ramthor's monster build

OJ46 said:
Use some hot water and shake the hell out of it mate, others on here have tried cleaning rads by running a ton of water through them and unfortunately it doesn't shift the flux, so gives issues later on. Hot water seems to soften it enough that a damn good shake will get most of it.

Good to see you've got enough kit to make a start on the build, even if a certain useless company is still messing you about!
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I've taken your advice and I've put hot water and gave it another shake. Some bits did come out this time but just a few. I've done it twice but I can't be bothered to keep doing this as I have the feeling that no matter how much you do it you will still have bits coming out of it.

ALXAndy said:
And so it begins !

Mine starts in about 48 hours, I can't wait :D
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A monster is born! :p

Good luck in your adventure! ;)
 
EVH said:
ramthor, I've added a friendly message above. The rules about competitors are well established, if you aren't happy with any of the moderation decisions then start a thread in the FCD forum, where all of the mods will have a chance to reply.

:)
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Sure, we can have a discussion about the letter of the law versus the spirit of the law (or rules) and how exactly they apply on my situation above but I'm pretty sure the jury will not side with a random forum user against a fellow moderator no matter what so all I could really expect from posting where you suggest would be an exercise in futility.

I have far better interesting things to do, thank you very much. So let's just leave it as it is.

I'll do my best to follow the letter of your rules, spirit be damned, and if I will fail the world will not end, nor the supply of users for your forum or forums on internet.

But let's forget about all that and focus on why we are all here, shall we?

Here are some more pictures. This is a build log not a soap opera, I swear to God! :)









Any better ideas on how should I hide the fan cables? I tried taking them through the hole above the motherboard tray left hand side but they are still visible.

If I do it like in the image everything will be covered by the top of the case when I put it back on.
 
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Ramthor's Monster Build - Intermediate monster

Just to keep you informed here are some results of my work. It's still an intermediate result. The motherboard has same issues hence the odd placement of the memory sticks so it will be replaced.

When that happens I'll have to re-do everything and start on rigid tubing, adding a second res and second rad on the bottom, plus 4 more awesome Corsair ML coolers for air intake and exhaust. I quite like them.

I still kept photo-documenting all I've done even though I haven't posted anything so no information was lost. But it's unfortunate that my log was cut short and you couldn't witness in real-time how the machine was built. It should be inspirational for many noobs like me, going into this with no advanced knowledge or experience.

It's been an awesome week for me building this, especially because just a few months ago I didn't know anything about water cooling, nada, zippo. So I am proud of what I've done. I've even managed to get into the 3DMark Hall of Fame in TimeSpy (Overall #94, 2 GPUs #60) and FireStrike Extreme (2 GPUs top, #27) after some tinkering with overclocking. You can check it out!

Here are the pictures. Enjoy!







 
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The reopening of this thread was a surprise for me as well but I'm glad it happened because I owe to this forum a lot of good ideas that went inside this build and it's only fair to display them for everyone to see.

I will not comment on the moderation of this thread for obvious reasons. Let's move on!

I was off from work last week so I had plenty of time to concentrate on this project and yet I took it slow, learning along the way.

Here are some pictures from last week when the building started with just a very simple CPU loop with filling and drain ports attached and the first test run of the loop. Very tense moments lived way past midnight. :)

And I actually had a few drops of water leaked, but I checked the fittings again, fastened the loose one and all was fine.

Always triple check your connections! Lesson learned.



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I soon realized my 32GB of memory was not entirely recognized but only 16GB even though I haven't even done any fiddling with XMS profile in BIOS.

Sometimes the system wouldn't even boot and the CC code was shown. This is bad.




Something was fishy so I started investigating by using only one stick of DDR and test for faults.

According to the manual one stick of memory in D1 should work but it didn't even though I've tried all four sticks in that slot.



Further testing showed that D and C slots were busted and the only workaround to use all 32GB of RAM was to put everything in A1, A2, B1 and B2 in an non-optimal configuration.



I came to realize at that point that the MB had to be replaced.

It was quite frustrating knowing how much this MB costs and how anyone would expect only excellence from it only to find out you've been let down by Asus' Quality Control. What a shocker!
 
crinkleshoes said:
I still think you should bring all pipework up front and get rid of the tube running down the back ;)

Why have you left all the plastic protective covering stuff on the motherboard? I'd take that off as it can start to look nasty after some heat has made it shrink and shrivel :p
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I removed those plastic covers before I've installed the first GPU. I kept them on while I was building/testing the first loop.

The built is more advanced at this point and have already 2nd res and 2nd pump installed still waiting for some fittings to arrive but I'm afraid the tube in the back is there to stay as I'm quite fond of it. :)

The final version will have plenty of visible tubing.

