[Build Log] Project Icarus

royfrosty

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Introduction

It all started out when the Lian Li PC-O10 was announced just after June when I have gotten my own Phanteks Enthoo Evolv ATX TG. It was the only case that caught my attention. But that case has a lot of restrictions. There are a lot of things i need to change. Things like SFX PSU hence need to change the PSU cables, no 360mm radiator support, my MSI GTX1080 Seahawk EK X could not fit unless i buy the O10-1 accessory in order to mount my card vertically.

So it was a case that made me think a lot. A lot till the extent where I don't see any values for me to change. On mid of December 2016, Lian Li actually showed the Lian Li PC-O11 case. It looked very similar to the PC-O10, but however it comes with a proper 360mm radiator support, supports ATX PSU, and it has the space to accommodate my GPU.

So without a doubt, I contacted Lian Li. Took a couple of days for the freight forwarding to arrive. And this is how I managed to kick off project Icarus.

Some of the things i would like to change, and some of the things i would retain.

Hardware:

MSI X99A Gaming Pro Carbon
i7-5820K
Gskill Trident Z RGB 2400mhz 4x8gb kit (NEW)
MSI GTX 1080 Seahawk EK X (Unconfirmed)
Samsung 512gb 950 Pro
Seasonic P1050 1050w Platinum
Lian Li PC-O11 (NEW)

Water Cooling Components:

EK X99 Supremacy Evo Water Block
EK XRes 140 Res & D5 Pump Combo (NEW)
EK D5 Pump Mount frame (NEW)
Black Ice Nemesis 240GTX Dual-Core Xtreme Profile Radiator (Not needed as i've decided to go for a single 360mm radiator)
Black Ice Nemesis 360GTS® Ultra Stealth U-Flow Low Profile Radiator
Bitspower 12mm Fittings (90deg, straight & 90deg adapter)
Bitspower PETG 12mm tubes
Gentle Typhoon AP-29 3000rpm fans
Meyhams Pastel Ice White Concentrate (New)
Meyhams Extreme Ice White Concentrate (Left overs)


So without further ado, project Icarus introduction.



Things to do

White is the new Black

In order to be almost everything white, i would need to redo a few things to make it white. So certain things have to be custom painted.

- Gentle Typhoon AP-29 3000rpm Fans
- Black Ice Nemesis 240GTX Dual-Core Xtreme Profile Radiator
- Black Ice Nemesis 360GTS® Ultra Stealth U-Flow Low Profile Radiator
- White Vinyl Skin for the Lian Li PC-O11 Case (Not intended to use as the white vinyl tears easily)

PSU 24pins cables

Apart from that there are certain things that i don't really like in my previous build. And I wanted to redo a few things within my means. That will be the 24pin PSU sleeved cables. I have been irritated by the 24pins PSU cables that it has double cables. Back then, people did the cables by terminating 2 cables into 1 single pin. Which is kinda ugly and it is not compatible with any of the cable combs that has only 24pin.

So in order to use it together with the 24pin cable comb, I would need to reterminate it halfway or at the beginning of the PSU.

Deco

The last thing i would need to do is to add on some stickers. Not a must, but i shall take a look at it again.

12th Jan 2017

The PC-O11 arrived. Pretty nice timing for me to start. So day 1 i drained off the entire loop of my old build. And transplant it to a test bench and using air cooling first. Meanwhile while the Klevv RAMS are being sold, so i borrowed the RAMS from a trusty friend! =:p

20170117_131056_zpsqex7x5pl.jpg


13th Jan 2017

Rather a busy day, but however since i'm in the mood to do soldering. I have decided to reterminate the 24pins properly.

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15th Jan 2017

Today was rather a sad day for me. I went ahead to find Shadow84 to collect my items. Hopefully to have some progress on Icarus.

But my heart sank the moment i tried to fit in my GPU. By right this chassis should have the clearance to clear my GPU. But for MSI GTX1080 Seahawk EK X being too wide, and it could not fit as it will protrude out of my side glass. It was 1cm out of the way due to the g1/4 terminals being too tall. If only the terminals were shorter, I would be able to fit in nicely. I was so frustrated.

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Hence Icarus have to stop for the time being. I need to contact Lian Li and see if the accessories O11-1 would be able to purchase from them. This would allow me to mount my GPU vertically.

I have tried contacting EKWB and see what they can do on their end. But for some reason, they do not have the resources to do it as to shave off 1cm could not be possible.

So the only way is to wait for Lian Li to come out with the riser kit mount and make it purchasable.

