The original article can also be found at Project: Black & White Vector Desk PC

Hi everyone,

It's been quite a while since my last build in 2013 which was based around the LittleDevil PC-V8 casing, Intel LGA1155 socket and Z68 chipset:






Now, I would like to share my new build with you guys. It’s a black and white themed single-loop watercooled system in a Vector Desk. Inspired by ASUS GOLIATH desk build, it will be based on Intel’s new X99 chipset, LGA 2011-v3 socket and Haswell-E CPUs.

First and foremost, I would like to take this opportunity to thank all my sponsors for making this project possible.

Sponsors:















Hardware:

Processor: Intel Core i7-5960X Intel Core i7-5820K
Motherboard: ASUS Rampage V Extreme
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws4 DDR4 2666MHz C15 4x4GB
Graphics Card: ASUS ROG Matrix R9 290X Platinum
Storage: 2x Plextor M6 S 128GB + Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB
ODD: LiteON DVD-RW
Power Supply Unit: Corsair AX1200i Seasonic Snow Silent 1050W
Casing: Vector Desk
Monitor: Dell Ultrasharp U3011 30” 2560×1600
Operating System: Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit
Keyboard: CM Storm Quick Fire TK Mechanical Keyboard
Mouse: CM Storm RECON Gaming Mouse
LED Strip: AVF Multi Colours 30cm LED Strips x4 UT White LED Strip 1-m from Unequal Technologies
Fans: Cooler Master JetFlo 120 Case Fans x12
Cable Management: UT PSU Cable Extenders & Combs from Unequal Technologies
Thermal Interface Material: Cooler Master Extreme Fusion X1
Speaker: Logitech Z5500 5.1 Surround Sound Speaker

The original article can also be found at Project: White Vector Desk PC


Sponsored items from Cooler Master Malaysia.

WaterCooling Parts:

Bitspower AIX99R5E Nickel Plated Full-Covered-Block (Clear) x1
Bitspower CPU Block Summit EF (Intel) (Acrylic Top Version) x1
Bitspower VG-AR9290XAMX Acrylic Top With Stainless Panel (Clear) x1
Bitspower None Chamfer Crystal Link Tube OD 12MM – Length 500MM x7
Universal RAM Module Water Cooling Set For 4 Banks 2-DIMMs x2
Bitspower Deluxe White Enhance Dual Multi-Link For OD 12MM x1
Water Tank Z-Multi 250 (Limited White POM Edition) x3
G1/4″ Deluxe White CaseTop Water- Fill SET x4
Bitspower G1/4″ Deluxe White Enhance Multi-Link For OD 12MM x20
Bitspower Deluxe White Enhance 90- Degree Dual Multi-Link Adapter x10
Bitspower Deluxe White Enhance 45- Degree Dual Multi-Link Adapter x4
Bitspower Deluxe White Enhance Rotary G1/4″ 90-Degree Multi-Link Adapter x14
G1/4″ Deluxe White Low-Profile Stop Fitting x10
Bitspower Deluxe White Enhance Dual Multi-Link For OD 12MM x2
Deluxe White Q Plus-Block x2
G1/4″ Deluxe White Rotary 90-Degree IG1/4″ Extender x8
G1/4″ Deluxe White Rotary 45-Degree IG1/4″ Extender x8
G1/4″ Deluxe White Dual Rotary 90- Degree IG1/4″ Extender x4
Deluxe White Mini Valve With Black Handle x1
G1/4″ Deluxe White Temperature Sensor Stop Fitting x1
G1/4″ Deluxe White IG1/4″ Extender-15MM x8
G1/4″ Deluxe White IG1/4″ Extender-20MM x2
G1/4″ Deluxe White IG1/4″ Extender-30MM x2
G1/4″ Deluxe White IG1/4″ Extender-40MM x2
G1/4″ Deluxe White IG1/4″ Extender-50MM x2
Dual D5 MOD TOP (POM Version) x1
D5/MCP655 MOD KIT (White) x2
XSPC AX360 White Radiator x2
Swiftech MCP655 (D5) Pump x2



Sponsored water cooling parts from Bitspower.


Deluxe white water cooling fittings from Bitspower.


Water cooling parts & tools from other vendors.

Currently I’ve got all the hardware and watercooling parts already while waiting for some other things such as extension cables, LED strip lighting, coolant and so on. By this weekend i’ll be disassembling some of the components from my previous casings. Please stay tuned for more updates.

Unboxing:
Here is picture gallery of some hardware components and water cooling parts being used in this project:


Intel Core i7-5960X eight-core Intel Core i7-5820K six-core desktop processor featuring Haswell-E architecture.


ASUS Rampage V Extreme motherboard, which features Intel LGA 2011-v3 socket and X99 chipset.


G.Skill Ripjaws 4 DDR4 2666MHz CL15-15-15 4 x 4GB memory kit, which is designed to take full advantage of X99’s quad-channel capability.


ASUS ROG Matrix R9 290X Platinum graphic card.

A pair of Plextor M6S 128GB Solid State Drives, featuring Marvel controller and comes in an attractive silver chassis.


Seasonic Snow Silent 1050W power supply unit.

Cooler Master JetFlo 120 cooling fans. There are twelve pieces in total in this build.


CM Storm Quick Fire TK Mechanical Keyboard & CM Storm RECON Gaming Mouse.


EK-HD Tube D.I.Y. Kit, for acrylic tube cutting.


UT PSU Cable Extenders and Combs from Unequal Technologies.


Bitspower AIX99R5E Nickel Plated Full-Covered-Block (Clear) all-in-one CPU & motherboard block, which include Bitspower CPU Block Summit EF (Intel) (Acrylic Top Version).


Bitspower Dual D5 MOD TOP (POM Version) pump top.


A pair of Swiftech MCP655 aka D5 pumps from my existing water cooling system. The pump's cables are sleeved with MDPC-X sleeving kit to give a neater look than the original cables.


A pair of Bitspower D5/MCP655 MOD KIT (White) for D5 pumps.


Bitspower VG-AR9290XAMX Acrylic Top With Stainless Panel (Clear) GPU block and Deluxe White GPU Backplate V2.

A pair of XSPC AX360 (White) radiators, which is able to hold up to six 120mm cooling fans in push and push configurations.


Three pieces of Water Tank Z-Multi 250 (Limited White POM Edition) reservoirs.

Installation of Vector Desk


The Vector Desk ships in a huge carton which is shrink-wrapped. Unboxing the package reveals the Vector modular which are also shrink-wrapped individually to protect the parts from damage during transportation.


The modular components of the Vector Desk. It is designed and moulded with high precision. Each component was designed with ease of assembly in mind.


Inside the big carton we found a small carton containing a huge package of accessories such as the drive bay brackets, double-sided adhesive tape, USB port extension cable, Power & Reset buttons, bolts, washers, spacers, screws and other goodies.


Installation appeared to go smoothly thanks to the included installation manual.


I started assembling the Vector Desk by attaching its legs into one piece. The build quality is very nice and made out of strong and sturdy metal bars and plates. Here you can see the ergonomic design of the desk to ensure comfortable seating.


I then assembled the top compartment of the Vector Desk. This chassis is made by extremely light aluminium which can be lifted without a sweat. On the installation aspect, seriously it was pretty straight forward. All you need is just follow the instructions illustrated in the installation manual and you are good to go.


Four 5.25″ drive bays are available to accommodate your storage and optical drives.


The motherboard panel which supports form factor from mini-ITX all the way to XL-ATX. What a wide range of compatibility. Also spotted, a total of eight expansion slots to hold your PCIe cards!

