Project Viking

Ohjay · 1 Dec 2015 at 23:47

Hello dear reader,
Welcome to Project Viking.

The name of this project came about as I was thinking about color scheme for my upcoming build and it ended up following the color scheme of my favourite sports team, the Minnesota Vikings.

As for me, I've been assembling my own computers for 15 years or so but have always built mid-range computers with very little modification and always with air cooling.
This project will be something else entirely.
Custom water cooling with acrylic tubes, high-end components... but not much in the terms of modding is planned. A custom-sleeved PSU is the only planned mod right now.

98% of all components are bought and should arrive this week or next week, but to keep you all in suspense I'll only update the component list as the packages arrive.

I still have a few question marks in this build that will hopefully be answered as things progress.
Loop - the exact routing is not yet determined.
Draining - will depend on how I route my loop.
Storage - One more SSD needs to be added, but do not know if it will be M.2, PCIe or regular SSD.
Water temperature - I want to monitor this through software, but might be impossible.

On another forum it's customary to include your pets in your build photos, but since I don't have any pets I got Dogmeat to help out

Here he is keeping watch on the case for this build:

Gotta keep a close eye on the proceedings:

Dogmeat is just as curious as I am about these rads:

Have to inspect some things closely:

As for the color scheme. This is my very rough sketch of the sleeving:

Components:
CPU - Intel i7 5930K
Motherboard - ASRock X99 OC Formula/3.1
Memory - HyperX Fury 2666MHz 32GB
GPU - 2x EVGA GeForce GTX 980 Ti 6GB ACX 2.0+ SC+
PSU - Corsair RM1000x
Storage - Samung 950 Pro 256GB M.2 NVMe
Secondary storage - Intel 750 PCIe SSD 400 GB
Case - Phanteks Enthoo Primo

Cooling:
Pump - EK-D5 PWM Motor (12V DC PWM Pump Motor)
Top - EK-XTOP Revo D5 Acetal
Radiator - 2x Alphacool NexXxos Monsta 480
Reservoir - PrimoChill CTR Phase II Reservoir System – 240mm – Purple
CPU - XSPC Raystorm Pro Black
GPU - 2x XSPC Razor 980ti
Tubes - 8x60cm & 2x 90cm, PrimoChill 10x13 Purple Rigid Acrylic Tube
Fittings - Primochill Rigid Revolver Compression Fitting Gold
Fluid - 2L XSPC EC-6 Clear
Fans - 16x EK-Vardar F4-120ER

Link to imgur album: http://imgur.com/a/7M95R

If there is interest, I could add another album with high res images.

theaterix · 2 Dec 2015 at 00:10

Ooooo those colours look very very nice, subbing

Please quickly finish, the anticipation of waiting 9 months for builds to finish would kill me!

Ohjay · 2 Dec 2015 at 00:32

theaterix said:
Ooooo those colours look very very nice, subbing
Please quickly finish, the anticipation of waiting 9 months for builds to finish would kill me!

You'll get a better idea of the colors once some of the cooling stuff arrives.

My timeplan is to have it done before x-mas, but it depends on how much I struggle with acrylic tubing and the sleeving of the PSU

Luggs · 2 Dec 2015 at 07:51

Nice colour selection and project plan. Good luck with the build mate!

ukxenon · 2 Dec 2015 at 09:10

looking forward to the rest

theaterix · 2 Dec 2015 at 16:32

Ohjay said:
You'll get a better idea of the colors once some of the cooling stuff arrives.
My timeplan is to have it done before x-mas, but it depends on how much I struggle with acrylic tubing and the sleeving of the PSU

I am eagerly awaiting this

Love to see out of the ordinary builds..

Ohjay · 3 Dec 2015 at 15:01

Thanks all!

Today I took delivery of no less than 3 boxes of parts :cool:

True to his nature Dogmeat jumped straight into the first box to make sure there were nothing bad inside it:

Here it is unpacked. Dogmeat was unimpressed but found a little bag of goodies that he claimed was for him:

(GPU, PSU, res, tubes, pump, leds)

The second box only had one thing in it:

Who knew Dogmeat had paternal instincts? He told me he will protect this little thing with his life:

The third box is probably the least interesting but it did have some essential supplies. Once again there was a little baggie of goodies that Dogmeat claimed as his:

(Heatgun, PWM hub, PWM splitter cables, deburrer, temp sensor)

Please excuse the poor lighting in the next photos, it gets dark way too early at this time of year.
But anyway, to give you an idea of the color scheme... here's the reservoir:

And with some easy pimping:

I'm almost ashamed to write it but I was surprised at how tiny the tubes are. I didn't even reflect on it when ordering... in build logs it always looks HUGE. It ain't huge... :eek:

(4-pin PWM connector as comparison)

Speaking of huge things, this poster was included with the GPU's:

The urge to install this right away is overwhelming, but good things come to those who wait... right? Right?

I plan on keeping this backplate as long as there are no issues with the waterblock:

Speaking of waterblocks. The GPU blocks and the pump top I've ordered were supposed to be in stock as of yesterday but they aren't and won't be for 1-2 weeks(or so I'm told). That means my schedule for this build most likely goes out the window. There will be some things I can do though, like sleeving the PSU and some other stuff. Frustrating, but these parts are not in stock anywhere so I can't order them elsewhere either.

OJ46 · 3 Dec 2015 at 15:24

Looking forward to seeing how this one turns out, always good to see people going for different colour schemes rather than black / white / red*

*Yes, I know mine is black / white / red, I'm not as brave as Ohjay

CrazyArsedMonky · 3 Dec 2015 at 16:12

Very envious, this is gonna be awesome!!

ukxenon · 3 Dec 2015 at 20:46

Looking better since last update

Luggs · 4 Dec 2015 at 08:28

Damn jealous of your gpu's, in fact damn jealous of all your component list... I'm gonna need to sell a kidney before the wife lets me buy a single 980ti...

