01/17

[Guest andyysplash]

Given unlimited time, tools and money what would be your dream build/mod/setup to create?

Also, just out of interest - would you prefer having tools and materials that make the build really easy to accomplish or more of a challenge to get done?

Edit: forgot to mention Nepton 280L

[Keudn]

Hard acrylic or bendable tubing?

 

Raystorm CPU block

[Masme]

so cool

[AlexBryning]

Question: What was the most enjoyable/satisfying part of the build?

 

I would love that CoolerMaster rad setup. Always wanted to get into water cooling.

 

Awesome build by the way. Its fantastic to see someone getting such great results after so much hard work! Such a cool build.

[Jacknif]

best come back ever ! love your build

[Mo5]

Q: What was the first (big) mod you did?

[for the CM 280L]

 

P.S.:This thing looks awesome!

[HippY]

is it somekind of profession or 100% hobby?

 

This is unbelievable, I love every bit of it  

[Ensaumneak]

How long have you been building custom PCs? And will you be my sensei?!   This build is badass, I've had it bookmarked for a while now

 

Also, Nepton 280L

[BluHyena]

How did you get into Modding/PC Building?

Nepton 280

 

 

P.S. This is probably the coolest looking build i've seen on LTT in  while.

[Maki Role]

Let's have a look through the next lot of questions and then finish up with an update shall we?

 

 

What is your favourite colour of the alphabet and can you teach me how to count past the letter square?

Real question: what camera do you use and do you have any tips on photography for a n0ob?

CM AIO as that would give me an excuse to mod my case to fit it externally and I plan to get some sort of mess around rig that includes a g3258 and the aio would come in very handy for that

 

Favourite colour is clearly potato as it's so verdant, can't help you on the counting square front though as I haven't learnt past walrus yet

 

I currently use a Nikon D3200 paired with a 105mm f2.8 Mico Nikkor Macro, a 50mm f1.4 Samyang and the kit lens for everything else.  I'm looking to upgrade to a full frame D810 sometime next year though as having a larger and higher quality sensor would be very handy.  I guess my biggest tip would be to pick up a few photography magazines and read through and have a go at what's inside.  Photography's very much something you pick up with experience, just compare my pics here with the ones of my older logs.  I'm still very much a novice who's gaining experience on the fly.  I found many of the articles in Digital Photographer very useful and have since subbed to them.  Magazines are great for finding out what the true pros do, and then seeing if you can apply it to your work too.  The next step really is simply taking loads of photos, of all manner of things, just get your eye in for what makes a good composition, or when the light is one your side etc.  Even with a phone camera (which aren't to be snuffed at anymore either) you can get great results, you just need to know the steps.

 

Question: I've always wondered what its like to be a real in depth modder, where expense and parts come along a little easier than the average prosumer. So, I guess my question would be not that you are such an experienced modder, how much do you find performance playing a factor in your systems? Do you value performance over creativity, or does creativity simply trump performance as a modder, whereas performance and parts should take precedent?

 

CM Nepton 280L would be a godsend haha, the struggles of a budget gamer. Still looking to squeeze every bit of performance out of my g3258

 

For me it's creativity first, then performance.  But.  Saying that, I work to a baseline performance for the desired task.  I don't really like compromising that much, so what I tend to do is work out what performance is necessary, then become creative around that instead.  Budget sits at the bottom of the pile, not because I have a money tree or something (just a student, careful with my money instead) but because I find thinking about budgets stifles things a little.  You can easily end up thinking about maximising the theoretical performance over anything else if you only look at the budget.  This works for most people, just not everybody (Apple knows this, it's one of the reasons they're so successful).  Obviously I take the budget into account (hence why I'm using an R9 290 in the build for instance), but I don't let it take over the build.  Basically I would never make a build that couldn't do the desired task properly, be it gaming, rendering, streaming what have you.  Once you have that baseline performance, you can do whatever you want with it really.

 

Being sponsored some parts definitely lightens the load, but it's still a tough ride.  It presents you with options, but at the same time you have to be sure to use them.  If somebody sponsored me a load of components and I simply put them together in a quick, simple build, then they wouldn't be very happy and likely wouldn't sponsor me next time.  So there's definitely an element of pressure there that I don't think people take into account very often.

 

this build is so beautiful, i spend ages just looking through all the pics. keep it up.

 

Q: You obviously put a lot of time this, how much time would you say you put in just planning and deciding what your gonna do?     

 

CM Nepton 280L would be the best. 

 

Thanks!  Hmm, the planning time is tough given it was spread out, but I probably spent a good two months getting everything in check?  The concept stage (sketches, before 3D renders) only took a couple hours really.  Once I knew what I wanted to do, I then sat down and started researching what parts would work.  My planning coincided with the release of the R9 2xx series so I opted for one of those, I had really wanted to complete this by the end of January but the couldn't get the machining done by then.  After deciding on the hardware, I bought it and started modelling everything.  I knew it would all fit, I just needed to work out how.  I spent roughly a month and a half doing that, on and off of course.

 

Generally I plan until I'm happy that I'll be able to progress with the project.  Obviously things frequently get in the way (as shown here and on my Redux project), but a solid plan means you can easily pick up where you left off.

 

nice on the lower weight, i wonder how much it will weigh in the end.

 

 

question:

aren't you going to have any cat/kid/pet/family/human related problems with such a open design, when it's on those stands on a desk for let's say maintance?

 

prize:

the CPU block, seems rather nice.

 

To be honest, I think everything should be fine.  I do have a cat, but she'd remarkably clever around computers it seems, heck she's even learned somehow to step around my keyboard rather than going over it, no mean feat if you see my desk space rofl.  Ideally it will spend most of its time on the wall, which in my house is a pretty safe place.  LANs are a bit more worrisome, but because it can operate upright in the flight case, things should be safe enough.  Dust also shouldn't be much of a problem as there's only really one active component, and that's the rad.  The fans are on the front, so can be easily removed for cleaning, the rest is a simple wipe down or data vac.

 

NEED TO SEE MORE NOW! haha Awesome project man, keep up the good work. Looking forward to see this masterpiece completed.

 

Cheers!  Must admit I'm quite looking forward to finishing this myself, have two other builds lined up that I can't do whilst this is taking up my life.

 

That is the first build log I've ever followed. So happy to see it coming back to life.

 

Question: whenever I work on a big project that takes days or weeks (tech related or not), I'm always thinking about it and trying to find ways to make it better, to the point where I even loose my sleep. Are you the same way when you are modding?

 

Prize: Nepton 280l

Yup.  It's one of the reasons I like to prolong my planning phase a bit as it means I have some flexibility, it's hard to change things once you've got started.  Sometimes that can be great for a project as it can provide personality, other times it just results in a mess.  Many sleepless nights have been had thanks to this build.

 

here is my question, I mean your design is beautiful

 

What was your main inspiration behind the design of this?

 

 

 

 

prize: Coolermaster Nepton 280l

 

Probably this build by Twister7800gtx.  I completely fell in love with the way the channels looked and the way they simplified the tubing.

 

 

basically what @alby800 said

can i plz win!?><

 

Sneaky X3

 

 

UPDATE!

 

Ahh it feels good to be able to say those words again in earnest.

 

This is what I wanted to post yesterday but didn't have time to finish.  I spent the best part of last night and a fair bit of today tapping all the holes (despite removing so many, there are still a lot) and prepping the o-rings.  They're now in and sealed, ready for testing.  It's one of those updates that doesn't look particularly impressive, but takes a while.

 

 

Before I take the old one apart, I figured that my previous photo didn't really show the damage properly.

All spic and span.

[Bsmith]

hoho wait, i think i now see something wich slipped my sight, those o-rings on the panel make it look like the base is part of the waterloop, correct or mistaken(not a give away entry)

[Alpha11]

Let's have a look through the next lot of questions and then finish up with an update shall we?

