Project Dovakhin (prev. Angel) - Build Log *Picture Heavy*

Case is with the car sprayer now, he's been off work ill so yet another delay there. Really hoping to get it back this week, I'm starting to get a bit peeved that it's taking so long considering it was supposed to be a three week job at most.

Soon as I get it back I'll be starting the build. I have everything except tubing now, of which I have yet to decide on a size. I'm edging towards 3/4" as I'll be using UV coolants so the thickness shouldn't spoil the effects, plus I like the "beefy" look of it. I'm going to try and get hold of a decent DSLR camera for the the rest of the build too, although I have access to a 10mp camera which in daylight is pretty good, under incandescent lighting it really does suffer with grainy images and I have to spend hours messing around with random lamps I can find and the camera settings just to get a single acceptable photograph.

I've also got the lengthy job of cleaning up the pearls from the Aurora coolant. I think I've found an effective method which is to mix IPA with water (about 30/1) and run that through the loop for an hour, and repeat a few times. The blocks all need to be dismantled as the pearls are so small they fit between the plexiglass and the nickel, anyone who has taken a GPU block apart will know how much of a pain the o-rings can be. For now only the GPU's are going under water as I'm not happy with the performance of the EK Supreme HF block. I've tried it with minute amounts of TIM right through to having it seeping from the edges and I always get shoddy temps on both my i7's and an i5; Right now I have two 7970's on a dual rad and my old i7 on a triple, says it all.
 
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Get the case back tonight.....a quick preview :D

IMG_02811.jpg
 
schizo said:
lovely finish to that case due :)

very shiny
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Yup, proper car grade lacquer that. None of that B&Q "do it in the back garden" jobs in this thread :D

Worked out pretty good with work too, got the weekend off and possibly a few days start of next week so I should get a lot of the rig assembled. I believe I have everything now, but moore's law says I don't.
 
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snedie said:
To be sprayed black by the Auto Sprayer was £100(ish). The actual artwork is costing a further £400 :D.

Also a quick update, just got a water block onto one of the 7970, in the process figured out why they where so terrible with the original cooler, quite simply ONLY the GPU core was being cooled, everything else (The RAM, VRM's etc) was simply left open to the air, no active cooling in the slightest.

Temps now down from 96c in BF3 to 39c (Max) in 3D Mark 11. Can't wait to get the case back an get the second card water cooled, but for now it will have to do.
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WOW! Worth every penny!

Thanks for the link to the painters site. Bookmarked in case my numbers come up....
 
Got the guts of the system installed today. Hit a few walls along the way, such as puncturing a Thermochill radiator and leaky connectors. Also the CPU cooler I was going to use turned out not to fit onto this motherboard and I had already gotten the water cooling installed. For now I've just sat it atop of the CPU, temps are still under 40c at idle so little bit of a break there.

Things I still need include:
- UV Cathodes
- UV Die Bombs
- Fans
- Dust Filters
- Guards
- 5 1/4 SSD Drive Bay

Will get some pictures taken after work tomorrow, under this fluorescent light they are coming out pretty bad.
 
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schizo said:
Have you tied the fans outside of the case ?

Sounds like the case is vibrating.
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The mounting on front goes:

Grill:Case:Filter:Fan:Radiator

Only way I could do it which looked good and provided easy cleaning. Don't see how they could vibrate really, the bolts are done up pretty tight. Also when plugged into the main board I get no such noise.
 
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