[Build Log] SR-2

[B NEGATIVE]

Hey everybody!

This has been running for a few months now already so im quite far into it,but i think you will enjoy! Sorry for the poor quality pictures,a half decent camera is high on my list of *must have* goodies.

So...i have always had a,quite frankly,naked lust for a SR-2 system. I know that nowadays its a bit long in the tooth and outdated but it was/is the top of the pile in its day. Luckily i got one cheap and so a wicked plot hatches......:hrhr:

Hardware for this build (shhhhh! dont tell the missis!!!) xD

SR-2....well it would have to be really!
2 X5650 Xeon CPU's...ebay special!!
12gb Corsair Dominator GT 1866....Due to EVGA's outdated QVL for the SR-2 ,this has been confirmed as good by the guys at [H].
1500w Enermax Platimax PSU...Tax return FTW!
3 EVGA 670 FTW edition....680 blocks and plates fit this model of the 670!

Watercooling for this build (this changed many times during the original log)

3x XSPC 480 rads
2x 24v D5's
2x Koolance D5 pump tops
250mm Bitspower res
MIPS block for the board and Watercool HK3 for the CPU's
Corsair SP120 fans.

Originally,this build was going to use Aquacomputer AMS rads but due to availability and the fact that i couldnt use the ports i wanted because they are so big,i had to revise my plans I was so keen for them too....

This build is not themed as such but it does have a party piece...instead of tubing of the plastic nature,im using 10mm Chrome plated copper tube.

So,some pics maybe?

The board in all is glory!!

Off come the stock EVGA plates for the cut down version (supplied,EVGA are thoughtful like that),i could of used some bolts in the stock plates but i have heard that this board suffers badly when the board is flexed...missing RAM and that kind of thing.

Watercool back plates..

Mounting hardware..

Now finding a case suitable was a bit of a pain....im no fan of plastic tackyness,so after much thinking and trying to justify it to myself,i went with a Little Devil V8 inverted case. I was toying with a Caselabs,but they are exceptionally expensive for EU buyers and,i think anyway,a bit too big.

As it is the LD is plenty big!

Right then.....

Whats this?

Magoo also wants to know what it is.

The SR-2 is a huge board but is tiny in there

After the board was fitted,i took a look at the bending required,no sing at the back please.
I was concerned that the chrome would flake during the bending process but...

My doubts about the Chrome flaking off the tube was put to rest.

You may have been wondering what the red tape was for? it is the 0 line for the bend,i can work out the length required to get 2 90 bends to meet to set out dimensions

To get this..

Got some push fit fittings to make the test fitting.

I ended up using these fittings,they look ok and are 1/3rd the price of the koolance fittings.
Downside is i dont trust push fit fully,not like a proper compression fitting.

The tails had not been cut yet,i wanted the piping at the same level. So,i need to get the Ram in and see what i can chop off...
It was time to start collecting the loop together,you know what its like,you end up going to 3 different e-tailers due to stock levels.
I use ***********,sorry for the shameless plug!
http://i.imgur.com/R7ezM.jpg

24v capable D5's

http://i.imgur.com/HRJKr.jpg

Bitspower Res..why would you buy anything else??

http://i.imgur.com/gjxmE.jpg

Some of the fittings..

http://i.imgur.com/WTx3m.jpg

Dual 24v pump controller

http://i.imgur.com/lhZHi.jpg[/url 2 480 XSPC rads... [url]http://i.imgur.com/BaRey.jpg

Making a start on the pipebending and another shop hit,got the spacers i forgot to order!

Its starting to come together now,i dont start with a specific design brief when i start a build,rather it comes together naturally.

Yet more stuff keeps showing up,im running out of excuses to tell them missis.....

"Why do you need a 1500w power supply?"

"Its not for the power,dear. Its for efficiency .."



Disaster averted!! xD

This PSU screams Quality,very nice choice i think...plus the cables look easy to braid with no double wires!

Result!

a free fan you say? some enermax 'stadium light' job...

Specs for the unit..

Dominator GT's and a Force GT SSD..

I wont be using the airflow fans tho..

Looks mint dont it.

So....time for some work!

Last rad appeared today along with a couple of fans...

Annoyingly,the cables are not braided and they have coloured all the wires black,so good luck if you want to braid these...for a £12 fan,braided cables are not a lot to ask.
They do include a 7v resistor tho for those without controllers

They look great in case.
Now just waiting for the 12 120 SP versions and another 140....

I was waiting a while for these tops but i think my wait was worthwhile.
2 Koolance D5 tops and the rest of my fans.

The pics of the pump tops doesnt do them justice,they are the best bit of machining i have seen on WC gear.
No swirls or tool marks,even the impeller machining is spot on.

Got the fans on the lower XSPC rads...

These fans match the red in my case so well,its amazingly close!

Now i need to start getting the loop finished,i want get this fired up!!

Bolted the two tops together,just waiting on a Sli link to join them up.

Mounting holes drilled and bulkhead fitting in place.

Silicone washers for pump dampening..

Pumps bolted in.

Top rad fitted.

Some external shots...

One of the SP 120s didnt come with a red fan ring...hence the white one in a couple of shots...

There is still some painting to be done yet on the rads and pump tops before final fix,i was keen to see how they look in there....couldnt help myself!


So im looking now towards the modding and finishing up the loop so i can get this fired up.

Some 1.5mm Alu sheet and some 3 mm flouro red acrylic.
Im removing the drive bay panels and replacing them with a solid Alu panel and doing some cover work on the HDD/SSD caddies..

Some braided fan cables,braiding cables is a pain at best,but doing fan cables is just frustrating for me,hence i wimped out and bought some.

The last fittings for the loop,Koolance lo profile 90's and a VID fitting for the pump tops.

Trying to keep the cabling tidy has become a bit of an obsession,these caught my eye...

Dont know if i will use it,i really im not keen on that HUGE connector..

These i will be using..

Staggered length SATA III cables,should keep everything tidy behind the board..

Now.....this was my GPU choice,3 670 FTW.
I know Coolmiester will be disappointed that its not dual 690...sorry mate!

Whats this?? A full size 680 board??

Which means 680 blocks and plates!!!

Dont get comfy stock cooler....:hrhr:

I was in the mood for some painting..

So...i started by masking the already base coated pump covers.

a few hits with the RAL 3003 spray a real good match to the existing red in the case,to get this.

But wait....i fancy some cutting action...TO THE JIGSAW!

I want a nice panel for the res,a bit of cutting and filing and we have...

It fits nice!

Drilled the holes for the mountings

Black etch coat...

A lot of spraying later and the panel is ready to be fitted.

Res mounts fitted and the panel is screwed to the HDD cage.

So...what do you think? Nice?

This cam phone just doesnt cut it...i need to get a better camera!!

Magoo agrees!!

I can explain the pipe bending to anyone else interested in using it in their rig,i dont keep good info to myself if it will help.
Lastly,thanks for looking thru this log,i know there was a lot to go thru......

 

[B NEGATIVE]

MDPC sleeve has arrived!!
I dont even need to mention the quality....we know why we are here and why we buy from our friend Nils. Already i have noticed the female molex remover doubles as a nice pin 'shuttle'....save my wallet? Oh yes!
The pulse modding sleeve i have used before doesnt come close!

Looks like im going to be busy this week.....i am keen to sleeve!
......which will be a first,sore fingers and cuts are something i normally avoid!! xD

Well.....it didnt go quite to plan,i was hoping to do all the cutting with the plexi and the alu together....


....i forgot how much i hate drilling/cutting plexi.

and i got the initial measurements wrong....

XD


So,on my second attempt we get this.

I have spent years on site,measuring constantly,always checking twice...and just when i need it most,i fail.

xD

In other news...
I am going shrinkless for the braiding,made a start today...along with much aluminium filing!

Continuing from the plexi/alu cutting yesterday...

A coat of etch to the alu and we get...

You can see where i need to take more off the plexi....may make a change here and go for a true red instead of fluro.
The back of the plexi will be frosted to return more light and i have yet to drill the LED holes...

Not bad for a friday morning tho....

 

[B NEGATIVE]

Finished the ATX 24 and both the 8 pins....
Enermax dont make your life easy,plenty of double wires and bundles....

Still,i wasnt going to be beaten now!!

And im running out of braid fast!!

The Red is definitely the better braid to melt on,it rolls a lot smoother and tighter.

What lurks beneath Enermax's sleeving and shrink wrap....

So i ditched the clamp,extended the wires and sleeved them. They had no chance of ever reaching the GFX cards and i didnt really want to go the extensions route..

You can see how short the original cables were
Some more plug shots...

There also appears to be a tentacle beast in residence! I am half expecting some anime hero to leap out with a laser sword!

I really need someone with cable sewing skills to teach me some skills,these will not stay in place!!

I need to buy yet more sleeve and some of Nils cable clips to rein in the tentacle beast,so it looks like its all coming out before i break out the power tools and tap set...

...I should really think ahead more!!

Leaktest underway,i want get the board fired up this week and get to work stressing the GPUs that are coming this week,they have to pass 24 hrs on furmark before i put blocks on them..

Only one leak from the Vid connector on the pumps,needed brutal tightening to get it watertight,other than that,leak free so far!

Having seen what one 24v D5 can do,the second was pure overkill!

24v POWAH!!!

Progress gets a boost today...sadly i must break the loop down to wrap the sides of the rads and the pump mounts with Di-Noc,this fill-up was a fittings test.

A second 670 appears!

3m,i <3 You...

