Feeding Frenzy: Moved to new format 9-22-05

Well all good things must come to an end and so this thread is going bye-bye. This is my last post here as I have moved all applicable posts to the new format located here.

There is also a new comments thread located here.

Thanks to all who have encouraged me, constructively criticized me, and prodded me along. I hope to see you all in the new comments thread.

Thanks again,
Top Nurse

***************************************************************


Okay I guess after all the pushing and prodding I should start a project log for my latest creation. So I have decided to call my project "Feeding Frenzy" and if you can't figure out why you will by the end of the finishing touches.

So what I am doing started out with a hybrid DIY/Koolance design in a Lian-Li PC-601B case. You can see what I was originally doing at my home page. Got a little crowded so I then went to a V1200 case, which I became unhappy with. So now I am doing a Lian-Li V2000 black case and mostly Aqua Computer parts. I don't have any stock photos of what it originally looked like so visit the Lian-Li site if that interests ya. I also was originally going to do one loop, but it seemed more fun to do 2 loops. Now I am going with three loops

So here are a couple of pics to tantalize your taste buds:


This was the initial AC order I received back in April 05. Since then I went hog wild.

 

Forgot to mention what I'm doing in the way of computer components

Asus A8N-SLI
Winchester OEM 3500
Two sticks of matched 512 MB of Corsair XMS 3200XL Pro (with the LED lights)
Two Asus 6600GT's
Promise FastTrak S150 SX4 Raid 5 controller
Sound Blaster Audigy
Three 74Gb and two 36Gb WD Raptor drives
Pioneer DVR-109 DVD-RW
Lite-On DVD ROM
Lian-Li card drive
PCP&C 510 SLI

 

Woot! First! Yeah I can't wait to see how this turns out! Three loops! This better be un-be-f***ing-lievable.

-Rob

 

Thanks for the nice comment! But as they say, you haven't seen nothing yet. And this IS going to F Fantastic by the time I get done with all this

Well the first thing that changed for me was that I ditched the Aqua Computer Evo 240 radiator. It's a nice radiator and if I had the room I might have used it. So I decided that some BI pro's were in order. You will see as I go that my main emphasis is on using the geometry of the case to my best abilities. IOW I don't just start cutting stuff, but think about how I can do the most with the case and retain the natural lines of the V series cases.

So the first radiator to go in was in the front bottom of the case. This was a natural as there was already a 120mm fan sitting there. But would it fit without taking the front HD rack out? I am not sure how many HD's I am going to put in so I was determined to do what I could to make it fit.

It is always a good idea when doing these kinds of projects to put the motherboard in to get the proper perspective:



So here was my first go at getting the radiator into the stock fan mount:



I drilled all the way through the radiator core and this fan is mounted to the radiator by use of some 6-32 x 2" round head machine screws. The fan is then mounted to the stock fan mount with 6-32 x 1/2" button head socket cap stainless steel screws, washers, and nuts. I also put in a Vantec 120mm fan gasket for vibration issues and better air flow. Here you can see it in the case:



Here are a couple of close up pics of the mounting details:





Yeah it is definitely a close fit and it does bow the front HD rack a tiny bit, but the HD's can still be put in without to much trouble. If I can mount with some flat head machine screws I might be able to clear everything. While it may seem that there won't be good air flow I should note that the airflow is from the front of the case going to the HD area. The HD racks have lots of holes in them and it doesn't seem to be a problem. However, there was one problem that you will see in the next pic.



The Acoustifan logo does not fit my motif and it sticks out enough that it does not allow the fan to be laid flat against another surface. So being the intrepid soul that I am I decided to blow the warranty away and take off the metal plate, which you can see here:



Well this was a bit better, it wasn't quite what I had in mind. So off I went to my favorite computer modding store: Staples Office Supply After roaming the isles a while I finally found what I needed. Some large black vinyl lettering sets. The middle of the # 6 was perfect for my purposes of having a nice basic black with a little trimming with an X-acto blade:



So things are shaping up, but those red, black, and white wires got to go as well. Still thinking about what I will do here because they kind of glued them into the channel

 

Well I have decided to put off the fixing of the wiring on the fans till I get further into the project and do all the cable sleeving and custom wiring.

So I guess it is time to do some more case drilling. I have never been to enthused about putting my computer on it's back to fill a horizontally mounted Aquatube. So the perfect solution seems to be a Danger Den Fillport that allows me to bleed and fill the GPU loop from a normal position outside the case.


BTW, did I mention that there are three BI Pro's going in to this case? I suppose some are wondering why I would put three (3) 120's in when I obviously have the room for one 360, correct? The reason is that I wanted to maximize the use of all my PCI slots and 5 1/4" slots as well. The way the top mounted grill is set in it does a lot of important things. It allows me to use all my 5 1/4" slots AND I have full use of all my PCI slots as well. Due to the case design it also makes it really simple to hide a great deal of the wiring and plumbing in the top of the case to boot.

So here is a pic of the hole for the Fillport and the hole I cut for the top mounted BI Pro rad:



You can see a couple of holes I also drilled in the middle case partition. Now I wonder what those could be for? Here is the AC Evo grill in and the Fillport:



The brass Fillport plug will eventually have a satin nickel plate applied to it.

 

Looking nice so far, simple and clean.
I'm trying to work out how to use a BIX with AC stuff, what fittings/tubing are you planning on using?

 

Thanks for the nice words. Yeah there will be no UV or silly neon lights in this case, but there will be some lights...

