"d00D" Corsair 900D Reverse

[Blade Runner]

The LEDs turned up in the post today with perfect timing, it has allowed me to make up the other 6 for the second reservoir and get both reservoirs fitted properly.

I have a 20 way LED distribution PCB ordered that the 12 LEDs from this will plug into along with 2 from the reservoirs when I get those wired up.

 

[Blade Runner]

I have got all of the pipes bent and fitted now apart from the few that will be attached to the motherboard. I added a T on the top rad outlet which will make filling and bleeding that loop a lot easier.

All the LED wires are routed back to the bottom chamber, just waiting on the 20 way PCB to arrive and I can sleeve them and tidy up that area. I'm pleased how the wires in the rear of the case behind the reservoirs have ended up pretty tidy. There were a lot of wires to route in that area: 2 USB cables, 2 Temperature cables, 2 Filter LED wires and 12 Reservoir LED wires which have all been cable tied up tight, when they get used to being there, I will remove a lot of the ties.

Both Reservoirs are now fitted so the main chamber is ready for the mid plate which is still at the design stage I have to get the CPU loop flow and return, the GPU loop flow and 24 wires from the main connector which I want to have in 24 individual holes routed in the plate so its a bit of a head scratcher.

The 900D is going off the desk for this weekend, I finally bought a 6600K for my other build, my daughters PC, Dave. They have come down in price now to £199.99 which is still a lot but better than the £240+ they were a few weeks ago. I need to get that finished and then up and running to be put away for Christmas.

 

[Wraith]

So much detail and time dude, muchios respecto and that cable work is incredible, very much looking forward to seeing more with that clean interior.

 

[Blade Runner]

So much detail and time dude, muchios respecto and that cable work is incredible, very much looking forward to seeing more with that clean interior.

Thanks for the kind words Wraith Your current build is pretty incredible too, so original and that raised roof is the crowning glory.

 

[Blade Runner]

Been away for a few days and the postman has been busy, the XSPC Raystorm Pro CPU block was the first thing I opened. It weighs a tonne, a lot heavier than the "normal" Raystorm CPU block.

Some things to note on this block include that it is quite easy to remove the acrylic inserts which means if you wanted to paint the block there would be no need for masking. The writing and logo/ in arrow are not deeply engraved; this means that a quick flash over with paint would easily cover the logo and the in hole arrow so that you could mount the block whichever way up or at 90 degrees to suit your loop and get the flow going into the correct hole.

The acrylic inserts also look like they will be easier to mod to fit a 5mm RGB LED, the frame certainly will be as its aluminium and easy to drill. Another neat touch, although I wont need it with the X99 RVE mobo is that the back plates have adhesive tape which will hold them in place while you screw in the mounting pins.

I was going to use a couple of fans left over from the original build and the 80mm fan that came with the mobo tray but the front fans can be see through the grill and they did not match the white bladed Phanteks on the rest of the case. The 80mm fan was also not PWM so that made my mind up. I got 2 matching Phanteks for the intake and a little Noctua for the exhaust which I will need to paint to match but being a Noctua it will run very sweet from the Aquero.

The final goodie was the 20 way LED hub, its a lot smaller than I thought it was in the picture so the 2 pin fan connectors I thought I could use wont fit. It takes the same type of connector that an internal USB cable uses but just 2 pin not 5. I can get so 2 pin connectors like that but I happen to have far too many USB 5 pin types in my drawer so I'll just cut those down with the craft knife.

 

[Blade Runner]

With catching up with work from the few days I had off last week I have not got a lot done on DOOD. I did finish Dave and I will finish that build log in the new year when I can take pictures of him, he has been put away as he is a christmas present for my daughter. The speed of the 6600K CPU is impressive and he runs nice passive which is what I was hoping for.

Anyway back to DOOD, the LED splitter when I thought about it was not going to work in the bottom chamber, far too many wires which would just mess up the airflow and collect loads of dust. I have ended up putting it at the top on the front which will be hidden by the new front panel.

I have left room below the splitter to allow the fitting of a 7" monitor but I am not sure if I will fit one or maybe get a logo cut into the acrylic and light it from behind? I might just get 2 panels cut, one plain and one with a cutout for the monitor, and see what they look like, its not an expensive panel to get cut as it is only a couple of rectangles so worth trying.

The last long aquapipe turned up which allowed me to get the exact positions of where the connections will be to the bottom of the mid plate. I have used aquapipes on all 3 of these connections because it will let me make the connection to the mid plate off the chassis and simply drop them down into the open ends of the aquapipes to get a seal. There is no room to get a proper grip on the fittings if they had to be fitted in-situ.

With those 3 positions known, I could move on with the rest of the mid plate design so I trial fitted the mobo and measured up the centres of all the pipes and cables that have to go either through, or into the mid plate. I drew it all up last night and sent it to my friendly signwriter who will cut it out next time he has his CNC machine fired up.

The last thing I have got done was the fitting of the new main power switch and a LED rocker which will turn on all the normal LEDs, (The RGB types will be controlled by the Farbwerk).

The switches had to be offset on that panel to clear the rad behind, once the protective white film comes off and the panel is matched to the rest of the case they should blend in better.

I have run the wires to the splitter from the switch and just need to run another 2 back to the PSU which I will do next.

 

[Blade Runner]

I got the acrylic today so tapped in the 6 G1/4 threads and stuck the 3 layers together (Welded with dichioromethane). I then leak tested it with coloured fluid.

All seems good, it just needs to be properly fitted now and both loops can be fully leak tested using tube to bridge where the motherboard would be connected.

 

[Blade Runner]

Both loops have been filled with water and, fingers crossed, there has been no leaks. The centre connection to the reservoirs making a fountain from the top looks pretty eye catching too so it was worth the hassle of getting that port connected out of sight.

I have not had any experience of D5 pumps before and I am impressed by their power, the water is flying around the loops, and their quietness. Even with both pumps of full blast, hot wired from a laptop charger, they are super quiet. I wish now that I had used them in my STH10.

With the loops finished I decided to get what power cables I had enough connectors for made up this weekend. The 8 pin CPU was straight forward, its quite easy to measure where the cable route to the PSU goes.

The 24 pin main supply is more tricky, its a very short run from the mobo connector to the PSU socket and some cables are doubled up so I decided to make up a really short "extension" cable which has a female socket just below the mid plate.

I can then shorten the Corsair 24 pin cable to suit and have all the, difficult to make nice looking, double wires and crossovers out of sight in the lower chamber.

 

[Blade Runner]

The GPU, RAM and the CPU XSPC water blocks will all be getting RGB LEDs so I needed a splitter for those wires, 8 in all, 2 in each GPU, 2 in the CPU and one in each RAM block.

I used normal splitters for the fans in the rear chamber but came across this "low Profile" Mod My Toys splitter at Kustom PCs. I didn't need the SATA power booster and I was in luck as the layout of the PCB meant cutting that section off would not effect the rest of the splitter.

I have also made a start on making up the RGBs, over long for now to be cut to length when all the water blocks are fitted.

The little SSD in the rear of the case is just there to let me get a cable length for the SATA power cable, its going back in its external enclosure as I use it for odd bits of storage and file transfers. It was bought about 18 months ago as the main OS drive for this PC in its previous set up, it cost about £95 if I remember right; it just shows how much SSDs have dropped in price in a short period of time.

 

[Blade Runner]

A few more bits completed, firstly the fan surround is painted and fixed in place with the main switch and the LED rocker. I just need to paint the frame of the window panel to match and that's most of the outside complete.

The RGBs for the XSPC water blocks have all been made up and left long to be cut to length when the blocks are in place.

I have gone with black chrome monsoon free centre fittings for the water blocks and pipework in the main chamber. Chaingun fittings, my first choice, would not have fitted on the CPU block. As it turns out I think the black chrome will actually blend better with the stainless steel on show in there.

They are out of stock in this neck of the woods so I have ordered some from Germany where they are due in any day. Once they turn up I will be ready to do the final assembly but I don't want to start that until the fittings are delivered.

 

[WYP]

How have I not seen this build before? Some good work here.

 

[DarthBaggins]

Coming together nicely, love seeing Corsair cases modded to R.ATX (I did one to a Vengeance C70)

 

[Blade Runner]

How have I not seen this build before? Some good work here.

Thank you

Coming together nicely, love seeing Corsair cases modded to R.ATX (I did one to a Vengeance C70)

Thank you too, its been quite a learning experience making the R.ATX work.




The postman was busy again the last couple of days, finally got the second GPU and also some new RAM.

I had planned on using the Dom Plats and adding another 4 to get 32GB but when I looked at the heat spreaders I thought these look interesting to get off.....

I googled it and it was supposed to be not possible but I hatched a plan to use feeler gauge strips to slice the thermal pads from the heat spreader. It didn't work I got the heat spreader off but whatever I did, the one I tried it on is knackered I am just glad I tried it before I ordered another set of 4.

I saw these Geil sticks at OCUK and after having just wrecked a stick I liked the look of these because the were bare. I ordered 2 sets and they are now wrapped in XSPC side plates and have been run on the bench where they all show up no problem.

Many thanks to Graeme at Kustom PCs, he went out of his way to track me down a pair of XSPC GTX 980 water blocks and back plates which are like hens teeth to get at the moment. I have modded these again to take 5mm RGB LEDs.

Its very easy to shatter the acrylic while drilling and there is barely enough room to get a 5mm hole drilled so its lots of concentration/ stress and take it very easy with the drill. Glad to report all 4 holes went in without any splintered acrylic - I just hope the RAM and CPU water blocks go as well.

I gave the front edge of the water blocks a few coats of matt black acrylic paint to hide the copper and also the edge of the PCB so it all looks pretty stealthy now.

I am going to start getting as much of the red on the mobo covered up this weekend. I tried a bit of the matt black acrylic paint and it seems to cover the red well. It will just be a slow process using a very fine brush so as not to get the paint of the terminals etc.

 

[Blade Runner]

It has took most of the day but its done..................The Rampage V Extreme Black Home Made Edition

I'm not sure about the ROG LED lit plate, I took it off and turned it round so it was the right way up with R.ATX but it may yet be replaced with something less red.

I did not realise until I came to paint everything black but the "Extreme" and "ASUS" writing on the I/O heat sink and the X99 chip are actually thin aluminium "decals" that came off like a sardine tin lid once I had got a corner free.

The water based acrylic paint dries super quick and is a totally flat matt black. It does not build up too much if you are careful and if you do slip and get paint on something you don't want painted, it comes off quite easily with a fingernail. Its not hard wearing like enamel but these bits are not going to get any wear.

 

[Bartacus]

How the heck did I miss a thread like this??!?!?! A thread full of stuff I'm VERY interested in from a quality modder! Subbed! Better late than never!

Great work as usual Blade Runner! I've been dying to RGB my original Raystorm, but 3mm RGB LEDs don't seem to exist, and I don't think the block is big enough to bore out the holes to 5mm.

 

[Blade Runner]

How the heck did I miss a thread like this??!?!?! A thread full of stuff I'm VERY interested in from a quality modder! Subbed! Better late than never!

Great work as usual Blade Runner! I've been dying to RGB my original Raystorm, but 3mm RGB LEDs don't seem to exist, and I don't think the block is big enough to bore out the holes to 5mm.

Cheers Bartacus, better late than never

I did an RGB mod on an original Raystorm CPU block on the other build I did, "Dave" I have finished that build but not posted the completed pictures yet.

I didn't drill out the 3mm holes, that always ends in splintered acrylic I have learnt to my cost , I drilled 2 new ones at 2 O'clock and 4 O'clock.

The acrylic is not solid on the Raystorm, those 2 positions was where there was the most acrylic to drill into. Even so I still got splintering but thankfully on the inside where it is not seen. Before you do this mod you have to be prepared that it may well go wrong and you wreck the piece.

Small update.

Got all the parts fitted to the motherboard and slid it into the chassis. I felt sick for a while when it looked like I had measured the position of the GPU loop feed from the mid plate wrong but it turned out to be the slide out not being fully home, phew!

The 2 black pipes are just there to take the weight of the cards off the PCI-E slots the tubing is going to be clear.

I have scrapped the short extension 24pin cable I made up, it was just not sitting right when the plug was in the mobo socket. The way that cable "fans" out of the mobo into the mid plate is a big feature and needs to be right.

I have looked at the Corsair cable and there is only one 2 wire into one situation so I have decided to make a custom cable straight from the PSU through the mid plate and into the MoBo. The extra length of a cable like this will let me play around with the wires in the bottom chamber to make them sit right in the main chamber.

The GPU cables have gone in how I wanted, I just need to cut the other ends to length and fit connectors, same with the 8 RGB LED wires, the 4 pin and 8 pin CPU cables.

 

[WYP]

Woo, he painted the motherboard in the correct non-linus way!!

 

[BigDaddyKong]

That is looking sexy!

 

[Blade Runner]

It was all going so well...........................

I have just had an email from Aquacomputer, the Radical 4 radiators I have in the build have a fault in the milling inside the end cap which results in the fluid not flowing properly into the cooling tubes and therefore the rads don't work as well as they should.

I have to send them back for them to fit new end blocks, this will mean a near complete strip of the build and a delay while the rads are shipped to Germany, fixed and shipped back to me.......

Not happy but at least it is "only" on a gaming rig and not my main work pc. I suppose this is the risk you take with new products?

I will post again when I get the repaired radiators back.

 

[Dicehunter]

Woo, he painted the motherboard in the correct non-linus way!!

Shots fired ^_^