Case Mod - In Progress ⭐ Project Monochrome - Shift X Watercooled

Welcome everyone to my first ever case mod, and first custom PC build. Excited to see how it turns out, as I will be making it up as i go along. This will be a gaming rig primarily with some ML work on the side.

The main PC hardware so far:

• Case - Phanteks Evolv Shift X
• Mobo - Asus Z390-I mini-itx motherboard
• CPU - Intel i7 9700K
• Corsair SF750 power supply
  
• Palit RTX 2080Ti

Watercooling hardware:

• 2 x Hardware Labs Nemesis GTS 280
• Heatkiller 4 GPU Waterblock
  
• Heatkiller tube 100 DDC Reservoir
• Alphacool XPX Nylon CPU Waterblock

This has been in the works for about a month now, wasn't initially putting up for all to see, but i decided that as it's my first time in such an endeavor, the hive-mind will help me with any noob errors along the way.

The case:
The first thing that i've learnt so far is that the Shift X is a beautiful case, but an absolute pain to work with. The layout is a bit odd, and seeing it in person, I can easily see i've got my work cut out to fit everything in for the watercooling.




Getting the easy bits out of the way first, the mobo got some deglamourising paint work to match the theme




Next up was trying to figure out how to get the power wiring to be aesthetic. There's a tiny cable tray between the base of the mobo and the bottom half of the case, but that had to come out, as there's really not much covering anything.

I decided that rather than hiding it all, will have the wiring exposed, in a style i will refer to as 'Hardline Wiring'. I went with the quality sleeving by MDPC-X. Was in two minds about the whether i should introduce multiple gradients, but decided on all Natural White for now.
Here's a preview of where i've got to so far.




Custom cable sleeving is quite the tortuous exercise, but i started so i gotta finish. Nor will any ready-made sleeving / extensions work in this case. What do you guys think?

Stay tuned for further updates once i finish the sleeving for power, gpu, fans, LEDs and SSDs.

 

Good job on the sleeving and the curves, I'm doing a similar project also in a Shift X.

I'd really recommend that you go with white electrical cable.
As you've noticed, specially with that 8-pin CPU, the black cable really gives a "dirty" color to the white.

I'd also tell you to consider going with 240+120 rather than single 280. Or well, I think that with some clever positioning you might fit a 120 on the bottom even with the 280.
Test temperatures before finalizing, this is a REALLY hard case to deal with in terms of temps, even with custom watercooling.

And I also recommend you test the riser cable before finalizing. Mine was a piece of junk, it's a known issue, and I had to look for a high quality third party replacement.

 

mini itx...love this build

 

Thanks!

I did some research for this case, and found that the riser to be an issue, so got a higher quality one, but made a mistake on the one i got and it doesn't fit in the bracket.
For cost reasons, i can't get another one / change it; i'm gonna have to make it work!

I've remade the cables 3 times now, still not quite satisfied. You've pushed me over the edge, decided to get white cables, and starting from scratch again with slightly modified cable routing and resleeving.

I checked out your build, and i spy a Watercool res / pump combo. Was top of my list, but in my initial measurements, I was dissapointed I never could get it to fit with enough clearances with the PSU.
Alphacool Eisdecke was gonna be my go-to, but looks like it can from your pics. Gonna have to try and see what i need to do to squeeze it in.

Temps are my biggest worry, i might get the front waterjet with some vents in to aid airflow, and live with noisy 3000rpm fans.

 

A small combo res+pump will fit in there with an SFX power supply
There's also more than enough space on the top for removing the cap, and on the bottom for nice cable routing.

For temps I also had issues, now I'm trying this out:
- Removed filters
- Removed plastics that used to hold the filters
- Removed the 2.5" top plate on the back
- 100% negative pressure
- Planning the cable routing in such a way that I can use the whole back as an intake with minimal restriction.

This, coupled with some hardcore fans, might be able to do the trick (I hope lol)
I was also able to sandwich a push/pull of fans on the bottom 120.

