Project Rained-On [2011-Rig Rebuild || completed]

[skullbringer]

PROJECT RAINED-ON

 

 

 

Part List:

CPU: Intel core-i7 4930k @ 4.5 GHz, 1.4V

Motherboard: Asus Rampage IV Extreme --> Asus Rampage IV Black Edition

Graphics Card(s): MSI GeForce GTX 780 TI Gaming 3G --> EVGA GeForce GTX 780 6GB ACX SC (2x) --> EVGA GeForce GTX 780 Classified ACX (2x) --> EVGA GeForce GTX 780 Ti K|ngp|n Classified @ 1420 MHz @ 1.3125V gpu, 7600MHz memory

RAM: G.Skill RipjawsZ 1600 MHz 9-9-9-24 4x 4GB (red)

PSU: Corsair AX1200i --> Corsiar RM850 --> Corsair RM1000

Case: CM Storm Stryker modded

Storage: 2x Corsair Force GT 120GB  (died due to firmware bug) --> Samsung 840 Evo 250GB (Boot), Samsung 840 Evo 500GB (Games), 2x Seagate Barracuda 2TB (Raid 0), Seagate Barracuda 1TB (Storage), external WD 1.5TB (Storage), external Intenso 500GB (Boot-Backup)

 

(original victim of rain, ordered new, but doa/not functioning flawlessly)

 

Watercooling:

CPU: EK Supremacy Clear Nickel-Plexy

Reservoir: XSPC Dual D5 Bay Red --> Bitspower Z-Tube 250 --> Bitspower Upgrade Kit 250

Pumps: 2x XSPC D5 vario  --> Swiftech MCP655 w/ Bitspower D5 Mod Kit and Top Black

Radiators: Hardware Labs Black Ice GTX 240,  Hardware Labs Black Ice GTX 360

Tubing: Primochill Advanced LRT 3/8-1/2

Fittings: Bitpower Black Sparkle all out (G1/4 3/8-1/2" compression, 90° single rotary, 90° dual rotary, male to male extension, mini valve, quick disconnect male, quick disconnect female)

Fans: 6x Phobya NB-eloops 1600rpm red + 3x Noiseblocker B12-4 2400rpm white

Coolant: XSPC EC6 BloodRed --> Mayhems Pastel Ice White

GPU: EK Classy Nickel

Lighting: Lamptron Flexlight Pro 3x 30cm, 1x 60cm White LED

Cabling: completely self made from scratch, 0.75mm² copper wire for main components, 0.14mm² copper wire for fans, lighting and front panel I/O, braided with generic paracord from amazon and MDPC-X black.

 

 

Peripherals:

Monitors: Benq XL2720T, 2x Korean 1440p

Mouse: Logitech G602

Keyboard: Code Keyboard TK (Cherry MX Green), Corsair K70 (Cherry MX Red)

Audio: AKG K701, O2-ODAC combo, Antlion Modmic 4.0, Astro MixAmp, Logitech Z4, Blue Snowball

 

 

 

Background story and pictures... :

I want to start this thread that I'm kind of a dumbass. Last night I left the window slightly open which my computer is standing next to. It got pretty stormy outside which caused some rain drops to get blown in through the window into my room damaging my computer. []

Currently I know for sure that PSU, graphics card and mainboard have been killed. Also possibly ram and cpu have gone to silicon heaven due to psu failure and overvoltage, but I won't know for sure until I get some replacement parts to start some testing.

Which leads into the actual build log part of this post. I'll take this "opportunity" to rebuild my current rig and make some changes to my config. The current plan is to get the new mainboard and graphics card that I already ordered and figure out whether cpu and ram are still OK. The parts I ordered are the Asus rampage iv black edition and the evga gtx 780 6GB acx superclocked replacing a rampage iv extreme and a msi gtx 780 ti gaming 3g. Also I cut down slightly on the psu going from the burned out ax1200i to an rm850.


Where it all begins...

 

 

 

 

Update log:

Update #1

Update #2

Update #3

Update #4

Update #5

Update #6

Update #7

Update #8

Update #9

Update #10

Update #11

Update #12

Update #13

Update #14

Update #15

Update #16

Update #17

Update #18

Update #19

Update #20

Update #21

Update #22

Update #23

Update #24

Update #25

Update #26

Update #27

Update #28

Update #29

Update #30

Update #31

Update #32

Update #33

Update #34

 

final state:

[Shd0w2]

Pics dun work D:

[Kittke]

You were lucky the ram could have started a fire

[austin541]

sorry bruda  .

