[Work log] The Utterly Imbalanced CaseLabs TX10-D build(s)!

[VSG]

So I previously unboxed the EVGA 1300G2 but as fate would have it, I got this last week:

Look at all these cables:

That's enough PCI-E power for 3 MSI 290x Lightnings/EVGA 780Ti Kingpins without needing a daisy chained cable

Oh, I forgot to mention I also got a 750G2 for Side 2. So here's a EVGA fanboy shot:

But wait, there's MORE:

So how do they look all mounted on the PSU mount?

~5000 W of PSU in there, enough to burn down any circuit I have in this place. The ax1200i is pretty much spoken for already but the 1300G2 needs a new owner who will care for it and keep it longer than the ~6-7 days it has been opened

Anyway, so here's the final PSU configuration:

The EVGA 1600G2 for Side 1 and EVGA 750G2 for Side 2. I got these both at a tremendous price so no complaints. But not everything worked out as planned, I had a set of Lamptron handles that I was hoping to install on the PSU mount to make it "drop-in" style too. Unfortunately the only place I can have them without interfering on the 4 mounting locations are the extreme ends and the handle holes match exactly the screw in locations of the mount to the case:

So there is no way I can think of making this a drop-in mount unless I am missing something obvious. Oh well! Next up, this goes in the case and I see if the stock cables are long enough. Side 2 has the same motherboard that I currently have but for Side 1 I have to assume a similar layout and see.

 

[VSG]

Another small update with a request for every viewer at the end:

Definitely need to gift the UPS man come Christmas time. Above is 1 XXL window door for Side 1 (because XL just isn't enough to show off 2 FrozenQ reservoirs and the respective loops), 2 480mm rad mounts and a few flexbay/HDD mounts thrown in. Now I have enough for all my rads as well as enough for an additional 480mm and 540mm (180x3) rad if need be. Come to think of it, I got the space for those two as well. Hmmm....

I also had some thumbscrews at the front that were getting stripped and no matter which screwdriver I tried or how much WD-40 I added it did nothing. In the spirit of the US independence day, since finesse didn't work I resorted to brute force to get what I wanted

Dremel + metal cutting blade + WD-40 on the screws equals:

I cut a large, flat hole in each of the stripped screws so I could then use a flathead screwdriver with increased torque. 30 minutes later, all of them were out and I can now play with the front of the case as I wish:

There is enough space for a 5x120mm rad in the front on each side if I want. Bitspower had promised such a rad (600mm rad) last year but nothing came of it so far:

Oh well! I am doing some radiator cleaning now, I had to remove all the fans off that Mo.Ra though and it will be a real pain to put them back on

Used Part 1 of the Mayhems Blitz Pro cleaning kit on the Alphacool Monsta 480, Phobya G-Changer 120 and Swiftech MCR120-XP. No prizes for guessing where most of that gunk came from. The amount that came out was pretty shocking though, as I had the monsta in a loop before for ~ 2 months and had the Primochill SysPrep running through it initially. Guess now we know that does absolutely nothing! For the rest of the rads, I had a 1:10 by volume solution of distilled white vinegar and distilled water in them for 6 hours followed by flushing with regular tap water and then distilled water. The effluent from these was much better which goes to show XSPC, HardwareLabs and Watercool really clean their rads before shipping them. Now on to Part 2 of the kit to do a general scrub and neutralize the pH back to 6.5-7 after the acid bath. For this I set up a rad only loop which took up most of my my table downstairs:

The loop is still running (24 hours recommended) as I write this. In a few hours I drain it, run just distilled water to clean it up and we are all ready to go!

Now here is the help I mentioned above. Can I request suggestions on colors for the exterior of the case? I am considering getting it powdercoated in a color/texture of my choice if the price is right. Interiors are black (as is the exterior for now):

Here is a picture of the samples (didn't realize till later that I have #34 in there twice). I reduced it to a 5 MP picture to retain detail and yet not overwhelm the page so please excuse the size if it is too big for your screen:

They got many more colors obviously, I was thinking of something in the brown-grey family so got more of those. The rest are just an indication of the other color families available. Not in there is a copper strain that they had run out of samples for. Now I currently have everything in black and am planning to keep the interior black for now due to their single color minimum charge policies. So now I am requesting suggestions from everyone here and elsewhere. I currently have no preference, so will definitely weigh in suggestions before making my decision. Please bear in mind that I still need to give the place a test sample to see if they can do a good job so nothing is guaranteed.Thanks!

Edit: Resized it, it was too big for this forum. Here is a link to the 5 MP image: http://imgur.com/2pJQ2yX

 

[TakBaseTech]

Interesting look at the profiles of the PSUs, thanks.

 

[VSG]

Interesting look at the profiles of the PSUs, thanks.

That 10 images per post limitation meant I couldn't share more. If you want, I got more profiles with higher details.

 

[VSG]

FYI, EVGA has sent me one of their individually sleeved cable kits (in red, compatible with the G2, P2 and T2 series of PSUs) to check out. Does anyone have any particular requests or tests?

 

[deerslayer]

That case is a behemoth.

 

[aigomorla]

That 10 images per post limitation meant I couldn't share more. If you want, I got more profiles with higher details.

i dont mind double or triple posting to get all your pictures in.
work logs are exmpted on this rule.

 

[VSG]

Cool, thanks. Here are some pictures of the EVGA kit for an overview:

Once the box is opened, we see 3 bags inside:

Not much to gain from those 2 pictures so let's open them up. Bag 1 has the 20+4 pin ATX cable and 2 4+4 pin EPS cables:

If you have a correctly calibrated monitor, the color of the image below will be exactly how it looks in real life:

Too bad I sold my Corsair red sleeved kit last week, but I do have one 20+4 pin ATX cable in white from Corsair for comparison:

Corsair uses PET sleeving I believe compared to what I have been told is Micro Cord in the EVGA cables. If this is incorrect, please let me know.

 

[VSG]

Look ma, no heatshrink! These cables look and feel neater in person already. While I can't demonstrate this easily, these cables are also more malleable in that they can be bent easily and they retain the bent shape better than the Corsair cables. Also, unlike the stock cables that have capacitors near the motherboard side to reduce voltage ripple, these do not. So technically the stock cables should have better performance in that aspect.

I understand why Corsair went for heatshrink, and I give them props for making the individually sleeved cables available as a kit but the issues of mass production means not everything is perfect. For instance, the heatshrink here is not all uniform in length or application. Some of the heatshrink is actually beginning to come off despite me never having actually used this cable before. This isn't to say everything is perfect in EVGA land.

The Corsair sleeving is thicker, but the inner wiring in both these cases is 16 AWG- so far so good. But a closer look at the wires in each cable show something I haven't really thought about till now:

These are wires in the same 24 pin ATX cable. At first I thought this was a mistake since only 1 wire was thinner than the rest but then I looked at the stock cable and there were many more thinner wires in there. All the thinner wires (18 AWG I believe, will confirm once a local custom sleever is done taking the cable apart and putting it back together) are actually in one area which is not critical in power delivery. So, if anything, EVGA is actually putting more effort into making these individually sleeved cables better for power delivery. Now whether or not there is a real world difference between 16 and 18 AWG will be found out soon, at least in my case.

 

[VSG]

Now on to bag 2 which contains the VGA cables:

2 daisychained 6+2 pin + 6 pin PCI-E VGA cables and 4 6+2 pin PCI-E VGA cables. Here is where I am a bit concerned about:

The wires on the daisy chained 6 pin connector all seem to be 18 AWG. This is plenty enough for most people, but if someone is benching hard and has no other choice but to use daisy chained cables, then this may cause an issue. I will be testing this out real soon. The pro overclockers typically have 1 PSU per GPU and some go even more extreme. 8 Pack, for example, uses a 1200W PSU for each 8 pin PCI-E connector being used when benching at the OcUK warehouse/labs. So common sense would dictate you just use 1 cable per connector and not go with daisy chained connectors when operating way past TDP of a GPU. But when you have 2-3 GPUs like the EVGA 780 Ti Classified K|ngp|n edition or the MSI R9-290x Lightning, you have an 8+8+6 PCI-E connection on each card:

So while there are enough PCI-E connectors on something like the 1300G2 and 1600G2/P2/T2 for 3 of these cards, the kit here has only 6 cables. EVGA is looking into making supplemental VGA only sleeved cables available for purchase, so please do let them know if this is something you are interested in. They are also considering selling bare-bones PSUs (no stock cables) for a lower price than the regular models. This would be great for anyone wanting any sort of custom cables so once again please do let them know of any interest in this.

Finally on to bag 3 (peripherals):

4 x 3 SATA, 1 x 3 Molex and 1 x 2 Molex + 1 Floppy connector. Funnily all these wires here seem to be the thicker 16 AWG type even though 18 guage would have been plenty. I also think the floppy connector is redundant and should not have been in here but I am sure there will be someone now to prove me wrong

If there are any errors in what I have written, please don't hesitate in letting me know. I am not by any means an expert in this field and am only looking at this from a consumer's point of view. Also do let me know if there are any particular requests for photos or tests. These were all taken yesterday and the wires are currently being tested as we speak but I will gladly do all I can.

