Feeding Frenzy: Moved to new format 9-22-05

Well forgot to mention that if you have one of these cases and were thinking about using an Evo 120 griil on the back that there are a few problems. A picture is worth a thousand words, so:



As you can see above the grill does not fit exactly. As a matter of fact you will not be able to get the side shut if you left it this way. However, one of the things about getting older is that you start to know a lot more people. So this is not a problem as I have a couple of friends who are machinists and it only needs about .100" off the top, left, and right sides.

Okay now I have the back rad in and you can see below why that little hole was there a few pics back. This gives me a much better look with a rubber grommet and I won't be having any vibration problems here. The other fitting is a 45* and goes over to the Cuplex XT which will also have a 45* fitting as well.



Here is a closeup pic of the fitting going through the middle partition.



A side view of the fitting that will attach to the Aquastream and Aquatube below.



Looking at the fitting from the bottom up.

 

Not true. I have that grill mounted on the backside of my V1000B and the panels fit just fine since the panels tilt OUTWARDS and is pulled UPWARDS to properly remove them. As a matter of fact with the panel on the grill does not extend beyond it. BUT for a matter of it being flush I would say that it would bother me if I could see it past the panel once mounted (Am I making any sense?).

 

Whoops I just went back and checked it again and it does fit so the side can go on. But no matter it's going to the machinist next week anyway. I don't want mine hanging over the edge. Besides it hangs over the edges in three places.


Now what I have been considering is something really sneaky. What do you think about recessing the back slightly so that the grill sits flush with the PSU mounting plate? The recessing would have to be right over those two rivets.

 

Okay a little more before I go find a teddy bear and bag some zzzz's

Okay the top mounted BI Pro is in and this pic shows just how tight things are in this case. The 90* elbow goes to the pump output and the 45* elbow goes to GPU 1.




This pic shows the front of the BI Pro in the top and you can also see the GPU Aquastream/Aquatube/Fillport sub-assembly. The unconnected fitting is the pump output connector that goes to the radiator.




What you are seeing here is a look straight up between the MB mounting tray and the BI Pro. Just a little better perspective about how much room there is to hook-up any of the MB/Case connectors. There really is enough room...really! See that black thingy at the top of the case? More about that later




Okay here is a pic of the room available between the top PCI slot and GPU 2. One of my initial design goals was to utilize the case geometry wherever possible to make lines sleek and keep the business away from the inherrent beauty of the case. So with the Audigy2 ZS sound board in the top PCI slot all wires coming off the MB are almost completely hidden as they all go to the front of the case along the top between the radiator and the case side. The GPU cooling loop return line is also hidden up there as well. Actually the only wires you should see up top are the HD cables and then you will only see about 2 1/2".




Here you see some of the tubing hooking up to the GPU's from the top BI Pro. Slight problem here as the AC tubing will not make a sharp bend without kinking between GPU 1 and GPU 2. So when the Mazzer PUR black tubing gets here there will be a total revamp of my tubing.




Okay last, but not least here is another pic of my Aquatube in the center partition. 3 points if you know what that thingy is to the left of it?

 

...your new power connector...

Looks great so far. You can't beat lots of watercooling gear

 

I think that it would be rather extreme. It's only just a few millimeters and can BARELY be distinguished by the naked eye. I had to run my fingers over the grill and PSU mounting plate and I think the difference was degligible. BUT it's your case and you seem to be just as much a perfectionist as the rest of us. Go for it.

 

Thought I would put up another pic of the Asus 6600 GT's that shows a little more clarity. When my new fittings get here the top GPU block will get one of the 45 degree fittings so it will be less stress on the cooler from making the bend up to the top of the case.

 

Wowsa! The only guy that looked at this here and at the [H]ardForum that knew it was a panel mount wiring connector. I'm definitely impressed. Yes that is what I mean't a while back that the PSU wiring loom was going to make a serious disappearance. I just didn't like the way that hunk of wires were going to be winding their way through my case. Now I will cut the MB loom and solder the wires to the pins and the MB loom will attach to the top side. I think it will give the case a much better look and get rid of the wiring clutter. Still looking around for the wiring connector for the 4 pin MB power connector and the 4 pin SLI molex.

 

Well I thought while I was waiting for some more $$ to get more parts I would add my birthday mess I made over the weekend. Here is a shot of my computer desk. That's my PC-75 Exos cooled current rig at the end of the table.




This is where I do my best thinking. When I get stuck in a thought I flip on some old Sci-Fi movies for some inspiration. My favorite is Forbidden Planet. Jeez...now I gotta clean up this mess.



More of the same...

 

Are you married Top Nurse? If so, that will not last very long when I see your room

 

Maybe god gave us modding chicks too?

 

There are advantages to being single, but I got some friends coming over tomorrow so I got the living room already clean and now I gotta work on my computer room. Then it's time for the fan housings and some more case drilling. When that's done I can finally get to doing some custom wiring and soldering.

 

All over the world

 

Okay todqy I have a few new things that showed up this week. The first is my PCP&C Turbo 510 SLI PSU. With all the things I have heard about the noise this thing makes I'm ready to do whatever it takes to quiet it down.




Here is what they look like inside. Yes they do know how to pack the circuitry in there don't they?




Here is another shot of the business part of the supply after I took the fan out.




