Completed Project: Chronos

[steers]

Well, I'm finally getting tired of waiting. It's been six years now since I've built a new machine for myself, and after building new machines for friends and family all year I can't resist the temptation any longer. I've decided to borrow money out of my RESP to start the build, rather that biding my co-op paychecks and starting it a month from now

I've decided to name the project after the Greek personification of time, Chronos, as this build has been in the making (and out of my reach) since the beginning of the year. Normally that wouldn't be that long to wait, but once Corsair announced the 800D with its seemingly forever-elusive release date, the days just seemed to drag on. However, now the time is near! This week or the next, the parts will have been purchased, and the build shall commence.

Though I don't have much at the moment, I thought I would take the time to reserve a spot of my own in the Worklog forum. Here's a quick shot I took to whet your appetites:



Pictured:

• Corsair Obsidian 800D
• i7 920 D0
• Feser X-changer 360
• Heatkiller 3.0 (in the box)

Stay tuned folks, the best is yet to come

EDIT: After much waiting, finally an air-cooled incarnation of Chronos arises. Behold!


Stay tuned the next week or two for Chronos' ascension to water cooling

EDIT: A month later, the water cooling ball finally starts rolling. The blocks have been installed, now the system just needs to be plumbed, filled and tested, which will all happen tomorrow if things go according to plan.




EDIT: Just according to plan, with the water cooling system finally up and running, Project Chronos is now finally complete. What a ride that was, let me tell you.

[martin_metal_88]

OMG OMG OMG!!!! a corsair build:):):) Steers, I love you, well, I love your case but...you know:P Carry one posting every second of the workblog and tell us if the case is a good work in candidate!

Ask for more.

[Safearus]

Would definately like to hear someone's personal opinion with working on this case right through. Don't get me wrong, watched the review, but you get the idea, I know I run into issues that have been reviewed "perfect" in the past.
/subscribed

[steers]

Went and picked up my special delivery from Dazmode after work. Let's see what Mr. Postman brought me this time…



Oh! It's an EK Multioption reservoir! Daz happens to sell the parts individually, so I couldn't help building my own:

• 140mm tube
• Top/bottom
• Anti-cyclon add-in
• 2x Reservoir holders (which are a bit loose, actually... gonna need to tape 'em up)

Let's see it in action! I just balanced it on the backplane cover for the photo, but it should fit nicely between the edge of the motherboard and the 5.25" bays:



But that's not all! To top it all off, we have the magnificent EK-D5 X-Top Rev. 2 (which was all greasy for some reason…). While this will provide a bit of a performance boost over the stock top on the D5, it's also a necessity, since the D5 won't fit unmodified in the 800D's bottom compartment. A test placement in the bottom:



It's like it was made to go there! Should have plenty of room to manage my tubing without restricting the intake fan's airflow too much.

Stay tuned for more watercooling goodness as I wait for my money to travel through all the necessary banks before arriving in my Paypal account. USPS says my fans & compression fittings from Sidewinder have just cleared customs, so with any luck those should be here this week

[WolfBane]

Very nice!!!!
Gonna be watching this build!!!!!

[steers]

Well, we're all primed and ready to go, money-wise. Barring some unforseen NCIX sales, here's all that should be on the bill for tonight:

• EVGA X58 Classified 760
• 3x2GB Corsair Dominator CL7 (TR3X6G1600C7D)
• EVGA GTX 275 (unless there's a delicious pricedrop on a 285 or something)
• Intel X25-M G2 160GB (might have to end up waiting for this, stock issues )
• Asus Xonar Essence STX
• WD Caviar Black, 1TB
• Corsair HX850
• Swiftech MCP-655
• 20 ft. Black Primochill, 1/2" ID
• A couple of DVD-RW drives

I'm really bummed out by how fast the stock burns out on those Intel SSDs, but we're ready to go anytime (except for that). I might just end up getting a 120GB Vertex or something instead. Save some dough without sacrificing too much performance, I suppose. The Sidewinder order is in the area, so I'll be going to pick that up tomorrow. I'm delighted by how quickly things are progressing now.

[Akai]

Nice build!! Cant wait to see when its done :)

[CanadaRox]

No fair! I'm planning on doing a very very similar build in the near future. Good luck with your build, I look forward to seeing how exactly the loop is set up (and maybe stealing some ideas from it)!

[steers]

The package from Sidewinder arrived ahead of schedule! Quite the epic drop, I'd say:



Pictured above:

• 3x Panaflo 68CFM (FBA12G12L), with molex tails sleeved by Gary himself
• 14x Bitspower 1/2" ID 3/4" OD straight compression fittings (shining silver)
• 6x Bitspower 45º rotary adapters (for being called "rotary" they don't seem to rotate…)
• 3x Bitspower stop fitting
• A few black 120mm finger guards
• Some ArctiClean
• Delicious St. Ambroise

I was a little worried that the compression fittings would be too large to be used on some of my hardware, particularly the pump top and the rad, but they fit and they look GREAT.



I can't wait to order the meat and potatoes of the project tonight. I'm so close to having a finished build I can taste it!

[Babrbarossa]

yummy! St Ambroise....