 

[VSG]

I chose Bisque Speckle for the exterior and dropped off the pieces at the powdercoaters yesterday. It looks like the powdercoating will only be done next Mon-Tuesday

In the meantime, I got my hands on an mcp35x2 top which meant I could finally see if 2 mcp35x pumps would be enough for the Mo.Ra. It chewed up a single pump when I hooked up a simple loop with reservoir, pump, compression fittings, angle adapters and the Mo.Ra- nothing else. At 50% max power as controlled by the Aquaero 6, I barely got 0.9 GPM. When I tuned it lower to 35% so the pump was at a noise level more conducive to what I would like in the final build, I got 0.6 GPM. Adding in 4 QDCs got me into laminar flow and once I add in the GPU blocks and 2 more QDCs I can only imagine how low it would go!

So anyway, I got another mcp35x pump (from a forum marketplace) which was pretty much new:

The older one on the left has a different logo. Turning one pump to the side, we see the good ol' warranty void sticker:

Speaking to Bryan over at Swiftech, I learnt it was completely fine to remove the stock tops IF adding on the Swiftech mcp35x2 top. But the guys at Swiftech are generally understanding of other tops and will help out with RMA once they have established the 3rd party top was not the cause of any error- your mileage may definitely vary here.

Taking off that sticker leaves behind a nice trail of evidence that is hard to remove but not impossible. To remove the top, one simply has to unscrew the 4 screws at the bottom:

The new pump actually came with hex head screws, and not a very common size either. Good thing I have a multi bit driver!

Make sure the O-rings are in place before putting on the new top. Speaking of which:

I am not set on this color yet- especially with the black interior. But that won't matter for testing here and so I put on the top, being careful to screw each pump in with the included screws and making sure there is no discernible gap between the top and the pump bodies.

This thing is a powerhouse for most loops. It is also pretty loud at full speed and caused a cyclonic noise when sucking in water from the reservoir even at 50% max power. This should not be confused with 50% duty cycle as seen from the PWM response chart from Swiftech.

At the same kind of noise levels as before (35% power, ~50% duty cycle), I got 1.2 GPM with the Mo.Ra alone in the loop and about 0.9-1 GPM with 4 QDCs. When the mcp50x comes out, I will hopefully get 1-2 to test against these for performance and noise. Depending on what I go with for Side 2, I may have a D5 pump also for testing.

One last thing- before putting on the top, I connected both pumps in series to see how the top affects things. At lower flow rates (0.60-1 GPM), there was no discernible difference in flow rates. I will be getting an inline pressure sensor soon to see if head pressure is affected. At higher flow rates (1.2+ GPM), the top increased flow rates about about 0.1 GPM compared to having two pumps in series hooked up by fittings- at least in my case. So I can definitely vouch for going with a dual pump top each time. It also looks better in my opinion.

 

[VSG]

Powdercoating done! I am currently at the place waiting for the parts to cool down, they literally just removed it out of a massive oven and it is ridiculously hot in here with ovens all around:

Those pictures (from my phone) do it no justice. These look absolutely great

 

[guskline]

I LOVE this thread!

 

[VSG]

Thank you! I found some time to work on the pedestal. The poor thing had been left as a frame only for over a week:

First up- base added:

That leaves these bare spaces where the casters go (what a shocker!):

For some reason I had the standard casters on the case even though the TX10 comes with HD casters as default. Much as I would have liked the SD caster platform, I couldn't justify $180 on it when even the SD casters were working ok. But I went ahead and got a set of HD casters:

That's better. Now it is much easier to roll around in place and makes putting on things way easier too:

Now it's time to put on the powdercoated pieces. First up, the side panels:

I was set to save money and just have the outer sides powdercoated at first. But when I realized this wasn't going to cost as much as I though, I went with double side coating. Definitely made the right choice here I believe! Now let's add in the back and front panels and fit in a flexbay cover as well:

Hmmm.. The black flexbay cover looks so out of place here:

Let's fix that up quick:

Much better. Now I know I promised close ups to better represent the powdercoat accurately, but without better lighting the camera just can't see what I can with my naked eyes. I went over to the local camera store and even they admitted that a table top "studio" was going to be my best bet instead of going big with studio lights and backdrops. So I am going to place an order for it and it should be here pretty soon. That will allow for a lot more freedom in taking component pictures, including a little something red from EVGA for benching.

