Phase changing Lian Li V2010B

[UTerror]

I decided to buy myself a phase change unit to cool my Intel 980x processor, but it had to fit in my case. I already modded my V2010 to be inverted like the V2000 edition (witch wasn't available anymore - would have saved me lots of work )

I had a dual wc loop in my system with a 360 and a 240 rad in the bottom. 2 x D5 pump and the power supply. I needed to change that into a phase change unit from LittleDevil and get all of the other stuff in there.

This is how the case looked like before modding it (again ). It is an old picture with my old motherboard (bloodrage) and other graphics card (GTX480).







After measuring everything I realized that the bottom part wasn't high enough for the phase change unit, but I had about 5 cm space left in the top half.
The solution was simple. Make a new backplate and middle plate. Place the middle plate +-4 cm higher and it would fit.
Making the new plates was easy. I had already rebuild the plates on my last mod, so I could just take them out, draw the outline on a new piece of metal, measure everything and place it 4 cm higher.


On this picture you can see the new mid plate (without support) and the back plate.

When I did this, I realized that the drive bay holders wouldn't fit anymore since they would be too long. I would have to cut them.
My initial plan was to place the 240 radiator in the drive bays, and my power supply behind the phase unit. There was not enough space however to place the power supply behind the unit, so I had to come up with another plan.

Now the idea was to place the power supply in the drive bays, but then I had to cut the drive bay holding plates just under the cd-rom. Otherwise the power supply would not fit. This brought a new problem. The front grills from the drive bays are held in place using the holding plates.
I cut the grill holders off and glued them directly on the case using epoxy. This was also a good thing, cause now they couldn't move anymore so I could just fill the gaps between them with bondo and make it look like it's just 1 big piece.



Then I made the hole in the mid plate so the cables from the power supply could go trough and could be routed in the bottom part of the case.



Finally I bought a new 140 radiator to place behind the phase change unit, ordered some Scythe slipstream 140 mm fan's and placed them on the rad and on the phase change unit (original fan was way to loud! - new units from little devil are much better!)

This is what it looked like so far:




Then I connected all the wc parts, placed the LCD display from the phase change unit in the case and started testing the case for 1 week.

[UTerror]

During this week I managed to get my cpu up to 4.9Ghz linx stable, but the vreg's of the mobo where getting way too hot! (80+ °c). Cpu temps are still good, so I should be able to get higher once the mobo is cooled better.

I also found some other small problems during this week, and corrected them all. Some cables where to short, others where just not placed in the best position,...

After using the pc for about 1 week I decided it was good and I could start painting the case and finishing the build.

I ordered my last components. Some cable extensions, wc block for the mobo, edge trim, power switches and fan grills.


The color of the case was still a mystery. After looking on the net for good colors, I decided to go to a local shop and just ask them for an example chart so I could make the decision.
The finally make my choice and bought all the paint, primer, thinner, ... I needed.


Now it was time to mod my air compressor. It had a 1.5 HP engine that just wasn't good enough for me. I went to a local store and bought myself a brand new 3.0 HP engine .
Only problem was that it wasn't made for my compressor, so I had to mod it a little bit to fit.

(in front is the old engine, on top of the tank is the 3.0 engine. Looks a tiny bit bigger doesn't it? )

The next thing I had to do was convert my garage into a painting booth.


Once that was done, I could begin disassembling the pc and start painting.

First thing to do: primer!




Next: blue metallic paint on most parts. (and black on other)



The poor air compressor was already getting dirty


Finally I could start spraying the clear coat.



I let this dry over night and had to work the next day. When I got home from work I found that 1 of the cords that holds the parts in place while painting/drying had snapped.
I found the front part of the case lying on the ground
After picking it up, I saw that there are some mayor dents in the alu, so I had to sand the part again, fix the damage and repaint it.

[UTerror]

Once that part was dry, I could start putting the pc back together.



I started with the cd-rom player.
The body is painted black. The left one is original (but with a broken sata connector), right one is painted for my case.


Next thing was the back plate. I used black rivets to connect it to the back/bottom part of the case. Also merged the IO thing and the mobo plate.


Then I could install the phase change, put the mid plate in, and finally place the front of the case.



Next: put the power supply in.



prepare the motherboard: put the wc block on it, and prepare it for phase change.


Placed other wc components in and connected it all.



I didn't leave any place for my ssd's but I found out during the 1 week using the case that I could just use tape to put them on the back of the mobo plate.


Once that was done I started on place the power switches. Top one is for the motherboard. bottom one is for starting the phase change.



Now I had a good idea: place a simple fan controller in the case. I had some spare switches lying around, but needed some fan connectors. Then I saw an old mobo with some nice fan connecters on it.
Who not cut them off? It's broken anyway...


placed them on a little pcb and connected them to the switches (7-12v, 1 for phase change fans, 1 for pc fans)



Work a little on the cables management (note: the 24 cables for mobo needs some black tape, but I just used it all and it's sunday.... They used to be sleeved, but that made the cable thicker than it needed to be. The extension is sleeved, so I just removed old sleeving.)


Now where could I place my other 3.25" HDD's?



And finally: IT'S DONE!


ORRRRRRR.... Wait! I just had an idea!
Why not make a safety for the pc so you can't boot the pc when the phase change ain't running?...
I had a 240V relay that I used to cut off the power to the power supply when the phase change ain't running.




Installed the black smoked plexi in the doors and now it's really finished!



Wonder how heavy it is?

[UTerror]

Some extra pictures:

[geobot24]

Phase change for 24/7 usage? Is it a bit overkill?

[grasskicker509]

wow nice build! now thats how u pack a full pc tower...im curious how is the psu connected to the outlet?

[UTerror]

Phase change for 24/7 usage? Is it a bit overkill?

hehe, define "overkill"

Tried wc for my 980x, but it gets hot! Why should I use the cpu @ 4.5Ghz when it can do 4.9+Ghz?


There is a power cable running from the power supply to the connector next 2 the 140 rad. (shown as red line)

[miahallen]

WOW....nice build

You should run a few benchmarks and show us the power

[geobot24]

At 24/7 usage, the difference between 4.5ghz and 4.9ghz is nothing. Also you have to save money for the electricity...

[LittleDevil]

Nice build, and nice pics.

Power consuption on Phase Change unit is about 250W idle/windows running, when gaming about less than 300W load and heawy banching on 280W heatload is about 350W.

[RacingTurtle]

At 24/7 usage, the difference between 4.5ghz and 4.9ghz is nothing. Also you have to save money for the electricity...

Dude you might be on the wrong forum - hardly anything on XS makes sense, people here do it BECAUSE THEY CAN, and, it's awesome

[BlueAqua]

Looks quite nice actually. Fitting that much stuff in there can be a real challenge, as I did pretty much the same thing 5 years ago. It turns into a heavy SOB very quick.

Nice work!

[geobot24]

Cmon now, i dont blame him for his project. Of course it is somethnig extreme (like the forum..) and well done for it.
The only strange thing for me is the 24/7 usage...

[Aphex_Tom_9]

excellent build, love how unconventional a lot of the component positioning is, but it all makes sense and works.
great stealth look, love the 2 buttons on the front, and good idea with the relay to make sure phase is on.

[thebanik]

Wow!!!! with the amount of stuff thats inside the cabinet, it could have easily been a huge pile of mess but its superbly clean and ofcourse a very powerful setup....Though I do hope that you are into 3d Modeling or such which really needs/uses that kinda horse power.

[Erdrick1980]

beautiful build man, love it!

[lowfat]

hot damn that is hardcore. Converting your garage in to a paint booth was awesome.

[owned666]

WOW

[-cyclone-]

Impressive unit!
Anyway I still don't understand the necessity of usage ph-ch at 24/7 PC -)

[Tetrafluorometh]

Impressive unit!
Anyway I still don't understand the necessity of usage ph-ch at 24/7 PC -)

Boot, chat, surf, game with out waiting all @ 5Ghz is why, plus it's cool, ice cool in fact!

My trusty E8600 is 24/7 as i do a lot of torrents and it's happy @6Ghz with raid ssd hd's. I like the response when i ask it to do something.

Nice build do, was wandering when this was going to be implermented with a single stage, i still fancy using my 1/4 HP horizonal rotarys