Armoured Core Customs - Goliath

[Simon Quinn]

Hi all. I’m so happy to be a part of the event. It’s exactly what I have been searching for. Im kicking myself I only discovered the the comp on the 12th of December. This is my first scratch build and entry to an event like the case mod World Series so please forgive the lack of pictures on my projects timeline as I am not on social media other than a personal Facebook. 
 

My creation is what I name Goliath, Project: The Alpha Aorus (Alphacool/ Aorus build) 

 

The parts I am using are 

Aorus X570 Xtreme motherboard 

AMD Ryzen 5900x

Aorus 4400hmz 16gb Ram

Aorus 1TB Gen 4 NVMe, Full Copper

Aorus 850w Gold power supply 

Aorus 6800 master (if I can’t find a card for my waterblock) 

 

4 X Aerocool Duo pro 200mm

6x Aerocool Edge pro 120mm

 

Alphacool 1260mm NeXxos Supernova full copper radiator

Alphacool Eisball with Vp755 pump

Alphacool Eisbaer Solo Modular CPU cooler/pump combo 

 

5m of ARGB cable, and a Coolermaster ARGB strip to finish off below the motherboard. 

 

and secret Coolermaster back of motherboard cooler (read on to find out more, and remember you saw it here first )

 

Goliath has been in development for around 2 years now and is very close to completion (I prey this doesn’t exclude me from the comp if you read further I have a very valid excuse on why this has taken me longer than usual I have only really began fabrication around September this year). It has taken an extensive amount of planning and trialing to come up with a design I was happy to move forward with into the fabrication phase. The inspiration for Goliath comes from seeing performance builds using multiple rads in awkward arrangement to achieve the cooling desired. I wanted to invent a design that used one large efficient radiator over many small rads. By having one large rad it reduces the hose fittings down to 2 which in my mind is optimal as it reduces possible failure points. With the sheer size of the full copper radiator  the systems fans can operate at zero or low  RPM and rely solely on passive cooling which greatly increases efficiency and fan lifespan. 
 

Goliaths chassis is entirely fabricated from mild steel RHS (Rectangular hollow section), SHS, (square hollow section) and plate steel varying between 2-3mm thickness. The chassis is fully welded and is a single piece no fixings are used. The thickness of the steel is by design. Built into the case at its base is a keyed locker armoured by 3mm plate steel. All the materials are salvaged workshop scraps from my old workplace so the expense on steel is $0. The most expensive part of the process has been buying all the required tools for the job as i no longer have workshop access Eg grinding discs, drill bits, taps, welding supplies ect. No longer having workshop access that I am used to was a big hinderance so I have been working from my car garage and have setup a clean room in our spare room. This project has taken over our house at several points lol. 
 

All the cables for the PC components are routed though either the hidden port in the base or out through the back door. The Locker also protects the switch to the PC power button as well as the ON/OFF switch for the PC itself, this means you can lock your Pc, walk away feeling confident it’s secure and unusable while you are away. The locker protects any additional hardrives and SSDs securing them behind lock and key. The motherboard mount is heavily bolted in front of a Alphacool 1260mm NeXxos supernova and inside houses the power supply, cables from Mobo and fan hubs. The motherboard then becomes the faceplate for the mounting bracket. 
 

4x200mm Aerocool Duo200 are pushing and 6 Aerocool Edge pros pull air and ventilate the hardware cavity, the power supply is also positioned to pull air through the radiator acting as a 7th fan.  
 

The approximate Volume of Goliaths case is around 110L. 
 

Goliath is 100% my own work. From design, fabricating the chassis, learning to cut and drill glass, through to painting I can honestly say painting has been an absolute nightmare. Due to the nature of silver and chrome paints being very finicky and the showing the slightest imperfections. 
 

My latest work has been adding the framing for the four 6mm glass panels that are affixed with security bolts as well as modifying the front plate to suit a 10.1inch LCD that runs as a monitor by HDMI, I run AIDA 64 extreme as a metrics display. 
 

I use all Aorus hardware because I just love their customer support and quality products. 
for lighting affects I have used 5m of generic ARGB cable and a Coolermaster ARGB strip to finish off under the motherboard.  

