My first all out case build worklog (56k warning)....

Hello everyone. Been reading these forums for a long time and been a member for a few months now. I've gotten some really good info and ideas off of here and while it's going to be a bit before my new beast of a computer is done, I figure I'd start with my worklog that I have so far.

The things I still have to purchase (there is a bit, BTW). I'm probably going to get after some Christmas shopping gets done, but hopefully this will be done (or mostly done) be the 1st of the new year.

Main stuff:
Thermaltake Armor case /w 250mm fan side. DFI LanParty UT 790FX-M2R (still have to purchase)
AMD Phenom (have to purchase)
4GB RAM (you guessed it, have to purchase)
ATI 3870 (have to purchase)
1x 320GB Seagate Sata hard drive
2x 40gb hard drives
2x dvd-rw drives
Antec TruePower II 550w power supply (would like to get PC power & cooling PSU...I'll see if Santa thinks I was good enough this year)
2x 92mm Sharkloon Golfball
5x 120mm Sharkloon Golfball
Alphacool Multi-Power Port fan controller
Two monitors (one 19" lcd and one 17" crt....want to toss this piece o' crap out, but it still works for now)
Logitech x530 5.1 speakers
X-raypad for mousepad
Need to get a good gaming mouse, but low on the list of priorities right now

Watercooling:
so far I have a Thermochill PA 120.2 with a Swiftech Radbox mount.
I have a DangerDen MagII LE pump (going to get Ehiem 1250 to add in series with this and I have a Criticool relay card to trip the Ehiem up)
~15ft Tygon 2603 3/8 ID tubing.
Smart coils
Swiftech MicroRes
DangerDen Fillport
that's pretty much it on the watercooling side so far. Going to wait to finish off my loop until I have all the rest of the computer set up (m/b, ram, processor, video card, etc.) That way I know for sure what kinda stuff I'm going to need for the rest of this. Definetly going to watercool the cpu, video card and *maybe* northbridge (still debating that last one, want to see what temps are like without it first.

Now on to the good stuff...the pics so far....

Attachment 67609
this pic shows what my case looks like in a millions pieces and unpainted (not too exciting)

Attachment 67610

Showing speakers, monitors, keyboard, PSU, the 250mm fan, x-raypad, and the thermochill rad with the radbox and fans already hooked up...

Attachment 67611

More pieces of the case....amazing how many pieces it breaks down to when you totally strip it

Attachment 67612

hard drives, box of new parts (so far) and PSU side-shot

More to come.....

AWESOME looking 4ward to more updates!

right now....

So, the case is getting painted right now (hence why it's in a million pieces in previous pics) color to be gunmetal (preview shot below).

So, I'm getting a powder coat done on the case. The metal parts are going to look really, really nice....however, getting the plastic bits match it has proven to be a PITA.

Attachment 67613

Top metal piece is the powder coating color, bottom on the can is the auto paint color I found to match it reasonably well.

Attachment 67616

Equipment needed to apply paint to plastics. This make-shift spray paint thing is kinda cool.

Attachment 67615

My two front test pieces. Hopefully they turn out all right (sorry for the blurry pic). Hopefully I can get a better looking one when they dry.

More soon....

dang it, beat me to my own thread..... :p:

Notes on things I forgot to include on my hardware list. Going to be running Zerex/Distilled water through the loop with some UV Blue coloring
I have two 12" AC Ryan CCFL lights
Radiator is already flushed/cleaned out....trust me for those of you that have never done it....twas quite gross.

quick question....

I was thinking of actually keeping the original grill color on these as I think it gives a nice contrast to the darker gunmetal. What do you guys think?

Attachment 67617

Do NOT mix pumps in the same loop. The poor little Mag with burn out first and then you'll be left with just the Eheim. The Mag would be well suited to a chipset loop by itself with anything but a GTS/GTX rad.

Why the Eheim? There are better 12VDC pumps like the DDC 3.X and the D5.

Yeah, I knew the Eheim was a better pump. That's why I wanted to get it for my loop. I did not however know that one pump would burn out another one. Quite the opposite actually. I figured that in case one burned out, the other one would take over for it. How would the Eheim burn out the Mag II? Would the Mag II not be able to keep up with the flow or something maybe?

since you have the oblivion manual and that's my favorite game i shall follow this log intently :D but only if the manual is in more pics ;)

nice start on this work log. keep the pictures coming...

can i have the 250mm fan? =P nice build btw!

@Origin Maybe I could make a where's waldo thing out of it, eh?
@Septim Thanks, in the next few days with Thanksgiving and some crappy weather here, I might not be able to get my plastics done, but I'm going to try. Have to get some sandpaper because the two pieces I did above came out kinda crappy and I'm going to have to re-work them. Also, still have to wait like a week to get the case back from the place I dropped it off at to get it powder coated. I feel like a little kid at Christmas waiting for this.
@Boogerlad Thanks, I think they actually sell those 250mm fans at Performance-pcs (and the one there light up). Also, if I gave it to you, what would I put in the big spot on the side of my case where it went? ;)

The Mag will burn out because your asking it....no, make that, demanding it spin faster than it was designed to.

Well, unfortunately because I'm a dolt not going to have some more pics for a few days. The test pieces did not turn out that well. I got some sandpaper and sanded down the two pieces and now they are ready to be painted again. I think I got the technique down better now so I think I can get a more even coat now.

Me being an idiot has to come into play here though, of course. I didn't really think about it before I left the paint sit for a day (with hardener mixed in it) inside the spray can. Now I can't spray it (dang it) because the paint in unable to be sprayed (too hard in there). Yeah, I'm a dolt. :am:

The paint place I got that spray can from is closed until Monday......crap.

Good news to anyone that has checked out this thread so far....got a new spray can and will have some pictures of the plastic pieces on here later on tonight. Case itself should be back later on this week. I'm giddy (that's right, I said it) with excitement.

Dont buy an Eheim pump :o
Go for a Laing DCC of a Laing D5! Best pumps around for wc'ing ;)

Your first choice should be the D5 because is industrial quality and highly reliable.

Thanks, I will keep those two in mind. I was thinking the Eheim because I had read good things about them, liked the looks of them and also wanted a solid AC pump (I have a relay card I wanted to put to good use). I'm not dead set on getting that, just my thoughts so far.

Well, as far as the painting goes. I got most of the plastics done. Unfortunetly though I ran into another snag. I got another spray bottle today, but ran out of propellant before I finished the paint job.

Attachment 67876

Components all laid out before painting.

Attachment 67877

In this pic and the one below it turned out pretty nice, I'm actually quite impressed. Not all is well of course though. It actually looks better in person.

Attachment 67878

Nice and shiney. Need a little extra on the one wall there of course.

Attachment 67879

Of course, before I got a chance to finish painting this, the spray can ran out. And of course and luck would have it, the last of the paint in there, so have to get more paint. *sigh* Sometimes I think nothing is ever easy. Still, I'm having a pretty good time on this project and learning to work with a few new things.

Any comments on what I have so far is much appreciated. Hopefully in the next few days I can pick up some more paint and get this crap done. Also, the main part of the case should be back from the shop in the next few days.

im excited to see the paint job, on my custom case i just used rustoleum, and it looks okay but would have perferred a more professional method.

Good work!!

That makes two of us locke. I was hoping it would be back by now, but with the Thanksgiving holiday last week, I guess it's not ready yet. Nice avatar, BTW.

On a side note to everyone, I was thinking of adding a second PA 120.2 (mounted in the front area where the drive bays are) would it be more effective to
a) have a second loop with video card(s) (powered by my Mag II LE pump) or b) should I keep it on the oppisite end of my loop from the other radiator and have dual cooling on the same loop?
I'm probably not going to be cooling the chipsets or mosfets unless the temps are crazy if I end up getting the DFI LanParty motherboard (it has a triple heatpipe assemply that goes between the north/southbridges and the mosfets.

well this is xtream systems, here usually two loops are better than one! although most would concede that you don't really need two loops in most circumstances.

a second pa could cut down on your flow quite a bit. Have you checked the flow chart here and marci's airflow chart? use them to determine how much air and flow you need absed on what you want to use.

http://www.over-clock.com/ivb/index.php?showtopic=20277
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...d.php?t=151627

try these if you haven't. two pa's would be better if using very low flow fans, a good silent choice. also alot of people say to stay away form mags, so you may want to check on those. i like the mcp 655 and 355.

Well, I already have a Mag II LE from my previous build, so that's the only reason why I would use it. I think if I get a decent enough pump it shouldn't kill my flow rate too much. As mentioned at the top of this thread, I have Sharkloon Golfball fans, and when they are unvolted to 7v, they are very quiet. I have enough extra fans right now to put on a second 2x PA np.

I have checked out those two threads, but since I haven't gotten my blocks yet, I can't determine 100% what my flow rate would be.

Hey how are you going to mount your radiator. I see your using the swifttech rad mount box. Does it fit and align perfectly with no modification?

I have a pa120.3 with the same exact case, and dont have a clue where to mount it. I was thinking external above the case? Let me know

@pikkashoe The rear 120mm hole next to the motherboard i/o area is perfect to mount the 2x rad. No mod needed at all. I'm going to route the tubing through the holes that are already drilled in there. It's not perfect, but it's pretty close. However, since you have a 3x I think it might go better on the top. You could probably use some of the screw holes on the top if you use some standoffs I think. Too bad you would lose the i/o ports.

The other one (if I do get it) I think I might put in the front where the drive bays are (on the bottom most ones), but of course have to wait to get my case back to see how feasible that is. I think I saw someone on this forum somewhere do that to their armor case and it looked pretty good. They even have the hard drives back a bit in some of the slots so they didn't go to total waste.

After searching last night, I found out the swifttech rad box works with the Pa120.3, so I am going to use that to mount it on the outside of the case on top. Im also going to mount my reservoir there for easy filling and draining of the system.

Hey where did you order the sharkoon golfball 120 mm fans from ?