Project Ignorant Bliss

[Zeeflyboy]

Hi Guys,

I thought I would share my new build, and look forward to going through the overclocking guides on here.

I have built a couple of PCs in the past (nothing special mind you, fairly basic) but it's probably about 13-14 years since I last built one... So I'm as good as a total newbie.

I have designed and built myself a fancy man cave in the garden, and I needed a PC to run my CNC machine. I've been a mac man the last few years and while I do love my rMBP it's not much cop for that sort of thing...

Of course I then thought that if i'm buying a new PC, why not just go the full hog get a decent one that I can use for everything and get back into gaming a bit. That then led me down the path of doing my own build again, and so here I am! The PC is generally going to be an all purpose workhorse and used for CNC control, Gaming, 3D modelling/rendering, and a little photo/video editing.

So the specs I ended up going with:

Skylake i7 6700k
Asus Sabertooth Z170 Mk1
Corsair Vengeance DDR4 3200mhz (8gb x 2)
2 x EVGA Hydrocopper 980Ti
Intel 480gb 730 series SSD
Corsair RM1000x PSU
Alphacool NexXxoS UT60 full copper 360mm Radiator
XPSC 140mm Radiator
Alphacool 13/10mm fittings
Monsoon 13/10mm acrylic tube
Primochill CTR phase II reservoir
Alphacool Laing d5 vario pump
Bitspower 90 degree rotary fittings
Mayhem's Ice White coolant.

And I decided to pop that in a Phanteks Enthoo Evolv ATX case because I think it's gorgeous!

In hindsight I would have gone with a samsung 950 pro M2 stick instead of the intel drive, but remember that ignorant newbie part - I didn't even know what m2 was, and now it's too late... I'll probably upgrade at some point in the semi-distant future.

Anyhow, most of that arrived and I did what any self respecting man would do - made a mess of the living room floor.



On with the build!

 

[Zeeflyboy]

So this was a quick test fit to see how it all goes together and figure out how I was going to do the build.

It was at this point that I decided to add an extra 140mm radiator.



I had a bit of a hard time fitting that reservoir in given the output port actually made it quite wide. I needed to turn it 90 degrees so I whipped up a design and printed it out using Carbonfil filament (a brilliant 3d printer material which is has 20% carbon fibres added - stuff comes out super strong and stiff).












So with the brackets made, it now just slotted in place quite happily:

 

[Zeeflyboy]

I then got to work with bending all the tubes... I have to say it's quite interesting work. Moments of joy and satisfaction when things go right to moments of pure unadulterated rage when that piece you've been working on for the last 20 minutes gets ruined or cut slightly too short.

Anyway, eventually got all the tubes cut and shaped. I ended up adding a couple more 90 degree fittings as some of the curves into the components were a bit tight for the bent tube (or at least my skills).




I then decided that I didn't really like the stock power cables after seeing all those lovely braided cables out there on the interwebby. I went and purchased a load of sleeving, pins, connectors etc and then proceeded to strip the sleeve off my stock corsair wires.

I was then a bit surprised to be greeted with a load of capacitors. Hmm. Things have changed since I last messed around inside a PC.... back to the drawing board. As a side note, the pins are also FREAKING IMPOSSIBLE to get out on the corsair plugs. I thought my pin removal tool was trash but it''s actually the corsair pins that seem to be the issue.

I then came across cablemod's kits and saw they had a kit with the capacitors moved back to a more convenient location... given that I could even extract the pins on my corsair cables I decided to just say screw it and ordered those.

However, once they arrived I wasn't overly taken with the black/white alternating scheme and they are too skinny to fit the cable combs I have nicely. On the plus side my pin extractor tool works flawlessly on the cablemod plugs... whoop.

I therefore decided to go ahead and customise the PCI-E cables as an experiment - I cut them to length and re-sleeved with my choice of sleeving. This dual PCIe 6+6+2 cable took me longer than I care to admit, but I'm very happy with the end result. In hindsight I might have made 2 grey either side of the white, but there's no way I'm messing with it again at the moment lol.







The downside is that now the 24 pin ATX cable is staring at me and asking for the same treatment.... sigh. I think I may have to do that at some point (unfortunately I had to order 2 kits from cablemod to get 4 6+2 cables, the upside of which is that I do have a spare 24 pin to work on outside of the case).

 

[Baboonanza]

Nice reservoir mount and lovely tube bends you've got there. It's going to look great.

And you keep your CNC machine (I guess that's what it is) in your living room?

 

[Zeeflyboy]

Having already followed the guides I found regarding using a swimming pool filter to pre-rinse the radiators, I decided to just do one final flush with distilled water and leak test at the same time... Given that this is my first water-cooling project I was a little apprehensive!



To do this I used a separate 12v PSU that will later be driving the water-cooling pump in my CNC machine.

Happily, nothing came spurting out and nothing dripped... so I drained the loop through the drain plug at the bottom of the 360mm radiator (I had to cut a hole prior to installing everything in the bottom of the case for this with my trusty dremel) which worked well with a ball stop valve screwed in and some pipe to the water container.

