Aurora R8, Experience of Buying

Since I am mid-modification and doing a lot of measurements, things are a bit messy right now. I will post these photos so you guys can really feel good about your cable management  Let me know what you think about parking the PSU out back, and if you have any other ideas. (click photo to embiggen)

Awesome! I like how you "hung" that huge ATX cable . Just don't snag one of the PCIe or CPU power cables when playing some FPS games if you're right handed! Are those fans still needed? Maybe good to keep them there for now so that they blow any dust away from the exposed components. If you need more space for the loop routing, you could get rid of some of the front fans.

Will you be using plexiglass or sheet metal to fabricate a rear panel for the portion that's taken away with the swing arm?

My current plan is to go from the radiator into the bottom of the CPU water block; out the top of the CPU water block into the top fitting in the graphics card water block; out the other top fitting in the graphics card water block into the bottom of the RAM water block; out the top of the RAM water block and back to the radiator.

Sounds like your RAM will be last in the loop and depending on your workload, coolant, pump speed, you may want to see if the RAM waterblock still takes away heat from the RAM or will end up dumping heat from the CPU + GPU on the RAM. Thermal equilibrium works both ways my friend. 

Will you be using plexiglass or sheet metal to fabricate a rear panel for the portion that's taken away with the swing arm?

Current plan is plexiglass (acrylic) side cover with a hinged piece to close up the back above the PSU.

Sounds like your RAM will be last in the loop and depending on your workload, coolant, pump speed, you may want to see if the RAM waterblock still takes away heat from the RAM or will end up dumping heat from the CPU + GPU on the RAM. Thermal equilibrium works both ways my friend. 

Understood. If I see an issue, I can take the RAM block out of the loop and it will still have the passive cooling. I am counting on that 360 mm radiator with six 120 mm fans and dual ceramic pumps to do the job. I don't game, so I think I will be good. Perhaps add a temp sensor @ the RAM block?

Didn't want to stray away in the other thread.

These are the stats for the AeroCool DS 120 fans I chose (still in the box )

Probably still going through all the stuff from your latest shipment and making all those mods huh. I've gone totally cabling insane looking at MDPC-X, calculating how much sleeving, connectors, etc needed. Now I know that SSR-850FX isn't the easiest PSU to make custom cables for due to double wires and that ripple cap we have in the 24-pin cable. I'm going to do a cable end-to-end pinout match tonight using a multimeter but if I get stumped, I'm not going to buy a $40 PSU tester and will probably resort to ordering from solosleeving/ cablemod/ mod-one.

It's actually solosleeving quality assurance that nudged me down the road of custom cabling complexity as they mentioned the sense wire (you need this as your board-end voltage is going to need some regulation due to distance) and no cold-joints in their soldering (for double wires).

Didn't want to stray away in the other thread.

This, in fact, is my favorite thread 

I have my 24-pin mobo power, 4-pin CPU power, and 8-pin PCIe power cables built and in my cart at SoloSleeving. From emails back and forth, when they begin taking orders again, they will have available PSU to SATA and PSU to 4-pin molex cables. I certainly want to order a complete matching set. Currently sitting with Paracord, for reasons previously discussed. I have everything I need to do my new water loop, but I was hoping to do everything at the same time. However, I don't think I can wait on these cable clowns.

In my big box from Germany in addition to all the fittings, the RAM water block, and the PCIe passive cooler for the M.2 SSD, I also got the back plate for my graphics card (for looks and protection) and three tubes of AlphaCool "Ice Frost Xtreme" liquid metal TIM, so everything comes out of the case and is re-done.

This, in fact, is my favorite thread 

Thank you! This may well be the void-your-warranty thread too. 

I have my 24-pin mobo power, 4-pin CPU power, and 8-pin PCIe power cables built and in my cart at SoloSleeving. From emails back and forth, when they begin taking orders again, they will have available PSU to SATA and PSU to 4-pin molex cables. I certainly want to order a complete matching set.

What is your plan with the PSU to SATA and PSU to 4-pin molex? Currently you are running your storage through M2 so the SATA seems redundant. Are they for fans/ something in your cooling loop?

Currently sitting with Paracord, for reasons previously discussed. I have everything I need to do my new water loop, but I was hoping to do everything at the same time. However, I don't think I can wait on these cable clowns.

It depends on your plan whether you want to just route them along edges or you have a plan to "train" those cables like the cabling modders do. If it is a simpler route, you may want to do the cables separately due to the risk of oily/ greasy/ dirty fingers or coolant staining the paracord. Just a suggestion.

In my big box from Germany in addition to all the fittings, the RAM water block, and the PCIe passive cooler for the M.2 SSD, I also got the back plate for my graphics card (for looks and protection) and three tubes of AlphaCool "Ice Frost Xtreme" liquid metal TIM, so everything comes out of the case and is re-done.

Nice call on the back plate. The solder points are definitely going to snag on the paracord. Are you going to do something about the unfinished sheet metal of the case? Some coloring to make the cable and loop colors pop?

I got my XPS 8930 in December, 2018 . . . and I am so not concerned about the warranty.

For my rig there is an SATA to 6-pin slimline adapter that powers the optical device. The pumps in the Eiswand tower are powered by 4-pin molex.

Currently looking at various cable clamps for routing. This will be the "learn as you go" part. I am not expecting the result to look like the professional modders.

Working on some rubber or felt strips to cover the raw case metal. Also some small magnets to hold the acrylic side panel on. I will still be running the blue water through clear tubing, and the three AeroCool fans have blue LEDs. We will see where we go from there.

The Paracord is somewhat less expensive, so I will do my initial runs with that product. If I don't like it, I can change to something else, and I will have a much better gauge on cable length and routing.

My meter testing of the 24-pin to 18+10-pin cable for our Seasonic Focus Gold Plus 850W is still inconclusive. Please refer to image:

https://imgur.com/oZGh0Bn

I'm pretty certain there is a reason why the "7/10" pins are connected the way they are. My electronics and circuit theory is pretty much in the dumps, and it's late, can't reason well anymore. If someone knows the answer to why the 12V and COM are bridge together through some strange diode/ capacitance and could remind me how this won't be a disaster, please do share. Thanks!

I suppose this should explain the 7/10 pins mystery.

https://imgur.com/wqz8F8r

I used a multimeter in continuity mode to test the connections on my cable connectors. The reason why the connection from pin 7 at the MB side to the PSU side for "7/10" pins made a quick "continuity detected" beep was because the way the multimeter works. The meter was supplying a test voltage and detecting current flow. On a discharged capacitor, current flows to build up the voltage on the capacitor hence the meter thought there's a connection from end-to-end of the cable. Actually there's only a connection to the capacitor and it's shown in the diagram above.

The common (ground) is used as a group tap for the inline capacitor. The other end is connected to the 12V line. When the system is powered on, the 2x 12V pins charge the capacitor to a full 12V. In steady state, the capacitor becomes a battery essentially to prevent ripples along that 12V line going to pin 10 of the ATX connector on the board side.

There is no short circuit because DC current will not flow through the capacitor. A transient supply line or harmonics could leak some AC through the capacitor but I think that's well considered by the engineers at Seasonic.

Now when it comes to custom cabling, I wonder if I should keep this ripple cap. If yes, I'll need to determine the Farads and material.

Whoa, I saw case swaps being mentioned.   R8 CPU temps issues hitting a wall?  

I figured at some point the thermal limits of this case would be tested even with the Aurora fan control because of the faster CPU and GPU speeds and limits on GPU rear blower design. There were some issues reported already with the R7 and I7 8700K overclocking and the single AIO radiator.   The upper exhaust position of the radiator is not favorable, and an additional radiator fan might get you 3-4C at most.  The size of the radiator is the primary issue.

Are we already there where CPU cooling with 240mm/280mm AIO radiators is necessary for overclocking and GPU AIO cooling for 1440p and 4k monitors?   If you are having to add additional fans, cutting into the case for cooling mods, then you might.

Also read that the EVGA 240mm CLC AIO CPU cooler works with the Kraken G12 on Nvidia cards (not AMD @GTS81 sorry).  Always thought that the 120mm radiator is sufficient for GPU AIO cooling. 70C temps are acceptable with onboard fan noise not an issue if you don't want to cut away the front grill.  At some point, take the radiator out of the machine and attach the slim fan directly.  Run some 3D Mark tests with the radiator/fan out of the machine and you will see the baseline temps you should be able to achieve by directly coupling them without any sheet metal obstruction.  Tin snips and Dremel reinforced wheel should take 15 min if you like those temps and think it's worth the effort.

I have compiled some information for testing a R7/R8 case swap should the need arise.  It has been done.  Let me know if you need it.  I will put it on this thread.

