The Left Handed Build

[piggin]

Montala, some of the case will be powder coated & the rest will be wet sprayed.

As for the gates, nice mod

 

[piggin]

I like this idea, but is 25mm going to be big enough to get your trotters in to feed the cables through?

lol, that's not nice m8, mocking the afflicted. Its not easy doing this with cloven hooves.

I shall say again, fantastic project mate

Thanks, trying my best.

Are you going to make any holes in this panel for cables to go in/out of? And similarly on the motherboard panel? Otherwise aren't you looking at some very long cable runs? Or am I missing the point?

I did have a thought though.... With all your expertise with cabling perhaps the smart thing to do would be to effectively break your cables into two pieces, joined with a female/female pair of connectors that sit either side of the motherboard tray. You have a lead that connects the motherboard to the female connector on the MB side and your PSU lead plugging into the other side of the tray. I know this would be a huge amount of work and perhaps I am smoking something but I think it would look really neat.

A good point m8 & I have seen something similar with male/ female plugs going through a panel. The problem is, you require a lot of room & 25mm is not going to be enough. Its my intention to see cables going in & out but not the 'snakes nest' of cables that you normally see behind the motherboard tray. (All will become clear with time, if I can get these hooves to work )

 

[piggin]

Just looked through the whole thread. The build is looking AMAZING! Really, brilliant work on it and I'm sure the final outcome will be worth it Look forward to seeing it when it's finished!

Thanks, happy to know that people are still enjoying my build (exploits).
As for the final outcome, lol, as long as its quick & costs no more monies, Mrs Piggin will be happy.
(I can't see Mrs P being happy for some time)

 

[piggin]

No offence intended... just gentle mocking

lol, enjoy a gentle mock myself, you have to when you have trotters as hands

I totally agree and that was really my point. I thought that you could make the cables the right length (thereby avoiding "snaking") and leave out the panel that (I think) is designed to hide all the excess cable.

So are you going to make some holes in the motherboard tray to feed cables through?

As for the whole PSU issue, I have had to change direction recently due to aesthetic issues. (Mrs P is not happy)
As for making cables the correct length, I don't want to invalidate my warranty on THIS PSU as I intend keeping it for some time. (fingers crossed)
Therefore some snaking will be inevitable & a solution had to be found. Hence the cover plate.
As for the motherboard tray, yes, some holes will have to be cut & I am in the process of deciding the best position.

 

[piggin]

I am very familiar with those sort of design decisions, sometimes defying logic....

I think this is one of those 'logic defying' moments


Gotcha! Why did you decide against a modular PSU?

Will the holes be laser cut or is that a one-off thing you get done? I assume that the holes would need to be large enough to allow the molex connectors through?

Modular PSU, lol, then read on

As for more holes, they will be machined to suit the cable management layout.

 

[piggin]

nice one i like the grills

Thanks Mister Wolf but they are not grills. They are part of the side panels of the case.

 

[piggin]

One of my aesthetic changes was the power supply.
I decided to go with a fully modular version.
After much deliberating, I went with the Corsair

The usual high standard of packaging

Nice little case to hold the cables

It holds LOTS of cables

Hopefully enough for the future

The PSU comes in a very nice velvet bag

The PSU is no larger than most standard units even though its rated @ 1200watts

A nice, simple modular design

Unit comes with a very quiet 140mm fan

 

[piggin]

I love the corsair AX series

I have always been a big fan of the Corsair PSU range (this is my 4th from them).
I have to agree the AX is the best

Agreed! Love my 850 and the bag is so useful for the left over cables.

This build just keeps on getting better and better. Hopefully you never finish it though as what am I going to read once you have finished

Thanks Greboth, I have enjoyed telling everyone my 'tale'. I agree, it will be a bitter sweet moment when this all finishes.
The problem is (don't tell MrsP) but I don't think it will.

You now have the same PSU as me (as you may have spotted)! I am extremely happy with mine. It is quiet, cool and the cabling options more than meet my needs without any extraneous cables that need to be hidden in my small case.

