Cross by Red Harbinger

Been a while since we're all very busy. :)

First of all I want to thank Youri Vandevelde!
From the very start he has been a Red Harbinger 'fan' and he made a FAQ by gathering all questions and answers from all forums and facebook.
Red Harbinger FAQ
Also added this link to the topic start and will be updated constantly.
If you have any other questions ... shoot :)


We had a lot of changes in the desk.
Example of only 10 of the 40 changes of the last 5 weeks.

- Less screws on the vanity plate/leg plating.
- Have a stand-off PEM under the top and middle portion of the right side tray to prevent sagging.
- PEM's on inside of legs to attach the bottom leg rest, top to chassis, and rear to backplate.
- Added faster bottom access panel removal/install option.
- Tube holes near cpu just as high as the holes in the middle/bridge.
- Center bridge monitor cabling section has a screw in the way.
- 5.25" slots too narrow cause of powdercoat.
- HDD tray hole covers
- Fan connector space on left and right.
- Grommet holes beneath 5.25" trays.

Lots of things you find out once you have a prototype to test.


For this specific build I also have a small problem :)
The prototype intended for me to test appeared to be a dual pc desk.
Wouldn't have been a problem except there were no single pc desk 'firewall' and 'HDD-tray'.
Manufacturing a single set in the US with the same powdercoat and sending it to Holland would be too expensive.
So decided to build a dual pc desk .. Need to be tested anyway.
Still need to arrange the hardware but that will hopefully work out.

Off course I also needed a place to build and test this desk....


When I just took the picture from this corner my wife ... never mind .... no option :)




Attic? Nah, need to tidy it up then. Now I know exactly where everything is :D
(It is a bit cleaned up as we speak though)




Last option ... the spare room.






Check!




After moving the desk upstairs it did get a bit crowded.




Went shopping for some cabinets.




Assembled the legs to make it more firm.
(This design has already been changed, improved and lowered)




Firm enough for now.




Approved!




First thing to test ... mainboard layout :)




And off course sitting behind it after a long day.




This weekend more about the to be used hardware and watercooling.
 
Here a first look on the hardware and watercooling to be used.
Sorry for the amount of photos, because the prototype got here later then expected I had some time to do all this in front :)


First the package from Highflow.nl
In love...






And 2 pumps from a previous project.






Fillports for the 'Firewall' and a tube test sample.






And more tube.




A flowmeter I can't live without anymore :)



Thanks Freddy!


The package from Cooler Master.
1500W dual rail!














And the fans with red lighting.





Thanks Marco en Ruud!


Quite some extension cables going into a pc this size.
BitFenix wanted to help me out on this.












And did a small order from Highflow, had a small idea :)









I'm satisfied.



Thanks Lester!!


Also an incredible package from Corsair.










Back when I had all time in the world :D




Ordered 3 extra, not for performance, for the looks.





Thanks Gareth!


And some extra products I ordered.
The first prototype RF RGB ready-to-go LED-kit for the desk :)






And off course a socket.




Which I made smaller to fit inside the desk.




Raid card with external ports.
Works perfectly in a 'desk' build, no cables in sight.






And some extra accessories cause of cable length/management.




Example.

 
Nice job so far man. Dont mean to criticize, but other than the looks, i woulda gone with a single 480 or 512gb. But kudos to you for being awesome and buying 8 60gb ssd's!\
Cant wait for more
 
We've been really busy with the final design the last 4 weeks again.
The last week I've been busy with this particular build too.
Bit of a weird buildlog for me too cause some photos are already here for months :)
Also because I decided to do the dual-pc-build a few weeks ago.
I completely understand some people want to see some desk photos but first have to show the hardware cause they will be in the next photos with the desk too.
This week there will be multiple updates, already got 100+ pics waiting of the desk :)


So first a last hardware post, then some first 'fails' in the desk and some build/block mounting pics.


Asus package.








Love the size.




Somehow those aircoolers got something...



Thanks a lot Asus Benelux and specially Rogier!


Lamptron package.




Also for next 're-builds'



Comes out handy with the Bitfenix extension cables.




Was going to use 2 controllers but because I'm using 2 pc's it will now be one.



Thanks Lamptron!


And the ultra package EKWB.




Still like acrylic most.








But have to say these look awesome!






Huge!




Pump tops.




All unpacked.






Mounting the pumps.




Changing for stainless steel bolts.






Test cause I was (back then) bored :D




Package that arrived later.




This build will have 4 EKWB reservoirs since our own reservoir isn't ready yet.






And extra fittings for the reservoirs and 2nd pc.




All together.







Gregor ... again ... your awesome! :)


And from Cooler Master for the 2nd pc.








Love these PSU's!



Also thanks again a lot Marco and Ruud!


Corsair also insisted on doing something extra.
I can work with this :)




For the 2nd pc.




Already have a cool plan for the speakers.






Don't have much to compare, used a Cambridge 4.1 set for over 10 years and have a Bose 2.0 set now.
I can say the sound is WAY better, and twice more volume :)







Corsair also thanks enormously!!

On to the pics of the desk and block mounting!
 
Last edited:
so much good stuff there can't wait to see it all done
 
You need to start selling this thing soon. My wife needs Christmas ideas.
 
Thanks guys!

The first inspection of the desk.
This was so important for us, some times I forgot to take pictures for the buildlog.
Here are the first issues I walked into, we're human too :)
(All these things have been changed in the new design)


Again this is a real old design of the legs, still had to test some stuff for the acrylic.








A weld at the top of the desk .. oops, the cover wont fit like this..




And a funny one .. the holes and grommets for tube or fillports to big.
This should have been changed but slipped through.




Without a grommet the fillports fall through.




I'll find something on that for now.




Also a funny one, after assembling the supports they aren't horizontal.




PSU mount fits almost every PSU ... except this one :).




HDD trays really look good, personally won't use them in this build.




When I removed them.. oops .. no covers.




Also raised all fan/rad holes, more space for cable management.




And me as the only European in the team.
Off course the other side of PSU plug fits, but for in case people want to have their power socket inside.
Sometimes pretty exhausting... "what if they"... :)




Personally going to use these instead of the PSU mount. Less noise and easy to move.
We will supply these too.




Inspecting the desk, best is to just start building a pc inside.
So lets start with the fans and rads.
For this setup I needed over 160 bolts and nuts :)




Back rads.










Side rads.






Lighting not overdone, I like the Cooler Master fans.




Another way to feed your PC.




Lets take care of some working light :)








And installing some grommets.






Here I was still planning to do a single pc build, still had all the space for 2 fan controllers.






Pump controller from previous project for the looks :)




Rads seem to be brown with flasher on.




Had a spare fanguards, might be nice to keep it there.




This is something I'm REALLY happy with in the design.
In my previous desk it took me dozens of hours cause I didn't have this.






The first cables.




The bridge also has mounting options for 12x2.5" HDD/SSD.
Personally I'm not going to hide them. :)




And the rubbertape for under the glass panel that will be used to protect from scratching, breaking and noise.

 
Any idea on what pricing of this behemoth will be? Or ETA? Super pumped. Also, this might have been mentioned, but, what are the length, width, and height of this?
 
Check out the FAQ link in the topic start :D

Mounting blocks ... love it!




First the mainboard.






And the cards on it for a picture..






Added some extensions.






Glad I took time to test the hardware in front ;)






Ordered an EK-Bridge for the GPU's




Never used them before.




I like it.








Cut out the grommets.



And put them backwards in the 'firewall'




Seems the BP fillports stay in place perfectly now.
In the new design the holes and grommets have been changed.




First fittings in place.








The mess.




Might be an idea for a drainpoint in the bottom later.




Another funny thing ..... Glad this will be solved with the rubbertape under the glasspanel. :)




First cables and extensions.






Flipped all fans from rear radiators. (again 64 bolts...)
Did this so the airflow from the fans work with the PSU flow.




3M Velcro for the RGB controller




Found her spot :)
Feeds for the fancontroller and pump on their spots




Powersocket for 2 PSU's, screens and speakerset.




Adjusted the cable length.




RGP plug brought to other side of desk too.




Preview with 'PSU-cover'




A solution for the missing HDD-bay covers .. and a nice spot for the ssd's since I'll be using the other side of the desk for another pc now.








Simple ..




But effective :)

 
Man I wish Bit Fenix would have sent me an awesome package like that for my build!:D
 
very nice and i'm glad to see the mayhems logo, I hope you'll add the yellow pastel one with the black desk because it'll look great (not that good in the dark though). the white/red pics are epic btw.
 
And another update with quite some photos :)


Unpacked the reservoirs and put them on their spot.






Also some more changes in the prototype .. more grommets for itx and m-atx.






Starts to look like something.




Also cut the heatfins again.






I personally like it.






Also an idea for the speakers.
I know speakers should be positioned in front but tested it and I don't notice it :)






Coincidence the finish of the sub is exactly the same as the desk powdercoating.




First some extra holes for the fan/pump controller.
Next prototype will have some mainboard grommets there.






Glad those trays are aluminum :)




Building in the speakers.








There won't be any cable visible from the speakerset when I hide the sub + all cables in the legs.




Measuring.






Adjusting the speakers for long M4's






And finishing it.




Too bad the cone is blue, anyone any idea if cones are paintable?




A solution so the fancontroller and RGB controller are ALWAYS on, no matter if there's one or two pc's running






Works perfectly :)






Extra power/reset buttons.
Next proto there will probably be a bracket here.








Also finished the holes for pump/fan cables.








For this build I will seal the unused 5.25" slots. Next proto this will be different.




The glue will be transparent when dried.








Cut away some in the grommets, looks better.




And some further again.




Still in love with the bottom mainboard covers :)




Time to move on with all sata cables.




Also found out I didn't have sata extension cables yet for the right system.




So ordered them too.




For the SSD rack I will use cheap Velcro, I would damage the SSD's with 3M velcro when removing them :)




Works perfect.






Because we didn't have PCI-covers yet I ordered these.




Because I chose real thick radiators because I thought I was going to do a single pc build I'm having small problems finding a spot for the second PSU.



Sleeving the yellow sata extension cables




Lets first use some black isolation tape.




Even if you only see 3cm .. .yellow .. no way :)




Also used the rubbers for the second PSU.




Lovely music while modding :)




Securing the pumps.








Tube ready to go, first fittings find their spot.




Had to remove mem again, quite narrow to get the fittings in properly






And a little further again.




Ok ... and then 11 days ago Asus requested if they could show 'Cross' on the Dutch Firstlook 2012 Event... not as a desk but built in their stand.
Off course, I was so honored! This only happens once a year!
And ... if I could built in the Maximus V Formula....
I did agree off course, been some real busy days the last week.
So at this moment I'm a bit behind on the log, so some photos could show up but will make this up this week!
For who does have pictures .. please hide them for a while :D



(I did ask them to step away :D )
 
This week 2-3 updates :)

Because the desk had to be running and presentable I still needed some things quickly.

Because of the 4 reservoirs and 2 systems I needed more tube and stopfittings.
Thanks again for the nice discount Freddy!






And from Mayhems.














And something I had here already a while to flush my other desk, that'll have to wait :)




Love experimenting.








Gotcha! :)



Thanks for all the support Michael!


Also needed for the second pc, again Bitfenix extensions.




And something new I got from EK.




My first CSQ design block.




Again thanks a lot Eddy en Gregor!




The package I got 3 days before the event.




Very nice and complete package.




Ready to swap.





I do like it.





Rogier .. TOP!
Tomorrow another update with tubing and filling.
 
Quite a puzzle with what I wanted with the in and outlets of the multi reservoirs and both loops mirrored.




It became a multireservoir extreme :)




Measuring the reservoir brackets.




Going to have the tubes to the pump of the left loop in the bottom.




Again happy this part is aluminum.




Done!




And the first tubes.






Also quite a puzzle again with all the small distances.




Pump for the left loop.




Might change this later..




Mainboard done, reservoirs next.




With flasher.




Left loop with flasher.




And just the RGB LEDs




Exiting for me .. first time filling.




And another adrenaline moment for me, first time enabling the pump. :)






Also need to find another solution for this, now that i'm running 2 pc's I don't need the long sata cable lengths to the raidcard.
Maybe will order other cables later.




Great feeling when you don't have any leaks.






The Mayhems Pastel and red dye additives.
I was warned this could fail with such a big loop ;)






Here I forgot to close one stopfitting after disabling the pump...
Glad is was easy to clean :)




Adding the Aurora, it was a bit scary at the start.






But got the result I wanted one minute later.










Another exiting moment....




But it boots with the desired temperatures :)





And a video of the loop, filling and mixing.





Got the Maximus V Formula in.




Only one day to go, so started right away on the second loop.
Meanwhile testing and installing the left system.




Raw fingers of all that tube :)




Again exiting..




This time premixed before filling.




Mayhems Aurora, cool stuff :)




But also creepy.




Both loops running.




Because there's a team of helpers ready to get the desk one floor down.. quickly close the panels without any management. :D




Ready to go!




Later today the migration.
 
20 hours before I bring the desk to the event

Small reminder all photos are linked to bigger format photos :)


You can see on the face expression who's stressed :D
At the right the remains of the little 'incident'.




A filled pc with a length of 1.50m and 80kg that has to go downstairs almost vertically.










My wife taking pics and most of all ... paying attention I don't scratch the wall :p






The fun they had..... :)






Being relieved.




Temporary on a wooden box so I can do the last adjustments, cable management and installing OS+drivers+software etc.




The rubbertape I used for sound attenuation and protecting the glass panel.




Also filed the weld so the cover fits.




With glass panel.






This was a weird moment for me .....




"Desk ... I am your father"

 
l3p, you are awesome! Please get your company to crowd source funding to put these into production :D
 
wow...incredible desk. I thought my current was awesome (slat wall trader desk with custom work) but I want this! I would go with all white and an electronic frosted glass top :) *dreaming here*
 
Firstlook 2012!

It took me 2 weeks to prepare everything for just a 2 day event including taking 3 days off from work ....
Well in my opinion it was completely worth it! :)


Ready to go! The Friday night before the event.




Inspecting the booth.. oops .. I didn't expect the front side wouldn't be able to show.
Too bad .. too late to change, this way they can't touch any of the buttons.




The first "wtf's" from the ASUS crew :)




Last minute adjustments so the glass panel will be flush.




Really cool experience, the constructing of an event, 1 big pile of ants :)




Checking if everything still works.




All just fine :)




Also finding a spot for something from a previous project. On top was no option cause of bending the glass shelf :)




This is how I had to leave it behind.




Believe me, this was pretty scary..




Till tomorrow morning!




Quickly getting everything running 15 minutes before the doors open up.




The relaxed overclockers 'Old Scarface' en 'Leeghoofd' also at the booth.




Here some shots of the event itself, made by my brother in law, still nice and empty :)








Everyone getting instructions :)






Doors are open and first people get in.
ASUS booth still pretty quiet.




Our little corner :)






Fun to see from that close.




Honored this could also be at the booth.










And some shots of the built-in desk now that it's still quiet.








First thing they run off to .. Black Ops II stand ... yup .. 100% gamer event :)






Really enjoyed the OC sessions!






Cards were gone within half an hour :/



For who wants to see more boothbabes .. check here :)




Ok .. here it was too crowded for me :)






Highres picture of all the interest for the desk.




