800D Project "Needs a Name"

[Sam (Kenny) Kenyon]

Hi Everyone and Happy New Year.

This is my first Build log here so hope you enjoy.
I have been playing around with Computers for some years now, and finally got around to somewhat completing my project.

This Computer has taken so many different forms over the years, Starting in a Thermaltake Soprano back in 2009, now to be sitting in a Corsair 800D.

Its been a never ending rolling project to be honest, but the key for me is i have always wanted to have a full water cooling loop set-up, but in a case that i can keep the same even when the hardware changes. "excluding Blocks of course"

Some you may be asked why a Corsair 800D???
Well i got this case when it first came and even though the airflow in it is shocking, for me it was the first case that really showed off water cooling potential and that was the style i wanted.

For this I did debate changing to a Corsair 900D or a Caselabs SMA8.
But my Corsair 800D was still in good condition and its got a soft spot in my heart so with a bit of modification i stuck with it and i am glad i did. Plus saved a bit of Cash.
"This is the same as a few of the other components, as i have been building them up for a while and am still happy to use."

I apologise for any rubbish photos i am not a photographer and they have been taken on my phone, but overall I think i have finally got it to a point where i am happy with the case and cooling, even though there will be a few hardware changes in the not to distant future, this will be my build log so far.

It a White and Black Build and open for name suggestions...

So System Specification:

MB: MSI Z97S SLI Krait Edition
CPU: Intel Core I5 4670k
RAM: 16GB DDR3 Corsair Dominator Platinum
GPU: MSI GTX 980TI Reference
PSU: Corsair RM850I
M.2: Samsung SM951 256GB
SSD: x3 Kingston SSDNow V300 240GB "In Raid 0"

Cooling Specification:

Case: Corsair Obsidian 800D
Radiators:
x1: Alphacool NexXxoS UT60 Full Copper 360mm
x1: Alphacool NexXxoS XT45 Radiator 240mm
Pump: Alphacool Laing D5
Res: Bitspower Z-Multi 250mm
Tube: Monsoon PETG Tubing 13/10mm Clear
Fluid: Alphacool Ultra Pure Water Mixed with EK-Ekoolant Pastel WHITE
Fittings: Monsoon Hardline & Alphacool
Fans: Corsair and Yateloon
Other: Corsair Link

To get an idea of progressions this was the case upgrades have been over time:

After i have rescaled some images ill continue with the Log.

Cheers
Kenny

 

[Sam (Kenny) Kenyon]

Start of Build

Afternoon Everyone,
Hope you are all having a good weekend.

Finally got my images in some form of logical order,
So ill start with some images of my work bench and cooling hardware that went into this build:

Work Bench:

Few fittings Rads and CPU Block:

GPU Block + Back Plate:

Fluid and Dye:

Again apologise about some of the image Quality most of them are taken on a phone at night in a shed

 

[Sam (Kenny) Kenyon]

800D Mod

So as i said had the case for a few years now and have decided to stick with it after a bit of modification.

This is my first time at really stripping a case completely and take a blade to it.
But i am happy with the outcome, even though there are a few rough spots, but they are hidden behind.

I got a bit carried away here and forgot to take some photos at the start, so we will have to start from the case stripped.
Here it is with the dividing floor removed.
Will be adding a new Floor a bit higher up:

Now, not my greatest work! Black hides a multitude on sins!
Have now invested in a far better dremel and good jig blades.
But here you will see that the front Lower HDD Bay has been removed and a larger opening Cut:

Went ahead a used a a hole saw to cut out the location for the Fill/Bleed Port:
"Masking tape and Penetrating oil a great help here"

 

[Sam (Kenny) Kenyon]

False Floor Mount

My next task has been to mount a false Floor in the bottom of the case in front of the PSU. To Hold the 240mm Radiator and the D5 Pump.

For the base of this i had some precut 5mm Black acrylic Sheet.
I chose to work with Acrylic as i personally find it easier than Metal/Aluminium.

Firstly as the pump would be sitting of this i wanted to control the Vibration and try and stop it travelling through the rest of the case.
I went and got some stick on foam strip and stuck on the bottom of the Sheet:
"worst image of the lot sorry"

After that went and attached the radiator mounts:

Had a brain wave and decided to use the old HDD Hot Swap rubber pad from the 800D, and use it to mount the Pump on, Also had to cut some notches in the Acrylic to allow the side panels to fit on the case:

Rough Location:

 

[Sam (Kenny) Kenyon]

Bits and Bobs

Just a could of snaps of The Little jobs needing to be done,
Installed the Water Block onto the GTX980ti.

Washed Out Radiators.

Sprayed IO Shield.

Installed Top Rad and Fill Port:

 

[Sam (Kenny) Kenyon]

Mid Floor

Next Task has been to install a new mid floor, to divide the bottom and top Compartments.
Reason for this is i needed it to be a touch higher than the original so i could fit the bottom radiator in.

For this again i have chosen to use Pre Cut Black Acrylic sprayed Matt Black, but this time a 10mm Sheet.
This will also have 6 Bulk Head Fittings Through it.

Ideal Location:

Bulk head fitting location. Now not sure if this is the right way to do it
But it worked for me:

Again all drilled with a hole saw:

Bulk Head fittings Installed:

Started on some Hardline Tubing Before floor gets attached:

The Floor once in the case will be mounted by using 4 Right Angle metal brackets riveted in each corner on the case, for the floor to be bolted too.

 

[Sam (Kenny) Kenyon]

Reservoir Mounting

Next was to install a plate to mount the Reservoir too.
Again Good old Acrylic came in to play, just a 3mm sheet that i would attached to already existing Motherboard stand off's.

Reservoir:

Acrylic location, making it that the back is seen to be smooth:

Forgot to get a picture with Res in place, will see in later images:huh:

 

[Sam (Kenny) Kenyon]

HDD/SSD Cage

So as i had made the original Hot Swap cage that you get with the 800d Redundant
Due to it would no longer fit with the floor raised, i decided to go for a bit of a custom job that involved me getting to work with a aluminium sheet and a good old hammer

In short my idea was to mount a 3 Bay hot swap cage form a Corsair 900D, in-between the Mid floor and the 5.25" drive bays.
Just the Drive cage alone did not fill this space so decided to build a custom shroud around it to blend it in.


First of all i thought some paper plans would be a good idea
Draw on Microsoft Visio:

After that Cut it out of a 1mm Sheet of Aluminium:

And if by magic and a bit of folding in a vice it came out okay:

After a bit of a sand down and a spray:

The Hole Cut above the HDD cage Cut is for a little temperature display for the water.

Here is it in the case:

Also Decided to break up the black and Spray the HDD Cages White to keep in the theme: Also note the Res is installed

 

[Sam (Kenny) Kenyon]

Hardline

So about time to get the hard-line Tubing in.

Firstly i had never done hard-line before, was watching plenty of Videos on how to do it, but useful as this was, it dost prepare you for actually getting you hands on it.

I would recommend if you haven't done it before order double the amount of tube from what you think you need!
Would also recommend going for PETG Tubing over Acrylic far more resilient.

For this I simply used a cutting tool and a Reamer, all bends done by eye.
Plus a heat gun and silicon tube thing of course.

Drain Port:

Tools:

Bottom Compartment, Never see it

Just before leak test:

Better images once fluid is in to follow

 

[Sam (Kenny) Kenyon]

Filling/ Testing The loop

This really took about two weeks for me to get this far as i was only really able to pick it up in the evenings.
But was very much looking forward to seeing what the Pastel Fluid would look like.

Firstly I Actually have Two Drain ports on in the loop one at the Very Bottom and other on the reservoir.

Here is a picture of the loop almost full:

Better look at the Top Section,
I am still not happy with the Fitments at the top of the Reservoir.
"Fill port and return on the loop"
Will look at again but for time being it does the job:

Next i ran the pump for 12 hours to Double check everything was ok:

And here is one of it all cables and up and running

There is a White LED Strip in the roof.

 

[Sam (Kenny) Kenyon]

Things left to do / Changes

Overall i am happy with the outcome.

I still have to mod the side panel, for the fans.
In fact i have a new solid one and will cut a new window that just shows the top section,as well as fan vents for the bottom Radiator.

Also eventually my plan is to add a second GPU, hence why the Tubing has the loop in it near the GPU's.
Yes i could run them i parallel but i wanted something that looked a bit different.

As i said i will change how the tubing and fittings are at the top of the reservoir, as i don't like the way it looks.

Other things added is that the expansion slot blanking plates, are now white.
"ill get photo at some point"

Also i have all the cooling linked up to a Corsair Link Unit and few temperature sensors around the case.
Also i gave the case a fresh respray black

Things that are a bit of a pain,
is that i have made the door on the front of the 800D where the HDD bays used to be redundant. It dose not effect anything, it just there.
I will keep my eye open for a corsair obsidian 700d Front panel, as its the same just without this door.
Also could do with a couple of 5.25" drive bay covers too.

I may upgrade to Skylake or 2011-v3 at some point and would be nice to get an I7,
But for now she will do.

As i said at the start if anyone has a name for this one, i am open to suggestions.
Same if anyone has any questions or tips open to both, be nice to know what people think.

All the Best
Kenny

 

[Asperatis]

hi there! Nice work you've done there, with the bottom HDD cage as well.

The bends look good as well! Jus the top one going from the rad to the res is a bit funky as you've already mentioned. I'd rather do a downwards 90° going into the res if the distances are somewhat right (mobo tray - rad port & mobo tray - res port).

The little tube coming up under your gpu looked strange at first (when it wasn't filled yet) and made me wonder what its purpose was. A bit later though I saw it with the liquid inside and it actually came out pretty good, it's a nice way of showing a little extra tube and adding another white accent.

As for a name, no idea there mate. Look for something that sounds good for you, something that maybe has something to do with the colour scheme, a personal thing that has meaning to you, etc.

Overall, a project well done! Gratz on your first liquid cooling loop, going for hard line tubing without trying flex tubing first can be very tricky and has a rather steep learning curve, but in the end it pays off incredibly well, know that from personal experience

 

[suggs]

u can be proud of that mate awesome

 

[coffeefoot]

Great job. Good looking !

 

[Sam (Kenny) Kenyon]

Cheers everyone.

Been good fun, will keep you posted with the few bits left to do.
Just may be a while as going away with work.

Asperatis, thank you for your feedback, much appreciated.
Little tube will eventually be a feed to a second GPU, but like you said, still be a little extra tube on show. But thanks again and looks like a pretty neat rig you have yourself.