And here you can really see why this fan is so noisy. They put a boat prop inside the box!



So anyway the plan was to use a low noise fan and control it via my Aquaero (more about that later this week) and using a temp sensor on the PSU heatsink. So I got on the phone with PCP&C down in Oceanside, CA for a little chit chat and ended up having a 30 minute conversation with one of their engineer's. BTW, the reason I like buying from these guys is I can pickup the phone and talk with the person who designed it. Trust me that these guys really know what they are talking about! (shameless plug for PC Power & Cooling)

Anyway the long and short of it was that what I wanted to do wasn't going to work with all the hardware I am putting into Feeding Frenzy. The bottom line is that it really does need like 50-60 CFM off air to keep the thing cooled enough that it will run 24/7 without any hiccups. So scratch that idea. I also had originally planned to use an Amptron circular bulkhead connector to run power to my MB and that also got shot down to unacceptable loss of current on each pin. So I guess I got to go back to the old idea of taking the pins out of the molex and see about routing them in a less conspicuous way. More case work it seems...

Well while I was doing all this I disassembled everything so I could do some more case work. I wanted to be able to run the SATA cables through a little hole up in the top of the case, but it just wasn't big enough. So I got out my Dremel tool and opened it up and then added some moulding to the case so there wouldn't be any problems with cut wires.




While I was doing this I decided to drill some more holes. If you are a water cooler then you will know why these holes are here behind the MB.



Can't figure it out? They are so you don't have to remove the MB to take the water blocks on and off. The holes give you easy access to the screws that hold the water blocks on.


More new toys have arrived ! I would have liked to use Aqua Computer Aquadrive Micro's to cool my HD's, but they would only allow me to put 3 HD's in each rack. Since I might take out the front rack later on I wanted something that would let me utilize the full capacity of my racks. The other problem was that the AC Micro coolers only come in butt-ugly blue So here is what I am using to cool off my three 74 Gb WD Raptors.



















There are several reasons I decided on these coolers. They allow for a vey low profile so I can use them right next to each other. The connectors are 6mm ID so they will easily adapt to my 6mm Aqua Computer system. The new Hydra-Pak technology allows for the electronics and spindle heat to be easily absorbed and removed and you don't have to use a thermal conductive pad if you want really good thermal transference like you do with other designs. And last, but not least, it looks a lot nicer with my black and silver color coordination.

Well that is it for tonight folks. I will show you tomorrow the pump sub-assembly that will be used to cool the HD loop off. I also will be done with the NB block that I have been lapping. That is a sight to behold

 

yay! I love gettign parcels in the post, it's fun, all the tubing for the HD coolers should provide an intersting sight.

 

Uh mama what an pancake have we here Nice HDD-brick...
And that "boat prop inside a box" made me rofl

 

I just love V series cases from Lian-Li. I am getting one for the V1000s for my wife's comp. To bad they don't come in green , that would mean I didn't have to paint hers Metallic Green. So far all the Projects I hav seen for the Likes for this forum have giving me so many Ideas, it's just great. Please Top Nurse keep up the great work.

 

The only downside to those Lian Li cases is that they are so damn expensive. First cut in it with a Dremel gave me a very strange feeling, a bit scared I would ruin the case. Very nice to see so many Lian V-serie cases being modded.

 

Okay a little tiny update today. Decided to do a little work on my Aqua Computer TwinPlex cooler for my NB. Can't run tubes and drill more holes without having the NB attached to the board. So the first few pics show what it was like when I got it.

Okay here is the bottom of the block. As you can see this part was cut with a facemill due to the characteristic circular cut marks.




Here you can see that the lined paper shows some squiggly lines. Definite sign of a not so flat block. However keep in ming that when I checked with a gage block and leaf gauges it was less than about 0.001 from being flat. This appears to be within industry standards and within the capability of Artic Silver to provide a good thermal transference. Not fantastic but good in flatness and so so in finish.




Here is a pic of the side of the TwinPlex. Also reasonably flat but the side shows evidence of chatter from the end mill. Usually this is caused by to high a feedrate, to big a bite, or an unstable setup though it looks to me like to high a feedrate.



And another view of the side before lapping.




Okay enough of what it was like and what Aqua Computer could improve upon. This pic is after lapping with 800, 1000, 1500, and 2000 grit wet and dry sandpaper. I used a new piece of glass and used the kitchen marble countertop to sit the glass on as I think it is reasonably flat. As you can see I was able to remove all the facemilling marks and get a much better degree of flatness as there are no squiggly lines anymore. I suppose I could have gone for the mirror finish, but I was looking for flatness.




After doing the bottom I decided to also do the sides as well. This does nothing for thermal transference and is pure bling on my part. I did it just because I liked the look and it got rid of that nasty looking chatter. Obviously I didn't spend the time on the sides that I did on the bottom, but it definitely improved in the looks department.




BTW, what do you do with a brand new PSU? In the next update I will show you what I did that most people would be hesitant to do.

 

Thanks for the nice words. You will love the routing of the tubing from the NB.

Expensive? Now paying a thousand dollars for a CPU is expensive! Paying a couple of hundred for a nice case is cheap! So what is the worst thing that could happen if you make the wrong cut? You sell it to a friend and go get a new case