Case Mod - In Progress Project: Nutman (update: August 22nd 2011 - FINISHED!)

Aaah, ok - hehe. Now I understand. But no, they're perfectly straight. Must be the letters that fool the eye.

 

Yeah, well. It's rather typical - this is NOT the very final update, because a lot has happened in the meantime.

As you might recall I had ALMOST finished the machine and I even made some "OMFG! It's finished!"-pictures - but then reality kicked in and I made some decisions regarding stuff I wasn't satisfied with and that HAD to be corrected.

I'm giving you 2 collages of the pictures I made. They show you how the machine was looking like before I decided to dismantle it again for further modding.




Ok, I got a good offer on an ASUS ATI4890 and I took it - so that's the third graphics card used in this build (3850, 4850 and now 4890)! Hopefully it'll be the last for now....



I was offered an EK4870 full block and made an enquiry with EK in Poland to check if that block would fit my graphics card. Got a very fast reply saying that it would fit fine, so I bought it and here it is:



Once more I visited Studiedata and brought this stuff home:








The pump and the Aquaero was not bought at Studiedata - I purchased those from one of the guys working there.

However, the new radiator was sponsored by Studiedata (it's a used one from an old project of theirs) and I think it looks like an Alphacool NexXxos Pro - an older one. Since I have a NexXxos Pro II sitting in the top of the case already, I exspect performance from the new one to be pretty much the same since this one is going to sit in the bottom, sucking in the cool air.

I get a good discount on the rest, but it was not entirely for free.

The radiatoren and the pump was cleaned using a mixture of vinegar acid and normal water:



Another decision I made was to get a Quad core CPU, so I sold the "old" E6750 and bought a Q9550 instead:



Since I now had a Quad core CPU, I felt I needed a better CPU cooler. So.. out went the XSPC X20 Delta V2:



...and in came the D-Tek FuZion V2 with a Quad Core nozzle:



Also bought a new reservoir that will take 2 Laing DDCs:





...so the old one had to go:



Since then I've returned the XSPC BayRes One reservoir and got the new model, the BayRes Two, instead... pictures of that one will come later.

Since the full blcok was added to the graphics card there is no more room for this fan:



It was mostly noisy and not really any good, so kinda glad to see that one go!

Since I'd purchased an Aquaero I didn't need either the home made fan controller nor the Vantec Nexus 101 fan controller anymore. Out they went:



I also sold my Terratec DMX 6fire sound card, so the LED connector panel couldn't be mounted anymore as it used to be mounted on the back of the front panel for the Terratec sound card. So the LED connector panel also went into the bin. Not feeling bad about it - I had come to realize that it was ugly, so I'll make something better.



Also threw out the plate that sat in the back of the 3.5" rack since it really didn't have a purpose anymore. I was going to move the pump to the new reservoir and the new radiator in the bottom meant that I had to remove the HDD rack and mount the HDD under the 3.5" rack instead. So, out went the HDD rack:




I'm planning on mounting the HDD hanging from the 3.5" rack, so the 2 80 mm. fans will still cool the HDD. However, I haven't made the mounting mechanism yet, so for now the HDD will just be mounted inside the 3.5" rack...

I wanted to mount some light under the motherboard, since I had seen some mods where they did this - and it looked pretty good. Luckily, I had 2 spare CCFL tubes in the somewhat right colors, so I wanted to install them under the motherboard.
The problem was that there was not enough room for the tubes under there, so I had to remove the protective plastic tube, thereby exposing the raw tube and the wire that runs along it. I wrapped it in scotch tape to isolate and protect it. As you can see, it works:



I was also planning to paint my PSU since it was metallic dark blue and didn't really fit the colors of the case. Plus, the fan grills were golden and didn't really fit, either. As you may have noticed earlier, I bought some black fan grills for the PSU, and now I had to remove all the stickers prior to painting the PSU:



And here it is, ready for the paint job:



As you might have noticed, I'm in the basement now. I have my cozy little workshop here, so let me show it to you:





Yes sirs and madams, my wonderful drill press - a christmas gift from my parents! As you might have noticed I bought a real Dremel! It was on sale, so I really had no choice, hehe:




More to come...

 

Looks really good mate, really well done. 1 question, what do you think of those fittings with the anti-kink coils, they are the alphacool ones aren't they?

 

#43: Thanks for the kind words!

In regards to the fittings, I'm sorry, I have no clue, really, as they come in noname boxes at Studiedata - but the fittings are ok. And it looks good and kinda industrial using metal coils instead of those (in my opinion) horribly cheap looking plastic ones.

As I said, they're ok, but nowhere near the quality of eg. Bitspower or Koolance compression fittings.

Read the next update! ->

 

Ok, still in the basement and the plan is to dismantle the case and do a little painting on the inside (black, of course).

First I needed to make a new bottom base plate, because I couldn't use the existing 120 mm. hole with the new radiator. It simply wouldn't fit because of the case feet.