 

How it all came to be. WARNING graphic

 

Well here goes. I have bounced around a lot in my life learning all kinds of manual skills and experience. I was finally in a place in life I was truly happy. I was 3rd year into a fabrication of engineering apprenticeship. I have a way with metal so it was more off a dream than a job for me. My wife was starting her career in sport and exercise science. Our little daughter Valkyrie was about to turn two and she was shocking people with her gifted talents from a young age.
 

life seemed perfect for once until July 22nd 2020 our daughter Valkyrie had a tragic drowning accident. She went 16mins without oxygen to the brain despite our CPR efforts in other words she was deceased for that time. The accident left Valkyrie with an extreme hypoxic brain injury. 
 

I wont describe how much this event broke my entire family. I went through a legitimate mental breakdown and to try pull myself through I turned to gaming. I could no longer work as I cared for my daughter and was by her side every minute going days on end without sleep making sure she was comforted in every way. I purchased my first second hand PC so I could play the same games as my childhood friend who helped me through the worst of it. 

 

From that point I was hooked on modifying and messing with the setup. Breaking things and making bad decisions I learnt quickly what not to do. I was very happy to discover this was a manual task I could do quietly through the night as I took night caring and my wife did days. 
 

I sorely missed my job as a fabricator and realised my tools were going to waste, so I sold them on and invested in PC hardware and tools more suited to the task. 
 

I invested in premium parts from Alphacool which cost an arm and a leg to ship to Australia but I don’t like to compromise. This began the creation of Goliath which has slowly grown over the last two years from an idea through to today as I have used it as a distraction from very gloomy thoughts.
 

I hope to kickstart a company in the new year called Armoured Core Customs that’s focus is supplying PC chassis like Goliath and modification. 

 

Thanks for reading. I look forward to sharing my progress. 


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 9, 2023 by Simon Quinn
Updated photos

[Simon Quinn]

The beginning of fabrication of the Chassis. Trailing the Mobo mount, radiator fit and 200mm fan clearance. 

[Simon Quinn]

Testing the monitor cavity and stainless mesh cover and faceplate for fitting. Decided to remove the 45degree angles from the back as the where superfluous to the design. 

[Simon Quinn]

Test fit of all running hardware 

[Simon Quinn]

After paint test fitting. 

[Simon Quinn]

System running with soft tube for the water loop. Running RGB and metrics display tests. The metrics display here I am running an old IPad mini, connecting it through Duet and running Aida64 (This is a headache I do not recommend). 
 

the background for the screen I designed myself in Blender and Aida64 simply overlays it. 
 

[Simon Quinn]

A little work has taken place in between. The framing has been added for the glass panels. The 6mm tempered glass has been cut and drilled, 6 120mm fan covers I fabricated from 1mm stainless perforated mesh (the same material as the back mesh cover) have been added. The panes are old recycled display shelving I picked up from a hoarder. I purchased a good 20 large panels from him for $20aud. Luckily I had so many because I broke all of them attempting to work such thick tempered glass. Sorry for the bad pictures I had to pull them from a video. It was at this point I also assembled my Alphacool GPX-A waterblock to a recently purchased 6800XT. Something went wrong and I had to RMA the GPU. It is currently in processing. This was a very sad day. I felt like throwing in the towel, I lost a $900 part before even getting to use it. What is even worse is it’s closing in on the due date and I may fall short of completion. 

Edited December 13, 2022 by Simon Quinn
Additional information

[Simon Quinn]

I was very unhappy with the finish the chrome paint left so I spent today stripping it all off back to bare steel. I will be applying  a silver zinc based paint. This will give the chassis excellent corrosion resistance as well as being far more biodegradable than other paints and finishes. In a perfect world with budget to spare I would be electroplating the chassis. 

Edited December 13, 2022 by Simon Quinn

[Simon Quinn]

I started removal with strip discs but the chrome paint was proving to be a problem as the stripper disc gummed far too easily. I switched to the trusty wire wheel on a 115mm angle grinder. I then went over the parts with a vibro sander with various grits. 

[Simon Quinn]

Welding in the cable guide and power button mount.