The BEAST

Hey all. I hope you have enjoyed reading (or just viewing) my 'Beast' work log builds. I know I enjoyed making them.
If you were waiting for a finish on the 'Heavy Beast' worklog, forget it. I became disenchanted with that case as soon as I finished reading The1stCAV's "Frank n Stein PC" thread. Awesome work there. Give it a read (or at least a glance).
This build is a take on his build. Think of it as bastard off-spring of "Frank". The black sheep of Franks family.
On a side note, I am in the last stage of renal cell carcinoma. AKA kidney cancer. I'm not looking for sympathy. Just stating that since I can no longer work, I will now have more time to devote to this build. Let's just hope I can hang on long enough to get-er-done.
This build will just be titled 'The Beast'. This will be the largest and most over the top build I have ever attempted.
One final build before I leave this place.
On with the post.

As usual, the case always comes first. Since this is a work in progress, I don't have the case in hand just yet, but I do know what I will be using.
Mountain Mods has a case called the 'Extended Ascension - CYO'. I will also be using the 'Water Barrel 24' as a base for the Ascension. Without the casters, this thing (combined) will be 42" tall by 24" deep by 18" wide. Over the top right? The Extended Ascension's dimensions are 24" tall and deep, and 18" wide. The Water Barrel is 18" tall and wide, and 24" deep.
Here are some shots I got off the web. I apologize if I am violating anyone's copyright.
Mountain Mod's Extended Ascension



And one of the Water Barrel 24


As of this writing, I'm still unsure of the finish of the case. I'm leaning toward mirror powder-coat at the moment. If you want to see what that looks like, check out The1stCAV 's "Frank n Stein PC" thread over in the case mod gallery. So you can get a glimpse inside 'The Beast' I might use plexi on some of the panels.
This build will be watercooled of course.
I am a big fan of Aquacomputer's products and their Airplex Modularity radiators are super cool.
I wanted to use 140mm radiators where possible. I believe you get better thermal results and as a rule, 140mm fans are quieter (as opposed to 120mm). Where space permitted, I went with 420mm rads, and then used 280mm rads where I couldn't fit a 420.
All of the panels in the Mountain Mods (from here on out will be shortened to MM) Extended Ascension case will be using 140mm radiator holes.
I will be using 2 420mm rads side by side on the left and right side panels. And one 420mm on the back panel (hopefully). For the top and front I will be using 280mm rads. two for each panel. If you have done your math properly, that should add up to 9 radiators.
Here are the RADS (thanks and kudos go out to FrozenCPU.com and Perfromance-pcs.com for having exactly what I needed in stock)

Shipping containers (I don't know why people post pics of their boxes when they get them. Why should I buck the trend)








A few shots of the rads




Here is the coupler that will allow me to join two rads side by side




Here are the plates that join the rads together



Can you see that little bump on the right edge? It's actually a burr leftover from the manufacturing process. If I'm not mistaken, these are probably cut from a large plate using a water jet machine, and the bump is a result of the part falling off before the cutting process is finished. The bump is evident on all 16 pieces I purchased. Nothing a little sandpaper can't handle. Just one more step in a process of thousands.


Rads adjoined.


The radiators going into the Water Barrel 24 are 120mm x 9 units from Watercool. I really wanted to use 140mm, but it was just to close a fit. I was worried I wouldn't be able to get them to fit.
Onto pics of the rads. Shipping boxes (it's like effing christmas)



The rad boxes are like extra large pizza boxes. These radiators measure 16.358" x 15.078" x 2.56" thick. and these are the 120mm variety. Imagine the 140mm?



When you can hear things rattling inside the box, it's not good.


Check it!



Shiny


These rads are very similar to the Aquacomputer Airplex Modularity radiators. 8.5 fins per inch.


The ports are not counter bored like the Airplex rads.


Here are pics of the hardware to mount the 120mm fans to the rad. First, the inner rails.



Sharp edges


Here is a little plastic protector to help with rubbing on the fins.



Here is where the end of the rail inserts.



This is the connector mount for the outer edges for the 120mm rads.


Here is where it goes.




They had this protective goo on the mounting hardware. Pain to get off, but it worked.





All done!


Close-up.


If one is good, two must be better. Inside the Water Barrel 24, one rad will be affixed to the inside of the left panel and one to the right.



After a bit a research, I ended up getting the Swiftech MCP35X2 pumps.


Three to be exact! I know. One pump would probably be enough for the whole system. But, one pump is boring. So....


Inside the box. Sorry for the first pic being a little blurry.



Hardware


PWM joining cable. This allows for both pumps to be controlled via PWM.


Pump


Rats nest. It's actually not bad. I'd rather have more than not enough cable.


Each pump has its own power and sense and PWM control.



Additional shots. The workmanship is wonderful. Very good attention to detail.






I'm not going inside. If you want to see inside, look up Martin's review of the pumps over @ www.martinsliquidlab.org . His review was part of the reason for me getting the pumps. Good review and reviewer.


Bottom


More views.




Swiftech has a finned cooling plate that goes on the bottom of these pumps.


These shots show modifications by me for reasons to be explained further.


The cooling plate has a way to affix 80mm fans for additional cooling. I wanted to add these but needed a way to mount the fan so I could get good airflow to the plate. And, I also wanted a way to isolate these pumps from the case. So I came up with this. I dreamed up some arms to suspend the pumps by springs. First the arms.






4-40 tapped holes to affix the arms to the support plate.


Support plate. All the tapped holes in the center of the plate are so I could move the assembly left or right as needed after I drilled the affixing holes.


Notches for the arms.


4-40 counter bores


Arms affixed to mounting plate.


Here are the springs that are going to suspend the pump. These are precision made springs. About $3.00 for each spring.



I needed a way to mount the springs. So I came up with these studs.


Tiny eh? The groove is for the spring. There is a section cut away for the curvature of the spring.


I'm going to just show the pics that shows the progression. If you have any questions about a specific component, please ask.





Second spud. Little longer.





Long spud goes on the block.


Short spud goes on the end of the arm.





4-40 button head hex screw. This is used to affix the block to the finned cooling plate.






Assembled.





I had to remove some of the arm support to clear the fitting.





Close fit.


80mm fan affixed.



I don't have any shots of the pump assembly affixed to anything yet. They were planned for 'Heavy Beast'.

Stay tuned. Lots more to come.

Here are some random shots of some of the components that are going to live inside The Beast.

Motherboard







Memory



GPU. Back when this was 'Heavy Beast' the GTX 680 was the fastest single GPU card you could get. So I went with that.


I even purchased the EVGA Hydro Copper water block to go with it. I didn't take too many pics. If you need more, there is always the web.





I'm now using the 680 in the very machine I'm using to write this post.

Well, time passed and the GTX 690 came on the scene. I even got the Hydro Copper version with the block pre-installed. I didn't take the card out of the packaging since Heavy Beast wasn't done, so this card just sat there and waited. It's still waiting. Still untouched. I couldn't get a good picture of the card through the bag. Sorry.





Time has passed, and nVidia has since introduced the Titan. And of course, I wanted it. Ordered one as soon as I could get one from newegg.














I knew I really wanted to do SLI, but at the time couldn't justify getting another Titan. I changed my mind recently, and bit the bullet and picked up a second one.


What could be buried in there?



The twins.


Intel I7-3930K CPU. I wish I could justify spending $1000 for the Extreme version, but the extra 3MB cache and the bump in frequency just doesn't seem worth it.


Here is the water blocks for the Asus Rampage IV Extreme. Koolance MB - ASR4E. I just tried to look for this online and couldn't find it. Glad I got it when I could.







Mobo chip. Gunky!

VRM's


All cleaned up.


Blocks installed. Sorry about not having more pics. Use your imagination.


I hate the fact they have to cover up one of the screw mounting locations for the mobo. Oh well.



Here are the EK GPU blocks for the Titan's. I got these the week they came out. I'm sure there are better ones out there now, but who cares. If they suck, then I'll look into getting something else.



I got two back then cause I knew I was gonna go SLI.


Let's see what's inside.












I just happened to be shopping at www.frozencpu.com and came across this. I figured I'd give it a try. We'll see how it goes. Got some shirts too. What the heck eh?




















Here is the plug if you were going to just use one pump. O-ring was a little sticky. I'm going to be using two pumps so audios plug!



Just some random close-up shots.
















Here are the SSD's I have purchased for Heavy Beast, and now The Beast. Since my builds take so long, and new tech comes down the pipe, it's impossible to keep up. I just got the Samsung today (7 Aug 2013). I'm sure this won't be the final SSD that goes into this build.




I originally purchased the XFX for Heavy Beast. I re-cabled the 24 pin ATX cable, and XFX in their finite wisdom made the 24 pin connector so that it splits into 10 and 14 pin plugs (the ends that plug into the PSU). Well, one of the 23 pins had two wires coming out of it. One going to the 10 plug and one to the 14. I used Kobra cables to re-do the 24 ATX, and only one got plugged into either the 10 or the 14 plug (don't remember at this point). Anyways, it didn't work. I guess both wires needed to be connected. My fault really. Lukily, XFX sent me another 24 pin cable. I ended up giving that PSU to my sister in a build I did for her.





I then purchased the Corsair. Same issue with the Corsair unit though. I did use my multimeter to check the two separate pins on the 10 and 14 pin outlets and they were common. Might be ground wires. I don't know. We'll see how it goes.


Check back soon! Out.

Just a couple shots of some stuff I got. New monitor.




Sorry about my messy desk. Doesn't look as bad right now. Embarrassment can motivate me sometimes.


New keyboard.


Backside view.


Front.



New mouse. Corsair M65. Liking it so far.














Look what also showed up last night. Pictures don't do this hardware justice. This memory is super high quality. Not sure if I'll pick up another set and max the board out.








Stay tuned!

I'm at a loss for words here. I'm intrigued by the entire build and especially the spring mounting mechanism and at the same time I'm trying to put myself in your state of mind. Keep up the good work and God Bless. Git er done.

This build should be pretty epic. Are you machining all of that yourself? Everything looks awesome so far. The spring mounts are really cool, I've never seen that before in a build.
Good luck with everything man. I will be watching your build closely.

ingenious method of avoiding vibrations.

Sub'd

Subscribed!!! Very nice idea on the pump mounts, very nice.....Cant wait for more.

deadlift1 said:

I'm at a loss for words here. I'm intrigued by the entire build and especially the spring mounting mechanism and at the same time I'm trying to put myself in your state of mind. Keep up the good work and God Bless. Git er done.

Click to expand...

Thanks so much deadlift. Ya, words can get in the way. Pictures are better for that. Let's pray I get it done!

DraginDime said:

This build should be pretty epic. Are you machining all of that yourself? Everything looks awesome so far. The spring mounts are really cool, I've never seen that before in a build.
Good luck with everything man. I will be watching your build closely.

Click to expand...

Thanks DraginDime. Yes, I did machine all this. Most parts were done on manual machines. The little spring posts were done on a CNC.

Robertmarcus said:

ingenious method of avoiding vibrations.

Sub'd

Click to expand...

Thanks Robertmarcus. We'll see how ingeniuos it is if it works or not. Let's cross our fingers and hold our breath.

MouseTrap said:

Subscribed!!! Very nice idea on the pump mounts, very nice.....Cant wait for more.

Click to expand...

Thanks MouseTrap. Like I said, we'll see if it works or not.

holy freaking zombie jesus

Sub'd!

Look what arrived yesterday. Sweet huh? All the way from Germany. Cost me a fortune in shipping.





Our cat Flower loves boxes!


Sorry. Back to the rads.








These must be for the 280mm rads.





Time to take the stainless side panels off.













I think they look sweet. What say you?

See ya back for more.

Those rads look sexy. Nice work!

Saint001 said:

Those rads look sexy. Nice work!

Click to expand...

Thanks Saint001. Ya, I like them too.

what painting process was done to get that finish. That red just looks stunning.

I don't think you have enough rads

Was putting on the new side panels and noticed this. Nice de-burr job. Aquacomputer needs to pay a little more attention to post production. Great products by the way. Besides, most people would have never noticed. Coming from my background, I can't help but notice.


After a little file work.


Stay tuned.

Robertmarcus said:

what painting process was done to get that finish. That red just looks stunning.

Click to expand...

Robertmarcus, that is not paint, it is anodize. It looks better in person. My camera can't do it justice.

ToddW2 said:

I don't think you have enough rads

Click to expand...

ToddW2, enough is never enough! LOL

Just paid for my new cases from Mountain Mods.





So stoked! Can't wait!

Your pictures do the talking well here, as they show the products in a real world perspective, nicely done photography. A lot of those on-line retail product shots just don't cut it... something too static, lack of luster, depth..whatever. Look forward to your updates to this "Beast" of a build.

Subbed!

Fantastic hardware. I can't wait to see it done.

LooseNeutral said:

Your pictures do the talking well here, as they show the products in a real world perspective, nicely done photography. A lot of those on-line retail product shots just don't cut it... something too static, lack of luster, depth..whatever. Look forward to your updates to this "Beast" of a build.

Click to expand...

Thanks! I try and take pictures of these products as I would want to see them. Many times certain features are omitted for space sake or whatever.

jackofalltrades said:

Subbed!

Click to expand...

Thanks.

gigatexal said:

Fantastic hardware. I can't wait to see it done.

Click to expand...

Why thank you. Some of it is pretty cool. I sure hope the good Lord will let me live long enough to see it finished.

How many loops?

Are you watercooling your house too?

This is pure [H]. Nicely done.

I purchased a used Aquacomputer Airplex 420mm radiator with the D5 pump end on ebay the other day.







The seller did a piss poor job of packaging the rad. There was a tear in the shipping box and this is the result.




Well, after a little surgery, this is what is left over.






It looks worse depending on the angle your viewing it from. I don't think it turned out half bad. It should work just fine. I couldn't pass up the deal. Got it shipped for less than $200

Stay tuned!

deadlift1 said:

How many loops?

Are you watercooling your house too?

This is pure [H]. Nicely done.

Click to expand...

Thanks deadlift1! I'm not quite sure how many loops I'll have. With a minimum of 14 radiators going into this build, I could have as many as I want. I'll probably have just three. One loop for the mobo, one for the CPU and one for the GPU's. House will be air cooled though. LOL.

Forget the build if your health isn't good. Spend the time with family. But then again we are your [H] family so...

Keep up the good work man.

gigatexal said:

Forget the build if your health isn't good. Spend the time with family. But then again we are your [H] family so...

Keep up the good work man.

Click to expand...

Dear gigatexal, thanks for your concern. I take one day at a time. Some days are good, and some not so good. Each day is a gift though. I try and spend as much time with my family as they allow. They still have their lives. I don't expect them to put their lives on hold for me. I will always make time for my [H] famliy. You people rock!

Just got a package in the mail. I happened to be scanning ebay and did a search for 'Bitspower' and came upon an auction for a lot of misc. Bitspower fittings. $100 with free shipping! I couldn't resist. Check em out.










This was a weird one.




These are not bitspower clamps. I believe they are Lamptron clamps.


I did a quick search at Frozencpu and if you were to buy all these fittings new, they would run you well over $270.00 . I think I made out OK.

Stay tuned!

Holy BEAST. You sir, are a bad ass! If you don't mind me asking... How much do you think this build will cost you? And the next logical question is: what do you do for a living?

