Project: Beast III

S

Stevennoland

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jan 5, 2006
Messages
418
I have gotten the itch again! It's time to build another system. Before I get into the details, I thought a little history was in order. This is the first time I have posted a build on any site so please bear with me on the symantics. The very first system I built from the ground up was completed in April of 2002. Here are a couple pics.

Beast001.jpg

Beast002.jpg



Nothing fancy by todays standards:
P4 2.0GHz
1 GB PC800 RAMBUS (a lot of memory for that time)
GForce 4 Ti 4600 (expensive for it's day)
WD 120GB 7200 8MB (These were the first drives with 8MB cache)
Lian-Li PC60 (I think ?)
Round cables, oooooh (these were also just comming onto the scene)
CD-RW drive (recordable DVD drives had not hit the sceen yet)
Windows XP Pro (another oooooh)

Today I use it to do my budgets and type up papers (I don't have MS Office on Beast II).

My inspiration came from a copy Of Maximum PC I saw on the newsstand. I was lucky in that the Beast (named for the size of Lian-Li cases) fired up the first time, and Windows installed without a hitch.

I completed Beast II about 1.5 years later. The next post will highlite that system. The following post will chronicle the development and building of Beast III. Stay tuned!

This post is also a test. :)
 
Beast II was a new beast (pun intended). This was another from the ground up. I'm not big into upgrading. For me, a whole new build is way more fun. On this build I knew I wanted to do water cooling. This was still considered the dark art in the fall of '03. This system is my current gaming rig and has gone through a couple of changes:

case001.jpg


I wanted to dabble in modular power, so I came up with this idea
case031.jpg


I also built my own reservior
res003.jpg


I also didn't want the mobo to support the weight of the CPU block so the rectangular black box with the four holes (in pic above) actually supports this
IMG_0559.jpg

The little holes and slots are to clear components soldered to the back of the mobo.

I also had to make a plate to hold the PS. The one that came with the case wouldn't work with the orentation I wanted. I also sleeved the leads
powsup002.jpg

powsup003.jpg


Custom handles
handle011.jpg

handle009.jpg


Radiator with custom shrouds
Radiator5.jpg

Radiator4.jpg


The currnet system consists of:

P4 3.0GHz 478pin 800MHz FSB
Abit IC7-Max3 (second board, the support chip block pulled a loop out of the mobo and tilted and ate itself)
Corsair XMS 1GB PC3200
ATI Radeon 9800XT (fastest board at the time)
SB Audigy 2 gamer
2 WD 36GB Raptors (cooled by the Lian-Li EX-23, had a RAID 0, freaking fast!)
Most of the H2O cooling is from Danger Den
Lian-Li PC70USB black case (almost identical to the PC60)
New Pioneer DVR-610 burner (old drive wouldn't read disc two of F.E.A.R.)
Vantec PS and 'Stealth' case fans 120mm x 3 and 80mm x 4
Logitech MX510 mouse and Elite keyboard

Logitech Z680 5.1 speakers with retractable surrounds (custom made by yours truly)
Z680002.jpg


And my newest toy, a Dell 24" widescreen LCD
LCD001.jpg

LCD002.jpg

LCD003.jpg


The new LCD prompted me for the new build. My current vid card can't give me good frame rates at 1920 x 1200 on any game even with the eye candy off! Sheese!

I also upgraded the Hydor L30 pumps to the new 12 volt DC ones from Dangder Den (DD).

I also added a flow meter (the Hydors wouldn't always start up. POS pumps)

The next post will go into much much more detail on the current build 'Beast III'. Stay tuned.
 
WHOA simmer down now 0_0 that was just uncalled for.

I cant wait to see progress! It better be in a v1000 or the like :p
 
CrimandEvil said:
Give him some slack, he's from Cananda. :D
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not funny. So am I.

And i like the 2100 as well, nice silent uber tower :p Gonna be a hell fo a project im guessing, watercooled no doubt :D
 
^ROFL...pwnd by Kyle
back on topic.. nice work so far man (love those handles) cant wait to see the new project.
 
I still say paint the inside of that case black, to match the outside.

Just because I said paint it black, does not mean I didn't read it, I just think it would look better that way.

Can't wait to see some progress though.

CrimandEvil said:
Give him some slack, he's from Cananda. :D
Click to expand...
Don't be racist.
 
First and formost I wanted this build to be as future proof as possible. Not an easy task considering how fast things change in this market. I figured the case would be best starting point for the foundation. Since I have been a big Lian-Li fan, a case from them seemed the perfect place to start. I settled on the Lian_li PC-V2100B. Here is a collage picture courtesy of Newegg (and MS paint by me):

PC-V2100006.jpg


This case is big! It measures 8.3" x 24.3" x 25.6" (WxHxD). It's going to need to be big cause I'm gonna stuff it full. Here is a quick run down on what I have planned:

Watercooled of course. I'm planning on using four (yes count em four) complete loops.
Loop 1 will be for the vid cards
Loop 2 will be for the CPU (and may be the support chipset)
Loop 3 will be for the hard drives
Loop 4 will be just for additional cooling.

I'm planning on four radiators. Two will be located within the case and two more located on the outside. Along with each radiator will be be one pump. The pumps are going to be the Danger Den DD12V-D5 Pump (image courtesy of Danger Den)
pump001.jpg


The two internal radiators will also be from Danger Den (from here out to be referred to as DD). They are the Black Ice Pro and Black Ice Micro II (both in chrome).
BIcoll.jpg


The other two radiators are stupid money crazy big! They are the Innovatek Konvekt-O-Matic ULTRA Passive Radiators. One will be mounted on each side of the case (image coutersy of FrozenCPU)
ex-rad-55.jpg

These babies measure 60 x 37 x 5.5 cm (23.62 x 14.57 x 2.16 inches)
I think each one of these things weighs in at 12 to 13 pounds each! Empty!

The Xoxide Single 5.25" Acrylic Bay Reservoir times two will also be put into use
Xres001.jpg


I have allowed enough room in the case for three hard drives. Each will be cooled by a Koolance HD-50-L06 Hydra-Pak Hard Drive Cooler
HDDblk001.gif


Stay tuned!
 
Borgschulze said:
I personally would ditch the HDD coolers, and just put some silent fans infront of them.
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Thanks! But there is no such thing as a running silent fan. Besides, I allready have the Koolance coolers (got two from the wife for x-mas)!
 
Nice wife, I need to find a girl like that :) I had a girlfriend, she bought me Quake 4 for Christmas :)
 
Borgschulze said:
Nice wife, I need to find a girl like that :) I had a girlfriend, she bought me Quake 4 for Christmas :)
Click to expand...

If you check the first picture on my LCD, you can see my copy of Q4. Still haven't installed it. Posting these threads takes quite a bit of time.
 
Stevennoland said:
If you check the first picture on my LCD, you can see my copy of Q4. Still haven't installed it. Posting these threads takes quite a bit of time.
Click to expand...
I see it :) You gotta try it, the Multiplayer rules.

Back on topic :)
 
sorry steve... but I already proclaimed derrick to be "the sex" for his current mod... will you settle for... "the balls"???

awesome job... I wish I had money to mod AND buy awesome parts
 
time for a new saying int eh forums....in reference to guys like the one that got banned




QFD: quoted for douchebagness
 
dude are you hemmoraging cash?? i envy your spending power... its like a small european nation. cant wait to see it all come together. i am guessing the two black ice rads are for the CPU and VGA setup? with the smaller bore rads for the HDDs and auxiliary stuff? are you doing mosfets or somthing? we need more!
 
so uh, that first post had a pic of a custom res that i thought looked beaufitul. im not for many custom water cooling items bu i thought that one looked to have a very neat and nice design and jsut wanted to say that.

good job! more pics!
 
