BackDraft Evo (a Nanoxia DS1 Build)

[23RO_UK]

Ok here's another update for you


Evo will be my primary day to day rig once completed so needs to be a practical build first and foremost; secondly I think you'll agree it's always nice to have a rig that's pleasing to the eye.


Here's the front plate as was (please note as was lol)







Aesthetics are good but it's not entirely practical, by that I mean it's fixed in place and secondly its not full cover.




Hmmmm ideally the front plate needs to be practical, aesthetically pleasing, full cover and removable to facilitate easy access to the pump/res.




Time to meet it's replacement which meets all the above criteria











Might need to buff this up some more

 

[23RO_UK]

since the aim for the front plate is practicality and good looks, I personally think it needs the cutout for the reservoir fill level.

It breaks up the panel slightly and from a practicality point it's much better to be able to see the fill level I would imagine.

Build is going great by the looks of it, though I must say I preferred the red colour scheme, will be epic either way though.

I actually fabricated 2 plates (one with and one without), the one with actually looked decidedly odd for lack of a better word

love the red and black on this

Sadly the poor performance of the EVGA brought the guillotine down on the red/black colour scheme, it was so annoying to have such a well made and aesthetically stunning bit of kit let down by a mere BIOS.

 

[23RO_UK]

Not much of an update I'm sorry to say, time for the next week or so is at a premium


However...



A 5 minute makeover job on my prized Avexir memory kit





So much better



And the Swiftech 8 Way PWM Splitter has arrived from The States

 

[23RO_UK]

Coming along nicely, the carbon look cool.

Thank you, much appreciated

 

[23RO_UK]

really want to see the hardware going in now,gonna be an awesome build

Here's hoping, available time to crack on with the install is the problem just now

Have you had to re-sleeve all of the cables?

For the better part no thankfully, I'm keeping cable visibility through one means or another to an absolute minimum.

 

[23RO_UK]

Well in the limited time I've had I've managed to finish up a couple of essential tasks...


I've sprayed the PCI brackets for both the GPU and sound card, I've gone for a textured satin black rather than the usual flat gloss.





I've also made up some non braided (yes you read correctly lol) front panel extensions.





Roll on my long awaited time off to do the hardware installation!!

 

[23RO_UK]

The final prep task completed...

The installation of the Swiftech 8 way PWM splitter and the cable routing/wiring in of the four radiator mounted Piranhas and the three case mounted Alpenföhn fans.








And the view from the side that matters most






Yeah, I can live with that

 

[23RO_UK]

Still trying to work out how you're going to route the 24 pin.

The back management looks tidy though.

To be revealed shortly Chris


And thank you, it took a bit of messing about to achieve but it's certainly turned out better than I initially hoped it would; that splitter has certainly made it all the easier

That little 8 Way PWM Splitter is awesome. Nobody stocking it in the UK? Defiantly simple and useful solution to a problem I face often.

Feed us more updates please

Agreed, it's a great little bit of kit, very good build quality; they have just released a version with a SATA connection also


I just checked once again and no listings from any of the UK suppliers or retailers


More updates on the way shortly mate (I have some time off coming up)

 

[23RO_UK]

amazing mate, that case is perfect.

Thank you

It'd getting there at last

 

[23RO_UK]

A few things to share with you before the hardware installation


Ok first up my choice in CPU block, it needs no introduction...


The XSPC Raystorm





I've opted to use the optional aluminium bracket






And a couple of extra features for the case in the form of the PCI blanks I'll be using (again these have been sprayed black) and some blue anodized 6-32 thumbscrews.

 

[23RO_UK]

Looking forward to seeing the progression with this one.

I can see light at the end of the tunnel now

 

[23RO_UK]

I wish I had the time, patience and money for this. Awesome work mate!

Thank you korso, very much appreciated

 

[23RO_UK]

I've managed to grab a day free of commitments of any sort

Hmmmm oh what to do...


I'll let the pictures do most of the talking


My EVGA GTX 680 SC Signature with mounted HEATKILLER® GPU-X³ GTX 680 "Hole Edition" Ni-Bl and back plate.












XSPC Raystorm CPU block (you didn't think I'd leave it stock did you).






CPU block mounted.









Motherboard mounted and essential cables installed.












Time to plumb in the loop.









Next up, prime the loop and leak testing...

 

[23RO_UK]

That GPU plate looks awesome.

Agreed

You can't beat the Heatkiller blocks IMHO.

Looking good mate! That loop is very tidy! Everything spaced out perfect

Liking the sneaky sneak with the 24 pin and sata cables too

As you know I have this case too, the GPU power is the only bit I'm not happy with in mine in terms of being able to see it.

Cheers,

G

Cheers G much appreciated mate

It was well worth all the planning, mocking up and prep to get that look, I'm really pleased with the loop in terms of both the aesthetics and performance.

Flat cables. Sneaky... Looks really tidy though. Well done mate.

Thank you Chris, appreciated mate




@ both of you - lmao at sneaky

So much of a fuss has been made about braided cables that people seem to forget there are also the flat variety to, routing them under the motherboard is an old skool modding method; you didn't always have cable routing holes and ask anyone who has a Lian case how difficult it is to get tidy looking cable routing

 

[23RO_UK]

Well I'm pleased to say that BackDraft breezed through leak testing (not so much as a single drip)


Now onto the installation of the remaining hardware and then the hardware test/benches.



Up with the Sound Blaster Recon3D PCIe.












You'll recall I made up some non braided front panel extensions, the idea being for them to just fade into the backdrop.






And now some eye candy of the work completed thus far

 

[23RO_UK]

Initial test results are in

I now have my 2600K running at a nice sedate 4.6GHz and decided to embark on a wee suicide run...

I ran 7 threads on Prime95 and Heaven simultaneously for an hour straight, the hottest core on the 2600K never exceeded 75°C and the 680 never exceeded 42°C, the ambient room temperture at the time of testing was 23°C.

That is just INSANE efficency off a single 240 rad loop IMO

 

[23RO_UK]

Damn! That looks amazing! And than ACool rad cools so good, when I get a watercooling loop I am definetely getting that beast!

Thank you

It offers excellent performance beyond a shadow of a doubt

All that and without a PSU.

Great build, looking forward to the finished pics. Having the pump in the bay mounted res keeps it pretty neat.

lol the last component to be mounted with any watercooled build is the PSU, you never test a watercooled rig with it mounted in case of leaks or mishap.

Thank you, a great deal of planning and mocking up went into this particular build

Looks great, well done.

Cheers much appreciated

 

[23RO_UK]

More Pics!

Last but by no means least

Patience G, patience

 

[23RO_UK]

Jasus!!!

Now that's what I call feed back

Such an elegant and simple loop. Love the cpu block mod too. It's a great clean looking build, with performance to match. Great work dude

Thank you

The block just looked way to much stock for my taste lol and the performance of the loop has exceeded expectation for sure.

Your attention to detail is insane tbh! Great build.

I'll take that as a compliment

Thank you once again.

looks beautiful mate

Thank you much appreciated

This has to be one of the cleanest, most tidy builds I've ever seen. Absolutely superb work. I can't wait to see the final photo's of the Power Supply fitted and it all up ad running

Cheers fella, not to much longer to wait with luck

I agree ^^^^^ its been a long time coming but obviously you can tell he has spent the time well, planning and sourcing the correct bits and bobs.

Now there's a familiar name

Thanks again Nick appreciated mate

Looks awesome mate....its such a shame that all GPUs have the power connector on the top though. It would be much better if you could get them on the bottom corner, so the cables are right out of the way instead of having to come up the side of your card.

Agreed

But funny you should mention that...

 

[23RO_UK]

Quick update...


I'm now about 70% done on the last of the wiring in and cable routing but that thing called lack of available time is once again conspiring against me


This is my take on cable ties to tidy up the PCI-Express cables








I wanted to create a look to tie in (pardon the pun) with the brushed stainless.