My ABS Black Pearl, bigger is better :)

[AzN_plyR]

I decided to watercool my system, but my Lian-li A05B was not cutting it, so I decided on a similar case, but bigger!

Same reverse ATX? Check. Lian-li quality? Check. More room? Check.

Sooo I am transferring some stuff over to my new ABS Black Pearl that I got for $104 shipped after taxes and what not.

Anyways, on to the pics, and I will apologize for the crappy pictures and horrible lighting in my room.

Her naked, I ended up taking out all the hard drive mounts and psu support plate on the bottom also since I won't be mounting any drives down there, and I prefer the looks without the psu support bracket.






Here's my old rig, temps were horrible with the radiator mounted on top, so I took it out and dropped temps around 13c. ( 71 load now with my overclocked i7 920 ).




Num Num Num




Some new parts, yate-loon high-speeds, Swiftech MCR320, XSPC reservoir, 20ft maskateer 7/16" tubing, and a Lian-li EX34N cage ( yeah yeah this is a Lian-li V2000 at heart! )



I am not a big fan of cutting out my side panels to mount the radiator sideways, so I decided to cut the mid-plate and mount a triple rad there.

Here are some cuts with petra's c-strips, I used a jigsaw for most of the cuts.






Cut in the back for cable management, easily sliced through it with a jigsaw.




Filling in the mounting holes I won't be using, not quite flat enough yet so I am leaving a second layer overnight and sanding in the morning, using 320grit sandpaper.






Being primed, the holes I filled in turned out nicely, don't know why the color is different but when I apply the black paint it should blend in nicely I hope

Using Rust-oleum self-itching primer.










Any suggestions or tips are appreciated.

I also see a little orange peel effect on the mid-plate, do you guys recommend me sanding it with 2000 grit then painting? Or should I sand then primer it again?

I am not looking for a mirror finish at all, just something smooth.

Painting the internal with flat black.

[earthwormjim]

You're going to have orange peel using rattle cans no matter what.

Wet sand the primer with 1k grit (be very careful not to sand through the primer) then do your color coats. You may have to wet sand that depending on how crappy the nozzle is.

If you have terrible orange peel in your color/final coat I'd wet sand with 2k grit then finish with some polish.

I went with a different approach for my radiator mounting. I cut an opening in the side panels (same width as the mesh window) and mounted my radiator pretty much flush to the door panels (used L-brackets, not actually mounted to the door but the bottom of the case.) I made pretty clean cuts, replaced the mesh window with plexi glass, and used the mesh to cover my openings.

I was looking for the best way to get fresh air to the radiator.

[liguhy]

side question: What rad & fans were you using on your A05N and were you drawing cool air in or air inside the case out? I have an A05N so I'm curious. Would you think having a rad on the case's top and bottom with the PSU, HDD 120mm fan, and backpanel 120mm fan (switch stock orientation) all exhausting work?

[Hkxyz]

Nice job so far

2000 would be a little overkill especially for putting a Flat coat on top

As long as you put 2 coats of primer down if you wet sand with at least some 400 you should be fine but if you have some 1000 that would work as well. Sand it and lay some flat black on there.

[AzN_plyR]

You're going to have orange peel using rattle cans no matter what.

Wet sand the primer with 1k grit (be very careful not to sand through the primer) then do your color coats. You may have to wet sand that depending on how crappy the nozzle is.

If you have terrible orange peel in your color/final coat I'd wet sand with 2k grit then finish with some polish.

I went with a different approach for my radiator mounting. I cut an opening in the side panels (same width as the mesh window) and mounted my radiator pretty much flush to the door panels (used L-brackets, not actually mounted to the door but the bottom of the case.) I made pretty clean cuts, replaced the mesh window with plexi glass, and used the mesh to cover my openings.

I was looking for the best way to get fresh air to the radiator.

Thanks, the orange peel is very very minor. I am just being picky I guess since the two drive bay pieces came out perfectly. You got any pics of your system?

side question: What rad & fans were you using on your A05N and were you drawing cool air in or air inside the case out? I have an A05N so I'm curious. Would you think having a rad on the case's top and bottom with the PSU, HDD 120mm fan, and backpanel 120mm fan (switch stock orientation) all exhausting work?

I was using a very restrictive Black Ice GT Stealth 240 with yate-loons medium speeds. My HD4870 is a non-reference design which blows the air down instead of out the back so that obstructed the airflow big time to the radiator, not to mention my X-FI Xtrememusic in between I purchased the kit used so I didn't know any better.

I am not sure if your setup would work, but what do I know haha.

You can have both rads blow in but wouldn't that heat up everything in the case up?

Nice job so far

2000 would be a little overkill especially for putting a Flat coat on top

As long as you put 2 coats of primer down if you wet sand with at least some 400 you should be fine but if you have some 1000 that would work as well. Sand it and lay some flat black on there.

Thanks, will do! I already purchased the 2000 grit sand papers though so I guess I'll use them.

[AzN_plyR]

Some updated pics:










Hi fishy!

[shazza]

Nice job! Looking forward to seeing your final radiator layout.