[Sponsored] Project: Red Iron

[Wing]

Wet testing

 

It was time to do a wet test on the Bitspower loop to flush out any gunk and check for any leaks.

This is the 24-pin PSU jumper which I used to short the V650 so that it would power up the Bitspower pump.

 

I removed one of the stop fittings on the top of the reservoir and inserted a compression fitting with an extended bit of tubing. This allow me to fill up the reservoir with some distance to all the electrical components.

 

Newb error here. I hadn’t screwed the reservoir up tightly, and the only small leak I had was from the reservoir. So after a quick power off and draining of the loop, I tightened up the top and bottom for the reservoir, that’s why if you compare the above shot of the top of the reservoir, the inlet has rotated to a different position.

 

Lots of gunk flying around in there. Took several flushed with distilled water to get it all out.

I had to tip the whole system upside down for about 40-50 times to get all the air pockets and prime the pump. Whenever there was any rattling noise from inside the pump, I had to turn the system in all orientations to get those tiny air bubbles out.

The system was left running overnight, with lots of towels everywhere in case of further leaks.

 

Coolant filling

I have 2 coolants at hand with which I was trying to decide on which to use:

• EK-Ekoolant EVO Blood RED – which gives a see through deep red color
• Thermaltake C10000 Red – which is a brighter opaque red

As a personal preference, thick tubing always goes well with opaque colors, the solidity in the tone just seems so appropriate for me, so I opted for the Thermaltake C10000.

Unfortunately, the red/orange LED at the top of the reservoir did not have to desired effect of making the coolant glow as the opaqueness was just too thick.

 

On with the cover

After mounting the SSD onto the underside of the top removable bracket of the Elite 110, a quick temporary cable tidying was done, and then it was on with the chassis cover.

 I had to be care with the 24-pin extension cable, this was the only placement I could get it positioned.

Looks all tidy from this side.

All dark and gloomy through the window without the power switched on.

Using the flash on my camera, you can see some more details and coloring with the case.

 

Powering up

I must admit, up to this point in the build I had not tested out the motherboard or CPU. I had already powered on the ZOTAC GeForce GTX 1050 Ti Mini, the Corsair fan, the Bitspower water cooling loop, and I knew Winston had previously tested out the GEIL EVO-X RAM and the ADATA XPG SSD, and I wasn’t too sure if the system would boot up at all.

Thankfully, the system booted up first time without any issues.

And here are all the lights, except for the face plate, switched on.

As you can see, I still need to work on those pesky cables coming out of the V650 power supply.

In the dark, this system really glows.

Not much left to do now, need to redo the face mask as I had got superglue running down the front, mounting the helmut, and polishing the chassis.

[Wing]

 

 

Please excuse my very limited editing skills........

[Wing]

I realized I was slacking in terms of finishing this mod; there were times due to limitation of space and tools available that different ideas of mounting the helmet was not just going to work.

 

A bit of coloured epoxy and some thin acrylic columns, and I finally mounted the last piece: