PARVUM FTW

[JR23]

This is a build for my friend SniplerXLS in the second Parvum Systems R1.0 ATX prototype with a custom watercooling loop for the CPU and GPU, of course also the obligatory bespoke MDPC-X PSU cables and a unique frosted blue, frosted clear and black color scheme for the case. The theme of the build will be continued throughout with predominantly black hardware, blue coolant and all Bitspower silver shining fittings.

EVGA GTX1080 FTW
EVGA Z170 FTW
Intel Skylake i7-6700K
HyperX Predator 4x8GB
Samsung 950 PRO 512GB
Samsung 850 PRO 512GB x2
Western Digital Black 2TB x2
Silverstone Strider Titanium 800W
Parvum R1.0 ATX Prototype II

EK-Supremacy EVO - Acetal + Nickel
EK-FC1080 GTX FTW - Acetal + Nickel x2
EK-FC1080 GTX FTW Backplate - Black x2
EK-XTOP Revo D5 PWM - Acetal (incl. pump)
EK-CoolStream XE 360 (Triple) x3
Bitspower BP-WTP-C47 Multi-Link Adapter x34
Bitspower BP-90R 90° Rotary Extender x10
Bitspower BP-WTP-C39 90° Extender x8
Bitspower BP-WTP-C04 Pass Through x8
Bitspower BP-WTP-C06 Stop Fitting x4
Bitspower BP-WTP-C60 15mm Extender x4
Aqua Computer Aquaero 5 LT
Aqua Computer Aquaero 5 Passive Heatsink
Noctua NF-F12 IndustrialPPC 2000RPM PWM x9
Noctua NA-SAVP1 Chromax - Blue x5

Already we have had one day working on the build, unboxing all of the hardware as well as assembling and post testing the main components. Here are some pictures from along the way!

Thanks for checking it out, the fittings will be arriving from Taiwan very shortly and we can begin to simultaneously build up the case and the cooling loop in the next update!

JR

 

[JR23]

An abundance of progress was made on FTW over the weekend as more and more pieces come together.

Fittings aside all of the watercooling parts are from EK, all black acetal.

It didn't take long to get everything prepared and blocked, i've had an awful amount of practice over the last few months, so much so I didn't even take any PCB shots of the cards. Definitely unusual behavior for me, I love naked cards but like most 1080's they just seemed embarrassingly sparse.

Fresh from Taiwan no less than 60 Bitspower silver shining fittings.

There was no time to line up and name each fitting, quite a lot for a relatively simple build but all part of a cunning plan.

Next up was the 9 Noctua iPPC F12's each equipped with blue Chromax to match the build.

Then the two EK XE 360 rads were mounted to the base panel of the case, fans added and wires trimmed to length.

To ensure overkill on the cooling front a third XE 360 was decked out with 3 F12's. triple triple FTW.

The rotaries and C47's all fitted ready, the loose rad fits vertically at the front of the case with the ports at the bottom. Then a 90° formed acrylic tube on either side will join the outer ports of the horizontal rads to the front rad.

Next 4 of the 5 storage drives were prepared and fitted directly to the midwall of the case, two WD blacks and two Samsung 850's.

The reservoir brackets, motherboard and aquaero were also added completing the midwall assembly.

The subtle views of the drives look spectacular through the frosted midwall although the green PCB's may warrant some further attention, for now i'm loving the effect.

Through a hybrid of CAD and measuring the assembled parts a layout for the loop and midplate was drawn up, marked onto the piece and checked against the hardware. With everything double checked it was off to the workshop to try out my latest acrylic torture device.

Without a CNC mill/laser cutting 20mm holes in acrylic is always a fun task but I found just the right tool browsing RS, unlike most crude hole saws this was one solid piece with a central guide drill and it made for a very controlled cut teamed with a 490RPM pillar drill.

After drilling some smaller holes for the D5 REVO it was time to commence stage 2!

