Project Metaversa: LCD goodness (small update 17/07/05)

So Nexxo, have you found any more hardware to go in there

For that matter is there a compontents list as it stands?

 

Just to show that things are ambling along: this is the reservoir fitted with the new flow senseor (rather than switch) so I can actually keep track of the exact flow per minute. Because I am an obsessive geek (it hooks up and reports RPM pulses just like an ordinary fan).



Below the res fitted and the cooling loop completed.



Cables? What cables?

Good point. Some more stuff may get crammed in but so far I got:

System:

- Dual Athlon 2800MP elegantly arranged on an MSI K7D Master-L mobo, resting in a Lian-Li PC-12 garnished with
- 4x80mm Panaflo fans;
- Zalman passive NB heatsink
- 5" LCD colour screen in the 3.5" bays
- 2x WD1200JB HDDs
- 2x Panasonic slot-loading laptop DVD/CD-RW drives
... plus 1 floppy drive
... plus 1 multi-media card reader
... tastefully slotted into two 5.25" mounting brackets (one with two USB 2.0 front ports)
- integrated Bluetooth module hidden behind the front bezel
- two dual colour LEDs: One red/blue for power (blue = on, red = pump failure/shut down initiated) one green/yellow for HDD (green is HDD activity; yellow is either LAN activity or e-mail notification).
- this will be steered over the LED bus of a Matrix Orbital LK-204-USB-GW (black characters on white backlit) display
- temp sensors with said LCD display
- 2x USB 2.0 6 port cards
- Firewire 3 port card
- ATi Radeon 9800Pro 256Mb graphics card

Cooling:

- 2x Phaze II blocks by Paul Vodrazka (limited run, not available anymore, so please don't e-mail, don't ask...)
- 1 chrome BIX
- 1 Maze4GPU sandblasted and polished chrome Coolermeister-style
- Davis Craig EBP 12V brushless pump
- Aluminium 120mm 12G12L Panaflo fan (again, not available anymore; look for occasional salvaged ones on e-Bay)
- 1 Aqua-Computer Aquatube, drilled out to accommodate wider diameter barbs, and with polished mounting plate
- Swissflow SF800 flow sensor
- 3/8" ID thick walled (3mm) Tygon tubing
- polished aluminium hose seperator by Billet Aluminium
- 2x Pi-Thon polished alluminium hose clamps
- 10x stainless steel (marine grade corrosion resistant) wormdrive hose clips
- the whole lot filled with 560ml of PF5080 Fluorinert
Designed and built by myself:
- 1 pump/radiator bracket and shroud
- 1 aluminium graphic card support


Power:

Antec 550 Truecontrol PSU, with controls modified and hidden behind the front bezel of the case (next to the 5" LCD)

Miscellaneous:

- more stainless steel hex screws and aluminium finishing caps than you can shake a stick at
- chrome ring pull handles
- "Tenderfeet" spun aluminium cones (originally anti-vibration feet) to tart up the fan grilles
- EL backlit front case badge
- loads of self-adhesive cable clips for keeping cables tidy
- rounded silver braided IDE and floppy cables
- 2mm thick plexiglass protective window for 5" LCD screen coated in special anti-reflective coating (like you get on camera lenses)
- the usual: braid, rubber edging, chrome PCB spacers etc.

More to come:

- Side window, laser etched
- chrome side panels, laser etched and logo cut out
- cut out logo backlit by EL sheet
- some other case prettification, amonst which new case feet!
- some serious software customisation-- but that's another story...

 

Nice, very nice.

I see you've got the front panel control bug. Tbh, I'm getting vaguely obsessed with hauling indicators and controls to the front panel. I realised this was getting excessive when I saw that OCZ DDR booster and thought that could be modded from front panel control.


Regarding temp sensors, I think I knwo where some are coming from, but do you also have one of those LCDs with optional DS1820 runs?

Stangely I can also claim a pair of Al panaflos. I broke my Papst habit when I saw them cheap and with an rpm signal. Of course if you were to sense those four 80mms, that would be yet another SMBUS device!

Any finally PCI - when the second USB card, if your using them all then And I envy you 64bit PCI slot. Just what my raid card is begging for

All said, rather glorious work and proceding much faster than mine

 

Yup, the LCD can sense four sensors. I commissioned a Dimm-shaped SMBus circuit ages ago (as the K7D does not come with an SMbus connector; the Dimm shaped PCB allows me to use an empty memory slot instead) in which case I'd have eight, on top of the integrated mobo, GPU and HDD ones. But I may not do all that --there's ony so much stuff and wiring you can get in there.

The 80mm panaflos and the 120mm one are all RPM sensed by either the mobo or the LCD. So is the flow sensor.

It's not proceeding that fast... trying to push the envelope and getting it just right does sort of cause its complications. Right now for instance I'm test running the coolant loop now. The new pump is only half the flow of the old one but a lot quieter (experimented with dampened mounting also), and that PF5080 sure flows --I still get vortices in the tubing, but very little noise. It all works out wonderfully.

Problem is that there is one small leak where the barb meets the pump outlet-- should have used plumbers goop, not PTFE tape. PF5080 is like that. It has practically no surface tension so if there is even a tiny leak, it'll find it. The plumber-gooped seals of the flow sensor-barb connections however are beautifully watertight so Plumber's goop is your friend...

So I now have to drain the system, disconnect some tubing, take the pump out, redo the barb with some serious goopage this time, fit it again, fill it... bubble, bubble, toil and trouble... but at least then it is finally done and I can have the PC running by next week.

 

A rule I may have overlooked in my case

nice. I can't wait for the mbm screenshot. I was dissapointed that my (supposedly top of the line) ASAU board only sensed four voltages. I'm having worrying thoughts about correcting this

Metaversa generally moves a bit faster than my effort. Compontents usually take months to get into the rig. Some never make it at all.

 

Sorry if i missed something but where did you get the flow sensor?

Still looking good, pregressing quicker than my project is

slater..

 

It's from http://www.swissflow.com

 

cool stuff mate. Taken you ages tho

 

Looking forward to seeing some benchmarks from the beast Keep it up

 

As usual, great job there Nexxo!

I have the Swissflow SF800 myself since 3 years now.
How are you measuring the output of it (LCD, mobo fan header?).
Is the readout correct (in LPM) when doing so?

CD

 

i have one beef with this projsct, and it is a minor one but still i thinks it looks horrible cause of this one simple mistake, you have two different types of Heat sinks of the Video Card RAM and this would look so much better with just one, i don't care which one you choose but please, get them both looking the same

 

Truly inspiring work Nexxo. Beautifuly done in everyway, attention to detail and everything serves its function perfectly.

Congratulations on creating an outstanding mod.

 

I know. It is your project that gave me the idea.

It is read over the mobo fan header. How it will indicate correct values I still have to work out. I expect to have to do some MBM configuring.

The Video RAM heat sinks came on the card and are all the same. Some are in a different orientation to the others, but that is because the RAM chips are as well.

 

ah sorry my mistake, but from the angle's of the pictures you took it looks hoorible, but thats just me

 

Nice to see this project log finally coming towards a working PC You've got more patience than I'll ever have, and it's paid off with this.

 

39 pages later and no completion Very nice project, and I like how you're taking your time, it'll always turn out better if you do Very nice fan touches btw, I really like the caps you added to them I know I probably missed it, but is a window planned for this thing? Gotta show off those sexy tubes and blocks

 

What the hell are we going to do when this project is finished Please say you've got another one up your sleeve Nexxo

 

Who says that it ever has to get completed. You get so far and then chance the mobo, upgrade some blcoks, add new controls, a bigger case, more drives, more blocks, more whatnot.......

 

You even install a spell checker at some point! just joking with ya man!

 

Well, as Risky says: a mod is never done... so I may put in a Dual Opteron board at some stage (MSI K8 Master 2-Far; also red, same dimensions and layout of connectors. Perfect! ).

But I do have another mod planned already. I have the following stashed away in my spare bedroom:



A Coolermaster ATC S4000. Nice.

It was bought with an eye on the full-size, serious RAM toting dual processor (Xeon?) dual x16 PCI-E slotted ATX boards. I am considering a pair of SLI dual graphic cards for that one, see? And, of course, again liquid cooling. Muhahahahah!!!

Yes, there is. Heavy Angel's window will boldly go where no window has gone before...