The Utterly Imbalanced CaseLabs TX10-D build(s)!
- Thread starter vsg28
- Start date
Wow those reaction chambers 
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- 14 Jul 2014
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Very cool mate
Dropped off the pieces in the morning. Hopefully will be done within a week so I can assemble everything.
For those waiting for the EVGA 1600G2:
If 80+ gold efficiency is enough for you (and it really is, you know it!), and the eco-mode/fanless operation is not a big deal for you then I can fully recommend this. I haven't been able to open up the unit because of warranty terms despite my best coaxing efforts but the fan sounds quieter than on the 1300G2 and arguably moves more air but I can't confirm for sure with any actual numbers.
For those waiting for the EVGA 1600G2:
EVGA-JacobF said:
EVGA-JacobF said:
If 80+ gold efficiency is enough for you (and it really is, you know it!), and the eco-mode/fanless operation is not a big deal for you then I can fully recommend this. I haven't been able to open up the unit because of warranty terms despite my best coaxing efforts but the fan sounds quieter than on the 1300G2 and arguably moves more air but I can't confirm for sure with any actual numbers.
It looks like the powdercoating will only be done next Mon-Tuesday 
In the meantime, I got my hands on an mcp35x2 top which meant I could finally see if 2 mcp35x pumps would be enough for the Mo.Ra. It chewed up a single pump when I hooked up a simple loop with reservoir, pump, compression fittings, angle adapters and the Mo.Ra- nothing else. At 50% max power as controlled by the Aquaero 6, I barely got 0.9 GPM. When I tuned it lower to 35% so the pump was at a noise level more conducive to what I would like in the final build, I got 0.6 GPM. Adding in 4 QDCs got me into laminar flow and once I add in the GPU blocks and 2 more QDCs I can only imagine how low it would go!
So anyway, I got another mcp35x pump (from a forum marketplace) which was pretty much new:
The older one on the left has a different logo. Turning one pump to the side, we see the good ol' warranty void sticker:
Speaking to Bryan over at Swiftech, I learnt it was completely fine to remove the stock tops IF adding on the Swiftech mcp35x2 top. But the guys at Swiftech are generally understanding of other tops and will help out with RMA once they have established the 3rd party top was not the cause of any error- your mileage may definitely vary here.
So taking off that sticker leaves behind a nice trail of evidence that is hard to remove but not impossible. To remove the top, one simply has to unscrew the 4 screws at the bottom:
The new pump actually came with hex head screws, and not a very common size either. Good thing I have a multi bit driver!
Make sure the O-rings are in place before putting on the new top. Speaking of which:
I am not set on this color yet- especially with the black interior. But that won't matter for testing here and so I put on the top, being careful to screw each pump in with the included screws and making sure there is no discernible gap between the top and the pump bodies.
This thing is a powerhouse for most loops. It is also pretty loud at full speed and caused a cyclonic noise when sucking in water from the reservoir even at 50% max power. This should not be confused with 50% duty cycle as seen from the below PWM response chart from Swiftech:
At the same kind of noise levels as before (35% power, ~50% duty cycle), I got 1.2 GPM with the Mo.Ra alone in the loop and about 0.9-1 GPM with 4 QDCs. When the mcp50x comes out, I will hopefully get 1-2 to test against these for performance and noise. Depending on what I go with for Side 2, I may have a D5 pump also for testing.
One last thing- before putting on the top, I connected both pumps in series to see how the top affects things. At lower flow rates (0.60-1 GPM), there was no discernible difference in flow rates. I will be getting an inline pressure sensor soon to see if head pressure is affected. At higher flow rates (1.2+ GPM), the top increased flow rates about about 0.1 GPM compared to having two pumps in series hooked up by fittings- at least in my case. So I can definitely vouch for going with a dual pump top each time. It also looks better in my opinion.
In the meantime, I got my hands on an mcp35x2 top which meant I could finally see if 2 mcp35x pumps would be enough for the Mo.Ra. It chewed up a single pump when I hooked up a simple loop with reservoir, pump, compression fittings, angle adapters and the Mo.Ra- nothing else. At 50% max power as controlled by the Aquaero 6, I barely got 0.9 GPM. When I tuned it lower to 35% so the pump was at a noise level more conducive to what I would like in the final build, I got 0.6 GPM. Adding in 4 QDCs got me into laminar flow and once I add in the GPU blocks and 2 more QDCs I can only imagine how low it would go!
So anyway, I got another mcp35x pump (from a forum marketplace) which was pretty much new:
The older one on the left has a different logo. Turning one pump to the side, we see the good ol' warranty void sticker:
Speaking to Bryan over at Swiftech, I learnt it was completely fine to remove the stock tops IF adding on the Swiftech mcp35x2 top. But the guys at Swiftech are generally understanding of other tops and will help out with RMA once they have established the 3rd party top was not the cause of any error- your mileage may definitely vary here.
So taking off that sticker leaves behind a nice trail of evidence that is hard to remove but not impossible. To remove the top, one simply has to unscrew the 4 screws at the bottom:
The new pump actually came with hex head screws, and not a very common size either. Good thing I have a multi bit driver!
Make sure the O-rings are in place before putting on the new top. Speaking of which:
I am not set on this color yet- especially with the black interior. But that won't matter for testing here and so I put on the top, being careful to screw each pump in with the included screws and making sure there is no discernible gap between the top and the pump bodies.
This thing is a powerhouse for most loops. It is also pretty loud at full speed and caused a cyclonic noise when sucking in water from the reservoir even at 50% max power. This should not be confused with 50% duty cycle as seen from the below PWM response chart from Swiftech:
At the same kind of noise levels as before (35% power, ~50% duty cycle), I got 1.2 GPM with the Mo.Ra alone in the loop and about 0.9-1 GPM with 4 QDCs. When the mcp50x comes out, I will hopefully get 1-2 to test against these for performance and noise. Depending on what I go with for Side 2, I may have a D5 pump also for testing.
One last thing- before putting on the top, I connected both pumps in series to see how the top affects things. At lower flow rates (0.60-1 GPM), there was no discernible difference in flow rates. I will be getting an inline pressure sensor soon to see if head pressure is affected. At higher flow rates (1.2+ GPM), the top increased flow rates about about 0.1 GPM compared to having two pumps in series hooked up by fittings- at least in my case. So I can definitely vouch for going with a dual pump top each time. It also looks better in my opinion.
Thanks Walder. Ya, I figured I would go into detail with things that no one really covers in case someone somewhere wants to find out and looks it up online. Having a large set of components, one of which murders flow rates, also helps. If everything goes as planned, Swiftech will send 1-2 mcp50x pumps to compare these with.
I realize all this may not be interesting to some people so I will make an update log in the first post soon. That way one can just go to the updates they are interested in.
I realize all this may not be interesting to some people so I will make an update log in the first post soon. That way one can just go to the updates they are interested in.
So speaking of X99 and Haswell-E, Pieter had this to say on HWBOT:
This was posted on the 22nd, and if he is right (he pretty much always is) then we got another 2 weeks before Haswell-E. This is way sooner than I expected. TTL in one of his videos hinted at this too but I didn't take him seriously then. Looks like my poor wallet is getting ready for a beating already.
This was posted on the 22nd, and if he is right (he pretty much always is) then we got another 2 weeks before Haswell-E. This is way sooner than I expected. TTL in one of his videos hinted at this too but I didn't take him seriously then. Looks like my poor wallet is getting ready for a beating already.
Powdercoating done! I am currently at the place waiting for the parts to cool down, they literally just removed it out of a massive oven and it is ridiculously hot in here with ovens all around:
Those pictures (from my phone) do it no justice. These look absolutely great
Those pictures (from my phone) do it no justice. These look absolutely great
lol the guy is standing next to the side panels, not even the front panel which is much bigger. But those are all on hooks so kinda misleading. The oven you see in the 2nd picture is set around 200 ºC or so, I could feel the radiation about 20 feet away when it was opened. The general ambience is close to 40-45 ºC I would say. Inspection and packing going on now:
I should be home in another 30 minutes or so. But I need to take a shower and have lunch before assembly begins
I should be home in another 30 minutes or so. But I need to take a shower and have lunch before assembly begins
I found some time to work on the pedestal. The poor thing had been left as a frame only for over a week:
First up- base added:
That leaves these bare spaces where the casters go (what a shocker!):
For some reason I had the standard casters on the case even though the TX10 comes with HD casters as default. Much as I would have liked the SD caster platform, I couldn't justify $180 on it when even the SD casters were working ok. But I went ahead and got a set of HD casters:
That's better. Now it is much easier to roll around in place and makes putting on things way easier too:
Now it's time to put on the powdercoated pieces. First up, the side panels:
I was set to save money and just have the outer sides powdercoated at first. But when I realized this wasn't going to cost as much as I though, I went with double side coating. Definitely made the right choice here I believe! Now let's add in the back and front panels and fit in a flexbay cover as well:
Hmmm.. I am glad I made that mock up in paint before. The black flexbay cover looks so out of place here:
Let's fix that up quick:
Much better. Now I know I promised close ups to better represent the powdercoat accurately, but without better lighting the camera just can't see what I can with my naked eyes. I went over to the local camera store and even they admitted that a table top "studio" was going to be my best bet instead of going big with studio lights and backdrops. So I am going to place an order for it and it should be here pretty soon. That will allow for a lot more freedom in taking component pictures, including a little something red from EVGA for benching.
First up- base added:
That leaves these bare spaces where the casters go (what a shocker!):
For some reason I had the standard casters on the case even though the TX10 comes with HD casters as default. Much as I would have liked the SD caster platform, I couldn't justify $180 on it when even the SD casters were working ok. But I went ahead and got a set of HD casters:
That's better. Now it is much easier to roll around in place and makes putting on things way easier too:
Now it's time to put on the powdercoated pieces. First up, the side panels:
I was set to save money and just have the outer sides powdercoated at first. But when I realized this wasn't going to cost as much as I though, I went with double side coating. Definitely made the right choice here I believe! Now let's add in the back and front panels and fit in a flexbay cover as well:
Hmmm.. I am glad I made that mock up in paint before. The black flexbay cover looks so out of place here:
Let's fix that up quick:
Much better. Now I know I promised close ups to better represent the powdercoat accurately, but without better lighting the camera just can't see what I can with my naked eyes. I went over to the local camera store and even they admitted that a table top "studio" was going to be my best bet instead of going big with studio lights and backdrops. So I am going to place an order for it and it should be here pretty soon. That will allow for a lot more freedom in taking component pictures, including a little something red from EVGA for benching.
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Geez.. I don't envy you for that.
Aye for both
I am still undecided about the helix vs Novacore rails reservoir. Leaning towards a couple of custom Novacores with the black rings in the middle gone at the moment for Side 1 and using my current 400mm Helix version for Side 2.