Project LAZARUS - Skulltrail D5400XS + QX9775

Detailing Phase!

This should be the design fairly locked-in now. The aim here is now basically to model up the design to figure out how the T-slot sub frame, hinges, plates and fittings all go together.
All this prep should mean less surprises. The plan is now to look at sponsorship even if its a long shot - hence the alphacool colour scheme and components (some of which I already have).

Looking at the reviews and long term user feedback it also seems that the only really long term stable coolants are straight up distilled water and some of the very basic pre-mixed blue coolants which work just fine for me.









Rad Array

I have the space, so I'm going to use it. It also allows plenty of room for expansion even if I don't fill all 4 Rad Bays straight away. I'm now looking at possibly replacing the current GTX 960 with 2no. Gtx 980 watercooled. More heat, more rads! :thumb:





Access

I've designed this to hinge on one edge so the whole frame can be swung free of the case for maintenance and general access during assembly. Due to the weight involved, I will probably have to build in some drop down feet to support the frame while its extended.



Sub Frame

The whole sub frame willl be made out of 20x20mm T-slot extruded aluminium. I can weld it where needed to keep fitting costs down or benefit from the easy construction. Its pretty much grown up lego. This should substantially beef up the frame and make handling and moving the whole unit much safer. I have removed the second case in the images to expose the frame making things easier to see. Some additional bracing will probably be required at the front to keep the upright where the hinges are connected solid.







Fan & Rad Array

This gives a better view of how the frame fits into the side and where the hinges are located. They look small but there are lots of them and they are heavy duty. Most of the time the whole assembly will be resting directly on the sub-frame anyway so they should only be under load when access is required. Not pictures are the 2mm separating pads which will sit in the small gap between the Rad-Frame and the Sub-Frame. This will reduce friction and add a nice bit of slack in (pad can then be sized at the end to fit gap width)





Frame Construction

The Rad Array Frame looks more complicated than it is. I'll build each frame out of 20x20mm angles (3mm thick). Once these are assembled, I can slide them over a jig with the required hole spacing and cut the curved sections last to give the Gentle Typhoons the clearance they need.



Feedback

As always, love to hear feedback - criticism is always welcome.
 
I just stopped myself buying a sealed EVGA GTX 1080 Superclocked for £489 ($620) from a well known trading site.

I consider that personal growth :D

Think I'll actually build the PC first - by that time I should get some even better deals! Also will be a much better way of establishing performance gains. Have already seen how to remove the voltage limiter on the STRIX 960 - should be interesting.

 
Waterloop Design
Did a bit more work on the waterloop. I'm pretty happy with it so far. Can already tell its going to be a pain to drain but so far I'm thinking draining straight from the ports on the radiators will be a pretty safe bet.

The North bridge block now shares the same loop with the CPU's but I'm compensating for the extra load with two of the Alphacool 480mm UT60 radiators.







Unicorn RAM

So my initial research dug up the only 800MHz CL4 RAM I think was ever produced. The Kingston Hyper X FB-DIMMs. Well, I don't want to count my chickens but I managed to track down a full set :D
Wait and see if they're still serviceable but I'm getting them for a tiny fraction of what they used to cost so its worth the risk!

These things were designed with the Skulltrail board in mind and could be overclocked with 3-4-3-12 timings at 800MHz. Only 4GB total so unsure if capacity will impact performance. One thing is for sure though - they're as fast as it gets.

 
ALXAndy said:
Yes capacity will affect performance. 4gb of ram simply isn't enough any more.
Click to expand...

At the price I'm paying for these it will be a good test comparison. The system currently had 8GB but it's not the fastest RAM.

In a perfect world I would love to have 4no. 2GB 800MHz DDR2 FB DIMM CL4 sticks but I just don't think they exist. I'm very happy to be proven wrong though
 
This design is looking crazy good mate, if it turns out anything like the renders its going to be superb! The idea of having that back radiator rack is something i've often thought should be a feature in some cube cases.
 
Smffy said:
This design is looking crazy good mate, if it turns out anything like the renders its going to be superb! The idea of having that back radiator rack is something i've often thought should be a feature in some cube cases.
Click to expand...

Cheers, thats proper nice of you to say :D

The way I approached this was thinking along the lines of "what would the TJ07 case look like if it had been designed as cube case"

Think I might be back on the RAM hunt though. After a bit more reading it would appear that the increased speed just cant make up for the reduced capacity. If they made 4GB versions of the Hyper X sticks I would be soooo happy.
 
Can't beat a properly bonkers project, will definitely be following this one!

Top work on the renders as well, that's a mad amount of work for idea's / planning stage mock-ups :D
 
Going the watercooling route is going to be a must espacially when I get the memory overclocked but I have to admit its going to be a shame removing these:

 
RAM Time

So I've got this down to two sticks - both 4GB 800MHz DDR2 FB DIMM CL5. The hope is I'll get better timings with more voltage and watercooling.

Choice is either Kingston KVR800D2D4F5/4G



or Hynix HYMP151F72CP4D3-S5



Let me know what you think. Unfortunately I have to accept that CL5 on 4GB sticks is the best I'm going to get to give me a total of 16GB.
 
If you can match those renders this will be something special.

Fingers crossed, your planning seems top notch :)

Having owned a TJ07, i'll be interested in how you plan to fabricate the front ( where the drive bays and that switch panel is ), to mask that off.

The hex cutting is going to require some precision.
 
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Brizzles said:
If you can match those renders this will be something special.

Fingers crossed, your planning seems top notch :)

Having owned a TJ07, i'll be interested in how you plan to fabricate the front ( where the drive bays and that switch panel is ), to mask that off.

The hex cutting is going to require some precision.
Click to expand...

That's exactly why I'm not going to do it. :D
The plan at the moment is to weld the two case halves together and strengthen with the 20x20mm T slot aluminium. The infill panels will be laser cut perspex bonded, filled and sanded.

The whole case then gets a spray to get it to look uniform. I still need to look into it in more detail but I know there are various flexible fillers/resins made for car bumpers and such.
 
Cables & Fan Controller

Mate had a set of sleeved cables which will do nicely for now. Extra fan controller will let me dome some basic testing once the fans arrive. Will be trying to run everything from the Aquaero 4 but still need to do a bit more reading on that.
Looking to control 3 pumps, 32 fans on the radiators and another 6 case fans.

 
Fans Arrived!

You might be thinking "I'm sure I've seen those fans somewhere before"



Those who have been following Reglar's Project Second Pass Build over on Overclock.net as well as the original Pandamonium build will immediately recognise the bright pink Gentle Typhoons.
Very kindly donated to the cause, I have already decided that these will live on in their fantastic pink state - all 30 of them! :D
 
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