[Build Log] - The Big Budget Boomer Box (aka, the "BBBB")

Project Name: Big Budget Boomer Box

Project Name Reasoning:
Because I’m a touch lazy, I absolutely refuse to type out “Big Budget Boomer Box” very often. So, henceforth, whenever you see “BBBB”, you’ll smile and remember how many keystrokes I saved. How about I explain the name first. “Big Budget”....is self explanatory, ...but here’s how I ended up there. Contractual issue with my previous employer left me with enough funds to take some time off work and still have some fun money. I’m not working at all this summer, so I’ve got plenty of time. I’m at the perfect point in my life right now to put together my dream build. So...I’m going to throw some money at it and not waste this opportunity. This will be fun. “Boomer”...is a reference to my alma mater, the University of Oklahoma. I’m Sooner born and Sooner bred, and when I die I’m Sooner dead! Rah Oklahoma! The OU color is crimson, and you’ll see that color theme throughout the build.


Goals for Build:
This machine will be used primarily for surfing OCN. Er....ah....maybe some photo/video editing also, as well as storage of all my photo/video footage. Gaming? Yeah, maybe a little...but that’s not my primary thing. Quiet. It needs to be quiet, because it's a 24/7 computer. But...I do plan on a fairly heavy overclock, so the cooling has to be first rate. I don’t like fan noise, so all fans will be on a controller and spinning at very low RPM for everyday use. Since this negatively impacts radiator performance, my initial plan is to offset this by adding more radiators! The CaseLabs TH10 case I’ve selected will definitely hold plenty, so I’m planning on between 4 and 6 large radiators, with about 40 fans spinning at very low RPM. Initial plans also include large raid array with SSD’s, which will be the priciest part of the build. I’m also going to try some interesting things with this build (acrylic, copper accents, custom dyeing, LED lighting, etc.), so my hope is you will be entertained.


Updates:
There is nothing worse than a dead and unfinished build thread. We’ve all felt the abandonment and depression this causes at some point in our OCN lives. So first and foremost, I promise to finish. I also promise frequent updates, with lots of pictures. Lets be honest with each other....I’m already starting to bore you with all of this typing....right? Pictures are what makes us love the build threads, and I promise lots of them. Plus...I’ve got a nice camera, so there won’t be any blurry phone pics. So click “subscribe” now. Go on. Do it before you forget. Yes...now. This opening post will be edited as the build progresses with an Index and links to any significant progress updates. I’ll also update the Hardware Status parts list shown below, as I order and acquire the parts, and/or change my mind on what to get.


Build Log Index with Links:

Aug 2012 Edit: For those of you joining this thread late in the game....its grown pretty lengthy. I've tried hard to keep the index below updated with any of the significant picture updates, in case you want to just hit the highlights. But...you'll be missing out on all the witty OCN banter if you only look at the pictures!

• CaseLabs TH10 Arrives!
• CaseLabs TH10 Case Pictures
• CaseLabs Accessories Pictures
• Fun With Fans - Preview
• Hardware Labs Radiators - Before
• OU Propaganda!!!
• Tearing up the PSU's
• KoolRoom Package Opening
• Radiator Sandblasting and Powder Coating - Test
• Ghetto Radiator Flushing
• Fan Color Combination Voting
• Ghetto PSU 9-Volt Battery and Fan Video
• More sandblasting and powdercoating pictures
• That's a lot of fans!
• Radiator Won't Fit
• Fan Teardown
• Fan Taping
• Fan Painting
• Fan Reassembly - Part 1
• Fan Reassembly - Part 2
• Fan Reassembly - Part 3
• Selecting Fittings and Tubing - Round 1
• Selecting Fittings and Tubing - Round 2
• Selecting Fittings and Tubing - Round 3
• Custom Vinyl Stickers for Fans
• Fan Reassembly - Part 4
• Finished Fan Pictures
• Fan Domino Video
• The Finished Fan Family Pictures
• Card Reader Teardown
• Pump Top and Mod Kit Installation Pictures and Video
• Reservoir Almost Shipped Pictures
• Reservoirs Received
• PowerAdjust 2 Ultra Pictures
• AMS Radiator Pictures
• Flow Sensor and Temperature Sensor Pictures
• Asrock Extreme11 Pictures
• Corsair Dominator GT 64GB Pictures
• EVGA Signature GTX 690 Pictures
• AMS Radiators Get Powdercoated
• Modified 480 Radiator Mounts to Create Room for 280 Radiator
• Card Reader Powder Coating, Sleeving and Reassembly
• Flow meter and Blu-ray - Powdercoated!
• 3960X Pictures!
• Aquaero 5 with Powdercoat and Waterblock
• One top, Two tops, Three tops....Oh My!
• Flexbay Radiator Mount for AMS 360 Rads
• Lamptron FC8 Finished Pictures
• XL Window vs XXL Window for TH10
• Custom Bottom Plate for CaseLabs Pedestal
• Phantek CPU Cooler - Temporary While Waiting on Waterloop to be Finished
• What do 16 Vertex 4's look like?
• Prototype for PowerAdjust2 mount
• The World's Most Beautiful PSU's
• Flowmeter Choices - White and Copper
• Socket Head Screws and Copper Plating
• Areca 1882ix-16 PCI-e 3.0 Raid Card!
• Dye batch for making crimson MDPC-X!
• Custom SATA Power Cable #1
• Sleeving My First 8-pin Cable
• More 8-pin Cable Sleeving
• Bitspower White Fittings!
• Bitspower - OU!!!
• How to Make Custom Length SATA Data Cables
• Custom SATA Power Cable #2
• Drilled My First Holes in the Case - PA2 Mounting Bracket
• Another MDPC-X Package
• Another FrozenCPU package
• Aquaero 5 XT and LT.....Installed!
• Reservoir Placement
• SATA data cable sleeving
• First SAS>SATA Breakout Cable Sleeved
• Second SAS>SATA Breakout Cable Sleeved
• Making and sleeving the Aquabus connectors
• PA2 Custom Bracket - Almost Done
• Sneak Peek of Nate's Progress on Custom AE11 Block!
• Some More Asrock Extreme11 Motherboard Shots
• Creating a Power Harness for my Radiator Fans
• Dual Aquaero Power Cable Splitter
• More mail.......
• Creating a USB splitter and extension for the dual Aquaero's
• Installing the USB 3.0 retro fit kit in the TH10
• PA2 mounting bracket and reservoir placement
• Bad 24 pin.....bad!
• Sleeving a USB 3.0 double cable
• Package from Mips!
• Front panel audio connections
• Front panel power and reset button cabling
• Second Power Adjust 2 power harness
• Painting the baby fans
• Painting the 140mm fans
• Finished 140mm fans and Baby fans
• The fan family!
• Pedestal cutting and fan installation
• Custom pedestal floor with fans
• Another fan power harness.....done!
• Pedestal power pass-through connections
• Pedestal fan wiring - Done!
• Baby fan power harness
• Plumbing the pedestal
• Adding a fill port
• Pedestal pass-through connections and modularity
• Pedestal Studio Shots!
• More drilling and different style 90 degree fittings
• Mounting the individual D5 pumps
• CaseLabs Best Build Contest Pictures
• All
• The
• Other
• Stuff
• In
• The
• Middle
• Final Pics of BBBB v1.0
• Stock Benchmarks of BBBB v1.0
• Overclocked Benchmarks of BBBB v1.0
• BBBB Version 2.0?

Hardware List and Status:
Here is the legend. Green means I’ve already got it. Orange means its been ordered (yellow text isn’t real legible). Red means I’m still deciding/researching the item, or waiting because I don’t yet need the part. I’ll update this Hardware Status in the OP as things change:




Inspiration and Resources

• The entire OCN community. Seriously.
• Martin’s Liquid Labs -- I’ve read every review he has done over the past several years. Truly some great information and a valuable resource.
• Skinnee Labs -- More great testing and reviews.
• OCN Member P3nnywise: "Red and Black" Build Log -- This one was awesome!
• OCN Member theseekeroffun: “Complete Madness” Build Log - Finish it Rocky!
• CaseLabs Cases