Have you got the primo yet? any modding plans?

Ohjay · 4 Dec 2015 at 10:50

Thank you all for the replies.

OJ46 said:
Looking forward to seeing how this one turns out, always good to see people going for different colour schemes rather than black / white / red*

*Yes, I know mine is black / white / red, I'm not as brave as Ohjay

It ain't easy going for something different. There are few manufacturers that dare leave the black / white / red scheme of things. But I'm happy with my plan and where this is going. Wait 'til you see the mobo

Luggs said:
Damn jealous of your gpu's, in fact damn jealous of all your component list... I'm gonna need to sell a kidney before the wife lets me buy a single 980ti...

Have you got the primo yet? any modding plans?

Yeah the Primo was the first thing I bought(see the first image).
No plans for modding right now but I might have to in the end. I don't think I have a good spot to mount the pump and I want it visible, so I might be forced to mod the case.
Also I need to sort out monitoring water temp and that could end up with a display somewhere in the case, i.e. I need to mod the case for this as well.

Ohjay · 8 Dec 2015 at 12:52

Another couple of boxes arrived today. Dogmeat was disappointed since there were no small baggies of goodies this time:

Had such a hard time finding some RAM that was to my liking. These ended up on sale on Black Friday so I couldn't pass them up:

The next few images does not do the gold justice, it's really popping in color in real life. With better lighting I should be able to give it a more proper representation:

Sorry for the lack of progress but the GPU waterblocks and pump top aren't in stock yet and it's frustrating since I can't really do anything until they arrive. I might end up cancelling the order for the GPU blocks and the pump top so I at least get the fans, CPU block and some other bits so I can do some of the piping.
The sleeving has yet to arrive as well, hopefully it should be here any day now.

FloppyPoppy · 8 Dec 2015 at 13:29

Nice motherboard. I personally would be considering removing the north/south bridge coolers and blacking them off so there isn't as much of that colour. The rear IO shield would be painted too.

Come to think of it, i wish high end boards would ditch the IO cover thing i think they look tacky! I wish the IO block was just painted black instead of having it silver IMO ( i may try that on a throwaway board! )

Nice project so far

definitely keep my eyes on this one!

Luggs · 9 Dec 2015 at 09:27

Ohjay said:
Yeah the Primo was the first thing I bought(see the first image)

Lol, I gotta stop looking at Dogmeat and focus more on the pc pron! Talking of which, that mobo! Bling!

harvey.l12 · 9 Dec 2015 at 10:54

That MOBO looks so nice

Ohjay · 11 Dec 2015 at 01:06

Thanks all.

harry5522, I have no plans for modding the motherboard atm, but we'll see. If it ends up being too much gold I might have to do something about it.

Luggs said:
Lol, I gotta stop looking at Dogmeat and focus more on the pc pron! Talking of which, that mobo! Bling!

Yeah dogmeat sure can be a distraction at times

I got bored waiting for stuff so I unpacked the Primo, stripped it of parts and did a mockup mounting of the bottom rad(no image, sorry) to get an idea of how I want to do my loop and where to mount the pump.

I've sussed out how and where I'll do my drain, so parts have been ordered for that.

I also did a temporary mount of the motherboard with one GPU:

And one with reservoir mockup:

I have identified one or maybe two potential issues.
The lower GPU might hit the reservoir bracket. I won't know for sure until I get the waterblock on it, but it will be a tight fit. Easily remedied by cutting a little bit into the bracket.

The second issue is the snug fit for the reservoir. I might end up removing the bottom of the 5.25" bay since I won't use it anway.

On the flipside I think I have my loop figured out(roughly at least) including a couple of potential mounting spots for the pump.
Another positive thing is that I've decided on my secondary storage, hopefully I can give you a juicy update on that next week(if the parts arrive)

Hukkel · 11 Dec 2015 at 08:07

Nice piece of kit you have there!

The tubing you can obtain in various sizes from various brands.

Freddie1980 · 11 Dec 2015 at 08:49

I wasn't sure that purple would work with gold but seeing that res next to the motherboard it looks really good.

Ohjay · 15 Dec 2015 at 17:27

Freddie1980 said:
I wasn't sure that purple would work with gold but seeing that res next to the motherboard it looks really good.

Thanks. My only worry is that it might be too much gold. I wanted the gold as highlight, not really the main color, but we'll see.

Another day of deliveries today. Only one more left now 'til all parts are finally here.
Dogmeat has picked up a familiar scent and is keeping close watch:

Three tiny baggies! It's not easy to spot but Dogmeat is ecstatic:

(Sleeving, tools, fittings, fans, water blocks, etc. Also bought more PETG tubing since I need to do a very long one and my 60cm pieces won't be long enough).

The poor lighting does not do these fittings justice:

GPU-blocks. Extremely hard to get a hold of, but I finally found a pair. Better images will be shown as I assemble these:

A hint of my secondary storage solution

Did the radiator dance today... and I'm still not done. If anyone wonders if Alphacool radiators still need a good flushing before use, I give you this:

That's after the first flushing I did. That radiator still isn't clean enough after at least 10 radiator dances.
The second radiator was much better though, it's nearly clean after just 4 dances.

In between the radiator dances I tried to remove the pins on the PSU cables... I have yet to remove a single one. I've tried every trick in the book but they refuse to come out. At this rate I might just cut the "!£@$1!q¤"# cables and put on new pins.
Or is there a secret to removing Corsair pins? :confused: