Project: Insanity (Corsair 800D Dual-loop WC)

[drlawyer]

Just a quick update to let everyone know what is coming next.

I just ordered a batch of Bitspower matte black fittings, extenders and 90-degree adapters with the intent of re-piping the area below the "hard deck" relating to the second reservoir. I noted previously that I was concerned that a leak in that area would be hard to detect. Further, I believe that the bind placed on the tubing as it passes through the floor is obstructing water flow.

So, all the fittings and tubing in this area

are coming out and will be replaced with all metal fittings. Should increase flow rates and prevent any "likely" chance of leaks.

Parts are on the way; I'll update once they arrive with more pics.

 

[drlawyer]

This weekend's phase of the project is to re-plumb the water delivery to and from the GPU radiator, located in the "basement" of the 800D case. Currently, it is serviced partially by metal extenders and partially by the same flexible tubing present in the top of the case. I opted to replace the tubing with a 100% metal configuration, to help insure against accidentally dislodging the tubing if I have to work in the tight space between the radiator and the PSU.

So, step one was to plan it all out. That involved math, some amateur drafting and some conversions from inches to millimeters that I will confess, I'm not entirely confident about.

I opted to stick with BitsPower fittings, and got the following:

5 - 90-degree adapters (BP-MB90R)

1 - 50 mm m / f extender (BP-MBWP-C65)

1 - 40 mm m / f extender (BP-MBWP-C64)

2 - 20 mm / f extender (BP-MBWP-C61)

2 - 15 mm m / f extender (BP-MBWP-C60)

1 - 10 mm m / m connector (BP-MBWP-C08)

and

1 - 5 mm m / m connector (BP-MBWP-C42)

Here they are:

First I will be replacing the grommets on the lower access ports through the floor with affixed female to female pass through ports (BP-WTP-C04), pictured here:

Of course, these were slightly too small. I had to pick up a handful of 1/2" fender cut washers and bore them out to 3/4" with a step drill bit (like this one).

The result

The first run will be from the exhaust on the lower video card through the left hand portal and back to the rear port on the radiator: The assembly includes 1 of the 15 mm, 3 of the 90s, the 50 mm, 40 mm and one of the 20 mm and the 5 mm connector. Congifured as follows:

The second run is simpler - leading from the exhaust (near) port of the radiator through the right-side port and up to the reservoir. This one used the remaining 2 90s, 15 mm, 20 mm and the 10 mm connector, as follows:

So, I should be all ready to tear the lower loop down and learn that I miscalculated and have all the wrong size fittings. I'll update a little later with the outcome.

 

[bonnev659]

very nice update

 

[drlawyer]

Thanks bonnev. The good news is - everything fit! Nice and snug, too. The fact that the pass-throughs were a little too small for the openings gave me some extra play, and it worked out beuatifully. I'll toss some pics up in a bit that show the new fittings installed.

 

[drlawyer]

As promised, here is the result of my efforts to re-pipe the basement, so to speak. I started with the closer run. Not only was it more accessible, but at the same time it represented the greater risk that I had miscalculated the measurements. Fortunately, the access hole being a little larger than the pass-through gave me a little bit of play, and the result was an easy install that fits both snugly and amazingly securely. As my dad used to say, "You could stand on it if you wanted to." (He was right, too. But we never wanted to.)

Moving on to the second run. I decided to take advantage of the amazing flexibility of the fully modular new power supply I had installed, and removed it (unplugging all the cables) to get it out of the way.

Dropped the first 90 in, facing toward the back:

then screwed the second 90 into the first, redirecting the flow to the side of the case:

After that, it was just a matter of adding the 115 mm total length extender I had put together, then adding the last 90 and extending it with the last 15 mm up to the floor of the case.

And here's the finished product.

Next step will be to pull out the video cards and re-seat the water cooling blocks. They're acting up, and I can't shake the feeling that I might have rushed the second card, even the second time around.

 

[drlawyer]

Okay, so I pulled the video cards and completely broke down and reinstalled the water block on the second card. As I expected, the point on the card that had been making contact with the block (due to some sloppy thermal taping on my part) had displaced the padding and was in contact with the block again. I pulled all the padding and thermal grease off, and did a painstaking methodical reinstall with carefully measured and applied thermal padding.

The good news is that the system is now recognizing the second card again. The bad news is, I am getting consistent BSOD's on bootup whenever the second video card is enabled. I've done (more) research, and found a few suggestions regarding conflicts caused by various AMD "crapware" that is bundled with their drivers (i.e. AMD External Events) and will be doing some fiddling with those issues tonight.

Cross your fingers for me.

P.S. - on the drive in this morning, I had an idea regarding how to offer some structural support for the video cards to offset the sagging caused by the water blocks. It's a simple solution, but it should turn out relatively elegantly. I'll share more details later.

 

[drlawyer]

I've been mentioning ongoing problems with my (second) video card over the course of this build, and wanted to drop a quick post that I seem to have discovered what the problem has been (or at least, part of the problem).

If you look at the diagram below (provided by Danger Den as installation instructions with the DD-Summit block I am using), you will see the red oval to the lower left of the GPU. In that area, there was a chip on the card that was high enough to make contact with the water block - however, the instructions do not address applying any thermal padding or paste in that area. The contact was evident, as the copper surface of the card contained a "heat shadow" that included an outline of the small square surface of the chip. To address the issue, I applied a layer of thermal padding to the block (in the red triangular dashed area) to ensure that the chip in question (as well as any other chips in the area that might make contact) would be insulated.

Once I insulated the area with a layer of thermal tape, the system now boots into Windows without incident even when the second card is enabled. I am currently encountering configuration issues with the card, but Windows does recognize that it is there. It may be an issue of driver scrubbing and reinstallation, or I may just resort to (another) clean install of Windows. Of course, I am concerned that the card may have been damaged by the prior contact between the chip and the block.

I will post photos of the area of the video card I am referring to later to provide some guidance in case anyone else encounters these kinds of issues. Of course, once I get the system to properly configure the second card, I will update with further details.

As an aside - though Danger Den recommended applying thermal paste to the memory chips on the board, I used thermal padding instead. Something about applying grease directly onto the chip made me nervous.

 

[drlawyer]

For this update, I put together a quick, simple solution for dealing with the video card "sag" so many of us experience, especially when mounting water blocks on the cards.

Note the slope downward as the card moves away from the back of the case

The other day I realized that the cards had a scew-hole in the extreme right hand side (with matching hole on the backplate) that would just fit a #6 size bolt.

So, I went down to the local industrial tool supply store and bout a 3' #6-32 threaded rod with corresponding neoprene/aluminum washers, cap bolts and hex bolts. I cut a 20 cm length off the rod, dremmeled the end of the threading smoth again and was ready to go.

From there, it was just a matter of threading the bolt down through the holes; first through the top card, then the bottom, remembering to add nuts and washers before I passed through the bottom card.

Once I had the nuts threaded and fed through, I fed the rod all the way down to the floor of the case, and put a hex nut above and a cap nut below the unused fan grill. Once the card was anchored at the bottom, I slowly turned the hex nuts beneath the cards until they were level and voila!

Simple, unobtrusive, inexpensive and very effective. Both cards are now level, and I am less worried about the sag damaging them.

 

[bonnev659]

glad you are able to fix the sag!

it is coming along very nicely

hope you are able to get the 2nd card problem fixed

 

[drlawyer]

Thanks Bonnev. I actually got the idea after seeing a spare part from a baby gate in my garage on the way out the door.

The vid card issue is frustrating. Windows seems intermittently willing to recognize that the card is there, and properly identify it as a Radeon HD 5800 series, but when it does detect it, I get a Code 43 error and it will not accept a driver update.

I think I'm going to resort to another wipe and Win 7 re-install in case it's some sort of registry artifact or obscure corrupted file. But if that doesn't do it, I may be looking to try and find another 5870 E6 card.

 

[hammerforged]

Nice Support. Looks excellent. Quite a few other people on here could benefit from doing that as well. Sagging is never a good thing...video cards included ha.

 

[drlawyer]

Thanks! I was a little concerned with how it would end up looking, aesthetically. But I was pretty pleased with the effect. I think it adds to the general industrial feel of the case.

I might post a separate thread with the idea in case others are looking for an inexpensive solution to the vid-card support problem.

 

[drlawyer]

UPDATE:

After battling with the video card setup for going on two months, I'm throwing in the proverbial towel. Now that the HD 7950 and 7970 price cuts have gone live, I'm yanking the Crossfire setup I have with the dual 5870s and dropping a Sapphire Radeon HD 7950 3GB in. The new $400 price point was simply too good to pass up.

The card should arrive Friday. I will be running the new card on air initially, to get a benchmark for performance, but plan to add an EK-FC7950 block in the coming weeks (haven't settled yet on Copper, Acetal or Acetal+Nickel just yet - I need to do some research on the pros and cons of each).

Hoping to recoup some of the cost of the new card by selling the functioning water-blocked 5870 E-6 card I have, and I have actually seen the "for parts" cards command $50 - 100 as well, so I might end up a little bit ahead.

Updated pics to follow this weekend. Wish me luck.

 

[drlawyer]

Gotta say, as happy as I was with the HD 5870 2GB card, the new HD 7950 really flies. Running on stock cooling at OEM clocks at the moment, but I'm already seeing massive fps improvements over several games.

I will likely be throwing a waterblock on it in the coming weeks (the EK FC7950) and will, of course, post pictures as updates continue.

 

[drlawyer]

Just put in the order for a pair of EK-FC7950 waterblocks and backplates to arrive in conjunction with the second Sapphire Radeon HD 7950 I ordered over the weekend.

I also decided to snag another 12 GB of Corsair Dominator GT RAM (No, I have no idea what I would need 24 GB of RAM for.)

Things are about to get interesting. I'm hoping everything arrives by week's end.

I'll be posting installation pics as I water-block the 7950s. Wish me luck!

 

[bonnev659]

can't wait to see the update pictures

 

[drlawyer]

I've received the second Sapphire HD7950 and have been running it on air for the last few days. I just received a notification from DHL that the waterblocks are on schedule for delivery today. Unfortunately, I doubt I will have time to install the blocks this week and I have my little one's birthday party on Saturday (which is NOT unfortunate - I am very much looking forward to it!)

However, I will take some pics of the dual 7950s installed as well as some teaser pics of the EK hardware once it arrives.

I also corresponded with EK regarding the whole "EN - Nickel plating" issue, and am confident I will have no issues with the new process. I won't quote the emails with EK (I don't want to present anything out of context) but they did advise that I use a quality pre-mixed coolant that contains an active biocide, and offered several brands with which they have had success. I encourage anyone who is considering water-blocks and who has concerns about the nickel-plating issue to contact EK customer support directly, provide them with the specifics of your particular setup and inquire as to their recommendations. I found them to be very responsive, thorough and informative (and I was impressed that they were willing to recommend competitor's coolants in my application).

I will be flushing and cleaning my entire water-cooling system before installing the new hardware, especially since I will be changing coolants (I am going with a dye-free pre-mix).

Stay tuned!

 

[nathantrumpet]

Hey, I just finished looking over your Insanity project. It looks fantastic!! I am looking forward to the updated version.

Did you do any temperature testing when you were only using one 5870?

 

[drlawyer]

Hey, I just finished looking over your Insanity project. It looks fantastic!! I am looking forward to the updated version.

