Project: ケイ - Watercooled Threadripper

Sadomasochism at it's best. Tips of my fingers are starting to come apart and i haven't even started the 24 pin atx yet. (still got the 8 pin eps and 8 pin pcie left) I'll be glad when i go modular as there will be less cables to sleeve and hide.

The D5 pump is now finished, speed wire and LED for the tank all sleeved up.


I've done the first 6 pin pcie connectors. Cable ties seem to be essential to keep the wires in order else they go all over the place.
 
Finished the 24 pin connector. Fingers are feeling slightly raw now. Doesn't look too bad considering the lack of control i have over it.


This is how things look so far. EPS left to do and i need to source some SATA extensions and a pcie 8 pin extension. (can't do heatshrinkless sleeving with corsair's "daisy chain" bit) I'm not bothering with some of the components as they are going to be changing. (it'd be a waste of good sleeving that i'd need later) I also found out after doing some measuring that cooler master changed the size of the cable routing holes as the grommets for the usb 3.0 version are a different size. :mad:
 
I got the EPS sleeved last night and the system rebuilt this morning. Very pleased with the appearance inside with all the case lighting on. The colours are exactly what i was after. Blue tubing, green coolant in the res and blue/green accents. Just need to sort the other pcie connector with an extension and unify the fans and it'll be finished up until upgrade time.



Looks fantastic Kei :)

I like how the project is self titled as well hehe. Have you considered having the katakana lettering engraved on the system somewhere?

A nice custom side-window with it engraved in the corner, and some subtle white lighting would look stunning in my opinion ;)
Missed this bit of your post first time around. (probably skim reading on my phone) I'm considering it as i'd like a window again as i miss not having one like my old superflower case. Problem is, I really need the side panel fans to keep the case airflow up. Quite like the standard coolermaster window with the fan fitting, but i'd have to choose a decent looking fan to go into the side panel else it'd look a bit pants.
 
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Some more tidying work sorted today. The deepcool and amber fans have moved to less obvious positions, replaced with matching fans that suit the colour scheme. I've taken out all but one of the amber sata cables and replaced them with black. Sadly i haven't got any more in black. I haven't sleeved the cables for the old enermax fan controller yet as i'm not certain about it's fate due to a damaged pot. (making it a 3 channel controller) I'm looking for a suitable replacement alps or bourns part. I need to take it apart and suss out the actual resistance of the pots in there. (will probably replace the lot to ensure it's all the same)
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The back of the case isn't perfect yet, but miles better than it used to be. Once i sort out the fan controller, I can get rid of most of the messy molexes down the bottom right. (7V adaptors)
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The master plan for the future:
1. Fix or replace fan controller and sleeve the cables
2. Split fan channels so i can control 2x fans from a single channel (2 channels to control 4 fans for the radiators)
3. Replace 120mm fans with scythe AP-15's
4. Replace 140mm fans with ....?
5. Replace XSPC EX240 with alphacool UT60 <- not sure it'd be worth the expense though?
6. Replace XSPC D5 reservoir with a tube res and separate top
7. Replace corsair PSU with a seasonic gold or platinum
8. Replace ram with matching pair, probably more corsair dominators now i have the space.
 
Thanks guys.

Made some more progress today. The enermax fan controller has undergone some surgery to remove the damaged pot so i can source a new part. (for anyone that may also need one, it's a 5Kohm part that can be replaced either with an alps RK09K1130AU2 or a bourns PTV09A-4015F-B502) I also took the opportunity to examine why the blue LEDs had stopped working. Nothing obvious wrong but I reflowed the solder joints as they didn't look great. I'll be ordering the parts next week and will also sleeve the cables at the same time


Upon reassembly, ta-da, blue LEDs working again. :) (the green on the top right is off as the pot is out on my desk)


I also added an additional fan to the drive bay to increase the number of intakes, which seems to have helped case airflow. It's an 80mm panaflo that was salvaged from something about a decade ago. Was the quietest fan i had that fitted (My 80mm nidec beta V, 92mm beta SL and 80mm papst vario were all too loud even undervolted) I've also noticed a distinct ticky noisy coming from the akasa amber fan, glad i planned on replacing it. (had a good innings though as i've owned it for 9 years. Fitted it to my old athlon XP barton system in 2004.)


