Blackhawk (upside) Down

[JohnSitka]

Hi,

 

Haven't built a custom loop since 2001, but I ended up with a bunch of 2011 parts that I couldn't sell so I decided to do something with them for myself. Was shopping cases, and the one that I really liked were some of the Mountain Mods modular ones, but couldn't let a Rosewill Blackhawk Ultra go to waste. Got some XSPC water cooling gear and decided to try something. I inverted the Ultra. and it is coming along pretty good only put a half hour into it each odd evening. I'll follow with a few pics and specs over the next couple weeks. but as a teaser I'll include one

[piplupgao]

Dat camera

[gastew15]

I would like to say that as a butt hurt American citizen, I find this title extremely offensive... Not that I really do at all,not to mention since it happened before I was born.. Anywho, looks like it's pretty cool, so I'm looking forward to more pictures of the build, and well, I find the inverted builds interesting.

[JohnSitka]

Camera is rarely the problem, lighting counts.

 

I mean the title in the pure Hollywood sense of a play on words, nothing conflict at all, a play on BF3 glitch, just consumerism.

 

Anyways, weekend coming, hope to contribute some of the history of this build and the road to whatever it may become.

[JohnSitka]

Been waiting on some DazMode (good experience since an error was made and they covered it, I wasn't in a rush) PCIes, 8pin and 24 pin extenders. They have a slight UV blue to them, couldn't really move on from just a shell until I got those.

 

Spent some time Thursday night and can envision the Stage 3 mod finished now, massive cable management to be done. Wish the Blackhawk Ultra had 1/4 inch more space behind the mobo. 

 

here is the build sheet..

 

gigabyte x79-ud5
3930k
gskill ares 8 X 4GB 1866
GTX 670 EVGA superclock 4 gig
2 X OCZ Max iops 240GB
500gig 2.5inch WD black(for imaging)
gigabyte BT/WLAN adapter
XSPC RX360 750 Razor kit
XSPC NVIDIA 670 Full cover GPU and backplate
3 X Gelid wing UV blue 140 fans
8 X Gelid wing UV blue 120 fans
Sunbeam Rheostat fan controller
logisys 2 X UV dual cold cathode kits
lg BluRay
XFX 1250 XXX PSU
bose companion5 usb speakers (the whole reason i have these parts, bad USB cable made the system unstable while testing it to sell)
lg 4700 tv

 

 

no new pics until I get some daylight. hopefully this weekend.

[JohnSitka]

I guess the main reason for this existing is inverting the Blackhawk case.

 

the wire mesh was cut out from in front of the fans

 

the cold cathodes glow the front fans real nice and even

 

the blues and uv match a lot better in person than in the pics , I'll try and get it outside of the shack one day and into daylight and see if things even out. 

 

wasted so much time with this board, Nvidia TDR error and other issues for a long while until I took out 4 of 8 ram sticks.

 

[JohnSitka]

Well this has been an adventure. I can't even describe how many hours (years) I have into this build. Not only because it was repurposed so many times, but because of one major failing...

 

That is...

 

the...

 

Gigabyte x79 ud5.

 

I just swapped out for a Asrock extreme6 (because of the brilliant inverted cooling loop in the Blackhawk (upside) Down I didn't have to bleed); and after a sysprep on a OCZ 240 maxiops the AsRock came to life. No issue, no driver install nothing, Windows 8 had all native for the transition. I'm done with Gigabyte and I've used so many for so long. I use a UP5 at work and it has been a headache as well. So the UD5 is going RMA for the second time with a disappointed letter. I will not build in it again unless some of the old timey bios and driver updates continue to be provided. That is what I used to love about Gigabyte. They supported their products over years and re use always seemed at hand. But right now I'm done. Maybe a couple years before a new highend build for me but at that time it will not be gigabyte. MSI has my vote. That last gen laptop has been amazing GT780. 

 

So the major issues with the UD5 were,...

 

Could not get stable with 8 dims,

the USB interrupts or connectivity were always an issue, I've tried three different wireless mice because of the cut outs.