Modding My latest mod... UPDATED 08/02/09 Watercooling

Over the last couple of months I've been working on my new computer and its finally getting somewhere near being completed so I thought I might post a couple of pics to show some of the more interesting parts of the mod. Just about everything is painted in matt black as I'm not a fan of overly flashy stuff. CPU cooling is two 120mm slow fans ducted over two HR-01Xs and then out the back, current temps are 37C for cpu0 and 22C for cpu1, load temps are under 40C. All the air intakes are filtered since its pretty dusty around here.



This is a plaque showing the main specs of my new machine, its etched into 2mm aluminium and then polished, not to a mirror shine just to a nice lustre.



This is the PSU intake duct, it also holds the power and reset switches. So far it only has the first couple of coats of paint on it as I haven't yet decided how I'm going to attach it, it has to be removable to allow access to the air filter for the PSU. It was made using fiberglass over a styrofoam plug with LOTS of sanding, filler and blasphemy.

As things progress ill post some more pics, I'm not going to make a project log because (A) its nearly finished and (2) I'm just too lazy to stop and take pics as I build bits.

If somebody's interested in a particular process I'll try and get more detailed photos

Moriquendi

 

Might i suggest a snap lock for your intake? think of it as a big gear with 3 or 4 teeth. make a plate like that and a similar cut in the top of the case. add a stop on one side by folding a piece of the gear cutout in a 90 degree angle. 3 mm should suffice for it. and be the same thickness as common acrylic.

 

nice intake....would of been good if you could have got an intake for this....

 

Nooooo! We NEED a project log!

 

Spaceraver, can you find a picture of what you're thinking of? im finding it a little hard to visualise but it sounds interesting.

Umm an intake for what??

Nexxo, sorry, it really is nearly finished and I haven't taken pics along the way so it would be a little pointless to do a project log, I will try and get photos of what's left to do. I had to get the computer working in a hurry over easter so that i could take it to uni where I cant work on it, because of that some bits are still quite rough.

Moriquendi

 

eh? you got a quadro and a geforce in there? how does that work? nice work btw, i'd love to see more of it!

 

I do a lot of CAD and gaming cards just dont cut it once you get to really complex models, i need the geforce too because i want to be able to play games at 2560x1600

Moriquendi

 

I think he's thinking of a twist lock type attachment. Your intake has a short, say 1/4 inch tube on the bottom. Say a 4 or 6 inch piece of pvc. It has three flat lugs sticking out horizontally at the bottom edge. Then on your case you have a matching hole, with matching holes that allow the lugs to pass through, but not at the same angle. So when you slide the intake into the hole, you twist it so it's straight and the lugs hold it in place.

 

Gotcha, a bayonet fitting. That might work quite well, ill have to check the clearance for the PSU, its only about 6mm below the top plate, certainly worth a look though thanks for the idea.

Moriquendi

 

That etched plate makes it a bugger if you want to upgrade, doesn't it?

 

Ill just etch a new one, it only takes 10 mins. Besides I dont upgrade that often and with a computer this powerful I wont need to upgrade for several years I hope.

Moriquendi

 

Bravo on the etched plate, looks great.

I'm planning on a similar plaque for my upcoming mod - only on copper instead of aluminum.

Could you be so kind as to fill me on the details of your etching technique?

 

That's what I thought he meant. For a pattern, look at the "cake box" packaging blank CDs & DVDs come in.

 

Awesome piece of design... I look forward to seeing how this ends up.

 

Sorry I've not been paying as much attention to this as I ought to, the good news is that I've been busy modding.

I have finished the duct mounting... Ill post pics later after I get the camera out. Unfortunately while doing the mounting the paint got buggered up so I'll have to redo that.

The etching is really really simple, laser print the image onto inkjet paper, iron onto alu, soak and peal off paper, touch up with permanent marker, dunk in ferric chloride for 5ish mins, rinse, sand, polish. I was thinking about the possibility of offering it as a service to modders but I think the mods might frown on that.

Moriquendi

 

can i ask what motherboard you got, and how much was it?

where you get your FX1500 from aswell, sell a kidney for it?

 

That duct is cool. It reminds me of a cartoon character, that has a sort of similarly shaped snorkel on his head... i forget who and from which cartoon I think the guy was a orange/tan color... someone will know maybe?

I'm curious, which brand & type of inkjet paper did you use?
Did the laser printer get damaged?
Any reside from the paper left in the printer, which then shows up on every following print?

As most inkjet paper that i've seen go through a laser printer melts, some more than others, damaging the printer, and then everyone is pissed cos someone messed it up. It's an awesome way to engrave something tho! I'll have to remember that, very good idea

 

Ive got a supermicro X7DWA, its got the 5400 chipset with separate 1600MHz fsbs (poor mans hypertransport if you ask me) and 1600MHz RAM. The FX1500 was a ebay jobbie, £120 , with the program I use (Inventor) there's almost no difference between the lowest end quadros and the highest end, however, I wanted something with dual link DVI and plenty of RAM bandwidth since I use 2560x1600 and 1600x1200, couldnt really do much better than the 1500 (it's a cut down geforce 7900).

I bought a cheap (£50) laser printer for myself so I could experiment with toner transfer for PCBs. I've had the best results with HP superior Paper 180 glossy, if you find an inkjet photo paper that's glossy on both sides there shouldnt be anything to melt in the printer, I've not had any problems so far.

Moriquendi

 

Thank you very much for the info.

Do you think this process would work on something as fine as the below design, or will I need to use a heavier type face?

click for big

 

I think you would need to use heavier type but there's no reason not to print it out and try, you must remember to mirror the image and invert the colours, anything without toner will be etched and become darker (the white bits in the image).

Photos of the duct.




Twist...


and release.


close up of the bayonet slots.


without filter, top of my HX620W.


three button head M3 stainless steel bolts engage in the slots, cables are for the switches.



Its all very ugly at the moment as I haven't got round to painting it again, the inside may stay ugly as its next to impossible to sand.

EDIT: I just found a couple of photos of the inside with the cpu duct, these are out of date now though as I've done more work on them.





Moriquendi