Project Bright Panel: 800D, Liquid Cooled, Illuminated Mid Panel

Noblesoft said:
Congrats on the finished build! That is indeed a mighty nice looking bay reservoir you have there. I like how the pumps integrate right into it. How is the noise/vibration on that? Does it have any dampening material on it, or is it just really tightly secured?
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The entire reservoir is cut from a single piece of acetal, so its pretty solid. Pretty good at cutting down vibration and pump noise.

drlawyer said:
On the one hand, I'm excited for you for completing this epic build. On the other, I am side that the one of my favorite projects will no longer be regularly updated. :(

You'll be building another one, right? :D
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I need to be done for a while. My wife has been a very good sport during this build process, and now I need to switch gears to work on her "Honey Do" list.

I may change out a new GPU or something in the near future, but I will probably keep the case, illuminated panel, and sleeved cables for quite some time.
 
Hey guys! I haven't forgot about the final pictures, but I have 1 more item arriving tomorrow, that will finish up my work space, and make it worthy of a high quality photo shoot. I'm pretty excited about it.

I also found a great review on multiple 120mm Radiator Fans. The Corsair SP120s that I am using got top marks. Looks like they were a good choice for this build for both looks and performance. :D

AnandTech - Choosing the Best 120mm Radiator Fan: Testing Eight Fans with Corsair's H80

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With the Aquaero 5 I am running at a barely noticeable noise levels, even during most gaming sessions. Really pleased with both these fans, and that controller unit.
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Mr_Armageddon said:
Hey guys! I haven't forgot about the final pictures, but I have 1 more item arriving tomorrow, that will finish up my work space, and make it worthy of a high quality photo shoot. I'm pretty excited about it.

I also found a great review on multiple 120mm Radiator Fans. The Corsair SP120s that I am using got top marks. Looks like they were a good choice for this build for both looks and performance. :D

AnandTech - Choosing the Best 120mm Radiator Fan: Testing Eight Fans with Corsair's H80

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With the Aquaero 5 I am running at a barely noticeable noise levels, even during most gaming sessions. Really pleased with both these fans, and that controller unit.
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Those are pretty good fans, but dont stand a chance against these
AZSw3.jpg


Tho not as pretty, they are still pretty quiet when running at 1000'ish rpm and still have good flow, but when my H100 decides it needs more airflow, they keep it cool :D

Love the build btw !
 
omegatotal said:
Those are pretty good fans, but dont stand a chance against these
AZSw3.jpg


Tho not as pretty, they are still pretty quiet when running at 1000'ish rpm and still have good flow, but when my H100 decides it needs more airflow, they keep it cool :D

Love the build btw !
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For $40 to $75 those fans had better have a MTBF of 100,000 years, rather than hours. :D
 
Damn. Nice build

Gotta ask you, why not go for the newer stuff like a 7970 (i dont think the 680 was out when you started) or a new mobo like x79? Thanks
 
Robertmarcus said:
Damn. Nice build

Gotta ask you, why not go for the newer stuff like a 7970 (i dont think the 680 was out when you started) or a new mobo like x79? Thanks
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Modding isn't about the hardware (mobo, cpu, gpu), but the chassis. I've seen many an epic build with older components. Older components = cheaper = more money for modding.
 
guess i really hadn't thought about it like that. I cant stand not having modern graphics. Or a semi-modern cpu. But i get ya.
 
Robertmarcus said:
Damn. Nice build

Gotta ask you, why not go for the newer stuff like a 7970 (i dont think the 680 was out when you started) or a new mobo like x79? Thanks
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Robertmarcus said:
guess i really hadn't thought about it like that. I cant stand not having modern graphics. Or a semi-modern cpu. But i get ya.
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I am currently running a 6 Core (12 w/ HyperTreading enabled) i7-970 clocked at 4.65GHz. Pretty sure it would be considered "semi-modern", and rest assured it does just fine ;) .
When I started this build, I was focused more on the custom modding process than I was the actual hardware components. I did look into upgrading to the X79 platform but after reviews came out, I decided that the minimal performance increase wasn't worth the cost of an upgrade.

I would have liked to jump to the new 680s, but they weren't an option when I started the planning process for this build, and I personally like the look of the Swiftech waterblocks I have on my 580s in SLI vs the newer ones on the 680s. No doubt the 680s are great performers, but again, this build was going for looks first, raw component power second (why else would I have a waterblock for my 12GB of RAM :p).

That is another issue with watercooling and trying to keep "current" with system upgrades. Its not just the cost of the actual hardware, but the waterblocks as well. I really wish there was someway to standardize GPU waterblocks to that if you buy a nice one from say EK, you can use it over again when you step up to newer GPUs like you can (usually) for CPU waterblocks. Same would be nice for Motherboard Blocks, but not as beneficial as it would be for GPU blocks.

That being said, I may very well need to upgrade my graphics cards now after the newest edition to my workspace. Going from a resolution of 1920x1200 to 2560x1600 is going to put even more stress on my good ole 580s in SLI.

Dell3011U.jpg


I finally scored a Dell 3011U monitor! Been wanting a 30in panel for a while, and now my workspace / man cave is in my eyes complete. I will be flanking it with a Dell 2007FP Ultrasharp (1600x1200) on each side, rotated in portrait mode, giving me a semi 3D wrap-around effect with a total resolution of 4,960 x 1,600. :D I noticed that Nvidia Surround is now an option in the Nvdia Control Panel, so I am going to see if I can actually span Battlefield 3 across all 3 monitors. I will be sure to report back on whether or not it actually works like I hope it will. If not, I will be fine gaming on the 30in and using the side ones to monitor my temps and such like I currently do.

I am still sorting through the last of the pictures, and will be posting them all soon. Stay tuned!
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Well, found out that Nvidia Surround only works if you have identical displays, and they are rotated the same way (ie, all landscape or all portrait but not mixing of the two even if the vertical resolutions are the same). So looks like I will be gaming on the main display and will continue to use the sides to monitor temps and performance. For future reference, here is the link for what exactly is supported by Nvidia Surround.

http://www.nvidia.com/object/3d-vision-surround-system-requirements.html

But as far as gaming goes on the 3011U... WOW! I really like this monitor :D

Just got done touching up the last of the pictures. Will be posting them tomorrow along with and updated index in the OP.
 
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Final Build Pics !

Time to wrap this build log up :). It has taken much longer than anticipated, but its finally done, turned out better than I had expected, and of course it also overclocks and performs like a champ.

I am going to post a smaller version of each picture in the post, and below each picture, a link to a full size version of the image for those who want some close ups.​

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Here we have an angled side shot of the case with the window removed. Really pleased with how the colors of the liquid turned out, matching the Corsair fan rings.​



Here we have another shot, directly from the side.​



Shots with the windows installed. Looks great.​



Here we have my attempt at cable management. I did what I could to keep it clean back there, but it was difficult to deal with that many cables, along with their added thickness due to the sleeving, which looks awesome by the way ;).​



Here are some artsy fartsy close up shots :D I'm really not that great with a camera, but I wanted to try and get a few shots with my Nikon D80 of the build that were different from the usual side and angled ones we typically see.​



Now on to the Workstation. Using a Dell 3011U as the main display, flanked by a 2007FP on each side for a total resolution of 4,960 x 1,600. I really like how everything works together, and all of that screen real estate is great for productivigy... and of course gaming :D.​



Well... that's it! Time to put away the modding/build hat for a while, and enjoy my PC. Thanks to everyone for their support and input. If you guys have any questions for me, I am more than happy to help out. Thanks for looking.
:)
 
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I've been watching this one for a while now, almost sad to see it done lol.
Awesome looking rig though. nice pics too!
 
Robertmarcus said:
guess i really hadn't thought about it like that. I cant stand not having modern graphics. Or a semi-modern cpu. But i get ya.
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A six-core i7-970 32nm not a "semi-modern cpu"? Ummm.... what planet are you from? And what CPU do you have?
 
SirKronan said:
A six-core i7-970 32nm not a "semi-modern cpu"? Ummm.... what planet are you from? And what CPU do you have?
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I would have thought if he would put so much time into such an awesome project, he would have invested in something a bit more modern than a 970, which is still very good, but just cant compete to something like a 3930k.

Im running a 2500k (gamer) at 4.0 on water. Not the best oc, but then again, not lame either.

No need for me to go i7 or ivy bridge. Sandy bridge is still very much in production, compared to gulf stream being phased out, as apple buys out the last remaining one.

I didn't mean to offend any one.


As to my planet, i come from an earth like planet in the Tarantula Nebula, relatively close to the star you may refer to as R136a1.
 
Robertmarcus said:
I would have thought if he would put so much time into such an awesome project, he would have invested in something a bit more modern than a 970, which is still very good, but just cant compete to something like a 3930k.

Im running a 2500k (gamer) at 4.0 on water. Not the best oc, but then again, not lame either.

No need for me to go i7 or ivy bridge. Sandy bridge is still very much in production, compared to gulf stream being phased out, as apple buys out the last remaining one.

I didn't mean to offend any one.


As to my planet, i come from an earth like planet in the Tarantula Nebula, relatively close to the star you may refer to as R136a1.
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A 2500K thats not past 4.6ghz is a waste. A Gulftown not past 3.6ghz is a waste.

I'd also take a pair of 580s over a 7970 any day of the week.

So basically, his rig is still far more powerful then yours and will still be potent for atleast 2-3 more years. Where as yours will need to be OCed more in about a year.

ADVANTAGE: Mr_Amageddon!
 
Eh, id rather have my 7970. But i do kinda agree with you on the OC. 4.0 is not really useful. If i have freetime, i'll oc it further.

I wouldn't want two 580's any day of the week. I dont really look at benchmarks, but id guess that two 580's are either equal, or a lil less depending on the oc of the card's.
Anyway, his rig wont really last him much sooner, as the vram on those suckers (assuming they are the 1.5gigs, wont be of much use pushing future titles in a year or two. Especially at his resolution.

As far as mine goes, i have been eyeing an x79 rig, but plan on holding off till ivy bridge e- or whatever it is called is released in the coming months/half year.

ADVANTAGE: No one cares.

It is quite a useless argument.
 
Robertmarcus said:
Eh, id rather have my 7970. But i do kinda agree with you on the OC. 4.0 is not really useful. If i have freetime, i'll oc it further.

I wouldn't want two 580's any day of the week. I dont really look at benchmarks, but id guess that two 580's are either equal, or a lil less depending on the oc of the card's.
Anyway, his rig wont really last him much sooner, as the vram on those suckers (assuming they are the 1.5gigs, wont be of much use pushing future titles in a year or two. Especially at his resolution.

As far as mine goes, i have been eyeing an x79 rig, but plan on holding off till ivy bridge e- or whatever it is called is released in the coming months/half year.

ADVANTAGE: No one cares.

It is quite a useless argument.
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I appreciate your feedback here. The only thing I am arguing against is your "semi-modern" comment. Both Mr_Armageddon and myself do a considerable amount of serious multitasking, photo editing, and video editing, as well as bluray authoring and gaming, often performing several of these tasks at the same time.

Our hyperthreaded 6 core processors, which overclock quite well, support triple channel memory, and also support full x16 slots in SLI configurations perform those tasks for us quite well. I'm not taxing the SLI aspect of it like he is, but we definitely see benefits on a daily basis, and for HD content authoring our i7 970 with a fairly normal overclock of 4.0GHz (can be done on the stock cooler with the i7 970) will destroy your i5 @ 4.0GHz in many of those tasks. Advantage: Mr_Armageddon. Who cares: Those who do more than just game, or want to game and author a bluray at the same time. Those that F@H. The list goes on ...

We use our systems for a lot more than just gaming, although we put a fair bit of effort into that as well!

Calling it "semi-modern" is just flat incorrect. You are entitled to your opinions, but you're calling it "semi-modern" possessing an i5 @ 4.0GHz and a single 7970 yourself.... :rolleyes:
 
Congrats on the finished build, looks great!

You'll put your modding hat down for a few days... then find some renewed reason to put it back on right away. Just you wait. ;)
 
The AX1200 clashes with your color theme... I think a HX850 would have been enough to power everything and match the theme better.

But that's just nit picking on a otherwise brilliant build :cool:
 
SirKronan said:
We use our systems for a lot more than just gaming, although we put a fair bit of effort into that as well!

