Parallel In The Black

[Mysterae_]

Update

So the fan surrounds are away to be chromed as I couldn't get the finish I wanted with paint, but that doesn't stop progress! I used the spare fan surround that I'd test painted metallic green which is in the images later.

The next job was the acrylic window of the 980Ti's. I first tired drilling one, first at 4mm then increasing up to 18mm but that ended in disaster. That part became my test piece and more care taken with the remaining two. In the image below to the top right, you can see my test piece - I also experimented with flame polishing the cut edge. Yeah, not so good, it melted a bit too much. Oops.

So I made a number of cardboard templates (5 to be exact!) so that the positioning of the holes for the tubing was perfect. The acrylic plates were marked up and chain drilled in a circle with a 3mm drill bit and then cleaned up with a tungsten carbide tool in the Dremel - if you have a Dremel you need a set of tungsten carbide bits!

The edges were then sanded smooth with wet 1200 grit sandpaper then buffed clear with acrylic polish and the polishing/buff tool in the Dremel. A lot of work but well worth it.

Now with some lighting:

I also painted the Geforce GTX logo in preparation for the chromed fan surround.

The more I see the metallic green the more I like it, but I'm sure the chrome will look just as good .

 

[Mysterae_]

Update

Out of curiosity, what Dremel do you have?

I killed my previous Dremel over the summer so now use a Dremel 4000, the one with the flexible attachment - it's actually quite good and reduces the vibration you'd otherwise get when holding the main unit. If you are wondering about the tungsten carbide bits, you have to get these separately and they aren't official Dremel parts. I got mine from ebay.

Looking good so far

Thank you very much!

Haha, read through update, you had convinced me on the chrome option and then I see those final pics with the green... I'm sure either option is going to look awesome!

I think you'll still be convinced on the chrome surrounds - the green is only a temporary addition while other parts are off being chromed. You'll see after this update why that was a good decision .

The internal modification to the other 980Ti is complete, still with the original black fan surround as I'm waiting on the chrome one to be returned. Ignore the paint on the Geforce logo, I haven't rubbed it off yet.

Some tools in readiness for the next stage . We have pipe cutter, pipe straightener and pipe bender and not forgetting the star of today's show, the chromed copper tubing .

As I had the normal copper pipes cut and bent to shape already it was just a matter of copying them but some adjustment was necessary. For example I've now fitted to Aqua Computer MPS200 flow sensors (one for in, the other for out).

One graphics card fitted:

Both graphic cards fitted:

Now that I've seen the build with the chrome tubing I think chrome for the 980Ti's fan surrounds was the right decision. The green doesn't suit any more. Anyway, really looking forward to how the chrome 980Ti's will turn out !

After a bit of leaking testing it's power on time. Of course I had to get the green LEDs switched on in the GPUs just to see what they'd look like, these are at 100% power.

How about some blue.

A view at the front. Reminds me of a set of exhaust manifolds!

Talking of exhausts, the added heatsinks inside the 980Ti's are working a treat. The amount of heat coming out of them is considerably higher than before without the 'sinks. Remember it's extracting the heat from the VRMs and RAM only, the waterblock is cooling the GPU. A successful mod

Here' a parting image of the chrome XSPC Raystorm. The Dominator ram below will be changing too ...

Thanks for reading, until next time.

 

[Mysterae_]

This looks outstanding! Nice job

Thank you!

Some amazing stuff and skills in this build?

Where did you buy the chrome plated copper tubing, or did you get it sprayed? Been looking for some to replace the current chrome plated brass tubing I have in my build as its too tough to bend and the plating just cracks when it does bend

Cheers, I'll have to seek out your build, as you can tell I have a thing for builds that use copper tubing .
I got the copper tube already chromed from ebay, usually around £23 for 1.5m. Sounds expensive (which it is!) but it's cheaper than making the shapes you want first, then getting the chromed. The chrome finish does withstand 90 degree bends quite well and can be polished up. However, as it's delivered in a coil you have to straighten it and you'll never get it perfectly true by hand. For this I used a tool from KwixUK which does an admirable job. As long as you don't twist the tool while drawing it down the pipe it won't mark it. The only problem is that the tool is £40 and you need to buy the size you need - the 10mm tool I bought will only straighten 10mm tubing.

that's a great outcome. really like your efforts with this build.

Thanks mate, glad you like it!

Absolutely brilliant I love your ideas for the gpu's in this build superb!

Cheers mate, won't be long until the graphics cards are in their chromed glory .

 

[Mysterae_]

Wow, you are defo right, I think seeing the gpu's in situ, chrome is going to look much better. The pipe work is stunning, a really unique looking build mate, amazing work!

Cheers mate, I can't wait to see what the gpu's looks like in chrome .

Thanks mate

Will definitely take a look at the bay. My current loop is only half done as the material was so hard to work with, but this seems like the stuff I was after, and seeing your build is defo making me want to sort mine out

Cheers for the tools tip, that straightener looks great.

You're welcome! You should get back on to your build, it looks amazing (I've had a gander at The Shard - love that case and your lighting is sweet!).

love this!

Cheers!

I don't think I can measure how envious I am now. Your system looks absolutely sublime as it has a industrial look yet somehow maintains a classy feel with the silver piping/fittings and the chrome CPU block. The green GPU logo also adds a nice splash of colour to the rig. It's also nice to see that the cooling is functional as well as looking good

Excellent work

Thanks mate, it's odd that I wasn't aiming for an industrial look but it's ended up that way!

