Case Mod - In Progress Project: NINJA-Xtreme, Twin W/C Loop + External Rad

Hi All and welcome to my build log for CYBER-NINJA-X.

The goal with this project is to build a water cooled Tri-SLi gaming beast, using a Hailea water chiller. I plan on using a triple loop so that each major component gets their own cold feed of coolant. Here's the parts spec list:-

Coolermaster Cosmos II

Enermax Apollish Vegas UCAPV12A-R 120mm Red Fans

Enermax Apollish Vegas UCAPV14A-R 140mm Red Fans

Asus Rampage IV Extreme Intel X79 Motherboard

Intel Core i7-3930K

Corsair Dominator GT 16GB (4x4GB) DDR3 PC3-17000C9 2133MHz Dual/Quad Channel Kit

EVGA GeForce GTX 780 Dual Classified HydroCopper 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card x3

Samsung 840 EVO SSD 500GB x3

Creative Sound Blaster Z Gaming High Performance Sound Card

Be-Quiet DARK POWER PRO 10 1200W PSU

Swiftech Maelstrom Dual 5.25" Reservoir with Temperature Monitor x2

Koolance Laing D5 Pump Top and Reservoir Base Acetal

Alphacool VPP655 / Laing D5 Single Edition Pump with Tacho Signal

EK FB Kit RE4 LE CSQ Mobo Waterblock Kit for Asus Rampage IV Extreme Copper Acetal

EK-Supremacy CPU Waterblock Nickel Acetal LGA 2011

EK CSQ G1/4" Thread Compression Fitting for 1/2" ID - 3/4" OD (13-19mm) Tubing : Black Nickel

EK-PSC Adapter Rotary 45°
G1/4 Black Nickel

Masterkleer tubing PVC 19/13mm (1/2"ID) clear 3,3m (10ft)
Retail Package x2

Mayhem Pre-Mix X1 UV Red - 1Ltr Coolant x4

Hailea Ultra Titan 2000 Waterchiller
(HC1000A =1650Watt cooling capacity).

Here was my initial idea and a draft of my initial plans for a 2Way SLi rig:-



I have changed the build slightly from the proposed drawing, as I am now going to use 2 Swiftech Maelstrom's as the catch tanks for the triple loops, (Cold out - Hot in). And I added a third GPU as I now have an NV surround set-up using 3x EIZO's FG2421's. So I went for 3Way SLi, so that each monitor runs on Display port. I also plan on keeping the pipework as straight and sharp bend free as much as possible. This is to keep the flow rate up high as best as I can.

TBC

 

Update #1

Initial case mods to my Cosmos II:-

I opened up the top to accommodate the 140mm Enermax fans and increase the air flow;



(But I kept the 120mm fan mounts just in case I need em in the future!!!)

Then I gutted the interior all ready for the acrylic cutting;



I next cut out the grill on the front panel for a cleaner look;





And I did the same to the side fan mount assembly;



And I finally cut the acrylic up for the internal finishing;

 

Update #2

I contacted Chilled PC who are an agent for Pulse modding. I sent them my side and front panels for some CNC cutting. They added a window to the side panel and installed a piece of acrylic;



Then they did a CNC cut to the front door, as per my custom design;



Tom at Chilled PC provided the top notch liaison for the job and was extremely helpful too. I am very happy with the workmanship which Pulse & Chilled PC have provided!!!

 

Update #3

Once I got the doors back from Chilled PC, I set about completing the front door. I had Tom at Chilled PC cut a piece of 3mm black acrylic to match the back of the door. I heated it up with my heat gun and moulded it to the doors curved shape. All I then had to do was cut out the mesh and gauze to suit;





I used some of this 2 part Epoxy to glue it all together;



And here is the completed door;



And finally I glued on the Shuriken for the bespoke Ninja look I am going for;

 

Update #4

I added some chrome decals to the side panels, just to break up the expanse of black on the humongous C-II;





I also got the top & bottom rails back from the chrome platers as well, for some added bling!!!

Before;



After;





The exterior is starting to take shape now and looking real good!!!

 

Hey, welcome to the forum. Nice to see actual chrome plating not just paint.

I must say, it's quite optimistic of you to post this under "MOTM".

 

LOL yup, but my build plans didn't seem to fit "Case mod" or "Scratch build" so "MOTM" was the only other option, (given that you can't start a thread without adding one of those tags). But hey we can all live in hope.............................

Edit; I've switched it to Case mod, as that seems more popular!!!

