Project: Indigo

Greboth said:
Looking like a really nice build, good to see some more tj07 love on these forums.

thank you

With the fluid looking lilac-ey could you not get some blue dye and drop a few drops in to make it more blue-ey?

im hoping to contact mlwood and see what he can advise

Regarding the cable management - The general consensus is to cut a piece out of the mid tray behind the motherboard tray to put the cable in when the side is on. I cut a hole between the slider for the motherboard tray and the upright at the back to slot the cables through like so http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showpost.php?p=19290654&postcount=29

This is a very good idea, thank you for the suggestion and the pics

I have seen someone else do it but just cutting a section out including the upright part that I left. I thought it was rjkoneill but just quick search through his thread he did the same as me so don't know who it was. As the rig is set up and running, this way is probably your best option as you could cover up your components and cut out a section in the back quite easily.

by the end of the year i am planning to rebuild the system as im interested to see:
- if the blocks have corroded
- if the coolant has faded
- if the plastisizer in the tubing has leeched
- if mayhems pastel coolant stains the acrylic

I also have a brand new mobo tray from silverstone that i will replace the bodged one im currently using - when i do all that, i will dremel some holes for cable management as per your suggestion :)
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I also want your opinion on where you think i should mount the SSD's to show them off :)
 
Tealc said:
Glad to see you got it all working well Panyan. You've also done a good job of sleeving it up.

thanks, i was going to go with blue paracord like normal but it wouldnt fit over the heatshrunk connections between the wires - so went for the classic black sleeve :)

How are those 5050 LEDs? Bright enough for you?

Yes, 5050, just like you suggested - at 12 volts they are blindingly strong!

I usually have them around 8/9 volts :)

Oh and thanks for the e-mail to let me know of the update to the project as I might have missed your kind words otherwise.

my pleasure - I really appreciate your advice
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Project Indigo V2

Ok then - Where shall i begin?



The story goes that i was never really happy with the build as it was:

1) I felt that the case was in too poor condition that I could affordibly renovate it,

2) The colour of the coolant was too different from the internet image for me to agree that it matched the rest of the rig - it was just too purple...

3) the temps at load went up over 10 degrees whilst i was away at uni (ive got some updated for Project: Othello too :D)



So, i wanted to strip down and rebuild the machine to work out what was the cause of my temperature increase and also so that i could change the fluid.

Whilst i was there i thought i'd swap out the 6970 for the 580 i bought second hand at easter. I also had recently changed the motherboard in Project: Othello and the z68 board was free for me to use.

Then i decided: what if i completely changed case?

I thought long and hard about it but the fact was the TJ07 was going to bankrupt me if i was going to restore it to the condition i wanted it in.

I was looking at the switch 810 but i really dont like how the inside looks, those silly flappy handles on the hdd bays etc - NO.

Anyway, I found a seller who was getting rid of a 580 and an 800d and bought them off him.

Some may say that the TJ07 is a "better" case than the 800d, but from my experiences, i'd pick Corsair over Silverstone any day!

So the plan was to change the following parts:

2gb 6970 -> 1.5gb 580
p67-gd65 -> z68-gd65
Tj07 -> 800d

I bought the 800d with the full intention of dremelling out the top and sticking my RX480 up there with my bank of AP15's :)

So first i had to take apart the current build:







The new case came, i stripped her down and cleaned each part. There are only some very minor problems (torn dust filter, broken tooless plastic bit, etc)




I took my 480 grill and measured and re-measured before using my dremel with carbon fibre cutting discs, then screwed in the rad:










I taped up the edge after sanding so it doesnt scratch the grill/rad




Im very happy with how the grill looks.

WARNING: i had to cut my roof further towards the IO Shield sude becuase there wasnt enough space for the endtank and the front panel connectors - do NOT assume that you can just use the 360 holes and enlarge by 120!









This is the first of my little experiments - I wanted to use my EK Spin Res but i didnt want to ruin the look of my front panel and also didnt want to dremel out the ODD metal bits in the case - so i mounted it backwards




This means you can still see the water level and flow indicator if you look through the side panel window, but it doesnt spoil the front of the case

Unfortunately, this didnt work as:
1) it would be very awkward to fill it
2) it blocked the rad fan
3) the fitting was too flose to the rad fan and could touch
4) you need to leave the idd bay under clear for the fittings to go back out
etc etc

So, regretably, the Spin Res had to go.

You'll see what i replaced it with later...




Anyway, onto the next thing - i wanted to use my black akasa apaches but the 800d only had mounts for 140mm fans and mine were 120mm




So, i whipped out my new "small drill", as my father calls it; inserted a 4.5mm metal drillbit and got to work










I have plans to put the apaches as inlets to feed the bank of AP15's








Next thing...

The next image may distress some of you, but dont worry, it all came out alright...




Wire cutters were used to snip out a small hole from the back of the 800d, next to where the IO shield goes

Sanded all the sharp bits down...




I am VERY proud of this bit, i think it looks fantastic :D




Right then...

Ive mouted some bits and pieces and am doing test fits as i was not sure where i wanted my pump/res




This is what ive replaced my EK Spin Res with:




It is an XSPC Acrylic res for the D5. I was always envious of the DDC-Res-Tops and i wanted one for my D5 too :p
The problem is that the pump outlet is only 20mm from the bottom of the GPU block and i searched high and low of trying to make this work:




Option 1:




Try to directly connect the Pump outlet to the GPU inlet with Male-Male fittings. The problems with this were:
1) extra weight on the gfx card
2) pump-> gpu vibration
3) cause problems with the case door
4) looks a bit wierd
5) hard to expland later for sli




Option 2:




Use extenders/Sli-bridge to get the fittings over the top.

Problems:
1) It had to go to the further right port due to the cpu inlet and they would conflict
2) pump-> gpu vibration
3) cause problems with the case door
4) hard to expland later for sli





Option 3:



Use a loop to go over the top, uses the least fittings which is cheapest and less likely to leak.

Problems:
1) looks ridiculous...
2) looks ridiculous...
looks ridiculous...looks ridiculous...looks ridiculous...
_________________________________________________________________________________


Also, one evening i took apart the 580 and put on the waterblock:
















This block is OLD, had to use cheap thermal paste to hold the standoffs on :p












What do you guys thing of mounting the HyperX here?:






Tomorrow i need to:
1) do the tubing
2) leak test
3) make a decision where i want to mount my HyperX

etc
 
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Pgreenwo said:
Hows this going. what about mounting the SSD to the plastic shroud infront of the hot swap bay. I always thought they would look quite good there and you could dremel out some slots for the cables
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I thought about that too, the problem with this idea is that the shroud comes right to the edge of the case which means i wouldn't ever be able to put the door back on
 
I have been very busy:

1) I decided to put the pump/res in the drive bays. This was because there was no practical place to have it on the midplate. Anywhere i would have put it would have blocked the opportunity for 580 sli later down the road.

2) i have filled and leak tested with Mayhems Blue Berry. Unbelievably the system used almost a whole bottle. I was sure it would be under one bottle because the old loop had more tubing and a larger res... Anyway, 12+ hours of leak testing and not one drop so im confident *knocks on wood* :p

3) I have been trying to master "Cable Stitching" from a tutorial by a Mr Frank Stein. It is a way of taming sleeved cables so that they are more uniform. I quite like the black stitches on the blue sleeving - matches the rig's theme :)

4) I have rubbed off the corsair logo from the front panel with a little nail varnish and a lot of elbow grease. The front is now clear of all branding and Ive gotten a vinyl cutting shop to cut out some bits for me. If they look good, ill keep them on, if not, ill leave the front clean brushed aluminium.

5) My custom engraved PSU plate has arrived. It was a PAIN to install, but it looks alright now. Unfortunately they didnt mention that if you put in the plate, you cant put on your side panel :( I guess ill have to take it off for everyday use...

I thought i;d leave you with a few pics to wet your appetite for the next update :)



Btw, these are my first cable stitches and the card is just there until they learn their shape :)


 
TheSkateyBird said:
Looking good, definitely prefer that blue to the more violet colour in the TJ07.

Thanks, I agree. I was rather disappointed with that raspberry coolant, it was much more purple than the internet images.


As for mounting the HyperX SSDs there was a member here that mounted them where you have pictured yours in the above post inside black 2.5" to 3.5" adapter and stuck it down with some double sided tape the ran the cables through the grommets below the motherboard.

Ill be doing the same, i might have the adaptor, i might not - havent decided yet


Or you could have a go at mounting them like OCUK have here: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=FS-185-OE&groupid=43&catid=2238&subcat= although I don't know if the case you have would allow for them to be mount like this.

cant do it in that location due to all the tubing etc
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A little update of todays events:



Ive been doing a little more cable stitching on the EPS cable - it is now tame and under control and ready for installation into the machine

(the cardboard is so the wires stay straight and learn that shape :))



I also got a little surprise from a forum member. This guy is an absolute legend and I am privileged... no... HONOURED to have his signed No.1 custom made circuit as part of my build :D

There are two circuits. The larger one with orange heatshrink is designed to take a PWM input (and molex for power) and auto-adjust the voltage to 4x Gentle Typhoons. Yes, you heard that right, this circuit allows a bank of 4 GT's to be controlled via PWM. EPIC.

The smaller second circuit is to control my lighting. This also uses an PWM line to adjust the intensity of the lighting.

Idling: quiet fans, low/no lights
Load: full fans, intense lighting

I am just so thrilled, it is something that i have discussed with countless enthusiasts over the years and if this works, it is just going to be incredible.









That is what i wanted to show you guys. I am going back to the machine now to work out where to tuck these circuits and how to cable manage them :)
 
DGarfield said:
This build looks insane..!!
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Why thank you Sir, that means a great deal to me :)

Skree said:
lot of your pics aren't working for me.

if there are other reports of this, ill look into another hosting method

Shame about the TJ-07 i liked that build, especially the side psu mount.. man these modern cases make stuff easier and prettier than they were last time i watercooled, in the infancy of WC
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I have mixed feelings about the TJ07. If i am ever in a position where i have enough money to do a complete overhaul on her, ill look into it.

Tattysnuc said:
Love what you've done with the cables - the "stitches" look amazing.

thanks you very much :)

Just found the rig you "took" that from...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSmg2uiowx0

Ive never even seen that video :p

I watched that guys video tutorials for cable stitching, but never seen that particular vid

very tidy....
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__________________________________________________________

Right then guys, this will probably be my last photos for Project: Indigo.

I have finished the 800D build. I did have a little issue with the mobo: it refused to boot if there was any RAM in the first two DIMM slots :rolleyes:

Anyway, the build is at a place that I am happy with and I am hoping it will serve me for a good while to come :)

Because of the bad weather (too hot :p) i haven't even attempted overclocking. When the weather gets back to normal ill attempt some overclocking and if it is decent, ill post it up :)

Tealc's circuit with the MSI bios is working quite nicely:

Tealc's Circuit set on Medium
MSI bios: 50 degree target, 32.5% minimum

This means that most of the time the machine is SILENT and i do mean it - ive never heard a machine as quiet as this. The temps at idle are 10 degrees above ambient and rise to ~25 above idle at load.

The machine had never been over 50 degrees as the bios is set to speed up the fans as the system approaches 50 degrees. I was worried at first MSI's implementation of PWM would play havoc with Tealc's circuit but they have worked together beautifully :)

Enough blathering, here are the photos:



















 
Tealc said:
Glad to see the circuit is working fine. I was never in any doubt though as we knew exactly what power those GTs needed so I tuned it perfectly to your needs.

Thank you, they work beautifully :D

Was this not the build for the PWM dimmer?
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I have not yet done the lighting:
- the LED strips need to be measured, cut and soldered together how i want them
- ive ordered a new tip for the soldering iron

I will get round to doing the lighting soonish :)
 
Tattysnuc said:
Thanks for your comments on my thread - your build looks VERY nice. DO you have much left to do on it?
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If you look at post 51, that is it finished :)

I havent done anything else to it since then (apart from use it :p)

I am in the feasibility stage of planning a new build for 2013 which may or may not include:

- Corsair 900D
- Haswell
- AMD 8000 or Nvidia 700 series
- Corsair Digital power supply

:)
 
Tattysnuc said:
What did you fabricate the piece of material that you've used to cover the lower rad/psu area with? That's a really good match colour wise. Also, did you have to touch up the paint on the 800D - if so what did you use?

Is the lower compartment a different size on the 800D vs the 700D, because I couldn't get my rads or PSU in orientated so that they were standing up on their "ends"

Sorry - I hope you're not you're wishing you hadn't commented on my build :)
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Not at all, I am very pleased when people want to discuss builds with one another :)

I didnt touch up the paint on the case, it was in good condition.

Also, the case didnt undergo as much modification as yours, that plate at the bottom isnt structural, it is simply to tidy up the appearance :)

The bottom of the case has the PSU, the rad is mounted in the roof. I didnt move the partition as i wanted the PSU mounted horizontally :)
 
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T345 said:
I have the same mobo as you :)
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I actually must have had an accident with that mobo... For some reason the first two ram slots are faulty and if there are any ram sticks in there, the machine wont boot at all :p:(:p

It isnt that much of a problem as 8GB DIMMS mean ive still got 16GB of RAM to play with :)

I guess there was some short circuit or something, but not to worry - It is probably going to be rebuilt this summer :)
 
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^The invoice is in the computer box at home, in the loft.

I am currently at uni so when i next go home, ill get it for you :)

but keep reminding me so i dont forget plz :p
 
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