Scratch Build – In Progress FFF: slow restart, voiding warranties

lol nice video mate

 

text-update: sponsor and loop rethinking

It's been a long long while, but i'm still very much tweaking the system.

The biggest news is that i now have a sponsor!
The guys at HighFlow.nl were providing me with such excellent service that i asked them if it would be ok to use this case to fly their colours, and they graciously agreed.

It's a dutch site, and they handle any request, no matter how exotic, with a very friendly, can-do attitude. There's a very active forum associated with the site, and there's even an english-speaking section, so don't be shy if you are looking for something special

I'm not a particularly fast or professional builder, so i'm very pleased with this sponsorship!
You will be seeing the results from this later on!

For example, i'm going to upgrade my waterloop BIGTIME. I'm planning to change my loop to the following configuration:
res/pump -> CPU -> NB -> 120mm rad -> GPU1 -> GPU2 -> 120MM rad -> res/pump.

That means getting a second card and including woth into the loop, switching my 240mm rad for two 120mm ones, as well as adding the NB to the loop. More on that later!

Another upgrade i got is a sweet slotloading slimline SATA DVD-burner. I'm not sure where to mount it yet (or how) but i'm sure it'll be a riot to use!

I'll be disassembling the PC this weekend to be rebuilt in it's final shape in due time.

So that's it, i thought i'd let you guys know i'm still here, and i still got the bug!

 

Awesome project!
Can't wait to see more!

 

Congratz on the new sponsor mate, I can't wait to see how the new loop turns out.

 

Highflow is a nice place, I found this topic through that forum.

What fans are the silver blue-led ones by the way?
They look a bit like Tacens Ventus Ice, but sprayed silver and with a cap on them.

Looking good. Keep it up.

 

Welcome JaccoW, glad to see you here on this side of the language barrier

The fans are Aerocool Turbines. They were top notch a few years ago.

 

Just a quick sneak prview for you all:



I'm re-designing the whole case. This render is grossly unfinished, but i just couldn't resist

 

looks good

can't see all your the hardware fitting in that too small or you got magic

 

I got magic

I'll demonstrate how it all fits in there once i'm done with sketchup
What i've put in so far using sketchup is the following:

3x 3,5" HDD
mATX mobo
2x 9,5" GPU
long (18cm) PSU
Slimline DVD
8GB RAM
pump
2x high performance 120mm rad
2x High performance Fan (120x120x38)

I've yet to find space for 2 SSDs and a few slim system fans.

 

I knew it! Seriously though, I can't wait to see how you managed it, looks impossible to me. But impossible is good

 

Thanks for your interest, i'll try to get most of the drawing done tonight

 

No offence but i am glad your redoing this.

 

Ahhh finally, an update!

It's not a regular one though! I completely discarded the old chassis i built, and proceeded to setup everything in a quick-and-dirty version of the Fresh-Fusion concept (see other buildlog in signature).

The reason for this is twofold:
First, i needed to swap out certain parts of the setup (watercooling mainly) which would mean i'd have to heavily alter the FFF anyway. Since i didn't want to put too much time in a chassis which isn't much more then a case study, and was going to be dumped anyway, i started looking for alternatives.
Second, i quickly caught the bug of the old Fresh Fusion concept, and could not let go of the idea of finishing it so i'd at least have something to show for it!

So, this post contains a write-down of the process i went through to build the entire thing. It is both an intermezzo in FFF and closure of Fresh Fusion. It is also an example of achieving a striking result with very little special tools, money or time. Bladiebla, let's get cracking!

First, disassembly! Behold, a table full of hardware! Glorious, eh?


I need a big baseplate to mount everything onto. Nothing hightech, just a slightly sloped piece of plastic will do. Hey look!

So, now i can cross the footshot off my list, now all i need is gore and a cat, and i'll have a full log!

I took the plexy and used a paintstripper/heater to make it bend to my will. the first bend was easy, just weigh it down on the edge of a table. The second however, was a right PITA, and it even cracked on one side:


Anyway, as a whole the part is still usable, so i wont bother with another try. Here's the other side:


I mounted the motherboard on a few standoffs at the very left end:


Waterblock placement:


Fittings and tempsensor on the block:


And fast-forward to everything in place:



The videocard rests on a very flexible piece of plexy, connected through risercard, fastened with a tie-rip:



The PSU and HDDs are on the right together. Here's how it'll look:


Mounting the PSU was really easy. I just put in enough thumbscrews and used them a s a perimiter for the PSU. Putting in the thumbscrews actually gave me blisters...



The HDDs are similarly simple.Three holes cut to size, insert disks, done!


And now we take a little detour to the kitchen. I received a lot of new watercooling gear, and it seemed like a very smart idea to do a leaktest. I'll also get to see if the Feser Fluid is a good red color, and not some orangy-pinky-yellowy goop. Setup:

We are looking at two XSPC RX120 rads, an Asetek Waterchill Xtreme pump, and a HeatKiller rev. 3.0 CPU-block. Also in the picture is the bottle of feser red, and various kitchen utensils

Even more junk in this next shot. There's an old modular 450W PSU that's still kicking strong, a junked HDD on top to pout the nessicary load on the rails, some red leds and the cables connecting all that.


So, I started her up and started pooring. The loop is very thirsty with those big rads in it, i wasn't expecting it to take much more then half a bottle, but it actually went all the way to 3/4th! Most striking though is the colour. It is right. I liked it so much i took waaaaay too many pictures of it, here is a selection:





Here's the block in all it's glory, with the generic but very pretty fittings from HighFlow. I also threw in the tempsensor for this test.


Some more pictures, now with 100% more cheesecake!



Where was i? Oh right, the leaktest! I actually had a small problem with my pump, but nothing major. It bubbles a bit of foam on the intake valve when power is switched off. something to do with the water settling down i suppose. Anyway, it's minor enough that i can ignore it for now, and fix it later.


Ok, with that done, it's time for business! We already have the main board, but we need somewhere to put the watercooling gear.
Again, i didn't make things any more complicated then they have to be. A plexi section 30cm square, one bend, two very roughly cut fanholes, and we're done.


Done? Well, yeah, since i have my very own way of mounting radiators...
The thing is, i havent got a clue how to mount them properly, so i go to my universal solution: tie rips!

You can see that the tips are bent, this is so i can insert them from between the fins and the shroud-thingy. The heads are jammed right behind the screwholes.


After that, i just lay the plexi sheet and fan over the four ties. I put on four new tie-rips on the ends, and tighten.After that, i snap off the excess material, and this is what's left:


Ofcourse, out of principle i cannot do it right the first time. I forgot to include this thing: an antivibration guard rubber thingy.

Anyway, rinse, repeat, it all turned out well in the end.

The pump stands on four vaccuum nipples (?) and could not be more secure if i tried, so i just put it down on the plate. Add fittings and tube, and suddenly the cooling subsystem is done!





After all that, i built up the main board including all the cables. What a mess!


Let's put everything in place for a testfit.
First fail: videocard too high


Solution: just press down on the flexible stand, and jam it in there!



The cooling section in it's prospective place:


The tubing has a proper way to go aswell:



All together now:




And that's it for now. Tonight, i'll taste the sweet delight of booting it up, and then trying to add enough fans to keep everything properly cooled.
See you later!

 

I really like how you have mounted the radiators and the graphics card. Personally I prefer the idea of cramming it all into the shuttle chassis but this design is pretty cool.

 

ATTACK OF THE BLURRYCAM! DUN DUN DUN. great job though. it works out quite well

 

Where's your switch?

 

Real pro's short out the power switch pins on the mobo with a screwdriver

Nice looking, so your not going the small case route at all?

 

Thanks. I WILL do the FFF mod after this, but in the mean time i need a working computer, hence this build.

I humbly apologize for my photography skills (or lack thereof). I'll get a decent camera soon-ish maybe matters will improve then.

There's switches on the mobo, for reset and power, visible on this pic:

It's in the upper right corner, between the SB and the SATA ports.

I actually did use the screwdriver method quite a bit on my old mobo

As stated above, i will still build FFF, but needed a placeholder

 

Haha, nice job Xtra. I know all about temp builds... You should see the mess of cables and drives currently on my desk. I actually have a case to put it in, but I'm too busy with other things.

 

Last post in July? thats... uhm... well, a lot of months ago!

Dont despair though guys, the idea is still very much alive! Check it out:



Some things to say about the design:
The "wave" on te left sidepanel is a direct copy of my gracious' sponsors logo: www.Highflow.nl .
Here's a sample of the original:


Also, the whole case is mathematically perfect. Dimensions: 256 x 289 x 361 mm.
Yep, indeed that's 16² x 17² x 19².

I've also decided to use black carbon for all the panels. Wish me luck!