Case Mod - In Progress The Powerful Pretty Pink Processor (aka, "The PPPP")

Time to make that 24 pin!

I'm going to make this extension have a pretty extreme and tight bend in it (more than 180 degrees). If you want your 24 pin to have a nice curve and keep it, you have to make the inside row of wires shorter than the outside row of wires. There is a formula you can follow if you want a precise down to the millimeter measurement, based on how many degrees of bend you will have, but my rule of thumb is to use 1/4 inch shorter on the inside row for every 90 degrees of bend you want in the extension. I'm going to have a little more than 180 degrees, so I'm going to make my inside wires about 5/8 inch shorter than my outside.

Let's make the outside row of wires first. Based on a couple of trial and errors, I settled on 8.5 inches for the length of the outside row. This length created a nice snug fit with a tight bend. No excess wire here. It's all work and no play. So I cut myself 12 pieces of my 16 AWG Lutro0 Customs special wire into 8.5 inch lengths....





There they are....all lined up and reporting for duty.





Then I used my Knipex wire strippers to take off the EXACT same amount of insulation on each of these soldiers...





They didn't mind one bit.





Then I used my Lutro0 crimper and pins to make some more of those PERFECT crimps on one end of the wires.





I always do just one end first, because I can run through these all without having to worry about rotating the pin in the right direction before crimping.





For the second pin, I always make sure and lay out the wire on something flat and ensure that I'm crimping the pin with it rotated in the right position on the wire. For this extension, both pins needed to be facing up the same direction. If you forget to make sure they are lined up....it causes grief when you go to insert them into the connectors, because you'll have to be twisting the wire/sleeve around to get it to fit into the connector. No-bueno. So make sure you have them lined up correctly.

Stripped and crimped. Sounds like a bad 80's movie......





Next I cut lengths of my sleeve to use. I've found that if I cut the sleeve a little less than 1/4 inch shorter than the wire, that it comes out just about perfect for the shrinkless method I use. Of course, this 1/4 inch will depend on how much insulation you take off, and how tight you stretch the sleeve. But for me....a smidge less than 1/4 inch shorter works nicely.





I always touch the ends with some flame and taper them at this point also. 2 grey, 2 pink and 8 black. That's what I need for the outside row I'm working on.





Now I need some heatshrink for my shrinkless method. I've always found that kind of funny. Took out my jig and a pair of scissors, and went to work cutting some up.





Perfect. I mentioned this awhile back, but I never could get consistently good results using an exacto knife or box cutter or razor blade. But with a pair of scissors....I can cut up 50 pieces of perfectly sized shrink in about 2 minutes. It's quick. And I love being able to adjust to get the perfect size I need for whatever I'm doing. Nice lil' tool....

Look at them. They don't even know they are about to get burned alive.....





Next steps were to cinch my wires into a piece of sleeve, and melt the sleeve onto the pins at the end of the wire. If you've never tried shrinkless.....give it a shot. Plenty of good videos available, so I won't recreate the wheel for you. But check some out and then give it a go. I find it more forgiving than using heatshrink, and it secures the sleeve MUCH better than when using heatshrink. Since the sleeve is literally melted and formed around the first ridge on the pin....it's on there securely. It's not going anywhere. This lets me pull the sleeve much more tightly than I ever could if it was secured by heatshrink. Tighter sleeve....is nicer sleeve.

Oh Lord. I've now mentioned strippers, shrinking and tighter in the same post. I fear the gate has been opened for off-topic comments.

After completing the outside row, I went back and did all the same steps for the inside row, but I cut the wires 5/8 inch shorter than I did for the outside row.

So....here is what it looked like after I got both rows.





If you try and lay it flat, you'll see that one row (the outside row) has to buckle up since it's longer.





But have no fear. If you measured right, when you bend the extension in the shape you are going to use....all of the wires will magically snug up next to each other and look incredible!









