Vega's *Heavyweight* display and computer; edition 2012

[Callsign_Vega]

What complete computer gaming system could literally weigh half of a ton (not including the liquid)?

The build log commences...




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Setups of past:













http://www.youtube.com/user/CallsignVega/videos



http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1588587

With an almost mathematical certainty, I am building the worlds only 3x FW900 portrait, no bezel gap, seamless Fresnel lens, Ivy Bridge, Quad Kepler, three user select-able cooling loop (Ambient, phase-change, Geothermal), gaming computer.

Your run of the mill system.

[The Jesus]

I was looking through the pics and they just got better and better, until the last one. You made me go put on new pants.

[Callsign_Vega]

Reserved

[MonstaMunch]

What are the monitors and what's the overall resolution?

Amazing setup

[Church]

What specs for monitors are in last one? Unexpectedly thin bezel/frame part.
Crap. Oh when any of manufacturers will release frameless displays made especially for multimonitor setups? Or it's not possible to make due employed technology? But in general even as little 0.5cm x2 kills a lot from immersion/looks, it's just "less bad". Hence i'll probably prefer some future 35-45" 4Kx2K display even while it probably will cost unreasonably more compared to even much larger and higher summed up resolution multidisplay setup that can be assembled already now.

[nksharp]

You get use to it over time, just looks bad in pictures is all. Thinking I might go multi monitors (maybe 27"s or so) with my current build but haven't even got that far yet.

[Absolute_0]

In for the ride

[stren]

Holy to the moly. What on earth are you doing this time?

[Manicdan]

What specs for monitors are in last one? Unexpectedly thin bezel/frame part.
Crap. Oh when any of manufacturers will release frameless displays made especially for multimonitor setups? Or it's not possible to make due employed technology? But in general even as little 0.5cm x2 kills a lot from immersion/looks, it's just "less bad". Hence i'll probably prefer some future 35-45" 4Kx2K display even while it probably will cost unreasonably more compared to even much larger and higher summed up resolution multidisplay setup that can be assembled already now.

i think he took off the frame so all we see is the panel and its bezel
and then he layers them instead of lining them up flush, reducing the bezel in half. although it does affect the lining up of the pixels

[MonstaMunch]

What specs for monitors are in last one? Unexpectedly thin bezel/frame part.
Crap. Oh when any of manufacturers will release frameless displays made especially for multimonitor setups? Or it's not possible to make due employed technology? But in general even as little 0.5cm x2 kills a lot from immersion/looks, it's just "less bad". Hence i'll probably prefer some future 35-45" 4Kx2K display even while it probably will cost unreasonably more compared to even much larger and higher summed up resolution multidisplay setup that can be assembled already now.

I think the monitors are from the Viewsonic Pro range, though I'd very much like to know the specific model, and the overall combined resolution between the monitors.

[stren]

I think the monitors are from the Viewsonic Pro range, though I'd very much like to know the specific model, and the overall combined resolution between the monitors.

The last thing I heard was he was going for 27" 120Hz 1080p LG led monitors. If he's running 5 though he must be going eyefinity, and I thought he gave up on that the year before because of the driver issues when running in portrait.

[Callsign_Vega]

Holy to the moly. What on earth are you doing this time?

That's what the little picture puzzle is for.

[Callsign_Vega]

Here is my proposed simple cooling system. Let me know if you guys can see any way to make it more efficient.




Here I have started the Geo-thermal drilling. This is the top 3 feet (17 feet underground). I've drilled near the home slab foundation and in a year-round shaded area to maximize Earth temperature stability. So far it looks like the ground water level is 5-6 feet below the surface which is GREAT. Finally a positive about living in the South.

[Manicdan]

why mix phase with radiator with geothermal?

[Callsign_Vega]

why mix phase with radiator with geothermal?

They don't work at the same time as that wouldn't make sense. Hence the selector valves. Ambient (winter), Geo-thermal (everything but winter), Phase change (super overclocks and benchmarks).

Woops, I just realized I placed the RAM slots like X79 and not Z77. Actually, Z77 will even be easier to set up the cooling loops.

[Manicdan]

the only thing that jumps right out is that your resistance for cpu/nb/ram will probably be much higher than the GPUs, i would have the pump go cpu first, then split out 3 ways for the other components (like with the apogee hd) 1 for nb/ram and 1 for each pair of gpus.

[stren]

Interesting - I know you have an RD30, but I would suggest breaking out some of the loop though to get better performance on your main components, i.e. ram and motherboard are low power and could be run off a chilled cooler all the time without crazy power use meaning higher flow rates for cpu + gpu. What flow rate were you getting on the old system?

[Callsign_Vega]

the only thing that jumps right out is that your resistance for cpu/nb/ram will probably be much higher than the GPUs, i would have the pump go cpu first, then split out 3 ways for the other components (like with the apogee hd) 1 for nb/ram and 1 for each pair of gpus.

Interesting - I know you have an RD30, but I would suggest breaking out some of the loop though to get better performance on your main components, i.e. ram and motherboard are low power and could be run off a chilled cooler all the time without crazy power use meaning higher flow rates for cpu + gpu. What flow rate were you getting on the old system?

On my old system I was getting pretty phenomenal temperatures with a loop setup very similar to this. With -1 C liquid the GPU's would top out at 11C under full load and the CPU which was a 990X an much hotter than IB topped out around 20C. And remember those where all high voltage with high overclocks. The RD-30 is a very robust 24v pump and I ran it at 18v to get those numbers above. I did not have a flow meter. Compared to the CPU which is first, the MB block(s) and RAM blocks have much lower resistance so I think I will be OK there. I might only stick to 2 RAM sticks anyway instead of 4 which would lessen the resistance even more.

I am sure I will end up with some high end Z77 and an accompanying EK type MB water block. I feel a single GPU water block loop (2x GPUs) will put more heat into the loop than the CPU/MB/RAM loop will and have similar resistance numbers. Even if the CPU water block is more restrictive, the RD-30 puts out enough head pressure and PSI there will be sufficient cooling to cool a 22nm IB pretty good. I have bought a XSPC Raystorm full copper block that should do a great job. I will post some pics of some new components here shortly.

For those interested in the Fesnel display setup: whenever you add a lens, some degradation will occur. Although, during my proof-of-concept testing, I've found the trade-offs well worth it. You will get a slight decrease in image clarity with regard to slight chromatic abberations and on bright scenes seeing some of the circular grooves cut in the lens. But you gain magnification and the ability to eliminate bezels. It has actually done quite well in my testing and allowed me to go into full project mode.

Take a look at this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...iVl1RNs#t=337s

Now if he were to position the camera exactly where his eyesight was, there would be virtually zero gap between the images as you can see in this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bnNM-N_1ve8

If done properly, the gap between images will be 1mm or less.

[Dumo]

Awesome displays there...but why not simplified things like using phase change on cpu and a pair of dual evap. phase changer units for gpus? Condensation is almost impossible to fight on 24/7 sub ambient rig

[Callsign_Vega]

the only thing that jumps right out is that your resistance for cpu/nb/ram will probably be much higher than the GPUs, i would have the pump go cpu first, then split out 3 ways for the other components (like with the apogee hd) 1 for nb/ram and 1 for each pair of gpus.

Awesome displays there...but why not simplified things like using phase change on cpu and a pair of dual evap. phase changer units for gpus? Condensation is almost impossible to fight on 24/7 sub ambient rig

The Geo-thermal cooled water should be around 11-14C which should remain just above the dew-point in all circumstances. The phase change though will require condensation protection. Has anyone looked into a standard pressure sealed case/container in which humidity is dropped to an extremely low level with massive amounts of desiccant etc? If there is no moisture, there is nothing to condense. I wonder how static electricity would be dealt with in an extremely low humidity environment. If even normal components would short circuit simply through the air. <1% humidity.

[Phatboy69]

Hats off to you Vega, your a crazier man than me... but not by much! Im thinking I'll have to go sub ambient with a marine chiller and thought that was going a bit overboard! Man Im watching this!

[Callsign_Vega]

Hats off to you Vega, your a crazier man than me... but not by much! Im thinking I'll have to go sub ambient with a marine chiller and thought that was going a bit overboard! Man Im watching this!

Are you going below the dew point? I've always found condensation prevention the most painful aspect of that.

[Callsign_Vega]

Got a few components in:




XSPC Raystorm full copper CPU block. Looks and feels like an awesome piece. Watercool MO-RA3 Pro radiator with 9x 140mm XSPC fans for my ambient loop section. This thing is built like a tank and has traditional German quality.

I've gone with EVGA Ultra Classified 580's until Kepler releases. Who know's, I might even be able to use EVGA's 90-day step up program on Kepler. I've always liked EVGA in the nVidia camp. Also tossed in there a Bitspower reservoir for my silver kill coils, fluid level viewing and fluid access port. I plan to run distilled water with silver kill coils, IandH Dead-Water Copper Sulfate and Water Wetter.

[Manicdan]

i advise against water wetter

used it before and all it did was stain tubing pink, foam up so bad i couldnt bleed the loop, and it eats through every kind of glue out there. i had epoxy in my reservoir and a week later it was like toothpaste.

[Phatboy69]

Are you going below the dew point? I've always found condensation prevention the most painful aspect of that.

I plan to stay above dew point either by setting temp sufficiently high (20-25c) to avoid it or possibly using the Aquaero 5 controller with the software sensors feature to adjust the operating cycle based on dew point. Im still working out what is possible in terms of hooking up different types of physical and software sensors to the controller or possibly even an additional external environment type controller.
Last thing I want is to be dealing with condensation. If I can measure relative humidity in the case compared to air and water temp thats a big step in the right direction!