The XProto Project - AquaFusion, Vertical, Chrome, Industrial.

[Jay85]

Couple of updates:

Bitspower flow meter is rattling so im taking this as a sign to switch it out and have just bought the following from ocuk instead to replace it:

Killing 2 birds with 1 stone with this, giving me flow rates and temps between the gpu and gpu with another temp sensor after the gpu so i will have a full array of temps throughout then.

Also did abit more designing for a pump mount solution which i shall get by tomorrow hopefully. I want this relatively in the same position as the bitspower flow meter so i designed a mount that would allow it to be attached to the top screw hole and braced at the bottom using double sided sticky tape which should also act as abit of a dampener too.

 

[Jay85]

Update!

Got rid of the noisy Bitspower flow meter, i had a play with it before i dismantled it today. It does work and its noiseless at lower rpm's so i set it to 75% and below which made it fine but since i had the new smart pump anyway i went ahead and installed it. Loving the new pump power! Pushing an easy 200L/H, but i've turned them down to around 70% each so there's little to no noise from them. It really is a nifty piece of tech, calibrating the smart pump to give me an accurate read out was trick though. Especially with having 2 pumps in the system, i'm not even sure how accurate the reading is but i followed the instructions anyway.

The 3D printed pump mount and fan bracket both arrived today which is why i was able to install the new smart pump. With regards to those 3D printed items, i need to make some amendments to the design, now that i have them in hand and i have the pump bracket on the system (Fan bracket will have to wait a while yet). The Pump bracket could do with some adjustment with the top tab that screws into the case, i believe adding 2mm more of material will give it much needed strength. While drilling the hole i kind snapped it but managed to glue it back together and its installed with no issue.

The same goes for the fan bracket, the fastening top tab that would screw into the case is a little too thin and so same again, adding more material should give it some more rigidity. I should also add, it could be a 2-3mm wider as well though im not sure if this was down to the 3D printer company i used to print these brackets.


One thing i couldn't configure and still not sure why, is the RGB on the smart pump. I connected it to the farbwerk and opened aquasuite but its not following the same header i connected it to so software isn't implementing my setting. I can configure the D5 NEXT in aquasuite which has the RGB tab so i have done it separately from the Farbwerk, even though its connected to the farbwerk. I have also made sure to set the bus layout in the software to RGBpx but still no avail. If anyone has any ideas on what im doing wrong do let me know please. Maybe its a LED controller issue...

A couple of snaps to show off the work done and in some detail:











View attachment qaenrJa.jpg

View attachment DRpg9WD.jpg


I've set the rgb on the pump to show temperature, low temps is yellow and it will gradually fade to red when it reaches a set temperature or approaches it. Quite neat without having to look at the display i can tell how warm the coolant is.

 

[Jay85]

Looking awesome. The RGB strips you've fitted work so well, they look factory! Also (and I realise this is incorrigibly nerdy of me) I love those 90 degree fittings you have on the GPU, they're really cool

They should look even better once i get more of the fixing brackets in place. It's hard to keep them straight which adds to the aesthetics of the build.

I added the remaining sensors into the build last night, was abit of a pain but thankfully didn't require a full drain.


The gpu fittings are EK Micro rotary fittings designed for SFF builds, they are so much shorter than conventional ones. I love them!

 

[Jay85]

I'm finally stepping up my game abit more!

Thanks to OCUK for getting me these bitspower Nickel plated brass tubing from Caseking, took way shorter than i expected! Was estimated 4 week wait but it pretty much arrived within a week of ordering. For whatever reason, OCUK don't list these i think due to low selling quantities but anyway being able to grab a pack of 4 is a win since i can't seem to get them from anywhere else. The price isn't much more than getting a 2 pack as well so that's mainly the reason why i got them. Since i can't bend these by hand and i highly doubt i could bend them using a tube bender either due to its small diameter and probably relatively thin walls too, i will have to use 90 adapters to compensate some of the bends.

 

[Jay85]

Love this tubing, absolutely gorgeous! Feels weighty too but not over the top. Since there's no bending involved its much easier to work with, just cut and deburr and make sure its rinsed and rid of any metal shavings.

Still need to readjust one of the tube lengths, i cut it slightly too long so its pushing out abit and not sitting vertical as i intended. If anyone is thinking about doing this, i would highly recommend it! I am using them with Corsair Hydro X fittings and they sit well into the oring. Just wet the end slightly and it will slip over the oring without issue. Will upload a few higher quality pictures when im done with assembly and correcting things.

 

[Jay85]

Completed pics:

 

[Jay85]

Incredibly clean, thoughtful build. Love the chrome tubing.

Thanks! Believe it or not but its still a work in progress! But just gonna enjoy using it for now until after my holiday in which i might come back from the US with some goodies!

 

[Jay85]

wowzers - that looks amazing. the MORA is certainly a great radiator. Not sure how you can 'up your game' as you mentioned a bit higher up in the thread as its already at boss level!

There is always a way to up the game, i just need to get a little creative here. Struggling to find someone local to do my custom Distro right now so when i get this done i'll update the post some more.

Very, very nice, quite fancy adding a sensor panel to my system at some point. Need to do some research...

Hit me up if you want to know anything about the sensor panel or just ask me in here, it's no as hard as it seems.

 

[Jay85]

While i was on holiday in the US, a friendly redditor got in contact with me when i asked if anyone in the UK had a official fan module for this case. No one in the UK did but this guy in the US did and said if i messaged him while i was in the US he would post it to me! A few days later after some back and forth and i got the Fan module, delivered straight to the resort where i was staying. I said i would pay the postage but he said it was fine, what a gent! Can't thank him enough. Only had to pay the $6 resort handling fee.

More pics to come soon once i get the module installed so i can get rid of my rather janky 3D printed one.

 

[Jay85]

New fan bracket module installed!

So much cleaner than the 3D printed bracket, can actually see the fans now without the big bar running down the middle blocking some airflow.

 

[Jay85]

Lovely build mate, love the look of the Loki, torn between it and the newer SF850L/SF1000L.

What screen are you using for stats there?

Mind me asking where you grabbed the piping/fittings from? TIA.

The Loki is a good unit, the transparent fan looks abit naff and you might hit coil whine lottery but it seems to be the same for most of these Seasonic OEM units.

Its a waveshare 5" screen

Piping is from Bitspower which i acquired from Caseking through OCUK.

Fittings are from ocuk, they're Corsair hydro X Series XF.

 

[Jay85]

Yeah, have heard that about the Loki's, but they do look nice, so does the SFL's, still undecided if I want to give up my SF750.

Will look them up soon, wanting to do a watercooled build for ages, so eyeing up things that take my fancy!

I suppose that comes down to what gpu you end up getting but since 1000w sfx psu's are coming out more regularly i would be quite tempted to pick one of those up tbh. Though it does go upto SFX-L when you hit that mark since you need a 120mm fan to call it.

 

[Jay85]

That is pretty awesome looking, almost tempting me to build a new rig for my VR pc.

It's compact while be extremely cool! Not much in terms of dust issues either.

 

[Jay85]

I’ve decided I’ll be buying out. Where did you get the new fan mount from as I would defo want to mount a few fans on the back

2 or 3 fans? Because i have a 2 fan bracket spare that you can have for postage cost. Just passing on what the last guy did for me.

 

[Jay85]

2 fan would work fine, my rads are strapped the back of desk. Fans just to put air over vrm and stuff like that

Yeah that's pretty much what i've done, i've set the fans to cool the VRM's and the back of the GPU and works great tbh especially when configured with software correctly. Though technically the vrm's don't need it since its underneath a waterblock anyway!

 

[Jay85]

I just wanna add to this, how utterly impressed i am with Aquacomputer D5 NEXT.

I had a slow leak last night due to a loosened ring on my D5 Next pump, it was just loose enough to allow a small drip to form. Anyhow! The drip went down and into my D5 next display where the pcb and cables plug into it. The D5 Next immediately alarmed and showed me a warning! MOISTURE ALERT! DISCONNECT POWER! Obviously prompted me to investigate and found the drip almost straight away! Unplugged the D5 Next, removed the electronics part and cleaned it out and left it in a airing cupboard over night. Reinstalled this morning and all is well again!

What a great product! Would have never known if it hadn't alarmed and alerted me as the water must have started to pool inside. It did its job and it still works flawlessly no damage!

 

[Jay85]

That's good to know about the D5 Next, I'm considering using one of the for my next build instead of reusing the Aqua Computer USB D5 I have already. Not sure if I'll go with the leak detection system that you can get on their reservoirs.

Loving the case, it's great to see something different.

If i was buying into the ecosystem now a fresh start i would invest in the leak system. Kind wish i did but the way i’ve built it now means i don’t really have anywhere to install it.

Makes me wonder what other protection systems are in place that aren’t mentioned in the manual. I tried to google this but nothing came up.

 

[Jay85]

That's a very weird but well done build you have there good sir

Haha thanks! Guess im known for my quirky builds, still looking at a distro of some sort to minimise the tubing somewhat but getting it to work is another issue. Working on a 240mm thick rad attachment that i can screw into the fans to make it portable while using the QD's at the bottom. The problem is space, you'd think with an open frame i'd have unlimited options but in reality its a lot harder than it looks.

 

[Jay85]

Leakshield is a wonderous piece of kit, powered by magic and elves, but it can also be a royal pain in the arse as well- constant alarms for leaks that dont exist, issues with filling sensor and levels etc. Is one of the reasons I ripped out my hardline loop and went back to air cooling as I couldnt be arsed with it any longer

I also read about this too which is another reason why im a little hesitant as it might introduce issues into my loop that i don't need. It's working wonderfully as it is right now so don't really want the headache having just solved one.

 

[Jay85]

I dont have the pics but you have 2 options, since its a grill you can 3D print a mount which can be screwed in from behind the grill to fix it to the case then screw the or even VHB tape the screen to the mount.

I kinda janked it and used 3 x L brackets which i then hammered using a rubber mallet into the correct angle which i then screwed into the grill and taped the screen to the L backets. It's super secure and isn't going anywhere since the VHB tape is really strong.