pc1x1

History:
Computing in general has been a hobby ever since I was young. I started back in Dos/Windows95 era at the tender age of 8 years old. Since then I have always been trying to evolve and exceed my previous work. Computing to me is a journey, so I am not worried about the end result. This build has been in the making for a little while now. I figured it was about time to see how far I can currently go. The computer is named after Sestren, the main computer/entity in the Panzer Dragoon Universe.

Theme:
Performance and Elegance, and Pioneering the World's First Outside Mounted Triple Radiator Cube!

Phases:
Phase 1: Computer Case Modifications, pre-planning, and 70% parts acquisition. [Complete]
Phase 2: Computer Case painting and assembly, test run on previous hardware [In Progress]
Phase 3: Rebuild with next generation hardware, ala i7 etc.
Phase 4: Multi-monitor Display Expansion to Hex Monitors

Parts List:

-Sestren’s Core-

• Optical Removable Media:

[1] Pioneer DVD-RW

• Solid State Removable Media:

[1] Koutech Floppy/Media Reader

• Processor:

[1] TBA

• Motherboard:

[1] TBA

• Solid State Drives:

[4] TBA Raid 0

[4] Icy Dock 2.5 to 3.5

• Hardrives:

[1] 1 TB External Hardrive

[1] 250 GB External Hardrive

[2] 300 GB Velociraptor Hardrives Raid 0

[2] 640 GB Internal Hardrives Raid 0

[1] 1 TB Internal Hardrive

[1] 500 GB Internal Hardrive

• Raid Controller:

[1] Areca 1680IX Raid Controller

• Hot Swappable 3.5 Drive Bays:

[2] Athena Power Backplane

• Memory:

[2] TBA 12 gigs of DDR3 Ram

• Monitors:

[1] Dell 3007WFP-HC 30in Monitor

[2] Sceptre X9W 19 inch Monitors

• Video Cards:

[2] Multi Card GPU X2 Series

[1] Single Slot GPU

• Power Supply:

[1] Enermax Revolution85+ 1050w

[1] TBA PSU

• Computer Case:

[1] Lian Li PC-343B

.......Removable Motherboard Tray

.......Window

.......Side Panel

.......Top Panel

.......Top Radiator Mounting

.......Front Panel

.......Lian Li Black Universal Bezel

• Cooling:

[3] Swiftech Pumps with Reservoir Tops

[1] Hardware Labs 360 GTX Radiator

[1] Swiftech 360 Radiator

[1] Swiftech 240 Radiator

[2] Swiftech Rad Boxes

[1] GTZ CPU Waterblock

[2] TBA GPU Waterblocks

[1] TBA Single Slot GPU Waterblock

[60 Ft] Clear 7/16” ID (5/8” OD) Tubing

[3] Petra's Gel Stuff

[4] Smart Coils

[1] Kama Bay

[X] Various Fittings, Rotaries, Clamps, Multi Card Water Links

[X] Heatsinks

-Accessories-

• Fan Controllers:

[4] Zalman Black Fan Controllers

[1] Lian Li Black Fan Controller

• Fans:

[12] 120mm Yate-Loons Fans

[6] 120mm Scythe Ultra-Kazes

[2] 120mm Enermax Magma Fans

[3] 80mm Coolermaster Riffle Fans

[2] 80mm Silverstone Fans

• Fan Grills:

[2] 360mm Black Steampunk Fan Grills

[2] TBA 360mm Aluminum Grills

[2] TBA 240mm Aluminum Grill

[7] 80mm Black Gears Grill

[4] TBA 120mm Billet Grills

• HTPC/Visual Display Units:

[1] Antec Multi Station Premier Pro

• Cables:

[1] Rounded Red Floppy Cable

[1] Sata Cable

[3] 4x Sata Octopus Cables

[X] 4 Pin Molex Extensions

[X] 3 Pin Fan Extensions

• Cable Organizers and Accessories:

[X] Small Wire Management Clips

[X] Red/Black Male-Female Connectors

[X] Red/Black 3 Pin Fan Connectors

[X] Red/Black Various Wire Loops

[X] Blue/Black Velcro Ties

[X] Zip Ties

[X] Zip Ties with Adhesive Base

• Lighting and Misc:

[500 Ft] Sleeving/Heatshrink

[1] MNPCTech T-shirt

[1] 360mm Radiator Cut Out

[1] 240mm Radiator Cut Out

[1] Roll of Pseudo Carbon Fiber

[1] Scotch Clear Mounting Tape

[X] Dremel Discs

[X] C-Molding Black

[1] Logisys 12v Relay

[2] 15in White CCFL

[1] Bubble Blue CCFL

[X] Velcro Strips

[2] 7-Port Hubs

[2] UPS 850 Watts

• Operating System:

[1] Windows 7 Ultimate x64

Notes:
* Must keep HT
* Target 4.0 ghz on all 4 cores
* Temperatures under 50'C Idle
* Ram @ 1600 mhz

Front Bay Configuration:



1. Pioneer DVD-RW.................... 10. Koutech Floppy/Media Reader
2. Zalman Fan Controller.............. 11. Zalman Fan Controller
3. Athena Bay............................. 12. Athena Bay
4. "" .......................................... 13. ""
5. "" .......................................... 14. ""
6. Kama Bay ............................. 15. Antec Premier
7. "" .......................................... 16. ""
8. "" .......................................... 17. Lian Li TR-5B
9. Zalman Fan Controller ............. 18. Zalman Fan Controller


Slot Array: (Subject to change, due to motherboard availability)
[1. PCIE 1x
[2. PCIE 16x - Graphics Card
[3. Blank
[4. PCIE 16x Graphics Card
[5. PCI
[6. PCIE 16x Graphics Card
[7. PCIE Areca Raid

Sponsors:
My Nuclear Family, Mom and Dad


Petra's Tech Shop - www.petrastechshop.com Thanks to: Alex Venz, Quoc


Enermax USA - www.enermaxusa.com Thanks to: Wei Yang, Tom


MNPCTECH - www.mnpctech.com Thanks to: Bill Owen


Thanks!
Danny Bui [H]
silent-circuit [H]
enginurd [H]
Zero82z [H]
PradaG [H][XS]

Special Thanks to!
My Parents, for believing in me and helping fund this wonderful project.

My Aunt Marly for driving me around to get the Cube painted.

Built in the USA

Copyright Information:
I am not affiliated nor work with neither this forum, nor any on the sponsors directly in any way. I am an Enthusiast, and thus want to share my passion through this build log. Sponsored, and donated items are courtesy on the sponsors. Logo's and other copyrighted information belongs to each respective owners! My opinion and build is my own. Thanks!

Please feel free to suggest changes, ideas, etc! Criticism welcomed, also feel free to help shape/change the layout etc.

Sincerely,
PC1X1

pc1x1

As per sponsor request, I am expanding my build logs to various forums.
And this is my expansion greeting

Greetings, My name is Phillip aka. PC1X1, and for the past few months I been working on my build log. While I originally planned to expand my build log to various forums across the net, I first thought on focusing my attention to a single forum to simply get the hang of this. This is my first build log, and hence its been a learning experience. I am now confident and per request am now amping up to spread the cube across the intertubes. Anyhow the build log is still ongoing, and is being rebuilt, so expect alot of new posts. I will be posting in several forums, so feel free to pick and choose your favorite. I will be checking each one, and will reply to any questions on that forum. If your nice enough to help, or provide insight or criticism, I will add you to the Thanks List. Anyhow right now I am working on *Improving the build any way possible, and also will be working harder to get the pictures to be better. I have a new camera, and am now practicing the angles, lighting etc, to provide the best clarity possible. I been a member of a few forums, and lurked in many in the past as well. I apologize for the genericness of this message, as its part of the standardizing of the build log, but rest assured, each forum, I will research, and look for information on making my cube better. Overall I hope you guys welcome Sestren into your community, and I will do my best to make it as good as possible. Thank you very much, and I hope to be a productive member of your community. Thanks!!

*keep in mind, these posts are retroactive, and image quality and build quality are improving . Its a learning experience! Thanks again.

Also I have read the rules and terms of each forum, however since I am posting in multiple places, I may make a mistake, as each forum has its own individual set of rules, ie picture size, etc. Please let me know kindly and I will fix it, though odds are everything is fine, I hope hehe .

This build log as been optimized for a 1024x768 resolution and is Netbook and Phone friendly.

- PC1X1

Update 1:

This is the first part, basic building conceptualization and mods.

Shout out to Petra's Water Tech Shop, for great customer service.

This is a work in progress, and I am on a strict deadline, and thus this is a temporary build. Also due to cost of this build, it will take a while. This is merely phase one. I presume it will be worked on / finished within 3 months. So far theres only one radiator mounted, but more are coming. Work will resume in early May. Please keep in mind theres finger prints, reflections, case wasn't cleaned etc, etc, since I know this is temporary, so it will look much better in the end, I promise .

