A Window To Wales

[OJ46]

Thank you for attempting to break my sanity and give me third degree burns on my fingers, now I'll take all that into account and possibly decide to give it ago myself... Especially as you have given me someone to blame for the headaches & burns!

Think it's one of those things that if I don't give it a go I'll always wish I had, just feels a bit lazy getting someone to do it when it's supposed to be a PC built by myself but then I'd also like it to look good, and not sure I'd get a decent end result. Hmmmm, think I'll wait and see how bad I am at bending PETG first

 

[OJ46]

Might have to wait until Cardiff actually win a game of football, get the patience levels back to a point where I stand a chance of not throwing the heat gun out the window

There will definitely be some posts in the watercooling section of the forum asking for tips on compatible brands etc when the time finally comes, but as it won't be until next year I'm trying to push all thoughts of what could go wrong to the back of my mind for now, got too many hurdles like light boxes, painting etc need jumping before the important things like actually making it work come into play

 

[OJ46]

Yeah Monsoon use imperial sizes don't they? That's what was worrying me, accidentally end up buying metric tubing and imperial fittings! Was also looking at Barrow fittings, any idea if their fittings & cord are a good fit with the EK PETG tubing?

 

[OJ46]

Cracking news, will order a few fittings when the case arrives and check em out. Was planning on using soft tubing for the hidden bits but the more I think about it the more I'm siding with using it to practice with the hard tube...

 

[OJ46]

Awesome, looks like I'll be grabbing a few off the 'bay ready to plumb the bottom 2 radiators in then. Cheers guys

 

[OJ46]

Cheers Mads, it's a bit more standard than your current build but still hoping I can do it justice, more pressure not to balls it up when they've custom designed it for ya!

Will definitely be keeping a close eye on Kinetic Energy for ideas to 'borrow' but hoping I'll manage to come up with a few new ideas myself, as long as the coffee doesn't run out

 

[OJ46]

BREAKING NEWS: THE DRAGON HAS ENTERED THE BUILDING!

No, the misses and/or mother is not stood behind me, this lovely chunk of redness, the beast for the middle of the flag, was just hand delivered by Jeff, the best fake Santa that DPD possess

The most exciting of photos first... THE BOX!

Mounting hardware. Only one thing bothered me here - Why include white LED's when 99% of people buying the red block will be using red LED's? A small oversight, but a bit of a daft one.

Now for a few of the actual block...

Must admit I was worried about the colour as it doesn't look that nice on the website. Luckily I was worrying over nothing, it looks waaaay better in person than on the site and I hope these photos show just how much more of a deep red it actually is!

One of the main reasons I chose the XSPC apart from the design and colour? I'll be rotating the block 180°, and with this block / mounting hardware the writing & logos can be kept the correct way up. A small touch, but a nice one

Meant to turn the block upside down for this one. Forgot. Muppet.

The parts I've managed to accumulate so far,...

Spoiler

2 x XSPC RX360 radiators
2 x Monsoon pump covers
1 x Aqua Computer D5
6 x Akasa Piranha fans
3 x Phanteks fans (from old case)
1 x Corsair fan (probably won't be used)
3 x Monsoon 90° fittings
1 x Monsoon 45° fitting
1 x Aqua Computer RGB LED module
1 x Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut
Numerous Monsoon MMRS reservoir parts, heatsink for M.2, plugs for rad / res ports, fan extensions etc

Soooo, not a single actual component or a case to put any of it in, but getting there slowly

 

[OJ46]

Haha don't go giving me any daft ideas, another few weeks waiting for the case and they'll get tempting...

 

[OJ46]

So, it's another minuscule update... Sorry guys, told you it was gonna be a slow one!

Ordered an insert ready for when the bending commences (before I forgot what Cenedd told me to get!), and some of the Barrow fittings I'll be needing, just to see what the quality is like before ordering even more...

Must say, first impressions are very good. Nice packaging, decent quality, fair pricing and looks wise they're bang on, with no stupidly massive logos plastered all over them

But on to the main question: How do the blood red ones look when used as the eyes of the beast? I'm going with 'very well', but make your own judgements on that one from the photo's below

Tubing going into these will be Pastel Ice White, with all tubing 12mm PETG. Reckon it should look pretty nice with the block lit by red LED's and the whole case subtly lit (HOPEFULLY!) with light boxes

 

[OJ46]

Haha yeah, the one red is definitely slightly more that sort of red, while the different red is a bit more different red than the first type of red... Any women care to jump in and help?!

I reckon once the block has the LED's in the glow / glare they provide will make it barely noticeable unless you go looking for it. That's the hope anyway

 

[OJ46]

Right, it's looking like finding decent quality green LED fans is going to be impossible (I need 2 for the front intake) so I might have to look at making some myself...
Anyone know how easy / difficult it would be to replace the LED's in one of these with green ones, as these would look perfect if only they were available in green
Any tips would be greatly appreciated before I murder a couple of fairly expensive fans

My basket at Overclockers UK:

• 1 x Corsair ML120 Pro LED White 120mm Premium Magnetic Levitation Fan= £19.99

​

 

[OJ46]

Main problem is I want a fan that will run PWM at very low speeds. All seem to be non PWM and high speed / noisy fans, but the Corsair would have been absolutely perfect had it been green

 

[OJ46]

Was hoping to have all fans PWM running off a pair of Aquaero 6's, CPU loop off one and GPU off the other. So don't technically need them to be PWM but be better if they were
Can't find an SP 120 LED PWM anywhere, only the non LED version

 

[OJ46]

Cheers Cenedd, looks like I'll be pulling one apart and ordering some filters then if I do go for those fans, certainly sounds the safer option and as you say, also allows slight colour changes until it's bang on

 

[OJ46]

Current plan is for 1 Aquaero to run the CPU loop of D5 pump, 7 fans and temp sensor + possible flow sensor and then the 2nd one to run GPU loop (same minus 1 fan). Massive overkill I know but liking the thought of 2 completely separate set-ups and also think it could look quite good

Was thinking front rad + top rad having a header each on Aquaero 1 and then bottom rad in + bottom rad out having one each on Aquaero 2

Yep, all for the massively OTT watercooling LePhuronn. Never even thought about the ol' sweet wrapper trick haha was looking at using window tint film for another part of the project but guessing that could also be used... Cheers for all the advice guys

 

[OJ46]

GOOD NEWS: Another delivery, this time a heat gun and some PETG tubing.

BAD NEWS: The back of the van must have been rather warm, as the PETG tubing has gone a tad limp...

 

[OJ46]

I'm getting worried now, you of all people telling me not to go overkill?! Haha just thought it would look better and be more interesting to set it up with dual Aquaero's tbh, and quite liked the idea of keeping the 2 loops completely separate even though it's not really necessary... You know what it's like, why do it the easy way when there's always a more complicated route to take?!

It is indeed soft tubing, even though the invoice is correct and clearly states it should be EK PETG. Never mind, filled in a Webform so now to just sit back and wait for parcel number 2 to arrive, hopefully with some non flaccid tubing

Edit: Hang on, bought the gloves?! Don't be silly, they were an unnecessary item included with the heat gun and will probably be lost long before the bending of tubing starts

 

[OJ46]

That's very true, especially as the whole Aqua Computer set up can be far more complicated and confusing than is necessary. Made even worse by the fact they don't even include the correct cables with the hardware they're selling!
This one is definitely a deliberate OTT build though, not sure anyone has ever 'needed' a custom case, 1560mm of radiator space, dual hardline loops or twin Aquaero's but hey, if it can be done then it should be done, right?!

Haha give it a few weeks and I'll be praying I'd kept the easy-bending stuff!

In more good news I now know what the missus has ordered me for my birthday: A Silhouette Portrait so I can do some custom vinyl! And even better, it's going to be here early... Now I just need to intercept the postman and accidentally open it

 

[OJ46]

They were from a well know Barrow seller on eBay, very good service and I'm impressed with the quality of the fittings, seem just as good as the Monsoon ones I've used previously. Once OcUK replace the soft tubing with the EK PETG I'll give it a go and let you know

 

[OJ46]

Cheers, there'll definitely be a few Marmite moments design wise once the case arrives (especially regarding loop design...) but hopefully I won't be the only one that likes it!