Chocolate Box

Another little piece rolled in from Taiwan this morning, a Bitspower Triple Rotary Mini Snake which should be the absolute perfect dimensions connect my modified EK pump top to the XSPC radiator. I mean I don't have the radiator yet but i'm sure it will :D

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JR
 
DataVampire said:
Very nice build. and amazing pics.

Any chance you can share the kit you used to take the pics with ?

Cheers
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Sure I have been using the following...

Panasonic Lumix GF2
Lumix 14-42mm F3.5-5.6
Lumix 14mm F2.5
Tetenal Thunder Grey Paper
Velbon DF-50 tripod

JR
 
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LePhuronn said:
Stunning work. Presumably you're looking at a 120mm rad in the front?
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Yep the motherboard tray has been designed to accommodate an XSPC AX120 and all of the fittings should just line up according to their product drawings. Should be fun, I think it's coming early this week :)

JR
 
jt_uk said:
Hi mate

Whats your opinion on the Alphacool fittings? I'm intrested in trying them out for my build.
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I've obviously not done any leak testing or final fitting yet so I will leave it a little longer before I express a full opinion of them. With respect to the 10/13mm rigid tube compression fittings I have actually used the Primochill ghosts in my previous build that look incredibly similar. The Alphacool fittings have a higher quality knurling and are more consistent in their appearance, they also have a hexagonal section on the inside allowing you to remove them if they get stuck. I've had experience of that happening and the hexagon makes it so much easier than trying to get a pipe wrench on the threads. The overall design is compact and simple and the quality of the plating seems very good with a ridiculous amount of o-rings.

The Alphacool chrome plated brass tubing is beautiful, really heavy feeling and great finish. It seems too thick to bend IMO but I never tried for this build as it wouldn't have helped. I actually cut it and turned it to length using a lathe and having perfectly square and nicely chamfered ends really helped with the assembly. I wouldn't advise just sawing it off and smashing it together. It is expensive compared with acrylic though!

Lastly the Alphacool 90 deg fittings and rotaries I wasn't very impressed with at all. A few I ordered had imperfections and marks that I don't expect from such a quality brand. The design I really wasn't a huge fan of, they look very complicated and fussy which is why I opted for EK PSC rotaries. I did order some of each to have a look beforehand. I didn't feel the quality was as high as the 10/13 hard tubing alphacool bits and I would probably avoid them.


So Alphacool general fittings were a little disappointing, the hard tubing system parts including the compression fittings were great. The EK PSC's really surprised me and I would got so far as to say they are my favorite fittings, if there were more available I would choose them over Bitspower but it looks like they have been discontinued. Shame they were a really clean design. Bitspowers immense diversity and quality really does make them stand out, expensive but you can do literally anything with hundreds of bits to choose from all in identical finish.

JR


PS. The rig is currently at Pexon's getting some sexy cables tailored.

BR-BL-BL-BR , BR-BL-BL-GR-BL-BL-BR , BR-BR-BL-BL-BL-GR-GR-BL-BL-BL-BR-BR
 
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I think your image host is doing something funky to your pictures; there's awful compression artefacts everywhere.

Otherwise the build and the photography are top notch.
 
I was scrolling through this and thought "WHY did you buy high end fans then purchase a reference 290x with the worlds loudest cooler" But then I saw you ordered water blocks etc. for it so no problem lol. Looks nice BTW, interesting change from black + blue or black + red.
 
Thanks,

A slightly different update for you today, the rig is currently away at Pexon's getting cables made for it. When I dropped it off I picked up this 60% keyboard as a little side project to accompany Chocolate Box. It will follow the same theme with black and brown caps as well as a machined bright metal case. Finding brown key caps however is rather challenging in any corner of the world, luckily Signature Plastics were kind enough to do a short run of 100 1unit brown PBT DSA caps for me! I'm expecting those some time in January but so far I have...

KBParadise V60 Mini with Cherry MX Green switches
Vortex CNC Machined Aluminium 60% Case
Signature Plastics PBT DSA family blank black modifiers
Signature Plastics PBT DSA family black 6.2unit space bar

I'd like to say thank you to Pexon PCs and Signature Plastics for helping me source all of the required parts, and I look forward to keeping you all updated on the progress of the rig and the board!









JR
 
I'm back with another update and a change of scenery for the holiday updates. Lots of goodies for Chocolate Box rolled in just before Christmas, I can't show them in context as the rig is currently at Pexon's but I can find a little time for some sexy unboxings and a little plot twist.

First out was the beautiful XSPC AX120.













Also a radiator gasket came along with it which was a nice touch, I'll have to see if I can expend 2mm to fit it in the case.



A Laing DDC-1T Plus should keep things circulating nicely, not generally considered overkill but for a loop with one rad and one block this is as outlandish as having a serial-parrallel quad D5 config!









Absolutely jizzed my pants unboxing this, I need more HyperX in my life!

















I think this is naked HyperX but until I test it i've no idea lol! It's littered with SK Hynix chips on one side so presumably it's a pair of tasty 4GB sticks.





The boys at Parvum decided the memory looked a little lacking without any spreaders and so sent along two XSPC adapters from a memory block kit. I won't be watercooling the memory but I really appreciate the gesture and it looks phenomenally clean.









I'm really pleased with this little array of toys, they all fit in perfectly with the build and i'm really taken back by the quality and finish of the XSPC and HyperX parts, even the packaging is epic.





JR
 
deblow said:
Clean & Slick!
Nice build JR ;)
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divebod said:
Impressive and very professional. Eagerly awaiting the final images.
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Thank you guys, i'll keep them coming, final pics still feel distant but once I verify that the radiator fits it will be within reach. I will probably find another little project to keep me occupied in the mean time ;)

JOSH86 said:
Amazing build.

The OCD me would be annoyed with the EKWB block being upside down though lol
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Indeed, it really is a shame they made it asymmetrical so it can't be inverted. Having said that if the fittings moved up or down at all then they wouldn't fit inside the case in the way they do and that would offend my OCD much more.

PS. respect for the GTA and Classy love.

JR
 
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