Project: Whacked

[emuexport]

Hi All,

Long time lurker! I love these forums keep me safe and off the streets

I started this mod before I ordered a lot of parts etc (Dec 07). Got married, promoted went back to University doing night classes and moved house during the last six months so not much progress. But thats all about to change! Hopefully by starting this worklog I will get my build finished instead of half built!

The goal for this mod was to create a functional fully internal water cooled PC thats easy to take to LANs. As my choice of case was based on what I had available I went with a Thermaltake Soprano from my S939 build in 2005.





The idea was to front mount a radiator in the front of the case as an intake, hadnt seen it done much in such a small case and I wanted it to all be internal and easy to take to LANs. (I have seen a few questions about front mounted rads so maybe this will help someone decide)


Gutted Soprano w00t w00t


Test layout


Some parts i got from Sidewinders, Thanks Gary


The upgrade consists of:
Q6600 G0
Abit IP35-PRO
2 x 2GB OCZ Reaper X PC6400
8800GTS 512MB (G92)
Test build why dremeling the case!



Love those heatsinks on the RAM!!!!

In the meantime I have installed the watercooling loop and overclocked to my hearts content using the MCR320.
I ordered a PA120.3 and a MCW60 for the NB as it runs mighty hot when overclocked I have some more stuff on order should arrive in the next few days so I can continue my build. I'll try and take more photos as I go to build this worklog.

Should have an update this weekend.

[lyl]

i always liked that style case... i could never afford the CM Wavemaster though

looking forward to the build

[emuexport]

Yeah CoolerMaster wavemaster was also my favorite but a little hard to find in Oz!
The Tt Soprano was a good case a few years ago when it came to price etc but noisy fans and long video cards make it a Mod case!

More pics to follow soon!

[MomijiTMO]

Where the hell do you find the time to go to uni and work and do this? Uni totally owns my life and the 1 day I work a week is my free time lol. [Finished my exams on Thursday so I can stay on here all day haha].

Everything looks pretty good How long did it take for your order to arrive? Do we get slugged with GST? [I'm thinking of ordering from them]

Oh yeah Flabbergast is under new management now. I hope the new owner keeps up the great service.

[emuexport]

Tell me about it!

I do on average 45-50 hours a week 2hours commute every day to and from work 3 hours every monday for uni let alone all the study!

I ended up taking a break from uni for a couple of months as work is real intense atm besides the fact that I am trying to get my CPEng at the same time lol

I order thru sidewindercomputers, performance-pcs and petrastech. So far all have been great just plan your buys as shipping is a killer as I am sure you are aware.

With regards to GST I dont think we have to pay GST on items under $1000 atm (dont quote me on that but I read it somewhere and I havent paid any duty yet)

Orders usually take a week to get here.

[MomijiTMO]

Yeah I think I'll be doing 1 shipment . Thanks for the GST help. I guess I'm safe then.

When I finally finish my B Sci/Comm mid 2010, post grad is the last thing on my mind [unless we're in a really bad recession].

[emuexport]

Short Update:

I needed to put my rig back in a case so i took the oppurtunity to put the PA120.3 in the loop along wih the NB and GPU cooling.

heres a teaser!


I received a shipment from Petras (Cheers Aaron)

And one from Sidewinders (thanks Gary)


You can never have too mnay fans! lol

I didnt get much done this weekend but have tomorrow off (Monday-time in lieu) so should get a fair bit done!

Le me know what you think!

[mrmaigo]

Oooo... that's a lot of bondo... I hope you're not sanding that in the same room as ANYTHING you own.
Lots of nice stuff going on here

[b@llz0r]

looking good mate

[xTKxhom3r]

wow i have the same case! well had i just bought a new one you want my soprano? haha and your crazy for trying to fir that huge rad in the case!

[Giannis86]

looking good so far..good luck on your build

[emuexport]

@mrmaigo: All sanding is done in the garage. Same place where I do the spray painting, cutting etc!

Unfortunately as I have swapped from a MCR320 to a PA120.3 the spacing on the fans have changed so I will need to redo the front of the case as it wont line up anymore with the fans! So it looks like I will have a tri-hole on the front like some mods I have seen (two in most cases, havent ever seen three! )

@xTKxhom3r: Good luck with the soprano case! I struggled to SLI to 7800GXTs which is part of the reason it became spare and available for this mod!
Not so much crazy as Xtreme! why not try something different! As this is a LAN comp i dont need much storage one or two Raptor-Xs should be good enough for my games! Still working out how to install the hard drive atm.

