Associate
One day I will build a rig that can rival this. One day 
XXL_Folding
- Thread starter Stan_Lite
- Start date
I've just been totting it up roughly and to build it from new parts to the current spec, you'd be looking at about £3,200. I've saved quite a bit by buying secondhand stuff - probably about a grand. I also had the graphics cards already so the build is costing me a about £1,200 - £1,300. When it gets the upgraded Xeons and graphics cards in the future, you could add another £5,000
Thinking about it, as much as it would be nice to have such a huge e-penis, it doesn't make sense to get the high end upgrades. I could probably build a couple of 4P server units for the same money, which would give me much more Folding PPD. Might just get a 4th 670 and watercooling blocks and spend my money more wisely.
In other news, the case arrived yesterday but I haven't got much done with it yet. I'll get some stuff done with it today and post pics. Unfortunately, I forgot about the Easter weekend when I was ordering my watercooling stuff and, while it was dispatched yesterday, it won't arrive until Tuesday
(as will the items I ordered from OcUK, although they're mostly for the changes to the gaming rig - except the extra 12GB RAM I ordered for this build 
).
Got a few bits done yesterday now that the case is here. The first shot was me having put the board in and trying put a few cables.
At this stage, I noticed a couple of things that annoyed me. Firstly with the case, in the top right hand corner, you'll see a mess of multicoloured cables from the front io panel. There is no other way to route these than through that top grommet. Looks really messy
I also don't like the USB3 cables that have to be routed out the back into the rear io panel but that isn't confined to this case.
Secondly, on the board, the HD audio socket is in a really stupid place, tucked in the middle of the PCI-E slots. I should be able to make it reasonably neat - the graphics cards should just about squeeze by it but it should be elsewhere.
I had a brainwave about the messy io cables. I was toying with getting some of that spiral cable wrap stuff but that's not the neatest looking stuff either and then I happened to notice a bit of spare black 1/2" hose I used in a previous build. I cut a couple of lengths to size and made slits up the back and shoved the wires inside. Looks a lot neater now.
Where I've got to so far:
This is as much as I can do for now until the rest of the parts arrive on Tuesday. I've fitted as many bits and cables as I can and fitted an extra 120.1 radiator I had lying around. The plan for the cooling loop is to have a bay res/pump combo in a couple of the lower 5.25 bays (I've ordered a res to fit one of the D5 pumps I have in my collection). It'll go from there to an Alphacool NexXxoS UT60 radiator in the top with the barbs at the back of the case. It'll go from there to first CPU (on the left); from there to the second CPU; then down to the 120 rad before heading up to the main MB block and then on to the mosfet block and finally returning to the res. You'll have to imagine all that in your head as I'm no good at drawing diagrams
A few final images.
Plenty of room up top. Not sure if I could squeeze in push-pull with that thick rad. If not, I can just go with 3 fans or mount some on top of the case.
Towards the front where the res and fan controller still have to go. That DVD drive and SSD won't necessarily be staying exactly there. I'll wait and see how things fit in before finding a final place for them.
And a final shot towards the back of the case. You can't really see from the pic but I've neatened up the HD audio cable and managed to tuck it into a place where I should be able to fit the graphics cards around it.
Some of the eagle-eyed among you may have noticed that there is a 1/2" hose from the second CPU block to the bottom rad. This is just in place to see how it fits and will be replaced with 7/16" hose when it arrives. Also, fans. There will be 2x120mm fans blowing in from the HDD bays, the bottom rad is blowing into the case and there will be a 200mm fan blowing in from the side over the graphics cards. The 360 rad will be venting from the case as will the 140mm fan at the back.
Making progress but frustrating having to wait.
I'm off up to Falkirk for the Larbert beer festival in a couple of hours to chill out. When I get back tomorrow, I'll tidy up some of the carnage that is the inevitable result of me building PCs.
The dining room table:
Screws and stuff on the chest of drawers in the dining room:
And the spare settee in the living room:
At this stage, I noticed a couple of things that annoyed me. Firstly with the case, in the top right hand corner, you'll see a mess of multicoloured cables from the front io panel. There is no other way to route these than through that top grommet. Looks really messy
I also don't like the USB3 cables that have to be routed out the back into the rear io panel but that isn't confined to this case.
Secondly, on the board, the HD audio socket is in a really stupid place, tucked in the middle of the PCI-E slots. I should be able to make it reasonably neat - the graphics cards should just about squeeze by it but it should be elsewhere.
I had a brainwave about the messy io cables. I was toying with getting some of that spiral cable wrap stuff but that's not the neatest looking stuff either and then I happened to notice a bit of spare black 1/2" hose I used in a previous build. I cut a couple of lengths to size and made slits up the back and shoved the wires inside. Looks a lot neater now.
