PROJECT LOG The Powerful Pretty Pink Processor (aka, "The PPPP")

(G{in}[AK)TION] said:

subbed. love what your doing here.

TL;DR

is it breast cancer awareness month? i never knew the official month...or months of it really.

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Thanks for kind words!

And...I try to stay aware of breasts 24/7/365.

cpachris said:

And...I try to stay aware of breasts 24/7/365.

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Just don't stare, that gets you slapped.

Excited to announce the newest sponsor for The PPPP.......





Many computer forum members know Mike of Lutro0 Customs as one of the foremost sleeving evangelists. It was actually his videos I watched when doing my first sleeve job.....and I know I'm not alone in that regard. Lutro0 Customs is sponsoring all of the wire, sleeve, terminals, connectors and heatshrink for The PPPP. I'll even try out some of his sleeving tools that he sells from his website and let you know what I think. I used MDPC-X in my last build, so I'm anxious to compare Mike's new Telios line of sleeving with my prior MDPC-X experience. If you haven't checked out his website lately.....you should. He has really done a great job at gathering together all of the things you would need to do your own custom cables....into a one-stop shop.

I guess I have to redo the sponsor plaque.....right? Introducing......

cpachris said:

http://i1175.photobucket.com/albums/r622/cpachris/Miscellaneous/faceslap.gif

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There is no satisfaction in her eyes...

Pierre3400 said:

There is no satisfaction in her eyes...

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But still fun to watch.....lol.

Ok. Great build, and you know its a great build...


but what really gets me is your photography skills. Very impressive!

Let's pull those beautiful EK pump tops out the box, and the EK cover kits......

As with most EK products...the pump tops (including pump) are packaged in a first rate fashion. Not sure why the cover kits don't have the same treatment yet. Maybe too new? Or since it's such a small dollar item maybe they don't worry as much about packaging.





The pump top has a perfectly sized red box that slides out of the cover. Very similar to the orange boxes for the waterblocks that match the orange sleeve. Love how EK does this.....





The red box opens up to reveal components surrounded in foam protection and inside a plastic bag. As typical, the box is the perfect size for the included items. No more....no less. Very nice again. *cough*payattentionaquacomputer*cough*.





These kits are the pumps and pump tops. I chose these because I really wanted a "clean" version of the acrylic pump top, and the only way they are currently offered was as part of the kit that includes the pumps. My guess is that will change eventually....because these pump tops are beautiful. It comes with all the tools you need for installation.







The pump cover kits have the same great foam protection inside a perfectly shaped box. No waste of space in most EK packaging.





Installation of the pump cover kits is pretty straightforward. First you separate the pump top into two pieces by removing the 8 screws....





Then you replace the standard pump top backing (acrylic in my original pump top kit) with the pump top backing from the pump cover kit (black in my kit). The one from the pump cover kit must be used as the diameter of the hole for the pump cutout is too small to let the pump cover through on the original one.





Screw it back together and ....viola!





The back of the cover kit is purposely missing the EK badge....





One of the aluminum EK badges comes in the kit, and you can put it on whichever direction you want.....





So....if you wanted to rotate the back cover so that the wires come out the left...or the right....or bottom....or whatever you want....you can still make the EK badge line up in the correct direction. Whatever direction you want it read. Nice touch.





Let's take a lap around this beautiful pump top. Similar to the "clean" version of the Supremacy block I showed earlier....you'll notice that the top of the pump top is much clearer than the sides....which have a frosted look. My plan will be to polish this bad boy up so that everything is clear as glass......




Couple of LED holes on this right side of the block.....











I find these pump tops beautiful. Imagine them inside the black part of my case, with a soft glow of LED's illuminating the inside of the block and the engraving....and some gorgeous pink coolant circulating. Mmmmmmm. The only thing better looking than one of these pump tops.....





.....are two of these pump tops.





I find them so attractive that I'm going to find some prime real estate in the case, right by a window, for installation. I'm even going to try and stack them vertically so that there is this enormous surface area of beautiful clear illuminated pump tops....with pretty pink coolant pulsing through. Yes.......my precious........





They receive the official Pink Panther seal of approval. He thinks they're purrrrrrrfect. Whatever that's worth.





If you're already familiar with Bitspower pump tops, these next pictures will help you get a good feeling for how BIG these pump tops are. The EK one is an 80mm square, while the Bitspower one is a 60mm square. That means there is about 75% more surface area on the Bitspower pump top. In the pictures below, I've lined up the left edge of the EK pump top, with the left edge of the Bitspower pump top in the BBBB. You can see how much longer the EK version sticks out on the right side.





If you have the space for it, it's beautiful. But it does take up considerably more space.





When comparing these to the Bitspower pump tops and mod kits.....I would say that the Bitspower mod kit definitely has a lot more "bling" to it, while the EK mod kit has more of an simple, elegant and refined look. They both are great looking...so it really just depends on your preference or the aesthetics you are going for in your build.

The installation is also very different. Bitspower relies on threads on the pump top to screw the mod kit on to it. EK secures the mod kit with a series of screws. The Bitspower installation method is quicker and easier....but I think I prefer the EK screws. I feel rock solid about the seal I'm getting with the screws. It seems like sometimes the Bitspower mod kits loosen up a little on me after installation, and need to be tightened again. I also get hesitant about possibly stripping the threads on the Bitspower version if I tighten up toooooo much. Bitspower is definitely available in a much larger variety of finishes though....so it may be easier to match your build colors with a Bitspower top. And as mentioned earlier....the EK pump tops are much larger and take up more space. If you have the space and want to show them off.....cool. If you are short on space....definitely consider whether you have the room.



And since I was in the BBBB taking the pump picture....here is a shot of the inside in the location in my office where she currently resides. She has been humming along perfectly for several months now. I'm starting to give up on getting a GTX790 released...so not sure what the next upgrade here will be. Pretty sure I DON"T want to drop in two Titan Z's at $3,000 a piece.




Why is it you never notice the dust in your system until after you've taken a picture?

it looks so beautiful it literally makes want to cry tears of joy.

what graphics cards are you using?

bob4933 said:

Ok. Great build, and you know its a great build...
but what really gets me is your photography skills. Very impressive!

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Thanks bob4933! I think the photography is why I like doing the builds so much. My kids got old enough where they no longer let me take unlimited pictures (12yo girl and 10yo boy) of them, so I have to find something else to shoot! Computers became that thing.

(G{in}[AK)TION] said:

it looks so beautiful it literally makes want to cry tears of joy.
what graphics cards are you using?

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Don't cry! There will be so much more!

Graphics cards are currently a discussion point with a potential sponsor. Hope to announce soon!

(G{in}[AK)TION] said:

it looks so beautiful it literally makes want to cry tears of joy.

what graphics cards are you using?

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+1

cpachris amazing stuff here man I am always on the Look out for your Posts

cpachris said:

Thanks bob4933! I think the photography is why I like doing the builds so much. My kids got old enough where they no longer let me take unlimited pictures (12yo girl and 10yo boy) of them, so I have to find something else to shoot! Computers became that thing.

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Thats fantastic haha. I've always been a terrible photographer, I've seriously dabbled about taking a couple photography classes at the local community college just to learn technique.

Firas said:

+1
cpachris amazing stuff here man I am always on the Look out for your Posts

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Thanks Firas!

bob4933 said:

Thats fantastic haha. I've always been a terrible photographer, I've seriously dabbled about taking a couple photography classes at the local community college just to learn technique.

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Go for it. My 12yo girl caught the photography bug. She is actually much more creative than I am with shot composition....but hasn't learned a lot of the basic mechanics yet. I've had a lot of requests in some of the other forums I post in to show my photography setup, so look for that in an upcoming post.

Everything looking amazing dude, cant wait to see what graphics system you're going to go with

SubPar said:

Everything looking amazing dude, cant wait to see what graphics system you're going to go with

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Thanks for the kind words. I can't wait to know/announce the graphics system either!

Going to dig into my care package from Lutro0 Customs tonight. Thanks Mike! Pictures later.....

The Lutro0 care package was so full that it was actually difficult to get a shot of everything together. Had to go wide angle lens....





Lutro0 Customs is supporting this build with all of the sleeving, wire, heatshrink, terminals and connectors that will be used. Being extremely grateful for their support, I also decided to pick up a few of Mike's tools from his website to try while doing the sleeving for this build. In the general direction from left to right and top to bottom, the Lutro0 Customs care package contained:

- 16 feet of 1/4 inch heatshrink (his recommended size for heatshrinkless sleeving)
- 12 feet of 1/2 inch heatshrink
- various connectors
- Wire stripper
- Crimper
- Molex Extractor
- Combination drill bit and tap
- Flush cutters
- 250 feet of Custom 16 awg wire
- 175 feet of Custom 22 awg wire
- 10 feet of black SATA sleeve
- Multimeter
- Adjustable heatshrink jig
- various terminals
- 75 feet White Telios Sleeve
- 75 feet Dark Grey Telios Sleeve
- 200 feet Black Telios Sleeve


I'll do some additional pictures of individual items since it's such a large batch of stuff. Very excited about the Telios sleeving. First impression is very positive. Looks smaller diameter than MDPC-X and also looks to be a tighter weave. Very attractive.

FYI....the white sleeve will be for my attempt to dye it pink.

Thanks Lutro0 Customs!!!!!

Here are some comparison shots between Telios and MDPC-X.

For all of these shots, the Telios is on top, and the MDPC-X is on bottom. First the black sleeve.....





It's pretty easy to see that the Telios is a smaller diameter sleeve. In theory, you would think that this would make it grab the wire better and be easier to stretch tight. I'll let you know if that's true once I start sleeving with it.

Closer up....





The shades of black color are almost idenitical. No real difference there at all. But there is no doubt that the Telios is a tighter weave. Take a look in the picture above at how many specs of light you can see through the Telios sleeve vs the MDPC-X sleeve.

Below is a shot of the white sleeve. Again, Telios on the top, MDPC-X on the bottom....





The shades of white are very different bewteen the two, with Telios being cooler white vs MDPC-X being a warmer white. Easy to see the size difference still....





...and when you get closer it's easy to see that the weave is tighter for Telios.

Now...I would never recommend sleeving red wire with white sleeving without taping up the red to cover it first. But....just to see if the Telios covers better than MDPC-X....lets do it. I put a piece of red 18 awg wire in each of the pieces of sleeve. Still not stretched, so this is just about as bad as it could ever get with regards to coverage.




While neither sleeve can hide the red wire without stretching it tight....it is easy to see that the MDPC-X shows more of the red specs of wire beneath the sleeve than the Telios does. So I think it's fair to say that you are going to get better coverage from the Telios.





They almost look pink! Maybe I don't need to dye the sleeve after all......



What is the difference in cost? Well....that takes a little math. Any CPA's in the house? Oh...wait. Ok...I'll give it a shot. Nil's sells MDPC-X by the meter instead of the foot, and you pay by Euros, not $'s. So we need to do a little conversion. And while we are at it, let's go ahead and set up a scenario where you are getting 200 feet of sleeve. That's enough to do a sleeving job for most computers. Not all. But it gives us a start at estimating total cost for a sleeving job between the two (without the heatshrink, terminals, etc....just the sleeve):

Telios -- As of today, the cost is $6.75 for 25 feet of black. You would need 8 packs to get 200 feet. 8 * $6.75 = $54 bucks. Shipping for the 200 feet of sleeve would cost you another $6 bucks, for a total cost of $60.

MDPC-X -- As of today, the cost is six euros for 10 meters of black....or about 33 feet. So you would need 6 packs to get about 200 feet. 6 * six euros = 36 euros. As of today, the conversion rate is 1.38, so it would cost you about $50 bucks. So the sleeve is a little bit cheaper than Telios was. Not much....but every dollar counts, right? However, the shipping on this one will cost you another 9.70 euros, which is about another $13. Total cost of $63.

So the cost is pretty similar between the two, and the $3 difference is not even something to consider when you are working on your $5k gaming rig, right? For quite awhile, Nils would only open up the MDPC-X international shop for a few hours at a time, and only a couple of times a week. So....ordering it was a process involving finding out when the next opening would be, setting your alarm for whatever ungodly hour it might have been in Germany, and then quickly filling your order online before the store site went down again. Although this difficult ordering process did create a certain mystique about the product, I always found it to be quite annoying. Not sure if it's been changed permanently or not....but for awhile now the MDPC-X online store has been open every time I've visited. So maybe that policy has changed. It will take you a little bit longer to have MDPC-X shipped to you though. If you are getting Telios through FrozenCPU, ...you know how fast they ship and you have options on the shipping method.

Hope that helps if you are trying to decide between the two. I'll pass on more thoughts as I start using it, but Telios appears to be a very attractive option for sleeving.

Very nice comparison between the two, can't wait to see the sleeve work on this rig.

synthetic_fenix said:

Very nice comparison between the two, can't wait to see the sleeve work on this rig.

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Thanks. Had a request in another forum to show pictures of both of them being stretched....which I'll do shortly.