[Bart]

Subbed for inspiration on my own M8 build, since I don't have a clue how I'm going to run the tubing.

You seem to know what you're doing, so I'll be following your re-build with much interest! Looks great man!

 

[DiGiCiDAL]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jeffinslaw

Hmmm... I say go for the pedestal! Make life easier

and I also like the sLight idea as well! That would make things really pop in the all black case!

Jeffinslaw

Yeah I think it will definitely look better - plus after all of the machinations I've gone through thus far in this build - once I get it all back together finally... if I get 'the itch' again in the next year or so - that will be directed at a different build. I'm sick of not having a computer that's easily accessable (had to temporarily shelve my iMac just to have more working room at chair level because doing everything hunched over on the floor was doing a number on my back). Sucks getting old.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bart

Subbed for inspiration on my own M8 build, since I don't have a clue how I'm going to run the tubing.

You seem to know what you're doing, so I'll be following your re-build with much interest! Looks great man!

Welcome aboard! Yeah, the tubing runs aren't as straightforward as one might like in this case. That's one of the main problems that precipitate my decision to go ahead with the pedestal. Once I had the UT60s on the PSU side I discovered that a rad on the bottom (at least in push-pull configuration) couldn't have the tubing running through the lower grommeted hole in the case. I could have left the left-most pull fan off and made it with 3 fittings (90+extension+90) or drilled for a passthrough bung - but that would have been in a very thin place on the divider plate.

Also with a rad in the roof of the CPU side (even the smaller XT45 that's now in place there) you still can't have anything - even a fan controller - in the topmost flexbay slot.

I'm definitely learning as I go, but I'll make sure there's plenty of pictures to document how things are laid out - and if there's anything you have questions on or want me to take very close shots of to aid in your own build... just let me know and I'll try to get them up ASAP!

Oh and welcome to CaseLabs country!

 

[DiGiCiDAL]

OK so more for documentation purposes than anything else - here are a couple of my finished project... which immediately got un-finished and is now going to get un-finished completely so that I can do a pedestal and have the easiest time ever dealing with the tubing runs and wiring... who knows, before I'm done I might just go hard tubing like B-Neg is always tempting me to do with his builds.

So where it all ended first:
http://s1295.photobucket.com/user/digicidal/media/DSC_0119_zps226f7528.jpg.html

http://s1295.photobucket.com/user/digicidal/media/DSC_0118_zps01cf736e.jpg.html

And then where it is today (before deconstruction AGAIN

)
http://s1295.photobucket.com/user/digicidal/media/DSC_0139_zpsf495f1ac.jpg.html

And HERE is where the problems start to become visible...
http://s1295.photobucket.com/user/digicidal/media/DSC_0138_zps02dcc479.jpg.html
(Notice how I haven't even run ANY of my PSU wiring yet - except for the two needed to power the fans - which are hanging out anyway)!

Then there's THIS little problem...
http://s1295.photobucket.com/user/digicidal/media/DSC_0137_zps420f9ed9.jpg.html
I'd like to have that tube (above) come through that hole... but that ain't happening any time soon...

Because...
http://s1295.photobucket.com/user/digicidal/media/DSC_0136_zps72fb87dc.jpg.html
See that fitting on the back connection? That's about 1 1/4" above that hole - and there's about 1/2" space between the side of the UT60 and the divider plate... so even with some creative triple rotary action - I'd still have to drill.

Plus there's the whole (I wanted push-pull on both UT60s so I could run the fans as low as 600-700RPM for complete silence) coupled with the problem that by the time I have the drives wired, and all the PSU cabling and tubing fitted in there somewhere... there's going to be almost no room for the air to move anyway - plus I'll have to run my front fans faster just to maintain positive pressure to make sure that it doesn't start sucking dust and cat hair in through the unfiltered ventilated side panel... cuz I'm sure not going to put a window on that side with how ugly it's going to look!

However, I just got my confirmation email from CaseLabs... my pedestal is on the way - so now I can concentrate much more on making a clean and neat rig with no concern for logistics as far as component placement. In my first build I had to put the drives on the CPU side and the res on the PSU side - now everything can have it's place and I'll still have plenty of room to expand for more drives, or more rads, etc down the road.

 

[Bart]

Looking forward to your work with that pedestal man!! I might have a line on a used one, and it's got me re-thinking my own plans. These big cases aren't so big when you stuff thick rads into them.

 

[DiGiCiDAL]

Well, look at what arrived early! I love the fact that I can have something from CaseLabs shipped FedEx standard ground and still get it 2 days later! I really feel bad for the guys in Canada, or even worse in the EU... the wait must be hell.

