Ok this project has nothing to do with the Counter Intelligence Department but Computer Integrated Desk, or simply Sid for short. Yes it is another desk build. My original plan was to build it from scratch so I did not have to pay as much money for the LianLi desk but I am starting to feel it is going to be far more lol.
A little background story because this whole idea is totally insane and proves to myself, parents and all that know me is that I am an awkward bugger and can never do things the easy way. Two years ago I bought the AMD FX-8350 to replace some aged tri-core am3+ cpu and I started to notice that it ran very hot (admittedly a decent cooler did help it become less hot but where is the fun in leaving at that) and my dad pipes and say "why not water cool it?" So like most sane people I started to look into water cooling, reading how to's and watching youtube videos tutorials and personal/commercial vlogs and I was hooked. I started looking into costs from all inclusive kits to total custom loops and the plethora of cases that can be used.
So water cooling was going to happen but I could not decide on what to do and which cases I liked plus there was this cool idea from LianLi for a computer desk (which I had played around with before without this idea of water cooling it). My original ideas I had long before when it came to computers integrated into the desk was simply hide the pc away from view and have a few peripherals and components accessible from the desk top, usb hub and optical drive mostly. If I was going to water cool I did not want to hide it away, I wanted to show it off but I did not like the way LianLi do it where it is almost a work surface, I wanted mine to be almost like a picture frame. So I started working on the designs below.
Another thing I wanted to do was incorporate a second rig into the mix, one would be purely for purely gaming and the other would serve as a media server, media player, general use, browsing rig all tied into the WC loop. Ok this seems excessive but I already have this set up in my room, a case with my gaming rig in which gets turned off at night and my "server" rig which is on all the time and is already fairly quiet but with the aid of WC'ing I can make it quieter. I will go onto what specs I have later but I think it is time for pics of my original designs.
This is the first design I did (originally on a scrap of paper)
I started to refine the design
I tried to re-arrange things but it looked out of place.
I have a final design now and will at some point will work it out on sketchup
Ignore the mobo make and size it is just for general placement idea. The res is the Photon 270
The aluminium that the mobo is sitting on is going to be the mobo tray (painted white) and the aluminium on the mobo is where the gpu and water block will sit (the height should be in all only a few mm higher than the res.
The colour scheme is black, white and pink
Ok onto specs that will be used, and please remember I am using a lot of what I already have so it is mainly AMD.
Gaming Rig
MSI AM3+ Krait Edition (for the black and white theme not for serious OC)
AMD FX 8350
MSI Gaming Edition AMD R9 290
16gb HyperX White 1866 DDR3
Kingston HyperX SSD Boot Drive and do a custom paint job with some white or pink to fit colours.
And either a large capacity HDD or a raid SSD
(in the ilustrations I have 3 27" monitors for gaming but I have decided to go for one of the ultra wide monitors, not decided which yet)
Server
Identical to gaming rig except
AMD FX 4300
GPU to be determined
And a lot more hdd's for media storage
Water Cooling
CPU EK-Supremacy EVO - Nickel
GPU Bitspower VG-AR9290X Acrylic Top With Stainless Panel (Clear)
Res XSPC Photon 270
Pump EK-Dual DDC 3.2 PWM X-TOP With Dual Laing 18w DDC Pumps
Rads 4xCoolgate CG360 360mm Radiator (or whatever is on offer)
Fans Vardar F3-120 (1850rpm) I think lol
Fittings Visible A mixture of Barrow and Bits Fenix for hard tubing
Fittings Underside Whatever cheapest and works well with flexible tubing
A little background story because this whole idea is totally insane and proves to myself, parents and all that know me is that I am an awkward bugger and can never do things the easy way. Two years ago I bought the AMD FX-8350 to replace some aged tri-core am3+ cpu and I started to notice that it ran very hot (admittedly a decent cooler did help it become less hot but where is the fun in leaving at that) and my dad pipes and say "why not water cool it?" So like most sane people I started to look into water cooling, reading how to's and watching youtube videos tutorials and personal/commercial vlogs and I was hooked. I started looking into costs from all inclusive kits to total custom loops and the plethora of cases that can be used.
So water cooling was going to happen but I could not decide on what to do and which cases I liked plus there was this cool idea from LianLi for a computer desk (which I had played around with before without this idea of water cooling it). My original ideas I had long before when it came to computers integrated into the desk was simply hide the pc away from view and have a few peripherals and components accessible from the desk top, usb hub and optical drive mostly. If I was going to water cool I did not want to hide it away, I wanted to show it off but I did not like the way LianLi do it where it is almost a work surface, I wanted mine to be almost like a picture frame. So I started working on the designs below.
Another thing I wanted to do was incorporate a second rig into the mix, one would be purely for purely gaming and the other would serve as a media server, media player, general use, browsing rig all tied into the WC loop. Ok this seems excessive but I already have this set up in my room, a case with my gaming rig in which gets turned off at night and my "server" rig which is on all the time and is already fairly quiet but with the aid of WC'ing I can make it quieter. I will go onto what specs I have later but I think it is time for pics of my original designs.
This is the first design I did (originally on a scrap of paper)
I started to refine the design
I tried to re-arrange things but it looked out of place.
I have a final design now and will at some point will work it out on sketchup
Ignore the mobo make and size it is just for general placement idea. The res is the Photon 270
The aluminium that the mobo is sitting on is going to be the mobo tray (painted white) and the aluminium on the mobo is where the gpu and water block will sit (the height should be in all only a few mm higher than the res.
The colour scheme is black, white and pink
Ok onto specs that will be used, and please remember I am using a lot of what I already have so it is mainly AMD.
Gaming Rig
MSI AM3+ Krait Edition (for the black and white theme not for serious OC)
AMD FX 8350
MSI Gaming Edition AMD R9 290
16gb HyperX White 1866 DDR3
Kingston HyperX SSD Boot Drive and do a custom paint job with some white or pink to fit colours.
And either a large capacity HDD or a raid SSD
(in the ilustrations I have 3 27" monitors for gaming but I have decided to go for one of the ultra wide monitors, not decided which yet)
Server
Identical to gaming rig except
AMD FX 4300
GPU to be determined
And a lot more hdd's for media storage
Water Cooling
CPU EK-Supremacy EVO - Nickel
GPU Bitspower VG-AR9290X Acrylic Top With Stainless Panel (Clear)
Res XSPC Photon 270
Pump EK-Dual DDC 3.2 PWM X-TOP With Dual Laing 18w DDC Pumps
Rads 4xCoolgate CG360 360mm Radiator (or whatever is on offer)
Fans Vardar F3-120 (1850rpm) I think lol
Fittings Visible A mixture of Barrow and Bits Fenix for hard tubing
Fittings Underside Whatever cheapest and works well with flexible tubing
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