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Case Mod - In Progress Profect: Unsterbliche

Discussion in 'Project Logs' started by Gott-Maschine, 17 Aug 2008.

  1. Gott-Maschine

    Gott-Maschine I overheated my dremel and it died.

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    This will be my first true case mod. I have built 3 computers this year, but they all stopped at wire wrapping and lights, so I am very excited about this mod. I am posting this log a little late in the build, so I have a lot to post. Don't expect it all at once though, because there is a lot for me to write. Oh, and sorry for the misspelled Project in the thread name, lol. I'm not sure how to fix that.

    Okay, now, after spending 7 hours planning and picking out parts, I went with some pretty high performance parts from newegg. I got a DFI Lanparty 790FX-M2R mobo, an AMD Phenom 9950 black cpu, 4gb of OCZ Reaper ram, a lian li case, a WDC 500GB hdd, and an XFX nVidia Geforce GTX260 GPU. After ordering the parts, I hopped on over to Frozen Cpu and ordered a cpu and GPU block, as well as a passive cooling radiator/reserviour, and a pile of mod supplies.

    After i got the parts in 4 days later, I quickly began putting the system together for a test run to ensure I got no DOA's in my shipment.
    [​IMG]OCZ Reaper Ram sticks
    [​IMG]The GPU

    [​IMG]The ZALMAN Modular 850W psu
    [​IMG]Obvious...
    [​IMG]Heres a shot of the pandemonium infesting the pool table in my living room.
    [​IMG]I took out the old HDD bracket and ground off the rivets for its mount, and installed the Lian Li CD-Drive HDD mounting bracket. Its a handy addition, and it saves a lot of space in the case for my watercooling pump.
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    [​IMG]with the HDD installed.
    [​IMG]The Phenom just before installation.
    [​IMG]installing my ram and the cpu.
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    Okay, now, I didn't take any more pics until I had finished installing windows/drivers, etc. and taken the system apart again. I also wasn't able to get the camera for the first mod, but it's okay, it wasn't much anyways. I found out to my surprise, that my CPU waterblock didn't come with a backplate, and the one that came with the standard AM2/AM2+ mounting bracket had screw pegs that were too long to mount my block on to. I quickly solved this by grinding each peg down about 3mm so they would sit flush with the mobo's surface, allowing me to screw on the mounting assembly for my CPU block, and ultimately, the block itself.
    [​IMG]Here it is with the Koolance 1/2 by 5/8 compression fittings.
    Next I had to take the air-block off of my GTX-260. In order to do this, I had to commit a sin in my opinion. The screws holding the backplate on were under the sticker applied to the backplate. In order to get to them, I had to peel off the sticker, which never comes off clean, and it always ruins the sticker.
    [​IMG]Once it was off, and the screws were out, i had to carefully use a flathead scredriver to pry the backplate from the airblock. They use very fragile clips inside the shell to hold the peices together, and if you aren't careful, they will break easily, luckily, none of mine broke.
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    [​IMG]The GPU cpu after cleaning. I didnt get to use the camera while I was mounting the EK waterblock to the GPU, but there are plenty of later pics showing it.
    [​IMG]The pump being set up in the case.
    Next I began cutting anti-kink coiling and tubing for the liquid cooling system. It was around this time that I dicovered my fittings did not fit my tubing. ONOES! I quickly got on FrozenCpu and looked to see how this was possible, I soon discovered that the website did not say what OD the fittings took, so I looked around a few modding forums to find out what was going on. After about 30 minutes of searching, I found a post talking about the same problem I had, and it was warning people that the fittings sold were 5/8ths. so, I next day air-mailed 10 feet of 5/8ths tubing so I could continue. Along with this order, I added some silver modders mesh to help me add some coolness points to the build.
    [​IMG]A little anti-kink action going on here.
    [​IMG]Another angle.
    [​IMG]The exit line going to the radiator.
    [​IMG]A nice full shot before I put in the entry line.
    [​IMG]The radiator connecting to the lines during bubble removal.
    [​IMG]Entry and exit lines.
    [​IMG]A nice full shot of the system.
    [​IMG]A different angle.
     
