[Alxz]

I am back with some updates!

With the tubes plates now I can start cutting them to fit the loop, here are some photos of how the connections will look like in the end:

For the storage, I will be using the following:

1x4TB Predator NVMe (main OS/Linux)
3x2TB PM961 NVMe (1 - RTFS/Timeshift Backup for everything but /home and /root, 2 - Windows which I rarely use, 3 - /Virtual Machines [Windows, Cisco Virtual Machines for Network Modelings, etc]
4x2TB PM863 for RAID for more backusp (RTFS/Timeshift, /home backup, /vms backup)

And on the next post: Cable Sleeving!

 

[Alxz]

Sleeving is not the thing I enjoy the most, but the thing I put my best effort for it to look nice, here are some photos of the process.

Tools I used:

From Mainframe Customs:

Teleios - Gunmetal Gray 25ft​	3​	$20.25​
Teleios - Silver 25ft​	3​	$20.25​
Teleios 2mm - Gunmetal Gray 1ft​	10​	$2.50​
MC Custom 16AWG Wire - Black 25ft​	6​	$41.94​
OverkillPC's Knuckle Combs - Silver - 24pin Style: 24pin	4​	$15.00​
Female ATX Terminal (18AWG/16AWG) - (100 Count)​

Terminals (from ModMyMods)

MMM 4-Pin Molex Female Connector - Black (MOD-0114)​	MOD-0114​	6​
MMM 5-Pin SATA "Push In' Female Connector - Black (MOD-0248)​	MOD-0248​	4​
MMM 5-Pin SATA "Push In" End Cover- Black (MOD-0249)​	MOD-0249​	4​
MMM 5-Pin SATA "Push In" Pass-Through Cover - Black (MOD-0250)​	MOD-0250​	4​
MMM Molex Male Pin - 4 Pack (MOD-0121)​	MOD-0121​	6​
MMM 8-Pin EPS Female Connector - Black (MOD-0098)​	MOD-0098​	3​
MMM 8-Pin PCI-E Female Connector - Black (MOD-0100)​	MOD-0100​	3​
MMM 4-Pin Molex Male Connector - Black (MOD-0113)​	MOD-0113​	6​
MMM 22 AWG Ul1007 Hookup Wire - Black (MOD-0269)​	MOD-0269​	20​

For the Crimper:

It is an old model I have always used, I think I got it from amazon or something:

Motherboard -24PIN + Aluminum Combs

2x8 PSU Pins, combs made by me with the CNC machine (2mm thick acrylic)

3x8 PCIe / GPU Cables with 24 pin combs (self-made)

I did not like how the aluminum combs looked like on the 24 GPU pin so I changed these at the very end.


Most of my devices that use molex 4 pin connections are located at the top of the case, while the PSU is at the bottom. I did not like the idea of routing multiple molex cables from the PSU to the top so I made some custom PCBs for a molex hub board.

Soldered some molex male pins I found on aliexpress and had to convert all my molex devices from having male connector to female (as I could not find pcb-solderable molex male pins).

Here is the aquaero cable sleeved and converted to female-female using some headers from ModMyMods. I also made some 4-pin combs for it! The molex hub is attached with velcro from wallmart

Seamless connection from the side!

Next are the pumps.
These are DDC-LT version 4 from alphacool, these fit quite nicely on the 5.25 bay from the Ascension case, but the screws are a bit high so it pushes the bay sides a bit to outside.

I will replace the pump cases with ModUltra Slammer DDC heatsinks, these were the only ones in the market with the proper height to be used with the 5.25 bays

Heatsinks

De-soldering the pump cables and sleeving them:

Had a change of heart at last moment and decided to go with full grey cables

First pump assembled!

Second Pump too:

And attached to the case, here is where I realize that the molex hub was such a good idea!!

And a side off-topic

I have a certification exam for what I do as a job, I am a network engineer and will be doing a CCIE wireless lab on september, a photo of some of the equipment I had to borrow to study

Next Post - Loop will be done with some more tweaks still to go

 

[Alxz]

Now most of the stuff is sleeved and the loop is ready to be built.

Before that, I have been working around the Ascension case with the feet/wheels on it as it is a very heavy case to be moving around.... but this time the final build is coming closer and I will need to replace these, under no circumstance I will be using a case with wheels on top of my desk.

The feet I will be using, also from mountainmods:

Connecting the basic stuff and leak testing it for some hours

Aaand it is alive!

I replaced the aluminium combs from the GPU cables as these were deforming the height of the cable way too much (the separation between holes is quite big) so I ended up making some custom combs myself again.

Here is the almost finished product!

Of course the front-panel cables and aquaero USB look horrible !! I will be working on these details next weeks!

Pending so far:

• Optical Drive installation
• Front Panel USB installation
• Sleeving more molex adatpers for the 5.25 bay devices
• Sleeving around 10 sata cables / buy something already sleeved from Corsair maybe
• Making some special combs for these sata cables
• Sleeving front panel cables
• LED strips
• Temperature Sensors and Aquasuite setup
• Some LEDs for the reservoir
• Creating a PSU shroud from a metal sheet, here is the design:

And another keyboard I just got/built :

Nazaré 1-60
Loobed Switches Oaks / Hand Lubed
JTK Hanami Keycaps

Thanks again for watching as always!

 

[Alxz]

Am I dead? Not yet
Will there be updates any time soon? Not until February I think!

But a sneak peak of what will come next....

 

[Barefooter]

Love this build! Looking forward to more updates!

 

[kgd1]

Beautiful Build!

 

[ebeeze]

Wow... just wow... thank you so much Alxz for showing us all what it means to be an enthusiast. These are the types of builds I log onto the forums for and draw inspiration from. This is truly a work of art, of which much detail has gone into. I haven't had the time to FULLY go through your entire build log as it is QUITE extensive lol, but definitely appreciate you documenting all the steps along the way! I too first started falling in love with Custom PCs in High school but could never afford one until my early adulthood where I was and still am budget-focused first.
Recently got back into building and pulled the trigger on an upgrade from my Ryzen 2700X/RX 580 build I had been rockin for YEARS as Micro Center just opened by me! (FINALLYYYYY, I had been praying they'd open one in FL and they did! Just 45min or so away from where I live) I ended up picking up an AM5 Bundle including the 7700x/Gigagbyte Gaming X AX V2/G. Skill 32GB 6000Mhz CL32 for $350 (fkn steal!) alongside a PNY 3080 XLR8 for $350 as well! (ty Amazon Primeday). I decided to go for it and build it in a case that immediately caught my eye in Micro Center, the Montech King 95 Pro and am LOVING the final build. I plan on doing a build log for this bad boy (or girl? still haven't decided) soon enough and I just wanted to thank you for again, bringing some great content to this forum with your build log, cheers.

 

[monstermawd]

Followed Ben Rising since he launched his cases and this Best Mountain Mods build Ive ever seen.

 

[Alxz]

Love this build! Looking forward to more updates!

Hopefully will get this one updated in February, more stuff yet to come, starting with the financial mistake I just made:

Next time: Pedestal Watercooling and TRX50!

Beautiful Build!

Thank you so much, I hope you enjoyed it

Wow... just wow... thank you so much Alxz for showing us all what it means to be an enthusiast. These are the types of builds I log onto the forums for and draw inspiration from. This is truly a work of art, of which much detail has gone into. I haven't had the time to FULLY go through your entire build log as it is QUITE extensive lol, but definitely appreciate you documenting all the steps along the way! I too first started falling in love with Custom PCs in High school but could never afford one until my early adulthood where I was and still am budget-focused first.
Recently got back into building and pulled the trigger on an upgrade from my Ryzen 2700X/RX 580 build I had been rockin for YEARS as Micro Center just opened by me! (FINALLYYYYY, I had been praying they'd open one in FL and they did! Just 45min or so away from where I live) I ended up picking up an AM5 Bundle including the 7700x/Gigagbyte Gaming X AX V2/G. Skill 32GB 6000Mhz CL32 for $350 (fkn steal!) alongside a PNY 3080 XLR8 for $350 as well! (ty Amazon Primeday). I decided to go for it and build it in a case that immediately caught my eye in Micro Center, the Montech King 95 Pro and am LOVING the final build. I plan on doing a build log for this bad boy (or girl? still haven't decided) soon enough and I just wanted to thank you for again, bringing some great content to this forum with your build log, cheers.

I can really tell that you feel the same way as I do about this hobby, and that build that you just got sounds sick, please do a Build Log, it is the best way to keep this part of the hobby alive )

Followed Ben Rising since he launched his cases and this Best Mountain Mods build Ive ever seen.

Thank you for your kind words! These are really motivational Hopefully one day Ben takes a look of what I made!

 

[PatrickCrowely]

Real slick build!

 

[M.n.M]

This was awesome. Former addict, myself. ****, seeing this thread, I'm starting to regret giving this thing away to a former colleague.

 

[Alxz]

Alright! I am back from my trip and ready to continue on this project

I am thinking on re-doing a lot of things, starting with the fact that the pedestal will be part of it now, I need to plan the use of the pedestal accordingly.

Real slick build!

Thank you! Hopefully this build does not change so much to your liking during this year!

This was awesome. Former addict, myself. ****, seeing this thread, I'm starting to regret giving this thing away to a former colleague.

