Introduction: Greetings from Canada everyone! This build will consist of copious amounts of modding, extreme amounts of dremel usage and ridiculous amounts of modding. Oops, have I already said modding? The purpose of my build log is to show you guys how a case not meant for watercooling can be totally transformed into an elegant wet beast. The case I'll be victimizing is the Rosewill Thor V2 (the white version). This is actually a great case, not only for the various features but also its solid construction and good looks. Yet the only problem I have is the inability to put anything larger than a 120mm rad into the case. Pfttt 120mm? Let's see if we can squeeze a 520mm (480mm) rad into a case that's barely 522mm tall. Here is a quick shot of the case from Rosewill (not my photo). Goals: The main goal for me is to elegantly pull off watercooling in a case that isn't designed for it. So this means clean lines, accent colors and cold temperatures. Also, I want to fit as much stuff into this case as possible without it becoming cramped. If there's one thing I hate, it's messy, cramped computers. I plan to reuse all my old components, because as a student it's a little difficult to be buying new components every year. If anything, I plan to purchase a new quality PSU as mine is a little iffy (cheap modular psu) or maybe a new motherboard/cpu combo from the egg. Theme: White, Black and Pink. That's it, that's all. I know white and black is overplayed, but adding some pink accents in there will really spruce it up. Btw, pink was chosen because I never see any pink builds, other than the PPPP by cpachris (an excellent build btw). Therefore, I will embrace this color and put it to good use. Preview Here is a beautiful D) paint diagram of what the case will look like. Hardware: Main Components Motherboard: ASRock Z77 Extreme6/Tb4 CPU: Intel i5 3570K Memory: 16gb GSkill Ripjaws GPU: Asus GTX 780 DCII PSU: Xclio StablePower 750w Storage: 240gb Intel Cherryville SSD, 120gb Kingston SSDnow and 1Tb WD Blue. Watercooling CPU: To be decided although currently I have a Koolance 380i lying around (thoughts?) Radiators: 480mm Swiftech MCR420-QP Fans: 6x Corsair SP120 Pumps: EK-D5 Vario X-Top Plexi (including pump) Reservoir: Bitspower Water Tank Z-Multi 300 V2 Fittings: All Bitspower Black fittings Tubing: EK-HD Acrylic Tubing Extras Darkside sleeving Darkside extensions Darkside LED lightstrips Lots and lots of acrylic To gain some trust, here are some shots of a previous build/mod I did for a client. (Terrible photos sorry) Thanks for checking out my log, and subscribers are welcome! Progress First things first, I stripped the case of all its rivets and and unsightly metal and plastic bits. The panels have all been grinding or cut down to be a smooth accepting surface for the acrylic to lie flat on. I used a dremel with a cutting and then grinding bit. Here are the panels in all their glory. Since I really don't like rivets, I'm using simple machine screws (6/32") with matching bolts. These will be painted black once final assembly comes around... Next step was to sleeve all those wires coming out of the front/top panel. Then I cut a 1 1/4" hole for a fill port and installed a Bitspower Fill/Drain Port As you can kind of see in my lovely paint diagram, I want to make a mid plate. However, this case had no design whatsoever that accommodated a midplate. Thus, I drove to home depot and picked up some 1" aluminum angle stock. After measuring, I cut up the stock and tapped it for 6/32 so that the mid plate and sideplate will easily screw in without hassle. In this picture there's also another alu angle which will be used for a brace. I'll explain that at a later date. The final step for this week was to measure and cut the acrylic. The acrylic I picked up is 3015 (white) 3mm cast. This is the best for non-structural applications as it has very little bleed thru if at all none and also is the perfect thickness for cutting. The mobo tray panel has the mobo psu extension already attached because I was still testfitting at that time and didnt want to have to take it out and put it back in. After cutting, I started work on designing some sort of graphic to break up the monochromatic white panels. WE NEED PINK!!!! This is what I came up with. Still have to clean up some edges. Praying that it all lines up.... So that's all for today! I'll be posting some hardware pictures later today. Again, thanks for checking out my log, much appreciated PS, I notice that my pcitures are quite blurry. I resized them in CS6 and then uploaded them here, but on the website they look blurry while on my desktop and on phtobucket they look sharp. Should I switch to photobucket? Thanks! I'll change the pictures when I figure this out.
Well the plan for now is cpu only, and when the funds roll in I'll wc my gpu and perhaps even the ram. -Ben
Update time! Well update as in a couple hardware shots Only the liquid cooling components first! First up is the radiator by Swiftech, a MCR420-XP which I got for a steal from Jab-tech! It came really nicely packed in a protective sleeve and sturdy box. Unfortunately it included silver rad screws . No worries though, black spray paint to the rescue! Next up is this beautiful res from Bitspower. I believe its the Z-multi 300 black pom edition. Sorry no box pics as I actually got this off a friend who was going to watercool but ended up not following thru. So lucky me I scored a res for FREE Alright, now for the horsepower,errr I mean pump power This mighty fine looking pump is the EK-D5 Vario X-Top Plexi. As per usual, great packaging and beautiful looking product. Already sleeved it Curiously though, it came with an XSPC D5..... Last but not least, the Koolance 380i. I had this lying around as I bought it off a client after he decided he didn't want/need watercooling anymore. Ptff . Never used, opened only once and got it for a steal. It came nicely packaged with a bunch of hardware and some paste. So that nice and shiny nickel piece on that cpu block is just too shiny for me, so I'll be plasti-dipping it white! I think it'll look real clean. As always, thanks for looking Oh and before I log off, I have a nice sneek peak as to what's coming later this week. Here is a fantastic (jk) cell-phone shot.
