Project: Virgin Suicide - First Time - Lian Li P80

Hi fellow XS Members!
Since I have been reading all your awesome work logs I felt obliged to share my current work, even if I started a few weeks ago.

Project name "Virgin Suicide" might be suited since it's my first time building a liquid cooled computer, and also my first time doing anything out of the ordinary with a computer build. Hopefully this will end well. :welcome:

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Lian Li P80
Case selected is a Lian Li P80 Armorsuit black. My first choice was the Obsidian 800 from Corsair, but because of the late release date and release date being pushed forward in Sweden I changed to the P80.

The P80 might not be the best looking case, but since this is my first time I wanted some room to work with, and the P80 is a BIG case :)

Color Theme
The color theme of this build is black and white, hopefully a clean looking build and not to boring :)

Hardware
Intel i7 920
EVGA GTX 275
ASUS Rampage II Extreme
Corsair Dominator 1600 CAS 8 6Gb (3x 2Gb)
Corsair HX850W
Intel X25-M G2 80GB SSD
Samsung SpinPoint F1 1TB
Scythe Kazer Server Fan Controller

The Loop
Aquastream XT Ultra
XSPC RX360 Radiator
3x Scythe Gentle Typhoon 1150rpm
Heat Killer CPU Rev. 3.0 LT
EK Water Blocks EK-FC275 GTX
EK-FB RE2 NB/SB (Nickel or Acetal top)
EK Multioption Res 150
XSPC 3/8" ID 5/8" OD White Tubing (3 meters)
Silver Coil (anti algae)

Bitspower Fittings
3x 45 degrees angle
2x 90 degrees angle
12x compression fittings 3/8" ID 5/8" OD
4x stop fittings
1x inline temp sensor

Extras
Scythe Bay Rafter 2.5" in a 3.5" bay
Arctic Cooling RC memory sink
MDPC white and black sleeve
Soggy sandwich (dampening for pump)
Anodised 120.3 Rad Grill without Mounting Holes (15mm spacing)
ThermoChill PS120.3 Radiator Performance Shroud (15mm fitment)
3x anodized fan grills
20x black Lian Li thumb screw
40x M3 black screws
16x black fan screw
Mix of dome head and counter sunk rivets

I will start out adding some pictures of what kind of stuff this build will contain, and add more describing text later on... So here you go, a wall of pictures :D

http://i27.tinypic.com/6t24qh.jpg
A small selection of the hardware
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http://i29.tinypic.com/2m4f7v8.jpghttp://i32.tinypic.com/2nkqal3.jpg
Lian Li P80



http://i29.tinypic.com/25rm64k.jpg
Aquacomputer Aquastream XT Ultra



http://i29.tinypic.com/34f1my8.jpg
XSPC 3.8 ID - 5.8 OD White Tubing (that's 3 feet - thought I ordered 3 meters :)



http://i29.tinypic.com/1g6u4x.jpg
BitsPower Compression Fittings



http://i29.tinypic.com/zuoahl.jpg
EK Multioption 150 Res



http://i31.tinypic.com/jpwwew.jpg
Heat Killer Rev 3.0 LT



http://i28.tinypic.com/2upyc15.jpg
EVGA GTX 275 with EK Waterblocks GTX 275



http://i27.tinypic.com/dr9ybr.jpg
Corsair HX850W - Resleeving from black to white is ongoing...



http://i32.tinypic.com/2j3o0h3.jpg
XSPC RX360 radiator



http://i26.tinypic.com/i36yrp.jpg
Thermochill Shroud



http://i28.tinypic.com/24loebm.jpg
Shoggy Sandwich - Might replace the orange damp with the white one



http://i27.tinypic.com/20syb06.jpg
Revoltec White Cathods - Haven't decided if those are going inside the case



http://i31.tinypic.com/huhnp5.jpg
Tunic TX-3 Thermal Compound



http://i27.tinypic.com/28bqjhv.jpg
This one will not be inside the case, I just love this tool :)



...

Looks like an interesting build :)

Just a quick tip: not that im good at taking pictures, but you should add some lighting if possible :-)
Looking forward to see your build, LOVE those lian li cases!

Next step was dismantle the case for Powder Coating.

Most of the case was easy to take apart, M3 screws all over the place tho. Some pop rivets that I had to drill out but overall really easy.

http://i26.tinypic.com/acsgpc.jpg

Also did some measuring and testing the location of the loop.
Pump will go in the front, radiator in the bottom pushing air out of the case.

Loop will be like this: Res -> Pump -> CPU -> NB/SB -> GPU -> Radiator

http://i25.tinypic.com/2m4t9c9.jpg

http://i28.tinypic.com/j7rwiu.jpg



I also needed to cut holes for the radiator in the bottom of the case. Had some problem with this since I didn't know what the best approach was :help:

After reading some work logs i stumbled on eponymous and his Altair project. He used a hole saw to cut the holes for the radiator. This seemed to be the best solution to get even 114mm holes cut in aluminum :)

Big thanks to Eponymous for this!

One problem was that the bi-metal Holesaw from Milwaukee I first found had a price tag of 45 euro, I also needed the adapter for another 25 euro :/ A bit heavy on my wallet for 3 holes.

After some looking around I found a cheaper brand for 10 euro at a shop called Jula in Sweden. I also found out that a friend to my parents had the adapter :)

I must say the result turned out really good :hammer:

http://i32.tinypic.com/2rx8h0w.jpg

So now off with the parts to the powder coating shop.... :D

Quote:

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Originally Posted by The Viking

Looks like an interesting build :)

Just a quick tip: not that im good at taking pictures, but you should add some lighting if possible :-)
Looking forward to see your build, LOVE those lian li cases!

