Project: Majestic (Air540)

[Adam182]

subbed hoping to see the end result as i want ideas for my 540

Thanks for the sub hopefully ill be able to inspire you a little.

Just finished testing my parts and im happy to report everything seems to be running as it should Had to test with an old PSU as the RM750 weighed a lot and didnt fancy packing it into my suitcase so i sent it back and ordered one in the UK.

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Its going to be almost a shame to remove the cooler from the Ti, i really like the glowing text on the side...

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also came with a free poster, wahey...

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Time to coat some stuff in Plastidip now, bought a few cans over here for 5dollars a can, kinda cheap compared to my 16gbp can sitting at home! - Adam

p.s Also treated myself to my first DSLR camera, loving it so far, went for the Canon Rebel SL1/eos 100d

 

[Adam182]

My 290x is not even working bro

Damn that SUCKS bro, just read through your threads and sounds like you're going through hell , ive tried a few google searches but like you havn't come up with any solutions. I just hope that other guy who had it maybe fixed it in the end... you should get some sleep you've been up all night by the look of it - Adam

 

[Adam182]

Quick update everyone, I've been pottering about with some plastidip and finally ended up with some results I'm pretty happy with. Ill probably write a short tutorial on tips and things i've learnt along the way whilst using the stuff.

Anyway here are the results...

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[Adam182]

So Awesome loving the white blocks
Is it hard working with acrylic?

Thanks for the kind words. In general I've found working with acrylic pretty easy for the most part, you just need to make sure to measure twice and cut once

I've been using 3mm acrylic for the interior which has benefits of still being durable but also has a good amount of flexibility so I can definately recommend it.

The clear stuff I used for the fascia was around 5mm thick and a lot more rigid, it almost felt like a different material and was like hell to work with. Whenever I tried to cut it with my jigsaw it would just melt and make a complete mess. I picked the clear stuff up years ago and I'm pretty sure it was optimised to be used as a glass replacement in greenhouses/garages so that could well be the reason for it being so rigid and nasty to work with. I only used it because it was spare and solely the reason why I did the fascia mod - Adam

 

[Adam182]

I would like to try and work with some in the future
That plastidip, you used the spray one?
I've just picked up a evga pro sli bridge and wanted to paint the
Silver bits white.

From what I can see the front cover is held on by 2 screws so it should come
Away but I'll have to check it out.

Yeah i used the Plastidip in the spraycan, should be pretty straight forward spraying the silver parts of the evga sli bridge, even better if you can remove them. I just masked off the nickel contact part of my waterblock and it still turned out ok. The smaller the part the easier it will be. Only problem is we get shafted for 16gbp a tin in the UK - Adam

 

[Adam182]

Pricey I'll have a look online for some.
Yer the front cover can be taken off!
The plastidip won't damage plastics ?
As it's lightweight plastic from what I gather

I got mine on the bay, it seems to be the best place to get it. I've sprayed it on different plastics and havn't had any reactions, you could always do a test on the back of the piece to be sprayed just to be sure - Adam

 

[Adam182]

Fitted the Waterblock/Backplate to the 780ti, really happy with how it turned out.

I'm a bit paranoid that some of the pins on the rear of the pcb are making contact with the backplate so ill no doubt whip it off and maybe stick some plastictape on the suspicous areas before i actually run power through it. If anyone else has the EVGA 780ti and EK backplate it would be great to hear if anyone has had any issues with that. As i said it could just be me being massively paranoid.

Anyway here it is...

- Adam

 

[Adam182]

Awesome!!! Beautiful finish. Did you spray straight on to the backplate, Or give it a rub down first?
I'll let u know when I turn on the titans as they are basically the same.
Got some plastidip I'll post results in my log when finished
Looking forward to seeing more of build

Yep i sprayed it straight onto everything, the reason i used Plastidip was so i could just remove it if i wanted and end up with a standard card. Theres definatly no need for any sanding/primer prior to applying the plastidip, it sticks with no issues whatsoever - Adam

 

[Adam182]

I still need to order my waterblock and back plate for the 780ti I have!!

Curious though...my ti has 2 8 pin power connections hmm.

Must have needed a little extra oompfh for that 3x windforce fan! if you go down the EK route be sure to use the EK cooling configurator to be sure of compatability - Adam

 

[Adam182]

Back in the UK now so its full speed ahead on project Majestic.

Fitting the radiators into their modified position was a lot more challenging than i had expected as it wasn't as straight forward as bolting straight through the fans into the rads themselves, this was my first attempt...

That 3 or so mm step on the left hand side proved to be the downfall for this one.

Here it is fitted with the 360rad and the right hand side acrylic plate i just made...

And this is how tight it was to the rad port, it would had have been a real struggle getting the backside port fitted with it being so tight...

Back into the garage i went to gain that few extra mm, i also noticed i would be able to fit just a standard 90 (as opposed to a rotary) onto the near rad port which im pretty happy about as i feel it will look a lot nicer for the tube that will run vertical down the length of the rad. Heres the second attempt...

Overall I'm pretty happy with progress so far even if it has taken 2 days to fit the rads. Next up i'll be spraying/mounting the reservoir, creating the floor plate, creating a plate to cover the top alloy and Delidding the CPU - Adam

 

[Adam182]

Hey everyone time for another update. These past few days I have truly realised how hard it is to do a custom build. I take my hat of to those that take on the crazy builds we see kicking about.

More than once I've thought to myself "how on earth do I get around that", "why did I decide to do this in the first place" and "maybe I should give up".

But alas I'm still persevering!

Decided to get the delid out of the way first, I really didn't fancy the razor technique and I didn't have a vice so i set up a kind of jig to emulate a vice. I realised it sucked after 2 failed attempts and ended up sat there with my CPU in one sweaty palm and a razor blade in the other. Result...

I think it was a success so i cleaned it up and slapped on some CLU, didnt trust myself not to get the CLU onto the little row of "things?" down the side, all i knew is that if i did it would be goodnight for this little CPU so i used some leftover thermal pad from my Ti block to cover them over. I have to say though the CLU was almost a pleasure to work with considering the horror stories I've heard about how hard it is to spread...

Huge sigh of relief after everything was back together and looking pretty sweet, i used Gelid GC-Extreme between the block and the IHS...

Next up i sprayed the XSPC Reservoir in white plasti-dip...

As the Reservoir was curing i measured, cut and bent a nice floorplate for my build only for it to be a few mm out...

Whilst in the process of fixing that particular issue i managed to crack the floorplate halfway down the middle, second time round the fit was much better and the bend also a lot nicer so it was a happy accident i guess.

Next up I finally got around to finishing up the front fascia, after a bit of sanding here and there i was ready to apply the vinyl, it was a whole lot easier to apply than i expected...

After spending the most part of this morning doing some little fiddley adjustments to various panels and some modifications for the fan wiring I wrote up a list of which order to install everything and decided to do a test run...

Just waiting on the acrylic tubing now then i can continue, should be here shortly! Thanks eveyone! - Adam

 

[Adam182]

Thanks for the positive comments everyone, much appreciated

Looking good, real good.

Have you used the original mount for the res, I've bought the D5 version and my original mounting plans are a no go. I hoped to strip the plate and use the rings to mount to fan brackets.

Yeah I've used the original mount, although i did consider just using the rings and leaving off the plate, that should work if you wanted to. Although if that doesn't give enough clearance from the D5 pump ring that could be an issue, maybe in that case you could change that chunky plastic ribbed D5 ring for one of the fancy metal ones? - Adam

 

[Adam182]

Thanks for the positive comments everyone, was thinking today that its going to be a nightmare to fill as my plan was to turn it onto its back and fill it up via the right side of the res. This would mean the pump would end up at the top above the res (it will be in the other compartment right behind the 360 rad) i would have to keep putting in back onto its base to run the pump bit by bit.

I think im now going to flip the res around so the fill port is on the left and have some tube exiting the left of the case as a fillport, this way i can turn it onto its front and fill it all at once as the pump will be below the res, i can then turn it back onto its base when its full.

Will i be ok pressure wise having a tube permanently coming out of the res fill port bearing in mind that it will always be full of liquid? heres a quick diagram...

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Thanks - Adam

 

[Adam182]

Time for an update everyone!

My final orders came in from MDPC, MODDIY, E22 and OcUK...

After a few more tweaks i was done butchering the 540 case and ready to start putting everything together to measure up for the tubing...

Using a plumb line seemed to be the best way to get the fitting holes in the correct positions...

There was definately a satisfaction in removing the protective film from all the acrylic pieces and seeing the nice shiny white surface underneath...

Time to make a start on the tubing and begin attaching all the fittings...

This was my bending rig, pretty much freestyle with a few lines on a block of wood...

And heres what i ended up with...

Before the final build i laid down some led lighting...

Finally everything was in and it was time to leak test...

Whilst the leak test took place i got to work on some sleeving and pretty much ruined my thumb and forefinger in the process. It really didn't help that the pin extractor i got on the bay was useless and using 2 modded paperclips was a whole bunch easier...

Anyway the leak test was a raging success, i'm so glad i flipped the res over at the last minute, i'm sure that made it much easier. I'm now a thumbscrew, a few cable combs and the final fit on the front fascia away from a finished build! what a ride its been...

Heres a nice higher res image...

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Not too bad for my first custom build/waterloop i think Thanks everyone - Adam

 

[Adam182]

Thanks for the great comments everyone its really appreciated. I'll sort out a pic of the not so pretty side soon. I've tried taking some night shots with the leds on but they light up all the white so bright i cant get a decent shot. Im using a new DSLR too so if anyone has any tips on the settings for such a shot it would be great! thanks again everyone - Adam

 

[Adam182]

Thanks for all the amazing feedback guys its really appreciated!

Did you have to use the primer before painting it white?

If your using Plastidip you dont need to prime, thats the great thing it can be peeled off and back to original in a few seconds

Just a few final pics here guys now that the E22 cable combs are in and the case is closed up, i totally messed up pretty much every connector so it took a while to get it to actually turn on but everything is running sweet now!

And the dark dark side...

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But theres something awesome that came with the case to fix that up...

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Thanks everyone - Adam