Build log: Standing Ovation

[Allubz]

Hi all!


For the past two months, I’ve been working on building a fully high-end custom PC where both cables and water cooling tubes are completely hidden. I’ve always wanted to work with an oversized radiator, and when I came across the Bitspower Summit Revo block combined with Back-Connect motherboards, everything just clicked.

I’ve been a professional system builder for over 10 years, specializing in high-end workstations. Aside from the Copper Pyramid build, I’ve done a few hardline builds as well.
My previous build, the Copper Pyramid, went a little bit under the radar, but you can check it here:

But alright, onwards and upwards with Project: Standing Ovation!


I’m excited to share that Bitspower was enthusiastic about me using their CPU block and ended up sponsoring the GPU block and fittings as well. Big shoutout to Bitspower!


Here are some SketchUp drafts:

I tend to avoid splashing brand names everywhere. Buying a t-shirt with a logo and then giving that brand free advertising feels weird to me. Some brands didn’t respond to my inquiries, and others seem to have a marketing team down with the flu. If you’re curious about specific parts, feel free to ask.


Build Basics:

• 1260mm (9x140) radiator
• ~100mm gap between radiator and wooden front panel
• mATX back-connect motherboard with a 9800X3D and Bitspower Summit Revo CPU block
• AMD 7900XTX with Bitspower GPU block

Both visible components have their tube fittings at the back of the wooden front panel. The gap between the front panel and radiator will be closed off with magnetic attachments and ventilation grills. Still figuring out the base, as all the I/O cables need to be routed cleanly.


Fans, pumps, PSU, cables, tubes, and controllers will all be tucked into this hidden section. The design allows the radiator and front panel to be easily detached, thanks to quick disconnects on the tubes.


I’m still debating whether this unit will sit on a large pedestal or be wall-mounted—both have their appeal.


As for the wooden front panel, I have some ideas (hint: purple and copper ), but that’ll come in a later update.


I’ll aim to post individual updates for each mod to avoid massive walls of text.


Got ideas? Feel free to share them!


Bitspower goodies:

---

Let me know if you have any ideas or comments!

 

[Allubz]

Here’s a small update!

The power supply, an SFX-L 1000W unit, has been fitted with the well-known 15mm brown fan, which connects directly to the motherboard. There's an argument to be made for adapting the pinout to the PSU’s internal connector, but I'm not sure whether it'll work at all due to the big mA difference on the fans (55mA stock vs 11mA replacement). My plan is to configure the fan to spin as fast as possible while staying inaudible, and I trust the PSU will handle it just fine. The PSU has been load-tested and is still working perfectly while staying cool!

This is the monster radiator with six planned fans. That leaves three unused fan slots—one for mounting the power supply and two for the pumps, which will likely be attached to the wooden panel. I’m still considering 3D-printing custom mounts to attach the pumps directly to the radiator instead.

Some fan mounting holes are left open deliberately, because they'll serve for the stand-off between the radiator and wooden front panel I've come up with.

 

[Allubz]

Hi all!

Behind the scenes I'm working on a mock-up version of the actual build, before I would even consider using proper hard wood. For now I'm using a piece of OSB, which is sawn out based on a print I made of the product photo of the backside of the motherboard; and it actually worked out!

To really get those jank vibes, here's the backside:

Now, I've been advised by a few people who actually know wood, that a centimeter thick wood will probably not withstand the heat sources I'm planning, even if it's proper hard wood. So, the current consideration is to use two centimeters thick hard wood, with perhaps some reinforcements on the invisible backside. I won't yet give away which wood I'm planning to use, but it's gun' be funky!

Another consideration is how to mount the radiator to the wooden plate in a durable way, as either side could produce quite a bit of pull when they're not in foot mount. So, I'm hoping to construe a proper but disjoinable connection between both sides, perhaps with a diagonal thin metal plate, and a proper but optional foot to make sure my cats won't just trip it over. I'd like this system to be durable, and have the option to upgrade parts at a later stage.

More to come soon!

 

[Allubz]

The last update was a bit short but this week, and especially today, I managed to put in quite a few hours!


First, I'm working with the AMD reference 7900XTX. The maximum power consumption is around 450W when you crank up the +15% power slider in Adrenaline. Today, I flashed the ASRock Aqua OC BIOS onto this card. It took some effort, but the reward is significant—about 200W of extra overclocking headroom, pushing power consumption to around 650W. For comparison, the reference model has a core clock boost of 2500MHz, while the Aqua OC reaches 2935MHz! Decent cooling is a must, but that won’t be an issue.

The CH341A USB programmer with 1.8V support arrived this week, so I took the smallest crowbar in the shed, and cranked this bad boy open. Using AsProgrammer, you can read a BIOS chip and compare it with a downloaded AMD 7900XTX reference BIOS. If everything checks out, you know the clip is properly attached, and you’re good to write. In this case, an ASRock Aqua (non-OC) BIOS had to be flashed first.


NSFW, naked GPU alert!

After that, you can use an .exe tool within Windows to upgrade from the Aqua to the Aqua OC BIOS.

A quick GPU-Z test to make sure the card still works (phew), and then the waterblock can be installed. I took out the RGB-strip from the CPU and GPU block, because in the end the build will have splashing colours, but not because of some standard (and in my opinion boring) RGB LEDs. Also, the cables are in the way.

Since this card is meant to go brrrr, I’m not using the standard thermal pads (blue strips) that come with the water block, but UTP-8, which has better thermal conductivity. Additionally, the core is getting non-conductive PTM7950, which is the best option right after liquid metal. Liquid metal is tricky to apply, can eat into other metals, and has a risk of dripping out if you put too much. This thermal pad needs a few heat cycles (above 60°C, if I recall correctly), so I ran a few dry FurMark tests to break it in. Toasty!

And, without you even realizing it, I also worked on some spacers and continued with the OSB board. I probably should've used plywood from the start, but we're still in the mock-up phase and far from the final design! After reviewing the sketch again, I think I can shave off about 1cm thickness!

Below is the current setup but, in the final setup, the top plate will be flipped 180 degrees so that both the GPU fittings and radiator fittings are at the top. I'm considering flipping the whole thing upside down, with the PSU and pumps are at the bottom for better weight distribution.


Ideally, I’d like to have GPU backplate facing front, and using the typical acrylic front to mount the card onto the wooden board while keeping the backplate ventilated. It's also just better for aesthetics. The downside is that I haven’t found a PCIe extender that fits properly. I did manage to get my hands on the following cable, but it’s not an ideal fit. If anyone has suggestions or happens to be working on wireless PCI-E magic, let me know!

This is starting to resemble the sketch, right?

Above you also can see the CPU block installed. It doesn't look like much, but I plan to do some work on it in the future, as well as on the rest of the motherboard heatsinks.


That's it's for today!

 

[Solaris17]

Cool! Do you have the BIOS and exe you used to flash?

Excited to see how this turns out. The pyramid build was pretty awesome.

 

[Allubz]

Yes, certainly!

Aqua non-OC (ROM): https://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios/254139/asrock-rx7900xtx-24576-221129
Aqua OC (.exe)https://download.asrock.com/BIOS/VGA/Radeon RX 7900 XTX AQUA 24GB OC(Extreme)WIN.zip

 

[Allubz]

Hi everyone, just a small update this time!


Some fittings are still on the way that will allow for a few very tight bends. This is necessary because I came up with a new layout that's a bit less top-heavy and should be more stable when the system is placed in a pedestal. For the wall-mount option it wouldn't make much difference, but in this case it seems like a safer bet.

The new layout, with a 20mm thick front plate:

The GPU fittings stick out above the front plate, which nicely aligns with the fittings that already come out of the radiator.

Here you can see the power supply placed at the top, and that many more angled fittings are needed than originally planned. Both the CPU and GPU blocks have a specific flow direction to consider. Luckily, the CPU block is reversible, while I want the GPU to face forward with the backplate, which brings more complications than just the flow direction (more on that later).

The GPU block uses what's called an impingement design (directional design). It basically means water is pushed through a single channel right into the middle of the fins on the core, and then spread out through the fins. Fun fact: having the In/Out reversed can easily result in a 2-5 degree temperature penalty, so I'd rather deal with some wild tubing than sacrifice performance, right?

The bottom part, which will also be neatly enclosed, with an opening toward the I/O panel. You can see the two pumps here. The whole loop design could’ve been much simpler with just one pump, but as everyone knows: more pump, more better! — Seriously though, two pumps can run at lower speeds together, so they should be quieter, and if one fails, your whole system isn’t instantly wrecked. For a single GPU, CPU, and a decent radiator, one D5 would normally be plenty.

Speaking of that decent radiator — I gave it a flush, since all radiators have some leftover manufacturing residue. I did a flush with heated distilled water and some industrial citric acid (10:1), let it sit for a minute, shook it vigorously for a few minutes, and dumped that junk out — otherwise, the copper inside won’t be happy. Then the same with water and baking soda (50:1). And finally one more rinse with plain distilled water. Fun fact: the radiator holds about half a liter of water. Here's the black sludge that came out, which would otherwise have ended up in the microfins of the GPU or CPU block:

Once the right fittings arrive, I’ll power everything on, using zip ties in places where I don’t want to use (relatively pricey) 3M Velcro just yet.

I got the idea to recess the GPU slightly into the wood — maybe the full depth of the acrylic, but that might cause wood warping, so I’m thinking just 5mm to hide the (industrial Velcro) mounting would be a better idea. I still need to test how flexible the PSU cables are, or if I’ll need 90-degree connectors on the 8-pin plugs. From what I understand, those connectors can also cause coil whine, and even the cable length (shorter or longer) might have an impact. For a silent build, coil whine is the last sound you want to deal with.

In my last post, I mentioned how hard it was to find the right PCI-E 4.0 16x extender — and that’s still true! They basically don’t exist. Or… do they? Yep! I’ll soon have the only one with the exact right proportions, thanks to the maker of the same cable shown in the previous post. I pitched my needs to a bunch of Alibaba vendors — 50% didn’t get it, 40% tried to sell me a different product, and 10% actually understood the problem and request. Luckily, one of them turned out to be the same manufacturer who makes the cables for TT and was willing to make a custom model, hoping it might lead to future sales. My idea is to eventually offer this case concept in a more finished form, and then that cable will be essential.


So, that’s it for today! I still need to come up with:

1. A nice stand/base (anyone got a wild idea?)
2. A fitting finish for the top and side panels (something something magnets)
3. Measuring and partially repainting the motherboard heatsinks (likely blackout style), and remaking the area around the PCI-E slots to hide the PCI-E cable
4. I already have ideas for the RAM — if you looked at the pyramid, you might have an idea where that’s going, but it might also be something totally different Definitely not just some simple RGB!
5. (spoiler alert!) Talking with Sam from Moshpit of Creation (Groningen) about how to make the real wooden front panel — it’ll be an interesting combo of a very specific hardwood and metal inlays.

PS.: Somewhere during the process I realized the system also needs a power button (I tend to shortcut the pins as a habit) — that’ll go at the bottom, out of sight, but still reachable by hand
PPS: The coming weeks I'll be writing a research proposal (PhD), but I'll try to get a new update out every 1-2 weeks, as I can't wait to get this design out!

Bye!

 

[Scattergrunt]

Excited to see the build finished in the future , reminds me of the glass pyramid in Memphis, Tennessee almost, which I've actually been too many times. It's quite the sight!