1. This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this site, you are agreeing to our use of cookies. Learn More.

Project: 110%

Discussion in 'Project Logs' started by NemesisNG, 19 Oct 2003.

  1. NemesisNG

    NemesisNG What's a Dremel?

    Joined:
    19 Oct 2003
    Posts:
    8
    Likes Received:
    0
    Hello All!!!

    Decided I'd better put all these pics to use somewhere, and here seems to be a fine place. This is my first post on here and my first propper log of a case project, so here goes..

    Right, bit of background first:

    I had a Coolermaster 201 case, which I liked very much. Fitted my first watercooled setup in that:

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    Decided soon after that the radiator for the water system was too small, we had to go bigger! But that meant that I needed a new case.

    The new case was a strange mixture in the end. I wanted a Coolermaster, but also needed a big front fan vent for the rad, and also wanted full aluminium too. Ended up buying a Chieftec aluminium dragon, AND a Coolermaster 710. I took the front off the 710 and bolted it onto the alu frame of the dragon: Result - a full alu Coolermaster 710.

    Bought a bigger rad, cut out a huge hole and fitted the system in there, ended up with this:

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    Right, had that case done for about 1 week, by that time I was again bored, nothing to mod, fiddle with or any reason to even own a screwdriver.

    Saw some news saying that the current Coolermaster cases were going to be pulled from the range and started wondering... :idea:

    2 days later I've got a brand new Coolermaster 110 sitting here. :D

    I've always liked the Coolermaster range, as you can probably already tell, and decided the quality of the Chieftec was just not as good as my old 201.

    So..... after having 2 previous cases, and the mistakes I made, under my belt I decided to have a go at the new one, this time making a log, with pics, and do it as best I can. (mainly as I need to get it right this time and be happy with the result, I can't afford another new case after this one for a while).

    SO as you can see, the project name '110%' comes from the Coolermaster 110 case, and the fact that I'm going to give it everthing I've got, and a bit more on top.

    On with the log...

    I'm currently half way through I would say so the first part will be a big update, then I'll carry on from there.

    Firstly the radiator housing/fan shroud, the main part of the system really being as it's quite large. This is going to need the main part of the case altering to make it fit in.

    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]

    The shroud itself is called The Scoop V2, and the rad which fits it is the XLR120 - both ordered from www.jpiperformance.com.

    The first major problem I have with this is how to secure it. In the chieftec case it has a false front and i looped zip ties through the bolt holes i the shroud and through the inner part of the case front.

    The CM110 does not have a false front :eyebrow:

    Gonna have to give that some thought....

    Leaving that for the time being I've got to cut out the lower drive cages for the shroud/fan placement. Want to leave the front fans in place so am not cutting it all out, also leaving some will help the strangth of the frame.

    What I'd not taken into account was that the CM is 5cm shorter than the Chieftec, looking at the rad it suddenly started to look like it was not going to fit :eeek: A few panic stricken moments later, and it seemed I would just have to hope and pray on the fitting.

    Had to drill out the 4 rivets holdng each of the sides to the floor, then the rest was all screwed together.

    [​IMG]
    Thats the second side, did the first one earlier. Where you can see the cut so far in the pic, thats where my Dremmel went pop :waah:

    Went back to get it replaced, and they no longer had any, neither did the other 2 main diy stores. Had to wait till morning to get another from town.

    This was the removed part

    [​IMG]

    Fitted 1 side back in the case to get an idea of the rad placement. I took a length of hose and cut it down to fit over the cut edge to protect the rad.

    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]

    Put the usb panel and the 2 front fans back in to hold both sides together, and you can see how much I took out from this one.

    [​IMG]

    With a sigh of relief, the rad and shroud fit exactly, and I'm talking about 1mm to spare. You'll see in a moment.

    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
    As you see, tight....
    [​IMG]

    Nick
     
    Last edited: 20 Oct 2003
  2. NemesisNG

    NemesisNG What's a Dremel?

    Joined:
    19 Oct 2003
    Posts:
    8
    Likes Received:
    0
    Right, now to fix it in there, somehow :worried:

    I'd spent an hour or so the night before looking at how this will work, and eventually had a possible idea. This was also part of why I left some of the lower drive cage in place. I just knew I would have to use it for the fixing somehow, even if at the time I'd no idea how exactly.

    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]

    Bough 4 eyelet bolts, 1 length of 8mm threadded rod, and some 10mm tubing.

    The plan was to put a length of rod accross the case and use the eye bolts over that, then through the fan shroud.

    [​IMG]

    Drilled 2 holes each side, threadded the rods in and bolted them each side.

    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]

    Put some of the tubing on the ouside part of the rold where the eye will be held. Will give it a bit of something to stop the eye bolts moving around. Fitted it all together and put the bots on...

    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]

    Perfect fit, well almost, the bottom bolts only just mis the rad, but still, it works!!! :D

    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]

    You can also see in that last pic I've change the fan grills.

    [​IMG]

    Also the top of the rad is shaped nicely so that the leads for the usb panel will sit through there.

    [​IMG]

    Next part, fitting the pump.

    Drilled 4 holes in the botton of the case, and fitted the 4 feet to the pump. These anti-vibration things are wonderful - bought from www.over-clock.co.uk.

    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]

    Then fitted the res in the top of the 4 drive bays, and added the 2 cd drives to keep it all stable. Mounted the pump and connected all the hoses up again. Bear in mind that most of the tubes and hose clips were already in place from the last case. The only change I made was to add the 90* bend on the pump inlet to stop the kink I was getting there.

    [​IMG]

    All in place now, time to fill....

    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]

    Decided to try the silver braid I had bought for the cables, not sure how much I like it yet, gonna see how it looks in a few days.

    [​IMG]

    Wired up the pump relay and and also wired up the new plug I bought for the pump mains cable. Makes it easy to disconnect if I need to.

    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]

    Started it off leak testing...... and left till the next day.

    [​IMG]

    Nick
     
    Last edited: 19 Oct 2003
  3. NemesisNG

    NemesisNG What's a Dremel?

    Joined:
    19 Oct 2003
    Posts:
    8
    Likes Received:
    0
    Ok, so no leaks overnight, time to get some parts fitted and fire it up.

    [​IMG]

    Shows a good pic of the 90* fitting I put in to help the bottom bend in the pipe.

    [​IMG]

    And the whole system so far with the mobo mounted and the cpu block fitted.

    [​IMG]

    Ok, need to fit the psu in now....... Slight problem..... Will not fit in from the back, no room to fit from the front. Should have done this a while back methinks :wallbash:

    After 20 mins trying it, scratching my head, tryig it some more I had an idea :idea:

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    Why not take the top off and drop it in :D

    [​IMG]

    From there I fitted the front temp/fan control pannel hard drive cooler unit, yet again Coolermaster - their new Cooldrive 4, the graphics card (more on that in a minute) an the power for the mobo and hard drive.

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    And fired it up to test it so far. :D Couldn't wait any longer!

    [​IMG]

    I'm definatly liking the front panel.

    Decided to have a play with the cathode placement.

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    Looking good so far.

    Still got quite a bit to do, got all the wire routing, brading and hiding to do. Also I've decided to change the 2 fans in the fan shroud for two that match. Going to be a bit of a task to take that out again, but should be ok.

    Also I'm having a problem now as the fan controller knob sticks out, and the door on the case will not close, by any means, need to have a think about that still.

    Any comments greatly recieved, I'll keep it going in a day or so when I'm off work next.

    Cheers for now

    Nick
     
    Last edited: 20 Oct 2003
  4. NemesisNG

    NemesisNG What's a Dremel?

    Joined:
    19 Oct 2003
    Posts:
    8
    Likes Received:
    0
    Can't resist posting these pics either. While the system was leak testing I fitted the ramsinks to my new gfx card, a 9800 pro 128mb.

    I've bought the Tweakmonster sinks and some of the thermal pads to fix them with.

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    Looking very nice, can't wait to get some blue light shining off those.

    Cheers

    Nick
     
    Last edited: 20 Oct 2003
  5. r3Q

    r3Q Minimodder

    Joined:
    31 Jul 2002
    Posts:
    579
    Likes Received:
    0
    hey dude, that is a freggin awesome setup. nice move with those hook things, that was ingenious. anyhow. the door... why not try cutting a hole in the door with a holesaw in the spot for the knob, and that blue glowie thing (to balance it) and then the knob will go right thru the hole, i mean, people can play with your fanspeed knob... but they cant use anything else =P. but that is a sweet looking case. :rock:
     
  6. legoman666

    legoman666 Beat to fit, paint to match.

    Joined:
    24 Aug 2003
    Posts:
    927
    Likes Received:
    19
    lookin good.

    tho about ur cpu block, i believe that the inflow is supposed to into the center barb and the outflow thru the outer two barbs. but im only 99.9% sure about that...
     
  7. Penguin4x4

    Penguin4x4 What's a Dremel?

    Joined:
    31 Jan 2003
    Posts:
    165
    Likes Received:
    0

    Yup the center barb on the White Water's are the inlet, :)
     
  8. dima y

    dima y What's a Dremel?

    Joined:
    26 Apr 2003
    Posts:
    12
    Likes Received:
    0
    dudes look again the bottom hose to the pump is the inlet NOT the outlet.

    He did hook it up right!

    nice setup btw
     
  9. olv

    olv he's so bright

    Joined:
    23 Sep 2002
    Posts:
    3,333
    Likes Received:
    1
    As everyone else has said, very nice work there. i loved the chieftec/710 combo case, looked sweet.

    You are ok to be confused by the order of his water loop. The top barb on the pump is the outlet and from there it goes through the radiator and then into the resevoir. Then through the correct inlet centre barb on the waterblock and then back to the pump.

