Project: Monolith [56K Beware]

[kinghong1970]

ha ha ha... for some reason, it DOES remind me of the skyscrapers in HK...

[Istasi]

I love the Seasonic M12-700 PSU. I use the same. Single rail, 4 PCI-E plugs (SLI) and quiet.

Pictures are great, thanks for posting them. I like the consistent look of everything.

Yeah, I knew the SeaSonic would be a top-notch unit coming from building 3 systems with Corsair HX's. Only problem I have is that there's a cable with a single 6+2 pin PCI-E connector, but there's no cable with a single 6 pin PCI-E. So, as it stands I have to run the 6+2 pin and another cable with 2 6-pins. Might have to chop off the extra PCI-E connector to tidy it up.

I'm a big fan of uniformity in systems, so full ThermalRight kit was a given. And I got a nice deal on the ReaperX's so I figured why not?

Holy skyscraper city! I would stick a TRUE on there and forget about water cooling!

Haha, but then what would I put on the 3870X2?

One of my buddies is coming over today to help out so hopefully we can make some good progress.

[Istasi]

Didn't get as much done today as planned. Got distracted by this bad boy.



It dominates my desk. I have no idea how to use all of this space.



So far I have been nothing but impressed. First, the sheer size just blew me away. I've never regularly used anything larger than a 20", so this was quite the shock. After calibration with my Spyder2, the color and image are also extremely vivid and clear. Dell has never ceased to impress me with their monitors. I've only tried out AudioSurf and TF2 so far, but The good old X1900XT chugs right along at ~25 FPS in TF2 with the bells and whistles on and AA cranked. Turned the AA down and it ran smooth as butter. Can't wait to see what the 3870X2 can do with some showcase games. Obviously I won't be playing Crysis at its highest settings, but I'm not a big fan of Crysis anyways.

Ended up just cleaning the rads.

[Snyxxx]

Only problem I have is that there's a cable with a single 6+2 pin PCI-E connector, but there's no cable with a single 6 pin PCI-E. So, as it stands I have to run the 6+2 pin and another cable with 2 6-pins. Might have to chop off the extra PCI-E connector to tidy it up.

Strange, mine came with four individual 6 pin PCI-E cables for the GPUs.

We have similar tastes. I have the same monitor and love it.

[systemviper]

wow, great work, Don't you just
love how the budget jsut keeps going up on
these projects. I have 2 MM cases and
there is so much space that you can
do A lot!

Keep it up!

[Istasi]

Strange, mine came with four individual 6 pin PCI-E cables for the GPUs.

We have similar tastes. I have the same monitor and love it.

Do you think it would be safe to use one of the single PCI-E cables from one of my Corsair's? They're based on the same platform and have the same modular interface so I'm thinking it should work out, but I'm not sure.

[Snyxxx]

Would it fit on the PSU side? If so, I would think it should work.

[Sadasius]

Wow nice build and great pics. Will be keeping an eye on this!

[lokitexas]

Yeah....umm...stop playing games and get to work. I am REALLY interested in this one

[Istasi]

Would it fit on the PSU side? If so, I would think it should work.

They have all the same connections on the PSU side, so I'm thinking it should work. I'll ask in the PSU forum just to be sure. Or might just lop off the extra PCI-E on one and solder it up.

Wow nice build and great pics. Will be keeping an eye on this!

Yeah....umm...stop playing games and get to work. I am REALLY interested in this one

Haha, thanks for the interest guys. Probably won't get much done over the next two days. Going to two concerts in two nights, so I'll be pretty exhausted. Sunday I hope to finish all of the fan wiring at least, and some of the lighting. Need to pick up a 3/4" hole saw for the power/reset buttons and light switch. Maybe I can swing by the hardware store Saturday morning or Sunday afternoon. Once those are drilled, I can start getting all of the cooling gear mounted.

[Kilyin]

Which size Dell monitor is that?

[Istasi]

It's the 3007WFP-HC, so 30". Here's a little something I threw together just 'cuz I can

[fungry]

Very nice Those heatsinks on the ReaperX compliment with the HR05 IFX very well.

[Atal]

you lucky you!!!! very nice system!!!!!!!!!! looking forward to results

[Istasi]

Well, that was one of the most interesting experiences I've had yet. I decided to wire my switch to control the lights. Pretty simple, right? Apparently not.







I flipped the PSU on, everything seemed to be fine. Flipped the rocker switch and 3 of the 5 LED's on the LED cluster went out. That seemed odd, but I didn't have much time to think about it because 2 seconds later, the hole wiring setup started smoking! There was smoke coming off of every wire. Holy sh*t. As quickly as I could turned the PSU off. The above pics are of the carnage that occurred on the switch wiring. The PSU is fine. I took that as a sign to stop for the day.

I did manage to finish all of the fan wiring though. Didn't wire them all the one connector because if I end up changing fan configurations this is much easier to rewire.

[Pellepel]

whoa what happened there?

[Istasi]

It all pretty much just spontaneously combusted. Probably just had some wires where they weren't supposed to be

[Razor_Blade]

Wow, you may have just talked me out of doing that on my build...

[Istasi]

Don't be deterred, I'm sure it was just some terribly stupid mistake which someone will point out. Just make sure you know what you're wiring. And use a dummy PSU in a flame retardant environment

[smee]

Don't be deterred, I'm sure it was just some terribly stupid mistake which someone will point out.

You put the red/black wire in with the wrong black one?
You should have put it in the red maybe?

[bigslappy]

sub'ed

[Istasi]

Whew. Huge update today.

Made a trip to the hardware and picked up the last odds and ends that I needed. Most importantly: a 3/4" hole saw. First things first, mounted the power buttons.




As I said earlier, the power buttons on the original UFO front are not centered. So, in order for my buttons to fit on the new front panel, I needed to also drill out the original front panel. Tearing up a multi-hundred dollar case is fun!




But that wasn't that last of it. When the 5.25 bay bracket was installed, it covered up half of the holes, so the buttons didn't fit.



Nothing that can't be fixed.



Not the cleanest job in the world, but nobody will ever see it behind the new panel.




Here's the old UFO panel I used to test all of my bits/taps/techniques on.




Time to finish the front panel. This is one of the coolest parts of the project as far as I'm concerned: a slim slot-loading DVD drive tucked between my front panel and the original case. Here it is mounted to my front panel, I used double-sided foam adhesive to secure it, much like the foam pad you get with DDC's.



Now, onto the good stuff. Flushed the rads a final few times, and mounted them in the case. Also mounted the res, and ran a couple tubes. Loop order is going to be Res -> Pump -> Vid Card -> CPU -> PA120.3 -> MCR220 -> Res.





And then, after all of this momentum, disaster struck.



One of the screws on the bottom of my FuZion was stripped. Try as I might, I couldn't turn it. There was no way I was going to wait another 2-3 days for a new CPU block, let alone send this one back for a replacement. After many attempts, fate tipped in my favor and the screw budged. With a little ingenuity and a lot of brute force, I managed to get it out. Put my quad nozzle in, and closed that sucker back up with a new screw.

Tomorrow: finish the loop and leak test.

[Snyxxx]

Looking good. Keep up the good work.

[smee]

One of the screws on the bottom of my FuZion was stripped. Try as I might, I couldn't turn it. There was no way I was going to wait another 2-3 days for a new CPU block, let alone send this one back for a replacement. After many attempts, fate tipped in my favor and the screw budged. With a little ingenuity and a lot of brute force, I managed to get it out. Put my quad nozzle in, and closed that sucker back up with a new screw.

Same thing happened to me when I got my V2, two of them stripped, I had to get pliers and grab the screws then turned them out slowly.
I then put four new screws in to replace the old ones, philip screws are much easier to work with.

It's looking mighty nice!!! Can't wait for the final outcome!

[Anemic]

Looking awsome!!