Project: Bumble Bee

Bryan Kortez · 28 Jun 2015 at 12:04

The purpose of this project is to create a secondary PC for gaming/general use and leave my current prodigy build for work use.

My prodigy build is going to be gutted and replaced with air cooling, and the water cooling transplanted with some new parts into the new build. The system specs will look something like the following;

Bitfenix Prodigy:
Asus Maximus VII Impact
Intel Pentium K Anniversary G3258 - Heavily Overclocked
Kingston HyperX 1600MHz 2 x 4 GB
R9 270X Toxic
Sandisk X110 120GB SSD
Corsair RM Series PSU

Bumble Bee:
Fractal Design Define S
MSI Z97 MPower Intel Z97
i5-4670K @ 4.2GHz (Maybe more if I can get it stable)
Kingston HyperX Beast 16GB (2x8GB) 2400MHz
GTX 970 (Mini ITX Version)
Samsung 840 EVO 250GB SSD
Fully modular PSU (To be confirmed)

I already own all of the above components, some I found in the box of spares (apart from the Sandisk X110 which I bought last week).

The colour scheme for the new build is going to be black and yellow. I am hoping to do hard acrylic tubes on this build using a little fittings as possible, so a lot of bending to do. Hopefully it will pay off and look amazing with some of Mayhems Pastel Yellow flowing through.

I will update shortly with the progress of stripping down the Prodigy and rebuilding with air coolers and replacement GPU.

Bryan Kortez · 17 Jul 2015 at 00:07

Quick Update:

My Define S arrived the other week and I finally got around to having a mess around. I stripped down my prodigy off all it's water cooling parts, and installed the R9 270X GPU. It look's like my R9 270X is faulty, green youtube videos, flickering checker boards over the monitors etc. I've already had 2 R9 270X's fail me in the past, luckily all replaced under the same warranty.

I have decided to just go for a single system, but with dual boot (1 SSD for work, 1 SSD for play).

My original water cooling plan was a 240mm rad up front, with a 360 rad up top. I have since changed my mind and gone with just a 360 rad up front so I can keep the moduVents on top of the case, as I want to keep noise to a minimum.

I quickly installed a soft tube setup to see how things will look.

I think it will look real clean with straight lines from the acrylic tube.

Things to do:

- Install a yellow 140mm rear exhaust fan.
- Spray the PCI covers black
- Black and yellow cable braiding (bye bye finger tips)
- Replace the X-Res tube for a 200mm long tube instead.
- Fix D5 pump

There appears to be some strange noises coming from my D5 Pump. I have never run it dry. I'm going to take it apart and see if there is any damage.

Bryan Kortez · 17 Jul 2015 at 10:34

Just need find somewhere that stocks acrylic tube and fittings, as OCUK never has any stock -.-

Bryan Kortez · 17 Jul 2015 at 11:25

colinmcr said:
Like your build btw But I think you made the same error as me with your cpu wb, you need to peel off the blue protective plastic over the EK logo

Ha thanks! I've always thought it looked a bit cheap looking, same with my GPU block, they have been on there for 8 months. Just removed and it looks 10x better thanks! lol

Bryan Kortez · 22 Jul 2015 at 14:59

Quick Update:

So, after a bit of a mess around with tubing sizes being way under sized so my bending rubber wouldn't fit, I finally got it sorted.

I have gone with the Monsoon 10/13mm clear tube, as I prefer the small tube diameter (it's not all about size!). The inner diameter was actually measuring around 9.35mm, but I managed to pick up a bending runner from alphacool that has a core side of 9.2/9.3mm, so it fits perfectly.

I have gone with the deep black fittings by alphacool as well, they are good value and look/feel great too. I will be using 8 x compression fittings, 1 x T splitter, 2 x 90 degree double rotary, 1 x bitspower valve (for drain port).

My first single bend tube came out great, but me being an idiot managed to put a few scuffs on the outside. They aren't really noticeable and shouldn't be once liquid is in, but I may re-make this one if I have spare tube left at the end. I am just bending everything by eye, couldn't be bothered to waste money on a bending kit. I am ment to be an engineer after all!

