ITX ARCHITECTURE Completed (15th of April 2015)

[Grigoriadis Grigorios]

 

Greetings from Greece. This is my build log for the CASE MOD World Series Contest. This is project ITX ARCHITECTURE.

 

First of all I would like to thank my sponsors Cooler Master Hellas and ASRock Hellas.

 

Here is a concept picture of the build to come.

 

The build is at a very early stage and I have ordered a few tools and parts. After I receive them, I will have to design a few parts to print with my 3D printer. I have already printed some small items that I have designed, but until I do a test fit with all the parts nothing is final.

Here are some test prints

 

 

 

 

A lot of things will be covered in the end. The colors of the build will be black, white and blue.

Stay tuned for more updates.

[MonsterMawd]

Good start, looking froward to next update.

[Mono]

Wow this looks truly unique! Nice one! Looking forward.

[Grigoriadis Grigorios]

Small update, but I have great news to share.

Bitspower is another sponsor-supporter of this build.


I will receive 16 of these beautiful and quality fittings with blue o-ring with a substantial discount.


I have been designing some more and I have ordered everything else I need for watercooling from highflow.nl

I have printed the 2 fan grills/panels and one side is starting to take it's final form.




The top hole is the slot for an anti-vandal switch


Overall I am pleased with the fit




Above the reservoir will be a slim slot loading DVD drive and 3 SSDs. When I design the panel for them I will upload a photo.



I am waiting for many items so that I can continue with the build. Next update I hope is with a better camera as well.

[Grigoriadis Grigorios]

One more small update while I wait for the motherboard and PSU.

Everything has arrived from Bitspower and HighFlow.




The radiator is humongous I know, but I think it is the right choice for this build. It is relatively short to give the build almost a cubic form and it is this thick because it will be the only radiator for both CPU and GPU.

The fittings are just wonderful. I have used some bitspower fittings in my previous build and I think they were the only option for this one. These ones are very low profile and the short connections between the water blocks and the acrylic panel will look really nice. Even the blue o-rings are awesome.





I am trying to get better at taking photos and yes I know I have to clean the water blocks...









The photos are better due to the better new camera, but I think they will get even better after I make the right light box.


That is all for now. In the next update I will have better lighting and I will have printed the 3.5" HDD cage, but until I receive the motherboard and PSU I can't make a lot of progress.

[Grigoriadis Grigorios]

Update time

I made the base from a white acrylic 5mm panel

 

 

Some detail about the fit of the radiator and reservoir.

 

 

I am designing 2 vertical panels. One will screw on the radiator and the base panel, while the other will support the reservoir when I fill the loop.

 

 

The motherboard and PSU have arrived from the sponsors and the o-ring cord from e-bay. As promised photos with better lighting

 

 

Two macro shots to understand the amazing finish of the heatshinks.

 

PSU time

 

 

Very good finish on the PSU as well and a very nice construction. So nice that I am actually sad, because there will not be a lot of the PSU visible in the end. The cables below will be cut to the right lengths and sleeved with paracord without heat shrink.

And time for more fit checks and measurements.

I am very pleased with the PSU fit between the cubes.

 

 

A good fit, but the left part (in picture) of the 3D printed cover will be 1mm thinner. This cover is just for testing and measurements and is nothing like the final cover.

As promised the cage for the HDD. In height it is a very good fit-alignment. Maybe the motherboard spot will need little adjustment for the riser cable.

Also the drive will not be at the edge, but it will be adjusted according to the cubes that will join the panels.

And to finish the update, the cage without the HDD. I will probably flip the drive with the cage and screw the GPU  base on the bottom part of the drive. The drive itself is screwed from the sides.

That is all for now. I hope you liked the update and that I am not alone in thinking the photos are looking better.
I am designing the vertical support panels and when enough are ready I will post the next update.
Stay tuned!

[Grigoriadis Grigorios]

UPDATE

 

I wanted to have more done, mainly sleeving before I posted an update, but the build has started to take shape and I decided to post some photos.

 

I cut 4 more panels

 

I would love to have a desktop cnc like shapeoko or a laser cutter. Anyway, for handmade I think they turned out well.

 

 

This part is the one that reminds me of architecture and was the inspiration for the name of the build.

 

I cleaned the radiator and I would like to note that I was a bit disappointed with alphacool. The G1/4 threads were not done properly. The threads were made only with a starting tap and a finishing tap was not used. Fortunately I had ordered taps for the routing plate from Cold zero and fixed the threads myself.

 

The PSU is in place and secured with 4 screws.

 

 

 

To fill the loop I will have to rotate everything by 90 degrees and rest the case on its back side.

 

 

And one more thing from the 3D printer to end the update.

 

I will start sleeving and design the base and cover for the motherboard to 3D print.
That is all for now. I thank you for your attention.

[Grigoriadis Grigorios]

Warning! Îœajor update incoming!

Sleeving is done and I set up the system with air cooling.
I am waiting for the watercooling routing plate from Parvum Systems and I am designing a few more panels.

I started the set up like this

I placed the 3 SSD drives, the switch and passed all the cables through the slim cut out

It is pretty tightly packed in there, but I do like to have no wasted space in general.

The two SSDs towards the radiator are Vetrex 4 120GB in raid 0 for the OS. The third SSD is a 840 evo 250GB used as a games drive.

The motherboard is in place

I tried to paint the IO shield white, but I decided to print it in one piece with the base of the motheboard in the end.

Overall the fit is good

Now, please calm down! The motherboard lid is not the final one!

I definitely want the 24-pin to not pass through the lid but from the side like the sata cables and the rest. I will also somehow guide the 8-pin to have a more horizontal route.

You might have guessed how much I like paracord

The motherboard is screwed to the acrylic back with one screw only and the other 3 screws just hold the 3D printed back. However the 3D printed base is also adhered to the acrylic with double sided stickers, so it is very stable and secure in place. I am not sure if the cpu cut out will be enough to change coolers without removing the motherboard.

I also placed the HDD and PSU. Every cable is connected, except the pump and radiator fans.

The tubing is there temporarily just to see how easily they fit through the cables.

Yes, you are correct, the 24 pin is with an extension. I know it is stupid, but I did it for 2 reasons. One reason is that I can disconnect it without struggling with the connector on the motherboard (like for leak testing) The second reason is that the original 24-pin has a lot of double wires in a single pin and is a 18+10 pin on the psu side, so it would be a nightmare if I wanted to paracord sleeve that. Of course I shortened the original and used the rest of the cables to make the extension. The final total cable is shorter than the original. Happy days.

I am waiting for a 2mm thick frosted acrylic sheet to screw on top of the HDD and use as support for the GPU. For now I used some foamboard.

The graphics card is in place. It is not screwed in place but with the pci-e riser and the 6+8pin it sits quite stable.

And the system as it is now.

That is all for now. I hope you liked the update.

[Grigoriadis Grigorios]

Teaser time!

 

I printed something else

 

It is the final(probably) cover for the motherboard.

 

And I got the routing plate from Plexiglass Masters, a local cnc acrylic shop.
I would like to thank Mr. Diamantis from plexiglass masters for the excellent cnc work.
Unfortunately Parvum Systems have not responded for a while now, although they responded positively at first.
I will get bored of taps in the next few days.

 

First attempts were successful

I hope to have the routing plate ready by the weekend to start setting up the water cooling parts.

 

Stay tuned!

[Grigoriadis Grigorios]

Well it's done!
There are some things I would do differently, if I were to make this again, but I will mention them later.

 

Final pics!

 

The new motherboard lid. It does not look like a TUF armor but as an idea I like it better. I am satisfied with the result.

 

 

 

The watercooling routing plate is ready! No leaks with a white silicone o-ring I got.
I would like to thank Pixel Brothers (.gr) for the excellent work on the stickers. They prepared them quickly and they were applied carefully. Very good professionals!

And the result from a lot of different angles

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At the desk and ready. I took the side lid off to change the pump speed so that I can bleed the air bubbles easier.

 

I wanted to make a video (I had chosen a soundtrack for it) while filling the loop (like p0Pe's Project NV), but I don't have the right setup regarding lights, space and support yet.
Sorry...

 

Regarding the temperatures I am very pleased. First tests went very well. 15 minutes furmark gave a GPU max of 40 C.

I am getting CPU max 60C και GPU max 42C.

Regarding noise it's ok. Maybe the grills I printed increase the noise a bit.
I will try the fans at pull and with a filter to test.
I have the pump at sysfan and the fans with a y-splitter at the CPU fan slot.

 

What would I do differently now that I have the experience.

 

First I would do as much as possible with cnc and more(proper) tools. The jigsaw is an excellent tool, but with only a line as a guide you can't have a detailed assembly. It would increase the cost of course, but having a cnc and a proper workshop is a goal of mine since I started modding 2 builds ago.

 

Second changes to the design. I would place the water cooling routing plate further and maybe use only a white sticker with a better design. The sandblast served its purpose in this build and it at least matches the water blocks. Something I will do at future builds is to design the case as a puzzle from compartments and not as a single piece assembly. In this build the SSDs are nicely hidden, but removing them is anything but easy. That is because they are mounted on the same panel the radiotor is and from the inside.

 

Third different watercooling parts! The fittings are very nice, but if the routing plate was further I could have used larger fittings with double o-rings for the tubing or compressed o-rings. And regarding blocks 100% I am not considering EK again for now. Only Bitspower now for me! Sure EK blocks are beautiful. But Supremacy cracked with just hand tightening (last time I checked I am not Superman, I think that actually my fingers are not strong to be honest)
The 280x CSQ got dirty from my last build but I can't get it cleaned and the dirt is at places were the liquid does not reach for some reason. Off course with a different design with idividual compartments that fit together, some connections would have been different.

 

That is all for the conclusion.

I hope you liked the build.
I am sure I forgot to mention something, so I am waiting for comments.

 

Good luck to everyone for the contest!