Case Mod - In Progress Lian Li a05 project of fail.

Hey all, just got my a05 off ebay (mega props to mayhem for his help. Top man!)

It arrived a virgin. Brand new condition basically.





Those are some snaps mayhem took before shipping.

And here is my rig:


(the sharp eyed among you will spot the a05 carcass in the cupboard )

Will update to current status tomorow.

 

Now, I should I suppose list the hardware that will be going in here (but I am notorious for changing my hardware every few weeks )

e8500
p5k-premium black pearl
2gb Geil black dragon 1066mhz ddr2
250gb seagate hard drive
8800gts 512mb BFG OC
Hiper 530w psu (space requirements made me ditch my estasis)
Watercooling: Apogee Drive waterblock/pump (a laing ddc10w merged with an apogee gt), XSPC rs240 radiator, EK res 150 all on 3/8" tubing.

Going to be a bit of a squeeze to fit the lot in there and keep it cool but I'm sure I can manage it .

Now onto progress:

First I stripped everything out of the case (bar the pci slot covers )




And look- a friend came to observe my modding!


After I stripped the case I did a few basic mods:

the motherboard had some premade cutouts (no idea why) so I joined them and turned them into a mounting plate hole. This I sucked at because I was using the wrong blade in the dremel xD



Thats all for now.

 

Well, I have decided to mount the rad in the bottom of the case, for stability reasons, looks reasons but not simplicity reasons (lol)

There are a few problems with doing that though:




So a few cuts later:


and voila:


Perfect fit!


The a05 also mas major GPU cooling problems. A pocket of hot air rapidly forms at the top rear of the case due to the reverse airflow design. Not a problem for small card users but a problem for me:

 

Here is a test fit of the coolermaster 800rpm fan I will use in the top. The bolts are just spares. I'm going to order up some black button head bolts from modelfixings.co.uk to compliment the look.

I tested the fan and though it pushes very little air it will be fine for my requirements, which is basically to keep air circulating above the gpu area.

Obviously I will fit a radgrill ontop to make it look nice.




tight fit with the top pci slot, but that shouldnt cause any real problems as all that could be used there would be a sound card etc and I havent got one.

 

News just in! The rad is mounted:

This is how much of the cut I got done before losing the dremel bit:


So I concentrated on drilling the mounting holes:


and as a result the rad can be mounted (though the cut is not complete- great for sizing purposes though!)


until next time, that is all

 

Today has been good. The weather is glorious so I can do lots of work outside on the case

Even better these came:


Meaning this could happen:


But only after this, yum yum yum:


Now, onto the real updates:

Finally cut out the radiator hole on the bottom of the case- thick aluminium is thiiiiiiiiick. Probably only 2mm but my dremel is shockingly bad.



The rad fits nicely


And finally some glamour shots of the rad and rear fan mounted with thanks to nice scottish sunshine






Thats all for now- hopefully my reservoir will arrive soon along with my barbs and tubing (black tubing and primochill ghost 3/8" barbs).

Possibly going to do a bit more today. Looking at ways of cable managing the case as it is not the greatest for cable management.

 

I like you taste .
That case was also a mod choice of mine. Cant wait to see what you do with it.

 

thanks for your kind words

As this is my first mod its going to be pretty basic unfortunately. I hope to make it look good and be practical though.

Looking at getting it powdercoated white outside and black inside. The black inside is certain but I'm getting my brother to knock up a photoshop of the case in white once the final look begins to appear.

 

well if you want to powdercoated it white you should try some white sleeving
but its mabe to advance? for your first mod

Are you going to have a window?

 

@wolfandangel:

I am gonna be sleeving and psu modding yes. Probably in white or black or a combo of both.

Window wise read on

Another update.

Since I'm feeling really flash with a dremel atm I decided to f**k it and go ahead with cutting the window myself.

It has turned out well. It is but a hand file away from perfection.

This is the design stage- a small window that shows (and more importantly hides) stuff while looking good.


Woo more scrap alu!


And the resulting window cut


Regards

 

Here are some high res pics of the project as it now stands





Regards

 

nice work there

 

it's going really well good luck

 

Thanks guys.

Found a dude to powdercoat the inside of my case black for only £35.

So it will be off to Tom at chilledpc.co.uk for that next week ish.

 

Few more updates:

Got my EK res 100 today:

Here are the stock mounts- too large width wise


DREMEL TIME!


Drilled a rough mounting hole:


And mounted with a roughly cut screw:



Res mounted rear 3/4- the res will be invisible except from the plexi mounting plate at this angle:


Complete (minus powdercoat and a few small tweaks) rear:


And front 3/4- easy to see res level etc- quite a useful feature really:


Also got some radical pink fluid dye on the way, going to see how that looks- could be "interesting"

Thats all for the moment.

 

Looks like its going to come out nice, always liked the a05 cases.

 

Ty mate, I was a huge fan of your gigabyte matx case mod (iirc it was yours). I was this || close to going matx and getting one but I decided that bang for buck atx is better and the a05 is the perfect sized case.

I'm going to spend alot when my summer work money comes through.

Got a list of stuff to order:

Fans + controller
Vandal Switches
Killcoil
Radgrillz
Misc Bolts and stuff.

Plus probably misc stuff I will "need" along the road to completion.

 

Woop woop mayhems epic pink dye has arrived.



Theres probably about a litre of water in there


3 drops:

5 drops:

8 drops:


For my completed loop I'm going to look at perhaps 10 drops to get a really solid colour.

 

Another pathetic update really:

Primochill ghost fittings in 3/8" and some black feser tube have come:


Fits lovely, going to use cable ties though:


thats all for the moment.

 

I love the ghost fittings:


Should be plenty secure for the tubing and looks REALLY clean.

Also if I decide to go for the ever so cliche'd red/black I can use red cable ties and that will look AWESOME.