Case Mod - In Progress Twin Turbo "Black Edition"

Afternoon all.

After completing the Hybrid solution for the ASUS GTX 970 Turbo cards In a White/Black and Red theme i'd thought i'd turn my attention to Gigabytes Version of the card- which is primarily Black with Blue.
I've kept Alphacool up to date with the Turbo mods and informed them that i'd be doing he same for Gigabytes version (aint gonna lie, almost exactly the same design with the same through of process to Hybrid cool) and they were Kind enough to lend a hand or two GPX blocks - Thus the Black edition concept is born !





Everything will be watercooled in this build unlike the first, which used a Air CPU cooler and AIO unit. Although I will do a shot with an Air Unit installed just for a direct colour contrast to the first



Parts List

Intel i5 6600k- Recieved[
MSI Z170 Gaming Carbon - Recieved[
SLi Gigabyte GTX 970 Twin Turbo - Ordered
Samsung 950 Pro 256GB - Ordered
Seagate SSHD 2TB - Recieved[
Corsair Vengeance LPX Blue 2666hz 4x4GB - Recieved[
Super Flower 650W Platinum Black - Ordered
PHantek Eclipse P400 - Ordered
NZXT Hue+ & Grid+ V2 - Ordered
WingBoost 2 140mm Black/Blue x4 - Ordered

Received the Alphacool parts today, if my son gives me the chance- i'll get some snap taken

Alphacool Parts List

NexXxoS XP3 Lite Plexi
NexXxoS GPX 970 M11 x2
250 & 150 D5 Eisbecher
Alphacool D5 non PWM
XT45 120mm
ST20 280mm
120mm Susurro Black/Blue 1700 rpm x2
13/10mm Deep Black softtube fittings






Managed to take some Shots on the weekend and quickly stitched them together.
Some quality maybe lost but will save Individual Pictures for when build happens and finishes

Due to Alphacool Sponsoring a full water build, the plan of the Swiftech Unit went out the window and so does the S340 NZXT case, as there won't be enough room between the Rad and the GPU cards. Phanteks P400 case has been chosen as a like for like and just allowed the D5 Pump/Res unit to be installed. With the extra benefits of having two WingBoost 2 140mm Fans on top for Exit and hopefully Push/Pull on the front Rad. All Rads will be drawing in cool air with the top and GPUs expelling.

 

More shots stitched together quickly taken from yesterday and today

will upload the Individual JPEGs at the end of the build

 

Those Alphacool fans are rebranded Power cool fans. I use them in my rig and they're pretty sweet.

 

cheers for the Info had no idea.
** seems the Susurro's are 1700rpm compared to standard 1200 rpm
Not sure if they do 140mm versions but since Alphacool didnt, I carried on with the Plan of using WingBoost 2s.

 

Over the last week I started rough placements to see how everything would fit together



Feed back was to ditch the Push Pull as its bulky and makes a tight case look clustered. Rear fans were attached randomly but will draw cold air from the back into the case and exit via top fans

Installed the Alphacool 150 Eisbecher yesterday on a "sick day" as unfortunately the 250 was just too tall! The 200 or 213 Satin version would fit but the current res is screwed on so tightly I gave up and didn't order. So a bit of a pro and negative of receiving the assembled- its not going to leak but a mission to remove.
Attached the cables to give the overall colour scheme aswell.



left with two choices for the location of the Promochill Vortex.

As a bridge between the 120mm Rad and CPU inlet
As a connection from the Pump outleft to the bottom GPU




I'll have a drain port at the rear of the 120mm rad, since tipping it on its back will course this to be the lowest point in the system. First plan was to use the Vortex by the Pump but the GPU will be sat lower.

**********************************
DSLR pics and chose to go with Vortex by the CPU, also sorted some of the fittings thats arent effected by the GPUs

 

Just a small update



Just got to drill 4 mount holes on the side of the shroud, then onto the heatsink and tap them to m4 thread to allow the shroud to mount to it. Then lastly the inlet and outlet port holes

 

Have to admit, generally I hate blue in PC cases due to the massive amount of blue LED's around a few years ago when I first built mine, but this is starting to come together really nicely

 

thanks, I do have the Hue Kit but will be set to either back light or a simple pattern- nothing to flashy.

I was thinking about giving the Fan housing a blue glow like I did with the Asus version but not going to, will be a little more low key. Also all the tubing is black. Liquid is blue and should only be seen in the Res, sli bridge and Vortex- Using EK UV blue so not as stand out as pastel

 

Camera shots completed for the card mod









placed at the top to get a feel for the connection to the rad
Might swap the 45 of the Rad for twin 45- have it bend out towards the side then down to the card and insert the spacer for the 90 bend. 45 just slightly blocks the Vortex's view



PSU- SuperFlower 650W Platinum. Tempting to swap out the fan for a Blue one

 

A smoked side window is one way to make lighting a lot more subtle, personally I really like the contrast between not being able to see much at all when off, and coming to life when turned on too.

 

NZXT Hue+ will be installed in the build, have it so four strips are all all 4 edges and should be covered by the panel. Wil have the board set to blue and white LED for the vortex and Res. Will see how the Hue plans out, was thinking black backlight with blue chasing.
Waiting on CAM update as I know they can dim the LED through voltage but no idea when this will be updated

Will keep in mind the smoked window, shouldn't be to hard to apply a tint to it.

Son gave me 2 hours yesterday morning to do a few tasked, Hue and Grid+ are in. PSU and started plumbing some of the tubing that doesn't need to come out.
Not to keen on the rad to res, thinking all face the twin 45 on the res right, facing the rad then up, should allow the tubing to be more parallel to the rad and look a bit cleaner.

Still waiting for Alphacool SLi bridge, so that layout might change.
Using Tygon tubing, compressions can't do all the way up but is a solid seal, had the same issue with Bits power a while back

 

More DSLR snaps and edits to replace the above phone snap and of a few parts

Some of the plumbing



Drain port is at the back, if I was to attach it to the pump outlet, wouldn't of been at the lowest point and I think would of made a clean curve from the pump to the GPU untidy and bulky, and not wishing to attach to GPU ports as to weigh the card down.
Case should be able to lay on its spine and be the lowest point and drain out- whilst hopefully looking clean and flowing lines.

As with all the builds i've done, Hue+ & Grid as standard. Torn as to how to do the lighting for final pics =/ I do have LEDS on order for the Res and Vortex being White, might do the CPU in blue.



Will be routing some of the Tubing, the Rad to Res will be changed with the twin 45 on the inlet port going to the right then up, aligns it up much better and should sit flush with Rad. Hoping even though this isnt Hard Line, it can just look as good.
Also thinking Twin 45 at the inlet of the RAD- might allow a smoother run from the CPU outlet to it- unsure though
Hue strips installed, one for each edge and not viable so should tone the brightness a bit until NZXT adds DIM ability to the CAM software (is planned).
I have a clear hard Sli connection for the cards (2 slot), which may fit from outlet on the bottom to inlet of the top- would match the colour flow of the blue on the cards and help with flow- or holding my breath for the GPX 2 slot SLi plexi to come back in stock from alphacool... wishing i got it when i had the chance really
Pump also turned down from highest setting (5) to 4.



Just had a thought about attaching a Hue strip to the back edge of the GPUs, you wouldnt see the strips but would add a glow behind the cards against the mobo- what do you think? As im not doing the LED in the fan housing like the ASUS cards, didnt really come out as well and dont think the blue would shine as good inside the all black casing

I wanted to have the Grid+ just above the Res so its visible, only problem is the power connectors and USB stick out quiet a bit and clash with the res holder, which is bolted to the case so cant really move it. Tried placement at the bottom but looks untidy so will have to go at the back =/

 

Glow /hover effect between mobo and gpu's would look cool!
The tube runs so far look really clean - and a reworked rad-res line would help alot. I really like how the flow indicator just hangs around, all cool like

Looking forward to more updates

 

Thanks

Taken my far longer to do this build then i wanted =/

managed to grab some quick snaps on my phone of the second Heatsink sitting within the Shroud to show it being cut down to fit as well as lining bolting mounts to get the shroud to be mated to the sink

 

woopa, got the video up. shot of the 2nd card which I messed up the port holes slightly yet got the mounting done better then the first.
come the GTX 1070 I should be getting it 100% haha

 

Few high res snap shots of both the cards
Looking forward to seeing Galax/MSI blower ref cards taken apart for future planning

 

was a slight leak at the outlet port . Tightened that a bit- seems to be ok now but still waiting to see. not sure if the leak was due to not being 100% tightened (was about 95%) , o-ring or weight of the twin 45/tubing.

 

PC fired up, Basic drivers and apps installed.
Few issues with Hue and then one of the strips to start with- also now defaults to a blue lighting from white
Also MSI boards LEDs just wont carry out the orders I give it...

will have to set up lighting and cables for final shots and get stress testing for Heat but at Room Temp of 21c, Both GPUs idea at 22c with CPU at 25c.

 

been a while but had to order an EKWB EVO Blue edition block.

Redid the system without the vortex and was fine when filling and bleeding for 24 hours. Plus everything back in and stress test and the slow leak happened again!
very odd, Alphacool said they havent had this before but said to ditch the block as they have a NEW DESIGN in 2/3 months time

Unfortunately wasnt able to snap DSLR pics of the block before going into the system so phone will have to do.



in the system



was in a bit of a rush last night at 11pm, so i'll think i'll re-do the connection between the Vortex and the CPU. hoping a little bit longer length tube will cut some of the angle rise of the Vortex. cant do to much length as the tubing will kink in.

Block matches nicely . Dont have white or blue 3mm LEDs so will leave it unlit - dont really see the point as its blue anyways. The 2 LEDs that went into the Alpha block will go into the Vortex and top of Res.

Ive also got a bit of Black EK fluid left over which i may just add a few ml to darken up the blue a bit

 

Phone pics so not the best



IT support fell asleep on the job



In love with the Res/Pump combo! need to get the camera set up for a shot like this. phone really doesnt do it justice
Tempting to add another 2 LED to the other side to really light it up but can afford to add another cable from the PSU just for one molex. Might move one of them to the other side to make the glow even



Play in HD NO LEAKS! well.... there was one between the rad and Vortex as i didnt tighten the fitting enough KITCHEN TOWEL PEOPLE! kitchen towel

[VIDEO]https://youtu.be/FsdRwIcqPz0[/VIDEO]

I think Wingboost fans will cause an issue with heat over the long run.

Touching all of the Fittings, they are warm! even after leaving the radiator at the front entering the res! The Alphacool fan does a great job with the 120 rad and ypu can feel the air going through, the Wingboost theres nothing even at 100% which is a massive shame. the do a great job in the exit , but yeah- was meant to have a descent Static pressure, 1.4 or along those lines for the sound they make should of been good with a low density rad.

took a vid of Intels benching tool and Valley. CPU tempt is much better then before and room temp is 24c.
Running the GPUs at 1414hz does hit 50c after a good while


[VIDEO]https://youtu.be/sltxyf_WjI8[/VIDEO]