Added an RGB strip to my Optimus water block.
Took some photos with my main camera. I'll be posting more and hopefully some good final glamour shots of the main PC
My EVGA RTX 3080 FTW3 Ultra is installed and running!
Just because.
The renders are using and older version of the Asus Maximus Folrmula. The locations are roughly the same for the ports. I made some updates to the render to reflect the current design.
Ahhh... So soothing to look at!
Here is my setup, it is a huge case/frame height wise, but it is only a little over 18" wide. The high gloss on the wood looks great withe the lights.
I have them set to a ornage yellow to bring out the tones in the wood.
The EK CPU block has a funky hue to it, too blue, give the CPU block a greenish color
Close up
Love how even the bends came out
This makes me happy.
I added the Bitspower IHS. It is replacing the stock intel IHS on my de-lidded 8700K. maybe a 1 to 2 degree drop over stock..
So this happened. Great deal at Microcenter. Why have 1 pump when you can have 2?
This is a first attempt on a piece of scrap to mount the pass through fittings.
The plywood I am using is oak and is 3/4" thick. I had a drill a pilot hole through the board, then from the back side I used a 1.5" forstner bit through about 3/4ths the thickness of the plywood. I then used a 3/8" forstner bit to drill the front hole all of the way through the remaining.
This gave me a pocket on the back side to put the pass through fitting and washer to tighten it down.
Ignore the rough edges on the back, it is on birch plywood that splinters like crazy, the oak should be much better and I will clean up with sandpaper and a file later.
So far I am please with this proof of concept. The bottom right image is the front of the panel that you would be able to see.
Here is my garage workshop, I had to make 3 cuts in the oak plywood to get the base and main motherboard tray. Lots of measurements and the cuts came out great.
A picture for scale, this is an standard ATX motherboard and an old GPU. There are about 6 inches on the top and bottom of the motherboard and it is offset an inch from the left edge.
Made progress on the motherboard tray placement. I have it on 3/4 in spacers. I will route all of the cables through the gap.
Test fit with an old motherboard
I made some updates to the GPU mounting. I also used the measurements for the Asus 2080ti EK block (in blue). This revealed a few problems that I had to address.
In my original drawing, the ports were in the wrong place, and also the tube routing for the pump res combo had to be changed.
I figured this would be a worse case scenario for block size, I wanted to make sure I wasn't artificially limiting myself.
Glueing the GPU bracket/holder. Want to make sure everything is square and solid.
A quick fit check.
I'm leaning towards the lighter stain, it's "cherry".
Front IO housing
I've started to disassembled the old frame. Checking the fit of the GPU.
Motherboard is mounted and is square to the back piece of plywood. Now to start measuring the location of the ports.
Here is my jig to find the location of the pass through fittings.
First set of holes drilled for the pass through fittings.
Fittings all installed! And they are all straight!
From the back. I need to grinds down a little so the washer can be screwed down. I didn't go quite deep enough with the 1.5 in drill bit.
Two coats of spray polyurethane, I'll let it cure for a couple of days and then sand and put a final coat.
Cables are ready, CableMods, pro cables. I was going with a MCRN color theme. I think they will go well with the tones of the wood.
D-RGB lights installed. Hopefully the wiring works... I can't test it until I get it all assembled...
Cable management may not be the defining feature of this build...
A clean back side pic. Not the prettiest, but it works.
Guess what arrived today....?!
It is a beast!
Here is what 3x8pin pcie power cables.
I added a system monitoring screen to my build.
EVGA RTX3090 FTW3 Ultra Gaming Waterblock from Optimus Water Cooling arrived this week!
Macro picture of my 3090
Working on the mock-up of the tube runs.
Close up of the monitoring panel. Super easy to do and just add a lot of functionality.
Before and after installing my Optimus waterblock
Reinstalled my 3090 water block, had to RMA my card, can't wait to get it back in the system.
Thermal Grizzly Conductonaut
Liquid metal
Getting ready to make some upgrades to my build. Scored a 10900k for cheap on eBay, going to delid and direct die on my eBay Maximus Formula XII
Optimus foundation block for my bare sir 10900k!
Liquid metal ready on the bare die! Next step is to install the water block.
Water block installed, everything tightened down. Will boot into the BIOS and verify everything still works!
Woohoo! I didn't brick my CPU! And got a pretty high prediction score of 110. Should be a nice overclocker!
Last picture before disassembly.
Sitting at a stable 5.3GHz all cores at 1.35v and max temp of 67 Deg.
Got my custom fan grills made in oak plywood that I will stain to match my case. Thanks to Jmmods for the fan grills!
Stained and ready for polyurethane
New fan grills installed!
Added a RGB light strip. Used aluminum "L" bar from Lowes, painted black and screwed in with the radiator screws.
Lubing and filming my Cherry MX Reds for my Everest Max Keyboard.
Matching keycaps with my system!
Been taking some glamour shots of my keyboard. I have changed out the switches to the TTC Hear switches that I exchanged the spring to a 67g.
My custom keyboard, KBDFans Odin. I'm using Tecsee Ice Candy switches and Akko Silver and Black keycaps.
Slow mo of filling the system.
People are always asking what the back looks like.
Asus 4090 Strix OC, waiting on the water block.
Brand new ultrawide monitor. LG38GL950
Oak Pillar - Custom Built Case
Hello,
Thank you for taking a look at my build. I hope that you enjoy your time here.
I have been making updates to this build for over a year now and I think I am done for a while, unless of course I win the lotto.
My latest update was the EVGA RTX 3090 FTW3 Ultra Gaming. This is an amazing card and recently, as a holiday gift, my wife got me the Optimus Water Cooling Absolute water block for the GPU.
I couldn't find a case that met all of my requirements, so I decided to build one. It is an open air case, as you can see, that allows me to have 3x 360mm radiator, 2 x D5 pumps, and lots of room for maintenance and draining. I didn't have a lot of wood working skills, so I tried to keep things simple, but I think overall it came out really well.
Thank you to my wife for her support and encouragement.
Thank you and let me know what you think!
Thank you for taking a look at my build. I hope that you enjoy your time here.
I have been making updates to this build for over a year now and I think I am done for a while, unless of course I win the lotto.
My latest update was the EVGA RTX 3090 FTW3 Ultra Gaming. This is an amazing card and recently, as a holiday gift, my wife got me the Optimus Water Cooling Absolute water block for the GPU.
I couldn't find a case that met all of my requirements, so I decided to build one. It is an open air case, as you can see, that allows me to have 3x 360mm radiator, 2 x D5 pumps, and lots of room for maintenance and draining. I didn't have a lot of wood working skills, so I tried to keep things simple, but I think overall it came out really well.
Thank you to my wife for her support and encouragement.
Thank you and let me know what you think!
Color(s): Brown
RGB Lighting? Yes
Theme: Case Mod
Cooling: Custom Liquid Cooling
Size: ATX
Type: General Build
Contests
This build participated in 5 contests.
| Rank | Contest | Date |
|---|---|---|
| #2 | Build of the Month - July 2021 | ended |
| #5 | Build of the Month - March 2021 | ended |
| #11 | EK 10K Challenge | ended |
| #30 | Build of the Month - November 2020 | ended |
| #125 | Build of the Month - October 2020 | ended |
Build Updates
First post for the upcoming build.
Kind of stuck...
Toughest part finished?
Do I need to "ground" my motherboard on my wooden PC?
Getting close...
Installing new motherboard...
Finally finished
3090 is Under Water!
Ok...I think I'm done....at least for now...
RTX 3090 on the way!
Continuing to make tweaks to the build...
Hardware
CPU
$ 178.00
Motherboard
$ 349.99
Memory
$ 152.99
Graphics
$ 1,499.95
Storage
$ 87.39
Storage
$ 104.98
Case Fan
Cooling
$ 627.18
Cooling
$ 32.86
Cooling
$ 197.98
Cooling
$ 85.00
Cooling
CableMod
$ 124.00
Approved by: