Lian Li PC 343b - 2 Loops

Hi Peebee - let me say that I find it very inspiring to study other 343s while I am currently building my own. I have a question about your setup - you say that you use foam to prevent heated air from the case to be sucked through the PA 120.3 in the front panel. What about the radiator in the top panel then? That is where the hot air would naturally end up - rising to the top. Have you thought of any measures to optimize the conditions for that radiator too?
I have a HW Labs GT Pro III in the front and a Nexxos II to be placed in the top with the radiator plate (optional item - not yet delivered).

That is what I am aiming next! The top rad also needs to be sealed from upcoming warm air. I thought of a plexi frame around the fans of the top rad. I am still not quite sure how I will do it. Buying a panel would be too easy and there is only a dual panel available. The main thing I didn´t like with the panel, was the thing, that I cannot lift the Top anymore without removing the rad. That was the thing that really made me say: NO WAY! I want to remove the Top without any compromising.

Still looking good :up:. I'm also considering some small changes to my rig, but will post details later in my build thread.

I did have a couple of minor 'challenges' with my case and was wondering how you handled them.

Firstly, the drive bay covers on the left. I was able to secure them from both sides. However, with everything installed, I can't access the screws on the right side (centre of case) to remove the covers. This means I can't access the filters in the lower 2 bay covers to remove and clean them. I was considering modding the bay covers to allow a single long filter, although I suspect I may then have problems inserting the long filter. How do you manage the cleaning of the filters?

Also, for the DVD drive, fan controller and hdd modules on the right side of the case, I wasn't able to fix these on the left side as there wasn't enough room. I therefore used the specially supplied screws and then just slid them in:

http://img114.imageshack.us/img114/3796/screwsni3.jpg

However, this means that everything in the right drive bay is only truly 'fixed' on one side, the result being that not everything is aligned correctly with the front cover of the case itself. Do you have a better solution for this problem?

As I see it you have to replace the screws to a type that can be tightened using a wrench instead of a screwdriver. I had the same problem when fitting the radiator brackets, but then I inserted the screw from the other side and tightened the nut on the outside (using a small adjustable wrench).
You might perhaps use a small screwdriver "bit" held with a pair of pliers or a wrench and try to tighten the screw, but it would be a bit tricky...

Well it is not necessary for me to tighten the drives or bay covers from the inner side, but I can, because I made the bigger hole into the mainboard-tray. So I can reach the left side from the right bay from the right side of the left. :D

See on pics again, what I mean:

http://www.lifepatcher.com/pc/ll/tray.jpg

http://www.lifepatcher.com/pc/ll/pe23.jpg

This bigger hole was very important to me. It makes all the working with cables easier etc. And it offers the fixing with the thumbscrews from inside. Still a bit tricky to hit the threads, but it works better than you think :)

Most stuff is done.

LEDs still missing and Radsealing for top is still in planing

http://www.lifepatcher.com/pc/ll/hwside5.jpg
http://www.lifepatcher.com/pc/ll/pumpsite3.jpg

A suggestion for sealing up the top rad:
Weatherstripping from Home Depot or Lowes. It can be purchased in several thicknesses and has a sticky backing on one side. I used it purely for cosmetics, but it would work perfectly for thermal isolation as well (that's what it's designed to do anyway)

MG

*duh* Ok, I just realized you are not in the US. So, I'm not sure where you would find weatherstripping. In the US we use it to seal out cold air from bad windows and doors. I'm sure that the probably have something like this in Europe.

I chopped the mobo tray completely at the point of that opening. Then I modified a piece to attach to the existing brace so it would still give the tray some rigidity, as it does now. The tray has some give now, but it's not all that bad. And now I can reach all the right side of the left hand drive stack, which was very much needed.

If they'd made that mobo tray slide out removeable, this case would have been better. Still is a nice case though some of the features of the MM's like the front rad mounting (which is what nearly everyone is doing with their 343's anyway) would have probably made the 343 a bit more perfect if they had been included.

:)

Well, maybe the weatherstripping is also available in germany too. But I thought of plexi, because you still have a view inside. That would be the more beautiful isolating effect. If that doesn´t work that well, i will think about something like the weatherstripping.

I do like the MM Cases, but they are not as beautiful, as the 343b's.

Update! I just put the LEDs in the case, to see how it looks like!

LEDs really do their job!

http://www.lifepatcher.com/pc/ll/weiss11.jpg

http://www.lifepatcher.com/pc/ll/weiss12.jpg

http://www.lifepatcher.com/pc/ll/weiss13.jpg

http://www.lifepatcher.com/pc/ll/weiss14.jpg

New cam, new pic :)

LEDs installed finally.

http://www.lifepatcher.com/pc/ll/open.jpg

Nice! Can you post some more pictures?

More pictures of what exactly? Please precise, the I can make´em. ;)
If you get back some pages there are lots of pics. Or do you mean anything special? :)

New Pics can be found on Million-Dollar-PCs.com

what elbows are those?

Elbows? What exactly do you mean? Fittings? LED-Holder?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by peebee

Elbows? What exactly do you mean? Fittings? LED-Holder?

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On your SB you have an Elbow Fitting on the outlet. :up:

That's not an elbow, that's a Banjo fitting. They're probably just a tad more restrictive than a standard elbow though.

Ah, now I got yah! It is a drilled up version of those:

http://img299.imageshack.us/img299/2...tckeic6.th.jpg


It was a private collective order of users at this company: www.pneumatikwelt.de That one should be less restrictive, if you take an elbow fitting to compare.

I drilled the holes with a 9mm drill, so the restriction should be very very low. According to the non-restrictive EK-Waterblocks in the loop, I don´t think, that there is a performance drop in cooling ;)
CPU-Loop has no elbows and its own PA120.3

what leds are those matE?

They are called Superflux. They are pre-installed on these strips. Bought them from this shop in Germany: www.leds.de

Exact product link is this: http://www.leds.de/c20/LED_strips_mo...D_Leisten.html

You can cut these strips every 5cm (3 leds) and the quality is amazing. A little bit expensive, but that´s it anyways, if you build a nice rig ;)
You also can buy the leds separate without the strips, then it gets cheaper. But I am too lazy to do this by myself :D

Okay I am done with my built.

I actually really made exactly all the things I had in mind, when I bought this case. And it really looks better than I thought it would look like, when I started working on it. :)

Enough room for my stuff and still looking clean and tidy. That was all I wanted.
Her the pics of the final built including all light variations which I can change just like my mood wants me to.

Maybe I will add green LEDs later :D

http://www.lifepatcher.com/pc/ll/mdpc1.jpg
http://www.lifepatcher.com/pc/ll/mdpc2.jpg
http://www.lifepatcher.com/pc/ll/mdpc3.jpg
http://www.lifepatcher.com/pc/ll/mdpc4.jpg
http://www.lifepatcher.com/pc/ll/mdpc6.jpg
http://www.lifepatcher.com/pc/ll/mdpc7.jpg
http://www.lifepatcher.com/pc/ll/mdpc8.jpg
http://www.lifepatcher.com/pc/ll/mdpc9.jpg
http://www.lifepatcher.com/pc/ll/mdpc10.jpg
http://www.lifepatcher.com/pc/ll/mdpc11.jpg
http://www.lifepatcher.com/pc/ll/mdpc12.jpg