Project Viking

[Luggs]

Imho your cables look fantastic mate, really like the colour scheme. Again, only mho but I think you got the colour balance just right. The grey background makes the colours pop much more...

 

[OracIe]

A very nice build indeed.

 

[Ohjay]

Thank you all for your comments. Much appreciated!

Love the pump behind the motherboard tray, great idea.

I wish I could take credit for it but it's the default position offered by Phanteks in this case. It will make the tube from res to pump quite interesting, I wish I could mount the pump elsewhere but there isn't really a better spot.

Imho your cables look fantastic mate, really like the colour scheme. Again, only mho but I think you got the colour balance just right. The grey background makes the colours pop much more...

Thanks! I think you're right, especially after I got this done(sneak peek):





Bending acrylic is a really humbling experience. Most of my bends I end up redoing 5+ times just to get them right, and they still aren't perfect.
A few done:

Interestingly enough that long tube was perfect from the get-go. I just needed to shorten the ends but the the bends fit like a glove. Feels absolutely great when that happens!

On a tiny sidenote, I got a hold of some studio lighting so my images should be better from now on(if I can just learn to use them properly as well).

Tubes installed:






Dogmeat felt left out so he begged until I took a photo with him posing near the build:



There's only three tubes left to do, but two of them will be the hardest ones to get right and that's the tubes to/from the reservoir.

 

[Radox-0]

Wow, these colours work really well together nice one, and those monster radiators Really looking forward to this one when complete.

Just trying my hand at acrylic now also, totally agree with your humbling comment, but getting those few right it a great feeling

 

[darwin1859]

On a tiny sidenote, I got a hold of some studio lighting so my images should be better from now on(if I can just learn to use them properly as well).

Nice, how many lights did you get? Any umbrellas etc?

I recently made a little studio set up at home, and it makes a world of difference.

 

[Luggs]

Great progress made, looking very good in situ and cables will defo add more colour into the build. Good luck with final bends!

 

[Ohjay]

Wow, these colours work really well together nice one, and those monster radiators Really looking forward to this one when complete.

Just trying my hand at acrylic now also, totally agree with your humbling comment, but getting those few right it a great feeling

Yeah the monsta radiators are absolutely huge. Like a small radiator for a car, just crazy.

Nice, how many lights did you get? Any umbrellas etc?

I recently made a little studio set up at home, and it makes a world of difference.

I just got the basic Elinchrom set, mainly cause I know nothing about lighting and for basic "product photography" it should be fine.
It's two lights with softboxes and a wireless transmitter. Here's a link to a product page: Elinchrom D-Lite RX-One

With some practice I think you can do some great work with just these two. Products, models, you name it. For an amateur they are more than enough imho.

Great progress made, looking very good in situ and cables will defo add more colour into the build. Good luck with final bends!

Thanks!

I tried my hand on the reservoir bends yesterday and there simply isn't enough room. I can get a bend that fits but then I won't be able to get the compression cap onto the fitting.
So I've ordered 90 degree fittings which should arrive in a day or two which should hopefully help a lot but it will affect the overall looks I'm afraid, but we'll see.

 

[darwin1859]

I just got the basic Elinchrom set, mainly cause I know nothing about lighting and for basic "product photography" it should be fine.
It's two lights with softboxes and a wireless transmitter. Here's a link to a product page: Elinchrom D-Lite RX-One

With some practice I think you can do some great work with just these two. Products, models, you name it. For an amateur they are more than enough imho.

Nice! I cheaped out and just got 3x 175W daylight bulbs and some flash-through umbrellas.

 

[Ohjay]

Sorry for the lack of updates recently but there hasn't really been much going on.
The angled connectors took longer than anticipated to arrive so there wasn't much I could do.

But! They did arrive two days ago so I quickly went ahead and installed them. I'm not sure how I feel about this look but it just felt like a better option than mismatched gold or black:


Reservoir was installed as well. I will need to redo this at some point. There is a slight angle to it and it is touching the base of the 5.25" bay. Either move the mounting holes or mod the 5.25" bay(or both).


Today I could finally get around to bending the last few pieces of acrylic:


First tube installed:


This was the second tube of all I've done that I totally messed up. I ended up cutting it too short when sizing it down to fit so I had to redo it. And it's such a simple one as well

It's almost a shame that this won't be visible because I think it looks really good:

I have dreaded to do these bends because I thought it was going to end up being a nightmare to do. But in fact I got them right on the first try. I only needed to do a tiny adjustment on the tube from the res to the pump.
None of these bends were done with a mandrel, they've all been done free-hand and I've really started to like doing bends like that. I think it looks better and it's easier to get them right.

