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CaseLabs S8S Build: Megumin

16K views 46 replies 12 participants last post by  zeroibis 
#1 · (Edited)
konosuba.gif?w=379&h=215&crop&ssl=1

Announcing Megumin, an S8S build!

In case it was not obvious from all the gifs, this build is themed after Megumin from Kono Subarashii Sekai ni Shukufuku o! (Konosuba: God`s Blessing on This Wonderful World!) So the colors will be black, red and brass.


Now to reveal the build specs...

Case: Case Labs S8S Black with 280 & 360 mount Left side and Top windows
CPU: AMD 1700 @ 4.0GHz (binned) -> AMD 2700 @ 4.1GHz (5/2021) -> AMD Ryzen 9 5900X (7/2022)
Motherboard: ASRock Fatal1ty X370 Pro
RAM: 32GB Ripjaws F4-3200C14D-32GVR
GPU: GTX 1070 SEA HAWK EK X (already own) -> RTX 4080 Super FE (2/2024)
PSU: Seasonic SSR-850TD
M.2 SSD: 1TB 960 EVO
M.2 SSD2: 1TB 970 EVO
SATA SSD: 1TB Reactor, 500GB mx200 256GB m4, 256GB m4 (already own all of these)


Oh did I mention, there is super exciting water cooling!

Rads: EK-RAD-PE-360 & EK-RAD-CE-280
Pump: Aquastream Ultimate AQ-41108
Res: Aquainlet PRO 100 ml AQ-34062
Tube: EK-TUBE-ZMT-BK-1234-RET
Compression Fittings: Brass For ID 1/2" OD 3/4" Tube BP-TBCPF-CC5U
120mm fans: CO-9050042-WW -> Noctua NF-A12x25 & Noctua NF-S12A PWM (7/2022)
140mm fans: CO-9050047-WW
CPU Block: EK-SUPREMACY-EVO-AMD-NP
GPU Block: EK-Quantum Vector² FE RTX 4080 D-RGB - Nickel + Plexi (2/2024)
Controller: Aquaero 6 LT AQ-53234 with AQ-53158 red heatsink

There is also all the other fittings like QDs and 90s and 45s ect.


When completed, it will explode ..please don't


Let's see some pics


This is the Aquastream Ultimate before bing mounted into the case. I covered the mounting area with masking tape and marked the drill points. I also put masking tape double sided around the area and below to catch the metal that was going to fly everywhere. I then used more tape to clean up any access.


Here you can see the pump mounted to the case. You can also see the AQ 6 mounted next to it. I took an old plastic bay cover and drilled holes in it for mounting and then painted it black to match. I Then simply velcroed it to the case.


Here you can see the AQ6 from above, some of the fan cables are already connected.


Here is a pic of the first pressure test of the entire case cooling system, about 40% of the system is complete. There will be 3 more tubing runs to do from the pump to the gpu, the gpu to the cpu and the cpu to the 280 rad.
 
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#4 ·
From my testing it looks like you can mount at least 6 SSDs comfortably in the mount under the motherboard tray. I am only going to have 2-3 to start with but I am glad to have the extra space. I picked up some sata right and left angle adapters and am surprised I have not seen them in any other builds. I will post some pics of what they look like when I mount the drives.
 
#5 ·
I've got 2 SSD's under my try running in raid. Overall i love the case but I haven't pushed yet into water yet beyond my AIO, just running a Swiftech 220X unit and my 1080ti is on air at the moment.

Here's 2 picks of my current setup, the GPU is now a EVGA GTX 1080ti FTW3 though now but you get the gist.



 
#7 ·
So yesterday I worked on getting the actual "computer" running.



Testing out the PSU before using it.



Getting the motherboard hooked up and ready to go. Yea I used an old 430 so I could get a video output and hooked it up to the TV.

Now trying to get windows to work was a disaster. First I messed up by not trying to install via UEFI:USB and just USB so after restarting that process I installed without issue. However, once installed windows would reboot every few min.

I was at a complete loss. I figured it might be a bios issue so I updated to the latest. Then I figured a driver issue and so I upgraded what I could but the system could only run for about 2min before it would restart so driver installs had to complete within that time or things got even worse...

Finally I had cpuz in there, I figured maybe the ram does not like running slow. Switched to 3200mhz c14 and it booted right up (which is great) but it still would reboot after about 2min. Then I started looking at the core voltage in cpuz and thinking wow that number just looks really low. I mean it could go down below .45 even in the .3 range. Then I remembered about the balanced AMD plan, I tried to get it but was never able to within the 2min time frame. Then I thought, crap I should just switch it to high performance mode.

