• Welcome to Overclockers Forums! Join us to reply in threads, receive reduced ads, and to customize your site experience!

PROJECT LOG Lian Li PC-O9 - Maximus Leader in a glass house

Overclockers is supported by our readers. When you click a link to make a purchase, we may earn a commission. Learn More.
I've got a technical question:

I would like to use only 1 SATA power cable.

However, the cables have only 5 connectors.

My cage has 6 slots for 3,5" HDDs (I won't use them all just now..) and can take a 2,5" SSD on the top and bottom too.
Can the Powersupply handle 7 SATA drives on one cable? (I wouldn't use the other SATA power cables then, obviously)

My plan would be to have the SATA cable go straight up along the cage.
 
The PSU you are using is a single rail design so there would be no issue there. If you can find out the gauge wire used for the Sata cable we can look at the maximum safe wattage for that size wire and determine if it would be fine.

My initial belief is that it would be fine as HDD's and certainly SSD's don't pull much power but it would be best to do the math just to be safe.
 
Okay, thanks mate..
It's gonna be 1 WD black (1TB) and 2 WD RE (1TB) plus a 500GB crucial m500 (or smthng along that line)
There would be 2 WD greens (2-3TB) added for more storage at some point. (Or maybe WD RE's again, since I like having "safe" drives)

So, I think I should be fine?
 
According to spec sheets WD Blacks average 6.8W @1 TB when read/write. The WD Reds are 1.4W @ 1 TB and 4.1W @ 3TB for read/write and their SSD's are about .7W at any time.

So for those drives you're looking at an unrealistic average of 18.5W if all drives are spinning at max at the same time. You'll be completely fine. You won't even be getting close to the thermal limit for that wire.
 
Nice, thanks for the info.

Although, I'm not using WD reds (have 15TB in my external raid 5 for media backups), I have actual WD RE drives :)
https://www.wdc.com/products/business-internal-storage/wd-re.html

Lost my 1TB wd green raid (windows raid won't notify you when a drive dies..) and got completely paranoid, so I bought the RE with much better life expectancy and less error-prone..

The price isn't an issue, since I don't need the biggest drives for my data.
 
OK. My Mistake. They do draw a little more power but not enough that I would be concerned with.
 
Just received my second Aquatuning delivery today, but had to leave right at that moment, so I couldn't even peak inside the box :(

Will be back on thursday to take some pics and do some work..

Got the 3D-printed delid-tool in the morning and will behead the skylake dude once I've checked whether he works at all.

The first Aquatuning box arrived yesterday alongside my cpu cooler.. had to work so I only got around to check the contents and flush the rads.. they were very clean! (Except for some black paint chips from the threads that got loose when I fastened the stoppers)


Arousing pictures, some hole drilling action, decapitation and the feasting on newborn kittens will be the topic of next weeks update.

Stay tuned
 
Update!!!

User MGGR from the Computerbase community offered to print this Skylake-Delidder for me. And it looks great :D
_c5t5901a2ah2.jpg

The CPU fits nicely
_c5t5905xtxac.jpg

I'll hopefull get to do the beheading on Saturday and report the bloodshed next week :)


As announced, I receivced some stuff from Aquatuning..
_c5t59060dz22.jpg

Quality isn't that great.. But, since they aren't visible in the final product, this doesn't bother me too much.

The Monsoon stuff looks awesome in comparison:
_c5t5908zbz8n.jpg

_c5t5909qflkj.jpg

I'll have to order many more fittings (from Alphacool, for the tubes in the rear chamber) in the coming days.


I also realised that I'll need a cutter for the PETG tubes
_c5t5913fza9v.jpg


The CPU block isn't as pretty as I had hoped.. The manufacturing quality leaves me a bit disappointed. I'll use some metal polish pretty him up before the final assembly.
_c5t5915ojzgr.jpg

At least the bottom side is perfect, my minion can attest to that
_c5t59160eb3f.jpg


He also fancies the new GPU cooler, looking pretty AF even though it's not brand new.
_c5t5918x3yfw.jpg



Then there was more Alphacool stuff

My minion had to clean the tank inside and out.. (he did a terrible job)
_c5t5920uelbd.jpg

Then he built some monster
_c5t5922u1yic.jpg


and combined it with the XT45 rad and the old Lian Li fans
using some Perfect Seal fittings (alongside the Alphacool 90° fitting) and my old Primochill tubing
_c5t5924cxa6w.jpg

_c5t59257ubl1.jpg


Installing this beast was a PITA, but I managed... Only to realise that I'll need to mount the Reservoir to the top fan if I want to be able to place the pump underneath it. :(
_c5t5934fxx3z.jpg

I'll probably hang the Pump from the Reservoir (with the Pump top facing the side wall and resting on a shoggy sandwich) in order to leave a smaller obstacle in front of the fans.


I installed the CPU and RAM and connected the Pump and Rad to the CPU block with my primochill and perfect seal fittings
_c5t59327mb8g.jpg

_c5t5933v5b3b.jpg



Then I found out that the Corsair AX860i is the perfect PSU for watercooling builds.
Back in the days, you had to jump-start the ATX-cable in order to get the pump running without the PC.
With the Corsair, you can just press and hold the Self Test button and the pump will go ahead and flush the loop :D

After filing it up, I connected the ATX and CPU cables and checked out the BIOS. (Thank you Intel for including that crappy GPU in the Skylake cores :D )
_c5t59373yzb6.jpg

_c5t5938doz4k.jpg


Everything runs smooth.. RAM were 2133 initially, but I could run the system with them set at 3000 MHz, so that should be fine.

After delidding the CPU, I'll try it again with this setup before I drain the loop and go about assembling the parts as they were intended.


Then I decided to try the Lian Li RGB strips with the built-in RG controls.. :(
Pink looks awesome, but I don't want pink..
_c5t59430caxo.jpg

So, let's set them to white, shall we?
_c5t5946g5ac3.jpg

I'm not kidding you.. the blue LED's are so strong, that it's impossible to get a clean white light.
I'll remove the built-in RGB controller and will use my pure white LED strip instead. It looked awesome in my previous build, so it should work just as fine here.


Thanks for checking in guys :)
 
Nice! You are using some quality stuff. So clean.
Love the Minion and his participation. More friends for HackDuck and ChickenHack!:cool:

Cheers
 
Cpu was beheaded.. so glad I read about the "bang" that sounds when the glue breaks :D

Ordered loads from Aquatuning, including some liquid metal TIM (up to 20K lower temps as compared to the original tim on the die!!!) So I'll be able to test the cpu once I receive this shipping.

I also worked on the rad mount and can gladly report that the drilling was precise enough for all the screws to still fit :D

Will share pics on thursday when I get home again..
 
Quick update

I delidded the CPU, successfully, I might add.. But, since I did it before assembling my rig, I won't be able to tell how much of an improvement it was.
However, the guys at Computerbase did a test and the replacement of the oem TIM with liquid metal lead to significantly lower temps! (21 K at heavy OC)

Okay then, let's put the guy in his "3D-printed socket"
img_20161105_114515eay2f.jpg

Now comes the difficult part..
The glue on the Skylake CPU is quite hard, so it will "break" with a loud bang and then you need to be really fast, because the Delidder won't be held by the bench anymore and it could fall to the floor! (I had my hand hovering below to catch it..)
img_20161105_114556anas2.jpg

The IHS comes off easily after that
img_20161105_114715u8zlt.jpg


I cleaned both the die and the IHS with alcohol, then applied Phobya Liquid Metal on the die (used WAY too much and had to take off about 80% again so as not to risk any of the paste spilling over the die and getting in contact with some of the fex exposed contacts on the top of the PCB) and inserted the PCB into the socket.
(No pictures of that, sorry.. was late last night)
You can glue the IHS back on, but I wanted to see whether it was still working first (and the guys at Computerbase calimed you don't need to glue it together anymore) and use the socket clamp to apply even pressure and hold the IHS in place.

I simply placed the IHS on the chip and closed the clamp, then applied some Prolimatech PK-1 (supplied with my cooler) on the IHS and reinstalled the block to see whether the cpu still works.

It does :clap:

I will use liquid metal for my final assembly, obviously.



Now, the second mod I performed last week:
Because the X-Flow Rad collides with the back of the case, I had to make new mounting holes. I shifted them only a little, so that I could still use some of the old ones.

Prepared the frame with tape and carefully marked the spots
img_20161105_115047ycxue.jpg


Good to have family with a hang for tools and stuff :)
img_20161105_115053rtz92.jpg


Since I have two left hands, I was pretty happy with the result
img_20161105_1158303zxof.jpg



Back home, I wanted to install the rad, but I had to realise that there was another issue. The rad has openings on both sides, so I will need to install stoppers on the upper side.
Unfortunately, these stoppers collide with the frame..

I used a few spacers to create the necessary distance on the four outer screws
img_20161105_155342r3xzw.jpg

This way, the stoppers have enough space to fit and I really hope that they won't leak..
img_20161105_1553565abwt.jpg

I also cut some dampening mat to create a little bit of isolation, but maybe I should've used rubber spacers to begin with.. Might still do that before the final assembly.. (If the fans are decoupled, would you think that's necessary?)


ps: I don't have a precision tool for sanding and so I used my file to get the holes evened out.. then I was too lazy to repaint the frame, because this won't be visible..
img_20161105_155447lrz52.jpg



I got my last Aquatuning shipment yesterday.. Will take pictures of those parts next week and hopefully have a stepped drill bit to drill the hole in my midplate and finally start to assemble the hardware.
 
I will do some sleeving this week.. haven't yet gotten a stepped drill to make the port in the mainboard tray, so I cannot start assembling..

Will also look at the pump with drain mechanism and whether I'll need another 45-deg fitting there..

Stay tuned
 
Update incoming!!! Mostly good news, and some bad..

Got moar fittings
_c5t5984lguwo.jpg _c5t5986ozumw.jpg

And built my drain valve
_c5t5988yzuof.jpg _c5t5989ntutj.jpg

pretty compact once mounted to the pump
_c5t5991twurm.jpg


Then I got this PWM splitter (for the rads)
_c5t5992iluly.jpg

and obviously replaced the sleeves..
_c5t6012kiunk.jpg

I also got some temp sensors (from my old rig and a water temp sensor from phobya)
and sleeved them in some hot color x :)
_c5t6012kiunk.jpg


started working on SATA cables, and ran out of sleeve..
_c5t5994h7uxu.jpg


because I also figured out a way to sleeve the USB 3 cable:
_c5t5996peuit.jpg _c5t5997e6ubp.jpg

and the power button cable was sleeved too
_c5t59953mugz.jpg



Since I've ordered 2 x 2 TB WD Gold HDDs, I'll need moar SATA sleeve.. (I'll run them in a Raid 10 with my 2 x 1 TB WD RE server drives, via my Inline raid controller)


Speaking of storage, I finished the two fans for the cage
_c5t600055uen.jpg



and the fans for my top rad..
_c5t60028xux9.jpg

used those fan grills because they look rad.. pun intended
_c5t60047fu33.jpg


everything is gonna be fine.. unless that sucker leaks..
_c5t6006a7ukd.jpg



I also drilled a hole.. man was I scared to do it..
Tested it in my old Lian Li Window..
img_20161118_165208rluoy.jpg

then the serious stuff
img_20161118_165220j1u3v.jpg

it was dark outdoors and cold as hell.. and I did it bent over the case with my huge drill..
But I succeeded
img_20161118_1654284hura.jpg

Back indoors, 30sec exposure :D
_c5t6014esugx.jpg

but the passthrough fits
_c5t6015dou2c.jpg




I'll probably use another 90° fitting there.. too friggin narrow to tighten the tube..
_c5t60164au03.jpg


used liquid metal on the cpu and installed the rad and mainboard
_c5t6019ubu0l.jpg


fittings for the tubing are ready
_c5t6020oeuzp.jpg


Causes me a sore eye to see this pathetic excuse for a tube.. maybe I'll try my luck with a petg tube in the end.. (but the alignment of the fittings is not perfectly straight, that's what bothers me)
_c5t60226mu1l.jpg


More of those beautiful fan grills and the passthrough in its glory
_c5t6023ikuq0.jpg


it's got quite a hefty backside that one..
_c5t60243ou8l.jpg


second rad with reservoir installed
_c5t60273muok.jpg


Unfortunately, now comes the bad news.. the pump is too fat.. It touches the sidewall of my case..
_c5t6031zmu7l.jpg


_c5t60346vusk.jpg




Already ordered an Alphacool DDC to replace my D5..


Got word of my Samsung EVO 960 250GB M.2 arriving in 2-3 weeks. I must wait for that to arrive because I have to install it with the graphics card out.


My plans for the coming three weeks:
- Sleeve and mod the PSU cables
- Install GPU cooler
- cut Alphacool backplate to fit my soundcard (and maybe use the leftovers for the raid controller..)
- think about the length of the PETG tubes on the mainboard
 
Thanks man!

Very busy times ahead, but I'll try to make some time for further progression.
Really want that Rig to be up and running before Christmas.
 
Small update for this week's progress..

Received my Samsung 960 Evo 250GB
img_20161126_162321s8av0.jpg

_c5t6038r3yd2.jpg

it's huge
_c5t6041tzx2w.jpg



then I swapped the cooler on my graphics card
img_20161124_1111357vl9x.jpg

img_20161124_121002mny7d.jpg

img_20161124_12102050xd6.jpg

The Heatkiller series always was my favourite.. my new graphics card(s) will also get a heatkiller cooler next summer.. :D


I did some sleeving too..
_c5t604231bkk.jpg

_c5t6043xiaq1.jpg



But man am I rusty.. killed like 20 heatshrinks in the process of two 8 pin cables
_c5t6046ymztf.jpg

test fit on the graphics card
_c5t6047yratb.jpg

Looking good :D


and a comparison to my first project sleeve.. well, I didn't really care about heatshrink uniformity then.. :D
_c5t6044nwzsz.jpg

The stretch isn't perfect, but the cables are a bit thin, so the sleeve doesn't stay put that well..
_c5t60458kl26.jpg



I'll get my new SATA sleeve this week, along with my 2 x 2 TB WD Gold hard drives and hopefully my last Aquatuning order, so I'll be all set to finish over the coming weeks.
I have planned to finish all the sleeving next weekend and hopefully finish the loop in the rear chamber so that I can then focus on the main chamber, tubing and stuff..

For today I still have the cut-up of the Alphacool backplate planned, so that I can then cover the raid controller and my sound card.
 
Back