All of the pics have now been resized to 400x300, and compressed. Each is roughly 30k in size. A Ctrl+F5 will reload any pics that are still large. If any pics are down for you, give us a shout with the filename and I shall fix it. Having a brose through, all look OK. Enjoy.
Took me 20 seconds to figure out what on Earth a "******* file" could be. Looks very nice, especially all the CCFL lighting! Nezuji
Just to prove that I am still here, an update. Modders rejoice! First off, the problem which prompted the pulling apart of BlakIce and the continuation. The pump has been dripping slowly from a slightly loose barb for a while now...I've bene periodically mopping it up. Well, after forgetting/not bothering to check in on it, I ended up with a rather waterlogged PC. The soaking masking tape peeling away from the case. I only noticed when the PC blacked out and died on me. An hour later, I had got the motherboard out and ghetto assembled on the floor: Eventually, after many long minutes with a solvent, she was working again. And somehow reporting my passively cooled Duron-M 1000mhz as 4°C. That's after about 20 minutes...it started at 0°C. Anyway, I ordered an NF7-S (still not interested in 64-bit computing). The AN7 will go in my second PC, along wiht yet another Seagate Barracuda 7200.7 SATA (I love them so much!) Also, my sleeving arrived. Absolutely nowhere in the UK had this stuff, but after a few words with Kustom PC's, I convinced them to stock white Techflex sleeving. Then I ordered a pack. Thanks, Greame! Next up, the PSU. I figured there was no excuse not to hack it to pieces...with more gear for me to review coming in tomorrow, and an NF7-S the day after, I wouldn't have much time to get it ready. What did I do to the PSU, you ask? Well, you will just have to wait and see. Just kidding, read on. Basically, I will be putting in a mains power switch, a relay for the pump, and an override switch for filling/bleeding the system. The override will work no matter what state the relay, PSU or even mains power switch is in. The relay will be for general use, automatically managing my pump depending on the state of the computer (a fancy way of saying "it turns the pump on and off"). The mains power switch is for when I bugger up my computer and don't fancy holding the power button...or when I spill cola in the PC, or something. A naked FSP 350WP. It will not need a fan, since it's a high-efficency supply that will sit right next to 192cfm of air coming through my radiator. Most important thing first: Off goes the AUX/AT/whatever you call it/useless connector. Next up, getting this baby rigged for my setup. Adding wires for a main power switch and for the pump. The power socket is now un-pluggable. The relay I will use (solenoid rated at 12V, contacts rated at 250VAC, 16A). My pump won't even draw 0.2A. Relay mated with pad. The pad will be cable-tied to a heatsink. Flipping the PCB over reveals some nice points for me to solder on the wires to power the solenoid. Yes, I could have spliced them in, but this methos was quick and easy, and didn't require stripping, taping etc. I have some special splicing bits, but they are designed for different cable, and I don't want to take any chances when it comes to my 6800GT. Solder = good. The wires go through a handy slit (another reason why I chose soldering to the back) and get some connectors for easy removal/testing of the relay later. The wires soldered to the relay. The brown ones are live wires, the black and yellow are obviously 0V and +12V respectively. No need for heatshrink, some hot glue followed by electrical tape does the job. Plus, the wires are coated in solder and can't move anyway. The relay mounted up and ready to go. A quick test proves that it works fine (gotta love those connectors!) The relay and override switch get wired up. The trailing wires go to the pump. I will get the pump wired up at a later date. Neatened up somewhat, and switches in their final place (with parcel tape). Testing the relay. I plugged the PSU into the wall (something which you must NEVER do with a naked PSU (especially a modified one!) if you are not 100% sure of how a PSU works, of what is live, and of what 230V can do to you..just don't sue me), and booted her up. The pump overide switch (the one with blue connectors) is currently off and I bodged some LED's in there so you could see that the unit is giving out power. The multimeter is placed where the pump would go to tell me when the pump would be on (230V = on, 0V = off...simple, huh?) Now, with the PSU off, I test the override switch. Note the swich positions (and obviously the multimeter reading). That's todays work over with. I'll mount this baby later on this week. Also, I will get on with the braiding, and the rest of the case.
My friend did the exact same thing to his power supply and its quite impressive. Yours is probably a bit better but anyways Good work!
This is shaping up to be a great mod. Keep up the good work. I like the idea of the back lit motherboard. But to save taking the little glass tubes out of the big plastic one, wouldnt it be cheaper to just buy raw little glass tubes. Just my 2 cents worth.
Well, the whole tubes were £1 each, and it's hard to get hold of the tubes on their own. It only took a few seconds to cut them lose.
Looking good, i just love it how you totally hacked up that PSU . You sure that pad will keep on sticking to the relay for a long time?
I hope so. I found them to be pretty permenant over the years (i.e. you can't get them off!!) so they shoudl do. Even if it does eventually fall of, the wires will stop it flying round inside, as they are quite stiff. Keep the comments coming, people. Updatage soon (working on the next bit right now).
Been following for a while, and felt I had to say that's some damn impressive modding, particularly with the psu. Can't wait to see how it turns out btb, was reading through the early stages, and am curious to know where you bought that pump.. am considering moving onto watercooling myself after I upgrade, and the eheim was the pump I was planning on using before I read about the hydor.
I got mine from the Watercooling Shop (www.watercoolingshop.com) for £33.99. However, most places sell them.
Part 1!! Ok, a rather "bitty" update...it's mainly the things that take ages to do, but are rather small. This update is basicalny a mish-mash of the stuff that just needed doing...so, what did I do? Well, I mounted the PSU! PsU in place. Back panel hoels marked up. And cut out before the socket and switches were inserted. And with the back on.. ..and again. I thought some nice surrounds would be sweet, so I set about cutitng up my BlakIce IO front panel (long story - don't ask!) and made me some fancy surrounds. Technical drawing! Stuck onto the aluminium Whirrrrr!!! Dremel it out! And it's done. On it's own.. ..and on the power socket. Sexeh! The same thing was done for the switches: Mark, cut And place. I'll get round to filing them down later! Now, to mount the hard drives. As I didn't have long enough screws to go through the plexi, I decided to make some more fancy aluminium shapes. Holes drilled in the panel. Woosh! Skip past the making (I forgot the pics) and here they are. Mmmmm, brushed aluminium. Plates bolted onto the hard drive And the drives are mounted. Prime position to get cooled by the exhaust from the radiator. The bolts from the bottom.
Part 2!!! A new way to mount the PSU? We will see! Screw. I braided some of the cables. There is only about 2 centimeteres between the hard drives and the fans, so I had to cut down my SATA cables: This is what it looked like before I totally destroyed it. I've got some nice 90° ones coming soon! Finally, some air vents for the back panel. I'll start over by the hard drives Marked up.. ..cutting.. ..cut!! Only another 10 or so rows to go! Anyway, I'm back to drilling holes. Hope you enjoy the update.
Merry christmas all, my present to you is an update. Another "odds'n'sods" update, I'm afraid. There are lots of little things that just need to get done, and a couple that don't but get done anyway. First off, I finished those damn ventilation holes. Towards the end, myself and the cordless drill got rather tired, so the holes started to slip slightly (I don't know how...the pilot holes were perfecy!). Fortunately, they won't be seen. It's a lesson learnt. Holes all done! The beam that goes behind them got some nothces cut out of it. These line up with the ventilation holes. Next up, the bolts problem. The problem was that the case didn't line up properly originally, and many holes had to be "moved" slightly (usualny less than 0.5mm). The problem with this is that the enlarged holes were too large to hold the screws! I could have remade the dodgy parts, but I decided instead to buy some larger screws. Another pack of 50 bolts...a bargain at £2.50. They look the same size as my old ones in that shot, but they are much larger! See what I mean? All the holes have to be tapped. Some of them are simply drilled larger. The problem arises when I accientally drilled out a hole that was meant to be threaded, thus leaving me with a threadless hole, which was the original problem. The solution? Epoxy!! There, you can hardly see it! Bolting the case together (front on)... ...still bolting (sides done)... ...yet more bolting (top done)... ...all done!! That took a while (especially with the 24 hours it took for the epoxy to fully harden). Next up, getting the hardware ready. To start with, the Audigy, and it's external converter card. A mock-up, showing how the cables will fit, and where the cards will go. The IO ports, for no particular reason. Giving the Audigy cable a good going-over with a can of black spray paint. While waiting for it to dry, I set about giving some other parts a spraying. Those aren't silhouettes, they really are that black! Yes, the flash is on. Some double-sided tape holds it all together. Front view. Back view... Top view. Next up, the TV card. Oh yeah...I got a free Hauppage TV card. It's a rather one, but works fine, and I'm not just gonna turn it away! However, that sticker is rather annoying... ...and the same size as a sticky label. See where I'm going with this? Personalised TV card! Ok...whats next? *checks list* ..ah yes, the SATA cables. £5 including shipping for these two AKASA beauties. Bling bling!! They are almost perfect, the only problem being the clearance between the drives and the radiator. Looks like I'm going to have to trim the plugs down. The plug gets cut away, and the cables get re-soldered directly onto the connector. Yes, it's going to be rather weak, and could be prone to shorting out, but when in the case it's not going to matter. Cables in place... ...still there! Ok, that's it for now. A small "teaser" for the next update (by "teaser", I mean "I'm too lazy to finish this right now, so I'll send pics of all I've done and pretend I've done it to keep you in suspense"). Front panel to come soon!
Nice... quit teasing! Keep working! Quick question (before I steal the idea for myself)... how much heat are the cathodes putting off onto the motherboard? And with four of them are you still putting something non-conductive between the cathodes and the mobo? (I donno if the cathodes would conduct any thing but heat and light out of the tube...) Love it though!
thats very nice work..........where abouts in the midlands do you live i live bout 10-15 minutes from Wolverhampton
I live in Lichfield, just North-East of Birmingham. I was planning to use some hot glue, but I can't find the glue gun. One day, maybe they will get hot glued .
Couldnt find a sleeving kit!? Casetech.co.uk have a full selection for cable management here - http://www.casetech.co.uk/index.php/cPath/69_151 And Ebuyer.com, i cant belive you dont know this site ._. http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/prod...order_col=sell_price&order=ASC&subcat_uid=452 There are plenty of sites out there!
Awesome work mate, keep it up. Can't believe you butchered that lcd mate, i know you told me you were going to pull it to bits lol, let me know how it works out, and if you need another i will get you one at cost....
