The Utterly Imbalanced CaseLabs TX10-D build(s)!

[vsg28]

The Utterly Imbalanced CaseLabs TX10-D build(s)- waiting for x99!

Welcome to my build log! This will be one going on concurrently over on OCN and Linustechtips forums as well as I feel the audience across these 3 forums can provide great feedback together.

Background

My first ever build originated late last year with the Corsair 900D, Asus Maximus VI Formula, i7 4770k and dual AMD R9-290x cards all on a custom loop. But even before I could finish the loop, the mining craze hit and I sold off my Hawaii cards for a small profit and went with 2x EVGA 780 Ti Classified KPEs instead. So that went well for a few weeks till I realized a single Corsair AX1200i jsut wasn't enough power for this system when benching on water. I began looking towards CaseLabs then and put on a feeler post on Craigslist to sell the 900D. Then the magic happened

I traded my 900D build (As seen below during the leak test stage):

for this:

Excuse those potato pictures since they were taken with excitement without setting up my dSLR. I really made out like a bandit in this trade. That is a TX10-D with pedestal and extended top along with plenty more goodies. So now, I do a massive benching/gaming rig on one side and one that's, well, just there for my girlfriend to replace her aging laptop that is pretty much a desktop these days due to the degraded battery.

 

[vsg28]

Components for side 1: Modelling/Benching/Gaming

Main Components
Platform: x99 only if the $600 Haswell-E chip is an octacore, else z79
Processor: Intel i7 5930k (Anticipated, not obtained yet)
Motherboard: Undecided
Ram: DDR4, brand/model undecided
GPUs: 2x EVGA 780 Ti Classified K|ngp|n Edition cards (Bought)
PSUs: Corsair ax1200i, EVGA Supernova 1300G2 (Both bought)
OS: Windows 7 (Bought)
SSD: Undecided
HDD: Hitachi Travelstar 1 TB 7200RPM (For Steam, bought)
HDD: Toshiba 3 TB 7200RPM (For backup and storage, bought)
External HDD: Hitachi 4TB USB 3.0 (Bought)

Cooling

1) CPU/Motherboard/RAM loop

CPU Block: EK Supremacy/Koolance 380I (Have the Koolance block, will see if the EK block is better for Haswell-E)
Motherboard block: Depends on the board (Undecided)
RAM block: Undecided, depends on if DDR4 even benefits from watercooling
Radiators: Alphacool Monsta 480mm (Bought)
Fans: Corsair SP120 QE PWM push/pull on the Monsta (Bought)
Fan controller: Aquaero 6XT w/loop temperature sensors and flow meter
Reservoir(s): FrozenQ Mods 400mm Liquid Fusion Cylinder in Fluorescent Red (Bought)
Pump: Laing D5 (Undecided on exact model)
Tubing: Primochill Advanced LRT Clear in 1/2" x 3/4"
Fittings: Assortment from various brands
Coolant: Undecided

2) GPU loop

GPU Block(s): EK GTX 780 Classy in Acetal/Nickel (Bought)
Radiators: Watercool Mo.Ra 3 Pro 9.140, Hardware Labs Black Ice SR1 560mm
Fans: Gelid Wing 14 in push/pull on the Mo.Ra (Bought), Undecided on the SR1
Fan controller: Same Aquaero 6 XT as above + secondary voltage controller for Mo.Ra fans (Undecided)
Reservoir: FrozenQ Mods 400mm Liquid Fusion Cylinder in Fluorescent Blue (Partly bought)
Pump: Swiftech mcp35x2 or the upcoming mcp50x2 (Not bought)
Tubing: Primochill Advanced LRT Clear in 1/2" x 3/4"
Fittings: Assortment from various brands
Coolant: Undecided

Peripherals
Monitor: Dell U2713HM (Bought)
Keyboard: Roccat Ryos MK Pro w/Cherry MX Brown switches (Bought)
Mouse: Roccat Kone XTU w/FiiO e17 (Bought)
Speakers: Creative GigaWorks T40 Series II (Bought)
Headphones: Sennheiser HD598 (Bought)

The cooling here isn't set in stone, I got plenty of space to put in a Phase change unit for the CPU but I am not a big fan of the noise. I might also consider a Bong cooler as the front flex bay compartment will be mostly unoccupied. I am open to thoughts and suggestions!

