Project Thief - CaseLabs TX10-D Dual Workstation/Gaming Build - Gulftown and SB-E

S

stren

Gawd
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Apr 24, 2011
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Alright LADIES AND GENTLEMAN, TROLLS, HATERS AND PEASANTS!

Project Thief is COMPLETE. Cue Drums..... Cue trumpet fanfare....

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Project thief is based around the enormous, nay monstrous, CaseLabs TX10-D case, and if that wasn't enough, there's a pedestal to make it even bigger.

The build features two full size gaming computers in one case along with custom wood panelling and powder coating. The name thief comes from the this build stealing an awful lot of my disposable income. The Thief symbology is integrated through the use of Skyrim Thief's guild symbols as well as two different themes representing the duality of the thief's life. The "light" side of the case represents the Thief's role by day as an ordinary hard working member of society and features my workstation. The "dark" side of the case represent's the Thief's role by night and features my gaming rig. The ability to fit so many radiators and fans means that the fans can be turned down to be almost silent while still being able to perform at the top of their game.

The idea was really to build a no hold's barred setup with the best of the best that was not only hardcore but easy to maintain. One computer would be my linux based workstation that I use for my day to day work. The other would be my windows based entertainment/gaming battlestation.

Light side:
- Rampage IV Extreme + 4930K + 32GB Corsair Dominator GT 2133 + 2x 7990s + 1TB SSD
- Fully watercooled with 2 loops: cpu, memory, motherboard, gpus

Dark side:
- EVGA X79 Dark + 4820K + 16GB Corsair Dominator GT 2133 + 4xR9-290s + 1TB SSD
- Fully watercooled with 2 loops: cpu, memory, motherboard, gpus

Final Pics here

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The project name is not finalized so suggestions are welcome - I thought of thief because it dual wields and it steals all my money!

I am working on a huge monster build that will showcase CaseLabs newest case - the monster TX10. This monster case can fit two SR-2 (HPTX) systems with full water cooling. As shown it could fit multiple Mo-Ra 140x9 raditors, or 6 140.4 radiators. It can even fit front mounted 140.5 radiators.

The main feature will be two giant custom waterfall reservoirs that will occupy the front bays.

Here is the current hardware that I have to go in:

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Unboxing Videos and Pics

I picked up the case directly from Jim - so the packing was reduced in order to fit in my car. If you buy one of these it will come in two boxes as it's packed a lot more securely.

Videos - I can't work out how to embed youtube so here's some links:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqwGFFfPLQ4&context=C3322918ADOEgsToPDskI2H2Nz8m3_IbQaLgVUrd0R

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqPqH7rvIZA&context=C3953b0bADOEgsToPDskI8m9W8hEnOrEc9aEr83gWw

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Lots of Parts

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Building the case

As Jim knew the case was going to be powder coated by FTWPC he saved FTW the hassle of sandblasting it by skipping the CaseLabs normal black/white powder coat. Because of this the case is not only in it's raw bare aluminum state, but it also is less assembled than normal in order to save on time taking everything apart.

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The Pedestal frame consist of top, bottom, front and back that are screwed together with countersunk screws

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Screwing the casters in

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These are the spring clips that hold the panels on - they hold the panels tight, while still be pretty easy to remove for changing your loop up

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Pedestal frame with one of the clipped side panel and the back plate screwed on

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Pedestal with all panels attached except the top/bottom cover

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Main case frame coming together, this is the view from the back showing the holes for the dual vertical motherboard trays

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Case + Pedestal with XXL window fitted on one side

Here's a quick video of the partially assembled case

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qwrso0sehdo&context=C3773919ADOEgsToPDskJgx8bloxEVpne2XhAzGKgU

Choosing colors for the powder coat

To make sure I was making the right choice on the color I decided to get some card and tape it to the frame. I removed the acrylic window and used a grey piece of card to model the motherboard:

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Metallic Charcoal Grey and Metallic Crimson Red

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Metallic Charcoal Grey, Pearl White and Crimson Red

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Metallic Charcoal Grey with Metallic Pearl White

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That's it for now - let me know what colors you like!
 
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That case wouldn't fit in my server space very well but you can't argue with bigger is sometimes better. It just looks like a beast of a case.
 
Aye - it's not a case for everyone - CaseLabs does make smaller cases, this is just their "extreme" model :)
 
I would hate to see that cases price there smallest one when i priced it came up to someting like 450 and thats the baby!!! this should be good...
 
Aus10 said:
I would hate to see that cases price there smallest one when i priced it came up to someting like 450 and thats the baby!!! this should be good...
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Yeah they're pricey - at least they are built to last though and about as future proof as a case can be right now. If you look at the materials they use though I can't believe they have much margin despite the price. My last Lian Li lasted me nearly 10 years, so I figure this will last a similar amount of time. The TX10 range start at 650 - for that you're getting two cases in one, and a bunch more cooling capability than the base M8 case they do. However everything's relative. The most expensive version I've seen was a guy who ordered the TX10 + two pedestals and a bunch of options, I think he said his came out to nearly 1500 - however his build looks like it must be about 20K, so compared to the total price of the build I suppose it's not bad! Mine was less than 1500 though so I'm not the craziest person out there ;) I will be tempted next year to add a 2nd pedestal though - it will raise the case up a little more so the windows are at desk height, then I'll put a 4u server box in the pedestal with a 4p g34 folding rig in it - gotta save some money for that though ;)
 
if you have a gf or a wife make sure she doesnt see this money leaving lol jk

I was thinking at gettign there smallest case the M8 i think. It has enough room for everything i would ever need just so expensive im 16 so 350 in a case is like pass out. It would be neat to build a large rig in a case like that.