Actually my case temps and CPU + GPU temps are well below limits. It's just that I'm currently running AIO on both CPU and GPU where neither are top end parts yet. I mean, how much heat can a i5-9400 + RX580 dish out? Through a little trick, I even managed to retain full Afterburner control of the radiator fan post Kraken by connecting the radiator fan to the GPU instead of the MB header. That header gets a "victim" PWM fan that sits on the Kraken as the VRM fan. Confused?

Currently I'm doing non-gaming activity in total silence, and gaming @ 1080p full details 60fps at 62C max and the fan is pretty quiet. By the end of the year, I plan to get a 4K TV and that's when I'll need to bump up the GPU and maybe CPU. If everything stays the same, I'm just concerned that I'll go back into 80C territory or jet takeoff mode, or both.

I've been thinking about this also along the lines of the more ambitious mods like custom cabling and case cutting. For now I'll just stick with what I have, maybe a few months down the road, a whole different DIY rig may not be out of the question.

The Paracord is somewhat less expensive (replying to myself )

Preferences?? (click to embiggen)

EDIT: I was going to let you choose first, but mods are taking too long to approve photos 

Top set is PET; bottom set is Paracord. I just ordered a Paracord set. SoloSleeving is back up and taking orders (probably still some delay). They also just added the SATA and Molex cables to the selection set. I got

1. 24-pin ATX power
2. 4-pin CPU power
3. 8-pin PCIe
4. SATA power
5. Molex power

I'll go check their site once this AWCC fiasco is done.

Funny that you decided to look at them cables today. Without going too much into details, I just placed an order this afternoon with a German website for custom sleeving tools and supplies (because their US counterpart is in business re-org!) and a smaller order with a CA based website for wires as it's too expensive to ship wires across the ocean. 

Funny that you decided to look at them cables today.

I have been checking with them every day, waiting for them to start accepting orders. Price is not unreasonable, with the PET being very slightly above the Paracord. But Paracord has a much better color selection, in my opinion.

 I just placed an order this afternoon with a German website for custom sleeving tools and supplies (because their US counterpart is in business re-org!)

You must be referring to MDPC-X, and their US distributor Mod-One in Cali. Since you will have the tools and the skills, I will order my next set of cables from you 

I have been checking with them every day, waiting for them to start accepting orders. Price is not unreasonable, with the PET being very slightly above the Paracord. But Paracord has a much better color selection, in my opinion.

Just checked out their live cable configuration tool. Paracord hands down. Definitely looks like their forte given so many possible patterns and colors. What I like about their description is their emphasis on safety and quality. Our Seasonic power supply is unfortunately one crazy beast when it comes to the 24-pin wire routing. Having the pros handle things like the sense wires and getting the connections correct is definitely worth it for peace of mind. If you are still in active communication with them, would you mind asking if the sense wires are the same gauge as the regular wires? Seasonic sent me their wiring diagram and I see them use 18 AWG for regular and 22 AWG for sense.

You must be referring to MDPC-X, and their US distributor Mod-One in Cali. Since you will have the tools and the skills, I will order my next set of cables from you

Yes, I totally enjoyed browsing both MDPC-X and Mod-One sites, reading the blogs and Instagram posts too. Also this person on OC forum called lutro0. His company has merged with others to form Mainframe Customs. I'm getting the wires from them.

Assuming I don't blow up my R8, hope to have this as my learning project for the next few weeks/ months . I wonder if I should just ask my wife to help me with the soldering as she's been working on a number of Arduino boards and soldering components.

I have to mention that among the community here is a very experienced and talented custom cable maker. PM'ed me so I assume that person wants some privacy. If you're reading this, thank you for your inputs on my diagrams and advice. I want to learn more about custom cabling hence I'm trying this out on my own. Feel free to jump into this thread and link your cabling posts.

That would allow air to get to the front upper part of the chassis. 

While waiting for the picture to be approved, I can only speculate that you meant the inner plastic structures of the front bezel. I've had to pin-snip away that big stub that locks into the lower front "belly button" (which you have gotten rid off in your XPS 8930). Now I presume removing some other parts would aid air to flow in diagonally from the bottom to the top? The upper half of the front bezel is a solid plastic with no holes. I've discussed this with @Anonymous before and that's one of the downside to the R8. Dell fixed it in the R9 with a top-to-bottom bezel intake design.