Project: The Ivory Tower Lian-Li A77 Watercooled

[-TYPHOON-]

Even school is not over or I'm thinking about this summer, and especially what I'm planning to do.
My first Case-mod was actually just painting my HAF932 black and use it for watercooling.
It was hard work all that sanding, I can't say I like doing that but afterwards it seems to give a very good feeling, something to be proud of.

So plans for this summer:
-Make the case(I haven't said which) inverted-ATX
-The Silverstone TJ07 is and always will be the ultimate case for watercooling. But it is expensive and a lot of people are using it.
So when your doing a case-mod with a TJ07 you are probably copying somebody else.
So I've bought an other case second hand. I will be making a basement to fit 2x 480 radiators.
-Eventually other things will be added but we plan along the way

Still looking for sponsor because tight budget because of student thing... How do you call that again?? Studying

sponsors:

[metalop1g]

What are you studying? Sorry for being so off-topic

[-TYPHOON-]

I think it's called Industrial Engineer in English.

[-TYPHOON-]

I never said what case I am gonna use, well here is it:



The box was very beaten up but the inside was alright.
[


The case has some small scratches on the front and some thing on the top-panel. Maybe I will buy a new top panel if it's necessary.

As u can see it's a second hand case bought from Vincent @ Highflow.nl
It's already powdercoated black on the interior, which is a shame actually.
Because with all the work on the case I probably have to re-do the powdercoating.
I was thinking of a full matt-white exterior( does that exist? ) and all matt-black interior.

My current hardware is:
Gigabyte X58-UD5
Intel i7 920
OCZ platinum 1600
XFX GTX280
CM M850

I hope to change my GTX280 at the end of this year maybe for a new AMD or Nvidia, who knows what's best at that moment

[csatahajos]

Wow, looking forward to this one as I was considering this very same case. How do you plan to fit in two 480s? I toyed with the idea of fitting one 360 into the top but still I could not find a suitable place for a 480 (unless you sacrifice the whole front panel....)

[-TYPHOON-]

Well I was thinking of replacing the backpanel for a system similar to the TJ07.
2 aluminium bars going from up to bottom and mounting a new backpanel to that.

Some of the drivebays will be cut etc.

you get the idea

[-TYPHOON-]

---> Disassembly <---

Yesterday I finished my last exam for this year, or at least until August. I had nothing to do today so I started working on the case.
But first of all this is the case it's going to replace:



I first moved to the table downstairs, more room to work and better light.
Let the pictures speak for themselves:

One from the right:


One form the front:


One from the left:

And one from the back, don't mind the box inside:


Some internal pictures:




I really like the black powdercoating:


Some parts on the table:


Case partially disassembled:


USB-hub etc:


Omg, that are a lot of drivebaycovers + Lian-Li logo:



Most of it is removed but I still need to find a way to remove the LED's for power and HD:



More updates to follow

[-TYPHOON-]

Made some quick sketches:



Don't mind the empty space in the bottom. There should be mesh covering the holes.
But something I don't like is that the radiator length is not as long as the case itself. So the mesh wouldn't sit flush with the case design. I was thinking of making the hole at the bottom longer so it would look nicer on the outside.
What do you guys think?

[Mayek]

It's a good case to mod, congratulations with the choice
As I am planning a similar modification myself (my radiator compartment will be on top of the case), I will be watching your thread closer and waiting for final pictures!

There's one thing I wanted to ask - did you consider case's original sidepanel mounts at the bottom? I think you left too little space for them, when you want to make these two rectangular windows in sidepanels.

[-TYPHOON-]

They are 28mm in height so that might be an issue.
I'll have to look into that when I got my radiators

[Mayek]

Leave a little more space, like 4 cm, for example. This way you can also glue mesh covers to side panel and have enough clearance to mount panels without problems.

[-TYPHOON-]

Apparently I can't fit my PSU in the top because of the clearance issue on the sidepanels. So now it has to be placed somewhere in the front.
And I need something like this:


Anyone knows if that is for sale?

[josk1]

don't know about this exact piece, but if you find it i'd like to know

otherwise you could still try to use this kinda stuff!

