Case Mod - In Progress Passive GTA IV PC by widmod UPDATE: 9.April 2015

After the problems I started to mount the hardware in a other case i had around.


the case with its previous hardware


the DVD drives are dummies one bluray drive will be added to the final build


the board in its current home


everything fits in there


trying those memory fans in there but the where much too loud and will not be included in the final build


cabling length test


i was about to plug a monitor in an start, but wait where is the socket for the VGA cabel? Ok nothing there i have to wait for my graphic card (it has the water cooling block already mounted so i need to assemble everything else first). So i just switched the system on without to check fan noise.


i let it sit in there since then and my father brought me to the idea to assemble the system in this case. I may do that cause i was never happy with the cutout on the other case and the motherboard and everything else was much easier to install in here. The negative side is that the material of this case bends much easier and is thinner than from the other case. The path in between would be to cut the backplate and motherboard tray out of this on and integrate it in the other case.
Most other parts are here now i will post photos of my new shiny graphic card and cora radiators as soon as i get them uploaded (probably today). I also booted the system in the onboard OS by lending a other grapic card from my brother

 

update!!!

As mentioned before i'm quite familiar with building the system in and around this case now so i tried how everything fits in.

most of the cooling hardware is here now


6 coras i came over on ebay thanks to forum member froop for the hint
need to clean them the seller wasn't able to do so


top view: you can see that i marked the position of all the stuff up there and where to cut holes for the wires (need to add a hole or two for the tubing)


on the right you may spot the other 1x120 radiator i will install it to have a backup if everything gets too hot


thats the backside of my new powercooler hd4850 graphic card. The stock ATI cooler is mounted there


The front with the nice already mounted water block. Sadly the card didn't feater any other vendor features on the board the conetors for the ati light or something else where ripped of and filed down. The end of te stock backplate continues over the pcb and nothing is mounted on the other side to hide the end of the card or those ugly screw holes in the backplate. i was quite pissed that the don't mount a custom backplate or added some cooler or coverto the end of the card cause it came at a very high price, but didn't look like a premium card just like a stock card with the normal cooler ripped of and a ek-waterblock mounted instead.


everything i have atm together


most of the other hardware in the case


the hdd and ssd somewhere in there packing to the right

the ssd would fit in here


the monster card fits in the case but is longer than the motherboard


the orginal front ripped of i have a plexi sheet hand for here (more later)


on BD-drive will replace those 2 and the rest will be hidden behind red plexi


side view of everthing


a long pcb with many solder points was hidden i the bracket, i will cut it down. There is even a solder point and cutout for a serial port. seriously serial ports on the front comtrade?


all the switches,leds,usb ports and speaker (which was the hardest to rip out)


the two cases: the watercooling with the old one while the hardware rests in the new one


the pair of them from the side


PSU test with graphic card mounted, i just saw how nice the backplate reflects the motherboard cooler


cabels nicley stuffed away


the transslucent plexi from the old laptop


i may cut the sidepanel down to the edge of the translucent plexi

more modding and posting of image tomorrow

 

wow thats some extreme cooling you got going on there

 

Theasers

I' m still on this,but don't have much time for modding and even less time to upload all the pictures i made. Modding Progress i far ahead from the worklog. The pc is running and i can play GTA IV and write this post on it. Now i spend too much time on installing and testing new programms and too less time on modding. But enought words here are some theaser-pic for you:


running with a installed ubuntu-linux


as it is now running on win 7 Ultimate


the mashine as it stands now, the res was turned upwards otherwise it wouldn't be at the highest point of the loop


the whole setup with my new G15 Keyboard


a low light shot to catch the keyboard and other lights, more leds will be installed in the future

 

It's alive

Hi Guys
The Machine is running since almost two years now, but i havn't updated my Project Log for a long time. I'm still not 100% finished with this project because the front- and sidepanel is not complete. I start here with posting old pics of the modding process to gain motivation for finishing this project. So enough said here are the pics:


small watercooling Radiator with fan for heavy Gaming or hot days


Res and Pump closeup


Mounting plan scibbeled on the top


Planning the loop (Res was rotated Later)


this stuff will be mounted here!


jiggsawing the plexi

 

More Pics coming in:


here it's will be mounted (hopefully soon)


first boot (on air cooling and with a different GPU)


loading onboard asus express gate operating system


the whole mess


hiding the psu behind the case


The home of the SSD and HDD


good night motherboard


the stripped case


heavy modding on the PSU cable slot


...and LAING pump hole


we have a hole in


cleaning up


various flavours of files


test fitting


changes after test fitting

 

Watercooling gear

MOAR pics

Motherboard and the cooling blocks


CPU and Chipset block, I like this shining copper


future mounting position


i bought this motherboard because chaning the chipset block is possible


awkward mounting holes


the rough finish of the chipset block


thermal paste on...


and mounted


closeup


moving on to the CPU block


mounting gear


the destination


it's on


side view


my favourit closeup pic


good nigth again dear motherboard

 

Cooling Loop

On with the Case

Test fitting the PSU cables


...and the pump (the part on the left is the only thing that will hold it in place)


closeup of the pump


.. aaand from inside


and the res (turned out later that a lying res was a bad idea)


starting with the loop


the whole top


the small 120mm radiator will be mounted here somewhere


snip,snip bye bye fan guard


the door is open


starting with the fan hole


... here we go


making openings for the watercooling barbs


it fits


tubing, barbs and way too much watercooling fluid


the shiny stuff


the main cora radiator


the board


...with the GPU


starting with the tubing on the Radiator


...and everything hooked together


mounting position


...and holes


next: tubing on the motherboard blocks


had to shorten those barbs


...before and after ( I later found extension adapters hiding in the GPU packaing)


but its working this way too


loop test fitting with the case


the rigth side panel with the watercooling gear


adding more tubes


overview


holes for the tubes in the backpanel: goal is to be able to remove the whole loop while it's filled

