[Build Log] Virtual Cosmos - Cosmos II VR PC

[Elusid]

Build Log - Virtual Cosmos​

Background:

Hello everyone! I've recently started a new build and thought I would share the progress as I go. I spent a lot of time debating which chassis I wanted and ended up going with the Cosmos II. There are many cases out there that fit more in them with little to no modification but I couldn't get over the sleek look. With this particular build, I'm leaning more towards the design and sacrificing a bit in potential crazy overclocking performance. Ultimately, this build is intended to be my plunge into VR gaming. Let's get started.



(rolling parts list)


Case: Cosmos II

PSU: EVGA SuperNova 1000 T2

Cooling Control: Aquacomputer Aquaero 6 XT


Watercooling

• EK-CoolStream SE 360 | 6x EK-Furious Vardar FF5-120
  
• EK-CoolStream XE 240 | 4x EK-Furious Vardar FF5-120
  
• EK-CoolStream CE 140 | 2x EK-Vardar F3-140ER
  
• EK-CoolStream WE 180 | 2x EK-FAN 180 PWM

Log:

The Cosmos II is an awesome case but there's a lot of stuff in there I have no use for. Basically, if it was inside and could be removed, I did.

And then I got out the drill and took out rivets. I removed everything to try and keep it from getting scratched up.

So much more room to work with!

I gutted everything out except the front ports. I removed the main "brain" and JB Welded the top sliding cover shut. I have no use for the built in control system and I can put power and reset somewhere else.

UPS held my radiators and fans hostage for 2 weeks but they finally came! I'm attempting to do push-pull on everything.

EK-CoolStream SE 360 for the top

EK-CoolStream XE 240 for the bottom

EK-CoolStream CE 140 for the back

EK-CoolStream WE 180 for the front (because why not?)

The holes didn't like up 100% so had to make some new ones. Not pretty but they'll be hidden. Had to scoot it forward ever so slightly to fit the rear 140 push-pull in too.

So apparently the original fan had strange spacing so I just cut the whole thing out.

Turned out well.

Fits! Might end up doing something different in the end if those gaps bother me enough. We'll see how it looks when it's lit.

Three fans holding the radiator up through the top.

Still looks the same on the outside so far! Not sure if I want to paint anything yet.

With all the drive cages removed and nothing in the front, there's the very large hole in the top of the case. I spent a lot of time debating what I wanted to put there. At first, I thought maybe a touch screen. Maybe I would do just the fan controller and cover up the rest. But then I thought, why put anything there at all?

The Cosmos II doesn't have a side window, but that hole is big enough, I'm going to make it a front window.

I'm going to run all the power directly to the PSU and just the PWM and clock to the controller. Each set of radiator fans will be controlled as one unit. I'm really glad I'll have speed control. These things are LOUD at full.

Figuring out stuff to do until my PSU and fan/pump controller come in. I had a bad fan in my batch so I ripped it apart, soldered longer wires directly onto the PCB, and put it back together to see what I'm getting myself into. Not too difficult minus the microscopic tension ring. I'm doing sleeving on individual wires and swapping out the headers for black ones. I'm debating if I want to paint the fans. Still not sure how much color I want in this build. Might just stick with the tubing, sleeving, and lighting for color.

I've got the power!!

Easiest way to test the PSU and get the fan controller setup. (Although I later discovered EVGA included a cap for the ATX24 that does this.)

Fan controller works! Well, with one fan anyway.

Testing running multiple fans off the same controller channel.

Didn’t realize at the time the AQ6 defaulted to voltage control and not PWM but fixed that later.

I took apart one of the working fans, soldered on thicker, longer wires, and put it back together. Still works! Now to do that for the rest of them! I think I'm going to make breakout boards that attach to the radiators, so the wires are far longer then I'll need in the end. The thicker wires will look much better when sleeved.

Naked rads

Prep

I only had to send one of these flying into the abyss to realize I needed to come up with a way to contain them.

This was my very simple and effective solution.

The 140mm EK fans have a big notch right above the solder pads. I didn't need to take them apart, which was amazing. EK, you need to do this on all your fans. Those tension rings are horrible.

I couldn't get the PCB off the plastic hub on the 180mm fans. I ended up taking a Dremel to them and cutting a window. Not my first choice... but I'm covering it up with a sticker anyway.

Not terrible...

3' leads on all my fans. Plenty long for what I'll be doing.

A friend with access to a mixed media LFP was kind enough to print me some vinyl stickers to mask the back of the fans.

I did a side by side of each fan size. Waiting on applying them all until after I sleeve.

Here's a good shot.

Starting to get some of the headers and crimps in the mail. Putting together some functional prototypes.

Just to give an idea on what I'm thinking. Each radiator will have a single PWM cable coming off it.

Might not be the exact placements, but you get the idea.

Finished the smallest one first.

Looks good.

This took some time, but I did it!

 

[Elusid]

It's a rat's nest, but it gets the job done. No shorts either. Metered it out.

