Case Mod - Complete ⭐ Bency McBenchface - The ultimate test bench build

​

Hello guys and girls! Time for a new worklog, and this time with a bit of a strange "case". I was approached by the guys from OPENBENCHTABLE a while back, asking if I wanted to try out their new test bench, and from there things ended up as "how much stuff can I put onto this poor thing"

So without further ado, lets get started shall we!



Specs:

• Mobo: ASUS ZENITH EXTREME X399
• GPU: 2 x ASUS ROG POSEIDON 1080ti
• CPU: AMD RYZEN THREADRIPPER 1950X
• RAM: CORSAIR DOMINATOR PLATINUM 64 GB 3200 MHZ
• SSD: 2 X CORSAIR MP500 480 GB M.2
• PSU: CORSAIR RM1000X
• CASE: OPENBENCHTABLE BC1

The "case" comes with a nifty little carying sleeve as it was built to be transported around easily.



Being a huge fan of proper design and manufacturing, the nature of this test bench just really appealed to me.



Milled from solid aluminium and anodized, this thing comes flatpacked and takes up very little space. The idea behind the bench was for it to be easy to carry around, and I will try and make this mod true to that philosophy by making it as transportable and small as I can.



The legs of the bench is screwed onto the main piece and can easily be removed, and mounted on the actual test bench.



The legs also has the double function of working as a bracket for the PSU.



Fully assembled this "case" does not take up much more space than a mini itx case.



The choice of board was the ZENITH EXTREME from ASUS. I knew I wanted to try a threadripper build, and this seemed like a really solid board.



I have populated the Dimm.2 doughter board with two m.2 ssd's from CORSAIR. The board is quite a bit bigger than the actual bench in the width, but I will modify the bench so this will not be a visual problem.



Rear "shield" with built in LED's



Not too many fancy colors, which suits me well.

More soon!

 

I have one of these @p0Pe , great bits of kit

Curios to see what your many talents bring to the fold

 

You win just by the name, but I suspect you misspelled "Benchy" in the title. Loading a ton of WC on a single plate I think you can handle.

 

Reminds me of this..

https://www.theguardian.com/environ...tface-wins-poll-to-name-polar-research-vessel

Absolutely hilarious what the British public will do given half the chance

Best name for a bench ever

 

Thanks man! They really are cool kits! I kinda want the mini itx version

Damn! I did. Lets see if a mod cant change that

Haha yeah, gotta admit that that was where I got the inspiration

Time for some CPU PRON!




I must say that AMD has outdone themself with the packaging of the threadripper boxes. Never have I had so much fun taking pictures of a CPU box.





It is completely overkill and probably a waste of materials, but dammit it looks good, and will be a great addition to my shelf with unique hardware throughout the time.





Once you get the styrofoam off, the rest of the box is plastic.





POWAR





Had to go trough quite a few hoops to get this thing open.





Belly of the beast. I will not be using the orange bracket when mounting the CPU as it clashes completely with the color scheme. Even though it will not be visible under the monoblock I will be putting in, I will still know it is there.





So many pins to potentially bend!





Carefully mounted.





And all in place. This CPU will come in handy with the programs I work with. I am gonna PUNISH them cores!

 

Guess who managed to snatch the X399 ZENITH EXTREME monoblock prototype from EK's heasquarter This is the only sample currently available of this block!

 

Looks interesting

 

Someone figured out you can sink the springs in a block and hide them? How long has this been going on? I'm guessing getting this involved an insider that's kinda negative and has been your modder-buddy for some time.

 

It will be better, trust me

Where there is negative, positive must also appear

Third update in the Benchy McBenchface saga. This time I will be looking at the RAM and SSD's I will be putting into this build.







RAM and SSD choice. I will be using an external file storage solution, so I just needed some stupid fast main drives. My plan is to RAID up the two m.2 drives to see how that will work out.





It should be quite a challenge to get 64 gb of 3200 mhz ram to work with the motherboard and cpu, but 32 gb was not enough, and 8 sticks just looks so much better than 4!





Unboxed. I have absolutely no intentions of using the huge cooler the ram comes with.





More ram.






More!





MOAR!






As mentioned earlier, the SSD's are mounted on this dimm.2 board as they call it. Still not entirely sure if I like the looks of this or not.

 

You realise that when you open the box, you have to do this, right?



It's required. Says in the installation instructions.

 

I think he was too preoccupied with twisting the plastic nipple.
That M2 board is screamin' for a waterblock.

 

Shoot! I forgot! I will pack it up, and reopen it the right way

Yeah, it would be nice to make a little custom block for it, but there is zip nada zero space on the rear side between the ram and the ssd. Only just enough for a thin M.2 heatspreader.



So, time to get these ssd's under some serious heatspreaders!



One mounted, one to go



Let's get them onto the DIMM.2 board.



What is this now... Why will it not go all the way down?



Goddammit.jpg



I have to cut off some of the bottom plate for this thing to fit. The extra size that the heatspreader adds conflicts with some of the elements on the DIMM.2 board -_-



Mounted in a jig, and tools ready to go.



After I cut off the end, I filed it down with a small precision file.



And then repainted the end black.



Stock, and modified cooler. There is no chips in the place, so cooling will not be affected.



Very hard to see if you do not know it has been done.

 

Time for some graphic cards!



I kinda fell in love with the look of the 1080ti poseidon cards, so I decided to try them out for this build!



I normally tear off the stock coolers first thing when I get a graphic card so I can get a waterblock mounted, but these comes pre-installed with blocks.



More FPS, more power bill yay.













Since I am quite pressed for time on this project, updates might be a bit "quick" with just a bunch of photo's. I hope you do not mind too much (who reads boring text anyways).

 

Just a small teaser

 

Yikes! Melting in your drill holes.
Also: That looks sinfully thick.

 

Well NERC might have been too proper to allow Boaty McBoatface but when the Australians ask for public input they listen to the response Ferry McFerryface.

As for you mod, great name.

 

Haha yeah, they are 25 mm thick. Some of the white stuff in the holes are polishing compound I think, but yeah, they should definitely have been made with an end mill, and not a drill.

Haha The Aussies does not backpadle on promised!

So excited to show this thing! I waited a bit with these pictures as I wanted to keep the entire mod a bit of a secret for Dreamhack Winter where I won first place in the casemodding competition with it.

This block is one of the most complicated distro blocks I have done. It is made from 2 pieces of 25 mm acrylic, and some 5 mm acrylic, as well as some custom alu parts.

The two 25 mm pieces switches in level where the pumps are placed so that I could avoid making 3 separate pieces, and keep the plate even more simplistic.
The plate also has some recessed M20 threads that fits the bitspower fillports. That way the real fittings will never stress the distro block, and swapping out fittings can be done with ease.



Picture of the final distro block assembled.



The solid chunks of material that was used for this mod.



heavy pieces!



This picture shows the top and bottom, where the top has been completely sanded down with grid 400-2500 and then polished, while the bottom is as it comes directly from the CNC. I spent more than 10 hours sanding and polishing these pieces.



This picture shows the top and bottom, where the top has been completely sanded down with grid 400-2500 and then polished, while the bottom is as it comes directly from the CNC. I spent more than 10 hours sanding and polishing these pieces.



This is how the bottom part looks after sanding with grid 2500. From here it will be polished 2 times, and then rubbed in some finishing spray.



The M20 threads that will hold the fillports.



And this picture shows the switch in level on the pieces.







O-rings are all bought to size, and fitted into the channels so I did not have to glue them together.



How the 2 plates looks put together.







How the 2 plates looks put together.



2 fillports mounted, and one fitting mounted into one of them. I also test mounted the Openbenchtable



How it looks assembled.



And the lovely monoblock for the zenith extreme.



The 5 mm piece on the bottom was needed to connect the fluid channels from the pumps and further into the distro plate.



These two fillports was not recessed as I needed the extra hight.





Final piece.



These are some of the custom aluminium parts that is going into the build as well. These have been milled, and then sand blasted, and will later on be anodized.



The funny shape of this piece will be explained in a later update.

 

I want to MATE with that manifold plate.

 

very nice work.