Project :: The Xtreme Dream!!! (56K Heavy)

[RCG_Bex]

Project :: Xtreme Dream!!!
Ok, so it's probably about time I actually got this project under-way. I had a busy year last year (New Job, lots of training courses away from home, I got engaged, went to NYC, LN2 overclocking events etc etc) and witht he year 2012 now in (and possibly end of the world) I decided I should probably get my backside into gear and actually do the build!

So what's the plan Bex?

Well! The plan is to take this salvaged (from ebay for £63) Lian Li V2100 and make a monster out of it! It always bugged me seeing many Lian Li V2000/2100 builds and people just not utilising the space!

Some of you may remember my previous build in a Lian Li V2110. However I've out grown the case and actually wish to sell it on (minus the famous back panel - a replacement is available but currently only from America).

Enough of the old build Bex! We want to see the plans for the new one!!!

Ok guys - so here it is! (Yes I know there is a typo - it should be 452x2 - dual D5's - and please excuse MS Paint jobby)



I did play about with the idea of having 4x quad radiators in the bottom, however my metal skills aren't that great and the PSU would need to be moved to the drive bays (not an issue). That and Lamptron don't make a fan controller powerfull enough to run 3x rows of 8x Kaze 3000's and 1x row of 4x Kaze 3000's.

Why not run then at full speed Bex?

Well guys I would! But my fiance would kill me I think! Although he did let me invest in some Delta's for when I do xtreme air cooling...

Anyway - the point of the matter is -

• 4x quads costs more money (I have 2x 240's and 3x 480's)
• more skilled metal work involved (which I do not have)
• fan controllers not suitable (not that I'm aware of anyway!)

The build isn't currently sponsored (I did try with Koolance since it's almost all Koolance excluding the fittings - blocks still to be decided) so it's all been out my own pocket so far. So I apologise if it's a bit slow at times! I have to work the OT to earn the pennies for the build which sadly means less time for the build

So what hardware are you planning for this build Bex?

Hardware List

• Intel i7 3960x @ @5Ghz (probably more)
• RAM - TBC
• Asus Rampage IV Extreme
• Asus GTX580 (although this may change)
• 4x Crucial M4 128Gb SSD's (again, may change since I need to invest in a controller now that I can't do 4-way 6Gbps RAID on-board)

And what about watercooling Bex?

Watercooling List

• CPU block (TBC)
• Motherboard block (TBC)
• GPU Block - EK Acetal/Nickel with Backplate
• Pumps - 2x Koolance 450S (with 24v adapter)
• Reservoir - Koolance 452x2
• Radiators - 2x Koolance 240's & 3x Koolance 480's
• Fans - 22x Scythe Kaze 3000RPM (Push/Pull)
• Fittings - Bitspower black (Going to try and use crystal fittings for clean straights)
• Fluid - (TBC)

So now that we've got that covered I guess we should look at some pics!

Specialtech Deliveries! (Cheers guys)

Box o' goodies!


SHINIES!!!


Scews - all accounted for!


Om nom nom radiator!


Super high FPI!


Scan Deliveries!

Oooo what's this? BP!


Moar Specialtech Deliveries!

Moar rads & some phobya goodies!


Even Moar Specialtech Deliveries!

Another one!?


What's in here?


Oh... not much but very important goodies!


An old delivery... but a good one!



I'll post more soon (have to do some work for a change)!



*** LINK TO FULL IMAGE GALLERY ***

[ximius]

Wow! Bex is actually doing a build!?!? There were many bets on when this would happen.. Who had money on Jan 2012?

[RCG_Bex]

Wow! Bex is actually doing a build!?!? There were many bets on when this would happen.. Who had money on Jan 2012?

Really? Who what where and when?

[Philwong]

I doubt you can stack two 120mm rad vertically in the lower compartment, Bex.

Phil

[RCG_Bex]

I doubt you can stack two 120mm rad vertically in the lower compartment, Bex.

Phil

Haha well you can - but only just! You can only do it with certain rads and fans though... otherwise it's too much due to trims etc. The holes on the Koolance rads are right by the edge so fans sit flat against each other

[RCG_Bex]

So just a quick bit of work to give you guys a taster of what's going on...

What colours will the final design be based around Bex?

I'm still to decide if I'm honest... I was going to base it around the Bugatti Veyron SS...



So it would be carbon fibre grey, blazing orange and black interior... But I may amend this since I'm not sure how to properly encorp the colours...



Some tastey orange o-rings to replace the green ones!



A whole box to replace...



Looking much better!



Only issue is the spacer's with bigger o-ring fittings... so I may need to track down some black ones... However I may need to change all of the o-rings anyway since the quality of the phobya ones appears to be absolute poo! Some are fine whilst others look stretched / worn / have excess rubber on the edges where the mould edges have been...

Hopefully their fan dampeners would be better? No...



The 7mm are bigger than the fan and the 2mm spacers aren't straight at the sides (so they bend inwards towards the fan).



Not the quality I paid for...

I did email Pascal about these but never recieved a reply. I even asked him at the last i-series and I was promised a reply and some replacements since they identified a manufacturing issue with the originals. Again, nothing...

I know it's the right email because I've had replies about other things (mainly sales) but not for issues... one of the reasons I moved to Specialtech to order my Koolance stuff



I did try to fix them up. Figured the middle fans could just have them glued and trimmed to fit...