Calling it "semi-modern" is just flat incorrect. You are entitled to your opinions, but you're calling it "semi-modern" possessing an i5 @ 4.0GHz and a single 7970 yourself.... :rolleyes:
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Ya i totally agree with you on the i5 @ 4.0 and a 7970. I plan on going for a x79 in the couple months.
 
pwrusr said:
The AX1200 clashes with your color theme... I think a HX850 would have been enough to power everything and match the theme better.

But that's just nit picking on a otherwise brilliant build :cool:
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An HX850 wouldn't be enough. When I have everything maxed and OC'd, I have hit upwards of 975w according to my APC UPS1500. It has a display that shows power draw of the computer you have plugged in. I previously owned an HX1000, and that was barley enough to power the whole system when benchmarking.

Not to mention the fact that the AX1200 was donated by Corsair as part of their sponsorship :D
 
Jorona said:
Yeah, you're likely running almost exactly 850 watts.
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I always like having a little cushion on my power supply... Better a little over than a little under. I mean, you'd be fine with a high quality unit, but it still never hurts. Especially if you get crazy wicked with an overclock on your CPU or GPU.
 
SirKronan said:
I always like having a little cushion on my power supply... Better a little over than a little under. I mean, you'd be fine with a high quality unit, but it still never hurts. Especially if you get crazy wicked with an overclock on your CPU or GPU.
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Absolutely. Unless the change all the power connectors, one power supply should last through several generations of motherboards and other upgrades. I'd rather do as SirKronan does. Spend a bit extra upfront, for a longer useful lifetime, AND higher quality.
 
So I was reading the Sept 2012 issue of MaximumPC, and was wowed by the hardware specs on this years "Dream Machine". Not 1 but 2 GTX 690s for some Quad SLI action, and a total system price of over $14,000 !:eek:!

DMPrice.jpg


The hardware in that build is no doubt amazing, but what I wasn't impressed with, was the quality of the build itself. Ya they spent $700 on a custom paint job, but the way they set the innards of the case up just doesn't do that hardware justice (even if they used the same color Mayhem dye as I did ;)). Take a look at a side by side comparison.

DMCompare.jpg


I think they need to commission me to build next years Dream Machine... and then after the benchmarking and photo-shoot, allow me keep the hardware :D.
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no doubt, their machine looks very sloppy to me. Like buy the best, and put it in a box and game over.
For a dream machine I would want the inside to look as clean as the outside. I've also never really been a big fan of MaxiumPC, though I know people who swear by their word.......
 
DraginDime said:
no doubt, their machine looks very sloppy to me. Like buy the best, and put it in a box and game over.
For a dream machine I would want the inside to look as clean as the outside. I've also never really been a big fan of MaxiumPC, though I know people who swear by their word.......
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I used to be a big fan of the publication, mainly for the release of the yearly Dream Machine. I agree with most of their product reviews, only problem is that most of the reviews are released much later than the actual product launch (obviously a limitation of print vs internet). But again, I have really enjoyed their over-the-top Dream Machines in the past, but this recent build just looks thrown together. For the price of the system components, I would have expected more work to go into the build design as well.
 
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Mr_Armageddon said:
So I was reading the Sept 2012 issue of MaximumPC, and was wowed by the hardware specs on this years "Dream Machine". Not 1 but 2 GTX 690s for some Quad SLI action, and a total system price of over $14,000 !:eek:!

DMPrice.jpg


The hardware in that build is no doubt amazing, but what I wasn't impressed with, was the quality of the build itself. Ya they spent $700 on a custom paint job, but the way they set the innards of the case up just doesn't do that hardware justice (even if they used the same color Mayhem dye as I did ;)). Take a look at a side by side comparison.

DMCompare.jpg


I think they need to commission me to build next years Dream Machine... and then after the benchmarking and photo-shoot, allow me keep the hardware :D.
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I approve of this message. MaximumPC, if you're reading this, Zane is making you a hella generous offer. Take him up on it.
 
drlawyer said:
I approve of this message. MaximumPC, if you're reading this, Zane is making you a hella generous offer. Take him up on it.
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Amen. It's not enough to just be FAST and EXPENSIVE. A real "dream machine" will run AND look like a dream. Take this build log for example... :D
 
Just wanted to say I've watched your build off and on and it turned out great. And to echo what everyone else is saying, your build makes the MPC dream build look like amateur hour.
 
drlawyer said:
I approve of this message. MaximumPC, if you're reading this, Zane is making you a hella generous offer. Take him up on it.
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SirKronan said:
Amen. It's not enough to just be FAST and EXPENSIVE. A real "dream machine" will run AND look like a dream. Take this build log for example... :D
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Well, I did get their attention, and they re-posted my build log on both their Twitter and Facebook pages.