Where I've got to so far:
This is as much as I can do for now until the rest of the parts arrive on Tuesday. I've fitted as many bits and cables as I can and fitted an extra 120.1 radiator I had lying around. The plan for the cooling loop is to have a bay res/pump combo in a couple of the lower 5.25 bays (I've ordered a res to fit one of the D5 pumps I have in my collection). It'll go from there to an Alphacool NexXxoS UT60 radiator in the top with the barbs at the back of the case. It'll go from there to first CPU (on the left); from there to the second CPU; then down to the 120 rad before heading up to the main MB block and then on to the mosfet block and finally returning to the res. You'll have to imagine all that in your head as I'm no good at drawing diagrams
A few final images.
Plenty of room up top. Not sure if I could squeeze in push-pull with that thick rad. If not, I can just go with 3 fans or mount some on top of the case.
Towards the front where the res and fan controller still have to go. That DVD drive and SSD won't necessarily be staying exactly there. I'll wait and see how things fit in before finding a final place for them.
And a final shot towards the back of the case. You can't really see from the pic but I've neatened up the HD audio cable and managed to tuck it into a place where I should be able to fit the graphics cards around it.
Some of the eagle-eyed among you may have noticed that there is a 1/2" hose from the second CPU block to the bottom rad. This is just in place to see how it fits and will be replaced with 7/16" hose when it arrives. Also, fans. There will be 2x120mm fans blowing in from the HDD bays, the bottom rad is blowing into the case and there will be a 200mm fan blowing in from the side over the graphics cards. The 360 rad will be venting from the case as will the 140mm fan at the back.
Making progress but frustrating having to wait.
I'm off up to Falkirk for the Larbert beer festival in a couple of hours to chill out. When I get back tomorrow, I'll tidy up some of the carnage that is the inevitable result of me building PCs.
The dining room table:
Screws and stuff on the chest of drawers in the dining room:
And the spare settee in the living room:
Last edited:
I forgot to say thank you for all the kind comments (although most of them have been in praise of the awesome hardware and not my incredible system building skills ).
I forgot to reply to TheDesX77 about the Tesla cards. Apparently they're no better for Folding than standard GPUs and much more expensive. I assume the Folding clients are optimised for standard GPUs as that's what the majority of users will have.
).I forgot to reply to TheDesX77 about the Tesla cards. Apparently they're no better for Folding than standard GPUs and much more expensive. I assume the Folding clients are optimised for standard GPUs as that's what the majority of users will have.
Associate
Yeah it is beastly hardware! Can't wait to see it all working! Your building skills are far and above those of the majority of people in this forum I'm sure, I couldn't bring myself to touch that kind of hardware in fear of breaking it, let alone install water cooling on it and have it running at 100% all the time!
Kudos to you
Kudos to you
Associate
Good work stan!
Personally I opted for running the PCI-E power and cpu Power from the top of the board then its not in the way of the gpus when you plug them in
Personally I opted for running the PCI-E power and cpu Power from the top of the board then its not in the way of the gpus when you plug them in
Soldato
Fantastic system building skills Stan. Will you be running Glenkinchie 12yo in the loop or perhaps some Speyburn?
Associate
Your doing it all wrong ...if you can work on a computer the day after a beer festival ... your doing it all wrong
Great build btw, cant wait to see it finished.
Great build btw, cant wait to see it finished.
The cable isn't long enough to reach from the top so I'd need extensions which would probably be a bit messy. I should be able to work around it the way it is.
Your doing it all wrong ...if you can work on a computer the day after a beer festival ... your doing it all wrong
Great build btw, cant wait to see it finished.
I wasn't actually going to be working on the build, I was only going to tidy up. Even that proved too much and still hasn't been done
Guys, I was only kidding about the system builder thing, lol. I'm actually a bit rough normally. Due to delays getting hardware, I'm being forced to take my time on this one so it's going a bit neater than usual and with more planning. Usually I get all the bits in one go, bung them together in an hour and switch on. The results are usually pretty rough.
I'm thinking this is the better way to do it, bit by bit with plenty of time and patience. Having said that, assuming everything comes tomorrow, I'll only have 2 1/2 days to finish it as I'm off on holiday on Friday and only have half a day when I get back before I'm off to work for a month. I want to get this up and Folding by Thursday.
Associate
Folding with an SR-2. My good sir, I salute you!
If you need to get rid one of the GTX670s, I still need one for my folding build
Good luck with this build. It looks very promissing.
One thing though; I see a lot of non sleeved cables. Even folding builds have to look good
If you need to get rid one of the GTX670s, I still need one for my folding build
Good luck with this build. It looks very promissing.
One thing though; I see a lot of non sleeved cables. Even folding builds have to look good
Folding with an SR-2. My good sir, I salute you!
If you need to get rid one of the GTX670s, I still need one for my folding build
Good luck with this build. It looks very promissing.
One thing though; I see a lot of non sleeved cables. Even folding builds have to look good
Thank you sir. I haven't fully decided what I'm going to be doing with the 670s yet. If I do get rid of them, it won't be for a while yet anyway.