The rear compartment which is able to hold a pair of 360 (3x 120mm) radiators. But of course to route the tubing from the main chassis to this area you have to get your hands dirty with some mod jobs in the form of hole sawing.


You can see there are two blue-illuminated switches for Power & Reset buttons as well as a pair of USB 3.0 ports and HD Audio and Microphone port.


Next up, I attached the main compartment onto the leg by using four sets of bolts and washers. Both left and right sides of the desk can hold a 240 (2x 120mm) radiator at each side. 3x 120mm is not possible because one of the fan holes is partially covered by the middle metal plate, unfortunately. Therefore we would like to witness triple fan radiator compatibility on this area in their next revision.


Finally, the 8mm-thick tempered glass was installed on top of the desk. Vector provide a set of rubberized adhesive tape to provide cushioning between the tampered glass and the main chassis. But of course I will put that up when I’m done with the hardware component assembly inside the main body.


Specifications of the Vector Desk.

Update 18/1/2015: It’s been a while since my last update . I was away frequently to settle my dad’s post-funeral ceremonies, overseas family trip, and house cleaning after a huge flood in my hometown. After few weeks of absence, I’m now back to continue my desk build.


For bling-bling effect I decided to add the AVF Multi Colour LED Strip to each side of the desk’s leg. In case if you’re interested, this AVF LED Strip is available in the local market for RM 25 each.


So here’s the end result of the LED strips. The AVF Multi Colour LED Strips allows users to customize the colour of LED up to 15 different colours of choices.

Next up, I’ve spent the whole night to install the water cooling parts onto the hardware components.


G.Skill Ripjaws 4 DDR4 2666MHz C15 memory kit was installed with the Bitspower Universal RAM Module Water Cooling Set For 4 Banks 2-DIMMs. The heatspreaders fit nicely onto the DDR4 modules.


ASUS Rampage V Extreme motherboard with Bitspower AIX99R5E Nickel Plated Full-Covered-Block (Clear). The memory kit was placed into the DIMM slots with Bitspower RAM blocks spanning on top of the memory modules.


ASUS ROG Matrix R9 290X Platinum graphics card with itspower VG-AR9290XAMX Acrylic Top With Stainless Panel (Clear) GPU block.

Turning over to the other side of the graphics card, we have the Bitspower Pure White aluminium backplate V2.


A pair of D5 pumps fitted with Bitspower Dual D5 MOD TOP (POM Version) and of D5/MCP655 MOD KIT (White).


The Bitspower D5/MCP655 MOD KIT (White) works as an attractive outfit for the D5 pumps.


It’s all done! Well at least for the water block installations. There are still many water cooling setup jobs to be done in the next few days which include acrylic tube cutting and of course, some hole drilling work on the desk’s middle plate.


Each of the XSPC AX360 radiator is installed with three pieces of Cooler Master JetFlo 120 fans.


The UT PSU 8-pin EPS cable extender that I received came with an non-separated connector therefore I decided to modify it to a separated 4+4-pin connector taken from my existing Corsair PSU. The job was done with the Sunbeamtech PSU modding tool kit. It took me merely around 5 minutes. Very easy indeed!


Meanwhile, some of the essential hardware components and water cooling parts were installed inside the desk’s top compartment. From here I should be able to measure length of the acrylic tubes and placement of the circular holes that are to be cut off later.


The motherboard tray containing the liquid-cooled motherboard, graphics card and memory kit.


Three units of reservoirs, a pair of white triple-fan radiators and dual pumps, all comes in white outfit.


Another angle of the Vector Desk filled with part of the hardware and water cooling components.

Update 21/1/2015:


After confirming the length of the acrylic tubing that is needed for the loop I’ve proceeded for tube cutting. The acrylic tube is the Bitspower None Chamfer Crystal Link Tube OD 12MM which came pre-cut in 50 cm per pack. This acrylic tube cutting job is done with the help of the specially-designed hacksaw from the EK HD-Tube D.Y.I. kit.


