Project: Ice Dragon REDUX - Lian-Li W/C G70

Arthalen

Arthalen

Arthalen

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Joined
20 Apr 2006
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2,037
Location
Leeds, UK
I started this project a few months ago and got completely side tracked when I had the system built and working - I completely left all the mods to one side and enjoyed USING my PC.

Wind on 6 months, tubes are full of gunk and it needs a clean out. So what better time to revisit the project and complete some of the ideas I had originally!

You can see the original build pics in the links in my sig.

Anways, with the blessings of the almighty (read: missus) I bought some new tubing and stripped the system right down, leaving only the cathodes and PSU in the system.

The full W/C loop was extracted, seperated, washed out and soaked with White Distilled vinegar overnight to remove the filth that was a lovely dark coloured grease like substance that had coated the the inside of my tubes. Stripped the CPU/GPU blocks and Pump down and cleaned em, Radiator and Res got soaked overnight to remove the **** out. Once that was all done, started getting funky again. :D

Project: Ice Dragon

I've always loved the look of silver and blue - I think its been done a thousand times before but I love its classic appeal. I wanted to basically have a system lit with blue neon/cathodes and also with a blue water loop.

Additionally, I was originally determined to custom cut a side window, and etch on a Dragon design on UV reactive Acrylic. Well, this part hasn't gotten there yet, but the lighting and waterloop certainly are making some strides now!

Anyways, enough wibble, here's the goodies!!!

Pic 1: Radiator before Cleaning - Check out the dust from 3 low V fans!
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Pic2: Under motherboard lighting takes shape. What you cant see is the string loops behind the motherboard tray as well, to give a pleasing 'double effect'.
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Pic 3: Base system built. Nice to have clean tubing again. Masterkleer 7/16ths tubing & Zip Ties *** and no leaks! :p
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Project: Ice Dragon Redux - Part Deux!

Okay, so got the basic system built and routed one Neon string cable behind the motherboard tray and motherboard itself. I knew I definitly wanted to loop the Neon String around the W/C Tubing. But first, had to sort out the transformer and cabling so that wouldn't make a mess.

Luckily, the G70 has a double floppy bay. I do have a floppy in there, but the space beneath it conveniently can hold the transformers for each of the neon strings and the converter. The converter can have upto 4 lengths of Neon string attached, but I'm only using three in my project. It squeezes in nicely into the bay, and I intend to mount the flick switch onto the front of the case (More on that later).

Anyways, last night proceeded with filling and bleeding the system, checked for leaks and also gave the Neon a shot on the tubing.

Pic 1: Super Secret Blue Blood mix for the Ice Dragon is in and leak tested
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Pic2: Neon String looped around the tubing: Looks Interesting!
wrapped1wu4.jpg


Pic3: And here we go with the first working shot! ... Tell me that doesn't look swish!!
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Pic4: Night time with no Cathodes on.... I love it! Really pleased with the effect!
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Pic5: Night time with Blue Cathodes: These cathodes are actually for daytime use, as their strong enough to illuminate the case even in daylight. For night time, thats when the UV comes out to play (see below) as I think the cathodes here drown out the underlighting too much.
cathode1uh0.jpg
 
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Project: Ice Dragon - Part Tres'

Well, managed to get some more fiddly work done on the lighting yesterday, and am happy to say I've finished off the front bezel work to illuminate up the Drive Bays and the vents on the front of the case.

Pic1: Drilled hole for front to house the EL String Switch. Nice neat 5mm hole with titanium bit and a some needle file action to clean it up.
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Pic2: I basically just use some magic tape here, I didn't like the idea of superglue(what if I want to change colours!?) and the clear tape allows the light to pour through.
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Pic3: All hooked up, flick switched is screwed into place, and here it is under daylight conditions:
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Pic4: And at night time!!
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Pic5: And a close up of the Res - The picture here doesn't do it any justicice, but I can clearly see the water illuminated and also the EL String wrapping around the tubes out the back. Its lit well enough I can check the quality of the water in there!
resshotxe6.jpg


Well, thats the lighting all done now, now onto the Side Window mods!
 
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Try putting the cathode tube on the floor of your case and allow it to glow upwards over your pc or put it into the roof and allow it to cascade down. I think that would look better.
 
At night time, wont be using the bright blue cathodes anyway, there for daytime use only.

Really happy with the way the string on its own accentuates the tubing...

Will hopefully get my UV cables in tonight and also wire up the front bezel with EL Wire as well....

More pics as I progress!
 
Arthalen said:
Nope, its the Optx (Streetglow?) branded stuff you can use for Car modding as well. There's a website that details all the PC stuff they do.
Click to expand...

I got some of that but green for my tubing when my case gets back to me. :cool:


That looks awesome I think. :)
 
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