Case Mod - In Progress »»» POLARity «««

So Awesome! How many cards are you gonna have on that board? I've heard that if you use more than 2, it wont work as well.. I think it goes like: 16-16 with two cards and 16-16-8 with 3. And after that it goes more down.

 

Only using 2 5850's, but it gives me the option to put them wherever i like on the board I could do up to 4 though - x8 on a 5850 knocks maybe 2% of the performance off x16?

 

Well... I dont have the manual. I know its in there... LinusTechTips has done an unboxing and talks about it.

 

Update #20 - 28/07/2010



Lots of stuff arrived.



Needed this paint to do the pumps (why, you will find out later on) and a metal piece that can't be powdercoated (it has a magnet glued to it).



Also got this gun to make my life easier!



Ultra-strong velcro in white



£25 of machine screws and a couple of new taps (my old ones are a bit shoddy)



All the screws went in my 3 little compartment boxes that needed topping up.



I also finally found the perfect SATA cables - 70cm black right-angle round sata cables.



DVD drive came back from RMA



Oooo whats this box... looks like it is from Germany



Anyone guessed what it is yet? Lets see...



Crimping tool. Nice, but not murderMod!



Nope, it isn't really murderMod.



These may be fine crimps from Nils, but they aint murderMod!



These black rivets and extra-large 3:1 heatshrink are also very nice, but they aren't murderMod either!



Oh, that's murderMod!



This is one of the last ones Nils has left (there is one other, which is his own). There was a run of 10 of these standard serpentine backplates. They were given to one of the best metal finishers in the world to be brushed and made to look spectacular. Over half of these were powdercoated by their owners, so there are now maybe 4 left in existence that still have this gorgeous finish!



As a result of this amazing finish, I shall now be changing my plans a little and i will be getting both this, the PSU plate and the cable management plate anodised black!



And a nice little pic with my MDPC sleeving i got a few months ago.



Drooling over, here is what i have been doing. I decided to cut the tabs off the two DDCs (they looked fugly with the tabs). However little did i know that they would turn brown after cutting/sanding! So the paint i got is to give these a nice satin black coat.



I also cut off the RPM cable inside the DDC - i have no need for it.



Before painting i need to sand them up to 100-grit.



This was at 40 grit. Tomorrow i shall finish sanding the pumps and get the primer coats done

 

Nice stuff ya got there! I'd like to try a dual pump setup. All lust worthy in this little update

 

A lot of blink blink is coming our way!!!

 

Thanks I can't wait to get my dual pump running, should be pretty powerful whilst being silent (10W DDCs instead of 18W, I also have them on a fan controller so i can drop it down if need be)

 

Cool.

 

Awesome

MuderMod Sexy time

 

Thanks guys

 

Update #21 - 28/07/2010



Here are both pumps sanded to 100grit, ready for some primer!



Scratches look deep but it is actually really smooth - the plastic is very odd to sand.



Here is my hi-tech spray booth! A big cardboard box with a slot cut in the top!



The slot in the top allows me to hook the NASA-approved coat hanger wire through the top so I can rotate the parts without touching them. After putting a coat on i can shut the box to stop dust and insects getting in.



Feeling confident after my painting endeavours, I embarked on a daring path of DVD-drive deconstruction.



Only thing left to remove are these gears.



This is what i was hunting for - the plastic inner frame. This is a horrible beige that shows on the back of the CD drive, and therefore shows inside the case. It must change colour!



In it goes with the pump bodies.



Whilst the primer coats were drying I sanded down the JB weld i used on the LED holes.



Then a package arrived! 100m of 18AWG 2.5mm black PVC wire and 100m of 24AWG black PVC wire. I also bought my new favourite tool ever - an automatic wire stripper with depth stop.



You slide the piece of red plastic to the length you want to strip, insert the wire, squeeze the trigger and it strips off the PVC to an exact length without damaging or touching the inner metal core at all. Saves so much time!



I swapped out the Revolution for an OCZ StealthXtreme 500W on my techbench so i could start work on the revo. The Stealth doesn't have enough power connectors for crossfire 5850's so i stuck one in POLARity as a guide for cables etc.



Shiny floor!



Should be a perfect distance for the 5850 power cables to go from the holes in the motherboard tray.



After the success of the painting and the CD drive deconstruction, I got way too brave for my own good and started hacking the Enermax Revolution apart! I have decided i want as few permanent cables as possible, so i cut everything off except for the 24pin. Everything else will be modular.



CPU 8pin cut off



And there was carnage upon the battlefield of OakTable!



Heatshrinked the tips of the cables to stop them shorting anything out.



24 identical lengths of black 18AWG wire with 5mm stripped ends.



Crimped!





Om nom nom black cables



Then jump about 4 hours and we end up here! I replaced every cable of the 24pin with black ones. I also put a white connector on the end. The cables will be sleeved tomorrow in black with white heatshrink.



I also replaced the transparent fan inside the PSU with an opaque white one.



The red fan grill and the logo will be powdercoated either black or white.



I leave you with this

 

You're having a bit of fun now! Love those strippers. Forgot to mention the nice trick removing those tacky pump secure mounts. I'll keep that one in the playbook

 

I just bought one of those strippers a while ago. It is surprisingly good considering it's made of plastic. Nice work with the cables!

 

Thanks guys

Yeah i am very impressed with the strippers. I also found it has some blades in the handle for cutting the wire too, didn't see them before

 

hey nice project oliver loving the pictures mate, dslr?

Can I ask for the links as to where you got your cable and your stripper? The amount of times I've cut the wire rather than strip it with scissors is unreal lol.

Cheers bud.

 

Awesome work again dude, those cables look amazing and the murdermod backplate is a sight to behold, great finish to it.

I had one question though, after seeing your nifty idea for putting tubing through your acrylic floor with the bitspower fittings I'm quite keen on trying out something similar on my own TJ07.

Would it be possible to disclose the measurements for the acrylic floor and where you got it from?

Cheers, and keep up the good work

 

rapidonline.com for all your electrical supplies Just order in one go, shipping isn't cheap!

I have found it to be pretty good. It hasn't got decent instructions with it though. However it is worth the money - saves your fingers! Just try it out first so you get used to it.

If i were you i would measure it yourself, no TJ07 is the same and i have adapted mine quite a bit to suit what i am doing. I made the floor from scratch myself

 

Update #22 - 29/07/2010



Pumps mounted up after the paint dried overnight.



CD drive re-assembled.



Used a multimeter and another PSU to check PSU voltages - I got everything correct thankfully!







Then a box arrived!



Laz0r bits!



This is my new front i/o plate - two switches and a usb port.



Need to drill some mounting holes for it and it will be done.



Here is the new pump mounting mechanism!





Rubber standoffs are used to isolate the pumps from the case.







These are brackets for mounting the front bezel. The velcro is used so that it is quick and easy to access the hard drives.





Here are the two drive bay covers.



The one on the right can only be installed with everything removed from the case - it is a very nice fit, but to look as good as possible it has to be installed early on in build assembly.



















It was then sleeving time and i was presented with a problem! How do you cut 24 bits of heatshrink to exactly the same length - 15mm? Here is my solution!



3 pieces of scrap screwed on to an old board. The gap here is 15mm, and the other smaller one is the diameter of MDPC small heatshrink.



What you will need: heatshrink and a large very very sharp kitchen knife! (this one is Japanese)



Slide the heatshrink down the gap until it hits the block at the end.



With a fair amount of pressure, slice through the heatshrink, using the wood as a guide and holding the other end of the heatshrink with your hand.



Perfect 15mm lengths!



And sleeved! It still needs another 'stretch' to get it looking perfect.

 

Nice work with the jig for cutting the heatshrink. Well done.

The whole project is coming together nicely.

Cheers
BenJ