Project X - Build log (Planning phase)

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So, turns out I really enjoyed modding my Antec 902, but annoyingly the way my living room is set out and the fact the window is on the right hand side of the case, no one can actually see the work I did without leaning over the side of the Sofa/Desk to able to view inside it

Step up the Thermaltake Core X9



Now Purchased :clap:


For this I will be gutting the main components out of my sig rig:

Intel i7 4790K
Asus Maximus VII Ranger
EVGA 970GTX SC ACX 2.0
SoundBlaster Z
Gskill Ripjaw X 4 x 4GB
Samsung XP941 256GB PCIE SSD
Corsair 620w
Asus ROG Front Panel

EK-DDC 3.2 PWM X-RES 140
Alphacool UT60 240mm radiator



For the moment everything is purely in planning phase, at this time I am considering the following:

Watercooling to be Pastel Red for CPU Loop and Pastel White for the GPU Loop

The following components form my "planned" watercooling shopping list:

Chipset waterblock for Motherboard - EK-MOSFET ASUS M7G - Acetal+Nickel
http://www.ekwb.com/news/521/19/EK-i...-water-blocks/

CPU Waterblock - EK-Supremacy EVO - Nickel (CSQ)
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/ek-su...el-water-block

GPU Block - Bitspower VG-NGTX970ESACX Acrylic
http://www.bitspower.com/html/produc...3453&kind2=109

360mm Radiator - Alphacool 35273 NexXxoS XT60 Radiator 360 White Edition x2
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/alphacool-nexxxos-ut60-full-copper-360mm-white-special-edition Purchased

Reservoir + Combo - EK-DDC 3.2 PWM X-RES 140, Water Cooling Pump (This matches the one I currently have)
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/ek-dd...r-cooling-pump Purchased

Monsoon White Fittings - ModMyToys 19/13mm (ID 1/2 - 3/4) Compression Fitting - Six Pack - White + Red Carbon (For the white loop)
http://www.watercoolinguk.co.uk/p/Mo...bon_37248.html



Fans, open to advice here, I want 3x white LED for the white loop and 2x red for the red loop


White - Enermax T.B.Vegas 120mm Single Fan White LEDs - Purchased
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/120mm...ister-bearings


Extras:

White caps - Monsoon x5
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/monso...lug-g1-4-white


Tubing - Primochill Advanced - Purchased
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...30&subcat=2579

Coolant - Mayhems Pastal Red
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/1l-ma...el-red-coolant

Coolant - Mayhems Ice White
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/1l-ma...-white-coolant

Fan Controller - BitFenix Recon - White
http://www.bitfenix.com/global/en/products/accessories/recon/

Additional Comment:

been planning this a little more after i came up with an idea whilst playing Wildstar. Im thinking of a small section using some 3g fake grass with a small anime figurine inside the case using the 2x reservoirs as a back drop

http://www.artificial-grass-online.co.uk/thirsk-artific...

and something along the lines of

http://kotaku.com/5871156/the-tekken-figure-of-your-pin...

 

been planning this a little more after i came up with an idea whilst playing Wildstar. Im thinking of a small section using some 3g fake grass with a small anime figurine inside the case using the 2x reservoirs as a back drop

http://www.artificial-grass-online.co.uk/thirsk-artific...

and something along the lines of

http://kotaku.com/5871156/the-tekken-figure-of-your-pin...

 

I've finally made my mind up on a few things, and whilst I don't have the Thermaltake case yet (delays from supplier) I have actually managed to get started.

I've decided to keep the RoG Front Base for the Asus Ranger Motherboard. Now as the case is going to be sprayed white, I figured I should make the front base as white as possible:



First thing I need to do was get the knob off (no puns!) what a pain in the rear this was, but eventually it came off allowing me to fully strip down the electrics from the case/cover:



Once that was stripped I went out and picked the brightest white I could find which is useable on both plastics and metal. Once the screen was masked up I got to work with the primer:









I've finished applying the top coat now, i'm going to let it dry over night, check for runs and hopefully remove the tape tomorrow evening, by which time I should know if the case is in stock at Scan

 

Looks like I will be repainting this tomorrow, turns out Honda Polor white isn't exactly white

 

What ive noticed is most whites are a off white either yellow hue or to the blue hue.

 

Ye, I went back to the shop today and they let me test the colours until I found one I liked, just finishing up the top coat now. Case was despatched today also, will find out just how huge this case is tomorrow !

 

Got the RoG Front Base fully painted and re-assembled:

 

UPDATE

So today the Thermaltake case arrived and oh boy, its big!







I took a picture of it here on my desk in between an Antec 902 and a Zalman case, both are mid towers, but it does show the scale of the Core X9.



Heres a few pictures of the case before I stripped it down for painting:






Top view with cover removed and rad/fan mounts still fitted:



Motherboard tray:



PSU Area (one of two!)



Front lower and drive cages, I won't be using these in my mod unless I need 6TB in the future : )



And here is the stripped frame, when they said this was modular they weren't joking!

 

I have started painting the internal parts of the case and the front mesh, I really under estimated how much paint I would need to do this, however heres some progress:

Front fully painted



PSU Blank/Grill



selection of other parts:

 

well it's been a late one, just the 3 external panels remain to be sprayed :rock:

Transferred the 200mm Red Fan from my Antec 902 mod to use in the front of this one.



Here's some pics of things so far:

 

Very nice progress how much paint did all this take?

 

a lot more than I expected, I reckon around 15 500ml cans roughly 8 primer 7 top paint

 

UPDATE 15th Feb 2015

So I finally got around to finishing the painting today, I had the roof and side panel to paint and a few imperfections to address. So now I can say that the case is fully painted, now need to work out where I want to placed the 2x 360mm radiators and whether or not to go push or pull with the fans:

 

Just had a doodle as I was thinking of a method to mount the 2x res/pump combos higher up in the case and came up with this (excuse toddler crayoning)



By doing this I will also create somewhere to hide the cables from the pumps and fans/fan controllers on the front of the case.

To do (not 100% sure on this yet) this, thinking of either:

a) a bent piece of acrylic sprayed white with the lettering left clear then using another acrylic piece behind with red LEDs in it to light the lettering red (much like XSPC method on the raystorm and like)

b) Sheet metal, cutting and bending I can do no problems. I do however see problems cutting the letters out of the metal. If I could manage this I would use the method as above to light the lettering

 

Thanks to Mick over at Mayhems who has kindly agreed to donate the Coolants


http://mayhems.co.uk/store/ice-white-1ltr.html


http://mayhems.co.uk/store/red-1ltr.html


and as an unexpected bonus: Mayhems Blitz Pro Cleaning System

http://mayhems.co.uk/store/mayhems-blitz-pro.html?sl=en

 

Today I had some treasures arrive

 

Today I got a couple of in house engineers to help with the partition. Hopefully have it end of this week/beginning of next week with the lettering machined out
I unboxed a few things and tried a preliminary fitting of the rads and fans and I think I'm quite happy, just gotta make sure it tallies up with the partition wall.

Today I got a couple of in house engineers to help with the partition. Hopefully have it end of this week/beginning of next week with the lettering machined out
I unboxed a few things and tried a preliminary fitting of the rads and fans and I think I'm quite happy, just gotta make sure it tallies up with the partition wall.

I love these fans

 

Bit of a play on paint to give an idea of the planned loops:

 

Got the partition wall back today and I think the guys did a great job! I need to take it in again tomorrow for tweak to make it fit perfect before spraying it white, but it looks pretty good. Once the acrylic arrives I can stick the centres of the B, D and O's.



Heres the trunking im going to use to hide the cables going to the Asus Rog and Fan controller





I may have to reconsider the rad positioning for the CPU loop as the D will be covered if it goes where it's planned at the moment

 

I got the partition back today after the new adjustments and made a few alterations, aka, the hole for below the motherboard tray, holes to feed the drain lines through for the res's and started spraying it. I also received the acrylic and ordered 4x 5mm red leds. However I tried 4 x blue which I had from my xspc blocks and it looked kinda nice, shame it's against the whole colour scheme