Case Mod Project PC-70 (Mocha70) update 12/6/2010

[Burnout21]

ho-ho-ho tis the season for the modding tra-la-la-la-lar-la-la-lar. LOL!

Ok last Thursday i picking up the new home for my machine in spec'd in the sig. Ever since moving my GTX280 onto watercooling my ears love me, however the 120.1 rad down front, is on its limits of keeping the system cool, luckily the weather is keeping the ambient temps low.

So I present to you the future project and home.



yes the mighty PC-70, might be old but she has the space!

Colouring it in, felt tips at the ready! lol!



Yes its brown, but really subtle and elegant for my office.

hopefully something like this



Plan so far is to slap a 120.3 up top, and remove the front dual 80mm fan mounts for a single 120mm fan+rad or a single 140mm fan possibly. I did have a look at mounting a 120.2 up front but its 10mm to tight for the fitment with out modding the optical drive cage which i would rather not do.

rules keep her stock as possible, but refine her to my taste.



I welcome feedback and idea's, in the mean time i best get the case modelled up in solidworks.

[Burnout21]

Oh forgot to mention, i shall try and machine some mosfet blocks as they cost £23 from Ek for just 1 block and i need 2, plus a northbridge block.

So call me cheap, im gonna make them!





going to work on a northbridge in a minute.

[Burnout21]

Originally Posted by Shadow703793

Imo, unless doing some really insane OCing, there is no need for RAM, NB/SB, MOSFET blocks. Unless of course, you are just going for looks

I never mentioned Ram cooling.

The mosfet cooling at the moment is pretty piss poor, and the northbridge when running a FSB at 333mhz runs at 65 degree's. This could be due to DFI using there trade mark piss poor bubble gum TIM under the NB, which i will check in the new year.

My board




Trust me, i know what i am doing.

[Burnout21]

Originally Posted by stonedsurd

I have the same board and yes, the northbridge gets rather toasty.

I don't mind, I'm sticking with the cheapest solution till I can afford those nice Enzotech forged copper heatsinks

I would do the same, but in order to reduce the system noise, i have kept airflow to a minimum and only have it where its needed.

So moving the mosfets and NB on to water is really the only happy option for me. Although i bet the temps are high due to the bubble gum TIM! lol!

[Burnout21]

I've been building blocks since 2006

My first





I would post up other pictures but there on my server at my student home atm.

Say, i am an old hand at all this chap!

Also like to note that as long as the waterblock can cover what needs to be covered, then its only the internal surface area required. If the flow rate is low, then a large cavity inside the block is necessary to transfer the heat energy. Higher flow rates allow the reduction of internal volume, as the water molecules don't need very long to absorb the heat energy in the reduced volume of the block.

I shall gladly back this up with my degree in design which includes hydraulic design.

[Burnout21]

Originally Posted by andrew8200m

This is going to look rather good I think bud! Glad the case is to your liking mate, the reset button is on its way however I wouldgive it a week or more due to xmas post.

Stripping mine back to the basics soon for a powdercoat on the inside and if all is well a nice spot of annodising on the outside.

I shall watch this with great interest.

Andy

Awesome news, PM me where your going to get yours powder coated at, I am still looking around, and we might be able to reduce the cost a little. I was thinking to get my internals done in satin black, so if yours would be the same then a small reduction on cost....

[Burnout21]

Originally Posted by andrew8200m

Aye it would be the same. I will be getting it all sent to a chap called Tom at chilledpc. He does a great job I must say! Some very nice colours a mods over there if you have a look. Its also worth giving him a call for quotes etc as you can sometimes get a slight reduction in costs if you have a word with him over the phone.

Andy

On his site, the prices seem a little high. Might just contact him as i just want the powder coat, no assembly or anything which i could see adding to the cost.

Of course the price listed must be an average cost to have it stripped, coated and rebuilt which involves a lot of labour hence the price.

[Burnout21]

Originally Posted by andrew8200m

Precisely. If you drill the rivets and pack it to him in bits then its going to be cheaper. On another note, he can powder coat the pc70 as a single unit which brings the cost down. Failing all of the theres a place in long eaton near you that powdercoats as i took some split rims there. It may be worth looking them up and giving them a quick call.

Andy

awesome!

[Burnout21]

Originally Posted by Cheapskate

I like that reservoir. What color of delrin did you get?
A metal base+brown=bronze. It should look fantastic.

Thank god you've seen what the colour would be! lol! every time i've explain this people have said 'brown? what s**t coloured' lol! But i want a chocolatey look to it as well

Black delrin all the way chap, the only striking thing i want is the exterior of the case.

Quick googling around i came across this dub thread, look at the colour of it!



I cant explain the colour at all

[Burnout21]

Originally Posted by Shadow703793

Yup. That agrees whith what I have observed via CFD sims.

Btw, just curious, do you run any CFD sims on your blocks before building?

PS: Sorry for hijacking the thread

There is no such thing as thread hi-jacking with such questions my friend. Before setting out and designing the block I have to specify my pump and bore of tubing.

From this I know my pressure and flow rate, which allows for the end design of my block. What I haven't done yet is to specify a pump for this project, but the design of the mosfet block can be tweaked to increase its height or decrease to suit the ideal volume desired.

Now this is where your question comes in, 'Do I run fluid dynamics?'

Answer is yes, because I block to create internal turbulence without slowing the flow to much. By tweaking the central feature I can slow or speed up the flow. I use 'Flow Simulation' with in solidworks as it gives me a rough idea as to what is going on. Remember it only has to be a rough idea as the tolerance of the complete loop isn't that precise, if you think every radiator and pump isn't spec sheet perfect not at the price's we pay at at least. At the very least i expect a 10% error margin.

Nothing is perfect, but dam I am going to try!

[Burnout21]

Ordered a nice XSPC RS360 today, with grill and fans, hehe shall start modding upon arrival.

powdercoat is going to cost a bomb, so external colour will be automotive paint, something like this

[Burnout21]

Originally Posted by Cheapskate

Rather than mosfet blocks, I'd like to see someone modify the heat pipe assembly into a northbridge block.

hmmmmmm let me have a think on that one, would make it a lot smaller.

[Burnout21]

My new toys arrived today



installed after 15 minutes with a drill and jigsaw.

The original PSU plate has been hacked to hell and seen better days!



So, little CAD time, and soon to laser cut in MDF to check dimensions before getting it cut on the waterjet.

[Burnout21]

Another little item required for the build. I dont like 80mm fans all that much and the front ones seem like a wasted space.

So i shall be ripping them out with a jigsaw and rivit in this plate;



There is enough room to squeeze a 140mm fan down there, and if i had the money i would be mounting a 140mm radiator down there, so this plate will allow me the option of 120/140mm radiators in the future.

[Burnout21]

Oh epic!! catch you on msn or something

Little photo from MDK

[Burnout21]

Well all the custom plate work has been done for now, another little photo.



needs filing and general finishing.

Again great thanks to MDK for his help, he is a great friend so don't bug him with wanting parts made.

[Burnout21]

Originally Posted by andrew8200m

Hey this is looking good burnout! I may have to get one of those psu plates made up now I've seen it lol! Glad your getting on with the case, going to butcher up another with a war type mod soon me thinks! Keep it up!

Andy

haha!

its a long way off, lack of funds sucks i need to find another pump for this project and a fan controller. Another sunbeam i think!

[Burnout21]

Originally Posted by andrew8200m

I'll have a look around for you mate, see what I've got kicking around.

Andy

that could be potential epic mate!

I have decided on a colour, being a volvo fanboy i am definatly going for their saffron paint!



took me a while to find the name of colour, but should be worth it!

[Burnout21]

Originally Posted by M_D_K

Looking good dude

If anyone wants one of those plates ask Alan for the all clear and I'll Nock you one up , as its his design.



Morgan.

Lol, i didn't want everyone bugging you for parts, but if your happy then anyone interested PM me.

[Burnout21]

wow, update!

Turns out RM has lost my package of aluminium plates, so MDK was kind enough to redo them and get a courier to deliver them soon....

On a side note with the looming case move from my V1000b to the PC-70, i want to move my workstation from an old cheiftec dragon into my V1000b, recycling is fun!

Because of this shift and wanting to water cool my workstation, i dug out some old waterblocks that are ideal! except one problem, the mounting tops, so last week and this week i have mostly been laser cutting!

ebay find last august, brass topped danger den TDX! steel at £5 incl P&P



Had some fun with 8mm cast acrylic and 8mm delrin (white one)



assembling fun



Had this all done last week, but on monday during some serious multi-tasking and rendering the workstation crashed, after think about it the only thing that would have caused the crash was the passively cooled chipset, utter fail tbh.

So another dig around and i came across a Danger Den maze 4 with a dodgy intel 975 top or something like that. So quick measurements and bish bash bosh ZAP from the laser

and ta da!



At the moment i am cleaning up an old school Danger Den NV-68 block, one of the first modded for SLi so named the NV-68 (A8N), made specially for the ASUS A8N motherboard, first with SLi.

Still thinking about redoing the acrylic on this block as its all tapped to what i believe is a 9/16 thread and not a G1/4, a G1/4 fits but very loose and piss poor tbh.

Will have a think...