Project Citrus.

Bradley8988 · 6 Sep 2008 at 18:21

Project: Citrus.

This will be my second build but theres a few aspects that I havent worked with before so there will be a few things to overcome along the way.
I am mainly doing this because i of my last case (A70) was just really too big for what i wanted and was actually quite loud evan though it was part watercooled.

This build is based apon a Lian-li V350 in silver but I plan on it been all custom watercooled if I can find room and if My rad is up to the job.

Ok lets have alook at the spec planned:

Hardware.

Lian-li V350.
E8600.
Dfi LANPARTY JR P45-T2RS
8GB XMS2 Dominator PC2-8500C5.
Sapphire ATI HD4870.
HIS ATI HD4870.
LG Blue ray reader.
Samsung F1 750GB
Silverstone DA850w

Watercooling.

Dtek fusion v2 CPU block.
2x EK 4870 Full cover block.
XSPC RS240.
DDC 18w + Alphacool Acrylic top.
All on Dtek Highflow barbs.
Tubing and coils yet to decide.

Part 1.

First things first to unpack the case, and right away its a little worrying how small the box is... Anyway its packaged well so alls good.

Next its time to strip a few bits out but that was more of a problem then first thought as I still dont own a Dremal. My modding tool is my trusty 4" grinder with 1mm cutting disc.
hour or so cutting a drilling all the needed rivets were gone and parts removed.

Looks quite roomy now, shame it wont stay that way.

Iv also covered all the edges around with black rubber edging to try reduce the cuts I will end up getting along the way and Imo it just looks better.

Will post bk soon.

Bradley8988 · 6 Sep 2008 at 21:39

Update

My last case was cut and parts removed a lot so this one im trying to work all the watercooling around it. Due to the size of the case and the parts going inside iv decided against a res and just a fill port right into the top of my pump. I didn't have a fill port in my last rig so was my first time drilling one. spent 10 mins measuring before i went for it. didn't turn out too bad really and pipes just clear the back of the dvd drive.

With the foam hopefully there isnt too much vibration.

Back soon.

Bradley8988 · 6 Sep 2008 at 21:47

im doing rad now but gotta do a little modding to get the 4870's to evan fit in with the water blocks.

Bradley8988 · 6 Sep 2008 at 22:08

thats a secret

Bradley8988 · 7 Sep 2008 at 15:52

Guardsmon said:
Looks good. Look forward to seeing more. You've got the task of making it look better than V|PER's now though

Challenge accepted!

Bradley8988 · 7 Sep 2008 at 16:14

Update

My EK blocks arrive so time mount them to the cards as i will need to do some modding to the hdd cage to get them to fit.

Shame the cards are not the same make as the boards are different colors but i got the HIS second hand and a little cheaper so cant moan really. :001_unsure:

Then my Blocks from my mate Tom from wales.

Both of them assembled all shiny.

Now to fit them. My first time watercooling GPU's but all pretty simple fitting them, would like to test them but cant untill i have mobo and loop is ready.

As you can see the diff colors....

Really like the look of the red one, shame the others blue.

Now to start to mod the hdd cage.

Iv had to cut the bottom out of the cage as the cards rise up too far but this wasnt much of a problem and gave me another idea.

As the cooling is the big issue of a case this size and im only using a single 750Gb hdd iv removed the rails that hold the second hdd and cut them so there like little shelves for a 120mm fan to sit on just above the cards and below my Sammy F1.

With a fan fitted just clears above and below nicely.

Thats it for today.

Bradley8988 · 7 Sep 2008 at 18:43

Try and get to work so i can order than dfi mobo lol. rad should be mostly done tomorrow.

Bradley8988 · 7 Sep 2008 at 19:22

lol im sure sapphire might say something if i ever send it bk. thx.

Bradley8988 · 8 Sep 2008 at 11:05

Update.

