Case Mod - In Progress [ MSIDIA Edition ] by Pinwmpires

Hardware
MOBO: MSI Big Bang Marshal B3
CPU: 2600k
RAM: 8GB Corsair Dominator GT 2133
GPU: 2 x MSI NGTX560 Ti Hawk
SSD: OCZ Agility 3
HDD: WD Raptor 74 GB RAID 0

Watercooling
Pumps: 2 x Swiftech MCP655 on Dual Serial Bitspower Top
Radiators: 2 x Phobya Xtreme 400
Fans: 4 x Phobya G-Silent 180
Fittings: Compression 13mm-19mm Bitspower Fittings
CPU Waterblock: EK Supreme HF Full Copper
GPU Waterblock: EK Supreme HF Bride Edition
RAM Waterblock: Bitspower 4 DIMM Waterblock
MOBO Waterblock: Bitspower Full Cover Block


Special thanks to Bitspower and Phobya for sponsoring the project.




Lets start with some photos of the parts that i ll be using..

Phobya xtreme 400



Some Bitspower Compression Fittings 13/19



Phobya G Silent 180





Ek Supreme HF - It started as full copper but i nickeled it and then powder coated the cover.



Some more parts from Ek..



The full cover block for MSI Big Bang from Bitspower



What i love about bitspower is that in their packaging they include spare o-rings and screws etc..



Naked Board getting preped for the waterblock



The block is on.. it looks lovely but there is too much dust on it..



Clear link from one part to the other.. it looks pretty awesome..



Naked GPU's waiting for their blocks



Some more parts from Ek..



And the magic coolant




So .. lets start doing some work now...

I took a small project box to house the power connections for the 2 pumps, so now with 1 4pin molex i power both of the pumps without any wires being uncovered.








The case that i ll use is a Coolermaster HAF X, the idea is to remove all of the drive/hdd bays etc and have an empty case to modify as i want.. So i took all the 5.25 bays off and from the HDD cage i cutted out 2 slots and throw the rest of it away

Dremel..



Temporarilly placed it behind the pumps to check the free space that i have..



Now i took some cardboard to make a prototype of the covers that i ll make..



Cardboard made to steel, more of a dummy to check for faulse measurements etc.



After a couple of dummies i finally made it to go for the aluminum, now everything is measured correct and i added some throwpasses for cables etc.



3 mm Plexi on top of the cover..



HDD trays accesible from the fron of the cover..







Time for sleeving, i used MDPC sleeve.. Thanks Nils!







I got the plastics back from painting, thanks to George ( a.k.a Kopritis ) the outcome is really what i had in mind.









Fan blades at the same color..





Custom made logo.. i am really happy with the result, i love the fact that it have that "Stock" look..





At this point i am trying to figure out the loop path...
















A small holding bracket for a 24pin molex made of plexi..









Time to do some soldering..





Some more soldering



Now.. its time for the hard part of the VGA cooling..

As we know there isnt any full cover waterblock for the 560 Ti Hawk on the market.. so i had to find a way to cool the vrm's and the memory..

This is the fatory plate that keeps the card component cool.. i measured everything and went to the waterjet



I took 2 pieces of Fischer heatsink





Thats what is left from the heatsink.. that waterjet is a reall piece of machinery!



And thats what i have now!





I lowered the height of some fins so the bridge of the waterblock can pass through it..





After many many days of searching for someone to anodize the heatsinks.. i didnt find anyone So i had to paint them, i used heat resist black matt spray, the result is really nice



Drilled some holes on the heatsink and open threads for 2.5 mm screws, i used little springs to tension the heatsink on the vga.



Sleeving time again..





I wanted to somehow change the fronpanel.. i decided to remove the slide panel that haf x has and replace it with 1 mm aluminum covers



Black Powder coat



Starting to take shape..



Some cable managment on the back





After many many hours of testing and testing i finally found the way to illuminate the plexi without being clear the position of the source of light.. What do you think of the outcome?



The board is on...




Some more assembling and we are done..

Time for the photoshooting.. Special Thanks to Mike a.k.a Barfastic for helping me with the project and for the time he took to photoshoot it..































































This project is done and i am really happy with the result. I hope you like it as much as i do. Comments and constructive feedback is welcome, i really want to see what you like or dont like about it.. I hope i can find money and time to start something new!

Special thanks to Bitspower and Phobya for sponsoring the project.

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Very nice work John! Its nice to see Greek modders are growing and ideas exist even in time of crisis!

Keep up the good worjk!

 

Wow good job on the custom vidcard heatsinks and the liquid color is just awesome

 

Thanks Mike.. you know that great ideas are born in time of crisis!

Thank you Meelobee, i am really glad you like it.. i was hoping someone will make a comment on those heatsinks, it was really a hard part of the mod and i am happy when people appreciate the work on the heatsinks

 

Beautiful.. love the color!

 

Yeah.. the color is totally my taste.. Again, glad you like it!

 

Some very interesting and original ideas And your metalwork skills are exceptional!

 

Awesome rig !

 

Thanks a lot bundy! Glad to hear you like it!

 

Love the idea for the vid card power. Very clean.

 

WOW love the Video power idea and the case as a whole that blue just pops brilliantly with the black ! The GPU cooling is also a good idea !

 

Very nice indeed.

Sweet photos too.

 

I have a project that I am saving for and have a few ideas on how to do this, but I'm curious what you found worked the best? That bottom plate just looks fantastic.


Awesome build mate

 

Great build Pinwmpires! Love how you managed to colour match the fluid to the case... perfect

 

Thank you all for your great comments! Positive feedback is the power for modders to keep spending money

The idea of the 6pin connectors for the VGA's was an idea of the last momment! While sleeving.. i thought.. 4 connectors with 6 cables each.. that makes 24.. What can i do about that ?

@Sixfootsideburns Well.. as i said i made many many attempts.. the final result came with this configuration. 2 pieces of plexi with a 2 mm groove at all edges, i placed LED tape at all edges and then i made a sandwich with the 2 pieces! Then i made a layer of a light blue tape at the bottom of the plexi ( to give the color ) and then another layer of black vinyl ( to prevent light from escaping at all directions ) .. This is how this result was achieved! Hope you ll have a great outcome to your own plexi lighting. Hope my bad english wont prevent you from understanding what i did..

@Editor22 Thanks a lot Editor! The colour match was one of my greatest concerns but the result came out very good!

 

Kai pino mpires, pino mpires!!! Kalosorises file mou stin koinotita Apo pou eisai?
Really nice build bro I especially like the heatsinks top notch idea my friend!

 

Thank you AnG3L, i am from Greece, born here and live here! I ve seen your projects too and i have to say.. they are one of a kind!

 

That sounds a lot like what I was planning actually. I don't like when you can see all the individual lights so I was thinking some kind of channel to help diffuse the light.

Thanks for the tip mate!

 

Really nice mate!

Only thing that bothers me is the length of the heatshring, but other than that, wonderfull work!

 

Great colour coolant, and nice idea on the PCIe cabling