Project Razer

[Wintershrinkage]

Hey everyone, My name is Brandyn and for the last couple years I have always been wanting to make my own custom computer desk. So I present to you my custom black and green Razer water cooled desk. This computer will be used for 3D Design, 4K Video editing, Solidworks, Web Development, Graphic Design, and of course gaming. I wanted something that I can display to all my friend's and co-workers and something to show off my creative side. I started this project in April of this year(2015) and have been so busy with the girlfriend, work, and this project that I haven't really gotten around to doing this project until now. I was layed off from my job so lets just say I have lots of time on my hands now to get er' done 

So let's get this build guide started!


****NOTE: THERE ARE GOING TO BE LOADS OF PICTURES!!!!****
****NOTE 2: I don't remember all the dates of when I did all this steps so ill just list them in days!!!!****

Building Material's:
1/2" Baltic Birch
3/4" Baltic Birch
Epoxy
Hot Glue
Tons of wire
Tons of glue
Acrylic Plastic

Computer Hardware:
1 x Intel i7-5950K
1 x ASUS Rampage V Extreme
2 x G..Skill Ripjaws 4 Series 16GB PC4-24000 Quad Channel DDR4
2 x ASUS Titan X
2 x Kingston 120GB SSD
4 x Samsung 850 EVO 512GB SSD
2 x HGST 4TB HDD
1 x Corsair K70 Cherry Red Keyboard
1 x Razer Deathadder
1 x Corsair AX1200i
3 x ASUS ROG Swift
1 x Blu-Ray Writer
1 x Lamptron Fan Controller
14 x 120mm fans
1 x Triple monitor display stand

Watercooling Parts:
1 x Bitspower CPU Block
2 x Bitspower RAM Kit
2 x Bitspower HDD Blocks
3 x Bitspower Reservoirs
1 x A crap load of Bitspower waterfittings

This was after about a week on solidwork's trying to figure out how I wanted the desk to look and if it would hold the weight of all the components, 3 x monitors, and a whole lot of water.

Day 1 - Finally started to get some parts in the mail

Day 2 - Got even more parts in the mail

Day 3 - Got more parts in the mail

Day 4 - Went to the local Rona and picked up a few sheet's of 3/4" baltic birch and a sheet of 1/2" birch.


Day 4 - Getting the workshop ready for all the cutting and other things

Day 4 - After finalizing all the measurement's I made the first (kinda stressful as this wood is not cheap). So this will become the bottom of the desk

Day 4 - Did a quick mock up to make sure i would have enough room for everything

Day 5 - Marked out where I am going to have the center wall for all the water cooling fixing's and then made my cut.

Day 5 - Thought I would quickly put together the few piece's I have cut so far just to see how it all looked and made sure I had enough room

Day 5 - We cut a bunch of slot's in the wood to hold biscuit's so when it is glued together it will have a bit more strength to hold everything.

Day 6 - I thought I would take a day off from the desk and check out the Ergotech Triple Monitor Display Stand and wow is this thing ever nice

Don't worry I have lots more coming. I just have to go do a few more things on the desk 

[The Official Czex]

 

 

You can screenshot with PrtSc+Ctrl

 

But it looks cool, so I'll give it a follow.

[Wintershrinkage]

Day 6 - I wanted to unbox the monitor stand and see how it was and it is a pretty killer stand! At the time I had 2 x ASUS VN248-H monitors and in the middle I had a ASUS VG248QE and the stand was perfect. For this stand I am going to have to do some thinking as I don't want to have the massive feet showing on the desk and I don't want some bulk clamp so you will have to see what I come up with!

Day 7 - Just wanted to make sure everything was level since I don't want what ever surface I use for the top of the desk to rock back and forth when I game.


Day 7 - These next few days were long for me as it took a very long time too line everything up the way I wanted them to be and made sure everything was perfect. I found a 120mm fan template on the internet to use as cutout's and positioned them on the back wall where I wanted them. After a few hour's of double checking measurement's I finally got it right and was ready to cut.

Day 8-9 - Once I had the templates taped down, I got out the jigsaw and started to go to work. I took a while on the corner's as I didn't want the blade to grab and splinter the wood or go over my mark so it took a while.

Day 8-9 - After it was all done I wasn't very happy with how it looked as it wan't straight and smooth enough so I stapled 2 guides to the back wall, got out the router, and went to town.


Day 10 - Only able to work on the desk for a bit as I was going away for a while to do something I think. But I cut the top of the middle table and side portion's and gave them a test fit. This is where I will have the reservoir's and HDD Blocks.

Day 11 - This was after about 2 week's I finally was got back to working on it. I did a test fit with the biscuit's in the from and the back wall's as well as added everything else just to make sure everything was all square and the right size.

Day 12 - The company I used to work for had a CNC Machine in the basement so I asked if they could make me a razor logo. I designed the logo in SolidWork's, transfered it into Mastercam, made the toolpath's and voila you have the start of this! I am getting 2 of these done. 1 for the left leg and 1 for the right leg.

[The Official Czex]

Day 6 - I wanted to unbox the monitor stand and see how it was and it is a pretty killer stand! At the time I had 2 x ASUS VN248-H monitors and in the middle I had a ASUS VG248QE and the stand was perfect. For this stand I am going to have to do some thinking as I don't want to have the massive feet showing on the desk and I don't want some bulk clamp so you will have to see what I come up with!

Day 7 - Just wanted to make sure everything was level since I don't want what ever surface I use for the top of the desk to rock back and forth when I game.

Day 7 - These next few days were long for me as it took a very long time too line everything up the way I wanted them to be and made sure everything was perfect. I found a 120mm fan template on the internet to use as cutout's and positioned them on the back wall where I wanted them. After a few hour's of double checking measurement's I finally got it right and was ready to cut.

 

Day 8-9 - Once I had the templates taped down, I got out the jigsaw and started to go to work. I took a while on the corner's as I didn't want the blade to grab and splinter the wood or go over my mark so it took a while.

Day 8-9 - After it was all done I wasn't very happy with how it looked as it wan't straight and smooth enough so I stapled 2 guides to the back wall, got out the router, and went to town.

Day 10 - Only able to work on the desk for a bit as I was going away for a while to do something I think. But I cut the top of the middle table and side portion's and gave them a test fit. This is where I will have the reservoir's and HDD Blocks.

 

 

 

 

Day 11 - This was after about 2 week's I finally was got back to working on it. I did a test fit with the biscuit's in the from and the back wall's as well as added everything else just to make sure everything was all square and the right size.

 

 

 

Day 12 - The company I used to work for had a CNC Machine in the basement so I asked if they could make me a razor logo. I designed the logo in SolidWork's, transfered it into Mastercam, made the toolpath's and voila you have the start of this! I am getting 2 of these done. 1 for the left leg and 1 for the right leg.

 

Looking kickass! 

[Wintershrinkage]

Day 13 - I decided to start making the drill holes for the fan cutout's so I placed and lined up all the fans, marked them, got the drill press and drilled them all out.

Day 14 - After another couple of weeks and selling a few of my toys, these bad boys landed in the mail 

 

Got my Witcher 3 code 


The BEAST!!!!

[The Official Czex]

Day 13 - I decided to start making the drill holes for the fan cutout's so I placed and lined up all the fans, marked them, got the drill press and drilled them all out.

 

Day 14 - After another couple of weeks and selling a few of my toys, these bad boys landed in the mail 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Got my Witcher 3 code 

The BEAST!!!!

 

 

 

 

Wow. Just, wow!

[Wintershrinkage]

Wow. Just, wow!

And I am just getting started 

[The Official Czex]

And I am just getting started 

 

Why is no one else following this?! This is great!

[SPG]

are you going to paint the mobo? because red with a razer themed build seems odd

[Wintershrinkage]

are you going to paint the mobo? because red with a razer themed build seems odd

I am not to sure what I am going to do yet.  I think I am going to paint it UV Green tho.

[Wintershrinkage]

Day 15 - Started to work on the side panel's for the desk. I hate having wires showing everywhere and it always ends up in them being messy and getting all tangled. So my goal is to have all the cables build into the desk so that I don't have to worry about them hanging from the desk looking gross and what not. The only downside of course is that if I want to add any extra cables then I would have to have them showing. So to get around that I have decided to plan for the future and add everything I am wanting and probably going to want in the desk. So the wires that are going in the desk are: 2 x 14 awg power cables, 1 x CAT 6E, 1 x CAT 5E, and 2 x 16 awg wire (Positive and Negative Cables). 1 of the power cables are going to go to the PSU and the other is going to go to the 3 monitor's(more about that later). The 5E cable will be for internet and the 6E will be for the 10GBe connection that I will be putting in to connect to my future 10GBe web/file server.

 

[Wintershrinkage]

  Day 16 - So I had to find a way to mount all the pumps, reservoirs, HDD Blocks, SSD's, and Motherboard components, so I came up with this! I would show you the MasterCam/Solidwork drawings I did, buuuut yesterday my hard drive holding the files decided to go up in smoke  I went to a local water jet cutting company with the files and they were able to get these all cut out for me by the end of the day. I got a few cool things cut out but you will have to wait and see 

[The Official Czex]

  Day 16 - So I had to find a way to mount all the pumps, reservoirs, HDD Blocks, SSD's, and Motherboard components, so I came up with this! I would show you the MasterCam/Solidwork drawings I did, buuuut yesterday my hard drive holding the files decided to go up in smoke  I went to a local water jet cutting company with the files and they were able to get these all cut out for me by the end of the day. I got a few cool things cut out but you will have to wait and see 

 

 

 

 

Looks nice! 

[Wintershrinkage]

Day 17 - So at this point it is time to put everything that I have into the desk to see how everything fits. I have to make marking's of where to cut the holes for the through hole fittings, temperature sensor displays, motherboard cut out, and wire management grommet's.

[The Official Czex]

Day 17 - So at this point it is time to put everything that I have into the desk to see how everything fits. I have to make marking's of where to cut the holes for the through hole fittings, temperature sensor displays, motherboard cut out, and wire management grommet's.

 

Ooo, wow. That's looking nice, man!

[Wintershrinkage]

Day 18 - At this point it is time for me to start putting together some of the water cooling component's so I can use them to test fit thing's and figure out where on the middle panel I will need to drill the holes for the fitting's. So on the motherboard, I will have all the ram in universal housing's so they can go on a Bitspower RAM waterblock  I will also have a Bitspower CPU block, and 2 x EK GPU Blocks.

 

Warranty voided if remove they say...Whoops 

 

This part took a couple hour and a bit cause I had to use a heat gun to heat up the heatshinks on the RAM modules then slowly use my credit card to pry them open.  I was pretty nervous cause the amount of force you have to use to open these things up makes that stick really bend!

[Wintershrinkage]

[Wintershrinkage]

Day 19 - Now that all the RAM block's are done it is time to mount them, put the blocks on the GPU's and the CPU's.

 

Time to change up the black plexi terminal's on the gpu from black to clear!

 

Both clear plexi terminals on now.

 

[The Official Czex]

Day 19 - Now that all the RAM block's are done it is time to mount them, put the blocks on the GPU's and the CPU's.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Time to change up the black plexi terminal's on the gpu from black to clear!

 

 

Both clear plexi terminals on now.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Those fittings, tho... Looking like one sexy beast!

[Wintershrinkage]

Day 20 - After I got the motherboard side of things done, it was time for me to continue on to the middle and right section. The way my desk is going to be laid out is:
Left Section: Motherboard
Middle Section: Reservoir and HDD Blocks
Right Section: Pumps

These picture's are actually from before I got all the metal tray's made for each section. These wood tray's are what I used to mock up the design for the metal trays in the first place.


Placing the resevori's in to see how I want to orientate them and make sure they are all going to fit properly. (This took some time ).


My 4 x Alphacool pumps arrived in the mail so I was able to do some test fitting and do some rigid tube cutting to see how it was all going to look.

Thought I would test to see how the UV lighting reacted with the UV Green Dye!! Sorry for the poor focus 

 

[Wintershrinkage]

Day 21 - Time to cut more tubing and add more fitting's to the build so I can start to mark where I am going to start to drill my holes for the middle panel.

I tapped the cut out holes for the reservoir bracket's. So it is time to start putting on the clamp's so I can test fit the placement of the reservoir's. Hopefully I got all the measurement's correct 

Started to add some fitting's and tubing to the middle section

Finished up adding the fitting's to the right side. So that side is all ready to get marked up!


Right Section:

Left Section:

[Wintershrinkage]

Day 22 - Now that I have finished all the marking's of where I want all the holes to go for the fitting's I was ready to go to the next step. I marked the center of each whole with a pencil, got out the drill press and went to town! I started by drilling a tiny guide hole through all of the center marker's to use as a guide when using the special counter bit. I then used a 1" special counter bit to drill down 1/8" from the back side so the fitting nut would be flush when screwed in. After the 1" was counter bores were done I took a 7/8" special counter bit to go all the way through the wood to allow the fitting to fit inside the wood.

This image is supposed to be of the fitting sitting flush with the wood but this was my first attempt at it. You will have to wait to see later in the build guide of it sitting flush with the wood:thumb:

3 x cut out's for the temperture sensor display's

[Wintershrinkage]

Day 23 - Decided to take everything out of the desk and put it all back in with the middle panel to confirm all the holes where in there right place. It turned out great and exactly where I wanted them all!

[Wintershrinkage]

Day 24 - Once I was I saw all the wires sticking out of the back of the pumps, I decided I needed to do something to make them look better and hide the cables.  So I bought some Bitspower end caps that are supposed to only go on the back of Bitspower pumps and not Alphacool pumps, so I had to come up with something to allow them to fit on the back of the pumps.

 

After some thinking I came up with this!  I traced the shape of the pump backing and the inside of the pump end cap, cut it out of 1/2" wood and this is what you are left with

 

It now fit's perfect on the end cap and can be easily removed.

[SPG]

will you be sleeving or paining the cables on the pumps?