Here is what it looks like inside the build. It came out perfect length. There is not an inch of extra slack in the wire. Perfectly sized, and looking like it's a full one-to-one cable since the ugly doubles and cross-overs are all handled in the mini-cable right by the PSU.











I actually gave away a surprise with some of those pictures....and I'm sure the eagle eyed forum members will catch it. But I'll do a full post on it tomorrow anyway so it's not like I would have kept it a surprise forever!

Now....to test and see if I got everything wired up correctly, the first thing I did was plug it in and see if the computer would boot. Check.





All voltage readings read normal in my Aida64 screens. But....I decided to test out one of my new toys anyway. I got this little multi-meter from Lutro0, and I hadn't used it yet.





One of the very cool features of the ASUS RIVE BE are the places on the board where you can place probes and test the different voltages on the board. VCore, VTT, DRAM, etc. All of mine tested perfectly. I even tested the memory at 1.5v and at the XMP settings of 1.65 volts. The measurements I got from the motherboard were exactly what they should be under each scenario. Very handy tool and I love having that feature on the motherboard. Nice touch ASUS.





I initially tried some of the stealth cable combs from Lutro0, and decided that I liked the look of cable sewing better. So....next up on my project list is to do some sewing on the 24 pin. I'll also start in on the other motherboard power connectors. There are lots of ways to pimp your ride when doing a computer build. But custom sized cables is one of those things where you get a lot of bang for the buck. In my mind, nothing makes a build sharper than custom sized and sleeved cables for every connector.

 

Well mate you did a really nice crimping and sleeving job and it is really good to know how to make a flawless bend in a wire.

Great Job
I really likes those lutros cramp but sewing is awesome and takes alot of time and work

 

Much Pink!


On a side note,when I make a new loom,I just use the continuity tester on my meter on the original loom when assembling....I never trust my own ability to write things down correctly....

 

Thanks! The 24 pin is so short in this build that I'm hoping sewing doesn't take all that long. I haven't done any since I finished up the BBBB....so I'll have to kind of re-learn it. But it shouldn't take more than 3 or 4 rows on this one to finish. Probably only an hour or so of actual work once I refresh myself on the stitch.....

Yep. That would work nicely as well. Thanks!

 

ASUS North America posted a teaser on their Facebook page yesterday! Thanks ASUS!

https://www.facebook.com/asus.n.america

 

All right. I mentioned that my previous pictures gave away a surprise, and I think most people probably spotted it already. But in case you didn't, .....here are the pictures....

The Corsair Dominator Platinums have a removable bridge that goes over the heat sink fin, and serves to cast the light from the light bars downward on the ram. Take out the four small screws, and it comes right off. See the translucent light bar sitting on top of the heatsink fins?





The actual light bar is not attached at all. It was merely held in place by the bridge. The two ends of the light bar sit on top of tiny LED's inside the memory sticks, which light up the entire bar.





Well....you remember that big pot of dye that I used for to create my pink Telios? You can see where this is going, right?





I threw the lightbars into the dye bath and cooked them for about 20 minutes. They took the dye real quick, and came out a gorgeous shade of pink!







I reinstalled the light bars in the memory sticks, and put them back in the build. I turned the lights off and took some flash pictures....but then turned the exposure down far enough so that you can kind of see the neat lil' pink glow that is created.





I have the light bar upgrade kit installed in just one of the memory sticks right now. You can see the pink lights on top of that one stick. The top inserts are actually still clear....but the pink light bar from underneath makes everything appear pink on top also.





In addition to the one stick that has the topside cutouts....you can see on all the sticks the pink glow created at the edge of the memory sticks. In person, it creates more of a glow than I can pick up in the pictures, ....but you get the idea.





I think the pink glow looks amazing, but I'm going to try something else with these sticks also. You know the silver covered bridge that runs across the top of the sticks? I'm going to have that powder coated black to match the inside of the case. So the top of the sticks are going to be black....with those pink lightbar cutouts showing through. Can't wait to see how it looks that way! Will take 2 or 3 weeks to get to that step though. I'm accumulating all the stuff for my second powder coating batch right now, and then I'll ship off the pieces to CaseLabs. I'll have some other pieces also. Faceplates, mounting brackets, etc.