So do you still think you will need snaking cables???

[Hopefully Mrs P won't kill me for asking about modular PSUs...]

Yes m8, I did spot you had this PSU. I am also very happy with the unit as its powering 'The Shelf' as I wright this.

As for modular PSU's, I have had this a few weeks now (just have not had the time to do any updates).
So Mrs P does not want to kill you (just me)

As for 'snakes', yes there will be a few but they will be managed correctly (fingers crossed)

Wow... 1200Watts !

Is that just to cool the components inside the case, or your whole house?

I am still trying to work out what a PSU needs a velvet bag for though... won't it obstruct the airflow a bit?

1200watts, the last PSU I had was 1250Watts.
I needed something this big to run my FEW fans

As for the velvet bag, I have not seen that since Mrs P took a liking to it

 

[piggin]

Haha

Got this psu's rival, the Antec HCP coming through on Monday hopefully, bet you I got mine a hell of a lot cheaper though





(130 quid )



Yours does look awesome though

lol, I did not pay full price for my PSU either as MrsP purchased it for me.

So are you just waiting on parts now to arrive or you still sorting our the case/chassis at the moment m8 I am itching all over (no rude comments now please ) to see what this thing is going to look like!

Stoner81.

I have recently put an order in for a FEW items to finish things off with (over £100)
I am also having the panels changed slightly as I was not happy with the overall look of the case (very subtle & I will be the only one to ever know)

I have a question for you Piggin. Are you going to re-braid all the shiny black Corsair cables (the ones that you use) with your own braid? Or are you going to make your own cables up from scratch?

I know that either would be huge amount of work, but you seem to be doing everything the "right" way to get the best possible aesthetics, hence the question.

I have produced a full set of cables for the motherboard & GPU's from scratch

All the other cables within the case will also be braided with the same materials

 

[piggin]

Perhaps she's put her EK jewellery in it?

Looking to go into full production soon with EK rings, necklaces, earrings, watches etc.
That velvet bag will soon be full.

 

[piggin]

(in)decent hardware mags...

The connectors give them a sort of bondage look!

Your beginning to concern me m8

 

[piggin]

The people who have Corsair fans on their RAM know they are not very quiet.
I am no exception but I love my GT's so I thought I would treat them to something nice

The regular EK packaging that you have now seen so often in my build (before you ask, I am not sponsored, I wish)

Not many extras in this box, only instructions & allen key

Oh & a water block

Went with Acetal & Nickel again

Oh so very shiny

 

[piggin]

I like shiny! Shiny is one of my best friends... I swear I think I must have been a magpie or something in a previous life lmao!

Stoner81.

I bit of shiny is a good thing

That is soo totally awesome \o/. I wish I had the skill and confidence to try a build like this. Keep it up!

Thanks Kaeo,
I never thought I would build my own case (haven't finished this one yet)
Start of small & just work @ it.

 

[piggin]

Good choice with the EK-RAM Dominator. Very pleased with mine.

lol, looks familiar m8
I think it looks great & will be shown in all its glory in the next update.

Piggin, thanks to you and your Ram waterblocks, I have to change my underwear now

Seriously, they look amazing

Thanks m8, I think.
Maybe these blocks should come with a warning on the front of the box & a change of underwear.

 

[piggin]

this looks awesome cant wait to see this completed

Thanks RiskyRix, progress is being made, even thought it is quite slow.

do you ever let yourself have a piggin tea break?

No time for tea breaks, only have time for some swill in the trough

I like you, you can stay

Piggin, would you ever consider selling some of your braiding?

Looking very good, and intrigued re water cooling ram - does it really make much difference?

The water cooled RAM is more an audio thing rather than overclocking.
The standard corsair cooler is the most noticeable thing on 'The Shelf'
Now the shelf is very quiet.

Regarding the braid, I can point you in the correct direction if you like.

 

[piggin]

Oh I got to the end of the thread and was disappointed there isn't an end product yet .

