Finally, the wait it's over! (For now...)
Here my full build log thanks to the amazing piece of case design that is the Cerberus-X.
For people that don't know anything about it: basically is a sub 20L case that you can fill with everything you want; if there is a limit, well, it's your imagination!
Let's start with the "temporary" specs:
EVGA X299 Dark
Intel i9 7980XE Delidded
Corsair Vengeance LPX Quad Kit 64GB DDR4 3733MHz (Used at 3466) Samsung B-Die
Intel 905p PCIe 960GB (OS Drive)
Intel 905p U.2 480 GB (Cache Drive)
Samsung 970 EVO 2TB x2 (Data drive + media material drive)
Nvidia Quadro P4000 (Soon an RTX 5000)
Nvidia Titan V x2 (CUDA workloads dedicated GPUs)
Seasonic Prime Platinum 1300W Power Supply
Custom cables from CableMod:
EPS 8Pin 200mm x2
SATA single 150mm
MOLEX Single 400mm
Watercooling Loop Part:
EKWB Supremacy EVO Full Nickel
EKWB EK-XRES 100 DDC Reservoir
EKWB DDC 3.25 PMW Pump
EKWB Anti Vibration Kit
EKWB Universal Fan Mount Vertical
Bitspower Hard Tube 10/12 PETG Clear
Bitspower Hard Tube FIttings Matte Black
XSPC 240 TX Slim radiator x2
Noctua A12x15 PMW Slim Fan x4
DEMCIfilter 120mm with screw cutout x4
And now, here the beginning!! Or not?
Yes, is the start, because when I had finished, installed windows etc, the WIFI card was not working! And only after a few days I've realized that I put in it a newer model, the Intel 9560AC, that is not supported by the X299 platform! Then, I've decided to DISASSEMBLE everything and flush the loop to swap the infamous card with a 9260AC version that is totally supported.
(Here the beauty of the Dark, and the damned WiFi card)
Meanwhile, scared a bit from the the Titan V future temp, I've decided to open them, and replace the thermal pads and paste with the Kryonaut and FujiPoly pad (Alphacool sell them). No one will know if it's worth it but for sure it is to seeing the GPU naked!
Now it's time to re-start the build. It was intimidating to see so many cables out of the case, so I was thinking if I could be able to fit all of them inside the Cerberus-X. Well, the Seasonic cables are the perfect size and softness to allow actually a near perfect routing for my needs! The 90 degrees rotated 24pin and USB 3 header on the Dark are actually PERFECT to keep the PCIe PSU cable in place, so, for this, I was lucky!
Time to set-up the watercooling loop! Here, few comments and suggestions for the next adventurous:
I've planned at the beginning to go with soft tubing of 10/16mm. After mounting the system, I had so many clearance issues all around, because the compression fittings were HUGE! Then, I've scaled everything to smaller size tubes, the 10/13mm. And It has started to be perfect, especially proportioned to the size of the case, and for the space needed between the PSU and the CPU block. BUT, I wasn't so happy, I mean, I would like to have the most rational routing possible, because it's a working workstation, and for me, flexibility should be a must. So, I've switched to a Hard Tube config, and finally, here it is! The fittings are smaller, and the routing, helped with double swiveling fittings, is very clean and concentrated on the bottom part and on the right of the case, give me the possibility to swap GPUs and SSD easily!
(You can see the simple back routing here)
And the front tube with the pump mounted on the EK vertical bracket
Because of the tight space after mounted the ATX PSU, I had to think 3 times how to connect the pump to the CPU waterblock. Helped a lot the Bitspower D-Plug mini, that give a quick plug and play fit and no leaks at all!
As you can see, I was like with the dimension of the fittings mounted on the pump; the EK XRES forced me to use the stupid silver adapter for the inlet (seriously EK???), but the space left between it and the PSU was still ok, even with that.
Following a few close-up!
Finally time fo a leak test!! (Positive at first run, luckily)
Let's finish the cable routing as well, trying to use every little empty space, trying to keep an eye on the space optimization and cleanness.
(The Intel 905p in-place, just above the bottom radiator!)
As you can see, I've ordered from CableMod 2 CPU EPS cable of 200mm, to save space. At first I was thinking to use the same for the motherboard, but actually, it was way easier with the stock Seasonic cable, because more flexible and thinner.
(The PCIe cables fits exactly between the VRM heatsink and the reservoir)
And of course, there is space for a drain port and valve at the bottom!
Getting closer to the end: a 360 degrees tour of the build!
