Project Ultima [Build log]

[IMCustoms]

Hey all,
You may know me as JA90 or JA159 on forums and by my last big watercooled build Project Cristal Toxin, and here I'm again with something a bit more crazy for all of you

Project Ultima will be largely sponsored build by 4 part manufacturers and a few local businesses.
And first things first, a big Shout-out and Thanks to all of the sponsors and the biggest of them (for now) are:

1. DOO EKWB



2. Bitspower International Co., Ltd.



3. Cooler Master Technology Inc.



4. Icemodz



5. DOO Potez




Now, the short description of the project

In one sentence, Project Ultima will be a both side wall mounted, enclosed rig with double loop water cooling system, with bent solid acrylic tubing, for all major components.

I know that very small number of people likes to read boring long descriptions, so I present to you screenshots from my Sketchup drawing of the build !
(Don't mind my modeling skills, I'm not a designer and the drawing was made to make my life easier with this complicated build and not everything in this drawing is they way it will be, so stay tuned)

SO LETS GO !

Lets start with a few pics without explanation and I'll explain the details later

So, the details.. The start and reset button will be mounted on the bottom right part of the table, with or on USB 3.0 external hub. Also on that side, custom made headset holder.

From the bottom, you can see the 2 vents (intake and exhaust) for some airflow for the main part of the rig (which will be filtered).

The back side of the wall will accommodate firstly fans and radiators (with drain ports), to get heat and noise out of the computer room (which was the point of the project), and modem, router, NAS, fan controller (or Corsair link) etc.
Don't mind the red lines, they are power lines in the wall, so I just marked them to take them in consideration, not to kill myself when I'm drilling.

Bottom part of the main rig area will house PSU, 4 fans (2 intake and 2 exhaust, bottom one's will be a bit faster), all of the cables (custom extensions that will go behind the removable MOBO and SSD's panel) and drain valves for both loops.

Top part of the main rig area will house Custom made reservoirs with fill ports and removable top panel for ease of access.

And finally, the main rig area itself.
Removable panel which will hold the motherboard and 2 or 4 SSD's with custom 45 degree cut plexi "backplates". 2 separate loops, first for CPU, MOBO, RAM, and the second one only for GPU's.

More detail about the rig and all the custom stuff I will do for it will be explained while I post my progress, and one more thing I didn't mention is the configuration of the rig..

For now, the parts I have ready for this rig are:
1. Gigabyte G1.Sniper 5;
2. Intel 4770k;
3. 4x4GB Corsair Dominator GT 2133MHz;
4. 2x MSI 7970;
5. 2x120GB Intel 330series SSDs (I'm waiting for Corsairs confirmation on 2 of GTX Neutron 240GB );
6. Silverstone Strider+ 1000W;
7. Cooler Master Aluminium series peripherals;
8. Corsair fans and link;
9. Lots of EKWB's and Bitspower's blocks, pumps, rads, fittings, tubes, etc.

And that will be it for now, I will start posting my progress shortly (cause I already started working on it) and give me as much feedback as you can, I'll be happy to reply and take in consideration all of your suggestions and comments !

 

[IMCustoms]

Thanks

 

[IMCustoms]

Thanks guys !

@colinmcr,
Yeah, I calculated that they are (on the pics) around 5-6L each, so I guess I will have to make them a bit thinner, when I get to that part
And yes, it will be literally on the wall.. And the room is ready for it !
It will go on the all black wall (and I will make an IMC sticker for the glass above the door)

 

[IMCustoms]

First of all, all of sponsors for this build have been great sports and people I've encountered have been really easy to work with and strike a deal..

But, I would like to give a special thanks to Cooler Master's teams from Netherlands and Serbia, because I approached those guys & gals with a proposal and they accepted it, coordinated NL and SR teams, and sent me the items I asked for in a matter of days, even before I started any serious work on this build!

I was mesmerized by their speed and of course quality of stuff I got.. And I'm using them for a while now, and they are just top notch..
And I forgot to mention, I asked them for peripherals for this build, and they are Cooler Master Aluminium Series:
1. Mech Keyboard
2. Reaper Mouse
3. Pulse-R Headset

It's time for some photos !

 

[IMCustoms]

Thanks all !

And I would like a word with mod that took down my images, please contact me in PM as soon as possible..
I explained in "Reason for Editing"

 

[IMCustoms]

Thanks, but I will have to make them thinner, cause by calculations of these from the drawing, they would hold about 6L of water each, and that is way too much

 

[IMCustoms]

Thanks bradUK

@Pedaars, I didn't plan it.. It perfectly matches the color scheme of the build, so I might just add some IMC or Project Ultima logo, but not paint the whole thing for sure

 

[IMCustoms]

Like I said

Thanks, but I will have to make them thinner, cause by calculations of these from the drawing, they would hold about 6L of water each, and that is way too much

 

[IMCustoms]

@jimbaw, The colors will be just like in the drawing.. So green and orange, I just haven't decided will I use pastel, regular or UV... It will be green - cause of Gigabyte Sniper board, and orange - cause EK was the first sponsor to confirm their sponsorship and I will use most of their block, pumps and rads, so it will be as a tribute to them, and it will of course look nice next to green

@colinmcr, Thanks, they are just superb

And a little update, I will start posting pics of woodwork tomorrow

 

[IMCustoms]

Thanks guys !

And finally lets start with actual work on the build

The build idea started when I decided to take apart some excess furniture from plywood, and I realized that I have enough to build a crazy system I always dreamed off... So, there were 2 ideas in my head, desk or wall-mount?
Both ideas were good and with rads on the other side of the wall, but at the end I decided not to go with desk idea just because of "leg space problem" (cause I'm tall and I need my leg room) and difficulty of draining (cause I often change components and draining the desk is very difficult in regard to a wall-mount, where you can see from my plans how I handled it).

So, lets go... These are roughly cut boards to size by my friends at Total Design Bor

Leftovers

And then came the assembly of frames, motherboard panel and the desk part itself

And the rest of boards that are waiting to be drilled and assembled

 

[IMCustoms]

Well, some pics got lost when I updated them, so here they are now
This is the cover for power cords extensions, 3 of 4 vertical panels and cable cover (behind the monitor):

 

[IMCustoms]

That's not me, it's a worker in a shop I went to get this panels cut, and that's word for word exactly what I said to him

Thanks

 

[IMCustoms]

Hey people,
I'm going on a vacation, so sorry for no updates for the next 2 weeks
Cya soon !

 

[IMCustoms]

Hey guys, I'm baaack !

I had a great time on a vacation, but there were some bad news when I checked in with my sponsors..
So I'll come back to you when we straighten things out in a couple of days or so..

 

[IMCustoms]

Welcome back !

The renderings look amazing ! Really wish i had the skill / programs / patience and knowledge to get renderings done for my project.

Thanks, I actually did't have "the skill" for it, and I tried to find someone to draw it out for me.. But, none of people I encountered wanted to do such a simple and time consuming task, so I had to learn to do it myself

Sketchup is pretty easy program for beginners, and with a few tutorials from youtube, I managed to make this in it's raw form in just under a week! All the other measurement, color, curves, and much more corrections came a bit later with a bit more youtube tutorials

 

[IMCustoms]

want to do mine for me lol. give you a little more practise

I don't need any more practice

Nice nice will be watching this one

Thanks

 

[IMCustoms]

Thanks Crucio, yes it will and it wouldn't be simple to move the entire rig, but I'll make it simple to change out the components

 

[IMCustoms]

I'm afraid there are just bad news all over..

EKWB have informed me, and I quote "all sponsorship requests are on hold for now, due to unexpected circumstances.", "Unfortunately we have exceeded our budget for this year."
I don't know how things work around there, but my sponsorship was approved and they delayed sending me the parts for a long time, and this was a response I got when I came back from my vacation, after sending like a ton of e-mails to them.. I'm honestly disappointed in them and I don't think I'll be able to wait 3.5 months to finish this project, and now I will try to contact some other manufacturer, or ask Bitspower to cover their part.. But again, I don't think Bitspower manufactures all the things I need and was suppose to get from EKWB..

Also, Corsair decided not to sponsor the project, because of Cooler Master's sponsorship.. They like the project very much, but their PR team said, and I quote again "having CM hardware under one exposure - they believe is counterproductive from a marketing perspective." Although CM contributed Peripherals and Corsair should go with SSDs, Comander and Fans..
I'm leaving you to decide was that necessary, and please write in the comments, would you overlook Corsairs hardware because of CM's peripherals in this build.

So, the project is on hold for now, until I get some other manufacturer on board, or collect needed funds myself.. Any help in terms of contacts or exposure would be greatly appreciated.

 

[IMCustoms]

@Rooster212, EK just "delayed" their sponsorship.. So if I don't find any other manufacturer, I will just wait them for the parts, and build a rig to the spec and just wait for the January to arrive...

In the meantime.. I tested hardware I have for this build and it all works !
I bought that stuff a while ago (except GPUs), before I even started this build, and never tested it so far, cause I had Cristal Toxin running and just wanted to upgrade it.. But I come up with a plan for Project Ultima, and that upgrade prolonged until now... So here is a little proof
And btw, I have blocks on GPUs, so I couldn't put them on with the rest

 

[IMCustoms]

Thanks

It's time for a little (good news at last) update

I've contacted EKWB and they decided to regardless of their situation, send me some of the promised goods by the end of this week! So I'm expecting them to arrive by the end of next, or the week after, and than I can order the Bitspower parts, which will be sent immediately and finally get the project on track

In the mean time, I ordered some RGB LED stripes with controllers, and get a hold of some glass for top part of the table, and found a place with some car wrapping matte black foil to cover the build.. So I'm just waiting for all of that to arrive, and start with some serious building and remodeling of my room