Bosebeer said:

Holy BEAST. You sir, are a bad ass! If you don't mind me asking... How much do you think this build will cost you? And the next logical question is: what do you do for a living?

Click to expand...

Thanks Bosebeer! Bad ass eh? May be a little. Crazy? Absolute! This build is approaching about $6000.00 . With most of that cost going towards the watercooling and case. 14 radiators do add up. Not to mention all the things between the rads. As far as a living? When I was able to work, I was a machinist. Luckily, my former employer will still let me use his facility to finish a few pieces that are going into 'The Beast'. Since I got sick, I haven't been able to work. It was tough at first, but as the days go by I find it easier to fill my day with other things. Thanks for asking Bosebeer.

Machinist; makes perfect sense! I was thinking how awesome it would be to have access to materials and equipment that people use to actually make those parts! Really admire everything you are doing; keep it up man, loving this thread.

Steve, I am going to pray you make a full recovery and the Lord gives you quite a few more years with your family and our [H]ard family! I have a friend that is fighting his second bout with cancer after making a full recovery and 4.8 years in remission the cancer came back like a savage beast...It is really hard to see him going through this, but his attitude is AMAZING..He is determined to hang around as long as he can, and I hope he does.

Now onto the build..."F*%kin' Epic" is the phrase that came to mind! It certainly looks like you are going to give Frank a run for his money ! Do you plan on staying with SB-E, or jumping to Ivy-E next month? I know the performance gains aren't amazing, but the power savings (especially if you leave you computer on idling) seem to be pretty darn good..

I love the radiators..The red is nice looking, but those stainless steel covers ! Can't wait to see you get everything finished!

ccityinstaller said:

Steve, I am going to pray you make a full recovery and the Lord gives you quite a few more years with your family and our [H]ard family! I have a friend that is fighting his second bout with cancer after making a full recovery and 4.8 years in remission the cancer came back like a savage beast...It is really hard to see him going through this, but his attitude is AMAZING..He is determined to hang around as long as he can, and I hope he does.

Now onto the build..."F*%kin' Epic" is the phrase that came to mind! It certainly looks like you are going to give Frank a run for his money ! Do you plan on staying with SB-E, or jumping to Ivy-E next month? I know the performance gains aren't amazing, but the power savings (especially if you leave you computer on idling) seem to be pretty darn good..

I love the radiators..The red is nice looking, but those stainless steel covers ! Can't wait to see you get everything finished!

Click to expand...

i 2nd this completely

ccityinstaller said:

Steve, I am going to pray you make a full recovery and the Lord gives you quite a few more years with your family and our [H]ard family! I have a friend that is fighting his second bout with cancer after making a full recovery and 4.8 years in remission the cancer came back like a savage beast...It is really hard to see him going through this, but his attitude is AMAZING..He is determined to hang around as long as he can, and I hope he does.

Now onto the build..."F*%kin' Epic" is the phrase that came to mind! It certainly looks like you are going to give Frank a run for his money ! Do you plan on staying with SB-E, or jumping to Ivy-E next month? I know the performance gains aren't amazing, but the power savings (especially if you leave you computer on idling) seem to be pretty darn good..

I love the radiators..The red is nice looking, but those stainless steel covers ! Can't wait to see you get everything finished!

Click to expand...

Dear ccityinstaller,

Sorry to hear abot your friend. I pray God's will be done. I pray I can hang around as long as the good lord has intended.

Plan on staying with SB-E cause Intel is supposedly releasing a new proc later this year. Don't have any info on it yet. Power savings are mute. I don't plan on keeping 'The Beast' on 24/7. And doesn't the mad scentist always demand more power? LOL. Thanks for your caring and interest. I hope I can hold it a while longer.

On a side note, I have aranged to take a visit up to Mountain Mods in Eugene Oregon. They are going to let me snap a few photos for this build thread. Can't wait to go. Don't know when I will leave, but when I do, I'll let you all know.

Right now I'm busy working on a new home for my current computer. Photos and info to follow.

Stay tuned!