[Build/casemod log] GAME HARD, FOLD HARDER

looks outstanding.

 

Thank you both very much! I hope to have some updates very soon.

 

This is looking superb! I really like the cabling and the white sleeving really makes the cables stand out but it doesn't distract from the rest of the colour scheme. Oh and those custom back plates are fantastic.

Great work.

 

Thank you so much for replying and good to see someone thinks the same thing I do

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Small update. I need two more panels for the final build up of a lot of stuff. I am gettign 3 panels made up atm. This is the 3rd (not needed right away) part. The 5,25 inch bays side cover. The gfx are actually a lightbox so will light up. I hope to have the render of the rear panel soon as well. The last one will be the midplate.

 

WOOHOO new render just came in. This is for the backplate. I absolutely LOVE it. It is smexy.

 

I have to say, this looks amazing! I have to ask, how did you get into doing this sort of thing?
Always wanted to, and we have the capability of doing most of the manufacturing at uni (after hours ofc ) but always been to scared to try it. What got you into modding?

 

Thank you very much.

I built my first pc 2 years ago for myself (and family). Then I built a few other PCs for friends and wanted to do something special for my brother in law. It started with just sleeving cables and then it snowballed into lots of mods to it. After that I wanted bigger and more complicated. It is like a virus. It is addictive. So do a small mod and perhaps you will catch the same virus :thumbup:

 

Today was the big day. The parts arrived! I couldn't wait to go home and open up the box.

Just to make it clear; this box is for TIM. And that's me :grad:



The lot



One illuminated midplate. I still need to make the holes in there. Forgot to ask him that :facepalm:



The rear panel.



The 5,25 bay side cover with lightbox behind the gfx.



The mobo tray extension plate customised for the Gigabyte Z77X-UP7.



A spare top grill parts because I cracked the original one because I am super clumsy :thumbdown:

 

The lightbox on the rear of the bay side cover.





Couple of rear panel shots.





One more shot of the illuminated midplate and some random parts that came with it.



I hope I can start putting it together asap. Start tomorrow preferably.
I still need one waterblock but that should be arranged very soon.

I have to thank Ricardo again for these AMAZING parts :banana: :rock: :thumbup:
Seriously man the craftmanship on these parts is second to none. You are a plexiglass wizard. I am honoured to have you on my side for this project. :clap:



www.coldzero.eu

 

Update time brethern

Today I FINALLY received a package that is the start of that phase. Because of the size of the rear panel lightbox it needs to be dissassembled to fit or lose a gfx card. Not really feel like doing that a lot. So now I have my 2nd waterblock I can go all out A waterblock, a bunch of cable holders and a Bitspower tab (good Lord are those expensive &@%^@^#%*).
I need the previously bought (used) EVGA GTX670. Tested by myself during quite some hours of folding@home and good to use.
I initially wanted to buy a KFA2 (duh) but I just needed to know if KFA2 changed the reference design PCB or if XSPC just makes lousy fitting waterblocks. I'm about to find out!
Also I feel it is time for me to show you the 2nd backplate Ricardo created for me to fit the theme. I have had it laying around since the showing of the first one. But wanted to save showing it untill now. Design wise this time no brand, just blending with the theme for now. Another toppiece if I may say so myself. here are the pictures

 

Now I am going to have fun building it, hopefully get pictures of that VERY soon.

See ya!

Thanks AGAIN Ricardo. Awesome piece of work. No other way of saying it. "The pleximaster" strikes again! :rock: :clap: :thumb:



www.coldzero.eu

 

I ask of you. Mr. XSPC. Is it reallt THAT hard to make a waterblock that fits gfx card with a reference PCB? Is it really that hard? :wallbash: Since, you know, it is your core business and all.
I have tried fitting two blocks on two different brand reference PCb gfx cards. And both give me different issues fitting it. I bet if I go and order blocks from EKWB or Aquacomputer it will fit like a glove on both cards no questions asked. As you can see in the following pictures the orange outlined hight is now an issue. This makes the block not touching the PCB and parts on that side. Look at it. I have the thermal pads fitted and you can look right through there, there is like another 1-2mm room between it. I will have to dremel :dremel: the crevas deeper into the plexi. Either that or do it with a drill on a stand hoping to do a small bit of CNC work myself on it. Man oh man what an ill-designed waterblocks are these. So beautiful, yet so ill-fitting. #RANT!!!





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A couple of days later...

And I finally finished modding it. Had some time today, borrowed my brothers drillstand. Thankfully my powerdrill fitted perfectly. All German engineering. It doesn't get much better

This time I added a live action photo of me for a change hahaha. Hope you like it.

You can see the before and after photos of the block. The plexi middle piece had to be hollowed out by about 2mm.

And finally the card is about finished. The paint on the PCI slot plate is drying now.

















ONWARDS TO SOME ACTUAL BUILDING!!!!

 

I received a mysterious package the other day. Check it out.













Hooray :clap:

Sir Michael of Mayhems was so kind to donate me 3 liters of their orange coolant and some red and yellow dye to perfect it to the brightest orange I could think of.
Freaking amazing Mike :rock: Thank you very much. I am honored you're willing to put your name on this case. :thumb:



http://www.mayhems.co.uk/front/#.UctQxpxdUoI

 

Big update time. Today I did the final fitting adjustments so I could fit all new plexi parts. I did a small photosession after that. With bad lighting, but just to give you the general idea of how it is coming together now.