Apparently, setting the power plan to high performance is a requirement when installing windows. I am sure this does not occur to everyone because I have yet to hear anyone else have this problem. However, I would advice anyone doing a ryzen build to as soon as you get windows installed to immediately go in and change the power plan to high performance as soon as the system boots up the first time. This way you can avoid wasting your entire day trying to figure out what is wrong like i did.
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Now onto some tests:


This is the first quick test of the 960 EVO (windows default drivers)


The 32GB Ripjaws F4-3200C14D-32GVR run without issue so far when using XMP settings in bios. I did some quick testing for errors but I will do the real testing once the computer is actually "finished".
 
#8 ·
#10 ·
So went to mount the SSDs into the drive mount and you can see that the screws are too far back so it is not possible to mount that way:




I have a few different drives I tried including a an old broken laptop drive, non can fit the mountings. This is something CaseLabs should look to fix in the future.

I also wanted my cables to come out via the big open slots in the mounting plate so that it would be easy to access them so for this I used 90 degree adapters.




These adapters will allow the ports to face down and into the holes in the mounting plate. In order to mount the drives to the mounting plate when the screw holes were all over the place I simply used velcro. Now if I was mounting a spinning disk I would need to drill new holes but for an SSD this is plenty although it does increase the total drive height.




I got the drives mounted and got some cables connected. For now it is a bit of a mess but I got some new cables on the way to make things a bit more tidy down there.





Later I ran a test of all the fans and the AQ to ensure all of that is working.



I also removed my 1070 from my old computer and flushed a gal of distilled though it and then ran another gal in a temp loop in it with a filter for a few hours just to try to ensure I got that thing cleaned out as much as possible. I was in a hurry to do those parts so I do not have pics, sorry.

With luck I will be able to get the 1070 mounted in there and install the EK block to the cpu and get the last of the tubing cut and pressure test the final system today. If it is not too late I will be able to mix the coolant and get the system filled up tonight.
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From there it is the long road of optimizing everything and then cleaning up any loose ends in the case.
 
#11 ·
Something I am still trying to figure out is what to do with the 1070 block. The problem is that it is silver and the theme colors are black, red and brass. What I was thinking could resolve this is some red lighting on the block as the nickle will then just take on that color and it will blend into the build better. I tested with 2 red leds (there is 2 mounting ports for them in the block) but it was not enough. I am thinking a red led strip could be the solution if it could fit.

Does anyone have any particular led strips they would recommend?
 
#12 ·
So yesterday I actually spent most of the day trying to get the 140.2 DEMCiflex filter to mount inside the 140.2 bay. It would not go in there without touching the fans for anything! I even cut down the edges smaller and used buffers on the edges to force it to stay up against the front plate. No matter what the actual mesh is not flat but bows up and down in different places by enough distance that it is able to touch the fans. It is really disappointing because if there was even just 1mm more clearance it would work fine. I will try to get some photos of the issue with that later.

After wasting so much time on that I had to focus on getting real work done and actually put the build together and start pressure testing. You can see below the pics after I added the gpu and also put in the cpu block.







Sorry for the poor quality photos I was rushing at that point to get some pics before running to dinner.

The pressure test was a success, I will do 1 more test to validate today and then make the coolant and start filling
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#13 ·
Looking forward to following this lovely S8S build.

Nice selection of components, and those fans look outstanding with the lighting.
The ZMT soft tubing looks great with those fittings as well.

I had the same hassles when I had an ssd mounted inside the stealth mount. I decided to just mount it underneath the stealth mount plate, as CaseLabs has suggested.
Nice job you've done with the Velcro to keep them "stealth".

Not sure how to do the led strips for the EK gpu block, I bought a Watercool Heatkiller gpu block, that has an integrated led strip option for a similar lighting effect.
I've heard that Dazmode's Darkside led strips are very high-quality, using Japan-made automotive leds:
https://www.dazmode.com/store/product/7in-20cm-darkside-connect-g2-dimmable-rigid-led-strip-red/
 
#14 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by DerComissar View Post

Looking forward to following this lovely S8S build.

Nice selection of components, and those fans look outstanding with the lighting.
The ZMT soft tubing looks great with those fittings as well.

I had the same hassles when I had an ssd mounted inside the stealth mount. I decided to just mount it underneath the stealth mount plate, as CaseLabs has suggested.
Nice job you've done with the Velcro to keep them "stealth".

