Case Mod - In Progress Project CheckMate by E.E.L. Ambiense - Completed

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Infinitely-Lazy Shortcut - Finished Final Pics​

Time has come again for a new project log! I'm retiring my prior LAN rig, "Building Better Worlds", and putting it out to pasture. Hardware is getting a bit long in the tooth, but mostly I'm just bored with it.

I've decided I'm going to go to liquid in this LAN rig. I have an abundance of liquid cooling gear laying around that I hadn't even touched yet, so I figured I'd use it up before it rusts away into nothing. The chassis I decided on for this project is the Lian Li A05. I chose this particular case for a few reasons; there's a plethora of room inside due to the design and orientation of the tray, and it was bloody cheap at the time that I nabbed it.

Oh, I should also state right now that the case has nothing to do with Chess, in case you're wondering about the name. It's just a name that I was using when I was thinking stuff up a while back, and it just seemed to stick for some reason.

This project really began, at least pre-planning, color-scheme, ideas, designing, etc. about 6 months ago (Nov. '08, I believe?) when I was hard at work on a commissioned build that used this very same chassis, and really enjoyed working with it at the time. It's getting the typical treatment of full powder coating, etc. But here's the funny thing; since I've been AFK for a couple months or so dealing with IRL stuff as well as other issues and have finally gotten around to getting back on the forums and actually starting this build, I've come to realize there's quite a few new projects on B-T that utilize the same exact bloody color-scheme! So, I guess I'm going to get the usual, "ah, another white & black theme, huh?" etc. comments. Oh well. What can I do, right?

In all seriousness, let's get right to it, shall we? Here's a mock-up of how things will look when finished...



Here's some of the gear going in the rig...



The system, at this time, will consist of:

Mobo: Asus P5Q-E P45
CPU: C2D e6750 CPU
GPU: XFX 8800GTS G80
HDD: Western Digital 640gb
OS: ? Probably XP though

Not exactly cutting-edge stuff, I know...but it's a LAN rig; not worried about it! It'll be plenty zippy for what I'm going to use it for. The GPU is my old (admittedly ancient) XFX 8800GTS G80 from an old Noire rig. It's going in the loop because I still have a EK water block for it. I've also replaced the original delrin top for it with a new acrylic top, as well as replacing the o-ring in it after a thorough cleaning that it probably needs. The CPU's block will be my old EK-Wave, but the delrin top has also been replaced with a new acrylic one as well as the o-ring. It's going to be fun cleaning these!

The typical mods will be performed on this chassis. I will be installing a triple rad up top with custom acrylic grills; a custom side panel with fan intakes; and I'll be modifying the chassis itself to enhance airflow because this chassis stock really suffers from awful airflow.

I love these new Gelid fans. Well, they don't seem to be new anymore, but they're nice. I've been playing around with them. Pretty decent airflow for the noise level too. Frames seem kinda chintzy though.



The top rad will get some low-speed Akasa white LED pearl fans.



I just loved how they looked. They may not move much air, but they don't really need to in order for them to do their jobs.



Let's start to strip this thing down for sanding. Augh, sanding...



I need to yank literally everything off the case.



Removing the rear fan is a breeze, at least!



And the little rubber silencers too.



Now, I'm only putting one HDD in this rig (that's all it needs), so I'm removing the entire stock HDD rack from the case. You'll see why in the near future!



Let's drill out those rivets, now...



There. Easy! I love working on this chassis.



Originally, I was going to install the HDD into the 3.5" bay, but I decided on a fan controller to go there. This one...



So in order to mount the HDD, I acquired a little Lian Li HDD kit to mount onto the 3.5" bay's mount-holes. Perfect, and cheap too.



The HDD will go in the top-most slot, and the DDC pump with Alphacool top will go in the bottom-most slot with mount-screws for it. Should work great and have just enough room for the hosing to be run without issue. I hope.

A quick test-install of the Lian Li bracket along with a dead HDD I keep around just for this reason; testing!



On to the liquid loop itself, I had an entirely untouched Swiftech MCR-320 sitting in my parts closet, so I figured what the hell.



After a lot of measuring and re-measuring, instead of one of the handful of XSPC RX rads I've really been wanting to use, I decided to use this rad because it's thinner, lighter, and **ahem** cheaper **ahem**, so in the event of screwing up the rad I wouldn't be too upset.

Why would I screw up the rad? Oh, I should probably show you then, right?

After a through cleaning with lacquer thinner and completely masking off the fins with some special high-temp tape...



There we are....



And presto!



Just to make sure I didn't bake the thing so bad that the plenum chambers and all the tubes inside have been ruined, I hooked up a quick little test-loop to check the rad's health out.



After 24 hours of running the loop there wasn't a single leak, so it was a successful experiment!

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Until the next update, I got nuthin'.

 

I just know this is going to be an awesome project!

 

Sneaking in another Lian-Li! Throw out the HDD brackets like they were factory exhaust pipes on a Harley. Stuff it full of H2O goodness.

Smacks of E.E.L. to me.

I watch

john

 

Ah E.E.L, every one of your mods gives me soooooooo much inspiration. You are truly a mod god. I can't wait ti see more.

 

Thanks!

Hehe, you know it, John!

Thanks, mate! I'm hoping to run this one through the ringer really quick!

 

I love this place. Pushing Modpron at every turn.

Looking forward to seeing this in all its glory!

That rad is rather pretty. Rather sexy pretty.

 

OMG E.E.L. Is Back in Business, Which means Another amazing top project.

Best of luck buddy.

 

Another A05-B mod...

 

E.E.L.
Lian-Li.
Black & white.

'nuff sed.

 

whoa...
another crazy mod of E.E.L. Ambiense

great

 

Gonna folow this. Small case, big and much hardware

 

Hahaha, "modpron"? Thanks!

Thanks, CK!

Thanks, Mankz.! I appreciate it!

Hahaha, thanks!

Thanks, man!

Edit:

Thanks!

 

i like the color scheme a lot. i wish i had parts like that lying around.

*subscribed*

 

You can powdercoat the radiator without destroying the black paint? or is it black powder?

There isn't enough dirty humor here for an EEL thread. I am disappointed.

On that note: The white tubing looks cool, but I've heard the black stuff is bigger.

 

Thanks! I appreciate it.

Nah, the paint on these rads are, to put it bluntly, crap. Looks like a cheap spray-job. A quick swipe of a lacquer thinner-dipped rag resulted in quite a bit of black on it, so it almost feels like they were inadequately cured when originally painted. I know I may be in the minority when I say this, but Swiftech's rads don't really impress me that much as far as build-quality. When I looked at the rad before coating it, I noticed quite a lot of fins that aren't even attached to the channels. Just seems bad for some reason, or maybe I'm just used to looking at Thermochills. I'm sure the rad will perform fine though, if others' accounts of using it are anything to go by. The powder simply covers up all the bad paint permanently.

Dirty humor, eh? I know; it surprised me too! Okay, okay.... POOP! There we go.

LOL @ the black stuff being bigger.... but I'm not taking the bait. It's too obvious!

 

Stand em up -knock em down! I iz thinking.

john

 

Looks great.

 

really great work on the rad
what do you use for the powder coating, is it like a kit or something?

 

What has worked for E.E.L. and I (his input but he's never seen any of my results) is to get an old electric kitchen stove from the used appliance store. You DO NOT want to use gas or your food cooking oven. The sources of powder in the US are actually quite plentiful. I got mine from Harbor Freight. Small parts could probably be done in an electric toaster oven with good temperature control. Mine is out in my tack room 75 feet from the house and PLENTY of ventilation.

One of E.E.L.'s builds talks about technique.

He'll explain better but I don't know where to get the resources outside the US. Different color powders, etc.

john

 

I think Harbor sells different colors of powder as well, but basic colors.
Another great mod from EEL!