 

Small update due to revised planning considerations and part delays

Due to known issues with the PCI riser in this case, got myself a decent quality one; ableit the wrong configuration
Here's the original, and modified bracket with riser





Also did some debranding and sprucing up of Flow & temp gauges




Next up, the power supply cover is quite odd, it only covers the top half. Didn't like the Donald Duck design, so made a full shroud from acrylic.

 

nice cable managment!

 

That's some 1st class work. We all hate doing cables. Anyone that says otherwise is a freak or a masochist.

 

A bit of a hiatus in due to life events, still happening slowly but surely. Some total rejigs due to part layout modification; here's the progress so far:

Completed power wiring. Still not happy with the way the EPS cable blends into the main pathway, but CBA to redo it again...


Unlike most other shift-x builds, which have a 2x0 slim rad and 1x0 rad on the bottom, I tried to push the limits and have double 280mm rads with 4 fans in pull-pull configuration. I'm not planning to overclock, but am still concerned about adequate temp regulation. We shall soon see...

Here's my radiator block waiting to be fitted in.


Got(getting) away with it by the skin of my teeth. here's the clearance of the fittings to the adjacent rad


Played around with some foam covering to neaten up the side profile.


Here it is test-fitted in the case.


Another thing to be able to get away with this is the graphics card needs to be slammed against the left hand side of the case. To accomodate this i had to get the out and cut away some bits.
Left hand side of top cover and mounting screw slots expanded to allow it to slide to the left completely.



Back view of test-fit


That's it for now, still more wiring to be done for pump, lighting, and case fan wire routing.
Also, PETG tube bending is not easy, eating my way through messed up tubing like no tomorrow...

 

I've read tests that show that stacking doesn't work. It doesn't look like you have enough room to separate them and add a baffle either. Could you turn one radiator 90 degrees if the psu and reservoir were repositioned? (I'm doubting it judging on what I see.)
It looks like you will need to 'cheat' and move one radiator outside to get decent performance.

 

Well, i guess i should've done more homework.
My alternative which i think i'll need to activate is putting a single HWL gtr 280 in push/pull configuration, which'll be about 4mm thinner. Will investigate, thanks for the heads up!

 

I still feel like you could get a second rad in there with some reconfiguring. Not a 140, but possibly a 120x2. It would mean repositioning the PSU and maybe even moving the reservoir to the outside.
There's also the possibility of using aluminum angles to make it tall enough to fit a 120x3.
-Sorry. I'm the little devil that sits on Bit-Tech's shoulder and whispers evil things.

 

Case mod is progressing, slowly but surely.
This is a bit late and havent looked on the site in a while and was surprised, didn't really expect to be chosen as case modding competition entry. don't think i'm at the level / quality / readyness to be scrutinised as an entry, but great to have been nonetheless.

Decided that a single 280mm rad wouldn't cut it for me (possible OC in the future), so revised configuration to take another proper rad.
Went through a bunch of ideas, and here's where i've settled at so far:


Additions are a 420mm rad (push only) to accompany the 280mm rad out front (push-pull). The extension is another ~160mm, but still is not any much deeper than a standard PC case (and still slimmer, albeit taller). The additional footprint area well worth it for the additional cooling capacity for sure.


Things happened to get to this point;
Removing of superfluous metalwork
Cable tray cover accent piece
Rear extension made from 20mm aluminium profile scavanged from another project
Rear panel & rad mounting plates
All cable routings for fan, power and lighting complete (still thinking about panel-mounted USB connector)

As this is a mini-itx board with a singular PCIe socket, i was out of luck to accomodate the pci WiGig PCI card for the vive wireless adapter. Luckily my mobo had another M.2 slot out the back, and with this:


I managed to make something that sat in front of the GPU (which luckily can slide in the mount front or back, and pushed all the way back (with a little help from more ) allowed the card to sit at 45 degree angle in front of it.

Here you can see it with an acrylic mounting plate (being primed, not painted yet) test fit and sits nicely.


Had to make the mounting plate depressed to allow for the connector which, if sat flush with the others on the top IO panel, would stick out the roof too far; sits nicely now.




Realise pics don't look like great quality, but will get nice ones once done.
Still left is plumbing, new base & roof, new longer side panels, and side panel mountings.

 

You doubled the size of the case!