Long time no see. Upgrade time.

[ALXAndy]

I reckon that will look amazing tbf. Good thing is the long job (carving and cutting the acrylic, pockets etc. Can all be done inside. The actual cutting of the carbon and wood will be super fast, because they are very thin. I will do both outside. I really don't want splinters all over the room

Cool. So that gives me plenty to do when I return from holiday.

Also. I like those doggy bones in the middle

 

[ALXAndy]

After spending an hour yesterday packing everything I got it home earlier. I was dying to do this.

It worked !

OK. So what didn't work. Well, firstly the pump top I have is so big it could not be screwed into the mount I bought. I realised I had to flip it upside down. Which at first I was very annoyed about. However, I soon realised that the TEC pump mount had two smaller holes in it. And, well, you couldn't make it up.......

So with that success being enough for one day I then mounted it solid (the pump and res and cascade) and put the shroud on for a nosey.

Like the computer equivalent of the hand covering aka glove...

Salted.

 

[ALXAndy]

I apologize for the sun actually wanting to come out ffs.

The fan side LEDs are now mounted. I am also working on a light bar I robbed from a cheap riser mount I bought. The white thing placed near the vertical mount. I will mount that properly later.

Also as you may have noticed....

It wasn't in my server after all ffs. It was in a decommissioned rig at mum's waiting to be emptied out and chucked away.

Also. This has been one of the best things I ever bought tbh. A small rig I can take anywhere, but more importantly acts as a stand in when I have mine in bits.

 

[ALXAndy]

One last (he said, hopefully) order from OCUK. This will be my floor fan now. Not only does it have the screen on, but it is reverse flow. So you get the pretty side. Was B grade, 25 quid.

I also need a straight rotary for the res to the cascade. It's currently loose on set fittings.

Sadly all the Barrow ones were sold out

 

[ALXAndy]

OK so I made room.

Before that though I tested the fans and RGB. I also finally managed to get the neons straight, among tons of other small jobs.

Like I said, I then made room for the T ball thing. Ignore it for now, you won't see it next time I am back at the CNC. I also realised that due to the end port rad I could hide nearly all of the hose. One will route through the PSU shroud, and go in behind the GPU. All you will see at normal level is the return hose where it comes out of the end of the GPU and goes into the pump.

Both of the two hoses you see there will go into the back of the GPU block.

 

[ALXAndy]

Also as you can see I will not be fitting RGB to the cascade or res. There is just no point.

Oh and thanks to the hoses on the TEC I could not fit the memory cooler. However, it went right into the back of the PC where you can't normally fit fans there. So it is ideal for getting heat out, and looks awesome

 

[ALXAndy]

Mornoon all.

No pics just yet.

I realised last night that not only was the fan I ordered 140mm but it also does not have the controller. Thankfully it will fit and will look better imo. However, I had to bite the bullet on the controller which was £22.

This stung a bit but tbh will save me work and money in the long run. See, I have a 3” OLED I got for about £30 ages ago but unfortunately needs AIDA and the hacked version they provide doesn’t work properly and the genuine one doesn’t work at all.

So this will give me said screen without a huge ball ache. I just want to say thank you to OCUK for still giving me free shipping after all these years. It’s a godsend, and always one less nut kick when you forget something. I’d never ask for a sponsor but it’s the next best thing.

I’ve now finished all of the RGB stuff. Even the GPU support has it now.

The only other remaining issue I can see is said Lian Li fan hub.

My PSU offers three PCIE power connectors and it wants one. Sadly it can’t have it, because my GPU uses two and the TEC pump uses the last one. This is apparently because some people linked something daft like 12 fans and they weren’t getting enough power. I only have one. So, I’m going to have to make a dual molex to 6 pin as I don’t have a choice. At least with just one fan I shouldn’t overload it.

DPD here in the next two hours, see you a bit after that!

 

[ALXAndy]

Morning all.

Yesterday I had a marathon sesh. 10 hours.

I will cut out a lot of the small jobs that took all of the thought and time. Here is the rig with a filter in the floor (and on the PSU, you can't see that one) and tons of work done. Note how the hoses are routed through the shroud. This is so virtually nothing will be visible when I am done.

OK so more done here. Notably I found a ton of the clips for the neons. So I completely redesigned the bottom one.

Also note the 140mm LCD fan is now in. Well, for the time being. It is out again now as I am waiting on the controller. I then spent hours making all of the RGB work. This was not a small task. Final RGB test before I fill it. The reason being some of it is behind the GPU and yeah.. Once that thing is full I can't get it out easy.

Also note yes, it is very bright. However, look at the GPU block. The side panels have dark tinted glass (black) and it dulls it down perfectly.

