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

[vsg28]

Both blocks done:

That M6F naked isn't half bad a looker imo:

Put the blocks on:

and finally the armor and backplate:

The EK MOSFET block has spray in the middle because it is covered by lines in the armor and so that way both colors come off through it. The GF thought it was sweet and not creepy, so it worked out

Her advisor is gifting her a 3D print of her actual right hemisphere (not the full brain for whatever reason) so I will try to work it into the build somehow if possible. As far as the color scheme goes- if I go with the RVE monoblock for Side 1, that frees up the Supremacy Evo. So I will try to get a red plexi top for it and run a white pastel throughout. The GPU block is a Swiftech R9 LE which has a red insert also, and the reservoir will likely be the FrozenQ LF 400mL cylinder version with fluorescent red helices. While it won't be very transparent with pastel in the reservoir, the UV effect should give a nice spiral glow.

 

[vsg28]

That mobo,,,,,, gigidy gigidy goo

Hopefully that's the good kind of goo

 

[vsg28]

This poor, poor build log. Sorry guys, with all the recent testing and reviewing it left little time to do much here. I am still waiting for a few parts but after a certain RAM manufacturer couldn't fulfill its orders to a retailer for >2 months, I decided enough was enough and hit up a couple of guys at Corsair. So thanks a lot to them for sending, among other things for testing/reviewing, this:

I also got the two reservoirs for side 1 (pics coming in soon) and mostly just waiting for the EK RVE monoblock to get released. For the other side, I need to get a custom reservoir done but so far it's proving pretty hard. It would be a proper glass jar with G1/4 threads bored at the bottom if things go well. You will see why if that ends up happening

 

[vsg28]

The case itself was purchased used at an excellent price. Caselabs is going to release something this week that will make the build finally resume. Once you guys see it, hopefully you understand why the delay.

 

[vsg28]

Lol so I saw Linus use paint on the RVE. I have a similar idea in mind too, but nothing that should make me go "Oh no".

 

[vsg28]

Back from the dead (well nearly so). I had some nasty medical issues to take care of and now currently recovering from a surgery. This combined with the custom parts from Caselabs and the whole review website taking off pretty well resulted in this massive delay.

But here we are. Caselabs worked on this for a while, and I finally have a TX10 HPTX to XL-ATX conversion kit (which incidentally is now available for retail purchase also!):

Each kit comes with an XL-ATX motherboard tray, a backplate for the motherboard tray and the new divider section for the case itself. The reason I went for this is because the TX10 comes standard (well used to till now anyway) with HPTX which is more or less dead in the enthusiast segment now:

Having even an E-ATX board such as the RVE on it looked out of place:

Now with this on, and re-using the back section:

Ah much better. A few hours on the case and everything was in:

Of course it had to be done for both sides:

There were a few hiccups such as the ATX motherboard mounting holes being slightly offset for some reason but we worked through it, and Caselabs was amazing as always. New trays came in which were perfect.

Now with that taken care of, I had a few items come along which weren't for review:

This is a red plexi top for the EK Supremacy Evo, and they were good enough to send the badge separately. My original plan was to go replace the top on the standard plexi top version:

to the red plexi top:

I will have to see how this looks with something like a white pastel coolant through it, but as is it clashes a bit with the lighter colors on the motherboard. To further complicate things, I got this:

That nickel finish isn't exactly like how it is on the Corsair Dom Plats, but it gets close as you can see here:

Along with the red plexi top was this:

A strange no-name box? What could be inside?

Ah so it is a D5 pump top in their CSQ style. Or is it?

Now we are talking! I also got this:

But let's save that for the next update. Don't want to get ahead of myself again

 

[vsg28]

Aye, I originally wanted to go with the nickel one but there's a bit that EK did not think about- to have these cover kits on, you have to replace the plexi back on the top. So it would be plexi, acetal, nickel in that order which would have looked bad. This turned out good with clear, black, black so no complaints.

 

[vsg28]

Cheers jimbaw, getting better every day now.

Ok then inside the D5 cover kit box was.... The D5 cover kit

Ah this piece here is because the plexi part that comes with the top is not compatible as-is with the cover itself. Bit of an oversight from EK there, I will try to see if I can cut into the plexi part to make it fit.

If you have a small thin screwdriver, that's all that's needed.

Definitely will have to sleeve those cables, just deciding between what material to use now. In the meantime, here's how this stacks next to the Bitspower kit:

The BP kit is shorter, has an extra inlet/drain port option and is a lot longer.

Remember those EVGA PSUs I showed earlier? Especially the 1600G2? Well scratch that.

That's better

SO MANY CABLES! You have seen what comes with the 1600G2 already so I will spare you the pics, aside from this:

The 24 pin ATX is unique to the 1600T2 and the Superflower 2000 W monsters only. What's the difference? Thicker gauge wiring inside on every single wire- auxiliary or otherwise.

Also, just because I keep shaking my head each time I see this (in a good way):

The PSU itself comes in a similar fashion to the other EVGA Supernova units:

This beast is a massive 225 x 150 x 85mm in dimensions and weighs 3.6 Kg (8 lbs) by itself. It uses a Globe Fan product #B1402512EH inside which is a 140mm fan with a 2 pin connector:

Dual ball bearing FTW. Now I did a full review on this beast on my website: http://thermalbench.com/2015/04/01/evga-supernova-1600t2-psu-individually-sleeved-cable-set/, but for those interested in the main details here are some plots regarding the fan itself (ambient noise was 19 dBA, and the probe was 6" away):

The PSU itself is top quality, I don't have access to a PSU tester so definitely check out Oklahoma Wolf's review over on Jonnyguru.com. What little I do have resulted in this table with numbers monitored during a lengthy stress period for the PSU itself:

While this is probably unnecessary even with the 1600T2, I went ahead and got a PSU support bracket for my own peace of mind:

Now that is a case that has no problem with long PSUs!

 

[vsg28]

Tell me about it! Since I started this, I have had the luxury of choosing between a lot of watercooling components so this will be having a few loops that should be something else entirely.