(You can see the PCIe PSU cables layout from the back)
(And the high quality filter from DEMCifilter, with precutted space for 120mm screws.)
Side bracket closed, and the U.2 Intel 905p shown through it. It's time to mount the GPUs and turn it on!
I have the necessity to have 3 GPUs, a double Titan V for my CUDA workloads and a Quadro for the OpenGL software, a fast and strong SSD as the x2 Intel Optane 905p, one for the OS and the second one to use as a cache for Photoshop, Vray.
The other x2 Samsung SSDs are used for a media library of materials and references, picture catalogs and backup.
The EVGA Dark was the only Motherboard for X299 to allow to have all of these routed to the CPU lane, and only one Samsung routed to the PCH.
But to have everything inside this amazing case, I had to save space using a thinner rad; this helped me also to have the right space between the pump and PSU for the fittings.
Here the reasons why I went with the EVGA Dark, XSPC TX 20mm rad and 15mm Noctua slim fan!
(Apart, of course, that has a terrific VRM heatsink and looks!)
(BTW, the Intel LED is finally OFF!!!)
(My two SFF system together for you)
DONE!!!
In the next days and week, I will post temps and thoughts.
I can already say that as suggested from @MarcParis, the bottom fans are mounted as exhaust; the idle temps are 3/4 degree higher, but under load, they reach the temp limit of 84 degrees way slower than mounted as intake!
To have a better Airflow, I will try to change the front radiator for a 120mm and putting at the bottom-front a 140mm fan to get fresh air inside the case to help the GPUs.
I really want to try to stay on AIR for flexibility.
Otherwise, I've already planned to put the two Titan V under water in the same loop, swapping the EK reservoir with an amazing Heatkiller kit, CPU Block, Tube 100 DDC combo and GPUs blocks. But this will be for the beginning of 2019 when Noctua should release the black Chromax version of the slim fan, so I can go TOTAL BLACK!
Now, I want to use and enjoy this system inside this AMAZING CASE!
I need to thanks in particular @MarcParis and @KSliger for all the support given.
And thank you, of course, all the people that during these months have answered to my thousands questions.
Then, THANK YOU!!
PS: Here the link to the full gallery, for a faster view of the build log.
https://postimg.cc/gallery/xbc6m0w6/
Here my full build log thanks to the amazing piece of case design that is the Cerberus-X.
For people that don't know anything about it: basically is a sub 20L case that you can fill with everything you want; if there is a limit, well, it's your imagination!
Let's start with the "temporary" specs:
EVGA X299 Dark
Intel i9 7980XE Delidded
Corsair Vengeance LPX Quad Kit 64GB DDR4 3733MHz (Used at 3466) Samsung B-Die
Intel 905p PCIe 960GB (OS Drive)
Intel 905p U.2 480 GB (Cache Drive)
Samsung 970 EVO 2TB x2 (Data drive + media material drive)
Nvidia Quadro P4000 (Soon an RTX 5000)
Nvidia Titan V x2 (CUDA workloads dedicated GPUs)
Seasonic Prime Platinum 1300W Power Supply
Custom cables from CableMod:
EPS 8Pin 200mm x2
SATA single 150mm
MOLEX Single 400mm
Watercooling Loop Part:
EKWB Supremacy EVO Full Nickel
EKWB EK-XRES 100 DDC Reservoir
EKWB DDC 3.25 PMW Pump
EKWB Anti Vibration Kit
EKWB Universal Fan Mount Vertical
Bitspower Hard Tube 10/12 PETG Clear
Bitspower Hard Tube FIttings Matte Black
XSPC 240 TX Slim radiator x2
Noctua A12x15 PMW Slim Fan x4
DEMCIfilter 120mm with screw cutout x4
And now, here the beginning!! Or not?
Yes, is the start, because when I had finished, installed windows etc, the WIFI card was not working! And only after a few days I've realized that I put in it a newer model, the Intel 9560AC, that is not supported by the X299 platform! Then, I've decided to DISASSEMBLE everything and flush the loop to swap the infamous card with a 9260AC version that is totally supported.
(Here the beauty of the Dark, and the damned WiFi card)
Meanwhile, scared a bit from the the Titan V future temp, I've decided to open them, and replace the thermal pads and paste with the Kryonaut and FujiPoly pad (Alphacool sell them). No one will know if it's worth it but for sure it is to seeing the GPU naked!
Now it's time to re-start the build. It was intimidating to see so many cables out of the case, so I was thinking if I could be able to fit all of them inside the Cerberus-X. Well, the Seasonic cables are the perfect size and softness to allow actually a near perfect routing for my needs! The 90 degrees rotated 24pin and USB 3 header on the Dark are actually PERFECT to keep the PCIe PSU cable in place, so, for this, I was lucky!
Time to set-up the watercooling loop! Here, few comments and suggestions for the next adventurous:
I've planned at the beginning to go with soft tubing of 10/16mm. After mounting the system, I had so many clearance issues all around, because the compression fittings were HUGE! Then, I've scaled everything to smaller size tubes, the 10/13mm. And It has started to be perfect, especially proportioned to the size of the case, and for the space needed between the PSU and the CPU block. BUT, I wasn't so happy, I mean, I would like to have the most rational routing possible, because it's a working workstation, and for me, flexibility should be a must. So, I've switched to a Hard Tube config, and finally, here it is! The fittings are smaller, and the routing, helped with double swiveling fittings, is very clean and concentrated on the bottom part and on the right of the case, give me the possibility to swap GPUs and SSD easily!
(You can see the simple back routing here)
And the front tube with the pump mounted on the EK vertical bracket
Because of the tight space after mounted the ATX PSU, I had to think 3 times how to connect the pump to the CPU waterblock. Helped a lot the Bitspower D-Plug mini, that give a quick plug and play fit and no leaks at all!
As you can see, I was like with the dimension of the fittings mounted on the pump; the EK XRES forced me to use the stupid silver adapter for the inlet (seriously EK???), but the space left between it and the PSU was still ok, even with that.
Following a few close-up!
Finally time fo a leak test!! (Positive at first run, luckily)
Let's finish the cable routing as well, trying to use every little empty space, trying to keep an eye on the space optimization and cleanness.
(The Intel 905p in-place, just above the bottom radiator!)
As you can see, I've ordered from CableMod 2 CPU EPS cable of 200mm, to save space. At first I was thinking to use the same for the motherboard, but actually, it was way easier with the stock Seasonic cable, because more flexible and thinner.
(The PCIe cables fits exactly between the VRM heatsink and the reservoir)
And of course, there is space for a drain port and valve at the bottom!
Getting closer to the end: a 360 degrees tour of the build!
(You can see the PCIe PSU cables layout from the back)
(And the high quality filter from DEMCifilter, with precutted space for 120mm screws.)
Side bracket closed, and the U.2 Intel 905p shown through it. It's time to mount the GPUs and turn it on!
I have the necessity to have 3 GPUs, a double Titan V for my CUDA workloads and a Quadro for the OpenGL software, a fast and strong SSD as the x2 Intel Optane 905p, one for the OS and the second one to use as a cache for Photoshop, Vray.
The other x2 Samsung SSDs are used for a media library of materials and references, picture catalogs and backup.
The EVGA Dark was the only Motherboard for X299 to allow to have all of these routed to the CPU lane, and only one Samsung routed to the PCH.
But to have everything inside this amazing case, I had to save space using a thinner rad; this helped me also to have the right space between the pump and PSU for the fittings.
Here the reasons why I went with the EVGA Dark, XSPC TX 20mm rad and 15mm Noctua slim fan!
(Apart, of course, that has a terrific VRM heatsink and looks!)
(BTW, the Intel LED is finally OFF!!!)
(My two SFF system together for you
)
DONE!!!
In the next days and week, I will post temps and thoughts.
I can already say that as suggested from @MarcParis, the bottom fans are mounted as exhaust; the idle temps are 3/4 degree higher, but under load, they reach the temp limit of 84 degrees way slower than mounted as intake!
To have a better Airflow, I will try to change the front radiator for a 120mm and putting at the bottom-front a 140mm fan to get fresh air inside the case to help the GPUs.
I really want to try to stay on AIR for flexibility.
Otherwise, I've already planned to put the two Titan V under water in the same loop, swapping the EK reservoir with an amazing Heatkiller kit, CPU Block, Tube 100 DDC combo and GPUs blocks. But this will be for the beginning of 2019 when Noctua should release the black Chromax version of the slim fan, so I can go TOTAL BLACK!
Now, I want to use and enjoy this system inside this AMAZING CASE!
I need to thanks in particular @MarcParis and @KSliger for all the support given.
And thank you, of course, all the people that during these months have answered to my thousands questions.
Then, THANK YOU!!
PS: Here the link to the full gallery, for a faster view of the build log.
https://postimg.cc/gallery/xbc6m0w6/
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