Scratch Build – In Progress WATER COOLED PC DESK MOD WITH BUILT IN CAR SOUND SYSTEM

Hey guys, Below are links to all of my Pages. Most YouTube footage such as gaming will not be up until the desk mod is complete except for the desk mod progress so please stay tuned. Visit my Facebook page for more pictures at higher quality.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Imfacerollgaming
Email: ImfacerollGaming@gmail.com
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/ImfacerollPCGaming

I will also be uploading my videos from today with the resolution options of 4k and lower so please check them out when i upload

Also make sure you check out my sponsored PC display cabinet modification which is now currently in progress: http://forums.bit-tech.net/showthread.php?t=278046

I was researching the internet one night for a new computer because my laptop just wasn't up to scratch anymore and it couldn't even run battlefield. I knew nothing about computers however i was interested in trying to put together a build.
Luckily my mate knew about computers and he helped me put together a neat build.

Build Specs:

• Asrock extreme 4 motherboard
• Intel i7 4770k CPU + windows 8.1
• Nvidia GTX 780 graphics card
• 16gb Rip jaws RAM
• 850watt cooler master PSU
• 2tb western digital HDD
• 120gb Samsung SSD



Putting this build together got me more interested in computers so i decided to look up other builds on the net and came across some awesome computer mods, one that caught my eye was a computer within a desk, I WANTED TO MAKE MY OWN.

Starting in January 2014, i did two full days of research on computers, components, how to videos and reviews because i knew absolutly nothing about them.

Two days passed and i decided to drawn up some plans for the desk.



With the desk drawn up i made a list of components that i would need to purchase, the main computer specs included:

Build Specs:

• Asus Maximus VI formula motherboard
• Intel i7 4770k CPU + windows 8.1
• Two EVGA GTX 780ti graphics cards
• Corsair Dominator platinum 32GB RAM (MSI red version)
• 2x Corsair RM gold series 1000w power supply
• Asus xonar phoebus sound card
• ASUS xonar essence STX sound card
• 1 x 4tb Western Digital black hard drives + 3 x 1tb Western Digital black hard drives
• 4 x samsung SSD's 740gb total storage

I will also be watercooling everything, running tripple 27inch monitors and setting up a full car sound system within the desk.
Since this build was going to be a long and expensive project i went all out on components to make a beast.

Just a few photos of some parts used in the build:



















Moving on to the desk, the wood used to make the desk is 18mm thick and the legs were made thicker for extra support. Iv also included a back board for extra support and stability. The top of the desk is routed out to fit a sheet of 6mm thick hardened glass.

A few pictures of the desk being built:









I also made some fake elevated bottom platforms to hide wires and make wire management as clean as i can. I wrapped the platforms in a carbon fibre vinyl which turned out amazing.

Elevated Platforms:













Once i had all of my cutouts done to size i decided to test fit some components and also see how much space would be available for cable routing, lighting and running tubing to watercool all of the components.

Test Fitting:















Components fit well and i am happy with how the desk is shaping up.

I decided it would be a good idea to test out the computer with its stock coolers before i install the waterblocks to make sure everything worked correctly. I also ran some performance comparisons with my 780Ti superclocked GPU's.
The results i obtained are with no overclock, everything will be overclocked when the build is complete.

One 780Ti GPU on ultra settings.


Two 780Ti GPU's in SLI configuration.


The desk is now ready to be painted. I decided to go with a nice gloss black on the outside and the raised platform in the desk. The inside walls of the desk are being wrapped in carbon fibre vinyl.

Desk Painted:













Now that i have built the desk and painted it, i started installing some components such as fans, speakers, amplifier and i also installed my waterblocks onto the computer components.











Antenna for car headunit.




Since installing a lot of my components i have made some real progress with the desk. I have installed 2/3 of my tubing and now im just waiting for some extension cables to come in the mail before the desk can be finished.

Progress pictures:





Now that the desk is around 2/3 built i decided to add some LED light strips to illuminate all of the components. I wired all of the LED strips up to switches and i put some perspex under my amplifier,
HDD's and SSD's to create a green illuminated boarder around them. There are LED strips under the perspex to illuminate it even further.







Here is a diagram on how to wire your LED's or any other device up to a switch.





And now for the LED light testing:



































This is my build as of the 12/06/2014. I am currently waiting for some extension cables in the mail so i am able to put the motherboard side in the desk and work on some nice cable management.
Hopefully i should receive the goods next week. Please stay tuned and ill upload more progress photos as i continue with the build.

Here is another thing i worked on which is just for a bit of humor


This is a screen shot of a small video i made (Potential YouTube video intro) of someone rolling their face on the keyboard while they are playing a game. This picture pretty much describes where my gaming name came from,
Imfaceroll (Im-Face-Roll).
I picked up this name a few years back from playing World of Warcraft with a mate. Back when paladins could stomp all over anything just by using their wings.
It was an on going joke between us that if they key bind their entire keyboard to paladin wings then rolled their face over it, they would still win a fight.
So what did i do? I had to give it ago... I made a Paladin and called it Imfaceroll and that name has stuck ever since =).

Please stay tuned for more updates on the desk mod, hopefully i will have my parcel by next week so i can get it finished and show some photos of the finished product.

Hey guys, i have been hard at work trying to put together some videos of my build for anyone who doesn't want to read the build log. I have just uploaded two videos, one showing a video of the build up to about
a week ago and one showing progress images from start till now. Here's my YouTube channel for anyone interested: https://www.youtube.com/user/ImfacerollPCGaming

 

Hey man your crafting skills are excellent but you really think of a different way of uploading your pics here.
The pics are awesome but just way to small, I can't really enjoy looking at them cause gthey are so tiny
but still your built is fantastic just the pic size sucks

 

sorry im very unfamiliar with how to make them a good size. i only just figured out how to get them on here TBH lol

If you like i can send you the full size images via facebook message because i had to reduce the size of these to upload them.

www.facebook.com/imfacerollgaming

 

UPDATES.....

Another update with the desk, i received 1 of 2 parcels i have been waiting on in the mail so now i am able to put the PC in the desk and get some more progress shots out to you guys.
I have just installed the GPU water blocks today so lets hope i can get some more updates to you guys within the next few days. Thank you for all of the support, Cheers.

So, i have received my last parcel in the mail and i have put the PC inside the desk and wired everything up. I am so happy with how it looks. I still have to wait till tomorrow for the glass top of the desk and i will also be putting the UV green Mayhem's dye in, so hopefully i can post some more progress shots within the next few days. After all of that is done i can get the monitors going and turn the computer on after 24 hours of leak testing. Once 100% complete i will post a load of images on here for all to see, cheers

Progress shots:

These two shots are of how messy the cables were before i put the elevated platform in the desk.





These pictures are of the desk as it stands today. Iv also taken some pictures under the different lighting options and i am very happy with the look of the desk. Dont mind the mess under the desk, that will be cleaned tomorrow before the glass guys get here.









More updates coming within the next few days..

So.. I managed to fill the loop yesterday and ran into some problems. I filled the loop and had it running for around 2 hours when i noticed liquid all over the motherboard.
Straight away i turned the pumps off and had to take everything apart to clean the motherboard and dry it off. I drained the loop to do just that.

When everything was taken out of the desk i took apart the Asus maximus VI formula motherboard to dry it out and observe where the source of the leak had occurred. This is what i found..



As you can see in the image above, the motherboard water block looks as if the coolant has leaked through the seal,
so i decided instead of returning the product for a new one, i might try tighten the seal and dry out the motherboard.



The picture above is of the motherboard with the back plate and thermal armor removed as well as all of the thermal blocks and the CPU.
It was essential that all of the liquid was dried and removed so it was necessary to remove all of these components to prevent a short circuit when i powered the PC on.
I wired up a fan to a small 12v power adapter and placed it over the CPU and RAM slots to dry out any liquid that found its way into the gaps. I also borrowed my sisters hair drier to speed up the drying process.



Above is testing the components to see if they all still work after letting everything dry for 8 hours or so. I had removed the CPU water block to let the CPU slot dry so when it came to testing whether the components worked or not i had to reinstall some thermal grease on my delidded CPU and on the thermal copper plate and use the stock air cooler.

The PC powered up fine and everything worked. While i had the computer on i decided to check the CPU temperatures because i had delidded the CPU and put my own thermal grease on.
Previous core temperatures ranged from 34-37 degrees Celsius, the new temperatures ranged from 18-21 degrees Celsius with the stock cooler, so i was very happy with them results.



The picture above is of the refill and previous leak area, so far so good. Another possible cause of the leakage around that area is where the fittings screw into the motherboard water block.
I have since installed some extender fittings into the motherboard and then screwed the compression fittings into those.
The reason for this is the compression fittings are a lot wider and i believe that the design of the motherboard water block was preventing them from screwing down all the way, therefore creating a leakage area.
I have highlighted the problem areas below. These areas are sticking up preventing the compression fitting from screwing in all the way.




As of this moment i have put everything back into the desk and i am leak testing overnight, so far the problem areas have been fixed. I will be uploading more progress maybe tomorrow or Monday. Thanks.

A few new videos up on my YouTube of the PC desk Mod and its progress, please visit it, check them out and show your support by sharing a like and subscribe,
it would really help me out as i am only new to the YouTube community. Cheers

https://www.youtube.com/user/ImfacerollPCGaming

So, progress has been made with the desk. I am currently uploading a video to my YouTube as i post this: https://www.youtube.com/user/ImfacerollPCGaming

please check it out and i would really appreciate a like or subscription to help me get things going, i am very new to the YouTube community.

So a few days have past, i have my 24 hour leak test complete and so far no dramas. Next phase of the build is to put the three 27 inch monitors up on the monitor stand i purchased from USA.

I open the monitor stand box only to find that the wrong stand had been sent out to me. Instead of a free standing stand that i ordered, i received a stand with a clamp screw to hold the monitor mount onto the desk, which is a bit of a problem...



The clamp cannot open wide enough to fit the thickness of my desk due to the desk being a hollow box roughly 200mm thick. Thoughts....

I came up with a solution that only Albert Einstein himself would think of, okay that's a lie it didn't take much to come up with the idea.
I had to create a wooden stand that the monitor mounting stand could clamp onto and the stand had to screw into the back section of the desk, pretty simple...

Went to Bunnings warehouse and scored myself three 1m lengths of wood for free (who would have thought..).
I cut each length down to 800x150mm and cut a small piece to screw on top of the three side pieces. This top piece acted as the base for which the monitor mount would clamp on to.





By creating the stand it also relieves the desk of all weight and prevents any possible bowing of the wood, it is screwed into the back of the desk to prevent movement. The stand turned out well as you can see.
I covered it in some left over carbon fibre wrap and now i can attach all three of my monitors and run either a nvidia surround setup or run with the 3 seperate screens with the two gtx 780 ti GPU's in SLI mode.
Also by having only the 3 sides and an open back it acts as a place to hide cables which makes everything look neater and well managed.



My desk is up and running now so updates will be posted very shortly within the next few days.

Again, please help me out by liking my Facebook page, subscribe to my YouTube where i will be posting regular videos of game footage and desk mods. It would really help me out, i appreciate the support Cheers.

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/ImfacerollPCGaming
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Imfacerollgaming

 

why is it mod of the month?

 

Welcome to the forum! Your first few posts will take a little while to appear as they have to be moderated first.

Good point - changed to Scratch Build

 

thanks for the link but for further updates just size the pics to 800x600
than upload them to the forum or uploader your choice and place them here.
Than they apear in a nice size and not to tiny otherwise it would be just a waste of your precious time for this gourgious build

 

No worries thanks for your help =)

 

Interested as to how the pressure difference made by the speakers will affect the PC parts.. Especially the subwoofer! But if they're in a separate enclosure and i'm just not noticing.. Dont worry!

 

So, its now time to show the filling of the desk with our mayhem's UV green dye and distilled water:



















Final photos will be up shortly, Thanks for the support.

 

Mind blown, looking forward to further updates!

 

Final desk pictures!!

Final desk pictures will be uploaded tomorrow =)

 

Got extremely busy today so was unable to post the final pictures but they will be up in the near future

 

Hey mate iv got final photos to up load. How do I go about uploading them so they are not small or have a small thumb nail to view bigger image? How do I upload them

 

Very nice work..Just fix your image size so I can see this master piece..

You can use an image host. For example photo bucket.
You can resize your photo's with an edit option within the host. 800 x 600
Then simply copy the IMG link and paste into the post.

There are also a plethora of other programs that handle image files.

 

Hey that is really no big Deal,

you have two options.

1. Upload your pictures to a page like
https://imageshack.com/
but before you upload them choose in the menu to resize the pictures to 800x600
After that Imageshack has a couple options to choose you just take the link which is called direct link to forum
The link should start with [Url..........
than just post the links here and you have big pictures

2. You can resize the pics like me on your computer and upload them to your account here in the forum.
You can find a shitload programms when you google resize images.
After you resize the images to 800x600 again.
you click on your Nick which is in the top right corner
there you find on the right side a menu which looks like that


you need to click on the red marked button called album and found a new one.
There you can upload again your resized images.
When you click now on one image you get a forum link for it which you can paste in your log

Hope i could help you

 

DESK FINISHED!!

yay, so the desk is complete and i have some final photos to share with you guys =). Please visit my Facebook page for more images at a higher quality and visit my YouTube page to check out my desk in progress from start to finish.

www.facebook.com/imfacerollgaming
www.youtube.com/user/imfacerollpcgaming

And here it is:

















































































That's not even 10% of my final photos however i have every photo up on my Facebook page as well as more progress images through out the build.

Lights within the desk and on my other desk can be turned on/off can be changed to any colour you would like and you are able to dim them or turn them up brighter.

I will be posting updates on how well this overclocks and i actually have an upgrade to some components within the desk because i will be putting some of the desk components into another project, please stay tuned for more updates and some final desk shots when i get the new equipment inside the desk.

If you like the progress i have made with my PC desk mod please show your support and like/subscribe to my Facebook and YouTube page.

www.facebook.com/imfacerollgaming
www.youtube.com/user/imfacerollpcgaming

Cheers.

 

Seriously? When you say nothing...

 

Haha yep nothing. I studied up on them making sure I learnt a lot. Now I have a good knowledge of them because of my build =)

 

ROOM SETUP!

Sorry about the quality of these images. I wanted to share with you my room setup as it stands. The lights and lazers in the pictures can all be switched on and off or dimmed down if that bothers you, however i love all of the lights, its like a rave in my room. DEFQON at my house this year!!

Please enjoy and visit my facebook and youtube page for more images and updates.

www.facebook.com/imfacerollgaming
www.youtube.com/user/imfacerollpcgaming

I will be working on getting my overclocking results to you guys however i have to wait for my new order to come in because i have purchased the LGA 2011 Asus rampage 4 black edition motherboard and the 4960x I7 cpu aswell as two more GTX 780 ti's for quad SLI and 64gb corsair dominator platnium RAM so stay around for more updates in the near future.

I also have a large amount of PC parts left over so i went out and found a cheap second hand cabinet for $15 and i am planning to refurbish that and start a custom water cooled PC cabinet mod build, i have some really good ideas for that, it will be a red and black theme so stay tuned and i will make a build log for that, cheers.
















This is a picture of all of the new parts going into the desk. There is a new ASUS 4k monitor coming out shortly so that may be changed. The two sound cards in the desk at the moment will have to come out because i am running with 4 gtx 780 ti's so those sound cards will be replaced with the external one in the picture and used in my next cabinet build.