Case Mod HP Blackbird 002

[blackflag]

This is going to be awesome. Sub'd.

[notatoad]

and i thought some of those $600 LiLis were expensive. $1200 for a case is insane.

but then, it is a cool case. are you going to keep it fairly "stock"?

[murtoz]

Subscribed! Can't wait to see this taking shape :-D

[dark4181]

*resurrects thread/knocks on Mr. Bean's door*

*peeks at Blackbird case gathering dust in the corner*

O.o

[The_Beast]

I think it's the prettiest factory case ever made


I'm keeping an eye on this one

[Reverse]

Holy cow, a Blackbird shell? subscribed!

[barry99705]

Yea, wonder what's up with this one? It's been four months.....

[MrBean]

Hello,
Small update.

Fitting an aftermarket radiator to a(n) (aircooled) Blackbird case is not the easiest thing, due to the unique shape of the case, and angles involved.....

Here's the original factory cutout with the top removed....



and here.....



The original case came with only 2x mounting rivnuts, I had to add another 2 to properly secure the radiator...



Here the 2 I added at the top against the upper back wall....



Herewith a few pictures showing the rad, and compound brackets, topview....







and here a few showing it (temporarily) mounted to the case.....







Note, I still have to mod the brackets where the fans will bolt to, so that the conform to the shape of the fans, so a little shaping needed, but that will come soon.

Very close to fitting my Super Micro X7DWA-N board, with 2x Xeons, and 4870X2, all watercooled.

Feedback appreciated

[Burnout21]

nice bracket

[Jozo]

Awesome! Subscribed

[MrBean]

Thanx Guys

[.Fatality.]

awsome i like it!

[murtoz]

Yay! Updateness!
Looking good so far - can't wait to see it come together.
What blocks are you using for the Xeon's?

[HaoKi]

Finally some progress How'd you trip to Tampere go btw?

[MrBean]

Heya Guys,
Thanx for the feedback.

I am using Fuzion V2's on the CPUs....the work very well, only had to mod the mounting brackets to clear the chipset heatsink on the SuperMicro. Running pretty well, as the system is currently mounted in my (spare) Lian-Li A20, cooled by a monster 480 Feser quad.

I am using Swiftech MWC60's on the HD4870X2 dual-gpus, and Gabe's Caldera heatsink for the memory/vregs.

Gfx runs cold, GPUs idle 37-38 deg C, and full-loads at around 42-44 deg C.

A big improvement from the previously elevated temps of around 80 deg C loaded.

Will post more pics of the gfx and blocks in the week, and also the temporary setup in the A20 - hopefully I can relocate this back to the Blackbird in the next week to 2.

Will keep you guys posted.

@ HaoKi: My trip was postponed, will most likely only go mid-year now. Will send you a PM when I do, so we can have a couple beers somewhere in town You still at Metso?

[The boy 4rm oz]

Glad to see your still at it mate. Very unusual design for a case lol.

[McGrego]

nice work with the rad fitting , wish i had that case it just begs for modding

[stonedsurd]

^Hell yes.

Awesome work, subscribed

[MrBean]

Heya, thanx for your feedback guys, appreciated

Ok, a small update - I'm using the very nice, and fast HD4870X2 ATi card in this machine, to properly drive my Apple Cinema 30" Display at 2560x1600, when gaming - and it does an admirable job

One of the issues (I have) with this card is the relatively high noise levels when gaming, and fairly high temps - yes, I know it's designed to run at those elevated temps, but I prefer cooler, and a quieter card.

Ages ago I purchased 2x Swiftech MWC60's, that was going to be used on my nVidia 8800GTX's, but I kept that aircooled, and relegated it to my Wife's gaming rig. So, I decided to use these very nice little waterblocks on the 4870, and marry them to Swiftech's newly released Caldera heatsink.

This setup is a fair bit better than any 1-piece waterblock out there, the optimum would be seperate components for GPU's, vregs, and memory, but due to the small surface area (and thus mounting issues) of the vregs, it's not practical to do - it can be done, but I don't wsnt to risk damaging the flimsy SMC's with this method.

Without further ado, a few pics of the Caldera, and fitting to the gfx card - take note, this is an early set of pictures, card is currently running with the waterblocks et al, will post some piccies later.

Bare heatsink, front view:


and the same from behind:



A compare next to the original aircooled setup:



Some angled cose-ups of it, fitted:





Side-on, mounted:



And a full frontal nude:



Will post a few pics of the motherboard waterblocks, and gfx running in the system - looking rather nice I must add.

[tominated]

hawt. you gonna snap off the top pci bracket so it's single slot?