Scratch Build – In Progress Scratch Build: The Ivory Tower

Nice. I think we've found the solution to stop the poles from melting...

 

Probably not
If you use the radiators to cool the ice then u will attract more heat to them so they will melt faster

 

Well, yeah - OK. Then you found a solution for melting the poles faster, so we can have that global warming, I heard so much about. I WANT PALM TREES IN DENMARK!

 

I want snow in Belgium

 

keeping eye on this as I love my PCA77 .. its a monolith of a case
Originally I had a 360 in the roof and a 360 at the front .. but have switched back to air cooled, mainly as my OC on my 920 i7 isnt that high to warrant watering it down.

 

Do you normally use the ugliest mug in your house for size comparisons?

You don't see too many white cases. A shame really.

 

You just got to love the EKWB packaging. I want it as my sexpartner.

 

I didn't buy those mugs

 

Finally a new tapping bit:

 

It's starting to look like a Case!!

The next step in the build is mounting the motherboardtray. And while I on it mount the drivebays.





This is my home-made bracket to mount the tray.
Eh... "Form follows Function"


The tray is fully removable in 2 ways.
Unscrew some screws:


Lian-Li method: Tilt the tray to the side to get it out:


result:


The other method is to remover the motherboardtray and backpanel as a whole.

Next step in the build is probably finding a spot for the PSU.
See you later !!

 

Great project bud, im about to start a project on an older full tower Lian-Li case and im liking what you are doing with the radiator mountings, will be watching with interest

 

So what's today on the planning? Mounting the PSU!!
Problems? Yes, sir!!
To avoid scratches I took an old 300W no-name PSU from an old pc.
And what was the problem?
Apparently the Lian-Li drivebays are smaller than the ATX specification. It should be 150mm width but it is something like 148mm. The result is that the PSU wont fit. So again I cut a part of the drivebays so that the PSU is below the drivebays.


After some filing the PSU fits:



Maybe you see it but the front is also smaller than the PSU.

So some filing so that the PSU can be mounted from the front.

Then mark the holes to mount the power supply.


Then rises the question: "Will the power-cord go through the front?"
The answer is "No". I mailed Lian-Li today and they will send me a power-cord used in the A05N. So thank you Claire from Lian-Li!!

 

Well I had to buy fittings someday, then a deal came up to buy some fittings from a guy who stopped with WC. A few days later this came in:

Bitspower Q-Rotary:



6 EK fittings:





In combination with the EK Supreme HF(don't mind the fingerprints):

 

This week I received my package from Lian-Li.
What's in the package?

Well it's the cable to connect the PSU that is in front of the case to the backside to connect the powercord there instead directly on the PSU.
The cable has it's origins in the A05N which is much smaller than the A77. I thought this would cause problems to the length of the case but it didn't. I have length to spare...
The connector for the PSU is larger than I thought it would be. I might have to use some spacers to mount PSU farther in the case.

Don't mind the quality pictures because they are taken with a 2MP Nokia. My dad took the camera with him to Texas for a week.






So thank you Lian-Li for the great service!!

 

It's been a while since the last update right?
Because of the work I have to do for school there isn't enough time to work on the mod. But sometimes I've got the time and then my hands get itchy.

A few days ago(weeks now) there was an opportunity at the Highflow forum: A member was selling an almost unused EK DCP4.0. It was an instant buy for me since I need them for this build.


If this pump doesn't provide enough flow/pressure for the loop I will buy a second one for 2 pump in serie.

Yesterday I tried out the cable I got from Lian-Li but I ran into a problem:

Maybe it's not visible above but certainly below. The connect is well beyond the frontpanel.


The easy solution is to use standoffs to move the PSU further back into the case. I had some lying here from my HAF932. I couldn't use the ones from Lian-Li because they are a combination of M3 and UNC 6-32.


Normally 2 standoffs will do. I can always try to find longer standoffs to create more distance between the frontpanel and the connector.


Last week I had to opportunity to go to Alternate.be. I used this opportunity to empty their stock of Scythe Gently Typhoons 1850RPM. To bad they had only 3...


The fans are really wonderfull, just like everybody is saying: High quality en very quiet.
Some pictures of one fan:




Next up: some cutting to the case!!
In the previous configuration the PSU got scratched because of the drivebays sitting against the PSU. That's OK for this PSU but not OK for the decent PSU so I shortened the drivebays.

Before:

After:


Yesterday it was 26 degrees Celcius outside so got to work outside on the interior of the case. I wouldn't want to see all the cables of the PSU next to the motherboard so I decide to create some kind of wall to separate the drivebays and PSU from the motherboard area.
This was my first time trying to bend 2mm aluminium.
To make a long story short: Smack it with a hammer for the best result!!


In the package I got from aluminiumopmaat.nl there was a plate for the back of the case. Drilled the holes and fit it:


That's it for today!!

 

Nice update - keep them coming.

 

will do

 

Last time I bended the cover plate for the PSU.

Drilled the holes:


backside:


Side bars:


Also on the other side:


Also on the bottom:


Back on the front:


Little side plate mounted:



Placed in the case:






I just have to file the corner and buy some M3 screw cause I'm out if you haven't noticed.

 

I definitely like the white case with black drive bay covers. It looks very good. I really like this case, was thinking about using it for a re-build of my server, very nice. I will watch this one with high hopes

 

Question:
Should I try and use all the drivebaycovers for the front or make somekind of front that will cover most of the drivebays?

My opinion: The original look (with all the drivebaycovers) looks best but without all the drivebaycovers it will be difficult to mount them.