 

[VSG]

I wish I could show better how it looks in person, the texture is also very unique and makes it very dist/moisture resistant. Here are the promised close-up shots:

Also worked on the doors and got them done:

I realized later than I had the handles put in the wrong way. No biggie though, took all of 10 seconds to correct. The powdercoaters did a great job masking all the threads and screws. The plexi went in no problem:

Time to screw it in!

I really like the implementation here, this way one can just buy the plexi window instead of buying the whole door. It looks great the other way round as seen here with the other door:

Now on to the main case. First up, the poor frame:

Let's screw in the pedestal and add in the back panels:

 

[VSG]

Before anything else get's done, something came up that brought back memories of 2011: A Space Odyssey:

If these were bigger and shone at night, it would be nightmare worthy. Good thing they are just 2 of the 4 vandal switches going in here:

Each switch is held in place by a O-ring and a screw nut:

All done! Now time to mount this in the case:

That fit in perfectly. A few minutes later, everything is in place. Here's the money shot (or at least as good of a money shot as I can get with this lighting anyway):

Ah much better. The speckle is quite prominent in person, just nowhere as much as that close up above. Let's see it from the side now. First up, Side 1:

Don't worry about the components in there, everything other than the GPUs is going on Side 2. Speaking of which:

The GF doesn't care at all about XXL window vs XL window so I decided to go ahead with the stock door as I got it. Finally the back:

None of this will really be seen so I didn't bother getting the motherboard tray done. I was also a bit paranoid about possible shorting issues- likely an unjustified paranoia. Anyway, the case exterior is done and now I can begin putting in other components!

 

[deerslayer]

Looks awesome. It needs a name. Possibly it's own zip code as well.

 

[VSG]

Hehe.. I am fairly certain I can fit in there no problem and I am no small guy either. No name yet, I would love to get any suggestions.

The way the pictures make it look beige/old school, I should find a few floppy drives and throw them in there for a troll build. Nah, just kidding

 

[VSG]

Ok I finally set up the "studio" I got from Amazon:

Definitely still a work in progress, I need to iron out the wrinkles in the backdrop sheets (that come in white, black, red and blue) and fix those lights better. I underestimated how much space this would take- my dining table downstairs barely fits it. The lights (bought separate) are really nice- maybe too bright actually. The softboxes don't diffuse them enough. This is what the light looks like compared to an ordinary CFL:

Perhaps the black back drop would have suited this better, but you get the idea. These lights get hot quickly, so I wouldn't recommend leaving them on for extended periods of time. Luckily each softbox comes with a rocker switch. I am also thinking of having a flash behind the box and controlling it wirelessly if needed. Anyone have suggestions that may be useful here?

 

[VSG]

I finally am done with 1 NDA only to have another pop up real soon. I got the new EK Supremacy Evo which I spent the last 2 weeks testing (among other things):

I made a review of it here for anyone interested: http://www.overclock.net/t/1509787/my-review-of-the-ek-supremacy-evo/0_50

I would have posted it here too but the 10 images/post rule really cuts off flow of the review. I was hoping my order from PPC had the small LEDs in it but nope. I wanted to show the Plexi top with the locations for 4 LEDs in it. I now have a bunch of 10/12mm acrylic tubing thanks to IceModz as well as some more stuff that will be shown soon. I also got a few EK and Bitspower 10/12mm fittings for these along with a sample piece of the Alphacool chrome tubing and fittings- they are surprisingly good. I will show them really soon once the Corsair 380T NDA is up.

 

[Zardnok]

Nice review. Anxiously awaiting more pictures!

 

[VSG]

More will be coming soon!

 

[KaRLiToS]

Niceeeeee

 

[VSG]

Yup! I got a Haswell family portrait done: 2 core, 4 core and 8 core

Here's big daddy:

 

[VSG]

Update time (although probably not one you were expecting since I have not yet finalized on my x99 motherboard and RAM):

I was speaking to Will, the CEO/CTO at Hardware Labs, about a few things in general and then realized my hotbox would be a great place to test out radiators. One email later, he had 2 of his new Nemesis radiators on the way to me:

A GTX 560 (No, not an old Nvidia GPU) and a GTS 480. We had previously agreed on a GTX 480 and a GTX 560 but he was extremely confident on the GTS 480 being able to beat out other 480/560mm radiators and sent this as an intended replacement for my SR 1 560 radiator. The few reviews out there all seem to agree that these rads pull a lot of weight in performance compared to larger radiators so I am pretty eager to test these out soon.

Here's a look at the GTS 480 (GTX 560 barely fit in my light box):

Bonus- A terrible video looking at the two rads stacked: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jXJPMO0BOU

I will do a full review soon.