Project: Little Bit Big.

[Smffy]

The joys of massive cases, you end up spending more on fans than on the actual components

I'm running 14 fans on the current rig but luckily 6 are completely hidden, so saved a fair chunk by using the ridiculously cheap Akasa Piranha's (£15 for a 3-pack!)

Had 17 I think, currently reduced to 2 with the stripped down rig and air cooled GPUs.

It seems like it will be 34 total if push pull haha (2 rear exhaust) Likely to be on 0 RPM a lot of the time unless playing something where you can assume very low and silent! Still debating leaving the top rads as pull only but most likely just pull the trigger on a load of them... it isn’t really supposed to be a sensible build is it

 

[Smffy]

Switched some Corsair fans out for some Noiseblocker eLoop's on a watercooled build a while back mate and rate them highly, if you used all eLoops you could always add Phanteks Halos frames to the ones that show

So my 3 testers arrived yesterday, very nice quality product indeed! You can see a lot of small touches to reduce noise and there’s quite a bit included in the box for the price. 15 more in transit as we speak...

Do you know what thread the screws are? Just for the case they are a little long but can always get the saw out. Will be grabbing some 140mm for the rear exhausts because why not if they fit.

 

[OJ46]

So my 3 testers arrived yesterday, very nice quality product indeed! You can see a lot of small touches to reduce noise and there’s quite a bit included in the box for the price. 15 more in transit as we speak...

Do you know what thread the screws are? Just for the case they are a little long but can always get the saw out. Will be grabbing some 140mm for the rear exhausts because why not if they fit.

I don't sorry mate, any time screws are too long I just do the same and hack the ends off!

 

[Smffy]

I don't sorry mate, any time screws are too long I just do the same and hack the ends off!

No worries, only 8 to do so will get the saw out!

 

[Smffy]

Update time!

So I hope nobody else wanted some of these Noiseblocker eLoop fans as I've got them all pretty much

Braiding test, looks tidy but will be improved further:


I have to say I absolutely love the quality of these fans, what my plan is now is to resolder some slightly longer black wire and crimp them in to pairs at a corner. This should given me very tidy cables, I will braid up single extensions then (2 per rad) which will go to the Commander Pros hidden in the rear. Unless anyone can think of better solutions of course, i'm debating on using fan headers for this or the small white molex i've recently received:


These will probably hide well in between the rads... Or I should just solder on long wires from each and combine in the rear? 100m of 20AWG coming tomorrow so play around and you guys can tell me which is less dumb

Also now FINALLY have the radiators, after massive delays XSPC decided to confirm they in fact were not doing another run in white for the RX series which was brilliant... So i've compromised and got the 3 I needed in black and started spraying them matt white:



Note the extra SSD also, they went down to £48 elsewhere so I snapped up another to fill out the panel which was a pretty good deal!

Next up been stripping one GPU to test the new block design and sizing for my CAD drawings, this led to what the kids call an epic face palm... Firstly stripping the Duke down revealed a sterling job placing the lower thermal pads on the memory:


For anyone who is interested it was pretty easy to tease off this bad boy and keep it intact in the box for any future returns, as it also was to keep the thermal pads intact on the cooler and back plate:




It was at this point once I cleaned up the PCB and fitted the Gelid Extreme pads (not crap EK ones) that I noticed there was absolutely no way that block was oriented in the right way for the PCB... So dont ask me how but since 27th September these have been sat behind me, but they had sent 2080 blocks NOT Ti! Of course OCUK guys pretty helpful so they are on their way back and I simply ordered them again (which actually saved me £30) and here we go:



SHINY SHINY SHINY!. They look great, one area of concern is the LED cable which you can route through under the block - I'm guessing its fine as temps will not get anywhere near high enough to melt the silicon on the wires?

 

[ALXAndy]

I think in all my years of computing and using computers (over 40) Eloops are the nicest fans I've used. I really do like them. They would look great with RGB frames on, though it would cost you a king's ransom*

*somehow looking at your rig I don't think that part matters too much

 

[Smffy]

I think in all my years of computing and using computers (over 40) Eloops are the nicest fans I've used. I really do like them. They would look great with RGB frames on, though it would cost you a king's ransom*

*somehow looking at your rig I don't think that part matters too much

Ha, yeah I'm thinking more along the lines of putting together a frosted frame around them all for the front facing. But I confess I am literally clueless about RGB so will have to learn that craft, i'm assuming I could get one of the long reels of it and go from there but will see... I would agree on the fans, really impressive, my concern with the halo's would be it spoils all the small textured parts which are clearly designed for the noise reduction etc - great fans though, will be replacing stickers with brushed alu and sorting wiring out soon.

 

[HaroldSaxon]

Nothing will prepare you for the size of the box which turns up if you do

I just managed to get a deal from someone selling theirs - I can confirm that the box is absolutely massive!

 

[Smffy]

I just managed to get a deal from someone selling theirs - I can confirm that the box is absolutely massive!

Welcome to excessive case life - planning any mods?

 

[tyler_jrb]

Amazing so far smffy! I have the exact same block and bp (nickel) on mine and they do look amazing in the flesh. EK really did a great job designing these.

As with your RTX mine had really poor memory pad placement on my FE (with one chip about 50% covered) so glad i fitted the block.

Looking forward to seeing some parts go in and those custom blocks, very nice job on those btw.

 

[Distracted]

Loving this. Those fans look great! I've not seen them before.

 

[Smffy]

Loving this. Those fans look great! I've not seen them before.

Thanks, as you can see they are highly recommended especially for those not that bothered about RGB!

Amazing so far smffy! I have the exact same block and bp (nickel) on mine and they do look amazing in the flesh. EK really did a great job designing these.

As with your RTX mine had really poor memory pad placement on my FE (with one chip about 50% covered) so glad i fitted the block.

Looking forward to seeing some parts go in and those custom blocks, very nice job on those btw.

I had the nickel plates on my 1080s but first time going black block and I do think it looks cleaner. Hopefully my custom distro design can progress once I’ve got some rads in place finally I can start to plan channels... a lot of fan braiding to get through first

 

[Smffy]

So few more, basically desoldered the thin coloured wires and tested some I just received. My options are to either solder on longer cables to each and then join in the rear (4 braided as one running stealthily to the back) or connect two to one at the fans and then run extensions...

I’m sort of leaning towards the first, thoughts? Also included a shot of the fans on the temp rig, super quiet!




Either way looks like a boring days work making up those cables and keeping track of all of them - breaking out the coloured leccy tapes me thinks!

Rear of the fans will be covered by a brushed alu disc (cut to size 27.5mm), under the silver sticker is actually a magnet I believe!

 

[WantoN]

My options are to either solder on longer cables to each and then join in the rear (4 braided as one running stealthily to the back) or connect two to one at the fans and then run extensions...

I use Corsair ML120 and 140s, and there’s a thick layer of conformal coating over the solder joints. Otherwise I would solder direct at the hub.

What I do is cut the wires and solder them in banks, then run a single sleeved cable for each bank to my controller / Mobo. That way there’s much less wiring and faff. Each fan is wired in parallel, with the 12v, ground and PWM running to all three, and the tach from just one.

Just remember to only connect one tach reading from each bank (I usually use whichever fan is where the cables all come together) and make sure that the header you’re connecting to can handle the current that the fans pull, with a little headroom for inrush etc.

 

[Smffy]

I use Corsair ML120 and 140s, and there’s a thick layer of conformal coating over the solder joints. Otherwise I would solder direct at the hub.

What I do is cut the wires and solder them in banks, then run a single sleeved cable for each bank to my controller / Mobo. That way there’s much less wiring and faff. Each fan is wired in parallel, with the 12v, ground and PWM running to all three, and the tach from just one.

Just remember to only connect one tach reading from each bank (I usually use whichever fan is where the cables all come together) and make sure that the header you’re connecting to can handle the current that the fans pull, with a little headroom for inrush etc.

I'm going for long runs to back and fit two to one connector for the hubs, I have order more cable as this stuff is uneccessarily thick to be honest! Got some good 22AWG lower strand like the wires that were on the fans originally coming monday so will get soldering next week!

 

[WantoN]

I'm going for long runs to back and fit two to one connector for the hubs, I have order more cable as this stuff is uneccessarily thick to be honest! Got some good 22AWG lower strand like the wires that were on the fans originally coming monday so will get soldering next week!

Enjoy! It’s my favourite part of any project

Look forward to the update.

 

[HaroldSaxon]

Welcome to excessive case life - planning any mods?

Honestly I wouldn't have a clue where to start. My first plan is to run my first watercooling loop - but i'll probably be doing that around Christmas time - or maybe sooner if there's some nice Black Friday deals. Although planning, I cannot seem to find a water block for my GPU so i'm not sure what i'm going to do about that. Phanteks seem to make one, but its out of stock everywhere: https://www.overclockers.co.uk/phan...block-with-rgb-lighting-chrome-wc-01a-pt.html

But i'll most likely get an ITX system in first and try and pick up another commander pro. I need to do some research on what Radiators I want. I think if I had to mod something, i'd be tempted to see about a side radiator similar to the Lian-Li Dynamic - but that would be something way further down the line. Its a shame that you can't fit a full ATX PSU in the ITX PSU slot though!

I'm really looking forward to it, although the idea of a first water loop makes me nervous!

 

[Mcthommo]

Do you need the chrome one or would a black one do? I have a used black block with the led lead that I might not need anymore if u might be interested

 

[HaroldSaxon]

I'm not massively fussed about if its Chrome or Black - given the glass on the 1000D i'm not sure if you could see the difference. Is it the same model that is compatible with the Gigabyte Gaming OC 1080ti?

 

[Smffy]

I'm not massively fussed about if its Chrome or Black - given the glass on the 1000D i'm not sure if you could see the difference. Is it the same model that is compatible with the Gigabyte Gaming OC 1080ti?

Do you need the chrome one or would a black one do? I have a used black block with the led lead that I might not need anymore if u might be interested

You might want to take this discussion via trust before mid action, given you cannot do it via members market...