[Grrizz]

Damn that's some bad luck, nearly worst case scenario for water damage

 

The burn on the memory heat spreader looks kinda cool though with a bit more exaggeration it'd make for a nice paint theme

[Quantum]

Damn that sucks... Sorry to hear about that

[Tearass]

Great opportunity to rebuild indeed.  :wacko:

 

Sorry to hear.

[skullbringer]

Stuff is here!!!

 

 

some shots of the setup in its current state
 

 

 

 

Pics should be viewable now
 

[skullbringer]

complete disassembly done

 

 

Due to water intrusion which caused the pcie slot where the gpu was plugged into to overheat and basically burn out, the heat actually caused some of the soldering points of the pcie slot to just melt away and also left a burn mark on the motherboard tray. kinda scary :blink:

 

 

you can see that it was just this one point where water caused a shortcut. right beneath the dimm slots where power is transmitted through the pcie slot to the gpu. I assume the heat caused stuff around it, like the graphics card pcb and the ram heat sinks above to get burned.

 

 

 

EVGA GeForce GTX 780 ACX Superclocked 6GB unboxed, god damn it looks good.

 

 

Asus Rampage IV Black Edition vs. damaged Asus Rampage IV Extreme - new vs. old

 

 

setting up a temporary cpu cooling solution, as I had just realised that I cant mount a standard boxed cooler on a 2011 socket... silly me.

 

 

leaktesting done, no issues, loop in full circulation. time to plug up some ssds and see if cpu, ram and my raid 0 array are still working properly.

 

 

looking good, all 4x 4GB dimms and the cpu have been detected correcty, cpu temps around 30°C, boot to raid 0 ssd array successful. guess it helped that the motherboard and drivers hardly changed. time for some stress testing while I'm writing this post.

 

[skullbringer]

Hey guys, this is skullbringer. I'm on top of a mountain! ...wait what?!

 

So, I thought, I'd give you a small update on the build...

...first of, I'm switchich graphics cards from the EVGA GeForce GTX 780 6GB ACX SC to the EVGA GTX 780 Classified 3GB.

The reason for this is that I had major issues with the 6GB card(s). I ordered a second one after I thought the first one was fine, but that didn't work out too well. The fans on the second gpu touched the shroud sometimes which caused really annoying noises and also it had quite a bit of coil whine when running in sli mode for whatever reason.

The first card, I don't know why, was fine for the first 3-4 days, and then it just started artifacting even at stock clocks and the graphics driver wasn't stable at all, especially in sli with the other one. Also it caused my rig to bluescreen like three times a day. Sometimes the displays would just go grey and purple and just hang up completely. I thought that maybe due to the actual rain accident cpu or ram might be faulty, so I did some testing with my old trusty 5770, no issues.

Also the microstuttering that sometimes just randomly occured was terrible, it felt like playing with 50 FPS and was all choppy as hell. Over all the 6GB variant just did seem very immature, like what you would get after a new gpu launch when everything is still not optimized properly, except that 780 is out for ages and EVGA could have just done some more testing.

 

But to be fair, I did not even bother contacting the EVGA support, as sending the cards back and getting a new one was the more hassle free way to go for me. In case I have problems again with the classy, I might have to talk to some customer service personal, though...

 

So long story short: 6GB SC(s) --> 3GB Classy(s)

 

old vs new

 

 

this is the poster included with all evga graphics cards so far... looks kinda stupid and boring imho, and evga does advertise a different "game of pawns" poster... would have loved to have that

 

 

picture gallary like unboxing...

 

 

ooooohhhhh... soft foam, with evga logo cut in, Linus might get an errection if he looked at this

 

[url=http://imgur.com/JgpKwN0'>

 

the card was actually too wide for the anti static bag and cut it with the pci bracket

 

 

still need to sort out this new android 4.4.4 camera... its cutting the edges of some pictures

 

 

 

you can see the difference in width here, standard acx vs. classified extra wide acx

 

 

doesn't look that dramatic, but it actually looks much bigger in person (thats what she said)

 

 

 

its also slightly longer

 

 

so this is my rig atm... cant have weeks of down time so this is the temporary solution with the new gpu already in place. damn this graphics card is half as wide as the motherboard is tall!!

 

 

the pinkish color is still from the xspc ec6 blood red that was in there before and accumulated inside the blocks and rads... I'm just running on deionised water and I'm getting some anti algies additives soon to prevent plants grow inside the tubes, also I am going to do the cleaning with a 1:5 - isopropyl:water run before I'm actually doing the rebuild.

