buffbiff21's Buff Shadow build log

[buffbiff21]

What's up everyone! Welcome to my build log!

Come on in, sit down, and grab a drink because I have nearly a HUNDRED pictures so far.

Time to introduce my rig:

Why call it the Buff Shadow?
Well, cuz it is gonna be swoll
And because my color scheme will be all black/silver. Mostly black.

COMPONENTS:

Lian Li PC-70B
E6600
x2 8800GTX in SLi
EVGA 680i Mainboard
2 GB Corsair Dominator 8500C5D
Raptor X + 1TB of storage
Soundblaster X-FI Xtreme Music (would have used my Fatal1ty with the drive bay device, but it would not fit... you'll see why later.)
Silverstone Zeus 850W


WATER COOLING SETUP:

x2 MCP355 DDC-2 with Petra's Top (in series)
Swiftech Storm
x2 MCW30 (chipsets)
x2 EK 8800GTX blocks
Thermochill PA120.3 (triple) radiator + 3 Yate Loon DS12SL with Silverstone 3.5 bay fan controller
Alphacool Bullseye/Cape Reservoir
1/2 Tygon R3603
+stainless steel wormdrive clamps

MODIFICATIONS:

Cut triple 120mm radiator vents on top
Cut drive rack for showing off Raptor X
Pain drive rack ^
Screw holes for mounting pumps
Paint and sleeve 850w Zeus
Paint/sleeve case cables
Sleeve pump cables
*NEW MOD:* I plan on cutting a diamond shape on the door panel of the case and replacing with it with a removable plexiglass window that is interchangable with the black aluminum via thumbscrews, so it will go into stealth mode. But that wont happen for a little while...

Between school, work, and everything else I have been at work on my newest rig for literally months. And it is still not complete. However, I am waiting only on only two things: my two EK 8800GTX waterblocks, and for me to paint and sleeve my PSU.

Here is the first round of pictures; I will comment on most of them:

Here is the case:

Of course, I knew there would be many days of no sleep coming. I had to prepare myself. I was up over the course of two days at one point, so I needed some stuff to keep me up. Here we have a 2 liter of Code Red and a 52 oz Slurpee, Pina Colada flavor

Some more snacks:

And here is my method of preparing the case to be cut:

Next, I will post all the supplies.

 

[buffbiff21]

Here we have a 8800 from November (the green one) and one from February (the black one) Luckily I got black PCB for both of them! Because getting green PCB would totally screw me over.

Here is me trying to take a picture of the Petra's Tech shop pen that came along with one of my orders.

Clamps and fans:

Some random stuff:

Distilled Water: (I had two of these)

A bunch of barbs:

My jumped (see the paperclip!) guinea pig PSU for testing water loop(an old 350W piece of crap)

Tubing (I ended up using the Tygon; the black stuff shown here was very tough to bend. (But it would have looked cooler!)

Next up I will post the case mod and sleeving of stuff.

 

[buffbiff21]

Here I drew holes for mounting the two pumps:

I also needed to put the fan on the other side of the front of the case, and screw a hole for power routing

There I had to buy a 3pin power extension... and sleeve it.

The cutting! Props to my mom's boyfriend Dana for letting me use his drills.

Next up, some visual mods.

 

[buffbiff21]

Now time to sleeve some stuff.

First of all, I dremelled the Lian Li HD cage:

normally looks like this (this was not my case - I found it via Google);

... and painted it....

I took all the cables that came with the case OUT of the case and did the following with a sharpie: (not recommended... Took me forever)

Sleeved my fan controller:

Sleeved the pumps:

Next up: the vinegar baths.

 

[buffbiff21]

I put the vinegar in these and left them for a few hours:

While that was soaking, I went to Home Depot and Kragen to get some gasket stuff and screws to mount the pumps. Why gasket? Because the top of my case looked like this:

So I got some for the holes. Then, I got some of this, which is a thin sheet of gubber gasket:

...And sprayed it black (of course) for sitting under the pumps (so they dont send vibrations through my case)

And here it is rimmed in gasket (I tightened up that middle one):

With rad mounted:

the pumps, mounted:

Next up, I began installing everything.

 

[buffbiff21]

Nude main board:

Storm and MCW30 on board:

Note that I took the MCW30 off and am using the stock cooler heatpipe that came with the 680i for now, until I get my GPU blocks I am limited to this. (theother MCW30 will not fit on the SB past the 8800's massive heatsink)

Ready for tubes?

Reason I did not use my Fatal1ty's drive bay device: So that is up for sale...
I could barely mount my ODD up here.

Next, fill & bleed.

 

[buffbiff21]

Yes, this was sturdy enough :

Sneak Peak from the front: (I have one of those bezels for the optical drive)

At this point, I am reluctant to post pics... because it is almost done.

I want tension to build... and I want there to be a big grand finale, ya kno?

So hang tight until my EK 8800 GTX water blocks arrive. (should be here very, very soon)

I'll be back...

 

[WarEagleAU]

Beautiful work so far my friend. Camera does suck, but at least we can see what you are attempting to do. I cant wait for the finished product.

 

[buffbiff21]

Blocks came today Just in time too as I found my good camera.

Heres the case, yes it looks like a mess right now because I had to take stuff out and etc... You can see some of the stuff I modded clearer now

There you have it. I am really beat right now - wait till tomorrow or Wednesday and I will redo the loop again and get everything running.

 

[buffbiff21]

Beautiful work so far my friend. Camera does suck, but at least we can see what you are attempting to do. I cant wait for the finished product.

Thanks man. I appreciate it.

here are some more pics

After I stripped the HSF from the 8800:

Nude core:

Case again:

boiled some distilled water:

Washed out with vinegar and boiling distilled water about 5 times:

Currently my system is leak testing. Should boot it up tonight

 

[ex_reven]

thats fan-fking-tastic mate

how much was this setup?

 

[buffbiff21]

thats fan-fking-tastic mate

how much was this setup?

Heh I think Ive lost track
e6600 315
board 270 (right when it came out....)
g80 cards 650 + 550 (I bought em at separate times)
PSU 250
RAM 350
Raptor X 200
storage drives 400
case 200
sound card 120(yeah I bought it way back..)

The rest is in the first post.

Id say 4k? 5K? There are quite a bit of extras involved too - sleeving/shrink, drills, grills, fans, you kno and the water setup was easily over 1k.

But it was the time; the time killed me. 2 and a half months so far since I began ordering the Watercooling part.

 

[Ketxxx]

Makes my head hurt thinking about how many hours went into that.

 

[buffbiff21]

Makes my head hurt thinking about how many hours went into that.

mine too

here is the moneyshot: some tubing is a little cloudy cuz I actually had it running before I started this build log:

my fan controller's voltage regulator:

pumps:

drives: (see that raptor? )

now all i have to do is sleeve this piece. I plan on painting the actual wires white and then sleeving it black. (was going to do the opposite, but Ill just keep it all black )

 

[Ketxxx]

mine too

here is the moneyshot: some tubing is a little cloudy cuz I actually had it running before I started this build log:

Ket likes this picture Sleek and elegent looking without being in-your-face overstated with gaudy colours etc. Very, very sweet

Now go feel free to try and hunt down one other person I've said that to, you don't get praise like that from me unless you done something truely sweet

 

[buffbiff21]

Ket likes this picture Sleek and elegent looking without being in-your-face overstated with gaudy colours etc. Very, very sweet

Now go feel free to try and hunt down one other person I've said that to, you don't get praise like that from me unless you done something truely sweet

heh thanks much man That was actually precisely my goal - black and subdued with no colors/lights. I forgot to put the RAM sticks back in for that picture (to cover up the blue), and it would have been slightly sweeter with the silver EK blocks that just came out. Plus I have to sleeve the nasty PSU and cable everything nicely. But I like the copper blocks still - gives it a little personality

 

[KennyT772]

put the hr-05 on the northbridge man! the hr-05 sli should do it for the southbridge.

 

[buffbiff21]

Well, I haven't really posted on this forum that much.. But I recall I was going to list my rig for the Case Gallery

anyway

final update, as i'm selling off this rig (someone totalled my car and car > computer)

in context:

buffbiff21 with the the Buff Shadow:

hopefully you've all enjoyed my build log.

later!

 

[aximbigfan]

dude, that sucks that youv got to sell all of your hard work because of your car!
what happened? did someone crash into it?


chris

 

[erocker]

HFC dude! Yesssssssssssss! The milky white coolant makes it kinda creepy too! That's awesome!

 

[NewbieBuilder]

Wow, that is one hell of a machine, that thing looks beautiful ...

 

[Zeratul_uy]

Dude, one word: AMAZING

i'll rate your case later \o/