Project -Element-

iB CoMpL3XiTy · 7 Dec 2011 at 23:58

Hey guys and girls I feel like a 6 year old at Xmas

I'm starting my new project, project Element, its named Element as the elements (Fire,Water, Air, Earth...) contrast each other and my build's colour theme is black & White (Didn't want to call it something more obvious like YingYang or Contrast) :rolleyes:

Anywho the main objectives of the build are to create a PC that can be quiet when needed, have monster performance and look like the muts nuts (not literally, that would be silly) :cool:

Now that all important spec list:

Coolermaster ATCS840
Core i7 3930K
Gigabyte X79 UD3
2 x 2GB 1866MhzCL9 RAM (Budget won't allow for more at the moment)
Corsair F120GBV2 SSD
XFX Black EditionPro 1000W Platinum
XFX HD5450 (waiting for 7xxx series)
MDPC-X Sleeving
Swifttech Apogee HD waterblock
EK Coolstream XT240 Radiator
Magicool Xtreme 360 Radiator
Phobya Balancer 250 black nickle
Laing D5 Vario
Koolance Top
EK and Koolance fittings
White 1/2" Tubing
Mayhems Oil Black Coolant

Some stuff hasn't been decided, Oh and the graphics card is beast :eek:

The ATCS840 is going to receive some light modding:

1) Cut side panel window
2) Get rid of the HDD rack, Will mount 120.2Rad there
3) Will have to cut into the 5.25"bays to accomidate Rad
4) Drill hole in roof for fill port
5) Paint MoBo tray white
6) Most other internals will be sprayed black

I'll be sleeving everything in MDPC-X sleeve.

Some parts will arrive tomorrow, most watercooling stuff and the sleeving will arrive early next week.

Can't wait to get started! Pictures tomorrow

iB CoMpL3XiTy · 9 Dec 2011 at 16:23

Some hardware has arrived so on with the pictures.

Told you the Graphics card is beast

More to come soon!

madindehead · 9 Dec 2011 at 16:48

Nice to see someone else with an ATCS 840!

I'm away to start my build too in my ATCS 840, but it won't be receiving much modding on the case. Will be interesting to see how yours looks when it's finished. Might give me some ideas

That mobo is sexy as! Very nice!

As for feeling like a kid at Christmas: I know the feeling. Parts arrived today, was amazing!

iB CoMpL3XiTy · 9 Dec 2011 at 17:03

madindehead said:
Nice to see someone else with an ATCS 840!

I'm away to start my build too in my ATCS 840, but it won't be receiving much modding on the case. Will be interesting to see how yours looks when it's finished. Might give me some ideas That mobo is sexy as! Very nice!

As for feeling like a kid at Christmas: I know the feeling. Parts arrived today, was amazing!

Yeah I really like the looks of the ATCS 840, not much plastic, removable mobo tray and great modding potential. I should receive mine on Monday or Tuesday along with the rest of the watercooling goodies.

And yeah the mobo is awesome to look at, its not a high end X79 board but it has the features I need is within budget, should also go with the colour scheme well.

Lol I think I'm an unboxing addict!

madindehead · 9 Dec 2011 at 17:20

Ah, so you don't have the 840 yet? It's a lovely case. Pretty massive. I think it's similar in dimensions to a TJ-07 (almost).

I've had mine for about 2 years, still really good. I have seen some really nice mods done with it. Really ace for a triple rad in the roof too. And the 230mm fans in it are beastly

Only thing I don't like, is the front panels on the 5.25" bays fall in quite easily if you knock them. I will need to sort mine eventually and make them more sturdy!

iB CoMpL3XiTy · 9 Dec 2011 at 17:45

madindehead said:
Ah, so you don't have the 840 yet? It's a lovely case. Pretty massive. I think it's similar in dimensions to a TJ-07 (almost).

I've had mine for about 2 years, still really good. I have seen some really nice mods done with it. Really ace for a triple rad in the roof too. And the 230mm fans in it are beastly Only thing I don't like, is the front panels on the 5.25" bays fall in quite easily if you knock them. I will need to sort mine eventually and make them more sturdy!

Nah it'll be early next week, cant wait to get a hold of it and finalize my modding plans.... There's only so much you can do with pictures.

Thanks for the heads up, I may have to get the drill out and screw them in place.

madindehead · 9 Dec 2011 at 17:52

iB CoMpL3XiTy said:
Nah it'll be early next week, cant wait to get a hold of it and finalize my modding plans.... There's only so much you can do with pictures.

Thanks for the heads up, I may have to get the drill out and screw them in place.

