Cross by Red Harbinger

The first inspection of the desk.
This was so important for us, some times I forgot to take pictures for the buildlog.
Here are the first issues I walked into, we're human too
(All these things have been changed in the new design)


Again this is a real old design of the legs, still had to test some stuff for the acrylic.








A weld at the top of the desk .. oops, the cover wont fit like this..




And a funny one .. the holes and grommets for tube or fillports to big.
This should have been changed but slipped through.




Without a grommet the fillports fall through.




I'll find something on that for now.




Also a funny one, after assembling the supports they aren't horizontal.




PSU mount fits almost every PSU ... except this one .




HDD trays really look good, personally won't use them in this build.




When I removed them.. oops .. no covers.




Also raised all fan/rad holes, more space for cable management.




And me as the only European in the team.
Off course the other side of PSU plug fits, but for in case people want to have their power socket inside.
Sometimes pretty exhausting... "what if they"...




Personally going to use these instead of the PSU mount. Less noise and easy to move.
We will supply these too.




Inspecting the desk, best is to just start building a pc inside.
So lets start with the fans and rads.
For this setup I needed over 160 bolts and nuts




Back rads.










Side rads.






Lighting not overdone, I like the Cooler Master fans.




Another way to feed your PC.




Lets take care of some working light








And installing some grommets.






Here I was still planning to do a single pc build, still had all the space for 2 fan controllers.






Pump controller from previous project for the looks




Rads seem to be brown with flasher on.




Had a spare fanguards, might be nice to keep it there.




This is something I'm REALLY happy with in the design.
In my previous desk it took me dozens of hours cause I didn't have this.






The first cables.




The bridge also has mounting options for 12x2.5" HDD/SSD.
Personally I'm not going to hide them.




And the rubbertape for under the glass panel that will be used to protect from scratching, breaking and noise.

Mounting blocks ... love it!




First the mainboard.






And the cards on it for a picture..






Added some extensions.






Glad I took time to test the hardware in front






Ordered an EK-Bridge for the GPU's




Never used them before.




I like it.








Cut out the grommets.



And put them backwards in the 'firewall'




Seems the BP fillports stay in place perfectly now.
In the new design the holes and grommets have been changed.




First fittings in place.








The mess.




Might be an idea for a drainpoint in the bottom later.




Another funny thing ..... Glad this will be solved with the rubbertape under the glasspanel.




First cables and extensions.






Flipped all fans from rear radiators. (again 64 bolts...)
Did this so the airflow from the fans work with the PSU flow.




3M Velcro for the RGB controller




Found her spot
Feeds for the fancontroller and pump on their spots




Powersocket for 2 PSU's, screens and speakerset.




Adjusted the cable length.




RGP plug brought to other side of desk too.




Preview with 'PSU-cover'




A solution for the missing HDD-bay covers .. and a nice spot for the ssd's since I'll be using the other side of the desk for another pc now.








Simple ..




But effective

And another update with quite some photos


Unpacked the reservoirs and put them on their spot.






Also some more changes in the prototype .. more grommets for itx and m-atx.






Starts to look like something.




Also cut the heatfins again.






I personally like it.






Also an idea for the speakers.
I know speakers should be positioned in front but tested it and I don't notice it






Coincidence the finish of the sub is exactly the same as the desk powdercoating.




First some extra holes for the fan/pump controller.
Next prototype will have some mainboard grommets there.






Glad those trays are aluminum




Building in the speakers.








There won't be any cable visible from the speakerset when I hide the sub + all cables in the legs.




Measuring.






Adjusting the speakers for long M4's






And finishing it.




Too bad the cone is blue, anyone any idea if cones are paintable?




A solution so the fancontroller and RGB controller are ALWAYS on, no matter if there's one or two pc's running






Works perfectly






Extra power/reset buttons.
Next proto there will probably be a bracket here.








Also finished the holes for pump/fan cables.








For this build I will seal the unused 5.25" slots. Next proto this will be different.




The glue will be transparent when dried.








Cut away some in the grommets, looks better.




And some further again.




Still in love with the bottom mainboard covers




Time to move on with all sata cables.




Also found out I didn't have sata extension cables yet for the right system.




So ordered them too.




For the SSD rack I will use cheap Velcro, I would damage the SSD's with 3M velcro when removing them




Works perfect.






Because we didn't have PCI-covers yet I ordered these.




Because I chose real thick radiators because I thought I was going to do a single pc build I'm having small problems finding a spot for the second PSU.



Sleeving the yellow sata extension cables




Lets first use some black isolation tape.




Even if you only see 3cm .. .yellow .. no way




Also used the rubbers for the second PSU.




Lovely music while modding




Securing the pumps.








Tube ready to go, first fittings find their spot.




Had to remove mem again, quite narrow to get the fittings in properly






And a little further again.




Ok ... and then 11 days ago Asus requested if they could show 'Cross' on the Dutch Firstlook 2012 Event... not as a desk but built in their stand.
Off course, I was so honored! This only happens once a year!
And ... if I could built in the Maximus V Formula....
I did agree off course, been some real busy days the last week.
So at this moment I'm a bit behind on the log, so some photos could show up but will make this up this week!
For who does have pictures .. please hide them for a while



(I did ask them to step away )

Well I guess like any other pc, just undust it every once a while or use dustfilters on your fans

This week 2-3 updates

Because the desk had to be running and presentable I still needed some things quickly.

Because of the 4 reservoirs and 2 systems I needed more tube and stopfittings.
Thanks again for the nice discount Freddy!






And from Mayhems.














And something I had here already a while to flush my other desk, that'll have to wait




Love experimenting.








Gotcha!



Thanks for all the support Michael!


Also needed for the second pc, again Bitfenix extensions.




And something new I got from EK.




My first CSQ design block.




Again thanks a lot Eddy en Gregor!




The package I got 3 days before the event.




Very nice and complete package.




Ready to swap.





I do like it.





Rogier .. TOP!
Tomorrow another update with tubing and filling.

Quite a puzzle with what I wanted with the in and outlets of the multi reservoirs and both loops mirrored.




It became a multireservoir extreme




Measuring the reservoir brackets.




Going to have the tubes to the pump of the left loop in the bottom.




Again happy this part is aluminum.




Done!




And the first tubes.






Also quite a puzzle again with all the small distances.




Pump for the left loop.




Might change this later..




Mainboard done, reservoirs next.




With flasher.




Left loop with flasher.




And just the RGB LEDs




Exiting for me .. first time filling.




And another adrenaline moment for me, first time enabling the pump.






Also need to find another solution for this, now that i'm running 2 pc's I don't need the long sata cable lengths to the raidcard.
Maybe will order other cables later.




Great feeling when you don't have any leaks.






The Mayhems Pastel and red dye additives.
I was warned this could fail with such a big loop






Here I forgot to close one stopfitting after disabling the pump...
Glad is was easy to clean




Adding the Aurora, it was a bit scary at the start.






But got the result I wanted one minute later.










Another exiting moment....




But it boots with the desired temperatures





And a video of the loop, filling and mixing.





Got the Maximus V Formula in.




Only one day to go, so started right away on the second loop.
Meanwhile testing and installing the left system.




Raw fingers of all that tube




Again exiting..




This time premixed before filling.




Mayhems Aurora, cool stuff




But also creepy.




Both loops running.




Because there's a team of helpers ready to get the desk one floor down.. quickly close the panels without any management.




Ready to go!




Later today the migration.

20 hours before I bring the desk to the event

Small reminder all photos are linked to bigger format photos


You can see on the face expression who's stressed
At the right the remains of the little 'incident'.




A filled pc with a length of 1.50m and 80kg that has to go downstairs almost vertically.










My wife taking pics and most of all ... paying attention I don't scratch the wall






The fun they had.....






Being relieved.




Temporary on a wooden box so I can do the last adjustments, cable management and installing OS+drivers+software etc.




The rubbertape I used for sound attenuation and protecting the glass panel.




Also filed the weld so the cover fits.




With glass panel.






This was a weird moment for me .....




"Desk ... I am your father"

Firstlook 2012!

It took me 2 weeks to prepare everything for just a 2 day event including taking 3 days off from work ....
Well in my opinion it was completely worth it!


Ready to go! The Friday night before the event.




Inspecting the booth.. oops .. I didn't expect the front side wouldn't be able to show.
Too bad .. too late to change, this way they can't touch any of the buttons.




The first "wtf's" from the ASUS crew




Last minute adjustments so the glass panel will be flush.




Really cool experience, the constructing of an event, 1 big pile of ants




Checking if everything still works.




All just fine




Also finding a spot for something from a previous project. On top was no option cause of bending the glass shelf




This is how I had to leave it behind.




Believe me, this was pretty scary..




Till tomorrow morning!




Quickly getting everything running 15 minutes before the doors open up.




The relaxed overclockers 'Old Scarface' en 'Leeghoofd' also at the booth.




Here some shots of the event itself, made by my brother in law, still nice and empty








Everyone getting instructions






Doors are open and first people get in.
ASUS booth still pretty quiet.




Our little corner






Fun to see from that close.




Honored this could also be at the booth.










And some shots of the built-in desk now that it's still quiet.








First thing they run off to .. Black Ops II stand ... yup .. 100% gamer event






Really enjoyed the OC sessions!






Cards were gone within half an hour :/



For who wants to see more boothbabes .. check here




Ok .. here it was too crowded for me






Highres picture of all the interest for the desk.




Playing with Nitrogen








Here a small video of the desk 5 minutes before closing time.





The result .... I hate fingerprints




Astonished how the got the stand 'hardware-less' within 10 minutes.




And back home.





ASUS Benelux, a huge thanks for this opportunity, it really was a great experience!

For now a small break, need to save up some money and and saw in some stuff in the desk

Thanks!
I will probably remain Jumbo's sponsor the rest of my life and not vice versa