ABS/Tagan Black Pearl - evolution of a water-cooled rig

[shazza]

That Rampage with stock cooling does not look good at all inverted

Yea, that case seems to have some flaws there. That sucks.

The train set looks cool. Is that your Jeep in the background?

I agree, mt - too much upside down writing on the Rampage Extreme! Guess it goes back into the Antec 900 Two.

The case is really not bad ... just not perfect for my needs. At least I'll have a good idea what I want in a new case

That's my husband's Wrangler in the background.

Might be best to only cut out the spots you need on that T section.

I think that mobo looks better in terms of size at least

btw I don't mean to sound rude or personal, but what do you and your husband do for a living? With these expensive hobbies

Agree the bigger board looks best size-wize, but I think the Micro might look okay if there's a radiator on top of it.

hehe ... what do we do? NOTHING!!!! Both retired after 40 years of hard labor in the salt mines

Thanks, SNiiPE --- yep, I can see where you were coming from with your back side woes! It ain't easy.

[skinnee]

hehe ... what do we do? NOTHING!!!! Both retired after 40 years of hard labor in the salt mines

I thought you told me it was the coal mines...

[Armitage]

I thought you told me it was the coal mines...

I hope not, that stuff will kill yah.

And interesting to hear Shazz, arn't salt mines extremely deep into the earth? And have a higher chance to collapse? Sounds dangerous.

sorry for being ot.

[woffen]

And what about this plate ... can it be removed completely and still have the midplate supported properly?

I have removed the plate in the V2000 to fit a radiator in the "basement". Doesn't seem to affect the sturdiness of the case.

I have felt all the problems with this case for a time now, and not really ever got it the way I wanted, everything is sort of half done

Looking at your earlier builds I'm sure that you will be able to make a stunning build out of this case never the less!

[shazza]

I thought you told me it was the coal mines...

Well ... truth is, it was limestone quarries. Not quite as dangerous as coal mining.

...
sorry for being ot.

No apologies necessary, Armitage. My work logs are not known for staying on track

I have removed the plate in the V2000 to fit a radiator in the "basement". Doesn't seem to affect the sturdiness of the case.

I have felt all the problems with this case for a time now, and not really ever got it the way I wanted, everything is sort of half done

Looking at your earlier builds I'm sure that you will be able to make a stunning build out of this case never the less!

Thanks, woffen. Good to know about removing the plate. I'm beginning to get some ideas, although execution may be my stumbling block!

[GregSG]

So...any hardware in plans so far?

[The Water Dog]

So Shazza, do you recomend the case?
Its a shop here that have half prize on them:P
But no shop have v2000 here, maybe this one is a "okey" copy.

Woffen: what kind of psu do you use?
Im little afraid that the Pc power and cooling 1200w want fit:S

[clone38]

You will be ok to remove all the lower supports the case is more or less a v2000 .


As for cuts for cables on the back you should be ok doing this to it.


Good luck with the build

[Arthur]

Hey @shazza,

You may not use top of the Black Pearl effectively with RE. If you do not think about using the dual gpus, you can mount 1 radiator top of the Black Pearl. By the way, you were absolutely right about that Evga mobo when you wanted to use it because of clear area LOL.

[shazza]

So...any hardware in plans so far?

Still working it out. So far, the Micro-ATX board seems to give more options.

So Shazza, do you recomend the case?
Its a shop here that have half prize on them:P
But no shop have v2000 here, maybe this one is a "okey" copy.

Woffen: what kind of psu do you use?
Im little afraid that the Pc power and cooling 1200w want fit:S

It's a great case - well built and essentially a V2000. I'm just having a little trouble figuring out how best to install the radiator(s), but imagine I'll work it out. I'd also like more space behind the motherboard tray, but that can be sorted. You can make just about any PSU fit, it's a matter of where you put the radiators.

You will be ok to remove all the lower supports the case is more or less a v2000 .

As for cuts for cables on the back you should be ok doing this to it.
Good luck with the build

Thanks clone! I'm still searching and reviewing other's builds with this and the V2000 case. Your pics definitely help.

Hey @shazza,

You may not use top of the Black Pearl effectively with RE. If you do not think about using the dual gpus, you can mount 1 radiator top of the Black Pearl. By the way, you were absolutely right about that Evga mobo when you wanted to use it because of clear area LOL.

You're right, Arthur. I'm thinking the Micro-ATX board may be the best, even if it does look a little silly in this HUGE case

[The Water Dog]

Thanks shazza, this case get order today
have to do some planning to get in a quad and a triple in there:P

[shazza]

Good Deal, Water Dog. Looking forward to seeing what you do with the case. Please post a worklog!


OKay, thinking the M-ATX board may be the way to go. I'm still trying to come up with a vertical mount for the rad - the front is out unless I decide to scrap the included fan controller, which means some major faceplate surgery. I have all the empty space next to the mobo, so thought about this -




Only approximately to scale, but you get the idea. A brace piece would have to be built to hold the rad on the back of the case (inside), with cutouts for the fans on the rear panel. Would also have to cut the extra bit off the mobo tray. One disadvantage I can see is it probably would take out the optical drive option in the front bay - will have to check the measurements. Advantage? well, not really sure, other than it's different than just laying it on the bottom.

[SNiiPE_DoGG]

I think it would be very cool that way!

as far as attaching the rad, I would cut the slot then make a mount bracket with fan holes that rivets to the top, midplate and bottom to reintroduce the support you remove from the bottom in front of the PSU. Essentially you will be re-portioning the case and that will be slick

if you are having a hard time envisioning let me know and I will model it up.

[Arthur]

OKay, thinking the M-ATX board may be the way to go. I'm still trying to come up with a vertical mount for the rad - the front is out unless I decide to scrap the included fan controller, which means some major faceplate surgery. I have all the empty space next to the mobo, so thought about this -




Only approximately to scale, but you get the idea. A brace piece would have to be built to hold the rad on the back of the case (inside), with cutouts for the fans on the rear panel. Would also have to cut the extra bit off the mobo tray. One disadvantage I can see is it probably would take out the optical drive option in the front bay - will have to check the measurements. Advantage? well, not really sure, other than it's different than just laying it on the bottom.

Good to see the Evga mobo out there again. As you told us, there will be some disadvantages in your chassis when you trying to come up with a vertical mount for 140.3. If you do that, you'll be spent your middle chassis area little more and you may have to work on your mobo tray a bit like you said.

I know what you trying to put some different WC design with your project and I truly respect that but I hope you consider what you using the vertical mounting method for 140.3 again. Because your WC setup will highly take on a shape with mounting your radiator choice in your chassis.

Cheers,
Arthur

[millertime359]

I'm almost wondering now if you jacked the PSU up, you could put the 320 on the bottom and mount some DDCs with some undesign brackets on top of the rad with the PSU right above them.

That might work.

[shazza]

...
I know what you trying to put some different WC design with your project and I truly respect that but I hope you consider what you using the vertical mounting method for 140.3 again. Because your WC setup will highly take on a shape with mounting your radiator choice in your chassis.

Cheers,
Arthur

Oh Yes ... that's the main consideration. Just thinking things through now

I'm almost wondering now if you jacked the PSU up, you could put the 320 on the bottom and mount some DDCs with some undesign brackets on top of the rad with the PSU right above them.

That might work.

Yep - I know I can fit the radiator in the bottom with modifying the PSU. Was just thinking of a way to use up that bare space in the middle. Looking at something a little different now ... pics in the morning.

Open to all ideas!

[millertime359]

Yep - I know I can fit the radiator in the bottom with modifying the PSU. Was just thinking of a way to use up that bare space in the middle. Looking at something a little different now ... pics in the morning.

Open to all ideas!

What if you did a couple of the smaller EK res' there in the center area, top and bottom mount 320s, and the do dual D5s on top of the bottom rad mounted on un brackets with the BP bling kit and tops.

I'm assuming you are doing dual loops, if your only doing a single, one of Frozen Q's res' would probably look pretty sweet in the center section instead of the EKs

[shazza]

Oops - missed your comment, SNiiPE_DoGG - thanks for the idea on mounting the rad. I think I get what you're saying.

And, yep millertime - that mid area will probably be used for reservoirs, haven't decided yet.



Couldn't sleep so went ahead and took a few pics of my latest fiddling:



Put the baby board back in, and mounted the XSPC RX120 just to get a feel for a thicker radiator on the top ... you can see it's quite cramped, would be more so with the PA140.3.







A closer look:






a shot of the EK Supreme Lt - nickel and acetal





Another thought I've been toying with. What about putting the PSU somewhere else? A test ...





Sorting out the cabling would be a challenge, but perhaps not impossible.





A few obstacles to sort out by moving the PSU, but nothing insurmountable. Advantage is, after removing that bottom divider, we'd have a cavernous area which could be devoted to radiator(s) and fans. Definitely worth some thought. Anybody see why I couldn't mount the PSU in the front?

[Arthur]

Oops - missed your comment, SNiiPE_DoGG - thanks for the idea on mounting the rad. I think I get what you're saying.

And, yep millertime - that mid area will probably be used for reservoirs, haven't decided yet.



Couldn't sleep so went ahead and took a few pics of my latest fiddling:



Put the baby board back in, and mounted the XSPC RX120 just to get a feel for a thicker radiator on the top ... you can see it's quite cramped, would be more so with the PA140.3.







A closer look:






a shot of the EK Supreme Lt - nickel and acetal





Another thought I've been toying with. What about putting the PSU somewhere else? A test ...





Sorting out the cabling would be a challenge, but perhaps not impossible.





A few obstacles to sort out by moving the PSU, but nothing insurmountable. Advantage is, after removing that bottom divider, we'd have a cavernous area which could be devoted to radiator(s) and fans. Definitely worth some thought. Anybody see why I couldn't mount the PSU in the front?

Hey @shazza again,

You should have approx. 8cm clean area top of your Black Pearl after you mounted your Evga out there. That means you can mount a radiator
out there. Your scenarios are simple for 1 radiator with its fans here;

1. Solo Rad with 3 fans
2. Solo Rad with 6 fans

If you choose the second one, I do not think you can mount dual gpus on your Evga. Fans will block your installation if you use the fat radiator. You also block top of your mobo a bit. If you choose the thin radiator (approx. 2cm~3cm thin radiator with 20mm thin fans), it should be oke.

If you choose the first one, I think you can even mount a fat radiator with 25mm thin fans.

By the way, you can consider to using the triple radiator top of the Black Pearl. One way or another way, you'll cut top of your panel. Your top panel will seems funny when you mounted a 120mm radiator top of your chassis. People will ask you why you did not mount bigger radiator out there.

I even thinking to mount a QUAD 480 top of my v2000 in near future LOL. I wont use dual gpus so it'll be easy to me.

Keep up brainstorming mate.

[Kibbler]

I like this idea, it's actually something I considered for my case although much less feasible due to lack of midplate and space. As for wiring, turn the PSU so the modular connectors side is facing DOWN (cut pass-thrus in the midplate as necessary), then turn it until the ATX24pin/8pin bundle are closer to the back of the case. Cut more routing holes in the midplate, this time closer to the motherboard, for the cables to come back up, either in front of or behind the motherboard tray (forming a short U in the lower compartment).

If you have a fan controller e.g. t-balancer or aquaero sans LCD, it can go to the front of the bottom compartment, just above the rads and below the PSU modular connections.

You'll have enough room for 2 triples (or 2 quads? c'mon give it a shot!!) in the lower compartment, cross flow arrangement ala TJ07.

[shazza]

@Arthur -- Thanks for taking the time to give some feedback. I think I read in another thread where you have a V2000? Let's see that worklog! Yep, I know I can mount a rad in the top - that's why I actually tested it with the XSPC RX120 . I think if I planned to go with a rad in the top, I'd used the Swiftech MCR220 or 320. That way, still room for dual GPUs. BUT, pretty sure I'm leaning to rads in the bottom. Really only need one if I stick with the PA140.3.


@Kibbler - Glad to know I wasn't totally crazy with my PSU idea, and thanks for the suggestion of having the connectors come out the bottom - makes perfect sense. The PSU fan on the ANTEC would then blow up the top instead of out the front. Probably not a problem, although I could always switch to a PSU with the fan on top, and orient it so the air blows out the front. Will check that out. Only issue I'd have is switching the PSU on and off if I can't get to the switch - although that's not a real issue as it would be on most of the time anyway. My A05 is set up with the PSU in front, so I can see how the cabling works.

Still thinking ...

[Stvwndr219]

Hey shazza,

It's nice to see your progress so far - I've always been a big fan (and lurker) with your previous builds very much. I have a v2000 that I'll be working with when I get back to school and I wanted to fit a 320 in the top... I was wondering if you could show me what that fitting would look like over the motherboard with push and push/pull if it's not too much trouble. I've been planning all summer but there's just so much that planning can do until the real thing is accomplished lol.

Thanks! And more pictures!

And as for my design with this case - I plan on cutting the side of my case like iandh's 480mm grille and putting my gtx480 down there with the shrouds I made out of plexi and having push/pull with san ace 1011's on my GTX 480 - hoping for lower than 30 idle with my w3520. Hopefully, then either putting my mcr320 in the mid plate or on top with my pumps somewhere I haven't determined yet. I'll be watching to see what you do with this!

[rjkoneill]

i think using the matx board would be a good idea
you would have acres of space to work with

its something you could make a feature of - lets face it - the evga board looks great, surround it with rads and all should be good

im loving the vertical rad idea, it would be so unique

go for it i say!

[sheriff_deadeye]

not the same scope or project you are looking at taking on, but I ended up moving the ps in my ll 1000. I gutted an old power supply and ran an 'extension' from the real ps to the 'dummy' ps in the back.

as i said, not really the same as your build, but just encouraging you to do what you think will work the best...where's there's a will....

[removed the image...no need to clog up the worklog <:-) ]

also...the wire management nearly killed me. there's just no room behind the l.l. main board.

[Equinediver]

Shazza you might be interested in this post over on the EVGA forums

http://www.evga.com/forums/tm.asp?m=100870401

Or the detailled instructions on making his Classified block in his sig!