The MAINFrame Project - A MAINFrame Customs, Corsair, EK Water Blocks Collaboration

[MAINFrameDave]

http://i.imgur.com/He1x1Wy.jpg

 

Hello everyone!

 

I'd like to first start off by thanking Corsair, and EK Water Blocks for this awesome opportunity. Corsair was generous enough to offer a set of their premium Dominator Platinum SE 32GB RAM kit in Chrome for this project!

 

The case that I will be using will be the Hex-Gear R80 with a custom powder coated interior showcasing the hardware, and liquid cooling. Further customization will be done including fully sleeving the Corsair AX1200i power supply. This build will be very flashy as the interior will be powder coated a Candy Blue with all Nickel accents against a Blacked out exterior case.

 

Now for the hardware:

 

Case: Hex-Gear R80

Motherboard: ASUS X99-E WS

CPU: Intel 5960X

GPU: (2) EVGA GTX 1080 SC sli

RAM: Corsair Dominator Platinum SE 32GB Chrome

Power Supply: Corsair AX1200i

SSD: Intel 730 series

Sound Card: Creative Sound Blaster Titanium HD

 

http://i.imgur.com/iuZE5HV.jpg

 

 

 

 

For the liquid cooling I will be using all EK Water Blocks which can be found at my store MAINFrame Customs.

 

 

 

 

http://i.imgur.com/u56nUB0.jpg

 

 

 

 

Thank you so much everyone for taking the time to view my project thus far! I'll have more updates soon!

[MAINFrameDave]

Hello everyone!

 

Firstly, thank you Corsair for the hat!

 

http://i.imgur.com/oklkvo8.jpg

 

 

 

Time for the first update. I've received the case (Hex-Gear R80) for the project. I am planning to power coat the whole interior a Candy Blue color however, I thought first that I should assemble the case to get a feel for where the components will sit and if I need to modify anything.

 

 

As you can see there a lot of pieces that make up the Hex-Gear R80.

 

 

http://i.imgur.com/t9YSFcV.jpg

 

http://i.imgur.com/BuUkNfX.jpg

 

http://i.imgur.com/Jr4mazx.jpg

 

 

 

It took me around 2 hours to assemble the case. Most of which was trying to get the top two rails to fit while holding the other piece. If I had some help it would have went faster. Here is the case assembled (disregard the brown protective film. Will take off for final assembly).

 

I went for an all Black stealth look as the interior is going to be the main focus. Note that I had to purchase the top rails and a few extra components to achieve the look.

 

 

http://i.imgur.com/Z6jqXkG.jpg

 

http://i.imgur.com/SJ1Hm34.jpg

 

http://i.imgur.com/TZt7X8U.jpg

 

http://i.imgur.com/DtKCmbW.jpg

 

http://i.imgur.com/mw8qbkj.jpg

 

http://i.imgur.com/3iaKsnA.jpg

 

 

The case itself weighs quite a bit when fully assembled. This is due to the case mostly being made of steel with acrylic accent pieces.

 

Now that I got a feel for where my components will lay I can focus on installing the blocks on the components while I disassemble the case to send to power coast. The case is setup well for liquid cooling, so luckily I wont have to do any absurd modding to the chassis. At most I will have to drill some holes for the Pump/Reservoir.

 

 

 

I am using the EK supremacy EVO x99 for this project, and I want to replace the stock Black bracket with the Nickel version to match the theme of the build.

 

http://i.imgur.com/b53eBnG.jpg

 

 

Here is the block upside down with the C clips removed and the bolts that fasten to the motherboard bracket. You need to remove these 4 screws under the protective film to change out the bracket.

 

http://i.imgur.com/Cqf5Ay6.jpg

 

http://i.imgur.com/Goycoqp.jpg

 

 

Once the screws are removed the block with separate allowing you to change the bracket. Be careful not to switch the blocks position as you want the jet plate to run perpendicular to the fins.

 

http://i.imgur.com/N6zn7ZE.jpg

 

 

Now we can take the Nickel bracket and install it.

 

http://i.imgur.com/lnQChsf.jpg

 

 

Once it is on screw the 4 screws back in. Be sure not to over tighten!

 

http://i.imgur.com/ZJ9T3Wi.jpg

 

Next, install the C clips back into place that hold the bolts on the bracket on.

 

All finished!

 

http://i.imgur.com/aSZUWYZ.jpg

 

http://i.imgur.com/bWSRqwS.jpg

 

 

That concludes this update! Next we will install the GPU, and RAM blocks! Thank you for tuning in.

[MAINFrameDave]

Now for installing the 1080 GPU blocks, Clear EK terminal, and Nickel backplates.

 

http://i.imgur.com/Ax4J5Xo.jpg

 

http://i.imgur.com/pxiMQIC.jpg

 

http://i.imgur.com/1IerOmr.jpg

 

http://i.imgur.com/taoDRb0.jpg

 

http://i.imgur.com/VqDldmp.jpg

 

http://i.imgur.com/j2qH2vC.jpg

 

http://i.imgur.com/tMSTRD5.jpg

 

http://i.imgur.com/Dfa7DDB.jpg

 

Clear FC Terminal installed.

 

 

http://i.imgur.com/cQMcGZb.jpg

 

Blocks installed.

 

http://i.imgur.com/hh5SEAc.jpg

 

Nickel backplates installed and man these look great!

 

http://i.imgur.com/pp9Onm8.jpg

 

http://i.imgur.com/BfWV2s2.jpg

 

http://i.imgur.com/gSbolom.jpg

 

http://i.imgur.com/i15oUsC.jpg

 

http://i.imgur.com/ylbR5ET.jpg

 

http://i.imgur.com/vlvC2DR.jpg

 

That's all for this update. Stay tuned for when I install the RAM blocks!

[hadesfactor]

Just curious if you have installed the RAM blocks. I have the same EK block with Dom Plats and I'm thinking of custom fabbing an alum heatsink that the Monarch's attach to. The EK Spreader for the Monarch's are too short for the dom plats so I would love to see what you've done with them

[kcodyjr]

Nice expensive set of parts! :)

 

Hey, I'm also doing a Corsair + EK build, can I get a hat too?

[gerr02]

This is going to be an incredible Mainframe!