Not sure how to do the led strips for the EK gpu block, I bought a Watercool Heatkiller gpu block, that has an integrated led strip option for a similar lighting effect.
I've heard that Dazmode's Darkside led strips are very high-quality, using Japan-made automotive leds:
https://www.dazmode.com/store/product/7in-20cm-darkside-connect-g2-dimmable-rigid-led-strip-red/
Thanks and yes that is the exact strip that has interested me! I think I will get it and hook up the 3 pin power from it to my pump so I can control the voltage via the AQ software.
 
#15 ·
So the computer is actually together now and running. I am currently running a 15 hour burn on HCI MemTest to validate my settings.

Earlier I talked about the issues with the fan filters you can see them here:




I used Velcro along the edges to keep it flush but the center screen bowed out and just hits the fans
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I thought I could use contact adhesive but it is way thicker than I thought so that it out. It looks like I will just need to buy a new filter now and mount it on the outside. I can no longer use this one because I cut it up too much for it to mount outside anymore.
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The system passed two pressure tests with the Dr. Drop but I still make sure I am protected when filling the system the first time because you never know. As you can see I have a QD at the top of my res so that I can easily access the fill port. By using a female QD I am also able to press down on it with my finger to open the seal to equalize the pressure in the system before I remove other QDs. An example would be if I wanted to remove my GPU I can simply press the res QD to equalize and then disconnect the GPU without needing the unscrew anything. Same thing for topping off I can just connect my fill tube which you can see above and easily top off the system.

What I wish I knew earlier is that the pump has a deaeration mode, which is great at helping to remove bubbles from the system. Instead I manually turned the pump on an off, you know the drill. Well after a lot of bleeding I finally powered it up:




Ultimately it has taken about 900ml of coolant thus far, I am going to top it off today again. From what I can see some bubbles like to get stuck in the down line going toward the cpu block. I go a low of shacking and putting the case on different sides to ensure I get every last bubble out! Also once I found the deaeration mode in the AQ settings it was a lot faster. I got more air out in 3 runs of that than the previous hours and hours of shaking the box.

I am running at 4ghz on all cores and ram 3200 14 using just XPM mode and a 1.425V core setting with LLC set to 3. I ran Prime 95 Small FFTs for a few hours but forgot to screen shot. I do have a pic of the first run of MemTest:



Also yes I can maintain a Delta T (Coolant Temp - Ambient) of only 1.6 during this test with the fans up all the way. My flow rates are around .7 GPM which is around what I estimated based on the restriction of my parts and the curve for my pump that I looked up before my build. I have settled on a fan curve that will give me 3.5 Delta T on the high end. It now settles around 2.0 when idle with all the fans running around 400-500rpm. When testing the curve on BF1 all the fans will spin up to almost max but temps hold below 3.5 delta T and CPU never exceeds 50C and rests <45C when it settles.
 
#16 ·
The testing continues, I will have more parts in on Wednesday/Thursday hopefully to have this build cleaned up by this weekend.




You can see it passes the memtest at 800%. I ran it for 15 hours. I also ran Prime95 Blend test for about 1.5 hours. I previously had run the small fft test but I know that Blend can crash more easily so I wanted to wrap up with that to validate.
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I got some pics of the build but they are not that good. I might need to take the windows out to prevent glare so you all can see how it really looks once I finish everything.


You can see my old computer behind it.




Also I want to note that if you look at fan RPM in that prime run you will notice they are not running at 100% speed this is because my curve is set for 3.5 delta T to be 100%. I want to figure out if I can set a secondary fan profile that will speed them up in the event cpu temps go over 55 or something. This way I can force them to 100% to keep core temps lower when needed. In most other tests cpu never breaks 45c under full load but these types of benchmarks really heat things up more than real workloads do. Oh btw I got the 3.5 delta T value from that being the max that it rose whith both the cpu and gpu loaded with max heat output with fans at 100%.
 
#17 ·
Ok so yesterday I got the light strip in and got it hooked up. I also got a new 140.2 fan filter and mounted it outside (to replace the one I cut up and ruined). Also the 140mm filter I was using internally over the 120mm intake on the front always had bad contact with the case and would fall off sometimes so I got some double sided tape to fix this. I got 3/4" but I had to cut it down so if you want stronger tape for your filters to mount the magnets I would recommend that you buy the 1/2" so you do not need to do any cutting on the edges. I greatly reduced the length of the heatshrink and at this length it exactly fits with the side panel on.

Now here is the latest pics:

Here you can see the 3-pin power connector used for the light strip. The heat shrink was way too long, unbelievably so and thus I cut it shorter. I used a kiridashi to cut into it moving toward the connector and then pealed it back to the cut slots.




Some updates pics of the build.


Here you see the light strip installed. I used the 7.5" length one and I used my go to solution to mounting, industrial Velcro. I needed something thick enough to have the space to mount and something you would not notice. All the black blocks are the Velcro. The glue on this stuff is really strong so I am confident of the bond. The stick is very light so I am sure the Velcro will hold for the life of the GPU.


Here you can see the back end and the power wire come off the strip.

Below is some more pics of the build with the led strip in:




Yes that is a ms natural pro you see reflected in there, now you know why I wanted a PS/2 port...

I am thinking of buying the controller package for the pump so that I can have the brightness of the leds for the gpu change on a "fan curve" that matches a software value but for now I am happy with it.

I also got a lot more bleeding done, the day before yesterday I added an additional 25ml of coolant. So far the build has taken about 925ml of coolant to fill. I continue to bleed but the air that I am able to extract is very small at this point. I spent a few hours yesterday bleeding as well and managed to get a small bubble at the top of the res but it basically just fills the QD so you can not see it when the case is upright.

I plan to tidy up the SATA situation when I add the next SSD, even though you can not really see it knowing it is a mess still bothers me.
 
#19 ·
Not sure how I feel about naming a computer after the Arch Mage of Explosions, but the build looks great!

I'm a little surprised you didn't use a red fluid, too. What was the decision behind that?

And feel free to send us some high quality pictures of the finished build.
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#20 ·
Thank you everyone for the comments!
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I am not big into colored fluid, I prefer low maintenance. I figured the lights would take to the clear fluid better than the red to produce a better lighting effect as well.

Yea I got to take the windows out so I can kill the glare when it comes time for the finished pics. I will shoot some vids as well.

Also as far as explosions go I suppose you could say it has explosive performance or at the very least with the 1700 @ 4ghz it does kick out some explosive heat lol.
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#21 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by zeroibis View Post

Thank you everyone for the comments!
biggrin.gif


I am not big into colored fluid, I prefer low maintenance. I figured the lights would take to the clear fluid better than the red to produce a better lighting effect as well.

Yea I got to take the windows out so I can kill the glare when it comes time for the finished pics. I will shoot some vids as well.

Also as far as explosions go I suppose you could say it has explosive performance or at the very least with the 1700 @ 4ghz it does kick out some explosive heat lol.
tongue.gif
That led strip really lights up the acrylic of the gpu block, beautifully!
Industrial-grade Velcro has good holding power, I've even used it to secure my pumps, and it can be removed quite cleanly if needed.

Imo the red glow through the gpu block looks good with the clear coolant. I'm with you on not using colored fluid, stained blocks are not fun.
 
#22 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by zeroibis View Post

Thank you everyone for the comments!
biggrin.gif


I am not big into colored fluid, I prefer low maintenance. I figured the lights would take to the clear fluid better than the red to produce a better lighting effect as well.

Yea I got to take the windows out so I can kill the glare when it comes time for the finished pics. I will shoot some vids as well.

Also as far as explosions go I suppose you could say it has explosive performance or at the very least with the 1700 @ 4ghz it does kick out some explosive heat lol.
tongue.gif
The glow on the blocks does actually look really nice! A good reason to stick to clear fluid for sure
smile.gif


Definitely looking forward to the final pictures.

Haha I'll give you that, then. The 1700 is an excellent chip.
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#26 ·
I can not feel any vibrations with the rubber dampers part of it also could be that the place where it is bolted in is also very rigid compared to if I had attached the pump to the bottom of the case.

Unfortunately looks like I am not getting the m.2 heatsink until Monday. So I have entered without that part. The pics are below:






Also the dust filters have worked great, note that before I took those pics my system has run virtually 24/7. I HAVE NOT DUSTED OR CLEANED THE INSIDE OF THE CASE AT ALL IN THAT TIME. The only cleaning I have done is of the fan filters directly. Positive pressure helps a lit too and although my system usually runs fans sub 1300rpm often down in the 500s when gaming they are all blasting at full speed.

Note that when you press you hand on the side panels you can feel an ever so slight vibration. But when these fans are under 500 I can say the loudest thing is a quiet hum from the pump which you can only hear when you put your ear by it.

At 500rpm you can feel air come out the top vents indicating there is positive pressure even at these low rpms, now it is not blasting out there like when the fans are running faster but if you put your hand there you can feel it.
 
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