Mk.6 EMP -Experimental Modular Project-

The chipset block and reservoir are being really annoying so I'm ditching both. The reservoir will be repaced with a simple T-line with the valve and cup.
This will hopefully save a small portion of my sanity.

The hipset block will be replaced with a passive heatsink. Not sure if I will or will not be making my own.

 

Turkey Day!




That's right. The watercooling loop is setup and now bleeding. The fill cup is working perfectly.
I switched to stainless steel constant spring-tension clamps for the tubing because they're WAY easier to work with compared to the plastic ones and they match the look of the AR-15 spring sections I'm using to prevent kinks.

I modified the pump mount a bit so that it's more adjustable. The adjustments I made to it allow the whole watercooling loop to be completely removed from the motherboard as a single unit. I'm probably going to ditch the motherboard covers, or just modify them.

Things I need to do before December
1. Buy a new northbridge heatsink
2. Check the BIOS for Athlon X2 compatability (didn't do this before because I didn't have an X2 to use)

 

Noice I likre. Great work Captian.

 

Why did you kill all the innovative stuff in the mod? Not to say it's not still sweet, just wanted to see the thing come together...

 

glad to see you back at it Capt. !!

 

The reservoir is now nothing more than a piece of modern art on my bookshelf. I don't really have a use for it in this project anymore since it functionally prevents the motherboard tray from being invertible. Maybe once this project is finished I'll raffle it off as a contest prize or something.

The reservoir wasn't really innovative once finished, nor were the motherboard covers. In fact they were making the motherboard tray harder to work with. The compression cuffs for clamping the hose were pretty and work, but were not as easy to work with or as space-saving as the spring-tension clamps.
I still plan on making the motherboard tray plug-bus circuit boards and the rest of the working case features will remain intact.
Most of what is being sidelined are cosmetic additions that I feel take up too much time and detract from function. Part of innovation is weeding out the ideas that don't work, from the ones that do. This case, once finished, should be the easiest machine in the world to fix, maintain, and upgrade thanks to all the planning that has gone into it.

Right now I'm preparing to make some of the remaining plastic assemblies for the case.

 

After running the pump for 24 hours the loop is devoid of air and sealed off. I've been measuring and marking the case frame in preperation for finishing the drive brackets and making the power supply bracket.



The motherboard covers will probably fit on the motherboard with the chipset heatsink I have ordered.

 

good to know the reasoning, thanks cap'n... I now look forward to the rest!!
What's the chipsink going to be?

 

Thermalright HR-05
http://www.performance-pcs.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=197&products_id=4277

 

Finished the final iteration of the Plug-Bus board layouts. This single piece has been a work in progress for over a year.

I'm researching the possibility of getting it made with CAM equipment, which would save me the tedium of having to drill all of those holes. But the default plan is to use the iron-on transfer method.

 

sh**, forgot about the plug-bus!! That's the coolest part, sorry about the non-innovation flame cap'n!!

 

wow lookin great glad to see your back at it. ^^

 

looking v. promising! keep at it!

 

color-coded road map. Helps me make sense of what is going where.

I'm still amazed I managed to fit everything I wanted to on the set. It includes.
(3) molex 4-pin inputs
(5) molex 4-pin outputs
(2) PCIe 6-pin power
(1) 4-pin P4 ATX
(1) 24-pin ATX
(2) 3-pin fan headers
(2) Thermal probe headers
(1) Serial DB9
(2) light power 4-pin molex outputs (toggled from front panel switch)

On Front Panel
(1) Power switch header
(1) Reset switch header
(1) Power LED
(1) HDD LED
(2) USB 2.0
(1) Stereo headphone jack and audio header

I'm also working on something as a planned replacement for the un-functional reservoir I ditched.

 

Looks nice!

Keep up the good work!

 

HOLY CRAP new here, great work guys!

Brendan

 

It looks awesome with that black tubing man! Great work..

 

100,000 thread views? That's a personal record for me.

I'm going to be out of town from Thursday of this week until Friday of next week. I have to take a trip to Ohio to help my brother fix his house.
I'm currently shopping around for quotes on PCB services. I've decided that I really don't want to have to drill 700 1mm size holes, so I will be outsourcing the first Plug-bus set. I should be able to get a good deal on the work because it's only a single-sided design and I will be providing the hefty military-spec 3oz copper clad board.

See you next week.

 

that's what you get for doing good work

& congrats

 

Hopefully you can get some automation for that board you are making ouch drilling that many holes. Lovely work though.