ok, so I'm a few updates behind. I honestly haven't been getting too much done as I've been stalled waiting for the smallest reservoir ever made in history to show up. Ok, maybe there's smaller ones, but options were slim, and I had to order it from EK directly. I swear it came across the ocean on a canoe....before we go on to pics and such, I just wanted to point out that a decision was made to add a second 1tb M.2 drive in to make a 2tb m.2 raid. I'm actually slightly jealous now.
Anyway, not long after I made the ATX cable, I got in some slim noctua fans for the top rad. Not the highest static pressure rating on them, but they're slim. We'll see how it does, but it can be seen that I now how quite a bit more clearance between the mobo and top rad.
I also shortened the front panel audio cable. Just look at how much slack came off....
But it sits nice an snug now.
Last month I also took some measurements, and as can be seen here, I've got just over 16cm between the top rad and the GPU. Since I need to run 90* angled fittings off the top rad, being as on average those are 3cm, that left 13cm for a reservoir and pump assembly. Tight
I also ended up cutting some angled aluminum to make new cross members for the front of the case to better support the pump bracket, and also replace some rather shotty work I did with a drill.
These finally showed up last thursday from EK. I must have cocked up my measurements because the multiport top won't quite fit in there which is too bad as it would have made my lift a tad easier.
Now just holding the reservoir assembly in place, obviously, it's tight.
Here I've got the mounting of the pump sorted. Had to turn the bracket up the other way, but you can see my new cross members there are well. I did a much nicer job countersynching the rivets this time too
It can also be seen in this closer pic that I changed up the way the psu is mounted. I used some aluminum spacers to mount the sfx plate directly to the cross member. This actually makes it easier to access the power supply screws, but pulled it back a few mm which gave me a little bit more clearance to connect wires to it as it was pretty close to the mobo.
That's pretty much my last test fit now. Fittings have been ordered now that I've got everything figured out, and until I realize there's something I haven't yet figured out, I'm pretty sure that was my final order for parts. Grand total now sitting at 4205$ spent on this build, to cover parts, shipping, taxes, and other misc hardware and supplies. The bottom line adds up quick.
Just gave the frame of the case some paint to touch up the scratching and spots I had to file down to make things fit.
Once the paint cures, I can start doing the final assembly, and wrap up the wiring as there's still more to shorten and crimp, then tubing, then leak test, and fill, and now I'm tired just thinking about how much there really is left....