[Project Log] Black and White maybe a bit (50) of grey

Hi guys,

First off, I need to apologise for my potato English as it is not my first language. If I make any mistake, feel free to correct me.

So, my initial idea was about building a Black and White system, just Black and White. It started nearly over a year ago when I first saw the Gigabyte Z97 black edition and Kingston hyperX fury RAM series. Then my idea grew a bit more when I saw Asus demonstrated their Asus Z97 Sabranco, now is known as Asus Z97 Mark S,. At that point of time, these were the components I had in my mind:

1. Asus Z97 Sabertooth Mark S
2. Kingston HyperX Fury
3. KFA2 GTX 780 Hall of Fame SLI (GTX 900 HOF was not announced yet)
4. Superflower white PSU
5. Some random cases and CPU cooler which I was not so sure. I was indifferent between Corsair 750D or Lianli PC V2000, but there are too many points which I don't really like about them still now. I also have a thought about Inwin Tou but its cost was so big.

I was changing my system like almost every month, mostly because I was trying to find a good combination of hardware which can make a unique look. I changed from the yellow composition of Avexir Blitz Mpower edition + MSI Mpower Z87 to a black/grey composition of Corsair Dominator Platinum + Asus Z97 AR during March - June last year. Before that I also tried traditional Black and Red composition of Gskill Ripijaw RAM + Asus Rampage IV Extreme/Formula but I found out that it was just too mainstream. Not enough style points for me.
Here are some photos of my journey.




Good thing when I switched to Corsair Dominator was that I knew it looks much more better than just plain white. That (50) shade of grey is an excellent transition between Black and White. So my idea grew up a bit more. Kingston fury was/is out of my game, other components stayed the same. Then Asus announced the Asus X99 Deluxe/S, I knew something in my mind has changed. Around, October or something last year, Asus announced the Asus Z97 Mark S to the market as well as the introduction of GTX 900 series Hall of Fame from Galax. I was so happy. But after observed some detailed photos of the Mark S, I quickly became very disappointed. Maybe it has a premium price but I see no premium in that series also the maximum CPU cores can be archived with socket 1150 are 4 so I decided to move on to Asus X99-S which has much more potential to upgrade later on.

My mind has an upgraded as follow:
1. Asus X99-S
2. i7 5820K
3. Corsair Dominator Platinum
4. Galax GTX 970 HOF SLI
5. Superflower 1000w platinum white (or Seasonic Snow white 1050w)
6. Random cooler
7. Undecided case

So what I needed was a case that suits the above components. I found no case that satisfies my preferences. They all have flaws, uncomfortable/unadjustable flaws. Then a friend of my suggested CaseLabs. I had look on their range. 10 minutes later, I knew the way to go was Caselabs SM8 Black and White customised. So I ordered it. It took more than a month to arrive to the UK.



Time to replace my old inwin 904.


Who can say no to this kind of clearance and interior design really?


So I built it based on Air cooler first while waiting for other parts to arrive.








Best feeling?


Finished


Not much to say since it is just air cooling.

Some adjustments to the cables with the help of OverclockersUK's E22 Cable Combs.

Now is the interesting part.

This is my first ever watercooling system. I has been around building customised computer since I was 14-15. My first ever PC built by me was Core 2 Duo E6320 + ASUS P5B VM DO but I have never tried watercooling before. The closest I got to water is a closed loop Silverstone TD03 All in one watercooling kit. That was the main reason I didn't create a build log sooner. I was so afraid of that I could not live up to the expectation after I saw so many many extraordinary build logs with bent hard tube. This project, I want to use bent hard tubes, multiple rads, paralleled GPU flow config, tube reservoir.

So here are the final watercooling specs I use for this project:

1. EKwb Coolstream PE 480mm x1
2. EKwb Coolstream PE 360mm x1
3. EKwb Coolstream PE 120mm x1
4. EKwb Supremacy EVO (Original CSQ) Nickel Plexi x1
5. Diamond Cooling GTX 900 series GPU full waterblock x2 (GTX 980 HOF and GTX 970 HOF share the same PCB design)
6. Parvum system F1 White x8
7. Monsoon Rotary fitting 90 degree 13/10 x13
8. Primochill Revolver White 13/10 x20
9. Bitspower Mini Valve
10. Bitspower 1/4" Thread 7.5mm Extension Socket Deluxe White x2
11. Primochill CTR Phase 2 240mm D5 enabled tube Reservoir
12. EK D5 pwm pump
13. Mayhem Ice White

The block has arrived. Have to say they are really nice and individual hand-tested before shipping out.






PCB of GTX 970 Hall of Fame with tremendous 8+2 phase.


Samsung IC ofc.




assembled card


Visible PCB for maximum style points




Trying out with Mayhem Ice White Coolant


The composition of Monsoon + Primochill + Diamond Cooling block




I have to say, the original cooler is a gem.






Most of the watercooling parts are here. Some already got assembled to the case.






Rads bois


Fan boy?


The CPU Block. EK is nice.


Asembled


With RAM




My initial idea was to use 45 degree rotary fittings but later on I found out that 90 degree in this case is more suitable. But I still want to share how the process processes in my processing head. Too many puns.






Assembling the 480 rad and fans to the drop off section on top. Not even sure what I am trying to say here.


From my perspective, watercooling is not only about cooling down things, but also about aesthetic. That is why Gentle Typhoon, or EK Vandar fails miserably in my eye. But anyways, let's move on.
As you can see from the picture below, my fittings don't fit the upper holes of the 2nd card. The block is simply too short in that particular angle. I need to use 2 Bitspower 1/4" extension fittings for that position as you will see later on.


I had to make screws holes for the Primochill tube reservoir. Do you know what is the similar between watching "Catch me if you can" and drilling holes a £500 case? --- Same thrill.
Luckily, they provide a ruler-ish to calculate where to drill which is nice.


First hole was/is the most difficult. Still true in every aspects of my life.


But anyways, what need to be done, will eventually be done.




My first bent tube. It was fun, I messed up quite a few but so worth the effort.




The CPU are is done I guess.






I also got a good deal from a friend for an i7 5960x while cherry picking some i7 5820K.


This two little tubes are used to connect 2 GPU blocks.


As you can see, I need to use 2 bitspower extension 7.5mm in this case.


Looks fine I guess. I haven't done leak testing yet, so no idea how this will turn out.






I think the founder of SuperFlower was trying to write SuperPower but he messed up somehow. My unproven theory.




180 degree no scope.


A friend of mine made this for me following my girlfriend's design. I like cat.










There are still some parts on order, I can't continue. So far, That is it. This is my first watercooling project ever so mistakes are unavoidable. Fee free correct me as well as ask me any question you have.

Thank you guys for spending time with me. Thank you OverclockersUK for providing most the the parts I use as well as exceptional good service. I appreciate all that. I really do.

Reserved one more post. Sorry guys, any question please feel free to ask me.

Beautiful. Almost drooling here.

looking nice, quite like the GPU Blocks.

Looking great Danny! And your potatoe-English is just as much potatoe as mine.

Subbed for sure!

Very nice! Well done sir.

Somehow this is the first time I have noticed how good looking that RAM is.

Lovely build and nice write up too : )

Any reason for the extensions between the gpu blocks?

McGraw said:

Beautiful. Almost drooling here.

Click to expand...

Thanks man

Mads1 said:

looking nice, quite like the GPU Blocks.

Click to expand...

They are very very nice!

Hukkel said:

Looking great Danny! And your potatoe-English is just as much potatoe as mine.

Subbed for sure!

Click to expand...

Thanks brotha

C35799Gamble said:

Very nice! Well done sir.

Somehow this is the first time I have noticed how good looking that RAM is.

Click to expand...

Best thing about this ram is that it blends into the build very well. Other white rams seem trying too hard to stand out which destroy the whole theme.

Uncle Petey said:

Lovely build and nice write up too : )

Any reason for the extensions between the gpu blocks?

Click to expand...

the 1/4" holes of the block in that particular position only accept 8mm or less diameter fittings. Primochill revolver fitting has a very large housing as you can see from this picture here.
Thanks for your compliment!

Ah, I see.
Oh well, still looks great and I also like that you went with some very interesting and relatively unknown blocks too. They do help to set it apart.

Now, that is sleek as ****!

that is seriously one sexy build!

wish i had the creatiovity to make something so good looking, or the nerve to go watercooled

Hows the GPU plumbed?
It looks like it be parallel while the rest of the loop runs serial?

stunning design & build, lot of thought & prep obviously gone into this

That's some serious work! Stunning job!

That's glorious! Cannot wait to see more of this build.

er ma gawddd! This is gorgeous! I need to make something like this! Amazeballs

Cracking build progress.

I love bent tubing, looks so much nicer and uniformed.

Very impressed with your photography! This is a beautiful build log.

Luggs said:

stunning design & build, lot of thought & prep obviously gone into this

Click to expand...

snips86x said:

That's some serious work! Stunning job!

Click to expand...

chrismelling said:

That's glorious! Cannot wait to see more of this build.

Click to expand...

skaif said:

er ma gawddd! This is gorgeous! I need to make something like this! Amazeballs

Click to expand...

JOSH86 said:

Cracking build progress.

I love bent tubing, looks so much nicer and uniformed.

Click to expand...

Thanks a lot guys!