View attachment 2691206

What a beauty! Is that a UFO? I wish I could afford an UFO right now, but I really do not have anywhere to put it! (I've even considered myself to migrate from Ascension+Pedestal to UFO extended + pedestal, but I like the massiveness of this case the way it is right now ). I also can relate on how it feels to giving away such cases, specially if they are considered a piece from the past nowadays.


------------------------------------------------------- Build Continues -----------------------------------------------------------

Parts have arrived! The new core of the system:

CPU: AMD Threadripper 7980X - I was originally going to move from the 5975WX to 5995WX but I ended up getting this one at a very good price! This time I do not plan on upgrading anytime soon after this one. 64/128 is a blessing as I do network simulation for a living!

And after a lot of debating of which motherboard to use, I had to decide between the following ones for this build:

ASUS TRX50 Sage WIFI - Pros: Good looking, balanced board, very good power delivery, good amount of PCIe express slots, you can install IMPI later - Cons: BT does not seem to work in Linux 6.8, and the SlimSAS connector is NVMe only... this one is a literal insult, SATA should be supported as well...
ASrock TRX50 WS - Pros: Best I/Os, MCIO/SlimSAS (Sata Support), normal power delivery, cheapest option - Cons: Ugly as hell tbh
Gigabyte TRX50 AI TOP - Pros: Best looking board, can re-use RAM blocks - Cons: Reduced PCIE slots, no SlimSas, no MCIO, expensive, I do not see people buying it...


And the winner was....

Originally I intended to buy the ASrock for the price and features, but importing it to Mexico, without warranty and taxes... Asus ended up being a better option for local pickup.

And for the ram: Re-branded Micron 96GB RDIMM from NEMIX RAM. I only ordered one at first, mainly to see if the system boots or not

So time for the truth:

And it boots!

I will wait for my other 3 RDIMMs to arrive before migrating my system, however, this will imply newer waterblocks, new tubing, more machining.

But before that, the pedestal needs to happen first, let's see what will be next for this build this next month

Thanks for visiting my post as always, here a picture of the keyboard(s) of the month: Top to Bottom: Keycult 1/65, Singa Kohaku and TGR 910

 

[acoustic]

I love following this build. So much excellent work and attention to detail.

The Molex boards were such a great idea. I wish that was a common case feature! Molex board and SATA board for powering peripherals.

 

[M.n.M]

What a beauty! Is that a UFO? I wish I could afford an UFO right now, but I really do not have anywhere to put it! (I've even considered myself to migrate from Ascension+Pedestal to UFO extended + pedestal, but I like the massiveness of this case the way it is right now ). I also can relate on how it feels to giving away such cases, specially if they are considered a piece from the past nowadays.

From a 20 year old email!

Spoiler: Mountain Mods Order from 1/3/2005

Item Name: U2-UFO SOLID TOP
Item Number: U2UFOBS
Quantity: 1
Total: $265.00 USD

Item Name: VANTEC NEXUS FAN-CONTROLLER (SILVER)
Item Number: NXP201S
Quantity: 1
Total: $20.99 USD

Item Name: 120MM Silver Aluminum Fan Filter
Item Number: 120FAS
Quantity: 5
Total: $19.95 USD

Item Name: 80MM Silver Aluminum Fan Filter
Item Number: 80FAS
Quantity: 4
Total: $11.96 USD

Item Name: 3 PIN Y CONNECTOR
Item Number: 3PINY
Quantity: 10
Total: $6.90 USD

Hindsight is 20-20. Despite the uniqueness of a double-wide case, including the incredible cooling capacity, there were unforeseen limitations with the solid-top model. Yes, cost was a concern, but it sure got annoying removing all of those thumb screws and also having to allocate enough physical space to work on it. It's weird to suggest that I outgrew this case, but it wasn't the right choice for a system requiring frequent hands-on attention.

Fast-forwarding to present day, and discovering your thread, it's evident that cases such as the Ascension that you chose, have evolved quite a bit to address the limitations of the past. When I saw those images with the case opened up and the triple radiator setup fitting in there nicely, I was like, "damn, those things have come a long way!"

A monster Threadripper setup is exactly the prescription for such a build. In my mind, it's the computer equivalent to something like this:

Looking forward to see your progress on this build.

 

[Alxz]

It is now February, and with that comes the re-build of Tree Diagram

The build is now completely tear down, because the pedestal imposes a challenge with the current design, the distro plates might need to be re-designed.

Now I am running a 7980X with 384 of DDR5 RDIMMs
"5600hz in Quad Channel. The number of cores is simply ridiculous.

Now, the current build is sitting on a spare motherboard tray also from Mountain Mods (I got two because of the Duality model). And I was able to use the Alphacool NoVa Radiator once for all... which is temporary that radiator will serve a purpose as external radiator for the living room PC.

