Case Mod - In Progress Arctic Storm - CM690 II Advanced

Previously i was the kind of person who didnt care how a computer looked as long as it performed the job i wanted it to do.

That all changed when i got my first iMac, a 27" all in one pc when i brought this i thought i would never touch a PC again, until i tried gaming on it.

I built up this PC using a HAF 932 case which has a great amount of space inside it but looks is definately not it's strong point.

Enter the Coolermaster CM 690 II Advanced - White edition Coolermaster CM 690 II Advanced - White edition


The Build Consists of the following parts:

Case: CoolerMaster CM 690 II Advanced White
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD3R Motherboard Rev2
CPU: Intel i7 950 @ 4.01Ghz for now, will push further once water is installed.
RAM: 6GB Crucial Ballistix DDR3 1600mhz @ 1910Mhz
GPU: 2x VTX3D AMD 6950 2GB flashed to 6970 Bios
PSU: Antec TruePower Quattro 850W
SSD: OCZ Vertex 2 120gb
Hdd: Seagate 640gb 7200rpm
Screen: 27" Apple Cinema Display - 2560x1440px
Current cooling: Corsair H70 with 2x 1850 Scythe Gentle typhoons in push / pull config.
Accessories: Logitech G19 keyboard, Logitech G9X mouse, Logitech G35 Headset, Logitech Z5500


Goal: I want to create a watercooled PC with a white and blue theme throughout the whole case.
The PSU colour scheme will be changed from black and yellow to a white base with Blue stripes to match in with the rest of the build.

Cables will all be individually sleeved in blue and white colour scheme from a new supplier that i have recieved sponsorship from

It Begins!
The always excellent packaging from local Australian Store Pc Case Gear.


Transfer of parts from Haf932 to Whitey.


Even the Hard drive bays are white, the white 2.5" bay is a nice addition and saves me painting the OCZ adaptor.


6950 flashed to 6970's


Powersupply


Current cooling which will be replaced by full watercool setup.


Blue Led case fans - these will be replaced with discrete lighting to feature certain parts of the build later on.

 

First update:

I designed the cover for my Antec power supply today.
I was originally going to pull apart the psu and paint the cover white with blue stripe but decided for warranty purposes i would cover it in a white and blue vinyl.

I wanted to keep the same design from the Antec psu but invert the colours.



Originally I tried vinyl wrapping the psu but it was near impossible to get it looking right with all the tiny vent holes in the rear of the psu.

I decided that since i am sleeving the cables anyway my warranty would be void so i opened it up and painted it a flat white colour and then applied a vinyl blue decal to match the standard yellow one.

As Always, here are the pics:

Psu pulled apart and covered to avoid overspray and given a light sand:



After a few light coats of paint it started to come along:


Vinyl decal applied:


Final result mounted in the case:


Cable Management:

 

wow love how the power supply came out looks sick. You going to do the same with the graphics card?

 

Oooo yes White 'n' blue graphics card would look niceeee

 

That case looks great... I REALLY want one now.

Mod is looking nice, like what you've done with the psu. Interested to see what you do next with the other hardware to match.

 

Nice job. The psu looks so good. I had the first revision of the cm690 and it was a good case. I did a couple of mods to mine before i changed it. The 690 is so good for modding.

 

White CM690!
Very nice!I'll be watching.

 

+1! That would look SICK!

 

Looking forward to more, do the graphics cards blue as suggested! Subbed.

 

Thanks everyone for the support!

As for painting the video cards white and blue I have an idea for them but I am fitting full waterblocks to them also.


Okay here's a big update for everyone:

I now have most of the watercooling parts which consists of:

2x XSPC RX240 Radiators
2x EK 6970 Nickel acetal full cover blocks
2x EX 6970 Back plates
4x Gentle Typhoon 1850rpm fans, with another 4 possible for push pull config.
1x Swiftech MCP655 variable pump
1x Dual XSPC bay res.
1x Heatkiller 3.0 CU 1366 waterblock - this was second hand and am not happy with the finish of it so it will be replaced with something alot nicer which is on the way
1x Heatkiller S1366 Backplate

Still Waiting on the fittings and tubing from Performance Pc's but i have chosen to go with Blue Primochil tubing to complement the build.

Here are the images along with my trustee assistant modder Sackboy:






Please excuse the bad photo but this is my first task to overcome:
the PSU it soo long when I have the modular cables plugged in, but I will either raise the radiator up using custom white stands, or cut into the front support and mount the radiator 15mm further to the front.



Fitting the XSPC Dual Bay Res
I decided to cut off the bottom stands of the case to make it easier to mount the res. So I made sure to seal off the rest of the case so no metal filings could escape.


No more tab:


Test fit out in the wilderness:


Another image with all the drive bay covers:


Random Image of the EK 6970 back plates - these will be painted white with blue decal to match the psu


I will be doing more work this weekend with a friend and will start mounting the radiators so I will be sure to take pics to keep everyone updated.

 

Sweet job!

Awesome

 

Yay sackboy! Coming along nicely.

 

Awesome results man, I look forward to seeing what comes next!

 

Ok massive update from the last week.

With the help of my friend Aokman we managed to get through most of the modding needed to get the system up and running.

Firstly i painted the two RX240 radiators and the two EK 6970 backplates:
I managed to convince my GF to help me out at the painting stage


I will be applying some sort of blue decal to parts of this to match the power supply but i am unsure where at the moment.

Next i painted my Gentle Typhoon 1850rpm fans.
Unfortunately i did most of the work on them the previous night and my camera was flat.
I used white vinyl dye to paint the fan blades and then used the same white paint i used for the radiators on the outer shrouds.
We also rewired the fans so they only had white wires which neatened the fans up alot!





Now for the cutting:
It was always going to be quite a challenge to fit 2x RX240 Radiators within the CM 690 II but that didnt stop us.

Removal and masking of the top panel:



Continued next post...

 

Cleaning up the top panel:
Before cutting we centered the res:




Test fitting the radiator behind the mesh:


Masking the top mesh to cut out for fans.


Aokman doing his thing with the dremel:
Not one slip or broken cutting disk the whole day!


Final result:


Now that the top panel was cut we needed to cut into the actual chassis to allow the radiator to fit.


Test fitting the Motherboard to determine clearance:

The radiator fits perfectly with a fair bit of clearance from the motherboard which is great.

 

Now time to attach the fans to the top of the case and mount the radiator:
Due to space limitations i decided the fans would be mounted on top of the case.
At this stage i decided against fan grills as i quite like the look of the fans spinning.



As we has swapped the wires for white we decided to show them off by threading them through the grill on the top panel:


By this stage we had been working on the mod all day so the pictures started to wear thin.
This photo was taken of myself when i couldnt be bothered getting up haha.


Aokman wired up 8x 18000mcd blue leds to light up various areas of the case once the build is complete


Next up is the stands to raise the bottom radiator up to clear the modular powersupply cables:


I did not have screws long enough to fit the stands into the radiator so i have used 4x standoffs stacked together then screwed into the case for now.

Here is how it looks at the moment, once the waterblocks are on the video cards i will adjust the height of the radiator stand so it clears the angled fitting.


Finally the waterblock i brought doesnt really fit in with the rest of my build so i replaced it with a Heatkiller Limited edition nickel plated block
Previously i had a copper version of this block but now replaced by the Limited edition version:



Thats all for now, Fittings and tubing will arrive this week so hopefully another update soon!

 

double post sorry

 

Just so nice case and you are doing a awesome work can just say i love it

 

Very nice work! <3 690 II builds!

 

Very nice work. Making me want to mod my 690ii