I also got my larger reservoir tube delivered, helps fill up the empty space in the case. I am tempted to get a reservoir mounting clip to give the reservoir a bit of support at the top, as it's all relying on the 2 screws in the pump mount to hold it up straight.

I'll hopefully be updating over the next few days with the rest of my tubes.

Bryan Kortez · 22 Jul 2015 at 16:53

Thanks man

My GPU to CPU bend lines up perfectly as well. It's easier than I thought it was going to be, and I seem to be getting them pretty square just by eye. I've only got one last tube to do now, which runs from the CPU to the top rad. Will update with pictures tonight. Might even be getting my yellow coolant ordered tomorrow

Bryan Kortez · 22 Jul 2015 at 19:05

Would custard work? I've got some in the cupboard :d Ha

Going to do the tricky one later. Comes out of the CPU towards the window, then 90 degree up until it becomes level with the top rad inlet. 90 degree back towards the motherboard, then a 90 degree towards the rad at the front

Bryan Kortez · 23 Jul 2015 at 14:22

So, I completed all the tubes yesterday. Going to be leak testing it today to make sure everything works. I am just going to be using standard battery water for the leak test, as I'm waiting for the Mayhems Pastel Yellow to come back into stock.

Happy with how the bends came out considering it was my first acrylic build and I just bent everything by hand.

Still need to swap out the RAM for my real stuff, cable braid, and spray paint some parts black.

Bryan Kortez · 30 Jul 2015 at 09:00

So I'm currently awaiting on the yellow coolant to come back into stock and I am also trying to decide on cables. The PSU I would like to use is a Corsair RM series I had in my prodigy build. Originally I was going to create a full set of custom cables, but I can't find anywhere that sells the OEM connectors for the PSU side of the cables, as I would rather not take my other custom set of cables apart as a lot of time went into them.

I was going to go with mainly black cables with a few strands of yellow so it didn't look to over powering. I have noticed that overclockers sell CableMod PSU sets, but they look a bit to black and yellow, also with a big price tag.

What do you guys think about these cables?

Bryan Kortez · 11 Aug 2015 at 16:39

UPDATE

Been very busy with work lately, but here is a sneak peak. The coolant looks a little white in areas, as this picture was taken 2 minutes after I filled up, so contains a fair few micro bubbles.

I have decided that I will be just using my Seasonic semi modular PSU, so cable sleeving is going to take less time.

Things to do:

Make a short 24 pin custom sleeved extension
Make a short 8 pin ECU custom sleeved extension
Replace Telios braid with paracord on existing GPU power cables
Fit gentle white LED's that shine upwards and backwards
Find a way to control my 3 rad fans from the inline coolant sensor

Will hopefully be updating soon with a complete build and higher quality pictures.

Bryan Kortez · 11 Aug 2015 at 17:37

Bluntwrapped said:
Looks awesome man, really like the acrylic tubing. You've made a great job of those bends and keeping everything nice and tidy.

A yellow and black sticker for the side of your PSU would finish it off nicely

Thanks

Yeah that's an idea.. As I wanted to actually turn the PSU around anyway as my PC is on carpet. But my OCD of having the text on the PSU upside down wouldn't let me ha

Bryan Kortez · 11 Aug 2015 at 23:29

Keechy said:
i dont like the yellow fan i think it take your eye way

It will only take your eye away if you get to close when it's spinning.

Bryan Kortez · 12 Aug 2015 at 21:49

Luggs said:
Excellent build, can't believe I missed the final pic - any more coming?

How was the fractal to build in?

I'll be hopefully adding some more pictures over the next week. I still need to complete my custom cables.

I really liked it to be honest. Plenty of space behind the motherboard tray. Pretty solid design. Quiet if you keep the top moduvents on.

The only point to watch out for would be the thickness of the front rad depending on how you are position pump/res.