Now, the first challenge are the RAM waterblocks. Because these are RDIMMs, they have some coils at the center that makes them incompatible with all RAM heatsinks/blocks.

I will try to mill something similar to this:

Hopefully today or tomorrow I can get to mill these, to use them on the new blocks I got from IceMan:

This was a short update but wanted to let you know that this build is alive again!

 

[Alxz]

Today was very productive.

DDR5 RDIMMs and Heatsinks have a compatibility problem where the coils are too tall for pretty much any heatsink available. I will re-use the DDR4 heatsinks I got from Bitspower from the previous WRX80 platform and do a small modification with the CNC

And the final result!

Not the most precise job but it works ! The 4 sticks together for a total of 384GB of DDR5 RDIMM @ 5600. I bought these from NEMIX RAM and the support was great, the sticks had no errors or warnings when running different memory tests (Memtest86+) and stress tests (Aida64)

Looking good on the motherboard

But looking better with the waterblocks from IceMan and the pipe work

Next steps for this week: Pedestal !

 

[DigitalJack3t]

Wow. That's one helluva build!

 

[Alxz]

Hi everybody, this week I had the chance to do some things for the build

First of all things, I must admit that the pedestal gives this build a very different vibe. It simply looks monstrous, which I like! I used some old 480 radiators, Coolgate G2s (old school stuff again!). I am waiting for the fans, not P28s from Lian Li but a cheaper alternative, P12 PWMs from Arctic which will only be in use under stress/high temperature conditions .

I cannot do much with the pedestal in this state, I do not even know what to put on the 3x5.25 bays, I will close these for now. I might order a 3x5.25 cover from MMs later this or next month. While I wait on the fans, I started working on the Aquacomputer PowerAdjust modules (the third one with heatsinks will arrive later this month).

Making these double/joined cables is a pain in the a**, very fragile when it comes to crimping. I used AWG18 for them. I wanted to avoid the heatshrink, but the sleeving (Teleios) won't hold well on the union to provide a secure fit.

And the almost finished product! I will make some combs for the large 4pin Molex connector later this week. I plan on adding the PA3 heatsinks which I could only find in red. I also need to make smaller aquabus cables for these.

And with this rebuild, I will remove the side distro-plate and replace it with an actual aluminium cover. I will design it using the finest measurement tools known by man.

And that was enough to make this:

I have to admit that this panel was a last minute idea which I shamelessly stole from @Darkened
I plan to use it for SATA combing and add some LEDs on it, but again, please go check this build log which is one of the neatest things I've seen recently!!

https://www.overclock.net/threads/build-log-orange-monster-mockup-continues-2025-01-26.1814424/?post_id=29419484#post-29419484

Tomorrow I will go pick some acrylic for the new distro plates, I hope to machine them this week.

Thanks as usual for following!

 

[Alxz]

I am back with more updates

A new distro plate will replace the top one, it is basically the same design, just matching the length of the motherboard
tray.

The reason for the change is that the side distro plate will be removed and replaced with the aluminium cover I designed (which I hope it will arrive next week!).


In the meantime, I finished the two bottom distro plates that will be filling up the holes of the bottom panel that connects to the pedestal.

And it fits very nicely on the first slot of the bottom panel! this will connect directly to the top distro plate.

I also finished the other bottom distro plate, it still does not have the inlets/outlets for the CPU/RAM blocks, I will machine these after I position the motherboard to match it. I decided on this approach so every time I change the CPU/RAM blocks, the bottom distro can be easily replaced with a new machined top, to align with the new blocks.

And during that time; I also completed a new keyboard an HHKB JIS from my latest Japan Trip + a Sho Snipe JP custom comission with that white terrazo-ish finish!

 

[Alxz]

I ordered some WS2812 A-RGB strips for the lights on the build. I do not really like builds with thousand colors moving in the form of RGB, but controllable light is something I did not make on the previous iteration of this build.

Starting with the reservoir, let's take a look at it's original form:

This is a reservoir from 2014! Let alone ARGB but RGB was still in baby steps on the computer building scene, if you are old enough you might immediately know what was supposed to go on the top of that radiator. The answer is this:

I personally loved cold cathodes, the UV ones were my favorite thing! Unfortunately these do not illuminate that much and they require an inverter to work. So instead of these, I will be making an acrylic bar for an ASRGB LED strip, to fill the space left by these cathodes, fix the ARGB strip safely and also provide a frosted surface for light to spread evenly.

And it works!

Next week:

Pedestal final wiring and tubing(soft tubing)
Aluminium side panel
Poweradjust heatsinks and final wiring
Fan wiring , crimping and sleeving
More RGB?

See you later!