Playing with Nitrogen :)








Here a small video of the desk 5 minutes before closing time.





The result .... I hate fingerprints :p




Astonished how the got the stand 'hardware-less' within 10 minutes.




And back home.





ASUS Benelux, a huge thanks for this opportunity, it really was a great experience!

For now a small break, need to save up some money and and saw in some stuff in the desk :)
 
Cross back to her room :)






That went much faster somehow :)




A few orders with my last available money :)








So assembled it right away.






I like the new block a lot ... except the pci plate sticks out a bit.




So tried to bend it without a folding machine.












I'm satisfied with the result.




Draining the right loop ... by blowing on it :)




Swap the blocks.




Tight fit!






Got a (spam) mail with an offer to order posters in 100x75cm format for €4,90 each ... So thought I could try it for that amount of money.
I really think they succeeded! Nice to fill up the empty walls :)

For who's interested in these big format photos..
-> http://www.l3p.nl/files/Poster/ <-




And testing the loop again.




Small photo shoot :)


























And playing around with the effects of RGB.
This has to be the weirdest color ... red completely disappears.










Getting both systems running again.




Idle usage .... oops.




That evening Shawn came with the cool idea to use the RGB leds, meant for the legs, in the lamps next to the desk.
First thing I did in the morning .. but the effect wasn't really visible cause of the sunlight.




But at night ... wow :)






Personally I like clear white ...




....and blue/purple most.




Here a video of the RGB effect .. and testing the speakers :)



Till the next update!
 
Played around with some acrylic remnants this weekend.
Not going to order large amounts of acrylic for these prototype legs/build (hint :p )








Once you're busy I got the tendency to keep improving it.




Really love this cutter.






Would love to do the small ring too.








I had 3 small pieces of black mat, transparent and glossy acrylic, think the glossy looks best.




Testing it on the 'UV bench' :)






Drilling the holes.






Maybe I will add a ledstrip in the future. (would need to saw in the legs)




Next leg .. next weekend :)




Didn't have much time to play with the hardware yet.
However, on request, here some temperatures of the CPU/GPU with a bench of the SSD's on the left system.




And some temperatures of the CPU/GPU with a bench of the SSD's on the right system.

 
I have no clue at all yet, been out of benching for so long :)
Could it be the 8X MSAA enabled?
 
Im running a 7970 oc at 1200/1600 @ 1080p and i get much better results on max. I dont know about you, but i get about 30 fps minimum. I would try some games at higher res.
 
Thanks for the comment Robert!
Could you make a screenshot of your results with Furmark so I can compare and try to see whats wrong?
 
yes your d3sk1 was the best. even the 20 yards of hose to the underside of the house.
 
Right off the bat, i forgot to add the 8x msaa last time i did a bench, i must have been at 4x or 2x msaa. Which explains by crazy high remarks of my furmark fps. But at 1080, with one powercolor 7970, at 1200 core and 1600 memory, i was getting an average fps of 15.
Screenshot at 8x msaa:
7970furmark1080p8xmsaa.png

Screenshot at 4x msaa:
Furmark4xmsaa1080p.png


What baffled me was my results at your resolution, at 1024p i think. I was getting minimal differences, by like 3-4 fps. So your results seem to be right for crossfire. Interesting how much 8x msaa hits your cards. I am able to get really close to 90 fps in bf3 on ultra with this setup at 1080p, so furmark is crazy intense.
Screenshot at 8x msaa:
Furmark1024.png

Screenshot at 4x msaa:
Furmark10244xmsaa.png


Just want to put it our there, awesome build, sickest i have seen in a long time. Already saving up for it. Any word on release date. I looked at the faq, but i don't know if it has been updated in a while. Really want one for my next build.
 
Thanks a lot man!
Well guess I don't have to worry then :)
Will do more benches off course when the new monitor(s) are here.
 
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