Project Black Pearl

Eddie3dfx · 12-02-2007, 01:14 PM

This is Tagans Black Pearl Case. It's an oem lian li v2000 with some added/different features.

The hardware setup.

Gigabyte P35c-DS3R, X3210, 2 gigs C-Ballistix, 8800gt, 2 sata seagate (250+320gig hardrives), ocz gamexstream 700watt

watercooling setup.
Cpu = Apogee Gt waterblock
Gpu = Swiftech Mcw60
Northbridge = modified dd 680i waterblock
Southbridge = modified swiftech mcw30 waterblock
Radiator 1 = Swiftech Mcw220 Mounted on top
Radiator 2 = Swiftech Mcw320 Mounted on the bottom
Pump = D5 Pump
Resevoir = Swiftech

Pictures coming in minutes

Eddie3dfx · 12-02-2007, 01:34 PM

More pictures

Eddie3dfx · 12-02-2007, 01:36 PM

top vents & lcd

MonkeyHood · 12-02-2007, 02:07 PM

wow. Pretty slick.

AAjax · 12-02-2007, 03:33 PM

Very Nice

TheJollyFellow · 12-02-2007, 03:56 PM

is the bottom radiator secured, or is it just resting on the metal fan enclosures?

disruptfam · 12-02-2007, 04:07 PM

More Pic's Please Looks Good

IanY · 12-02-2007, 04:18 PM

OMG... all those plastic barbs... now dolphins and owls are going to die! The sky will fall.. we will all die !!

Love it that you did not fall prey to fashion trends and stuck to the proper barbs for your water blocks.

Eddie3dfx · 12-02-2007, 04:40 PM

Bottom radiator has fans on top and on the bottom and is resting on the psu perch/dock and the hardrive dock. I put rubber tabs under the radiator, but it's not fully secured. I flipped the case over to burp it, i mean bleed it, and it was fine.
The bottom is like the lian li, it's all vented.
It's better this way, because I can hide some of the unused psu cables under the psu dock.
Well if you look closely at the top radiator... One of the barbs is welded back on and then covered with epoxy, flux, and solder

the barb broke off and broke my radiator along with it, the patch job worked nicely

I still need to get longer sata cables because this case is a beast..

I have seen everyone give up on watercooling the southbridge on this gigabyte board, but if you mess with the screws and bracket on the mcw30, it can be done.
I ran out of mx2, so all of this is with as5

k, I will take more pics

Btw Swiftech plastic barbs are the best, they never leak. You don't need clamps, ties, or anything.
Everything else has ties.
k, let me get the camera out.

Tile · 12-02-2007, 04:44 PM

To secure the radiator to the cas I would have removed the psu resting plate ant the rear hard drive rack support an mount the radiator to the botto of the enclosure using spacers.

Nate P. · 12-02-2007, 04:46 PM

Nicely done! But I would purt some clamps or zip ties at the very least on those barbs... although they are plastic, you can't take it for granted that it won't leak. Just some zip ties would be a great preventive measure, and it's really not that hard to do.

Eddie3dfx · 12-02-2007, 04:57 PM

Tile ultimately thats what I wanted to do, but the bottom pieces are attached with rivets ;(
Another cool option, is the supplied fan controller can attach 4 fans. The front has two plastic push ins which can increase or reduce rpms up to 1350rpms.
Also, I'm glad they located the usb/1394/audio jacks up top instead of on the bottom like the v2000.

Nate P. · 12-02-2007, 05:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eddie3dfx

Tile ultimately thats what I wanted to do, but the bottom pieces are attached with rivets ;(

Get a drill and drill those rivets out! This is XtremeSystems! we don't take no for an answer!

AAjax · 12-02-2007, 05:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nate P.

Get a drill and drill those rivets out! This is XtremeSystems! we don't take no for an answer!

LOL!

Eddie3dfx · 12-02-2007, 05:07 PM

If you want to see xtreme, you should see the transformer in our backyard, it blew up today and caught on fire. Fire-department was here for 4 hours.
I really thought it was my computer at first, since it happened 3secs after I flipped the switch...
I say send the bill to nvidia and intel

I know, I took the easy way out

The window has 3 screw in that secure the acrylic in place. This is great for modders who want to substitute for mesh or nothing and then go back to acrylic later without modifications.

The pump is not levitating my itself, it is secured with a metal bracket attached from the shelf.

Microres is out of the way above the floppy drive.

All corners have open areas for wires to run through, also temp gauge can be placed anywhere.

The weird thing is there is a front 120mm fan to the left of the hardrive, but there are no vents in the front of the case???

I still need to fully secure the hardrive cage and reobus fan controller.
More work to come! <sigh>

Eddie3dfx · 12-02-2007, 05:30 PM

more pics

Eddie3dfx · 12-02-2007, 05:32 PM

sorry for all the pictures

Roger_D25 · 12-02-2007, 06:47 PM

So Eddie exatly what case is that (can't seem to figure it out, even after reading through entire thread)? Obviously I thought it was a Li-Lian but after reading I'm not sure? Thanks for your help!

Eddie3dfx · 12-02-2007, 07:43 PM

It's sold under a few names, abs and tagan or aplus black pearl.

Lian li gave whatever manufacturer the rights to use their case and modify it.

SOB.. they have it for $189 after rebate from newegg... I paid $235 shipped ;(
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811215010

RubberDuck · 12-02-2007, 08:07 PM

Looks beautiful

silverphoenix · 12-08-2007, 04:08 PM

question where does the front fan get its air from? Unlike the lian li this one has a solid front.

Eddie3dfx · 12-09-2007, 01:09 PM

Thats the problem, there isn't ventilation in front. It's solid.
So it's using the existing air thats circulating up from the radiator/bottom lian vent, but nothing directly in front.
The fan is mounted approximately 1inch or more from the front.

Eddie3dfx · 12-23-2007, 05:50 PM

Here are my updated pictures.
I added in another D5 pump (only this one was the B version) and an other microres + dd aquadrive hardrive block.

First Loop
Mcr 320 - D5 Pump - Apogee Gt - Mcw30 - Swiftech Res

Second Loop
Mcr220 - D5-B Pump - Mcw60 - DD680i Modded - DD aquadrive - Swiftech Res

Roger_D25 · 12-23-2007, 05:54 PM

Great job Eddie, that looks awesome! Also I never thanked you for posting that info on your case, much appreciated! In your opinion do you think that the build quality is as good as the Lian-Li? It certainly looks as good, infact I'm probably going to get that case (hope you don't mind man)! By the way if you get some extra time can you post some pictures of your system in the light, just to get a better look at your build and some of the hardware?

Eddie3dfx · 12-23-2007, 06:04 PM

Sure thing, I can take pictures bright and early tomorrow morning! The build quality is aboslutely top notch. It's a lian li oem, so it's the typical lian li build quality. I believe the new ones are shipped with acrylic and or mesh as the window, so I'm not 100% sure which one you will get.
I love the temperature gauge in the front (you can place the temp sensor wire anywhere in the case(F or celcius switch) The 4 fan controller is a nice touch as well.
The only problem is that you can't adjust the fan rpms individually. So if you go up to 2100, then all 4 fans go to 2100.

The other thing I don't love is that there isn't a huge flow of ventilation like the v2000 with the millions of holes poking through the case. I like the look of this better, but obviously the v2000 has better airflow.

Be my guest, all the info and everything that I built, was directly from people on these boards that are having just as much fun as I am

It's a veryyy pretty case in person. Thanks for the comments!