lowfat's Big Lian Li

[lowfat]

Some of the pics were posted in a previous worklog. But I changed hardware enough I think to start up a new one.

Forgot to take a pic of the case before I started to butcher it. But it is a Lian Li PC-A77F.
http://lian-li.com/v2/tw/product/upl...7f/a77f-05.jpg

Originally I was going to do a 2p AMD G34 system. But decided to move to Intel before ever actually using the board. Pic of the old board.


The blocks I bought specifically for it. Won't be using these either now.


Coolgate 420 w/ some BGears adapters. I love those adapters.


The nasty stuff out of the radiator. This is from the 4th or 5th flush. Never saved the gunk from the first 3 or so flushes.


Big pile of sleeving.



Recrimped the Gentle Typhoons for the radiator.


Here is my 'floating' reservoir.




Various radiator/fans/reservoir pics.










Finally reorganized all my modding supplies. Can't believe I used individual baggies for the past few years.




Wanted something unique for my tubing, MDPC-X Grand Bleu it is!




Now to add the coolant I mixed up. Added it to the radiator just for some pics.






This is the colour scheme I was planning on going w/ to match the AMD board. A friend was doing a very similar build so these cables didn't get wasted thankfully.




Checks out a-o-k on my trusty PSU checker.


About here is where I realized I wanted to go w/ Intel and convert this thing in to a gaming machine, not just a server. Going to need more radiators! But space was an issue so I needed something very slim up top. I had a Magicool 2x140mm slim laying around but unfortunately it is the wrong spacing.




So I took out the drill and drilled in to the radiator for new mounts. I slipped up a few times and drilled in to the rad, but thankfully I missed all the important stuff. :gasp:

It fits! Need to find some good black counter sunk screws methinks.


Well I guess it don't fit after all. :sad:


Got my EK blocks and backplates in. No real pics of the blocks yet.








One of Supremes.


And playing around w/ the coolant again.




One of the nekkid GTX680s. This is the Galaxy card. Nice black PCB. My other card, MSI Twin Frozr is a nasty brown. It definitely will be my bottom card.




Only pic I have of the block installed. :haha:


Backplate mounted on one of the cards.


Finally was able to afford the new board. Asus Z9PE-D8 WS.








Cleaned up my older Supreme HF. I guess Ice Dragon Cooling nanofluid leaves a residue on the blocks. Was able to polish it clean though.




Upon further comparision. This made me rather angry. Having to spend another $50 after shipping to get matching screws. :facepalm:


Mmmmm. Shade 19, where have you been my entire life?




Crimped the new 24-pin. DSLR battery had died so I used my iPhone to take the pic. :blush:


Shade 19 + Grand Bleu.






Cut off all the tabs off the sides of the 5.25" bays. They looked awful. I plan get some panels cut to cover up the sides of the bays.


Using my trusty nibbler to make it more cable management friendly. Also tapped a few new holes for cable management clips. Still have a bit to do here as you can see.


Did a few cuts in order to get the radiator to fit.


Yes! xD


Barely fits. Already putting a lot of pressure on the connector.


Test fitting one of the cards.


That is all for now.

[lowfat]

Did a bit more work on it so far today.

Brought out the trusty Plasti-Dip to do my slot covers. I love this stuff so much. Shame it is so expensive in Canada.


The two videocards w/ blocks installed.


Back side of the CPU almost looks like a tiny city.


The pumps. Swiftech MCP35X w/ EK top and Koolance bottoms.


My headphone card. Creative Titanium HD. I want to buy another soundcard for analog 5.1 but last one I tried had compatibly issues w/ the Titanium HD.


My main SSD, ioXtreme. Probably should have cleaned it off first. Didn't realize it was so dirty.




Test fitting the front radiator. Drilled the drain line. Unfortunately it is exactly where the front case feet are positioned. Going to have to move them up a bit. Hopefully it won't look goofy afterwards.






I wasn't planning on installing the pump like this, but it worked out fantastically. Using the square to make sure it is straight before marking the holes to drill. Ended up using my videocard SLI fitting, going to have to buy another one ASAP now. Didn't realize the second pic was out of focus before taking.




Some cable management holes drilled.


That is all for now.

[paulbagz]

Awesome work Lowfat!

Great colour choices on the sleeving too.

Just wondering, what size sleeving is that that you used to cover the tube?

-PB

[lowfat]

Awesome work Lowfat!

Great colour choices on the sleeving too.

Just wondering, what size sleeving is that that you used to cover the tube?

-PB

I use 3/8" ID 1/2" OD tubing so I am able to use the MDPC-X SATA sleeving. Anything larger and it wouldn't really be possible. I believe the sleeving is 3/8" or so in size.

[paulbagz]

I use 3/8" ID 1/2" OD tubing so I am able to use the MDPC-X SATA sleeving. Anything larger and it wouldn't really be possible. I believe the sleeving is 3/8" or so in size.

Awesome! Hard to push it through?

-PB

[lowfat]

Awesome! Hard to push it through?

-PB

Not especially difficult. Easier than a SATA cable connector.

[theseeker]

Great stuff as usual! The Grand Bleu and shade 19 are on my next build list. I just wish a manufacturer would make a MB that is all black. The red and black is getting old. Thanks for the tip regarding the fan adapters and where did you get your PSU tester?
Looking forward to your build.

[lowfat]

Great stuff as usual! The Grand Bleu and shade 19 are on my next build list. I just wish a manufacturer would make a MB that is all black. The red and black is getting old. Thanks for the tip regarding the fan adapters and where did you get your PSU tester?
Looking forward to your build.

My last system had a Gigabyte X79-UD3 which looks awesome IMO. I wish more manufacturers would go w/ colour neutral boards like it. I dislike red boards immensely, yet over and over they high end boards out there use it. Gives builders almost no colour choices.

The PSU tester I bought from eBay. Was $20-$25 shipped.

Minus whale post a pic of my UD3.

[paulbagz]

Seeker, Antec make a good quality PSU Tester that is a lot like lowfats

-PB

[theseeker]

My last system had a Gigabyte X79-UD3 which looks awesome IMO. I wish more manufacturers would go w/ colour neutral boards like it. I dislike red boards immensely, yet over and over they high end boards out there use it. Gives builders almost no colour choices.

The PSU tester I bought from eBay. Was $20-$25 shipped.

Minus whale post a pic of my UD3.

That is an elegant board! I totally agree with you regarding neutral colored boards.

Seeker, Antec make a good quality PSU Tester that is a lot like lowfats

-PB

Thank you.

[lowfat]

Nibbled the rest of the edges off the motherboard tray so fit cables back there more easily.




Tapped some holes for the pump wire cable management.


Then cut and crimped them down to length.




Made an extension for one of the pump pwm/rpm cables. I wasn't able to find actual 4-pin female connectors but this works well enough.


Crimped and sleeved one of the 8-pin EPS cables.




Weekend is over so won't likely get much done for a few days.

[theseeker]

Very nice sleeving.

[tiborrr]

Fantastic, keep it up!

[lowfat]

Was sleeving the pumps when I realized the wires were to small to do properly. Soldered on some 20 awg wire instead of the 22. First pump went well enough.


Second pump unfortunately did not go well at all. Upon pulling it out I noticed the soldermask was missing in parts and the trace was lifting up and broken. Not sure how it was still working (maybe it wasn't?).



Cleaned up up and tried to repair the PCB but it would just short out.


Now I don't really need two pumps, so I could drop down to a single pump w/ no affect on performance. I'd just lose the redundancy. I also have replacement PCBs I could install, but I'd lose PWM which is important to me as I like my quiet I can make the pumps run.

And I'll throw in a few pics of my crimper and stripper.

[lowfat]

Really need to reach page 2 already. Too many pictures on a single page.

The DDC graveyard.


Found a working DDC3.1-PWM PCB from a Koolance PMP-400.


Pulled a pump a part to make it easier to install the replacement PCB.


Was able to solder on the new board w/o too many issues. It even worked afterwards. But then the next day I went to solder on the remaining wires and the 12V solder point pulled off the PCB. So back down to a single pump.



Picture overload incoming!. Didn't do any work besides mount the blocks. And strip the logos off the rest of the ram.































Got the T-Balancer MiniNG in the mail yesterday. Not sure if I am going to use for this build or not. I already have a T-Balancer classic and BigNG. Doubt I'll need more than one.

[lowfat]

Got a Scythe Himuro Mini in the mail. Completely useless for an SSD but it looks cool.












Mounted it w/ my pump in the case.




Drilled some holes. Putting the case together again. Decided to go w/ a slightly bigger reservoir. Changed things up a bit.

[lowfat]

Was productive again today. Installed the motherboard tray again, now w/ a bunch of new tapped holes for cable management.




Installed the hardware in to the case. Plumbed and sleeved the loop. I am rather impressed how it turned out.
Kinda went overboard w/ the pics.

[paulbagz]

Lookin' awesome LF, are those CC3 compressions for your 3/8" tubing?

Going to be doing the same type of thing Norprene tubing and a Haelia HC-500A

-PB

[lowfat]

Koolance ⅜” ID ½” OD compressions. Not the greatest quality but I like the style.

I've always been curious to how one of those small chillers does.

[lowfat]

Not much of an update really. Sleeved the SATA cable as well as made the SSDs power cable. But took some more pics.

[lowfat]

aRocking some new rims.




All stripped again.


The radiator mounted/


A couple of pics of the first attempt at cable management tie downs.




And just a pic of a fan cable.

[Olivon]

Great job lowfat

[madg]

very very nice work lowfat 3930k's maybe?

[lowfat]

very very nice work lowfat 3930k's maybe?

Unfortunately only Xeons w/ 2 QPIs will work. Regular i7 CPUs will not work.

A few more pics of the cable management

[MR. YAKUZA]

Wow, nice project! I love it!