Case Mod - In Progress Cold Fusion (TJ-07)

This is my second majour case mod, and has been running on other forums for a little while but i thought id bring it over here for you guys to enjoy as well.

So, i thought it was time for an upgrade, i had a look inside my case and saw that i couldnt fit a new GFX card in there, as the case is too small.

bring on the case ive always wanted, the silverstone TJ-07.

and since i was getting a new case, and have the ability to powdercoat, i thought id do a little mod while i was here. looking at the murder mod boxes gave me a few ideas, and id like to get mine as clean as one of those.

yeah right

anyways, heres what im starting with:

Hardware:

CPU: QX6700
Mobo: Striker II formula
RAM: 4GB G.Skill PC8000
GFX: BFG GTX260 OCX (may be getting a GTX275 - stay tuned!)
PSU: Bequiet! 850W modular
HDD: 2x160Gb and 1X250GB seagates
Case: TJ-07

Watercooling:

D-Tek fusion V2 CPU
EK full cover GFX
EK mofset
EK NB S-max
EK striker II formula
Laing D5
Laing DDC
2x XSPC single bayres
Thermochill PA.360
Aquacomputer Airplex PRO 360

So, plans are:

Modify mobo tray for cable management - Done!
modify floor for cable management - Done!
powdercoat insides of case - Done!
put 360 rad in top of case - with grill - Done!
false floor
Copper and clear plastic water routes - Done!
lots of cable management
and any other little mods i need to do to get it looking nice

So, onto the pics!

New stuff!





got a bit carried away with stripping and forgtot o take photos up until this point





working out drive bays, though its all going to have to shift down by 1 to get the rad in





sorting out cables and screws and stuff



work desk



More new stuff!

PSU from ging3r, nice one:







made a hole for cable management in the floor





how i got the rest out





getting there



almost done



sorted!







More more new stuff!

woohoo!







(can you tell i like it?)

some nice EK blocks from 7755matt, cheers buddy!





stuff from WCUK



ahh the old rig, say bye bye!







shes a heavy beggar!



my new steup for the next 2 weeks......



mmmm yummy



the dremel setup:



bit of mobo tray modding:







Hole!



Finished







add a bit of rubber trim







lob a motherboard on



taadaa!











spot on!









can anyone see the problem in the last two photos?

that wire is where my fans are going to be on the rad. ooopsie.

but i have a plan!

 

and as for sorting the problem, i may of done it...











and to get the mobo tray in with the cable attached -

 

so!

you all know about my magical abilty to have things powdercoated. like in my gameserver.

what i didnt expect was to put my stuff in for powdercoat yesterday, and to get it back thismorning. apparently, the right colour was in the gun.





not bad for free either. well, a box of roses anyways.

also my new rad has come, and so has the gril and some fans, and a new waterblock, but that will be in tomorrows post with the gtx260 block. hopefully.

anyways, onto some nice pictures of black stuff!

box of stuff



nice black rivets, pita to do nicely!



mmmmm. motherboard tray....



put together again



some slot protectors



more stuff



the 'u'



nice new hole for new rad:




putting together:















and look what i found lurking, looks to be the last in the uk at the time of buying:







more tomorrow!

 

got my pump monunts back from the powdercoater. i had a problem as i guess the pump + antivibe would be 3.5". i was wrong, its 4"!

what a silly idea!

anyways, had to mod the pump brakets to fit, and this is what they look like:







pump mounted:

#





put in the back fans and top rad, with the fans daisy chained and braided







started work on the false floor, im thinking of making this out of copper, then powdercoating it, then laser ingraving to bring out the copper though the powder?



dvd drive got a makeover:





and modifyed a front braket to fit infront of the pump, this way i can use it to mount things on rather than chopping the backs off







and the new sb block

 

been playing with some copper pipe, which looks real nice.

Got nearly all of my new bits here now, and it looks like im nearly finished. Which is nice.



thanks to rob at WCUK for these bits-

rad stand





GTX260 block – this is what I think is one of the most beautiful bits of machining, top marks to EK









barbs and cutters



and thanks to the guys at chilledPC for the rad and the water



and a nice new 1Tb HDD



test fitted my block onto the cpu – looks like my cpu heatpsreader is badly out. Id like to lap it....hmmm not sure.



ohhh, whats this?



Its naked!



water blocks on











and now for the 260 – I pooped myself a little bit when doing this, but it didnt go too bad.


more naked stuff!









and block on this one as well







board into the mobo tray to start some tubing







ideas for tubing



sotring out rad, pump, and HDD placement







and a little sneak peak as to what may be coming later

 

so, did some soldering yesterday, in the middle of polishing them now. some of the soldering didnt come out as i would of liked but then some of the fittings were very close and that makes it diffacult.

still, this is the idea for plumbing - tell me what you think











found something that i hadn't noticed before. i wish i had of seen it before i chopped the bloody thing up as i would of been going back to silverstone.



your not looking at a scratch here, this is where the acid used for anodizing hasn't been washed off properly after the process, and it strips the finish off. its done it on a couple of bolt holes as well.



anyways, im getting on with the polish today, so should have some of it back together this afternoon/evening.

 

Nice hardware!

Thats a lot of copper, all those elbow connectors could add up to impact the flow quite a bit. Dual loops will definitely help though, and it's an interesting setup with the top parts in one loop and the lower GPU, NB and SB split off.

 

Sweet! Those fittings and copper look really impresive, I like it a lot.

Mod on

 

cheers for the comments.

i was thinking about the flow thing, but in all fairness they are swept elbows rather than the usual 90 deg fitting, which helps alot.

i think ive gone overkill on the rads, so even if the flow drops a bit then ive still got room to cool.

i might get round to doing a test and seeing how much difference it makes, but im sure it wont be alot.

 

Yeah I did notice that, they should be a good deal better than the usual water cooling fittings... and excess rad capacity makes up for anything!

 

do you guys think i should put zip ties on the copper to plexi? its stretching it 2mm dia over about 10mm length.

 

ive been really busy today getting cold fusion ready for the upcoming lanparty, and ive got alot done today. all ive got left to do is make up a mount for the hdd cage and sort out the false floor. once that is done its finished!! yey!

got all my fans daisychained, the loops finished and the cpu loop is leak testing at the moment. i think im going to tackle the other loop tomorrow incase i have any issues. seems to of bled really quickly which is nice too.

its been making me smile all evening as well as i think it looks wicked, and its nice to think of the hard work and time that ive put into it looks good.

i know i said id post pics, but my camera isnt very happy. hopefully some of a nearly finished one tomorrow! maby some uv ones as well. might even be able to post off it.

cheers for reading

G

 

and ...

taadaa!

not fully finished as i just needed to get it ready for the LAN, moore stuff after this weekend.

hdd cage




doing some clearcoating after soldering









mmmm yummy





i filled it at 1 in the morning, so no pics unfortunetly.

 

epic win

 

That watercooling loop man killed me! Excellent job!

 

Thanks guys, its been getting some really good comments at the LAN too.

looking forward to finishing it now, may have a few more idea up my sleve

 

I like copper tubing in loops. Before you soldered them, I thought you had some weird O-ring self-sealing pipe. The 180 degree turns are nice too. I wish I had some of those.

 

win...

 

cheers cheapskate,

i love the copper too, be having some problembs with the hose slipping off tho, looked into my case ast the lan and the hose was sliding off the copper in two places.

ive got to strip the pc down now anyway to fit the valdal switch and put the flase floor in, so it looks like ill be modifying the copper as well.

 

COOL, nice project..