Thermaltake Exsectus - Thermaltake UK Modding Trophy Powered by Scan- Back from Computex 04/07/16

Hellooooo once again, been a bit of a while actually, in particular I've not done a case mod as such since about this time 2013.

So a big thanks to Thermaltake (and all their respective helpers) and Bit-Tech for making this happen. The competitions here are always good fun so I'm very much looking forward to getting started with this one.

Unfortunately I'm sick as a dog right now, so things may be a little slow to begin with, starting with how this first post, well, doesn't have anything in it. I assure you that will change as soon as I can get into the workshop, but the thread needed to be up for today so no real choice about that.

So what's in the pipeline?

Well, to be frank, lots of stuff. The design is still very much floating around in my head right now, but I know exactly what I want to do with certain parts. By the end I want this Core X31 to be pretty much unrecognisable, inside and out. I'm planning on trying to incorporate much of the interior into a single structure that encompasses the cooling too. Outside, I'd like to try and make things sleek and smooth when possible, lots of hand work this time (can't let the machines have all the fun eh).

Not doing fancy starting renders this time either, this is slightly more old school where we've got a bit of mystery.

Hope everybody enjoys the ride!

 

So let's get this show on the road shall we?

I've just recovered from whatever I had over the last week, so into the workshop to take some pics of the first bunch of hardware. I'm still waiting on the motherboard, GPU, CPU and some of the fittings, but a good chunk of the stuff has arrived.

Starting with the case:

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There are certainly a lot of options for the interior here, although mostly if you're a bit boring I'm going to be stripping most of this and turning the insides into something quite unique. Construction of the case itself feels pretty standard for one of this type, lots of rivets and steel as expected.

First of the hardware:

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Here we have the PSU, RAM and SSD. Solid kit, although I'd have preferred the PSU be 100% modular for the sake of cabling. That said, it's only the 24 pin and the 8 pin, so I really can't complain much at all. One stick of RAM is a little odd from an aesthetics point (along with missing out on dual channel) but again really isn't a big deal. The most important bit IMO is that the stuff all looks pretty good, which is a great starting point.


WC Gear:

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Holy moly that's a lot of stuff! I opted for 2x of the 140mm rad kits rather than 240mm, the two rads should hopefully fit nicely where I'm planning.

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Going to be using the 140mm RGB Riing fans on this one, given the motherboard and lighting strips are RGB I figured it would be more sensible to stick with that theme.

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The two rads. They're certainly very solid, the paint finish is excellent too. Not so keen on how they're aluminium when the other blocks are nickel plated copper, but apparently the coolant should prevent issues.

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These pump/res kits certainly feel the part, can't really go wrong with a solid D5.

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The waterblocks themselves really have a good weight to them, you can tell how much material went into their construction. Very solid and reassuring.

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Lots of coolant, went with pastel white as I can then experiment more.

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Got to have plenty of fittings eh?

 

Grabs pop corn to watch, I'm a big fan of your project builds

 

Cheers Bill! I'm really excited to see what directions people decide to go with this one. We've got a load of very different and distinct styles at play with each modder, should make for some proper variety.

 

This contest has some amazing modders, OP included! Sub a dub dub!

 

Have fun, i am following this
Can´t wait to see the outcome!!

 

Welcome aboard the mod train! Food and beverages are towards the rear, the next stop will be Disassembly. This is a Bit-Tech service calling at Awesome.

 

I do like your builds Maki role. Will be following this one as well

-Jeffinslaw

 

Subber dubber dub sub
This is going to be interesting and I know you will knock it out of the park.

 

Good luck Maki!

 

Thanks man, hope this one lives up to the hype

Haha we'll have to see on that one, still trying to figure out what I'm going to do with many bits.

Cheers Tim!

Update

The second batch of hardware arrived yesterday, which included the mobo, GPU, CPU, fan controller and LED strips. Thought I'd take some snaps of the new stuff, plus show you a little teaser of what I've got planned.

I wasn't prepared for just how large the Strix 970 was, it's colossal considering the power of the card. That said, it's very quiet thanks to the shear size of the thing. Almost seems a shame to watercool it... almost.







The Maximus VIII Hero Alpha is a very pretty board indeed. I was never a fan of the RoG red/black styling, this gunmetal/red is much more appealing to me.



I didn't have any working coolers to hand, so I decided to ghetto rig up one of the cooling kits. Works surprisingly well actually, everything is extremely quiet even when just plonked on a desk. Always a good idea to check your hardware before modding it.



And the teaser for what I'm planning. I'll leave you to figure out what I intend to do...
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That Maximus Hero Alpha is a sweet looking board. I like the dual U.2 connectors.

It looks like you are going to have the reservoir and the pump in that block. That's insane and hence my statement that you are going to knock it out of the park.

 

Whats the quality of Thermaltake parts like thesedays? I've never touched them ever since the nightmare stories of ~2005, when they were a by-word for cheap tat.

Looks like they've stepped it up quite a bit.

 

Very nice design!
I take it it stands upright?

 

Indeed that's my current plan, although that will depend on whether this test block works.

I was really taken aback by how solid the parts are actually. The blocks themselves have a good weight to them and are clearly solid copper, likewise the machining on the acetal parts like the reservoir is top notch. The fittings feel good too, nice beefy o-rings that should easily prevent leaks, but then how many times does that happen anyway? My one reservation is with the radiators as they're aluminium. Again they're well made, solid with a quality paint finish, but it does mean you can only use Thermaltake coolant out of fear of corroding your loop thanks to mixed metals. Tbh, given the rest of the parts, I'm surprised they didn't go with copper.

It will indeed, although as I mention above this is just a test block for proof of concept.

 

Nice photos! That lensflare

 

agreed, love the photos. Great choice of video card, too

 

Thanks! Yeah the Strix 970 is quite the beast, I'm curious how it will fair under water.

Mini-Update

So the update I had pencilled in for this week is going to be postponed until next, some materials arrived a few days late which threw my schedule a bit.

So instead I got to work beginning the dismantling of the case. This is only the beginning btw, much of the case is going to be replaced, I'm just doing it bit by bit so that I don't warp things by accident.

Naturally we're talking lots of rivets, although I was pleased to find that most of the interior pieces are held in with screws. Given most people won't be doing this sort of work, I don't mind (although screws are always preferable).

Yeah, lots of this.


In an effort to make the rivets more... riveting I tried taking some sort of 'artsy' shot of the process. Yup there really is a lot to it, rivets.


Crikey put some clothes on!
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And now for the update I had intended for last week!

UPDATE

I'm still waiting on my aluminium to arrive, so I can't get quite stuck in like the others right now, but I do have some cool progress at least.

Earlier I teased a render of a proposed part. Yesterday I was able to head over to Parvum HQ so we could get it machined. As usual they did a fantastic job, the accuracy was just perfect and all the bits just slid right in. But what is it? This particular piece is a proof of concept, I didn't want to jump in full scale without some level of assurance that it would work.

It works!



This should help reveal a little more about the proposed theme.
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Nice pump block! I like the sleeving colors too.

-Jeffinslaw