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[Build Log] - IRONBEAST - A fully water cooled, X99, Quad GPU, 900D build

171K views 1K replies 166 participants last post by  OCDesign 
#1 ·


Hello all. Welcome to the build log for my first entirely self-built computer (and epic vanity project), IRONBEAST, which I have finally got around to start posting for your amusement. All questions, friendly critique and speculation about my sanity are entirely welcome. I hope you enjoy reading it.

Contents

  • Introduction: Post #1
  • Project Overview: Post #2
  • Background: Post #21
  • Build Status, 4th March 2015: Post #21
  • Design Overview: Post #57
  • Project Progression: Post #67
  • Components Selection, Part One: Post #85
  • Manifold Prototype: Post #95
  • Components Selection, Part Two: Post #156
  • RayStorm Lighting Test #1: Post #167
  • Fan Backlighting Test Pictures: Post #187
  • Subfloor Assembly Renders: Post #218
  • Lower Radiator Configurations: Post #256
  • Upper Expansion Ports, Concept Renders: Post #271
  • Lower Expansion Ports, Concept Renders: Post #294
  • Phase Three Test Rig Design, Part One: Post #403
  • Phase Three Test Rig Design, Part Two: Post #441
  • Build Status, 26th July 2015: Post #650
  • Intial Benchmark Tests, 3DMark Fire Strike: Post #666
  • Motherboard Cooler Design: Post #754
  • Radiator Configuration Testing, Part One: Post #790
  • Radiator Configuration Testing, Part Two: Post #793
  • Phase Three Test Frame Construction, Part One: Post #856
  • Phase Three Test Frame Construction, Part Two: Post #865
    ...

Introduction

Making my own computer is something I have wanted to do for almost 10 years, but have never had the time or the resources to properly devote to it. Thus I have always ended up being boringly pragmatic and buying off the shelf - until now. I know, I know. If I had even half a brain I would start with something simple, something restrained and sensible, something practical; but as you can probably guess from the name, I'm not going to. This is the best (and quite possibly only) opportunity I am going to get for the foreseeable future to dedicate myself doing something more than an 'ordinary' build - something a bit special.

As such I am, against my better judgement, going pretty much the whole hog first time out. The project will include extensive case modifications (including new metalwork), a full watercooling system, some custom paintwork, bespoke case lighting and ultimately a little overclocking too. It's definitely going to take a while, as I'm tiptoeing rather cautiously through each stage of the process. I will be relying very heavily on my CAD skills and modest engineering abilities, plus the sage advice of people here, to make a success of this.

And on that note:


Angle One, with side panel


Angle Two, without side panel


Angle Three, without side panel


Angle 4, without side panel

These are a few render images of what I intend to try and make - generated using the CAD model I've created whilst planning the detail of the build. This is, for those that are interested, an 'assembly model'; made up of individual part models of the various components. It will allow me to post a series of exploded and sub-assembly renders deconstructing the design, showing you stage-by-stage how I intend the build to be made (hopefully you can then point out all the places where I've been unusually stupid).

I will be trying to include as much content as I can in the build log; including drawings and diagrams, 3D renders and work-in-progress photos. (Warning: there will also be wordy and longwinded bits where I start to ramble on about stuff, apologies in advance.) You might have noticed that the Ironbeast design has some 'unconventional' elements to it, and a somewhat unusual layout. There are also a few other interesting features I have planned that the model doesn't show. I'll be explaining all these ideas, and the motivations behind them, in detail as the log progresses.

Things to expect:

• A powerful X-99 based workstation build
• Extensive custom watercooling setup
• 4-way SLI or Crossfire graphics
• Non-standard layout with centred and recessed motherboard
• Clean aesthetics with concealed cables and pipework
• Bespoke-made programmable lighting rig
 
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5
#2 ·
Project Overview

A quick at-a-glance summary of component choices, and then a space for me to post some pictures

Components List:

System:

Case:
1x Corsair Obsidian 900D (with extensive modifications)
Processor:
1x Intel i7 series 5960X Haswell-E
Motherboard:
1x ASUS X99-E WS
Power Supply:
1x Corsair AX1500i 1500W
RAM:
8x Corsair Dominator Platinum DDR4 3000MHz 4GB
SSD:
1x Samsung XP941 512GB
2x Samsung 850 Pro 1TB (1 initially, spaces allocated for 8 max)
GPU:
4x ??? *
3x Nvidia GeForce GTX 980Ti in SLI (EVGA, Superclocked ACX 2.0+)
1x Nvidia GeForce GTX Titan Black (Gigabyte, Reference Design)


Cooling:

CPU Cooler:
1x XSPC Raystorm
GPU Cooler:
4x ??? **
Motherboard Cooler:
Custom made cooler
RAM Cooler:
Stock air cooled or integrated with motherboard cooling
Pumps:
3x Laing D5 PWM with custom painted Koolance covers
3x Aquacomputer D5 with speed signal and custom painted Koolance covers
Reservoirs:
2x Alphacool Cape Fusion Core with custom sleeves
Radiators:
1x Alphacool NexXxos ST30 Full Copper 480 (nearside mount)
1x XSPC EX240 Multiport (offside mount)
1x Hardware Labs Black Ice Nemesis 480 GTS X-Flow (top mount)

