ABS/Tagan Black Pearl - evolution of a water-cooled rig

[kwscore]

looks great shazza

[muki | sk.4um]

Very nice work, gotta love the black and red theme

[yngndrw]

The -5V light on the tester wasn't lit ?

I love the red and black too.

[shazza]

Hey - thanks for the comments Wezly, ScottALot, kwscore, muki, and yngndrw!

About the -5V on the tester - it never shows lit, even with all my other PSUs. My understanding is it's not commonly used in newer power supplies - of course, I could be wrong.



Wellllll, here's the .................................................. ............................ unfinished Black Pearl build




























Feel free to give me your thoughts for improvement - I'll have lots of time to think about it before I get back to it. Just remember - it's far from finished. No cable management has been done at all, the PSU cables were essentially just plugged in and "laid" in place.

The Hammond box cover for the TMS-200 on the bottom back is not in place - I wanted to check all the cables without it first, and there's still some arranging to do.

2 fans go in the top, and the back fan has to be sleeved (my other one died, so I had to do a quick replacement). And, there are many other details that need to be seen to. I'm trying to use a Bitspower extender at the front (housed in a Hammond box in the bottom front bay) in order to minimize cables to the front section. Still have to finish the cabling and hookups for the front electrical, but I did get it all working. So - lots of details left to do.

I leave tomorrow for an extended trip (as in months), so this is it for now. And yes, I will OFFICIALLY say I am a full-fledged sufferer of Naekuh-itis


I'm happy with where I am with the build - it Posts, it doesn't Leak, and it's coming together. I appreciate all the support and encouragement I've received here, and thank you much for your patience with this tortuous worklog. It can now peaceully fall to the back pages until I return.

[Wezly]

NOOOOOOO!!!!

Have fun. I love how it all fits together so well.


latterrrrrrrrr

[kwscore]

Sick

[Vinas]

It looks really really nice, but I think there will be a big problem getting air out of the top.

[InCredible]

very nice..can u snap a pic with the side panel on?

[shazza]

NOOOOOOO!!!!

Have fun. I love how it all fits together so well.


latterrrrrrrrr

Thanks, Wezly. I know - I hate like heck to have to wait to finish, but I didn't want to take any shortcuts along the way.

Sick

Thanks, kwscore - gotta love pinky.

It looks really really nice, but I think there will be a big problem getting air out of the top.

Thank you, Vinas. I'm not too concerned about air flow - I'll actually be bringing room temp air in through the top, and exhausting out the back. If this is an issue, I'll switch it. Also have two fans pulling fresh air into the front (altho don't expect to get much help from these). Much of the heat generating components are in the bottom compartment, separated from the top. I was pleasantly surprised with how cool the pumps run with air flowing through the two quad radiators (with GT 1850 fans). Also could not hear the fans over the room ceiling fan.

very nice..can u snap a pic with the side panel on?

I'd love to, InCredible, but afraid I'm just flat out of time - and, the bottom fan holes aren't cut yet. These pics were just quick snaps taken last night at 11pm with only ceiling lights on (and ISO 1600) - not ideal for photography, for sure.

[illidan]

gentle red

fans look awesome
and love the loop

[Sarg]

Looking very good, and I'm getting a lot of ideas from your build for my Black pearl Build that I will be getting ready to do in the next week or so, but I may have missed it, where did you get the sleeving from, what brand is it, oh and how much (as in Feet) did you buy. I'm not sure how much I will need as this is Very big case.

But right now I have to put my Duckets to --> Please Thread

Enjoy the Vaca

Sarg

[avddreamr]

Wow, Shazza that's amazing. I'm curious, why did you got micro atx, do you intend to put another radiator on the ceiling? If I remember correctly you have about an inch of clearance between the roof and a standard atx M/b.... on the V-Series (I'm guessing its similar since this case was made by lian-li and then rebranded by abs/tagan)?
I could be wrong.

You did an incredible job. As usual, you have one of the sweetest rigs in florida, or arizona, or anywhere in between for that matter.

[Waterlogged]

Coming along nicely shazza, was hoping to see the monitor in action though.

[Liderc]

Great job Shaz, love the fans.

[yngndrw]

It looks really nice, though I do have some comments about it. (You did ask for them. :P)

From the side - The sides look a bit too red to me, I'm not sure what parts in particular but one part which struck my eye a bit was the side of the drive bays (On the motherboard side.) is a brighter red, although I believe this is because it is receiving less shadows.
From the back - The bottom half of the back looks to have not enough colour. I think a red-bladed fan in the power supply would solve this.

Hope that is of use.

[Vinas]

Thank you, Vinas. I'm not too concerned about air flow - I'll actually be bringing room temp air in through the top, and exhausting out the back. If this is an issue, I'll switch it. Also have two fans pulling fresh air into the front (altho don't expect to get much help from these). Much of the heat generating components are in the bottom compartment, separated from the top. I was pleasantly surprised with how cool the pumps run with air flowing through the two quad radiators (with GT 1850 fans). Also could not hear the fans over the room ceiling fan.

I should have clarified (that's my problem I tend to post and think the people on the other side automatically know what I mean)... I meant the air inside your loop. Will you run it sideways and let the little bubbles find their way to your horz. res below? I've had a some challenges bleeding air out of the GPU block in the past, so that's why I've asked.

I'm a long time follower of this build, although I didn't comment . I think you've got things under control so I'm just sitting back and checking in once in a while! You've done some really pleasing work here in many ways. Keep it up!

[ScottALot]

Such a beautiful job, I can't find anything to improve!

So beautiful... I could cry ... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ee925OTFBCA

[Ogge_swe]

[JasonDTM]

Finally done eh? Looks pretty damn good.

[Wezly]

Finally done eh? Looks pretty damn good.

Far from it by the way she reluctantly posted the photos and bid us adieu.

(For MONTHS!!!! @shazza)

[Oli4v]

Looking good shazza, but imho a normal ATX board would look better

but it's tight as hell, hmm, makes me remember that my V2K is waiting for some more mods ...

[blazarcher]

Dang, that is one beautiful computer you've got there shazza. But doesn't it look a lil' empty? xD If you had gone with two magicool radiators in the bottom, you'd be able to fit a 120x2 and a 120x4 radiator down there. A 250mL reservoir would also fit perfectly to the left of the mobo. And all that room with the micro-ATX board, I can see a big fat XSPC radiator there.

I'm really loving the black/red contrast. And look at those fans! I'm also doing a build with a very similar case, the Lian Li V2100B. The internals are identical...

Sorry about the crappy picture, I've only got a Kodak V570 and not much of a photographer.

[Waterlogged]

Dang, that is one beautiful computer you've got there shazza. But doesn't it look a lil' empty? xD If you had gone with two magicool radiators in the bottom, you'd be able to fit a 120x2 and a 120x4 radiator down there. A 250mL reservoir would also fit perfectly to the left of the mobo. And all that room with the micro-ATX board, I can see a big fat XSPC radiator there.

I'm really loving the black/red contrast. And look at those fans! I'm also doing a build with a very similar case, the Lian Li V2100B. The internals are identical...

Sorry about the crappy picture, I've only got a Kodak V570 and not much of a photographer.

You do realize that she has 2 MCR420's in the bottom, that's a lot more cooling power than a 2x120 and 4x120. Please read the topic from the beginning, some of those ideas were explored.

[blazarcher]

You do realize that she has 2 MCR420's in the bottom, that's a lot more cooling power than a 2x120 and 4x120. Please read the topic from the beginning, some of those ideas were explored.

Heh, that gives me a few ideas for my build xD

[shazza]

Thanks, everyone - appreciate the feedback and support. Let me take a stab at answering some of the questions, suggestions:

Re using the mATX board - I made a conscious decision to use the Micro board once I saw how tight the fit was for the full sized board (pics early in the log). At that time, I was thinking a dual rad in the top, or possibly SLI for the GPUs. Quite frankly, when I look at the setup without the window, I too say "hmmmnnn - full-sized board would be a better balance." But, it doesn't look bad with the window, and quite frankly - this little EVGA board handles everything I need, so hard to justify an exchange.

The sleeving is MDPC-X.

@ Waterlogged - yes, I want to see the display in action as well. Hopefully will be able to incorporate that when I get back to it.

Too much red / different shades of red - yes, the red is very hard to photograph because it reflects light differently in different parts of the case. It's all the same paint on the mobo tray and drive bay cages - the paint on the fans matches the tray nicely in person - looks a bit different in the photos. Too much red? Perhaps - I really wasn't even going to use the Drive Bay cages, but now I kind of like them. Remember, when the panel is on, you won't see them at all.

Re Bleeding the air out of the loop - I tested it before going with this installation and it bled very easily. I will say, it was a pain to bleed the last go around, but with a bit of tilting, seemed to get all of the air out of the radiators.

@ blazarcher - what, you didn't read all 30 pages + ? (just kidding!). As Waterlogged says, there are two MCR 420s in the bottom, with GT1850 fans, and the res is a 250ml - horizontal config on top the radiators. I could easily add a dual or triple rad in the top as well. I'm using 2 x MCP355 pumps, with the EK Dual DDC top. Yes, I could have placed it next to the motherboard, but everybody does that, and I also wanted to try getting all my water cooling components in the bottom compartment.