Behold Teraractyl! X58 H2O in a 4U 19" rack

jojo69

[H]F Junkie
Joined
Sep 13, 2009
Messages
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Project parameters are to build maximum FLOPS in minimum CC on a budget.

More specifically, My intention is to build a full performance modern desktop in a 4U 19” RS 310 form factor chassis. I have a lot of audio, test, and RF gear in rackmount format so I was interested in integrating the PC into the rack. This has turned out to be something of a challenge. As you will see, I am hard against all three physical axes in my chosen form factor.

Many [H]ers will, I am sure, question the wisdom of building an X58 based system at this time. All I can say is that while “disposable” income does exist here, I am not made out of money. I have been acquiring parts slowly as deals appeared and as funds allowed. It is my hope that with SB coming on the scene X58 MOBOs will soon drop in price. In short, at first boot this system will be one generation back from bleeding edge...such are the financial realities.

I tend to build systems for the long haul...this project is intended to replace a thoroughly upgraded PIII...lol, so I have invested heavily in power delivery and thermal management. It is my hope that this chassis will support future generations of silicon.

As of this post (mid Jan 11) the parts on hand are as follows;

PSU- Corsair AX 1200..wow, sort of the crown jewel so far, was a [H]ot deal at the time.

Cooling- mostly from Sidewinder, some JAB if they beat the price

Rads- XSPC 240 + EKWB 120
Pump- Jingway DP1200 (EK-DCP 4.0 branded)
Res- EKWB on pump type
CPU block- EKWB HF supreme
6@ Nidec Servo (Scythe branded) Gentle Typhoon 120/1850
1/2id 3/4od Tygon and Bitspower compressions

CPU i7 950 purchased off an [H]er for nominal markup over Microcenter $199 deal

RAM 3@4Gb Corsair Vengeance, recent [H]ot deal

and an IcyDock 3 in 2 HDD backplane


So, I still need

MOBO
VGA, ok ok, I know its not actually VGA anymore, video cards right?
SSD
HDD
DVD
OS
monitor(s) can hardly believe I added the parenthetical plural...yes, I am contemplating a triple setup if I can catch a deal.

MOBO, I can fit either the ASUS extreme or formula, or the EVGA 3xSLI, hoping for prices to come down with SB breaking now

VGA, been leaning NVIDIA, watching the GF110 prices, liking the lower TDP over GF 100, though ATI could still win me over with a good deal on a decent Xfire setup.

SSD, probably current gen after the next gen breaks.

HDD, watching for deals on 2TB WD blacks, setting up my first redundant RAID will be a learning experience.

DVD, BluRay pisses me off, be dammed if I am going to pay more to buy the software to have the right to use my hardware /rant, probably just some DVD...have to be new though as there is nothing SATA in the house yet...lol

OS, sigh, will be dual boot for sure, which drives up the price of the SSD I know, but I guess I will have to swallow my pride and, gawd I can hardly type it...purchase a Windows 7 license...if I really want to game on this thing.



OK, long post already. Please feel free to challenge me on any of the parts that are not here yet!! I am deeply indebted to the [H] community for feedback on previous threads and am very much open to discussion.

Time for some pics.
 
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here is the front panel on the mill.

 
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The PSU cut is designed so I can flip it over if I determine it needs cool air cut in from the side of the chassis in the future.



Mocking up, inoperable TUV4X parts board as an ATX placeholder. Yes, the 240 rad touches the chassis wall which touches the 5.25 IcyDock which touches the 1/2" angle that frames up the chassis...x axis fully utilized.

 
Looks nice. Hopefully all those parts touching doesn't send reverberations/vibrations thoughout the chassis once you get it running. That would be a bit of a shame as it is looking like a great start.
 
Looks nice. Hopefully all those parts touching doesn't send reverberations/vibrations thoughout the chassis once you get it running. That would be a bit of a shame as it is looking like a great start.

He could throw a bit of dampening mat on the large panels if this is the case :)
 
View of the GT 120 output cuts and the radiator sandwich all bolted up. Also the 5.25 bay fabricated today in the background.

Operated the fans assembled like this, no vibrations to report. I find the 4@ GT 120s to be very quiet, but then I am used to shrieking 80mm fans on overclocked socket 370 and 462 stuff. They make some noise but it is a soothing low tone, I kind of like it. I am going to gut a Rheobus and integrate above the rad so I will be able to turn them down from even this very acceptable noise.

 
CNC setup on a hobby scale like this can be had for $1500 or so, good excuse to keep the old 98 and XP rigs with parallel ports going too. I was too cheap to get into it but I got lucky and my buddy burnt up the controller finals on this Taig setup. He brought it to me because I am the guy that can solder, well it went on the pile and by the time Digikey came and I got around to it he had bought himself a nicer, bigger machine and I sort of inherited it.

All that said, I wish I had just dropped the $ and got into this years ago. This is my first CNC project and I am learning a LOT and turning out far better work than I ever could have with manual tools. I would recommend to others to just buy the goddamn mill and get going, don't piss around for years with drills and saws turning out halfassed mods like I did.

Sidewinder arrived today, with the last 2 GT 120s and the output rad so I could finish the cuts on the back panel. The i/o/PCI shield is a Mountain Mods part. I had to cut it a bit to get the fan to fit. Actually I had to carve on the fan a bit too. I may have to watercool the northbridge as the output rad sandwich may interfere with larger NB sinks, certainly the EVGA air sink is a no go here.

Yes, the rad sits smack on top of the ATX spec i/o space and also will touch the top of the case...z axis fully utilized.





 
I've been wanting to get a CNC mill for myself, but at this time money and living accommodations don't permit it. Such is life. I'll get one some day. :)
 
Doesn't really look much different but spent all day yesterday framing in the wee bits around the i/o shield. Getting close to being done with the metal work. Air management is complete. I blocked off the i/o/pci with some cardstock and operated all the fans in situ. Pretty sure the output sandwich is overpressure, man that thing is moving some air. The theory is that under load the 140mm Yate Loon in the PSU will spin up and balance the output better.

I think it may be time to get serious about purchasing some circuit boards.

 
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You should put some shrouds between the 120mm fans and the radiator. You've got the room for them, why not? Or is that where your HDD's are going?
 
I am aware of the flow benefits of shrouds/spacers and have considered it. Not wild about gutting $$ fans to turn them into plenums. I may have the room, the HDDs go in the 3in2 5.25 IcyDock. I do have to mount the pump and reservoir still and accommodate the tangle of tubing so things may look quite a bit tighter aft of the input sandwich shortly.

Also keep in mind that full ATX modern MOBOs will be hard against the back of the 5.25 bay, in fact depending on MOBO, I may have to swap out for a narrower fan on the back of the IcyDock.

Thanks for the input!
 
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Ok, couple days of inactivity while I dealt with some RL stuff. Newegg came in the interim with the rheobus and a cheapie ASUS SATA optical drive. I got my game on tonight and integrated the guts of the rheobus.

I take a moment here to again sing the praises of the mill. Note under the missing knob that the front panel is releived to accept the potentiometer shaft nut. This is actually a common problem in high density projects; your panel is so full of controls and ducts that you have to choose thicker stock so the damn thing doesn't fall apart...in this case, and some other homebrew electronics I have built, 1/8 inch.

The problem arises when attempting to mount smaller pots and switches there is frequently not enough shaft to penetrate the thick panel and still catch the nut. I have pulled off these sorts of reliefs ghetto style in the past by first drilling a small pilot hole, then veeeeeery carefully cutting the relief with a large drill bit and finally drilling all the way through at the shaft diameter. This is a PITA and I have fucked up panels more than once when the large bit caught and popped through. Also, the bottom of the relief is always cone shaped with this method.

With the mill it comes out perfectly every time and the bottom of the relief is flat...very nice.

There is room to cut this whole area out if I decide to upgrade to an aquaero in the future, but I can not justify the expense of the unit and associated sensors at this time.