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Tnx, my first Lian Li and now I understand what people talk about :)

I have a small crappy Canon compact camera and my apartment is pretty dark at night. Will try to take more daylight pictures :)

Since my case was off on it's own I thought I should test the hardware out. Put together the stuff on my desk, doing some experimental overclocking and running some benchmarks :)

Sorry for the messy put together :rolleyes:

http://i31.tinypic.com/ayvh91.jpg

http://i26.tinypic.com/a47uzc.jpg

After a few days my Tygon 3603 tubing started to get cloudy, so I read up on the forums and It's apparently common with PVC tubing, especially Tygon 3603.

My solution, white XSPC tubing since I couldn't find any 3/8" ID 5/8" OD TYGON 2001 Plasticizer Free Tubing. Plasticizer Free Tubing it's also pretty expensive.

Anyhow I think the white XSPC tubing will look pretty nice inside the black case :)

More updates tomorrow, painting fans, powder coat result...

Subcribed, this it's going to rock :rocker:

Getting quite a bit done really fast :) Looks good.

I just got done painting my GT's also!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Armitage

Getting quite a bit done really fast :) Looks good.

I just got done painting my GT's also!

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Tnx :)
I know, should have started this log a few weeks ago. Was some catching up posts that's why :P Hope to keep this one updated now.

I saw your paint job on the GT fans, really nice work! Mine will be painted white too :)

I'm also doing a black & white project, and I'm using XSPC 3/8 ID 1/2 OD white tubing.
And I can say that it looks amazing in a black powdercoated TJ07. :yepp:
There is a worklog here somewhere with a absolutly stunning P80 build, you should check it out for inspiration.

Btw, I lived in Sweden a couple of years ago but moved back to Finland now.
But I spend alot of time on Sweclockers, you might have seen me there.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by WeeMaan

I'm also doing a black & white project, and I'm using XSPC 3/8 ID 1/2 OD white tubing.
And I can say that it looks amazing in a black powdercoated TJ07. :yepp:
There is a worklog here somewhere with a absolutly stunning P80 build, you should check it out for inspiration.

Btw, I lived in Sweden a couple of years ago but moved back to Finland now.
But I spend alot of time on Sweclockers, you might have seen me there.

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Hey WeeMaan!
Yea I have been following your thread on sweclockers, waiting for your pictures :)

Tj07 is an awesome case for liquid cooling, a lot of space for radiators. The P80 is really good too, you just need to do a few adjustments to make room for the rads.

I will put my dual width 3x 120 XSPC rad in the bottom of the case. There is also room for another 3x 120 radiator in the front if you move a HDD case next to the power supply.

I will start cooling CPU, 1x 275 GTX and the NB/SB with one XSPC RX360, hopefully it will be enough.

Subscribed. I'm getting addicted to build logs :D

Ölright, looks like its going to be an awsome build! Keep us posted!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by miguecasla

Subcribed, this it's going to rock :rocker:

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Tu cola la van a rockear feo......ajajjaajaja

Looks great dude......I like that rig :D

Yay, stuff back from powder coating! :D
Think the powder coating guys did a pretty nice work.

Also to note, they masked 55 threads with silicon pins using a nice sketch I made so the threads should stay clear of the powder (paint). All this for 48 euro or 68$. Think I got a good price :)

Here are some pictures of the work. Still same crappy Canon but now taken in daylight :rolleyes:

http://i30.tinypic.com/1zmi2r9.jpg
This is all of it...
Case
Motherboard tray
PSU holding plate
EVGA 275 GTX back plate
2x HDD racks
10x PCI slot shielding plates
2x shelfs
2x fan grills
1x Cathod switch PCI slot holding plate
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http://i29.tinypic.com/289eae8.jpg
Full case
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http://i29.tinypic.com/13yjzh0.jpg
Case bottom with radiator holes
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http://i25.tinypic.com/2d84414.jpg
Radiator hole close up
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http://i32.tinypic.com/nmhn3o.jpg
Back of case - The fans in the vent holes looks like they are bent but it's just my crappy camera :)
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http://i30.tinypic.com/vgrg1v.jpg
PCI slots
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http://i26.tinypic.com/2iac1af.jpg
HDD Rack
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Hope you guys like it!
Btw, are the pictures in a good size or are they to big?

More to come... :banana: :banana: :banana:

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Looks good bud. I wish I could get my powder coating for that price :)

Here are stuff I will use in my loop. Distilled water combined with a silver coil or Petra's Nuke PTH.

If the silver coil is enough I will use that since the nuke is pretty toxic. Anyone of you guys use the silver coil and have good or bad experience from it keeping algae away?

http://i27.tinypic.com/2hd70v7.jpg


Back to PSU sleeving...Zzzzzzz =)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Armitage

Looks good bud. I wish I could get my powder coating for that price :)

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Yea, I thought he had banged his head on something when he told me the price. Apparently they where doing a lot of other stuff in that color so my case just hitchhiked the paint track :)

Excellent work, Winston. Looks like you got a great price (and quality) on your powder coating, and nice job on the holes!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by shazza

Excellent work, Winston. Looks like you got a great price (and quality) on your powder coating, and nice job on the holes!

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Thanks a lot Shazza! :)

I recently saw that I missed to ask for thread mask on the holes in the HDD rack lol. It's not a big deal since they will only hold them from gliding back and forth. Tried to fit a M3 screw in the painted hole and looks like it might work. Worst case I make new threads for those or use smaller bolts and nuts =P

All the threads on the case and motherboard tray were masked anyway :D

looking good for now, keep up the good work :)

Really good work so far, are you sure this is your first project build? Because with your planning and work thus far it certainly seems like you've done this before or you had a hidden talent all this time. :D

:up: keep up the good work!

Thanks guys!
It's my first time doing anything bigger than just putting a computer together. Most I've learned from you guys on XS, have been a real help getting this far :)

Since last post I have been painting my Gentle Typhoon fans white. :pimp:
I painted the three fans for the radiator and the rear case fan.



http://i26.tinypic.com/oqhpow.jpg
The paint used was the first and the second can from the left


I started with primer for plastic, several thin layers. Really hard to see if it covered the surface since it's transparant :rolleyes:

http://i27.tinypic.com/fxt01i.jpg
Fans after several layers of plastic primer


Time for the white paint! :D
I painted one stroke, waited 45 seconds and then painted a new stroke. Kept doing this until the surface was fully covered.

Pictures below :)

http://i30.tinypic.com/2m29c9v.jpg


http://i28.tinypic.com/2e500vt.jpg


Now I don't know if I should paint the fan frames matte black? The original color is a bit geryish? :up::down: :confused:
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I'd go with black or white.... I guess gray would be transitional.

I guess I'm no help haha. Btw I've been subscribed since like the beginning. Nice dude!

Ok, I say black frames.

Nice Work,

if you struggle getting the screws into the HDD rack see if you can get a thread tap from a hardware store, it should clean the threads out a treat and shouldnt damage your powder coat, you see them using them all the time on the likes of american chopper etc,

as for the fans black would be a nice contrast, it just depends on what white black balance you are going for. another alternative would be to paint them white if you dont like paint them black :D

Definitely got my attention, looks great so far. :up:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Laine

Definitely got my attention, looks great so far. :up:

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Thanks Laine!
I'm impatiently waiting for updates on the Crystal Clear project :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Defiant83

Nice Work,

if you struggle getting the screws into the HDD rack see if you can get a thread tap from a hardware store, it should clean the threads out a treat and shouldnt damage your powder coat, you see them using them all the time on the likes of american chopper etc,

as for the fans black would be a nice contrast, it just depends on what white black balance you are going for. another alternative would be to paint them white if you dont like paint them black :D

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Thanks Defiant!
I will look for a M3 thread tap then and correct my mistake :D

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Atm I'm struggling with choice of colors for rad, shroud and fan frames. Might look better to keep the radiator and shroud black, and go for small white details like the fans, tubing and sleeving... :confused:

I would like to encapsulate the fans inside the shroud with some kind of grill on top. The downside is that the shroud will not help in air push performance if you mount the fans inside it.

The correct mounting is outside, on top of the shroud to get the 20+ mm distance from the rad.

Anyway, need to make a decision before this weekend so I can do the painting.

Sleeving is ongoing, done half my PSU now :rolleyes: The sleeving take ages since I'm removing the old black sleeve I did first and wrapping the cables in white electric tape to hinder the cable color to show through the transparency of the white sleeve.

More updates this weekend... :D

http://i31.tinypic.com/huhnp5.jpg

MX-3 anyone? :)

Build is looking awesome great job!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by dreamaxx

MX-3 anyone? :)

Build is looking awesome great job!

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Tnx dreamaxx, appreciate it a lot! :)

I'm a bit confused about MX-3 tho, something I have missed on the forums? :rolleyes:

Sleeving is going well but slow :)


http://i37.tinypic.com/141qgxu.jpg
Picture of some tools I use for sleeving.



http://i38.tinypic.com/2qm2cd1.jpg
No white electric tape on this one, as you can see some color of the cable shine through transparency of the sleeve.



http://i36.tinypic.com/344sdgw.jpg
My first attempt was the black sleeve seen in this picture :rolleyes:
After some tips I got from reading the sleeving guide the white sleeving turns out a lot better.

This white sleeve have white electric tape around the cable.

A tip to others, choose color wisely so you don't regret your color choice and need to do it all over again lol :D
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Looks good man. Keep it up.

Today I have been painting the shroud, radiator and one of the motherboard tray holder. I forgot to send the tray holder together with the other stuff to the powder coat shop :(

I'm also painting the shroud and radiator black since I'm not happy with the original black color.

Below a quick guide how to remove rivets with an electric drill.

http://i38.tinypic.com/34sjim8.jpg
Start drilling on the head of the rivet using a drill that have a diameter just a bit larger than the rivets diameter and smaller than the diameter of the hole.

Most rivets I removed on the Lian Li was 3mm so I used a 3.3mm drill. This one was a tad bit larger so I used a 3.5mm drill.

Keep the drill at low speed applying even pressure keeping the drill centered.

You want to drill down so you separate the head from the rivets pin.



http://i33.tinypic.com/53pmdc.jpg



http://i33.tinypic.com/24buic5.jpg
The head is off :)


http://i37.tinypic.com/mj34fq.jpg
After this you can just pop the remaining part of the rivet with a small screwdriver.



Tomorrow I will complete the paint job and start putting some parts of the case together.

Still waiting for some stuff from ChilledPC. It have taken over a week to nickel plate the block. Hope they ship beginning of next week:
- EK-FB RE2 Rampage II Extreme Block - Nickel Plated
- A mix of black screws
- XSPC white tubing since last time I ordered 3 feet instead of 3 meters :)
- ChilledPC radiator grill
- Mix of BP compression fittings and rotary adapters

The Intel SSD G2 80GB is one month away until it will be in stock in Sweden. I could buy the retail version but it's like 40€ more.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by HuffPCair

Looks good man. Keep it up.

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Thanks a lot HuffPCair! :)

Looks good and thx for the quick guide on drilling the rivets - everyone always says just drill them out but it's a little scary without some visuals. Looking forward to the rest of the build!

The sleeving looks very familiar to how I did mine. masking tape with numbers etc :) Good work, takes a lot longer then you thought huh? I surprised myself on how long it took lol.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by WinstonSthlm

Here are stuff I will use in my loop. Distilled water combined with a silver coil or Petra's Nuke PTH.

If the silver coil is enough I will use that since the nuke is pretty toxic. Anyone of you guys use the silver coil and have good or bad experience from it keeping algae away?

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My first loop I went with the same apotek water and PT's nuke. I ended up with some algae after 6 months, which I wasn't happy with, but at the same time I used only 2 drops of PT's as I have kids.

My loop now (after changing my tubes out to some white XSPC tubes) is still the renat vatten and a silver coil. Been like that for 2 months and the water still looks crystal clear. I'd stick with the coil only and water. I've seen threads where people have mixed the coil and Nuke and gotten some funky stuff.

I'll only be using silver in the future with pure water (no dyes either - why dye when you have colored tubes?).

Can you let me know what your powdercoaters cost and where they are? I was OK with my guy, but he was balck only for 1000sek. I saw Nysso had problems with his guy too. So it would be nice to know what experience you've had as I would like to do a different color in the future and know a price as well.

sweet build :D
i am going to keep following this one ^^

another nice P80 build, subd ;)
now please make tutorial how to put rivets back :D

Thanks a lot guys! :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Armitage

The sleeving looks very familiar to how I did mine. masking tape with numbers etc :) Good work, takes a lot longer then you thought huh? I surprised myself on how long it took lol.

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It really do, sucks a bit that I did the 24 atx in black and now redoing it in white =P The good part was that I got some training on the black sleeve :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by LogAn'sRun

My first loop I went with the same apotek water and PT's nuke. I ended up with some algae after 6 months, which I wasn't happy with, but at the same time I used only 2 drops of PT's as I have kids.

My loop now (after changing my tubes out to some white XSPC tubes) is still the renat vatten and a silver coil. Been like that for 2 months and the water still looks crystal clear. I'd stick with the coil only and water. I've seen threads where people have mixed the coil and Nuke and gotten some funky stuff.

I'll only be using silver in the future with pure water (no dyes either - why dye when you have colored tubes?).

Can you let me know what your powdercoaters cost and where they are? I was OK with my guy, but he was balck only for 1000sek. I saw Nysso had problems with his guy too. So it would be nice to know what experience you've had as I would like to do a different color in the future and know a price as well.

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Tnx, I will use silver coil and distilled then :) Btw do you put the silver coil in the reservoir?

I used a shop called Calibra, located in Arlanda Stad. Total price was 500 SEK, a really good price. Think part of it was because they where painting black that week so they didn't have to change color when painting my case.

I was also happy with the black color they used, it matched the black anodized Lian Li color really good.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by aka_GK

another nice P80 build, subd ;)
now please make tutorial how to put rivets back :D

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I will put up a quick tutorial when putting the rivets back, one with pictures :)

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Today I have been painting my shroud, the grommets for the motherboard plate and a fan.

Had some setbacks tho, the black paint ran out so I still haven't painted the radiator, and I messed up the paintjob on the fan because I thought the paint was dry then i packaged it :(

The paint job on the shroud turned out really good though :)

One thing I did two weeks ago was lapping my I7 920 CPU. I followed the tutorial on youtube by tjharlow:

CPU Lapping Guide (Part 1 of 2)

CPU Lapping Guide (Part 2 of 2)

I did it most to learn and see how it's done. If you think sleeving is booring you should not try this. After an hour of "1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 ,13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20 and turn 90 degrees" you start to go mentally insane :D

http://i33.tinypic.com/2hnuide.jpg



http://i38.tinypic.com/2rrw3mt.jpg
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i used that guide myself!

Your result turned out alot nicer though, and a nice project you've got going here ;-)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by The Viking

i used that guide myself!

Your result turned alot nicer though, and a nice project you've got going here ;-)

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Thanks mate!
My cpu have some micro scratches not seen in this picture but the thermal grease will take care of that :)

A few posts up I did a rivets removal guide. I promised to do a quick one how to put the rivets back, so here it is :)



http://i38.tinypic.com/jqrqeq.jpg
Picture here show two types of rivets that are used on the Lian Li case.
The one to the left is a regular Dome Head Rivet (round head).
The one to the right is a Countersunk Head Rivet (flat head).





http://i35.tinypic.com/11v15pg.jpg
The rivets used on the Lian Li P80 case are 3mm in diameter and the type are a mix of Dome Head and Countersunk Head Rivets.





http://i36.tinypic.com/2aabrlj.jpg
The rivet tool used can be found at most hardware stores and they are pretty cheap to buy.





http://i37.tinypic.com/73ovfp.jpg
Open the rivet tool to the max and place the long pin of the rivet into the hole of the rivet tool like this.





http://i36.tinypic.com/ffaext.jpg
Some places are hard to get to with the rivet tool. I bought this 8mm length distance to use on those places.
If you can't find anything like this you could probably use two or three small nuts.





http://i37.tinypic.com/al3ng7.jpg
Place the distance on the rivet like this.





http://i34.tinypic.com/1zg5i6d.jpg
Then put the rivet with the distance into the rivet tool.





http://i38.tinypic.com/2i12iv7.jpg
The distance is only needed if the hole is hard to get to with the rivet tool.





http://i36.tinypic.com/nqwnba.jpg
Slide the rivet all the way in and squeeze the rivet tool together until the rivet pin snap.
If you use the distance you might need to open up the rivet tool after you squeezed it together and do another squeeze :)





http://i37.tinypic.com/wrj09f.jpg
And Here is the result of a Countersunk (flat head) rivet.


Hope this was guide was easy to understand and some help to you guys, cheers! :D
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really nice guide Winston ;) thank you very much

I got some nice looking black rivets from mdpc-x, hope they will work great.

Today I have been painting my fans again since I wasn't happy with the result of my first painting job. I have also painted the grommets black and the radiator with gray primer.

I found out the reason why my paint looked matte and "orange surface like". The problem occurred because I applied too small amount of paint each time before letting it dry. This time I applied more paint but let the paint dry 30 sec between strokes so it wouldn't drip. The result was a lot better :)

http://i35.tinypic.com/1zlsjsi.jpg




http://i33.tinypic.com/b5gw2p.jpg




http://i35.tinypic.com/2l933hs.jpg




http://i35.tinypic.com/347k60g.jpg
The original paint on the XSPC radiator was really thin and the black color was kinda grayish and didn't match the black paint of the case.

Original paint is not fully removed, only easy sanded with wet/dry 1200 paper.
Threads are masked with masking tape rolled as a pins.




http://i36.tinypic.com/10ekkrd.jpg
Result of gray primer on the XSPC radiator.



Tomorrow I will paint the radiator black, I hope for good weather :rolleyes:

My last stuff from ChilledPC have finally been shipped after waiting 2 weeks for nickel plating of the NB/SB water block :D
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Quote:

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Originally Posted by aka_GK

really nice guide Winston ;) thank you very much

I got some nice looking black rivets from mdpc-x, hope they will work great.

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You are welcome mate :)
Those black rivets are really nice. Had plans to order a bunch of those.

Would be awesome if MDPC-X also get the Countersunk ones in black since now they only have the Domo Head Rivets.

I might use a small brush and paint on my rivets :rolleyes:

Great work! I can only hope my first project starts off half as good as yours! Subscribed!

another P80 an I like it, nice work.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by milhouse14

Great work! I can only hope my first project starts off half as good as yours! Subscribed!

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by Kanzy

another P80 an I like it, nice work.

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Thanks guys!

Most inspiration and knowledge is taken from this forum. I recommend to read as much as you can and learn. The work logs here are a goldmine!
Second thing is to have patience. If you are not happy with the result you can just redo it, most of the times anyway :)

high quality modding :respect

A few updates coming here...


http://i38.tinypic.com/2yyp0mb.jpg
This is the plan for the bottom side. 3x anodized black fan grills.
Either I get the Lian Li wheels to get more distance from the floor or increase the length of the regular feets.




http://i38.tinypic.com/s42q90.jpg
Radiator painted :)




http://i38.tinypic.com/18m93n.jpg
Fans painted and the left one have a painted frame.
Looks a lot better so might paint the remaining three fan frames.




http://i35.tinypic.com/2nbd8oh.jpg
Sleeving applied.




http://i37.tinypic.com/2ymj987.jpg
When painting this weekend at my parents house I lost the rear ball bearings for two of the Gentle Typhoon fans.
My dad found one of them but the last one is still missing :confused:




http://i35.tinypic.com/1ik612.jpg
Solution, stripped open one of my old Antech fans and yay, they use the same sized ball bearing as the Gentle Typhoons :D



Hopefully I can show you guys a lot more later this week when last stuff arrive from ChilledPC :)

Cheers and take care!
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A small update, this arrived yesterday :)


http://i35.tinypic.com/atof7l.jpg
Intel SSD G2 80Gb Retail package content



http://i35.tinypic.com/4fwoic.jpg



http://i34.tinypic.com/vqsmmh.jpg
The SSD



http://i36.tinypic.com/r2vndf.jpg
Also two package of Arctic Cooling RC memory coolers.
If I paint those white, will I loose a lot of cooling power?


The build is standing still waiting for the final stuff from ChilledPC I ordered 3 weeks ago :confused:
Waterblock for NB/SB, the XSPC tubing, black screws and some other stuff.

Also need to buy some more sleeving from MDPC-X since i ran out, noob thing :rolleyes:

Great job on your rivit tutorial! As far as I can tell from your pics you did an excellent job lapping your CPU.

I was going to purchase those Artic Cooling RC memory heatsinks for my ram but decided against it. Regular paint can act as an insulator and may noticeably affect temps. However, having them anodized can minimize the hit.

But painted heatsinks is better than none at all. :)

If you haven't seen this before, Tremeloes has a system displayed on MDPC with what appears to be these same heatsinks in white.
http://www.million-dollar-pc.com/sys...c-a01-htpc.htm

Keep up the great work. I'll be looking forward to more. :up:

I have the same RAM coolers as you :-)
Would love to learn how you can remove those *arctic cooling* plastic badges without scratching The back of it.

i've had a serious problem with the glue thats on there :-(

ANYWAY! enough about me xD
Can't await to see how those ram coolers will turn out :-)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by The Viking

Would love to learn how you can remove those *arctic cooling* plastic badges without scratching The back of it.

---

Easiest way would be to pop the sucker into some dry ice or liquid nitrogen and then pop it off (while taking appropriate safety precautions, of course, since it will be very cold). Soaking in some solvents might work too, but those might damage the finish or be more dangerous to your health than would be worth it if you could even find them ;)

nice stuff! that holder came with ssd?

I would like to ask, why Intel X25? I am seriously thinking of getting ssd for my build right now, but didn't get enough information yet. I've heard that oCZ Summit drives perform extremely well.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by ecidious

Easiest way would be to pop the sucker into some dry ice or liquid nitrogen and then pop it off (while taking appropriate safety precautions, of course, since it will be very cold). Soaking in some solvents might work too, but those might damage the finish or be more dangerous to your health than would be worth it if you could even find them ;)

---

Yeeah... i dont have dry ice or liquid nitrogen available xD So i guess ill have to use paint thinner or something like that =\

Thanks for your comments guys!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by CptDreadFlint

Great job on your rivit tutorial! As far as I can tell from your pics you did an excellent job lapping your CPU.

I was going to purchase those Artic Cooling RC memory heatsinks for my ram but decided against it. Regular paint can act as an insulator and may noticeably affect temps. However, having them anodized can minimize the hit.

But painted heatsinks is better than none at all. :)

If you haven't seen this before, Tremeloes has a system displayed on MDPC with what appears to be these same heatsinks in white.
http://www.million-dollar-pc.com/sys...c-a01-htpc.htm

Keep up the great work. I'll be looking forward to more. :up:

---

I might try paint one of those and test it on one memory slot since I have 4 sets of the coolers. You know if the memory temps are shown per memory slot?

Yea Tremeloes build is the inspiration to painting those white :)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by The Viking

I have the same RAM coolers as you :-)
Would love to learn how you can remove those *arctic cooling* plastic badges without scratching The back of it.

i've had a serious problem with the glue thats on there :-(

ANYWAY! enough about me xD
Can't await to see how those ram coolers will turn out :-)

---

I removed one of the stickers now. Used aceton and a really small screwdriver to pry the sticker off. I wasn't to hard, just do it gently and add some aceton to the edges of the sticker.

The hard work was removing the remains of the glue from the heat sink.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by aka_GK

nice stuff! that holder came with ssd?

I would like to ask, why Intel X25? I am seriously thinking of getting ssd for my build right now, but didn't get enough information yet. I've heard that oCZ Summit drives perform extremely well.

---

Yes, the 2.5" to 3.5" adapter comes with the Retail package. I was going to buy the bulk one but it's really hard to come by in Sweden.

The Intel SSD have the fastest read compared to all others, and since I'm going to use it for the OS I choose read over write speed.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by ecidious

Easiest way would be to pop the sucker into some dry ice or liquid nitrogen and then pop it off (while taking appropriate safety precautions, of course, since it will be very cold). Soaking in some solvents might work too, but those might damage the finish or be more dangerous to your health than would be worth it if you could even find them ;)

---

Hehe, I don't have dry ice unfortunately :P worked nice with aceton tho :)

Used Aceton without oil and a small screwdriver to remove the sticker on the Arctic Cooling RC memory coolers.

http://i36.tinypic.com/3465d2v.jpg
I added some Aceton to the edges of the sticker and gently prying with the the screwdriver.
Removing the remaining glue wasn't easy and the Aceton melted through my PCV plastic gloves :P


http://i37.tinypic.com/2r7pzxv.jpg
Probably need to do some sanding to remove all traces of the glue.

Nice job on those ram sinks, Winston.

Can I send my Corsair Dominators to you to fix up ;) Just hate how the stickers have overwhelmed the otherwise nice design.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by shazza

Nice job on those ram sinks, Winston.

Can I send my Corsair Dominators to you to fix up ;) Just hate how the stickers have overwhelmed the otherwise nice design.

---

Tnx shazza!
I agree, wonder what they had in mind when they placed those stickers on there. Don't even think you would be able to read the text when those are on the motherboard. :rolleyes:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by WinstonSthlm

Used Aceton without oil and a small screwdriver to remove the sticker on the Arctic Cooling RC memory coolers.

http://i36.tinypic.com/3465d2v.jpg
I added some Aceton to the edges of the sticker and gently prying with the the screwdriver.
Removing the remaining glue wasn't easy and the Aceton melted through my PCV plastic gloves :P


http://i37.tinypic.com/2r7pzxv.jpg
Probably need to do some sanding to remove all traces of the glue.

---

Nice job!

How are planning to remove heatsinks from your RAM (Corsairs?)?

Will you please post how you do it? I tried googling but couldn't find a good way to remove RAM sinks without destroying the IC chips, some suggested putting it in the freezer..

Quote:

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Originally Posted by hchristian

Nice job!

How are planning to remove heatsinks from your RAM (Corsairs?)?

Will you please post how you do it? I tried googling but couldn't find a good way to remove RAM sinks without destroying the IC chips, some suggested putting it in the freezer..

---

Hi christian,
I don't think I had any plans on how to remove the Dominator sink lol, didn't know it was hard to remove them :rolleyes:

Thought you only had to unscrew the screw on top of the memory sink and slide the top part off?

Will google around and see if I can find any solution, tnx for mentioning this.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by WinstonSthlm

Hi christian,
I don't think I had any plans on how to remove the Dominator sink lol, didn't know it was hard to remove them :rolleyes:

Thought you only had to unscrew the screw on top of the memory sink and slide the top part off?

Will google around and see if I can find any solution, tnx for mentioning this.

---

I really like the AC Ramsinks but I have this :

http://www.virtual-hideout.com/revie...-12800/2_S.jpg

And I have no clue how to remove the Ramsinks, it seems like they are glued together to the IC

Hopefully the Corsairs just come off when the it's unscrewed :D

@hchristian: Be careful, I've seen pictures from someone who tried to remove the heatsinks on his Patriot Viper, too. He destroyed the RAM... .

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by redphil

@hchristian: Be careful, I've seen pictures from someone who tried to remove the heatsinks on his Patriot Viper, too. He destroyed the RAM... .

---

Thanks for the warning :up:

You got a link?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by hchristian

You got a link?

---

Sorry, it was in a forum, but no idea where. :shrug:

I think I'm stuck with my stock Corsair Dominator Heat Sinks.
Today I searched around for solutions to remove the heat sink but looks like Corsair use some kind of superglue/thermal paste. Have no idea why but if I don't get any info on if it's possible to remove the stock heat sink and how I will not risk damaging the chip :confused:


http://i35.tinypic.com/33ogqvd.jpg
Seen in this picture is something looking like glue between sink and ram chip.
It looks like the thermal paste doesn't even cover the whole surface of the memory chip.


http://i34.tinypic.com/2wox920.jpg
You can remove the top fins from the head sink but doesn't to loosen the sink from the chip.
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I wouldn't risk it, I had this problem with corsair pc8500's, not the dominators, but the casual dimm's, and after long time heating with a hair dryer, than pulling and fumbeling, the chips came with the spreader -_-

I got almost all of my stuff now. Yesterday NB/SB water block, tubing, screws etc arrived :)

When I opened the package to my surprise I saw that I got the wrong top for the water block :confused:

I ordered from ChilledPC and they also did nickel plating of the block to a really nice price. Since they had the the plexi top version as product picture for the acetal one I ordered the wrong one.

Tom said that I could send the top back and he would send a plexi top in exchange, but that would take even longer for me to get this system up. Instead I did an order for a plexi top from EK waterblocks for 14€ :)


http://i33.tinypic.com/1zg6gz6.jpg
Nickel plated NB/SB water block with acetal top.




http://i38.tinypic.com/14afm0h.jpg
Looks nice, but why would I want to nickel plate a acetal one lol :pimp:




http://i34.tinypic.com/v669tu.jpg
Heat sinks removed.




http://i35.tinypic.com/qog5jk.jpg
Rampage II Extreme heat sink.
In the top of the picture the Republic of Gamers QPI DRAM Power card with heat sink.




http://i33.tinypic.com/m7chsn.jpg
I'm not going to water cool the mosfet, not at start anyway, so will leave the original heat sink on.
Since the heat sink is one whole piece I had to cut the heat pipe to the mosfet's :rolleyes:




http://i36.tinypic.com/2ufg2oo.jpg
I thought a heat pipe had some kind of liquid inside it.
Looks like some kind of copper crystals.




http://i34.tinypic.com/s60vex.jpg
I used the Tuniq TX-3 thermal paste for both blocks and I have never had such a problem applying thermal paste. It's thick as *** and applying it was like working with pizza dough on the chips :rolleyes:




http://i37.tinypic.com/2nvfh9s.jpg
Wonder if it will look better with the plexi top :rolleyes:
Problem I have now is how to fasten the ROG QPI card.
Maybe I make some kind of bracket to hold it in place.




http://i33.tinypic.com/b7fgjs.jpg
I also got the Sythe Bay Rafter 2.5 so I mounted my SSD inside the HDD cage.
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builds coming along nicely!

In the heatsinks is actually a gas, so I hope you were'nt breathing in at the time. . .

Nice progress with your blocks. I like the way you're taking your time and the attention to detail in every step. :up:

I can't believe I've just found this project log!

The powder coating looks really nice.

Great stuff so far, keep up the good work matey! :)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by WinstonSthlm

I might try paint one of those and test it on one memory slot since I have 4 sets of the coolers. You know if the memory temps are shown per memory slot?

---

Haven't found a "proper" way to test RAM temps, but I am prone to ghetto rigging. I once stuck thermal sensors and read the temps off an old fan controller. Uncertain as to how accurate this method yields but I reasoned that it couldn't be that far off.

But great progress, Winston! Dig seeing another XS member outfitting the same board as me with success. :up:

@shazza: Thanks shazza! I try to take it slow and be careful. Still I have made a few mistakes, not big ones and most could be fixed :)
Btw, your paint job on the Pearl looks great!

@eponymous: Thanks! Looking forward to more updates on your build :)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by LogAn'sRun

builds coming along nicely!
In the heatsinks is actually a gas, so I hope you were'nt breathing in at the time. . .

---

Oh, is that gas dangerous? :eek:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by CptDreadFlint

Haven't found a "proper" way to test RAM temps, but I am prone to ghetto rigging. I once stuck thermal sensors and read the temps off an old fan controller. Uncertain as to how accurate this method yields but I reasoned that it couldn't be that far off.

But great progress, Winston! Dig seeing another XS member outfitting the same board as me with success. :up:

---

Ty Cpt!
That would work to see how good the RC cool the memory when painted.
To bad I don't have any idea to get the original ram sink off :confused:

Got this reply from Corsair when I asked them how to remove the Dominator DDR3 heat sink:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Corsair Technical Support

We do not suggest removing the heatsinks on these modules are they are hard glued onto the IC chips. Pulling the heatsinks apart may pull the chips off as well.

---

I Have been away on vacation in Greece this weekend but hope to get some work done in the next few days =)
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Happy news, after problems with removing the heat sink on the Corsair Dominator memory I found a solution :idea: I will keep the heat sink on and fasten the Arctic cooling RC heat sink on the original heat sink :D The only modification was removing the top fins.

Think it looks good even tho the I didn't get the original heat off. Another plus with this solution, the paint will not jeopardize the cooling as much :)


http://i36.tinypic.com/2v9ads5.jpg




http://i36.tinypic.com/e5jm9w.jpg




http://i35.tinypic.com/2vv17ps.jpg
Yesterday I soldered the three rad fans together in a parallel loop. Main cable will connect to one control on the the fan controller using the first fan RPM cable.
I will connect the second fan RPM cable the motherboard. This to configure BIOS to shut down computer if fans fail :wiggle:




http://i33.tinypic.com/33m5wti.jpg
The pump look pretty nice in white :p:




http://i36.tinypic.com/qy75fk.jpg
Have also done some fan led removal. Desoldered all leds from the four Lian Li 140mm front door fans. I wasn't so found of the the blue led light since I will use white light in the case :rolleyes:



Things to do next:
- Paint the last four Arctic Cooling RC mem sinks.
- Sleeve the remaining cables.
- Find a solution to fasten the ROG chip heat sink.
- Try the plexi top for the NB/SB block (got this a few days ago).
- Test out res holder.
- Increase the length of the feet or maybe buy the Lian Li wheels.
- Make a side window (haven't decided how to do this the best way :confused:
- Put all the stuff together :hammer:
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Good Progress ... like that memory heatsink solution and the white pump. And, agree your build will look better without the blue LEDs on the fans.

Great progress and a very interesting build.

You've got a good eye for design, I'm actually getting a bit jealous over here, haha! :up:

Imo, go with the acetal top and white/black fans for the radiators, it can't get more classy!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by shazza

Good Progress ... like that memory heatsink solution and the white pump. And, agree your build will look better without the blue LEDs on the fans.

---

Ty shazza, I'm happy I found a solution for the mem sink :) I don't really like the color scheme of the Rampage II Extreme. The white mem sink will take the eye away from the beige color of the memory slots :rolleyes:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Laine

Great progress and a very interesting build.
You've got a good eye for design, I'm actually getting a bit jealous over here, haha! :up:

Imo, go with the acetal top and white/black fans for the radiators, it can't get more classy!

---

Ty Laine! Your crystal clear build is an inspiration to this one. Really like your choice of case and the plexi water blocks with your motherboard look just awesome :up:

Looks SO awsome so far, the final build is going to be sweet =)

Absolutely stunning! Really like this!

subscribed looks awesome

Im not a fan of white, but this one is really nice.

Ah apoteket renat vatten Im using that too^^

Nice work Winston:up:

Thanks a lot for the nice comments guys! :)

---

So this is what happen after my last update:

I have started to mount the gear inside the case but I also made a simple hold down plate for the ROG chip :)

The problem when you use EK waterblocks NB/SB water block is that you don't get a way to fasten the heat sink for the ROG chip.

I made a simple plastic plate and drilled two holes to use as bracket to hold the heat sink in place.


http://i37.tinypic.com/x5cm82.jpg
Bracket was made from an old plastic 5.25" bay shield.




http://i38.tinypic.com/20f464m.jpg
Screws used is black M3 16mm and M3 nuts.
The screws closest to the NB/SB water block was too long and I had to use a rasp and wet dry sand paper to take them down to 12mm.




http://i38.tinypic.com/28bhggn.jpg
I hope the chips on the bottom of the ROG chip don't get hot since I placed the plastic bracket on top of them.
Placed some thermal adhesive tape between the plastic bracket and the chips, hopefully this will be enough :rolleyes:




http://i36.tinypic.com/8y71mv.jpg
The cable got some sleeve :D




http://i33.tinypic.com/2054a5e.jpg
Finished look :)
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More pictures sooon :banana:

Well done man, neat and tidy. :)

nice ;)

How did you manage to remove those -arctic cooling- stickers on the ram coolers? I have a huuuge problem removing those, and i dont want to scratch them using like a knife or something simular.

Ty for the comments eponymous and aka_GK!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by The Viking

How did you manage to remove those -arctic cooling- stickers on the ram coolers? I have a huuuge problem removing those, and i dont want to scratch them using like a knife or something simular.

---

Actually I didn't remove them :) Had also a lot of problem removing those and wrote to Corsair. They answered that they use some kind of thermal super glue and there is a big risk you pull the chip off if you try to remove them.

Check the post in the top of this page and the last few posts on previous page :)

Just the single white Arctic cooling RC came out looking awesome, Winston.
I'm willing to bet that all four would quadruple the awesomeness. Any shots of those or did I miss that somehow?

And an excellent idea on mounting the ROG. Been trying to figure out a slick way to do that myself. Great job, all around! :up:

Nice mod!

Now ROG users can follow suit with that mod, or something like that

Hello again :)
So I have started putting stuff together and trying some things out.

I wanted to ask what you guys think, should I use the shroud solo or should I put the grill on top of the shroud?

Think it look better without the grill but I'm not sure :confused:

Another option is to fasten the fans directly on the radiator and skip the shroud, but I don't have black screws for that option and I'm not sure I can get hold of any.

I also have to apologize for the bad lighting. Result, high graininess and bad focus :down: To eager to wait for daylight :rolleyes:


http://i34.tinypic.com/rshsp2.jpg
Some bubble plastic will not be there in the final build. The black screws holding the fans are also missing.



http://i34.tinypic.com/2upppu8.jpg
Shroud + grill.


I also know I don't use the shroud as intended. Unfortunately there isn't enough room to fasten the fans on top of the shroud.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by CptDreadFlint

Just the single white Arctic cooling RC came out looking awesome, Winston.
I'm willing to bet that all four would quadruple the awesomeness. Any shots of those or did I miss that somehow?

And an excellent idea on mounting the ROG. Been trying to figure out a slick way to do that myself. Great job, all around! :up:

---

I really appreciate your kind words Cpt :)
Just posted a photo with all Arctic Cooling RC. To bad the photos sucks, will take some better photos in daylight :)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by GregSG

Nice mod!
Now ROG users can follow suit with that mod, or something like that

---

Thanks Greg! :)

Ok!

This is me being stupid again. I didnt remember that i posted a simular question about removing the Arctic cooling RC stickers, on page 3. You clearly explained it there, and ill try that method ;)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by The Viking

Ok!

This is me being stupid again. I didnt remember that i posted a simular question about removing the Arctic cooling RC stickers, on page 3. You clearly explained it there, and ill try that method ;)

---

If you want to keep them black and not scratch the surface you should apply acetone to the edges of the sticker. Let it solve for like 20 sec and apply some more. Do this a few times to loosen the glue from the sticker.

Also to mention, somehow the sticker is easier to remove in the middle. Try different positions on the long sides of the sticker until you find a place where you get it to loosen and then carefully bend it up :)

Cover the adhesive glue on the heat sink so it wont get in touch with the acetone. Think I used masking tape.

Hope this helps =)

Looking Good :up:

I actually like the shroud with the grill.... also just incase something larger were to fall of the fans the grill would at least stop it from messing up the fans.. my 2cents

The white sinks are looking sick, Winston! Dig the look it provides your overall build.
I like the cleaner look of the grillless (is that a word?) shrouds, but then again there is a look of linear symmetry inside the case and the grills on the shrouds complement them. IMO, you can't go wrong either way. :up:

Nice looking build there.

... => :)