Apeiro - 900D, 5820K

[Gary Murphy]

The motherboard tray has been marked and drilled with pilot holes for where the reservoir will be mounted.

 

 

Finally found a use for my Dremel Moto-Saw.

 

 

Took about 10 minutes to get the cuts completed.

 

 

Since I wanted to retain the original motherboard tray to lend more strength, I had to make a few adjustments for where the reservoir will be placed. A traditional Dremel made quick work of it.

 

 

[Gary Murphy]

One of the highlights of this build is the front panel infinity mirror. Took a while to plan this out but I think it came out pretty good.

 

Created a frame (8.5"W x 22.75"L x 5/16"D) for the RGB lights and purchased a mirror acrylic piece for the rear piece.

 

 

Here is the frame and mirror piece assembled and ready for the LED strip.

 

 

Used a blue LED strip since the theme of this build consists mainly of blue.

 

 

The LED strip length was perfect for the frame.

 

 

Now for a quick test to ensure everything is working so far.

 

 

Ordered a clear acrylic piece from TAP Plastics for the top piece.

 

 

My local Home Depot had the mirrored window film.

 

 

The whole assembly is completed and ready for mounting on the frame.

 

 

[Gary Murphy]

After examining the GPU provided by Gigabyte as part of the bonus kit (GTX 960), I found that there are no adequate full-cover water blocks for this card. The one provided in the kit was a generic version that only covered the mid section.

 

Here is a shot of the EK Thermosphere block. Beautiful block but just too small.

 

 

The Gigabyte card has a beautiful fan assembly and I don't want to lose the aesthetics and not have their logo visible. The card also has RGB lights behind both fans and on the top logo.

 

 

And the backplate actually looks very nice.

 

 

[Gary Murphy]

Took the front panel assembly and sliced it in two. The infinity mirror has been attached and in the process of curing before assembly back onto the case.

 

 

The reservoir has been sealed and after some initial water tests there are no leaks.

 

 

The case frames have been painted a candy blue color. The rear frame has been placed back onto the case. The front panel is waiting for the infinity mirror assembly.

 

 

Above the front set of fans there is a noticeable space where the 5.25" bay assemblies were removed. Decided that would be an ideal location for the SSDs. Fabricated the piece and it is ready for mounting.

 

 

I went with a pair of HyperX Savage 480GB SSD units. Newegg had a sale on them and two would fit the case perfectly.

 

 

The retail units even included a small metallic screwdriver.

 

 

Although they are beautiful units, the red color does not fit in with my blue theme at all.

 

 

Created some SSD covers to tie them more in with the theme yet still show their manufacturer's name.

 

 

Here are the two units mounted and ready.

 

 

[Gary Murphy]

This crunch time is really hitting me hard!

 

Got more done this afternoon in between some meetings.

 

The frame is now fully assembled and the hardware is starting to piece slowly back together.

 

Here is a shot of the side vent covers with the Gigabyte 30th Anniversary logo.

 

 

This is the top vent cover with that same logo.

 

 

Here is a close-up of that logo.

 

 

Got the side 480 radiator and 4 Corsair Magnetic Levitation Blue LED fans mounted in a pull configuration. You can also see the mounted Corsair RM1000i power supply.

 

 

The top 480 radiator has 8 Corsair ML Blue LED fans in a push/pull configuration.

 

 

There is a custom acrylic piece on the top of the case to prevent the foam vent insulation from getting near the fans.

 

 

Finally I was able to install the custom RGB lighted midplate. Fits like a glove and the light output is amazing! Here is a quick test to ensure it lights adequately.

 

 

Now with minimal external lights you can see it fully.

 

 

[Gary Murphy]

Got the reservoir mounted to the motherboard tray this afternoon.

 

 

 

The top frame was also fitted into place and is ready.

 

 

Doing some preliminary fitting for mounting the GPU in the vertical position.

 

 

[Gary Murphy]

Completed mounting the GPU in the vertical position.

 

 

 

[Gary Murphy]

Received some memory from Corsair recently! Two packs of their new 32GB (4x8GB) Vengeance LED units. That will give this build 64GB of 3000 MHz memory!

 

 

Here is a shot of all 8 sticks ready for installation.

 

 

Mounted and ready for power!! Can't wait to see those sticks lit up with the blue LEDs.

 

 

This is one item that every modder should have in their toolbox. Really helps with making holes for tubing.

 

 

With that, I was able to create a hole for the pass-through fitting.

 

 

Went with the EK-XTOP Revo D5 PWM pump for this build. Beautiful item, but something must be done with those non-sleeved wires.

 

 

Only about 10 minutes and those wires are definitely looking better!

 

 

This afternoon I was able to start tinkering around with fittings and water flow possibilities. I really hate when fittings are placed so close to each other. The EK monoblocks are a dream to work with, but not available for this motherboard.

 

 

Created the Gigabyte 30th Anniversary logo with my Cameo Silhouette unit and placed it onto the reservoir window.

 

 

[Gary Murphy]

Two last build photos...

 

In order to mount a GPU vertically you must have a PCI-e extender cable. I ordered one from Lian Li that is 380mm long and extremely well designed. 

 

 

The fabric covering the cabling is smooth and flat black.

 

 

[Gary Murphy]

Finally all complete!!!!

 

Took around 250 photos and narrowed it down to the ones below.

 

The project was definitely challenging in that I have never had to create a concept before and then sticking to it was brutal. There are some aspects that I would have liked to change but the rules stated that design kit winners could not deviate from their concept drawing.

 

The infinity mirror came out perfectly! When off, it is a normal mirror; when on, then the blue infinity aspect shows nicely. I used the case sticker that came with the GPU since parts of it were mirrored. The custom side and top fan grills add the Gigabyte 30th Anniversary logo to the case exterior. The custom reservoir was brutal since there is only about an inch of clearance behind the motherboard tray. It fit and holds a tremendous amount of liquid. The RGB midplate was fun to create and allows me to change the color at will!

 

Mounting the GPU in the vertical position makes it appear to float over the midplate!

 

I pretty much stuck within the contest parameters and utilized all the sponsors hardware/services (Corsair, EKWB, HyperX, Gigabyte and PCPartPicker). To maximize the points, the theme is the Gigabyte 30th Anniversary and uses blue throughout.

 

I just wish that my photo skills were more in tune with my modding capabilities!

 

Well, here some the photos that I thought showed off the important aspects of the build...