Case Mod - In Progress (Project Log): Epitome, BitFenix Prodigy/ATX build [Updated 8/8]

I'm on a roll now!

Finals next week, then I'm free to work on this project all day long. I'm hoping to have it completed by new year, so expect to see plenty of updates coming soon.

On to the update:

I wanted to make sure and cover up all the little points that I just couldn't get perfect when I was modifying the bottom panel. I also love the look of a lighted acrylic panel. So, I made one.



Of course, I needed a slot in it for the I/O.





I also drilled holes to mount the pump in the back of the case.



With that done, I was finally able to test mount everything in the back of the case.



I'll be using springs and some rubber to keep the pump as quiet as possible.



Front doesn't look to bad either... Seems like it's missing something though.



Let's fix that.





Ended up being a bit fragile, but I think it will clean up the bottom of the case nicely.





Making good progress now. I'll probably be working on getting further with sleeving next. I'm still deciding how I want to go about the next step with the acrylic. I might make a little guide about it, since it always looks really cool, but no one ever explains how they made it.


Lastly, I have a little issue with my waterblocks for some reason



Anyone have any idea what all this gunk is in my gpu blocks? I can't say I'm terribly fond of the look :S

 

ketchup

 

What did you use as coolant for the test runs? If it is plain water, you are looking at chalk residue left behind by it. As suggested above ketchup is a good cleaning compound as it is slightly acidic.

This is why you need to flush the radiator and use distilled or deionised water.

BTW, what radiator are you planning to use? A dual 120mm radiator is going to really struggle with a SLI setup. You are trying to shift about 405 to 420 Watts.

 

Oh, lol. It was totally going over my head why jamsand said ketchup

I did use distilled water in the loop, but I didn't flush out the rad beforehand though, so that could be it.

I have tested running everything on just the dual 120mm. The temps aren't fantastic, but they are still better than air cooled. Next time I have it all set up I'll post the exact temps.

 

Keep in mind that at a test run, everything is just idling. You won't really know how temps pan out until you run a fairly demanding game.

 

I've had all of the hardware set up on a bench till I needed it for measurements recently. I've done quite a few gaming sessions and Seti@home. I know the CPU only rarely went over 40C, never more than 45C. It only reached temps like that when the heater in the room get's left on and the whole room get's pretty hot.

I've considered adding more cooling, but I want to keep the small shape of the case. If I run into issues I might look at an external rad setup.

 

Alright, I'm back in business!

Sorry for the long wait. College stuff, school, and robotics have been keeping me busy.

Anyway, on to the pictures!

In order to route water to the back of the case, I needed something a little thinner and more ridged than normal tubing.
I decided to make acrylic channels out of three pieces. A plain bottom piece, a thick middle part with the channels cut into it, and a top pice with the holes for fittings.

I used a router to cut cut the basic shape of the channels out of the think piece of acrylic. After that, I filed them down to the size I wanted.



I used a G1/4 BSPP tap and a unibit to make the holes in the top layer of the acrylic





I then used some acrylic cement to glue it all together. Kind of nasty stuff, the rubber gloves I wore kind of disintegrated on me while I was applying it.



Unfortunately, it didn't really work as I had hoped either. Although I was able to seal the channels up well, it left a lot of air bubbles inside the acrylic.



I ended up painting it gloss white. It will still serve it's purpose, and should still look better than running tubes to the back of the case.



After that, I worked on a couple smaller things.

The Northbridge obviously gets pretty hot without a fan running on it. It didn't get too hot to worry me about the Northbridge itself, but I was worried that having all that heat in such a small area might cause other things to overheat. I used the fan mounts from the motherboard tray to create a little mount to keep the northbridge cool.



I don't know if I mentioned it last time, but I ended up breaking my pumps impeller. I think it broke because an air bubble was caught inside the pump and that caused the impeller to break. Anyway, long story short I bought a new pump, but I also got a little gift from Bitspower to make sure it didn't happen again.





The Multi-Z 50 sized resevoir with white POM top and acrylic top upgrade kit. It juuust fit's inside the back of the case, but it should make filling up the loop a lot easier.



Space is tight, but I it's all starting to come together now.



Hopefully soon, I'll be able to test run the loop and make sure everything is working.

I've been trying to paint a few things too, unfortunately it's been relatively cold here lately, and paint hasn't wanted to dry properly. I was able to get one backplate painted(above), but the other one came out all wrinkly. I think the weather is warming up though, so hopefully I can start working on that.

Thanks for reading!

 

Was that with watercooled SLI? Impressive performance for a radiator that size. I know that the size of radiator required for a setup is often waaayyy overestimated, so it is good to know that a dual 120mm rad is enough. I, too, like my cases compact.

 

Yup, that's with the SLI 770s. Now that I think about it, I didn't have the RAM block hooked up, so that may be a factor, but I imagine it wouldn't be a major difference. I am wanting to get things set up in the case though, since airflow may be an issue there.

 

Wow all that power in such a nice tidy small package, just like my wife says to me on occasion

Great Build

 

Right about this point I'd begin to browse full tower cases to transfer all these components into

Great work indeed and hopefully you'll get everything shoehorned in there

Darkened

 

That's amazingly compact. What size are those fittings? 13/16mm?

 

You have no idea...

Yea, funny story about that. I meant to order the smaller 3/8x1/2 size, but I gave the wrong part numbers to Bitspower, so I just went with it.



I don't have anything new to show quite yet. Right now I've got the loop all assembled in the case. I'm doing a little "testing" to see how bad the temps are going to be on this. I plan to take this computer to college, so I'd like to make sure it won't melt on a hot day/hot dorm room.

So far it's looking like the GPUs get into the high 40s, and the CPU stays in the low 40s. It's not terrible I suppose. Airflow is probably worse than it's going to be in the end too.

 

Hey, just throwing out there, I wouldn't scrap the 45 degree angle idea. I think it's bloody wonderful, and would be incredible looking.

I strongly suggest you go check out Samtec. I bought my extender from them because I didn't trust any other extenders. It works flawlessly, even with a overclocked 670 Cheesecake in there.

Their extenders are pricy, but really, really, really high quality. (You can also get the exact length you need.)

 

yep, this is impressive. many ideas to take away. very impressive will be following

 

I wish I could, but everything is pretty much set in stone for straight graphics cards now.

So, it's gotten into the 70s here and I'm still kind of undecided as to whether I'm ok with the temperatures I'm getting.

my CPU reaches possibly up to 52C when it's hot. GPU's get to similar temperatures.

I figure that the 50s are fine for my GTX 770s, but I know AMD's aren't quite as temperature tolerate. Anyone have any experience with how hot an AMD 6100 can comfortably get? I feel like there are a lot or variables that could make it get even hotter, so I'm not really sure if I should look at more cooling, or go with what I have.

 

This work is really awesome! Congrats!

 

Woooah, it's been 4 months?

I apologize for my extended absence. I've been getting ready for college and now I'm working an almost full time internship.
However, with college life less than 2 weeks away, I am determined to finish this project in time to take it with me

I've been doing a ton of painting lately.
All the serious case modding is just about finished up, so I've finally started making things look nice and pretty.



Gloss white is my paint of choice for this project. I'm putting it on pretty much everything.
Well, maybe not everything. but on a lot of things. I want the case to look pretty white, to contrast the blue sleeving and coolant nicely.

Mobo tray got a nice coat.



And the pump...

[/img]http://i634.photobucket.com/albums/uu69/Fridgegnome/whitepump.jpg[/img]

I had to plug up a few extra holes in the case itself, since I've had a few design changed throughout this project.



And then the whole case was turned into ice cream.


(terrible picture, I'm sorry, it was late)

I also gave my 770s a little dash of white to match them up with everything else.





My CPU bracket got the treatment too.
I like the look of the white piece in the middle of the black and blue motherboard.



This hard drive bracket from, like, forever ago, got repainted gloss white too, but I never took a picture of it.
I did however modify it to accommodate two hard drives in the back of the case (more on this later).



And now the best news ever!

Bitspower once again came through and helped me purchase a totally new set of fitting, so that I can use rigid tubing!

Thanks Bitspower!



I love this rigid tubing. I quickly found out that pipe cutters don't work, but I was still really surprised how easy it was to use this stuff.
I never thought it would be so easy to bend.

Here's my first bend. I assumed it might take a little practice to get the technique down, but I just nailed some pipe down to a wood plank and was able to get a pretty decent looking turn.




Alright, on a less exuberant note, I've made a change to my design. Originally, my goal was to have this great little case with everything I would ever want neatly tucked inside. However, I do this as a hobby for fun, and the problem of fitting everything inside was really killing my mojo. Which is probably why I have been absent for so long. So, to remedy this, I am going to use an external radiator rig. Kind of defeating the purpose of a compact computer, but I was really feeling nervous about having only a double 120mm rad to cool the whole computer. Plus, spacing was extremely tight and things were squeezed and shoved into places in a less than "epitome" manner. It may be a little while before I can get to work on the "official" radiator rig, but I will be doing it, along with a few other peripherals... eventually. My main concern right now is to have the main computer finished within two weeks. And I intend to make that happen. :bruce:

Finally, here's a few glamour shots of all the components properly assembled for the first time, and nearly all the rigid tubing complete.







Thanks for looking!​

 

I love cramming mods, and this is no exception! Nice work!

 

How is that acrylic been made, and lit up I would love to do that for my next upcoming build?