Thread: It has begun...

Originally Posted by deputyfestus

Just out of curiosity including parts and labor what would you estimate the cost to be?

I couldn't even begin to put together an estimate on the labor. I probably have over 150 hours of actual work into the project. This wasn't something that could just be done over the course of a long weekend. A lot of this stuff takes insane patience, and figuring things out by trial and error. Sometimes, your design/part doesn't work out as expected, so all of that time was "wasted", but value gained as you learned what NOT to do .

Just the basica hardware alone, it was around $4700. That would cover GPUs, CPU, Motherboard, Mempory, 4 x SSDs and 1 x M.2 SSD. There is probably close to $1k in water cooling components between the blocks, pumps, back plates for GPUs, radiators, hoses, rigid tubing, compression fittings, rigid compression fittings, etc. Then the fan/pump/LED controllers, fans, fan grills/shrouds... the cooling stuff adds up quick. Even the cable sleeving was expensive because I made the cables from scratch with 16 AGW wire, crimp pins, and new black plastic connectors. Let's not forget about the sleeving as that wasn't cheap either.

Other than that, additional costs were materials for body work and custom panels. Cast acrylic sheets were about $70, several cans of primer and spray paint, fiberglass body filler and flexcoat for the body work, lots of sand paper (various grit). The powder coating and final external paint were outsourced. I also had to go to someone with a plasma cutting table (burn table) to cut the window in the side of my case.

My only wish is that I had some more time. If I wasn't in such a rush for Quakecon, I would go back and touch up some of the mistakes, scratches, etc that occurred either in the design, or during the assembly.

Somebody made it into a magazine! Go to page 48.
Computer Power User

Good Job Heavy...

What are these maga... zines.... things you speak of?

Originally Posted by KromMonkey

Somebody made it into a magazine! Go to page 48.
Computer Power User

Good Job Heavy...

Thanks, Krom! I also got some sponsorship offers while at Quakecon and through other channels for my future mods. It is hard to decline free stuff, but I can't commit a lot of time and effort in future mod work until the spring.

I currently have 2 mods in progress. One is going to be my entry for next year that I will start another topic on. The other is going to be a mod that I build with some of the hardware that I won from the contest. My biggest prize was an InWin D-Frame Mini, but I also got an SSD and some incoming prize money that I hope can be used to buy a motherboard for the D-Frame build. I haven't decided what to do with it when I am finished. I may sell it, or I may give it away next year at Quakecon to someone in a desperate situation.

I was also talking to Radarrat about co-building something together. Seeing how we live worlds apart, I think it could be a lot of fun trying to tackle a custom build without actually being together for all of it.

Anyways, I am very happy with how the Cosmos turned out. Thank you all for the kind words and encouragement, and a big thank you for those that showed up and complimented it in person at Quakecon. As a modder, I was very proud to stand by my work and represent everyone at TPG. As a competitor, I was very nervous as there were some other amazing builds I was going up against and was happy to make the finals.