The Big Shell Project

[Frank Jeagar]

After around a year of planning, and by planning I mean window shopping for parts, I am finally going to create what was basically a dream. I wanted my next PC to be unique enough and not broken enough to keep my modding itch calm for a good while, so the Big Shell Project was conceptualised.

The concept of this project is for a bit of case modding, a lot of watercooling, some less than common ideas and a theme that is just the right mix of mad and cool to create a PC that looks and feels like an absolute weapon.

The theme I guess you could say is metal, but in no way steampunk. This is going to be a symphony of nickel and chrome; chrome pipes, Heatkiller and Aquacomputer blocks, a silver Phanteks Evolv ATX TG, this is going to be off the chain! I know that this isn't the first build like this, hell there are some project logs being done right know with similar themes, but for me I think it is just about crazy enough to keep me happy and I thought someone might find the build log interested so figured I'd give it a try.

Specs:
CPU: I7-5820k
Motherboard: ASUS X99-A II
RAM: 4x4Gb Dominator Platinum 3000MHz
GPU: Zotac GTX 1080 Founders Edition
Storage: 256Gb Samsung 950 Pro
PSU: Superflower Leadex 850W Platinum Gunmetal
Case: Phanteks Evolv ATX TG

Watercooling Components:
CPU Block: Heatkiller IV Pro
GPU Block: Aquacomputer Kryographics 1080 Block
VRM Block: Heatkiller MB-SET ASUS X99
Pump: Aquacomputer D5 Mechnics
Pump Top: Monsoon MMRS D5 Pump Top and Cover
Res: Aquacomputer Aqualis XT 100ml
Radiators: EK PE 360 and PE 240
Fans: Noctua NF-F12 2000rpm PWM
Fan Controller: Aquacomputer Aquaero 5 LT

Here is the first haul, though there are a couple more things to show up still:

Updates should follow soon and all next week starting with the case modding!

 

[Frank Jeagar]

Here are some of the mods I'm hoping to incorporate:
Removing the PSU shroud.
Cutting out the supports in the top so I can put fans on top of the fan bracket.
Covering the inside surface of the top fan bracket with a metal plate.
A custom metal I/O shroud.
Mounting the GPU parallel to the motherboard using a riser card to show off that beautiful block.

Also, since both side panels are glass on this case I thought I'd try putting a small LED strip back there to show of the fan controller, but it means my cable management is going to have to be something special...

 

[Frank Jeagar]

I was hoping to start the case modding today, but I'm currently trying to get the GPU working through the PCIe riser.

I bought the Thermaltake 22cm riser that they use in their cases assuming that one must function well in a high-end setup, but when it does finally decide to boot up I get display driver failures and eventually the system locks up.

I'm trying to get it to work by altering my PCIe slot speeds and generations in the BIOS. At the moment it might actually be working in the 4th slot at 8x Gen 2, but I'll see what Futuremark says about the performance when overclocked before I get ahead of myself.

 

[Frank Jeagar]

So here is the culprit in question for failing to extend my PCIe slot:

Moral of the story, just because a company makes a product that a popular product of theirs depends on, doesn't mean that it will be any good... Apparently these risers from Thermaltake hardly ever seem to work.

I have ordered a different riser with better reviews that will arrive on Tuesday, downside is that it is that awful grey colour so I will either be painting it or covering it in vinyl wrap.

 

[Frank Jeagar]

Here are some shots of the hardware before I start messing with it:

I really love this motherboard so far, I have been using it a bit and it has just been a pleasure. SO much functionality!

I absolutely cannot wait to overclock this when it's watercooled. I've done a bit already, but it has been a bit more difficult with the Founder's cooler.

I have never paid so much for RAM, but I definitely feel like it's worth it!

Another great addition to the metal theme and I've heard a lot of good things!

 

[Frank Jeagar]

First of all I am going to sort out this motherboard by removing the decal on the chipset cooler and removing the plastic shroud over the I/O.

I was originally going to paint over the blue and white, but then I realised it is basically just a sticker that can be taken off. I managed to get it off just with a knife and underneath looks perfect for the build!

Just need to do some quick clean up now!

I think it was just three simple screws that took off the I/O shroud revealing a very nice looking heatsink once again!

I was originally going to make a metal shroud to replace the plastic one, but I think I like the look of this heatsink coupled with the top of the I/O connectors, but we'll see a bit later on if I have fully changed my mind.

So here is the product so far, looking pretty nice in my opinion. That VRM heatsink will be going soon as well. Just as soon as the waterblock arrives!

 

[Frank Jeagar]

CPU waterblock install time!

This block looks so damn sexy in person, definitely no regrets.

Here is the final product, installation was super easy (as per usual with LGA 2011 really), just 4 screws with springs nd washers on them go through the block into the board. The end.

 

[Frank Jeagar]

I was looking for something else to do I figured I might as well put the pump together. Though this ended up being a lot more work due to trying to wire the aquabus interface under the base plate of the pump cover (you'll see what I mean below).

Here is the hardware:

So the problem I faced was that the chrome pump cover has a base plate with cutouts for cables, but the aquabus interface requires a 4-pin fan connector which is too high profile to fit under the cover.

Possible solutions were either doing some dodgy-level wiring job without a real connector and pretty much just wires sticking onto each of the pins, or drilling a whole or two over the interface connector to allow the cable to pass through freely. Can you guess which solution was chosen?

Yup, dogdy wiring all the way!

Not pretty, but also not visible so I think I can deal with it. The base plate has gone on nicely with the cables coming out and damn does the pump cover kit look good!

 

[Frank Jeagar]

For reference, the power cable sleeving isn't finished because I don't know how long I want the cable to be yet. That sleeving is just on so I can get an idea of how it will look.

I am currently trying to get some cable sleeving done for the PSU cables, I'll update with a few pictures tomorrow hopefully.

I'd love to hear any feedback from people reading the log, so please feel free to post reply!

 

[Frank Jeagar]

Coming up now is a small amount of custom sleeving and the case modding!

The cables included with the Superflower Leadex 850W 80PLUS Platinum PSU are those standard all black cables with a single sleeve around them all. Nice, but not nearly enough for the build.

So sleeving the cables with this power supply is actually a major challenge! Getting this 8 pin PCIe power cable out was a serious amount of work...

The Leadex series of power supplies are great because it has these universal connectors that mean that any of the modular cables (except the 24pin) can be plugged into any of the connectors on the unit. This is an awesome feature for when fiddling trying to connect you cables, but is so much of a pain when doing custom sleeving! Some cables are split on the 24pin going to two pins on the power supply, there are looping cables on the universal connectors that just connect two different pins to each other and so doing the sleeving has definitely been challenging...

If you are doing custom sleeving I really don't recommend the Leadex series of power supplies, but otherwise they are fantastic!

P.S. sorry about the image quality here, it was getting late so my lighting was pretty bad.

 

[Frank Jeagar]

I'm finally getting to the case modding! Here I remove the power supply shroud and the top supports that are blocking me putting my fans on top of the fan bracket.

Here she is in all her glory and beauty. Here comes a quick review: Have the money for this case? Buy it. The side panels are gorgeous, the build quality is fantastic, the top fan/radiator bracket is fantastic, the included fans are great, it has an RGB LED controller built in, the hard drive mounting system is genius and the list just continues to go on.

I was majorly worried about completely removing the structural rigidity of the Phanteks Evolv ATX TG by doing this and after having done it I can in fact confirm that doing this will completely remove the structural rigidity of your Phateks Evolv ATX TG...

The shroud is held on by several rivets, 2 to the rear of the case, 5 behind the motherboard tray and 3 on the bottom, along with 3 screws to the front of the case.

The scews are a bit trickier, I need a thin precision screwdriver to reach one of them, but the shroud was otherwise easy enough to remove.

Here it is with the shroud removed, and I have to say, I like it. Like I said before, rigidity has been sacrificed, but I think components like the radiators will compensate for the that. I am interested in what this will look like with the side panels since you'll be able to see through the entire PC at certain parts.

Here go the top supports, I kind of forgot to take a before photo, so some cutting has already commenced... I am just using a dremel here to cut off the supports and the reason for it is because the supports block the installation of fans on top of the radiator bracket despite there being space for them to exhaust.

While removing the supports I realised that I will have to cut out some more of the top of the case because where the fans will install is overhung on one side by the case.

Here I dremelled a pilot space and then cut the majority of the length using tin snips to save time and cutting discs (this is why more paint has flaked of because the snips flex the metal). It think it has gone quite nicely, although a bit untidy looking it will be out of sight and will be very functional

 

[Frank Jeagar]

Hopefully tomorrow the final parts will arrive (PCI riser and VRM waterblock) so I can get the radiators, motherboard, reservoir and pump installed. There might be a sleeving update as well, I'm currently trying to tackle the 24pin...

Thanks for viewing!

 

[Frank Jeagar]

Lovely so far, looking forward to the symphony taking shape.

Thanks for the support, It's getting very close now!

 

[Frank Jeagar]

Today's updates are going to start with the finishing of the 24pin power cable and then some actual hardware installation!

This end of the cable I am very happy with, I like the look of the pattern (although I think I would have liked more grey, but I'm not changing it now ) and I think the BitFenix Alchemy 2.0 cables look and feel great.

I would highly recommend using them for extensions, but I wouldn't recommend what I did which is taking a custom sleeving shortcut by replacing the male pin on Alchemy cables with female pins haha!

This end of the cable, I am not so happy about... What happened was the annoying cable layout of the Leadex connectors. Far too many of those pins have two cables going into them one of which goes to the 24 pin connector and the other goes to another pin on the power supply connector. This required stripping back the cables so they would both fit into a single connector (even though the looping cable was always thinner) and then heatshrinking them together to cover up the bare wire.

They don't look perfect, but installed they still look great so overall I am happy.

The first hardware to go in was the radiators and fans which started with replacing the poop coloured corners on my NF-F12s.

I didn't buy enough corners to do the front fans, but have now realised that the bottom one might be visible. Fortunately I have some white corners from a previous build that will look less offensive than the poop ones if they get glimpsed.

I almost always use EK radiators now, I've just had good experiences with them and that is that for me.

So wonderfully stealthy

With the radiators installed the case has far less flex and is starting to show a little rigidity which is nice. Though the motherboard tray still has a lot of wiggle to it.

 

[Frank Jeagar]

Question: how did you get the label off the heatsink? Did you literally just pry it off with a knife, did you need to warm it?

I'm looking to that the label off the power daughterboard heatsink on my project so I can properly vinyl wrap it and stick it back on, hence needing to keep it intact.

Made 4 attempts so far and I'm still not 100% happy

I very literally slipped a thin blunt knife between it and the heatsink haha.

I then pried it off gently when I had separated most of the glue using the knife like a lever. I was surprised I didn't need heat, I just attempted it thinking it would be too hard and I'd have to get a heatgun, but then found it worked fine.

Worth noting it did bend the label a bit though! If you plan to reapply it then I'd take extra care and try using heat as well.

 

[Frank Jeagar]

Here are a couple initial shots of the build and it is starting to really take shape!

 

[Frank Jeagar]

Sorry that my log has been pretty all over the place, I've basically been doing what I can when I can, but now I'm going to do some structure updates! Hopefully...

I need to finish installing components so I can get the loop done which requires:
-VRM block installation.
-GPU block installation.
-GPU mounting in the case.

I'm going to be doing updates of running the final parts of the loop as well, I got a little over excited with the first to runs, sorry...

Things I can see needing to be done with the loop:
-GPU line to CPU.
-GPU line to top radiator.
-Radiator line to VRM block.
-VRM line to front radiator.

After that it is basically cable management and Aquaero 5 install time

I do have a few worries though. The GPU mount might fully suck, the PE 240 radiator in the top might be too thick for the VRM to be watercooled and lining up my loop runs might go wrong.

All in all, some exciting stuff is coming!

 

[Frank Jeagar]

VRM Block Installation

Well look who finally decided to show up...

The VRM heatsink on the X99-A II has a backplate with a thermal pad which I like the idea of so I think I might leave it on and incorporate it into the mount for the waterblock.

The reason I can do this is because the mounting for the VRM block is two screws and 2 nuts to be tighten to my own desire. I think I would have preferred something a bit more engineered that meant I had some indication of how much to tighten the nuts, but at least this allows me to use the backplate haha

Unfortunately the motherboard tray cutout manages to be 3MM TOO LOW. Out comes the dremel again...

Much better

And it is finally complete and ready to be put back into the case.

 

[Frank Jeagar]

GPU Block Installation

It is finally time for this to happen.

I am installing the Aquacomputer Kryographics Pascal GPU block along with their Active XCS Backplate onto my GTX 1080.

I few thoughts on this block and backplate:
-Installation was as easy as any other block, decent enough instructions.
-Completely unscrewing the main block to install the backplate is a bit annoying, but not necessarily a problem.
-The backplate actively cools the VRMs by using a heatpipe to transfer the heat to the coolant, this is BRILLIANT, such a great design.

1080 Founder's Edition Disassembly

Many, many small screws hold the 2 backplate pieces onto the PCB.

Removing the backplate reveals the hex-head screws that allow the small backplate screws to screw into them. I really hate this idea, it just seems like an over-complication designed to put off people wanting to disassemble their cards.

Fortunately, for those who don't own any socket sets, Aquacomputer include an actual screwdriver with a socket end to remove these screws, and it is actually quite nice!

With those out along with the 4 screws around the die, the cooler popped of nicely

Here is the beast that will be cooling my graphics card!

I did a practice install with some cheaper thermal paste (not wasting Kryonaut on a practice fit ) and there is a problem. One of the screw threads on the block doesn't line up with the PCB hole very well. Just enough that the screw won't go in...

This caused a major problem as the VRMs and some of the memory modules do not have enough mounting pressure as you can see by the memory module thermal paste not spreading properly.

I think it was caused by installing the screws from one side to another (other than the four around the die) so in the actually install with the backplate I did the 4 around the die and then the 4 outer corners before doing the rest.

They all went in perfectly and I had a peek in between the block and hte PCB and can see that all the memory modules have a little thermal paste spilled out over their sides so they definitely have good mounting pressure!

I got the GPU installed by passing screws through the I/O plate and into the side of the case. I am lining up the GPU outlet with the CPU inlet by spacing the GPU form the side panel with a variety of different spacers

Here is another sneak peak at the product!

 

[Frank Jeagar]

I never thought I would be upset that I won't be showcasing the backplate. I think it looks so good it is a shame it won't get seen...

At least the block can match it's sexiness