    I think that having the resevoir before your CPU block is killing flow. I would experimenting with different orders if you are interested in reducing temps. Having the cpu block straight after the pump or after the radiator would give you better temps i think.

    Keep up the good work.
     
  10. ReFredzRate

    ReFredzRate Relix Headshot!!

    Joined:
    2 Sep 2002
    Posts:
    2,207
    Likes Received:
    0
    Dude, I'm almost falling in love with that monster :clap:
     
  11. Zoomer

    Zoomer What's a Dremel?

    Joined:
    30 Jan 2003
    Posts:
    46
    Likes Received:
    0
    ya i noticed that aswell, looks nice but i'm sure he cound get the system a bit cooler if he did it the right way.
     
  12. NemesisNG

    NemesisNG What's a Dremel?

    Joined:
    19 Oct 2003
    Posts:
    8
    Likes Received:
    0
    Thanks for the comments, I'll have a play with the tubing tonight i think, currently getting cpu temps of about 26 deg C from the thermal probe on the cpu surface.

    Will go from the top outlet of the pump straight up to the res, then down to the rad as it is now, then from the rad up to the cpu block.

    I'll post some pics of the changes and let you know if the temp drops at all, quite interested to know now.

    Cheers

    Nick
     
  13. Caged

    Caged What's a Dremel?

    Joined:
    5 Dec 2001
    Posts:
    92
    Likes Received:
    0
    You running Longhorn? Or is that a skin?

    Nice mods btw :thumb:
     
  14. olv

    olv he's so bright

    Joined:
    23 Sep 2002
    Posts:
    3,333
    Likes Received:
    1
    no thats the same problem, the res in an ideal setup should be the last component in the setup with the pump being the first.
    You wont really cahnge anything by switching the radiator and resevoir around. you need the resevoir to come after the cpu.

    By having the resevoir before the CPU then all the flow through the CPU block is caused by the sucking of the pump. you want to flow to the CPU block to be what the pump is pushing out, if that makes any sense.
     
  15. Starbuck3733T

    Starbuck3733T Look out sugar, here it comes

    Joined:
    16 Sep 2002
    Posts:
    920
    Likes Received:
    0
    Very nice stuff so far, and great solution dropping the PSU in? did you have to remove rivets for that? if so, don't re-rivet it, drill and tap some holes for a 6-32 thread and use case screws (or thumbscrews :))

    And the blue coolant looks trick, what is it?

    Oh.. one more thing... get a waterblock on that vid card STAT! :)
     
  16. NemesisNG

    NemesisNG What's a Dremel?

    Joined:
    19 Oct 2003
    Posts:
    8
    Likes Received:
    0
    Not running longhorn (yet) if my S-ata drivers worked with LH then the cd in the rack next to me would have been installed already :naughty:

    I'm using StyleXP with the Plex theme for windows, and the sidebar is just an app I found. There's a couple around with the LH style clock pane.

    Nick
     
  17. NemesisNG

    NemesisNG What's a Dremel?

    Joined:
    19 Oct 2003
    Posts:
    8
    Likes Received:
    0
    The top is all screwed on, about 9 per side, so made it nice and easy to do.

    The Blue dye is actually UV stuff, but I put the lot in to give ti the full colour, from www.pclincs.co.uk it's the deep blue stuff.

    Not sure about the gfx card, you might notive that in my last case I had GFX, CPU, and nBridge blocks. After a while I was getting nasty corruption on screen - ended up was the GF4 ti4600 up the spout as the gfx block never mounted s it should.

    So I'm a bit reluctant to try again with the new 9800 Pro. :eyebrow:

    Nick
     
  18. Yo-DUH_87

    Yo-DUH_87 Who you calling tiny?

    Joined:
    6 Mar 2002
    Posts:
    3,712
    Likes Received:
    1
    Dude...

    From the outlet of the pump, to the rad, to the CPU block, to the res, to the pump inlet is the conventional wisdom. Having a res anywhere between the pump and the CPU is a massive flow killer.

    Other than that, it looks prety good! Get a block for the video card and you're set :thumb:

    Do you still have those 2 other cases? You have far more money than me, my friend :waah:
     
  19. phaSe

    phaSe What's a Dremel?

    Joined:
    4 Jul 2002
    Posts:
    603
    Likes Received:
    1
    nice work dude! :thumb:

    looking at the pics though i did have one idea that i thought would look pretty fly. depending on how high up tthe front of the res the water goes, would another coolermaster bezel, without the tray bit look good? almost so it looks like a window into the res, instead of just the res filling up the bay.

    anyway, if thats gonna look pants, ill apologise in advance!

    RoB
     
  20. Starbuck3733T

    Starbuck3733T Look out sugar, here it comes

    Joined:
    16 Sep 2002
    Posts:
    920
    Likes Received:
    0
    Bummer about your block not fitting. You're makign me paranoid about installing my DD 9700 block, when I finally buy the vid card. I hope they don't change the PCB that much! They must make the aluminum matrixes differently, my antecs both have thier tops rivet on. Lucky you!
     

Share This Page