17th Jan 2017

My Filco Hakua arrived. Damn gorgeous in white. Why i chose a non LED keyboard? Cause first of all, i do not like LEDs to be on my keyboard, partly it can be too bright, and secondly i don't like to have any form of software needed for my keyboard. I just want a simple and yet top notch Filco mechanical keyboard. Plug and play.

20170117_120840_zpsqxsuqfne.jpg


19th Jan 2017

Some hoots arrived from EZBuy/Taobao. Really damn cheap to purchase it from there.

- Bitspower Thumbscrews
- Bitspower case badge
- EK sticker
- THX sticker
- MSI sticker
- MSI Gaming Insignia sticker
- Seasonic sticker
- Gskill sticker
- White Vinyl which is too large to fit in pic

20170120_002426_zpsw0tms4gh.jpg


20th Jan 2017

Finally some great news!!! Lian Li O11-1 Riser Kit has been found in their web store. Thank goodness i can continue with Icarus real soon! Damn this is an expensive accessory!

Next great thing would be the Razer Firefly cloth edition that arrived in the afternoon.....

 
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royfrosty

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24th January 2017

It was an exciting day indeed, G.Skill Trident Z RGB arrived in Singapore two days earlier before launch. Headed straight to Corbell and grabbed it.

IMG_20170202_205722_edit_1486040254656_zps28zgews2.jpg


Went home and straight install it on my rig, and it is indeed beautiful. Still awaiting for G.Skill to launch their software controller.



26th January 2017

A really hot day indeed, no... i'm kidding. Was at home trying to dismantle all my GT fans to prep for spray paint. I have done it before with Keyoke's GT fans, so this wasn't something alien to me. Removed the "horse shoe" at the back of the fan. Its the clip that actually hold all the bearings and fan blades together.

20170126_223224_zpsvtsrt3le.jpg


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27th January 2017

Reunion dinner, eve of Chinese New Year. After so many days that i can't do up Icarus. The O11-1 arrived. Good timing as i could start up on Icarus during Chinese New Year.

20170126_223224_zpsvtsrt3le.jpg


It is indeed a hot day today. Decided to do some paint job on my Black Ice Nemesis GTS 360mm radiator. I cover the fins with cardbox and started with primer coat. Sand down a bit and went on with the matte white spray from Nippon Plox. Sprayed a total of 3 coats. End result? Its satisfying and looks brand new out of box.

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While waiting for it to dry. I went on to fix the O11-1 riser kit and mount both my motherboard and GPU to see how it looks like.

It looks beautiful. However since im using a passive heatsink to cool my Samsung Pro 950, i could not insert it at the last PCIE slot as it will be obstructed by my GPU. Instead i opted for the top slot PCIE and move my GPU to the 2nd PCIE slot instead.

*I did not intend to use the m.2 slot on the motherboard as it is far too hot if it were to run without any heatsink. Hence i use the Kryom.2 heatsink from Aquacomputer.

20170212_155119_zpsbnur8j49.jpg


Next i went on to find out what kind of radiator size thickness i could go for. Since i have the Black Ice Dual Core GTX 240 radiator which is 54mm thick. I tried to fit it to the top of the chassis. The total thickness including the fan would be 79.9mm.

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continue....
 
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royfrosty

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continued....

No doubt i could fit in, but however it is obstructing my 8pin CPU cable. It will obstruct the fan blades, hence the 54mm radiator would be a little too tight. Although if i would set the fans to be in pull config, the 8pin CPU cable will be dangling out like the picture below.

20170130_095243_zpszuhwnhqv.jpg


Hence i was on a dilemma. I was contemplating whether should i buy a thicker radiator or should i retain my GTS 360 radiator. Cause i really wanted good temps to cool my things down. But after looking at most of the radiator reviews, i have decided to retain my GTS 360 radiator. Reason being that, a radiator thickness has minor impact on overall thermal performance than having the same length but thicker radiators. No doubt that thicker radiators may have better cooling performance, but i dont think i would be needing a thicker radiator to cool both my CPU and GPU. I would probably not aim for highest overclocked CPU. I would aim for a modest overclocking speed and moderate voltages and tune to the fan speed that i want. Hence i cut down on the additional GTX 240 radiator.

Now, what make me contemplate a lot for a couple of days was because, i did not have good performance with the older case, the Phanteks Enthoo Evolv TG. After much research, it was the Phanteks Enthoo Evolv TG top radiator mounting has a very restrictive airflow vent on the top. Most of the forum users over at overclock net was mentioning that they have issues with the Enthoo Evolv TG as the hot air from the top radiator was circulating the hot air back into the chassis. Hence the overall temperature for the system keeps increasing over time. I mean, why would i water cool it if the temperature surges through 76degC for both my GPU and CPU? Might as well go with air cooling.

So with the fear of having bad temps with the GTS 360 radiator, i was afraid that the temps with the Lian Li PC-O11 case will be equally bad. But since the O11 has a opened air vent, i'm pretty confident that i will be getting better temps than what i was having in the older Phanteks Enthoo Evolv. So without a doubt i have decided on the single GTS 360 radiator. Keep my fingers crossed, hope everything is fine.

28th January 2017

I decided to paint the GT fans. Pretty easy.



2nd February 2017

Lazada delivered the additional RAMS. I went on to populate all 8 slots with overkill 64gb worth of RGB RAMS.

20170124_190422_zpslxck00yq.jpg


Went on to install the RAMS and decided to do the fittings and tubings. Icarus will be my first project that I have not bent any tubings. I have decided to use more angled 90 deg fittings and 90 deg adapter. Hence everything was pretty quite neat. Icarus 90% complete.

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3rd February 2017

Today afternoon, went on to get some more sleeves and additional matte white paint as i have ran out of it.

I would need to paint another 3 more GT fans for the front, and i have managed to get some gasket together with Cablemods Hybrid LED from PPCS. Hope to finish everything and get it up running by next week.

4th February 2017

The weather for today were rather hot in the afternoon. Took my chance to spray another 3 GT fans for the front intake. Thank goodness, managed to complete it before it rains heavily.

9th February 2017

After painting all the fans, i have decided to start on re-terminating new cables for my fans. I have extended its length, and redo the cable sleevings.

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And yay, cablemod stuffs arrived together with my gasket and extra fittings.

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13th February 2017

Continued with Icarus. Decided to add 3 more fans to the front and mount up the pump and res combo. And yeap added the stickers!

20170213_012310_zpscn18kyfq.jpg
 
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royfrosty

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Continued from 13th February 2017

Here how it looks like after adding the Mayhems Pastel Ice White coolant.

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This is the time i hated the most. I could not get the LED to shine bright enough for the case. Be it red, blue, green etc. There is some problem face as i could not get the brightness that i want. Although it is connected to MSI Mystic, the output voltage with my multi-meter indicates that it is outputting only 9.83V. Attaching it to Mystic did not allow me to adjust the maximum brightness that i want. Irregardless i have tried using both cablemods LEDs and generic SMD5050 LEDs. Even if it is bright enough, i find myself being restricted by the colors and the patterns that i want. So i have no choice but to reconsider other LEDs.

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Look at how dull the colors are?

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15th February 2017

Finally, after a day worth of research, i have decided to grab the NZXT Hue+ with the extension. And BAM! it all works flawlessly and yes it is indeed bright enough and reflecting off my white fans and radiator. Thank goodness the money is being well spent! Else another $85+$35 down the drain.

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Conclusion

Finally project Icarus has come to an end. Overall i would like to say that, project Icarus is an interesting build i have done by far. RGB is not an overnight thing, it is not easy. It is actually very tedious, trying again and again for the right LEDs to shine the components inside my case.

It is a fun project that i had done, and definitely i would never forget. I hope you guys enjoyed my walkthrough. Also sorry for not updating it promptly.
 
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FlushX

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Support Roy! Sorry to see that your project has stalled.

Perhaps the people up there are hinting for a Ti to come :)
 

royfrosty

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Support Roy! Sorry to see that your project has stalled.

Perhaps the people up there are hinting for a Ti to come :)

Sigh i have no idea man. Waiting for Lian Li reply everyday is such pain to wait.

I would probably start with the radiator paint first. Seems that is the only thing i can do now while waiting.
 

royfrosty

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Too tall to mill?

According to EK, they cannot shave down as they need to accormodate the g1/4 thread. If they managed to do it, it will be very thin. But either way i dont think EK will bother with my request.

The only way is to wait for Lian Li reply, or alternatively change to a smaller gpu.
 

tarui04

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According to EK, they cannot shave down as they need to accormodate the g1/4 thread. If they managed to do it, it will be very thin. But either way i dont think EK will bother with my request.

The only way is to wait for Lian Li reply, or alternatively change to a smaller gpu.

cnc mill a new one ?
 

royfrosty

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Updated as of 3/2/17 2343hrs
- Added build log from 26th Jan to 3rd Feb
 

royfrosty

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Updated as of 28/2/17 0023hrs
- Added all the logs from 9th to 15th February.
- Added conclusion and a video
- Project Icarus concluded
 

royfrosty

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Updated on 13/9/17

- Migration of photos from Photobucket to Imgbb
 
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