Hi all, back again with a followup build to me last one http://www.geforce.com/whats-new/articles/yidiy-travis-simpson-white-metropolis. Follow along for the fun. Theme: I went through many ideas of what type of theme to have and I decided I wanted to go with something will a Blue/Black/White/Grey theme because I found THIS picture and liked how the colors worked together and came up with some sleek design elements to go along with it. Then I saw that Bitspower has some blue fittings and figured....Well I could make this a nice dual loop where one loop is ALL BLUE (fluid, pump mod kit, and fittings) and the other is ALL WHITE (fluid, pump mod kit, fittings) and the case is black, of which I will add some grey elements which hopefully will give an overall variety yet be cohesive at the same time. This is certainly going to be an interesting case to work in.... The dual loop concept will kind of depend on how quickly EK releases 3rd party blocks for the 1070 line of cards. If they don't right after release I will likely fully build the one loop while saving room for the other and leave the GPU air cooled until they do. Expect quality pictures and videos along the way. The build will be finished by early July. Parts List: CPU: Intel i5-6600k GPU: GTX 1070 RAM: 16GB DDR4 Avexir CORE MOBO: MSI H110I Pro Mini ITX CASE: Deepcool TriStellar (Side Windows) Mini ITX Desktop Case SSD: 3x 240GB Kingston V300 PSU: DEEPCOOL DQ650ST FANS: 5x Deepcool GS 120 61.9 CFM 120mm Fan Watercooling List: CPU Block: EK Supremacy EVO GPU Block: TBD Reservoirs: 2x Bitspower Tank-Z 250mm Radiators: 2-3x EK Coolstream SE or Black Ice Nemesis 120GTS Pumps: 2xEK-D5 Vario Motor Fittings: Bitspower Royal Blue and Deluxe White Tube: e22 12mm acrylic Dye: Mayhems pastel White, Mayhems Blue Misc Items: Lights: Darkside LED Cables/Connectors: Custom Items: GPU Backplate: 3 layer lasercut acrylic SSD Design: Picture design that spans all 3 SSD's Paint: Case elements, PSU, etc Case modifications Progress: COMPLETE Build Log Created 5/25/16 GPU Backplate Design 6/1/16 SSD Design 6/2/16 Watercooling parts arrive + res/pump/mod kit put together 6/10/16 Video progress + Some Drilling 6/22/16 Video update #2. Cutting, Drilling, Pass thru fittings, reservoir mounts 7/5/16 Update+Video update #3. Tube Runs, Tube Bending, Leak Test Loop #1, more 7/9/16 BUILD COMPLETE. FINAL PHOTOS
GPU designing: going to be 3 layers of acrylic stacked on top of eachother with the design cutout slightly shifted, which will allow it to be a 3D multi color backplate. Layer 1 (White): Layer 2 (Blue): Layer 3 (Black): Stacked preview: Stacked Render:
It will be a tube routing challenge that I'm willing to accept. First up, some pics: The Case: The cat got curious because the case matches her color. These are actual glass pieces. Very respectable quality on these and the case itself, it's beefy. SSD's Slide in and connect here, nice and easy and easy to swap. Some parts: These fans have individual cables with their own "cable comb" type of cable management, made out of some type of soft rubber.. First up was some painting while I wait on the watercooling supplies, also installed the OS onto the SSD that I will be using as a boot drive by plugging it into my HTPC build.
SSD Design options: If you see in the below picture, the Tristellar case holds up to 3 SSD's in the top section where I have a window so I have 3 SSD's and I plan to span one complete image across the 3 SSD's so it combines into one "mural". Which option do you guys like the best? Right now I'm leaning towards the first one. You can see where the image will end and start on the next SSD from the lines. Option1: Option 2: Option 3:
PICTURE DUMP TIME. Watercooling parts are in!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Taking the case apart more to figure out my tubing runs. This case makes it interesting, but I'm up for the task. Too sexy
Still debating this actually, well, which way to put the black bitspower mount, but I'll be drilling holes in the removable panels seen below and mounting them on opposite sides in the same spot. It works out greate because the pump+modkit+upgrade top is about the same weight as the whole 250mm tube so the weight is even on either side so it just balances with no issues so it'll be able to hold it there with no other pieces securing it.
Oh right I think it have actually, I mean not too many places to mount normal reservoirs in this case so gotta do what I gotta do! I've seen a couple with similar mounting to yours and what I plan.
Some test fitting Deciding on a clean and attractive tube run is proving to really test my brain. I'm trying to keep a symmetrical outside of the case even though each side houses different things (MOBO vs PSU) and each loop is separate (CPU, GPU) so each side doesn't match. Unsure of which way I will put the radiator but seems to fit alright no matter which way I turn it. The PSU side doesn't have any mounting for a fan after I took the HDD cage out of it. I'll likely stop by the store and grab some thing sheet metal to form a mount. Depending on which way I mount the radiator will determine how far forward or back the reservoir goes but this was just for my own perspective to think and plan from.
I like the direction you're taking the Tristeller ... fun case to mod, only nag was small hole in the core for all of the cables, but I have big hands, My Deepcool Tristellar PC
That core is VERY tiny when you're trying to fit things. I was originally going to put 2 hardline tubes down the hole...once I put the PSU cables through where they needed to be my plan quickly changed. Video of some progress + some more planning and drilling Holes for reservoir mounts
I've gone through changing how I'm going to do my tube runs at minimum 20 times. It's been a challenge because I want it to look nice and also I want it to be as symmetrical on both sides as possible even though because of the sections of the case each loop is cooling something in a completely different area of the case. So with the loops needing to go to completely different sections I believe this is how I'll keep it the returns to reservoir. Debating keeping/not keeping drains from being in the front of the case like that but having it there is just very functional and I don't think looks bad.
Video Update 2: Cutting and drilling the case. This is the part you absolutely DON'T want to screw up....Make the wrong cut and need a new case. https://youtu.be/gXzoWF3vnWQ
Update + Video Update #3. Almost done everyone. Fans+LED's hooked up to distribution board. Leak Test Mode Tube runs+Tube Bending+Leak Testing+more https://youtu.be/1YmU3P4sic4
BUILD COMPLETE It took a lot of brain power to turn this case which isn't normally for water cooling into something magnificent but the build quality of it is very good so I was able to do a lot of customization of it (much of which was inside to leave the outside looking clean). I thoroughly enjoyed building this computer for the previous reasons and because....overkill dual loops is clearly a fun way to go. Below are the pictures. A video will shortly follow. Picture Dump
Just a question. You can not get into the case right now since the reservoirs are mounted directly on the shell covers? How about the top, it seems like you have cut holes in the shell cover to get the tubing and fitting in from the side, is it possible to slide the cover over that? Looking good, just curious how you did what if you need to get into the computer and do something, then you have to disassemble the whole water cooling?? Edit* Btw, really nice solution with the front tubing! Looks much better than your first idea!
Top can come off at any time without much issue. And yes, if you must go inside you have to drain it all. Good thing I tidyed up all the cables inside so I don't have to open it up again until I upgrade anything
