Project Log - Anniversary Rebuild

[glent]

Hi guys, Been a little while since I was around.

This project is some what of an anniversary build, It's just over a year now since I shared my son's first build and mod ( See Link below)

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18388161&

The build was a lot fun and a great learning curve, what started out as a time filler project ended up looking really good considering what we had to work with, With the support of some guys on this very forum, Custom work and donated parts finished it off.



Pretty Soon after a huge venture began, Connor's build for narcolepsy UK.

(See Link below)
http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18396393


Give a take a week or two it's around a year since his personal build was finished and his sponsored build began, now seems a fitting time to rebuild and improve his personal rig.

Their lots of ideas still floating around but below is a rough concept of what he hopes to achieve, The heart of the rig is an Antec "ONE" Cases, Which has great sentimental value ( See above link) it's by no means the biggest of flashiest cases but has potential.


The rig is set to be dual purpose, practical and both easy to work with, now that connor has moved on, and now reviews hardware.

At this time It'll more of a cosmetic project, his old hardware from his build will be xfered over and upgraded if and when possible.


Hadware list as of 24/04/2013
Antec One cases
Tools and lots of motivation!

Thread will be updated asap theirs is more to share.

 

[glent]

Right then fella's, we've got an upcoming holiday in a couple of weeks but connor was eager to get cracking on. First thing to do was break case down and get that drill out



You'll notice one the side panel has a window cut out, Our last attempt at mixing the antec "One" side panel and our jigsaw was a testing experience

We'll be calling in all the help we can get to make sure everything is done better. The panel was cut to Connor's spec by his uncle, Who happens to work in a fabrication factory, I expect Connor will be sending plenty of work his way.



At this point of time he's only focusing on cosmetics,Colour choice will come soon

Firstly I've donated my watercooling setup to him. At this time He has
1x360 Slim Radiator
1x Phobya UC-1 Waterblock
1xEK Res & 1x Phobya dc400 pump.

For tubing that'll depend on which concept he goes for, Sadly I can't producedepic renders so we will to make to do with my shoddy Paint skills....

Like his past build He is very keen on having the motherboard rotated. Intially he planned something like this


Just wasn't practial with the size limatations, he's tweaked his design to this...



He wants to to focus on both side being modded and sway away from the norm of windowing and putting all efforts on to one side of the case..

Radiator position is not certain and will depend on if we cant source another one.








One idea is to have the tubing to come out of the side panel ( will be never bee removed anyway) and go back in again, he's got his eye on some solid tubing rather than traditional flexible hosing.


Back side view
no window here as all you would see is the motherboard tray, instead focusing on the tubing and a 360mm grille to house the fans.


A final option was to mount to rad flush at the front of the case and bring the tubing out of their and back again.



I know it's not exactly clear, So i'll knock up a video over the weekend to help

That's it for now folks..

 

[glent]

If you are considering running the tubing externally
Have a look at cape cora or Konvekt-o-Matic passive rad tubes - Just an idea to add to the mix

Will do thanks

Video I just knocked up that should explain his concepts a little better...I hope

 

[glent]

Right then boys and girls sorry for the delay, Just dropping a quick update while I've got a spare second


Connor and I have been in regular Contact with the builds first Sponsor, Antec.He tweaked his design but the small form factor of the Antec ONE case was, well..just too small.

So we're throwing another ONE into the mix... Antec One + Antec One=2? nope...ONE big ass, dual case!

We've taken the concept to Sapphire and in a heartbeat jumped on board and sponsored Connor with a Sapphire 7790 GPU




We've also been in Contact with


&


Who are bringing some damn nice products to the table this year. Part list will be finalised in the coming days.


Drum roll please...it's time to showcase my legendary MSpaint skills once again and show the current concept.

Spoiler

Front view



potential back views- Depending on his final choice




A look inside...from both sides...the right image will also have a psu cover to hide wires coming in from the second case



Tubing Route and dual Windows for one side


In a nut shell, two cases side by side, one to house the main components, mobo,gpu, the other to house PSU, radiators, pumps, SSDs,Optical drives, bays res's. he's keep the psu mounts of both cases though, which ever one is not in uses wil have a cover on it..

The cases' intention is to have the option to fit a bit of anything and everything when he needs too, When he needs to test AIO coolers for example. The theme is black on the outside, lots of white paneling inside, accented with red components, cables, dyes ect. The second cases, has all the option to house big radiators and such

Really wish I had some work in progress to show, Sadly things are a little slow-moving but it'll be worth it. We had recently set a target to bring the rig down to I49 later this year. We're in early disscuions about having the rig showcased on a booth.. if it all gets done in time! Fingers crossed though. Which means we really need to get crack, so expect lots of work asap.

On the negative side of things...Shame to spoil the post, our Motherboard a Mpower Z77 decieded to POP and take out our 2500k which means, it's about to embark on it journey into the unknown. Intel RMA has left us in a tricky position, from our understanding Sandybridge is EOL, it's apparenlty a 50/50 whether they can supply a 2500k or IVY equivalent. I have no ideas how Intel RMA works and with being a "K" version cpu, IDK what to expect, whether it'll be rejected or swapped out?

Also Zero chance of motherboard returning for RMA... For reasons I simply can't get my head around it has two missing pins..so we've got a nice £150 paperweight.

Timing of this is well crap..especially as Haswell just rolled out, we had planned to either stay mpower and 2500k or sell them off to build up funds and go Haswell... anyhow see you guys soon!

 

[glent]

@TheDesX77 Cheers, yeah I've seen the article. It's a bit dissapointing. Feels likey Ivybridge all over again. We're morst likely still going Haswell, For the builds purpouse (reviewing) it really needs current gen hardware

 

[glent]

Really wish for everyones sake I could render lol ! Second case is due tomorrow. Been trying to mock connors ideas up, this is best I can do until the box arrives and we can crack on!

 

[glent]

Right then some new toys arrived! First box is fron Antec, The second case is with us now, which means connor has something practial and not my shoddy MSpaint mockups to work with. Within the week he should have it all marked out and ready to cut













Next up is something special from our newest sponsor. Big respect to Cooler Master for jumping in and Supporting Connor once again.




1500W! Yum Yum Yum




Finally the good guys over at Sapphire once again have supported Connor.


















Oh and one more thing......After much debate we just couldn't see the point on buying another z68 or Z77 motherboard. Makes sense to go current gen despite the inital reviews and uproar haswell has brung with it. So we ordered some goodies from noneother than OCUK











The build is sitting in a temp case with...brace yourselves...stock cooling


The next shipement we're expecting should change that....a lot

In typical Britsh weather fashion, It been to dark to get any decent photos today sorry , Till next time

 

[glent]

Nice one guys!
edit:
You could try to make something like the new Corsair Cube case.
Remove one Motherboard tray, cut some tubing holes in the other tray etc...

I suspect Corsair has been watching our plans as...that exactly what where going for

Holy cow you got some nice parts!

So do you now have two 7790 1gb cards?

Not just the one card sorry for any confusion, Connor not a hardcore gamer. The 7790 is just right for what he'll be doing, and is a decent baseline for us to review new products against.

 

[glent]

We've just had word that some parts from Primochill & ModSmart should be shipping soon.

heres a peek at some of them









Also Connor has been tweaking the design again. With his Uncle working in a fabrication factory, I expect this shouldn't take much longer before it all starts taking shape


More incoming

 

[glent]

Those grills /droll

Looks promising

I know the parts are donated and all, but I would sell the 7790 and the 1500W PSU and get a much better GPU and a far less expensive PSU (like a 650/750W XFX)

I know that would make sense but it just doesn't feel the right thing to do.


Back to the Build, We have had a few teething issues again.
The Sapphire GPU was producing random artifacts, So off it want back to be tested.


Kingston jumped onboard much like the last build Connor did, They sent over some nice HyperX Beast Ram.










The Primochill and Modsmart Box arrived but a few parts where missing, namely the custom fittings for the acrylic tubing, meaning we can't move forward until its resolved. With the deadline creeping up and so much left to do the timing couldn't be worse

We even contacted various UK suppliers in attempt to buy them ourselves just to get things underway. Sadly the UK suppliers have the same info as us( their on order). The new range of products Primochill has released, has had such a strong response. they can't get the bits out to the resellers quick enough.

Which in their defense we understand





Grilles We have here
2x360mm
1x240mm
1x280mm





Cables



Flow Indicator







Reservoir










We've got a few people to speak with but we should have a special Radiator arriving the next few days too. Pending some custom plates and other pieces being made in time, Where also visiting a past Supporter of Connor soon! to have something custom-made. More about that soon.

Any one coming to i49 we will see you there!

 

[glent]

Back again, sorry its been almost three weeks now... and its finally starting to take shape, Connors gone back to his earlier plans of two boxed chambers, the other designs just were not practical at all. We where unable to move forward until the Ghost fittings arrived...and we have 12 of them to play with now



We've been a little busy but yesterday connor mocked up his templates for the sheet metal work. we've just got back from fabrication and they turned out great.

The first peice is a simple L shaped PSU box


You'll notice a cut out, We didn't want the PSU that Cooler Master sponsored to be hiden, The cut out will show this part marked in red


The next peice is a essentially a rad Box/cover, its large enogh to house the rad,fans and allow him to route tubing from one case the next.


Next we need to plate or remake the back cover on one of the cases, as it had all the IO and PCI mounts he doesnt need

before




After


Rough mock up, Connors just debating PSU at top or bottom





Either way the res will sit in the center like this


So in case we have Rad,res,and PSU in this case.

Case two will be motherboard, Using the acrylic tubing hes going to bend and route it from one case to the next, lots more coming, With i49 only a few weeks away i can wait!

A few more cuts and additonal plates but its getting their now!

 

[glent]

looking good man

Right then back to the build, the mentioned PSU cover and rad boxes were filled down and ready to install




Its wasn't a bad fit, not what we hoped for to be honest.



But really its just wasn't right, with a second GPU installed their was no room for a card to breath, the gap between box and bottom of the motherboard was around 1mm

He called in the help of his grandfather

But still after trimming it seemes to PSU would need to be relocated

While figured out what to do Connor ordered a few bits and pieces




He began work on bridging the top lids together

Still needed a little work but looks great, the main issue is the 120mm grill, it's not a typical circles shapes, each hole is a hexagon and is proving difficult to neaten up



Next challenge was to bolt the two cases as one


Due the weight of the PSU, it would have to be bottom mounted



Sadly due to a planning error, the window cut to show the coolermaster branding would no longer work


Cue another one of Connors quick ideas! SSD would be mounted their!


Agains the many plan changes and slight error with the sheet metal means we have a rather large gap to fill here at the front



During all the chaos of things starting to go bad, correctly his spirits were lifted!


I've been in contact with Pascal for a little while, the hope was to do something about the flimsy and bashed up slim 360mm rad we had to work with, he said he could do something...and oh my....he DID

Nice rad?


Oh white! Even better?


Wait a minute...whats this effect on it?


Connor has been given the ONLY one in the world, Custom made, just for him White carbon effect rad....mind blown







Next we managed to get the boxes bolt into place for mock-up


Spagetti anyone?


Finally Connor began the task of bending the tubing



First bend came out ok but as we don't have the official silicone bending rod, it was very much a case of trial and error, some coming out better than others


[MOCK UP]







and final update...reusing some of the removed pieces from the antec one, specifically this honey comb hard drive cage area



Connor has filled this gap and is multi purpose for routing cables.


Due to the trial and error of the bending, we had to order another 36" of tubing on friday and thankfully it arrived the next day. Time to route the tubing,finish up and pray we get this done for i49...which is in 6 days!

 

[glent]

This is looking sweet, looking forward to the finish line

us to meant to be in telford in 4 days!

looks fab, can't wait to see how it all ends up! good to see so many companies getting behind the project.

Getting used to bending method now


Lined up nice


One of the more difficult peices we did


this is a full 24" lenght tube , its very surpsing how much we needed

Rough mock up


Only 4 days to go...slight worried their are so things that just wont be done in time for i49, but we;ll keep the log updated after the event. Anyone visiting come down and see us on the Antec booth

back with more soon,

 

[glent]

Right then time to update you guys...Oh my what a hectic two weeks its been


The loop was filled and it was clear he had a flow issue,


It became more apparent when adding some dye


The issue was those 90's been too harsh and thinning in the tubing, Despite his best efforts to open up the tubing, it cracked, Thankfully the we picked up one of the last peices of stock in the Uk...except it was red...


So literally the day before we were due to travel down to telford the insomnia gaming event, Despite time ticking fast, Connor really wanted to get some paint and colours into the rig. So it was time to break down the rig and add some more structural support for the Journey to i49


The small changes had an epic impact





Red tubing in place and its not a bad match for the other red pieces, fans,flow meter


Before we knew it..it was crunch time, There was a small amount of cosmetic work today and planned to do on the way down, Traffic meant we didn't arrive until late Friday PM, Saturday morning was a nice refreshing change at the hotel, no paint, tools or tubing in sight







As soon as we pulled up the event it seemed the curse continued to strike, Upon filling the loop a misplaced fill port cap caused disaster...and a very slippy event floor, Connor despite keeping his cool, which heartbroken, Antec and a guy from MSI Frantically searched for a cap and did find one...Sadly due to a massive error we had not assembled the loop correctly meaning access to fill was near impossible, Even with the best efforts of everyone around us, the system was not to be filled.



We didn’t get many pics of the rig on the stand, to be honest it was a mixture of sadness and confusion, the event was packed!



Naturally some feedback was good some not so much, He overheard something being said that crushed his spirits and we hit the road the next day...

After a long journey back, he took the negatives and turned them into positives and set about making the rig want he had hoped he had shown...right now it’s about 99% done with some minor cosmetic fixes left to do. Last minute changes and fixes mean some section will be changed but for now its all functional














He’s faced more than average setbacks, issues, delays and let down but despite this...I'm simply the proudest dad in the world, and of course the wave of trolls will keeping firing their nonsense this way, but hey he did again and I can assure you he’s bouncing straight back and will keep doing what he loves. Hes 13, he designed it, made cuts, drilled it, riveted it,bolted it, painted it, bent tubing, fill it...it’s his rig and he loves it.


i'll be back with a final update at some point but I'd to take this chance to thanks all the family members and friends for encouraging him, Sponsors for believing in him and all that have viewed and commented,

 

[glent]

i think he did an amazing job ... and ignore the trolls you find them in all walks of life

Indeed some the harsh things he heard were not just from internet kiddies though, I don't matter who said what I guess But lets just say i'd expect the guy could have been more proffesional...

Mate, i49 was full of children this time around. I saw that build when I was there and was very impressed with it. Only criticism is it should've taken pride of place on the stand and not in the corner, was difficult to see. And possibly some internal lighting for events to make it stand out, then you're onto a winner

Agree.....its was just one of those things I guess. We did attempt lighting, onyl thing to hand was UBS powered,that meant runnign the rig with zero cooling, and with the room temp in the halls it hit the thermal limit very quickly and shut down