 

Update #5

I bought some carbon fibre wrap to give the case a bespoke look and started cutting out some shapes;



I removed the top front panel and fan controller unit, then I covered the plastic with the carbon fibre wrap;

Before;



After:





I also cut out a shape for the top panel, which will act as a background for the NINJA-X motif;





Then I cut out some shapes for the tops of the side panels;

Before;



After;


And finally I cut out a shape for the rear of the top panel;





And lastly I added some carbon fibre wrap to the lower front panel and side panels front's;

 

I like how it looks right now. Waiting to see it lights on

 

Thanks bud

 

Update #6

I wanted to add some cool Ninja decals to the top panel and inside of the case, so after some web searching I found these bad boy belt buckles on eBay;



So I cut the belt fasteners off;



But then I found that there wasn't much flat surface area left on the bottom for fixing them. So I decided to fill the back void up with some gap filler;



Anyone fancy a souffle???





The final result;



I also wrapped the internal acrylic pieces I had previously cut out, with Carbon fibre too;



And finally the side fan mount assembly got the Carbon treatment too;

 

It would be cool if you could get some small throwing stars for the centre of the fans.

 

I thought about that too, but there hard to find in such a small size. However I have had an idea about how to achieve that, TBC.............................

 

Update #7

I managed to get some Ninja Shuriken throwing star pendants offa good ole eBay;



So I added some carbon centers to the fans;



Then I stuck on the Shuriken for the bespoke look;



And here they are in full spin;





I also installed the CPU and water blocks to the RIVE, all ready for fitting into the case now!!!

Before;



After;

 

Looking really good. I am interested to see how you connect the two Maelstrom reservoirs, they do fit in well with the ninja styling.

 

Thanks for your comments, I have a couple of options with the flow route of the coolant. So I may need to seek some advice from the water cooling experts, on which route is best???

 

I'm no expert but there are a few things I would recommend.

The continuity equation (Q=VA where Q is flow rate, V is velocity and A is cross sectional area) dictates that at the same flow rate you get very different velocities with larger and smaller tubing. Headloss, or pressure loss, is directly related to velocity so you can reduce the restriction of your system if cooling lots of components by using the largest tubes possible. With your intended use being a single pump feeding the Maelstrom radiators you will need all the help you can get in your system, unless you have some pumps attached to the Maelstrom reservoirs. The Maestrom reservoirs have 3 inlet ports, I'd be inclined to split a single pipe into 2 to enter the reservoir to reduce turbulence in the reservoir, I plan on doing that with my system in the future.

The Maelstrom reservoirs only have 1 outlet unless you use dual MC35X pumps as far as I know. I'd use the dual pump version of the reservoir and have a dual loop rather than a triple loop because the chipset and VRMs don't put out enough heat to require a separate loop. I've just added the chipset and VRMs of my motherboard into my loop and found the load and idle temps at the same pump + fan speeds to be almost identical with the exception of the motherboard being a lot cooler now. Using the dual pump version would alleviate my concerns about a single pump system effectively giving you a pump for each loop plus a pump feeding the chiller.

If you haven't already purchased the Maestrom reservoir it is worth bearing in mind that Swiftech have stopped producing the current model with a temperature sensor and display included. I was told be Swiftech support that they are bring out a new one soon that doesn't have a temperature sensor and display so if you want or prefer not to have the temperature reading you can use that info to decide what you do.

Speaking of the chiller I would put the pump just after your second reservoir to feed the chiller because the pump produces heat and you want the chilled water to get to the components without much contact with other heat sources to get the best performance from it. Perhaps use something like the XSPC Photon reservoir and pump combo.

The last thing I'd suggest would be to get enough tubing to do your system twice, so if you think you'll need about 1.5m of tubing get yourself 3m. That way you can cut some tubing for your loop and test with different configurations to see what works best based on what ever criteria you have. For me it was trying to get a very tidy loop so I ended up trying about 6 different configs before I settled on the one I am using. It is helpful to do the with your system rather than with drawings because there are things you won't consider when thinking about your drawing that become obvious when working with the system, it is why Architects love their models.

I hope at least some of that is useful for you.

 

Thanks Noxayl I will take that on-board.

 

Update #8

Well I managed to get the interior sorted and finally install some hardware, which pleased me greatly!!!

I made up a frame to sit in the back of the old drive bays, just to close it off and hide some of the pipework a bit;



It then got the Carbon treatment too;



Then I fitted the interior panels I had previously made up and installed the Mobo, RAM, PSU and Maelstroms too;















Up next cabling and plumbing - WOOP WOOP!!!

 

Looking really good. As I thought, the reservoirs fit in well with your chosen ninja theme.

I look forward to your next update, be interesting to see how your loop ends up looking. I'd be surprised if you use your original loop drawing, trying a couple of loops should show you a more efficient way of doing things.