In other news, I picked up a .5TB Seagate 7200RPM spindrive at a local Korean junk store, the package was open but the lady swore it was "new"...whatever, it was 8 bucks and now I can backburner nice SATA spindrives for the time being.

 
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just for grins I recapped the old trusty PIII and chassised it in the new box...along with the Thermalright SLK-900a (with Vantek Tornado) and the stick of 6ns TONICOM SDRAM I recently got. I figure with the new rig really becoming a reality I can take risks that I never dared before. Didn't really get much more out of it but had a lot of fun. It folds away with every volt available at max...cooler than ever before.

more on that at http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1579895

Most pampered PIII operating in North America? You tell me.

 
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...there is frequently not enough shaft to penetrate...

*snicker*

but yeah, i know what you mean. i am so lucky to have access to the milling machines at my school here even though i graduated in june. they just make everything so much easier and better. always. oh, and your PSU looks like its going to eat your motherboard. BITCHIN.
 
OK folks, after a rather miserable work sojourn (to pay for all this crap) I am back at it.

Mountain mods came in the interim with the front panel momentary switches and LEDs...I must admit I was a bit disappointed. The LEDs were unsleeved...OK, the wires for the lighted Lamptron momentaries were sleeved with this schwag see thru shit...like lingerie for your wires, and the female spade connectors had to be crimped down to actually mate with the switches...these wires were $10 each...lame. I am not really bagging on MM, I know they are highly respected, and their shipping is near instantaneous, but for $60 for two switches and two LEDs I expected more.

In any case, I got it all resleeved and milled the front panel to accept it. Also got handles mounted up and the EIA-RS-310 mounting holes cut...working on framing up for the lid tonight, but I busted 3 4-40 taps so I'm a bit stuck.

Sprung for the MOBO, SSD, OS and video cards, first shipment hits Wed, so I better keep at it

 
Freight hit early...super cool...MOBO on hand...fit up in progress

I love it when a plan comes together




optional 120 rad configuration shown...yes, it interdicts PSU airway...the build is fucking tight OK? other way around "fits"...though one might have to stuff dielectric between the rad and #1 vid card if assembled that way.

 
Thanks for the feedback folks...I really enjoy it!

Little problem with EK, they messed up Sidewinder's order from Germany...twice in a row. Gary from Sidewinder has been awesome, very forthcoming with information. I guess EK duplicated a skid from December...and then DID IT AGAIN! Logistics fail.

Anyway, I still have no reservoir. Gary says is should not be long now, but I may have to bring the system up on air for testing and updates/drivers...that is if Dell can get me monitors in time. I ordered up a set of 2311s, checkout said 3-5 day shipping. I get the confirmation email, it projects delivery 3 WEEKS OUT!! WTF? so much fail in the world. I got an email in to them, if they can't do better I will cancel and drive up to Fry's and get me some Toshibas or something. I am customer...hear me roar...lol.

Video cards should hit tomorrow, getting the front panel off to powder coat this afternoon.

Anyway, here is a shot from before I got too drunk last night where I had to stop playing with this expensive stuff, mocking up the pump and res with some tubes I had laying around.

 
Great build. I have been wanting to do something similar but haven't found the time. Are you going to finish it or keep it raw?
 
Great build. I have been wanting to do something similar but haven't found the time. Are you going to finish it or keep it raw?

Thanks. Well, good question. This thing is not intended to win any beauty contests, and my original intention was to make no concessions to aesthetics whatever, but you guys been rubbing off on me.

The face plate exterior will get flat black powder coat. The IcyDock has all blue LEDs, as does the rheobus...so I chose blue for the power and HDD LEDs and the switches. So I guess it is a blue and black theme. I am even considering a blue cold cathode behind the input rad so it would sort of shine out through the fans. Lame, I know, next I'll be airbrushing buxom warrior babes with blood dripping off their elbows on it right?

The interior stays raw so light reflects around when you are working on it and you can see WTF you are doing. The rest of the exterior should usually be in the rack, so I see no point in paint there.
 
The interior stays raw so light reflects around when you are working on it and you can see WTF you are doing. The rest of the exterior should usually be in the rack, so I see no point in paint there.

when you get it to the point of paint, get it super clean, then hit the inside with a coat of clear, should almost turn it into a mirror, it will keep fingerprints off, and if you take the time to polish it, it will help keep dust from sticking. just remember to keep your standoffs masked off so that your motherboard can make ground contact to them. (not needed, but if this is going into audio application, it will help with EFI.)
 
Holy freaking hell!!

I knew modern video cards were big

THEY ARE ENORMOUS!!



slight fitment issue, not sure what is going on, my I/O shield fits perfectly, the #1 card in slots 2-3 fits good...the #2 card in slots 6-7...not so much. Pretty sure ASUScorp has a copy of the ATX standard...pretty sure Mountain Mods has one too...hmmmm, well, no big deal, disassembly and final metalwork today, front panel back from powdercoat tomorrow.

 
update

The MM backplane is .087" out of spec with ATX 2.1 across 6 slots, thats 2.2mm.

Doesn't sound like much...but I will have to mill on it to make the card fit...not trying to pick a fight, I know he is on here, but it is what it is.
 
good grief, what have I done? I'm still supposed to fit plumbing in here?





well this is a good sign anyway



pumping out the mighty 768 resolution through a VGA adapter...lol
 
Well, it has been folding for about 30 hours straight now, -smp client on the CPU only, no GPU ATI client yet. 100% processor loads = about 70 C at the CPU, stock intel cooler, kinda warm but it seems to be doing OK. Pumps out a frame every 3.5 minutes or so. I'm guessing it is turning around 1500ppd but Fahmon is not reading points correctly for some reason.

One of the front rad output fans is chattering on something so I will have to disassemble some stuff and figure that out. Played some COH, was pretty cool, don't have any of the new FPS games here. It won't detect another monitor, but I suspect it is about trying to run multiple displays connected through DVI-VGA adapters, the real monitors are not here yet so hopefully the eyefinity thing plugs and plays.

 
This build is looking really good and is giving me some motivation to go clean up the garage and unpack some of the boxes from our move a year ago.

I would love a clean area to set up a workbench.

I love that picture with the PIII installed in the case, I have a Asus TUSL-2C laying around that I bought to overclock a PIII 600e with two sticks of 256mb Micron Cas2 PC133 and a GF2 MX400.
Ran it for quite a few years at 6x133 for 800mhz without batting an eye, as far as I know the 600E was basically a 800EB just with a 100mhz FSB.

I always wanted to try one of those Tualatins in it along with some better overclocking ram.
I sent a PM to somebody on kijiji looking to buy one of his PIII 1.4s cpus for $10 but I never got back a response.

Anyways, sorry for the late night ramble but its looking good!
 
OK, update.

Got the 6950s folding by forcing R700, I know, I know, totally inefficient, and it is, let me tell you, but the point was not PPD so much as just cooking up these cards to see if they will fail while I can still return them. Damn client is so CPU intensive I was only getting about 60% GPU load until I turned the SMP client off. Sure hope Stanford busts out with some optimization for these cards.

Anyway, cooked the cards for a couple days, so far so good. shut down for a couple hours yesterday and started taming some of the cabling. I am particularly happy with the supplemental CPU and PCIE power feeds between the processor and the I/O space. I removed all but 1 of the 4 pin molex plugs from one of the cables that came with the Corsair 1200 and routed both these feeds under the supply. It came out really clean and will clear the output rad nicely.



I also started cleaning up the SATA feeds to make room for the pump/res, the single little black wire is reporting fan RPM to the MOBO.

 
Thanks! I spent some time in the CAD getting that right and I like how it turned out as well.

I am pretty much ready to tear down and plumb the loop...but it is folding my first ever bigadev wu now and I want to finish it and see the bonus first , grin.

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holy hell, mod of the day...Thanks Steve!! wow, I feel like I AM somebody :)
 
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That is a pretty sexy mod. Makes me want to do something like this with my old 4U server. :D
 
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