 

[vsg28]

Components for side 2: Productivity

Main Components
Platform: Z87
Processor: Intel i7 477k(Bought)
Motherboard: Asus Maximus 6 Formula (Bought)
Ram: Corsair Dominator Platinum 2x8 GB 1866 C9 Kit (Bought)
GPUs: A mid end card for CUDA and Adobe CS Live (Undecided)
PSU: Something 500-600 W max (Undecided)
OS: Windows 7
SSD: Samsung 830 512 GB (Bought)
HDD: Toshiba 3 TB 7200RPM (Bought)

Cooling
CPU block: Either EK Supremacy or Koolance 380i (See above for Side 1)
GPU block: Undecided
Motherboard block: EK M6F Acetal/Nickel
Radiator: Phobya G-Changer 120, XSPC AX480
Fans: Corsair SP120 QE PWM (Bought)
Fan Controller: Undecided
Reservoir: Bitspower Z Multi Water Tank 400mm (Bought)
Pump: Swiftech mcp35x (Bought)

Peripherals
Monitor: Acer 1080p Monitor (This is what she has now, I really want to get a better one for her soon)
Mouse: Logitech Performance Mouse MX
Keyboard: CM Storm Trigger w/Cherry MX Blue switches
Speakers: Undecided

 

[vsg28]

Glad to have you on board! While I prep up the room and see how the lighting is for better pictures, may I offer people the chance to view some GPU porn?

Unboxing the KPE

Watercooling the KPE

 

[vsg28]

It's about 5'2" or so, quite big indeed!

 

[vsg28]

Ya, and then the guy who originally bought it also got a pedestal, extended top and other accessories such as radiator mounts, HDD rack etc. Pretty sure it was close to $1500 for him when everything was shipped. So i ended up with a massive deal.

 

[vsg28]

And there will definitely be more pics, hopefully some today.

 

[vsg28]

You really do have to post a pic of someone standing next to it

I got asked the same thing on OCN. That's definitely on my to-do list. Till then, I got a picture from Seross- the guy who has the same case with 3 pedestals (beating me by 2 pedestals):

He is 5'9" tall and once he puts on the extended top, the case is taller than he is. Here is the link to his insane build log if anyone is interested: http://www.overclock.net/t/1374618/...triple-pedestals-sponsored-by-ek-water-blocks

Patience, Scotty, still the same "today" for me here

My DSLR battery charger died yesterday so that's a setback till I get a new one. I will end up using my phone till then. Definitely some more pics coming up today!

 

[vsg28]

As promised, more pictures! Please excuse the phone camera pictures, the 3 day weekend combined with 2 day shipping of the slr battery charger means I won't be using my main camera till Thursday at the earliest.

Rad fans so far:

That's 18 Gelid Wing 14s and 20 Corsair SP120 PWM fans. I will need at least 4 more 140mm fans. Any suggestions would be appreciated. I have heard good things about the Cougar CF-V14H fans and they are currently on sale in the US but totally open to suggestions.

I also want to warn people about the QC of the Aquacomputer Aquaero 6 (XT or Pro versions)- they seem to not adhere completely to the 5 1/4" bay standard dimensions. Plenty of owners have had issues fitting it in, I was lucky with the 900D. In this case it was a lot more snug than I would like. Thankfully, CaseLabs made an accessory just for this (http://www.caselabs-store.com/flex-bay-5-25-device-mount-short-nonconforming/) and I will be ordering it soon. In the meantime, I went ahead and installed the passive heatsink accessory. When operating low PWM signals, the device gets pretty warm so this would help dissipate the heat better- especially with a fan blowing at it.

and then installed it into the case along with one DVD drive:

The empty slot on the other side is for the other DVD drive coming in soon. I may well need more fan controllers as well, let's see.

 

[vsg28]

Subbed!

So what is the Productivity side used for? Web Development?

This will be an insane rig. You should put a ITX system in one of the basements for a server. All-in-one then haha.

It's whatever my girlfriend needs to do. We are both PhD students, she does a lot of MRI work and the scanned images are then put into a combination of proprietary and Adobe CS software for analysis. To be honest, the 4770k right now is overkill for her, but the proprietary programs are beginning to make sure of hyperthreading and I already had the z87 rig.

Eventually I will want to put in a server rack in the pedestal which at the moment will only hold drives anyway. The case is build to fit in standard 1u/4u server racks so no need for an ITX system down there.

Wow, this build is a build with balls, big fat hairy balls.

Anyone have experience with the Cougar 140mm CF-V14HB fans? They look good and are available at a promo price from Newegg at the moment.

 

[vsg28]

Oh well, read up a few reviews and made up my mind:

I got a DataVac air compressor coming in soon along with a dremel kit and a storage drawer. So I will be able to put things in place a bit. I still need to order more pumps, a reservoir and another fan controller at the very least before the main components come into place with Haswell-E launch.

 

[vsg28]

I don't think Noiseblocker makes 140mm E-loops but I agree they got other great 140mm offerings. I was between the Cougar, the Akasa Viper and the Phanteks XP fans but the promo discount on these was too good to resist. Everyone I spoke to who owned these fans was very happy with them. I will be sure to let people know what I feel about them.

Meanwhile, does anyone have experience with the EK DCP 4.0 pump? I wanted to know if it is enough for a CPU/motherboard/480mm rad loop. Thanks!

 

[vsg28]

My wallet is complaining already:

Speaking of parts..

So that's where the rest of my cash went! The replacement battery charger is here and so this should hopefully be the last phone camera picture I will have to take.

 

[vsg28]

Not if everything is running off controllers. Also remember that one rad with its 8 fans are on an entirely separate rig in the same case.

 

[vsg28]

You have no idea! I was fully satisfied with the 900D but I am extremely pleased with the quality of this case. I didn't know what I was missing before this- other than the money in my wallet of course

 

[vsg28]

Thanks Andy, that helps a lot. Likely will save me some cash too. Do you have the regular version or the PWM version? Do you control it or is it just a case of running it full speed? How noisy is it compared to, say, a rad fan that you use? Thanks again!

 

[vsg28]

Cheers everyone! I just got back from work and my Datavac compressor and 8 Cougar fans are here. Time to clean up the rads and take another picture!

 

[vsg28]

The fans are very, very nice indeed! The compressor is also definitely worth the money and I got my rads as dust free as possible.

Another package coming in in a couple of days with more fans, fittings etc. Tomorrow I start assembling the Mo.Ra and putting it into place, that will dictate how and where everything else goes in.

 

[vsg28]

One side of the Mo.Ra mounted with fans but before I take any pictures of it, I need to drill holes into the Mo.Ra super mount to accomodate for tubing/fittings since I am going to make use of the extended top and have the entire Mo.Ra assembly above the mount.

In the meantime, about them Cougars:

I think I am a believer in the Cougars now, and I love the drop-in radiator mount concept- especially coming off the terrible to use side mounts in the 900D. Today I go back to the Mo.Ra mount and attempt some drilling.

If anyone else is interested, here are radiator volumes for the rads I have measured so far:

1) Phobya G-Changer 120 (Pretty much an Alphacool UT60 120): 220 mL
2) XSPC AX480: 300 mL
3) Alphacool Monsta 480: 670 mL
4) HardwareLabs Black Ice SR1 560: 490 mL

I may have that Phobya number off, will check again today.

 

[vsg28]

That it does! Got another package today. Other than the odd fitting, splitter and flexbay solid covers I got 2 more things I am very excited to use

I will only be using the Blitz kit on the Alphacool and Phobya rads, the others will be just fine with hot water flushes + distilled water rinses hopefully. That's still a pretty decent kit for the money.