Fans:
16x Corsair SP120 PWM Quiet Edition (custom painted)
12x Corsair SP120 PWM Quiet Edition (custom painted)
4x Scythe Gentle Typhoon AP-15 (custom painted)

4x Corsair AF140 Quiet Edition (custom painted)
Tubing:
Clear PVC, potentially some clear acrylic/chromed copper in places
Fittings:
Various from Monsoon, Bitspower & XSPC

Monitoring and Control

Primary Controller:
1x Aqua Computer Aquaero 6 Pro, with heatsink and waterblock
Supplementary Microcontrollers:
3x Aqua Computer Poweradjust, with heatsinks
Sensors:
Aqua Computer Temperature Sensors, inline and surface contact
Aqua Computer Flow Sensors, 'high-flow' and 'MPS' type (potentially others)


Lighting:

LEDs:
Adafruit Neopixel programmable RGB LED strips
Fibre:
3mm side-glow optical fibre
Controller:
Arduino Mega 2560 R3

* The choice of graphics card remains undecided, other than I want to do a 4-way SLI/Crossfire. The upcoming nVidia GeForce GTX Titan II (assuming that is what the 'full-fat' GM200 powered card is to be called) is currently the top contender, pending release of performance specifications.
** Consequently, the choice of waterblock for the graphics cards also remains undecided.

Edit 05/03/2015. The new GM200 card has been announced as the Titan X. We know very little about it yet beyond a picture. I want it.

Edit 04/04/2015. Persuaded to wait and see AMD's offering. My patience is waning fast.

Edit: A few modifications to the components list, GTX 980 Ti added to the list of contenders for the graphics card

Edit: 05/06/2015. Nvidia GeForce GTX 980Ti is now top contender, performance close enough to the Titan-X for a considerably reduced cost. Still waiting on AMD's Radeon 390X, Fury and Fury-X.

Edit: 17/06/2015. Fury pricing looks good. Awaiting performance benchmarks.


Edit: 30/06/2015: Fury X benchmarks are rather disappointing, 980Ti looking likely. The rumoured price reduction on the Nvidia cards might decide it.


Edit: 13/07/2015. Opinion poll favours the 980Ti (see post #569) with the potential option of a 3 + 1 configuration with the Titan Black

Edit: 23/07/2015: Final GPU selections are three Nvidia GeForce GTX 980Ti, EVGA Superclocked ACX 2.0+ version, and one GeForce GTX Titan Black, standard reference design from Gigabyte. (Bad luck AMD, you made a good rival card - just not quite good enough to win through. Maybe next time.)

Photo Gallery:

Space allocated for pretty pictures
Nearside Renders and Close Ups: Post #1, Post #37

















Offside Renders WIP: Post #62



Phase 1 Test Rig Construction: Post #21



















Manifold Construction: Post #95























RayStorm Lighting Test #1: Post #167











































AF140 Fan Backlighting Test #1: Post #187




















 
#11 ·
This looks pretty serious, it's gonna be awesome. Subbed!
 
#16 ·
Thanks everybody! All these nice comments, I really didn't expect people to be that interested.

Hopefully I should have a bit more stuff posted for your entertainment later on today.

Quote:
Originally Posted by VeerK View Post

I love the symmetry you're going for, best of luck. I kind of wish that there were more options for a fully fleshed dual res system other than CaseLabs
Thanks, I'm glad you like it. Makes a change from my family laughing at me - the symmetry is a bit of a personal obsession.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Dragonsyph View Post

Is there such a case that has mid MB mounts or are you gonna have to make it yourself?
It's a bespoke modification, a custom made two-piece mounting plate to replace the standard 900D motherboard tray. I don't think there are any standard cases that have a centred motherboard.

Quote:
Originally Posted by EngageTheSun View Post

My jaw hit the FLOOR when I saw the first set of pictures.

When you finish this system, it will be in my dreams for YEARS to come!!!
biggrin.gif
thumb.gif
Nice dreams I hope. Not the sort that I get, where you wake up at three in the morning worrying about flow rates…
 
#20 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by guitarhero23 View Post

Good luck!

How do you plan to utilize the fibre?
Thanks. I'll be explaining the case lighting in detail a bit later on; but in short the side glow optical fibre is being used wherever I need to take light from the Neopixel strips to places where there would normally be a conventional wired LED. So the Raystom block, the reservoir lighting, etc. You can see it in the renders, just in front of the angled pipes at the top of the reservoirs.
 
#21 ·
Thank you all again for showing such intrest in my build, I really didnt expect it. This evening we have for your entertainment two new log entries; 'Background', one of my slightly rambling monologues, and the first 'Build Status', which has pictures! You may want to skip to that part...

