Case Mod - In Progress Project: PrometheusCU - Update #54 - May 28 2010 - Video Teaser

@zr_ox - many thanks!

@twentynine - depends on your perspective... I suppose I wont be cutting corners... the CNC router will be though, haha.

@Neoki - I've always been an AMD fanboy of the highest caliber. At time of construction I hadn't considered anything otherwise. Most of the processing power for my work will be done with the GPU's (may the heavens shine down upon the glory of Cuda!) so the CPU is not entirely critical.

@ComputerKing - Langer, the kickass pimpin' king of copper... sir I like your nomenclature.

@ozstrike - Thanks mate.
1) The 4x750GB drives will be attached to the main system, the Pico only has a 120GB drive (shooting for a 500GB upon release). It will be able to get at the rest across the network. It'll mainly be a means for me to read/write my work remotely. In addition it will act as a music jukebox when I'm home.
2) The Alix board would normally communicate across cat5, but for the time being my desk is 2-floors away from the modem so until I move back to Vancouver (January) I'll need WiFi.
3) I actually sold this system to a buddy and I was going to upgrade to Skulltrail - but then I had to return to Ontario due to some heavy family crisis'. Life has a way at coming at you fast, and after thinking about it I decided I'd rather have 'pretty' over 'power'. I refunded my buddy the cash and began modding this thing with the money that was going to go into the upgrade. On that note; I have a few promising contracts coming at me in the near future... so who knows what hardware will live in this thing a few months down the road (that is if I can actually manage to cram an eATX board in here).

@the masses - Tonight I'm going to post some more of the design concept illustrations.

 

Small update

Black lines = cut
Grey lines = engraved
Dashed lines = bend

Here is my concept for the plaque replacement on the back of the chassis



I've also completed the concept for the drive bay enclosure (the piece seen taped into place in this image).

I modified the original design to encase the lower 3.5" drive bays, and allow for a fill point (nearly forgot about that).
*click for supersize*

 

This is so awesome. I absolutely LOVE the attention to detail you've got going on this mod. Example: 'cool air intake - do not block'. Wow, that is how you bring it to the next level IMO. Little things that take time and a few glances at the case to notice are always pleasing to see.

 

absolutely stunning work. can't wait for the final assembly

 

langer, i think you should keep the original plaque on there and find room for your concept plaque aswell, as this case could end up like any other lian li that has been copper plated.

never peel the markings off a special edition of anything!

 

Dude, You care about every dam small and unseen detail. THIS ROCKS. Lol about limited edition ( only 1 is made )

I love your new plaque that have your name and made in Canada lol to be honest every thing is more than perfect. Just I can't wait to see them with real life photos.

That plaque Sounds that you are going to start you own Lian Li cases company

 

Holy crap guys, I'm touched by your enthusiasm for this project. THANKS EVERYONE!

@burnout21 - the factory plaque is going, it was a tough decision but I figure it like this: By the time I'm done there will be more Prometheus than Lian-Li, and with that comes a deserving badge of honor. Besides...something tells me that the warranty is null and void.

With any luck the 2nd of three deliveries of water cooling components should arrive tomorrow, so I should have something new to share then.


Tomorrow I have plans on heading over to Dad's Carbon Fiber plant to meet with an amazingly talented machinist named Dalibor (who has to be at least 7feet tall). The plan it to sit down with him and narrow down any design flaws; with any luck make some test cuts on the CNC router.

QUESTION for the water cooling experts out there.
I have 5 case fans + 1 PSU fan venting outwards and only 1 fan pushing inwards; I fear this may be a problem.

I'm worried about creating a really low pressure zone inside the case, and putting strain on the poor front air intake (120mm, 133cfm). Not that all the fans will be running full boar 24/7 and the fan speeds could be adjusted to avoid this situation.

Is there any reason why I can't 'suck' air through the rad into the case? Instead of pushing air out of the case through the rad.
To me this makes more sense seeing as the air temps outside should be, considerably, cooler.
If this isn't recommended then the plan is to redesign the lower part of the side panel to channel air into the rad from outside the case.

Thanks in advance.

 

Lol man I wish if I my dad Own Carbon Fiber Plant, This means I will Make carbon Fiber case with Bugatti body kit and Wing hehheheh

About your Question. See I think that when you intake Air from the Rad on the front or the top this will make the inside of the case hot! But if you use 2 rads one on the front and one one top or back or the case and you made the top or back one first on the loop to cool the water then the front rad is the second one this means the front rad will be cool always ( I mean not that hot ) so it will be not a problem to make it intake and then the air go out from the back rad or the top rad.

This is what I know so far after 6 months of reading about water cooling

 

@ComputerKing not so much Bugatti as much as Mercedes, BMW, Volkswagon, and Audi (mainly small structural components); he mostly deals in aerospace/medical applications. However I'm sure a number of you have seen his product in the Acer Ferrari 5000, and a number of other laptop substructures also (magnesium frames are a thing of the past).

I appreciate the input, but the design won't be changing that drastically. I'm not too worried about temperatures (I still have a couple tricks up my sleeve to 'assist' the watercooling). Also at this point I can't afford to-be buying more rads and such, besides...where the would I fit them?

My concern is in air flow, can I 'suck' air though the rad into the case, instead of 'pushing' air through the rad from inside the case?

 

Jesse, regarding your airflow questions... you can definitely suck air through the radiators. This is exactly what I've done with the Rogue, and it works very well. Airflow, is airflow, as long as you've got enough static pressure. There have been studies done on which method is best, and it's really dependent on the fans, and radiator choices. Some do better than others, but really, there isn't more than a degree or two difference at most. Basically, it's a wash. So, just do what works best from a layout standpoint, and you'll be fine.,

 

Air Flow. Hum. When you intake from rad this means the air will be low. I mean not 133CFM for Example it will be like 50 CFM or some thing. That what I think it will be.. Otherwise sorry I don't have the info that maybe help you. Sorry man. I'm sure other dude here will help you out. Just hang on

Edit:

Dude do you mean that Suck air from the Rad will not effect the amount of air that going to come in?! how that is!? I can't understand it. The rad have small holes to move air. not the same with Full open 120mm Fan hole... Or I'm wrong?

 

He's basically got 6 fans pulling air out of the case. No matter how restrictive the radiators are, air will move through them. That's where static pressure is important. In order for air to leave the case, it must come in to the case. The easiest path for the air to take, will be through the radiators.

 

Right. It's my wrong then. sorry for misunderstanding

 

nice work so far but I was wondering if you considered using cross flow fan instead of those 3 little fans for the top and bottom setup on the 5.25 bay, the cross flow fans are similar to what you see on some of those 5.25 bay hard drive coolers, I think you might get better airflow that way and I think it would be quieter as well, just a thought.

 

@Craigbru - Thanks for the advice. I think I'll stick with the plan of simply "sucking" air through the rad into the case, hopefully creating a positive pressure zone - to keep dust to a minimum. Should that let me down - which I can't imagine - I'm going to revise the air-flow design to be "top-down", ie use the top/rear of the chassis as air intake and bottom/front as output.

@HourBeforeDawn - As mentioned before, the fans are mostly aesthetic, I'm quite partial to the look of the 6 circular fans. I had actually considered a couple crossflow fans initially, because I had 2 old shuttle cases on sitting around so stealing their fans would have been easy enough. Then I discovered the Scythe Mini Kaze Ultra Silent Mini Fan, and I left the shuttle cases in storage back in Vancouver. The first time I plugged these puppies in I had to double check the fan controller, I was certain it was set to low... but it was on high - they really are almost totally silent. (the factory stated 19.56dBA is grossly over estimated in my opinion). Thanks for looking out for me though, I appreciate the input.

 

Here is the accumulation of all the final part concepts that I'm going to be milling from Copper plate.
(as always, click for supersize)

1: Drive Bay Enclosure - Left Side


2: Drive Bay Enclosure - Right Side


3: Authenticity Plaque


4: Front Facade


5: Bottom Tray/Radiator Housing


6: Parts List Plaque


7: Radiator Fan Grill/Mount


8: Top Fan Grill


9: Front Lower Tray/LCD housing


Enjoy!

 

One word sums up CNC'ed copper plate: Sick. I'd have to agree on the 6 40mm's up front as well. From a pure aesthetic design standpoint, they're much more appealing than a couple of cross-flow fans ever could hope to be, and it sounds like they'll move plenty of air silently for the VIA setup. I can't wait to see what the mill turns out! I'm super stoked to see pics of the mounts and panels

 

Can't wait to see how this turns out.

 

bet you can't put a roundtree fruitpastel in your mouth without chewing... seriously......... very nice, tidy and clean looking. by comparison My rad holes / fan holes look as if some one has axed their way out through the case in desperation to get air ........

 

@MrWizard - Thanks again mate!

@kbates666 - Thanks, I can't wait either. It's long been on the drawing board, I'm excited to see it come to life.

@Blarte - Thanks for the, hilarious, compliments. "axed their way out through the case in desperation to get air" - pure class. Unfortunately we don't have Roundtree Fruit Pastel here in Canada - but I youtubed the commercial and you're probably right.

Back to business. No packages in the mail yet, but I have ordered some 1" diameter copper rod for fabricating my junctions in the watercooling loop. I also ordered a copper mirror finish acrylic sheet to make a window above the PSU to help my WiFi signal.

On another note, I'll have a rather exciting announcement to post this week.