[BUILD LOG] Black Ice - Page 2

Ha yes actually it will only be 5 fans. I got the others thinking I could do push/pull and a couple spare but I am coming to realize it's not going to fit. If I stay true to keeping everything in the case.

Cheers,
Antjel

Indeed!

Cheers,
Antjel

The Good and already the Bad!

Well I am just getting started and even though you think all of those hours of research have paid off it only takes 1 min to realize your giant Corsair 800d isn't big enough for your EVGA x79 Classified. Oye! Well I will be swapping the bad boy out for the EVGA x79 FTW now. This is going to slow my build down a little but I can start mounting the other components in the meantime.

Speaking of other components I installed the FrozenQ Fusion Core Bay Reservoir. In addition I ran a fill port from the top of the case to the reservoir for easy access. However installing the tubing was the hardest part.

I only mounted the reservoir on the back side of the case. This did require the drilling of two holes since it seems you still can't get a reservoir that supports tooless rails. The good thing is drilling holes is an easy mod and because the mounting clips are oval shaped you can really just eye it and make the hole. Here is a pic of where I drilled my holes.

Since I only mounted the res on one side I noticed with the the front panel back on it wasn't resting flush. I solved this problem by using a little bit of sound dampening material I got on close out from Performance PCs. You can get a pack for $1.99 right now and it make great filler if you need just a little spacer or wedge. It's soft and anti-vibration to boot so you can't go wrong. WIN! You can see the material on the right in the pic below.

For the fill port I just used a 1" hole saw drill bit to install. With any luck this will be the last case modification for this build. In the pic below you can see how I ran the tubing from the fill port to the res.

The last pic shows the final look with the res and fill port on the case.


That's all for tonight guys. I am going to start planning my pump placement tomorrow and spend the remainder of tonight drinking to forget my big snafu with the mobo selection.

Cheers,
Antjel

P.S. For all my official build log posts I will be adding them to my first post as well so it will be easy to catch up or follow along. Thanks again for following and please let me know if there is anything else in the log that will be benficial.

Oh I almost forgot...As promised proof of the 690's and I will be going with the koolance blocks. I had already ordered them before the EVGA hyrdo's were released and I am looking into something more creative to do with the LED's off of the cards.

I went with the AF's for the noise factor and the UT60 radiators peformed well on martinsliquidlabs with lower rpm fans. I am trying to get a nice balance between cooling potential and dbs. This is what I came up with but I am far from a veteran on this.

Now the real question is what am I going to do with all of these colored rings?

Cheers,
Antjel

My replacement EVGA x79 FTW mobo is arriving today!!!

So I should be updating soon with my progress. Also to keep in line with the "minimal mod" theme I think I have found a very cool way to mount and conceal my mcp35x2 pump. Looking forward to showing you guys and hearing what you think. It will require a vertical mount so I need to think through how I am going to decouple it but other than that I think it's going to be pretty neat.

Cheers,
Antjel

And now for something completely different...oh wait yes more logging

Ok so it took a little while to get my board replaced and during that time I ordered some M3x0.50x50mm screws among other little goodies to help me along...

While I was waiting for all the fun stuff to arrive I took the liberty to flush my RADs...Everyone has their own process for flushing and I found this way on youtube and liked the idea since last time I was filling and shaking with vinegar and water for days trying to get everything out.

Radiator Flushing Video

I ran each of of my radiators for 30min-1hr with distilled water. Surprisingly these Alphacool UT60s were pretty clean straight out of the box. My previous XSPCs had a little more bits and pieces come out. However, I wouldn't endorse skipping the flushing process on either.



Moving on I also mounted my MCP35x2 pump. As you can see in the pic I managed to keep in line with my no mod mantra and utilized the existing holes on my hard drive cage. I was also lucky enough to find holes to line up and not obstruct either of the two tooless rails!



I also chose to mount the Corsair Link in the lower HD slot. Here is a shot of it. It comes with two additional smaller modules one for the LED light strips and the other for the Fan and Temps sensors. I will be adding an additional Fan module "Cooling Node" to support the pump as well. Apparently there is some issues with the fan controller and pumps at this time so I may be running at full speed all the time at first but I think I can handle that until a new version of the software is released.


Lastly I had to break down and mod a little. For those of you familiar with the 800d there is a fan cover over the HD bay. Since my pump is now feeding into it I decided to put a hole and a grommet in it to feed the lines out. This was done with a dremel (poorly, I hope Mr. Armageddon isn't watching!). I used a spare grommet for the 800d I had and viola it almost looks like it belongs there


Final Thoughts
I have started dry fitting everything to finalize my plumbing. The EVGA x79 blocks were just released so I had to grab them and add them to the build. They will be arriving this week and then I will be mounting everything, running the plumbing and starting my leak test. I am really excited to kick this build off, those 690's are haunting me and I can't wait to see what they can do.

Cheers,
Antjel

Yeah the fill port is a Phobya.

Phobya Fill Port

You drill the hole then the port has a locking nut so all you have to do is slide it through from the top then attach the nut on the bottom. After that it has a standard G1/4 thread so you can attach any barb, fitting etc.. that works for you. In this case I used a Bitspower 90 degree rotating fitting on the res and a 45 degree rotary up top. It allowed me to work with the angles since the fusion core res fill hole and the fill port could not line up.



I have a small fortune in fittings, it's been a challenge finding a way to make everything fit and still be functional. But I am very happy with how it's all turning out. Due to the space and the fact I have low and high RAD's I am considering multiple drain ports with valves so I can detach the lines when not in use to keep the case clean. I have a few ideas that I think will be cool.

Thanks for the props! and yeah I love the Corsair cases hands down best I have worked with so far to blend looks and functionality. I just got my wife a 550d, I swapped the fans out with the AF120/140s and I can't believe how quiet that case runs. I actually wish the 800d had some of the noise dampening features the 500d does.

Cheers,
Antjel