Came out well. The bottom left connector has the RPM signal.

Getting started with the power injection board. It'll pass RPM and PWM directly through from left to right and inject power into the right side only from the Molex.

RPM first

PWM next

Another angle

Power

I'm thinking this is where I'll place it.

I desoldered the ugly white headers on the AQ6

I soldered back on black ones in their place. It looks so much better!

Finished all the electrical boards for the fans. Once I confirm it all works, I'll order custom black etched PCBs This way I can at least get all the cables cut to the right lengths, sleeved and move on.

I ordered a sample pack of MDPC-X sleeving. I'm not a fan of the material but at least it let me figure out my color scheme. I'm a huge fan of heat treated fiberglass which I've used in the past. I'm on the search for a company that will color match for me.

Finally got the crimp housings in the mail. First thing I had to do was crimp everything and make sure it worked like I had intended. You can see the four channels from the AQ6 go into the power injection board here and then the four ribbon cables going off to the radiators. Technically, I only needed the RPM and PWM cables from the AQ6 to the power injector, but I did all 4 for aesthetics.

Really, this radiator is the only reason I even needed to do power injection, but I went ahead and did it for all the channels. I like how it looks.

One of the 120mm fans ceased, but other than that, it looks good!

It works! I need to adjust the fan's RPM values, but it's doing everything it's supposed to. All fans set to 70% here.

Parts in the mail. Stay tuned!

 

[pendragon1]

my kind of mod. very nice!
re the "ugly white" headers, the plastic will usually come off without having to de-solder the pins. if you have to change any more try pulling them off and sliding the new blacks one on.

 

[Elusid]

my kind of mod. very nice!
re the "ugly white" headers, the plastic will usually come off without having to de-solder the pins. if you have to change any more try pulling them off and sliding the new blacks one on.

Thanks! Yeah, I tried that at first but they wouldn't budge. Once I got it hot with a soldering iron though, it pulled right through with pliers.

 

[Elusid]

I guess the next thing I'll work is lighting. Since I don't know how long this project will take, I'm finishing everything I know won't upgrade out from under me. I'm making an illuminated mid-plate as well as a lower bottom plate. That's the plan anyway. We'll see how it goes. Drilled the holes I could but found I had to completely remove the mid-plate to get accurate measurements.

Test fitting the angle track. I went to Home Depot and got some rivets for now. I'll order black for the final assembly.

Fits nicely.

I have a bunch of these aluminum strips from another project. They were CNC cut down to 1cm to perfectly match the width of LED strips so they'll work great for this.

Cut it down to length.

And now we have a stiff LED strip. Much easier to mount.

Perfect!

Now to finish the rest. The smaller one is for the recessed area under the PSU. I'll be doing more lighting but I ran out of LED tape. That's just what I had laying around.

I wired on 6' leads. I still have no idea how I'll be doing cable routing. My scrap cable bog is going to be overflowing when I'm done haha.

They're RGB strips but you get the point. Now to order some acrylic

I'll just store these somewhere for now.

 

[Elusid]

Next wave of parts came in!

Close up of the pump assembly.

I'm using 11 temperature sensors. One for the inlet and outlet of each radiator and pump assembly, and one off the reservoir to detect case ambient. Overkill, but it was relatively inexpensive to add and I'm curious of the efficiency of each radiator and the heat dump (if any) from the pumps.

There are two things I don't like about the Fabwerk modules. The first being the white headers and the second being those horrible LED tape connectors. Trying to make a connector for them is a pain.

I swapped black headers in and male pins for the LEDs. Now I can actually crimp a cable to fit it.

Getting test loop set up.

It took a while to get this thing primed but I finally got circulation.

And here's it all running minus the flow sensor and LEDs. I need different crimps. This is all running off USB as well. I'm in the process of making a 4 pin chain for the Aquabus. I want to be able to control this whole system without a computer.

Here’s a nice screenshot of almost everything

 

[Elusid]

Custom PCBs came in!

They came out nice!

Molex only came in white.

But I?ve got a solution for that

Woah. That turned out much better than I was expecting. I don?t think I?ll pay extra for black connectors again.

Much cleaner than all those jumper wires. And it?s black!

Side by side of prototype and finished board.

Yeah. Much better.

The whole family.

 

[Elusid]

Finally got some time to work on this project again!

Figured out the mounting for all my radiators. I also had to figure out another way to support the mid=plate since I cut the whole front out.

The bottom radiator is suspended off the mid-plate. I'm trying to prevent drilling through the future acrylic.

Everything still fits together nicely.

After months of going back and forth with a distributor, I finally got my hands on the blue fiberglass sleeving I've wanted. The plastic stuff is too glossy for my taste. It's not the color I originally wanted, but I can work with it. I haven't set in stone a color scheme yet so I can base everything else around it.

Picked up my Vive with a LEAP too for this.

Made a custom power cable with fiberglass sleeving

I'm integrating the Vive internally and putting ports on the outside of the tower to tap in to.

Starting to sleeve the USB jumpers

More to come!

 

[Elusid]

Finally decided where I wanted to put the Aquaero. Just a rough placement here.

Finished one of the internal USB jumpers. I'm having a hell of a time getting the crimps to hold on to the fiberglass tough. You can see it slipping out in the pic. I'll probably end up using heatshrink after all. Not terrible.

Mounted the external 12vdc jack, HDMI, and USB 3.0 ports for the Vive. Tapping into the PSU for power directly.

More parts coming in Monday!

 

[pendragon1]

I'm having a hell of a time getting the crimps to hold on to the fiberglass tough. You can see it slipping out in the pic. I'll probably end up using heatshrink after all. Not terrible.

if you color match and cut it short enough it will be virtually unnoticeable.
build's coming along nice!

 

[Elusid]

Got in my 1000' of 18ga

Molex headers came in. Going to do dye everything in one batch. I find it strange that everything is a standard size except the connector on the flow meter.

Came out great!

Heatshrink came in as well. Going to trimming excess wire and start sleeving tonight.

 

[Elusid]

First radiator sleeved

Alright, let's address these motors

Swapped the only white header on there for black

Sleeved the first pump

Screwed up and ripped the ribbon cable solder points

Doing some repair. Soldering in some jumpers

That should work fine

Both done! Not sure if I'll keep the backs blank or not. I'm a big fan of minimalism.

Finished pump assembly. Since I'm doing all custom cabling, I can do things that aren't standard. I'm using the Molex connector for two 12vdc channels in this case for the pumps.

 

[Deleted member 82943]

Wow. The EE skills involved. Very nice.

 

[Elusid]

Thanks! More to come soon. Gotta work up the motivation and tackle all this sleeving.

 

[pendragon1]

I wish I would have remembered this the other day! it would have saved me ten minutes on my knees searching...
build is coming along nice!

 

[Elusid]

Yeah, I learned that one the hard way. Thankfully had a dead fan I could steel from.

 

[Elusid]

Small update. Used a GPU header for three 12vdc lines. Two are for the pumps and one is for the internal Vive power.

Staple trick

 

[Elusid]

Got around to sleeving the power cables.

DC passthough to Vive

PWM power injection

Looks nice plugged in

Lighting power

Vive and pump power

Aquaero power

More to come!

 

[Elusid]

Better shot of the external Vive ports from the back

Ah ha! Found another white header. Going to rip that apart and replace it

Here's a shot comparing standard sleeving from MDPC on the sides with the fiberglass sleeving in the center. You can see here there's virtually no sheen with the fiberglass which is exactly what I wanted... except a different color, but I'll make it work

Another double USB cable

My internal USB hub looks nice fully populated

Getting the sleeving on the fans. Still need to crimp

Extending the thermistors

Turned out well!

Radiators done. Fans

More to come!

 

[RedWagnum]

Extending the thermistors

Looks like the first two thermistor images are missing?

I've never seen thermistors done that way before. I like how that is done! Is that a stock item or custom? Does it have direct water contact or contact with the fitting connector? I have a direct water contact thermistor in my loop but it is inline.

 

[Elusid]

Looks like the first two thermistor images are missing?

I've never seen thermistors done that way before. I like how that is done! Is that a stock item or custom? Does it have direct water contact or contact with the fitting connector? I have a direct water contact thermistor in my loop but it is inline.

Thanks for pointing that out! Just messed up my bb code.

Well they were stock. There isn't much to them though. The only thing I did was remove the sleeving it came with and replaced the wires. They pull the temp off the metal of the fitting with a layer of insulation on the outside. I'm not sure how accurate they truly are, but I think they'll work well enough. The hope is when I get a substantial load in the loop, I'll be able to see the efficiency of each radiator and the heat dump of the pump (if any). If I find I'm not getting what I want from it, I'll try adding ones with a probe into the line itself.

 

[Elusid]

Finally got some time to work on this a bit more. Project isn't dead, just long. I decided to ditch the cable sleeving. The crimps were cutting right through the fiberglass and it wouldn't fit in the smaller headers. I'm going for more of a stealth look now. Trying to hide the cables altogether.

Didn't realize they made a flow meter with USB and Aquabus when I bought the first one. Just need to swap out the white header for black.

Found an Aquabus splitter too. It will be much easier to wire than doing a long chain between the devices. Again, swapping out the white header for black.

This is the way I'll be doing all the cables in the build. Black wire spiral braided (or whatever it's called).

Short 4 pin jumper.

Perfect place to mount my custom power injector for radiator fans. Each radiator has a color code for now but the tape will be coming off when it's complete.

Trying to reduce airflow restriction as much as possible.

Wrapped both temp sensors for each radiator together.

Much cleaner than it could have been!

This monstrocity needs to change. I'm trimming it down and using a 24 pin jumper from it spiral wrapped to clean things up substantially.

Smaller plug from the PSU done.

Much better! Now I can just tuck it in the bottom and jump up to the motherboard.

More to come!