Thanks for all the good feedback hopefully it'll turn out sweet! and upgradeable in that all I have to do is upgrade the comp hardware and the WC equipment should do for a couple of years (I have 30cms from the back of the motherboard to the fans on the rad so it should fit almost all cards right (seeing as the GTX280 is about 27cm)!

emu

[emuexport]

A question for you guys do you think I should ditch the T-line in favour of either the MC-RES or EK RES250?
(Note: Case is upside-down! to keep those bloody swiftech ram sinks on the GFX card! - Luckily I have an iandh heat sink!)
I have a mock setup shot of the MC-RES the loop would go: RES-Pump-RAD-CPU-GPU-NB-RES

The advantage of this in my mind would be that there would be a nice straight line from the RES to the pump and I would get rid of that T-Line (Keep in mind that I dont plan on pulling my PC apart all the time so ease of access is not paramount)

With the EK RES I would need to shift the pump back a bit closer to the motherboard side to make the inlet and outlet ports line up (I plan on using the bottom ports) I'd also need to increase the RES's standoff from the case so I could still fit a 120 fan on the back of the case as exhaust.


Thoughts?

[septim]

placement of res above pci slot brackets may hinder getting to your cards...

other that that, yeah ditch the T-line...

nice build btw, giving me some ideas...

[armeniandave]

I would ditch the the T-Line only personally. I do have a t-line but I only use it to fill and add a little extra capacity. I have my reservoir in line with my pump and it works out well. I will be changing all over to XSPC reservoir tops soon but that's only cause I want to put a 250mm fan on the side of the case. The way I have it now works great.

Dave W
(UN)Designs

[emuexport]

Thanks for your opinions!

I'll be ditching the T-line and replacing with a MC-RES. No more OCing till I get this mod finished now I guess!

More pics to follow!

[emuexport]

As Promised! (Got caught up tidying my study so not as much done as i had planned)



My collection of servers from work, what can I say they were going to throw them out!



Removed all PC components from case, drained WC loop, pulled off the swiftech sinks that hadnt fallen off already! lol



Whats that front slot for??? hmmm Maybe a Scythe Kaze Master?!?!?!



I'm suprised no one asked me yet but I will have a DVD drive in this build, the one place where it can fit snuggly is above the PSU sticking out the back! (Shouldnt be too much of a hassle as the Case will sit on my desk)





Some cable hiding holes!
Front -should be hidden under the Motherboard



Easier to see from the back!



Hopefully I'll get more done during the week but it looks like another hectic week ahead at work and my wifes birthday to boot!

One bit of advice to all you guys out there, Man Made diamonds! (aka simulants) You can either tell them if they are the frugal type or not tell them you cant tell unless you look under a microscope imho!
http://www.secrets-shhh.com/

emu

p.s. let me know if the pics are too big (I have a 22" and 24" so not much is big for me!)

[septim]

big for some, try 1024x768...

should be good, post more pics...

[emuexport]

Latest update:

I am selling my 8800GTS 512 to a friend as he wants a cheap upgrade from his 7800GTX 256. So I'll be getting a 4870. I plan on waiting for the 1GB model to come out and see if that provides any real world benefit.

Any preferences on full cover blocks versus the likes of the MCW60? I thought less restriction would be better?

The other update is I plan on using some UV reactive Fesser Tubing instead of Dyes that way I can have distilled and some bleach etc instead of trying to add dye!



or



or



I was oringinally planning Metallic Blue on the outside and black interior with Red tubing whatya reckon?

then I thought just make it all blue with black on the inside and blue tubing.

I also have a UV reactive blue window to use.

thoughts?

[Lagaaja]

No UV windows plz, I think it can really ruin the build as you won't be able to see inside the case so well anymore after the cathodes are turned on..

Anyways, looking good so far

[septim]

u have uv tubes, just use plain clear acrylic for the window... (i wonder what a thin pc of black acrylic 1/8 with white cathodes inside would look like...)

[emuexport]

Gotcha!

But I havent ordered the UV tubing yet! what colour do you guys think?

[XS_RoB]

Loving the Bondo on the face plate. Looks like you have a make shift Shroud going on with it too?

I cant wait to see how it turns out!

Great Job so far and Interesting!

[The[R]eaper]

The other update is I plan on using some UV reactive Fesser Tubing instead of Dyes that way I can have distilled and some bleach etc instead of trying to add dye!

no need for bleach. just straight distilled or with pt-nuke if ya got it. either way lookin good so far

[emuexport]

Thanks.

The only thing is that seeing as I swapped from a MCR320 to a PA120.3 the spacing on the fans is different. I'll have to start again with the front intake and rebondo it. I should end up with three independant blowholes.

Just finished sleeving my 24-pin ATX lead but I'll redo it later as it didnt turn out how i wanted. Will post more pics later on.

emu