Project: V300 H2o Extreme

[StevenG]

Looking to modify this this fine Lian Li Case to fit a decent water kit in there.

Project Started - Rad being fitted to the case.

First time watercooling and all parts have been recommended.

Shopping List: (ALL PARTS BOUGHT/ORDERED UPDATED SPECS!!!!!)

Gigabyte GA-G33M-DS2R MATX
Intel Q6600 Quad Core
OCZ 4GB 2x 2x1GB 9200 Flex RAM
XFX 8800GTX
Seagate 7200.11 500GB 32MB
Samsung DVD-RW SATA
Corsair 620W Modular PSU
Lian Li V300b

Water:

Laing DDC 10w (Alphacool Top + 1/2" Barbs)
EK Supreme CPU Acetal
EK FC8800GTX
D-TEC G1/4" 1/2" Barb x2
Yate LOON 120mm D12SL x2
1/2" Tube Clips x10
Feser One (Purple dye)
Repack-cooling Slot Black UV Res (no longer being used as it may conflict with the placement of the gfx card)
Masterkleer 7/16" Tubing 4'
AC Ryan 2x 12" Blue Cathodes
Laser Cutting Click for Design or Read On
MagiCool 240 UV Radiator (Only one that fits in the case same make as XSPC)

With a total cost of about £1,100 this should be an interesting build.
Trying to fit a double radiator in a normal case can sometimes be hard,
so this Small Form Factor case should be a challenge.

Be sure to watch this space for updates.

Thanks
StevenG

[StevenG]

First Proper Update:



Rad arrived today so i thought i'd make a template for the bracket i need (at this point the case hasnt arrived)



after looking at the rad and trying the screws in, the blue paint had covered the threads so i had to screw out the paint to get the screws to fit correctly.



this is a rough outline of the radiator so i can make the markings on the steel i'll need to make my bracket



Thanks for Reading, another update when the case gets here, i'll need to take out the 3.5" drive bay and start measuring up and cutting out the bracket for the rad.

StevenG

[StevenG]

Another Update. (Case Arrived)



As you can see its a squarish box, with Aluminum PC Case on it LOL lets take a look.



As you can see here theres a missing panel, this has been sent for laser cutting



Here you can see the internals and some of the parts i need to mod. i need to make a bracket similar to the one you see here to hold the radiator at the front of the case. and i need to remove the 3.5" bay from the cage and mount a plate of steel at the bottom to add stability and the base to house my pump.



Here you see why i cant just mount it without removing the 3.5" bay, also it cant be mounted flat on the bottom of the case as there is a I/O plate at the front of the case at the bottom so it has to be raised about 15mm



ive started removing the rivets of the cage to get at it to start modding, there were internal rivets holding the hdd cage at the back and the cage at the front together which i couldnt reach, so i had to remove the whole thing as you can see below.



Removed the whole cage system to take apart and start chopping really need my rivet gun to get here so i can put this back together eventually.



this pic shows some dremmel time cutting away the 3.5" bay from the bottom for the reason stated above. i will need to make a plate of steel to get the width at the bottom back to what it was with this installed.

Well thats all i had time for today, my next update will be the stages of making a bracket, ive been thinking and because the power switch etc is on the front and id have to match these up, ive decided to use the supplied bracket and just add some material to make it up to what i need. seems easier.

Thanks for reading
StevenG

[StevenG]

i managed to get to do 4 hours work this evening, but the end result doesnt look much .
i managed to get the base for the drive 5.25" bay done in rough (going to stay that way untill i get my pump at the start of jan so i can start to drill the holes for mounting.

and i got some of the rad bracket made too. ive bought a whole saw so i'll try get that done and smoothed out tomorrow. so anyway.. heres some pics.

Heres the stock brackets and ive market out in masking tape the parts which i want to keep, the parts where the power switch goes in the middle and the threads for screwing it back in on the sides.



Cut out the parts i didnt need and this will provide me with enough metal left to rivet my extension piece (for installing the radiator)



Here you can see what it might look like when its done. ive got my hands on a whole saw so i'll get those cut out in my next update.



Speaks for itself really. just checking the fit etc.



cut out the plate for the bracket and drilled the holes for the radiator mounting and checked the fit (this was a right pain, my drill bit wouldnt go where i wanted it to lol)



and here ive made the bottom of the drive cage in rough, my pump will be mounted to this when it arrives but you can see its starting to look like a drive cage again



well i cant believe this took me so long to do, although i did sand and smooth out the pieces ive cut and the drive bay etc so what took quite a bit of time.

theres not really alot left i can do on this, just need to finish up the bracket for the radiator and i can get that mounted within the case to see how it fits, other than that im pretty much stuck untill i can get my other parts.

if anyone has any money and would like to buy me the parts, feel free to do so :p

Thats all from me. thanks for reading. hope u like the updates. any comments are always welcome

StevenG

[StevenG]

Update 3 - The girlfriend went shopping AGAIN so gave me some time to make some more progress on the case

okay so i got my hands on a hole saw which DID NOT want to cut through my metal so i ended up dremel'ing it all after scratching it with the holesaw. i was going to do sqares but decided to go for circles to match the fans on the other side.



here you can see the bracket. the way ive done this, i dont need to attach the 2 pieces of metal as the screws going through the brackets into the rad, join them just fine. as you'll see in the next pic.



bracket put on the rad to check the fit. looks okay, but i do need to rivet the middle piece where the power switch is, or put some meterial behind it as it flex'es when you push the buttons.



here you can see all this hard work paying off, the rad fitted and if i do say so myself it looks really neat



and from the front.



to show you how accurate this had to be. i put in one of the sides of the drive cages in to see how much space there was. and there doesnt look like there's enough space to add my base plate but i'll figure this out when i come to fit it all together.



well apart from spraying these piece's black that ive made i just need to wait on the rivet gun arriving so i can start to put the drive cages together and rivet all the cages back into place for the parts ariving early january.

comments please, just want to know what people think.

StevenG

[StevenG]

Another Update for all you readers (i think theres like 6? lol) anyway

got the house to myself again so i thought id make some more progress, got some more little bits done on the drive cage, drilled the bottom where i plan to rivet the base plate to the drive cage.

i also got the bracket rivited up to stop the switch moving and i got some painting done.

Riveted up the bracket, i ended up putting more rivets in the side to make it a little more stable.



drilled the base plate so i could get the drive cage front painted today, the pump will be fixed to this plate once that arrives.



prep for painting i sanded down the cage front and the bracket.





i then taped up the back of the cage as i wanted this to stay silver, i had thought about painting the whole lot but it would have gotten scratched when i installed the drives etc so didnt in the end.



i think this was after 1 or 2 thin coats. and the same for the bracket underneath.





Finished products after 4 (cage) and 5 (bracket) coats of paint, i think they look quite good and will definately make the front of the case more appealing without seeing the silver behind the mesh. im going to let these dry out thoroughly before i try them in the case or anything. dont want them getting scratched.





Well thats it from me. hope you enjoyed another update on the project. unfortunately ive done just about everything i can without buying more parts. i should have the cash for the rest of the parts in under 2 weeks and i cant wait to get some more done.

Comments welcome as always.

Left to do:

Install the pump on the base plate of the drive cage.
Test the drive cage fit with the PSU in place.
Cut some of the back of the drive cage away to allow my tubing and power leads to enter and exit the cage.
Assemble the HDD cage and Drive cage and install in the case.
Assemble watercooling parts and leak test.
Cable routing (possibly shortening and braiding).

Thanks for reading
StevenG

[Lunatock]

Looking good so far man.

[Leeghoofd]

Cool stuff in ya little Lian Li box mate, will be a challenge to get it all routed and hooked up... hope to see some more stuff soon...

[Pudi]

Looks great

[Nate P.]

Looks great so far! Keep it up!

[StevenG]

some spec changes:

going to use a fill/drain port somewhere.
GFX is now XFX 8800GTX with EK FC8800GTX Waterblock
RAM is now 2x 2x1GB OCZ Flex 9200 ram (D9 chips )
HDD is now Seagate 7200.11 500GB Drive for a bit more speed 32MB Cache

not been able to get any more work done yet, been busy with uni assignments

ordering all my parts tomorrow so maybe the temptation of the stuff being here might get me away from my work and get some more modding done.

im hoping the project is done by the end of this month as my hand in date is the middle so ive got the end of it to mod/clock as much as i like

watch this space for another update soon

Thanks for comments and reading

StevenG

[AlphaChicken]

Did the radiator come painted like that stock? j/w.

[Polizei]

Your Fuzion GFX is going to murder that 10w DDC3.2. It kills pressure.

[StevenG]

Did the radiator come painted like that stock? j/w.

yes it did its the MagiCool radiator which is a copy of the XSPC radiaotor (which i found out later, which i'd bought a black one now but nevermind i think its something different that you dont normally see) (the blue is supposedly able to react to UV light but i aint using that so i'll not find out now good it looks.

Your Fuzion GFX is going to murder that 10w DDC3.2. It kills pressure.

getting the EK FC8800GTX now mate i got this in a deal with an XFX graphics card so that shouldnt kill my flow as much

StevenG

[karbonkid]

yes it did its the MagiCool radiator which is a copy of the XSPC radiaotor

Which is a copy af a HWLabs radiator...

Nice work so far, I'm interested in this one as I want to get the same case. One question - instead of a 3.5" hard drive, I would like to use 2 2.5" hard drives mounted side-to-side in the 3.5" tray. I know I will have to cut a little out of the bracket to allow the connectors to poke through, but if I mounted the drives almost flush against the top of the bottom-most optical drive (ie. at the top of the 3.5" tray), would there be enough room to trim down the tray and squeeze a radiator under there? The drives are exactly 15mm thick.

[karbonkid]

I just noticed theres another couple of internal 3.5" bays at the back - am I right? If so then what I mentioned above shouldn't be a problem. I dont understand why they needed to put an external 3.5" bay there, especially when it takes up so much space...

[lowfat]

Your Fuzion GFX is going to murder that 10w DDC3.2. It kills pressure.

I had a Fuzion GFX & CPU, micro-res, 2 radiators, all in one loop and it did fine. :dunno:

[StevenG]

I just noticed theres another couple of internal 3.5" bays at the back - am I right? If so then what I mentioned above shouldn't be a problem. I dont understand why they needed to put an external 3.5" bay there, especially when it takes up so much space...

there is space for 2 full size deives at the back, the 3.5" bays at the front are for floppy/media reader use (which is COMPLETELY pointless) and in the new revision of the case the V350 they have removed this useless annoyance.

you will be able to get the drives at the back, but remember that you may/will run into problems when installing cards with coolers bigger than the card itself, the mobo tray is fine for normal size components but im going to struggle with mine. i'll have to remove the bottom hard drive bay at the back to get the barb part of my block in. i'll also have to install the gfx card with the mobo in the case, AND another thing for gtx owners or people with 27cm cards, i think im going to run into clearance issues with the end of my card and the fans on the radiator.

another point is the power connectors on the graphics cards tend to be on the end. that would place these connector Directly underneath the 5.25" bays at the front or WITHIN the 3.5" bay if i still had this installed. which means you cant use a dvd-rw or anything really in that bottom drive bay as you'd need to get the cables in.

i'll go through all my issues i come to in detail with pics when im putting the build together. i'll snap some quick shots of my test fit when the parts arrive and then some more detailed shots on my final installation.

this matx gaming rig to the extremes im taking it too is a real struggle with this case as it would be with any other. putting full size/oversized components into a small case was never going to be an easy job but i'll work round it.

i have some ideas about the clearance issues i'll probably have to use some spacers on the motherboard tray to give me a few mm to play with at the front to fit in the GTX.

if you want anything specific looked at while i do this let me know and i'll try my best to give you some information..

again thanks for reading and i hope your enjoying the build so far and ive still got some of the best bits to come

Thanks
StevenG

[Scubar]

Looks really good so far. Not so sure about that bracket for the radiator though. Those two holes youve cut look like they are going to restrict a fair amount of airflow from the fans.

[StevenG]

Looks really good so far. Not so sure about that bracket for the radiator though. Those two holes youve cut look like they are going to restrict a fair amount of airflow from the fans.

those holes are 100mm circle with is only just shy of the actualy size of the circle the fans have (where the blades go) so it shouldnt restrict it that much.

after tracking my 5 orders online it looks like im going to have a nightmare trying to be in for them all and i'll probably miss some of them so the build might be held up by that aswell as the university work i have to do.

as said when the stuff gets here i'll do some test fits. see how things look. if its not going to work at all i'll just scrap the idea and put it in a bigger case. but i hope i can work round the restrictions i have.

Thanks for reading

StevenG

[StevenG]

Massive Update:

Covered in this update: switch problems, radiator fitting, watercooling mockup/problems (alot of problems lol as always)

to fit the graphics card with the EK block i had to remove the bottom of the hard drive cage this is shown in the next 2 pics. these will be sprayed black once i get a chance.





after i rivited the bracket together and sprayed it the switch had moved slighly so i had to fix that by cutting some larger holes to allow the mounting to be changed.





in this picture i couldnt press both switches they were pushed against the case and this would have caused problems when turning the pc on etc.



i had to modify the switch to allow it to be slid into place once i'd tried to fit the bracket. this seems to have fixed the problem. all these little mods are holding me back (as well as parts not being here lol and not having the time)





i thought i'd try the black parts id sprayed in the case to see how it looks and please could you comment on this to see if it looks better than the silver



Thanks for reading
StevenG

[StevenG]

as you know i'd taken out the 3.5" bays from the front so i have started to try find a way to blank these off.. i think this will look quite good once i get some glue to fix it to the case



held in with tape to get an idea



think it looks quite good. comments please.



water gear arrived so i thought i'd try fit some of it. pictures speak for themselves really. fitted the fans to the radiator and fit that in the case. i measured up and if the graphics card is the stated 27cm long i'll be able to squeeze it in *just* with some longer screws on the motherboard tray.







started to install the cpu block mounting screws to get an idea of where my tubing might go, need the graphics card to show up to start getting a propper idea. but heres some pics of how it could look.







Thanks for readin/looking should be getting the rest of my gear in the next 2 days including a Canon 350D to get you some better pics

thats all for now i'll update once ive sprayed the hard drive bay and the other parts have gotten here to start fitting the tubing.

StevenG

[taowulf]

How is the clearance in that case with the GTX?

[StevenG]

if the masurements are right it'll be just under the drive cage at the front and touch the fans at the front too..

as mine will have the EK full cover block i've had to take out the bottom of the hard drive bay and lose a hard drive space.

i'll get some pics up in the next few days with the gtx in place.

StevenG

[taowulf]

if the masurements are right it'll be just under the drive cage at the front and touch the fans at the front too..

as mine will have the EK full cover block i've had to take out the bottom of the hard drive bay and lose a hard drive space.

i'll get some pics up in the next few days with the gtx in place.

StevenG

After looking at this, I was wondering how you were going to address that. Didn't you already paint the hard drive brackets?