The Utterly Imbalanced CaseLabs TX10-D build(s)!
- Thread starter vsg28
- Start date
So as I mentioned earlier, Jacob from EVGA sent me an entire cable kit in red to check out and use it in my build if I like it. The least I can do is share my thoughts and ask if anyone here has any specific requests as far as pictures and tests go.
I currently have these with me to test out the cables:
Here's what the kit looks like when received:
Once the box is opened, we see 3 bags inside:
Not much to gain from those 2 pictures so let's open them up. Bag 1 has the 20+4 pin ATX cable and 2 4+4 pin EPS cables:
If you have a correctly calibrated monitor, the color of the image below will be exactly how it looks in real life:
Too bad I sold my Corsair red sleeved kit last week, but I do have one 20+4 pin ATX cable in white from Corsair for comparison:
Corsair uses PET sleeving I believe compared to what I have been told is Micro Cord in the EVGA cables. If this is incorrect, please let me know.
Look ma, no heatshrink! These cables look and feel neater in person already. While I can't demonstrate this easily, these cables are also more malleable in that they can be bent easily and they retain the bent shape better than the Corsair cables.
I understand why Corsair went for heatshrink, and I give them props for making the individually sleeved cables available as a kit but the issues of mass production means not everything is perfect. For instance, the heatshrink here is not all uniform in length or application. Some of the heatshrink is actually beginning to come off despite me never having actually used this cable before. This isn't to say everything is perfect in EVGA land.
The Corsair sleeving is thicker, but the inner wiring in both these cases is 16 AWG- so far so good. But a closer look at the wires in each cable show something I haven't really thought about till now:
These are wires in the same 24 pin ATX cable. At first I thought this was a mistake since only 1 wire was thinner than the rest but then I looked at the stock cable and there were many more thinner wires in there. All the thinner wires (18 AWG I believe, will confirm once a local sleever is done taking the cable apart and putting it back together) are actually in one area which is not critical in power delivery. So, if anything, EVGA is actually putting more effort into making these individually sleeved cables better for power delivery. Now whether or not there is a real world difference between 16 and 18 AWG will be found out soon, at least in my case.
On to bag 2 which contains the VGA cables:
2 daisychained 6+2 pin + 6 pin PCI-E VGA cables and 4 6+2 pin PCI-E VGA cables. Here is where I am a bit concerned about:
The wires on the daisy chained 6 pin connector all seem to be 18 AWG. This is plenty enough for most people, but if someone is benching hard and has no other choice but to use daisy chained cables, then this may cause an issue. I will be testing this out real soon. The pro overclockers typically have 1 PSU per GPU and some go even more extreme. 8 Pack, for example, likes to use a 1200W PSU for each 8 pin PCI-E connector being used when benching. So common sense would dictate you just use 1 cable per connector and not go with daisy chained connectors when operating way past TDP of a GPU. But when you have 2-3 GPUs like the EVGA 780 Ti Classified K|ngp|n edition or the MSI R9-290x Lightning, you have an 8+8+6 PCI-E connection on each card:
So while there are enough PCI-E connectors on something like the 1300G2 and 1600G2/P2/T2 for 3 of these cards, the kit here has only 6 cables. EVGA is looking into making supplemental VGA only sleeved cables available for purchase, so please do let them know if this is something you are interested in. They are also considering selling bare-bones PSUs (no stock cables) for a lower price than the regular models. This would be great for anyone wanting any sort of custom cables so once again please do let them know of any interest in this.
Finally on to bag 3 (peripherals):
4 x 3 SATA, 1 x 3 Molex and 1 x 2 Molex + 1 Floppy connector. Funnily all these wires here seem to be the thicker 16 AWG type even though 18 guage would have been plenty. I also think the floppy connector is redundant and should not have been in here but I am sure there will be someone now to prove me wrong.
If there are any errors in what I have written, please don't hesitate in letting me know. I am not by any means an expert in this field and am only looking at this from a consumer's point of view. Also do let me know if there are any particular requests for photos or tests. These were all taken hours ago and the wires are currently being tested as we speak but I will gladly do all I can.
The GF has spoken, these are the colors she was ok with (big pictures):
Blue speckle looks different in different light, that isn't the camera exposure at work here.
I deleted the close-up of this by accident, will take another when I get back home later if needed
Also, I won an EVGA 1200P2 (recently released, selling for $230-250) courtesy their Memories of EVGA Promotion:
Blue speckle looks different in different light, that isn't the camera exposure at work here.
