This Wasn't Supposed To Be a Project...

Soldato
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Ok so i'm not dead... I hath returned and been making some purchases!

Firstly, I confess the build i'm working with was a 'temporary' case due to life just getting in the way of ever finishing my big build which you can read about here. I did a lazy job of the temporary solution, I just did the quick not the OCD ideal of everything so forgive me for my sins ;).

The kit:

1. 9800X3d CPU (link)
2. Asus Strix 870-E Motherboard (link)
3. 32GB Corsair Dominator Titanium DDR5 (link)

And in true OCUK fashion this shopping list escalated... It now includes:

4. Asus Strix 1200W PSU (link)
5. Nvidia 5080 GPU (Reference)
6. Artic Freezer III Pro 360mm AIO (link)

Case: Lian Li 011D EVO (FREE I OWNED IT ALREADY! Woo)

Now anyone who remembers me is probably not that surprised it got out of control, but its not my fault I swear :D. Firstly when I received the goodies (7:30pm - DPD here the route is utterly insanity) I only had an hour to install it before I was due to meet a friend, i'm out of touch but I rose to the challenge or removing old and installing new. Job done (still lazy), the main ridiculousness being my original build was a custom 1000D so i'd hand made pretty long cables to fit that which in short... Means they were REALLY long, and wow the girth. Bhahaha. See the photos below, a few snaps crammed in cables and the RGB vomit swapped in:

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Finding out you need to hunt some extra power connectors for the CPU was good fun, digging out the old boxes of endless kit:

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So anyway, I built the initial thing and of course since i'd taken a look at it again I couldnt escape that I really should deal with the fact its not really a temp case if its been up for about 4 years...

Firstly I had decided I would start by making right sized cables and actually adding some fans to the build since it actually didnt really have anything, the bottom fans not even connected lol. This seemed like a good idea, and I will tell you its been a while but muscle memory kicked in I just grabbed the kit and started crimping cables, braiding without really thinking about it. In fact when I stopped I thought, how the hell did I just do that. See some pics below, firstly this is my box of custom wired eLoops, I had in total about 30 I think from the big build:

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Each one is rewired and braided in to groups to 4 way connectors, these then fit single wire connectors which were made to use in 2 x commander pros. Ridiculously long motherboard cable:

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The braid is paracord the wires are thick as hell, but if you follow this method for me its a lot less frustrating and the finish is good so if it helps anyone here is my approach.

Step 1: Stretch braid down wire and cut the two the same size in one, lighter the end and when you release it will naturally slightly recoil.

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Step 2 strip wires and crimps on:

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Step 3: Grip tight and run your fingers up the wire, the paracord will shift back up. Once it overlaps the crimp, grip it tight and get the lighter on it to melt it and pinch it with your fingers (yes is burns lol)
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Finish is neat, no faffing trying to crimp a sleeve in the connector and it will never move once its melted over the rear of the crimp:

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So next I was talking to a mate and I said 'you know what i might see if i can snipe a 5080 reference card on nv direct some time', not really expecting it to work so fast. Next day I'd managed to score one and thus the next impulse purchase of the PSU was born lol. So I got confirmation to my surprise pretty fast the GPU was heading my way, I did some reading because lets be real I did it a bit impulse, I decided I didnt really fancy daisy chaining 4 PSU slots to allow the maximum power and so PSU shopping commenced... In the end I snagged the new one for £200 so not really too bad (for me).

A few snaps of the supply, its smaller than the Thor but actually losing a lot of the redundant stuff you really don't need many sockets anyway (1 connector 600W GPU helps).

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Stickers, apparently some people want to put them on a £270 PSU...

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I had never seen this before but the level of cardboard that the 5080 came in was pretty hilarious:

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A lot slimmer than the 3090:

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So I put it altogether and it works, happy days. Then suddenly it doesnt work, CPU temps gone mad, turning off. I start to think ok i've made a mistake and killed something, but stripping it down it turns out the EK AIO in amongst all this had decided to die out of nowhere, pump failure. See below, stripped it down testing and it was clear nothing wrong but the pump so I took it apart and yep its PCB cooked and derailed my whole fun:

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And so we went shopping again, there is a rainforest very near to me... So I ordered an Artic Freezer 3 Pro which came by 9am the next day. Sadly I was working away but while everything sat there I decided I would finish the job right, and so when I returned I started wiring fans again, and again and again. Now my lazy build was starting to have some care and attention, banks of 3 fans top, bottom, rad and a rear fan. Example of how this looks:

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(short wire as header right there, fans to 4 pin losing 2xTach line for right RPM read, neat header wired one show).

Despite adding a ton of fans the wiring was now no longer horrific and tons of airflow moving around:

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Still a bit messy but its hidden behind a screw on plate :D

Even the wiring kit got organised:

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So thats it... For now, i'll probably tinker some more since i've risen from the dead. The finished build snaps below without the VRM fan on the CPU block (kinda clean) and with, i'm most likely going to replace those fans on the AOI rad with eLoops as you can see I have some spare in stock lol. Less RGB. Also ordering the right crimps for the block which connects the pump VRM fan to the headers, the plan there is to replace annoyingly long horrible wires, lose the 'fan' link and take fan link direct from the rad to CPU header since its literally next to it.

Inverted block mount as M2 Heatsinks are too large on this board, inverting is ok just don't mess with L and R brackets and the offset is still good.

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Temps are now absolutely cracking as you can imagine, noise is low, life is good. Remember, it wasnt my fault.
 
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Got the same psu it's been great so far with the 5090.
Good to know, part of me wants to make my own cables for it but i'm aware the current risks with the connectors so I think this time i'll settle as it is and keep stock cable for protection if something happens.
 
get the lighter on it to melt it and pinch it with your fingers (yes is burns lol)

Lick your fingers first and that problem goes away. You can have a small bowl of water to dip them in instead....but we all know the content will end up in your PSU/GPU/ExpensiveThing!
 
Hi :)

So predictably I fiddled with stuff. I really hate the saggy braided tube look so hatched a plan to get rid of it on the AIO cooler, few days in and warranty in the bin hehe. I also decided I wanted to make a proper job on some fans to replace the light show RGB, I think its a lot cleaner and looks very tidy... I've got some more connectors coming next week and i'll be replacing other stock headers to match, no more basic cables. Anyway, some pics below:

Removing this annoying fall apart covering, most of it just pulled out then a careful blade to nick the others inside the fitting:

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Remove cover on the pump head, the fan connection (+led) not required as i go direct from radiators as its actually closer. Previously the cables ran inside the braided cover so removing the case is needed to free the wires then I clipped the wire flush to that glue blob for ease:

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No more hideous braid:

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Remembering how much pain it was to do the fans 30+ times previously but I probably did a better job, went for all black skinny paracord braid. 2 fans without the tach (y) wire so RPM is taken from the lead fan:

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Finished product ready to insert on the rad, same principle fans join to a 4.2mm pitch connector and then 1 set of clean wires to fan header:

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Close up of the fan header, left slot the rest to be changed soon...

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Reassembled the rig, needed some blue washers to compensate for a small difference in fan thickness to the rad:

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Reattaching the VRM fan which now runs only Pump, VRM Fan and its LED:

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That's it for now, I might in time wire the other fans again with new black only braid and improve those runes but this can wait :D. Considering swapping the radiator to top also but its probably not worth the hassle...
 
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Tiny connectors arrived so of course it was time to braid and replace the block standard wires :)

Just the LED to replace but I think this needs the block removing and taking apart AGAIN so not for today… Happy with the slow progress removing annoying stock wires from my case though ;)
 
I been fiddling again lol!

I started the mission to rid the case of the annoying skinny cables so today i've replaced the LED power and motherboard cable. Something really annoyed me about the skinny wires to a SATA plug to get the 5v and ground so that is gone and behold a lovely twin wire direct to the PSU... Hard to see the LED but its braided as one to the board connector. Next up the hideous front panel cable haha!

Orrible skinny rubbish:

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New clean braids, soon i'll cable tie them down to chassis once the other is done...

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Just about see the LED cable behind the fan but that's the point. Nobody will ever see it but we know its pretty so that is all that matters ;)

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Just about see the LED cable behind the fan but that's the point. Nobody will ever see it but we know its pretty so that is all that matters ;)
The bane of my life, can't help myself so I know exactly where you're coming from :P

The Asus fan extension board on my Maximus VIII Impact is routed through empty space in the case never to be seen. Custom made and sleeved anyway. No part of the master 4-pin cable from said extension board to the fan splitter PCB will ever been seen. Custom made and sleeved to match the PSU cables' colour pattern anyway.

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Individually sleeved cables for the front panel connectors. Only 5cm or so from the motherboard will be seen. Sleeved anyway.

I know it's there even if nobody else does, so it needs to be pretty for the beauty shots in the project log.

(oh, and shout out to a fellow Paracorder :D )
 
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The bane of my life, can't help myself so I know exactly where you're coming from :P

The Asus fan extension board on my Maximus VIII Impact is routed through empty space in the case never to be seen. Custom made and sleeved anyway. No part of the master 4-pin cable from said extension board to the fan splitter PCB will ever been seen. Custom made and sleeved to match the PSU cables' colour pattern anyway.

with-pcb_wide.jpg

Individually sleeved cables for the front panel connectors. Only 5cm or so from the motherboard will be seen. Sleeved anyway.

I know it's there even if nobody else does, so it needs to be pretty for the beauty shots in the project log.

(oh, and shout out to a fellow Paracorder :D )

Haha, sounds like something I would do! Paracord for life babbbbby
 
Haha, sounds like something I would do! Paracord for life babbbbby
I can't tell from your pictures, but are you still living the lie of 550 Paracord for PSU wiring, or found out the hard way that the "it looks like socks" complaint is because 550 is just too big?

I have an annoying mismatch of weave pattern and thickness on my black and blue because I was sourcing from different places (but you gotta be real close to see it), but I'm rocking 425 on my 16AWG wire and it's super snug and lovely.
 
Darn it, you mean I'm gonna have to buy different paracord before I even get that far!?
Already been looking at the front panel wiring in my case and thinking it needs to be completely remade...and then sleeved. So no, you're not alone... either of you!
Paracord is a bit more delicate (snagging etc) and it can be stained (if you're careless with say your coolant - who me?!) but I can't say I was keen on the 'standard' plastic braid; too rough for my liking...but I'm probably overthinking it again :D
 
I can't tell from your pictures, but are you still living the lie of 550 Paracord for PSU wiring, or found out the hard way that the "it looks like socks" complaint is because 550 is just too big?

I have an annoying mismatch of weave pattern and thickness on my black and blue because I was sourcing from different places (but you gotta be real close to see it), but I'm rocking 425 on my 16AWG wire and it's super snug and lovely.

It’s been a while but I did use a mix of cords, one is particularly amazing I wish i remembered the brand. I am using VERY thick wire though and the trick with paracord is don’t be lazy and no socks… if you stretch it down I think personally it’s spot on. This and use bespoke sized combs.

Wobbly cord means lack of care when wiring, or cheap saggy cord one of mine is kinda crappy the blue but if you stretch it down the wire and melt it’s perfect. The front panels are small cord off amazon low diameter not 550, something like 2mm for slimmer wires.

Darn it, you mean I'm gonna have to buy different paracord before I even get that far!?
Already been looking at the front panel wiring in my case and thinking it needs to be completely remade...and then sleeved. So no, you're not alone... either of you!
Paracord is a bit more delicate (snagging etc) and it can be stained (if you're careless with say your coolant - who me?!) but I can't say I was keen on the 'standard' plastic braid; too rough for my liking...but I'm probably overthinking it again :D

Snagging: my number 1 tip is before inserting the wire I take a second hit the wire tip with lighter and pinch/run my fingers off the tip. This extra step causes .5mm extension of the sleeve over the wires and softens any sharp sleeve edge. Doing this you don’t get slight hyper extension of the wire from its sleeve when you work it up the wire (essentially the snagging is either messy cut or the motion of the sleeving is pulling wire from its plastic home inside).

It works for me, if I try to skip that 10 secs I always laugh at myself when it snags saying ‘don’t be lazy’ lol.

Sleeve tight = No socks :cry:
 
I meant snags on the outside when you're leaving them lying about due to delays in the project or when dragging them through the case....but I'll give that a go when I get that far. Still doing battle with 3D printed PCIE bays at the moment: "Why don't you fit THIS time?! :mad: "
 
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