As some of you might recall I had a spare top from a Lian Li case, so I taped it up and sketched it:



Secured the top to the workdesk and put an old shelf on top that would serve as a straight guide when doing the cuts using the router drill for the Dremel:



Made sure everything was ready for the cut. Did a check-up and then another one...:



...drilled a hole where the router drill had to start:



...put the router drill ito the hole:



...and started cutting:



Made some videos where you can see the process:





After some time the new base plate was cut:




...final finishing:



There!



Errrr, doesn't quite fit:



...but eventually it did.

I needed to remove the PC speaker brackets:




...and then we had a snug fit:





Marked where the radiator was going to sit:




Put plastic on the case to contain the spillage from the cutting process and made 2 nice 112 mm. holes using the Dremel router drill:



Tape off and let's see how it sits:



Put some rounded washers on the case feet bolts:



...and put the radiator in place:



Went on to install the dust filters for the new radiator, but as the middle mounting holes only sit 15 mm. apart the dust filters didn't really fit. I have to remove 2.5 mm. from the side of each dust filter. A job to be carried out later...



Well, as I said I wanted to paint the insides of the case. I dismantled the motherboard tray (drilled out all the rivets):



Before starting to paint, I wanted to do a test on some other Lian Li aluminum parts I had. Went with a PSU bracket:




Turned out to be a smart move, because the paint job started the break up after just 4-5 days. Well, I didn't use an aluminium primer on the PSU bracket, but just de-greased it and sprayed black paint on it.
I've since done another test, using aluminum primer this time - followed by 2 layers of black paint and 2 layers of transparent paint. However, I just can't seem to make it look right, so I've decided to have the parts anodized black instead.
More about that in the next update, I hope...

Got some goodies for the Aquaero'en and some watercooling stuff aswell (2 Aquacomputer temperature gauges 2 bits for the draining system):



Put the new black front plate on the Aquaero aswell as the new acrylic front that brings the display level with the front plate, so it doesn't appear "sunk in" anymore:




As you can see the buttons are now sitting too low when looking at the front plate - however, Aquacomputer deliver these spacers with the acrylic front:



Put them on the buttons:



...and on the spacers for the front plate:






There - buttons and front plate nicely aligned again:





Ok, decided to water cool the chipset/mosfets aswell, so got this set from MIPS in germany:



Off came the old chipset/mosfet heat pipe:



...and on went the new coolers:







Since I'm using push-on fittings there's the well-known issue with hose kinking when tightening the washer to the fitting itself. Often, when you tighten it, the hose will move and bend because it's such a tight fit, risking kinking of the hoses while doing so. Well, I thought "Maybe a little oil will help?", so I added a little sewing machine oil to the hoses:



...and smeared it out using this thing:



It actually worked rather well and made it possible to do small and tight hosing like this:



Connected the CPU cooler and the mosfet cooler:



Yeah. my girlfriend's fingers wouldn't stay out of the frame!

The last thing I've done for now is to mount the pumps on the new BayRes Two reservoir. Not much room for the pump wires, but by removing some of the sleeving I was able to make them fit. I'll re-sleeve both pumps later, don't worry:




That's it!

Stay tuned until next update where I hope to be able to show you some black anodized inner parts - and maybe there's a small surprise for you all regarding fittings and hoses.

 

I love your new Dremel toy .

Those blocks are nice, look like they are good quality, MIPS are always good quality lol. Something else I should have asked before but slipped my mind is about that XSPC duel res. I have recently seen them here in Australia and was thinking of getting one for a duel loop system instead of the EK tube res tops for the DDC. I was just wondering what your opinions or first impressions of it was. Obviously you haven't filled it yet but what do you think of it quality wise?

 

I have filled both chambers and it's a really good quality product. In regards to performance, I'm not sure yet, but if they match the previous top I had, they're top of the bunch.
It even comes with front plates for both silver and black cases and there's also a Molex-powered LED included.

 

Looks like I will definitely be considering it then. I would still really like to use the EK tube res top if I can, purely for aesthetic reasons but if I can't incorporate them I will definitely snap one of these up. Thanks for the info .

 

Looking good! Your new stuff will make the case even cooler, and I bet the board will look nice with all those new water cooling elements!

 

And this is the surprise: Coolerkit are now sponsoring "Project: Nutman"!



So, what do Coolerkit sponsor?

Well, they sent me this nice, little package:



"What's in it? Come on, Nutman! The suspense is killing us all!!!", I hear you utter....wait for it, waaaaait for it.....

Tadaaaaa!




Damn, Bitspower threw up on my floor!!

Unwrapping, unwrapping:



Coolerkit sponsor all Bitspower fittings, the MasterKleer tubing and the drain valves.

And yes, I am VERY grateful that Thomas from Coolerkit has spent SO much time trying to get me these Bitspower Black Sparkle Finish fittings!

It's insanely difficult to get a good shot of these fittings - something that shows to you how AWESOME they really look. But that won't stop me from trying, of course:






Incredibly sweet fittings - they simply OOZE quality!

Apart from the fittings and the tubing, the package also contained a syringe IC Diamond 7 Carat thermal compound, a couple of EK G1/4" spacer rings, a set of Sunbeam 10 cm. UV CCFLs with converter, plus an extra converter.

But, but, but....several other things have happened since the last update and I want to show you those, so I wrapped up the new fittings and will now continue to the next surprise, which is:



Yessir, my new graphics card! The 4th one in this build...