I deleted the close-up of this by accident, will take another when I get back home later if needed
Also, I won an EVGA 1200P2 (recently released, selling for $230-250) courtesy their Memories of EVGA Promotion:
So I finally tried out the cables in the current rig to see how they looked. First up, motherboard, CPU and only 1 KPE hooked up with discrete VGA cables:
Don't mind the large cutout in the motherboard tray, I have a back cover coming in and will likely drill in a cable management hole in it. These were so easy to navigate and install compared to the Corsair set I had- the thinner sleeving definitely helps. They also retain the "bend" easier. I did get a sample custom paracord sleeved 6 pin PCI-E cable from the previously mentioned custom sleever which looked better and held shape better but for a $90 kit, this is really good. Some cable combs or lacing and the cables will look much better.
Now with the 2nd KPE hooked up, I had to use a daisychained VGA cable here without any choice:
The dreaded loop appears. Fortunately, thanks to that wall of VGA cables and the easy to bend cables, it is not hard at all to tuck in the loop:
One small thing I really appreciated was that the 6 pin and 2 pin sections of the 6+2 VGA cable are separated all the way from the PSU connector. So it is very easy to simply use the 6 pin part only if you have to!
I have decided to use the cables in my build and also set up some thing in motion with EVGA about the 1200P2 (hopefully anyway!) so I gladly announce EVGA as a sponsor of this build:
I also set up the 3 quad radiators back with fans, since I have already shown the SR 1 560 with the Cougars before I won't show it again. Here is the XSPC AX480 with 8 Corsair SP120 QE fans:
Those rings are definitely not finalized yet, but this rad is going to be on Side 2 where most of the components are set already. So I may well end up having all red rings in there. For the Alphacool Monsta 480, I decided to have the drop-in mount in the front so that the first set of fans provide enough gap to allow the front set of ports not interfere with the rad mount:
That's one thick assembly. I am considering removing the rings all together and going stealth like with the SR 1, let's see.
Don't mind the large cutout in the motherboard tray, I have a back cover coming in and will likely drill in a cable management hole in it. These were so easy to navigate and install compared to the Corsair set I had- the thinner sleeving definitely helps. They also retain the "bend" easier. I did get a sample custom paracord sleeved 6 pin PCI-E cable from the previously mentioned custom sleever which looked better and held shape better but for a $90 kit, this is really good. Some cable combs or lacing and the cables will look much better.
Now with the 2nd KPE hooked up, I had to use a daisychained VGA cable here without any choice:
The dreaded loop appears. Fortunately, thanks to that wall of VGA cables and the easy to bend cables, it is not hard at all to tuck in the loop:
One small thing I really appreciated was that the 6 pin and 2 pin sections of the 6+2 VGA cable are separated all the way from the PSU connector. So it is very easy to simply use the 6 pin part only if you have to!
I have decided to use the cables in my build and also set up some thing in motion with EVGA about the 1200P2 (hopefully anyway!) so I gladly announce EVGA as a sponsor of this build:
I also set up the 3 quad radiators back with fans, since I have already shown the SR 1 560 with the Cougars before I won't show it again. Here is the XSPC AX480 with 8 Corsair SP120 QE fans:
Those rings are definitely not finalized yet, but this rad is going to be on Side 2 where most of the components are set already. So I may well end up having all red rings in there. For the Alphacool Monsta 480, I decided to have the drop-in mount in the front so that the first set of fans provide enough gap to allow the front set of ports not interfere with the rad mount:
That's one thick assembly. I am considering removing the rings all together and going stealth like with the SR 1, let's see.
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I love the Blue myself, especially since it looks different from different angles. But, as you said, I fear it will be too much in your face. This is a layout of the room as I propose:
So with all the light hitting the case, that blue won't really be changing much color either. I will likely go with one of the other choices.
If money wasn't an issue, I would really have done the interior in Dark Roast and the exterior in Bisque Speckle. That x99 launch will take all my money though 
I am leaning towards Bisque Speckle for the exterior, leaving the black interior as is.
I am leaning towards Bisque Speckle for the exterior, leaving the black interior as is.
that sounds great! and yeah if I had to choose only one for the exterior, it would be Bisque Speckle.
I'm thinking about moving to x99 as well (not that I'll need it at all) but i'd also like to get myself a caselab. I think I need to win the lottery
I'm thinking about moving to x99 as well (not that I'll need it at all) but i'd also like to get myself a caselab. I think I need to win the lottery
Me too! These powdercoating guys are yet to get back to me with a quote, let alone collect the parts for coating.