Looking good, hope to see more soon.

Borgschulze said:
Nice wife, I need to find a girl like that :) I had a girlfriend, she bought me Quake 4 for Christmas :)
Click to expand...

You HAD a girlfriend, but then you got Quake 4? :D

CrimandEvil said:
Give him some slack, he's from Cananda.
Click to expand...

Borgschulze said:
Don't be racist.
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Canandians are a race? Coooool... where are they from? I live in CANADA. :rolleyes:
 
Logan321 said:
Looking good, hope to see more soon.



You HAD a girlfriend, but then you got Quake 4? :D
Click to expand...

Yeah, I had a girlfriend till about last week wednesday.. she's promiscuous...

Logan321 said:
Canandians are a race? Coooool... where are they from? I live in CANADA. :rolleyes:
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American's aren't a race either then?
 
Borgschulze said:
American's aren't a race either then?
Click to expand...
I wasn't going to response seeing as how dumb the the first response was but gladly someone else did. God, I can't believe some people can't take a joke muchless someone that doesn't even know what a "race' is. What do they teach in those Canadian schools anyways? Your parents should demand a refund on your education. :rolleyes:

(Mods- if anything delete that top part if you feel it was out of bounds.)

ANYWAYS, Stevennoland those cases are tight and that reservior is awesome. Would it be possible to buy one like it?
 
Why don't you just stop making stupid comments then? My comments seem not funny because I have a lack of putting emoticons, so if you don't like it, then don't comment.

Back On Topic.
 
AragornTK said:
sorry steve... but I already proclaimed derrick to be "the sex" for his current mod... will you settle for... "the balls"???

awesome job... I wish I had money to mod AND buy awesome parts
Click to expand...



yes you did.....


and whats up with the pics i get red Xs
 
Borgschulze said:
American's aren't a race either then?
Click to expand...

Race is like Asian, Caucasian(sp?)(white), African, and so on.

anyway, can't wait to see how everything comes together
 
I also still have a Lian-Li case just like your first case. It is a PC-75. The only difference between it and the PC-70 was the 75 had a window from the factory and it IS a beast. I put mine on wheels a couple of years ago for ease of movement. Good luck with your new case, I like Lian-Li's too but can't afford to keep buying new ones. :(
 
el rolio said:
so uh, that first post had a pic of a custom res that i thought looked beaufitul. im not for many custom water cooling items bu i thought that one looked to have a very neat and nice design and jsut wanted to say that.

good job! more pics!
Click to expand...

Thanks! I thought of making a few more and trying to sell them, but they take soooo long to make and I would have to charge more than anyone would be willing to pay (about $200-300).

More pics comming.
 
cappyboats said:
I also still have a Lian-Li case just like your first case. It is a PC-75. The only difference between it and the PC-70 was the 75 had a window from the factory and it IS a beast. I put mine on wheels a couple of years ago for ease of movement. Good luck with your new case, I like Lian-Li's too but can't afford to keep buying new ones. :(
Click to expand...

Thanks for the correction. It's been so long. I'm lucky to remember my name.
 
Ctrl_Alt_Delete said:
dude are you hemmoraging cash?? i envy your spending power... its like a small european nation. cant wait to see it all come together. i am guessing the two black ice rads are for the CPU and VGA setup? with the smaller bore rads for the HDDs and auxiliary stuff? are you doing mosfets or somthing? we need more!
Click to expand...

Cash? What's that? Credit baby! (interest free though). The two small rads are not for any one component. I will have a pump feeding each component, but the way I will have it routed, all the components will share the same well (for lack of a better term).

More to come. Patience grasshopper.
 
AragornTK said:
sorry steve... but I already proclaimed derrick to be "the sex" for his current mod... will you settle for... "the balls"???

awesome job... I wish I had money to mod AND buy awesome parts
Click to expand...

Sure.
 
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