[Case Mod, Build Log] MODell XPS: Xperimental Propulsion System

[Grinder]

This stuff should help. Although it will have to wait until I finish the shrouds/fan mounts. I will likely do a filter for the rad itself, and one for the front fans that I can remove easily for the full visual impact of the blades.

[Grinder]

Last week I had a small order come in from Daz, some angled fittings, cable combs, Dazprotect, and a pump bracket. I tried the pump mount (not the bracket I got from Daz) upside down, as I need it to be low. However I think it is touching against the bolts securing the mount to the bracket (note the deflection of the rubber dampener) and would transmit pump vibrations/noise. I'll put it back to normal orientation and try it to see if it is indeed too high to clear the GPU.

[wattermain]

Hey Grinder. Really enjoying your build log. Great being able to follow your build/ design decisions as you go. As for the pups, I'm thinking it's the guy right up front.

[Grinder]

Thanks wattermain, it is fun to solve these problems as I go! I guess that's the beauty of a build log, you get to see it unfold. As for the pups, we are holding out for a female. It will be our third, we lost the second one about two years ago.

I installed the reinforced vertical member and did a test placement of the rads. The front one looks centered pretty well, although I may try to raise it a tad if I have clearance from the GPU against the top of the pump/res mounted to the other side. Some of the weight will be taken up by felt pads on the bottom, and the rest by the XSPC 120mm rad brackets at the top and bottom.



I have managed to preserve the mechanism for the side panel as well.



And here is the rear rad. It won't fit directly against the back plate, but a fan in pull solves the problem. I'll have to paint this rad...



I reverted the pump mount to the correct orientation to avoid vibration, but as I suspected there isn't enough clearance. I should be able to mod the bracket or mount slightly to lower it.



I'm going with the main rad fans in pull to reduce noise and interference with the huge intake fans, and I don't want the view from the front to be of more fans, detracting from the whole turbine effect. Besides, the big ones aren't as noisy, so for light loads I probably won't have to spin up the 120's.

[Grinder]

I enlarged a couple of holes on the pump bracket and mount, allowing me to mount it lower without having to do the upside down orientation in the last pic. That gave me the clearance to raise the rad another 3/8 to be more centered in the intake air flow, while still having room for the GPU at the top of the res. Not really worth another pic though.

However I did paint the small rad. I used some old barbs to fill the 5 threaded holes and taped them up, then suspended it from our clothesline to paint it I made sure to back the barbs out a bit after painting so they weren't in contact with the paint when it set. As I was moving the rad, the wire on the rad end let go and I ended up painting the damn thing a second time.

[Grinder]

I am thinking of making some hardware changes. My current daily driver, another iteration of my Archon build, is a 5930k. I may move that to this build, since it is more than fast enough for me. I haven't even overclocked it yet, but when I do it should be a match for a stock 8700k given they are both 6 cores/12 threads. For sure the 8700k would be more overclockable and has a small IPC advantage, but the 5930k has quad channel memory, a bit more cache, and a ton more PCIe lanes. Archon currently has the GTX 1080 Sea Hawk EK X and a Corsair RM1000i. I could sell Archon configured with the 1080 and 8700k, and transfer the PSU, mobo, and 5930k to this build along with a pair of 390X's. I'm not at 4k for gaming, and am doing some tinkering with OpenCL, so the 390X's should be fine. That would also make it easier to sell Archon to folks who always think that a higher numbered CPU model is better

[Grinder]

Now it's time to install some closed cable combs on some Darkside sleeved PSU extensions that I got from Daz quite a while ago. Each pin will have to be removed and slipped through the cable comb holes. I do have a tool for the purpose that came in a mod smart sleeving kit I purchased ages ago, and I have also used the staple method to depress the tabs that release the pin.



I found that using a combination of the tool and a heavy duty staple worked best for me.

[Grinder]

I decided to follow through on swapping my daily driver hardware (5930k with a pair of 390X's) into this build, moving the 8700k/1080 et cetera to Archon. Updating the component list...

Meanwhile I will post back when I've finished the cable combs.

[Grinder]

Mobo power extensions, plus 8 and 6 pin PCIe for two GPUs.

[Bartacus]

Great build sir. I've been following along, but not posting much. LOVE this case.

[Grinder]

Thanks Bart. I love it too! I'm planning to leave much of the exterior of the case intact, since that is what inspired me to go with the jet engine theme in the first place. On the interior I am running with the silver with black and red accents that are visible on the exterior. I am still in awe of the job that Alain S did, I hope I can do the case justice. At the very least, I saved it from the dumpster! It cost me a whole $10. Ummm, not counting all of the hours I am putting into it!

My free donor case, the source of the backplate and mobo tray, only came with one expansion slot cover. I want something slotted to let air escape, since it will be positive pressure with more intake than exhaust, but couldn't find anything online that I liked that I could get for a reasonable price/time frame. I toyed with the idea of ordering a cheap set and swapping them with the covers from a Rosewill Blackhawk that I have, but then I realized that if I scavenged around I might have enough Fractal Design covers here. I'm a big fan and have had maybe 4 of these cases over the years, and when I did my Blood and Guts build I painted some that didn't wear well (didn't prime them). I ended up scraping the paint off a few of them when I did another build in that case, but have some leftover, and also have a couple of spares from Archon. Five covers should be plenty as while there are 7 slots, I will always have at least one GPU in this (two in the planned configuration).



I think that since I am already using red for the tubing and power cables, going with red for these would be overkill. White doesn't really fit, so it's down to silver or black. Here we have a silver cover that came with the case, along side a black from the Blackhawk. I think I am leaning black. I will be swapping out the mobo in the pic for the X99- A II, but it has some black with silver accents (and a smidge of white) so I think it will fit in just fine.

[Grinder]

Sorry I haven't had time lately for modding. This little monster is primarily responsible. Luckily she has only eaten minor things like furniture so far, and not any hardware! She's a lot bigger now than than photo, so starting to be a little less demanding. I have started returning to the build, but am now trying to decide whether to enter it in the modding contest.

[wattermain]

Looks like your pup had another full day. Hope to see MODell XPS in the Modding Contest.

[Grinder]

Work hard play hard lol.

I've moved this to the Modding Contest, check out new content there!

https://forum.dazmode.com/forum/memb...pulsion-system