Project: Eris

darwin1859 · 27 Oct 2015 at 14:28

Project: ERIS - Z170, In Win D-Frame Mini, H2O [Build Complete]

Introduction

Welcome to project Eris. Eris is the Greek goddess of chaos, strife, and discord.

The previous Darwin PC project, Erebus, was a Trifire R9 290X, X99, watercooled Corsair 900D behemoth featuring two 480 mm radiators.

Eris will be an ITX build based in the In Win D-Frame Mini, so on a different scale. The emphasis will still be on watercooled gaming performance, but this project will look very different.

The hardware is based around the new Intel Z170 chipset, with MSI's Mini ITX offering for the mobo and a Skylake CPU. Paired with a MSI Gaming GTX 980 Ti, Eris will pack a punch.

The project will be fully watercooled with a rigid loop, and I'm planning several mods to make this build something special.

Hardware

Case: In Win D-Frame Mini (limited edition red anodised)
Motherboard: MSI Z170I Gaming Pro AC
CPU: Intel Skylake
GPU: MSI GTX 980 Ti Gaming 6G
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB
PSU: Corsair HX750i
Cabling: Custom-sleeved with E22 Teleios

Watercooling

Radiator: Mayhems Havoc 240
Pump/res: EK-XRES 140 Revo D5 - Acetal
CPU block: EK-Supremacy EVO - Nickel
GPU block: EK-FC980 GTX Ti TF5 - Acetal+Nickel
Fittings: EK-HDC Fitting 12mm G1/4 - Elox Black
Tubing: E22 Custom 12/10mm Ultra Clear Hard Tubing
Coolant: Mayhems X1 red / aurora

Confirmed sponsors

Thanks to the following sponsors for making this project possible:

Updates

Build complete

darwin1859 · 27 Oct 2015 at 14:29

Thanks to the first sponsor, In Win, for providing this awesome limited edition D-Frame Mini. The anodised red finish is just stunning.

darwin1859 · 27 Oct 2015 at 15:46

Luggs said:
Damn, that red is amazing, what an awesome looking frame...

I remember Erebus well so have high expectations of this build

Thanks mate

darwin1859 · 2 Nov 2015 at 11:27

Thanks to MSI for supporting Project Eris. First of their products is the graphics powerhouse, the GTX 980Ti GAMING 6G. The Twin Frozr V is a really nice looking cooler. This one however will soon be replaced with a water block...

darwin1859 · 8 Nov 2015 at 13:56

The Z170I Gaming Pro AC motherboard from MSI. This mini-ITX board will be perfect for Project Eris. The styling of the new Z170 boards from MSI look great. It also comes with a handy M.2 slot underneath. Looking forward to modding this board!

Crucial M.2 fitted underneath the mobo:

darwin1859 · 16 Nov 2015 at 15:01

faheemrazzaq said:
great showcase of these impressive components.

Thanks, I'll get some build pics up soon too

darwin1859 · 16 Nov 2015 at 15:01

jamiehard1989 said:
That frame, can i come nicked it from you.

darwin1859 · 16 Nov 2015 at 15:02

Thanks to another sponsor for supporting custom gaming PC, Project Eris with these components.

The PSU is a Corsair HX750i, which will provide plenty of power for the system. It’s also fully modular and has few double wires, which will be helpful when sleeving the cables for Project Eris.

The memory is Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 RAM at 2400MHz. The Corsair Vengeance LPX RAM is both fast and good looking, and the red colour matches well.

As the only colours in Project Eris will be red and black (with minimal silver), the RAM was modded by removing the info and yellow logo stickers. This was done with an X-Acto knife and a steady hand.

As shown installed in the MSI Z170I Gaming Pro AC motherboard, the colour matches well the heatsinks and design.

darwin1859 · 16 Nov 2015 at 20:17

Cvlty said:
Looking top mate keep going.

Thanks, more to come soon

darwin1859 · 16 Nov 2015 at 23:36

SamyBoy13 said:
It's beautiful build! Waiting to see more.