First I drilled two 20mm holes for the fillports. After this I took out the mobo tray completely and fitted the bay cover and the illuminated midplate. I also fitted the new backplate of the case. And finally I put the lightbox on the inside of the backplate. This will light up the lion on the rear panel just like the gfx on the bay side cover will be lit by a large lightbox behind the cover.

Lets do some less typing and let the photos do the talking. Really not good quality. But it does give the general idea.

 

Next jobs to do: fit all the sleeved cables and make them also fit through the wonderfull "combs" on the mobo extension plate. Make my own large set of fan extension cables and fit them to the fancontroller. Sleeve (and shorten) the wiring from the D5 pump.



www.coldzero.eu

 

Small update. I finally came around to make all my fan extension cables tonight. 9 pieces in various lengths I believe. I measures how long every fan extension needed to be. Wrote it down and took a seat
I will sleeve them tomorrow I think. They will be all black. They just need to look clean not be noticed a lot
It just needs to look tidy.



I also received a small package from an UK watercooling shop. I wanted to try out a few shops just to see how fast they ship and how good their prices are and also very important how good their stock is. I hate it when shops need to order stuff themselves and it takes weeks or longer for it to arrive to them. I don't have tie for that. Anyway, bought me two 90 degree EKWB adapters (who needs Bitspower with these looks and prices), an XSPC SLI connector to connect two pci slots that are directly next to eachother, a very heave Alphacool T-section. I will use this to fit the tab for the loop at the lowest point. And a male-male Alphacool connector to be able to fit that tab to the T-piece





Hopefully I can mount some stuff tomorrow or sunday. I still need to also sleeve the pump wiring (and shorten the 4 pin on that a lot. It is now almost all wiring, cablemanagement and hoses/pipes. After that the LEDs and their LED board. And after that.....leaktesting.

 

Time for an update.

After many weeks of labour finally my attic is now the bedroom for my youngest daughter. She has left the babyroom and now has her own bedroom with floorspace to play with toys and such. And now sleeps in a big bed. My girls are getting big :sigh:

On the bright side. Now I could finally start transforming her old babyroom into my stash and modifying / sleeving room :rock:
I put up my first (of 2 or 3) desks and finally took my baby home. I can now finally work on her much easier and faster. Room for storage, room for building, not having to clean up everything everytime.
I am in modding heaven



I have done some stuff on the build I forgot to take photos of. Here are a few things.

Last time I fitted my custom made extension cables for the fans. I now have no wiring in sight from the side. Al nicely tucked under the radiator stand Muderbox-style. Awesome design guys, I love it!







Now they all come up on the frontside of the case. You can still see some sleeved wiring there but I will make a small plate to hide them all.
They have been fitted to the fancontroller. As well as the 3 top fans. I need to do some cablemanagement but cannot find the cable-management-clips I bought a year ago. Poooooh. I need to find them :wallbash:





I also started figuring out the hose routing. Fitted some fittings to see if I have enough and the correct type.

I had to change the very nice looking Bitspower fillports for far less good looking Alphacool ones. In the pictures you can see why.
I am just glad Alphacool sells them. No other brand has such long fillports. Ideal for midplates as you can see.







I also fitted the XSPC SLI fitting. Looks very nice and stealthy. Now lets hope it doesn't leak.

 

Finally I have been busy building a small monitoring block. A USB Aquacomputer flowmeter and tempsensor. They will be placed in between the radiator and the midplate going to the waterblocks. Going to use them with the aquasuite software.









That is it for tonight everyone. Expect more updates soon!

 

Did some more work yesterday. Yesterday I realised I cannot fill the loop when I have closed the front end completely. And I have to close the front end completely to fill the loop.

PARADOX!!!

I did not want to mutulate the outside of the case to create a fillport. So I instead wanted to create one on the left side 5,25 inch bay.
I had ordered a tool for some decent hole making for fillports from Aquacomputer.
I first drilled a hole with a regular metal drill, then used the tapped drillbit and man it went like the sidepanel as if it was butter.
But the bits of metal were flying all over the place. I used a vacuum cleaner under it but still missed a lot of bits flying. I had to vacuum the inside of the case as well
Finished the fillport off with an Aquacomputer pressure equalisation membrane.

I also started to create the loop in the front and bottom part. I have a 90 degree fitting coming in for the left fillport through the midplate. It will let the tubing block the fan less.
I put soft pads for under chars etc and stuck it under the flowmeter and Alphacool square block. No scratching and no noise.

I have found another xspc annoying thing; their top reservoir screw is an M20 one. Which means it is incompatible with any other brand fitting. And yes I used the Bitspower fillport as well, but the thread are smaller.
So I had to order an XSPC fillport for their reservoirs. Which of course didn't come in black so I have to use a shiny one instead. And NO ONE has one in the listing let alone in stock in Holland. So I had to order from the UK again. Which means again a long wait before I can move on. Stupid me for thinking I was almost done

AAARRGGHHHHHHHHHHH

Oh well, I started on doing some cable management as well. Making sure some wiring will be nice and out of sight using cable clips.

 

This does not look right.