Current Temperatures are great, OC'ed CPU at 39'C idle, and mid 40's on Load. Radiator with 5x 120 H CFM Fans.

Many more parts, including i7 920, 12 gigs of ram, Geforce 280 GTX's, etc coming at a later date.

















































Please Feel free to criticize, just keep in mind its a work in progress. I can always use new ideas. Thanks again! This is my first build log, so pardon my newbness at this, Ill work on making it better as I go along.

Computer powers several monitors including my main 30'. More Monitors one day , but thats for another build log

pc1x1

Continued from 1st post:






Anyhow please let me know suggestions, nothing is set in stone, I have no deadline for this build, so feel free to suggest anything . I also made two more holes for all the wires to come through they are on the right of each radiator mount (aka the back 120mm fans), Came out pretty cool. Minor scratches on the back when the drill came off my hand, the damn thing is a pain to drill through, but overall I think its pretty cool.

I am short on time, and Ill format this thread much better later .

Thanks for checking out Phase 1. There will be around 5 phases total.

My only current problems is that its to loud, and I am not sure which fan is causing it, I will look when I have time.

Also this is super strange, but my Smart Coils, just broke off by themselves. I am not sure if they were stored for to long prior to coming to me, but they cracked in lots of pieces simply by touch. Very strange. Heres a pic of whats left XD.

pc1x1

So what does 290 ft of sleeving look like ?

See below .

Had a bit of a hard time making sure it was all correct though as the pictures on MurderMods do not match the description, theres more sleeving in the photos than actually comes with it, or at least looks that way. However it came in as described in text and thanks to Kirk for great customer service for checking with me. Had the poor guy on the phone with me for a while, last time I had him for 37 minutes, this time he ran away at 16 .

Poor Alex from Petra's is also a victim, I had him for 40 minutes before as well, heh!



I am working on getting the parts for the other 2 loops, will keep ya posted!

pc1x1

Thanks! A major update is coming in a few days, right now I am working on the logistics for migrating to Windows , so around the 16ish or possibly sooner, I should start working on the cube again.

Meanwhile more parts came in

pc1x1

Here's a small teaser update:





















And that's it for now, more stuff coming soon!

pc1x1

Here's a quick update on the sleeving.

The computer parts for now is actually done. Instead of the Areca 1222, I opted higher and went with the 1680ix + battery back up. So I can hook up to 128 hardrives, which isn't happening, but at least I can plug in all my 10 . And I should have good performance whenever I run 4x SSD's in Raid 0. Plus I can run Raid 6, 5, combos, etc,etc.

Also my original motherboard the Asus P5WD2-E Premium, unfortunately decided to die, when I sent it in for Asus for RMA, they couldn't fix it, and instead sent me a P5WDH Deluxe, theres some trade offs, and I miss my old board, but this board opened up a cheaper upgrade path for me. So instead of getting an I7 for now, I am going to wait a little longer. I spent a bit to much on this upgrade as it is, and it will be cost beneficial to wait on the following, until prices drop.

This is what's left to get, which I'll get at a later date.

CPU: i7 or better, whatever is available.

Motherboard: EVGA X58 Classified or whatever is best OC'er period at the time.

Ram: 12 gigs of Corsair Dominator GT or better.

Graphics Card:
GeForce 295 GTX x2 Quad SLI or Whatever Quad Fire, or Quad SLI gives the best performance.
GeForce 260 216 PhysX If I go Nvidia, I'd like to add Physics support.

Power Supply #2:
Enermax Rev 85+ *This I want to buy ASAP, whenever I can afford to.

Water Blocks
295 GTX x2 or whatever GPU's I end up with.
260 GTX

Basically I need CPU, GPU, Motherboard, Waterblocks, and PSU #2

For now, I'll be running a Q9550, clocked at whatever I can get it to clock, most likely around 2.66-3.0 ghz overclocked (i975x Limitations) and my 3870X2, and 4 gigs of ram, and one 1050w PSU, which honestly for work, runs great, so I am set for now , and if I happen to be lucky and run into disposable income, then Upgrades happen .

Everything else is A-OK, guess I can't complain, Ill be with a pretty decent system noneless, not top of the line, but should run mainstream (I hope)

Heres the quick update.

















And thats it for now!

pc1x1

Update: Sleeving!

pc1x1

Update:










And that's it for today.

pc1x1

Update: Basically now finishing the extensions, ie Fan, PSU, the actual PSU + cables, then the Sata Cables, the build it, and they will come.



























And working on that tomorrow, Take Care!