What I post now is only catch-up TV from last week... :D
 
Cenedd said:
It's all looking good to me. Glad it's starting to come together. The power cables could be nicer as someone said but it is a style choice, not a problem.
You might want to be careful of the hose that goes from the top rad to the back. It looks like it could be a bit squashed. You don't want it to kink and block the flow.
You might find that a 90° fitting (rather than a double 45°) will take it up a bit higher.
If you can't get fittings to bring it a bit higher, you could take a Dremel to the hole and round out the bottom. The rubber grommet should drop down a bit without falling out if it's smooth.
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It looks worse in that picture than in reality probably because when the loop is filled the pressure inside the tube helps with keeping it in shape. I'll try the 90 degree though and see if that helps now that I have them.

As regarding the sleeved cables I think that should be the final touch when everything else is more or less finalised. I would probably need some advice at that stage as I've never used customised cables before.
 
More pictures from the Making of...






Clothed Titan X...




Naked Titan X...




Fixing Titan X...




Properly dressed Titan X... But, why so many left-over screws, nuts and washers? I read the instructions million times and I'm pretty sure I've done everything right. So what's with all that? I wrote a letter to EK. Then continued to the back plate.




Back plate kit opened and instructions read. Second question time! Why so many screws when instructions clearly state just one type and why do I keep getting all those nuts that are never required? That's if you find the screws bag hidden in the "secret" compartment of the box. Second letter to EK. Moving on!




One Titan down, one more to go!




Two troublemakers!




Let's our powers combine!



After two days the reply from EK came something like this: "We're making lots of watercooling stuff and we can't be bothered to pick every single screw for every single block therefore take this bag of all kinds of screws and nuts. Make the best of it!"

True story!
 
colinmcr said:
Quite a log ! You took a fair bit of stick at the start of your log and it ended up being more like a part query (not your fault I might add). I had to double check I was in Project Logs.
I feel for you it seems it went off on the wrong foot straight away, you shouldn't have to be justifying your spend.
Of course making changes and getting suggestions is always the way, think some posters were judging you based on the costs involved.
However you stuck with it and you have a build, I hope you can iron out the issues and get it nice and clean and working fully.

Best of luck.
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Thank you!

I guess the saying 90% of everything is crap still stands even here but the rest of 10% was worth the suffering as it really helped my build.

This thread was initially on the general forum where I was asking for advice and then moved here by the mods when I actually started buying stuff, that's why it is so big and may seem out of place when you start reading it.

I'm still building on it and I've done good progress even though I don't have as much time as I'd like due to work but still, things happen... I'm almost done. Just waiting on a few more things.

I'll post more pictures with current events Soon™...
 
In the meantime here are some pictures with the replacement motherboard I got from the same company that cannot be named:














Clearly a refurbishment by ASUS and not only for cosmetic reasons (scratches and the protective plastic not peeling off as it should) but after I installed it, hoping that I will not encounter any other problems, I get random BSOD and always get failed boot-up when the computer goes to sleep after it's not being used for a while. It recovers only after I turn off the PSU and back on again.

Of course I demanded a replacement. This would be the third motherboard that I'd receive, fourth in total with the one they've lost in transit. My popularity with them must be on the rise...

But really, who would keep that motherboard in the pictures after you pay well over £500 for it?

The good thing about it is it does accept my full 32 GB of Corsair Dominator 3200MHz memory in the expected slots. Thank you very much!
 
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Thank you all for all your encouragement. Here is a sneak peak of what's to come.

New motherboard is here and if that is not a dud as well I should be done by tomorrow or Saturday.

Stay tuned for some serious tech porn. :D

image hosting
 
Monster almost complete.
  • I still need to install the other SSD and HDD.
  • Need to return one pump to EK as it does not provide the motherboard with the PMW data so I run it without PWM at what I suspect is 60% power.
  • I need sleeved cables.
  • I need Molex splitters to install the motherboard fan controller included. I've used all 5 Molex from the PSU on 2 fan splitters, 2 pumps and one for the mobo. EVGA should have provided more by default.
  • Color the water when no more changes to the loop.
So far happy with the result.

































 
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crinkleshoes said:
Looking good dude :)

FYI, you don't need the molex into the bottom of the motherboard... so you can use that one for the fan splitter.

I also ran out of molex connectors with my Corsair AX1500i
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Maybe, but the manual recommends it and I don't want to risk running out of juice when I'm playing with voltages.

For all those "experts" telling me in the beginning of this thread a 1200W PSU is overkill, ASUS seem to have a different opinion. I am glad I didn't listen back then.

 
For a moment I felt bad for posting pictures on a build log then I realised it's okay if they are the right size which they are.
Thank you for confirming guys. :)

Regarding the polystyrene, I used it because I had it and I couldn't find anywhere to buy a proper anti-static work bench. I would've if I could. If you know where I can find one please let me know.
 
Cenedd said:
You'd be fine with a piece of cardboard - I believe OCUK supply some particularly fine cardboard wrapped around every order ;) Just that polystyrene generates static - you'll have noticed bits of it sticking to plastic. Likely to be one of those things that 99 times out of 100, you'll get away with it....but when you're talking £800 graphics cards :eek:
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I don't buy cheap £800 cards... Mine are watercooled Titans, man! :p
 
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