If it was visible I'd redo one of the tubes so they are at the same height:


Don't worry, the sticker will be removed:


Just water, SLI bridge and cables missing now:



I finally decided on an SLI bridge. I found nothing I liked until I saw a forum post where someone had deconstructed this one:


Because we can't have that red logo. No sir. So we remove a couple of screws:


And a few more:


Then I got stumped and could use some tips.
I thought the red plastic was just going to be a really thin piece of film but it is in fact something similar to plexiglass and it's a millimeter thick.
So I'm unsure of how to proceed.
Try to cut it out or remove the outer brushed aluminum face?
Cutting won't be easy and I don't know how the aluminum face is mounted, is it glue, adhesive tape, something else?

Cables then. I've managed to mess up my connectors twice. Or well, not the actual connectors but I've bought the wrong ones, twice!
I double- and triple-checked each time I've ordered but still managed to get the PCIe connectors wrong.
Third times the charm though, right? So this time I've ordered from a computer store instead of an electronics store, but that means I have to wait even longer to finish the cables. All are done except for the PCIe ones, and those just need the connectors and they're done.
Shipping from this store was slow the last time(two weeks(!)) but hopefully it's faster this time.

Tomorrow will be leak test day.
If all goes well I will also try to bleed out the loop and start on cable management(what can be done at least).

 

[TechMinerUK]

The project is looking good, you've done a great job with the bends as they all appear to go into the fittings flush with no angled entries. I'm slightly surprised though that the SLI bridge doesn't use a coloured LED but a piece of coloured plastic

Also what Monsoon Rotary fitting size did you use as it fits flush with the Primochill revolver fitting? I have had a look but can't find the size.

Great work and I look forward to seeing more updates

 

[Petelock]

The colour scheme is nice. I'm looking forward to seeing the cables connected. I think that's when it will really pop.

 

[Ohjay]

The project is looking good, you've done a great job with the bends as they all appear to go into the fittings flush with no angled entries. I'm slightly surprised though that the SLI bridge doesn't use a coloured LED but a piece of coloured plastic

Also what Monsoon Rotary fitting size did you use as it fits flush with the Primochill revolver fitting? I have had a look but can't find the size.

Great work and I look forward to seeing more updates

I was surprised to see that too on the SLI bridge, but that was one of the reasons I decided to buy it. I figured it would be easier to swap out a bit of plastic rather than a LED(and finding the right color).

I used 16/10 Monsoon fittings. The revolvers actually overhang by a fraction of a millimeter. Not really noticeable but there is overhang. On the other hand 19/13 will be a lot wider than the Revolver fittings...
I'll take a good photo of it tomorrow.

 

[Pelinox]

Can you cut the plexiglass along the edges from the inside, removing the piece visible from the outside?

I'd guess the aluminium is glued, so doubtful you'd be successful removing it. Otherwise you could try to rip it off and vinyl wrap it afterwards.

It's unfortunate the original Nvidia SLI bridges are not sold in Europe..

 

[Ohjay]

Can you cut the plexiglass along the edges from the inside, removing the piece visible from the outside?

I'd guess the aluminium is glued, so doubtful you'd be successful removing it. Otherwise you could try to rip it off and vinyl wrap it afterwards.

It's unfortunate the original Nvidia SLI bridges are not sold in Europe..

I've made a quick attempt at cutting it from the inside with a razor but since it's plexi it's really difficult.
I also tried to heat the outer aluminum piece up to dissolve the glue(if that is what they used) but didn't have any luck with that either. Might need to heat it even more for this solution.

I got an idea or two that I might try tomorrow. Somehow I will fix it though

 

[Ohjay]

Quickest leak test in the world of water cooling?
Started filling the res a bit and checked to see if everything was okay. It was not. The bottom of the res leaked like crazy.
So I removed it, checked the O-rings reassembled it and did a leak test on just the res. Seems fine now.
I apparantly didn't mount the golden end cap properly when I switched end caps.

So I reinstall it start filling again and .... I forgot about having someplace for the air to exit which basically ended up with me getting a face full of coolant(don't ask).

Fixed that issue and continued filling until the res was almost full. Started the pump... And I've mixed up inlet and outlet
So now I can't use my drain port to empty the res and I have to empty it so I can redo the pipes for the pump after I've changed how I mounted it.
I can just remove the pipe from res to pump but I suspect it will get really messy, but it seems it's the only solution.

Lesson learned at least, double and triple check everything again after you've double and triple checked the first time.