Yeah, they are quite annoying. They only have little plastic clips on the inside:

iB CoMpL3XiTy · 9 Dec 2011 at 18:17

Thanks for the pic, Yeah those little plastic clips look useless...Nothing some power tools won't solve

iB CoMpL3XiTy · 12 Dec 2011 at 22:30

At first I thought *Yeah! Sleeving has arrived, I can start work on my project!*

Now I'm like... ffs, this takes AGES! I'm looking forward to the results though

Watercooling and case goodies tomorrow, would have taken 5 days for delivery!, my package from Germany only took 4, shame on you royalmail!

Mawat · 12 Dec 2011 at 23:50

Ooo nicee. I like the sleeving, I'll see how you get on. Watched loads of guides and really wanna sleeve my build when I do it

iB CoMpL3XiTy · 14 Dec 2011 at 22:21

Small update:

Done some more sleeving today, Got the 24pin, 8pin and a sata power done

Still along way to go though.

Case has arrived, I've stripped it down and started planning out my window design. More on that later.

Watercooling goodies arrived today, expect more pics tomorrow

iB CoMpL3XiTy · 15 Dec 2011 at 21:23

watercooling pics will have to wait until tomorrow, I got caught up in chopping the case up and sleeving the PSU

I've removed the HDD bay, my EK Coolstream XT 240 will go there (somehow)

I also started work on removing the bottom of the 5.25" bay to make room for the rad.

Rik1254 · 15 Dec 2011 at 21:40

How much did all that braid cost you?
I really want to do mine, but its going to cost something silly like £50 just to braid 5-6 cables.

Nice build BTW

iB CoMpL3XiTy · 15 Dec 2011 at 21:59

Rik1254 said:
How much did all that braid cost you?
I really want to do mine, but its going to cost something silly like £50 just to braid 5-6 cables.

Nice build BTW

My order from MDPC-X was £95 inc del, it included 30 meters of black sleeve, 10 meters of white, and 10 meters of grey, thats enough sleeve for most PSU's + a few fans.

My order included some cable management clips, sleeving tool, heatshrink, screws and bolts.

The sleeve costs 8 euros for 10 meters so you should be able to braid your PSU for about £60-70 (including heatshrink and sleeving tool).

abit expensive but I think its worth it as you can make the cables look individual with whatever colours you want and the quality is excellent.

iB CoMpL3XiTy · 16 Dec 2011 at 21:20

Watercooling Pics!

Finished cutting out the 5.25" bay today, gonna need to fabricate and solder some brackets to mount the EK XT240 in the front of the case... should be fun

Whats left to do:

-Finish painting mobo tray, paint rest of case
-create brackets for 240 Rad
-Finish sleeving Fans and sleeve pump
-cut side panel window
-cut hole for drain port
-install hardware
-leak test
-install software/OS
-Game on my HD5450 (LOL)!

iB CoMpL3XiTy · 17 Dec 2011 at 19:35

UPDATE: Made the brackets today, solder wouldn't have been strong enough to hold the weight of the rad + fans and water. Got out the drill and got to work

Bottom bracket was easy, found some metal, measured up the holes and got drilling (gigidy)

For the top bracket I bent the cut out from the 5.25" drive bay, then cut it down to size with a dremel:

Here's how it looks without the rad:

Test fitting the fans and rad:

Still needs some work but its pretty much there

iB CoMpL3XiTy · 19 Dec 2011 at 20:10

Managed to cut the side panel today, just need to source some U-Channel and I can then complete the window. Mobo tray has been painted and case frame will be painted tomorrow (hopefully).

Sorry for the poor quality photo:

iB CoMpL3XiTy · 21 Dec 2011 at 11:06

Only thing to do now is finish painting the main frame of the case, then its time to start building the rig

Bit nervous to find out if I got a dog of a CPU or a good overclocker... damn silicon lottery

Unfortunately I don't have anywhere to mount the drain port.. I wanted to mount it right behind the USB/Headphone jack thingie but the top plate it thicker than the fillports thread :/

Pics of the painted case assembled soon!

Thanks for everyones interest LOL

iB CoMpL3XiTy · 27 Dec 2011 at 16:14

Painting is finally finished! (Yay!)

Still need some U-Channel (please send me a PM if you know where I can get some, thanks)

Here's the case in its new black and white state, its not perfect but I dont own a rivet gun so couldn't take it apart completely and spray each part seperately to get the best result.

More to come soon, I'll be starting the building process tomorrow.

Tibbz2 · 27 Dec 2011 at 16:56

Very nice, looks great so far