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

It's been a while since my last update, so here's another huge one...

In the meantime a lot has happened. For some good reasons I cannot reveal everything in this update (see the next update, which I'll post RIGHT after this one).

Last time I showed you a video of me filling the loops. Oh, and yeah, I showed a teaser picture, too. More on that picture in the next update

Ok, prior to filling the loops, I had installed the pumps on the XSPC reservoir:



I had decided not to sleeve the pump wires, since they'd be hidden on they way up to the Aquaero:



The reservoir is now in place:



Ok, put the bottom radiator in and installed the dust filters on the intakes. I had to remove app. 1,5 mm. of material from one side of each filter to bring the spacing between the inner mounting holes down to 15 mm., to fit the standard mounting hole spacing of the fans on the radiator:




Radiator in place:



Worked on Cable management for the fans on the bottom radiator. Of course I don't want them to just lie there in the bottom of the case:



I had to remove one of the corners on the backside case fan. Otherwise, I'd run into spacing problems with the draining system for the lower loop::




As seen from the outside, this is the backside case fan:



Also sleeve a short cable for the S-SATA HDD:



The new Corsair HX620 PSU would't sit all the way into the case, due to the top radiator taking up all the space, so I had to pull it out slightly. I found some spacers to attach the PSU to the case:



Didn't like the brass surface, so I heat-shrink'ed it. Looks MUCH better, IMO:





Additional pictures of the assembly process:

















This is what was left from 2 metres of tubing after I was done putting both loops together:



Add coolant to the loops - you've already seen the video, so here are the pictures:









Had ordered some Bitspower low-profile plugs for my Bitspower X-adaptors:



Yeah, there actually much more low-profile than the old plugs:



Not a lot of room left when the X-adaptor is in place on the bottom radiator. There's a gap of app. 1,5 mm. between fan and plug - and app. 1 mm. between grill and plug:




In the end there was room for everything:



While testing the Aquaero'en I managed to erase its firmware (don't ask why it's even possible to do so!)...

It happened while I was trying to reset it to factory defaults - using a key combination that I held TOO long (we're talking of 4-5 seconds too long here) the firmware was erased completely and now I have to ship the device to Germany to be fixed. As I said: don't ask why they included an option to erase the firmware completely, rendering the device utterly useless. And don't ask why they opted to put it on the same key combo used for resetting the device. Really stupid, if you ask me! Fortunately, they've removed this "feature" from the Aquaero v.4, but since I have a v.3.07, I had to send it to Germany. Sigh....

Oh well, while it was on its way to Germany, I used the homemade fan controller. And that means lots of cable mess:




Fortunately, it's absolutely free to have your damaged Aquaero repaired at Aqua Computer (well, at least for damage like this). Free for anybody - not just me, hehe. They put the latest firmware on it and sent it quickly back to me. All I had to cover were the shipping costs.

And now it's back:





So I sleeved the USB cable that connects the Aquaero to an internal USB port:



... and tested it:



Lo and Behold, it works - however, it has some trouble powering 2 fans connected to the same channel. It's as if it's distributing most of the power to only one of the fans. I don't know why it's acting like that, but I must change my plans due to that. Originally, I had planned to connect the RPM wire of the 2 pumps to 2 channels on the Aquaero, so it would shut down the computer in case of a pump malfunction, but now I'll have to use the fan headers on the motherboard for that task. Which means the Aquaero will control 4 fans (2 on each radiator), one connected to each channel. And since that's the number of fans it was meant to control, everything's fine and dandy, I guess. This also leaves me with some additional fan controlling options. Eg. now I can switch of one of the fans (or maybe even both) when there's no need for it - the Aquaero will automatically turn on the fan when it's needed, which could be nice.

Join me for the next update that will reveal some major stuff!

 

Remember the teaser pic?

Well, the package has arrived:



And who sent it?



And what's in it?




Haha, can you feel it?

Yes, ladies and gentlemen. Once again this project changes direction (and platform). Really, it wouldn't be a Nutman worklog if it didn't contain something totally unexspected once in a while, would it now?

I was tempted and bought this:




And then I had to buy this:



It's a D0 and, according to Google, from a pretty good batch:



And these:




And now I think it's time to reveal a new sponsor:



Specialtech.co.uk agreed to sponsor an EK EVGA X58 SLI LE fullblock for the new motherboard. Thanks a lot!

Adrian at Specialtech.co.uk sent this reply to me, after I asked for a sponsorship:

"Sounds like a great plan. We have been down the sponsorship route before but more recently lots of people let us down by either never finishing the build, losing interest or never really starting it but it's about time we started to trust people again and get back in the game. We'd be happy to send you this block in return for the mentions you suggest.
Let us know your delivery details and we'll get one shipped off to you"

Those words hit a soft spot with me because it IS hard to get sponsors these days. Because some modders don't live up to their responsibility. It's INCREDIBLY important to be realistic and honest concerning your intentions and ambitions. Otherwise, you destroy the bond of trust between modders and sponsors. That's why I sent another email to Adrian, thanking him for the generous sponsorship and also asking if it was OK that I quoted his initial reply in this worklog - to which he replied:

"Please feel free to quote me, I guess some people don't actually understand that we still have to pay for the items they want on sponsorship and we all sit on pots of money and it won't matter to us etc...."

So REMEMBER! ALL of us are influenced from YOUR lack of realistic sense. Don't ask for sponsorships if you're not deeply serious...

Anyway, now when the cat's out of the bag, let's look at more shots of this incredible block::






Uuuh, another package popped in:





..... from yet another new sponsor:



Eddy from EK Waterblocks also wanted to join this project, so he agreed on sponsoring an EK Supreme HF for my I7 920. Thanks, Eddy!

Some more shots of the EK Supreme HF:





I also managed to buy a real EK-4890 block to replace the EK-4870 block currently installed on my XFX 4890:





So, now I have an I7 system, hehe. Sold the old motherboard, the old CPU and the old RAM modules...

Also bought this pretty little thing:



I'm going to use it for controlling all lights, replacing the ugly switches currently sitting in two of the 3.5" front plates. More on that in the next update (I hope...).

Got another box from Coolerkit.dk:




The explanation is that I had run out of IC7 while constantly changing CPUs, GPUs, cooling blocks, mobos and whatnot!

Also, I didn't really like the quality of the cuts I had made when cutting the tubes, when I in the previous update was putting the loops together. So, I wanted to see just how good such tubing scissors really are. Results will be on display in the next update...

Also got a box of casemodding stuff from another danish casemodder - it contained lots 'o goodies:


















Going to use some of the stuff for this casemod (at least the UV CCFLs and the inverters - perhaps also the green CCFLs) and quite a lot of it can also be used in my next casemod, which I'm currently planning... (uuuh, exciting?)

Well, had to test all this new stuff, before installing the water blocks. Nothing beats the depressing feeling you discover that your system doesn't work after you've carefully assembled it and that you therefore have to take it apart again. It's a pain, trust me... so remember to test before installing water blocks:



Everything worked 100%, so I'm quite happy.

Then, I started installing water blocks and I started with the graphics card:




And then moved on to the motherboard:





Then, I sleeved the cables for the top UV CCFL tubes and nicely routed them through a P-clip alongside the wires for the 2 temperature sensors and the 2 fans sitting on the top radiator:



Finally, I installed the EK Supreme HF. Not much room between that and the motherboard block!




This is what it looks like with all blocks installed:



Also not much room between the graphics card block and the motherboard block:




And finally, some "candy-shots". Well, I can't do it better with my current camera and the lighting at my disposal. Will definately have to improve my photo skills for my next casemod:















So, yet another monster-update. And lots of surprises, I think.

In the future, I'll try to update more often, producing smaller (and easier to read) updates.

 

Yay! HUGE update! Really an improvement. Looking more forward to see this done than before! And gz on the sponsors. They should both be really great.

 

I great big update mate. Your new gear looks great, especially when matched with those new EK blocks . I am interested to see how you will alter your loops for the new blocks. Sucks to hear about your Aquero, I hope you get it back quickly, they may even upgrade it for you for your trouble .

 

Huge updates F T W !!!!
When I look for sponsorships too I face the same problem man, modders who used companies
to benefit of the free hardware and then disappeared. My mistake, these people are not modders they are just wannabees who use the term "modder" in order to get free things.
Mod on brother and congrats to the sponsorships!

 

JACKPOT!

Awesome update

 

Lol... We really gotta go to next page! Takes too long to get down here

 

Hehe, thanks for all the kind words.

I won't have much time modding this machine the next couple of weeks, as I've taken in another case modding project for a danish guy named Hampen (Stefan). Will create a worklog on that project, once it's done (couple of weeks, I think).

Stay tuned.

 

So... Who gave you the goodie-bag? And any updates soon?

 

I got the goodie-bag from a fellow modder, who had bought a Mac and, thus, didn't really do any modding anymore.

I use all my spare time on modding this other guy's case, but I think I WILL be having time to mod my own PC during August. Stay tuned, as always.

 

AUGUST?! ... Well... I'll be waiting..

 

Great modding Nutman I as specially like how you've got those pumps side by side with different colours of coolant, it looks brilliant.

 

Nutman, looks great But august is late:/

Can you spare one of those vandal switches?

 

I know that August is late, but right now Hampen's mod has priority, since it's a customer's rig and there's a deadline to it (in my mind - not in his, heh).

I have one Lamptron switch left - it's black with blue ring. Interested?

 

Dang:/ had hoped it was green. Never mind then

 

p0Pe: I just double-checked. It's actually green. It's one of these:

http://www.performance-pcs.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=375&products_id=22160

Still interested?

 

Psssst... I'm modding again.
New update coming *soon*.

p0Pe: Still interested in the green Vandal switch?

 

yay! thought this project had died and gone to modding heaven Looking forward to seeing it finished

 

No, I never quit, but life came in the way, hehe.
However, it's winter here in Denmark now, so the times are good for modding.

 

Not if your workshop is unheated