Maximum PC - Facebook Timeline
Look for it around September 4th on their timeline. Funny thing is, MaximumPC thought that I "recreated" their Dream Machine with my build. Sorry guys... I started mine last April :D
 
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So I was looking for a new case to help protect my Samsung Galaxy S III, and came across the Trident Aegis. I have one of these on my kid's Nook Tablet to help protect it from the abuse they put it through, and it has done an excellent job so far. So when I noticed that one of the color options was almost identical to my current build... I had to get one.

7983702390_f02c57e6aa_c.jpg


Its a pretty solid case, and offers a lot more protection than my standard TPU, but at the expense of added thickness. I will probably end up going back to my TPU case at some point, but had to get a quick picture first of the color coordination between my tech gear :D
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Mr_Armageddon said:
So I was looking for a new case to help protect my Samsung Galaxy S III, and came across the Trident Aegis. I have one of these on my kid's Nook Tablet to help protect it from the abuse they put it through, and it has done an excellent job so far. So when I noticed that one of the color options was almost identical to my current build... I had to get one.

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8314/7983702390_f02c57e6aa_c.jpg

Its a pretty solid case, and offers a lot more protection than my standard TPU, but at the expense of added thickness. I will probably end up going back to my TPU case at some point, but had to get a quick picture first of the color coordination between my tech gear :D
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That's a nifty looking case! Looks like they also make it for my galaxy nexus :cool:
 
Anyone seen the announcement of the Corsair 900D case? The thing is a monster, and internally its codename during development was "Godzilla". I really like my 800D, but definitely drooling over the new case. Looks like they took a lot of user feedback, mainly about lack of space for additional radiators, and went well overboard with the new implementation.

Here is the Launch page: http://www.corsair.com/900d

And here is a video shot at CeBit showing off the inside: Corsair Obsidian 900D chassis walkthrough

I had convinced myself I wouldn't be doing another build for a while, but with this case launching, I may reconsider...

CorsairObsidian900D_s_zpse8b3da04.jpg
 
Mr_Armageddon said:
Anyone seen the announcement of the Corsair 900D case? The thing is a monster, and internally its codename during development was "Godzilla". I really like my 800D, but definitely drooling over the new case. Looks like they took a lot of user feedback, mainly about lack of space for additional radiators, and went well overboard with the new implementation.

Here is the Launch page: http://www.corsair.com/900d

And here is a video shot at CeBit showing off the inside: Corsair Obsidian 900D chassis walkthrough

I had convinced myself I wouldn't be doing another build for a while, but with this case launching, I may reconsider...

CorsairObsidian900D_s_zpse8b3da04.jpg
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So.. have you reconsidered yet..?
 
The day has finally come... I will be getting rid ofmy liquid cooled GTX 580s in SLI solely for Oculus (pre-order completed). Been contemplating an upgrade for a while, but VR has pushed me to actually doing it. Gaming performance with the 580s was still pretty good, but I know SLI won't cut it for VR so making the much overdue upgrade.

As of this week started using an EVGA 970 FTW+, but planning on getting the X80 (GTX 1080?) Pascal SKU once waterblocks are also available, hopefully around summer time. That will also set off a new Build Log!

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One thing I was a bit concerned about was the Oculus System Compatibility Tool. Everything was green for me except my CPU. They recommend an Intel i5-4590 CPU or greater. Thing is my i7-970 although a few years old, actually beats the i5-4590 in most benchmarks (probably due to it being a hexacore CPU and OC'd to 4.2GHz). I'm hoping that it will still run everything ok, but worry about some sort of software limitation by Oculus that won't allow me to run the VR hardware because it doesn't meet their recommended spec.

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Anyone have any ideas if the "requirements" are actual requirements of just recommendations?
 
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