Here’s the end result of the acrylic tube cutting. Both ends of the acrylic tube were then sanded with sand papers to ensure that the edges are smooth enough to be inserted into the Multi-Link adapters while preventing the O-ring from any damage.


The first acrylic tube was assembled, joining the two Bitspower DIMM blocks with a pair of Bitspower Deluxe White Enhance Rotary G1/4″ 90-Degree Multi-Link Adapters.


After that more acrylic tubes were cut into a suitable length and various types of Multi-Link adapters and fittings were used to make bridges between the DIMM blocks, CPU+motherboard combo block, GPU block and the Vector’s middle plate.


At the rear compartment of the Vector Desk, the twin XSPC AX360 White radiators were connected to each other by an accurately cut acrylic tube with a pair of Multi-Link Adapters. The bottom G1/4 thread of each of the radiators was connected with several 45-degree adapters and to be connected to a compression fittings later.


Meanwhile on the other side of the desk, the three Bitspower reservoirs were connected to each other and the most-right one was connected to the dual D5 pumps.


Next, the pumps are connected to the GPU block with multiple lengths of acrylic tubes in “Z” shape. I’d say that this ‘Z” shape might not be the final design because I might link the pumps and GPU block to the middle plate of the Vector Desk and route them to another acrylic tube at the rear compartment of the desk. This is to minimize the exposure of visible long acrylic tube at this area.


Another angle shot of the water cooling loop around the motherboard tray area.


Overall the water cooling loop will look like this, before I proceed to the next step, which is metal (case) drilling.

Update 26/1/15:

Today I have free time to drill out holes for the Bitspower Deluxe White CaseTop Water- Fill SET fittings. There are two holes to be made in total and it’s my first time doing this hole sawing job so I think it will be fun.


The High-speed Steel (HSS) Hole Saw measuring 20mm in outer diameter (OD), which matches the diameter of the Bitspower Deluxe White CaseTop Water- Fill SET fitting. You can purchase this hole saw locally at RM 20 shipped from ehardwarestore.


Schematic diagram of Bitspower Deluxe White CaseTop Water- Fill SET fitting. You can see that the diameter of thread is M20 (20mm).


The first 20mm hole made by Black & Decker KR554RE Hammer Driller and HSS Hole Saw 20mm.


The second 20mm OD hole is done! It was quick and easy actually, you just need to concentrate and don’t slip from the marking.


Here’s the result of the metal hole drilling job. Perfect! It looks very nice as expected.


The Bitspower Deluxe White CaseTop Water- Fill SET fitting fits nicely into to hole.


Then connected it to the DIMM block. I’m glad that it didn’t slip away from the measurement. Awesome!


The other hole is connected to one of the Bitspower Water Tank Z-Multi 250 (Limited White POM Edition) reservoirs.


Then bridge it over to the rear compartment. Coolant filling and draining system goes here, which is consisted of a Bitspower Deluxe White Q Plus-Block and a Deluxe White Mini Valve With Black Handle.


Not the best shot but here’s the water cooling loop at the rear compartment of the Vector Desk. Initially I was planing to use PVC tubes to connect both radiators to the middle plate but in the end changed my mind, I go for a fully acrylic tubing loop instead. Looks much neater than flexible tubing I guess.

Stay tuned for more update…

Update 24/2/15:



Today I received the Seasonic Snow Silent 1050W Power Supply Unit from Sea Sonic Electronics Co., Ltd, which features 80+ Platinum Certified Super High Efficiency, Seasonic Patented Hybrid Silent Fan Control, and snow white chassis!



To investigate the temperatures of the CPU and motherboard under water cooling with the Bitspower water blocks, I’ve run Prime95 v27.9 in-place Large FFTs stress test for maximum heat output. Prime95 will stress all cores and threads to 100% usage, which will help us to understand how hot this processor can get in worst case scenarios. It should be noted that the ambient temperature during the testing was 30°C, in a non-air conditioned room. The graph above showed that while the Core i7-5960X processor was on stock clock and mounted with the Bitspower water blocks registered an core temperature of 62°C at full load. When this processor was overclocked to 4.4GHz, the Bispower water blocks did well when it was able to keep the core temperature at 86°C, which is still within the specifications of Intel (105°C maximum). Meanwhile, the motherboard’s VRM and PCH temperatures obtained during overclocking were 61°C and 40°C, respectively. As for the water cooled ASUS Matrix R9 R9 290X Platinum graphics card, I decided to test it on Battlefield 4 game. The GPU temperature obtained was 39°C on idle and 55°C on full load.The Core i7-5960X CPU was then replaced with the i7-5820K because the former was a loan unit from ASUS Malaysia.

Update 28/2/15:

The Seasonic Snow Silent 1050W PSU is installed at the rear compartment of the Vector Desk and it fits just nicely between the middle panel and the acrylic tube connecting the radiators.


The overall look of the components at the rear compartment.


Rear compartment viewed from the front.

Update 21/3/15:
It’s been quite a while since my last update. Actually recently I’ve been away from this project and went back to my hometown to settle my family issues and now I’m back to Penang to continue this Vector Desk build.


Finally I’ve received the long-awaited EK-EKoolant Pastel White Concentrate! Thanks to my good friends at APES.my for helping me in obtaining this pastel.


Without wasting time, I mixed a bottle of 250 ml concentrated white pastel with 750 ml of distilled water to produce a total of 1 L of pre-mix white coolant. The picture above demonstrates the Bitspower Full-cover VGA block for ASUS Matrix 290X Platinum graphics card filled with the resulting coolant solution. It looks really stunning! More to come after I finished assembling the whole liquid cooling system.




The Vector Desk is designed to have the left 5.25″ drive bay located quite far off the motherboard tray that you seriously need an extra long SATA data cable to connect the drive mounted on the drive bay to the motherboard’s SATA port.


Due to limited option of long pre-sleeved SATA data cable available in the market, I’ve decided to sleeve a 70 cm SATA data cable with black MDPC-X sleeving kit. Not so perfect but better than exposing too much of the original yellow colour. It was then replaced with the 1-m sleeved SATA data cable from Unequal Technologies.


Early this morning I received a small parcel shipped directly from Taiwan. The package contains some Bitspower Cold Cathode Light Kits, enhanced thermal pads as well as pre-wired 3mm and 5mm white LEDs.


Million thanks to our friends at Bitspower International Co. for the generous sponsorship! I’m pretty sure that the CCFL kit will enhance the lighting inside the Vector Desk.

Stay tuned for more update…

Update 23/3/15:


The Bitspower 5MM and 3MM Pre-wired LEDs are sleeved to black colour to improve its aesthetic looks.


Finally today I’ve made decision to paint the ASUS Rampage V Extreme motherboard from red to white! First of all I insulated everything that I don’t want to spray, leaving the red components exposed to be painted later.


So I started to paint the motherboard to white using Satin White Krylon Fusion for Plastic spray paint. The paint job took around 2 hours to complete. I’ve done three layers of paint in total to ensure that the paint will not fall that easily.


So here’s the result of the paint job. I’d say it’s not 100% perfect of course but sufficient to hide that original red colour.


ood news is the motherboard is tested working perfectly!

Stay tuned for more update…

Update 2/5/15:

Things have been busy these two months with several funeral ceremonies in my hometown. Now I’m back to where I stay to continue my desk build.


I’m not quite satisfied with the AVF Multi-Colour LED Strip that I purchased previously because it tends to glow in bluish white colour rather than pure white. So I’ve decided to ditch the AVF and go for Bitspower’s Cold Cathode Light kit which features white LEDs. The result looks promising, the white colour is true white.


Finally the watercooling system is now filled with white coolant.


