Project: Black Silver -- Stacker 831

[johnp1983]

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Project: Black Silver
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Available HW:

Cooler Master Stacker 831 LE silver
Intel Core i7 920 C0
DFI Lanparty X58 T3EH8
OCZ Blade 3x2GB 2000Mhz
eVGA GTX280 Super Overclocked
2x 150GB Western Digital Raptor
1x 750GB Hitachi
Corsair HX750W
LG H20L BD
1x 128GB SSD Super Talent Ultra Drive GX
1x Shintek External enclosures for 3.5" sata II disk


Cooling components already available:

CPU blocks Ybris Eclipse Chrome #484
GPU blocks Ybris Eclipse-G Chrome #02 (beta edition for testing)
Ybris Passive Heatsink for GTX280
Enzotech BMR-C1 heatsink for GTX280 ram
Feser Xchanger 360
Ek Multioption reservoir 150ml
Swiftech MCP655
3x Scythe Ultrakaze 3000RPM
Zalman MFC-1
4x Feser Compression Fittings 45° 11\8mm
8x Feser Compression Fittings straight 11\8mm
EK-D5 X-Top rev.2
3x Tygon R3603 clear tube 11.2\8mm


Modding components already available:

1x SmartMod Green UV Cable Sleeving kit
3x Green UV fan grills "Galaxy"
2x Sunbeamtech UV cold cathode
2x Phobya Green UV pre-sleeved 8pin 45cm cable extension


Working utilities already available:

Dremel
Drill
Pendulum acrtion jigsaw
Screwdriver set
Various hole saws
Black spray paint
Primer
Dremel accessories kit
Various type of sandpaper


HW ordered:
\


HW to order:

1x GTX4x0 or HD5x70






The ideas for this work (surely the most difficult to me) are schematically as follows:

• First, to paint with a black tones the structure of the case ... (excluding the side walls, the front and the top... so the "silver" in the project name)

• Then I reverse the mainboard tray... going from standard ATX to reversed ATX... due to the fact that I want to remove the case from above the desk and place it under the desk

• Remove the grill on the bottom of the case and widen the opening already present to insert the TFC 360... though I have not yet decided whether to put fittings part to the area of the HDD or to the area of I\O shield... but I decided that I want the fans on the inside of the case, anche the rad on the outside... so the fans will be setted on extraction mode

• Pierce the tray, creating the space for cable management

• Full sleeving of cables inside the case

• Swiftech MCP655 top replacement... going from the original top to the EK D5

• Transition from the tube holder fittings to compression fittings

• Transition from the 12\17" Crystal tube to 11.2\8" Tygon R3603 clear tube

• Total removal of the 4in3 block containing the 2x150 raptor and backup disk in favor of the SSD and the external backup drive

• Maybe a passage from GTX280 to GTX4x0 or HD5x70

[johnp1983]

The project begins to came alive...







The first part of the order has arrived... we have Swiftech MCP 655 new top, the Tygon tubing (looks great) and two Feser compression fittings kit (45°, and straight).

[C-J]

Damn thats a Big List, SUB'ed this Topic looks like a Great Build.

[johnp1983]

Hello C-J... welcome on this worklog... I hope you'll like my project.

Update:

first post's list upgraded... ordered from aquatuning:

1x smartmod uv green sleeving kit
3x green uv grills "galaxy"
2x 45cm 8pin phobya extension cable uv green sleeved
1x 30cm Sunbeam Cathode twinset uv

stay tuned... for next upgrades!!

[lowfat]

I can always appreciate a good Stacker build. Do you plan on throwing the radiator underneath the case? If so chances are you will need to gain a bit of height as I think the Feser rad is a bit too thick and would get rather poor airflow. Even w/ just an MCR320 I have less than an inch of clearance.

[johnp1983]

Hello lowfat... welcome to this worklog.

According to my measurements despite remains little space between the radiator and the floor, having the fans in extraction should grant a sufficient heat dissipation.

Do not exclude that if temperatures were indecent or severely higher than when I had the radiator on the top of the case, I will create new supports for the case's wheel.


By the way... screens update:













to be continued...

[johnp1983]

since I buy this things... works can be started!!


Here's how the nude Stacker showed to my eyes once I removed the old HW... quite bad right? Let's see in details what's the really bad parts.


First thing to fix... the part where was resting the anti-vibration adhesive neoprene used with Swiftech pump. Big traces of adhesive is really visible, in addition to that... there were some rests of glue. Even there's a trace of a piece of sponge I used for the first cleaning... not trusting to sand directly the part.


That is the part where it was previously fixed the black grille. Basically it is the bottom of the case... the grid start almost from the back of the case ... ending just before the pillars dedicated to 3.5"\5.25" slots (if you do not understand, watch a case pictures on google pics). As you can see the grill marks left on aluminum... some relief. Others traces are had just penetrated the top layer of aluminum... and do not come off with any chemical products. Sanding were necessary.


The last part of the ruined case... pillars in which to slide the Blu-Ray drive and the old cage "4in3". There are very deep scars and more light signs... that's very horrible. The only thing I can do... is to sand down heavily and expect a good result.

Then, after the massive sanding... let's see if the case is totally destroyed or is still standing and if the damages has been eliminated.


Let's start off with the part damaged by the adhesive neoprene... as you can see the removal of all traces has come good... I dare say that it seems another case. Really good. True?


Here we see that the signs of black grille previously established in that part... have been completely removed by sanding. Okay.


And then... we arrive to the pillar parts... the other part of the case that was badly ruined. Even here the work came very well... all the scratches and scars have disappeared... there's only signs of the scratching derived from the sanding. Those scratch with the final color will be invisible.


And here was the complete vision of the work... I think it's really good.


And here ... the "boss" controls the outcome of the work ...
He gave me a 9\10 vote... good!!


Finally a little work done with Dremel... for the future... I almost made compatible whether you want the case to mount the fittings in the direction of the panel of I\O... both in the direction of the pillars. As you can see... to be the first time I took my Dremel in hand... work came pretty well... I think.

[johnp1983]

the work continue...



























....

[zalbard]

Nice paint job (powder coating?)!
Can't wait to see more pics! Hope you've got some surprises for us!

[ottoyu34]

nice paintjob.. can't wait to see the next update

[Assassin48]

I still have my stacker here next to me. I was going to mod it but i got hit with the benching bug and all the hardware has been on a desk LOL.

Subbed!

[johnp1983]

Hello boys... thanks for the worklog subscriptions.

It's not powder coating... only acrilic spray-painting glossy black on a transparent grasping bases... and I think, to be the first time I painted a case... it's came very good.

Surprises? Well... let's see in the next days... perhaps I could switch from eVGA GTX280 Super overclocked to Fermi (depending on the official bench) or 5x70!

[johnp1983]

big surprise... gtx470 incoming for tomorrow!!!