Project: Rogue (A little SFF insanity)

[craigbru]

June 24, 2008

Update time! I'm so close to having this thing running, it's a little scary. This has taken up so much of my time since last November, I'm really going to miss working on it when I'm done...

First thing up... a small update on the basement progress. Remember the egress window? Here's a couple shots from inside one of the bedrooms.

Now on to the Rogue...

A few posts back, I mentioned needing a new mount for the Via system. Here are the finished results. Everything now fits perfectly.

Next up is the lower mount for the fan assembly contact strips. Here I've got the mount all marked out.

All cut out...

A pair of braces...

Here the mount is bent, and assembled.

Let's see if it fits... Perfect!

Moving on to the contacts... I've mounted them on a strip of square metal.

This jumble of wires represent all the fan wiring. I've got to attach it to the contacts, and sleeve it.

Soldering in progress.

All sleeved! If you look closely, you might see an additional lone wire. That attaches to the motherboard for RPM monitoring.

Finished!

With the fan wiring done, I've moved on to a little more plumbing.

It's pretty much all assembly from this point on. Wish me luck guys!

[craigbru]

June 26, 2008

So, is it running? Not quite, but I've only got about 15 minutes of work until I can add coolant. I was up until about 2 AM last night, and decided to stop for myself... and the Rogue's safety. I was just too tired to continue. No worries though. I'll be off work a little early today to work on it!

Well, how about a few pictures then? Here is the inline temperature sensor...

I revised the tubing layout slightly...

Almost ready to drop the tray in...

Video cards in place...

Testing Paladin (the Via system)...

The tray is in place!

From here, I've got to route two more tubes, and I can add coolant. Expect updates tonight!

[craigbru]

June 27, 2008

Just a few pics here guys, as I've obviously had other concerns...

This case is getting custom length cables throughout. I don't have room to stash any extra length, so it's cut, splice, and connect time! This is the start of one of the new SATA power cables.

More pics of assembly (sans pump).

[craigbru]

June 30, 2008

Okay guys, pic time... What I'd like you to keep in mind, is that the following pics are a little messy. This represents me trying to get the machine running in time for a LAN. I've still got quite a bit of detail work to finish. I'm waiting on a few parts to arrive, then I'm making custom length cables for the video cards. I literally need to take about 18" off of each of them. Luckily the modular NZXT PSU makes the job pretty easy. I'll also recap a few of the problems I had after installation, following the pics...

SO, here I'm trying to stuff all the excess cable in the rig. I managed to do it, and still get airflow! You can see here why I need the shorter cables. This thing is a mess! I've also got to shorten and sleeve the pump power cable...

A work in progress pic from the back...

A side shot...

From the front. (I still need to make that dang door!)

Let's light it up!

Now let's take a look at those temps. The reading varies on both Speedfan, and Everest, but it doesn't matter... they are well below 0! Also note the reasonable (considering the case) GPU temps...

Okay, now I mentioned a few problems. For some reason, I couldn't get the front panel power button to work. No matter how I tried, the machine simply wouldn't start with it plugged in. Believe me, I tried quite a few different possibilities, but my time was short, so testing will continue later. Also, for some reason, anything plugged in to the USB hub under the motherboard tray, isn't working. All tested fine before assembly, but nothing is working now. That includes the Matrix Orbital display, bluetooth, wireless, and a thumbdrive for ReadyBoost. I may need to disassemble to investigate. I've also noticed a hairline crack in the reservoir. Nothing leaks, but I may replace it as a precaution. Lastly, the lower LED on the fan controller doesn't seem to be functioning. Not sure why, but I'll get it straightened out as well. All in all, I'm more than happy with it's performance and function. I'll gather the parts I need to fix, and take the time in a week or two to fix what needs fixed. In the meantime, I'll try and finish the long neglected front door. I'll also need to finish my basement above all else. One last thing, I'm going to get some gaming in!

[craigbru]

July 12, 2008

I've got just a small update for everyone... but it's not on the Rogue. My priority has been getting the basement livable, and this last week, I accomplished just that. The carpet has finally been put down, and the kids have already moved some things in to their rooms. I've got to put in the electrical outlets, finish the lighting, and install doors and trim yet, but that's pretty minor compared to what I've got done so far. So, how about a few pics?

First of all, I'll show you what the walls look like. All walls were hand textured, and then painted with a ragroll technique. It's not a true ragroll because of the way I applied it, but it's the exact effect I wanted. The combination of the wall texture, and the paint, give it a warm and slightly rustic look.

Here is the family room, and a view down the hall.

Moving on down the hall, I have a shot of my soon-to-be stepson's room. Like a typical boy, he wanted something that looked like camouflage. This was about as close as i wanted to get him. The thought of repainting a few years down the road wasn't very appealing...

Finally, at the end of the hall, is my daughter's room. She is moving down, from her room upstairs. That means we'll have an extra room upstairs. Since I'm already getting an office downstairs, the extra room will be turned into an exercise room for the moment.

With that out of the way, work will continue at a much faster rate on the Rogue. Granted, the basement still needs some work, including the addition of a new bathroom, but the rush is over, and the space can be used.

Speaking of the Rogue, I may have myself another deadline... this one is much bigger though... I'm talking about Nvision 2008 in San Jose. I'm currently trying to work some things out, so that I'll be able to attend. Time is an issue though. I leave for my wedding and honeymoon in about a month. Nvision would start literally 2 days after I get back. I'd be gone most of the week, and then have my wedding reception a few days after I get back. It's not impossible, but it's certainly less than ideal if I don't have everything planned beforehand. Wish me luck!

[craigbru]

July 14, 2008

Finally, I've got time to work on the Rogue! Tonight's update involves PCI-E cables... They're way to long, and in dire need of shortening. So, that's where we pick up...

The stock cables...

I've marked the desired cable length.

The first cut has been made. I cut around 40 cm off each cable.

The new connectors and pins...

The first cable completed.

All 4 done!

The last project for the night, involved reversing the PSU fan. Why you ask? Well, a single 120 mm fan blowing air out of the case, stood little chance against the vacuum of the six San Ace's on top of the case. As you can see, the PSU was equipped with a San Ace of it's own. Instead of fighting against the other fans, the reversal will allow the fans to work together, while still keeping the PSU cool. Some may argue that I'm now blowing warm air from the PSU into the case, and it could have a negative effect on case and video card temps. I'm guessing that the sheer volume of air moving through this case will negate that. If the temps are seriously affected, I'll flip the PSU, so the fan is on top (thanks for the suggestion Ash).

[craigbru]

July 16, 2008

Well, work continued on the Rogue last night, but if I were to take pictures of my 'progress', you would think I was crazy. The case now sits completely naked on my counter. Yep, the case is completely disassembled right now. In order to fix the problem with the USB hub, I had to get back under the motherboard tray. That pretty much meant everything had to come out anyway. I also needed to remove the front of the case to fix the non-working LED on the fan controller. While apart, I've decided to make a modification to the area above the PCI slots. Right now, getting video cards in and out, is a convoluted affair. A little dremel work can simplify the whole process. I know things are tight in this case, but I want it to be relatively easy to work on. I don't want to pull apart the entire case, just to swap a video card. After the dremel work, the case will get another shiny new coat of paint baked on.

After the paint, I'll start the reassembly. I've got a few changes in store there as well. The case wiring is getting modified and streamlined. I am doing away with almost all the spade connectors under the motherboard tray, and will be switching to terminal strips. This should clean up the clutter significantly. I am also switching to a 'flag' style spade connector for the switches on the rear of the case. This will take care of a few clearance problems, and make future maintenance much easier.

Other small changes include; adding a small fan to the chipset 'Circu-pipe' for better cooling while overclocked, adding aluminum spacer tubing to cover the fan bolts on top of the case, and wiring the front LCD in to the VIA's power.

So, why is the above completely crazy? Well, I'm now officially heading to Nvision 2008 in San Jose, CA, at the end of August. It should be the premier of the completely finished Rogue. I'm leaving for Mexico on the 15th of August, so that leaves me less than a month to finish up every last detail on this case, and ship it to Johnny at NZXT before I leave. Oh, and in the meantime, I have to finalize all the wedding reception plans... Things are gonna get crazy around here!

[craigbru]

July 29, 2008

Okay, who wants an update! Yeah, I know it's a small one, but at least I'm making progress! I've only got two weeks to get this think completely finished for Nvision, and there's no way I can miss this deadline! The rig will be running again tonight, and then I'm going to allow myself about a week to get the front door done. That will leave me a week to figure out how to pack this thing up for shipping...

So, I mentioned some rewiring...

It may not be a close up shot, but here you can see the previous switch/etc. wiring in the upper right hand corner.

Here is the revised wiring.

Much cleaner, isn't it? Well, it's all due to the switch to these little flag style spade connectors.

Now, I'll let you in on a dirty little secret... this has to be my least favorite picture of the whole build. This is the revised wiring under the motherboard tray. It's still not as clean as I'd like, but I had to draw the line somewhere. Especially since this will never be seen, even during a hardware change.

Finally, the last little update involves extra chipset cooling. The Circu-pipe does a decent job of cooling at stock speeds, but active cooling is always better for overclocking. So, where to put a fan? Other owners have added fans, but I've not seen this kind of placement on any of the MSI boards yet. A 40mm fan fits perfectly as shown in the pics below.

More coming soon!

[craigbru]

July 29, 2008

Progress every day, that's my goal! I managed to get some more work done last night, and I'm committed to having the rig running tonight! I probably could have made it last night, but I needed my sleep...

So, in addition to dropping more components in the case, (you'll see that progress in a slideshow), I put a new top on my DDC pump. I did this for several reasons. The first, was to save a little room around the pump itself. The new Koolance top has a much smaller footprint. The second reason, was due to the much better barb placement. The Alphacool top I was using, didn't accommodate 3/4" tubing all that well. Basically, there was no room for a proper clamp, so a zip tie was needed. I wasn't happy with this solution, so the change was made.

Here is the original Alphacool top.

The new Koolance top.

[craigbru]

July 31, 2008

Another night gone, and more modding done!

So, about that PSU extension cable... It will indeed connect the motherboard to the PSU (obviously), but exactly why it's needed may not be as obvious. It goes without saying that things are very tight in this case. One of the problems with that, is the fact that it's pretty much impossible to attach the PSU cable to the motherboard with the hard drive tray in place. That also means that I can't remove the PSU without pulling the tray out as well. That simply won't do. I want to be able to remove things individually whenever possible. Things may be tight, but I still want easy maintenance. So, the extension leaves me with plenty of extra cable, and the excess has to go...

Cable stripping...

New 24 pin connector...