Thanks! It's been a job, I can tell you that. All in all, I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out; I received the EK EN-Nickel / Acetal blocks this weekend and I have to say, they look pretty sweet. I'm anxious to get them installed, but I had to wait until I received my coolant shipment so I could break the system down, flush it and get it installed right. I just received a notice that the shipment has arrived, so I might try to get going on it one night this week.

Did you do any temperature testing when you were only using one 5870?

I didn't do any stress testing, but I kept RealTemp GT running quite a bit and found that the card temps fluctuated between about 38 C (idle) and just below 50 C (load). That's a 10-20 degree reduction. With that being said, I really don't think I have enough static pressure on my GPU loop radiator, so part of the tear-down and rebuild will be installing a pair of Gentle Typhoons on the underside (push) side of the 120.2 radiator. I think with proper installation, adequate airflow and the like, you could probably expect to see temps of 30-40 on average, with occasional spikes to 50 or 55. The card tended to run at 50-~70 on air.

 

[bonnev659]

looking forward to the new pictures

 

[drlawyer]

looking forward to the new pictures

Thanks for checking in, bonne. Things have been hectic the past few weeks - work, family, Diablo III... but I have gotten in all the goodies I need to take the next step:

• EK water blocks and backplates for the dual Sapphire HD 7950 3G cards I installed
• Five of the new Corsair SP120 case fans (which boast much better static airflow than my existing fans, with a cool red-ring / black blade design)
• New coolant to replace the distilled water

I was hoping to get a big chunk done this weekend, but I have to go out of town tomorrow and have a honey-do or two to do before I'm allowed to play with my toys. If nothing else, I'll throw a teaser up of the new parts. ^_^

 

[drlawyer]

As promised, some teaser pics of the new parts:

I also thought I'd try out the new fans being offered by Corsair - they boast a pretty respectable static pressure (3.1mm/H20) at 2350 RPM - plus, I like the looks of them.

The color rings are interchangeable; each fan comes with a red, blue and white ring.

My first impression out of the box is that they have a quality feel to them. It has a nice "heft" to it. They don't feel like some of the lightweight junk you find. I'm sure Corsair doesn't manufacture them itself, but it still represents the kind of "out of the box" quality you expect from Corsair. The connection points actually contain a rubber insert that is slightly higher than the surrounding chassis, and fills the entire corner. I anticipate this will reduce mechanical noise, as it will undoubtedly damper any of the vibration that would result from the fan coming into contact with the case.

Once I get them installed, I'll report on their performance as well.

 

[drlawyer]

Finally an update! I had some free time tonight, so I thought I would crack out one of the new EK waterblocks (EK-FC7950 - Acetal+EN) that's been staring at me for two weeks and get it installed on one of the two video cards. I don't have time to replumb the cooling system to the video feed until after I get back from vacation, so I'll be running off the single video card, on air, until then.

In the meantime, let's see how the Sapphire HD 7950 3GB GDDR5 looks in a new, more formal suit, shall we? As we go, I'll walk you through the upgrade step by step.

We start with Sapphire card, stock, just for reference.

It doesn't look bad - so, let's tear it apart. We start by removing the stock cowl.

A couple of things to note as I'm tearing this card down. This is the non-overclocked version of the 7950; Sapphire's "entry-level" card in the 7950 GPU. It was at the $390 - 400 price point. Although it performs well, it is easy to see the shortcuts that Sapphire took to get it in at this price point while dismantling it.

First, the cowl is a lightweight plastic, and appears to be purely aesthetic. The cowl was anchored by only 5 screws, rather than the usual 8 screws utilized on the typical Reference HD 7950 card (this is not counting the 4 screws mounting the cooling block to the GPU). In all, the card was held together by 9 screws on the back, 3 fewer than the typical card.

Additionally, the bracket, rather than being held in place by two screws at the mounting side of the bracket

featured one screw in about the middle of the face of the bracket (just above the HDMI port)

.

Once the cowl was off, I got a good look at the stock cooling solution, which was a straightforward 75m fan mounted directly to what I was rather disappointed to see was an aluminum cooling block with copper base at the point of contact with the die. These issues may seem small, but you can really get a feel for the areas Sapphire cut to bring this card in at the price point.

After pulling of the block and fan, we're left with the GPU and 3 GB of GDDR5 RAM configured around it. Though you can't see it very well in this picture, I also pulled the stock dual slot I/O bracket off and replaced it with EK's reinforced single slot I/O bracket. (Though it says it is for the 7970, it also fits the 7950).

I removed the stock thermal paste (which was a bit chalky - another point against Sapphire) and starting laying out the thermal padding provided by EK.

One nice thing about EK's product - though the thermal padding wasn't entirely precut, the padding for the memory was cut to two lengths - one 100mm and one 50 mm. In order to get the 12 pieces I needed, it was necessary only to cut the strips into 4 and 8 equal pieces respectively. The width of the strip was already the proper "length" the memory chips.

I did learn the hard way that the white side of the padding was much thicker than the other side, which was about the thickness of shrink wrap. For the other card, I will definitely take the white side off before placing the padding on the card, as it will make getting the remaining side off much easier.

With the thermal padding in place and both sides of backing removed, I applied some thermal grease to the GPU and mounted the block. The EK block features pre-milled standoffs that make the fit so much more natural. Unlike the prior card and blocks I used, it felt "right" the first time I put it on, rather than leaving me wondering "Now, did I get that on there right?"

With the block in place, I turned my attention to the other side of the card, where I would be installing the EK FC-7950 backplate. I'm adding the backplate for a couple of reasons. First, remember, the "back" of the card will be facing up in my case, so it will be the part I see. Having a PCB sicking out there just makes the whole build look incomplete. But secondly, the backplate actually provides some structural support. With the backplate installed, the card feels solid, and leave me feeling like it will resist the "waterblock sag" better than my prior card layout.

Yeah, I still can't get the hang of my camera. I'll try for better pictures of the finished product later. More to come over the next couple of weeks!

 

[drlawyer]

Time for a long overdue update! Vacation out of state and craziness at work have stalled my installation of the water-cooling setup for my upgraded Sapphire Radeon HD 7950s - until now!

So, let's get to the pics!

Let me start by offering a quick critique of the new Corsair Air Series SP120 High-Performance fans I recently purchased. I admit to having a lot of brand loyalty with Corsair, and I was intrigued both by the high static pressure ratings and the functional and flexible aesthetics of the new fan. I picked up five - three for the 120.3 radiator servicing my CPU and two to serve as the "pull" pair on my 120.2 radiator on the GPU loop. They did not disappoint. In short, these fans are the real deal. Not only do they move a TON of air, but they do so as quietly as I could expect for fans spinning at north of 1800 RPM. They were quieter than the Xion AXP-GF120 fans I replaced, at almost twice the speed. In fairness, I bought the Xions based almost solely on looks - still, though they were rated at 51 CFM at 1200 RPM, the Corsairs destroy them while still keeping noise levels down. The Corsairs are rated at 32 dBA at 2350 RPM - I'm running them at 1800 RPM and they are quieter than the Xions, which were rated at 25.2 dBA at 1200 RPM.

Performance improvement is notable. Real-Temp readings reflect a 3-5 degree drop in CPU core temps, bringing the operating temperature of the i7-980x processor I'm running (currently at 4.6 GHz) to 25-30 C (down from 30-35). In my opinion, these fans will be hard to beat at the $16-20 price point.

Here's how they look in the system:

This last pic displays the one small complaint I have about the fans (and it's purely aesthetic) - When used in a "pull" configuration, you can't see the rings. Okay, so that's not the end of the world. Still, it would be nice if the fans had rings on both sides, or if there were some way to reverse the spin on the blade so you could "pull" air without having to install the fans label up.

