Time.Sync.

ALXAndy · 11 Dec 2018 at 12:22

Changed to an actual camera. Still work to do, so not ordered lights and backdrop yet.

Sadly when I pulled the masking it took off some paint. I was really mad, then realised I had loads of touching up to do any way in areas I missed etc.

Still very annoying though. Wiring is now pretty much finished.

Leak testing last night.

Screen is working but can't run rig on DP atm as it's on the floor. Once I get it up on the desk I can hook everything up.

LePhuronn · 11 Dec 2018 at 20:17

magic as always

ALXAndy · 11 Dec 2018 at 22:20

Merry Christmas

So earlier I fixed a problem I didn't even realise I had. If you look back to when I made the clock and had it running out of the PC it was about five times brighter. I figured it was dim because it was now closed in, but I had this nagging feeling that something wasn't right. I can no longer remove the front, but popped it away from the chassis and stuck my torch in there. All of a sudden the clock got much brighter.. WTF? it turns out after much prodding with my torch that the clock dims itself at night, and when it sees light it gets much brighter. I fixed that by putting a white LED strip behind it and closing it back up.

Just some paint touch ups now, then I can get stuck into the awfully expensive box of peripherals I have amassed over the last three months lol. Three months ! can't believe it !

mingey · 12 Dec 2018 at 10:36

I always love the work and detail you put into your builds/rebuilds, cant give you anymore than 10/10 for your patience, perseverance and obviously the outstanding end result, Inspirational /thumbs up !

ALXAndy · 12 Dec 2018 at 13:34

Thanks mate. Yeah, it was and still is in ways a massive test of patience. The problem is that you have to rely on external sources, and the only reliable one these days (proven tested theory) is OCUK. Seriously, I cannot speak highly enough of how amazing they are. It's literally like they have supported me all the way through by getting their end of things done on time, every time. They even switched deliveries to Saturdays for free a few weeks back (Xmas I would assume) which again really made this happen much faster. The only issue was all of the other sources. Blocks that were not in stock (and a week of nothing before contacting THEM only to find out they were not in stock) huge delays and hoses that were not the advertised size (who sells 9.3mm hose as 10? plenty of people. Seriously I have had that happen so many times). I went through three batches of black hose before ordering a 20m run from China which finally was the advertised OD. I could literally pull all of the others straight out of the fittings.

I'm glad it's (nearly) over. I still need to make an IO shield and I want to try and make one more grey cover panel but we will see how that goes. Then some masking up and touch ups and then it'll be finished.

But again yeah, enormous shout out to OCUK. No arguing, no quibbles, just rock solid service and fantastic customer service.

ALXAndy · 13 Dec 2018 at 09:32

Paint finished. One of the reasons I used hammered is because if it ever needs touching up it's easy to hide. Had that been flat paint I would have been in all sorts of trouble.

I've also made a flat black IO shield, and want to make two small grey ones later today.

ALXAndy · 8 Jan 2019 at 13:38

It's finished. I've also taken some photos (and a video) with a half decent camera, capable of transferring how the build looks in person into photos (almost, we all know it's actually close to impossible)

Tech specs.
CPU - Intel Xeon E7 ES. 14 core 28 threads
Motherboard - MSI X99 SLi Plus!
Memory - 8x4gb DDR4 running 2133mhz
GPU - Nvidia Titan X (P, Pascal)
Sound - Asus Xonar U7 MKII external USB
PSU - Enermax Platimax EPM1500EGT 1500w

Storage
1TB Intel 2280 NVME PCIE SSD
1TB Sandisk 2.5" SATA
500gb OCZ ARC 100 SATA
240gb Sandisk SATA
250gb Samsung EVO SATA

Cooling
Radiators - 2x Bitspower Leviathan 240mm.
Reservoir - Bitspower Z-Multi tank (100mm)
Flow Meter - Bitspower hex RGB
Fittings - (red) Bitspower
Fittings - (black) Bitspower, EK & Barrow
Hose - 11/8 (OD/ID)
Fans - Bequiet! Silent Wings 3 (4x120mm 1x92mm)
Fans cont - 140mm (in PSU) 80mm Noctua Industrial (cooling floor)
Pump - DDC
Pump Top - Alphacool acetal
CPU block - Aquacomputer Acetal
GPU Block - EK 1080Ti/TXP
XSPC EC6 clear coolant

Electronics

Aquacomputer Poweradjust 3
Aquacomputer Splitty! 9
Aquacomputer Hubby 7 (X2)
Aquacomputer Aquaero 5 LT
Aquacomputer Farbwerk RGB controller
XSPC RGB splitter box (X2)
RGB memory module cooler (X4)
30CM RGB strip (X2)
7" 1024x600 touch screen
EVGA Powerlink
RGB Fan halo (X4)

Modifications

80mm industrial feet
Complete interior refit (skinned with 3mm acrylic, painted with Hammerite)
Coolermaster vertical GPU riser and ribbon
Custom front panel constructed from acyrilic, hosts -
Twin volt meters in front, with two way mirror/clock and coolant temp meter
Completely rewired
Bitfenix Alchemy 24, 8 and 6+8 pin GPU extensions (black)
Dodge SRT "Hell Cat" badge

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJ3FaKpHMoY

Enormous thank you to all of those who helped me. Whether it be through advice, support, kind words or whatever else.

LePhuronn · 8 Jan 2019 at 23:07

She's a beauty as always!

Nevye · 16 Jul 2019 at 18:26

Wow the end result is amazing. Don’t think anyone can outdo this.

ALXAndy · 13 Jan 2020 at 00:09

After having the board, CPU and RAM for coming up to three years (dang, it's really been that long !) it was time for an upgrade. With the TR1 prices being what they are I had to get one. £230 for a 1920x. Board stung a bit (£260) but hey, it's HEDT.

I've also ordered the memory, now that the prices are agreeable.

Me being me I will do nothing for ages, then take on two projects at once. What you see behind it is "Project sort out your cinema rig" Tag Mclaren. Something that also has me stuck, as I have nowhere to put bloody hifi components lol.

Cenedd? Cened? AKA Gareth lol was going to help me adapt my block to fit TR. But after looking at it and thinking it over I decided to stump up the cash for a block. A proper TR block. This was annoying, as if I were careless I would smash all of the value out of the 1920x by over spending on a board and block. After weeks of searching I ordered this.

Those of you that know me know that I am not a brand hooer. I simply buy what's cheap, looks presentable and works. So at £35 inc it was quite the bargain.

OK, so it's sorta a Bitspower rip off, but that's fine with me. The best block for X399 is the Raystorm apparently and there's a 4c difference and a £90+ price difference. Which when you think about it makes no sense as Ryzen isn't really thermal limited, especially first gen.

I drained out the coolant the other day and sold off the old parts.

It was a sod to build and it's a sod to take apart. It all has to be done in absolutely one order, or nothing fits. Main floor, pump board, motherboard. To get it out? reverse. The motherboard and pump have to come out before the floor can come out.

Normally I would have designed it otherwise, but tbh it's not been apart since I built it. Not even once. I have other rigs I constantly meddle with, this isn't one.

slap ed · 13 Jan 2020 at 15:49

i'm in awe beautiful work

ALXAndy · 13 Jan 2020 at 16:42

Thanks man. It was definitely a labour of love.

I've ordered some more stuff I'll put up some pics later

ALXAndy · 13 Jan 2020 at 23:18

Wanted some more game storage, so bought two of these.

256gb. I am hoping to RAID them, in which case I can use them as the boot drive and my 1tb Intel as game storage. Either or, doesn't matter. It's only for my cross platform Xbox titles.

Paste.

Using Hydronaut this time. And coolant.

And this. The board has one built into the south bridge cooler, my Intel has an EK so this is for the other Phison.

Cenedd · 14 Jan 2020 at 10:40

Nice. I've got a pair of M.2 SSDs in RAID0 (striping using just onboard controller. Samsung rather than Phison to be fair) for speed but no fault tolerance and I've had no problems with them so far. Obviously backup is, as always essential since you double your risk of losing the lot....but it's quick!

Gotta love the clear (colourless) EC6. Your carpet will thank you for it!!

Hydronaut works nicely. Just spread it slowly with the included rubber nozzle - too fast and it sort of tears rather than spreads and you'll think it's a terrible product but go slow and it's no problem.

ALXAndy · 14 Jan 2020 at 12:41

Oh sweet man didn't know that.

I've hit a couple of snags, though.

NVME raid on TR is free (yay) but has no TRIM (what you talking bout Willis?). It's also a nightmare to get it booting, as you have to install windows first then set it up there and then it should boot. It's not bios driven it's driver driven in windows.

No trim means no os drive. So I'll raid it for the speed Lols then use it to hold the three cross platform Xbox games I play a lot.

And yeah, coolant is fantastic. I've a funny story about that.

A guy from another forum came over Saturday to buy the board ram etc. I put a towel down in the rig and put a jug under the GPU rotary and removed it. Didn't spill a drop so I removed a cap from the res to release the pressure so the lower loop could drain. Went very well.

I then opened up the other side of the GPU and inserted my blow pipe. It's on the chair in the pic there. I blew info it *hard*. This was with one pipe in the jug and the other half in my mouth.

Sprrrrrrp. Only some div had forgotten to put the cap back in the res and so I was treated to a fountain and free facial. What a Wally.

That's why the screen is all apart, as it all ended up right in there. What a clever place for me to have put that. I noticed some coolant had gotten between the 3mm clear sheet and screen surface so I took it apart and left it all drying.

Now if that were ec6 red? I'd resemble Rodney that time Del left him under the sunbed.

Cenedd · 14 Jan 2020 at 13:01

Only a lung-powered fountain? Pah, you feel more stupid when it's a dual DDC spraying the stuff all over your monitor rather than the hose end you're holding in a jug!

If the RAID its offering is "driver driven" then it'll be software RAID and at that point, you may as well look at using Windows 10's own since at least it'll be supported by any controller on any motherboard on any Windows box should you have trouble with say the board going bang. It doesn't look like it's bootable yet - or at least not easily. Worth a look into (Storage Spaces) as another option though.

ALXAndy · 14 Jan 2020 at 13:46

Yup it's software driven. You have to replace the drive drivers in DM with AMD ones, meaning you have to basically install Windows to set up that and the array. Then you need to make it bootable and so on.

I'll go that far, but not the bootable bit. I'll just use it for benchmark Lols and my Xbox games

What I am doing, though, is at some point bringing my Intel U2 device to the party.

It's 400gb, 3500 RW and what I didn't know was that they are basically the most reliable drives on earth bar none. That's the sorta drive I want for my OS tbh.

My M.2 card is out, as they'll all be full however once I make a confirmation there's a £20 pcie card that can make use of it. If it's the right one of course. It also uses four lanes, but when you have over 60 who cares right?

Cenedd · 14 Jan 2020 at 13:53

One of these worth a look? https://www.overclockers.co.uk/asus...roller-card-v2-90mc06p0-m0eay0-cc-001-as.html

ALXAndy · 14 Jan 2020 at 14:05

Won't fit. Vertical GPU.

I'd get away with the card I'm thinking of because it's low profile and I have a spare riser ribbon.

Remember, U.2 are x4 pcie but connect via a weird cable. They're sata SSD shaped but have a huge alu body like a heatsink.

I'll pop up and upload some pics in a minute.

ALXAndy · 14 Jan 2020 at 14:16

OK this is the drive I have.

It's not a SATA connector. You use this cable.

Which I am hoping is mini SAS. Then you connect that to this.

And put it in an M.2 on your board. Problem is mine will be full. I am hoping this is the correct thingermejig.

'cause it's only twenty quid. It says what I need it to say, but I want to just check 100% before I go ahead and order. The U.2 is currently in my triad rig (I'm literally typing this from it) but so is a 240gb RAID 0 SATA SSD stripe that's more than good enough for the OS on this PC. So I wanna pop it out and put it in Time Sync (well, the hell cat).

There you go, that's it there. Being an ES I picked it up really cheap, but man alive it's fast. I got lucky too, 'cause those cables are £45, and the M.2 adapter is £35. I had the adapter with the MSI X99 Godlike (thank god !) and the guy who I bought the drive from sold me a cable for £15 which was a blessing.

So yeah, given TR has many lanes I want to fill them all up now *devil emoticon*.