This is nowhere near as nice a build as your beautiful looking Folding rig. I've been keeping an eye on your thread and I'm hugely impressed by the attention to detail.
Most of the unsleeved cables will be hidden. About the only ones that will be visible will be the SATA cables into the mobo. I might look into braiding them in the future but not at the moment. Could be a bit tricky as a couple of them are hard-wired into the front io panel.
Associate
Thank you for those compliments.
But if you have the right spirit your big Xigmatek can be very clean and nice as well.
But I will follow your build. Keep those updates coming. And if you need some cash for parts, perhaps I can take a reference 670 off your hands
Good luck!
But if you have the right spirit your big Xigmatek can be very clean and nice as well.
But I will follow your build. Keep those updates coming. And if you need some cash for parts, perhaps I can take a reference 670 off your hands
Good luck!
Only a small update today. My watercooling bits didn't arrive. Apparently they were dispatched on Thursday at 10:00 and, until a couple of hours ago, Parcelforce were aware the parcel was coming but hadn't received it 
I contacted the supplier to ask what was happening but haven't received a reply yet. The Parcelforce status has since updated to ".... arrived at Manchester Mail Centre on the 2013-04-02 and we are currently processing it."
No sign of it having moved from Manchester yet. Hopefully it will move overnight and get delivered tomorrow. If not and it doesn't arrive until Thursday, I'm going to be hard pushed to get the thing finished before I head off on holiday on Friday (I leave at about 06:00 on Friday so need to get done not too late on Thursday). If the stuff arrives tomorrow, I'll get it all built tomorrow and test the loop overnight and spend Thursday overclocking and testing/benching before getting it Folding.
Anyway. At least the stuff from OcUK arrived - at least someone is dependable (it's just a pity their watercooling stock isn't as good as I would like). I received the extra RAM I ordered and have bunged it in - looks a lot less bare now
Now 24GB in there. Overkill I know but, that's what this baby is all about really.
Also received a jumbo tube of MX-4 (pictured next to the ubiquitous Haribo for scale):
That should keep me going for a bit
I took out the CPU blocks and re-did them with the new MX-4 as I had originally done them with some old AS-5 I had lying around. It was a few years old so I wanted to make sure there was good gunk in there. I didn't redo the MB blocks as they were done with the last of the MX-3 I had which was a lot newer (they're also very fiddly to get on and off).
Once the watercooling bits come, I shouldn't be too long getting her finished. the waiting is really frustrating - especially when I'm getting pushed for time
I contacted the supplier to ask what was happening but haven't received a reply yet. The Parcelforce status has since updated to ".... arrived at Manchester Mail Centre on the 2013-04-02 and we are currently processing it."No sign of it having moved from Manchester yet. Hopefully it will move overnight and get delivered tomorrow. If not and it doesn't arrive until Thursday, I'm going to be hard pushed to get the thing finished before I head off on holiday on Friday (I leave at about 06:00 on Friday so need to get done not too late on Thursday). If the stuff arrives tomorrow, I'll get it all built tomorrow and test the loop overnight and spend Thursday overclocking and testing/benching before getting it Folding.
Anyway. At least the stuff from OcUK arrived - at least someone is dependable (it's just a pity their watercooling stock isn't as good as I would like). I received the extra RAM I ordered and have bunged it in - looks a lot less bare now
Now 24GB in there. Overkill I know but, that's what this baby is all about really.
Also received a jumbo tube of MX-4 (pictured next to the ubiquitous Haribo for scale):
That should keep me going for a bit
I took out the CPU blocks and re-did them with the new MX-4 as I had originally done them with some old AS-5 I had lying around. It was a few years old so I wanted to make sure there was good gunk in there. I didn't redo the MB blocks as they were done with the last of the MX-3 I had which was a lot newer (they're also very fiddly to get on and off).
Once the watercooling bits come, I shouldn't be too long getting her finished. the waiting is really frustrating - especially when I'm getting pushed for time
Last edited:
Soldato
What are you filling the loop with?
Alphacool ultra pure water for now. I won't be using any dyes as I'll probably be changing the loop if/when I watercool the GPUs.
Well, it looks like this build will be at a standstill for a while. The watercooling parts are still being "processed" in Manchester (that's the better part of 2 days now) and I'm off on holiday tomorrow. I can only assume "processing" translates as "sitting in a corner until there's enough to fill a van". I hate Parcelforce
I get back from holiday on Monday the 15th but I'm due to head back out to Egypt to work the next day so I won't have time to do anything meaningful in that short a time frame so I probably won't get anything done with it until I get back on the 17th of May
I get back from holiday on Monday the 15th but I'm due to head back out to Egypt to work the next day so I won't have time to do anything meaningful in that short a time frame so I probably won't get anything done with it until I get back on the 17th of May
Associate
gutted to hear this... what parts are you waiting for stan?
what parts are you waiting for stan?