Cheers

more very soon!

colinmcr said:
Did you edit the red in the images, they look like "super red" !! I like it

Thanks - you don't think it looks overdone then? I think I actually had to lower the red saturation if anything. I've been playing with a new backdrop and lighting in my mini studio, and it still needs tweaking a bit.

Bone9 said:
Looks very nice! I'll keep an eye on this

Thanks a lot

darwin1859 · 17 Nov 2015 at 09:35

colinmcr said:
The frame looks great but the red for the ram looks odd but I think because the further away stick looks a different shade to the foreground. I was just curious though I'm not critising. I really like the look of these frame case builds. Will be following....

I think I see what you mean, it might be partly due to the reflective surface of the RAM, one side looks quite different to the other. Thanks

darwin1859 · 17 Nov 2015 at 09:39

Luggs said:
Wow, lots of excellent progress since I last checked in, looking really good.

Still can't get over the red colour on the frame, looks fab!

Thanks for your comments. The frame is still probably my favourite part, I was pretty chuffed when In Win told me they had one of these limited edition anodised finish ones from Computex, apparently only 50 or so were made and they were never retailed.

darwin1859 · 23 Nov 2015 at 20:09

EK Water Block and backplate for GTX 980 Ti

Thanks to EK Water Blocks for sponsoring Project Eris. Here are some of the main components that will form the watercooling loop.

The EK water block for the MSI GTX 980 Ti Gaming 6G is the EK-FC980 GTX Ti TF5 - Acetal + Nickel. This is paired with a custom backplate featuring the MSI dragon. This was made by Coldzero.

For cooling the CPU, the high-performance EK-Supremacy EVO - Nickel water block will be installed.

Finally the pump that will power the watercooling loop, is the EK-XRES 140 DDC PWM.

darwin1859 · 24 Nov 2015 at 09:37

Bone9 said:
Very nice!

SamyBoy13 said:
Looks promising. Looking forward to see more

ukxenon said:
keep up the nice work

Cheers guys

I'm trying to get as much done as possible! My updates are slightly behind the real progress, so more coming soon.

darwin1859 · 25 Nov 2015 at 14:39

n14hta said:
Great progress so far!

faheemrazzaq said:
looking good mate. keep it up

Thanks, will do

darwin1859 · 26 Nov 2015 at 09:56

ukxenon said:
looking forward to seeing this evolve {darwin}

darwin1859 · 26 Nov 2015 at 10:12

I'm getting some custom-cut plexi parts to customise various aspects of the case and motherboard. Here are the basic designs - they'll be finished with vinyl graphics cut by myself.

Can you guess what the different parts are for?

darwin1859 · 26 Nov 2015 at 18:20

theaterix said:
Anymore updates mate? Looking to buy the one that is on sale in the black friday deals, whats it like to build in??
I am aware the one in the deal is orange and blue, but how modular is it? In that would I be able to paint it a different colour if that's the route I decide to go?

I've started to build in it, and so far so good. All the drive shelves are removable. Cable management is pretty straightforward as they can all go behind the midplate. You could paint it easily enough, several people have done that. Or you could get a powder coat. Let me know if you have any more specific questions and I'll try to help.

darwin1859 · 26 Nov 2015 at 20:45

Parkinson1NX said:
Looking forward to seeing the end result for sure, keep up the work mate. The parts look really nice and that case though!

Cheers, it'll go forward in leaps and bounds soon, just need to get these custom parts done. Then I can start installing the loop etc.

darwin1859 · 27 Nov 2015 at 11:09

Since the theme will be all black and red, I decided to mod the silver parts of the EK Supremacy EVO CPU block. The thumb screws were primed, sprayed black and then finished with a matt clear coat.

I also plan to mod the EK badge, potentially to have a red logo on black background?

You can also see the Mayhems Havoc 240 fitted in the last pic, thanks Mayhems!