 

 

 

As you can see, there is quite a wide area where the hdd cages are located (to the right here). My plan is to use the black acrylic class and make a little insert there, so you can actually see the white bezels around it and the mount the two corsair force gt ssds there... also possible put some leds there and illuminate those bright red ssds

 

 

 

 

Also I plan on going with a more stealthy white-grey-black theme with some red accents like the fans, ssds, and motherboard leds. coolant will most likely become mayhems pastel ice white. all clear nickel plexi waterblocks, clear tubing and a lot of white led strips.

Most likely I am going to rotate the hdd cages, as I dont need the airflow from the one fan that is currently installed on the cage and possibly optimize the cable routing for the 2 red ssds later on.

 

I am also switching psus from the RM 850 to the RM 1000, because the classies might draw some more power than I originally planed.

 

Oh, and I am going to do all the cables custom with heatshrinkless paracord sleeving on the power cables and possibly mdpcx on the sata data and usb3.0 cables.

 

stay tuned ...

[ericlee30]

Damn bro that sucks , im glad you are back up and running again though.

[flibberdipper]

I do like what uou have done. Sad to see everything go though.

[skullbringer]

Finally got some sleeving work done today, mainly the front panel power, reset and usb 2.0. The ends are not perfect towards the front panel, but thats because some of the cables can not be dismounted from the switches as they are soldered on and some will need to get rerouted when installing in the case, so I need some slack there. Also Im still having problems with the usb 3.0, but Im getting there.

 

A few days ago I ordered some stuff from Lutro0customs that should arrive some time next week, so I can start doing all the power cables. I will be going for a white-grey-black scheme with paracord braid, heatshirnkless as far as possible.

 

GPU-wise, as of now I have rma'd 3 graphics cards I ordered, because of fans not spinning up properly, artifacting problems or just unbarable coil whine. Seems like Im quite unlucky with the latest orders, but fortunately rma'ing isnt a problem with most retailers here as shipping is covered and the process never takes longer than a week.

My current gpu of choice is the 780ti K|ngp|n from EVGA that should arrive tomorrow. Lets hope that its going to work properly... ^^

 

And WOW, the picture quality is bad... I need to get a DSLR asap o.0

 

[skullbringer]

SOOOOOOO.... things are slowly starting to happen...

 

the new new new graphics card arrived today, lets see whats inside o.0

 

 

Oh, caseking.de, I see what you did there  ...buying off your customers with candy   ...works for me!!!

 

 

mhm, looks like there is something else inside apart from the graphics card...

 

 

its a t-shirt! kinda awesome imho

 

 

 

and the obligatory copy of watchdogs that I might give away if people are interested, because technically I already have 5 keys of this totally awesome game... #sarcasm

 

 

aand a mousepad, photo taken on my current mousepad ...mousepadception

 

 

 

even more candy... well, no problem for me

 

 

finally, with all the other stuff out of the way

 

 

 

thats even cooler custom soft foam...

 

 

It actually does look much less ugly than in all the pictures online. the chrome accents on the top and the red support plate under the cooler really look amazing imo.

 

 

and the backplate isnt bad either

 

 

also its got a black pci slot cover, sweeet!

 

 

and, of course, the massive 8+8+6 pcie connections

 

 

new new vs. new new new ...having to rma 3 graphics cards in a row and improving every time is actually kinda stupid lol

 

 

 

Lets see what it can do on air, first stock results

it boosts up to 1202 MHz out of the box without any oc at all, that was the highest my old (rain victim) msi 780 ti gaming would do on 1.2V. but thats to be expected due to the cherry picking of gpus.

 

 

and with a little bit of tweaking it goes up to 1411 MHz on the core and 8000 MHz on the memory, artifacting at 85°C and above, but again... this is sill the stock air cooler fighting against with 1.285V core and 1.65V memory. Its techniacally stable ... for about 30 seconds, then it hits 93°C and crashes.

 

 

 

Conclusion: I NEED WATER !!!

[Woody]

Dude you really need to choose a GPU lol. Are you going to return the other ones for your money back? You have a Kingpin so what will you use the other two graphics cards for???

[Norman_the_Owl]

FIVE Watch dogs keys?

 

Watch dogs is what, 60 dollars apiece?

 

You got 300 bucks of game keys for free. That's the price of a mid range graphics card

[skullbringer]

Dude you really need to choose a GPU lol. Are you going to return the other ones for your money back? You have a Kingpin so what will you use the other two graphics cards for???

 

I have sent all of the previous graphics cards back. for like 500 bucks a card I just expect them to work completely perfect and if they dont then its the retailers problem

 

FIVE Watch dogs keys?

 

Watch dogs is what, 60 dollars apiece?

 

You got 300 bucks of game keys for free. That's the price of a mid range graphics card

 

I actually would feel bad to charge money for a watch dogs key... its such a bad game imo, but ill keep the idea of selling them in mind

[GeekySole9354]

 

I actually would feel bad to charge money for a watch dogs key... its such a bad game imo, but ill keep the idea in mind of selling them in mind

Can i have one? Please please please!!!

 

[skullbringer]

So as I am still waiting for the cabling stuff from Lutro0Customs to arrive, I figured, I might just go ahead and try some stuff out. I wanted to make a "TTL-style" feature out of my 2 ssds, and thought I could place them in front of the hdd area that doesnt look as good anyways. So I grabed a piece of black acrylic and cut it to size. Now this is just a rough testing setup. I still need to figure out how to secure the acryl panel in place and how to route the sata data and power cables to those ssds. I currently have three options in mind, the first one is to possible remove the ssd stickers so I can rotate them 180° in case this is beneficial for cleaner cable routing. On the other hand, the drives without the sticker would look boring and basically just be a red metal plate. Considering the actual cable routing, I was thinking about cutting a small hole beneath each drive and have the cables come out right below them. The other option would be to route the cables for the top drive down from the top of the acryl glass and across and up from the bottom up for the lower drive, but again this would require removing the sticker, as one of the drives would be up side down.

Unfortunately having the cables come out between the drives and the acryl isnt possible due to space restraints, as the ssds basically already touch the side panel when mounted.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here are the two practial options I have in mind right now...

option 1 (cable cutouts below each ssd);                   option 2 (routing cables across from top and bottom and removing stickers):

 

 

 

I personally tend more towards option 1, but please suggest what you would think is best or maybe you have a totally different idea, I really appreciate any feedback !

 

 

 

EDIT: Also I am going to post pictures in the "thubnail" format, as it seems to make this thread easier to read through

[skullbringer]

Today I got the black acylic panel with its ssd mounts done.

 

 

 

 

I decided to route the cables up from the bottom of the panel and through under the lower drive to the upper one. Saves me the hassle of drilling more holes for cabling ... and those right angled sata connectors are some serious bitches!

 

 

 

Further EK UNI radiator mounting brackets will be used to hold the panel in the right height. As the lower hdd cage wont be populated, I can use the holes in there for mounting the lower ssd through the panel and hold everything in place that way. Not the most professional way, but since those ssds practiaclly weigh nothing and the black acrylic is wedged in between the hdd cages and the side panel anyways, I dont worry about the mount beeing too weak. This all will be done with some sleak M3 button head screws.

 

[Exotath]

I like where this build is going.  B) Keep it up!

[skullbringer]

Just wanted to leave a quick update before I dig into the deeps of raid volume testing and possible motherboard rma... basically something keeps messing up my os volume which is raid 0 array of the two corsair force gt ssds. either its the ssds or the raid controller on the motherboard. Things will be even more delayed than what they already would have been, but I guess thats part of pc enthusiasm... in case I actually rma the motherboard this could take up to 2 weeks.

 

BUT moving on with the update, the reservoir just arrived today. Basically I ordered to test fit and whether there is actually enough room for it.

As usual with every order at caseking, I got some candy again

 

 

I guess my measurements were about right its touching the graphics card cooler... o.0

 

 

 

 

 

Some more shots of the test fitted motherboard and graphics card in the case...

 

 

[mikeeginger]

Dear God those Gpu clocks 

And i Though the Msi lighting cards were fast 

Just wow 

[skullbringer]

Both Corsair Force GT SSDs locked up and basically died at the exact same day after 100 power cycles... so I had to get a new boot drive. I will have to talk to Corsair about this serious bs...

Luckily Samsung and Amazon saved the day!!

I still need to figure out how to do the black acrylic mod, as I would need to switch to the two Samsung 840 evo I have right now.

 

[skullbringer]

Today I finally managed to pick up the package from Lutro0-Custom's from the customs office, always a hassle to work your way through weird people

Anyways, today I got some sleeving work done in form of the 8 pin eps. Other stuff will follow in the coming weeks.

Also I am going to order the final watercooling components like rad mounts, coolant and gpu block. Concerning the connection of reservoir and pump, I still need to figure out something, possibly a single d5 pump top and just a piece of tubing... I'll make my mind up

 

 

 

btw I havent done any training yet, but I will do as soon as I am doing the actual building. the cable combs come in handy here...