I'm still working on stitching for the 24 pin. Got one more row done tonight. Need 2 or 3 more....and it will be done.

More soon!

 

Everything seems to be coming along quite nicely..

 

great ideao with colouring the light bars

Just can"t wait to see your stitching

 

Yep, not a regular there but followed the link on page 1 of this thread and got absorbed over several weeks of coffee breaks / lunchtimes.

 

thanks Hanoverfist!

I'm pretty pumped about the light bars. Once I get the tops powder coated black....with the pink glow light.....these will be quite unique.

That log is what helped me land such awesome sponsors for this build! It became the most viewed build log in OCN history, which is something that plays well with potential sponsors.

 

I finished the stitching on the 24 pin last night. I find it pretty easy to watch TV while I do this. On the BBBB, I watched most of the Breaking Bad seasons while I stitched that bad boy up. Last night, I started watching Game of Thrones with Jennifer (future owner of the PPPP) while I stitched. Good show. Watched two episodes and finished up the 24 pin......







I started doing the cables for the other motherboard power connectors today. There is an 8 pin and a 4 pin at the top of the board. That puts 6 wires in a row across one side if I bring the two connectors together. Can't really duplicate the pattern used for the 24 pin....but I think I'm going to do a BBPGBB theme, which would be similar. At least that's what I'll start with and I'll let Jenn steer me differently is she chooses....









For the routing, I'm going to stitch both cables together on top of the motherboard side, so that they turn into one seamless cable. After feeding it down through the cable management cutout and below the motherboard, then I think I'll secure it to the underside of the motherboard tray so that you can't see it (above the PSU), and then do a loop down around in front of the PSU to plug it in.





It's a shame, because it will barely show this way.....and the cable itself is gonna be pretty. But cleanly done power cables that barely show and are just the right length....are the look I'm going for here.

This power cable won't take too long, so I may finish it up tonight......

 

Finished up the motherboard power cables....and 2 more episodes of Game of Thrones.

Here she is.....





The ASUS board has a 8 pin and a 4 pin connector, so what I've done is joined the cables together going across....so I can use a similar pattern to what we did for the 24 pin. I left off the connector on one end, because the cable management cut-out is small enough where I couldn't fit the connector through without scarring it up....





Here she is inside the build.....





I'm using the cable combs on a temporary basis to help train the cables, but I'll eventually do some stitching to keep it nice and tidy.....







It's amazing to me how much custom length cables can clean-up the look of a build.....





Notice how the 8 pin cable starts out separate from the 4 pin cable (they have some space between them on the board), but come together as one cable before disappearing underneath the motherboard....





Need to figure out my GPU power cable path now, and get started on those. May take a break and work on some fan wiring just for a change....

 

Nice work

Neat and tidy and pink!

 

The level of detail in these builds always amazes me, nice work!

 

Thanks guys! Getting closer and closer to loop time!

 

I'm back on the 3d printing design of the pump stand. For the next version that I actually send to be printed, I needed to add a mounting spot for the reservoir. I also wanted to make it a tad bit sturdier than the last version, so I'm going thicker, and I'll probably print it at 75% fill instead of 50% fill. See what you think of this design (views from all 4 sides below)....and offer me some ideas or suggestions that I could stick in before I send it to the printer......

You'll easily notice the extension over on the right of this picture. This is where I'll hang the reservoir. I don't have the holes in the design yet, but there will be holes in both of the horizontal bars, and the bars are positioned right where the brackets for the EK reservoir will be...





The reservoir will be positioned right in the middle of the front window of the case. The two legs that extend out from the pump stand are for more stability, but I've also designed the space in between the legs to be the exact width of 2x inverter boxes for the cold cathode lights I'm planning on using. I'm needed to utilize this space on the floor, because there is not a lot of extra space with all the windows my case has....





From this view (the back), you can see how I've built up a little more support at the base. It comes higher up the vertical plate, without interfering with the pump vibration dampners....





On this side, you'll see two legs that are extended much shorter than the ones on the other side. These will wrap around the cable management cutout that is right by the SATA connectors on the motherboard.





I'm finding it pretty easy to add/change/delete in Google Sketchup. Send me some cool ideas that I can incorporate before I print the next (and hopefully final) version of my pump bracket on the 3d printer!

 

Fantastic.. Looks good from where I'm sitting.

 

Then don't get up! Lol....

Thanks!

 

Here's the stuff I'm planning on putting in my Flex Bays. If I rotate the front 240 rad so that the ports are on the bottom, I'll have 3 flex bays to play with....

I've got an Aquaero 6 XT, Aquaero 5 LT and a Lamptron FC8 controller.....





I used an FC8 in the BBBB, and although I don't think anyone would ever accuse Lamptron of top-notch quality, ....there are some features that I really like about the FC8. There is an LED indicator light above each channel to indicate whether it is on or not. The color of the LED light is customizable with just a few clicks of the buttons. And the "purple" LED light option looks pretty darn pink when next to this case. So it's like I have pink LED power indicators for the channels in this FC8. I think my baby will like that....





Here is the back....

It's been about 2 years since I purchased my last FC8....but when I did, none of the extensions were sleeved. This time around, Lamptron made a little effort and put some black sleeve on the extensions. Much nicer. I wouldn't call it great sleeve....and I don't like how long the heatshrink is close to the connector....but if someone wasn't going to take the time to sleeve these on their own...these look much nicer than the black, yellow and red wires that were showing on my last set of these. Now Lamptron....sleeve the power connectors and you'll have a nice looking product!






I'll still re-sleeve all of these in my black Telios sleeving. Plus, I'll get rid of the 3 molex power connectors and make something cleaner. I guess I can understand the need for 3 molex connectors if someone was going to run all 8 channels at 30 watts. That might be too much current for a single molex connection with small gauge wires. Maybe. But the Lamptron FC8 is going to be for controlling/dimming lighting. That's all. It won't ever handle too much wattage, so I should be fine with a sleeker power delivery system than this horrid 3 molex cable it comes with....





On the left is the Aquaero 6 XT and on the right is the Aquaero 5 LT. Plenty of pictures of these out there already....so I won't bore you with too many here. I'll probably treat each set of rad fans as a separate fan channel, so there are 3 channels there. Both pumps are voltage controlled, so there are 2 more channels there. Plus, there are a couple of exhaust fans on the back of the build. So it would have been almost impossible to get away with only the 4 channels available on the XT. I toyed with the idea of some PowerAdjust2's....but since I hadn't ever used an LT in slave mode before....I opted to go that route.






I did get a few accessories for them. The black passive heatsink is a naturally addition for this build. That bright red heatsink would have looked hideous in here, so I'm glad they came out with a black version. I also have waterblocks for both. May need to paint the outside of these black to keep with the theme. A hunk of copper in the middle of this build would ruin my mojo.





I also got an extra faceplate in black. I'll have to decide if a black or pink faceplate would look better. For the BBBB I had the faceplate powerdercoated crimson....and it looks awesome. May have to try an extra one in pink and see what that looks like.

I have high hopes for the new EK Ascendacy that I showed earlier in the thread. Beta testing is ongoing, and EK has knocked out a few software bugs already that were stopping many in our test group from being able to open the software application that goes with it. But I don't know if they will be ready with a retail version of the product in time for this build. I'll still have some screenshots and shots of the software later so you can get a better feel for how it compares with Aquasuite.

More soon!

 

Nice goodies

Lamptron fc9 has the same ugly 3 molex

Good call on painting the aqua blocks