 

Even more modding on my case


from the back


...and how it will be covered (at least parts of it)


cleaning up the front


...done


the bare case


and finally spray-painting


..in the night


..on the terrace


..she want's to help me


getting there


the professional paint booth mounting solution


dry and inside again


starting with mounting the motherboard


...and the GPU


the loop is coming together


with the fan


extending the holes


res with fan mounted (was quit hard to get it lining up)


all the watercooling gear on the case


ready to fill it up


filing it up (with a test psu on the pump)


should be upright


the filling solution (sorry for the bad pic)


aaah it's bleeding


temporary mount for the res


inside pic


and a overview with the mounted PSU


hooking up a temporary DVD drive for OS installation


it's ALIVE


Ubuntu starting to install

more to come...

 

More Case modding


the back of the PSU with it's passive cooling block


an here's how it will be covered


the problem


the solution


protective film still on the plexi


planning the PSU mount with the rubber gasket


drilling, drilling snip ooooh nooooo, DOH it's broken





solution: cutted it in half and used the lower part of it


metal will be a better support for the PSU


jig sawed it out


looks like it would fit


closeup


jup it fits


how the plates came together on the backside


solutios for covering up the backpanel that never where actually mounted there (fan hole would have been added)


overview of the back-panel



windows is on


It's running

Thats how it stand now, I also have a nearly completed front pannel which is currently not mounted and i can't find pics of it atm
So enough posting and talking to myself: What do you think?

 

So I'm on it again

I moved the machine over to a other Place long time ago so i took Pics of that last weekend and mouted the front Panel. I also cleaned up the interior Cabels so Cabel management is much better now

Some Pictures after Cabel Managment:



Moving from a dark Cellar to a well lit room also helps when making photos


Motherboard Close up




With the Frontpanel on


It's less transluescent without flashy Cameras


Closeup with the BlueRay Drive in Place


With the front switches mounted I can now use the interrior side pannel




Left to do: rework the side panel with filler and paint it


some Ideas: Mount the Rest of the Plexi around the case window


a shot with a bit more flash


the whole setup as i use it ATM (no idea where the dots came from)


from a different angel


it's glowing somewhere in there


the glow and now you can't see the rest

edit:

nested tread in threads photo, a pic of the machine while being used to write this thread

So that's it, hope you liked it. I'm motivated to go on now

 

What sort of temps are you getting with this setup?

Nice passive build, I must admit I really enjoy those!

 

Temps

I actually have 46°C CPU temp
43°C system Temp:

 

That is some brilliant ghetto modding going on there

 

yes that's my first mod and I probably would have saved some hassel with a ready made case.
But buying a new case and cutting it up imidiatelly just didn't made sense for me

 

I was thinking something like you have done but cost would have gotten too high for my budget.

My friend has A zalman reserator and A 120mm radiator in his setup and I must say it is awesome when his computer doesn't make any sound when browsing web and doing other light work. Well HDDs produce some noice albeit they are in silencer cases, but I don't count that!

 

yes thats nice
sadly the laing pump is the lowdest thing atm
i might get over that by mounting some rubber buffers
i only hear the big hdd when reading or writing files from it otherwise i use the ssd for OSes

 

Thread resurection

Hi everybody

another Thread resurection
I have moved to a new apartment last year together with my girlfriend
So I have more place to work now and don't need to clean up everything afterwords
We also have a nice balcony to do all the dirty work

Recently my pump stopped working so I can't use this Computer until I had done some work on it, a good reason to start modding again.
Enough words some pics:

the leftovers from the coolant under the pump


a bit blurry but you can see coolant where it shouldn't be: bejond the O-ring



disasembly in the bathroom


clearer pic of the malefunctioning pump


inside: more spilled coolant


closeup


coolant in the pump motor: not good


the other side: coolant in the pump housing


all pump parts


even more pump parts


the mounting hole


testing with the cleaned pump housing


Ideas for the side panel


fixing a former mod


somthing behind: next filler


prepearing the side panel


first try in painting the PSU mount


first layer of filler


the other day: THE LAING PUMP IS WORKING


found something i didn't remember i had: USB and esata ports that same with my motherboard, I will replace the one I currently have because they are not working


testing mounting positions


more filler on the side panel: I'm testing if i can fill the whole outher trim


the mounting plate for the USB ports and my loose power switch


maybe mount it here?


or cut it an add a support?


sanded down the filler from yesterday with some sandpaper


how to mount that stuff? (switches and ports)

thanks for watching, feel free to coment

 

Hi all
did some more work in the last weeks


...also bought a new tool: a codless drill


sarted with drilling some holes around the pump mounting hole


added a cardboard metall dst collector, but i'm not sure if i'll keep this feature


dremeling off the end that held the pump before (bent in when pump was mounted)


off it goes, but leaves more scratches on the top


Former Res mounts sanded down


closeup


stated filling the holes with a car metal filler


while it was drying i was working hard on converting a slot-cover in a mounting bracket for the front panel switches


then sanded the top down


prepairing for spray painting


paper on


same on the back, that happens when one doesn't unmount the hardware


there is a radiator somewhere behind this paper pile


..and after painting on the balcony

next part is comeing soon,what do you think?

 

I would have disassembled the computer before painting, but that works too. One just have to be precise when covering all those precious components.

End result looks good, waiting for your next update.