Looking forward to pics
 
I still want to see what a TX10 looks like with either a Mini, Nano, or Pico ITX board crammed in there.
 
Aus10 said:
if you have a gf or a wife make sure she doesnt see this money leaving lol jk

I was thinking at gettign there smallest case the M8 i think. It has enough room for everything i would ever need just so expensive im 16 so 350 in a case is like pass out. It would be neat to build a large rig in a case like that.

Looking forward to pics
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Thanks - my wife is supportive of my hobby. We don't have kids yet so it's the best time to spend money before there are bigger priorities ;)
 
formula409 said:
Why Not? Lots of room for water cooling equipment and 2 rigs.. whats not to love.
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Indeed - I mean how do you define "need"? Do you need a computer running at 5GHz? Do you need an SSD? Do you need a 30" IPS monitor? No you don't really need any of those, but we do want and like those things. This case is too big for a lot of people, it's overkill. However you can have two very powerful computers with room for buckets of drives, and enough radiators to almost silently.
 
Well it is not so much need, but I could really use a computer running at a hair over 5 YHz. When it comes to my 2560x1600 30" IPS monitor and my SSDs in RAID 0, then yes I do think "need" would be better verbal descriptor to define the minimum requirements for a pleasant computer using experience.

to stren: You could always use the second half of the TX10 as a heated crib after you have kids.
 
Ok point taken. It is huge and im looking forward to seeing you fill it up. Honestly i cant picture something that big filled with stuff. I can only picture servers or switchs.. So this will be a first for me goodluck! Honestly iv never seen a computer case that big until i went and checked out the m8 and saw it compared to there largerst case.
 
Aus10 said:
Ok point taken. It is huge and im looking forward to seeing you fill it up. Honestly i cant picture something that big filled with stuff. I can only picture servers or switchs.. So this will be a first for me goodluck! Honestly iv never seen a computer case that big until i went and checked out the m8 and saw it compared to there largerst case.
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Yeah I'm a little nervous that the part between the motherboard and the 18 bay reservoir will look empty. On one side I'll be having a 2nd reservoir for the gpu.mobo and on the other I'm hoping to mod some kind of screen or lcd display behind the window.
 
This case is making me salivate. You probably need a dolly to move it around but having one of these would be awesome.
 
FndTheRver said:
This case is making me salivate. You probably need a dolly to move it around but having one of these would be awesome.
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Thanks - it comes with wheels that can handle 200 lbs each I believe - Paint samples should arrive in the next few days, and then the painting can get under way :)
 
Thanks everyone

BloodyIron said:
Why bother with 2xATX systems if you're installing rack space too? o_O
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Rack space won't be used for actual servers. Maybe a switch and maybe a KVM if the one I want turns out to be rack mountable. Also for future proofing. The cover would have been plain, but why not choose the 1U in case :) I want 2 full ATX systems for max overclocking - cpu speed of my linux workstation matters hugely for my work. My gaming system needs to be atx just for tri sli.
 
You should make a case using 2u servers where the heatsinks on the CPUs/GPUs port out to an external rad set ;D


stren said:
Thanks everyone



Rack space won't be used for actual servers. Maybe a switch and maybe a KVM if the one I want turns out to be rack mountable. Also for future proofing. The cover would have been plain, but why not choose the 1U in case :) I want 2 full ATX systems for max overclocking - cpu speed of my linux workstation matters hugely for my work. My gaming system needs to be atx just for tri sli.
Click to expand...
 
good grief

most cases have a few 5.25 slots...this thing has a few RS 310 19" bays just in case...wow
 
Paint samples came in today - it looks like "Galaxy Grey II" will be the exterior and "Silver/White" will be the interior. It's hard to show the texture, but those two are both similarly smooth, with a bit of shine but not much.

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Picked up an EK 250 res off of hardass, a second ax1200 from patch to replace my dying ocz psu, and an open box xonar stx :)

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Thought you guys might want to see some pics of the existing hardware that will be *partly* reused as well as some of the new pieces. Apologies that the photos aren't that great, my wife took the camera with her tonight so I had to use my phone.

Here's my modded Antec 300 that contains my gaming rig (i7-920, Rampage III Extreme, 3xGTX480, Xonar STX, AX1200). When the workstation gets SB-E this will get the 990x. Note that one gentle typhoon is stopped - I unsoldered the power wire because it's out of balance so the noise is annoying.

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Here's the front of the case with the space efficient but bubbly Koolance dual D5 reservoir as well as the dual 24V controller. I'll be using this reservoir until the 18 bay FTW reservoirs come in. No dvd drive, I removed it after installing windows and a couple of games. Most other games I have are on origin/steam.

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Here's the interior - cable routing isn't perfect because I knew I was moving to the TX10 soon. I'll also be replacing all the blue LEDs with reds to match the ROG theme a bit better:

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Here's the workstation in it's current temporary incarnation in a DD torture rack. i7-990x on an asus p6t. LSI raid card, 3 ssds and 3 hard drives and a 8800gt to drive the monitors. It has the H100 cooler temporarily and as you can see it needs some sleeving work:

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Here's a front shot showing the push/pull AP15's on the H100, they perform about as well as the stock 2600rpm corsair fans at max, but with a *lot* less noise

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Trident + turbulence memory - back in the day this was sweet stuff 3x4gb @ 2000-8-9-8, now of course you can get better for a lot less money haha such is progress!

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And now for some parts waiting to be installed - vintage EK gpu block:

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My old rasa block - I'm hoping to not use this and instead get a second raystorm soon - note the o-rings on the barbs seem to be dying:

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EK 250 res and DDC-1 for the worksation gpu and motherboard loop that will be self contained on the motherboard tray.

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That's about all the fun stuff I can show for now!
 
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