Ok Time to tackle the rad placement. I went for a XSPC rad as a thermochill rad would just of been way too big for the case even though i would have liked one. Anyway at first i planned on just mounting my fans straight to the rad the somehow fixing the rad to the front cage but due to the power connectors for my GPU's been on the cards end there wont be enough room to plug them in. So i thought of another way around it was to mount the fans on the very front side of that cage just above the vents with the rad on the other. I had 2 Scythe S-Flex 1200's delivered as the lian ones just arnt as quiet and quality. Had to do some drilling to mount it all but all turned out pretty good(just hope it cools ok).

Front side.

Inner case rear side.

Cable just needs braiding to finish it but test fitting all fits nice.

Thanks.

Bradley8988 · 8 Sep 2008 at 11:37

Thanks for comments. I just hope this little rad will cope with a clocked 8500 and 2 clocked 4870's.

TheRedZealot said:
The blue 4870 looks wierd to me, my sapphire was red.

Yea i know, dunno why that would be.

To do list.

Order mobo.
Figure out which way tubings routed.
Holes for cables to run etc.
replace the rear 120mm and 80mm fans with some nicer aftermarket ones.
Braid Braid Braid.
Order blue ray drive and get custom face made up for it.
Find some small UV cathodes and fit all the lighting.
and finally LEAK TEST

Sneak Peak.

Bradley8988 · 8 Sep 2008 at 12:08

lol yea. Should tie the orange on the mobo in nicely!

Bradley8988 · 8 Sep 2008 at 12:37

well i got banned from driving so work is here and there so im on a budget. on another forums it looks like they think that rad wont handle the cards and cpu so i may have to rethink the rad for a better one or add another somewhere lol. So far ima just keep it all silver with orange water but things change so idk.

Bradley8988 · 8 Sep 2008 at 13:01

It may do but i want to keep everything internal right now. it "should" fit here but then im stuck for Hdd placement.

Bradley8988 · 8 Sep 2008 at 13:40

well there is a vent at the rear with a 80mm fan pulling out now which seems best but i agree that the air would want to be cool. its problem after problem...

Bradley8988 · 8 Sep 2008 at 14:24

It wont fit stood upright no. from the roof down theres 95mm so - 35 (for the rad) 25mm (for the fan) leaves just enough for 2 90degree fittings hopefully and enough for some airflow.

Bradley8988 · 8 Sep 2008 at 15:24

Update.

Well i dont wanna cut the external case. i want it to look stock as possible inside and out. not sure about the rad yet but will have one delivered towards the end of the week to sort that. but at the moment it seems my only option so iv moved the Hdd to a floppy adapter below the dvd drive. I modded the adapter with a black face to hide the hdd inside.

Before.

After.

This also causes problems with the tubing from my pump so i may have to do some modding to get them running nice.

I cant really do much more untill i have more parts so will update later this week.

Bradley8988 · 10 Sep 2008 at 17:39

lol. will have updates very soon.

Bradley8988 · 12 Sep 2008 at 16:49

Update

Finally have a little update. Some of my new hardware arrived today so just missing final 2 pieces that will hopefully get here tomorrow if the royal mail get there act together. Anyway.

I sold my PS3 to help fund this build so was only fair to get a new Blue-ray/HD-DVD drive.

Really well packed.

As you can see though its a fair bit longer than my old dvd drive which i wasnt expecting. This normally be a problem but in a case this small its created more problems.

Next Some more Ram. Had some money spare so i thought why not get another 4GB.

And last but not least my first new mobo.

Had to test under UV. Its gunna match perfectly.

Will update once fitted and a little further on.

Bradley8988 · 13 Sep 2008 at 19:27

Update.

Yesterday after test fitting mobo etc.

More delivery's this morning.

More fans. i think these are the last.

Then what i hope is my last 775 cpu.

Anyway had to have a test to see if it all worked and shes finally running kinda. Both cards are in the loop but the CPU is still air cooled untill i fit this other rad but its not leaking so thats a start. Gotta a lot of modding to do to get this all to fit with the sides closed and sort the cables out...

Bradley8988 · 13 Sep 2008 at 19:32

And Hands up to viper as this wouldnt be half the build without his and tbh i wouldnt have even thought of doing something this small.