And now we've caught right up to today - filled the loop with Mayhem's pastel Ice White and have been busy bleeding all the air bubbles out of the radiators... I think it's now pretty much all gone.

 

[Zeeflyboy]

Nice reservoir mount and lovely tube bends you've got there. It's going to look great.

And you keep your CNC machine (I guess that's what it is) in your living room?

Cheers!

And no, it was just sitting there while I finished off the worktops in the man cave

 

[Radox-0]

Very nice, love that case.

Out of curiosity what are the temps like on the single 360mm radiator?

EDIT: forgot the 120mm so on all your radiators?

 

[OJ46]

Nice work mate, very impressive build

 

[Zeeflyboy]

Radox - actually it's a 140mm in the back, not that it changes much lol.

I haven't actually switched it on yet though! I will let you know temps once I do... I thought discretion was the better part of valour and ordered a little PSU tester to make sure my custom cables were all hooked up correctly rather than risk frying so much moolah. I could check with a multimeter but I figure the PSU tester is a more foolproof method and less open to error.

OJ - thanks, just looking at yours at the moment, nice choice of case

 

[BoydieUK]

wicked job mate!

 

[OJ46]

Would love to know how it performs with a pair of 980Ti's in it, especially as it's the same card as I'm using (mine being non SLI ) and with the same CPU and RAM speeds. Custom cables were definitely worth the effort, the PCI-E cables look stunning and really do finish it off nicely. Only trouble is you're making mine look crap now, as that's the one regret I have is using standard cables They really are a stunning case to build in though aren't they, seen tanks that weigh less though!

 

[theMilitant]

Fantastic looking rig you've built yourself there OP. Two thumbs up from me

 

[Liquiduk]

Thats a proper rig, well done mate.

 

[FL630]

Superb. I envy the 3D printer!

 

[Trying]

Very impressive build... attention to detail is to be commended.

Love the nicely designed 3D printed parts.
What printer is that you have.. ( bet it isn't cheap )

 

[Zeeflyboy]

Would love to know how it performs with a pair of 980Ti's in it, especially as it's the same card as I'm using (mine being non SLI ) and with the same CPU and RAM speeds. Custom cables were definitely worth the effort, the PCI-E cables look stunning and really do finish it off nicely. Only trouble is you're making mine look crap now, as that's the one regret I have is using standard cables They really are a stunning case to build in though aren't they, seen tanks that weigh less though!

Yes they are, I'm very happy with the case... Looks great, build quality is top notch and the fact that it all comes apart without tools or fiddling with thumbscrews is just the icing on the cake.

Given the similarity between our setups, any tips on getting it up and running at top performance or is it really just pretty much plug and play?

Thanks for the kind words guys - any comments on what I could have done better at all? I'm always eager to learn and I admit I'm not at all knowledgeable on this stuff. I'm also eying up LED options after seeing OJ's - anyone using the Hue+ v2?

FL630 - when you have a 3D printer, you'll wonder how you ever made stuff without one! I've had this one a couple of years now and it still amazes me

Trying - It's a makergear m2


Edit - here is another part I 3D printed for this build - it's a small little stand off for the 140mm fan to help improve efficiency of the radiator... Its still a little damp in spots after its rinse off which is why it's a bit blotchy. I actually also had to print a fairly large (15mm) standoff at the back too in order to allow the radiator to be fixed there, but I didn't take any pics of it unfortunately. You can just about make out the edge of it behind the 140mm rad in some of the pics.

 

[Zeeflyboy]

Oh and just in case anyone was wondering about the big external case I've built for it (i.e. the man cave), this is what I came up with... it's not yet finished inside but it's getting close. The "monitor" is a 40" Samsung UE40JU7000 4K tv - Took quite a while for me to hunt down a respectably priced 4K tv that can do 60fps 4k 4:4:4 chroma and with a reasonably low latency.

 

[OJ46]

Damn man, you're one lucky dude with a man cave like that to play in! And yes, EXTREMELY jealous of the 3D printer

Tips? Top one would be to chuck the latest BIOS plus LAN drivers onto a USB stick and update BIOS before starting. Windows 10 then decided it wouldn't let me connect to the internet unless I went online to download the latest drivers (very clever I know!) so definitely quicker to get them on a USB in advance Other than that I've only really played GTA V so far, but did learn it's better to turn all the AA etc off in the game, then crank up all the settings via Nvidia Control Panel instead. Get better graphics and far better frame rates. Using the in game settings I was getting lag at extremely random times, but runs like a dream letting Nvidia do all the legwork

 

[craig_t]

Wow. Case is unbelievable and the man cave just tops it off!

 

[Luggs]

"but it's probably about 13-14 years since I last built one... So I'm as good as a total newbie."

You say that and then build that PC? I don't know whether to laugh or cry that is one fantastic looking build mate, really impressive work...