F r e e z i n g S h u t t l e ..FINISHED. 66 PICTURE FINAL UPDATE. 7/09/04

Hey guys. It's been a little while since i've posted a project log. The last case, the lian li one, turned out to be a complete disaster for me with fungus growing all over the water. Anyhow, I decided to watercool a new case, but this time a bit more challenging seeing that i'm trying to watercool a shuttle! I've seen a few shuttles that were watercooled so i'm trying to be a little different here. I have made TREMENDOUS changes throughout this experience. I've actually gone a far way with the case but it's not quite done yet, so I'll be posting up small installments

First off, this is what I started off with :



This is a shuttle ST61G4B. In my opinion, this is butt a** ugly and just needs to die. Hopefully i'll be able to spice it up a bit. The specification of the case is:
CPU Support: Intel Pentium 4/Celeron (Socket 478, Max.FSB 800)
Chipsets: ATI RS300 + IXP150
Memory: 2x 184pin (DDR400 up to 2GB)
IDE: 2x ATA100, 2x SATA
Graphics: Integrate ATI Radeon 9100
Expansion Slot: 1x PCI, 1x AGP 8X
Audio: Realtek ALC 650F
LAN: Broadcom 4401
Extension Bay: 2x 3.5", 1x 5.25"
Front Panel Ports: 2x USB, 1x mini 1394, Audio ports, 6 in 1 card reader
Back Panel Ports: COM, 2x PS/2, VGA, S-Video, SPDIF_In, 1x SPDIF_Out, RJ45, 1394, 2x USB, Audio ports
Power Supply: 250W (PFC)
Dimensions: 11.8" x 7.9" x 7.3"

Current parts used for the project:
Intel Pentium 4 3.0 Ghz CPU
Corsair 512 DDR memory
Saphire 256mb Radeon 9800
Creative Labs Audigy 2
Western Digital 250 Gig Hard Drive
Toshiba Slot Load Dvd-Rom
Thermaltake Cpu block (soon to change), pump
Xice GPU waterblock
Innovatek Single Fan 120mm Radiator
2x Alphacool Reservoirs
Custom HDD LED meter

Like I said, I wanted to be a little different from the shuttles i've seen around, so hopefully this will be something new for ya'll. I'll start off a bit slow but as I progress, I think it actually looks kinda cool

 

The first step I took was to totally redesign the front. I mean, some people may actually think that little section of a mirror is cool but in my opinion it just hurts the eye. The first thing I decided to do was to buff up the Radeon video card.



I thought it looked pretty cool with the vantec iceberg with the shiny leds and all, but had to go. Watercooling is cooler



I had a lot of tweakmonter ramsinks lying around so i decided to put them to good use. I didn't have any BGA ramsinks and I was really low on cash so I decided to not waste the ramsinks and put it on the backside of the card. I was originally going to put it on the front too, but due to the GPU block, i was unable to. You will see why in the next picture:



This is the Xice block shipped from Germany. The USA representative for Xice is exceptionally friendly and you will have a GREAT experience if you decide to order through him.



I then applied it to the card. It looks pretty sweet too me and since there will be a window installed, it should look quite pimp.



Installed into the case to see how it fits and all.. sexy...



Here is a picture of the parts i was going to use at first. Notice that almost ALL the items are not listed in the first post. That is because I am no longer using them and have decided to use something.. better The only item i'll be using is the pump and block for now. Everything else had to go.



These are all the parts taken out of the shuttle that were no longer useful. Except for the power supply of course, I needed that

 

The next step was to take some tools and recreate the front panel. I wanted something slick, simple, and pleasing to the eye instead of an eyesore like what the stock front gave.



First thing I did was I used a piece of acrylic and made it into the shape of the front. I then made sure it fit. The purpose of the acrylic is to basically .. well.. i dont know how else to say it. You will see it later



I bought some pretty thin aluminum from ebay, which was exceptionally cheap. I used the acrylic and made another piece out of aluminum.



making sure they were the same size..



applied to the front...



Again... Of course i'm not going to be using thumbscrews, they were just there temporarily to give it support.

 

Yay first post!

Can't wait to see how it turns out!! Looking great so far!

 

Very nice, I can't wait to see the whole WC kit fitted inside.



Cheers,
Mike

 

ahh you *******! I was going to do that
I'v been planning an alu. front for like a week (bet you had It planned before I was born but still ), hope you'll make it. And maybe I can learn something from your experiences...
happy modding

 

That aluminum would look nice all polished up.

 

This one gonna be cool! Both in temps and looking

 

Here I worked on the front to get soe components fitted and stuff..



I cut out the slit fot the dvd rom drive...



test fitted..





For these pics, I rounded the edges to give a more pleasing look



drilled out holes for power and reset switches.. illuminated vandal resistant switches?



Driled out holes for my HDD LED MODULE. Basically, like the one in my lian li kit, the LEDS flash back and fourth on hdd activity.



Finnished drilling everything for the front..

 

Next up, POLISHING TIME!

I ordered a few products from the English Custom Polish to help me on the polishing. Polishing was harder than I thought... especially since its not only the FRONT that i'm polishing............



Gave it a light sanding to make sure it was smooth and all...



Not bad eh?



Sanding can be VERY VERY messy.. all this black stuff gets all over the place.. clothes.. table.. floor... hair..face...



Heres what it looked like after the first polish. The item used was a metal polish and restorer. It only restores the polish not actually give it so it wasnt that shiny. Looked pretty shiny to me tho!





Not bad

 

Next up, its time for polishing #2 and #3.

Here goes..



This is what it looks like after the second polishing..



again..









And ... after the final polsihg attempt!





U know, people say you can rip off ur arm from filing/sanding... well... i think polishing can give u almost the same damage Imagine doing the entire case?

I've been updating rather quickly here since i've done a lot.. please leave comments to keep me going! Thanks

 

Mmmm...shiney

Nice work, what about a hole for the eject button for the DVD?



Cheers,
Mike

 

You will see later

 

Nice im keeping track of this.

 

Really nice work... I like the front of the case... looking forward to this one...

 

Ruin the CD?



Aren't you afraid that you will scratch the cd's surface?

 

gunna be a very interesting mod, hope no alge grows in your loop this time . two sugestions clearcoart the alumium so as u never have to polish it again and lite the slot loader using zaps tecniqe

 

Looking very good so far

 

Looking great so far, can't wait to see what else you've got planned

 

Mwuhahaha. Shiny. (Although the edges don't look nearly as clear as the center yet.)

I have some polish just waiting to be used on my lian li pc-60, but I must wait until this other mod is finish...ack, must stop thinking about it! back to bondo!