Benchy McBenchface - The ultimate test bench build

[p0Pe]

 

Hello guys and girls! Time for a new worklog, and this time with a bit of a strange "case". I was approached by the guys from OPENBENCHTABLE a while back, asking if I wanted to try out their new test bench, and from there things ended up as "how much stuff can I put onto this poor thing"

 

Teaser:

 

So without further ado, lets get started shall we!

 

 

Specs: 

• Mobo: ASUS ZENITH EXTREME X399 
• GPU: 2 x ASUS ROG POSEIDON 1080ti 
• CPU: AMD RYZEN THREADRIPPER 1950X
• RAM: CORSAIR DOMINATOR PLATINUM 64 GB 3200 MHZ 
• SSD: 2 X CORSAIR MP500 480 GB M.2 
• PSU: CORSAIR RM1000X 
• CASE: OPENBENCHTABLE BC1

 

The "case" comes with a nifty little carying sleeve as it was built to be transported around easily.

 

 

Being a huge fan of proper design and manufacturing, the nature of this test bench just really appealed to me.

 

 

Milled from solid aluminium and anodized, this thing comes flatpacked and takes up very little space. The idea behind the bench was for it to be easy to carry around, and I will try and make this mod true to that philosophy by making it as transportable and small as I can.

 

 

The legs of the bench is screwed onto the main piece and can easily be removed, and mounted on the actual test bench.

 

 

The legs also has the double function of working as a bracket for the PSU.

 

 

Fully assembled this "case" does not take up much more space than a mini itx case.

 

 

The choice of board was the ZENITH EXTREME from ASUS. I knew I wanted to try a threadripper build, and this seemed like a really solid board.

 

 

I have populated the Dimm.2 doughter board with two m.2 ssd's from CORSAIR. The board is quite a bit bigger than the actual bench in the width, but I will modify the bench so this will not be a visual problem.

 

 

Rear "shield" with built in LED's

 

 

Not too many fancy colors, which suits me well.

 

More soon!

 

[79wjd]

Needs more benches. 

[just_dave]

Damn. I clicked this random and i don't regret.

Very interesting and amazing.

[AperumDesign]

Just needed to see that blueprint at the top to realise the great p0pe was back at work. This should be a really interesting build for a very interesting test bench product. I'm eager to see the direction this one takes with the distribution manifold.

[wackomann]

Super satisfying tones and photos! 

[p0Pe]

On 28/10/2017 at 10:21 PM, djdwosk97 said:

Needs more benches. 

I could take some pictures of it on a bench?

On 28/10/2017 at 10:25 PM, dave_k said:

Damn. I clicked this random and i don't regret.

Very interesting and amazing.

It will only get better, so stay tuned:D

On 28/10/2017 at 10:50 PM, AperumDesign said:

Just needed to see that blueprint at the top to realise the great p0pe was back at work. This should be a really interesting build for a very interesting test bench product. I'm eager to see the direction this one takes with the distribution manifold.

It started out as a simple build just to try out threadripper, but I could not help myself, and made a distro plate for it, and there will also be a surprise regarding the radiator placement:D

On 29/10/2017 at 3:52 AM, wackomann said:

Super satisfying tones and photos! 

Thanks! More will come soon! I have a bunch of pictures I want to show before I head off to Cambodia for 2 weeks of sweet, sweet vacation!

[p0Pe]

Time for some CPU pron!

 

 

I must say that AMD has outdone themself with the packaging of the threadripper boxes. Never have I had so much fun taking pictures of a CPU box.

 

 

It is completely overkill and probably a waste of materials, but dammit it looks good, and will be a great addition to my shelf with unique hardware throughout the time.

 

 

Once you get the styrofoam off, the rest of the box is plastic.

 

 

POWAR

 

 

Had to go trough quite a few hoops to get this thing open.

 

 

Belly of the beast. I will not be using the orange bracket when mounting the CPU as it clashes completely with the color scheme. Even though it will not be visible under the monoblock I will be putting in, I will still know it is there.

 

 

So many pins to potentially bend!

 

 

Carefully mounted.

 

 

And all in place. This CPU will come in handy with the programs I work with. I am gonna punish them cores!

[p0Pe]

Guess who managed to snatch the X399 ZENITH EXTREME monoblock prototype from EK's heasquarter:D This is the only sample currently available of this block!

 

[IAmOctonaut]

omg, this looks awesome! 

[The Benjamins]

On 11/1/2017 at 4:53 PM, p0Pe said:

Guess who managed to snatch the X399 ZENITH EXTREME monoblock prototype from EK's heasquarter:D This is the only sample currently available of this block!