So without further ado.. the box:

Now opened:

And assembled (up to rad supports) I probably will assemble fans, rads, supports, etc.. outside for easy installation... but need to spend some time measuring clearances before I decide if I'm going push-pull on both or just push.


Everything was up to the usual CaseLabs level of quality... which is to say INSANELY FANTASTIC! Everything was packed flawlessly, separated by bubble wrap, bagged and labled appropriately. The instructions for the assembly were very clear and precise... and totally unnecessary - however, I can see how it might be possible to put the top and bottom together incorrectly (one of them facing the wrong direction)... but not if you noticed that there's an extra hole drilled in the side to indicate orientation... everything was included along with a few extras of each screw, etc.

Once again, you pay a little bit more for these - but you get 10X more than you pay for IMHO... at least if you consider cases from Corsair, Antec, etc... to be "reasonably priced" that is. They really can't come anywhere close - and I doubt they would even if they were charging $400-500 for an 800D!

 

[DiGiCiDAL]

Well, I had to put another order for fittings in today - I keep changing my mind on the loop configuration...

Originally I had planned to put the pump down below in the pedestal - but then I thought about contingencies... mainly that if I had a pump failure... I'd have to drain/disassemble everything just to get to it. If I put it in the main area of the case then I've got easy access - and only need to get into the pedestal if I lose a fan on my rads. So at the moment I'm thinking of something like this:

RES->MCP35X->XT45->CPU->GPU->GPU->UT60->UT60->RES

I've ordered a T-fitting and a passthrough for routing a drain from the rear ports on both UT60's in the pedestal - so I can put the drain out the back of the ped, and just open my 'fillport' (top port on the XT45) with a book under the front casters for good, fast drainage. Should get everything but a little bit in the UT60s maybe without using air to pressurize from the top.

Oh, also ordered by two sheets of acrylic for the lightbox - we'll see how that turns out before I decide if it's a go or not.

 

[dougb62]

Subbed! Awesome build!

 

[DiGiCiDAL]

Quote:

Originally Posted by dougb62

Subbed! Awesome build!

Welcome aboard for the second go-around! Also... love the avatar...

Don't catch him much anymore - unless he's on Coast-to-Coast as a guest and I'm up late... but still.

On a related, and totally off-topic note, KNYE and his house in Pahrump is right next door to my wife's uncle's property out there. I could never find his house until I realized I could just drive towards that trailer with the 90ft antenna in the back yard! LOL! Of course now I think he's in the Philippines...

 

[dougb62]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DiGiCiDAL

On a related, and totally off-topic note, KNYE and his house in Pahrump is right next door to my wife's uncle's property out there. I could never find his house until I realized I could just drive towards that trailer with the 90ft antenna in the back yard! LOL! Of course now I think he's in the Philippines...

Actually, he's currently back in Pahrump. His "No Compete" is up... and he's looking for an appropriate gig. I am impatiently waiting. Remember "Art's Parts"?

Speaking of parts...
And now - back to the topic

 

[DiGiCiDAL]

So I wanted to get a little progress done today but several things came up (life stuff, not build stuff) and I have some unexpected modding that has to occur before getting down to business...


As you can see, the radiator mounts for the M8 pedestal are not created with alphacool radiators in mind (or any other radiators with ports on both sides of the rad for that matter).

Close up of problem:


Not a huge deal, but it is one that will cause me to crack out the tools. I had originally thought I could simply invert the rad mount so that the frame protruded from the sides of the pedestal. Although this will technically work... you won't be able to put the side covers on...

Needless to say that's not an option in my book! Plus it's really not necessary as there is so little material that needs to be cut away. I have to decide whether I'm just going to grind away a round area that's just large enough to clear the ports on that side, or if I'm going to just cut away a section 1/2" or so along the whole side. I'm thinking probably the latter, but the former would definitely be 'cleaner' as far as appearance. I'm not too worried either way as they won't be visible once the side panels are in place.

That is a good thing because I'm fairly tool-challenged at the moment - OK not so much in not having tools, but more in the fact that I don't have a shop area to work with since I'm still slowly unpacking and my garage is stuffed with boxes, etc.

 

[Jeffinslaw]

That is a phat rad! I can only fit dual XT45s on the bottom of my Little Devil lol.

Jeffinslaw

 

[DiGiCiDAL]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jeffinslaw

That is a phat rad! I can only fit dual XT45s on the bottom of my Little Devil lol.

Jeffinslaw

Yep, it sure is! I really think the UT60 is pretty much the sweet spot between absolute performance and practically useful. The XT45 (I've got one of those too in this build) is on the other side. Any smaller (like the 25-30mm rads) and you either need many of them, or you're not going to be beating good air cooling by much. You'll still do a little better, but that's why I don't care for the CLC's for the most part. You need a really high FPI to make it useable. I'd much rather have a high-flowing (both air and water) rad that's thicker.

But the guys running Monstas...

OK, I admit it looks cool and (provided you run your fans fast enough) can offload some impressive wattage into the air... but with 25mm thick fans you're talking about 13cm (so just over 5 inches) for a single rad if you run it push pull. I could pull that off in this pedestal, but then there would only be about 3.5" clearance in between them! And the weight would be substantial as well.

In your LD are you going to be running the XT45s as push-pull or push only? I'm looking forward to seeing everything going in there.

 

[Jeffinslaw]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DiGiCiDAL

Yep, it sure is! I really think the UT60 is pretty much the sweet spot between absolute performance and practically useful. The XT45 (I've got one of those too in this build) is on the other side. Any smaller (like the 25-30mm rads) and you either need many of them, or you're not going to be beating good air cooling by much. You'll still do a little better, but that's why I don't care for the CLC's for the most part. You need a really high FPI to make it useable. I'd much rather have a high-flowing (both air and water) rad that's thicker.

But the guys running Monstas...

OK, I admit it looks cool and (provided you run your fans fast enough) can offload some impressive wattage into the air... but with 25mm thick fans you're talking about 13cm (so just over 5 inches) for a single rad if you run it push pull. I could pull that off in this pedestal, but then there would only be about 3.5" clearance in between them! And the weight would be substantial as well.

In your LD are you going to be running the XT45s as push-pull or push only? I'm looking forward to seeing everything going in there.

I'll be going with just push on the XTs in the base. I don't think I will have enough room to do push-pull... will have to check again on how B-Neg did his. I know he used XSPC rads but if they are the same thickness and he did push-pull, then I can do it too. I will be using another XT45 in push pull on the top though, so 1,440MM of cooling space! Super excited!

Jeffinslaw

 

[DiGiCiDAL]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jeffinslaw

I'll be going with just push on the XTs in the base. I don't think I will have enough room to do push-pull... will have to check again on how B-Neg did his. I know he used XSPC rads but if they are the same thickness and he did push-pull, then I can do it too. I will be using another XT45 in push pull on the top though, so 1,440MM of cooling space! Super excited!

Jeffinslaw

I think it should work, but it will be very tight I'm sure. If you figure 96mm for fan+rad+fan and another 1mm for mounting bracket... times 2 you're still under 200mm and the case is 220mm wide (so you should have a little over an inch between the two). You definitely aren't putting anything else in there, but you would still have enough space for tubing runs to go between them. The downside, sort of, is that you'd definitely have to run directional flow because there isn't enough space between to feed them well (or exhaust if reversed) for all cold intakes. Of course, with the extra amount of cooling capacity you'll have... that's not much of an issue.

The other aspect of the XT45's is they are actually not helped much by push-pull if you're running fans that are at least 1000RPM or higher on them. You'd probably get better performance running 1 set of fans per rad and having both rads pulling cold air in opposing directions. You'll have to test it to see for sure but that would be my guess.

 

[Jeffinslaw]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DiGiCiDAL

I think it should work, but it will be very tight I'm sure. If you figure 96mm for fan+rad+fan and another 1mm for mounting bracket... times 2 you're still under 200mm and the case is 220mm wide (so you should have a little over an inch between the two). You definitely aren't putting anything else in there, but you would still have enough space for tubing runs to go between them. The downside, sort of, is that you'd definitely have to run directional flow because there isn't enough space between to feed them well (or exhaust if reversed) for all cold intakes. Of course, with the extra amount of cooling capacity you'll have... that's not much of an issue.

The other aspect of the XT45's is they are actually not helped much by push-pull if you're running fans that are at least 1000RPM or higher on them. You'd probably get better performance running 1 set of fans per rad and having both rads pulling cold air in opposing directions. You'll have to test it to see for sure but that would be my guess.

That last option was what I was going to do. I plan to have all of the rads intake and all of the case fans as exhaust. That way, both rads in the bottom will be pulling in cold air. So if by going just push, and then having the air exhausted by the fan at the front of the case, it should have some good temps, I will for sure test it and find out which one works best.

Jeffinslaw

 

[PCModderMike]

Heeeeeey didn't know you had a log, and it's using one of my fav cases. Subbed for sure.

 

[DiGiCiDAL]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jeffinslaw

That last option was what I was going to do. I plan to have all of the rads intake and all of the case fans as exhaust. That way, both rads in the bottom will be pulling in cold air. So if by going just push, and then having the air exhausted by the fan at the front of the case, it should have some good temps, I will for sure test it and find out which one works best.

Jeffinslaw

I'm kind of changing my thinking on this one - and I think I'll be doing the same on mine. I might do a straight through design however. Now that my case will no longer fit under a desk (with pedestal and casters it will be ~31" tall) I'm thinking of rearranging my office and doing a "hybrid sandwich" for the pedestal - I'm coining that term now!

If I run both my UT60s in the pedestal push pull going from left to right as you look at it so INTAKE->UT60->EXHAUST |SPACE| INTAKE->UT60->EXHAUST. I'm thinking then I'll put a flexbay with an intake fan in the front blowing more fresh into the middle, so there's a mixture of cool fresh air and exhausted warm air from the first UT60 in the chamber.

The advantages of the former configuration (like you're considering) are obvious... maximum cooling potential. Plus I could uncover the rear 140mm fan ports but just put finger guards on them to let the air just be pushed out the back (still doing intake flex bay in the middle). However, the advantages to the latter configuration is that my desks will be to the left of the case - and the door to the hallway and the air return for the AC is just outside that door... so I'd have less hot air mixing into my office which is on the western side of the house. I think I'd be willing to give up a couple degrees of cooling capacity to have less heat pushing into the room. Have to think about that some more.

Quote:

Originally Posted by PCModderMike

Heeeeeey didn't know you had a log, and it's using one of my fav cases. Subbed for sure.

Welcome aboard. Yeah, I'm kind of under the radar... but at least with the first incarnation that made sense because it's a ninja-build.

This time around it's going to be a little more in-your-face I think.

And now with a tiny bit of progress... modding complete (not my best cuts ever, but not my worst - and it's not like I'm going for a magazine cover here... plus it's going to be behind the side cover anyway).

Cut away about 3/4" - way more than necessary, but still leaving plenty of extra material for strength, and at least that way I knew it would fit no matter what I did on that side (like maybe add a temp probe in one of those ports.



With one of the UT60s test fitted with push pull fans installed! However I used the 'wrong UT60' for this side - so I've either got to flip the inside fans so the wire are aimed upwards and swap the fittings - or pull the whole thing and put it on the opposite side... and flip the outside fans but keep the fittings the same.

I've decided that if there's ever a situation where there is a 50% chance of being right purely on dumb luck... I will somehow manage to pick the wrong thing 100% of the time.

And here's a tipped-up view from above showing the space you have in here! Really if it weren't for having to run tubing, you could almost put an optical drive in between this setup! Nice and roomy.

 

[Jeffinslaw]

You'll have LOTS of room in that pedestal!

Jeffinslaw

 

[DiGiCiDAL]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jeffinslaw

You'll have LOTS of room in that pedestal!

Jeffinslaw

IKR? I almost wish I'd gone with Monstas now that I can see the room... I could have run 2 push pull and still fit tubing runs between, but this way will be much, much easier to work with easily... and I might just stick my pump down there instead of up top... and just hope it never has problems until I'm ready to do a serious upgrade cycle.

 

[DiGiCiDAL]

Well, I've had some other work around the house to do (much of it plumbing tasks) so didn't really feel like working on more plumbing-type stuff too much.

But some progress has been made... as usual this involved more of my money disappearing into the hands of Bitspower via FCPU...

What the hell was I focusing on here?!?! Don't take pictures when your eyes are too tired to focus well and decide to let AF do it's thing... the results are meh.

This is a little bit better..


And we're finally starting to see things taking shape. @Jeffinslaw... yep I've got plenty of room in there.

Trying very hard not to just order a pair of Monstas 'just cuz'

However, not like I am really going to need/use Monstas so these will have to do:

I really didn't like the alphacool stickers... one was lopsided and the other had nicks in it... so they went in the garbage... no one will see this regardless... but I'll know it looks better.

I decided to go with side intakes on both so I've uncovered the rear 140mm fan holes, but I'll just be putting wire finger guards on them with no fans. For one thing it won't be necessary, for another thing there's not enough room for them and my plumbing since I flipped the rads. And for a final thing... I'm going to put a drain back there which will be totally hidden, but will require access to the middle of the pedestal. So there will be a front intake 120mm fan at 600RPM 'helping' the air coming in from both sides to 'find the exit holes' at the rear. OK actually it is more there to push cold air over the pump if I decide to put it in the pedestal rather than on the CPU side. LOL!

More to come as I get a chance... just ordered something interesting... details to appear here and in the WC thread probably soon.