Xigmatek Elysium build: Monster (many photos)

[elari20]

I have had my old Chieftec case since 2003. Back then it was a great case. Plenty of room, a side window and enough holes for ventilation. I even put red LED's inside it for more bling. It was OK until I bought an HD5870. Couldn't get temps under control ever again. A year passed. Then another year. So, about 2 months ago I decided I needed a new, bigger case, with a gazillion fans attached to it. But this time I wanted to do it right. No bling-bling, keep it cool, keep it minimalistic. I started searching for a perfect case and almost bought one of those: Mountain Mods Pinnacle 24, Haf-X, Antec 1200, Corsair 800D, Lian Li PCX1000. Changed my mind a million times. Then I saw Xigmatek Elysium in a local computer store. Holy mother of all cases! I bought it. Had trouble fitting it into a medium sized car.

Then I took a pen and lots of A4 paper and started planning my dream build. About 25 sheets of paper later I had my perfect vision written down, with every cable and hose labeled and numbered. So I started ordering things:
- all cables, cable ties, cable clamps etc from FrozenCPU.com (all black)
- rad, res, pump, fittings from local stores and forums
- tubing, fans, coolant, grills, fillport from Caseking.de
- some more misc parts from Aquatuning.de

It took nearly 2 months for the parts to arrive. Some of them got lost on the way... Everything arrived eventually and I decided to build on April 7, 2012.

So, it started. I had 2 friends at my place to help me. One of them is an electrical engineer and knows the electrons well. Other is as dumb as a lamppost but helped me with some dirty work (like cable management). I made around 1000 photos and yelled at people. It took 18 hours from start to finish. Proper leak testing was done the next day.

The build went well. We had no trouble whatsoever on the way. Check the photos and see for yourself.
Spec: in the sig. Currently an heavily clocked Q6600 but soon an IB. And a 680.

Gear used:
- Canon EOS 450D
- Canon EF-S 17-55mm F2,8 IS USM
- Canon EF 70-200mm F4,0 L USM
- Sigma EF-500
- Manfrotto stand
- studio lights.

Have fun

Holy mother of all cases! Behind it is a tiny 27" display.


Enermax Revolution 85+ 1250W, one heavy *******.


So many holes............


Cable management test: molex heaven. Didn't work.


Testing various cable routes.


Like a rainbow. It is time to take this thing apart.


Esata, Sata hotswap, USB3, audio, ... All that was removed.


Some random sleeving kit.


Power LED.


Sleeving motherboard wires. Took a week to get everything sleeved.

 

[elari20]

Motherboard wires almost sleeved.


Selection of cables and cable management items (from FrozenCPU.com). All black.


Some of the cables used. All cables individually sleeved black. Bitfenix, ModRight, Phobya.


Compression fittings 10mm ID, black nickel, rotary edition.


Taking my old PC apart. I am not lazy! Blame my cat!!!


Tiny motherboard. A friend asked if he can move inside. He said he won't be paying the rent.


4 harddrives installed and wired.


Looking nice and clean. Installation was a breeze. You may notice CPU being lapped. Not sure about those red Enermax cable ties though. Might remove them later.


Cleaning the HD5870.


Another friend came to help.

 

[elari20]

Electrical engineer, can build a tube amp while sleeping. Awesome skillz!


Supreme HF installed.


Half way there. Cable management is not an easy job.


Radiator ready to be mounted. You may notice a fan being missing. It was added later (after I got a new one). Fans: Noiseblocker BlackSilent Fan XL2


Radiator: Phobya G-Changer 360 Ver. 1.2 Black. Third tube is for filling. Tubing: Feser 10mm ID clear.


Cable management finished, only one free molex left, for pump.


Radiator screws. Custom length, pyramid shape, painted black. Made right there at the construction site.


Radiator installed. All’s good so far. I probably went overboard tightening the fittings and the tubing.


Radiator installed. Time to dig out the res.


Professionals at work. Some soldering magic for the fan controller.

 

[elari20]

Res: Phobya Balancer 150 (black nickel).


Pump: Laing DDC-1T/Swiftech MCP355 with Phobya Laing DDC top (black nickel).


Preparing for the filling.


Not a single leak!


Next day: leaktest was successful!


Time to put the front face back on. So nice and neutral. Looks even better in the dark.


Side shot. 3rd rad fan still missing, took the whole week to get that.


Over an inch of room behind the motherboard tray!


Not the best cable management job out there, but I can live with it.


Side window. Time to play!

 

[elari20]

Helper #4. Norwegian wildcat.


One week later: photoshoot. Note to self: sleeve PSU!


Side shot.


Rear shot.


Bam! Triple fans! 3rd fan arrived!


Side shot. Still not loving the Enermax cable ties.


Side shot. Had to add 100 ml of coolant: Aquacomputer Double Protect Ultra - orange


Front shot. Thinking of adding 3rd HDD rack.


Res. Originally planned to use 250, but went for 150. I think it was a good idea.


Front shot.

 

[elari20]

Side shot. You may ask why the tubing is so unnecessarily long. I think it looks more "natural", more relaxed that way.


Didn't use angled fittings there, looked kinda cramped.


Laing powa! Fat friend will make a simple voltage adjusting tool for the pump. 12V is clearly too much for such a simple loop. Water flows like crazy!


Zalman fan controller. Fans are dead silent when needed.


Don't try this at home! WTF, is that case heavy!!! Back injury guaranteed! Notice the filling tube.


Front face attached. What a beautiful face!


Front shot.


Xigmatek. Now, let's see what's behind that sign...


Water!!!


Old vs new.

 

[elari20]

Old vs new. I bet you noticed the difference!


Mirror.


Rear shot.


Front shot. Definitely worth 185 euros! Well done, Xigmatek!


Some pump magic.


Thanks for watching!

 

[Conumdrum]

Very nice!

Fun reading too!

 

[Nebulous]

Excellent job! I like the cleanliness of the case & build. Not all that "bling bling" killing the asthetics. Fun read too!

 

[bluezero5]

that's NICE. Nice Water cooling loops!

 

[GTXJackBauer]

Very nice and congrats on the build. Great cable management imho and anything but mine is best. lol...... What are those clips for the cable management called or if I can get a link from a site. I need a bunch of heavy duty ones as my side panel on my 800D is ready to blast open. I did the best I could but didn't have much to work with.

 

[Modz 4 Higher]

Looks good. I'm in the process of redoing the entire loop in my Elysium. Sure is a fun case to work with.

 

[elari20]

What are those clips for the cable management called or if I can get a link from a site. I need a bunch of heavy duty ones as my side panel on my 800D is ready to blast open.

http://www.frozencpu.com/products/7..._Twist_Tie_10_Pack_-_Black.html?tl=g12c34s488
http://www.frozencpu.com/products/8...le_-_38_Clip_Style_-_Black.html?tl=g12c34s806
http://www.frozencpu.com/products/3803/tiw-20/34_Adjustable_Cable_Clamp_161_0715.html?tl=g12c34s95
http://www.frozencpu.com/products/8...e_Cradle_Mount_-_1_-_Black.html?tl=g12c34s487

 

[frank anderson]

I have to say, that is about the neatest wiring I have ever seen.. Excellent job !!

 

[GTXJackBauer]

http://www.frozencpu.com/products/7..._Twist_Tie_10_Pack_-_Black.html?tl=g12c34s488
http://www.frozencpu.com/products/8...le_-_38_Clip_Style_-_Black.html?tl=g12c34s806
http://www.frozencpu.com/products/3803/tiw-20/34_Adjustable_Cable_Clamp_161_0715.html?tl=g12c34s95
http://www.frozencpu.com/products/8...e_Cradle_Mount_-_1_-_Black.html?tl=g12c34s487

Thanks alot elari20. Should be ordering those soon and hopefully get my horrid cable management under control

 

[stainlineho]

Sorry to follow you around the forums OP, but I really need an answer on this, as I am contemplating doing a setup similar to yours with a smaller radiator. What is the correct flow path for a loop?

I know you said the correct way is Rad -> Res -> Pump -> CPU

but

according to the beginner watercooling thread the loop should be

Rad-->CPU-->Res-->Pump.

Which way is right??

 

[m0r7if3r]

Sorry to follow you around the forums OP, but I really need an answer on this, as I am contemplating doing a setup similar to yours with a smaller radiator. What is the correct flow path for a loop?

I know you said the correct way is Rad -> Res -> Pump -> CPU

but

according to the beginner watercooling thread the loop should be

Rad-->CPU-->Res-->Pump.

Which way is right??

I'm relatively certain that the beginner watercooling thread stresses that loop order doesn't matter outside of the res being before the pump...I might have to go read that again though. Here's some data for you http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=225485

 

[Conumdrum]

Sorry to follow you around the forums OP, but I really need an answer on this, as I am contemplating doing a setup similar to yours with a smaller radiator. What is the correct flow path for a loop?

I know you said the correct way is Rad -> Res -> Pump -> CPU

but

according to the beginner watercooling thread the loop should be

Rad-->CPU-->Res-->Pump.

Which way is right??

Since it's a loop, there is no difference that matters in either statement.

Rad -> Res -> Pump -> CPU or
Rad-->CPU-->Res-->Pump

All you need to understand is the res is always before the pump so you don't dry-run the pump.

There is a whopping up to 18 watts of heat from the pump, but that doen't matter at all in the big picture. So trying to remove some of the pump heat before the CPU means nothing due to the properties of the loop. A system under full load has less that 2C difference in water temp, ANYwhere in the loop.

 

[elari20]

All you need to understand is the res is always before the pump so you don't dry-run the pump.

It would be a total nightmare to fill the loop if pump wasn't after res. Especially if you have a monster case like Elysium. Seriously, I needed 3 people to fill my loop - one guy filling and cleaning fluid drops, 2 guys tilting and shaking the case. And a 4th guy to videotape it all

 

[bluezero5]

fair to say.

you are the tidiest person I have ever met.