As you might recall, I had gotten my hands on an ASUS EAH4890 "Voltage Tweak", but that one had a red PCB and didn't quite fit the color scheme of this build. So I made a deal with someone claiming to have a XFX 4890 "Black Edition" - meaning that he linked to a "Black Edition", but when I got it, it was a normal 4890 and even a non-ref PCB. So I couldn't put my EK block on it!

Luckily, I was able to sell that card and get a REAL "Black Edition" - and that makes it the 5th graphics card in the course of this build. Hopefully, THIS will be the last!




Waterblock on - IC Diamond 7 Carat is actually very thick. Not easy to spread! - according to IC Diamond you're supposed to put a "pea-sized" portion of it in the centre of the chip and allow the pressure to spread it out when installing the heat sink. However, I'm not to keen on that method of application. I'd like to spread it out myself in order to make sure that the entire surface has been covered, so I spread it out (which is hard since, as mentioned before, it's quite thick and feels kinda dry, too) as good as possible and put the water block on. Damn, a black PCB is beautiful:



Anyway, as mentioned in the post before, I wanted to have the internal parts of my Lian-Li case anodized black.

First, I had to prepare the parts - I had been speaking to Claus at Værløse Galvaniske, who said I had to make sure that the parts had something by which they could be handled when putting them in the anodizing solution and taking them out of it again. And since the anodizing layer is very, very thin I had to sand all the parts down, thereby removing any scratches that WOULD be visible through the anodizing. So, after sanding I mounted some handles made of stainless steel - however, Claus told me I had to remove these since the stainless steel would destroy the anodizing process:



Mr. Eagle Eye would notice that the tops of my newly purchased chipset blocks from MIPS are also sitting there, waiting to be treated in some galvanic way. More on that subject later....

The parts came back and this is how they looked:





Neat!

Re-riveted the motherboard tray:







And yes, I happen to like the silvery colored rivets. I COULD have ordered some black rivets from eg. MDPC-X, but I think the silvery ones look good. PLUS they match the rivets on my premodded side panel.

Well, this was all fine and dandy... but the MIPS blocks did NOT look pretty when they came back. They were supposed to be galvanized black using chromatic zinc, but apparently MIPS had applied a thin layer of clear laquer to prevent oxidation and the chromatic zinc couldn't penetrate this. They looked quite...ugly:



However, Claus at Værløse Galvaniske said that I could give them back to him after removing the laquer layer and he would do them within the price we agreed upon to start with. Nice service! Oh, this might be a good place to mention the price: Claus said it would be app. 33 EUR plus VAT (25% in Denmark) and it ended on 53 EUR incl. VAT, so that was pretty close - and quite cheap, I think.

Oh well, back to removing the laquer. Bought some of this nasty stuff:



Available at most major hardware stores in Denmark - but I got it at Colorama in Roskilde (where I live) and I asked the salesman "Is it any good?" - he rolled up his sleeves presenting several acid burn scars and said: "Yes, works pretty good - but remember to wear protection!". Duly noted!

Back in the basement, I put on these:



But they are quite thin, so the Nitromors somehow ate its way through them. But not until I had applied the stuff on the blocks. And I remembered to wash my hands thoroughly afterwards, so nothing happened. However, the next time I'll make sure to wear thicker PVC gloves...

When applying this stuff, use a nylon brush as Nitromors won't eat nylon:



After leaving it to work for app. 20 minutes I rubbed off the laquer using the nylon brush and some kitchen towel - and then I washed down the parts with normal tap water. As a finishing touch I wet sanded the parts. Now they're ready to be galvanized:



Oh, while in the basement I made some shots of my newest tools:





Very handy!

Look out for the next update, coming soon, where I will show you the galvanized black MIPS blocks and I will begin the assembly process - oh yeah, I also have some new radiators to show you. Stay tuned!

 

DAMN! How did I miss this project?

Fantastic work, and dudee! Thats alot of PSU's

 

Mankz: Thanks. Yeah, had quite some cases and PSUs at a point. Luckily, they're gone now.

 

Congratz on the new sponsor, they gave you some nice gear .

 

Forget about the gear, they sent him candy!
Lovely work Nutman!

 

#53: Yes, Coolerkit rocks. If you're living in denmark, they're as pretty close to #1 as you can get, seen from a Watercooling perspective.

#54: Exactly, they send gum with every order - quite funny and it makes them special. So simple, yet so powerful.

Thanks for the nice comments!

 

Fantastic log! I'm following this keenly

 

#56: Thanks. You either got incredible stamina or an almost un-human taste for worklogs. I am amazed that anyone is still with me on this one, hehe.

 

dude the first case look alrite as it was lol. nevermind, the modding curse is in your blood!

 

I think it's the latter. I rarely get to mod all-out due to financial constraints and the joys of living in a 3rd world country, so I try to live vicariously

 

You'll have to settle for a small update showing the black-galvanized MIPS blocks:










As you can see on the last picture, the NB block has a small flaw - but nothing that a black marker won't be able to cover up.

In general, I'm very happy with the way these came out.