My Rocketfish....painted and assembled, W/C'd and all.....

[C'DaleRider]

Well, finished my move of my computer out of my Gigabyte 3D Aurora 570 case and into my bargain basement-priced Lian-Li Rocketfish.

Since we all know what the RF looks like stock, I'll start with its repainting job...



Went with a gold and black "theme".....why? I don't know...just always liked gold with black. Maybe comes from watching the John Player Special back in the day tearing up F1 during its two competitive seasons......


But first, I intended to use the side mounted fan as an exhaust, but was not happy with the restriction of the "grille" on the back of the case. So, broke out a 3/8" drill bit and went to town....

http://jamayer.org/pics/lian-li.jpg




Then I got some 14K gold paint, some black, took apart the case as far as I could without removing rivets, and wore down my finger spraying it. I got to this point:

http://jamayer.org/pics/rfcase2.jpg




Since I'm watercooling it, I cut the top to fit my TC 120.3 rad and used a Kikbox rad grille.....it was one of the very few out there to fit a TC rad (uses slots for the outer fans to adjust the grille's fit for tc and non-TC rads.)

http://jamayer.org/pics/grill2.jpg





Began reassembling the parts and ended up looking like this (this was after a day of leak testing my loop):

http://jamayer.org/pics/case9.jpg





I wanted a windowed panel. Looked at doing my own on the panel that came with the case, but instead purchased a Lian-Li "replacement" panel from Frozen CPU.....a W-75B panel. Nice thing was the vent in the side......and it had nice reinforcements around the window. Nice touch!

http://jamayer.org/pics/panel6.jpg

http://jamayer.org/pics/panel4.jpg





Got it all reassembled and running, finally. (Sorry about the quality of the following pics......terrible angles and not the best low lighting pics....)


http://jamayer.org/pics/case13.jpg

http://jamayer.org/pics/side_panel6.jpg

http://jamayer.org/pics/case12.jpg



Well, not a huge mod.....or mod at all. Just some paint and a window. But she's running well and looks a little different from the ordinary FR case. Just wish Lian-Li had seen fit to put a few more millimeters of space behind the mb tray for cable routing. There is almost no space behind there, making cable routing a mess. C'est la vie. :)

[Bobsama]

Looks good. :up: I'm not a huge fan of the LEDs though.

[Damien]

you need to mod mine, it looks real nice.

[[XC] NetburstXE]

Amazing!

[Polizei]

The gold is unique. :up:

[fireice2]

teh bling bling! Nice gold rig. :D

[Emerica]

Wow, that looks awesome. I want a Rocket Fish!

[AndrewZorn]

This is good to me as a preview of what I can expect. Just got one of these cases FOR $48 and cannot wait to see how nice it's going to be to have my triple rad inside the case. The board looks SO TINY in there...

[troisanh]

Nice color theme there.

[C'DaleRider]

Thanks for the compliments, everyone! They are much appreciated!

A couple of other pics.........

I went as far with the painting to include the rear......and that included the fan grille. I painted anything that wasn't going to be gold, black, including screw heads and thumbscrews.....anything and everything....well, at least all the parts I could remember to paint. And that included the rear of the case......and yeah, I know the paint ran back there. Just didn't get around to sanding and buffing that.....sort of hidden from view almost all the time so I wasn't too worried about it. It's easily fixed if I get the gumption to do it.


http://jamayer.org/pics/case_rear.jpg



And as for that "Rocketfish" emblem on the door.....I'd pull it off but didn't know how to smoothly cut an oval out for this to fit....

http://jamayer.org/pics/case_front.jpg




And that "theme" of emblem is carried over to the side panel, just for kicks!

http://jamayer.org/pics/jag_panel2.jpg


http://jamayer.org/pics/jag_panel.jpg



Yep, Jaguar emblems. I've always been a Jaguar fan, so I located a dead Jag in a junk yard and liberated those and a couple of other Jag-ish items.

So, the case is no longer a "Rocketfish"; instead, it's a.....you guessed it, real original here......Jaguar.

Well, sounds a little better than that RF crud. ;)


Anyway, she's done for now.......at least until I can get another can of etching primer and some more gloss black and repaint the OCZ memory cooler black. Sand the chrome a tad to rough it up slightly, spray some etching primer (etching so it'll eat down into the metal a little and give a decent base), and then some gloss black......or maybe just semi-gloss.

And maybe I'll try some white LED fans for the rear and side exhaust......

[Voo Doo]

Nice. Those Jag decals really make the case unique. Kudos to you good sir.



If only this case was available so cheap in Australia.

[Polizei]

Where did you get your etching primer? How much did it cost?

[C'DaleRider]

Got the etching primer at Advance Auto parts store, but pretty much any decent auto parts retailer, like AutoZone, Advance, Checkers, Kragen, and most any other, should have it in their auto paint section. It has a green cap on the can.....at least the brand I used, Dupli-Color.

And the Jags are really metal emblems, not really decals. The Jag on the case panel came out of the dashboard and the oval one on the door was the center from the steering wheel...both out of an early '90's Jag. Amazing what you can find in a junk yard.... :)

[Polizei]

Got the etching primer at Advance Auto parts store, but pretty much any decent auto parts retailer, like AutoZone, Advance, Checkers, Kragen, and most any other, should have it in their auto paint section. It has a green cap on the can.....at least the brand I used, Dupli-Color.

And the Jags are really metal emblems, not really decals. The Jag on the case panel came out of the dashboard and the oval one on the door was the center from the steering wheel...both out of an early '90's Jag. Amazing what you can find in a junk yard.... :)

:up:

Cost of the etching primer is about the same as an other can of spray paint?

The junkyard idea... maybe I'll go there and look for some BMW emblems and give my case a BMW theme. Thanks for the idea. :yepp:

[C'DaleRider]

Yes, the primer was within a dollar of the paints....all the paints/primers/etc. seem to be around like $5.99 or thereabouts per can.

And a junk yard can be a great place to find little treasures.....did a CoolerMaster Mystique case in the theme of a 1964 Chrysler Imperial. Found the grille emblem from one......heavy cast eagle.....and then started. Eventually, even had a tachometer doing my pump monitoring, in addition to the mb's connection. (The tach came out of a 1974 Fiat 2000 Spyder.)

[Daddyjaxx]

How'd you put the fillport in with the usb panel there?

[C'DaleRider]

The USB panel in the case's top doesn't extend much beyond the mounting screws for the USB panel, looking at the top from outside.....it's quite small underneath with the cables being the major limiting factor in what will fit up there.

So, after I cut the top and mounted my rad, I did some "careful" measurements underneath and transferred those to the top.....the fillport takes a 1" hole. So, using the measurements I did.....the stopping point for the rad and the area the USB panel occludes.....I centered the 1" hole I'd need for the fillport in the space that was left. And there is plenty of room left over on both sides of the fillport, even with the rad and USB panel.

It fit in the space quite nicely and even left enough to get my hands/fingers in there to manipulate the hose and clamp.......wasn't a bad or tight fit at all, despite what it appears to be.

[Lu523]

Did the 8 pin reach the mobo without haveing to extend it? On my dfi board it reaches but I am not happy with it.

[TedShred]

That's a pretty gorgeous result for "just some paint and a window." Lordy!

... man, I could look at slick rigs all day. (as opposed to the mere half a day I spend now:p: )

[C'DaleRider]

Did the 8 pin reach the mobo without haveing to extend it? On my dfi board it reaches but I am not happy with it.


Well, it would have but it'd have stretched over the video card straight to the socket and that wasn't really what I wanted, so I had to use an extension. Probably costing me less than 0.1V on the +12V feed (Everest reports my +12V feed out of my Corsair is 11.94V...can live with that), but doesn't seem to bring about any instability in my system at all.

I have had it up to 3.9GHz stable, with Vcore at 1.52V, but hate running at that vcore for any length of time, so settled for 3.6GHz @ 1.31V for 24/7 running. (My rig is the Papa rig in my sig....my wife's is Momma... LOL!)


And thanks for the compliment, Ted. Appreciate it!

[azn_bboy07]

lol good job man, guess like we have the same idea hahaha... i painted my interior to gold also lol. bling bling to the max brother
http://img241.imageshack.us/my.php?image=cimg8730sr3.jpg
http://img241.imageshack.us/img241/1496/cimg8730sr3.th.jpg (http://img241.imageshack.us/my.php?image=cimg8730sr3.jpg)
forogot to take pics with new wire job lolz

[Junimrox]

lol good job man, guess like we have the same idea hahaha... i painted my interior to gold also lol. bling bling to the max brother
http://img241.imageshack.us/my.php?image=cimg8730sr3.jpg
http://img241.imageshack.us/img241/1496/cimg8730sr3.th.jpg (http://img241.imageshack.us/my.php?image=cimg8730sr3.jpg)
forogot to take pics with new wire job lolz

Dude watch out for those HD's, it looks like they're gonna fall, specially one in the top of the others... I would do some cable management there...

[Quest_7F]

love the colors

[Lu523]

Well, it would have but it'd have stretched over the video card straight to the socket and that wasn't really what I wanted, so I had to use an extension. Probably costing me less than 0.1V on the +12V feed (Everest reports my +12V feed out of my Corsair is 11.94V...can live with that), but doesn't seem to bring about any instability in my system at all.




Thanks for the answer. That is the problem I have. Guess I will get an extension. Been meaning to say, very nice job.

[Polizei]

Probably costing me less than 0.1V on the +12V feed (Everest reports my +12V feed out of my Corsair is 11.94V...can live with that), but doesn't seem to bring about any instability in my system at all.



Don't use software for voltage reading, it is horribly inaccurate. Everest and ITE Smart Guardian both told me that my dying Antec SmartPower with a blown cap was closer to 12v than a brand new Silverstone Olympia. Use a multimeter to measure voltage, not software.

[C'DaleRider]

Don't use software for voltage reading, it is horribly inaccurate. Everest and ITE Smart Guardian both told me that my dying Antec SmartPower with a blown cap was closer to 12v than a brand new Silverstone Olympia. Use a multimeter to measure voltage, not software.



Perhaps I wasn't precise enough. I had voltage readings with a DMM, without using my +12V extension, that were right at +12.00V or a tad above, which interestingly enough corresponded very closely with what my BIOS and Everest reported. When one correlates his software readings with DMM readings and notices a consistency, one can probably take that the software is at least in the ballpark.

When adding the +12V extension, I did get a very minor drop in voltage provided, most likely from the added resistance of the extra plug on the adapter.

This is essentially what I was trying to convey without going into a horrible list of detail......which I've done now.

[sbinh]

Began reassembling the parts and ended up looking like this (this was after a day of leak testing my loop):

http://jamayer.org/pics/case9.jpg





Got it all reassembled and running, finally. (Sorry about the quality of the following pics......terrible angles and not the best low lighting pics....)


http://jamayer.org/pics/case13.jpg



C'est la vie. :)



A quick question... Why don't you turn that PSU up-side-down to use its fan as an exhaust fan ? If you put it like that, it will get the air + dust from bottom of case ...

[C'DaleRider]

A quick question... Why don't you turn that PSU up-side-down to use its fan as an exhaust fan ? If you put it like that, it will get the air + dust from bottom of case ...

Well, it's still an exhaust fan, just its own exhaust. Don't really care if it exhausts any air from inside the case, actually. I'd much rather it do its own thing.

If you look closely, you'll see that the rear of the case has a dual row of vent slots just below the power supply (or maybe you cannot really see them clearly, but they're there)....and from what I've been able to determine, the ps is drawing a fair amount of its air through those slots. There is more than a casual bit of air going in those slots.

As the case's airflow arrangement sits right now, it has four intakes, two exhausts not including the ps's fan. (Three fans on the radiator blowing into the case, one fan on front as intake, then the side mount and rear mount fans both in exhaust.....and since I drilled out the "mesh" the side mount fan blows through, it works very well in exhaust.)

I'm not terribly worried about the ps drawing copious amounts of dust into it as I use a small 2.5 gal air compressor to blow out my case on a monthly basis....takes all of 30 sec. and the case stays very clean.

Add to that that the case is NOT on the floor as many have placed it, instead it's sitting about 2 ft. above the floor on a glass table top (glass top placed on a pair of ceramic lions....this "table" used to hold a small TV and VCR back in the day...rescued the set for use in holding my computer next to my desk, an arrangement that has worked very satisfactorily for me...), the dust problems is nowhere as bad as it is for those who choose to sit the case on the floor.

[Leeghoofd]

Too bad you didn't foresee any holes for better cable mangement, that PC would become so sexy and clean :)

[C'DaleRider]

There's almost no way to route the cables behind the mb tray as there is barely 2mm of space behind it.

Also, the cables just aren't long enough to route much differently.....the power cable running to the opticals is at its max stretch......running it behind anything would put the connector out of reach of the first optical drive.....just wish Corsair had a longer cable set for big cases like this one. Unfortunately, Corsair doesn't.

And that's what this case needs.....a ps that has what may appear to be needlessly long cables for its cable runs. The ones off this HX just aren't long enough for much more than stringing as you see them.....but I'm not putting in a junk ps just for cable runs. The HX I've got has great stability, components inside (like a Rubycon main cap, all ChemiCon secondary caps....) that I just hate to get rid of it just for cables.

[Scubar]

So i guess that must make Lian Li ( Aston Martin ) then. LoL

[sbinh]

Can you run the 12v ATX cables under the board?

I am about to build mine too, so I really need some suggestion ... Specially, with watercool layout (how to measure/cut the top for radiator/fans, etc)

[Lu523]

I am about to build mine too, so I really need some suggestion ... Specially, with watercool layout (how to measure/cut the top for radiator/fans, etc)

If you are going to use a grill for the rad then you can use it to mark out where you need to cut. That is what I did with mine.

[hank123]

can u put up a pic of the top of the case plz

[C'DaleRider]

Well, while I don't know who you are speaking to, hank, I'll put mine up...since I started the thread and I do have a top mounted rad. But please pardon the dust....it's getting dusted out later this afternoon, just didn't have time this morning to tidy it up before I shot the pic. :)

http://jamayer.org/pics/case_top.jpg

[Bobsama]

It's not dust--it's protective coating. :p: Anyways--it's still looking good.

[Jor3lBR]

Well, while I don't know who you are speaking to, hank, I'll put mine up...since I started the thread and I do have a top mounted rad. But please pardon the dust....it's getting dusted out later this afternoon, just didn't have time this morning to tidy it up before I shot the pic. :)

http://jamayer.org/pics/case_top.jpg

VEry slick! :up:

Interesting your choice on putting fans pushing air from the inside the case to the outside (Radgrill-Fan-Rad), I've seen most of setups with the fans taking the cold air on the outside and blowing it inside the case.

Like: Radgrill-Rad-Fans...

How did you make that choice and witch one is best?

[sbinh]

No .. It's another way around......the fans take cool air from outside and blow into the case.

[Daddyjaxx]

He was my inspiration too, except I used a few more fans on my PA 120.3, 3 YL medium 77cfm outside pushing and 3 inside pulling. There definitely is room for a 4x120 in the top.

http://img355.imageshack.us/img355/8154/002fb5.jpg

[Jor3lBR]

He was my inspiration too, except I used a few more fans on my PA 120.3, 3 YL medium 77cfm outside pushing and 3 inside pulling. There definitely is room for a 4x120 in the top.

http://img355.imageshack.us/img355/8154/002fb5.jpg

But that's kinda bulky Daddy, sorry to say that but you buy a PA120.3 that cost triple the price of a Swiftech to avoid using 6 fans in push/pull...

So for a PA to perform well you need only 3 fans with low rpm's and your case will look a lot nicer too, everything hidden inside :up:

[kevin36thi]

Hey C'DaleRider don't know if your still checking this thread but just wanted to ask you want Gold paint you used for the case

Thanks

[By-Tor]

Nice work... Love these cases....

That rad. grill is so sexy...