I wanted to cover the sides of the rads and the pump mounts with DiNoc,i quite like the look of carbon fiber and this stuff is easy to work with.

Trim off the excess.

To get the stamping to show,i used a heatgun and a paint brush to mold the sheet.

Now to start on the pumps.
They look not so good stock,but we are going to change that..

I started this by giving the mounts a once over with some black etch.

Then hit it with the DiNoc.

Much Better!!

 

[B NEGATIVE]

Braid.....all i see is braid....XD

But i also have the shiny!!

Yay!! My polishing torch has arrived!!

........should of known really.

Im fluent in IKEA so lack of instructions is not a problem.
Interesting to note that the gas is switchable with no dead man safety...

 

[B NEGATIVE]

Look what came in the post...one short tho.

Oh so sexy.....

Nowhere near the same amount of mill marks as EK....
The plating is very good!!

The wrong way up for my purposes...

So,out come the allen keys...

.......orly?

I have a method for these tricky o-rings.

Get the o-ring in the groove at one end.

Slide the block piece over the end you just placed,after pulling the bolts out of course. You dont want to snag the o-ring and damage it.

then bolt it down...simples.

Now to the good bit...blocking up the cards.

Plenty of cheescake,thanks nVidia!

Once the cheescake has gone,we can bask in the glory of a naked die.

The real reason you cant go mental with the volts on these cards....seems a power phase is missing.

Thermal tape? Yes.
Remembered to take both sides of the film off? OOOh Yes.

Watercool do a very clever washerlock system,no more scrabbling around of washers! Yay!

Sexy yes?

Watercool blocks are just too gorgeous.....everything is bang on!

Only problem i have right now is that i have damaged the port o-rings so i need to get them replaced....lucky i noticed now rather than on fill up!



One down...2 to go..

 

[B NEGATIVE]

2 Down...1 to go

Leak test underway,not a drop so far!

Disaster! one of the pumps has literally popped out of the top on my SR2!! Seems Koolance struggle to machine two threads that match,the pump shroud wiggles in the threads and just lets go!

Thanks to ninja reactions and the 3 cups of coffee earlier i whipped out the power before it flooded everything,thank christ i put the pumps in the rad bay underneath or this could of got expensive.

identical issue.
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...e-D5-top-issue


Koolance is now on my poop list.

Cant even RMA them as i have painted the mounts and shroud,thankfully the vendor just offered to replace me with 2 of the new rev 2 model.

Specialtech FTW

You can clearly see the difference in the pump mounting compared to the rev 1.

http://skinneelabs.com/assets/images/Pumps/D5/D5_Tops.jpg

The new top just bolts in the traditional manner rather than the screw in shroud method.

The tops are different dimensions tho so im going to have to ditch the copper between the pump and res and go with a bit of black tube instead....otherwise it means re doing the res mount and generally more trouble than its worth.


In other news,its my birthday...and i got a new toy! A Canon 350D. Not the most advanced camera but is a solid performer when you ditch the stock lens.......and i learn how to use it!

TO THE PHOTOGRAPHY SECTION AND READ ALL THE THINGS!

 

[B NEGATIVE]

I get a bit of time to put into my rig for a change!

I have received the XL window from Little Devil and what a difference it makes!

Like most things,it all about the extra few inches...

Rebated window...I like this very much.

And a nice little bent Alu trim piece with a DiNoc covering

Now I am just waiting for a replacement controller so i can bolt it all back together for some hot pr0n shots in the garden....

Much thanks to Luciel and Spawne for expediting this controller to me and to Grahame at Kustom PC for have one for them to send.
Thanks fellas,you have done me proud!

PCB has changed over previous FC5's i have had.

And braided extensions too?
Another new and welcome detail.

WE ARE GO!!!

 

[B NEGATIVE]

Knobs swapped for the black ones from my FC6..

And we are back on track!

Time for a dust out and a clean up for i47.

 

[B NEGATIVE]

The best of Multiplay i47

Sharing stand space with Coolmiester was great,class builds and mine didnt look too much out of place...
Got good feed back on my build and more builds to do.


Thanks for hanging in there!

 

[B NEGATIVE]

I have been asked a few times now how i bent my pipe for my SR 2 build,so i decided to do a little walk thru.

The tools you will need are these:

A Cup of Tea...mine was a milky number to get the juices flowing.
A set of benders...these are for half-hard pipe,not annealed pipe as annealed is thin walled and should be bent by hand.
A Cutter for the chosen OD of your tube
A Ruler
Some tape.

I recommend Rothenberger benders,these are high quality and are worth the extra.
Otherwise,you may have to 'mod' the benders..like this:

The top guide was poorly aligned and needed a bit of work before use.
Poorly aligned guides can distort the tube and put creases down the length of the bend.

So..take a bit of tape to make a base mark.

Place the base mark on the 0 point of the bender.

Line up the guide with the 0 mark.

Make the bend using constant pressure,dont snatch at it,use nice firm and even pressure.

Once you have made your bend,measure the distance from the 0 mark and the outer wall of the bend.

This is the radius measurement,in this case 28mm,remember this as it will allow you to make accurate 90-90 bends to go 180 like this.

To cut the tube to length,use the cutter,rotating the the direction indicated on the tool.
Try to keep everything straight when cutting,the cutter can spiral if its not held 90 to the pipe.

This a basic guide,for any specific info,please comment below.


Pipe stockists in the US. Kindly provided by Fuganater

10mm:
http://www.mcmaster.com/#standard-metal-tubing/=icfb8z
http://www.onlinemetals.com/merchant.cfm?pid=18333&step=4&showunits=inches&id=1288&top_cat=87
http://www.onlinemetals.com/merchant.cfm?pid=1866&step=4&showunits=inches&id=1295&top_cat=87
http://electrontubestore.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=57_122_123&products_id=1587
http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_odk...73.m570.l1313&_nkw=10+mm+copper+pipe&_sacat=0

12mm:
http://www.mcmaster.com/#standard-metal-tubing/=icfaeq

 

[Jesse B]

So incredibly jealous of this rig. Excellent work!

 

[Ender91]

Quite an awesome build.... Just a bit surprised by the tube routing around the cpu...

 

[B NEGATIVE]

Working on the OC now..

Stock GPU's,OC'd X5650s

Still got a lot more in the tank too.....

6th place for now....

 

[B NEGATIVE]

I have decided to take this rig a bit further...

Im going to be clearing the drive bays and using one of these...

http://www.carcomputer.co.uk/index....·displaylink-7-displaylink-open-frame-monitor

Hooked up to an Aquaero with Aquaero controlled D5's and fans....

I tend to do this,build something then pick holes in the stuff i dont like till i get to what i want

 

[DeFex]

Your SR2 looks fantastic, I had one for a while, and the cables were such a mess.

I also really like how your video cards look like high tech machinery.

Great job!

Btw, I guessed from looking at your back garden that you are in the UK.

 

[B NEGATIVE]

So the Aquaero plan starts to come together....

Thanks Specialtech for this bit of kit!

Slowly getting all the bits i need to start modding this case properly.

 

[B NEGATIVE]

More goodies have arrived but this is all im showing you till the rest of it arrives....

Magoo approves this post.

 

[B NEGATIVE]

TO THE PRON!!

A nice stack of Aquacomputer lovelyness

Some Alphacool BP clone pass thru's....damn sight cheaper!

If you want your Aquaero to run multiple fans then this is a must,Aquaero Waterblock.
Tidy machining as you expect.

Aqualis res,pump mount version.

Pump top to match...D5 version.

I did say i was going dual loop right?

Those pump rings are going red for sure!

So....I have my 12/10 E22 ultraclear but im waiting for c47's to tidy it all up and im swapping out the blocks for MIPS Iceforce CPU blocks.
Im running a lot of the tube under the midplate and using pass-thrus,im bending all the mobo tubing tho,expect a detailed method and plans for the jigs and formers that i will be using shortly.

 

[B NEGATIVE]

So,today im fitting the AQ waterblock.

Puny heatsink,not going to withstand the multiple fans per channel that i need.

Start by whipping off the PCB,got to be careful you dont damage the screen connector...

Then the 3 HS screws are visible.

This is what you should be left with

Now,see the difference between the stock HS and the new waterblock?

Even running the waterblock out of the loop would be a improvement on the stock unit,a much greater contact patch and mass makes sure of that.

Annnnnd DONE!

Sexy yes?

ignore the watermarked pics,i forgot to change it over......

 

[Wahoomcdaniel]

I really like the hard lines used between the blocks, but I have one suggestion.
In other mods using hard lines, I've seen the tubing run from inlet to inlet without consideration of the aesthetics how the lines run.
In your mod, the middle line is not parallel to what appears parallel for the top and bottom set of three.

I suggest that you add an offset to the middle tube so that you end up with a more balanced and parallel appearance. IMHO. Maybe it's just the OCD in me.

 

[B NEGATIVE]

I really like the hard lines used between the blocks, but I have one suggestion.
In other mods using hard lines, I've seen the tubing run from inlet to inlet without consideration of the aesthetics how the lines run.
In your mod, the middle line is not parallel to what appears parallel for the top and bottom set of three.

I suggest that you add an offset to the middle tube so that you end up with a more balanced and parallel appearance. IMHO. Maybe it's just the OCD in me.

Tried it already,the amount of tube i need to make the bends means there will be about 30mm of parallel tube,not really worth the extra messing about.
This is all coming out and being replaced with Acrylic tube instead,its a bit more forgiving so probably will try again then.