---- Update ----

I mentioned in a previous post that the Corsair Dominator Platinum RAM would be changing, and that they have . I've found I'm needing more than 16GB of RAM recently and rather than get another 16GB of the Dom Plats I went for 32GB of Klevv Genuine 2400MHz:

I think they look a bit more refined that the Dominators, what do you think?

Four look even better . OCUK should stock these!

Fitted. Even turned off they the look so in place, suiting this build.

Switched on and running. I was surprised at just how bright they actually are! Unfortunately the brightness can't be adjusted and when fitted it's the back of them you see from the top, neither are huge issues though. They really draw your eyes to them.

This is getting mental ....

 

[Mysterae_]

Sorry to bring up an older thread but I was wondering what size tubing and fittings you used as they do look good, also are they more secure than the standard watercooling fittings?

No need to apologise, I'm been wanting to update it but the chroming company let me down so the build has stalled somewhat. Plus other things took precedence over the build.

The fittings are G1/4 thread and for 10mm tubing. I reckon they are more secure due to the internal blades that prevent the tubing from being pulled out, unless the retaining ring is pressed first. However, I wouldn't put any structural load on the tubing and fittings. Given enough force you could pull the tubing out but it would take quite a bit!

 

[Mysterae_]

Update

Thanks for the comments guys about the RAM, I agree it looks the part, and runs nicely at 2400MHz, I may even try to overclock it some time .

Nice to see that the built is continuing, I do like the look (Hence my interest in the fittings) however I can't find them

I'll let you know about the fittings .

Excellent workmanship and a well detailed thread

Many thanks, glad you appreciate it.

Looks excellent! Though the inside of the GeForce GTX text needs to match the shroud, so black on one green on the other. It looks a bit odd with random white/silver inside the text in my opinion.

Unless you made it like that deliberately, in which case, carry on!

I totally agree and looks bad as it is, however it's preparation for when the shrouds are chromed - the black gaps between some of the letters will look odd as they do now, so the silver/grey is an attempt to blend it .

Hadn't seen this before. Very unique look, nice one.

Thank you, more to see still .

Update

This build should have been completed by now, but the company who I sent the shrouds off to didn't do a good job of the chroming, or to be specific didn't chrome the items in their entirety. I don't know what they were thinking. The surfaces of the shrouds that were chromed were done very nicely, but next to the bare metal it looked crap and was unacceptable.

Anyway, the shrouds were sent back for rework before the holidays and should be back with me soon, looking forward that.

While I had some time I thought I'd address an item that I've wanted to do for a long time - modify the EVGA SLI bridge. The EVGA logo irked a little and it was a little bit dull. I wondered if I could jazz it up a little, make it more purposeful.

As a reminder, here's how it looked :

Upon stripping it down I was surprised that the acrylic EVGA logo was raised quite a bit so that it sits in the black plastic. It had to be sanded down.

In reference to the image above:

1. The acrylic EVGA logo.
2. Sanded down using 320 grit sand paper.
3. Smoothed down using 600 grit wet sand paper.
4. Wet sanded some more and polished using 1200 grit sand paper and acrylic polish. It's clear again!

The EVGA logo on the bridge itself had to be dremelled out and I thought I'd remove the black plastic lines to expose them as vents of sorts to let some light through. A bit of rough dremelling but it would be cleaned up later with some needle files.

Brief intermission - Our cat is always looking for new places to call its bed. The latest is my Dremel bag, but not when I turn the Dremel on it's not!

I always wondered why the EVGA SLI bridge's LEDs were white. Surely green would be more appropriate? I wanted it green to match the green geforce logo of the 980Ti's, but replacing the surface mounted LEDs would be difficult. Then I thought of a quality idea

Yep, that's right, I'm using the wrapper from Quality Street chocolate!

It takes two wrappers for one SLI bridge:

I wondered what to put in the window of the bridge and settled on simply "SLI".

In reference to the image above:

1. Deciding on what font to use (decided on LCD font).
2. Working out what font size would be best.
3. Printed on better quality paper and decided that printed green would be better than using the Quality Street chocolate wrapper to colour the LCD (couldn't get the wrapper flat enough, despite ironing it in a damp tea towel!).
4. Placed the "LCD" in position and mounted white paper in the bridge to help reflect the light more.

The finished article:

Fitted with the power off:

And finally, in position and switched on with the SLI bridge's LEDs at 100% brightness via Geforce Experience:

I'm happy with that !

Thanks for reading and please leave a comment or any questions you may have, bye for now!

 

[Mysterae_]

Did you still have chocs left over from xmas?

Only a few !

 

[Mysterae_]

Mine are long gone

I'll be honest and say that I held on to the green wrappers for this sole purpose!

 

[Mysterae_]

Many thanks guys .

It's actually a timely thread bump as only a few days ago I finally received the chromed fan shrouds for the 980Ti's. Much better finish, not stellar but certainly good enough for my build.

I just need to find the time to drain and strip the system down and fit these to the graphic cards.

 

[Mysterae_]

looking forward to seeing these fitted.

Wait no further .

Just a few quick images while I get the others sorted and continue the testing.

Fitted backplates to the GPUs too: