Project First & Last

ChrisLandin

ChrisLandin

ChrisLandin

Associate
Joined
10 Jun 2009
Posts
2,225
Location
Darlington
Hi guys / gals.

I've been on the forum a while now and I've picked up many usefull tips and ideas, so I've decided to make a log of my build.

I'm in no way shape or form a professional craftsman. In fact I work in a supermarket so my DIY skills are very limited so please don't blast me if this goes pear shaped.

I've seen some cracking builds on OCUK over the last couple of years and if I can achieve only half of what some of you guys have done I will be proud of myself.

The title is for the following reason, my other half is pregnant so quite simply this is my first build log and its deffinately my last as funds are being channelled into baby's nursery, prams etc.

So the goal is to fully watercool my htpc and also turn it into a very very capable gaming machine ( not that I envisage getting much time in the future to play games ).

Spec wise here we go:

Antec Fusion Max Case
Asus Gene -Z Z68 mobo
Intel i5 2500k
16gb Corsair Dominator Ram
Sapphire HD7970
OCZ 240gb SSD
Seagate 1.5 tb drive
Seagate 750 gb drive
WD Green 500gb drive
LG bluray drive
Nexus 850w psu.

Watercooling:

Xspc 360 rad
EK 120 rad
EK multioption res
D5 pump
Alpha cool D5 top
EK Dominator ram block
EK Asus Gene MOSFET block
EK 7970 fullcover block
EK Nickel CPU block
EK Compressions
7/16 Clearflex tubing
Mayhems Pastel Blueberry
Alpenfonn fans ( blue )

So that's the spec of the build. I'm hoping to have this build completed over the next week or so, so keep checking back and of course please chip in with pointers or advice if I'm going wrong. This build is gonna have to last a while!
 
How it looked at 9am this morning.
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The missus went out ( making cake pops ) so I was at a loose end so I thought lets create.

A pic of some of the hardware coming up I've assembled :-)
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Next up is the rats nest of a htpc we used to use daily for web browsing, word processing and the odd game.

Please ignore the 7970 I slotted it in as I was over eager. A 2gb 5850 used to live there.
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So I went to work stripping down my old rig. Sad to break it down really as it had been a really good reliable machine. Of course a lot of the components are to be re used.

Here we go

Case front removed
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Hard drive cages and optical bay removed
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Complete system removal and the last of the hdd brackets removed
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Bare case !!!!!!!
 
Again curiosity got the better of me and I had to test one of my new fans :-)

I love the colour blue it's gotta be my fave and I really like these fans.

Here's a look see
852b5d12.jpg


I thought I best apologise now, my photo skills are poor and the piccys are either from my iPad or iPhone, sorry
 
So after double checking all my earlier measurements from weeks ago to make sure I hadn't had one to many Stella's the night this project or even the baby lol was conceived I set to work placing the 360 rad and making mounting holes.

The rad is to lie on the floor of the case under the optical drive holder and in the space previously used by the hdd's.

Test fit
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It's gonna work. Result :-)
 
I don't like the grey / silver inside the case.

Gonna have to spray it, hmmmmm black I think.
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Once it was reasonably dry I tested the rad again
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Looking ok so far I think.

The unpainted bits of case you can see are because 1) I'm useless and forgot to spray them after cutting and 2) because I'm to impatient.

The paint looks very patchy here but it's just bad light and the fact it's still drying. It looked much better at the end of the day. :)
 
Well dinner was called and I ate like a pig so after food I wasn't really in the mood to do much more plus I wanted to watch the footie so I did a test run with a few components I had kicking about. What do you think so far??

Be nice lol
d5341fa8.jpg

Back to work from tomorrow so work will be a little slow from now on but I think it's going to turn out ok if today is anything to go by :-)
 
Here's a little bit of an update. I've been so so busy with work that I've not had chance to do much with this little beast but a quick pic to show the pretty much final layout bar the ram block. I've scrapped the mosfet block idea for now.
9dcde559.jpg
 
A further little update.

Routed some tubing but I'm a 45 fitting short, grrrr.

Mounted my ssd and also hidden a hdd in the optical bay.

Roughly routed all fan cables to so quite a good day today.

Here's the pic
02e7599a.jpg
 
I was going to have a go at braiding but I've just seen those corsair braided psi cables so I might get some of them and a new psu on payday
 
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