Anyway, the latest Precision-X is finally available from Steam or EVGA for those interested. There is a Guru3D article out there that seems to be pretty misinformed and blames EVGA without cause, but I think EVGA shouldn't have just used the same menu layout either. It has a few bugs still, but finally has 64 bit support and also steam achievements
Anyway, the latest Precision-X is finally available from Steam or EVGA for those interested. There is a Guru3D article out there that seems to be pretty misinformed and blames EVGA without cause, but I think EVGA shouldn't have just used the same menu layout either. It has a few bugs still, but finally has 64 bit support and also steam achievements
While I am waiting for the powdercoating company to get back to me with a quote, I am very happy to announce my 3rd sponsor: FrozenQ PC Mods
Some of you may have recognized the reservoir I was using so far in these pictures:
These were great after I went through with customer support regarding a few things that arrived broken. The issue with these reservoirs was that the end caps were compressed on and the helices inside could be rotated. So a lazy delivery person could end up creating some serious issues as it was in my case. Also, leaks were a risk with the compression type caps. So after a lot of feedback they went back to square one and redesigned everything- new equipment, new streamlined manufacturing and this is the new result:
FrozenQ Liquid Fusion Reaction Cylinder Reservoir
The 250mm version is already available for pre-order now, with the 150mm and 400mm versions coming out soon. They can make a custom length reservoir also. Do check out the various color options available for the end caps, helices and cathode (way too many to list out here).
FrozenQ Meteor Light Reaction Cylinder Reservoir
Here the accent rails will be available in Blue, Green, Red and Orange as stock options with any color of your choice available as custom order.
So I will be getting 2-3 of the new LF Reaction reservoirs I think. I will likely sell the existing 400mm reservoirs I have since they are a bit too long for the motherboard compartment with the pumps in there as well.
Some of you may have recognized the reservoir I was using so far in these pictures:
These were great after I went through with customer support regarding a few things that arrived broken. The issue with these reservoirs was that the end caps were compressed on and the helices inside could be rotated. So a lazy delivery person could end up creating some serious issues as it was in my case. Also, leaks were a risk with the compression type caps. So after a lot of feedback they went back to square one and redesigned everything- new equipment, new streamlined manufacturing and this is the new result:
FrozenQ Liquid Fusion Reaction Cylinder Reservoir
The 250mm version is already available for pre-order now, with the 150mm and 400mm versions coming out soon. They can make a custom length reservoir also. Do check out the various color options available for the end caps, helices and cathode (way too many to list out here).
FrozenQ Meteor Light Reaction Cylinder Reservoir
Here the accent rails will be available in Blue, Green, Red and Orange as stock options with any color of your choice available as custom order.
So I will be getting 2-3 of the new LF Reaction reservoirs I think. I will likely sell the existing 400mm reservoirs I have since they are a bit too long for the motherboard compartment with the pumps in there as well.
Soldato
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Ooh, those LF reaction ones look delicious.
Ya, and the end caps covers will be available in a variety of anodized aluminium and also chrome options soon. Currently available is brushed and black anodized. The helices themselves come in many more options. I like that they are easy to remove and put on so you can just get different covers for a new look.
It isn't for everyone, and can get too "blingy" if not careful, but in a black interior a fluorescent UV active reservoir will look smashing.
It isn't for everyone, and can get too "blingy" if not careful, but in a black interior a fluorescent UV active reservoir will look smashing.
Ya, they are also now offering solid metallic helices with different colored cathodes for the extra bling bling 
These aren't my cup of tea exactly, but the whole operation is 2 guys who can customize just about anything- CPU blocks, cases, bay reservoirs etc. This isn't a shill post, I would have said the same before the sponsorship also. Only thing is likely shipping + import to the UK unless OcUK decided to stock them.
Frozen-Q said:Here's the pictures of just the helix with UV, white, and red cathodes under normal conditions. Friday we are setting up to do all new product pictures for our entire line, so at that time we will do shots of these in full reservoirs, all different types of lights, and different types of fluid in the reservoirs as well.
I'm very interested to see what they do to UV coolant. The UV light really does reflect off the surface a lot.
These aren't my cup of tea exactly, but the whole operation is 2 guys who can customize just about anything- CPU blocks, cases, bay reservoirs etc. This isn't a shill post, I would have said the same before the sponsorship also. Only thing is likely shipping + import to the UK unless OcUK decided to stock them.