[-TYPHOON-]

This is my latest sketch:



Well Mayek mentioned I had to modify the design because of the mountingsystem of the sidepanels.
So I raised the internals a bit but because of that I can't fit the PSU in the top section anymore. Me thinks I got to find a new spot for it with an extension cable to the back.

@josk1: That a good alternative but I'd like to see it mounted to the case.

[-TYPHOON-]

As long as I don't have any parts I have to keep sketching...

If there is a Render-function in Sketchup, plz tell me because this is only what I have:

[s0lid]

Turning it into BTX?

BTX =! Reversed ATX...

BTX is formfactor made by Intel but never really took wind under it's wings.

[-TYPHOON-]

Turning it into BTX? looks just fine as ATX to me, IMO one radiator at the top would be plenty sufficient, to butcher this case into a silverstone copycat would be such a waste.

Its inverted ATX.

So you call a V2000 a Silverstone copycat??

Well if I wanted to do like everyone else I would buy myself a TJ07. no modding needed, but where is the fun and excitement there?
Sure one radiator on top would be sufficient but 95% of the Rig's here are overkill so I don't see the problem.

[-TYPHOON-]

So by your opinion 2 480's in the bottom means Silverstone copy??
V2000 is also perfect for that setup so that would mean it would be a copycat from the TJ07.

A tripple rad up top would be a HAF932 copycat???

No this is special because have you ever seen a A77 with 2 480's in the bottom?? I think not

I don't take this personal I just think you are wrong.
Why follow the pack?

[HaNoom]

WOW!!! cool project
I have Lian-Li A77. it's look so ugly, hahaha

[-TYPHOON-]

I finally found a tool to make a render from my model.
But it's 35°C outside and I don't want to get my room any warmer I'll do the renders when it's a bit colder

[-TYPHOON-]

I finally found a sponsor:

i've already ordered some stuff but since I'm on vacation from July 5th, Eddy has it on hold until I get back.

Also update on those renders:
Some renders that I made in different color schemes.

1.



2.





3.




Me personally I like the second one.
But what do you guys think?

[Anemic]

I like the white one more but I know it dosent match very good with all the other stuff one has for a computer. Screen is almost always black, mouse, keyboard etc etc... So the second one might be bether
Very nice work so far tho!

[-TYPHOON-]

I think that the white one would look a little bit weird because there is contrast on the side but plain white on the front.
With the black drive bays there would be contrast u see
I think I'll go for the second one.

Still enjoying the French sun, burnt already

[-TYPHOON-]

What's this?

Today (22/07/10) I got my package from Eddy of EKWB.

So thank the sponsor:


So I was studying math when I saw a GLS van stopping at the door. I was expecting them because of the Track-And-Trace but nonetheless I was very happy.

First find a knife to open the box:

Everything was stuffed in the box so that it couldn't move.
Very good packed so thumbs up for EKWB.


Everything placed on the table.

Some close-ups:



I wasn't expecting the radiators to be that big but they are truly massive.
Some comparison:



So the box contains 2x EK XT480 radiators and a Supreme HF Full-Nickel.

More detail on the Supreme HF Full-Nickel.


The package is very nice. Good color combination and a nice packaging method.



[IMG]

This slides out:


This opens:


And it contains:

-A backplate with rubber protection
-the other Jet-plates
-Mounting gear
-MX2
-And a manual of course.


No I won't forget that...

Some shots of the HF itself:

Nicely packed in a plastic bag.






Now a little bit about the radiators.

The packaging is also very nice again. For the 480 model they combine green and black which looks awsome. Smaller radiators have their own color combinations.


In the box there is plain white box:


Which contains the radiator in bubblewrap and screws:





The logo stamped in the side:


These were the pictures of the first radiator. I've got some remarks about this one. The soldering quality was a bit low and I hope that it doesn't leak. I even found soldering residu in the box itself:


Then I checked the second radiator:


This one has much better paint and soldering quality than the first one. Maybe the first one is a preproduction sample? Anyhow I've sent a mail to EKWB for some information. But as long it doesn't leak it would be okay.

That's it for today

See you soon!!

[noobieocer]

the paint looks more glossy on one than the other too