Thermaltake Armor MX+ DARK Mod.

Hi Everyone on XS forum.
i just like to introduce myself " Hi im DARK " I am new to u guys on XS forums
& i am very impressed with the systems and the time everyone takes to help each other out hear. :up:..
Im new to WC and i know a little about OC but not a great deal.
Im more of a hardware person :).
Anyways ill jump into what im hear for .
i been working on a mod with my thermaltake armor+ for the last few weeks as i work and dont have a great deal of time to spend on it.
Anyways this is my first mod so be nice ;).
first of all i striped everything out of my case. To a bard chassis.
Ps sorry about the bad quality pic i dont have a tri pod. :(
Also Some pic are done on a cam that isn't the greatest quality.
ill try fix this by the next mod i do. :).

Continues >
So after i striped it down i prepared it so that my radiator fitted down the bottom and as the thermaltake armor + dont have fan mounting at the bottom i had to make my own holes and air flow vent in the bottom of the case.
So i went about this by first measuring the Radiator and making a template from it to work from.
So i marked where i wanted the rad to go on the bottom and mark it out.
next i drilled the holes for the fan to screw into through the bottom.
This is the rad fitted into place. fits like a dream . :).
Ps sorry about bad quality again.

Next step i took.
Was to drill the air flow holes.
So what i done was just marked with my trusty pencil a pattern like on the front panel air flow and began to drill my holes. :).
My battery powered drill just handled it. poor thing run out of battery 3 times.
The thing i wasn't expecting thow was that the metal is pretty slippery so the holes aren't quiet exactly even. But as there going to be between my rad and fans it will be unseen anyways. :up:
So anyways hear what it turned out like before painting.
Its all sanded down thow in these pics.

Next step painting.
So after drilling i decided its time for paint. :D
Went down to the local hardware store and pics up some white night spray cans.
Satan Black & Satan clear.
i painted the 5.25 bay a gloss black and the rest in the Satan black.
Satan black is like mat black but a little nicer finish.
So this is what it turned out like afer some painting :).

Next Cable sleeving.
So i decided that the cables from the top panel where ugly.
So got some cable sleeving off ebay and just finish it today.
this is what im currently up to. still a work in progress :).
Also done some other cables coming from my cold cathode lighting.
the power cable going to the cold cathodes.
So this is some before and after shots of what the cable looked like & what it looks like now. i think its much better :up:.
Any tips, advice, Questions are welcome.
Thanks for taking the time to look at my project. :up:

Also forgot i pop riveted the 5.25 bay back into place.
Also put the side panel on to get a visual of what its going to look like in the end.
This is how it turned out.
Also im thinking of changing the side window so it doesn't have the fan slots in it.
I am going to buy a new piece and maybe tint it. .
Btw my theme is going to be Black , White & chrome fittings. :D
Should look sexy.
Anyways ill post some other stuff i am doing this weekend.
Thanks again

Could it be an option to open up the bottom fan holes to get a maximum of air flow? Just cutting out 2 120mm holes with a basic fan grill will get more and and maybe less noise (got a similar grill on my LL pc v-351 and I see al ot of people who are cutting them out because of the noise and flow.)

It's just an suggestion and don't take just my word for it but it looks like it could kill the airflow to the radiator.

Pitty that you already painted case. I'd cut out on case bottom rectangular area + some fangrills for more professional look, or big round holes .. but not lots of irregular punched holes. Current variant is not exactly good looking and such holes will restrict airflow a bit.
EDIT
Hheh, seems that i'm not the only one with such views, and not exactly faster typer :)

I tested it with 2x 120mm fans without rad in place and i got substantial air flow. Might cut it down a little. The holes.
Good idea thow thanks for suggestion ah much appreciated.:D.
also i am going to run the fans on low voltage anyways like 7v. keep it silent.
So cutting it might help. might have to do that with my dremel i just got.
Something else to do over the weekend. :D
Also just got these grills in yesterday for the top of my rad.
Biohazard theme :up:
Thanks eltinio & churchy ill do that with weekend :up:.

