[Scratch Build]- Squircle- Finishing Touches

[Glent]

I just love the workmanship gone into this build, man i wish i had the time and funds to do a fresh custom build like this. 

 

good job, now i think i will pick up my jaw...

Thanks I really appreciate it

 

 

 

Very Minor update for you all  today. 

 

 

My care package from Kingston arrived

I'll be using 

 

2x 8GB Stick of Kingston HyperX Beast

2x 240GB Hyperx 3K SSD's

 

 

I've worked with Kingston before and love their products. The SSD's especially have the perfect look for the build. In time you'll see just how much.

 

The memory again I've used it before but this time it’s going under water that said it was time to put an order in at none other than OCUK. I must state I've been in regular contact with some of the team. 

Due the constant part and build changes behind the scenes there have been quite a few revisions to my order, the guys I've been chatting with couldn’t have been more helpful. They've really gone the extra mile!

 

 

I had been very keen to use EKWB CPU and ram block in the build, for a couple of reason I swapped them out and ordered XSPC instead. Mostly a stock issue on the day of the order. EKWB recently showed a clean, non CSQ or frosted top for their ram block. I do generally favour clear blocks and coloured liquids. To keep the amount colours in check I've favoured the following instead.

 

I've gone for the XSPC RayStorm CPU WaterBlock (Intel)

 

Also the Red Faceplate insert

 

XSPC Memory WaterBlock + Side Plate Set

 

I am using another 2x Dimms in this build, bring the total to 16 GB So I required the XSPC Universal Memory Side Plate (Twin Set)

 

 

XPSC Raystorm plus Insert. 

 

 

 

 

 

Installing the blocks onto the Beast Ram, simple enough procedure. Using a heat gun the sinks popped off with ease.

 

Repeat 4 more times

 

Test Fitted on the MSI Gaming 7

 

The copper sticks out a like a sore thumb and more so when I mocked up the CPU Block

 

 

It had to be painted, wrapped or something. I opted to paint it. Trial and error at this point in time

Masked up

 

The flash added a shiny effect but the colours are pretty close

Much better

 

 

Lastly I picked up the first batch of Bitspower fittings, on the day my order was placed the"Bitspower Multi-Link Adapter G1 / 4 inch OD 12mm - Matte Black"where not in stock, they should land in the next two weeks.

 

I have several of the 90 degree version  that join two sections of tubing together. The photos don’t do them justice, they are beautiful fittings

 

 

That's it for today, I've hoping to drill/cut out the holes for the pass through ports this week and start tuning up once the Bitspower Multi-Link Adapter G1 / 4 inch OD 12mm - Matte Black ship.

 

Thanks for reading

[ShadowCaptain]

this is coming along amazingly!

[asusfan]

drooool

 

This is like computer components porn, are these picture legal

 

this is what i call well planned and professional planning.

 

one thing i see it is mega amazing build, and i have an "eagle eye" the tiny tiny thing i see that i think you can make it perfect is to "gas weld" the joints, i see it looks like you have mig welded and then some places filed / grinder it down. for the internal seams at the joints it would be amazing if it was one clean run of neat gas welding and you wouldn't need all that builky mig welding. and if its continuios nice weld it would be seamless so once painted would be so good you wouldn't even know it was welded joint.

another thing, more a tip (for anyone) when you are making the holes for the motherboard standoff hardware, it is important if you want 100% precision alignment to use a good sharp center pop / punch, then using a piller drill (drill press) so its paralell and precision workmanship use a chart to find the proper sized drill bit for the required tap to thread the holes.

once drilled one can also go a step more and ream the hole to a perfect round hole (might not be needed with such a small diameter hole) then use the tap from the tap and die set and fit into the drill chuck and with "the power off" turn the chuck by hand and use a tiny bit of lube and tap the hole to thread it perfectly so its square, precise and professionally done.

 

^^^ just a tip not to critasize.

 

now i just with i had my own workshop again and start to design and build my idea which i don't want to share in case someone copy's it haha.

 

keep up the amazing work, i am sure this will be one of the top all time builds.

[Toxicc]

FOLLOWING 

[Glent]

drooool

 

This is like computer components porn, are these picture legal

 

this is what i call well planned and professional planning.

 

one thing i see it is mega amazing build, and i have an "eagle eye" the tiny tiny thing i see that i think you can make it perfect is to "gas weld" the joints, i see it looks like you have mig welded and then some places filed / grinder it down. for the internal seams at the joints it would be amazing if it was one clean run of neat gas welding and you wouldn't need all that builky mig welding. and if its continuios nice weld it would be seamless so once painted would be so good you wouldn't even know it was welded joint.

another thing, more a tip (for anyone) when you are making the holes for the motherboard standoff hardware, it is important if you want 100% precision alignment to use a good sharp center pop / punch, then using a piller drill (drill press) so its paralell and precision workmanship use a chart to find the proper sized drill bit for the required tap to thread the holes.

once drilled one can also go a step more and ream the hole to a perfect round hole (might not be needed with such a small diameter hole) then use the tap from the tap and die set and fit into the drill chuck and with "the power off" turn the chuck by hand and use a tiny bit of lube and tap the hole to thread it perfectly so its square, precise and professionally done.

 

^^^ just a tip not to critasize.

 

now i just with i had my own workshop again and start to design and build my idea which i don't want to share in case someone copy's it haha.

 

keep up the amazing work, i am sure this will be one of the top all time builds.

 

Much respect for the feedback. Noted for next time around.

 

FOLLOWING 

 

 

 

Aside from working out the kinks in sketchup,, the other reason I wanted to approach my logs this way, was to aid the readers visualize where I was going with this. That said I still wanted an element of surprise too so keep wathcing . 

 

My last few shipments of fittings and pass throughs are being delayed, so I have some time to fill, I've made some minor tweaks here and their to resolve some areas that have niggled me for some time. Particularly the reservoirs.

 

It just didn't  quite work and took away some of visual effect i had hoped for. The fix is to move them into the smaller mid chamber. Rather than bury them away I will cut out sections either side of the motherboard tray. so they'll still be seen, and the mid windows have more purpose too.

 

 

Also playing with SSD window cutout design today, Needs some tweaking. 

I will add another piece behind the one shown(which adds support to the frame too)

Where I will  mount the SSD's , It'll need some lighting to to work as I plan, and will tie in nicely with what I have in mind for the low/mid plate where the dragon/branding is set to be put too.

 

For the Lighting, Two White PC LED strip purchased from Mnpctech today, http://mnpctech.com/pc-led-lights/

 

 

 

I don't have much free time until the weekend now, so expect an update then

[Twancoooler]

Subbed m8

[Glent]

Subbed m8

 

New mid plate cut with windowed area, 3mm to big to fit so I need to file it some first

 

 

Also the side sections are partially done, the SSD windows panel will stay. Ignore the section I have placed in the top chamber, that will be revised soon. It will be opened up to show all the internal tubing

 

 

 

[Agility]

Subbed  

[Glent]

Subbed

 

 

So little update again, As I said earlier, Just filling time now waiting on fittings to arrive, then its all go. I set about taking the extra 3mm off the new motherboard tray. 

 

 

 

 

*New Fittings*

I won't get into specifics about these but again, stock issues, time frame and budget. I had to  look for something that I couldn't find anywhere in the UK or even EU (Bitspower alternative). 

 

These fittings are something I stumbled upon on another forum and decided they would be a decent plan B for this loop. Their not a name I was familiar with either, "Barrow".

 

I took a chance and order a batch of 90 Rotarys, Pass through's and some cool looking T pieces.

( I'll add a link to some high res unedited images in due course)

 

 

 

 

 

 

I know their are some theorys about them and I've no idea really, nor do I really care. This isn't a good image to compare either, as they are different style fittings. 

 

 

 

 

On the quality side though, they are very good, all but one of the  passthroughs are perfect, as are T Pieces, the 90's well hard to say as the packaging was quite poor, the majority have very small dings (under the paint) but nothing major.

 

 

 

 

Anyhow, with some fittings here I can do *some* of the loop now. I've had to be creative and used some old primochill ghost fittings. As my Bitspowers ones aren't here *yet*. So try and ignore the rainbow effect, it only temp!

 

 

 

 

 

 

More to follow once the final set of fittings arrive, thanks for reading

[Glent]

 

 

Next little update for you lot before I make the first massive hurdle that is powder coating. Which I have to be honest I'm struggling with the colour choices, I had a choice in mind but as I progress, I'm really on the fence just now. That said I have only a few days to make my mind up!

 

 

Anyhow I want to once again express my gratitude to guys at OCUK. I've been in regular contact with them in an attempt to track down and source the mammoth amount of fittings this build requires. 

 

Sadly we couldn’t meet the deadline in time but did manage to locate a good chunk of them. 22 of the required 32 required fittings. 

 

Some slight alterations to the lower chamber will be made for the sake of getting this rig to I52, It's a LAN rig after all these thing happen!

 

Shipment 1 [22] Bitspower Multi-Link Adapter G1 / 4 inch OD 12mm - Matte Black

 

 

Shipment 2 - Various extenders and such, as well as a few more [bitspower Multi-Link adapter 90 degrees - Matte Black] fittings to compensate and adjust the loop

 

 

Also picked up a few odds and ends from E22, Time depending of course, I shall attempt to sleeve the PSU. I've opted to use white and grey to keep the amount of colours in check too. I've no real experience in sleeving but I shall see how it goes, luckily my father in law has the ideal tools for such a task too 

 

 

With enough fittings to hand I could now finally begin the loop, with some small changes thought due to stock issue with the BP fittings

 

 

 

 

 

 

Massive thanks Pascal also. I Wanted two Alphacool reservoirs for this build and he managed to get them to me in time.

 

 

 

 

I'm tired as hell lately, juggling far too much real life stuff, even the tools are feeling exhausted and packed up at one point: D. 

 

 

So that's where I'm at today with more to follow, oh and I’m working on this too

 

 

More soon, and again thanks for reading!

 

Insomnia Gaming Festival attendees [i52] Feel free to come and see me at the MSI Stand

[Tearass]

 

 

 

 

 

 

Massive thanks Pascal also. I Wanted two Alphacool reservoirs for this build and he managed to get them to me in time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I f**king love the way the tubing runs.  :wub:

[Norman_the_Owl]

Wow this is gorgeous already!

 

Edit: Five hundred posts lol

[Glent]

Wow this is gorgeous already!

 

Edit: Five hundred posts lol

 

Thanks!

 

 

*I am uploading temp images until I can access some better/HQ ones*

 

As an avid build log reader, theirs nothing worse than large chunks of the build not being documented, for many reasons I don't have as many images as I would like.

 

I would like to thank Phil for the late last minute  help with some additions!

 

 

This is something I made in sketchup, I wasn't happy with scale of the MSI tail and hands when placed, I opted to use the Circuit Design from the MSI Gaming range packaging.

 

case Feet are something else I had overlooked, stock of the ones I wanted was issue [...again]

 Thinking outside of the box I opted to used some spare Alphacool res tops and selections of nuts/bolts

 

 

 

 

I set about adding some additional cable routing for the 24 pin and SATA ports.

 

 

 

 

 

Next I began sleeving the cables, I must state I really wished I had 

1. Started sooner

2. Ordered even spare terminals!

 

I can say with confidence It's no easy feat to sleeve. even after mass research I found the cable towards the end much more to my liking, as with everything you have little experience with that is.

 

The added challange being that the CM power supply uses a rather unusual wiring method. The 24 pin actually bridges off to 10 and 18 pin connector. 

 

So rather than double wire to one terminal approach I used the lutro0 solder guide. Results where mixed and I will redo them soon!

 

 

 

Before powdercoating I mocked up the frame with some spare vinyl and photoshoped it, right up until the last second I was still unsure to go Black or white.

 

 

 

 

 

White just seemed to work better

 

Mock up with the side door [Not fitted yet]

 

 

 

Last minute deleiverys to wire up all the fans and LED's

 

 

This is where I was at one point at 5.30 AM fixing things 

 

 

 

 

Now sadly I don't have any decent images from Insomnia...other than these

 

Mid filling...working on the air bubbles

 

 

 

 

Within and hour or two of setting up. I faced an issue of no display, then no power to the system. Due to extremely restrcited work space their was little I could do. The system was moved to another part of the exhibit, on onto a funky oil drum of sorts. The system that was wired up into my spot after also faced power issues and blew their hard drive. At this point I was very concerned at just how much damage had been done

 

 

Things went south that night as we took the rig back to our hotel, in attempt to getting it up and running. We where struck down with food poisoning and after missing out all of Saturday, we hit the road and traveled 230 miles back to get some much needed rest. 

 

I've spent the last few days getting back on my feet and getting the rig running again. Nothing major was damaged... thankfully.

 

 

These are the only images I have from my phone atm

 

 

I will take some HQ shots of the rig and have them online ASAP!

 

While it wasn't the most ideal outcome I still had a blast and will be back more at the next iseries event

[Glent]

 

 

First off, Thanks to Mick from Mayhems for supplying me some Liquid - Aurora 2 Red

 

A few more images for you guys with some new addition such as the IO area, I've boxed in, 

 

Their are still a few rough edges to sort and small tweaks to add Im playing with the colours, I wasn't happy with the amount of red in the build,  around the CPU mostly, likewise the red circuit may become black

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I've just not had  much  free time lately, sorry for the lack of update but more to follow.

[Tearass]

 

 

 

 

I've just not had  much  free time lately, sorry for the lack of update but more to follow.

 

 

All that loop just for a CPU & some Memory?

 

I'm waiting... 

 

Cough* GPU, Cough*

[Glent]

All that loop just for a CPU & some Memory?

 

I'm waiting... 

 

Cough* GPU, Cough*

 

In time I will for sure, Technical reason are against me atm. 1. No block as it's mid ranged and Non reference

[Glent]

Cleaned up thread to conform with template , also added FAQ