 

 

 

Favourite colour is clearly potato as it's so verdant, can't help you on the counting square front though as I haven't learnt past walrus yet

 

I currently use a Nikon D3200 paired with a 105mm f2.8 Mico Nikkor Macro, a 50mm f1.4 Samyang and the kit lens for everything else.  I'm looking to upgrade to a full frame D810 sometime next year though as having a larger and higher quality sensor would be very handy.  I guess my biggest tip would be to pick up a few photography magazines and read through and have a go at what's inside.  Photography's very much something you pick up with experience, just compare my pics here with the ones of my older logs.  I'm still very much a novice who's gaining experience on the fly.  I found many of the articles in Digital Photographer very useful and have since subbed to them.  Magazines are great for finding out what the true pros do, and then seeing if you can apply it to your work too.  The next step really is simply taking loads of photos, of all manner of things, just get your eye in for what makes a good composition, or when the light is one your side etc.  Even with a phone camera (which aren't to be snuffed at anymore either) you can get great results, you just need to know the steps.

 

 

For me it's creativity first, then performance.  But.  Saying that, I work to a baseline performance for the desired task.  I don't really like compromising that much, so what I tend to do is work out what performance is necessary, then become creative around that instead.  Budget sits at the bottom of the pile, not because I have a money tree or something (just a student, careful with my money instead) but because I find thinking about budgets stifles things a little.  You can easily end up thinking about maximising the theoretical performance over anything else if you only look at the budget.  This works for most people, just not everybody (Apple knows this, it's one of the reasons they're so successful).  Obviously I take the budget into account (hence why I'm using an R9 290 in the build for instance), but I don't let it take over the build.  Basically I would never make a build that couldn't do the desired task properly, be it gaming, rendering, streaming what have you.  Once you have that baseline performance, you can do whatever you want with it really.

 

Being sponsored some parts definitely lightens the load, but it's still a tough ride.  It presents you with options, but at the same time you have to be sure to use them.  If somebody sponsored me a load of components and I simply put them together in a quick, simple build, then they wouldn't be very happy and likely wouldn't sponsor me next time.  So there's definitely an element of pressure there that I don't think people take into account very often.

 

 

Thanks!  Hmm, the planning time is tough given it was spread out, but I probably spent a good two months getting everything in check?  The concept stage (sketches, before 3D renders) only took a couple hours really.  Once I knew what I wanted to do, I then sat down and started researching what parts would work.  My planning coincided with the release of the R9 2xx series so I opted for one of those, I had really wanted to complete this by the end of January but the couldn't get the machining done by then.  After deciding on the hardware, I bought it and started modelling everything.  I knew it would all fit, I just needed to work out how.  I spent roughly a month and a half doing that, on and off of course.

 

Generally I plan until I'm happy that I'll be able to progress with the project.  Obviously things frequently get in the way (as shown here and on my Redux project), but a solid plan means you can easily pick up where you left off.

 

 

To be honest, I think everything should be fine.  I do have a cat, but she'd remarkably clever around computers it seems, heck she's even learned somehow to step around my keyboard rather than going over it, no mean feat if you see my desk space rofl.  Ideally it will spend most of its time on the wall, which in my house is a pretty safe place.  LANs are a bit more worrisome, but because it can operate upright in the flight case, things should be safe enough.  Dust also shouldn't be much of a problem as there's only really one active component, and that's the rad.  The fans are on the front, so can be easily removed for cleaning, the rest is a simple wipe down or data vac.

 

 

Cheers!  Must admit I'm quite looking forward to finishing this myself, have two other builds lined up that I can't do whilst this is taking up my life.

 

Yup.  It's one of the reasons I like to prolong my planning phase a bit as it means I have some flexibility, it's hard to change things once you've got started.  Sometimes that can be great for a project as it can provide personality, other times it just results in a mess.  Many sleepless nights have been had thanks to this build.

 

 

Probably this build by Twister7800gtx.  I completely fell in love with the way the channels looked and the way they simplified the tubing.

 

 

 

Sneaky X3

 

 

UPDATE!

 

Ahh it feels good to be able to say those words again in earnest.

