Project Smurf 3.0

Nice, cheers.

I may even go up a lighter grey instead of the Titanium for my accent then. I want to play off the brushed aluminium used on the case exterior and my GPU backplate (if I ever finished sanding the damn thing) against the black interior.

LONG way off yet though!
 
LePhuronn said:
Nice, cheers.

I may even go up a lighter grey instead of the Titanium for my accent then. I want to play off the brushed aluminium used on the case exterior and my GPU backplate (if I ever finished sanding the damn thing) against the black interior.

LONG way off yet though!
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Defo go lighter then, the titanium is close to the shade in some lights. I don't think MDCP have much inbetween though so i'd say either go for that OCUK Labs Chrome or just go Shade / Shade / Titanium / White. Unless the 'Platinum Grey' looks much lighter, not seen it: Black > Shade > Platinum in that case.

Edit: Excuse the blur but tried to keep it low light, you can see how the Titanium is not really an 'accent' against Shade in this terrible close up in the dim ghetto case build:

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To the eye here its a lot darker and I can just make out the lighter stripe.
 
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Good reference, ta muchly. I may not even go MDPC-X yet. I picked up a Roccat Kova mouse recently and the cord has a stunning black fabric weave that I've fallen in love with, so there's a small part of me that wants to ruin my sanity and go Paracord :D

Still, I'm a long long LONG way from cables yet (I've not even folded the new case internals) so I shan't derail your thread any more :p
 
Time for a rethink and probably some more rads because this handsome chap just arrived... Cheers for the deal Gibbo!

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I mean this handsome chap:
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How to describe it, well its HUGE. First impressions are that it looks quality, whats actually made me think is compared to the Hex case the 'aluminium' is seriously light... Which made me think actually is the Hex even proper aluminium it weighs a hell of a lot more.

So given this is now no longer 'smurfy' should I create a new log or simply hotlink to here on post 1? Tomorrow i'm off work so planning on doing some planning, i'm going to go out on a limb and say what I probably will do is:

  1. Order more rads, either some different 360mm and sell the current (+480mm) or two more 360mm
  2. Significant space for more rads so new one is likely to have an additional 360mm in the top (x2), 480mm Front (x1) and potentially the 360mm base (x1) ignoring the space 360mm in the back and just fans in the rear 240mm space
  3. Probably cave and order the 16mm copper I found? Unsure on that bit as my accent is blue currently so a lot of wastage...
  4. More fans likely for the various spaces...
  5. No longer need to break up the Aquaero... Happy days
  6. Realised its got some epic built in connectors but i've got a 4 slot Icey Box 5.25" coming tomorrow as the new drive bay
  7. Dual/Bigger res?

Any thoughts welcome, as I said thanks to various problems its a total rethink but hopefully i'll get some money out of Hex to pay for it soon. Hopefully.
 
So after a bit of measuring and poking around I've concluded the radiator setup is going to be:

  • 1 x 480mm Black Ice SR2 (Front, push pull) - already own...
  • 1 x 360mm Black Ice SR2 (Top, push only as exhaust - already own)
  • 1 x 240mm Black Ice SR2 (Top, push pull possible, push only likely - Ordered today)
  • 1 x 240mm Black Ice SR2 (Bottom, push pull is possible but pull only likely - ordered today!)

Sufficient cooling? Now i'm thinking about the res and how that can work - In my head I really want some custom res build in to the 2 x double 5.25" bays... Logistics of doing that??! Alternative could be EK bay res... Not the ones with pump integrated.

Other than that been looking at the fan setup, theres some nice fan guards which clip in the front but a little odd because a fan will basically fit in there:

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Messing with 8packs design already... Sorry bud. Potentially i'm going to hide one layer of the fans in there and just get a big magnetic filter and place it on the back of the front panel, probably like a 560mm filter to give ample cover and room.

In terms of getting my build finally done, i've got the 480mm out and the two 240's so that should be good. All the fans are also sat waiting while my current messy build is using some pretty pants NZXT 140's. Its good to be cracking on again!
 
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More goodies arrived from the Black Friday gods... Was intending to get this to mount on the back plate of the other case but basically I just love the idea of having WAY less cables for my SSD collection. Cuts the requirement down to just 1 power and the usual SATA cables.

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Obviously now i've got some more space and bays i'll just front mount it as its supposed to be (hotswappable etc). Nice little gadget really for £35!
 
MOAR toys... Fingers crossed these don't take so much flushing as I really can't be bothered to go fetch more deionised water. Managed to pick these up for £60 each in the sales so a reasonably decent result for a chunky rad.

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Need to get a few in the new case and then I can decide if I want to spray then dark (or even better white its not amazing)... Could spray them all to match the CPU block/mobo but maybe white is quite a nice accent. Pics later me thinks.
 
Ok, yet more stuff has arrived... Some progress looking at the new case and i've decided for now i'm going to keep the rads white. I figure it will look like a good contrast to the dark case and its going to look really nice with this special item I tracked down. I present to you the illusive 16mm OD Copper pipe:
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100% the same size as the EK PETG. I'm hoping this is gonna look amazing polished up...

