Enpoo

[ALXAndy]

OK so the final upgrade is about to take place.

It's going to be this rig this time.

And once again this case will be put out of service because it can not hold enough cooling.

Right now it has a 16 core Xeon in it (Haswell ES) and a X99 Godlike. Sadly it has started being unreliable lately so it's time to go. I bought this on another forum for £200.

It's a TR 1920x with a X399 Carbon. My AIO won't cut it, and won't fit properly either. I mean it will fit, but it won't cover the CPU properly.

Existing parts. I originally thought about putting it in Dianoga.

However sadly it can't hold hard drives. This rig is my "work" rig that I use to print, plot cut vinyl and design etc (mainly for restoring bikes, I draw and print and cut the decals etc) as well as gaming etc.

So I will be keeping -

The drives (there are 5 or 6 IIRC)
The 2070 Super
The 750w Aorus PSU
The Xonar STX.
The memory (for now).

I recently upgraded the other Threadripper PC I have with a better water block, so I have one spare. This one.

Which was handy. I needed a new case that was capable of water cooling so I started the hunt yesterday. Problem is I would find a case or a distro etc and then find out it was too expensive. Like, I would find a distro for £90 and then find out the case I need to fit it is going to cost me £200.

In the end I stumbled upon this this morning after sleeping on it.

It's a Phanteks model. I thought "Oh here we go again get ready for a £150 case" and then this popped up (was on the compatible list) for £59 on sale.

So £148 for the pair.

I knew I had a lot of fittings but I wasn't sure how many so I ordered 4 more of these.

Then I stripped down Dianoga and removed everything.

Removed the old bay res that was kindly donated to me with the 360 rad.

And removed the DDC pump to be used in this new build. I then removed all of the fittings from the tubes etc.

And that's what I got.

5 chainguns, 4 are green one chrome
5 el cheapo fittings (the silver chrome ones, I paid 99p each for those ages ago) two are in the 360 rad still (well the backs)
Two 90' rotaries that G sent me way back when
3 smoked chrome XSPC fittings
XSPC ball tap valve
45' XSPC chrome rotary
three EK straight chrome rotaries
G 1/4 dual male pump coupler
Two Monsoon 45' rotaries and a 90' Monsoon rotary
XSPC coolant temp probe and LCD.

So I would say I should have enough fittings. May need a couple more rotaries, IDK yet.

 

[ALXAndy]

Ordered these.

 

[ALXAndy]

That ought to do the ordering.

 

[ALXAndy]

OK so the RAM I have is red.

So I ordered two kits of those to make 4. I also found some brand new 4 pin 12v fan frames, and will be using two Eloop in black in the front instead of the white 200mm fan. So I will put the frames on those, should look really nice.

 

[ALXAndy]

First thing to do was take the entire chassis apart and change out the front 200mm white fan for two Eloop.

Frames were left over from the Alienware build.

Get rads ready (they have been cleaned) and fit the fans on etc. Then mount the top rad into the roof panel.

Mess

Fit the rads to the case, put the top back on.

Fit distro panel (temp, it still has plastic peel on it) and see if the vert riser fits.

And then tidy up.

 

[ALXAndy]

Fitted the first (and only for now) tube.

Was more of a test as to how much skin I was going to lose. Not as much as XSPC hose it would seem.

 

[ALXAndy]

Quick RGB test. The block is 12v 4 pin also, so that can be ran with these. Not sure on the distro yet, but the mobo has controllers for both thank god.

It's nice being able to use up spare parts I have just had lying around for ages and ages and get some use out of the money spent tbh.

 

[Cenedd]

Looking good so far. The Phanteks fans aren't as bad as you may fear. Not sure they're going to win any prizes but perfectly usable as a low speed case fan....you know, should you accidentally break like 12 of your other ones
Still want an excuse to break out the 4.5 Amp Deltas that are taking up storage specs >

 

[ALXAndy]

It wasn't that their fans were no good. They were just white. Obviously I can't use the rear one any way because I went and put in a distro panel, but yeah the front one didn't look too clever with silver and green.

I'm determined to use up all of this left over very expensive crap tbh. I tried with the NAS but I couldn't get none of it in there.

Pump top and sink are coming RM tomorrow morning. So should the green cables, so I can fit the board etc once I have cut out the PCI slots so I can use a vertical GPU.

 

[ALXAndy]

Pump top and cooler got. Not terribly impressed with the top, tbh. It only gives you one option of top feed. Which has made me have to move the res somewhere else. You won't see it, but TBH? I kinda like that. Will give it a more stealthy look.

It's nothing terribly exciting but it gets the job done (that's what she said)

I should stop teasing with board pics. As it stands I didn't fit the CPU until about 3am. I hate doing it, it's terrifying tbh.

It should become law that every motherboard comes with these !

I also fitted a couple more tubes. Sadly unless you fit a GPU into this you need to use a U bend, as basically the GPU bridges the distro. I quite like it though, it definitely looks interesting lol.

And a better look at the back.

 

[Cenedd]

Nice. Is it just the pic or is that U-bend looking like it's starting to kink? Might be fine once it's filled but something to keep an eye on. Otherwise might have to be a bit longer to avoid kinking or replace with two 90° rotaries and either hard-link (G1/4 extension tubes) or soft tube between the two as appropriate for dimensions (ie if you can get an extension or combo in the right length) and taste/budget.

 

[ALXAndy]

Nah it's not kinked. Well, if it is a tiny bit it won't reduce flow.

No doubt at some point I will either find a way to force the 2070 Super under water by modding it, or, try my first hard line. At least if I mess up I can just put that back in.

But yeah, not kinked it just looks it. that is the one really nice thing about 19/13 hose, it's almost impossible to kink dude.

I may try filling the loop from the port right at the top of the distro nearest the outside of the case. It won't be in use, and is the highest point of the distro. There are two others to choose from at the back side, one of those will feed the CPU block. If I use the lower one and blank the higher one then I *should* be able to remove the res and use that as a twisted sort of fill port. Or, remove the plastic top, fit a real fill port and fill it via that. If I can do that and it be totally hidden by the top panel (the plastic) I might do that.

 

[Cenedd]

Does the distro plate have enough volume to serve as a res on its own? Just a thought. You'll want to be able to bleed off the air higher up like at the top res I'd have thought - might get away with just rocking it through though.

 

[ALXAndy]

Yeah I thought about that after. Priming the pump would be a nightmare. I would have to do it myself (by mouth). I will see.

Board in.

Managed to figure out how to change the RGB on the GPU, so that has been done now.

And the state of the 2x3m room I am using LOL. I can't wait for this to be over, then it's a trip to the dump for me.

This one is for G.

See? it's fine.

Oh yeah. The vertical mount not only fits very easily, it can be fitted with the distro etc in. So now I need some tin snips...

 

[ALXAndy]

I actually used common sense for once

I figured that before I cut the case up and then found out it wouldn't work I should actually try the GPU to be totally sure.

It worked. Let cutting commence.

 

[Cenedd]

Yeah I thought about that after. Priming the pump would be a nightmare. I would have to do it myself (by mouth). I will see.

I'm sort of guessing but it looks like you may have the bottom of the distro going into the inlet of the pump. If that's the case - and you'd want it to be if the distro is the res - then you'd probably get by with gravity and maybe a bit of squeezing of the tube.

See? it's fine.

Yup. Bit narrowed but hopefully fine.....just keep an eye on it when the coolant gets warm the first time.

Oh yeah. The vertical mount not only fits very easily, it can be fitted with the distro etc in. So now I need some tin snips...

Ah tin snips, a Dremel and a prayer. The only way to mod!

 

[ALXAndy]

I can't use a Dremel it would make dust. meaning I would have to literally pull everything out. CBA. I've done it with side cutters before but it was a chore. I've lined up a set of proper snips, will order them before I come back so they are here when I get back

Need to pick up the CPU block and res when I get home. Well, I gotta clean the res first but it's very easy.

I tell you what was really odd dude.... There wasn't one single spec of dust on the GPU anywhere. And I have never cleaned it. I'm beginning to suspect those cheapo RGB fans are rubbish and moving air.

 

[Cenedd]

I can't use a Dremel it would make dust. meaning I would have to literally pull everything out

That's where the "prayer" part comes in! That and some masking tape for good luck.

 

[ALXAndy]

Another marathon session. It doesn't look like I achieved much, but I did. Basically the big panel with "Phanteks" on it came out. That meant removing a lot of the case again.

I've found a home for the pump. I've also plumbed it in.

The hose just sticking out? ignore that. To do the fitting up properly you need to remove that Phanteks panel. Hence whilst I was in there I decided to run that hose (obs far too long) so I wouldn't have to go back in there just to run that hose.

I need to make a mount bracket now. Shouldn't be too hard.

 

[ALXAndy]

Had a bit of a result earlier.

The case only comes with one actual 2.5 mount. There are a metric ton of places to put them, but only one comes with it. I needed two more. I went searching and they are £10 each. Then a buddy of mine asked me to look at cases that will fit the board I am giving him and I came across this on B grade for £5.99

Duly ordered. That's me sorted now. That will hold the SSD RAID and the other one can hold the Firecuda.