[Build Log] The Define Project

adi518 · 9 Feb 2013 at 12:59

Hey guys, some great news came this week!

Last batch of water cooling goods is making it's way to me.

Also, HWLabs finally shipped my replacement radiator, directly from the Philippines (how cool is that?) and to my surprise, it arrived today with Fedex! When I opened the box, I found out they were so nice to not only free-ship this thing, but also include TWO brand new radiators. First, a GTS360 (which I asked over the faulty 280) and a BONUS Alpha Pro 120 radiator! :applausex:

I checked the 360 for any defects and I'm glad to say they checked it before shipping and it's good-to-go! So... next thing is getting it mounted in the case.

Another small news... my Seagate is doing it's way back from RMA! :applausex:

Overall good progress, March dead line is gonna get tight though.

Prepping the new shield for white paint:

The new radiator:

adi518 · 10 Feb 2013 at 17:44

So, I've been searching for 12mm copper pipe and it comes out as not so-easy task. However, I found out that I can get me brass pipes for the right size and right price. Also, found out a place to get a acryilc tubing ala BP crystal links. For pretty damn cheap. 5$ per 2m piece.

Anyway, what I did today...

Shield is painted after applying three coats to it. I'm not absolutely 100% satisfied with it, but it's not super important right now.

Off-project assignment: Sleeved my Gelid fans to help it re-gain value, they're basically going on sale since I no longer require them. I ordered 3x NB eLoops.

adi518 · 22 Feb 2013 at 11:14

That's it. All orders for this project are done and everything is now here.

I gotta say, these eLoop fans are the best looking fans I've ever seen. They also match the arctic-white painted pieces of the Define R4.

Teaser...

adi518 · 23 Feb 2013 at 21:03

Man, I just LOVE Bitspower. The only thing I dislike, is their stock o-rings that come in an eye-sore green.

Anyway, I did what I had to do and got a pack of black ones instead!

And finally, the pack of sleeving that eventually made it:

The white balance was totally off, I'm terribly sorry about that.

adi518 · 25 Feb 2013 at 22:27

Made my official trial in psu sleeving today. Failed the first attempt because I wasn't using a reducer on my heat-gun, however... 2nd attempt went pretty perfect.

Went back to iphone after battery died on the casual camera.

adi518 · 25 Feb 2013 at 22:36

Thanks guys. I really enjoy making and documenting it.

adi518 · 5 Mar 2013 at 20:27

So...

I've been hard at work, designing the blueprint for the radiator:

After printing some samples:

Then, I printed a 1:1 blueprint and attached it to the acrylic piece. After that, I started to cut with a Jigsaw:

adi518 · 10 Mar 2013 at 21:46

Some stuff from today...

The "Router". This thing rolls in 23,000 rpm, compare to my Drill's humble 3000 rpm. :O

My dad is the veteran when it comes to these things so after attaching the first adapter to a new piece of acrylic he went off with the Router and cut out a new piece. This took 2 minutes compare to more than an hour with the Jigsaw!

And finally, it's ready!

adi518 · 15 Mar 2013 at 14:52

Been working on the new mounting gear for the Supreme LTX (stock bits were chrome and silver):

So... a short trip to the warehouse and I bought the same conical screws only in black, same for m4 washers and m4 nuts. Then, for the springs which are harder to find in black, I painted them and also the special thumb nuts (making sure the paint doesn't reach the thread). And also, painted the back-plate with Plastidip and then trimmed it around the edges so it shows up like a course black sticker. Lastly, those are 4 screw caps which are basically conical on the inside so the screws will sit flush on the back-plate. Overall, very nice result.

adi518 · 15 Mar 2013 at 15:53

Uni is starting to hog time dedicated to the project, but I really want to try and reach that end of March deadline. Also, I'm not sure if I already mentioned, but I'm now trying to get VRM & Chipset blocks for the board. There are blocks made by German brand called 'Liquid Extasy'. The major problem with that, is stock availability which will only begin in April.

adi518 · 15 Mar 2013 at 17:58

Thanks! I also made this strip. It's going to cover some clearance between the acrylic adapter and the case wall. Also, it should help flexing out any noises from the mount:

adi518 · 22 Apr 2013 at 04:03

I made a special order for z77 mpower water blocks and it's taking it's time. I hope to get some news next week or so. It's not dead, just taking long, don't worry.

adi518 · 1 May 2013 at 19:03

Well, the 'special' thing about this order is that it's nickel plated blocks since they're regularly made in copper only. I bought it from http://www.liquid-extasy.de/ their site is going through some changes or something so it's on and off but the guy behind it, is called Marc and he's really communcative through email, at least so far. He wants a bank-transfer, but it's not feasible nor safe (especially for the buyer) so we had to go with Paypal.

adi518 · 11 May 2013 at 21:50

I know it's been quite a while since the last update so here's a new one... motherboard blocks are getting ready to ship out from Germany. They are now in the process of being nickle-plated:

adi518 · 12 May 2013 at 00:30

Yeh. It's not a cheap trip this project, lol.

adi518 · 18 May 2013 at 18:40

Saturday noon... decided to get productive again.. well there're things I should prep before the blocks arrive.. so.. one of the things I liked about Igor's "project 30" is the cable management. He just pulled that off flawlessly and I'm taking example. However, I noticed that in the R4, the mobo tray isn't as wide as the Corsair Igor used so, I decided to use some more acrylic and extend it. Well, the idea is almost inevitable since I needed to make a mount for the res anyway. Two birds, one strike.

It's finally taking shape.. well a physical mock up I made after positioning the tray extension:

* Ignore the fan orientation, it's obviously wrong.

Extremely poor quality shots, sorry about that. I was in a hurry.

adi518 · 19 May 2013 at 15:13

Another small update.. since I don't have a "true" 680, I've got a 670 ftw, the writing on the backplate, had to go:

adi518 · 1 Jun 2013 at 16:20

First, the water blocks for the mpower have arrived! Yeh! However, for some odd reason it's still being processed through the Customs.. for over 8 days now.. it must be delivered next week or something is wrong.

Can't remember if I already mentioned this. but I had the need to get another psu, this time a slightly beefier to proof any future SLI action + I needed a psu to work on while my X-560 powers the temp rig! So, I hop onto local classifieds and found a Seasonic P-760 that's pretty much brand new and picked it off for nearly half price! Slightly unfortunate, it had a small cosmetic issue, result of slightly mis-assembling the psu while in factory. TBH, it's a really small issue, something that the casual builder might not even stop to look at, but being the nit-pick that I am, I did haha. Seasonic were awesome to quickly cure this issue under warranty and express sent from Taiwan a new power supply! I still can't believe they did that. I should get it delivered to my door on Sunday morning.

Also someone @ OCN SS club offered to send these once I posted:

I might use this new sticker to replace the spec side as I use this psu with the fan facing down.
In the process of sleeving my Seasonic P-760 (new platinum series) I found out crucial info all should know prior to sleeving / making cables for this psu. Seasonic has changed the gpu sockets from the dual 12-pin gpu sockets to 4x 8-pin sockets which are all fit to either CPU or a GPU. There isn't a dedicated cpu socket anymore! Now, to add to that, Seasonic has changed these sockets so they do not correspond to the standard EPS! I made a picture for you to see the differences:

* OLD - X series, standard 8-pin EPS. NEW - P series (platinum):

Cleaning the original SS P-760 connectors since I found out my spare standard EPS don't fit:

Started working on the cables.. well, first one is the sata power for the hdd. The sata data is already made since the beginning of the project so:

Another small update...

I got this Koolance pump controller for free so figured it won't hurt using it... I opened it up to inspect it and found this:

Well, the cap looked a bit damaged so decided to replace it! Soldering off one leg was enough to make it come off completely, meaning the other leg was broken so this was a REAL damaged cap. Can't figure how they stuck a 'QC PASSED' sticker on the side of it haha! I removed the sticker of course.

Next: mounting this thing in the case. Need to figure out the wiring, etc'.

Cleaned the pump engine from dirt and stickers so it doesn't stick through the bitspower modkit:

adi518 · 1 Jun 2013 at 23:23

It's a cool product from Scythe. A passive cooling solution called "Himuro". Lots of modders/enthusiasts like it for it's elegance and easy solution for storing a 3.5" HDD.

adi518 · 1 Jun 2013 at 23:31

Nope, it's passive.

First time I hear about that product of yours. I did search for Himuro alternatives before getting one, but turned out Himuro looked the best of all options. The design is really neat.