About a year ago I finished my first case mod called 'Project HourGlass' (link) and ever since have been wanting to do another one… This time around I am going to be modding a Thermaltake DH202 HTPC case so it can house a triple radiator amongst other things The theme is black and white and I will be using black coolant hence the name A massive thanks to my sponsors as they have been brilliant and I couldn’t do this project without them: These guys have some of the best service I have ever come across and coupled with this the best range of watercooling parts in the UK! Click here to go to their website Crucial, The Memory Experts Click here to go to their website Thermaltake Click here to go to their website! Bitspower Click here to go to their website On with the designs then : The case A shiny looking parcel arrived from Thermaltake containing the awesome looking DH202. A big thank you has to go to Jerry over at Thermaltake for this! The manual is HUGE! So many wires… The bezel (though quite hard to take off) looks stunning in my opinion! Here comes the dismantling: I have to remove the hard drive bay and find another way of mounting it so I can fit a long graphics card in the case It must have been my lucky day as my items from both Crucial AND Bitspower came today as well . Defiantly the best postage haul I’ve ever had Crucial kindly sent me 6 gig of Ballistix tracer ram 1600Mhz, thank you very much Joan! My memory hawg was happy Very soon I will get down to cutting, I am waiting on some needed tools (like dremel cutting discs!!) but thank you all for reading and I look forward to starting the mod.
Thanks a lot, yer they've been great, especially Ayd at specialtech. Those guys are ridiculously helpful! Haha I'll try and include it in every update if you like
A parts update time (all taken with my phone’s camera so please forgive quality!) Two more shiny packages were dropped off today (in a rather sketchy looking van) The smaller box contained a new copy of Windows 7: And the larger box contained something a lot more exiting… The new Asus Rampage Gene III (socket 1366 MATX) which if I’m correct isn’t yet on sale in the UK The motherboard in my opinion is awesome not just because it performs just as well and if not better than most ATX motherboards but because it comes with all the added features as well eg USB 3 and SATA 6Gbps. These are all the stock wires that I need to work out how to hide even before you add the PSU wires to the mix Thanks all
Don't you just love Asus's new design on these ROG boards? I know I love mine Looks like a cool build man, a little confused how you'll fit those tiny reservoirs(?) in above the mobo and still shut the case, but I suspect this is my own idiocy as I'm sure you have it planned xD
Yer the designs are sweet! It was just an idea of where to place them, I've been playing around with other options as well Sorry for the lack of update in a while, I have been stuck in Greece (literally!!) We were meant to be flying back with ‘easy’jet and they had booked 200 seats on a plane with 200 seats (sounds logical but keep reading) but easy jet being easyjet, they decided to save money by sending over a smaller plane with 30 less seats on it… So I lost my seat on the flight EVEN though I had already checked in online and the best that easyjet could do was say ‘sorry, you’re going to have to find your own way back.’ It was either that or wait 6 days and be put on the next easyjet flight home (which they couldn’t guarantee wouldn’t be full .) After much panic later I got back home after taking a nice detour to Billund, Denmark, which is such a nice airport btw . Soo back on the modding side of things I had two parcels waiting for me when I finally returned home: Dremel disks: Oh if you spotted the memory hogs in the background, that’s how bacon is made And a Powercolor ATI 5850: Thanks all
I had another package delivered today (the biggest yet ) from the awesome people over at Specialtech: Les contents of les package: The reason why I have to mount the hard drive cage in a different place: Where I am thinking of putting the cage and also the pump: The total space I can use for the rad and fans (with help from Mr. Hawg) Total space taken up by the rad and fans: Just enough space! The only problem is that the feet on the radiator stand stick out too much and take up to much space. I think it’s finally time to cut something The Hawgs saying farewell to their much beloved friends: Mr and Mrs Feet: Begging me not to be so cruel The cut feet: The total space between the mobo and the rad: The next problem was the radiator stand was to tall to allow the case to close so yet more cutting had to be done to it: The finished product: The Hawgs getting used to their new home: Space between the roof and the radiator: Tiny Fractal Design fans: So I have to big issues that I want to deal with tomorrow, the first being that if I have the rad grill exactly where the fan holes are, it will protrude over the top of the case but my thinking is that because the grill and the fans won’t be attached anyway I can just mount it like this: Thanks a lot
Just to say a massive thanks to EK waterblocks for sponsoring the project and offereing me a nice little discount on the needed blocks for the build. Another update will hopefully follow today as well
Sorry for the lack of update, I’ve just started a new job to try and fund my gap year so it’s a bit hectic at the moment (not that I’m different from anyone who has a 9-5 job, it just took me a little getting used to it ) So it was about gorram time I started cutting into the beautiful case, though I did hesitate a little but not enough for me to start I made a mock up of the roof and sides to get an idea of what the rad grill would look like: Happy with the results I started to mask up the case (with help from the Hawgs of course…) I can’t take them anywhere… Getting ready to cut: Safety first applied to everyone in the workshop! First cut: What the first cut did to my dremel disk: 35 dremel disks later, here is the finished cut: Fits quite nicely Thanks all for reading!
Did you seriously use 35 disks? You should but less pressure on the dremel, and let it do the cutting. Or buy some reinforced disks. The "quick" release disks are really good. (i can find a likn if you want?)
I did but I used damn cheap disks, about £1.50 for 36 so instead of quality I went for quantity . Took a long time (all the change overs) but I saved money which I need to do! I would love to use the quick release disks but I don't know if they are compatible with my rotary tool (not actually a dremel ).
Ahh! I see! but the dremel quick release "thing" can fit every rotary tool i think. There is no "special" mounting or such. I get the whole saving money.. but what about saving time? Time is money, at least in my life.
Lo all, its been a while, sorry for the no updates (or forum activity) my net has been absolutely fail for the past few weeks!! Anyway it has not been fun and I have a small update to make up for it. There will be a larger one to follow as the case is off to get sprayed very, very soon! A massive thanks to Bequiet! for sending me a gorgeous looking psu (the straight power 650w PSU.) Such good quality! < defiantly a good buy if you are looking for a new power supply: Also the rest of my watercooling gear has arrived: Like I said it is a small update, but at least I can FINALLY post an update…. More to come I promise .
