[Build Log] Pandamonium (TH10 w/Ped, RIVE w/3930K, Tri-SLI EVGA 670 4GB SC, Water Cooled)

Let me start by saying that yes, I know Pandamonium should be spelled with an "e" (pandemonium).

One of the main uses for this rig will be for my multiboxing World of Warcraft. For the 3 people who don't recognize that game it's a Massive Multiplayer Online game (MMO) from Blizzard. I run a team of 1 pally tank, 1 druid healer and 3 ele shammies on Khadgar under the same name (Reglar). There is a new expansion coming this fall called Mists of Pandaria and introduces the Pandarian race. Hence the tie in for Pandamonium.

Now many of you will post that this build is overkill for WoW, and you are correct. I'm just using my WoW playing to justify the name I play other games like Skyrim, Modern Warfare, etc. Some of you will notice that this system is overkill for those games too - I know, but sometimes you just have to spoil yourself...

Color theme for this build is predominantly black, with pink as the highlight color. In order to help get my wife on board with this build I involved her in the color decisions, and after much experimentation with fans and paint and sleeving we settled on the pink. We'll see how this turns out in reality

I want to both thank and curse all the other large scale builders who have gone before me and given me some great ideas.



This build will be likely my last major build for many years, and so I've decided to go all out. I've put my thoughts on each item. Order status is included as well.

Components:

• Case: Caselabs TH10 with Ped
  • Roomy enough to meet future needs
  • Status: ***DELIVERED***
• CPU: i7 3930K
  • I went with Sandy-Bridge E because I wanted the 6 cores so I can run a copy of WoW each on their own dedicated physical core and still have a core left over for the system
  • I think my local Microcenter has these for $499 so I need to go see if they have any in stock, otherwise I'll have to order one
  • Status: ***DELIVERED***
• MB: ASUS Rampage IV Extreme
  • Great card for overclocking, looked at the ASRock Extreme 11 but it's just out and has first release teething problems. The RIVE is just fine for what I want to do
  • Status: ***DELIVERED***
• RAM: 16gb Samsung 30nm
  • Great overclocking RAM, you can find a thread devoted to these babies in the Intel Memory forums
  • Status: ***DELIVERED***
• GPUs: 3x EVGA 670 4GB Superclocked with backplate
  • I looked at the MSI Lightning's and the EVGA Classified, but the price premium was a bit more than I could bear. I wanted 4GB VRAM due to how much running 5 copies of WoW uses, and decided to do Tri-SLI
  • Status: ***DELIVERED***
• PSU: Corsair AX1200
  • Between overclocking on the CPU and running Tri-SLI cards I wanted to ensure that my power pull wasn't going to be at the top end of a PSU's rated capacity, so I went with the Corsair AS1200. I might have been able to get away with 1000 watts but I decided to play it safe.
  • Apparently I can't do simple math because if I want to OC all this gear I need way more than a 1200 can provide. I'll use the 1200 for the main components to ensure no clock sync issues, and put the rest on the AX650 (below)
  • Status: ***DELIVERED***
• PSU: Corsair AX650
  • Turns out 1200 watts won't be enough for this beast, it hungers for MOAR POWR!!!
  • Status: ***DELIVERED***
• Drives: 2x OCZ Vertex 4 256G
  • One of the best SSD's on the market today, I will be using 1 for OS and 1 for video editing and other disk intensive apps
  • Status: ***DELIVERED***
• Drives: 2x Seagate Barracuda 3TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache
  • Some beefy data disks, should last me a while
  • Status: ***DELIVERED***
• Drives: 1x WD Caviar Black 2T
  • An existing drive I have
  • Status: ***DELIVERED***
• Drives: LG Black Blu-ray
  • Generic Blu-Ray Burner
  • Status: ***DELIVERED***
• OS: Win7 Professional 64bit OEM
  • I am sure people still swear by WinXP but I've grown to like the Win7 version
  • Status: ***DELIVERED***

I decided I wanted enough radiator surface area so I could run fans pretty low and still get decent cooling. A big thank you to Martin for the work he's done for the community over the years; your data was very helpful in some of these selections.

• CPU: EK Supremacy
  • I like this block due to it's lineage; the EK Supreme HF was a really good block. I am just waiting for Stren's results on his block testing to see if anything bad came up with this block, if it didn't well then I'll pull the trigger
  • Status: ***DELIVERED***
• GPU: 3x Heatkiller GTX 670 blocks
  • I would have preferred clear blocks, but the only ones out there are EK's and honestly I just don't fancy that circle pattern.
  • Status: ***DELIVERED***
• MB: XSPC RIVE blocks
  • I like the look of large motherboard blocks, and the chipset block from XSPC is a monster
  • Status: ***DELIVERED***
• Pump: 2x MCP35X2 w/ heatsink and fan
  • I wanted both power and redundancy, and with all the connections and components I wanted to ensure I wasn't going to have flow issues. I expect to run these at 50%
  • I also picked up the heatsinks for them, and some 80mm fans to help ensure the pumps with heat management
  • Status: ***DELIVERED***
• Res: 2x Danger Den Rad Res
  • I plan to mount these together using DD's dual mount brackets, should look pretty amazing mounted to the 120.3 that I am mounting up front on the motherboard side
  • Status: ***DELIVERED***
• Rads: 4x Alphacool NexXxoS Monsta Quad 120mm Radiator
  • These 80mm thick rads are overkill, heck their kissing cousin UT60 is pretty insane in it's out right. The reason I picked them up was good old fashioned lust, we'll see if their performance justifies their premium
  • Placement wise 2 will be installed in the top of the case, the other 2 in the pedestal
  • Status: ***DELIVERED***
• Rads: 1x Alphacool NexXxoS Monsta Triple 120mm Radiator
  • This rad will go up front on the motherboard side using the flex bay system CaseLabs has
  • Status: ***DELIVERED***
• Fans: Gentle Typhoons AP-15's
  • I picked these due to having the best static pressure between the fans I tested. You can see the video's of my tests up on YouTube in my channel
  • Status: ***DELIVERED***
• Fan control: Aquaero 5 Pro with 3x Ultra Poweradjust 2
  • The Aquaero 5 provides some amazing management and reporting capabilities, and I plan to tap these for testing I plan to do with the fans and pumps at various speeds
  • Status: ***DELIVERED***
• Monitoring: 10x inline temp probes
  • I realize that I won't see much difference between components, and that the loop over time will equalize, but I do want to see if I am getting degradation in specific parts of the loop so I am sticking probes where I want them
  • Status: ***DELIVERED***
• Monitoring: 2x Aquacomputer flow sensors
  • Some flow meters so I can see what's happening at various pump speeds
  • Status: ***DELIVERED***
• Tubing: Duralene Clear
  • Various threads have shown good results with this tubing, so I plan to give it a whirl
  • Status: ***DELIVERED***
• Coolant: Distilled Water with Mahem's Pink Pastel
  • In support of my color theme I plan to try this out. If it doesn't go well I'll go to pure distilled, but from what I have read Mayhem's pastels are pretty amazing and durable
  • Status: ***DELIVERED***

Based on feedback in my Splitting the loop thread in the Water Cooling forum I have decided not to bother with valves for controlling flow. Instead I am going with a single loop, with 1 pump driving flow into CPU, GPU and Aquaero block, and the other pump driving flow into the VRM, chipset and all the rads.

Loop diagram:

This picture describes the component order in the loop.


Original loop diagram (Click to show)
Routing diagram:

This picture describes how the loop will physically route in the case. I may need to adjust it once I get the case and mock everything up. The colors reflect generally what they will look like in the case, it's far from exact.



Test Matrix:

I plan to test the pumps and fans at different levels, this is the matrix I'll be updating as results come in.



I will use this section to maintain a running log on changes and updates.

08/04/12 - Build log started
08/05/12 - Status updated for some items that shipped, fixed the WD Drive status, also updated loop details
08/06/12 - Ordered CPU Block
08/10/12 - Added AX650 PSU
Edited by Reglar - 8/15/12 at 7:17pm

Here's the fan colors we ended up selecting, pink body, white fins. It's a Gentle Typhoon AP-15 having a psychedelic nightmare.

Edit: Fixing brightness level (don't you hate when you forget something)

BTW, I am using very high res pictures, I'd like feedback from people on this. I can downsize as necessary.


Edited by Reglar - 8/4/12 at 3:56pm

Here's a picture of the 12V battery I made with 2 6V lantern batteries in series. I plan to use this to test fans after I paint and redo the leads for a wiring harness.

Edit: Picture was too dark, fixed that.


Edited by Reglar - 8/4/12 at 3:53pm

Actually I did that in Powerpoint, who says it's just useful for presentations?!?!

Picture of the sleeving we're going to use - MDPC-X's pink sleeving.

Edit: Updated pic, was a bit darker than I wanted, sleeving looked more like a wine color than the pink it is.


Edited by Reglar - 8/4/12 at 3:50pm

Here's some pictures of the aquaero 5, poweradjusts and the flow meters. I added the Diablo 3 Collector's Edition USB stand for flair, unsure if it will make a repeat appearance. I am still trying to find something to put in the pictures for flair to liven up the scene.