Case Mod - In Progress [ Projekt Midnite ]

:: update ::

3/29/11

Scroll to the bottom, I have the GPU loop filled and leak tested, and we are in the last leg of this project!



this is a worklog of some mods that I have done to my Antec 1200 chassis, along with the second round of mods that I am doing to it.

Pix:







































































Next round of modding is off, unfortunately not too much to see here except for prepping the used waterblocks for my GPUs. When the original owner sent them to me he just pulled them from his loop and unfortunately did not dry them completely, so by the time they arrived from canada, they had corrosion on them in the waterpath. After doing some research online I decided to dip them in a solution of distilled corn vinegar/salt for a few hours, and since I had them apart I decided to clean the acrylic tops while I was at it.





A new shipment from DD:



a picture of the re-assembled waterblock, all clean and shiny!



and one of the new res!



I am really impressed with the build quality of DD's res, it seems to be a solid contender for cylindrical reservoirs everywhere. I am really digging the industrial look of it, the pictures on DD's website did not do it justice. If the res came in a greater size, I may have been swayed to change out my other res to match this one. I am hoping to get some work in on this this weekend, but alas I still need paint and some misc supplies to begin... My old dremel died and I am having a hard time convincing myself to buy another. Any suggestions on a dremel?

The last shipment came in today:



but the fans being white, that will never do!





painting time!



before and after:



and the fan frame unmasked:



and the finished fan:



and the finished fans:



up next the second rad, some teasers:

 

I like this, it is simple and it does look nice.

 

looking good man! keep up the good work!

 

thanks, still working on the second portion of the mod, as I can. I am going to paint the chassis in two tone, and add in the second loop. I am going to top mount the second rad outside the chassis, but cut into the top of the chassis for a semi-flush mount with the fans sticking out. Then the second cylindrical res will be mounted to the back of the chassis to take advantage of the look that I already have going for it. I also have a monster cable sleeving job to do and then cable management. The first mod was nice, but I never got around to managing it.

 

update 11/15/10

I managed to get a little more of the work done this weekend, and the results are turning out pretty well.

The painting continues:





Kinda, skitzo but I decided to take a break from the painting and put the waterblocks on my vid cards:



Removing the screws from the HSF on the vid card:



Backplate off:



Then the HSF itself:



Thats a lot of hsf compound baked on there...time to clean it off!



and after:



with the waterblock installed:



with the backplate on for the rear ram modules:



and both cards completed:



the dis-assembly of the main rig begins:



I love my antec 1200, but I was surprised at how dusty it had become in only a year or so of operation:



removing the old "stock" fans:



dust, dust, dust:



with most of the hardware out of it:



the project has taken over the kitchen (due to a lack of garage):



stripped out ready for drilling:





flushing a year's worth of crud out of the primary loop's rad:



I don't know what all this stuff is, but I noticed it accumulating over time, and will have to flush it as well:



the drilling has begun!







ready for paint:





sanded down, and a couple coats of high gloss black later:



and a little teaser mock up while I wait for it all to dry:



What do y'all think?

 

update 12/6/10

It has been a while since my last update, but a lot of progress has been made. The project is really starting to shape up.

Beginning to measure for the top mount radiator portion of this mod:





Dremel time!



Of course post dremel we had to deburr the edges etc...



Then it was time to start fabricating a bracket out of aluminum for the back of the chassis to hold the radiator:





A little more bending:



The final bracket (pre-paint):



The radiator mocked up with the bracket in place:



Note the recess, it will look nice once the plastic trim pieces are back on the chassis.



Then it was on to painting the chassis:









on to some of the results!





In the back of the next picture, you can see the side panel with the beginning of two tone paint that will be under the plexi-glass window.





After the paint dried and the enamel was given a chance to harden out in the sun, it was time to rivet the whole thing back together:



A picture of the back of the case with one of the previously painted fans installed:



With the two-tone side panel installed:



With some of the hardware installed:



With the fans and dust-guards installed on the top radiator:



Finally a teaser with the plastic trim pieces mocked up, (I still have to install the buttons in the top piece before I finish mounting it in place):



The top piece also still needs the honeycomb mesh reinstalled, but this should give y'all an idea of how this will look:

 

Looks good, the paint is nicely done.

 

thanks for the compliment, once the whole thing is finished I will post up some more professional looking pictures from a nicer camera.

 

I have been very busy lately, but I have managed to get one of the loops plumbed out and some of the cable management done. Pix to follow.

 

I love the fans, this is a great colour. I'll be keeping my eye on this.

 

Put the 3x120mm fans on the top as pull, and get rid of those noisemakers and instal some
black Wirefangaurds.

Heath go up

 

I've used grommets to guard against noise from the fan guards on top, so I dont believe there will be much noise from them. Also I have 3X120mm in front of the chassis in push, 3X120mm fans on top in push, and 2x120mm Fans in back in pull. I believe this will provide good ventilation of the chassis and also maintain positive air pressure inside the chassis. Also Wire fan guards on top of this project I think would detract from the overall honeycomb look that I am going for.

 

The sleeving is off and running as well, but I am trying to figure out how to get everything even:





Got the plumbing done:

 

Update 3.28.11

I know that I haven't been on here much, but with travel for work and some honey do's checked off my list, I finally managed to put some more work into this project. I finished sleeving the PSU, my fittings etc finally came in, and I plumbed both loops. I also installed lighting and an SSD.



A closer look at the sleeved PSU:



A different look at the plumbing...



A better look at the res on the back...I'm digging the industrial look that is begining to shape up:

 

looking good so far, but don't neglect the light when taking your photos. some of them are really dark and hard to make out with the dark color scheme. the colors really do work well though, definitely does make me think night sky. if you're looking for a little bling, a led array of a constellation might make a neat addition.

 

Thanks for the update, I think I may do a constellation in the side panel with LEDs, I think that may be the final thing this project needs. Thanks for the kind words, I took some additional pictures last night when I was leak testing the GPU loop just for you .

I went ahead and filled one of the loops last night and leak tested it. Good to know one of the loops is leak free and looking good. Only issue was with the rad at the top of the loop it was a bit of a pain to get it bled and air free.







I know I need to cable manage the front of the chassis, I haven't decided whether to sleeve the cables or to just hide them.

 

I must say that I am very impressed with Koolance customer service, I ordered two sets of QDC's from them yesterday only to receive a phone call today from them letting me know that I had ordered one side of the QDC's that was incompatible with the other side. They helped me change my order and got it processed. This saved me having to pay return shipping and it keeps the project going on track. I am very impressed with their customer service. Would definitely recommend doing business with them.

 

Well from the [H]ardOCP AMD Gaming experience, I won some gear so it was time to update the beast.



Never thought I'd see the day that my trusty 680i SLI was not in my rig...tear..oh well out with the old in with the new.



So shiny:



Tearing apart my 6950 in preparation for the DangerDen waterblock that should be showing up today:





Should also have a new top coming in for my DD TDX which should change it from 775 to AM3+ retention. The only thing I don't like about this Asus Sabertooth 990fx is that no one is making chipset or mosfet waterblocks for it, and then the HSF on those items is some weird kind of ceramic coating which wont take to anodizing. Any ideas for changing the color of the heatsinks? I know it is minor, but the aesthetic of this build is blue/black.

 

Continuing where I left off the other day:

The waterblock from DangerDen arrived, and yes it is designed for the 6870, but the layout and screw pattern for this MSI twin frozr II 6950 is identical to that of a reference 6870. I got the waterblock installed no problem:



You can also see my two old 260's, due to their age and a lack of interest in the FS thread, I think I am going to use one of them in this build for a hybrid physX setup.

I also went ahead and swapped out the 775 top for the AM3 top that DD was kind enough to send me. I was a little disappointed in the customer service received from DangerDen through email when I was researching this build and asking them about their products, this has not been my experience in the past and maybe they were just busy. The products arrived with excellent fit and finish and went together no problems. I also really appreciate that DD isn't like some of the other manufacturers in that my TDX waterblock will fit different sockets with only changing the top so I dont have to buy a new block everytime I swap mobo/cpu.



If you recall the second pump for the second loop was up at the top of the chassis, I'm not quite sure why I located it there the first time I build this machine, but it has bothered me since I built it, so I decided to move it from here:



to here:

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I think once I get everything plumbed it will be an excellent location for the second pump.

Now that everything is plumbed and squared away, time to leak test this rig!







I still need to cable manage the case, finish sleeving some things, and I also have a very interesting idea with some LED's I'm going to solder up, so I'm still quite a long way from done with this round of modding so stay tuned!

 

update NEW pix!

We have another round of pictures, this project is beginning to draw to a close. Love the [H]ard swag!

I soldered some resistors to LEDs that I am going to run off the 5V rail of a standard 4 pin molex connector, here they are mocked up. I am trying to light up the lucite since DD support was unable to provide me with blue lucite:



A little different shot for a better idea:



A night shot of the effect:



A picture of the LEDs before sleeving:



After sleeving the LEDs and getting them in place, also did a bit more cable management with zip ties:



Then the first power up:



another shot:



lights on:



one more:



I still have a few things that need to be done prior to putting the side panel back on and finishing up this mod/upgrade, stay tuned for more updates!