[Build Log] B.o.B. - 900D | RIVE | 64gb Ram | All Under Water |

[Bobert]

Hey guys,

This is the first build that I have done a build log for. I have done quite a few builds in the past but I felt as if this one deserved a log. My inspiration for this build came from my love of watercooling and cable sleeving.

 

This was my second rig that I have custom water cooled and my first power supply that I have sleeved. I started planning for this build in March and started ordering parts in April. I put the last finishing touches on the build on June 25^th. This originated as a Haswell build but turned into a 2011/X79 build very quickly.

I do plan on taking this to Quakecon and I will say now that it weighs 80lb completely finished.

Time for pics!!

 

Just for the TL;DR guys, I will start with some finished pictures, and then continue with the ‘build log’ pics.

 

 

 

First box of goodies arrives! Followed by more..

 

 

After reading about these fans for years, I finally bought some.. (just to have them release a new fan this month)

 

 

Testing out a fan and LED strip on a 9v battery.

 

 

Shipment from Lutro0 Customs came in:

 

 

About to make my 24 pin extension.

 

My toolbox after a while..

 

 

First set of parts bought:

 

 

Tearing down the PSU.

 

Oh no, double wires!

 

 

All sleeved up.

 

 

I can’t leave these two alone for a second..

 

 

More parts!

 

 

Running the system on air to check everything.. Check out that clearance.

 

 

Temporary case until I had the 900D..

 

 

Finally got my 900D!

 

 

All the parts for mine and a friend’s build.

 

 

 

Assembling the rig:

 

 

My cat’s perch during the build:

 

 

About ready to tear down:

 

 

 

Motherboard stripped of heatsinks/fan:

 

 

Motherboard blocks installed:

 

Allen head screws I bought for the board:

 

 

7870s stripped of stock fan/heatsink and waterblocked up:

 

 

All waterblocks installed..

 

 

Bottom 480mm UT60 and top 360mm UT60 rads mounted with gentle typhoons:

 

 

Testing fans out at 5v/7v/12v for noise levels:

 

 

Stock 900D front setup compared to now w/ 480 UT60 installed + provision for drain valve:

 

 

Making the distilled water + Mayhem dye mix:

 

 

Running some tubes.  Too many angles!

 

 

Ready to fill.. or so we thought.

 

 

All going well..

 

 

Until I saw this.. And I don’t know how I caught it mid-picture. This must have been the instant it started.

 

 

Turns out that the o-rings I received with my FC-Bridge from EK were defective. And no, I did not mix them up with the o-rings that came with the video card blocks. I talked back and forth with EK and did not want to wait for replacements to be shipped so I sourced my own. The green matches absolutely nothing but at least no leaks!!

 

 

After leak issue fixed, real leak testing begins.. and we’re all good!

 

 

Drain Valve added.

 

 

Some tubing runs..

 

 

 

Some LEDs added, which cannot be seen with side panel on, only the light they give off. I also wired the LED strips into a 12v remote to be able to control them.

 

 

Cable management in process.. 840 Pro mounted in top left, under the pcb that powers the fans at 5v.

 

 

Drives before Raid..

 

 

After Raid 5 configured..

 

 

Getting ready to cut, extend, re-crimp, and sleeve the 12v remote wires..

 

 

How she sits now:

 

 

 

Thanks for checking it out!

More to come in the following posts!

[M-ursu]

Awesome build, you must be featured in stream/WAN show!

[Bobert]

Well I ended up needing something to transport the computer with, so I ended up just making a simple dolly that will fit the 90D + a monitor.

 

 

 

I also took it to it's first outing a couple of weeks ago, to a local lan gaming center in Dallas.

 

 

 

 

And about 10 minutes ago my doorbell rang with a package from Lee over at PCJunkieMods :D

 

 

 

I just placed another order for a couple EK pass-through fittings so I can mount the mid-plate in, after sorting out fitment and painting it.

[bchampion96]

Epic stuff :D Your cable sleeving pattern is epic Why didnt you use crystal link for the really short runs?

[Bobert]

Awesome build, you must be featured in stream/WAN show!

 

Haha that would be a dream come true! I see all of the build logs of the week and I know how much work is put into some of those, it's insane!!

[Bobert]

Epic stuff :D Your cable sleeving pattern is epic Why didnt you use crystal link for the really short runs?

 

I think it would have looked awesome with crystal link tied into it, but I have heard about leaking issues, and I am happy with the way it turned out with regular tubing so I may have to save that for a build in the future. Although, the new acrylic tubing/fittings from Primochill have me very excited!

[alpenwasser]

Very nice!

Out of curiosity: 64 GB of RAM simply because you can, or do you have serious use for it?

[KONA]

Man i thought my 900D build was going to be beast but this is pretty insane 

[concinnity]

You should have that reservoir filled to the top. If the coolant is pouring down into it, it creates bubbles (as shown in the pictures) and tons of micro-bubbles in your stream. This can affect performance and especially noise levels, since there isn't  a mini waterfall in your system.

[Bobert]

Very nice!

Out of curiosity: 64 GB of RAM simply because you can, or do you have serious use for it?

 

I actually had plans to make a substantially sized RAMdisk out of it. If you look back at the picture right before I made my Raid array, you will see the 40gb RAMdisk in effect. Unfortunately it was slowing down my boot times too much to keep it at the time. I do plan to see if I can find a sweet spot for size/speed from it though. Otherwise, no, there is no other plans to utilize that much memory.

Man i thought my 900D build was going to be beast but this is pretty insane 

 

Post up a build log of yours! I'd love to see it..

[Bobert]

You should have that reservoir filled to the top. If the coolant is pouring down into it, it creates bubbles (as shown in the pictures) and tons of micro-bubbles in your stream. This can affect performance and especially noise levels, since there isn't  a mini waterfall in your system.

 

Oh I completely agree. That is not how it is going to sit once it is 100% finished. I still have to re-drain the loop this week to install the midplate and re-run the tubes through it, and then it will be completely full after that. As it sits now, it is still pouring down into it, but my temps are playing extremely nice, and it is for sure temporary. Nice catch though

[KONA]

I actually had plans to make a substantially sized RAMdisk out of it. If you look back at the picture right before I made my Raid array, you will see the 40gb RAMdisk in effect. Unfortunately it was slowing down my boot times too much to keep it at the time. I do plan to see if I can find a sweet spot for size/speed from it though. Otherwise, no, there is no other plans to utilize that much memory.

 

Post up a build log of yours! I'd love to see it..

 

here is the build log of mine just look for the overclock.net links for pics

 

http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/33993-new-build-900d-sli-watercooled/

[KONA]

Oh I completely agree. That is not how it is going to sit once it is 100% finished. I still have to re-drain the loop this week to install the midplate and re-run the tubes through it, and then it will be completely full after that. As it sits now, it is still pouring down into it, but my temps are playing extremely nice, and it is for sure temporary. Nice catch though

 

how much was that mid plate i was thinking about doing the same thing makes it look so clean!

[Bobert]

how much was that mid plate i was thinking about doing the same thing makes it look so clean!

 

He quoted me $75 shipped. Although I do live in the US, so I am not sure if it would be the same for you. And I also did not have him paint or powder coat it. He wrote very good instructions on it, as you can see, and packed it well so it would not be bent. Tell him I sent ya  :P

[KONA]

He quoted me $75 shipped. Although I do live in the US, so I am not sure if it would be the same for you. And I also did not have him paint or powder coat it. He wrote very good instructions on it, as you can see, and packed it well so it would not be bent. Tell him I sent ya  :P

 

Yeah will do 

[alpenwasser]

I actually had plans to make a substantially sized RAMdisk out of it. If you look back at the picture right before I made my Raid array, you will see the 40gb RAMdisk in effect. Unfortunately it was slowing down my boot times too much to keep it at the time. I do plan to see if I can find a sweet spot for size/speed from it though. Otherwise, no, there is no other plans to utilize that much memory.

Ah, I really like the concept of RAMdisks, very nice idea.

No worries though, I really don't belong to those people who ridicule others for having too

much RAM. If somebody wants lots of RAM, then that's fair enough for me. I "only" have 24 GB

in my current build in progress, which is possibly too much as well (although I might be able

to make good use of it with some image editing, we'll see).

[Winther]

Really nice build, but why are you going overkill on everything but the GPUs? I mean you have 2400 watts of power and 64gb of memory, of which you use under a fourth and then you have 7870? :O

[Marco Martinho]

everytime i come to the build log section .... money.... money everywhere...

[Bicko96]

i never really understood how big that case was until now i mean you look like a tall dude and the thing is nearly up to your waste that's a mammoth case really cool big think it would be nicer if you used crystal link tubing

[Bobert]

Really nice build, but why are you going overkill on everything but the GPUs? I mean you have 2400 watts of power and 64gb of memory, of which you use under a fourth and then you have 7870? :o

 

To be 100% honest, because I do not do much gaming or intensive work anymore. I am extremely into building computers and aesthetics, but I have no need for anything more than dual 7870, at least for as far as I can see.I wanted a dual card setup for the aspects of filling up the board more, so I went with 2 mid-range guys. Sadly when I do have time for games now, I seem to be resorting back to some of my favorites like Warcraft 3 and Starcraft 2.

 I do agree though, if I could have squeezed a couple hundred more dollars, I would have gone dual 7950, which was the plan from the beginning. But there's alot more to it than meets the eye, so I won't get into that

 

i never really understood how big that case was until now i mean you look like a tall dude and the thing is nearly up to your waste that's a mammoth case really cool big think it would be nicer if you used crystal link tubing

 

Oddly enough, I did not end up in any of those pictures. The one guy you see is a long time friend that came to visit and built his computer at the same time. He is 6'1" so that comparison you saw is about right. Also seeing my cat on top of the box is a decent shot as well.

[Flechette1866]

The 900d is such a mammoth case, looks great!

[DinckelMan]

These custom wires...

So jelly

[Bobert]

The 900d is such a mammoth case, looks great!

 

Thanks! And yeah it is huge, it won't fit under my desk so it sits on top and towers everything..

 

These custom wires...

So jelly

 

They are a doozy to make but well worth it in the end!

[RJF049]

That leak made me cringe! The worst thing when anticipating finishing a rig!

I love this though, great job!

[Monty007]

Awesome!!  I can't believe you took it to a lan party!!  Your nuts!!  My 900d weighs about 95 lbs.