Project Cronus

[XZero450]

Hey All,

This project is a project my brother and I started discussing when our father was first diagnosed with Stage 4 Cancer a year and a half ago and the thread will be the compilation of the build components and process.. The name is the same name that he had on the last computer that he built. Without my father, I likely never would have been as interested in computers as I am and they certainly would not have turned into my primary profession.

He would have turned 50 this year and had been an AMD follower, I can't say enthusiast because he wasn't that hardcore, and had been the "computer" person in our family since the early 90's until passing the torch to me. His last 3 systems were based on an AMD with his last being a 555 BE that fully unlocked. He paired his unlocked 555 BE with a 6950 that unlocked to a 6970 and was always proud that he was the owner and user of 2 unlocked AMD components.

This build is a memorial build that will become a dedicated WCG Cruncher and folder that is expect to run 24/7 and be upgraded as able. This will be a bit of an experiment and a slight divergences from the kind of system that my father would have built because I will be building with hard line for the first time, and my father never had a water cooled computer before. We did discuss building a Zen based machine that would be before he passed, but Ryzen just took too long.

Here is what we have accumulated so far:

Threadripper 1950x

Gigabyte X399 Aorus

3x XSPC RX480 V3

EK X2 Res 400

XSPC Photon 270 with D5 Pump

2x XSPC Blade GTX 1080 M08

250gb WD Blue M.2 SSD

All of these items were previously used/owned to also align to some sort of budget..

I have another SSD on the way and a PSU, but that's it for now. I'm presently planning to pull the 1070 from my personal machine to throw in here when I can source something else to go in this build.. unless I find a pair of something. I'd like to have 3-4 cards in this build when it's fully operational.

 

[XZero450]

More parts have arrived:

Not the best block for this chip, but I'm just waiting for the monoblock and because there are on sale...

A couple more water pumps

PSU!

Another SSD.. Gotta RAID 0 because why not.

I'm sourcing a GPU at present and trying to figure out my case situation. I'm hoping to start assembly very soon.

I'm not sure I'll use all of the pumps, or reservoirs, that have been pictured.. but I know that this will be a dual loop system.

 

[XZero450]

This arrived recently:

Now once I pull the 1070 from my machine and acquire a set of RAM, fittings, and PETG tubing and then I'll be set to complete this thing. I've decided to pull one of my Xeon's out of their case and use that case, resulting in my placing an order with CaseLabs this morning for some mounting hardware that should be here sometime in the next month.

 

[Norton]

Subbed- looks like a great project!

Sorry about your dad

 

[eidairaman1]

Your Dad was Hardcore, he unlocked 2 parts

 

[XZero450]

Snagged these the other day for 40% more than what I paid for a brand new, identical, kit in 2016 which is also about half of what they go for new now. This kit was used, and if you'll notice the very top chip in the picture that is underneath all of them..that one needed to be polished a bit before the system would recognize it. So far they are passing memtest without issue though.

 

[XZero450]

My order from Case Labs finally arrived. Actually, it was a 2 part arrival and amazing customer support that made it happen. There was apparently a mix up in my order and I first didn't receive the radiator brackets, it took 4 days for the support to get back to me, but when they did! I had my brackets in 3 or 4 days, it was super awesome and delighted me because usually that kind of thing is "prove it" and send it back before you get your replacement.. This time it was painless, effortless on my end, and righted faster than any other company than I have dealt with. My previous customer service experience was Gigabyte and took 3 months, I am still super excited by the service provided by Case Labs and am considering getting a BH8 while they are running a 20% off sale for the entire month of March!

 

[XZero450]

Started the unboxing

I can't wait to use this 1950X - it'll be nice to see how it competes with my 2695v4 in terms of WCG points

I was only going to use this until the monoblock came out, but this build took a little longer for me to compile and the monoblock is now out.. but due to pricing right now and where this build is at, I'm going to hold off on that purchase and just use this block despite it being the worst on the market for these chips.

 

[lexluthermiester]

Good grief, what a beast you're going to have! Nice!

 

[XZero450]

Installed the RAM and mounted the motherboard in the tray

Not sure what I'm going to do with the stock cooler here..

I wasn't able to install the evga backplate with this waterblock due to how it mounted.

Another Stock cooler sitting on the side..

The backplate on this one mounted differently, so I was able to get it to fit, though it isn't held on with as many screws.

It's starting to come together.

 

[infrared]

Phwoarrr.... This thread is going to need a NSFW tag in the title!!

 

[XZero450]

Did some dry fitting tonight to see how everything will fit in the case..

That is a little more snug than I had envisioned when I measured it all out. I'm considering getting some different mounting brackets but I did have a reason for getting these specific ones.. I'll have to get all 3 radiators in there are start playing with the spacing and where exactly they are going to end up.

 

[stinger608]

Wow, that is going to be a crunching and folding monster!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[XZero450]

Made some progress here awhile ago, but got held up by some things..

I did the following and discovered I may need to plan my loops differently than originally thought.

As you may have noticed, there are a couple cards that weren't previously pictured..

Here are some of the parts I was waiting on, everything here was sourced from performance-pcs

Found these somewhere.. 20 fans that don't move a lot of air, but will do enough given how much radiator I have.

 

[eidairaman1]

Static pressure is more important for rads than cfm.

 

[XZero450]

I started making some progress. I added the PSU into the case and started routing the wiring, not sure how much of it will stay where it's at but I needed to start filling the case to enable a better idea of what my loops will look like.

Also started installing the fans.

Started installing the backplate I picked up from PPCs only to realize that I don't have the correct length in screws in my stash, so those have been ordered due to the local hardware store not carrying anything smaller than an M3.

 

[XZero450]

I started making a bit more progress.





Can anyone spot the problem?


Most fittings installed..


I need to acquire 1 tool and mount my res/pump combos.. I'm pretty sure that I'm going to make this 2 loops instead of one. Also, I'm undecided if I want to back the radiators off ever so slightly.. My hope is that I can started cutting the short lengths and bending the easy bends soon.

There just isn't enough time in a day anymore..

 

[XZero450]

Started doing some bending today..

First bend looked pretty good, especially since it was all free hand
.

After that things got more complicated. I have a notepad that I'm using to measure and align everything as best I can outside of the case, and it's served me pretty well after I gave up the freehand/eye balling it. Looking at my bends here, you can clearly tell a difference between everything I've done by hand versus measured out.

I had a rather challenging bend in this last addition that I ended up free handing while in the case, and well.. it was supposed to be 2 bends and turned into 3.

My goal at present is to just make certain that I get the loops completed and everything flushed/cleaned/leak tested. Once I've done that, assuming I still have extra tubing, I'll revisit some of the not-so-pretty bends.

 

[Caring1]

That tubing still doesn't look right, and I don't mean the bends.
What is in place to prevent the flow bypassing the GPUS and just flowing through the easiest path of least resistance?
The flow should be forced through the cards, in one port, out the other to the next card and so on.
This can be achieved by connecting in series, or by connecting parallel.

 

[XZero450]

Place holder for picture that will soon be coming.

On a side note, I'm looking for another PSU for it also.. I have found out exactly how far this one gets me.

 

[XZero450]

[Apparently I took too long.]

The first loop that I completed was the CPU loop. This was primarily because I knew that at least 2 of the components had previously had a colored fluid within them and I wanted to flush that out as much as I could. Secondarily, the bends were easier and I did have an extended period where I wasn't able to work on this machine at all.


The keen of eye will notice in the above what can more easily be seen here:


I was easily able to plumb this into the radiator in the front.




And finally, I put some water into it to see what all I would pick up.

 

[XZero450]

This portion of the loop was the hardest to get correct. The room between the bottom of the radiator and the existing opening in the case is super small.


You can see how much dye was still in the radiator, and this was the second rinse.


Adjusted my graphics card configuration. I was concerned that the XSPC blocks, with greater flow resistance, wouldn't cool well enough.


Serial through the XSPC blocks, parallel through the EK blocks


Looks a little prettier too, just wish I had more tubing to get a better bend on a couple of those..




All run.

 

[XZero450]

Filled the loops and rinsed them. At this point we were ready to generate some points.


Just some glamor shots once it was running.

 

[thebluebumblebee]

Did you put in your passkey?

 

[mstenholm]

Did you put in your passkey?

I'm pretty sure that I asked the same question some time ago. Please read this Passkey