L3p - SteigerWood

[l3p]

Here a new 'little' project which I wanted to do quite a while.
My wife wanted to get rid of the black Ikea home cinema cabinet, preferred something new with scaffolding wood.
And I .. wanted a new HTPC




So why not combine with a cabinet which meets my demands..
And off course a liquid cooled HTPC / Steam Machine




This was going to be an 'off the record' build but decided to show you guys what I'm going to do




Hardware:

Steiger Dynamics ERA
Intel i5 4690K
Asus Maximus VII Impact
Asus GTX970 DirectCU Mini
Corsair Vengeance Pro 16GB
Corsair Neutron XT 480GB
EKWB Waterblocks
EKWB Pump & Rads
Bitspower Fittings
LiHeat Pci-e Extender

Made possible by:



​

 

[Aquinus]

Subbed. I'm glad you decided to tell us about it. I love seeing what you come up with and I really like where this looks like it's heading as well. I've always felt that some of the other builds you do are a bit on the showy side (which I think is the intent,) but this feels a little more practical and subtle and I would love to see where it goes.

Edit: This post is by no means an insult, I just like hardware that looks ordinary but performs extraordinarily. The whole "don't judge a book by its cover" sort of deal appeals to me.

 

[l3p]

Thanks Aquines!
I actually like honest constructive replies so don't worry.
Not sure if it will become exactly the way you would like it as it will be liquidcooled.
But it will have options with lighting on/off

 

[adulaamin]

Subbed!

That Steiger Dynamics case looks excellent.

 

[Aquinus]

Not sure if it will become exactly the way you would like it as it will be liquidcooled.

No no, that's not what I meant. I expect just about everything you do to be water cooled which I think is great. I was thinking about it being water cooled without seeing or hearing that it's water cooled but when you open it up, it would be a work of art. In reality, the best HTPC (IMHO,) is the one that you don't even know is there.

 

[l3p]

Don't worry

 

[Frogger]

Subbed your builds are inspiring Nice to have the support of the better half too

 

[Aquinus]

Subbed your builds are inspiring Nice to have the support of the better half too

Yeah. You would be surprised how unopposed my decision to get a 390 went. She was even willing to let me get a 980 Ti but I convinced myself out of it. Cheers to better halves that let you indulge your hobby!

 

[l3p]

At first this wasn't going to be a build + buildlog but just 'a little job' at house and an aircooled htpc in a clean case.
Well that turned out differently .. and now I've got to catch up

First the cabinet. Longer then a year ago we had plans for a new home cinema cabinet.
A few months ago my wife came with the idea to do something with scaffolding wood as a relative creates furniture with it.



Together with my friend Mark who's really good and specially fast with sketchup we sat down a few nights.
It took quite some time before we implemented my wife her wishes and my own.
Thanks Mark!




And finally:
(Did some keyshot)






So we started on the cabinet.




Exploded view:




And the 36 parts where I had to add all measurements to make building it much easier.




All of a sudden it was in the living room
(Sawn sides and table will be finished later)




Old Ikea cabinet ready for dump.




Lets swap.




Under the hood.




Temporary up and running!







Relaxing after a long evening

 

[l3p]

First some pics from the ERA and the hardware.


Mau has been waiting all day for me








Love it!




















And a wonderful present hidden inside the case.
Thanks Martin!!




And the hardware I will be using.




Thanks again Asus & Corsair!










Lets check the hardware first.




And a bios update from 0020 to 2702




Like a charm!




Next update .. the liquid cooling .. and stripping the case.

 

[l3p]

This update some more reading.
For this build I really needed all the material because of the space inside.
The height on the sides is 64mm and in the middle 76mm.
Lots of measuring and fitting!

First the Pci-e extenders from Li-Heat.
These do work with Gen3 and even on a 65cm length






Off course I had to see for myself with a 50cm extender






And with the 25cm extender. This is how I want to show the GPU.




And 2 other nice packages from EKWB and Corsair.




Memory where you can easily take off the heatspreaders.




Corsair Link to control the fans and lighting.






And the EK package!




Several radiators (also something for the future) to measure and fit.
(Did you know a single 180mm rad has more surface then 2x120mm? )




I often use Clear blocks but this time Acetal.




The kitchen table is ready!








Naked Nvidia GPU




And done!




Now the puzzling can start.
This way I wouldn't need to change much on the case.
(Bit scared to saw in the thick anodized brushed aluminum front panel)




Maybe do saw in frontpanel and use 50cm extender?




Still not sure about it all, I need every millimeter.
Lets strip the case even more.




There you go.




About 2mm space on all sides, products and blocks .... I think this will be it






Borrowed fittings from other project to see how the loop could go.




My first idea was, because of the height of the case, to have the loop come out of the top of the case.
But it seems that I can keep it all inside (1mm space above fittings) just not the memory block.
Looks like a challenge .. maybe skip the memory block?




Until 'somebody' offered me a solution on facebook ... more about that next time




Vacation started!
Now first further on project 'L3pipe'!

 

[2big2fail]

Why not use a full cover block on the 970? Aren't you concerned about the vrm temp since airflow back there is going to be sparse? Or you got a custom passive sink in store for us?

 

[l3p]

There aren't full covers available for the GTX970 Mini. I'm not too worried about it. (also used little Akasa heatsinks on them)

 

[l3p]

And 2 nice packages arrived.
First up .. Bitspower!




A lovely night of cutting bags




Nickel plated pipes .. just not sure yet if I will use them this build.








Thanks again Vincent!




And then something really nice from Parvum and JR23.








Thanks Joe, Justin en Shaun!

 

[RealNeil]

Stellar build,.......

 

[HammerON]

Sub'd for another awesome build

 

[l3p]

First of all a happy 2016 everyone!

It has been quiet here for a while, I'll try to explain

First I had to make a start on an other project.

Then .... my Bose Acoustimass set died ...
Because of that I was able to find an other set I wanted for a long time.

5x Bower & Wilkins M1 (2015)




SVS SB-2000




After that Richard 'kier' Keirsgieter and I were invited to do a build on an Nvidia event in Istanbul - Turkye.
Quite an honor and experience!

After all that I decided to give myself a little treat.




But because the Pioneer VSX-S510, which I chose specially for this project, doesn't support 4k 60hz I decided to start 2016 broke



So a lot happened .. but hopefully soon more updates!

 

[l3p]

Back to business

In the meantime I used the old PSU and SSD for other projects so I was really happy to receive new parts.




I also received a very nice fan grill from MNPCTECH. The same as I still had from a previous project.




And finally .. a custom length cablekit for the SF600




Safes a lot of time time








Not sure yet if I'm going to use the cableclips as they are very short




So, lets figure things out




Always a bit scary with 5mm brushed anodised aluminum.






Fits!




Also changing the little usb/audio cover under the reservoir




And the top












By removing this it will have no spacing.




Some transparent glue to be sure






Quicker drying




More airflow for the bottom






And changing the backside




Lots of drilling, sawing, filing and sanding






And done again

 

[l3p]

Mounting time!

First the 4 standoffs for the mainboard. Using a long marker for it.




Creating my own standoffs from aluminum pipe and long bolts as the bottom panel is to thin for standard standoffs








Painting the shiney aluminum matte black as I don't want any light going in or out.




Also had to shange the fans to make them fit with the top panel.






Sturdy rubbertape to seal the radiators airflow




And mounted them from the bottom to the case.




Also used rubbertape on the reservoir to prevent any light going out from the inside of the case




This was just an idea to keep the reseroir horizontal.




But as how I usual work, changed my idea, using the aluminum pipe again and found some longer M3 bolts so I can also mount the reservoir.






Did a lot of other small boring adjustments to make it all fit ... but I succeeded




And then ... the cables




Took me a while but also got it done. Only still need to sleeve the pump PWM cable




The SSD was just as wide as the EK GTX970 block .. thought it was a nice spot and it gets cooled a bit too




Next update .. the loop.

 

[l3p]

Finally a summervacation update.
After one and a half week I couldn't hold it anymore .. picked up my casemod to work on it in the sun in front of my caravan






First some covers for the back.








Also gave them some color in my special paint cabin








Also changed some connectors and cable sleeving.




Finally starting on the loop.




And some more sleeving and cablemanagement.




Loop is starting to get shape.




But finally ..




Back home some packages were waiting.
Sleeved power and network cables from Cablemod




And the gaming gear by Corsair




Just need to assemble it.




So later on I will be able to game from the couch




Next update .. filling it up!
First had to check it again how it would look.

 

[BiggieShady]

Ladies and gentleman, the *actual* steam machine

 

[HammerON]

Great update

 

[RealNeil]

A lofty build! I like it.

 

[Evo85]

Pretty bad ass man.

You never disappoint!

 

[l3p]

Thanks guys!