Well it depends on what BIX you use. If you are using a Danger Den rad then you have some problems as they use NPT threads. I used Asetek supplied BI rads because they come with BSPP fittings. That way all the stock AC or Legris fittings can be used. I have been using straight, 90*, and 45* fittings depending on where it is going in the case and what it is doing. I'm currently working with the black AC tubing for the 8mm/6mm push-fits.

 

Okay here is the reason for that big ole hole you saw in the above pic. This is an Aqua Computer Aquatube. I decided on using the silver tube with a black mounting plate as it gave a nice distinctive flair to the install. As you probably notice there is no AC logo on this plate. I did that because I wanted the fittings to be pointing to the side of the case that won't have a window and I really don't want AC's name all over my case as I have something special planned with the AC logo down the line.



Well it is off to the store to get some more button head sockets. You can also see the hard drives below and a trial fit of the AC Cuplex XT. The PSU wire is just for show as it makes a major disappearance down the line.



Here you can see the trial fit of the Asus 6600 GT's with the AC TwinPlex GPU cooler.





Just a few more pics of the bottom of the Aquatube mounted in the middle case partition. I can see that my Dremel cut-off saw is going to have to put in another star performance in cutting those screws down to size.



Another view of the Aquatube looking towards the back of the case, which brings us to the installation of the rear mounted radiator.

 

ohhh, love where you located the aquatube!

 

Thanks! I was originally planning on putting a BI Dual 80 rad in the back of the Aquatube just above the PSU, but due to some last minute changes with the back mounted radiator it appears that won't be happening. Now if I can find a nice thin dual 80 radiator it might still be possible.

 

Well decided to take some time out from doing case work. You can only breathe in so much aluminum dust at a time. So I decided to do some work on my front mounted Aquatube in an AquaBay AT:



The center mounted fitting is for the return line and the one to the left is for the Danger Den Fillport. On the right side I put in a LED mount. Not positive what I am going to do with that one yet, but it is difficult to put it in after you fill with H20.



As you can tell this one is all black because the whole front of the case is black. So no contrasting look is possible here. Looks like another trip to McMaster Carr for some more metric buttonhead socket screws.



You can see that my Dremel tool cut-off saw has been busy again cutting screws on the Aquastream mount.



Top view of the GPU cooling sub-assembly. The two LED mounts on the left side will be for the Aquaero Vario-LED assembly. Color of coolant will be green at start-up, yellow at normal temps, and red if it gets to hot. I was thinking of using the back LED mount for a flashing white strobe LED in case I get critical temps. The reason I side mounted the Vario-LED assembly was so that I got a nice subdued coolant color and no bright lights pointing out the front of the case.





The clear tube goes to the DD Fillport. Will probably change that to black as well once my Mazzer PUR tubing arrives. The screws you see on the back pump mount will be cut off later on, like the front ones already are.

 

Looking good, i'll be watching this one.
Can you explain the loops please? Like what does what and so on

 

Looking great so far bro.

 

Welcome to the LL-Vseries mod club Top Nurse. Looking good so far.
Lots of Aqua-Computer gear..I like it.. I have a DD fill port as well (for yet another project). I think I know how you plan to use it. I wonder why they did not paint the fill ports screw to match the retaining rings color? Shame on Danger Den...

 

The top mounted loop consists of the front mounted Aquatube in an AquaBay AT and the Aquastream is mounted to the back of the AquaBay. I also have a temp sensor in the return line. The top mounted BI Pro feeds the two GPU's cooled by a pair of AC TwinPlex's.

The middle loop cools the CPU and NB with a Cuplex XT and another TwinPlex respectively. This loop uses the back mounted BI Pro and the Aquatube mounted in the middle case partition as seen in the pics. The pump has not been decided on as yet as I am wavering between another Aquastream or a Laing DDC with a Watercool plexi top.

The front mounted BI pro is used to cool all the WD Raptor drives I am putting in and will use an Aquastream and one of the clear plexi AC add-on reservoir tanks. More pics today of the top mounted loop

 

I was thinking recently that I should see if I can get stock in Sharka or AC lol. I almost didn't buy the Fillport because of that brass look, but it was going to be too much trouble to make my own, but maybe a little custom lathe work might be in the cards soon.

The Fillport was going to be used to hook directly to the front mounted Aquatube, but I have been thinking lately that I would like to be able to fill and bleed all three loops from the same Fillport.

I'm totally amazed that I made the front page of [H]ardOCP today under [H]ardForum [H]appenings.

 

All right for today we are back to working on my Alzheimer's program of breathing aluminum dust. All kidding aside I wear a mouth/nose respirator whenever I am cutting aluminum and safety glasses over my reading glasses.

So after getting some experience with the top and front mounted radiators I decided to do it a bit different. First change was getting away from the cut-off saw and cut with a jig saw. This was a lot faster, but I still had to do some detail work with the Dremel.

Here we are looking forward and I also decided that reaching around with my fingers to install the grill was a major PITA. So I drilled and tapped for 8-32 threads in the four corners.




This pic is looking down towards the case partition. Hey what is that crazy woman doing now with that blue thingy? Not another hole



Bottom's up Here you can see the grill I put in top of the case and the DD Fillport.



Now what could that hole be possibly for? And what the heck is that blue thing over on the left?


Here is the back of the grill installed. This fan got the vinyl patch as well and the wires will be worked on later as I red, white, and black don't make it IMHO. Hmmm....looks like I need another application of SS polish.

 

goodjob sofar.

i almost got that case.

 

Well go back and get it

 

This sounds great.
Looking forward to see more