Ok gents, not a build log as such, more a rebuilding of my current rig.
At the start of the year I decided to watercool on a budget, not for Xtr33m performance, for quietness. This meant cooling both CPU and GPU (Q6600 and GTX280 respectively).
My results were good, temps and noise way down, but the aesthetics of it were, well, judge for yourselves:
It did the job but was cumbersome and ugly.
Some changes were needed.
Number one on the agenda was to move the rad inside, not a simple feat with a mid tower case. Second was to just tidy up the looks a little.
The first step was to gut the case.
Next I had to decide where to mount the rad, the roof seemed like the best bet. The trouble is that the roof of the CM-690 is a double layer, with the steel top of the chassis and then a plastic/mesh facia placed on top.
Removing this top panel showed:
The steel roof I'd have to mount the rad on...
and the mesh/plastic facia I'd have to butcher...
Much banging and clattering later I had the facia cut out to house the rad
and then placed everything on top of the case to see how it looked
Things were looking much neater now, but not quite good enough, cue the obligatry black sprayed interior and not so obligatory rear exhaust fan grill removal.
Before showing the pics of the finished article I'd just like to take a minute to list a few hardware changes which took place between the original build and the revised edition:
Mobo - Sold the P5Q deluxe and replaced with with a Maximus formula (flashed to Rampage formula) as I was offered a good price for the P5Q and got the Maximus at a steal.
RAM - the 4x1GB 800mhz was sold and swapped for a more convenient 2x2gb 1066mhz at a cost of about £1.
PSU - Swapped the 650 for the modular 620 for a profit.
HDD - I'm now running off a 7200 RPM laptop drive rather than desktop drive in an effort to cut down on noise (SSDs can't drop in price soon enough!).
Anyway, here are a few pics of the result:
I'm fairly pleased with it now, though I can still think of a few things to improve it. Namely braiding the bare cables and replacing the noctua.
***I'd just like to say sorry for the picture quality, my camera has bitten the dust so my poor old phone had to do it's best.***
At the start of the year I decided to watercool on a budget, not for Xtr33m performance, for quietness. This meant cooling both CPU and GPU (Q6600 and GTX280 respectively).
My results were good, temps and noise way down, but the aesthetics of it were, well, judge for yourselves:
It did the job but was cumbersome and ugly.
Some changes were needed.
Number one on the agenda was to move the rad inside, not a simple feat with a mid tower case. Second was to just tidy up the looks a little.
The first step was to gut the case.
Next I had to decide where to mount the rad, the roof seemed like the best bet. The trouble is that the roof of the CM-690 is a double layer, with the steel top of the chassis and then a plastic/mesh facia placed on top.
Removing this top panel showed:
The steel roof I'd have to mount the rad on...
and the mesh/plastic facia I'd have to butcher...
Much banging and clattering later I had the facia cut out to house the rad
and then placed everything on top of the case to see how it looked
Things were looking much neater now, but not quite good enough, cue the obligatry black sprayed interior and not so obligatory rear exhaust fan grill removal.
Before showing the pics of the finished article I'd just like to take a minute to list a few hardware changes which took place between the original build and the revised edition:
Mobo - Sold the P5Q deluxe and replaced with with a Maximus formula (flashed to Rampage formula) as I was offered a good price for the P5Q and got the Maximus at a steal.
RAM - the 4x1GB 800mhz was sold and swapped for a more convenient 2x2gb 1066mhz at a cost of about £1.
PSU - Swapped the 650 for the modular 620 for a profit.
HDD - I'm now running off a 7200 RPM laptop drive rather than desktop drive in an effort to cut down on noise (SSDs can't drop in price soon enough!).
Anyway, here are a few pics of the result:
I'm fairly pleased with it now, though I can still think of a few things to improve it. Namely braiding the bare cables and replacing the noctua.
***I'd just like to say sorry for the picture quality, my camera has bitten the dust so my poor old phone had to do it's best.***