 

[Trying]

Quickest leak test in the world of water cooling?
Started filling the res a bit and checked to see if everything was okay. It was not. The bottom of the res leaked like crazy.
So I removed it, checked the O-rings reassembled it and did a leak test on just the res. Seems fine now.
I apparantly didn't mount the golden end cap properly when I switched end caps.

So I reinstall it start filling again and .... I forgot about having someplace for the air to exit which basically ended up with me getting a face full of coolant(don't ask).

Fixed that issue and continued filling until the res was almost full. Started the pump... And I've mixed up inlet and outlet
So now I can't use my drain port to empty the res and I have to empty it so I can redo the pipes for the pump after I've changed how I mounted it.
I can just remove the pipe from res to pump but I suspect it will get really messy, but it seems it's the only solution.

Lesson learned at least, double and triple check everything again after you've double and triple checked the first time.

Although I am not up to going full water yet, I am impressed with this build....and also with your build log Ohjay.

Nice to see someone admit to being human....and owning up to errors along the way.

I think there are many of us who learn far more about the pitfalls one can fall into, and how to avoid them, when you hear all about others hiccups.

 

[Radox-0]

Quickest leak test in the world of water cooling?
Started filling the res a bit and checked to see if everything was okay. It was not. The bottom of the res leaked like crazy.
So I removed it, checked the O-rings reassembled it and did a leak test on just the res. Seems fine now.
I apparantly didn't mount the golden end cap properly when I switched end caps.

So I reinstall it start filling again and .... I forgot about having someplace for the air to exit which basically ended up with me getting a face full of coolant(don't ask).

Fixed that issue and continued filling until the res was almost full. Started the pump... And I've mixed up inlet and outlet
So now I can't use my drain port to empty the res and I have to empty it so I can redo the pipes for the pump after I've changed how I mounted it.
I can just remove the pipe from res to pump but I suspect it will get really messy, but it seems it's the only solution.

Lesson learned at least, double and triple check everything again after you've double and triple checked the first time.

Erghhhh. Have the same res and know your pain! Mine was slightly worse as it did not leak but rather gave out in one go when the res was filled to about 60%, wow I nearly cried as it went all over my PSU :/

I double and triple check now on this res to make sure I can't pull it off, even with a little bit of force applied.

All part of the learning curve I guess

 

[Ohjay]

Although I am not up to going full water yet, I am impressed with this build....and also with your build log Ohjay.

Nice to see someone admit to being human....and owning up to errors along the way.

I think there are many of us who learn far more about the pitfalls one can fall into, and how to avoid them, when you hear all about others hiccups.

Yeah better to be honest about your mistakes so someone else might not have to do the same ones.
And even then you might end up doing it anyway(like me )

Erghhhh. Have the same res and know your pain! Mine was slightly worse as it did not leak but rather gave out in one go when the res was filled to about 60%, wow I nearly cried as it went all over my PSU :/

I double and triple check now on this res to make sure I can't pull it off, even with a little bit of force applied.

All part of the learning curve I guess

Yeah seeing all that water going out of the res was not a fun experience. Thankfully I had nothing under power and most of it just ran through the fans and the rad and out of the case. But it still wasn't fun.




So. I went ahead with my plan for draining the reservoir, i.e. removing the tube from the pump. Got a bit of spill but thankfully only a fraction of the water in the reservoir.
Now I need to figure out how to redo the pipes, but I think I'll have to get a 90 degree bracket for the pump. The piping will have to be very, very creative otherwise.

Gotta love the setbacks

 

[TechMinerUK]

Quickest leak test in the world of water cooling?
Started filling the res a bit and checked to see if everything was okay. It was not. The bottom of the res leaked like crazy.
So I removed it, checked the O-rings reassembled it and did a leak test on just the res. Seems fine now.
I apparantly didn't mount the golden end cap properly when I switched end caps.

So I reinstall it start filling again and .... I forgot about having someplace for the air to exit which basically ended up with me getting a face full of coolant(don't ask).

Fixed that issue and continued filling until the res was almost full. Started the pump... And I've mixed up inlet and outlet
So now I can't use my drain port to empty the res and I have to empty it so I can redo the pipes for the pump after I've changed how I mounted it.
I can just remove the pipe from res to pump but I suspect it will get really messy, but it seems it's the only solution.

Lesson learned at least, double and triple check everything again after you've double and triple checked the first time.

It's unfortunate and I'd love to say that you'll never make these mistakes again but it's easy to forget when you're wrapped up building your system. I'm certainly no stranger to receiving a face full of coolant due to forgeting about air in the system

 

[OJ46]

That sucks dude, always a nightmare when issues like that crop up right at the final hurdle after all the hard work you've piled in getting it finished. Still, she's gonna be an absolute beast when finished, the king of bling