Harvest - Bitspower purist Threadripper build

[That's A Doozy]

Hey guys.
This is something I've been planning to do for nearly two years now, and it's finally coming to a head.
As some of you may have seen, I recently put together a custom reservoir to sit in the window of a Thermaltake Core P5.
You can find the thread detailing how that all happened here .

So after much debate between choosing X299 or X399, I eventually opted for Threadripper. I wanted a build I was sure would continue to be supported for years to come, and I didn't feel that I could get that out of Intel (Plus I didn't want to delid).
So here are the parts! I ordered these during one of Ebay's 20% off sales, so most of them were a pretty good deal.


The parts are as follows:
Threadripper 1950x
Asus ROG Zenith Extreme
Strix GTX 1080ti Gaming
TeamGroup Vulcan ram (64gb 3000mhz)
Samsung 250gb Evo M.2 SSD
Thermaltake 850w DPS Titanium (Only PSU with theRiing fan and two EPS outlets)
Some Riing fans for the radiator
And of course, the Core P5.
I'll be using some HDD's from my current computer when it's time to migrate to this one.

The first thing I did was put everything together and test the system. I decided to shove the 1080ti straight into my current build and pull the R9 290x out of that one so I could enjoy those high refresh rates straight away.







We have ignition!


Windows was successfully installed! It was time to focus on the more aesthetic side of things.

I figured, if I was going to put this much effort into this build, I may as well have a symbol/logo done up to match the PC's name.

I contacted a graphic designer located in Queensland called Sam Johnston (He has a business page if anyone's interested. Would recommend). Within a week I had a fully-fledged logo!

I'm lucky that at work we have a laser cutter on hand. Here I am testing a few different power levels before etching the window.





And here's the real deal. I decided to etch it backwards so that it would retain the gloss from the front side of the window.


And not long after.


Here it is after a quick cleanup.


And finally after a polish.


Not long after this, my water cooling equipment arrived from Bitspower. All bar the pump mount, which I unfortunately forgot. Hello extra $35 shipping.


I tell you what, I feel that Bitspowerdon't get the recognition they deserve. Look at the quality of these blocks.






Opps, forgot to take a photo of these ones with the wrapping off.


While the waterblocks were great, I did have an issue with the radiator.
I find it unfortunate that Bitspower stopped producing the single-sided version of the 480 radiator, and have opted for a double-sided model only. This produced a problem when mounting it to the P5 as I'm sure you can clearly see here.


The Core P5 is flat on the side I need to mount the radiator to. But I had a solution in mind.


Little bit of silicone and they were sitting pretty.


Just shove em in.


And wipe the excess away!



Now I do love Bitspower, but one thing that irks me about them is the fact that all their plexi products have a frosted finish. I much prefer how EK does this with their crystal clear blocks.
Thankfully, polishing acrylic isn't something that's particularly difficult.

Before:


And after:


Before:


And after:


Before:


And after:


This was by far the worst part.


I forgot to take photos of the ram blocks, but I did get a few before and after shots of the ram sticks themselves.




At this stage, I ordered some cables fromCablemod. I quite like the scheme I came up with.


They arrived not long after.


Shortly thereafter, my pumps and liquid metal arrived.


Naan Bread always looks at me like I've just asked her to hang out the washing.


Unfortunately I didn't order enough sleeving. I sleeved up one of the pumps, but had to order more sleeving for the other.





I couldn't find anyone selling Alphacord in Australia, so I opted for a knock-off vinyl sleeve from eBay. It was not good. I'll post photos of that later, but it looks like I'll have to order more Alphacord from overseas. Money money 

 

Next up was attaching the monoblock to the motherboard. 


Not a bad idea, Asus.


Liquid metal is awfully pretty.


And hard to figure out how to apply for someone who's never used it before.


I got there eventually.


And that's where I'm up to for now!


Looks pretty good I reckon.


I've got a few more parts on the way. Not much more I can do for now until they arrive.

[That's A Doozy]

Update:

The biggest issue I faced next was fitting the GPU into the case without striking the reservoir. It's easy enough to just move it back since Thermaltake includes a pretty versatile vertical GPU mount, but I felt that it would leave a great deal of unused space. So I decided to cut the GPU bracket.





Cutting it with my knock-off dremel was particularly difficult. I went through over 20 disks before I had to make a trip to Bunnings and get something stronger. 


I didn't do a good job keeping the cuts smooth and even, so I had to hit it with the belt sander at work afterwards. 


And I needed to drill a new set of holes to hold it together with a bolt since I'd cut off one. 


Next came colour matching. I wish I'd known at the time that this was wildly inaccurate.


Got it all primed and painted.


It wasn't the match I'd hoped for. Way too glossy. The picture doesn't show just how shiny it was. 


Second attempt with a matt black paint and a matt clear.


Not perfect, but much closer. Please don't mind Papadum in the background. 


Installed the pump top to see what kind of clearance I was dealing with. The reservoir is covered by a microfibre towel to keep it protected (Hence why it's not obvious what I'm doing. 
It's way too close together. I'll have to mount it side on to get the bends done. 


I had to do some drilling to make it fit. It's always nerve racking cutting into your case. 


Installed it side on with some rubber underneath to prevent vibrations. Not overly happy with the rubber I've used, so I've got something better on the way. 


Installed the ram next, followed by the ram blocks.


 

That's it for now. 

I feel like Bitspower don't get the recognition they deserve. Look how beautiful that is. 

[That's A Doozy]

UPDATE:

So I decided to purchase another part! Figured my HDD's are getting pretty old (Purchased between 2007 and 2011) and decided to get a new storage SSD for my games.
The performance differences between the Evo and the Pro are negligible, so I opted for the Evo. Getting an SSD cover for it anyway, so no one will know it's not the blisteringly fast one.


Also, my mod kits arrived.
Now I love Bitspower to death, but $75 for a single mod kit? Too much. Barrow has them for $25 each. 
So I opted for Barrow, since they're identical.


Or so I thought.


Being the perfectionist I am I can't deal with this. So I decided to flip them over and cover them up.



Looks better than before, but I needed something to cover the other one.


I ordered some black vinyl and this neat little sticker. I'll be covering the other one with this (The Ryzen sticker, that is).


I also learnt that my TT Premium Riing fans were not Asus Aura Sync compatible, which sucks.
But as it so happens, there is a module you can fit which corrects this. Only cost me $30, so why not?


Speaking of my TT fans, I unpacked them and found they had an unsightly coloured cable before the heatshrink which will be exposed due to the open nature of the Core P5. Ew.


So I fixed it.


Ah, bliss.


Now I've been conflicted about the colour of my case for a little while. It's a metallic matt black, which is the colour Thermaltake uses for all of their cases. I decided I wanted to change this. Nothing too extreme, just a nice satin black with a touch of gloss. I figured this would match my hardware a bit better, particularly the mod kits and radiator.

Before sanding:


First coat of primer:


Second coat of primer:


Had to give it a light wet sand with some 600grit sandpaper in between every coat after this to avoid bubbling or uneven layers.
I'll speed things up a bit here.
Second or third coat of satin black here, not sure which.


Fifth: Nearly done. Had some severe bubbling so I had to do some significant wet sanding.


And curing after the final coat:


Not too shabby.


The feet were a #### nightmare to paint, but I got there eventually.
I had to sand them back so many #### times.


And that's it for now. Got some new cable sleeving on the way for my pumps which should be arriving soon. Decided to cut it back and make them shorter. My first time messing with wires. Pray for me.Update:

The biggest issue I faced next was fitting the GPU into the case without striking the reservoir. It's easy enough to just move it back since Thermaltake includes a pretty versatile vertical GPU mount, but I felt that it would leave a great deal of unused space. So I decided to cut the GPU bracket.





Cutting it with my knock-off dremel was particularly difficult. I went through over 20 disks before I had to make a trip to Bunnings and get something stronger. 


I didn't do a good job keeping the cuts smooth and even, so I had to hit it with the belt sander at work afterwards. 


And I needed to drill a new set of holes to hold it together with a bolt since I'd cut off one. 


Next came colour matching. I wish I'd known at the time that this was wildly inaccurate.


Got it all primed and painted.


It wasn't the match I'd hoped for. Way too glossy. The picture doesn't show just how shiny it was. 


Second attempt with a matt black paint and a matt clear.


Not perfect, but much closer. Please don't mind Papadum in the background. 


Installed the pump top to see what kind of clearance I was dealing with. The reservoir is covered by a microfibre towel to keep it protected (Hence why it's not obvious what I'm doing. 
It's way too close together. I'll have to mount it side on to get the bends done. 


I had to do some drilling to make it fit. It's always nerve racking cutting into your case. 


Installed it side on with some rubber underneath to prevent vibrations. Not overly happy with the rubber I've used, so I've got something better on the way. 


Installed the ram next, followed by the ram blocks.

That's it for now. 

I feel like Bitspower don't get the recognition they deserve. Look how beautiful that is. 

[That's A Doozy]

UPDATE:

So I decided to purchase another part! Figured my HDD's are getting pretty old (Purchased between 2007 and 2011) and decided to get a new storage SSD for my games.
The performance differences between the Evo and the Pro are negligible, so I opted for the Evo. Getting an SSD cover for it anyway, so no one will know it's not the blisteringly fast one.


Also, my mod kits arrived.
Now I love Bitspower to death, but $75 for a single mod kit? Too much. Barrow has them for $25 each. 
So I opted for Barrow, since they're identical.


Or so I thought.


Being the perfectionist I am I can't deal with this. So I decided to flip them over and cover them up.



Looks better than before, but I needed something to cover the other one.


I ordered some black vinyl and this neat little sticker. I'll be covering the other one with this (The Ryzen sticker, that is).


I also learnt that my TT Premium Riing fans were not Asus Aura Sync compatible, which sucks.
But as it so happens, there is a module you can fit which corrects this. Only cost me $30, so why not?


Speaking of my TT fans, I unpacked them and found they had an unsightly coloured cable before the heatshrink which will be exposed due to the open nature of the Core P5. Ew.


So I fixed it.


Ah, bliss.


Now I've been conflicted about the colour of my case for a little while. It's a metallic matt black, which is the colour Thermaltake uses for all of their cases. I decided I wanted to change this. Nothing too extreme, just a nice satin black with a touch of gloss. I figured this would match my hardware a bit better, particularly the mod kits and radiator.

Before sanding:


First coat of primer:


Second coat of primer:


Had to give it a light wet sand with some 600grit sandpaper in between every coat after this to avoid bubbling or uneven layers.
I'll speed things up a bit here.
Second or third coat of satin black here, not sure which.


Fifth: Nearly done. Had some severe bubbling so I had to do some significant wet sanding.


And curing after the final coat:


Not too shabby.


The feet were a #### nightmare to paint, but I got there eventually.
I had to sand them back so many #### times.


And that's it for now. Got some new cable sleeving on the way for my pumps which should be arriving soon. Decided to cut it back and make them shorter. My first time messing with wires. Pray for me.UPDATE:

So I decided to purchase another part! Figured my HDD's are getting pretty old (Purchased between 2007 and 2011) and decided to get a new storage SSD for my games.
The performance differences between the Evo and the Pro are negligible, so I opted for the Evo. Getting an SSD cover for it anyway, so no one will know it's not the blisteringly fast one.


Also, my mod kits arrived.
Now I love Bitspower to death, but $75 for a single mod kit? Too much. Barrow has them for $25 each. 
So I opted for Barrow, since they're identical.


Or so I thought.


Being the perfectionist I am I can't deal with this. So I decided to flip them over and cover them up.



Looks better than before, but I needed something to cover the other one.


I ordered some black vinyl and this neat little sticker. I'll be covering the other one with this (The Ryzen sticker, that is).


I also learnt that my TT Premium Riing fans were not Asus Aura Sync compatible, which sucks.
But as it so happens, there is a module you can fit which corrects this. Only cost me $30, so why not?


Speaking of my TT fans, I unpacked them and found they had an unsightly coloured cable before the heatshrink which will be exposed due to the open nature of the Core P5. Ew.


So I fixed it.


Ah, bliss.


Now I've been conflicted about the colour of my case for a little while. It's a metallic matt black, which is the colour Thermaltake uses for all of their cases. I decided I wanted to change this. Nothing too extreme, just a nice satin black with a touch of gloss. I figured this would match my hardware a bit better, particularly the mod kits and radiator.

Before sanding:


First coat of primer:


Second coat of primer:


Had to give it a light wet sand with some 600grit sandpaper in between every coat after this to avoid bubbling or uneven layers.
I'll speed things up a bit here.
Second or third coat of satin black here, not sure which.


Fifth: Nearly done. Had some severe bubbling so I had to do some significant wet sanding.


And curing after the final coat:


Not too shabby.


The feet were a #### nightmare to paint, but I got there eventually.
I had to sand them back so many #### times.


And that's it for now. Got some new cable sleeving on the way for my pumps which should be arriving soon. Decided to cut it back and make them shorter. My first time messing with wires. Pray for me.Update:

The biggest issue I faced next was fitting the GPU into the case without striking the reservoir. It's easy enough to just move it back since Thermaltake includes a pretty versatile vertical GPU mount, but I felt that it would leave a great deal of unused space. So I decided to cut the GPU bracket.





Cutting it with my knock-off dremel was particularly difficult. I went through over 20 disks before I had to make a trip to Bunnings and get something stronger. 


I didn't do a good job keeping the cuts smooth and even, so I had to hit it with the belt sander at work afterwards. 


And I needed to drill a new set of holes to hold it together with a bolt since I'd cut off one. 


Next came colour matching. I wish I'd known at the time that this was wildly inaccurate.


Got it all primed and painted.


It wasn't the match I'd hoped for. Way too glossy. The picture doesn't show just how shiny it was. 


Second attempt with a matt black paint and a matt clear.


Not perfect, but much closer. Please don't mind Papadum in the background. 


Installed the pump top to see what kind of clearance I was dealing with. The reservoir is covered by a microfibre towel to keep it protected (Hence why it's not obvious what I'm doing. 
It's way too close together. I'll have to mount it side on to get the bends done. 


I had to do some drilling to make it fit. It's always nerve racking cutting into your case. 


Installed it side on with some rubber underneath to prevent vibrations. Not overly happy with the rubber I've used, so I've got something better on the way. 


Installed the ram next, followed by the ram blocks.

That's it for now. 

I feel like Bitspower don't get the recognition they deserve. Look how beautiful that is.