Also got a good picture of how the coolant looks when well lit with the system is off. Almost colourless, it's really amazing how it takes on such a vivid green colour when illuminated with the XSPC blue LED.


Got carried away with the camera and took an arty shot of the GPU block. I liked it so much, it's become my new wallpaper.
 
I've ordered 4 new fans so I can sort out the case. 3 more scythe gentle typhoon 1850rpm and a 140mm enermax to replace the noisy yate loon inside the corsair. (Psu warranty is probably already void as I've sleeved the cables) I'll be visiting my local radio spares outlet to pick up 4 new pots for the fan controller this week too. I'm also considering a bitspower G1/4" temperature sensor to use in the fillport on the reservoir with an M20 G1/4" adapter. This would then get displayed on the enermax controller.
 
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Yes, can't live with the noise and I'd probably get a large bill dropped on me if I did. I'm working on making it quieter with all the new fans. TBH, the psu fan is the biggest cause of noise. (Corsair tx supplies aren't quiet)
 
Some of the new bits and pieces are here, so i will get one with sorting the necessary sleeving out and then fit them. There's been a muck up with one of my orders as the pcie extension i ordered was an 8 pin and i've received a 6 pin. (not OCUK this time) It'll be a shame to resleeve the silverstone extension as it looks like a quality item. I'm liking the look of the OCUK mouse mat, been using that cutting mat and a very old fellows mat for a very long time.
 
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Fans are all now sleeved ready to go in.


These are the hellermannTyton sleeves that I use instead of heatshrink. They are stretched using a special tool and then slide off over the join contracting like heatshrink would. (only real reason why i'm using them is that i already owned plenty and the necessary tool as i use them for making A/V cables)
 
My tubing is XSPC HighFlex 7/16"Clear/UV like you are looking at. The fluid i'm using is ordinary distilled water and about 15% ethylene glycol based antifreeze added. (which gives it the green colour) The blue LED i'm using came with the xspc reservoir. For blue fluid, the best i've seen is the one in Ash's 650D build.
 
Liking the OCUK xxl mat.


Gentle typhoons now fitted, just got the enermax 140 to sort out inside the TX650. (which i'll be starting in a minute as the fan just arrived)


Black fan guards to replace the gold/chrome ones i was using.
 
The enermax T.B silence fan has now been fitted inside the TX650 in place of the yate loon D14BH-12. First switch on was an epiphany moment. Namely, OMFG, at last i have silence. I've gone from an average noise level of 54dB down to 35dB. Just got to sort out this 8 pin pcie extension, fix the enermax fan controller and finish the sleeving and it'll be finished until it gets a new cpu and motherboard.
 
Now have the new ALPS potentiometers for my enermax fan controller, which i will sort out later this afternoon. The shaft length is slightly shorter but it doesn't make any difference.
 
New pots now fitted. (I did the two, took photo inbetween)
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I finally sleeved all of the cables for the fan controller and then rebuilt it.
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The 8 pin pcie extension arrived today so I'm just starting to strip the black sleeving off and replace it with my colour scheme.
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Braiding them all yourself is definitely not fun, but the looks are worth it. (just)

I managed to re-sleeve 6 of the eight pins of the extension before my pin extraction tool decided to snap. :(
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Done some tidying to the cables at the back, not super neat like some as i don't have the necessary tie down locations. The un-sleeved cables on the right will be disappearing once i get a window panel sorted as they are the fan speed reducers for the side panel fans. I could also do with some shorter sata cables too as the ones i have are about 2x longer than they need to be.
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I can also understand why the aluminium cases were so popular, this thing weighs in at a whopping 21KG. It's no wonder I've been struggling to shift it about under my desk. One thing i have found funny is that my colour scheme of blue and green represents the opposition. (Intel & nVidia)

Future upgrade path for this pc will be a steamroller or excavator based cpu along with a suitable motherboard and either an GTX8xx or HD99xx card. Hopefully the cpu and motherboard will follow the usual amd trend of being good value for money. The gfx card choice will be highly dependant on the prices as the present trend for high end cards isn't looking all that pleasant considering my usual maximum budget of £250.
 
Will be getting the genuine coolermaster window panel at some point. (same as this one) Shame it has a fan mount in it though, but I'm definitely not chopping up the standard panel as i'd end up making a mess. Might see what i can do to replace the acrylic though.
 
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