I've been a huge fan of this case since it first came out, and have modded a few in the last year or so. Having completed these two mods below I decided I wanted to see what could be done with Water cooling. With regards to installing the kit, unlike other cases there is no well trodden path (Pump goes down here, res over there. pump up there etc) So a bit of a challenge, but also a blank canvas to work with. Most parts have been ordered and have arrived, so should be able to get underway fairly soon. I actually souced all my componenets from a single UK supplier. "The water cooling shop" http://www.thewatercoolingshop.co.uk/ As someone who's relatively new to water cooling I did the usual thing and had a look around trying to learn and pick up advice on what kit to select etc. So why the Watercooling shop? a few reasons I found the customer services really helpful Thet had a wide selection of stock, and by that I mean stock they actually have in, how annoying is it when you're putting an order together and 1 or 2 key components are out of stock. So you got to wait or pay 2 lots of delivery to get the missing parts from elsewhere. Talking of delivery, As I spent over £150 I qualified for the free 24 hour delivery. Not bad eh!!! So to the goodies. Going to be using the Phobya G-Changer 360mm Radiator Rev 1.2 as my Rad Got a few ideas of how to mount this monster of a Rad. In hind sight maybe should have gone for a 240 But hey size matters right guys!!! Watercool HeatKiller CPU Water Block LGA1366 Rev. 3 Copper Swiftech MCP355 Laing DDC-Pump 12V DDC-1Plus 18W Ultra EK-DDC X-RES 140 Primochill PrimoFlex Pro LRT Clear Tubing Scythe Gentle Typhoon 120mm Case Fan - 1850 RPMx3 A few more bits and bobs to come, But i've got enough toys here to be going on with. Bit of a test assembly on the res/pump combo to see how it will look and start to get an idea of how it will all go together (still unsure) I will be taking all apart again to braid wires etc. The instructions are kind of amusing as they tell you to use "gentle force" to tighten the bolts. What the heck is gentle force??? It's either forceful or its gentle!!! How can it be both??? OK rant over on with business. Got myself a rather nice machined pump mounting plate. It's made by PHOBYA and will accept pretty much any pump you care to bolt to it. Comes with all the nuts and bolts you could ever need and a shock absorbing velcro mat to put underneath. The plate itself is made from a single piece of fairly thick steel and has that nice quality machined feel about it. (i'm a bit of a sucker for a nice machined billet of steel). And the Radiator. Again I've gone for another Phobya product, The Phobya G-Changer 360 v1.2 Bit of a beast, totally dwarfs my keyboard. Still, should do a good job of keeping the temps down. Still waiting for a few parts, Hose and fittings. In the meantime going to be doing a bit of fabrication and a bit of painting so should get some more images up later.
I'm not a fan of stock Antec Skeletons but they do lend themselves to modding rather well. I liked the earlier two (especially the olive green one) so I'm looking forward to seeing you watercool this one
thanks for the feedback, one of the many reasons I like this case is that it hasn't been done to death. Downside of course is that there isn't a huge experiance base out there to draw on especially re the water cooling side of thisngs That said I've now pretty much worked out where everything is going and although I still don't have the all important fittings i've not let that stop me cracking on with things. £ scythe gentle typhoons will be used to move air over the RAD. They're going to be painted up in keeping with the theme of the Black and yellow Skeleton Mod as this is my everyday PC. What i need now is a bit of help deciding on the colour scheme for the fans. When I did the original build I did the fan blades silver with a black inner cowling and a yellow frame Like this However I'm thinking this might look a little busy so have quickly sprayed up an old fan to show another idea i'm thinking of. What do you think guys. I'm thinking the silver one might look a little too busy. haven't sprayed the actual fans up yet so not a problem either way. I'd appreciate your thoughts. Been busy in the garage this afternoon. With the drying fans safely out of the way i've set about fabricating part of the bracket that will support the res. It's essentially 90 degree angle steel although as it's not very strong i've bonded 2 together. when set I will re drill new holes in the places I need them. Ceiling mounted Dremel. I have a feeling I'll be playing with this at some point.
Painting is going well, although the pictures don't do the yellow justice in all of them. It's quite a vivid "warning" yellow, but in some it looks more like a rather pretty Buttercup. I've given up hope of finding yellow tubing and think yellow dye in clear might look a little like pee, so have decided to go for black instead, most likely with yellow anti kink. first top coats of both surfaces of fans. of rear of fans
After a lot of umming and arring the plan is to use the Phobya fan mounting bracket to aid in mounting the rad and fans onto the side mesh side panel of the Skeleton. (not convinced the mesh panel is up to taking the weight on its own). I'm also going to be using the Phobya universal pump mounting plate to secure the pump. I'm aiming to fabricate a bracket to secure the whole lot to the rear of the rad mounting bracket and rad assembly. The Phobya rad has ports on both the side and the bottom, which gives it good flexibility. Only because I want to use it the other way round, with the side ports facing rearwards the ports get in the way of the mounting bracket. No problemo. Out comes the Dremel (said it would come in handy, have you ever done a mod and not used a dremel. 90 degree brackets to hold the pump mount. I've actually bonded 2 together to give the strength required to hold the weight of the pump and the water safely. They're no way near finished yet though. Rough idea of what the pump mount shelf will look like (except the other way up and I might need more than masking tape. I've also treated myself to some rather sexy M3 35 marine grade stainless steel allen head bolts to hold everything together. Mmmmm Nice
I love the Antec skeleton cases, awesome to see some mods with it I'm glad you went yellow with the fans.
Thanks for the positive feedback guys. I'm really ejoying this project. The Skeleton is such an easy case to work with. Not used Phobya ort Aquatunig before, What sort of problems have you had with them? Or is an aquatuning thing?
Ok I really don't want to enter into that sort of thing, and to be honest I've been around too long to believe everything I read on the internet, or even take it at face value. I'm here to mod, and I like the companies products. If you've had a problem with the products then feedback on that sort of thing is always useful to other consumers whoever the manufacturer happens to be.
Things are coming along nicely now. Fans have turned out as well as I could hope for. Brackets to support the pump/res. cut and filed to match the profile of the rear of the rad mount bracket (well almost, remember I'm not an engineer, I work in a hospital). The support is actually made from 2 90 brackets bonded together as I wasn't convinced 1 would be strong enough. Cutting with the beloved dremel (wasn't easy to get this shot). Initial cut, just needs filing down Parts washed ready for painting Brackedts attached and base coat on. First top coat. The observant amongst you wil notice that I've changed the colour from black to....black.
Thanks for the feedback guys and sorry for the lack of updates over the last few days. I have been busy though. Rather pleased with the fit with regards to the alterations I made to the Phobya stand. (the white plugs are just blanks Phobya supply very nice Black nickel plugs for the holes not being used Test fit of the pump mount. The Rad fitted to the stand prior to the whole assembly being attached to the Skeleton. Frame assembly test fit to case.
Trying to decide whether to paint the rad. I was thinking along the lines of the top and sides i.e. the housing parts for the rad done in the same black and yellow stripe pattern that I did the mesh panel that it's now attached to and hiding. I might just be used to looking at the striped mesh panel though and with the rad there my eyeball is saying that there's something missing. This sort of effect, but on the top surface and the surface with the bleed screw on it.(i'd actually do all for surfaces but those 2 are the only ones that would be seen. I'd appreciate your thoughts. Stipes Leave Something else
