Easy on the eyes, NOV15

[Chicken]

This is not a conventional build, its not something you see every day, its something i have been wanting to do for a long time and i finally at the ripe age of 30 had enough money to piece together some beautiful hardware to build a rig thats not only blisteringly fast but is easy on the eyes to say the least.

Ive spent a few days trying to find the time to start this build log, but finally lets go.

I like building PC's and sticking with them and therefore im not too busy on the forum as i don't sell much of what im happy with, however ......
I had a dream to always one day have a water cooling machine... that day happened and i build a Cosmos 2 build fitted with twin AX360 fat boy radiators.
The build ran cooling in the GPU, CPU and MB and was a think of beauty, making its way on to the 2014 RAGE balling rigs page:
rAge 2014: Ballin? rigs at the LAN | NAG Online (see the cosmos with red watercooling)

I dreamnt this year of moving to the Corsair 900D monster, adding a 480 rad and maybe add a fountain in the middle .... but in looking for a new rig i came across something that completely knocked me from my path of monster machines and Water addiction.

This was the new Lian Li PC-O7S case.... well done to the koreans to name something so beautiful with such a cold hard name.
Well if you haven't seen this case before you about to get an overdose cause this build is all focused around my project to build a masterpiece.

Jumping right into it, in order to fund this project (you all know Lian Li does not come cheap) i went on a selling spree in which i sold my Cosmos, my Radiators, reservoirs, ram , screens, spare rigs and anything else i could (still selling an oven if anyone is interested
95% all gone , but this funded the purchase of the case .

I have opted to stay with most of the kit from my previous build so let me spec it out:

MB : Asus ROG Maximus Formula Vi Z87 ( comes with body Armour and looks amazing )
RAM: G.Skill Trident DDR3 2800mhz RED
PSU: Corsair AX850

I benched my previous GPU and focused my attention on the new 980ti G1 by gigabyte. I needed a card that looked pretty due to the case setup and the riser , the look of the card was important.
Why did i then not go with the Shrix you may add, as i have an ASUS setup and the colour scheme would match, well that would be becuase of the cooling. The G1 runs a good 10 degrees cooler than the Shrix thanks to the tripple fan windforce cooling, claimed to be able to dissipate 600W of heat.
The case though slim can take a sli/ crossfire setup but as the front card is showcase and also due to the air flow limitation, this would be a pointless endevour (plus i dont have that kind of money... one is expensive enough).
GPU: Gigabyte 980ti G1

Cooler: well to be honest i ran out of money so i have not yet bought one that i am happy with . we will chat about this later.
You can give me your feedback.

So here are the pictures, starting with the kit i laid out.

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[Chicken]

Lets begin where the project started with the case upwrapping.
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Case is very slim and the box itself is quite small.
The foam is strong and i was impressed from openeing the box at how clean, and perfect everything was done. it does not look like a mass market product at all.

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The case is a piece of work... seeing it in person is a have to as every single panel is perfect and crisp wish brushed aliminium.
The screws are even brushed and link into the holes in the case to make the surface smooth.

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To open the case you need to take the glass front panel off , as well as the alliminum back panel. This reveals the work area which you will quickly come to realise is not a plug and play setup.... this Build is going to take hours.
front and back off = 8 screws.

View attachment 40100 This is the instruction manual..... ya... i know detailed right.

To put anything in this case you need to pretty much disassemble the whole case and rebuild it around your parts. how many harddrives can you fit in here? well i managed 5 x 3.5 drives with 1 x ssd. there is space for 4 in HDD bay.
There is space for 1 behind MB and 2 behind GPU. you can also use the other GPU PCI space for another 2 so this baby can hold around 9 harddrives all in all.

 

[Chicken]

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I opted for 1 in the slim dvd rom bay, 4 in the cage and one behind the GPU.

Next is the PSU which you see sits in the middle of the case, this means removing 3 panels to put the actual kettleplug into the case... result is your case always has a cable dangling from it and there is no way to turn your PSU off except at the wall socket.

Once this was done the MB fit was easy enough but interestingly is the IO shield is pushed far into the case to show off the MB and thus plugging in headphones, cables, peripherals is not as easy.
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The graphics card is next which is something I LOVE!!!
You spend money making cards beautiful only to point their face at the bottom of the case and put their ass in the air. With not having space to put the GPU straight into the MB PCI slot, you need to input the Riser Cable and drop the GPU into one of 3 set positions. The result is a lot of airflow and a beautiful sight where you can watch the card hum.
The G1 is especially nice in that the windforce sign has special lighting. i opted for red.
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POWER check, MB check, HDD check, RAM check, GPU check...... cooling ????

The cooling was horrible, i sold my water loop so i didn't have a cooler and therefore decided the intel std cooler will have to do .... its like putting a bumper sticker on a Ferrari , i know.
I tried this but i seated it wrong and the result was temps in region of 76 degrees in idle.

I therefore didn't run this in game and decided another option would have to do.
I researched and found the Deepcool captain 360 which i liked for the lighting and the red color scheme. Plus the case does take a 360 rad and there are not many of these around.
The problem is that the block is too high and would touch the glass.... idea scrapped.

I decided to research and am still in progress. please offer your advice.

HOWEVER, i pulled a corsair h50 off an old rig . To set this up i pulled the top cover off the case and freed the fan mounting.
The standard fans were quite noisy and as the case only has 3 fans, i wanted them to be high performance units, therefore i replaced them with corsair SP120 fans, which gives a nice look as well as good airflow.

i tried running a push pull on the rad but there is no space as it touches the chassis and cant close.
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Once this was done, i fitted a white LED lighting kit into the case, fixed all the panels in place, wiped all my dirty paw marks off the case which so easily shows up finger prints and then i stood back and admired it.

 

[Chicken]

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[blogbytes]

Nice build. What keyboard is that?


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[Dirtdiver]

Love the case, looks really good.

 

[alcatraz5953]

Looks great, case has so much potential

 

[Chicken]

Thanks. Yeah that case I just waiting for you to put something sexy in it. It needs a beautiful water cooling system


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[Leader0fr4tz]

Nice build. What keyboard is that?


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Looks like a TT Esports challenger to me

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[Chillie53]

Very nice build. Super jealous of that case. Enjoy it bud!

 

[Chicken]

Yeah you are 100% on the keyboard. It has outlived its life but as I play FPS I use the game pad so haven't bothered investing in a better one.

So what I'm hopin to get from this forum is some feedback on how to further improve the build.
Do you get sexy red and black PSU with nice top cover with LED? What cooler would you get for the CPU ?

I thought of a H100i or the thermaltake water 3.0 360 but don't like the CPU block.

I have a RAYSTORM and thought of doing a small basic look that's sexy but where to put it ??


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[HHPC]

Howsit bud, Thanx for the heads up on whatsapp for the thread! Holy balls was like a insane book u cant put down! just want to see what comes next! Insane insane bud! u truly have a beast here.

My opinions
1) Talk to [MENTION=23263]Semper[/MENTION] for some cable combs?

I have quite a few ones that i had lazer cut myself, bud did not come out the way i wanted them as they are Blocked format. Also they are the ones where u have to dissasemble your cables to rig them through the holes. Not the ones that clicks on to your cables. U can have them bud, if u are interested pop me a whatsapp or talk to Semper for some Click on ones. I ended up getting from him as i did not want to wait for my contact with the lazer cutter to come around some day as he was slammed with work.

2) The cooler u are so desperately looking for ?

As u know i have the Thermaltake water 3.0 Ultimate (360mm) and it is awesome in my opinion. I have had it for about 4 months now, and it has done its deed 100times over! What i like about the cooler is the fact that is nice and quite. I have had a few coolers in the past years, and have many mates that has different ones. This one is really silent, and wont bother u 2 months down the line. For temps, my cpu is "NOT" delid so i have a stock cpu. Need to talk to the OC guys to still try and modify my cpu with them, but besides that point, my processor runs hottest on about 44 Degrees when under load on games like GTA 5, Witcher, Mad max etc etc. So in my opinion that is good?

3) The last question i have rather than opinion is , why dont u use "tint"?

(PG glass have a few options that are not so expensive) And the only reason i am asking this is seeing that i have a Nzxt H440 with the smoked sidepanel window, it truly makes your rig stand out! Not only does it dampen the Lights so that it is not so bright, but it gives it a look that makes the case stand out even more and gives a unique look at the lighting. The lights sometimes seems to have a Gloss on the LED's if they are to bright and it takes away the true meaning of a case like this. The looks and what is inside the case!

These are just my thoughts, but u have one sexy beast bud! Case looks slick and sexy and i bet u had one blast to assemble this bad boy. Enjoy the rig and i hope u find what u are looking for

Once i am done with exams i will come and pop in as u live close to me to spectate this case for myself, as i also have read like 100 reviews on this.

 

[Braducken]

Damn sexy build and awesome build log man! Didn't realise gigabyte made such nice looking cards lol

 

[crackOlicious]

Where did you get the smexy black riser cable from?

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[GuardianTB]

Where did you get the smexy black riser cable from?

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I do believe it's comes factory with Lian cases such as this and it's little itx brother


O yes, btw this is a flippen Sexy build!!! Cost of the cases definitely does its justice in the looks department ^ ^.
And with psu, I think only way would be to spray yourself in the colour scheme you want, and then swap in a SP led like the white and red Ax1200 Semper did ^ ^

 

[BollaZee]

Really looks awesome, if you are all set up and gaming again please share some cpu/gpu temps.

Does the glass panel completely close against the frame or is there a gap in between? The reason I'm asking is because how does the gpu get cooled?

 

[Chicken]

Hi gents... i read the fan mod thread and i think the PSU needs a fan update.
The PSU is out of warranty so im not stressed about that element , however i cannot make up my mind as to how i carry the colour through into the fan.
Do i carry the red through lighting addition which will haev a benefit of making my pc look tit under low light conditions which is how i play 95% of the time.
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Alternatively i carry the colour through the use of the DEEPCOOL UF140R...
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The fan will look really good when the pc is off but it will not add to the light... i wish i could do both but i am not willing to paint the fins of a fan...
what are your thoughts gents.

 

[Chicken]

[MENTION=23263]Semper[/MENTION]


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[Beyond Customs]

[MENTION=24306]Chicken[/MENTION]

The current I in amps (A) is equal to the power P in watts (W), divided by the voltage V in volts (V)

Corsiar SP = 12V 0.18A
Deepcool = 12V 0.13A

The corsair is the closet to the rating of the fan in the PSU, so would probably go with the Corsair if you like the LED

 

[Chicken]

Thanks semper. Fan just arrived so may try do some tweaking.

Thanks again for the help


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[Beyond Customs]

Thanks semper. Fan just arrived so may try do some tweaking.

Thanks again for the help


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It s a pleasure dude and have fun with the tweaking

 

[shaunn]

Where did you buy that pci express Cable for graphics card?

1st time i see this and it can be really really helpful for me.

also for interest, how much did that build of yours costs...its awesome !!!