For this lots of fittings were required, but very worth it, first I cut the tubes (ofc measured from CAD) and then assembled each one with a C47 multi link adapter and a simple 90° extender at each end.

The it was easy to loosely assemble a pass through fitting in the 20mm hole, screw that into the 90°, tighten down the locking ring and put a C47 in the top side ready to go up to the res/pump/cpu/gpu.

I may have then just taken many photo's to make up for the fact these phenomenal little runs will be near on impossible to see in the finished build.

And finally looking down from above...

...and from underneath again <3

Can't wait to get on with the rest of the loop! Just need to make some special fan extensions for the lower radiators and it will be time to piece together all of these big pieces.

JR

 

[JR23]

With each individual piece of the case assembled from last week the next logical step was to start putting them together into one huge lump, however before that there was a few little jobs to do in some places that would become very hard to access. The most critical task was to make extensions for all of the fans.

But before we get to that a little context, this project as being built as a big brother to my friends X2.0 which I put together earlier in the year. Being air cooled it's not so ambitious however they will both share exactly the same case materials, sleeving colours and Chromax equipped industrialPPC's.

Now back to the current action! A substantial package of supplies arrived for this and two other builds i'm working on.

In the previous update I used ATX crimps for the fan wires ready for 4-pin EPS style connectors.

So for each bank of fans I made a female 4-pin EPS to 3-pin fan cable, the Aquaero 5 being used only supports one PWM channel which will be used for the pump hence only 3-pin extensions were needed.

All plugged in ready, the main reason for using these connectors besides being neater with individual heavy gauge wire was that they can't be unplugged accidentally.

One extra tube was needed from the CPU back to the 3 radiators once cut I assembled all of the fittings onto the midplate.

Then placing the midplate and floor together it was simple to screw the 15mm extenders into the two radiators using the rotaries.

After that I turned it all the right way around and added the front panels and midwall simultaneously with all of the hardware attached, threaded the cables through and quickly it took shape!

Everything fitted together exactly right, the final tube and rotary extender were just the right length to reach the radiator ports and the height was just right too. Not that I dimensioned the entire case around making this one set of hardware fit perfectly....

The other tubes linking pass through's together all stayed in place throughout and sit neatly above the fans.

Just lots more tubing and sleeving to go! Also I promise I will scrape together enough pennies to buy a new backdrop roll and take pics of the entire thing for the next update. I'm working with a little tiny square with raggedy edges all the way around atm, so close ups it is.

JR

 

[JR23]

No writing this time because i'm desperate to go and have my first proper session on Farm Simulator 2017, besides this one is pretty self-explanatory! I've bent, cut and fitted every single tube completing the loop ready for leak testing. Also along the way sleeved the pump and fitted everything which needs to be fitted.

200 or so metres of MDPC-X arrived in the week so perhaps i'll start some cables tomorrow and hit you guys up with another update.

JR

 

[JR23]

What camera, lens and settings are you using for these photos? I'm in awe.

A Canon 60D with standard EF-S 18-55mm lens, all ISO400, between 1/40 and 1/200, ~F4.5, manual selection AF point, OIS off. Just one softbox in the whole scene and lots of ghetto rigging.

JR

 

[JR23]

Back again, farms was good and even with the extra hour I was still playing at 4am but I did manage to wake up early enough to get some progress in today. Just.

I decided to do all of the GPU cables first just to get a sizable portion out of the way, 32 straight wires, 8 of each colour, Grand Blue, Platinum Grey, Shade 19 and Black.

Now to get them in and start training!

Well still lots more cables to go and a bit more training once they are all in place but all going well so far.

JR

 

[JR23]

Awesome cables as always dude.

Can you clarify for me though how you're stripping and crimping? I was under the impression that you'd want exactly 3mm of stripped wire to give contact on the pins and still crimp onto the insulation, however it looks like you're using the Knipex 12 62 180 which does a minimum strip length of 6mm (your pics of stripped wires look to be much longer than 3mm).