On the 120.2 radiator, I also installed a pair of Scythe Gentle Typhoons (1850 RPM) for the "push" side. I had already purchased them, and they deliver as promised as well. I put them on the bottom of the radiator purely for looks - the grey blades clash with the red/black theme.

Moving on to the new video card setup.

The machining of the backplate is a very, very nice touch, giving it a very clean, very professional look. It's a shame that Sapphire and the other manufacturers don't put the cards out stock with this kind of build quality. Plastic cowl = cheap looking. Machined aluminum = avalanche of win.

Now we move on to adding the second card and running all the tubing and connections between them.

I have to admit that I'm pretty pleased with how the EK block configuration turned out. Much, much cleaner than the Danger Den blocks I was using on the HD 5870s previously. I am also very pleased with the backplate - not only does it add a noticeable amount of structural support, but it just looks sweet.

Compare the prior setup with the new one

The build is starting to take the shape I had originally envisioned. I think I'm about where I want to be, structurally. At this point, the only major work left to do is cleaning up the wiring, which at the moment has that homey, rats-nest feel. I'll be running some temperature tests on the GPU setup over the coming days. For point of reference, the Sapphire HD 7950 standard video card operated at about 60-65 C on the stock air cooling setup and default settings.

Once I clean the wiring up (and get all the dust and other crud that's settled into the case cleaned out), I'll take my "Glamour Shots" of the system. Stay tuned!

 

[drlawyer]

Just a quick follow-up from last night's build update. I've charged the water-cooling loop on the GPUs and the performance is beyond what I could have expected. As I mentioned before, the air-cooled video card ran at temps in the 60-65+ range.

With both cards on the loop, running at the same conditions, the RealTemp readings put the GPUs at 30-38 C. More information after I run the system for a while.

UPDATE: After running the system for several hours last night, including simultaneously loading up several games at the highest settings, enabling Crossfire, and running HD videos, I am pleased to report that the GPU temperatures never exceeded 38 C, and generally hovered in the 35-36 degree range. This is a MASSIVE improvement over the stock, air-cooled solution (which, as I mentioned above, tended to idle around 60 C, and would peak as high as 70-75 C), and a significant performance increase (5 to 15 degrees) over the Danger Den blocks I was using on the prior 5870s. In fairness, the 5870s were more power hungry, and an argument could be made that the 7950s are just more efficient. However, it is noteworthy that the 5870s also tended to operate in the mid-to-high 60s on stock cooling.

 

[bonnev659]

very nice

glad those new SP120 fans are doing well. i was looking into them

 

[drlawyer]

very nice

glad those new SP120 fans are doing well. i was looking into them

I can't say how much of an improvement they would be if you already are running premium fans (like the Typhoons), but if you're packing stock fans or entry-level ones like I was, I would say these are a great upgrade path.

As a point of reference, all 5 Corsair fans (and the two Gentle Typhoons) were quieter, at full speed, than the stock GPU fan on the HD 7950.

 

[drlawyer]

I am so pleased with the performance of the 120 mm Corsair fans I installed on my two radiators, I just ordered a pair of 140 mm versions.

They should arrive later this week, and I'll be installing them where the two red-bladed 140 mm fans currently are located.

I will also be replacing all the multi-sleeved wiring with Bitfenix Alchemy cables, which are on order and should arrive later this week. The NZXT cables I'm using now are okay, but I'm not thrilled with the plastic sleeving, which tends to restrict the flexibility of the cables. After reading a review of the Bitfenix offerings, I decided to go that route.

I made a ton of progress over the weekend getting the wiring sorted out, and should be ready to post "pretty close to final" pics in a few days.

Stay tuned.

 

[bonnev659]

looking nice

can't wait to see the "final" pictures

 

[drlawyer]

Thanks bonne. As always, nice to get some feedback.

New 140 mm fans and multisleeves are en route; honestly, I don't think I can get away with doing much more because I had already promised the boss (read: wife) that I wasn't going to spend any more money on the build before I spent another $125 on the fans and cables.

Short version, the end is nigh. Fans should arrive tomorrow, cables Friday. Who knows? I might have the final* shots up this weekend.





__________________________
* - We all know that it's never actually complete....

 

[drlawyer]

In the immortal words of Woody (from Toy Story): "Now is the perfect time to panic!"

My rig had been getting glichy lately. Freezing up. Shutting itself off. And now.. it won't come on at all. And by "at all", I mean that when I hit the power button, the lights come on and the fans turn for about 1/2 a second, then everything shuts off 9/10 times. The 10th time, it will either stay on but nothing happens or, the other 5% of the time, will let me get into the BIOS configuration screen or will boot halfway through the Windows Startup screen and either freeze, shut off, or both.

My first thought was PSU. However, I've tested it (with this thing) and found that it is working fine. I disabled, unplugged, or removed everything else I could think of until I finally broke down and unplugged the two 8-pin ATX power supply plugs that provide aux. power to the CPU. With those unplugged, the rig will stay on, but (of course) nothing happens.

I've decided it's the motherboard, and have ordered a replacement, which should arrive Thursday. In the meantime, I'll be crying into my beer.

Stay tuned.

 

[bonnev659]

on the last update

hopefully the mobo is the solution to what is wrong with it

 

[Jorona]

In the immortal words of Woody (from Toy Story): "Now is the perfect time to panic!"

My rig had been getting glichy lately. Freezing up. Shutting itself off. And now.. it won't come on at all. And by "at all", I mean that when I hit the power button, the lights come on and the fans turn for about 1/2 a second, then everything shuts off 9/10 times. The 10th time, it will either stay on but nothing happens or, the other 5% of the time, will let me get into the BIOS configuration screen or will boot halfway through the Windows Startup screen and either freeze, shut off, or both.

My first thought was PSU. However, I've tested it (with this thing) and found that it is working fine. I disabled, unplugged, or removed everything else I could think of until I finally broke down and unplugged the two 8-pin ATX power supply plugs that provide aux. power to the CPU. With those unplugged, the rig will stay on, but (of course) nothing happens.

I've decided it's the motherboard, and have ordered a replacement, which should arrive Thursday. In the meantime, I'll be crying into my beer.

Stay tuned.

Those PSU Testers don't apply a load. Your PSU might be supplying proper voltage under 0 load, but could be blowing chunks at 25%.

 

[drlawyer]

@Jarona - Excellent point, and you're right - the tester has limits to the data it can realistically provide. Still, step one is - find out if the PSU is supplying the proper voltage. Before I swapped out the mobo, I also tested the existing board with a spare PSU I had. Similar problem with accuracy, as the PSU is much lower power (650 W) and isn't realistically going to be able to power the system at full load. Fortunately (if you want to call it that), the same symptoms occurred, so I felt a little more confident that the board was the problem.

The replacement board arrived yesterday, and I spent a couple of hours last night pulling the old mobo and dropping the replacement board in. The good news is - everything powered up on the first try and I ran the system for about 4 hours last night without a glitch. The system configured the full 24GB array of RAM on the first try (I had read in a few forums that some people were having issues getting these boards to properly configure 24 GB - unrelated to the OS).

Of course, everything is set at default speeds - no overclocking yet. I'll run the new setup for a week or so and monitor it for any hiccups, but the initial impression is that my diagnosis was correct. If everything stays stable, I will re-configure the overclocked settings on the CPU and RAM.

So, a little setback in getting the "final" build pictures up. As I will be tinkering with it over the coming few days to a week, I doubt it will be in any condition to post final pics. I might toss some pics up of the build in its current state, as I have made some improvements since the last photo post.

 

[drlawyer]

With the new motherboard installed and running for the better part of a week without (significant) issues, I thought a few updated pics were in order. These include the new 140 mm Corsair fans, as well as the BitFenix Alchemy multi-sleeved wires I've installed (but still not tucked completely away).

 

[drlawyer]

A small update - I've swapped out my cables for the new MaxFinder triple-braided variety. They came pre-sleeved in alternating red and black, but are hard to find. I was able to locate only one or two for sale. In any event, here's the changeover for the 8-pin ATX ports near the CPU, so you can see the difference:

First, the prior, all-red BitFenix cables:

And, voila! the new red/black variety:

Before anyone asks, I think the Bitfenix cables are an exceptional quality. The sleeving is cloth, very soft and very neat. I personally like the MaxFinders better because they are more rigid, the weave is much tighter (due to the "triple-braiding") and also are made of polyester. It's really going to be a Coke or Pepsi kind of decision. Personally, for my build, I think the MaxFinders look better.

And here's an overview shot of the top half of the case, at present, showing off the second 12GB bank of RAM I dropped in, bringing the total on the system to 24GB.

I aslo had a couple of new quick-disconnect fittings arrive this week that I will be putting directly on the CPU cooling block in place of the Bits-Power compression fittings I have there currently. Replacing the motherboard recently reminded me of how convenient being able to completely disconnect the water loops can be.

After that, I am kicking around some ideas for display mounting the SSDs, and picked up a 16X16 of red acrylic in case I decide to go fancy. More to come.

 

[drlawyer]

Time for a long overdue update. Things have been crazy at work the last couple of months, but I have been slowly accumulating components for some upcoming improvements, including:

• Just received a full-board water-block from EK Waterblocks (EK-FB RE3 - Acetal+EN (Nickel))
  
  
  
  
  I had contacted EK a couple of months back about the availability of this block; Eddy personally replied telling me that they were going to do one more limited-production run, after which they not going to be making any more, so I grabbed what appears to be the last one (thanks for the heads-up and great customer service, Eddy!)

• After getting some tips from the one and only Mr. Armageddon , I'm going to take a stab at shamelessly ripping off his design for the illuminated bottom panel, with one or two minor modifications (hint: think red).

• I've been seriously considering reconfiguring my monitor array into a 3X1 portrait mode, but that will require some radical bezel chopping. It will be a ton of work, but after seeing this, I think I'm sold (Props to Vega for this epic monitor mod).
• 

More to come soon!

 

[drlawyer]

It's been far too long since I last updated this thread, but work and other distractions have forestalled continued work on my build.

However - I reconfigured my monitor setup over the weekend. After mulling it over for several months, I took the dive and stripped the bezels off my monitors, and changed the setup to a triple portrait layout. I am very pleased with the results, though it will take some getting used to.

The improvement over the old bezel is remarkable. The Asus monitors I am using feature a bezel that is approximately 21 mm (~ 3/4") wide. However, the metal "inner" bezel comes in at just over 8 mm (~ 5/16"). Also, because the stripped monitor is only about 8 mm deep, I can overlap the monitors so that (with bezel compensation) the "dead space" behind the bezel is reduced to effectively 9 mm. Compared to the same configuration with the bezels, the "dead space" is reduced from 42 mm (~1 1/2") to 9 mm (just under 3/8 ").

The best part of this setup is - the resolution is basically 3200 X 1980, on a screen that is the equivalent of about a 50" monitor. It's a lot of real estate to take in, but for my advanced, work-and-research related purposes (yeah, pretty much just gaming), it's an astounding experience.

 

[baldrik]

Now you just need to get to removing those bezels.

 

[drlawyer]

Now you just need to get to removing those bezels.

LOL - I would love to, but one step at a time. It's such a huge improvement over what I had already, and I know if I start dismantling the inner bezel, things are going to start falling out. MUCH more research on my end before I undertake that kind of mod. Plus, I have some other projects for the rig in the pipe before I move to that kind of extreme (I've had the materials to get started on my own version of Mr_Armageddon's "Illuminated Panel" design for about two months).

Of course, any additional mods and I will definitely post them here.