Case Mod - In Progress Enigma - TJ07, SLI, 3 loops, Laser Cutting, Powdercoating + Etching

Thought it was about time to drop this bombshell on here so here we go!!



Hardware:
XFX 780i Motherboard
Intel Q6600 (G0 Stepping) - possibly upgrade to Yorkfield
4GB OCZ Reaper (2x2GB)
2 x 8800GT 512mb - NO LONGER GOING FOR TRI SLI
Enermax Galaxy 1KW PSU
Soundblaster Fata1tly
2 x 150GB Raptors in Raid 0

Watercooling
Loop 1
CPU - EK Supreme OR D-Tek Fuzion
Northbridge - AF Custom Block
Mofsets (2) - AF Custom Block
DDC Ultra with EK Top
Thermochill PA120.3

Loop 2
GPU's (2) - EK Full Cover Blocks
DDC Ultra with EK Top
Black Ice Stealth 360

Loop 3
Ram - MIPS Ram block + AF Custom Top
HD's - Danger Den Dual Drive block
Southbridge - AF Custom Block
XSPC X2O Compact 400 Pump / Reservoir Combo
XSPC R120-S Radiator

Case: Silverstone TJ07

Mods:
Internals powdercoated black
Externals powdercoated orange (RAL 2009) + Lacquer
Laser cut side panels
Cable braiding (ARGH!!)
Somehow cramming in 3 loops!
Some funky acrylic and LED fun

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Part 1 - Hardware

XFX 780i Motherboard
Scan finally game through with the goods :shock:



2 x WD Raptor's



SATA DVD-RW



Some of the watercooling parts








More to come as soon as the GFX cards arrive.

 

Part 2 - Case Mods

I have got all the case internals back from being powder coated, not much to see as it's currently in bits.. can't put it back together until the outer case has been coated!






Don't think I posted a pic of this before I took it to get coated but basically this is the middle divider than runs through the case.
Originall it was split into 3 smaller sections so I whipped out the dremel out made it into one big area, the black acrylic false floor will cover this up afterwards



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UPDATE - Side Panel Lasering and Etching

UV Red Acrylic etched with Enigma Guild logo and moto



I still havent mastered how to photo the etching but was speakin to Richi on MSN earlier about it. When I get the panels back I will try out some different methods to get clearer shots.






These 2 were took with flash on, not sure why the flash cancels out half of the etch though.




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UPDATE - Braiding

Here we have the mCubed T-Balancer and the add on Sensor Hub... and that means a hell of a lot of cables, so out came the braid on them! Took me a while to do, nearly 20 wires in total!




XSPC Pump - DONE



Front Panel Power & Reset Switches and LEDs -DONE



Front panel connectors heatshrinked, had to order some larger stuff in for some of the Audio wires hence delay in getting it done.



2 of these pumps are for this build and the other 3 are for another called Supernova
DDC Ultras with EK Tops - DONE



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UPDATE - LED Fun

Ordered a load of LEDs, some white and some UV. The UV ones will be used to Illuminate the side panel and white ones to illuminate the case internals.
In the pic below you can see about 50 White LEDs with 560Ohm resistors soldered onto the positive leg and then heatshrinked over.



Made the stealthy LED floor with a piece of scrap black acrylic, test run before I do it with the proper piece.
This should illuminate the motherboard area nicely without being too in your face like cathodes can be.
Think I saw it done on Bit Tech many moons ago, liked the idea ever since.

5/16" holes drilled 40mm apart, 20mm from the edge:



Got some of these nifty little LED holders to go in the holes (those are the 5mm white LED's that I spent hours soldering resistor to btw)



With the nifty holders in place:



Few LEDs wired up with crocodile clips whilst I made sure eveyrthing is looking ok



I'm still tinkering with those LEDs right now, and also trying to find a way to incorportate a light controller to dim them down when need be.

 

UPDATE - Externals Powder Coated

Case back from being powder coated, RAL 2009 + a clear coat as well.

Lighting isn't brilliant on the pics but its pouring with rain at the moment so proper pics will have to wait till tomorrow.







Just to put anyones mind at rest regarding the colour, these pics below are much more true to life, the others show a very pale shade of orange.





Still need to sand down some bits to get the case to fit back together nicely together but this is where i'm at, at the moment....





Got some black thumbscrews as well somewhere.

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UPDATE - Fan Wiring

Black Ice Stealth 360 fans all wired up together



Thermochill PA120.3 with daisy chained Xilence Red Wing Red LED Fans



Fan on XSPC R120-S radiator braided and 3 pin connector soldered




Also still waiting for the Matrix Orbital LCD to arrive, Murderbox style I think.

 

Reserved for watercooling pics - Still waiting for blocks from Germany to arrive, should be here within the next day or so.

 

Grand finale

 

Another Orange and Black mod!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You guys need to quit teasing me with my favorite colors
I'll be watching
John

 

5 PUMPS!!!





i love you

 

Yay for gaming guilds and clans. Looking great, Marcus. The color scheme pops and the cooling loops planned are very ambitious. I can hardly wait to see it all together with the lights on.

 

Awesome, my case is black and orange too! (CM Stacker)
Continue!

 

that looks really good

 

dang! That is looking seriously sweet!

Love the powder coating!

and wow on that mb tray.. looks awesome!

Great job so far man.. doing the Enigma name Justice

-Tolk

 

WOW! Nice! 3 loops! Amaizing!

 

Awesome colour combinations...

 

the color scheme looks awesome .........
.....I don't want to sound negative,but for it being clear coated
it does still seem to have a visible orange peel effect to it.
Will you be wet sanding it to get rid of it?

3 loops.......will each loop have a different color?


Alan

 

Lovin' the color combination
Too bad the main window is a bit boring.
Apart from that, niiiiice work!

 

That color scheme made me go wow, that orange is amazing

 

lol im guesing you didn't read the text above the pic, 3 of those Ultras are for another build called Supernova, I was just braidin them all at the same time.

Yup as you casn guess, the customer runs a gaming guild.. think its based on that Age of Conan game, i'm not sure off the top of my head.

Yeh I can see what your saying, compared to the black and white powder coating i've done previously this one does have more orange peel than the others (I even had a hell of a lot of people sayin that the white looked almost like paint, it was that good).
I was talkin to a friend about it last night who does paint jobs everyday (protoype designer) and he talked me through the wet sanding & polishing process as he commented on that as well. The outcome was that i'm gonna powder some spare side panels and practice on them so that next time I will have some experience in doing it, I don't fancy practicing on a £200 case.. especially not when it's for a customer.

3 loops - All Feser 1 Black but with different shades of primochill coils one, orange, bright orange and red.

Not much to report yet but I just daisy chained the fans on the Black Ice and Thermochill radiator:



These will all be powered off the T-Balancer

 

i read tat you were only using 2 for this build, but i was just suprised that you have 5

 

AAAAH lol ok, yeh like I said the other 3 are for "Supernova".

I'll post the build log for that once I've progessed with it a little further but if you want a sneak peak see here:
http://www.watercoolinguk.co.uk/forums/viewtopic.php?t=2317&start=0