Background

A little bit of background detail on the origins of the Ironbeast design and some pathetic self-justification for how this project got quite so…extensive.

I made the decision to start this build log after the slightly astonishing realisation that Ironbeast has been rattling around in the concept and planning stage for a full year now. My previous PC was a high-end gaming machine from Alienware, which I acquired in September 2009 whilst at university. It has spent its life being overworked and undercooled pursuing a function for which it was not designed, namely CAD modelling. In March last year, whilst it clawed its way through another of my design projects, I decided it could no longer work at the levels I was asking it to and that it had reached a practical limit of viability for additional upgrades. This left me three options; another top-spec off-the-shelf PC, a simple like-for-like rebuild of the Alienware with new tech, or construct a brand new bespoke machine from scratch…

As I mentioned in the introduction, I have considered building my own PC pretty much every time I've needed a more powerful rig - and every time I've bowed to practicality and got a retail model instead. This time though, after a lot of research, some basic costings and a lot of prevaricating, I finally decided to go for it. Then shortly after, as a result of pulling a truly stupid amount of gunk out of my graphics card's heat sinks, I decided I wanted to try watercooling. This lead to the original plan for what would become Ironbeast - a fully watercooled but entirely conventional build based on the best of the outgoing technology; the i7 4960X, the Rampage IV Black and quad-SLI Titan Blacks, installed with a full watercooling system in a 900D case. However by the time I had the design worked out, the components chosen, and had secured a big pile of money to pay for it, we were into the summer of 2014. Being only a few months away from the release of Haswell-E, I just couldn't bring myself to commit time and money to a build based on soon to be outdated tech. A foolish decision perhaps, but that was the call I made. So the build was put on hold for another three months, my Alienware struggled on, and I started…scheming.

A lot of this hang-time was spent (because I have nothing better to do) reading component reviews, looking at performance data, thinking about colours, and staring longingly at photos of other people's rigs. There are a lot of impressive creations which have inspired various bits and pieces of the current Ironbeast design, but it will come as no surprise that the main culprit is Jameswalt1's epic "Robocop". This is an exquisitely beautiful build in its own right, but by far its biggest influence on me was in removing the 900D's drive bays. I had previously ruled out making any case modifications or using inflexible tubing (on the grounds that I'm a total novice at this), however I just couldn't cope with keeping such an unnecessary waste of space once I'd seen it wasn't necessary. So I began working on a new layout. The centred motherboard, the symmetrical pipework, the redesigned front; pretty much all the features that make Ironbeast the way it is arise from this one change.

Whilst waiting for the first details of the X99 motherboards to be released, I finally committed to doing the project and got the 900D; taking measurements and beginning work on the first version of the model you see in the renders. I rather suspect it was this strain of this that finally caused my Alienware to wave the white flag and die on me, at a spectacularly inconvenient moment. Most of the components I needed for the new build were still pre-order at this point, causing an agonising wait. When it did finally arrive the motherboard was defective. Fortunately the replacement process was quick and easy (far more so than for a lot of people it seems) and after a month without a computer I got the rig into an operational, if distinctly improvised, 'Phase One' state. And then I sat there, tinkering with my CAD models, musing on cooling loops, buying the odd sample fitting, and waiting for the announcement of a new and divinely powerful graphics card to be released in time for Christmas. Or in January. Or February…

Current Build Status
4th March 2015

A little insight into quite how far away this build is from looking the way the renders do.

This is what the core of Ironbeast looks like at the moment; cobbled together back in November to order to give me an operational PC after more than a month working with just a tablet. (Apologies for the bad image quality, the photos were taken with my phone camera.)



Most of it is using the components that will be in the final rig. The only exceptions are the portable disk drive, portable SSD, the placeholder graphics card (a GTX 760), plus the nine standoffs, the two 512GB SSDs (with all my files on them, may or may not be used) and the upgraded Corsair H80i CPU cooler cannibalised from my old Alienware.

So for your amusement, some pics showing how this masterpiece of design was created…


This, for those that aren't familiar with it, is a piece of wood.



And this is a piece of wood fitted with 9 standoffs and a 120mm fan bracket from Bitspower.



Groove and support for the PCIe cards, supports for the SSDs and PSU. Fashioned from the very finest pieces of scrap timber we had lying around.



Power Supply, SSDs and CPU cooler mounted.



Motherboard 'installed' (if that's quite the right word for something screwed to a plank). Note the blue labels on the rear ports; this is the defective motherboard I got initially.


.
Graphics card installed.



Cabling in place, portable drive connected.



Plugged in and ready. But mysteriously, no blue labels anymore…



Let there be lights…I never thought seeing Windows could make me so happy.
 
#23 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dmitriy View Post

How much time did it take you to build that test bench?
Not that long. A few hours probably, spread over a couple of days. The base is actually quite a nice piece of hardwood from some old shelves, but the rest is literally just bits of scrap timber we had lying around plus a few screws. Cutting the slots for the SSD rack probably took the most time.
 
#26 ·
Nice test bench dude, quick and easy, nice
smile.gif
 
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