Imho on bottom big cutout holes can be left open even without any grills at all - there is not much possibility to touch something in regular usage from below of case, and from top it will be probably covered with rads or fans, right? Depending on airflow direction there if it's fans to blow inside case i'd put some dust filters though.
EDIT
On 2nd look at case you'll probably need some legs or wheels for case, if you're going to use case bottom for airflow, to rise case a bit. Don't know if it's as it looks (maybe you have removed some stock legs before painting case), but as it's now it looks like when standing on floor or table those air intake holes will be almost fully covered.

Yea u right i got some legs to raise up up like 80mm maybe a little more off a old cabinet. :). also removed the stock legs as im raising it higher for air flow.
Also yes the air is blowing into the case. i purchased aluminum covers and filter materiel for the bottom fans.
The covers have like .05mm holes maybe a little larger so they collect dust. the bio hazard ones are just for looks to cover my fans at the top. :up:.
Thanks for advice.
anywyas these are the feet i am thinking of using on the bottom to raise it.
Also yea its going to be covered with rad and fans the hole. so yep u spot on. :).

Hmm. maybe better wheels? (from some case spare parts (IIRC some shops sells lian-li parts including these), or from some furniture shop). This way case will be risen too, yet more easy movable (after installing all liquid cooling stuff cases can be rather heavy). One should spend some time to find really good looking ones/fitting with moding theme.

True i might have to look into that.
Great idea :up: ill have a look around this weekend.
Thanks for idea Churchy.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by churchy

after installing all liquid cooling stuff cases can be rather heavy). One should spend some time to find really good looking ones/fitting with moding theme.

---

+1

For time being they will do though, but wheels are a good investment for sure especially ones with stop locks on em(seen as your setup is up on a bench/table), standard coaster wheels are cheap and easy to come by(and nasty), but you can get chromeys and such easily enough online in furniture parts stores etc... if you dremilled or jigsaw cut the fan hole you would not see any imperfections due to the rad coverage so +1 on cutting that out :up:


nice job on the case so far :up:
and that gear aint far away either:clap:

ya did alright with those holes, most of the ones i've seen look like bullet holes.Lol

Woop woop gear is close now.. im cutting this bottom out this weekend. like today or tomorrow.
also painting the pci brackets for my gpu and sound card to match up with the black theme.
yea the legs will do for now. im ant in any hurry to get wheels but a good thought for the future investment.
thanks pooal (paulvision) im guessing. ? :up:..

Such a huge difference once the inside is painted...nice.

Thanks audioave10 :up:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by DARK_01

.
thanks pooal (paulvision) im guessing. ? :up:..

---

yep it's ''paulysvision'' :up:
that black tint perspex quote for the side panel was harsh!!, should look around i reckon you could get it heaps cheaper when it becomes available again.


edit- that black tint looks worth the wait!!

Nice paint job :)

Cheers Crys1s_Gam3r :up: . Just go to show if u spend time painting its worth spending the time to wet dry sand it to get a nice flat finish . :) and plenty of light even coats .

To pooal i got perspex quote for a 400x410 piece for $14 ! much cheapers $145 for tinted LOL. had to buy a hole sheet of tinted thus why it was so expensive.
Thanks to everyone's Responses :up:

Hi everyone.
Just a quick update from what i been doing this weekend.
First off i painted the spare PCi covers that i forgot to paint at the start.
Also painted the PCi bracket for the cold cathode controller.
hears a before and after of the Cold cathode controller.
Its sound modulated to make my cathodes react to music.

Update Part 2
I also cut the bottom out like churchy suggested. :up:.
I put the rad into place to see what it looks like to.
Covers up the hole perfectly :up:.
Ps i got a small tripod to, works good.:clap:
hears some pics of what it looks like.
Pss the flash made my cable sleeving see though for some reason in person its not see though thow.

Update Part 3
I also put all the case back together (top and front panels).
i changed the LED's in the top panel from Blue (stock) to white and Purple.
The HDD activity LED(Purple) and the power indicator LED(white).
Can't tell thow till i put all my hardware back in and power it up.
but i tested it and it works 100%.
hears some pics of my case back to its former state !..
just after her make over :).
Put the res in its bay where its going to live. maybe one more up. not sure yet.