OK, fill.

And then spend the next three hours testing.

DPD are coming today with the fan controller, so by this evening it should be all done and back on the desk. That will be the interior finished. Will do the exterior when I come back from holiday.

 

[ALXAndy]

very nice build, for a long time I have been planning to do water-cool my lian li PC08, few years ago I bought most of the parts but just gave up after several thing popped up. I am waiting for 5090 and ASUS 1600 Thor III PSU to release to commence my build. Long story short I was planning a water reservoir made with Bitspower hexagon chained together similar to what you have done, Unfortunately I don't have much space to work with as PC 08 is old case but still looks amazing. Great looking build.

I assume you imported the Bitspower reservoirs from ASIA? One Issue I was always worried about is that filling and draining them might be difficult as someone with something similar reported as such. Would be interested to hear how you get along with them.

No mate. I got my original flow meter (the small ones) from OCUK years ago. I bought the other three from OCUK also.

The larger actual tank came from that auction site, cheap.

I never drain by the tank. I pull a GPU hose and put it in a bottle. I then pull the other and blow. Just put a towel down under where you’re working. That’s also why I refuse to go with hard tubing.

OK so again another morning update. That LCD fan is a massive pain in the erse.

I thought it powered by SATA. I was wrong. I’ve used all of my PCIE power connectors and had no means of powering it up. Without getting to the PSU and plugging in a Molex run I could then make adapters for.

Problem is the GPU. Which is now like, in there. And it ain’t coming out without draining the loop.

I had to hang it from the hoses (don’t do this) and rip my hands to ribbons to connect the molex connector into the PSU. It was a grade A nightmare.

It’s done, though. I’ve also made the adapter (more on that later) and had to also order an internal to external USB cable. Like I said, nightmare.

The ONLY saving grace was that my board has a internal external USB socket on its own controller for flashback, but it does take all USB devices.

These fans ain’t worth the grief IMO. Still, we press on.

 

[ALXAndy]

OK so here goes around 12 hours in work. Firstly I had no option as I mentioned to get back into the PSU. It was horrible, and I cut my right hand to ribbons. Any way, I salvaged some molex pins (male) and soldered them on like so. Not my proudest fap, but it will work.

I then did all I could to hide it. All I had at my disposal was heat shrink. I left a bit poking out on the yellow, because I need to know where they are. Eventually I put electrical tape over the pins on the positive, and heat shrunk the negs.

It was then over to the three molex connectors. These were VHB together, then wrapped in tape.

And pinned.

Noting how my right hand looks like it has been through the cheese grater. It feels like it too ffs.

It was then all wrapped and bound in tape. To the point where it becomes almost invisible. BTW, check out the sheer hell load of RGB connectors.

So now with some power shoved up its bum.....

It works. No RGB yet, as I need to get to the USB connector to activate it. Waiting on that to be delivered.

So you will note in this pic the fan is now level and at the correct height front and rear.

Now it won't just sit there on its own. This is why I never got the rig "finished" the first time around. I was due to put a 120mm fan there, but it needed something to keep it level. Turns out I am amazing at thinking on my feet, and came up with this solution.

Block nuts. And springs. This means I could adjust it to the perfect height to hold the back up. Front sits on a rail.

So, with all that done..... I decided to do something else. Did you spot those two Corsair shrouds in the early pics? these?

Those live there now.

It needed some silver up there. It was all lob sided. So with that done....

We are actually caught up.

 

[ALXAndy]

very nice build, for a long time I have been planning to do water-cool my lian li PC08, few years ago I bought most of the parts but just gave up after several thing popped up. I am waiting for 5090 and ASUS 1600 Thor III PSU to release to commence my build. Long story short I was planning a water reservoir made with Bitspower hexagon chained together similar to what you have done, Unfortunately I don't have much space to work with as PC 08 is old case but still looks amazing. Great looking build.

I assume you imported the Bitspower reservoirs from ASIA? One Issue I was always worried about is that filling and draining them might be difficult as someone with something similar reported as such. Would be interested to hear how you get along with them.

Bitspower Hexagon Flow Indicator

Order Bitspower Hexagon Flow Indicator now online and benefit from fast delivery.

www.overclockers.co.uk

Four of those with your choice of rotary.

 

[ALXAndy]

Go glass to really make life difficult for yourself! AMHIK


It's no fun if you have easy access to plug stuff in....shroud it some more to make it harder

Given the amount of work you've put into that and the fact that all the 12V power goes down one wire from the PSU to all the Molex's.....you don't want someone pointing out that you could have used one single Molex socket and just spliced the wires together if they weren't all common'd after the PCIE plug anyway....so I'll definitely not point that out

Looking good though. I reckon your choice of purple coolant will go nicely with that carpet too

They were too thick.

They’re from my Platimax 1550w.

Problem was I didn’t have a molex. At all. So I may as well use the three I had no choice but to put in there.

Talking of the Platimax. That’s how my spare. Going to completely rewire it when I get back.

 

[ALXAndy]

It was a nightmare.

The cable for the USB came. I then spent 5 hours trying to get the LCD screen to work. It would not. Long story short these fans IMO are too needy. They need a 6 pin PCIE power, which is ludicrous, and then need to be plugged directly into a USB header. All of that for a screen. Was it worth it? somewhat. I had to remove the GPU *again* which really peed me off. I then used the USB converter on the Aquacomputer LT thing, which tbh doesn't need touching any way as I set it all up the last time it was used.

With that the interior is now finished.

Video there.

 

[ALXAndy]

Dude the coolant changes colours. Seriously, it does. It's nuts.

It will look more blue when the side panel goes on. It's dark AF.

For now you can bugger orf. I am literally tidying and packing for a holiday I leave for on Sunday morning ffs. This was all supposed to be done by Weds

 

[ALXAndy]

BTW you are only telling me to change it to blue because you are worried the boy will see it and make you do his like that

 

[ALXAndy]

I’m back. Had a amazing holiday including a bowel loosening experience in a Lotus 7.

The wood arrived. The carbon has not. It said it had shipped but the tracking did nothing, and eventually it said cancelled

Then today I got an email showing it had indeed been shipped but not until yesterday.

None of this matters of course because I’ve not been here any way. What I did do was order some 2mm acrylic to contact adhesive the wood to as it is wood and thus not terribly flat.

Work on all of this shall begin soon. I’m stuck here til Weds, but it will be game on after that.

 

[ALXAndy]

Grr. Got it set up, plugged the keyboard in and it spazzed. Started bombing type. This is a barely used Keychron with custom keys and caps. It's dead. I forgot that I had a bottle of vape liquid explode in my face and all over it. I cleaned it as best I could, and this was months ago, so I thought it was OK. It was not ffs.

I am loathe to spend one more penny on keyboards. As such, and because I hate the smaller ones, I dug out my old Hunstman Elite. I got this on blowout for £80 about 7 years ago, and it never let me down. It was however worn hard on the keys (very shiny). So I stripped it.

Making sure to keep the stabilizers. I then cleaned it, and got out the wrist pad. Which had gone rotten on the leatherette (as it does) and was peeling leaving black bits everywhere, as it does. Headphone pads do this too. So I peeled it.

I could have just bought a pad, but this one is RGB. And is rather nice. I got this to go on it.

Why tan? well, I bought these key caps.

To top it all off my mouse also died on the same day. I know, you couldn't make it up. The RGB leds died ages ago but that didn't bother me, but I realised neither click was working. I *think* I have gotten around it before with lots of faffing with drivers etc, but I merely cba as it too is 7 years old now and has already been repaired twice with new buttons. So I bought this. £39.99

Side quests ffs.

 

[ALXAndy]

I think the valid lesson was don't spend £80 on a mouse and over £100 on a keyboard because they will die any way. Thankfully I bought 12 bottles of 3m spray contact adhesive for a project then found out it was not suitable so yeah, I have a lifetime supply lmao. Have done a lot of recovering old BMX seats so it shouldn't pose too much of a problem sorting that wrist pad out.

 

[ALXAndy]

Well I never even used the battery. I did not even realise it was cordless when I got it. I have a bungee, so screw them apples. I don't rate any of these chinese boards though. The keychron etc. They are poo. Just not made very well at all. That Hunstman was the first Razer product I bought that actually lasted and is made beautifully.

The new mouse is also Razer btw. Viper 8k or something. The best mouse I have used in years ironically is also Razer. My Viper mini. That has been relegated to use with the NUC though.

It is hard to believe what hides in that bag tbh. A 12700H with a 16gb Arc A770 with 3tb storage, 64gb RAM, a keyboard, mouse, two external drives etc etc.

Other than the LAN night we had when I was away though they played PUBG every night and I could not. So I got this when I got back too.

 

[ALXAndy]

It was cheap tbh. £69.99. Has speakers so that was great. Not touch screen though. I guess they are just harvesting laptop screens. 60hz, 1080p IPS. I have wanted one for ages now. Mostly for testing etc. If I ever need a head on my NAS for anything (I will soon as I am putting in lots of SSDs) I can use it there too without faffing around unplugging the PC from the monitor.

Pretty sure they will do touch screen ones also. Probably a chunk more cash, mind. But yeah, what was the point in having a completely mobile rig if I have no monitor for it.