SR-2 840 STACKER

coolmiester · 7 Mar 2011 at 18:45

Can i first of all apologies as this mod has been going some time now and posted on other forum but i went ahead and posted a few finished pictures in Case Central and its seems questions may be asked.

So for anyone that happens to click on it thinking its just started, sit tight and get you right up to date in asap - Please bear with me as this may take some time (and i may need a smoke break at some point)

I know its been way too long and these damn 840's have been breeding :eek:

Some serious cooling needed for this EVGA SR-2 board and although the 840 is a pretty big case it was obviously going to be to small for 3 loops so lets get "stacking"

Anyway, i was looking at my separates under the TV and liked how they stacked with the round silver feet showing in between so decided to do something similar with the two 840's and make a stacked rad box to fit on top.

I'm thinking a couple of 480 radiators up top - one for the CPU's and one for the full board block and and a couple of MIP's RAM Freezers.

I'm removing the hard drive caddy from the main 840 and will be mounting two 240's there for the graphics cards.

So, i did a bit of a crude mock up with bits of chewing gum just to see how things look

MINI 840 anyone

System Spec:
Coolermaster ATCs 840 Chassis x2
Intel X5650's
EVGA SR-2 Motherboard
12GB Crucial RAM
Kingston 64GB SSD's
Coolermaster Silent Pro Gold 1200w PSU

Watercooling Spec:
MIPS MB and RAM Freezer Blocks
Watercool HK3 CPU Blocks
Bitspower Carbon Black fittings
Phobya Radiators (2x 480 & 2x 240)
Koolance RP-450X2 Bay-Res x2
Laing D5 Pumps x3

coolmiester · 7 Mar 2011 at 18:46

I got to hold one of the early samples at CeBIT in March 2010 but i forgot how big they actually are but none the less it, what a fantastic piece of kit.

Anyway couldn't resist sticking a few dual PCB 295's in there just to see how it looked

......blocks all ordered

coolmiester · 7 Mar 2011 at 18:46

Well i finished off fabricating the rad box and got it riveted back together so decided to test fit one of the 480 rads which fit perfect so all the measuring paid off.

The whole top will be replaced with a 6mm thick piece of aluminium with a vent that will match both sides of the box but more on that later - just added the original top to see how things were looking and i'm well chuffed.

And finally, i couldn't resist a photo next to the mini H20 Cosmos

coolmiester · 7 Mar 2011 at 18:48

Nothing to see really but couldn't resist firing this thing up on the table

I didn't think i had a PSU that would work but found a new Coolermaster Silent Pro M 1000w which has 2x CPU 12v 4+4 Pin and 6x PCIe 6+2 Pin and works a treat though not tried any 295's yet but booted and loaded W7 on a 74GB Raptor with a 285 and all seems well.

Time to play :cool:

coolmiester · 7 Mar 2011 at 18:49

Still waiting on blocks but before i get the 480 rads mounted in the rad box, i'm going to do some simple testing to see which way is best for airflow etc but they do fit perfectly

coolmiester · 7 Mar 2011 at 18:49

Big thanks to Michael at MIP's for getting me the SR-2 blocks along with a couple of HK3's and RAM Freezers.

I pre-ordered some M3 stand-off along with some M3 Hex bolts so could go ahead and mount the HK3's using the standard SR-2 back plates so couldn't resist to do a dry run to see how things look

coolmiester · 7 Mar 2011 at 18:50

Three Kazemaster fan controllers turned up for the rad box so time to make a bezel to hold them.

Just wish they had turned up earlier so i could have got them all mounted but ran out of time so one down, two to go and at least the weather is going to hold out all weekend so more to come over the next few days.

coolmiester · 7 Mar 2011 at 18:51

Oops, missed a couple of pictures out!

I used my trusty Fret Saw with piercing 12 x 32tpi blades for the cut outs

coolmiester · 7 Mar 2011 at 18:52

WeeeHeeeeeeeeeeee

Finished the bezel for the rad box which worked out good even though there is a few slight imperfection - fan controllers are just stuck in with Blu Tack for the time being and the whole thing still needs powder coated and painted but that's it pretty much done

coolmiester · 7 Mar 2011 at 18:53

Couldn't resist doing a bit of a mock up held together with bubble gum and string

coolmiester · 7 Mar 2011 at 18:55

Massive thanks to Vincent at Bitspower who shares the same birthday as me for making me some Carbon Fittings to match the case :cool:

Got the extended motherboard tray all made up and added the rails for it to slide in and out but took photos with wrong WB and they came out crap so i'll have to take more pictures once it stops raining.

Also the front bezel SR-2 logo which i did have the correct setting on the camera and added some scrap red plexi behind but the plan is to fill up the logo with red Crystal Resin so its flush and light it from behind.........maybe!

coolmiester · 7 Mar 2011 at 18:56

Decided to make a replica motherboard tray out of yellow plexi so i could align all the stand-offs to the motherboard rather than straight into the metal tray itself so if any adjustments needed making i could do it in the plexi rather than the tray itself.

Dropped in a couple of old graphics cards to make sure it was all in the right place and all the measuring and double checking paid off as all 11 stand-offs were in the correct position in the plexi so it was a simple case of just using the plexi as a template laid on the actual motherboard tray to drill the holes for real and jobs a gud'n apart from a bit of patchwork needed around the back panel.

Also couldn't resist a couple of block shots with the Bitspower fittings :cool:

coolmiester · 7 Mar 2011 at 18:57

It fits \o/

The new motherboard tray is 365 x 395mm as appose to the original at 335 x 350mm so for the tray to still remains functional and still removable i had to adjust the rails in the case slightly.

Was a pretty easy fix by simply adjusting the height of the top rail with a bit of cutting and a new little bracket riveted in which all looks a little rough at present but should be fine once its all stripped down and powder coated but all in all i’m happy with the fit.

coolmiester · 7 Mar 2011 at 18:59

I got to give a BIG shout out to Crucial UK who came good with a couple of 6GB kits of RAM. It wasn't my first choice kit but given the current economy, i'm more than grateful for them getting involved in the first place so thanks Crucial.

Still not sure on SSD's yet but still a little while to go before i'll be needing those.

Anyway, got all 12GB added to the MIP's RAM Freezers and hopefully should get a bit of proper case mods done over the holidays but i've been a little worried to ChainSaw any further until i decide on reservoirs.

Carbon Black Bitspower fittings :cool:

coolmiester · 7 Mar 2011 at 19:00

Well, time to make a whole new top cover for the rad box as i won’t be needing the power/reset button and just wanted something that looked a bit different as i’ve never really been to keen on the look of the standard 840 fan grills.

Got one large piece of 7mm alu which will cover the entire top – all i got to do is round off the front to mimic the original, then cut the vent in and finally chamfer the edges.

Lets see if my little B&D jigsaw can cope with 7mm alu

Still got to draw file all edges and put the 45 degree angle on there but time and cold beat me today

coolmiester · 7 Mar 2011 at 19:01

Well after humming and harring about which pump/reservoirs i was going to use, the final decision came down to what would actually fit.

Due to the placement of the bottom two 240 radiators i'm going to lose at least one drive bay, probably two and given i'm going to be running three loops it came down to a couple of RP-450X2's.

I got to say my initial impression of these is nice but those logo's just had to go so set about making them fit in with the rest of the mod.

I had to ditch the original bezels and black M3 hex bolts and replace them with slightly shorter countersink ones so once the plexi had been countersunk, the heads would be flush to allow my new hand cut bezels to mount directly to the plexi.

The last couple of mock-up shots show how they fit in with a wide screen TFT just below - obviously they will be powder coated and painted in the not to distant future

coolmiester · 7 Mar 2011 at 19:02

Got the side panels cut down to size for the rad box and then went about fitting four flush mount vents using the mesh out of Bitspower rad grills and used the actual grill as the template to hand cut the four openings pretty much as i did a while back on a Corsair 800D mod which gives that kinnda simple but effective kind of look and should look good with the red LED fans behind.

Just got to do the other side now and then two in each side of the main case but i think i'll concentrate on getting the rad box finished before moving onto the main chassis

coolmiester · 7 Mar 2011 at 19:03

Well i just turned the standard 6 drive bays into 4 to allow the two radiators to mount below in a separate little rad box.

Sounds easy..........well it was really but i had to be double sure of all measurements while cutting down the original drive cage and also while folding the new rad box as 1mm out and it would throw the entire chassis out but luckily my measuring skills didn't let me down and everything lines up perfect and square :cool:

I'm trying to get everything finished so i can go about stripping it all down and getting it to powder coat by Friday.

coolmiester · 7 Mar 2011 at 19:04

Still a canny way to go but i just thought i’d show you this nice neat little hose routing from top to bottom of the chassis which turned out pretty good and a few other random shots of where things are at the end of the day

Got all the chassis back from powder coaters at lunch time today in totally flawless Carbon Black to match the Carbon Bitspower fittings and set about getting it built back up which is the bit i like best seeing it all come together.

Anyway, my life is currently on hold until i get this complete as it starts its journey to Germany for CeBit on the 22nd so best get my skates on :eek:

coolmiester · 7 Mar 2011 at 19:06

Today was a good day - got the top hand made bezel fitted to the top chassis with the power / reset and LEDs all mounted and grill installed.

Best part of the day though was hose routing both the motherboard / RAM loop and the CPU loop - both turned out really well considering the amount of hose involved so only the GPU loop to do which is pretty straight forward but still waiting on cards to turn up :eek:

but apart from that, i seem to be making good progress