 

 

I heard EK X399 block preform 15-20c worse then the XSPC Blcok at 4Ghz, would love to see your temp results later on.

[potoooooooo]

On 11/6/2017 at 9:36 AM, The Benjamins said:

I heard EK X399 block preform 15-20c worse then the XSPC Blcok at 4Ghz, would love to see your temp results later on.

Yup. They made the heat plate bigger, but the cheapskates didn't actually add any more micro channels. They got all that good press for having the first real TR4 block, turns out it was all a lie.

[NoobCase]

dis gonna be gooooood!

[p0Pe]

On 2/11/2017 at 1:47 AM, IAmOctonaut said:

omg, this looks awesome! 

Thanks! It will only get better I promise!

On 6/11/2017 at 3:36 PM, The Benjamins said:

I heard EK X399 block preform 15-20c worse then the XSPC Blcok at 4Ghz, would love to see your temp results later on.

I know it performs worse, but the tests I have seen shows around 5-8 degrees difference with a small radiator. I plan on using a big radiator:D But I will let you know! Sadly I do not have an xspc block to compare with

On 8/11/2017 at 1:57 AM, potoooooooo said:

Yup. They made the heat plate bigger, but the cheapskates didn't actually add any more micro channels. They got all that good press for having the first real TR4 block, turns out it was all a lie.

Well, it was not a lie, they just cut some corners:P

On 8/11/2017 at 9:48 PM, NoobCase said:

dis gonna be gooooood!

Oh you know it!

 

Third update in the Benchy McBenchface saga. This time I will be looking at the RAM and SSD's I will be putting into this build.

 

 

RAM and SSD choice. I will be using an external file storage solution, so I just needed some stupid fast main drives. My plan is to RAID up the two m.2 drives to see how that will work out.

 

 

It should be quite a challenge to get 64 gb of 3200 mhz ram to work with the motherboard and cpu, but 32 gb was not enough, and 8 sticks just looks so much better than 4!

 

 

Unboxed. I have absolutely no intentions of using the huge cooler the ram comes with.

 

 

More ram.

 

 

More!

 

 

MOAR!

 

 

As mentioned earlier, the SSD's are mounted on this dimm.2 board as they call it. Still not entirely sure if I like the looks of this or not.

[Urishima]

On 28.10.2017 at 10:21 PM, djdwosk97 said:

Needs more benches. 

SHOW ME YOUR BENCH FACE!

 

[BeardRex]

Me likie!

[p0Pe]

On 15/11/2017 at 10:31 AM, Urishima said:

SHOW ME YOUR BENCH FACE!

 

 

Looks like his nose is exploding out to the sides.

 

On 15/11/2017 at 11:20 AM, BeardRex said:

Me likie!

 

Glad you do!

 

 

So, time to get these ssd's under some serious heatspreaders!

 

 

One mounted, one to go

 

 

Let's get them onto the DIMM.2 board.

 

 

What is this now... Why will it not go all the way down?

 

 

Goddammit.jpg

 

 

I have to cut off some of the bottom plate for this thing to fit. The extra size that the heatspreader adds conflicts with some of the elements on the DIMM.2 board

 

 

Mounted in a jig, and tools ready to go.

 

 

After I cut off the end, I filed it down with a small precision file.

 

 

And then repainted the end black.

 

 

Stock, and modified cooler. There is no chips in the place, so cooling will not be affected.

 

 

Very hard to see if you do not know it has been done.

[p0Pe]

Time for some graphic cards!

 

 

I kinda fell in love with the look of the 1080ti poseidon cards, so I decided to try them out for this build!

 

 

I normally tear off the stock coolers first thing when I get a graphic card so I can get a waterblock mounted, but these comes pre-installed with blocks.

 

 

More FPS, more power bill yay.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Since I am quite pressed for time on this project, updates might be a bit "quick" with just a bunch of photo's. I hope you do not mind too much (who reads boring text anyways).

[KrZaj]

13 hours ago, p0Pe said:

who reads boring text anyways

Exactly. I'm here for the eyecandy

 

Looks really nice so far!

[p0Pe]

On 21/11/2017 at 7:58 AM, KrZaj said:

Exactly. I'm here for the eyecandy

 

Looks really nice so far!

Then you might enjoy this teaser:D

 

[p0Pe]

Tactical error post! New one will come:D

[p0Pe]

So excited to show this thing! I waited a bit with these pictures as I wanted to keep the entire mod a bit of a secret for Dreamhack Winter where I won first place in the casemodding competition with it. 

This block is one of the most complicated distro blocks I have done. It is made from 2 pieces of 25 mm acrylic, and some 5 mm acrylic, as well as some custom alu parts. 

