Case Mod - In Progress Project: Thor - Rebirth. May 20th. Project Complete

I wasn't completely convinced that the fans would work properly ever again if I took them apart so i masked parts off, sprayed them, then masked the other bits off and sprayed again

The temps have actually gone up about 5 degrees but I suspect the rad isn't getting all the air it could over it. Currently the case has 2 x 80mm intake, and 2 x 80mm exhaust fans. Plus the 3 x 120mm on the rad, so that's a lot more air coming in than out so that will create a bit of pressure in the case and so the airflow will drop a bit.

I've worked out that with a little cutting I have the space to replace the 4 x 80mm fans with 2 x 120mm fans to get slightly better airflow, and I also have room to add a 3rd 120mm fan at the top so that should equal it out a bit better.

I doubt the temps will go down by much but 2 120mm fans will be quieter than 4 x 80mm

 

Well, the worst happened just after xmas. The water cooling failed and leaked all over my gfx card and mobo.

Unfortunately neither the gfx or motherboard survived and had to be replaced. This made me a little disheartened about the project and the remains of the water cooling system has been hanging out from the side of the case and into a bowl for about 3 months. However, I’ve just got back from i36 (www.multiplay.co.uk/i36) and before going I had to tidy it all up and get it working properly.

So, at the moment it’s all air cooled again, but it’s whole at least.

After checking each component out the only faulty part I can find is the pump. I can only theorise that the pump failed and caused a massive heat build up, expanding the liquid and causing it to blow it’s seals. It’s seems a little farfetched but it’s all I can think of.

I’m all invigorated now though since i36 and the project is up and running once again. I do plan on water cooling again, but I have a few other mods I want to implement first as they’ll be much easier without the water cooling getting in the way.

So watch this space!

 

I decided the first thing to do after the rebirth-reboot would be cable management, this should make life much easier further down the line with the water cooling.The blue colour on the case you can see is the last of the liquid from the water cooling failure. This was cleaned off.

The first task was to strip the PC down completly so that the drilling could commence.



Once the PC was stripped I had to cut some holes in the top left and bottom right of the motherboard tray. Unfourtunately my drill was too small for the drill bit and so my friend kindly offered his expertise so off I went to his to get the holes cut These are for the 8 pin ATX connector and sata/front panel connectors.



I then cut another hole on the side of where the motherboard would be to feed the ATX power connector and PCI express connectors through.



Once the holes were cut it was important to protect the edges. I originally used some rubber cable grommets:



Once these were in place I found that the edges were too high and the motherboard wouldn't fit correctly. I didn't have any rubbing edging so I decided to try and split some heatshrink I had lying around and glue that to the edge instead. It worked well. I did the same on the ATX power connector.

And here's the final thing:





And for comparison, here's the original wiring:



And here's the final thing:

 

The wiring is a MAJOR improvement lol.

 

lol, thanks.

New side panel will hide a little more as well.

 

Here are some rough side panel designs. The case isn't the same as mine, but it's just a smaller version, so these are really just to give an idea of what i'm thinking of.





The wierd thing in the middle is suppose to be a lightning bolt, only the actual cut it will be a decent design (same as the rad grill).

 

Unless you're going to stick some plexi behind those letters (which I assume you will), the letter O won't stay like that

Other than that, cool design, if you plan on cutting the lightning bolt out like that, I'd make sure you have your panel secure somewhere, because the metal will be pretty weak near the left point (looking from your image).

Good luck, nice pc btw

 

I'll probably have some thin piece of metal still attached to keep the centre metal pieces in place.

The bolt wont come to a complete point, because as you said, it will be too weak. My radiator grill works well, and the point on that is a few mm wide.

I'm also considering having black plexi behind the letters.

 

Looks awesome!

 

Just thought I had to post and say that the rewiring job is an inspiration! well done dude

 

Thanks very much for your comments

I've got some additional designs i've been working on. I've also increased the size of the case model so it more accurately represents my case.

Design 1:


Design 2:


Design 3:


Design 4:


Design 5:


Design 6:


Design 7:


And a quick rendering i've done of one of the designs:

 

I personally woud go for design 1 but without Thor on it.

 

How about this?

 

That last one is my favorite.

 

The last one!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hammer and lightning bolt.
My name is THOR.

john

 

Yep, last one rocks. Go with that!

 

A minor mod today. More of a practical thing than anything fancy

Sometimes I leave my PC on overnight, and since it's in my room it gets very annoying with the lights lighting up the entire room. The solution? A light switch of course!

This was the switch I bought from Maplins to do the job:



This is where I'll be placing it (Underneath the HDD rack):


I also added a case light a while ago, but it only ever lit up about half way, so i've shortened the wire that I attached to it and now it lights up fully.





This is the first install:


Unfourtunately this switch disintegrated within a few minutes of installation, so I had to go all the way back to Maplin to get another, and low and behold that one died the same way as well. Luckily I grabbed a different kind of switch at the same time and that one has (so far) been perfect.



You'd never know it was there

 

Nice stealth switch.

 

Finally decided on a design for the side panel. It's been posted out and I should hopefully get it back next week.

Tom from chilledpc.co.uk is going to do the cut. He's been really helpful and did such a great job on the rad grill I just had to go back

 

Really cool design, I hope it works for ya.