Case Mod - In Progress Project: Rogue (NZXT Rogue SFF) It lives! Aug 13, '08

...My posts for this mod have been reduced to smileys lol...I'm at such a loss of words for how completely awesome this thing is.

 

I just can't wait to see that assembled with the rest of the case. That picture screams beautiful engineering.
Fabulous job Craig.

 

Well guys… I didn’t make it to Netwar… Not only did I pull a damn-near all nighter Thursday night, I took Friday off of work as well. They say the devil is in the details, and that’s what got me. To many little things I had to do, that ultimately held me up. I’ve also realized there are two things I need to change. The first is that the mounting for the Via system sits about 2mm to high, and I can’t get the top cover in place. The second, is that I need to rethink having my tubing run through the hard drive tray like I do. I need to have the tray removable, without detaching tubing. I don’t want to drain fluid just to troubleshoot or make changes. So, I do have a few pics I’ll post sometime, but I need to make a few changes first…

 

Hey craig, loving the work. Hope it goes down well at the lan.

Whats the black spray youre using? i like the look of it quite a bit.

Best of luck

 

Uh... HOLY CRAP.. man those are some kinda awesome! Kinda close to something I was going to design for my 480 rads, but now I have to think up something different lol

Great work, awesome finishing on everything I've seen so far!

-Tolk

 

Well, I didn't make it to the LAN, but thanks for the encouragement just the same. The paint is a midnight black metallic from Rust-Oleum.

Thanks man! Although, E.E.L. Ambiense deserves a little recognition for expanding on my original design.

 

dose this all mean we get an update soon? this mod nearly made me purchase a dam via mobo, its so small and cool. considering it could be mounted and used as a web browser/downloader or a low lever media player.

 

Yeah, I'll have an update tonight. It's kind of a two steps forward, one step back kind of thing at this point. I need to make a few changes to the hard drive tray. I've also decided to fab a new panel for the i/o panel under the reservoir. The original one that I modified, isn't allowing things to line up as they should. I've got to change that, because it's bugging me... I do have some shots of the completed side panels though...

 

Oh, and speaking of the Via system, it rocks... I've been using it exclusively for a couple of days, as I've been trying to get the Rogue to a running state. It's been running flawlessly, and it's already doing it's assigned tasks. Namely, downloading files, podcasts, and acting as a general media server. It doesn't feel like I'm computing on hardware just a little larger than a deck of cards...

 

Hey Craig,

You got a link to the spray paint as im having trouble finding it. Also how much it set you back?

Regards

 

I looked, and I can't find it online either... Not even on Rustoleum's site. In fact, my mentioning of it on bit-tech, is about the 3rd hit on Google... I bought it at a local Bomgaars (a farm supply store), for about $5 a can.

 

This post made me think... you should get one of those external HDD enclosures with Ethernet access, so both your systems can access the same files

I'm still following this mod, i cannot believe you kept your standards up. awesome work dude!

 

An external enclosure is a cool idea, but that's one thing I wouldn't have room for. Yeah, believe it or not, I've actually ran out of room in here... The Via system will have wireless ability, as well as an internal USB network link to the Rogue.

Last night I really got the Via system working... I got uTorrent, and Juice running downloads already. I continue to be impressed with this little thing. I'm downloading, and multitasking, and it still doesn't seem to bog or slow down. Small system or not, this is still only a 1Ghz processor, with 1GB of RAM. Oh, and as a sidenote, I'm no longer going to be referring to the Via as 'Via'. I'm going to name it 'Paladin'. I figured Rogue and Paladin work well together...

Thanks for the compliments! I'm not one for shortcuts, and last week was an exercise in frustration for me. I really wanted to get the system running, and I felt compelled to finish every little detail. It drove me freaking crazy. If i would have just left it aircooled, and dropped the parts in the box, I could have made it to Netwar. Instead, I had to try and pull off the watercooling...

 

take your time with this.
make it perfect like you plan.
Glad to hear the vi..Paladin is working great!
cant wait to see how you managed to squeeze everything in there...and the tubes for WC...
i've said it befor this going to be great!!!

 

Time for another update! If you've been following along, you all know that last week was a mad rush trying to get the Rogue ready for Netwar. Ultimately, I didn't get it done, but I still had fun trying to make it. I think I'm finally catching up on my sleep, but I've still got some catching up to do around the house. I ate cereal out of a measuring cup this morning... Also, starting next week, I've got to start finishing my basement. My fiance and her son, are moving in to my house, in a little over a month's time. I need to get an extra bedroom down there... So, this all means that although the work on Rogue will continue daily, updates are going to come a little slower than in the past. I hope all of you can hang in there...

So, on with the update. Here I've got one of the side panels painted...



Acrylic insert in place...



Next up, I've got to assemble the TEC and CPU block. A little Arctic Silver on the block...



Peltier in place...



The cold plate was installed, and the whole assembly was mounted on the motherboard.



Now, I've got to make a custom assembly for the Dakota Digital water temperature sender. The sender is designed for automotive applications, so I've had to get creative to adapt it to work in my loop.

Here is the bare sender.



This right here, is an G 1/4 to G 1/8 adapter. It's actually designed to be used in automotive nitrous oxide systems.



The sender has been fitted in to the adapter.



The sender and adapter have been fitted in to a delrin t-block.



Finally, the wiring has been attached, and finished off with some heat shrink tubing.



Tonight, I'll cover a little of the hard drive tray modification, and the start of some detail wiring. I'm also going to be fabricating a new i/o panel for under the reservoir. The one I've got, has a slight alignment issue, and I'm not happy with it. It sits just a little higher than I'd like...

 

Woo updates, I am loving it.

That cooler for the tec is crazy looking. I assume thats 2 in and 2 out?

I dont know if any companies do it, (or if this is how that tec waterblock works) but it had given me the idea of having a cpu block with 2 in and 2 out, but each pair is seperate and would use a loop each. So maybe both go in and sort of run next to/around each other then out. Dont know what cooling that would give, but it sure would be cool.

 

Yeah, the block is 2 in, and 2 out. The water basically 'collides' in the center of the block, creating turbulence, and better heat pick-up.

I haven't seen any blocks like you describe (with separate sides). I don't believe there would be any gains in cooling ability, so most companies wouldn't attempt it. It would be a cool looking setup though. Hey, be bold and machine your own block! One thing I've realized though, is that simple is better. I know that's hard to believe, considering this case... but when was assembling the loop last week, I realized how quickly things get complicated. I pulled it back apart, since I am modifying the hard drive tray, but when I reassemble, it will be slightly simpler than before. I've told myself that just because the reservoir has 2 inputs, and 2 outputs, doesn't mean I need to use all of them...

 

Craig, the temperature sender - doesn't it need another wire?
Normally you wouldn't in a car, because everything's negative ground (so it would be grounded by screwing it in) but in a PC this isn't the case.

I might have the wrong end of the stick but maybe you need a ground on the threaded end...?

 

If you look very closely, you will see a second wire bulging a little under the shrink wrap on the sender, as well as entering the shrink wrap on the upper part...

 

Now I see it!

Silly Me!