So the plan now is that I should be able to finish this pretty swiftly, copper bending tool arrives tomorrow and i'm away and I also have to replace the DSC unit in my beamer which will take some time but we are good to go! Cannot tell you how glad I am to have everything I want (almost, EK-BAY RES???) and get this build completed. New case, 8Pack Lian-Li, have to say its superb - the quality is amazing and love the little touches like the drive bay mounts even if i'm not using them.

Current plan is a Bay res here:
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The Icy dock drive bay for my SSDs is at the bottom so all fits nicely, Aquearo below the res. White radiators inside, squeeze in a layer of my SP120s for push/pull on the front 480mm using these slim fan filters over the top to minimise dust:

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Nice drive mounts removed, great idea though:
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Final settup at this point I think I need some more ML120 RGBs for the additonal rads but i'll have:

480mm Front, 360 top (back compartment), 240 top front (to allow for monsterous 480 push/pull) and 240mm bottom.

Do you think I need a rear exhaust? Inclined to say not for now... Also the lower 3 x 120mm is marked black in the manual and does not say 'radiator compatible' like the rest, thinking its irrelevant with my dust filters but worth asking if anyone has concerns?

Its gonna be fun learning copper tube! :/
 
Slow progress continues... Had a bit of time last night so got the front 480mm stuff in, using those fan filters seems to have worked a treat and i've now got a hidden row of 120s on the front pushing air in with the internal in pull.

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Once covered up the filters do a good job of keeping the stealth look and hiding the fans:
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Internal first radiator in, going to stick with the white for the time being as I think it will look good (these need cleaning though!)
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More kit in Sunday evening I think, need to order yet more bits to complete it but only 3 more ML120s and the bay res I think i'm going to go for...
 
Nice case. Alu cases are LOLs light. I still have one of the very first Lis up in my loft and I can lift it with one little finger.

It needs blue powdercoat though. It looks far too ordinary.
 
Not sure how I got unsubscribed for this but looks like you've been making progress.

Have you told OCUK where you got the 16mm copper? Just wondering if it's something they'd stock as a number of people have been interested in doing copper builds lately.

4x2.5" bay looks good. Just hope that tiny fan doesn't whine like a ***** though. Maybe get three bays and fill them with 12x2.5" SSDs in RAID. Then you can swap the fan for a 120....and the credit card bill for a mortgage!
 
Cenedd said:
Not sure how I got unsubscribed for this but looks like you've been making progress.

Have you told OCUK where you got the 16mm copper? Just wondering if it's something they'd stock as a number of people have been interested in doing copper builds lately.

4x2.5" bay looks good. Just hope that tiny fan doesn't whine like a ***** though. Maybe get three bays and fill them with 12x2.5" SSDs in RAID. Then you can swap the fan for a 120....and the credit card bill for a mortgage!
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I've not told them no, its a place in Birmingham but they didn't seem overly sure how much they had... OCUK could procure a load and cut it in to 1m sections though and make a reasonable cash on it though. I've got way more than I need but better to be safe so i've got 6 meters of it sat here.

That fan is on 'L' as default, if its noisy i'll just take it off to be honest as its not really necessary. I've already just spent MORE cash, 3 x 120 ML RBG fans again and I've bit the bullet and ordered the Bay res to go in the double 5.25 space. Need to get some rad flushing done then i'll probably aim to get all the fans cabled in this week ready to go... Need a couple of bitspower mounts for the pump which I would like to show off but looking like its going in the back at this point.
 
Well... More toys (yes again lol) have arrived. Now aside from a couple of pump mounts I need i've got everything you could ever want near enough! So today this arrived, not a lot of feedback on the Bay res's so I thought i'd just get it - might be replaced by something more bespoke in the future.
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It actually looks a bit more 'premium' than I thought, was worried they look pretty cheapy in the pictures but the brushed aluminium front is kinda nice:
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Having said that I don't want it on, i'd like more of the moving liquid to be visible and its frankly a bit on the big side just to print the bay name on it (why??). Removed the front:
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OCD Screws in, had a load of these anodised washers so thought I might as well use them. Some got lost in the post and replaced but then arrived many weeks later - thinking about replacing with the copper Orange but the shop on the bay seems to have vanished (Mizo?)
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Finally here's the front held against and below without, prefer without for sure!
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Mounted a slot down, basically filling/accessing the res is 100 times easier this way and I think it looks fine:
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So thats it for now, just spent ages flushing the two 240mm rads so those are now in the case and will get the fans added tomorrow and have a crap evening running all the cables to the splitty's... The end is in sight though!
 
I think that Mizo is on holiday and has removed all products so nobody can order and be irritated by them not shipping. There's one product left and it flags up in a banner along the top "Seller is on holiday".
 
Ah good to know mate given it's one of very few that aren't shipping from Hong Kong with decent prices on these odd little bits... probably gets them from HK and just resells but i can't wait that long ;)
 
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