Project: NERV Engine

[Havok]

This is my first custom rig but not my first PC, the first was bought from a local firm who I have to say are brilliant guys, but I wanted to finally do my own thing. It was an Athlon 4000, 1GB RAM, 7800GT I bought separately and paid them to install (Yes I had no idea about building PCs until this year really) and a 250GB HDD.

Ok so on with the meat of the subject.

Taking inspiration from a logo from a series I adore I'm going with a very blatant black with red lights theme, across the whole rig, and hopefully when I finalize the idea, customize the case with said logo.

I've opted for air cooling, since I'm still not overly confident with this, it seems cheaper, but mainly I'm far to lazy to see myself coping with any maintenance. I am however now thinking I might add water cooling at some point when I upgrade the rig.

So, at the moment I have these parts for this rig:

Case: CM Stacker 832

PSU: PCP&P 1000w Turbo-Cool

Monitor: Hyundai W240D 24"

Drives: Scythe Karma Meter & 2 18x DVD burners

Cards: Asus wireless card (retained from prior rig)

Case fans: 2x 120mm Thermaltake Red Cyclo fans, 6x 120mm Thermaltake red thunderblades, 1 CM Cross fan

CPU Cooler: Zalman CNPS9700 Nvidia Edition

Misc: 2x 4-in-3 HDD cages

Sunbeam 6-from-1 Fan power splitter

Evercool ECS-GT Fan run time extender

Extra Fan guards for the bottom two fans

Akasa velcro cable ties

Input Devices: Razor Copperhead Red (First Edition)

Saitek Eclipse II Keyboard

So as you can see none of the internal components yet. I have my heart set on Intel's new X48, the QX9770 to be precise, and a few other bits that aren't out this year either, but conveniently I can't afford any parts until January anyway.

Here's what I'm hoping to get, although its under constant revision:

Intel QX9770 3.2ghz Quad

Abit IX48 Max mobo

Corsair 2x 1GB 1600 RAM

Asus D2X PCI-e Soundcard

750GB HDD

8800GTS (this is the only bit I can't decide on)

Progress:

The large PSU fits in the stacker perfectly, until it comes to screw it to the back plate. I've put it in the logical way around, so the cables fit comortably over the bar in the top of the case, and not bent awkwardly under it, and yet the holes in the plate only match the PSU in one place, which it seems will have to be enough.

I got the extra HDD cage so I can use one at the top and the bottom of the case, leaving 3x 5.25 bays in the middle for my fan controller and DVD drives. each of the cages will have a Thermaltake red cyclo fan on the front of it, made to fit by removing the plastic guard on the fan, and swapping the three 5.25 covers on the stacker for 1 of the fan holders from the side panel (god bless multi-fitting stuff), so their crazy light show will shine through the front of the case. If you haven't seen these fans I encourage you to go look on their site, you'll understand what I'm thinking.

I'm not sure on the abit mobo still, as they have a large north bridge cooler on there, and I'm pretty sure that will limit my use of the Zalman cooler to sucking air up instead of across, and also block some of the fan. I'll have to have a closer look near the time of purchase I think.

Sorry for the wedge of text with no images, but then again mines just a large pile of boxes atm, and nothing customised yet, aka nothing to show. said pile of boxes however can be seen in my thread in the desk and work area forum.

So no progress until January now probably, but hopefully by then I'll know more of the details, prices and if there is anything new around to consider.

 

[Havok]

Ok so I decided to dig stuff out and show what is gonna happen.

This is the inside of my Stacker 832 with the PSU fitted, as you can see the door has 2 120mm fan holders, and the bare space next to it is for the cross fan, although I get the feeling I'm going to have to put a bracket in to make it clear the Zalman CPU cooler.

Looking inside the case there is a grill on the bottom, which can be removed and already has the correct holes drilled for another 2 120mm fans, I got some extra fan guards for it too incase my dog goes sticking its nose under the PC when its on.

Turning the case over we can see there is already about 2cm of clearance for the fans, but if you use the wheels provided with the case like I plan to, this increases to about 5cm, this means I can have the fans secured Outside the case.

Heres the evidently huge box of fans:

Looking at the front of the case you can see that I've used the two fan holders from the side of the case to replace the top and bottom 3 mesh drive covers, this means I can put the slightly bigger than the rest 'cyclo' fans on the front of the HDD cages that will be in those positions.

For those two larger mesh fan covers I intend to remove the mesh itself and use a template to spray a design onto them in white model paint, then pick it out in red by hand, so I can ensure its bright enough, instead of just red on black. This is the design I'm going for (ignore the small text underneath, infeasible)

I have heard almost ridiculous things about the new Penryn CPU's with water cooling, and I admit I'd like to try it, if only there was a sealed option that required no maintenance, I know the BFG Leviathan GFX card has a rig like that. Although having filled all my 5.25 drives the only resovoir option I can see would be underneath the case, taking advantage of the ground clearance. If I find an attractive option, or if of you can give me any tips I might just try it.

Feel free to point out any glaring 'wtf' mistakes I'm heading for

 

[FarFarAway]

How I miss this?

Looks like a good solid project mate. The TT fans will provide some good airflow but I imagine it will be pretty darn noisy

 

[Havok]

After my last a rig, I tried to think of sounds (imagine a jumbo jet taking off in your case, thats what it was like) and the fans are all quiet-ish (I hope!)

The 120mm Thunderblades are 21db, and the cyclos are 17db, which I've read is within the 'very very quiet' range when you have some music on, so I went with it.

I am thinking on a water cooling system, but only in conjunction with the fans, and I don't want to render too much of my stuff redundant so its going to be an awkward fit if at all.

I put it up in a thread in the Liquid cooling area, with my crude MS Paint diagram

 

[FarFarAway]

Crude MS paint ftw tbh

I think you might find that the fans (whilst being fairly quiet) aren't quite as quiet as they claim to be

 

[Havok]

Your no doubt right, which is one reason I started thinking about a water rig, except I'm a rather vain glow whore, and so the copious amount of red light makes them hard to say no too, especially in a case which can barely show off a water loops neon tubes (I'm a loather of PC windows, very much a mesh person)

Its mainly the very good things I've heard about water cooling these new Penryn's thats attracting me to a loop, as I did intend to OC it to 4ghz or more, its just trying to limit the space it will take up in my already cramped case (surprising how fast it fills up for the size of the Stacker)

 

[Bungral]

Crude MS paint ftw tbh

I think you might find that the fans (whilst being fairly quiet) aren't quite as quiet as they claim to be

You're not wrong mate... They do bend the truth a tad with 21dbs... I have one on the window side panel of my 900 and its the loudest of all the fans.. Its not terrible as it does move a lot of air but having 6 could get interesting.

 

[Havok]

The drawback of inexperience, I never even considered water cooling so I have bought a shed-load-o-fans, and now I don't want them to go to waste even if I am persuaded to get a water loop...

Maybe running them on a very low voltage will quiet them down a bit? I know I'm forgiving if they look nice, but I'm fond of hearing myself think too.

One problem I've noticed with my possible water cooling is that my radiator will always be on the bottom, below the pump and reservoir (I'm thinking on the XSPC pump and res in a 5.25 bay) and I've heard thats not ideal, is it a major thing or can I ignore it comfortably, as its not very far if I use the very bottom drove bays for the pump/res?

 

[Bungral]

If you attached them to a fan controller yeah ya could lower the volts and it would in turn lower the noise.

As for the rad at the bottom... Take a look at where the rad is on this:

http://www.watercoolinguk.co.uk/forums/viewtopic.php?t=1710&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

I'm gonna be doing that soon as xmas is over.

edit: I know what you mean about having excess fans... I've got 4x tri cools 120mm in my Antec 900 as well as the TT and a sodding great 200mm fan on top.

 

[Havok]

I see your point! His radiator is defiantly uphill from his pump (not to mention not even in the case) so I should be fine by any means.

I just read the 7v fan trick tutorial in the air cooling forum, so for the fans that aren't hooked up to my fan controller I might try that, as after all those thunderblade's cost me I'll kick myself if I don't use them. It also means I'll be getting a redundant Zalman cooler for christmas, maybe I can sell it on.

I don't want to cooler everything in my rig via water, so the crossfan and thunderblades can cover the rest, I'll just use the water for the CPU and possibly graphics card when I get one worth the extra plumbing

Now I just need to figure out what sort of loop to come up with, I'm not sure the one in my MS Paint diagram will cut the thermal mustard

 

[Havok]

***UPDATE***

Just finished cutting (for cable management) and spraying the inside of the case black.

Given up on the watercooling for this rig, I will defiantly go for it on my next one though so thanks for the advice and pro-tips.

Its been almost 6 months since I started this build, and its finally time to finish the build this week. What I shall be ordering with any luck is:

CPU: Q9450 Quad *Ordered*

Mobo: EVGA 790i *Ordered*

Ram: 4GB OCZ Reaper X DDR3 1333mhz *Ordered*

Soundcard: Asus D2X Xonar *Ordered*

Speakers: Logitech Z-5500 *Ordered*

GFX: XFX 8800GTX XXX - now BFG 9800GTX *Ordered*

I already have:

2x 500GB Seagate Baracuda (32mb cache)

PCP&C 1-kilowatt turbo-cool PSU

24" Hyundai Monitor (its a damn fine piece of kit)

Zalman Nvidia cooler & Karma meter

Knowing that the Q9450 is as elusive as quality programming on E4, I might get the Q9300 as I'm sick of waiting after all these months.

Also since I'm gaming on a 24" The GTX is the sensible option, but I am still eagerly awaiting the 9800GTX reviews, as I will probably be adding a duplicate card of what I buy in for SLI at a later date.

I also went against getting the Bose Companion 5 as I've been told true 5.1 is better than faux 5.1, and also in this case a lot cheaper, especially as I've barely hard a bad word about the Z-5500.

Also thanks a lot to Kemp, Tox and everybody else on this board. I started in October 07 having no clue what I was on about, buying a lot of less than desirable fans and getting headaches from the jargon. Fast forward to April 08 and I'm pretty confident I can build this thing, a task I have been fully educated in doing almost exclusivly by hanging around this site. Many thanks guys, your ace

Thanks for reading

 

[nepas]

hope to see some nice pics next week then mate,It may have taken you a while but at least you are wiser now with all the jargon so no more headaches!!

 

[Mr. Smith]

Niiiice.

Get that 2nd card dropped in for some serious gaming. You can pick up gtx on ebay for decent prices now, I've ssen a few go for £170, xfx, evga, boxed in good nick.

 

[cybermaniac]

neon genesis ftw - i fully support this project!

 

[Rastalovich]

How I miss this?

Zomg - exactly what I was thinking - months l8r.

Nice job on the blackness. World is going to be peoples oyster with dual 8800 cards - they`re awesome performance, and if obtained 2nd hand, much much cheapness per performance.

 

[Toxcity]

Hope it all goes well for you mate.

It sure will be a killer build!

 

[Havok]

And so it begins...

Everything's ordered and hopefully arriving for friday. Swapped the 8800GTX for a 9800 too.

These I have to say are rather sexy, and damn fast too, best timings I've seen on DDR3 at 6-5-5-18

Build day on friday, so I'll be posting the geek porn then

 

[Rastalovich]

Hardcore, top shelf material, many thanks

 

[Kerotan]

awesome OCZ, they are supposed to cool really well and if the timings are that low to start with they should clock up like nobody's business if you slacken em off abit.