What tool are you using?

The Knipex can still easily strip shorter than 6mm but the stop can only move to within 6mm of the cutter. I just line the end of the wire up with one tooth short of the stop to get consistent little strips, you can get a little bit more wire into the crimp too, but yeah ~3mm. I'm using 18 AWG 2.9mm OD PVC insulated wire from RS, shakmods crimps and MDPC-X crimping tool. The insulation is oversize for 18AWG but it just works with standard crimps, i've also got some MDPC-X supplied molex crimps to try out, just incase they are epic.

JR

 

[JR23]

Had a chat with Knipex - who were very helpful by the way - as I didn't think that stripper went as low as 3mm. Didn't occur to me there might be a reference point to line the wire up with. Definitely the cheaper option.
If it's any help I went for the Knipex 12 40 200 which will go down to 2.8mm. There are also the more expensive 12 42 195 which don't need the adjustment wheel. The 200's have only needed adjustment when I stripped a ribbon-set of four wires together.

Would be interested to know JR23, what your experience with crimps is like. I tried the Weierli SN-28B's and they just made a mess of the pins. I've got the E22 crimps and they're great for ATX pins but seem to make a bit of a mess of fan pins - they over-crimp and they're already at their lowest setting on the wheel. Not planning to buy any more but it'd be useful to know what works and what doesn't.

What do you use to smush the melted sleeve into the pin so consistently? I'm doing the same with paracord; heating it with the hot-air attachment of my gas soldering iron and then smushing it with my fingers. Doesn't seem to be as consistent though....and you have to be quick or suffer 3rd degree molten nylon burns to your fingertips!

So far i've always used whatever crimps shakmods send me and they've been fine although when using 16AWG and way too big OD wire one side of the crimp around the insulation generally breaks off, but using 18AWG which is closer to spec for the crimps/tool has helped. I'm going to try MDPC-X molex crimps soon, i'll let you know how they go. Fan crimps are just meh, wire size varies so much they will never be just right.

I use heatshrink over the end of the sleeve, just as if about to do heatshrink style. Heat just the very end until the sleeve melts inside the shrink and then give it a pinch which is far less painful as heatshrink is a much better insulator than molten plastic or a crimp. Then just make a snip with scissors in the unshrunk end and pull off the shrink. Lutro0 has a great video of this method, maybe it's a little slower but I prefer it greatly as the sleeve can't expand when heated and generally it all works out pretty neat.

JR

 

[JR23]

Noob question, JR (and others): how do you stitch fans together?

I won't have much space in my In Win 901 to have masses of excess fan cable when I put the 360 rad in, so I'm looking to splice and dice the 3 fans together onto a single 4-pin connector. Do I need to splice all 4 wires into their respective groups, or do I sacrifice 2 of the PWM sense wires?

Can't see from your fan pics.

Keep all the PWM's and for the most accurate speed reporting just use one tach wire. If it's too many fans for one motherboard header you could always send the ground and +12V directly to the PSU. It's probably worth testing it before you finish the whole build too as occasionally PWM fans can just be a pest. I tried using SP120 PWM's with a PCB splitter once and any more than two just ran at 100%.

JR

 

[JR23]

Seems to be standard procedure for me that final pics come over a year after actually finishing the build, still these things take time! Quick update of the specs, mostly the same aside Aquaero 5 > 6 and a Noctua NF-A14 fitted inside the PSU to keep it super quiet.

