Project: Back To Black

[Mekrel]

Goal:
To create a watercooled case that has enough room to play with for adding loops that can give a bit of leeway to adding extra heat load with new/updated components.

To look aesthetically pleasing and be function but the main bit: Quiet!


Case Choice
Aesthetically pleasing to me, are brushed Aluminum cases such as Silverstone Temjin and Lian Li cases. I wanted to be original with my case, but for that to happen it would have to be a custom build which I have neither the patience or the tools to do. So I chose the Lian Li PC343B. It hit the description of being big, versatile and brushed aluminum.

So here she is, many thanks to Aqua PC's for getting this shipped from Supplier







Coloured tubing in shiny aluminum = no no
Many thanks to Matt100 off OcUK for his powder coated Lian Li PC7 shots that gave me this idea. He had the internals mat black powder coated which looks great with coloured coolant and you don't get the glare back from cathodes. So first thing to do, is to strip her down.















Lian Li PC343B gets the Chilled PC treatment
This is where I first really started talking to Tom @ Chilled PC and without his help, this build basically wouldn't have happened. He did me a good deal on a powder coat. I work out on the road, and I cover a town called Ross On Wye which is half way between him and I. So I decided to take the case with me, and drive to his from there.

[Mekrel]

Aluminum > Plastic
I'm not a fan of plastic and I didn't like how high the case sat on castors. So the sollution was to find some aluminum feet which I could drill and tap. Wondering around B&Q one day, I found some furniture legs with some real nice feet on them that could be removed. So I bought them

Pictures speak a 1000 words























M4 tapped feet, drilled the holes the same spacing as the current holes used for castors. Will be using button head M4*8mm in black.

Oh the joys of living in the UK

<Rub salt into wound> Thermochill Radiators cheap and available!</rub salt into wound>. Shame we have to wait years for the likes of Swiftech etc over here

Time to clean these out!

[drakore]

very very nice, the black matte finish looks amazing

[drakore]

the feet are an amazing touch

[Grinch]

subscribed

[Mekrel]

PA120.3 In the front
This required removal of the top plate, which meant I had to paint the bare aluminum which was left underneath black. Did a good job at fading it into the powder coat.

Used a shroud which was tapped to 6/32, socket cap screws 1 1/2" long. Shroud for more quiet fans due to less back pressure and also meant no screw puncturing of the radiator.

Yate loons were cable braided (no need for pictures, we've seen enough cable braided fans and guides I would have thought) and also replaced the 3pin female housing with black ones. (Not available in the UK, so big thanks to performance-pcs. What a great shop you are, I wish a component store in the UK could offer half of what you guys offer).







P.S Sorry about messy room, had to empty all the point of sale and stands out my car to pick someone up.

Chilled PC lends another helping hand!
I wanted the PA120.2 mounted into the top of the case with a nice looking radiator grill. This started the designs for ChilledPC's radiator grills to which I also wanted Tom to laser cut out my top panel to mount the grill to.

So I designed the cut out in Sketchup:


Cut out done! (Sorry for small pic)

[stormshadow]

looks like this is gonna be one serious build. keep it coming

[Jedda]

You know, I'd like to see a grill that had a fan wire cover element to it. Just a black diagonal bracket or plate to blank out the on fan wiring we almost never sleeve.
A box to be proud of Mekrel.
Wish the 343 was available here, but alas.
I need a set of castors for my Lian Li V-Twin build. Don't want to sell them do you?

[Mekrel]

The Innards'
One thing I love about XtremeSystems is the amount of users who give input into hardware threads. This is one area which reviewers simply can't match. 30 odd people with different components all giving input. You get a good idea on how boards run under different circumstances. Reading about I chose to go for the P5K Deluxe. My first Asus board.

This opened the way to using EK ASUS NB/SB1 blocks which I received through the post. All I can say is wow! The quality of the delrin milling and the quality of the copper (burrless!) is amazing.

The SB block took some modification to fit. The block would sit nicely on the south bridge but was resting a tad on the capacitor. Any screwing down of the block would put more and more pressure on the capacitor and in my opinion - would have snapped it clean off. Out came the dremel and a round stone piece to make the shape of a capacitor into the delrin.#







Macro mode on N95 =

Bloody heatpipes!
This left me with the problem of mosfet cooling. I wanted air as it would have been more than enough, but I wanted something nice looking (God damn at being a perfectionist) which MC14s stuck on just wouldn't give (imo of course).

I took the board down to my local PC shop (http://www.candccentral.co.uk), the bloke Mick who runs it is a great chap. He took HR-09s out of their packets to see if they fit which they didn't. One side would clip down, but the P5K has mosfet chips which are pretty much parallel to the mounting holes that the HR-09s wouldn't cover. We must have tried every mounting way possible.

He then went through some mips block which did fit, but they were brass and didn't go aesthetically with the build. No problem I though! I can paint!

So I masked off the water channels with masking tape and sanded down the tops. Applied some metal protect primer and two layers of black - sanding between coats.









Edit: Right thats some posted, just got to go and clean out car. Got a team meeting tomorrow and have to pick up some colleagues from the airport grr.

[BNDMOD]

Great job... i need more photos

[LogAn'sRun]

OMG!!!
That is awesome. See how easy it is to please wc people with just some simple pics?? I love it. About time that we started seeing a little more proj logs here. . .

*subscribed

[mjassbong]

Loving it so far! All black 343B is even more sexier. Can't wait to see the complete install.

[AndyM]

Wow, this is going to be a great build, nice work!

[phelan1777]

[Mekrel]

The quest for silence - Pump Holder
Once you add in the PSU (Performance PCs custom sleeved Silverstone Olympia 750w) you can fit the pumps in but the barbs will be pretty much pointing straight at something. Tubing would kink for sure if you needed to route right from the barb and 90 degree elbows ain't happening in my rig.

So kill birds with one stone? Get the barbs pointing up and also give the pumps a two stage vibration filter.

So out comes sketchup!

Here we can hold two DDC's side by side. There will be 4 threaded spaced 10mm in length that go where the mounting holes are. Then a silicone washer with pump then on top, then a silicon washer ontop of pump legs followed by a metal washer to stead the unit. With of course a screw going through them. I have a picture of this I will take in a second.



Like this, but I didn't draw in any spacers



The bottom bit with the three holes (screwed into case bottom) will be bent at 90 degrees and the whole thing powder coated. This will make the barbs point up to the case top.



Cut, and it has been bent. It's at the powder coaters now.

After the silicone washers filter out as much vibration as possible, there will be a 5mm thick piece of neoprene that goes onto the bottom of the holder foot that is screwed into the case.

[Mekrel]

You know, I'd like to see a grill that had a fan wire cover element to it. Just a black diagonal bracket or plate to blank out the on fan wiring we almost never sleeve.
A box to be proud of Mekrel.
Wish the 343 was available here, but alas.
I need a set of castors for my Lian Li V-Twin build. Don't want to sell them do you?

Buy them? Pfttt don't be silly.

Just cover costs of postage (to the Great USA I take it?) and you can have them!

Edit: As for fan wires, it wouldn't be possible as easy fan I imagine is different in some way with the posts that hold the wires. You would also be forcing users to have fans mounted in a certain direction. I had some old Panaflo fans which had a very deep channel for fan wires which could hold cable braided wires nicely. Was sleeved right up the motor housing.

[cablesguy]

Mekrel,

Really superb!!!!!! reminds of another Black Beauty by Mjassbong, hv a question abt how durable is the powder coat, seeing as you will be using screws, will the paint flak or chip off? And isit easier to clean than bare aluminium? Thx


To The Black Beauties

[Mekrel]

Mekrel,

Really superb!!!!!! reminds of another Black Beauty by Mjassbong, hv a question abt how durable is the powder coat, seeing as you will be using screws, will the paint flak or chip off? And isit easier to clean than bare aluminium? Thx


To The Black Beauties

I had the same worries about the powder coating, but it is very durable. The top panel of the PC343B has been lifted off and replaced many a time and it's a tight fit.

Yet still there is no scuffs on the powder coated frame.

As for cleaning, it is easier for sure! If you look at the pictures of the PA120.2 mounted with grill, the aluminum top is patchy from me giving it a half hearted polish.

Polishing the inside thats powder coated is so much easier. A few circular motions with some furniture polish and a cloth really buffs the thing up so that the cloth is like gliding on ice. Leaves no streaks

[stormshadow]

kinduva an OT question regarding those EK NB / SB waterblocks...

that design... with the way the barbs and channels are placed, wouldn't the majority of the flow just run across the top from barb to barb?

would there actually be any significant flow to the lower part of the block?

(example: http://www.performance-pcs.com/catal.../EK-NF4_01.jpg )

[cablesguy]

Thx for the answer,

Not sure if u need any advice but for a finishing touch, might wanna try the 3M Stainless Steel Cleaner and Polish, its non abrasive and works well on anodized aluminium as long as given a light buff.

[migueld]

My hats off to you Mekrel, your build and planning looks great. One question.. how do you cut the metals? The attention to detail is superb, it looks laser cut

Keep up the good work

[Mekrel]

kinduva an OT question regarding those EK NB / SB waterblocks...

that design... with the way the barbs and channels are placed, wouldn't the majority of the flow just run across the top from barb to barb?

would there actually be any significant flow to the lower part of the block?

(example: http://www.performance-pcs.com/catal.../EK-NF4_01.jpg )

I'm not sure, but really north bridges don't tend to get that much benefit to being water cooled and so the designs don't really have to be complex.

Just important to make them as least restrictive as possible I would imagine.

Thx for the answer,

Not sure if u need any advice but for a finishing touch, might wanna try the 3M Stainless Steel Cleaner and Polish, its non abrasive and works well on anodized aluminium as long as given a light buff.

Thanks for the tip!

My hats off to you Mekrel, your build and planning looks great. One question.. how do you cut the metals? The attention to detail is superb, it looks laser cut

Keep up the good work

Yeah, it's all laser cut by ChilledPC.

Thanks for the kind words

[sick_g4m3r]

Now that is a work log, excellent work. this is truly amazing.

[The_Beast]

Now that is a work log, excellent work. this is truly amazing.

what this guy said

[Solarfall]

wow brotha your case looks awesome 10 points