Project: Big things come in small packages

[S[H]ady]

Hey guys!
The time has come to do a new computer build. The last time I built myself a brand new computer was when the Q6600's dropped in price 4 years ago. That system has been great, and is still running like a champ, but tech has moved on so far since then that the time has come for an entirely new rig.
I like to do my computers in epic proportion, and this one will be no exception.

Project: Big things come in small packages

Concept: cram as much high end parts and watercooling components as possible in a SFF case.


Parts list:

CPU: Intel Core i7 2600k
Mobo: Asus ROG Maximus IV Gene-Z
Ram: Corsair Vengeance 16GB 4x4GB DDR3-1600 CL9-9-9-24 (2 blue, 2 black)
Video Card: 2x EVGA GTX560 ti FPB

Optical: LG BH10 Super Multi Blue 10x SATA Blu-ray writer
Cache drive: Intel 20GB SSD
Storage: Seagate 2TB Barracuda Green Sata III w/ 64MB cache

Power Supply: Corsair AX850 Gold modular (custom length cables and individual sleeving, blue/black)
Case: Silverstone Sugo SG02-F (3 custom windows, top mounted rad) (OWC 3.5”/2.5” hard drive bracket combo for 5.25” bay)


Water Cooling

CPU Block: EK Supreme HF Acetal waterblock
GPU Block: EK FC560 GTX Acetal waterblock x 2
Fittings: Bitspower matt black ½” compression , Koolance quick disconnect
Pump: Laing Strong D5 pump
Pump accessories: EK-D5 X-TOP black acetal
Resevoir: Frozen Q PC Mods Frusion Rev 6. UV Blue – 160MM
Radiator: XSPC RX360 performance triple 120mm rad
Fans: Gelid Wing12 1500 rpm UV Blue 120mm x 3
Liquid: Fesser One Blue UV

 

[S[H]ady]

Parts I have so far

Case: Silverstone Suga SG02-F
-removed uneeeded hard drive tray.
-fit Blu-ray burner
-planned out where pump, res, rad will go.
-planned out tube routing
-cut out 3 windows
- 3.5”/2.5” hard drive bracket combo for 5.25” bay

Power Supply: Corsair AX850 Gold Modular
-fit power supply into case.
-measured length for Blu-ray SATA power.
-sleaved Sata cable, placed power connector at appropriate length.
-cut all factory sleaving off the cables


Watercooling parts:
-CPU Block: EK Supreme HF Acetal waterblock
-GPU Block: EK FC560 GTX Acetal waterblock x 2
-No fittings yet.
-1GPU block installed

Memory:
-Corsair Vengeance Blue 2x4GB DDR31600

Video Card:
2x EVGA GTX 560 ti FPB 1GB

 

[S[H]ady]

Progress I've made so far.

So since this is a super small case for this much hardware, cable space is at a premium.
I decided that the best thing to do would be to shorten the cables so there isn't any extra slack.
as you can see from the first pic, there was way too much to begin with.

So first things first. Gotta take the ends off.

Sleeving a first custom length

Test fit

moving along

making sure it fits

all trimmed and finished

 

[S[H]ady]

Waterblock installation

heatsink/fan removed

thermal grease cleaned up

new heat tape applied

screwing on the block

and here it is in all it's glory

I'm currently using the second 560 in my rig so I will be doing the second block when I am closer to being ready to assemble it.

 

[S[H]ady]

Case progress

so I wanted to be a bit creative with this one so I decided on a set of windows I've never seen on a Sugo.

The left side window was cut out in an odd shape. It is actually based off of the GPU waterblock design. The rouded parts at the top corners were traced from the waterblock where the fittings connect.

I also decided that a window above the GPU's looking down would be pretty cool so i did that.

Lastly I cut the other side out. Since the chasis is there, It's only half height so you're not looking at steel chassis.

There's still a fair bit of work to do on the windows. I need to file them down better and also need to fill in the extra vent holes on the top with some bondo.

The 2 mesh parts to the left and below the power supply on the rear will be removed to allow for hoses to pass through. I may make them solid and mount a fitting to get the tubes through.


The whole case will be painted flat black on the inside. Glass black on the outside.
Some parts will be painted/powder coated in blue. The Blu-ray player, GPU mounting plates, and possibly some internal chassis components will be blue.

 

[S[H]ady]

Loop configuration:

here's what I have planned so far for my loop.

RES ---> Pump ---> CPU ---> Rad -->GPU+GPU ---> RES


the resevoir will be directly in front of the GPU's. The pump is going right under the Blu-ray burner, rad will be mounted on top of the case. Tube will go from CPU, out through the mesh below the PSU. connect with a quick disconnect fitting. The other tube will be on a quick disconnect. it will go in through the mesh beside the PSU/above GPUS.
GPU's will be hooked up in parallel with the card in front of the window having both fittings installed.

All the parts will be hooked up using Bitspower Matt Black compression fittings.

 

[aphasia]

that's a lot of hardware for a small enclosure.
looking forward to how it all pans out for your build.
good luck.

 

[S[H]ady]

Well its been a couple weeks since I've updated.
I've managed to do a few things. Don't have all the parts yet, but I have most of them.
still to come is the motherboard, fittings and tubing, CPU and hard drives.

Here's what I've done so far.

PCI-E cables, Cut. Crimped. Sleeved.

Looking good so far, but Its clear in this shot the Sata cable needs to be redone.

Looking good so far!

Here you can see the 4 PCI-E lines plugged in, as well as the redone Sata connectors.

what it looks like under the Blueray from the oposite side

I should be receiving my motherboard next week. I'll be sleeving the 24 and 8 pin connectors after i get the mobo so they are made exactly to length.
Once I get all the cables made, I'll be focusing my attention on finishing the window holes. they are still quite rough cuts for now.

The plan is to have the PC assembled by the end of the month, and then take the case apart (all the rivets will be drilled) and sent off for powder coating.
With any luck the right will be running by Halloween.

thanks for looking.
Please let me know what you think so far.

 

[S[H]ady]

Wow awesome!
Case mod of the week :O
http://hardocp.com/news/2011/09/12/h_reader_case_mod_week

Thanks Steve!!

 

[baldrik]

Nice.

 

[SOSTrooper]

Nice progress! I have the same case but lying around somewhere unused because I'm confused on what to do with it as it doesnt have any 120mm mount for basic self-enclosed watercooling and no clearance for good tower heatsink.

 

[S[H]ady]

Nice progress! I have the same case but lying around somewhere unused because I'm confused on what to do with it as it doesnt have any 120mm mount for basic self-enclosed watercooling and no clearance for good tower heatsink.

I was using an core2duo E8400 with a stock Q6600 cooler in there.
it's certainly not any good for a tower cooler, but if you get creative you might be able to fit an all in one water cooler under the drive bays.
You'd have to cut a hole in the bottom of the case and mount it there. not the most efficient, but I bet it would fit.

 

[BloodyIron]

I've used that case for about 1.5 yrs now, and I have an 980x. Let me tell you, unless you plan to watercool or something similar you will not be able to properly dissipate the heat of a powerful CPU in that case.

There is however plenty of room for the GPU to cool down.


I had to move to the new temjin mini tower case to get proper space for a proper CPU HSF.

 

[koolaidkitten]

Hmmm.
Does modding the cablling on a modular psu void the warranty?
Do they even require you to ship back anything besides the main part of the PSU itself? I thought about doing this for my case but thats what stopped me from doing it. Wanted to keep my warranty. Mine isn't modular tho.

 

[S[H]ady]

Hmmm.
Does modding the cablling on a modular psu void the warranty?
Do they even require you to ship back anything besides the main part of the PSU itself? I thought about doing this for my case but thats what stopped me from doing it. Wanted to keep my warranty. Mine isn't modular tho.

I'm pretty sure I voided the warranty as soon as I cut the first cord.
It's actually quite easy, but I would recommend buying a modular one so you don't have to take apart the actual PSU.
You can also buy extensions that are pre-sleaved if you aren't worried about space. Shortening the cables was a must for me to be able to squeeze everything in, but I would have looked at a plug in extension if i could hide all the cables behind a motherboard tray like a tower case.

 

[S[H]ady]

Got my Motherboard yesterday!!!

Here she is in all here glory.
Asus Maximus IV Gene-Z

might as well show off the rest of the stuff I've received but haven't posted yet.

 

[S[H]ady]

Waterblock mounts installed

Mounted into the case

These sata cables are LONG... not messing with the length of these though.

That 24pin cable is going to fill up the space...

Put the video cards back in so I know how little space I'm dealing with here.

Trying to fit the pump inside has proven to be a bit of a challenge. It JUST cleared with drive cage, but it's going to be a TIGHT squeeze for tubing.

 

[S[H]ady]

I figured I'd do something easy to take my mind off the challenge I'm going to face with the 24pin cable, so I sleeved my SATA cables.

Now to try and fit them nicely.

This works well. Leaves enough clearance for the reservoir and the pump will fit nicely in the front right corner.

 

[S[H]ady]

Next up, trying to fit the 24 pin cable in the remaining space.

Green tape here marks roughly where I'm going to need to cut the cables.

Nice tight squeeze. Should fill out the space nicely once they are sleeved.

The green tape here is just serparating the lines that go to the smaller block (24 pin goes to an 18 pin and a 12pin block)

The pump will be situated in the corner above the case foot in the picture above. The tubing will run over the memory right beside the 24 cable.

That's it for today.
I'll post more when the 24 pin cable is finished. probably this weekend.

 

[silent-circuit]

Don't use the quick connect block...

 

[S[H]ady]

Don't use the quick connect block...

I don't know what you mean?

 

[Shlomo]

I guess he's talking about the pump head. You probably would of been better off, space wise, if you went with the DDC3 instead of the MCP655

 

[akg102]

Do you plan on doing any painting on the inside of the case?

 

[S[H]ady]

Do you plan on doing any painting on the inside of the case?

sure do.
the inside of the case will be powder coated in mat black. the outside will be gloss black
the Bluray drive will be powder coated blue (hopefully match the hard drive bracket)
the video card mount brackets will also be blue, along with the cross bar in the middle of the case. I think it will contrast really well like that.

 

[S[H]ady]

I guess he's talking about the pump head. You probably would of been better off, space wise, if you went with the DDC3 instead of the MCP655

I'm fine with the space that I have. I went with the MCP655 for the power. The loop will have 2 video cards, a cpu and a tripple 120 rad. I don't know if a DDC3 would have enough pressure to power that whole loop.

 

[FireBean]

With a different top, a DDC will outperform a MCP655. The 655 is great for flow if you don't have a lot of pressure drop. It's weird that the smaller pump has more head, but I think you will be fine with what you got.

Also, got any update?

 

[craigbru]

Having been through SFF mods a time or two, I never envy anyone that has to make wiring look good in small spaces. That's a special talent all it's own. It's really looking great man.

 

[S[H]ady]

With a different top, a DDC will outperform a MCP655. The 655 is great for flow if you don't have a lot of pressure drop. It's weird that the smaller pump has more head, but I think you will be fine with what you got.

Also, got any update?

Small update forthcoming. Been tied up with a patio build that has been more of a challenge than expentected so progress has been slow.
The 24 pin cable has been shortened and sleeved so I'll post that up this week. The two 4 pin mobo cables should be done this week also so I'll add those later
Also the water-cooling fittings are all here now. I'll get some pics up for that.
This week I expect to recieve the rad mounts and some 90 degree quick disconnects.

Having been through SFF mods a time or two, I never envy anyone that has to make wiring look good in small spaces. That's a special talent all it's own. It's really looking great man.

Thanks a lot! It's been a real learning experience. It's been one heck of a challenge making it all fit, never mind making it look good,

Check back for more updates soon.
Cable should be finished this week.

Next up cleaning the windows up and drilling all the remaining holes.

 

[S[H]ady]

Here's my most recent update.
I've now got the 24 pin and 2x4 pin motherboard cables finished up.
I gotta say, this was a hell of a job!

The only thing left on the power supply is the molex cable. I need to buy a block that turns 1 molex into 1 + fan plugs, so I'm going to wait until i have that before making that cable.

 

[S[H]ady]

I got the last of my fittings yesterday, as well as my fans and rad mounts.

 

[S[H]ady]

Did a bit more over the weekend.

Managed to get the rad mounted, the pump is mounted and I had to cut a hole in the bottom of the case to make the reservoir fit.

Tonight I'll be drilling the holes for my cable management clips and filling in the remaining vent holes next to the top window with some bondo putty.
If all goes well, it will be off to the powder coater the end of the week.

 

[S[H]ady]

I managed to do a bit more work last night.

Got the reservoir mounted. Also drilled a few more holes for cable management clips from MDPC.

Put the motherboard in for some quick pics.

Tonight all the rivets will be drilled out and the case completely dissasembled.
That would have been done last night, but my 1/8 drill bit broke in half while i was taking the first batch of drilled rivets off the bit.
I'll be picking up a couple more today just in case that happens again.
Also i found a great spot to put the switch for the UV lights. I'll have to drill those holes tonight as well.

If i have time I'll finish cleaning up the burs on the cuts and have it ready to be delivered on Friday to be powder coated.

 

[S[H]ady]

Another day, Another update.

Last night I made a mounting hole for the UV light switch.
I'm really pleased with the way it turned out. Probably my cleanest mod yet.

It fits

And the switch works too!

The cables will be sleeved in blue and run through this cross brace bar.
You can see in the pictures where I drilled holes to mount the cable management clips. there will be 4 running across to the front of the case.

The cables should be just long enough to reach the controller box which will be mounted under the front faceplate.

After that was all done, next came dis-assembly.

The 2 cross bars will be blue, the rest of the chassis will be mat black.
The case panel will be gloss black and the rad mount brackets will be blue.
also going to be blue is the Blu-ray drive.

I'm trying to decide if I want the bottom black, or all of it blue.

This might be the last update for a little while. Parts will be off to be powder coated for probably the next 2 weeks. Won't be able to do a whole lot more progress until then.
The only thing that I can actually do is solder the power/reset/led leads back together. They have already been shortened. Then I'll have to sit until the parts are back.

 

[S[H]ady]

Got the case parts back today.
Pretty happy with the way it turned out.

Ended up going with paint for a couple reasons. Mainly because it could be done in a couple days and the price was unbeatable.

Turned out pretty good, although there was a miscomunication and one part that should have been blue came back black. No big deal, I'll let with it, but the original place was to make the small cross bar blue not black.

I'd have put the whole thing together but I don't have my screws and rivets yet. I just had the countersunk black rivets for the large cross bar. The rest are standard rivets but black. They should arrive in a few days.

The project is nearly complete. It should be fully assembled by next weekend unless the rivets and screws don't show up.

 

[Loafdogg420]

Awesome! I love to see so much hardware in a tight package. Always wanted to take on a project like this if it didnt cost me 5 figures in fittings

All those 45s and 90s add up quickly huh? Looking forward to seeing it in action.

 

[S[H]ady]

Awesome! I love to see so much hardware in a tight package. Always wanted to take on a project like this if it didnt cost me 5 figures in fittings

All those 45s and 90s add up quickly huh? Looking forward to seeing it in action.

yeah no kidding.
I wasn't clear on what I was getting into until it was too late to turn back. I spent easily 250 - 300 on fittings alone.
It's been one hell of a project.


Small update since I forgot to mention it before.
Last week I picked up a 120GB RevoDrive for boot and yesterday I picked up a 20GB Intel 311 series cache drive for my data hard drive.

Screws, rivets, thmbscrews and acrylic for the windows arrived today. It's all going together tonight.

 

[Sherkhan]

Cannot wait to see the finished setup - that is def a tone of HW in a very small space

 

[Aus10]

Man i love that blue..

 

[zer0gravity]

Hope it coming together well! Get some pics!

 

[S[H]ady]

Zerogravity, I don't know if you were joking or not, considering I just made my last post yesdterday
anyway, here's a pretty significant update for you. lol



Got my screws and my rivets yesterday, so last night I got busy assembling the whole thing.

started off with the rad.

Look at those screws! They looks so awesome!

some cable management clips on the fans.