EVGA GTX1080 FTW
EVGA Z170 FTW
Intel Skylake i7-6700k
HyperX Predator 4x8GB
Samsung 950 PRO 256GB
Samsung 850 PRO 512GB x2
Western Digital Black 4TB x2
Silverstone Strider Platinum 1200W
Parvum R1.0 ATX Prototype II

EK-Supremacy EVO - Acetal + Nickel
EK-FC1080 GTX FTW - Acetal + Nickel x2
EK-FC1080 GTX FTW Backplate - Black x2
EK-XTOP Revo D5 PWM - Acetal (incl. pump)
EK-CoolStream XE 360 (Triple) x3
Bitspower BP-WTP-C47 Multi-Link Adapter x34
Bitspower BP-90R 90° Rotary Extender x10
Bitspower BP-WTP-C39 90° Extender x8
Bitspower BP-WTP-C04 Pass Through x8
Bitspower BP-WTP-C06 Stop Fitting x4
Bitspower BP-WTP-C60 15mm Extender x4
Aqua Computer Aquaero 6 LT
Aqua Computer Aquaero 6 Passive Heatsink
Noctua NF-F12 IndustrialPPC 2000RPM PWM x9
Noctua NF-A14 IndustrialPPC 2000RPM PWM 24v
Noctua NA-SAVP1 Chromax - Blue x5

Next week final pics for R1.0 INDUSTRIAL and PARVUM K! lol, actually not joking. New photo studio toys making shoots of complete builds far more enjoyable so time to revisit everything!

JR​

 

[JR23]

Well i'm going to be brave and criticise it

First things i'm drawn to in the final pictures ;

Graphics card power cabling is not neat, looks wrong compared to the curve of the 24 pin, it almost looks like an after thought ( it'll fit though these holes, so we'll thread it through )

Non blanked PCI slots on the back of case ! A definate no-no, smacks of laziness.

Great photography though.

I completely agree with your criticism, but disagree with the reasoning. The cards and cabling look strange because of the spacing, being close to the socket and directly next to each other. Had they been typical 115X or 20XX layout or on an mATX board then it would seem completely normal but being oddly in the center doesn't help. More graphics cards is the obvious solution! I did originally think that it might have 3 so it seemed logical to do it that way.

Unblanked slots are a way of life, just like no windows, no front USB, no front audio, no reset button, no power button, no power LED, no HDD LED, no optical bay, no front mounted fan controller.... Choosing not to find or make blanks isn't lazy, it's just a constant reminder that you do infact need more graphics cards.

Needs more graphics cards, or less ATX.

JR

 

[JR23]

Perhaps my reasoning was slightly 'off '

If it was a showcase for the specific model case, then fine. But the lead post said it was a build for a friend so i imagined it was a custom build ( that would be built around the hardware ).

That aside, your reasoning for not including blanking plates ?

There is a world of difference between a couple of generic size ( albeit custom made ones by yourself ) PCI covers that would fit any of your cases, to adding windows and holes for power buttons, leds, opti drives etc..............

So my point still stands, why leave the PCI slots open, when you could easily block/vent the unused ones ?

It was both of those things simultaneously. A custom first of it's kind build for a friend but also a showcase of what that case would be if it were to be formally listed as a standard item. It's in no way specific to the hardware and the case was finished as a completely generic item. All the pass through's and specific mounting were drilled by hand rather than added to the original drawings. Just the same format as when I built my L1.0.

It could have easily been a bit more specific at that stage, but we wanted to leave it open for future hardware changes and also get some experience of what the standard iteration of the case would be like to build with.

Hypothetically had we chosen to be more specific at that moment in time and decided on this exact hardware then it would have had the 4-slot bracket from an mATX Parvum and 20mm+ taken off the height to bring it down to '7-slot' size. Which I think in hindsight would have made the GPU's look a bit more off center and balanced.


Well why block slots when you could easily leave them open , it's really just a matter of habit over function. If they were covered with traditional blanks that would still leave a significant hole down the front side and around the connectors on each GPU. The unused bracket looks neat and flat, doesn't rattle. Nothing would really make it drastically better. Flat aluminium plates would still be a discontinuity from the case.

It's not something i've ever overthought, each of my builds has every slot filled and when i've seen other people add them they always look silly. But yeah, I guess it's also unusual to have 4 next to each other.

JR

 

[JR23]

Some powered on pictures too...

JR​