PROJECT: MM Pinnacle 300 (previously Ugly Duckling)

[Kozato]

Nice silverstone psu. Gotta love those 100% modular cables.

Where did you get it from? Cybermind? Prolink Data or Potterhouse?

And where did you get those AWG18 cables? I am looking to making custom cables for my own Decathlon too!

[Kibbler]

Nice silverstone psu. Gotta love those 100% modular cables.

Where did you get it from? Cybermind? Prolink Data or Potterhouse?

And where did you get those AWG18 cables? I am looking to making custom cables for my own Decathlon too!

The PSU I got from Cybermind. Prolink and Potterhouse and a few others were all outta stock. I was looking for something in the 650w~750w range, and this one happened to be on the shelf, the last Decathlon series left that day.

Wire I got online actually as I'm usually too busy to look for stuff locally. I'm sure most neighborhood hardware stores or Sim Lim Tower would have it for dirt cheap.

If you just want custom case feet i really enjoy the mnpctech ones
http://www.mnpctech.com/CaseFeetMachined.html
But i fear they wont be high enough for you, so theres always these ones
http://www.mnpctech.com/Aluminum_Com...Case_Feet.html
n__n

Thanks, I'll check those out and see if they suit my needs.

[Kibbler]

Alright update time!

I'm particularly proud of today's progress as everything came together exactly the way I'd planned Well, 99% anyway

First things first. My stainless steel black oxide socket caps arrived today, which lets me go on to the next few steps. Charles made a remark that his build is like a Chinese puzzle. It's frustrating how true that can be. Need item A before I can assemble item B. Need part B before I can assemble C, so on and so forth.

Here we are with the manifold assembly. In case you're wondering those are done with Koolance panel mount 3/8" barbs with female G1/4 on the other side, mated to BP non-rotary 45s and Koolance compression fittings. Oops what's that bit in the middle, that shouldn't be there...


That's better. Say what you will about the big K, sometimes they are a bit hit-or-miss, but one thing's for sure they do have a wide variety of maybe-useful parts. Those are Koolance spring clamps by the way. I think Naekuh would agree when I say they are simply quite sexy.


And here's where the whole widget goes. Fans are attached using (non-rusty) socket cap screws (so you see why I had to wait for the screws to arrive first...ugh). Just above is my other point of pride: Fan extensions crimped onto black wire so as to not show through the PET sleeve, held in place by 3 p-clips. Fans are individually replaceable although it'd be a serious PITA.




The small bundle goes behind the motherboard tray, and up to the TMS200.




Why use the bracket/manifold? Well you can see where the PSU will go, and right next to it the HDD bracket where the round hole is. The bracket ensures the tubing clears both.

[Maxspam]

I liked the green better.

[Kibbler]

I liked the green better.

um...thanks...

[Dangals]

awesome work there Kibbler - I much prefer the blue tubing - goes better with the overall feel of the build

Keep the pics coming as I really want to see more of this

[charles_h]

Looks great Kibbs!

I only wish the photos were a tad bigger. I clicked on them but they appear to be the same size...

Keep up the great work!

[Kibbler]

[charles_h]

That's the stuffs!

Are the wheels staying?

[jpm804]

I like the blue tubing better

It's amazing how clean this is turning out especially in that case with so much "free space" as I call it.

I like the tube routing brackets up top , makes everything more uniform intead of letting it hang.

[hmmisee]

I have to agree with you jpm804, I do like the blue tubing better. It looks nice and for lack of a better word, crisp.

[Liderc]

This build is very refreshing, a lot of original ideas are being brought together.

Nice work~

[Kibbler]

That's the stuffs!

Are the wheels staying?

I like the blue tubing better

It's amazing how clean this is turning out especially in that case with so much "free space" as I call it.

I like the tube routing brackets up top , makes everything more uniform intead of letting it hang.

I have to agree with you jpm804, I do like the blue tubing better. It looks nice and for lack of a better word, crisp.

This build is very refreshing, a lot of original ideas are being brought together.

Nice work~

Thanks for the comments guys, they're very encouraging to me I mean that sincerely.

The wheels are staying...for now

Now that the PSU + HDDs are installed, moving this thing around almost threw out my weakling back. I also need to do the initial fill/filter/drain cycle a few times, and raising the floor makes the drain ports more accessible.

So yeah, the wheels are staying for now.

Did I say the PSU + HDDs are installed? Gee wouldn't it be great to have a picture of that. But sadly my camera is packed away for a weekend trip, and I feel wholly incompetent (impotent even) with a PnS. At any rate the manifold clears the PSU by about 1/2", exactly as planned. Beautiful

FYI: I sought out a Silverstone PSU for the sole reason that they are 100% modular, even the ATX 24pin and EPS12V (they're pretty decent PSUs as well). HIGHLY recommended. It allows me to crimp cables to my exact required lengths.

And knock on wood, if this sucker ever buys the farm, it'd still be under warranty.

Until next week then. Please allow me to leave you with my Mousehunt catch of the day:



And my cat that's good at catching things, worthless at killing them.



TGIF enjoy the weekend!

[Blizzy]

[Shogan]

Have been following this build from the beginning, and must say its looking great now. I think you made a good choice on the tubing colours - blue and orange are complimentary colours (Exactly opposite each other on the colour wheel) so they work very well together. Very clean and neat build and some awesome ideas!

[MomijiTMO]

My cat caught a mouse today. I heard squeaking and went looking. Poor bastard.

Anyhoo, I like the blue.

[kinghong1970]

love the way you manage the tubing near your top rad... !!!

[twwen2]

Nice work kibbler!

One question, is the radgrill/mesh a bitspower one? And if so, is it this one: http://www.performance-pcs.com/catal...ducts_id=22947 ?

[jiggyghallam]

Love the clean blue and orange look, wanted to go with orange with my rig but thought it would look bad... You proved me wrong looks fantastic mate

and at the fans, must been a pain putting a connector on each fan

[Kibbler]

Have been following this build from the beginning, and must say its looking great now. I think you made a good choice on the tubing colours - blue and orange are complimentary colours (Exactly opposite each other on the colour wheel) so they work very well together. Very clean and neat build and some awesome ideas!

Thanks Blizzy and Shogun!

My cat caught a mouse today. I heard squeaking and went looking. Poor bastard.

Anyhoo, I like the blue.

I take back what I said about my cat. She caught a fat roach today. That deserves praise (and treats).

love the way you manage the tubing near your top rad... !!!

Thanks kinghong, that's one of the parts of this build that I'm most proud about. There are changes I would make to this Pinnacle that would make it more user-friendly, but I like to think I threw in a few neat tricks to work around the "stock" case. I'm also quite happy with the somewhat unorthodox quasi reverse ATX arrangement.

Nice work kibbler!

One question, is the radgrill/mesh a bitspower one? And if so, is it this one: http://www.performance-pcs.com/catal...ducts_id=22947 ?

Thanks Tom! That's the one, though you'll notice my mesh is black and not silver...

You get that Ultima90 installed yet?

Love the clean blue and orange look, wanted to go with orange with my rig but thought it would look bad... You proved me wrong looks fantastic mate

and at the fans, must been a pain putting a connector on each fan

Thanks Jiggy. Yeah the fans were terribly puzzling. I spent about a week mulling over how to do the wiring without any permanent splicin' and solderin'. Crimping new connectors to the fans was a piece of cake. Measuring, crimping, and installing the extensions was much more irritating.

----------------------

One thing I'm unhappy about, this PSU is plastered with little warranty stickers. They look terrible but I'm not about to remove them yet. Sigh.

Oh heck how about a teaser.

[charles_h]

I know eh... what's up with that sticker?

It's not like someone's going to mix up the 24pin with the IDE connectors...

Stuff like this and the English translations on computer packaging gets me...

Anyway - that sticker is a biotch to remove... goo gone I reckon.


EDIT: Oh... Warranty stickers... righto. Where's my morning coffee?!

[twwen2]

Thanks Tom! That's the one, though you'll notice my mesh is black and not silver...

You get that Ultima90 installed yet?

Ah, a bit of spray paint then?

The TR heatsink is going beaut. Quite an improvement over the stock intel job!

[jiggyghallam]

One thing I'm unhappy about, this PSU is plastered with little warranty stickers. They look terrible but I'm not about to remove them yet. Sigh.

Could you not cover it up? (im not sure on its size..) but black tap would look better then a big white warranty sticker im guessing, or just photochop it out all the pics

[Kibbler]

When I use multi-quote why does the button say SAAYA??

I know eh... what's up with that sticker?

It's not like someone's going to mix up the 24pin with the IDE connectors...

Stuff like this and the English translations on computer packaging gets me...

Anyway - that sticker is a biotch to remove... goo gone I reckon.


EDIT: Oh... Warranty stickers... righto. Where's my morning coffee?!

Get some caffeine in ya!

Ah, a bit of spray paint then?

The TR heatsink is going beaut. Quite an improvement over the stock intel job!

Actually I tried these suckers, but once they were installed they actually looked pretty ugly. The black steel mesh piece fits the radgrill (both made by BP so no surprise there), and it was a simple swap and drop.

Could you not cover it up? (im not sure on its size..) but black tap would look better then a big white warranty sticker im guessing, or just photochop it out all the pics

What's black tap preciousss? I might go for the photochop option.

--------------------

I'm very happy to say that this old build is 98% of the way to pushing the power button. After receiving the last bit of sleeving I was able to finish up the ATX24pin and power and reset switches. Cable management is almost totally finished although I still have the EPS8pin remaining.

Here's a rundown of the last to-dos:
-Finish the EPS8pin cable.
-Paint a few 3/4" p-clips black (could only find white ones locally).
-Prep + paint the optical drive. I'm debating whether to DIY or take it to a powerdercoater. But since it's only a DVD-RW waiting a the Blu-ray upgrade I'll probably sand, prime, spray, and clearcoat myself (or bianco could volunteer to do it for me...?)
-Flush and fill, run through Pentek filter and leak test.

White boards and lights are in place for the final photos, which I hope to shoot and upload within the next couple of weeks.

Meantime I want to thank everyone who has looked at, commented in, made suggestions for, etc. this long long build. Certainly evolved a hell of a lot hasn't it? It's my first worklog but certainly not my last, and I've learned mad tons from all of you and from hands-on experience. I hope the final results will be worth the wait for you all, as personally they will definitely be worth all the blood (yeah) and sweat (no tears) that went into it.

[bianco]

When I use multi-quote why does the button say SAAYA??

<snip>

Here's a rundown of the last to-dos:
-Finish the EPS8pin cable.
-Paint a few 3/4" p-clips black (could only find white ones locally).
-Prep + paint the optical drive. I'm debating whether to DIY or take it to a powerdercoater. But since it's only a DVD-RW waiting a the Blu-ray upgrade I'll probably sand, prime, spray, and clearcoat myself (or bianco could volunteer to do it for me...?)
-Flush and fill, run through Pentek filter and leak test.

White boards and lights are in place for the final photos, which I hope to shoot and upload within the next couple of weeks.

Meantime I want to thank everyone who has looked at, commented in, made suggestions for, etc. this long long build. Certainly evolved a hell of a lot hasn't it? It's my first worklog but certainly not my last, and I've learned mad tons from all of you and from hands-on experience. I hope the final results will be worth the wait for you all, as personally they will definitely be worth all the blood (yeah) and sweat (no tears) that went into it.

haha. same here bro. i thought saaya meant something in the 'forum world' but was quite surprised after i googled it.
actually, i know someone who does spray painting much better than me! but he also lives here in the east. so i'm not sure if that would work for you.
as for the black 3/4" p clips, check sg.farnell. they should have it.
btw, i am quite amazed on how uniform your heatshrinks are! it looks like you have found the best length for the shrinks! how long is each shrink? thanks bro.