Results were good but my god was it a lot of work and extremely messy. Inside they're still a mess if I'm honest...



I tried with some slim Scythe fans for a cleaner job but these little buggers are dangerous... and too expensive! We did ask Scythe for any duff's they could send (I'd need 10) to fit the build but we never had anything back *sulk*

Still... I think using 12mm would be tight fit... Whilst the case would fit all fans using 9mm shrouds the panels wouldn't go back on... so off came the side shrouds and I just put the shrouds in the middle!



Perfect fit and room to breath / cables to run!



OM NOM NOM SAMMICH!


Anyway! Got my delivery of screws so hopefully tonight after a relaxing bath (I've been swimming every day this week - 30mins lengths and 10 mins diving practice - so I'm pretty worn out and starting to ache a little) I can setup my reservoir and look at what additional fittings I need to squeeze it all in.

Oh and more pics of how the rads go together because myg od that was tricky! Non stop trial and error! Until then...

[3lfk1ng]

My really old build was Project : Dream. This build is definitely more XTREME!!!, I look forward to it.

[Hondacity]

ewwww blood lol

[RCG_Bex]

My really old build was Project : Dream. This build is definitely more XTREME!!!, I look forward to it.

Perhaps this should be renamed to Xtreme Dream? :P

[Church]

Hmm, interesting. Just that seeing first pics/scheme .. shouldn't restop be lowered a bit, to not block airflow to top rad front section?
And .. high fpi rads + powerful fans .. for just about any cooled hardware including SR2 with 4 dual gpu cards even half of those rads imho should suffice

[RCG_Bex]

Well I need to check... I only got the res today but I don't believe it takes the full bay (in terms of depth) but we'll see. Again not sure whether to use push or pull on the roof rad...

[Church]

"Push Vs Pull - This depends on fan speed/power. The high speed fans at 2000RPM with a 38mm fan thickness provided the best performance in a push condition. The slow speed fans with 1350RPM with a 25mm fan thickness provided the best performance in a pull condition. I would estimate that performance line is likely to cross in the 1500-1700RPM range where they are equal. So.... slow speed = pull, high speed = push, medium speed = it doesn't really matter.

Those 3K rpm ultrakazes do not look to me exactly as slow speed ones.
But then again, all that big pile of high fpi rads and powerful fans .. it probably is not worth splitting hairs to squeeze even smallest performance bits out there, it already is xtreme/overkill as it is, so mount position may be decided from other factors, eg. looks/cable management ease, etc.

[paulbagz]

The blood sacrifice to the water cooling gods has been received.

-PB

[Beriphent]

Impressive hardware and aspirations! Though I agree that much raddage seems overkill, if you pull it off it will be amazing.

[Hondacity]

Impressive hardware and aspirations! Though I agree that much raddage seems overkill, if you pull it off it will be amazing.

the bugatti veyron has 10 radiators lol

hondacity has 1, 1x120mm lol

[RCG_Bex]

Little Update
Well I didnt' get much done last night... My hubby made a home made curry with his new curry set (new knives, curry spice set, curry pot etc for his xmas) and it was delicious! Had a nice long soak in the bath to relieve some aching muscles from pushing myself perhaps too hard at the pool and then a quick tinker around with my new goodies before going to bed.



I think it's safe to say those stock tops need to go! A nice shiny Koolance 452x2 should do the trick!



Out with the old!



Quick change of the acrylic / plugs



Add the pumps and serial connecter!



And we're done! (Don't worry, I am aware the case is silver and the front are black)

Still debating whether or not to swap the 2x 24v pump adapters for the bay version (so it matches with the pump/res) but we'll see... Means more things to do...

Oh! And for those non-belivers out there...



Yes it's currently the opposite but just to demonstrate they fit (tight squeeze!)


Until next time...

[paulbagz]

Excellent work so far.

You going to do a paint job on the case at all?

Hope you are able to bleed that res easily enough too (as I see some people have trouble with bleeding them).

-PB

[RCG_Bex]

Yeah I will give it a paint job - haven't finalised a colour scheme yet though... I did debate carbon fibre effect but we'll see...

[Philwong]

Yes it's currently the opposite but just to demonstrate they fit (tight squeeze!)

OMG!! Impressive...

Phil

[Philwong]

No problem bleeding the RP452x2 here!

Phil

[Church]

Yeah I will give it a paint job - haven't finalised a colour scheme yet though... I did debate carbon fibre effect but we'll see...

Hmm, imho carbon fiber look is somewhat cheap blingish. How about some two-color paint job (see pics for littledevil's cases .. some combinations look rather ok)?

[RCG_Bex]

OMG!! Impressive...

Phil

You bet ya

No longer will every lian li v2000/2100 on the internet have crap space utilisation :P

Hmm, imho carbon fiber look is somewhat cheap blingish. How about some two-color paint job (see pics for littledevil's cases .. some combinations look rather ok)?

Well I think too much makes it tacky so maybe small details... but we'll see...

[Cookiesowns]

Awesome build!

Can't wait to see the outcome of this.

Also, do you happen to know what your 3960X can do on air/mild water? And also the voltages? D

[Cookiesowns]

Double post... dang chrome

[RCG_Bex]

I can do 5.2ghz on air for benching. I was running 4.25ghz at the level up button stable but could run daily use around 4.8ghz and with time I could probably stabilise 5ghz...