Just take a few weeks off and get to this full-time please! excellent thread!

Sorry to disappoint you.
Work is manic @ the moment & most people are off.
I am making progress (even though its slow)
I have another update later in the week when I have the time to up-load the photos etc

 

[piggin]

Started changing over the water blocks on the motherboard
Quick pick of how it has been on 'The Shelf' for some time with the Swiftech XT fitted

All the 'extras' stripped off the board

New EK water block fitted to the CPU

A quick rear view

Also decided to do the RAM

RAM stripped down

RAM returned to motherboard to get the correct spacing

After applying same TIM, the block was fitted

Compression fittings put into place

Tubing run into place

Graphics cards fitted back onto motherboard

'The Shelf' has never looked so 'shiny'

 

[piggin]

nice one

At first I didn't like the look of it when you fitted the RAM block, but once you added in the GPUs, that looks amazing! Everything matches together nicely !

Looking nice mate.

Thanks Gents
I finally crumbled & went with a total EK setup.
This gives the 'matched' look that Orcvader mentioned

 

[piggin]

It does indeed look very good.

I see you have an ASUS Rampage III. I am a Gigabyte man myself. It'll be interesting to see how they compare.

It looks as though you are intending on having two loops - is that right? If so, how separate will they be because there's a lot of debate over one vs two loops boiling down to there not being any noticable difference. I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on that point.

I have had lots of different motherboards over the years (including Gigabyte) & my personal preference has always been ASUS.
If anyone asked me to prove it, then I could not. Its more of a gut feeling.

As for loops, I have had
multi loops, with multi pumps per loop
multi loops, with single pumps (as with The STY)
single loops, with multi rads & pumps
single loops, with multi rads & single pump

To be honest it all makes very little difference.
It all boils down to your flow & area of rads.
If you have poor flow, then you have poor cooling.
If you have small rads & a large amount of heat to dissipate, you have other problems.

As for this build, it will definitely be mutli ****** & *******.
And most people will say it is completely OTT (just like the rest of the build)

 

[piggin]

I have had one AOpen and 5 Gigabyte boards - one of which I fried during my first foray into watercooling

I have also killed a few motherboards (not by water, yet) but did blow the PWR section clean out of a Gigabyte board once (even split the rear track).
For some reason they thought I may have been mistreating the board when I attempted an RMA.

So I can't really comment on ASUS boards, but so far I have been very happy with Gigabyte and consequentially never looked at the other suppliers.
I do have a pair of ASUS GTX 480s and I am happy with them, but that's the only ASUS stuff I've ever had.

I am no ASUS 'fan boy'.
There are many good product available by numerous manufacturers.
I purchased the R3E as it was having very good reviews & managed to wangle a board from the first shipment into the UK when they were very hard to obtain.
This board is a very good overclocker & pushes my CPU (better than the DFI that I previously had).
The only problem is with the memory & getting it to overclock (issues with multi pliers)
As for Gigabyte, I like the look of the new Gigabyte X58A-OC (good performance, layout & colour combination)
As for the future
Most probably will only do GPU's as the next upgrade and hold out for the next intel chips

I too am a big EK fan. I like their packaging and the look of their products and they seem to work well. The only problem I have had with their kit to date is that a small crack developed in my reservoir. I put this down to overtightening it. The good news is that due to their modular design I was able to buy just the plastic tube replacement and not a complete reservoir, so it wasn't that expensive a mistake.

As you can see, I also like EK.
The problem is they have no real competition within the UK.
I have had a few problems with different items & they have been resolved (eventually) through customer services.

Phew! Started reading this thread a couple of weeks ago,now just caught up to date with it,looks great so far,that must be some labour of love

Thanks geeman
I am not so sure its a lobour of love, more a war of attrition.
I look at 'The Shelf' sometimes a think that it would be so much easier if I just purchased a TJ07.
I have recently decided to make some very small changes to the design of the case.
This means that all of the panels have had to be replaced.
This in turn means almost starting from scratch all over again.