:up:subscribed :up:

keep res there, the lower the easier it is to push the water!!
and your making a little ext. for the fill port so it should work ok!!
except maybe the flow mtr position may interfer with devices located under it?? mmmM i suppose you'll know when all your gear shows up

Edit- wheres the omega photos? that thing is a noteworthy mod tool for sure! should post a couple

new update
Painted the back of my GFX card to match everything.
Some before and after shots.

new update continues -
also got my white cold cathodes in today.
So cable sleeved the cable going off the cathodes itself.
the rest im not using.
Getting the rest of my water cooling gear l8er this week.
so ill post some picks of the system put back together soon.
Ps the little plug end where a pain in the neck to get off
also the camera makes the sleeving lightly see though but in real life it isn't see though at all.

just got my fans in today :) There my new exhaust fans. Rad ones just plain.
Dam are they quite i didn't even hear them when i tested them out.:eek:
hears what they look like.
I also put the grills on i got to see what they will look like.
(Bio hazard and atomic ones). -Fan grills are separate.
Some Bling :p:

Hi guys :wave:
i just had a idea :idea: for some Led lighting for my pc.
i got other ideas as well but there to come l8er after build is complete.

so anyways on to my idea,
So this is what im thinking Drill holes behind the mobo and placing LED's in the holes under the mobo to give it like a HALO effect.

I drew a diagram to explain more.
The white box represents the mobo and the yellow dots represent where im thinking of drilling the holes for the LED's to give my effect.
The LED's will be glued into place from the back & all cables hidden.
Also ill put them on a rocket switch so i can turn them off if i like.
What u guys think ?.
Any advice tips are welcome and appreciated.
Btw heat is not a issue i can run them on a lower voltage to get less heat. :up:

Thanks everyone. :D

:up:

will work!, but some precision placement of the leds would be required i imagine, but cause your able to change led intensity with a push of a button, i think this idea should work great,

anyone know anything about working out resistance with resisters can u let me know ? thanks.
I got 4x Led's on one chain. Like positive to negative. SO One LED pos is connected to the neighboring LED Neg and so on.
This makes 1.3v x 4 = 5.2v. but im running them on a 5.5v rail (this is OK normally) so it makes the intensity a little brighter but makes them run hotter to.
So i want to run them as low as possible to get as least heat as possible.
Like what is the lowest i can run them on?. What resister will i need to use?.
Thanks for any input :)

Hmm. connecting them in series instead of parallel shouldn't lover voltage aswell?
I haven't ever used leds myself, so don't know if there is any minimum 'startup' voltage for 'em.

All good i worked it out. Thanks Churchy i worked it all out, all good:up:
I used a 220om resister and paralleled my LED's in a sequence of 4.

Anyways on to how i got to the end product.
So the first step was to mark out where the mobo went. From the back side of the mobo tray.
I marked it out with masking tape and then marked 30mm in from the outer edge of the mobo to get my placements for my LED's.
Marked the middle of the mobo at top and bottom.
Then Drilled 5mm holes for LED's to go thought.
hear what it look like after that. (pic as follows).

so then began working on my LED's.
I soldered the first set of 4 LED's in parallel together.
Then Started on my second.
Hear the two after i was finished.

Then come the part where i had to work out where to wire a switch.
I decided to put it on the back panel.
So its hidden and out of site.
wired the rest of my wire's together and it was a go :up:,
Was hard to show the effect in the dark as my camera isn't the best but in life it works just as i hoped.
Giving the motherboard a soft under glow.
looks cool i recon. :up:
Ps last pic is the glow i get with a mobo installed just a old one i had laying around to try it out.

:wave: everyone.
just a quick update.
Fitted my radiator today.
still have to do some work like extend the cables from the fans so there longer,
some cable management ect tomorrow.
Fitted the exhaust fan with the grill.
:shakes: forgot to check which way the fan was meant to go and put it on backward. aww well have to change it tomorrow.
Ps this is a old mobo i just used to make sure everything fits.
Thanks for looking :up:

An interesting mod ... so that ... interesting how the final ...
One thing do photos without flash on a tripod ... you gain the quality of the photos. Some photos you took were raised.

