Project: Irrational Exuberance

Neutrino101 · 6 May 2016 at 17:14

Hi All,

I have started to keep the first post updated to help any new readers get a feel for the project who may not have been following from the start. After a few months of research and waiting for bits to be released the following components will now be going in to the system.

Case: Parvum L1

CPU: Broadwell E i7-6900K

Motherboard: Asus X99 Deluxe 2 (EKWB X99 Acetyl/Nickle Monoblock)

Memory: 64GB Corsair Dominator Platinum DDR4 3000Mhz

GPUs: 2 x Gigabyte GTX 1080 FE SLI (EKWB Acetyl/Nickle block and backplate)

Storage: 2 x Samsung 950 Pro 512GB M.2 SSDs & 2 x Samsung 850 Pro 512GB SSDs in Raid 0

PSU: Seasonic P Series 1200W Modular Power Supply

Radiators: 2 x EK-Coolstream XE360 1 x EK-Coolstream XE480 & 1 x EK-Coolstream PE360

Coolant: Mayhems Pastel Yellow

Fittings: Primochill Revolvers

Tubing: 13/10mm Acrylic visible (Some soft tubing in lower compartment for ease of maintenance)

Fans: 15 x EK-Vardar F2

Original Post Below:

I am relatively new to the forums however having enjoyed reading all the project logs I have decided to start one for my new build.

Having really enjoyed seeing everyone's Parvum builds I have decided to use a Parvum case for this build. After looking at the available cases I decided that it would be a lot of fun to try and fill the new Parvum L1.0 with as many radiators as would fit with the aim of creating a very quiet system with excessive cooling power.

When considering colour schemes I was drawn to my old Corsair RM750 power supply as I like the combination of the black, white and yellow. To that end I have ordered a Black Parvum L1.0 with White highlights and intend to use a combination of Black and White internals with Yellow Coolant. Despite serving as inspiration the trusty old power supply will not be used in this build.

My radiators arrived today from Overclockers UK with 1 x EK-Coolstream PE 360 Triple, 2 x EK-Coolstream XE 360 Triple & 1 x EK-Coolstream XE 480 Quad.

I have combined these with 15 x EK Vardar F2 fans which I intend to run as slow as possibly to still achieve decent cooling.

The only other component that I have ordered so far is a pair of Samsung EVO Pro 512 GB SSDs which I intend to run in RAID 0.

I intend to decide upon the rest of the components as I progress the build over the next 2 months. Initial ideas are below:

CPU: Broadwell E
Motherboard: Asus X-99 Pro (Or new Black and White Board if released with Broadwell E)
GPU: SLI GTX 1080 or equivalent

The plan is to use acrylic tube in the main compartment with flexible hoses in the lower radiator compartment for ease of assembly/draining etc. More to follow shortly including loop plans, wiring etc.

I intend to keep this log updated regularly and would appreciate any advice or suggestions from the community as this is my first foray in to project logs.

Baboonanza · 6 May 2016 at 17:43

That's a whole lotta rad!

Omega89 · 6 May 2016 at 20:54

Are you doing a dual loop or single?

8 Pack · 6 May 2016 at 21:03

An RM750 to power hardware that needs all that cooling!! I really think the balance is out.

All that cooling is 5960X plus 4x 980Ti territory and thats 1350 watts draw easy.

Neutrino101 · 6 May 2016 at 21:29

Omega89 said:
Are you doing a dual loop or single?

My initial thought is for a large single loop, it appeals to me more than a dual loop in this case however I am open to ideas so will consider both going forward. I need to look at reservoir/pump placement once the case arrives and finalise plans for the loop. Not sure how long the lead times are for Parvum at the moment, ordered the case at the start of the week so we will see when it arrives.

Neutrino101 · 6 May 2016 at 21:43

8 Pack said:
An RM750 to power hardware that needs all that cooling!! I really think the balance is out.

All that cooling is 5960X plus 4x 980Ti territory and thats 1350 watts draw easy.

I am indeed in the market for a good PSU for this build. The RM750 is simply what has inspired my colour scheme for the build, I should have been clearer that I will not be using it. I have always liked the Black with white and yellow colours on it, unusual to be inspired by the colours on a PSU but it is what has steered my choice for the build. I am going for a black and white case with black and white internals highlighted by yellow coolant, hopefully it will recreate the colours I like from my old RM750 which is currently powering my VR PC behind the TV to run the Vive.

Whilst internals are not yet set in stone I currently have my eyes on the upcoming Broadwell E 6900K and 3 way SLI GTX 1080 providing both are released within the next few months. Is there a suitable PSU you would recommend? I am very much open to advice and suggestions.

Omega89 · 6 May 2016 at 22:44

Neutrino101 said:
My initial thought is for a large single loop, it appeals to me more than a dual loop in this case however I am open to ideas so will consider both going forward. I need to look at reservoir/pump placement once the case arrives and finalise plans for the loop. Not sure how long the lead times are for Parvum at the moment, ordered the case at the start of the week so we will see when it arrives.

If your gonna do a dual loop id advise on radiator for the cpu and maybe two for the gpu.

If your going to do large single loop you may need to find a powerful enough pump to get around your whole system as the parvum case is bigger than what you think. especially if you having the flow of your fluid going up tubes.

Hense the reason I'm doing dual loop....one dedicated for for cpu and on for gpu

Omega89 · 6 May 2016 at 22:45

Also in regards to power supplies Super flower PSU's are good I had a 1000w one and had no issues with it. if your going for a particualr colour scheme you could always spray the outside of the PSU to match the cooer of your case.

Neutrino101 · 7 May 2016 at 01:23

I have given the PSU for this project some thought this evening and despite not knowing the exact power requirements of the hopefully soon to be released Broadwell E and GTX 1080 I believe that the "Antec High Current Pro 1300W 80+ Platinum" should be suitable for an overclocked 6900K and 3 Way SLI 1080.

Entirely coincidently it also happens to be exactly the right Black, Yellow and White colour to match the build. I appreciate all the feedback to help me make sensible decisions during this project. This is without doubt the most ambitious build I have done to date.

ezbuilder · 9 May 2016 at 19:21

Nice setup quite a lot of headroom

You could have gone with F3s also, I use those and they are pretty silent at the lowest, but with 15 fans that's another story.

From what I've seen on Nvidia's reference board in the website, it has one 8-pin connector and the specs say 180W. That's almost as low as my R9 nano. You could run one of the 1080 with a 550 psu and still enough headroom to OC. Given that, i think 1300W is way overkill. With 900W you would have a lot of headroom for OC on the CPU and with 1000 you would be totally safe I guess. It's best to wait though to see which specific cards you will buy, as they may need more wattage than the reference board (like EVGA sc or classified).

Neutrino101 · 10 May 2016 at 01:21

Today I have been looking at the fans. The EK Vardar fans have been highly recommended by a lot friends and I can see why. I hooked some up to test and they are virtually silent and appear to move a lot of air compared to some old Silverstone fans I tested them against. They are however best described as ugly ducklings in the standard black and grey and would be more at home in an industrial factory or warship than a computer case.

As I have some time whilst I wait for the case to arrive from Parvum I have decided to spray the fan blades white so that they better match the White/Black theme of the project. Whilst it is possible to buy all white or all black as stock I really wanted to have a 50/50 mix to match the rest of the case. I suppose I could have bought 15 all white ones and 15 all black and swapped the blades but that would have got needlessly expensive. I have attached a photo of the freshly sprayed white blades next to the stock grey so that you can compare.

Personally I think it makes them look a lot better so will continue and spray the other 14 tomorrow...

Petelock · 10 May 2016 at 10:45

Agree that they look better and just finished spraying a couple of the ugliest duckling's (Noctua's, who would have thought

!) myself for my build. The fans on my Predator are Vardar's in push pull so I may spray my blades white also (seeing as I have a can of primer and matt hite available). Did you leave the blades on or take them off?

Neutrino101 · 10 May 2016 at 12:43

Petelock said:
Agree that they look better and just finished spraying a couple of the ugliest duckling's (Noctua's, who would have thought !) myself for my build. The fans on my Predator are Vardar's in push pull so I may spray my blades white also (seeing as I have a can of primer and matt hite available). Did you leave the blades on or take them off?

They would be very difficult to spray with the blades on thanks to the cooling holes etc, so I took them off first.

The label on the back peels off relatively easily and comes off in one piece. The C-Clip is pretty easy to pop off with a very small precision screw driver. Be careful when you do as the spring under the ball bearing is pretty strong on these. Most times everything has still been held in place after removing the c-clip by the plastic o-ring that is located under the c-clip on top of the ball bearing and still holds everything in place by slightly fitting under the groove at the top of the fan shaft. Its easy to remove by slightly pushing it around until it pops out of the retaining groove on the shaft but have your hand above in case it all flys off at this point. The rear ball bearing and spring should now either fall out or pop out and then you can simply push the blades forward and they will come off. You need to mask the vent holes from the inside so nothing gets inside during spraying then seal the middle of the fan with masking tape as in the above photo. The blades are actually pretty rough, slightly pitted plastic so sanding them before spraying has made little difference and the primer held happily without doing so. 2 Coats of Halfords white plastic primer followed by 2 coats of Halfords Gloss white appliance spray did the job nicely.

Assembly is a bit fiddly thanks to a relatively powerful spring. The trick is to compress the rear ball bearing against the spring and then use the plastic o-ring to engage with the retaining groove on the fan shaft. This will hold everything in place whilst you then get the c-clip back on. You need to then align the o-ring and ensure that it is central to the ball bearing and not too far in to the retaining groove or the fan will have excess resistance when turning. A little bit of sewing machine oil dropped on to the o-ring finished things up.

In summary the Vardar fans are a bit fiddly to strip but entirely possible.

Petelock · 10 May 2016 at 14:39

Thanks for the update mate. I have a spare F1 kicking about from an old build so may experiment with that first!

Neutrino101 · 12 May 2016 at 16:02

So from all the early information it looks like we will all be limited to using only 2 way SLI with the new GTX 1080's.

This does produce a few planning problems for this build. As the 1080's are looking relatively frugal in their power requirements then the amount of cooling/PSU I am planning will be total overkill for simple 2 way SLI even when mixed with a Broadwell E 6900k or 6950x.

I do however intend to upgrade to 1080 TI/New Titan in 12 months or so and these may support 3/4 way SLI or require considerable more power each. I would rather not have to add more radiators and change the PSU in 12 months just to change to the new cards so will need to balance the build to have enough overhead to upgrade easily in 12 months time.

Anyone got a Crystal Ball handy?

deFiniLoGy · 12 May 2016 at 16:07

Do you know about EK-Vardar F4-120ER?

Rasphelt · 12 May 2016 at 16:43

Neutrino101 said:
So from all the early information it looks like we will all be limited to using only 2 way SLI with the new GTX 1080's.

This does produce a few planning problems for this build. As the 1080's are looking relatively frugal in their power requirements then the amount of cooling/PSU I am planning will be total overkill for simple 2 way SLI even when mixed with a Broadwell E 6900k or 6950x.

I do however intend to upgrade to 1080 TI/New Titan in 12 months or so and these may support 3/4 way SLI or require considerable more power each. I would rather not have to add more radiators and change the PSU in 12 months just to change to the new cards so will need to balance the build to have enough overhead to upgrade easily in 12 months time.

Anyone got a Crystal Ball handy?

Looks like you and I are on the same path as far as GPU's go! I stuck a 2KW Super Flower in mine just as the news of the SLI limit broke, ah well - at least I will have what i need in the future... and then some!

My advice? Get a decent 1200W SF or Corsair and you will be good to go as power consumption per card should always come down... notice the word *should* and this obviously goes out of the windows when talking about dual GPU cards... but then you shouldn't want as many in theory....!

Cheers
Ben

Neutrino101 · 12 May 2016 at 17:22

deFiniLoGy said:
Do you know about EK-Vardar F4-120ER?

I looked at them however as far as I could see they are only available in all white or all black, not black outer with white blades like I am after. If you can get black and white mixed then I have missed them.

I also ruled them out as they have a base speed of 2200 rpm. I understood that PWM control range is only accurate from 50% to 100% of base rpm so the slowest I could run them via PWM would be 1100 rpm which is above the 800-1000 I was aiming to run them at during normal use. Once again if I am misinformed then please let me know.

Neutrino101 · 12 May 2016 at 17:30

Just realised that ER stands for extended range so they can do 25-100% speed via PWM, so yes I have failed to do my full homework here. I assumed they all had the same PWM range as the F2's. If they make them in Black outer with white blades then that would be somewhat annoying, if not then I am happy that the F2 will do the job I need them to.

Cenedd · 12 May 2016 at 17:37

You're alright. Only all black or all white. Your sanity can rest easy!