    Last edited: 17 Aug 2008
  2. Pfaffen

    Pfaffen What's a Dremel?

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    Some nice equipment there. Do you have any sketches of your design?
     
  3. Gott-Maschine

    Gott-Maschine I overheated my dremel and it died.

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    No, I really just took a pen, sat down with my brother (A professional coder, and my personal Techie) and began to do really crappy outlines pretty much showing some curves and ideas, but nothing finalized. This mod has evolved massively since I began. Right now, it is a BEAST compared to the original plan.

    And here is some more for your general perusal:
    [​IMG]The watercooling system was built to be completely removable from the case in one solid piece with no cutting or removal of zipties, etc.
    [​IMG]Another angle.
    [​IMG]A back view of the system in the frame before filling and de-bubbling.
    [​IMG]A big beautiful square of modder's mesh.

    I then started to make a piece of mesh that would fill in the space behing the cd drive, under the psu, etc. This involved the usage of furniture, hurt hands, hammers, etc., as I have no metal bender available up here in SC. Soon I will be back in good ole' Florida where I have a full machine shop at my disposal. I didn't get any shots of the metalworking on this part mainly due to the agonizing desire to see it in place in the frame, lol, you didn't miss much anyways.
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    [​IMG]It didn't have any holes for any cables, and I wasn't just gonna carve a big hole in it, I decided to make it custom for each cable used, so I began a slow process of drilling and dremeling out holes, and then wrapping and replacing the black wire wrap with the new orange wire wrap.
    [​IMG]I found a nice use for the rubber that Lian-Li employs on their cases to prevent people from cutting their hands on the somewhat sharp edges of the PSU/CD drive tray. It makes excellent edging for the jagged and sharp holes I had cut in the metal, preventing my wire wrap jobs from being damaged. This here hole is for the twin 6-Pin PCI power cables used by my GPU.
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    A nice shot of the heat shrink on my kick@$$ wire wrap job.
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]Sata Port Dremel cut and rubber edged...

    [​IMG]
    Then I went ahead and made a nice modders mesh enclosure for my pump, and switch wiring. It took about 1o minutes to get it perfect, so I didn't bother taking pictures of me making it.
    [​IMG]

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    [​IMG] A nice one showing the 8 pin CPU power cable coming in through its own port in the mesh wall.
     
    Last edited: 17 Aug 2008
  4. _-..zKiLLA..-_

    _-..zKiLLA..-_ What's a Dremel?

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    what is that heatsink comin out the back?? lol
     
  5. Gott-Maschine

    Gott-Maschine I overheated my dremel and it died.

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    Yeah, it's a trans-piper. Came with the Mobo. Gets pretty hot too, so I know it's taking heat from my chipset to keep it nice and cool!.:D
     
  6. Cigano

    Cigano \O/

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    Great hardware, I would be with one of those very happy at the moment, gotei of your case.
    What pretente modify it?

    Good luck!
     
  7. Gott-Maschine

    Gott-Maschine I overheated my dremel and it died.

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    Thanks for the luck, I'm actually on the Computer right now, it is actually all but finished. I just have to finish cleaning it out, polish to a mirror, and mount some fans on the radiator/reservoir to help it keep cool. That cpu and gpu get HOT! In the test run, it went up 2 degrees C every 10 minutes, and it didn't stop until 65. I took off the case door, and piled up 3 80mm and brought everything, chipset and all to the mid 30's. Im gonna mount them all on to the radiator, and one inside the case facing the chipset to help keep the temp down.

    By the way, I'm constantly uploading pics, so check in often, and thanks for stopping by!

    Have some more eye candy...

    [​IMG]Running the SATA cables behind the mobo tray, and into a hole on the side to increase uberness.
    [​IMG]I took the fan control for the twin front 80mm fans and put it on the side, so it is hidden by the door, and the cables are no lonf=ger sagging around in the front of my case.
    [​IMG]another view of the SATA cables.
    [​IMG]A nice hole for the ATX power cable.
    [​IMG]Wire wrapping the front USB port cables
    [​IMG]Wire wrapping the front LED, power, and reset cables.
    [​IMG]Another shot...
    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]Inside the wiring monstrosity I call my command center.
    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]Here's a nice pic of me polishing the floor of the case a little bit.


    Okayyy... I just uploaded some more pics showing the CURRENT state of the comp to photobucket. I know you're gonna like these, except for the 80mm fans, lol.

    [​IMG] My wiring setup in the top.
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    [​IMG] Lol, got a snippet of my brother in that pic.

    [​IMG]

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    [​IMG]

    More on another post...
     
    Last edited: 17 Aug 2008
  8. Gott-Maschine

    Gott-Maschine I overheated my dremel and it died.

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    Some night shots!!!

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    I'm liking this mod so far, I can't wait to fire up the Dremel later today after the sun has come up, and I have slept longer than 5 hours...
     
  9. Gott-Maschine

    Gott-Maschine I overheated my dremel and it died.

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    Here's some pics of an 80mm fan I'm mounting on top of my comp to help cool the radiator/reservoir.

    [​IMG]Gotta love that modder's mesh...
    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]I know, duct tape, lol. It provides a clean and solid surface to glue a fan to.

    [​IMG]Here it is finished on top of the case.

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    [​IMG]And don't you worry about the unwrapped wires on those fans, they will soon be wrapped and routed through the case in a nice clean fashion.
     
    Last edited: 18 Aug 2008
  10. Farmboy UK

    Farmboy UK Hungry for knowledge

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    Good useage of modders mesh. I'm not so sure about the intake on the top of the case but good work
     
  11. Gott-Maschine

    Gott-Maschine I overheated my dremel and it died.

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    Lol, Ty for the compliement. And, I hate the fan too. The cpu just runs too hot, and the budget fell through when I was ordering the cooling system parts, so I didn't go with a dual 120mm rad. So I have to put a fan on top to blow air on to the Radiator to help cool it down. I only made the mesh because it would look odd hadving an 80mm fan sitting on top of the case. Lol, but thanks for the input; I thrive on it.
     
  12. badders

    badders Neuken in de Keuken

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    Nice build!

    I was a excited when I thought you were going to be using Wire Wrap - but got disappointed when I realied you meant sleeving your existing cables!
     
  13. Gott-Maschine

    Gott-Maschine I overheated my dremel and it died.

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    I've never even heard of the method of "Wire wrap" you spoke of before, it's actually interesting. How does that work exactly?
     
    Last edited: 18 Aug 2008
  14. _-..zKiLLA..-_

    _-..zKiLLA..-_ What's a Dremel?

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    XFX AMD BOARD?!?! since when?? they have 2 on newegg but i cant find yours anywhere, where'd u get it?
     
  15. bentleya

    bentleya Lian Li Snail :)

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    thats a DFI lan party board :D
     
  16. Gott-Maschine

    Gott-Maschine I overheated my dremel and it died.

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    The GPU is XFX, and the mobo is a DFI Lanparty 790FX-M2R.
     
  17. Gott-Maschine

    Gott-Maschine I overheated my dremel and it died.

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    UPDATE!!! YAY!

    I been polishing for around an hour straight with brasso, then on to Mothers brand carnauba wax... I think it makes a lot of difference having the wax finish on there.
    [​IMG]

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    Last edited: 20 Aug 2008
  18. The boy 4rm oz

    The boy 4rm oz Project: Elegant-Li

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    This is looking great. Some nice tech you got there. The blue and orange goes really well together.
     
  19. Gott-Maschine

    Gott-Maschine I overheated my dremel and it died.

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    Thanks! I was really hoping this mod would turn out looking good, and luckily for me, it did. I am pretty much done now, and I'm going to post the final glamor shots of it today sometime.
     
  20. tinytomlogan

    tinytomlogan Time To Live Customs

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    Id love to know your temps on the kit, Id never have not used a rad!!
     
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