'Porpoise & Co' represents a few retro builds I did recently. Porpoise itself is based on an open 'Bauhaus'-style frame that I modified, and it was envisioned as the little brother of the 'Orca and Rucksack' Threadripper project (Thermaltake Corse P5, dual 2080 Tis) that I added to builds.gg last year.

With Porpoise, I wanted to match Orca's colours (black, white, grey/silver) and open theme. However, I settled on using one of my favourite motherboards I had for years, that is the Gigabyte Z170 SOC Force - and it has a lot of orange on top. That meant modding the look of the motherboard as much as possible for black, white and silver...though I do not mind the orange back-side LED lighting. Porpoise runs a 4.8 GHz Intel 6700K ES 'Skylake' CPU & 16 GB of TridentZ DDR4 4000. Video is taken care of by 2x EVGA 780 Ti Classifieds in SLI, and this combo makes for a nice retro-gamer up to 1080P.

For Porpoise's cooling, I used an old (2012) Thermaltake 240mm AIO which ran continuously for all these years...that is until recently when I moved the AIO around (in another application) and that loosened all kinds of debris...but no matter, I opened it, cleaned it, and refilled it with anti-corrosive cooling liquids (rated for multi-metal)....and it works great. I also exchanged the fans for two Noctua 120s, and modded the CPU pump/block mounting mechanism to full metal, including the back-plate. I may yet add an Intel 9900KS (with appropriate socket and bios mods) since the Gigabyte Z170 SOC Force has a total of 22 phases and a VRM set up for custom water-cooling...but for now, Porpoise is a fun build just as is...

The '& Co' in the title refers to two more retro builds, albeit with just a few pics here. One is a 5960X in an Asus Rampage V Extreme running at 4.5GHz with 32GB of TridentZ DDR4 RGB set to 3333 MHz. It has a custom loop with an Koolance block and a XSPC RX 360 rad, along with a Swiftech D5 pump. Video is via 2x EVGA 980 Classified in SLI.

The other 'Co' is essentially a hybrid of a network file server and retro gamer, housed in a 'new' CM Stryker case I had set aside back in early 2013 - when pressed into service now, it still had the protective plastic covering the window This retro build is based on an Asus X79-E WS workstation board, a 4960X ES set to 4.73 GHz and 32GB of TridentZ DDR (2400MHz +). Cooling is provided by a Corsair H150i Pro. This build also got two EVGA 980 Classifieds in SLI