Case Mod - In Progress Project :: The Xtreme Dream!!! (56k Heavy)

Project :: Xtreme Dream!!!
Ok, so it's probably about time I actually got this project under-way. I had a busy year last year (New Job, lots of training courses away from home, I got engaged, went to NYC, LN2 overclocking events etc etc) and witht he year 2012 now in (and possibly end of the world) I decided I should probably get my backside into gear and actually do the build!

So what's the plan Bex?

Well! The plan is to take this salvaged (from ebay for £63) Lian Li V2100 and make a monster out of it! It always bugged me seeing many Lian Li V2000/2100 builds and people just not utilising the space!

Some of you may remember my previous build in a Lian Li V2110. However I've out grown the case and actually wish to sell it on (minus the famous back panel - a replacement is available but currently only from America).

Enough of the old build Bex! We want to see the plans for the new one!!!

Ok guys - so here it is! (Yes I know there is a typo - it should be 452x2 - dual D5's - and please excuse MS Paint jobby)



I did play about with the idea of having 4x quad radiators in the bottom, however my metal skills aren't that great and the PSU would need to be moved to the drive bays (not an issue). That and Lamptron don't make a fan controller powerfull enough to run 3x rows of 8x Kaze 3000's and 1x row of 4x Kaze 3000's.

Why not run then at full speed Bex?

Well guys I would! But my fiance would kill me I think! Although he did let me invest in some Delta's for when I do xtreme air cooling...

Anyway - the point of the matter is -

• 4x quads costs more money (I have 2x 240's and 3x 480's)
• more skilled metal work involved (which I do not have)
• fan controllers not suitable (not that I'm aware of anyway!)

The build isn't currently sponsored (I did try with Koolance since it's almost all Koolance excluding the fittings - blocks still to be decided) so it's all been out my own pocket so far. So I apologise if it's a bit slow at times! I have to work the OT to earn the pennies for the build which sadly means less time for the build

So what hardware are you planning for this build Bex?

Hardware List

• Intel i7 3960x @ @5Ghz (probably more)
• RAM - TBC
• Asus Rampage IV Extreme
• Asus GTX580 (although this may change)
• 4x Crucial M4 128Gb SSD's (again, may change since I need to invest in a controller now that I can't do 4-way 6Gbps RAID on-board)

And what about watercooling Bex?

Watercooling List

• CPU block (TBC)
• Motherboard block (TBC)
• GPU Block - EK Acetal/Nickel with Backplate
• Pumps - 2x Koolance 450S (with 24v adapter)
• Reservoir - Koolance 452x2
• Radiators - 2x Koolance 240's & 3x Koolance 480's
• Fans - 22x Scythe Kaze 3000RPM (Push/Pull)
• Fittings - Bitspower black (Going to try and use crystal fittings for clean straights)
• Fluid - (TBC)

So now that we've got that covered I guess we should look at some pics!

Specialtech Deliveries! (Cheers guys)

Box o' goodies!


SHINIES!!!


Scews - all accounted for!


Om nom nom radiator!


Super high FPI!


Scan Deliveries!

Oooo what's this? BP!


Moar Specialtech Deliveries!

Moar rads & some phobya goodies!


Even Moar Specialtech Deliveries!

Another one!?


What's in here?


Oh... not much but very important goodies!


An old delivery... but a good one!




I'll post more soon (have to do some work for a change)!



*** LINK TO FULL IMAGE GALLERY ***

 

So just a quick bit of work to give you guys a taster of what's going on...

What colours will the final design be based around Bex?

I'm still to decide if I'm honest... I was going to base it around the Bugatti Veyron SS...



So it would be carbon fibre grey, blazing orange and black interior... But I may amend this since I'm not sure how to properly encorp the colours...



Some tastey orange o-rings to replace the green ones!



A whole box to replace...



Looking much better!



Only issue is the spacer's with bigger o-ring fittings... so I may need to track down some black ones... However I may need to change all of the o-rings anyway since the quality of the phobya ones appears to be absolute poo! Some are fine whilst others look stretched / worn / have excess rubber on the edges where the mould edges have been...

Hopefully their fan dampeners would be better? No...



The 7mm are bigger than the fan and the 2mm spacers aren't straight at the sides (so they bend inwards towards the fan).



Not the quality I paid for...

I did email Pascal about these but never recieved a reply. I even asked him at the last i-series and I was promised a reply and some replacements since they identified a manufacturing issue with the originals. Again, nothing...

I know it's the right email because I've had replies about other things (mainly sales) but not for issues... one of the reasons I moved to Specialtech to order my Koolance stuff



I did try to fix them up. Figured the middle fans could just have them glued and trimmed to fit...



Results were good but my god was it a lot of work and extremely messy. Inside they're still a mess if I'm honest...



I tried with some slim Scythe fans for a cleaner job but these little buggers are dangerous... and too expensive! We did ask Scythe for any duff's they could send (I'd need 10) to fit the build but we never had anything back *sulk*

Still... I think using 12mm would be tight fit... Whilst the case would fit all fans using 9mm shrouds the panels wouldn't go back on... so off came the side shrouds and I just put the shrouds in the middle!



Perfect fit and room to breath / cables to run!



OM NOM NOM SAMMICH!


Anyway! Got my delivery of screws so hopefully tonight after a relaxing bath (I've been swimming every day this week - 30mins lengths and 10 mins diving practice - so I'm pretty worn out and starting to ache a little) I can setup my reservoir and look at what additional fittings I need to squeeze it all in.

Oh and more pics of how the rads go together because myg od that was tricky! Non stop trial and error! Until then...

 

Little Update
Well I didnt' get much done last night... My hubby made a home made curry with his new curry set (new knives, curry spice set, curry pot etc for his xmas) and it was delicious! Had a nice long soak in the bath to relieve some aching muscles from pushing myself perhaps too hard at the pool and then a quick tinker around with my new goodies before going to bed.



I think it's safe to say those stock tops need to go! A nice shiny Koolance 452x2 should do the trick!



Out with the old!



Quick change of the acrylic / plugs



Add the pumps and serial connecter!



And we're done! (Don't worry, I am aware the case is silver and the front are black)

Still debating whether or not to swap the 2x 24v pump adapters for the bay version (so it matches with the pump/res) but we'll see... Means more things to do...

Oh! And for those non-belivers out there...



Yes it's currently the opposite but just to demonstrate they fit (tight squeeze!)


Until next time...

 

Little Update
So after a beautiful home made curry by my fiance (cheers hunny bun!) I decided it was time to mod!



MMM lamb rogan josh!



Well... I wanted to have some with this update but unfortunately there were some... er... pops, bangs, fizzles and melting!

It was meant to be a video comparing a Kaze 3000rpm to a Denki (200CFM+ model). Unfortunately 4x Kazes (which is lower amps than my Delta) managed to fry a cable...


No Fans / fingers were lost in the making of these photos / videos!
[EDIT] It turns out my chain of 4x Kazes may be dead but I'm covinced now they were dead before the testing...



Where the wires melted so bad that the 2x twisted wires welded themselves to each other :down:



And after much pulling I finally seperated the fan header from the connector to find some nice burns...



Mmmm bubbled melted plastic...



Er yeah so no way was I going to be putting my 3 Amp denki on one of these wires! :rofl:

So instead I screwed my kazes to the rads for some videos.



Many empty boxes...



Some quad love...

And time for a quick test run! It's unfortunately not all 22x fans running (especially since I found I'm 3x fans short!) since I didn't have enough adapters!!!

People who mod PC's for silent builds press MUTE now!!!


*** CLICK TO PLAY ***

We had a video of me doing this video... then spotted my belt n' jeans were undone


*** CLICK TO PLAY ***

Quick video demonstrating the noise when in sandwhich mode



Added the last fan to the stack...



1 big happy family!!!


Until next time...

 

Nice project. Please,continue.

 

Never commented a lot on the forums (as you can see by my post count) but that is a big radiator and fan sandwich!

 

That is some noisy fans

Are you planning on doin 5volts? I mean since you said that you wanted to have a silent system and all

 

I didn't say I'd be building this for silence. Just that users who seek silence should turn their speakers down.

These fans aren't as loud as my Delta's so for me, this is quiet. However I plan on a controller so my fiance doesn't moan that I'm runnin them full power all the time...

 

Be mindful of what kind of controller you get for those fans... make sure they can handle the power that those things draw... I have a "Scythe Kaze Master" and if I have either of the 2 Ultra Kaze fans running at 100%, the screen will get all screwed up, and I can only fix it if I remove power and turn it back on.

Looks like this should be an interesting build though, keep at it

 

4x Kaze's require 30 watts per channel and 6x require 50watts per channel...

 

Thats alot of radiators! Why did you pick so much if your only going to cool 1 GPU and CPU?

 

What a great start! Got to keep up with this, erm, totally insane build!
Nice curry too.

 

As per the first post, the single gpu is only temp. Secondly, it's an extreme build. I hate seeing empty lian li v2100 builds so I want to show the world it's potential.

 

Hehe well thats a noble cause!

 

Holy F***! This is just insane! Nothing less can do! But me like!

 

Cant wait to see this at LAN ^^

 

Least its on wheels if not itd be coming on on a forklift!

Either that or Bex can get some more Kaze's or deltas and make it self propelled

 

Aha i know the feeling i use a trolly to get mine to lan, only way to move the dam thing

 

awesome, great cooling now put 2x intel xeon, 4x 7970 an it will be cold as ****

 

Little Update
Again, it's been a busy weekend with more important jobs to do / people to see. But I've been shopping this weekend and picked up some new tools, trial fitted my radiators and started work on the side panels!


Oooo-i-oooh! What tools did you buy Bex?


Let me show you (although nothing too fancy)


... Some drill bits


... Some putty epoxy (to fill some holes)

And for only £1 (~$1.50 USD)


... a scraper!


What on earth do you need a scraper for Bex?


To clean the side panels! The noise dampening foam was damaged when I bought the case and since I'm running 3000RPM Kazes, I have no need for it really... that and it gives me more room to run cables / squeeze in equipment into the basemen (more side clearance).

I've heard nightmares about trying to get this stuff off... How people have tried razor blades and alcohol based substances and what not and that it's so difficult to shift... so how will a £1 scraper do?


(taking to arms with the scraper - safety goggles in case of bits getting in eyes!)


Well after a few initial scrapes it doesn't appear to be too bad at this...


... and appears to be able to take off the gunky stuff holding it on!


With a little bit of time I seem to have earned some technique and able to strip quite a lot off at time!


(Me working hard - nearly done with the first panel)

Just as I'm almost done - disaster strikes!


My trusty £1 blade has broken trying to get the difficult stuff off...

But it's ok, the blade has done well. Almost finished the whole panel!


Just got to get the last of the sticky stuff off / wipe it down ready for cuts and primer!


So what are you gonna do now Bex?


First I'm going to go and do my nails! But I think I'll buy another 2x of those blades I think (£2 isn't going to break the bank!) and maybe see if I can get something to help strip the sticky stuff off or at least losen it or clean the last of it residue off...

Since I couldn't do any more of the case panels, I thought I'd have a go with the barbs and making sure I had all the required pieces to put the the radiator (engine) in the bottom of the case. After playing around with multiple combos I decided on this...


Quick view from the right...


Quick view from the left...


Quick view from the top... (make sure the spacers for the drain pipe don't hold the bottom radiators too little/far apart)


God bless BP Crystal links!

The drain in the bottom will be another 90 degree rotary that actually goes on the bottom of the case. This will the drain is at the lowest point should I need to drain the system

So until next time, I'll leave you with another image from the side of the engine!