 

This is what I wanted to post yesterday but didn't have time to finish.  I spent the best part of last night and a fair bit of today tapping all the holes (despite removing so many, there are still a lot) and prepping the o-rings.  They're now in and sealed, ready for testing.  It's one of those updates that doesn't look particularly impressive, but takes a while.

 

 

Before I take the old one apart, I figured that my previous photo didn't really show the damage properly.

 

 

All spic and span.

 

 

Them pictures is porn of computers, awesome build you got there! Keep it up man!

[davidbuss]

Before I take the old one apart, I figured that my previous photo didn't really show the damage properly.

 

 

When I saw that picture while I was just scrolling through, I had a small heart attack thinking you broke it again. I guess I should read more before I look at the photos. 

[TheLordofMoisture]

Are questions still open for the contest? 

 

Anyway, I'd still like to know, if you could select a theme song for this build what would it be?

[HellaflushMcSwaggins]

 if you could select a theme song for this build what would it be?

AdhesiveWombat-Just a bit of Skyrim

[waxer_R6]

Dude keep up the good work! Your idea to build such a pc is awesome!

Support from Switzerland!

[Raboo]

Keep up the great Work

[Maki Role]

Had a bit of a busy day today, so not that much time to mod unfortunately.  Still, I got the brackets for the stand all fitted (I was fitting them last time when it fell off the table, oh the irony) and finished up all the holes on the block.  The brackets themselves are simply little L sections that prevent the stand from moving, this makes it rock solid and safe.  Tomorrow I'm hoping to be able to get the water testing done, fingers crossed everything will go smoothly.  In the meantime, let's deal with some more of the questions.

 

 

You are one of my first 5 build logs i followed here on the forums, and builds like this are what hooked me onto this community!

But what is your favorite food and drink? You gotta know the most important things about you, eh?

 

Prize: Nepton 280L, it would force me to buy a new case so i could make a proper rig, with proper cable management and some proper cooling!

 

First up, thanks!  I'm honored to be among your first few followed builds

 

Favourite food and drink eh?  That's a hard question, it often depends thoroughly upon what mood I'm in.  But I guess something that I would put right up there is Beef Wellington.  Served with a creamy mash and a red wine sauce it's bloody delicious.  The only issue is that it costs a pretty penny to prepare as you need a good chunk of fillet steak to do it properly, as such I only go make it for special events (almost never see it on the menu at restaurants either).  I'm an avid fungi hunter in the Autumn, so I love making the duxelle from freshly picked mushrooms, we find porcini, pied de mouton, chanterelles, orange birch boletes, beef steak fungus the lot, makes a fantastically flavourful sauce.  Made this one a couple weeks back:

 

 

As for drink, again that's not easy.  I'm a cider man rather than beer, and a good craft cider from the west country sits very well with me.  Saying that, a good Swedish apple cider can be bliss too, they tend to be sweeter and less dry so when served over ice they can be really refreshing.  Non-alcoholic wise, give me a simple Coca Cola and I'm good to go.

 

Q: How long had you been planning this build for until you actually began to get the CAD designs and then the physical build? Also, did you have any full size prototypes? 

 

P: Cooler Master Nepton 280L.

 

I probably only planned for a few hours on paper really before I launched into the preliminary CAD work.  Between the CAD models and the real build was probably 2-3 months?  Took a while to find somebody to do the machining the first time round, had never done it before so was starting on the bottom rung of the ladder.  I guess I now have one full size prototype via the one that smashed, but before then, nope.  I wish I had the resources to prototype these things, but sadly I have to try and get it right first time, which can be a bit nerve wracking.

 

[Ralphington]

WOOT FOR WEST COUNTRY CIDER!!!!!!

[Maki Role]

Got a sweet little update for you today

 

Whilst I could only grab one picture before both my lights and camera ran out of battery (really should have charged those last night), I hope it explains why I'm just a little bit happy tonight.  Well, that and the Halo Master Chief Collection is released at midnight (WoWoWoOoO!), definitely going to be playing the heck out of that, been a Halo fan since 01, can't shake it.

 

I'm wondering how much you put into the wall mount by itself? It looks very nice and I am very impressed. Also, what is your favorite material to mod with? And if that's giveaway quality, I would really love the CPU block. Thanks!

 

I'm not sure I follow what you mean in the first question, may want to rephrase it a bit.  Material wise, as I mentioned earlier it depends, but probably acrylic or plycarbonate currently.  This is likely to change though as my tools and capabilities change also.

 

lol why am I not surprised to see this log get the most questions again!

 

Hehe, well to be fair it did go for pretty much a whole month without any real comments.  Bah like you can complain, you've been hogging all the comments for ages now

 

What would you say to someone looking to get into watercooling and what recommendations would you give them in terms of available brands?

 

Prize: Nepton 280L

 

Honestly, it may sound like a bit of a plug, but I would tell them to visit /r/watercooling on reddit.  I find the reddit format works better for questions and the like.  We've also spent a tonne of time and effort setting up links to useful resources for beginners, along with an extensive finished build gallery.  Currently we have well over 200 builds posted there, all arranged by case and brand, meaning it's really easy to find out what people may have done in your chosen case.  We also have a more exclusive choice gallery where we showcase the more exceptional builds, again handy for inspiration.

 

As for brands, EK are hard to go wrong with tbh, as are Bitspower.  Alphacool has been a bit 50/50 recently with some people having pH problems with their rads.  Personally I swear by them, but I also haven't bought one in a while so they may have changed.  Aquacomputer also make some very high quality goods, their GPU blocks are works of art, although I'm still not a fan of how they don't cover the whole PCB.

 

Q: How much has this build cost you so far?

 

I would very much like to receive the Nepton 280L

 

Great job, can't wait for more!

 

Probably about £1600?  Whilst it's a lot, it's not excessive as frankly the hardware is pretty reasonable, no massive TriSLI setup here with 3x Quad rads and dual loops.

 

What lights do you plan on adding to the build?

 

I would prefer the Nepton 280L from Cooler Master.

 

Looking forward the next update!

 

I'm actually not planning on adding lighting to the build as IMO it doesn't really need it.  The RAM comes with lighting installed, which is more than enough.  Remember that because it's completely open, lighting is much stronger, there's also nothing to cover up the hardware and cause a lot of shade.  It would just end up being turned off as it would be too intrusive.

 

Given unlimited time, tools and money what would be your dream build/mod/setup to create? Also, just out of interest - would you prefer having tools and materials that make the build really easy to accomplish or more of a challenge to get done? Edit: forgot to mention Nepton 280L

 

Given unlimited tools and resources eh?  Well, it wouldn't make it boring for me as I would simply change the goalposts.  I design my mods around what I can feasibly manage with what I have or might be able to pick up.  If say I had access to a massive 5 axis milling machine along with a 1 tonne billet of aluminium, I would happily create a desk the likes of which nobody had ever seen.  Since the tooling wouldn't be a problem, I would settle on trying to make the idea as complex as possible so as to remain a serious challenge.

 

Hard acrylic or bendable tubing?

 

Raystorm CPU block

 

Acrylic all the way, doubt I'd be able to go back to flexible tubing now.

 

Question: What was the most enjoyable/satisfying part of the build?

 

I would love that CoolerMaster rad setup. Always wanted to get into water cooling.

 

Awesome build by the way. Its fantastic to see someone getting such great results after so much hard work! Such a cool build.

 

Clearly when it fell on the floor and shattered...

 

More seriously, it's probably the first filling of either block.  Seeing the fluid pass through the block successfully is just such an amazing feeling, up until then it's nerve wracking as hell.

 

I'll see if I can answer the remaining questions tomorrow with an update

 

Speaking of which...

 

UPDATE!

 

So today I finished off everything I needed for the block to function, and did a test fill.  IT WAS A SUCCESS!  Not a single leak and unlike the last version, the air filtered out of the loop really quickly.  You'll obviously still be able to see all the little clinging bubbles here, but that's because it had only been running for an hour or so.  I used blue because it's a strong dye that's easy to see.  I'd have had to use pretty much the whole bottle of yellow to be able to see anything at all.  I'm also going to order some special washers tomorrow to replace the standard ones I'm using currently, I'll take some photos when they arrive, you may approve of them.

 

[Kherm]

Acrylic OVERLOAD  :lol:

 

Q: What is you're favorite Graphics card of all time?

 

Oh, an i'd love the 280L, the helicopter-esque sound of my stock AMD cooler when my FX-6350 is at full load is ungodly

[Guest]

So today I finished off everything I needed for the block to function, and did a test fill.  IT WAS A SUCCESS!  Not a single leak and unlike the last version, the air filtered out of the loop really quickly.  You'll obviously still be able to see all the little clinging bubbles here, but that's because it had only been running for an hour or so.  I used blue because it's a strong dye that's easy to see.  I'd have had to use pretty much the whole bottle of yellow to be able to see anything at all.  I'm also going to order some special washers tomorrow to replace the standard ones I'm using currently, I'll take some photos when they arrive, you may approve of them.

 

 

I hope that blue didn't dye the acrylic while you we're testing.

[Maki Role]

Q: What was the first (big) mod you did?

[for the CM 280L]

P.S.:This thing looks awesome!

That'll be Azure, the one I mentioned earlier for the same question. Whilst it was my first mod in general, it was pretty extensive, probably more so than it looks. Had to remove a lot of the interior elements, along with all the rigid tubing provisions (it wasn't a common thing back then, basically no parts for it).

is it somekind of profession or 100% hobby?

This is unbelievable, I love every bit of it

Thanks!

Currently it's all 100% hobby, but you never know, things may change

How long have you been building custom PCs? And will you be my sensei?! This build is badass, I've had it bookmarked for a while now

Also, Nepton 280L

Hehe only since late 2011, that's when I made the jump from Mac to PC. This would bring me much honor *bows*

How did you get into Modding/PC Building?

Nepton 280

P.S. This is probably the coolest looking build i've seen on LTT in while.

My sister's fiance actually introduced modding to my life back in '06. That's when I first started browsing the Bit-Tech project logs forum along with the Mod of the Month/Year competitions. I was so taken aback by the skill and creativity on show, although at the time I never thought I'd be able to do anything remotely similar.

Thanks btw!

hoho wait, i think i now see something wich slipped my sight, those o-rings on the panel make it look like the base is part of the waterloop, correct or mistaken(not a give away entry)

Sadly the base in this one isn't part of the loop. It would have been cool, but I needed to be able to easily remove the base for transport and for actually hanging it on the wall.

Are questions still open for the contest?

Anyway, I'd still like to know, if you could select a theme song for this build what would it be?

They certainly are, I'll be closing entries upon completion of the build, most likely early next week.

Hmm a theme song eh? Well the dickwad in me is wanting to choose Black and Yellow by Wiz Khalifa, but I'm more tempted by Goldmember from Austin Powers :lol:

Keep up the great Work

Cheers Raboo!

I hope that blue didn't dye the acrylic while you we're testing.

Acrylic in general is very hard to dye unintentionally, even intentionally it's not that easy. I've been running the same blue in my main rig for a year and a half now, the acrylic tubing is still beautifully clear and colourless.

UPDATE!

First up, a big moment for this log as we've broken the 300 follower barrier! I believe this may make this the most followed build in the forum currently. So a massive thank you to everybody who's following this build and making this place so awesome!

So today I got all the mounts in for the hardware, along with cleaning out the inside of the waterblock in preparation for filling. I'll be working on the tubing tomorrow, along with maybe the wiring. Speaking of which, I had the rather unpleasant task of drilling a 22mm hole through the block so that I could add the on/off switch, was a little nerve wracking to say the least. Still, it went smoothly, the list of things left to do is slowly shrinking.

Edit: And of course somebody had to unsub so now we're below 300 again. Hell who would unsub now, we're only days from the end??

[CtW]

I'm so happy that this build is finally coming together! It looks real noice.

[Norman_the_Owl]

It took me a while to decide if those were renders or photos...

 

Your renders are just so amazing, they really are better than real life