The two 25 mm pieces switches in level where the pumps are placed so that I could avoid making 3 separate pieces, and keep the plate even more simplistic. 
The plate also has some recessed M20 threads that fits the bitspower fillports. That way the real fittings will never stress the distro block, and swapping out fittings can be done with ease.

Picture of the final distro block assembled.

The solid chunks of material that was used for this mod.

heavy pieces!

This picture shows the top and bottom, where the top has been completely sanded down with grid 400-2500 and then polished, while the bottom is as it comes directly from the CNC. I spent more than 10 hours sanding and polishing these pieces.

This picture shows the top and bottom, where the top has been completely sanded down with grid 400-2500 and then polished, while the bottom is as it comes directly from the CNC. I spent more than 10 hours sanding and polishing these pieces.

This is how the bottom part looks after sanding with grid 2500. From here it will be polished 2 times, and then rubbed in some finishing spray.

The M20 threads that will hold the fillports.

And this picture shows the switch in level on the pieces.

O-rings are all bought to size, and fitted into the channels so I did not have to glue them together.

How the 2 plates looks put together.

How the 2 plates looks put together.

2 fillports mounted, and one fitting mounted into one of them. I also test mounted the Openbenchtable

How it looks assembled.

And the lovely monoblock for the zenith extreme.

The 5 mm piece on the bottom was needed to connect the fluid channels from the pumps and further into the distro plate.

These two fillports was not recessed as I needed the extra hight.

Final piece.

These are some of the custom aluminium parts that is going into the build as well. These have been milled, and then sand blasted, and will later on be anodized.

The funny shape of this piece will be explained in a later update.

[KrMaH]

damn this is sexy!

[p0Pe]

On 6/12/2017 at 3:41 PM, KrMaH said:

damn this is sexy!

Thanks man! I also sanded so much that my fingers hurt for days

[Damascus]

Wow, i must say that your mods have been a source of awe to me ever since that first slow, trippy sounding music played over glorious custom kit.  Followed!

[p0Pe]

On 11/12/2017 at 10:13 AM, Damascus said:

Wow, i must say that your mods have been a source of awe to me ever since that first slow, trippy sounding music played over glorious custom kit.  Followed!

Haha good old Project N.V. Lots of videos has been added to my youtube since then, so be sure to give it a look and a subscription:D

 

https://www.youtube.com/user/metap0Pe

 

So this update will be quite rough and unedited unlike most of the other updates, and will give you a view of what goes on "behind the scenes" since everything is not always all tidy and clean when doing builds.

First off I started with mounting the custom alu cable combs I showed off in a previous update (I think). These mounts with two countersunk M4 from the bottom of the bench table.

I claimed the dining table while making this as I ran out of space on the other 3 tables

Pressure testing the huge distribution block to make sure everything was OK before putting it onto the bench.

Testing out the cable comb. Worked as a charm!

Fast forward LOTS of hours, and lots of sleeving, this is the result.

All the cables has a lot of cable combs to train them into position, and are being routed around, and under the bench table where they will meet up with the PSU.

Pulling them down, and then cutting them to length. If you have not yet seen my video of how to make these cables, check it out here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-xk86Iebco&t

More cutting to length.

With all the cables done, I just need to splice them. I normally use the HXi power supply since that only has a single cable that has to be spliced on the 24 pin. This one has 4! I really hope corsair release a 1:1 schematic PSU at some point.

And now, how to properly sleeve a D5 pump. Step one, use a knife to open the lid.

Step 2, drill out the lid hole to around 7 mm.

Sleeve the cables, and pull the lid back down. It is important that you burn the sleeving ends as this will prevent the sleeving from just being pulled out of the hole.

Looking like this from the other side. Doing it right will make sure that the cables are never pulled out.

Jobs done!

Testing fluid color to see if it will work the rest of the build.

Final cable set. Not the cleanest since it does not go 1:1, but I am pretty happy with it.

Mounted, and routed under the table.

With hardware installed. The cable combs are temporary to train the cables.

Ready to mount the distro plate. It is quite simple as it just mounts with 4 screws onto the bench table.

The parts I showed in a previous update. This mountes to the bench table legs, and acts as a holder for the QD fittings. The fittings are recessed into the milled plate.

Very short tube runs on the other side.

The QD's then mounts to two 90 degree angle fittings, and up directly into the distro plate.

Cables and distro plate mounted!

Now, I needed something to hold the pumps to the distro plate, and did not want to use 2 stock EK brackets, so I made my own dual version.

And how that thing mounts. I ended up countersinking the holes so it matches the rest.