Thanks Awers for advice.
Im a noob with a camera. :am:
ill try it like that from now on.
thanks again :D

Hi everyone just a quick update.
Aw yea got my water cooling gear today. :D
i put all the WC gear into the case with no hardware as this is my first WC setup I've ever done.
Had a few headaches like leaks & so on.
But after a few hours of leak proofing. :up: leak free for the last few hours.
Anyways i got some pics.

with watercooling or better when overclocking my motto is:

If in doubt MORE voltage

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by TRICHEESE

with watercooling or better when overclocking my motto is:

If in doubt MORE voltage

---

LOL OK.
Ill be getting some help when i come to that bridge.
Thanks TRICHEESE

I would disagree with more voltage thesis. It fits only if most overclocking needs to be squeezed out. But for those folks wishing mostly quietness from liquid cooling with average overclock .. with better temps by liquid cooling often less voltage is needed to reach wanted frequencies = less heat dump from components, one can turn down fans/pump/etc .. and less monthly electricity bill :)

mmm Thanks churchy yea that's my goal.
ultra Quite pc.
much appreciated advice. :D
I don't have a lot of experience with OC, so if i go there i got a m8 how can help.(pooal)

Also ill like to give a big Thanks to Pooal for getting my WC gear :up:. Much appreciated.

Ps im a dough i forgot to take into consideration my GFX card placement and my WC hose is in the way :doh::shakes:.
Aw well i guess i got more work ahead of me. ill post pics tonight.
got to put legs on it now to raise it up also.

Hi everyone.
I got my case feet on the PC today. To raise it up to get airflow.
Had to dremil out the existing feet that where on the case.
I routed a hole so the legs i got simply slotted into the bottom though a hole.
about 30-35mm round approximately was the diameter that i had to dremil out.
Was relatively simple took about hour and a half. :up: job done.

anyways hear what it turned out like.
hope u all like it. :D.

Ps on the last pic the leg on the right is slightly crocked as its sitting on a screw inside.
going to take it out and pack it up so its straight.
They all adjust so be NP.

Hi guys
Just got my re routing done of the WC hose.
Should fit above the GFX card now.
should a though that one though more ah.:shakes:(hose placement)
Took me a hour to clean everything up and re rout it.
Took extra persecution this time to make sure it was all water tight.
Teflon tape all the threads & job done, first test and was water tight. :up:
There should be tips for noob to WC that it's a must to Teflon all the treads.
I can't believe i didn't do it from the start.
Cost be many headaches yesterday.
Also i put a ball valve stop before the pump coz i waiting for my new pump,
The one i got on atm is just temporary.
The new pump is back ordered ATM.
Should hopefully get it in a few weeks.:)
anyways hears some pics i hope u all like it.

Hi ppl
Small update.
some pics of my system back together.
i still got to do cable management & a few other bits and pieces.

some night shots,
post more pics when i finish cable management ect.

Hi everyone
Just finished most of my cable management.
Look a hell of a lot better.
Also i got my TMS-200 board running today. :D
still got some work to be done. Like placement of temp sensors ect.
Also need a longer SATA cable was to short couldn't hide it good.
anywyas hears some pics.
Tell me what u think ?. :D
Thanks.

Hmm. Why do you need that spiral loop from one of tubes to CPU waterblock?
Also it's usually rubber O-ring, that waterproofs/seals fitting when it's screwed in. Be careful with those hermetic tapes with eg. acrylic blocks/reservoirs. You can easily crack those if you screw in fitting with tape.

Hi Churchy
Yea i know its long im just trying to get as much water as possible into the system.
Also i wanted extra hose so it was easy to put onto the mobo l8er after leak testing it.
I know i went a little over board :D.
Also the fittings i used had a small oring and the old jump im using atm had a larger oring layout so it squashed it and made it leak. thus why i use plumbers tape it fix the leak.
Btw Was just the jump mostly that leaked. But leak free now :up: was mainly coz of all the elbows and stuff i used to save space. Why it leaked.
Thanks Churchy for advice ill remember not to use it on acrylic.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by DARK_01

..Yea i know its long im just trying to get as much water as possible into the system.

---

Why for? unless you have 100lr reservoir it's almost of no difference if you think that it will take longer to heat up water in loop. Few seconds, or half a minute .. system will reach temp equilibrium soon enough, sooner then time you ran heavy loads like games :) Otherwise it's just wasted hose/case inner space.

Quote:

---

Also i wanted extra hose so it was easy to put onto the mobo l8er after leak testing it.

---

Usually motherboards aren't running too hot, i'd prefer to put as extra on liquid cooling gpu-s first, as those can be rather noisy when runing heavy load. Imho one 2x120rad wouldn't be enough for quiet cooling of both overclocked cpu+some top gpu though.

Quote:

---

Also the fittings i used had a small oring and the old jump im using atm had a larger oring layout so it squashed it and made it leak. thus why i use plumbers tape it fix the leak.
Btw Was just the jump mostly that leaked. But leak free now :up: was mainly coz of all the elbows and stuff i used to save space. Why it leaked.
Thanks Churchy for advice ill remember not to use it on acrylic.

---

BTW, it's sometimes possible to make O-ring to leak if you overtighten it aswell :), not just if not tightened enough, so it's not always best to tighten as hard as possible, especially because fittings these days have only short thread and you can snap it too if overtighten. Replacement O-rings or O-rings of different size usually can be bought at liquid cooling component shops.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by churchy

Why for? unless you have 100lr reservoir it's almost of no difference if you think that it will take longer to heat up water in loop. Few seconds, or half a minute .. system will reach temp equilibrium soon enough, sooner then time you ran heavy loads like games :) Otherwise it's just wasted hose/case inner space.

---

For a little extension of pvc hose theres no dif. i run a 20ltr external res made of glass, the extra surface area in contact with the glass gives me bit better water temps.. ,but unless its copper tube then you can't get extra cooling from tube length..if i remember correctly christian that hose connected the pump to the cpu when it was located at the base of the case..and you wanna keep the long hose for routing the new xspc 360rad when you get your typhoonIII res?? :shrug:
don't worry i'll send ya a 1.5mtr bit when i get some :up:

not entirely correct about the volume churchy,if using pvc to gain extra volume your correct as pvc has extremely poor thermal transfer and the water would eventually reach equillibrium, but with just an extra 1ltr of volume with the right material could net ya an extra 10-15 percent performance easy!! :)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by pooal

For a little extension of pvc hose theres no dif. i run a 20ltr external res made of glass, the extra surface area in contact with the glass gives me bit better water temps.. ,but unless its copper tube then you can't get extra cooling from tube length..if i remember correctly christian that hose connected the pump to the cpu when it was located at the base of the case..and you wanna keep the long hose for routing the new xspc 360rad when you get your typhoonIII res?? :shrug:
don't worry i'll send ya a 1.5mtr bit when i get some :up:

---

Sick as. Sweet 360Rad & some more hose :D your awesome man:up:
Yea as pooal said im rerouting my system when i get my new jump and res. so it will looker cleaner soon enough. wanted to keep some lengths.
i know its a bit messy. :(
Ps this is my first WC setup so its a learning curve ;).
next build will be neater i promise :D.

if you have say 5 x 6v leds that are rated at say 100ma then you have 6v 600ma and 3.6w being drawn from the source, thus you are trying to run 6v 600ma 3.6w through all 5 x leds, any extra power than what there rated at will pretty much just produce wasted heat(AKA more leds equal more resistance), wich will require more power from source to produce what the rated leds are trying to draw..

to measure the wasted heat is easy, just measure volt and current at input and output of the leds. and times the volt by the current to get your watts, the output will naturally have a little less, the difference is your wasted heat(heat produced by the leds) so you could use that chris to work out how much heat your globes are actually putting off

e.g. if you measure the difference in current from input to output on one led the output will naturally be lower(the dif is the heat produced from the led), thats ok!! but lets say you now want to send that power to another led to power it instead of returning it to the source(parallel),well the first led can only allow so much current to pass through, the higher you go the more it resists and the more it heats up, and by the time you get to the 5th led......so if you want to draw more current for power hungry devices like speakers,subwoofers etc then use parallel..but in your case then use series it will produce less heat i imagine.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by pooal

not entirely correct about the volume churchy,if using pvc to gain extra volume your correct as pvc has extremely poor thermal transfer and the water would eventually reach equillibrium, but with just an extra 1ltr of volume with the right material could net ya an extra 10-15 percent performance easy!! :)

---

Show test numbers or it never happen.
Problem is not only thermal resistance of material, but also heat dissipation area. It's enormous in rads, if you sum all the area of rad fins, while almost nothing in tubing. Even if tubing is all made from brass tubes :P

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by churchy

Show test numbers or it never happen.
Problem is not only thermal resistance of material, but also heat dissipation area. It's enormous in rads, if you sum all the area of rad fins, while almost nothing in tubing. Even if tubing is all made from brass tubes :P

---

so your telling me that a tank 30x4x10 (cm) made from .8mm sheet copper would have no effect..it's over 600cm/2 of ambient cooled copper
and 2mtr of 3/8" copper tube has 556cm/2, you honestly don't expect me to believe that with air flow, that this type of surface contact area would not do anything, i never said you could match a pc rad with just 1ltr of extra volume i said you could net an extra 10-15 percent ontop :)

you wrote "Show test numbers or it never happen" well first of all it's only common sense for one, but if you require results to see that more surface area is better, than your contradicting yourself, you wrote
"Problem is not only thermal resistance of material, but also heat dissipation area." ?? not to be rude but just to the point :up:

For reference i have a generic 120 rad here with 12 x fins 12cm long by 2cm wide thats 24cm/2 each side and theres two sides to a fin, so times one side by 24 and you get 576cm/2..and to be clear for every one here, it is not just the surface contact area that gives rads there cooling performance, a great deal of it comes from the fact that the water channels wall thickness is an ultra thin 0.1mm-0.3mm...

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by pooal

so your telling me that a tank 30x4x10 (cm) made from .8mm sheet copper would have no effect..it's over 600cm/2 of ambient cooled copper
and 2mtr of 3/8" copper tube has 556cm/2, you honestly don't expect me to believe that with air flow that this type of surface contact area would not do anything, i never said you could match a pc rad with just 1ltr of extra volume i said you could net an extra 10-15 percent ontop :)

you wrote "Show test numbers or it never happen" well first of all it's only common sense for one, but if you require results to see that more surface area is better, than your contradicting yourself, you wrote
"Problem is not only thermal resistance of material, but also heat dissipation area." ?? not to be rude but just to the point :up:

---

LOL Can't tell pooal what is what.
he is one of the smartest blokes i know so if u want a deep explanation about why something work's better then something else just ask.
he is the owner of knowledge :D. LOL

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by pooal

if you have say 5 x 6v leds that are rated at say 100ma then you have 6v 600ma and 3.6w being drawn from the source, thus you are trying to run 6v 600ma 3.6w through all 5 x leds, any extra power than what there rated at will pretty much just produce wasted heat, wich will require more power from source to produce the power the rated leds are trying to draw..

to measure the wasted heat is easy, just measure volt and current at input and output of the leds. and times the volt by the current to get your watts, the output will naturally have a little less, the difference is your wasted heat(heat produced by the leds) so you could use that chris to work out how much heat your globes are actually putting off

e.g. if you measure the difference in current from input to output on one led the output will naturally be lower(the dif is the heat produced from the led), thats ok!! but lets say you now want to send that power to another led to power it instead of returning it to the source(parallel),well the first led can only allow so much current to pass through, the higher you go the more it resists and the more it heats up, and by the time you get to the 5th led your drawing way more current than you needed..so if you want to draw more current for power hungry devices like speakers,subwoofers etc.. then use parallel..but in your case then use series it will draw less current(not voltage bro..common mistake) :up:

---

Sweet thanks for advice ill keep that in mind :cool:
im going to re do my lighting anyways.:p: