PARVUM APIS by JR23

[JR23]

Hey guys! Yes i'm back with another build, but this one isn't for me, I have enough rigs for now, it's for my good friend TJ. He actually got me heavily into tech and PC's when we were growing up and has been enviously watching on my various exploits building insane watercooled rigs and working with Parvum. So now we are working together to build a completely new rig for him with some serious water cooling and pretty insane components for it's size.

I won't be photographing every baby step on this one, just giving a thorough overview of the progress and custom work taking place, as we want to get it completed quite swiftly when we both have the time to work on it.


Parvum Systems R1.0 360
Intel Haswell-E i7-5930K
EVGA X99 Micro
EVGA GTX 980 Classified x2
Corsair Dominator Platinum DDR4 4x4GB
Samsung 500GB 840 Evo

EK FC980 Classy Nickel/Acetal x2
EK Supremacy EVO Nickel/Acetal
EK D5 REVO Pump Top Acetal
EK RES X3 250 Black Acetal
EK CoolStream PE 360 (Triple)
EK HD Adapter 10/12mm Black Nickel x28
Corsair SP120 Performance Edition PWM x8


We spent a long time discussing the case, we established very early on that it had to be black and yellow which suited the neutral components very well. Everything had to be visible in an appropriate hierarchy making an inverted platform inevitable. The as of yet unreleased Parvum R1.0 seemed like a great starting point but despite only 3 existing in the world a more exclusive platform was demanded! Following a huge circle of deciding between an inverted S2.0 360 and an R1.0, the R1.0 360 was born.

As a nod to the L1.0's subtle side vents which break up the pedestal we chose to also and a fine strip of slats to both side panels which hopefully will discretely reveal the radiators and fans lurking beneath them.

GPU window of course, why else go to the trouble of an invert.

Cheeky rear power button, later in the build it will become apparent why it ended up here.

The relatively shallow height of the main chamber meant there wasn't room to take the conventional Parvum HDD bracket approach. Instead all of the drives will be mounted directly to the motherboard tray, not quite as modular but hopefully neater.

Finally what it's all about! It occurred to me a while ago that the S2.0 was the exact width of two radiators hence why the R1.0 was created, this takes that a little further by adding two 360mm radiators side-by-side. Quite unique for what is still a relatively compact mATX rig. I really love the wider aspect ratio it brings to the window leaving lots of room for pumps and reservoirs ahead of the graphics cards.

I'll be back very soon with the first test fitting then it's on to design the loop.

JR

 

[JR23]

Time for hardware, lots and lots of X99 goodness condensed into mATX form with added Classified, for a 475x275x387mm baby rig it's rather serious.

Naturally Clean CSQ Supremacy EVO to match the GPU's.

And a nice subtle set of DDR4 Dominator Platinums.

With the board sitting neatly in the case it's time for the GPU's. For 980's these are WIIIIDE.

How to install GPU's in a Parvum like a pro, who forgot to buy more M3 nuts, but still making life easier with the screws from behind.

Now that is Classy, GG Edvard.

Better make sure that a PSU fits nicely while we are at this early stage, we will most likely look for something a little more powerful but just had this to hand.

All things together are looking great so far, the GPU's look surprisingly big in the case but none the less they are 'inside' the case and hence onwards very shortly to the water cooling parts!

JR

 

[JR23]

Woo another update with some more lovely EK kit! Naturally a pair of 360's...

They fitted in perfectly not even leaving millimeters to spare.

We managed to scavenge an EK RES X3 400 and hence bought a 250 tube for it, this should be just the right height to fill out the main chamber now.

The first time i've seen a D5 REVO and it's actually quite a refreshing piece of design, not quite as clean as it's predecessor although certainly sophisticated and eye catching.

Things quickly found their natural place in the rig creating a nice hierarchy of parts.

A good full day of loop planning and CAD to do now and then some excellent CNC fun ^_^.

JR

 

[JR23]

Hey guys,

Just trying out some midplate layouts for APIS, the plate you are looking at from above will replace the midplate routing coolant channels around the case. The bottom 4 ports will drop down directly into the radiators and the remainder will come up into the various components. These both seemed to come naturally but i'm having difficulty deciding which I prefer so I thought I would ask you guys!

I like how the right one appears a little more chaotic and random, not taking the shortest route between the two radiators. However the tight symetry between the CPU and GPU ports on the left plan is really appealing. I will put it to TJ in the morning. Just incase it's a factor for any of you, the left layout would mean having the CPU block the traditional way up rather than inverted with the motherboard.

JR

 

[JR23]

Just a little preview of the midplate design, i'm off to Parvum HQ early in the morning hopefully to get this cut ready for assembly at the weekend.

JR

 

[JR23]

Today we got the pass through parts machined ready for assembly this weekend. Unfortunately with the CNC hunkered down in productivity mode there isn't too much visible acrylic decimation because of the foot which encompasses the tool. But without it Parvum HQ would slowly get buried in a sea of acrylic swarf.

You can just make out the tool drilling the screw holes to be tapped through the hole.

Tomorrow i'll be tapping all of the 1/4" BSP holes, making o-rings and sealing the part together then hopefully i'll get on to making some acrylic pipework. Tj will be around to help so hopefully it will be a productive weekend.

JR

 

[JR23]

After spending the best part of our day working on APIS it's starting to really come together and the detailed and thorough planning seems to be paying off. Despite a few moments of tension an elegant solution was quickly found to most of the little issues that arose.

The first task was to tap the 1/4" BSP holes in the acrylic pass through components.

With that out of the way it was straight on to cutting and bonding o-rings from nitrile cord.

Then A LOT of screws.

After that I went on to bend some tubing...

...completing the pass-through assembly with all of the push in fittings as well as sleeving the D5 with a Corsair peripheral connector.

Now for one of the slightly more dramatic moments, unfortunately the reservoir was very slightly too tall for what we had planned. Easily rectified with a little lathe action.

It was only a subtle difference, facing ~2mm off the top and extending the counter-bore which encompasses the recessed stop plug.

But once in position it was perfect, perhaps even more elegant than if the res had been shorter. The sharp edge blending seamlessly into the case.

If that didn't give away how I chose to mount the reservoir then i'm sure this will. The top is inlaid into the accent of the case and the bottom sitting directly over a pair of push in fittings. The res simply drops through the roof and is trapped in position by the outer black layer of the roof.

I also bored out the recessed holes in the bottom part of the reservoir to accept normal fittings rather than EK's 8mm extenders.

We are extremely pleased with how the loop is taking shape and the contrast of materials and colours on show. Tomorrow we plan to fit the graphics cards, tube those, then assemble the pedestal section with radiators, fans, cables and tubing. The top of the case should simply drop over it and hopefully if there are no major problems we will see how this all looks with some coolant!

JR

 

[JR23]

Thanks for all the comments and support guys! Sorry i've been getting a bit slow at replying, it just seems to be work, update, sleep, repeat right now, which definitely isn't a bad thing

Great seeing another black/yellow parvum build - looks awesome and love the mid plate!

Thanks, your build definitely influenced my friends color choices on this, just the case on it's own is so striking. I remember seeing yours assembled before it left too, definitely under-rated scheme.

Looks like you went with the left design? That would've been my choice.

Yep left was unanimous in the end, it had to be!

Whats the purpose of a midplate? is it just to serve as like a reservoir/make all the tubing look a lot neater?

Hopefully the latest update will help you to visualize it's purpose. It essentially allows all of the tubing to be neat and flowing while seamlessly joining components both above and below the plate itself. Runs of coolant will come up the components as well as drop straight down into the radiators in the pedestal.

Wow, the precision of this build is stunning, the res looks amazing, just perfect!

After working with tiny builds like Chocolate Box and MATE things just have to be that way to work, I love porting that ethos over to larger projects where every tiny piece of space is justified and considered.

Very, very smart. I love the way all the fittings drop down and then that's all you see.

The new ek stuff looks much smarter now too.

Do you create all the designs for the bottom tray bit? Pretty awesome if so.

Yes I was very skeptical about the REVO when I first saw it but it is beautiful, just a little refreshing. I hope they continue to produce the older styles just for shear choice but they rarely disappoint. The simple push fittings are unrivaled too, so clean.

I designed the pass-through plate and the case, all machined in house at Parvum. Over the course of MATE,SENESCENTIS and SHEEDY we put a lot of work into refining the custom water cooled parts, just developing an interface that works well with our equipment. Each time things are getting far more intricate and advanced and we still have a lot planned for the future!

JR

 

[JR23]

Now that my friend, is art! Its obvious that you love building these systems and you guys are always trying out new ideas. This is why I'll be buying cases and accessories from Parvum.

Keep up the good work

Thanks! We would love to find a way to make crazy parts like the mid-plate available to more people but it is very difficult to develop something that is so useful and slick for a variety of hardware. It's also very re-assuring and satisfying to build something like this and see it endure multiple LAN's and events.

I love the way you use the accent to hold the tube. Could this be your best build yet? Its looking like it. I am loving this case.

It is looking fantastic in person, just a little more showy than my personal rigs while still remaining surprisingly understated, for a black and yellow build. Although less advanced than MATE and rather less crazy than SHEEDY it is a beautiful blend of my own and Parvum styles. I do like it a lot and I wouldn't be mad if I had to keep it!

JR

 

[JR23]

Another epic day of progress has been made on APIS, picking up from Saturdary me and TJ worked in parallel to complete the loop and paint the Corsair fan rings. I started by making the two tubes for the graphics cards. As the midplate is so substantial the tubing could be used to support the GPU's, so to alleviate any sag I laid the case on it's back to measure up giving a unique view of the pass-through plate from it's polished side.

To help all of the tubing push together, and come apart I used a small amount of silicone grease to lubricate the o-rings. Being water resistant it also helps things to seal and won't float off around the loop.

Meanwhile TJ got to work priming the fan rings he had prepped on Saturday.

The first GPU was installed, supported perfectly by the tubing.

A few yellow coats on the fan rings.

Installing the top card with the lower one so rigidly was very challenging, the easiest way I found was to remove the terminal block so it could be pushed down and then re-united with the card itself.

The next and final pieces of tubing to be cut were for the lower radiators. After neatly wiring all the fans into a PWM splitter PCB, I offered up the radiators and fans all assembled on the floor panel.

Much clear coat later the fans were looking great.

So then we brought out progress together, very striking and a great match for the case! They were still a little tacky at this point but we managed to very carefully piece them together.

Following that we removed the stickers from the mechanical drives keeping the back side looking just as clean and visually balanced.

Lovely glimpse of EK radiator and coolant channel, and this is 'just' under the PSU.

Fans looking great, TJ did an awesome job.

Such presence.

Very pleasing repetition with the tubing runs. So many tiny and precise details on this which aren't even visible.

Prepare for coolant pics, much yellow, soon!

JR

 

[JR23]

Filling the loop was very easy and already it seems to have bled remarkably well, after a long 24 hours of running it really quietened down and bedded in. So I think i'm going to leave out attempting to write about this one and let the pictures talk!

Time to order some sleeving supplies!

JR

 

[JR23]

I think I have run out of appropriate compliments to offer for this build, it surpasses any of the usual platitudes given... It's simply stunning...

It's ok, if you just post blank comments I understand

Aww man I love that midplate arrangement

Wow!

Gorgeous.

//

Thanks guys! Can't wait to get on to the sleeving, I have some black, dark grey and yellow teleios on the way, some great 16AWG PVC insulated wire one the way too in black and yellow for extra brightness. Can't wait to get going on all of that this week.

JR

 

[JR23]

Hey guys, today I received all of the remaining sleeving supplies from E22, but before we get into that I had to find room for another drive in the back of APIS! I had a vague idea of where I wanted it to go, as the drive is sleek and black I wanted to set it somewhere against the gloss yellow.

With that marked out it was straight off to the pillar drill.

3.5mm followed with a little chamfer for the countersunk screw heads to sit neatly unseen underneath the outer panel of the case.

Excellent!

Here is the final position, mirroring a 2.5" WD set behind the motherboard tray.

So now it's time for some sleeving! Black, Dark Grey and Yellow Tellios.

Many wires cut, for this i'm using tri-rated 16AWG PVC insulated 3.1mm OD wire. Very overkill and huge to try and get in standard ATX crimps however it's all worth it for the way it interacts with the sleeving. All of the yellow sleeve will have yellow cable so it remains vibrant and pronounced.

Ends trimmed ready for crimps!

Yeah forget breaking off 40+ crimps with my fingers .

...much much time later.

Well all I got done today was the 4 8-pin PCI cables but i'm very happy with them. Hopefully tomorrow I can get the EPS and peripheral cables taken care of leaving the 24-pin for another day when the PSU arrives!

JR

 

[JR23]

Just a small update, all I managed was the 24-pin today. In an attempt to keep it somewhat square, difficult when its so short, every cable was a different length. Together with the 3 double wires it made it very time consuming.

With a little training I think they will all sit really nicely in the build. For me the feel and the flow is way more important than having each wire exactly parallel, each holds the right natural curvature for where it has to fit. Only a couple more cables to do now, i'm very glad all the big ones are finished!

JR

 

[JR23]

Nice job on the cabling, is there anything you can't do lol?

I'm really not that good at painting, nor do I have any interest in learning to be as good as my own expectations but most things i'm happy to practice and get good at. This will be the first complete set of cables i've made and I can see improvement in my work, particularly in the consistency of what can't be seen.

IKR, glad to see you have figured out how to put your words across so eloquently.

JR

 

[JR23]

I'm sure you can see where this is going

Hopefully the build will very shortly have just a little more EVGA kit in it and so we thought it was only appropriate to add a little branding to the exterior, after all the components are so understated and discrete it seemed appropriate and TJ liked the idea too.

We didn't stop at just the custom front panel and went on to inlay each tiny piece of the letters in frosted clear, the same acrylic as used for the midplate.

I'll bring you some more on that when parts arrive!

The rig is currently up and running with stock cables, everything is working correctly however the fan splitter PCB did not function as anticipated so we will be adding an Aquaero 5 LT. Most of the cables are complete so just a little more fabrication and final assembly to go!

JR

 

[JR23]

Hello everyone! It's been a while, over a year, infact...... I can explain. We finished the system, insanely late one night took it back to TJ's and it has stayed there ever since being used every day, beside the occasional time i've stolen it for insomnia. At which point i've been too preoccupied with another system to yeah, take any photographs at all.

BUT, yesterday it came back for it's first annual service and a cheeky upgrade, luckily it was so easy to work on it left me with a few hours for photographs. Not the ideal scenario, lying on the floor with an old table top, one soft box and some fabric but good enough for some shots to do it justice.

So just before we gander at those, the updated spec list for your delectation.

Parvum Systems R1.0
Intel Haswell-E i7-5930K
EVGA X99 Micro2
EVGA GTX 980 Classified x2
Corsair Dominator Platinum DDR4 4x4GB
Samsung 512GB PM961 M.2
Samsung 500GB 850 EVO
Samsung 1TB Spinpoint F3 x2
Western Digital Blue 1TB
EVGA Supernova 1200W P2

Aquacomputer Aquaero 5 LT
Aquacomputer Aquaero 5 Passive Heatsink
EK FC980 Classy Nickel/Acetal x2
EK Supremacy EVO Nickel/Acetal
EK D5 REVO Pump Top Acetal
EK RES X3 250 Black Acetal
EK CoolStream PE 360 (Triple)
EK HD Adapter 10/12mm Black Nickel x28
Corsair SP120 Performance Edition PWM x8

I hope this surprised a few of you with old subs and brought a few new readers to this older project, thanks for stopping by. TJ is now enjoying 3500mb/s reads and the added dankness of the Micro2. On a small and belated sidenote, i've never seen such a magnificent revision to any product, every tiny tiny niggle that it was possible to pick with the original Micro has been carefully and logically addressed, right down to including the debug LED in dark mode and a quiet mode that's enabled by default.

JR

 

[JR23]

Not enough superlatives in the dictionary to describe this, but it's simply stunning! Curious what your camera settings were for the photos, they look great.

How hard are the replacement cables for the PSU? I've done quite a lot of extensions, but never braved a full PSU like that.

ISO400, F8.0, ~1/60, AF with manual point selection, white balance forced to 4500K as AWB has literally no clue what to do with unnaturally vibrant yellow.

All the 6 and 8-pins on EVGA/Superflower are easy, easier than extensions even, but the 24-pin is just stupid, i've sleeved two PSU's that aren't Silverstone now and I hate doing them and the results are disappointing for all the extra effort.

JR

 

[JR23]

Cracking thread revival.....The 980's need to go though and a couple of 1080s to be their upgrade

I think it will see one GPU upgrade before changing platform but probably not this generation unless some radical price wars take place. SLI 980's handle anything at 1440p so could only really justify changing them to go for 4k and then cards, blocks and a monitor quickly run over £2k. Plus it wouldn't look any different and that's all that really matters!

JR

 

[JR23]

Lovely work as always - clearly missed it first time around. Really like the way you've got the res flush with the top.

If you can machine an EK res port to take standard fittings, why the *$%£ can't they just make them that way in the first place?! Much more sensible solution.

Presumably they counterbore the ports which they anticipate people won't want to use or could be mounted against a flat surface so their little plugs fit neatly inside, which I can completely appreciate. There is no way they could make all the counterbores big enough to fit every fitting but I agree it would at least be nice if they could make them 20mm to accept 10/12mm HD adapters or rotaries and then have the stop plugs made slightly bigger for that clean look. I guess ultimately though all these dimensions derived from a time when it was fashionable to use massive flexible hose and there was no hope of any fitting sitting neatly into a counterbored hole. Poor planning but I prefer the EK look because of it. I hate how they make it possible to only use the SLI terminals in one particular way though, I think that is one product which is completely spoiled by them.

Parvum have done some backlit logo's before, definitely on imersa's MSI ITX and Magnus, they do look great and would have worked well on this build too but originally it had the plain cut Parvum logo. The EVGA panel was added when they sponsored the PSU with a view to switching it back after it had been to a show but everyone preferred the extra detail that went into the EVGA logo.

JR