Here’s another angle of the desk. You can see the ROG panel and the WD Caviar Black 1TB HDD mounted on the left drive bay, alongside the ASUS Blu-Ray burner and SSD adapter on the right bay.


Sitting on the left tray is the trio Bitspower Water Tank Multi-Z 250 reservoirs and the D5 pumps which are installed with Bitspower’s pump top and white housing. To be honest I’m not quite satisfied with the fact that there are some big air pockets built up inside the reservoirs and looks like it’s not possible to eliminate these things within a few hours. But now the two reservoirs from the left are getting less bubbles already and I’m expecting the reservoir on the far right will be free of air pockets soon. The trick is I’m still able to fill the white coolant while lifting this reservoir up to stand vertically.



On the right tray, we have ASUS Rampage V Extreme motherboard, Matrix R9 290X Platinum graphics card and G.Skill Ripjaws 4 DDR4 2666C15 4X4GB memory kit, fully watercooled by Bitspower watercooling gears in white colour scheme. Also spotted is the black/white UT PSU cable extenders, paired cleverly with cable combs to provide a neat cable management.


Moving backward to the rear compartment, we have the white Seasonic Snow Silent 1050W power supply as well as the acrylic tubing which is filled with white coolant.


A view from the left.


A sight from the right side of the Vector desk.

The last picture before the system is powered up.


This is how it looks like when the system is powered up.


Closeup a little bit.


Viewed from another angle.


Switching off the room’s light will show you the Vector desk in the dark environment.


Closer shot of the desk shot directly from front.


Another angle of the desk in dark environment.


The triple Bitspower Water Tank Multi-Z reservoirs and the twin D5 pumps.


The right tray which contains the motherboard, graphics card and memory kit.


The Matrix R9 290X Platinum graphics card which is fitted with Bitspower’s VGA block and white backplate.

A shot from the left.


And a view from the right.


Not to forget the rear compartment which consists the Seasonic Snow Silent 1050W power suppl, a pair of white XSPC AX360 radiators as well as Cooler Master’s JetFlo 120 case fans.


After confirming everything is working perfectly I’ve decided to assemble the 8-mm thick tampered glass onto the top of the desk with the help of the rubberized adhesive tape.


A closer shot from the front.


A view from another angle.


A closer shot from this angle.


The rest of the important hardware are also assembled, to make it a perfect gaming machine. These include the Dell Ultrasharp U3011 30″ monitor which is running at 2560 X 1600 resolution, Logitech Z5500 5.0 surround sound system, as well as the black & white themed CM Storm QuickFire TK mechanical keyboard and Recon gaming mouse.


Now it’s time to test the Grand Theft Auto V game on this Vector Desk!


A shot from the front.

The black & white themed CM Storm QuickFire TK mechanical keyboard and Recon gaming mouse, alongside Bitspower’s white watercooling gears.


Just another angle of the desk.



After months of delay, finally it’s all done… the Black & White Vector Desk project, featuring watercooled Haswell-E platform is now completed.

Last but not least, gratefulness I wish to once again express my gratitude for everyone who have been helping me during the process of the desk project. Thank you Vahn for sponsoring the Vector desk. I love it so much especially for its brilliant design. Big thank goes to my friends at Bitspower especially Roger who has been very supportive and generous in answering all my inquiries.

Thank you Sanko from Cooler Master Malaysia for the keyboard, mouse, thermal paste and the case fans; ASUS Malaysia for the board and card; G.Skill for the memory kit; Plextor for the solid-state drives; Seasonic for the power supply; Teck Teck from Unequalteck for the cable management and lighting kits. Also, a sincere appreciation to my friends who have been supporting me throughout the project. You guys are awesome!

I am dedicating this project to the dearest figures in my life, my late father, who passed away on the same day I received the Vector Desk on November 6th, 2014.

May your soul rest in peace Ah Pa…

Thank you everyone for reading!