Hope that adequately describes what I have in store for this summer. I've lurked in OCN for years, but joined earlier this year because of my plan for this summer build. This is going to be awesome, I promise! Subscribe now and join me for a fun summer build log!
Edited by cpachris - 1/14/13 at 7:37am

CaseLabs has arrived! About 2 hours after I started this thread, the doorbell rings, and the FedEx guy is standing there staring menacingly at me. Beside him is an extremely large box, and he says to me, "what the hell did you have delivered?" I smile, sign his little pad, and send him on his way. I knew it would arrive at some point today, but this is early enough where I'll be able to play with it a little bit! Here are a couple of the obligatory box photos:



And here are the boxes beside a chair to give you some perspective on how big these boxes are:



Now lets open the box a little bit.....



Wait...what is that...what is that color?.....is that red? is that purple? or is that.....



CRIMSON! Or to be more precise....the University of Oklahoma crimson. Go Sooners! Rah Oklahoma! Now lets get this thing out in the sun for some photos to show off the custom color powder coat finish!









Based on all of the existing CaseLabs build threads, I was expecting fantastic packaging, and I was not disappointed. And the case is nothing short of amazing. Even the tiniest little details, like countersunk screws to assemble the pedestal, make the box reek of quality. I'll pull the case upstairs for some studio lighitng pictures tonight, and I'll show off more of the accessories that I got. But I wanted to get some pics quickly while the sun was out because it is beautiful here today. Heading to the pool for an hour, and then a quick workout, before I do some more unboxing and pictures tonight.

I've updated the thread index in the OP and the hardware status.
Edited by cpachris - 6/5/12 at 1:41pm

Thanks for the thoughts nathanak21. If the next intel unlocked processor has not come out within the next few weeks (my timeframe for buying), then I might very well drop down to the 3930k. I've read a lot of really good things about its OC potential, and plus, I probably won't be able to resist getting the newer CPU once its released. So, not really "saving" money.....but wasting less. Almost the same thing.



Thanks succesfulvoid! More SSD's would always be good. I've enjoyed watching a ton of the CaseLabs build logs, so I'll try and do it justice and entertain you along the way.



Thanks 3930K! No question where you stand on the CPU issue, as I gather from your screen name.



Thanks stren! Have enjoyed watching you proselytize the virtues of CaseLabs cases here on OCN. You're probably one of the reasons I ended with this case. You carry the banner well. And as I've dug into it more tonight, I continue to be amazed at the quality and wonderful thoughtful touches that have gone into designing this case. It is far and away better than any case I've owned or seen.

If I could get an 8 core to OC, I wouldn't feel quite as inferior to all you SR-X builders. I agree that 4 GPU's is a little overkill, but with all the PCI lanes on the Asrock Extreme 11, I can run them all at 16x on PCIe 3.0! That should provide benchmarks like we've never seen before. With the Asrock board, the 3rd and 4th cards don't cause you to drop down from 16x to 8x. All four cards at 16x. I've simply got to take advantage of that....even if I don't game much. Would feel like I was wasting the motherboard if I did anything less. Plus...when I say I don't game much, I mean on the computer. I've logged some hours on my Xbox360. Will be neat to compare the two on the same game. I have considered moving to a 3 monitor setup. Will check out the monitors you mentioned.

I've read good things about the Samsung memory, but I'll definitely check out the Dominator Platinum. Appreciate the heads-up. I've already got the two PSU's, so I'll probably stick with that initially. The Corsair PSU fans simply don't spin at all until they get quite a bit of load. By splitting the load between 2 units, I hope to be able to keep the fans from spinning under all normal conditions. Only have the fans kick on under super heavy loads.



Thank you Electrocutor. I was expecting something amazing, and CaseLabs didn't disappoint. It is a fantastic case.


For everyone....I welcome a review/critique of the selected components in the opening post. The funnest part of a build is picking out the stuff, and I welcome the combined accumulated knowledge of the OCN community.
Edited by cpachris - 6/6/12 at 8:07am