PROJECT: V300 Chilled

StevenG · 22 Dec 2007 at 15:14

Another Update, Drive Cage & Rad Bracket Progress

Another Update for all you readers (i think theres like 6? lol) anyway

got the house to myself again so i thought id make some more progress, got some more little bits done on the drive cage, drilled the bottom where i plan to rivet the base plate to the drive cage.

i also got the bracket rivited up to stop the switch moving and i got some painting done.

Riveted up the bracket, i ended up putting more rivets in the side to make it a little more stable.

drilled the base plate so i could get the drive cage front painted today, the pump will be fixed to this plate once that arrives.

prep for painting i sanded down the cage front and the bracket.

i then taped up the back of the cage as i wanted this to stay silver, i had thought about painting the whole lot but it would have gotten scratched when i installed the drives etc so didnt in the end.

i think this was after 1 or 2 thin coats. and the same for the bracket underneath.

Finished products after 4 (cage) and 5 (bracket) coats of paint, i think they look quite good and will definately make the front of the case more appealing without seeing the silver behind the mesh. im going to let these dry out thoroughly before i try them in the case or anything. dont want them getting scratched.

Well thats it from me. hope you enjoyed another update on the project. unfortunately ive done just about everything i can without buying more parts. i should have the cash for the rest of the parts in under 2 weeks and i cant wait to get some more done.

Comments welcome as always.

Left to do:

Install the pump on the base plate of the drive cage.
Test the drive cage fit with the PSU in place.
Cut some of the back of the drive cage away to allow my tubing and power leads to enter and exit the cage.
Assemble the HDD cage and Drive cage and install in the case.
Assemble watercooling parts and leak test.
Cable routing (possibly shortening and braiding).

Thanks for reading
StevenG

V|per · 22 Dec 2007 at 15:36

Still looking good dude, although i think you may have accidentally spray painted your bed sheets too :eek:

StevenG · 22 Dec 2007 at 15:45

V|per said:
Still looking good dude, although i think you may have accidentally spray painted your bed sheets too

Must have missed that, the misses wont be very happy about sleeping in painted sheets lol

I had to paint in the kitchen and there's now a nice fine film of black dust all over the place that has to be cleaned up LOL. A tip for anyone thinking of painting in-doors... Dont lol

but its too cold and wet ouside to do it... and i was bored..

StevenG

mk17 · 22 Dec 2007 at 18:36

looking good mate, can't wait for the next instalment.

WarBird · 22 Dec 2007 at 19:03

oh this is starting to get good, have some stars

Massive Attack · 22 Dec 2007 at 19:14

looks good so far, alu looks a lot better black looking forward to the next update

StevenG · 30 Dec 2007 at 12:02

Well ive just been to the MM (big mistake) ended up buying a 8800GTX with EK Full Cover Block. so this means i need to do more modding

good for the viewers not so much for me lol.

the full cover block has the barbs sticking above the card so im going to have to remove the bottom of the hard drive cage and only have 1 drive installed at the top to allow this to fit.

also. because the card is so long and the power connectors are on the end of the card i'll have to drill or cut some holes into the bottom of the 5 1/4" bay to allow the power connectors to get to the card.

no other changes apart from slight hardware ones due to stocking and pricing really. should be ordering the gear friday. i'll try get another update before then of the cage modding.

also tried the black parts into the case and they look awesome i'll get a picture up with the next update.

after looking through case galleries i seen someone had put perspex (frosted) behind their panel and put the cathodes behind that and it looked really good so i think i'll do this too

watch this space for an update soon

thanks for reading
StevenG

Munkeh · 30 Dec 2007 at 19:56

Looks like its going to be sweet! Will be very interested to see the finished product!

Massive Attack · 30 Dec 2007 at 22:57

are you sure that rad is going to be able to take a Q6600 and an 8800GTX?

StevenG · 31 Dec 2007 at 10:04

Massive Attack said:
are you sure that rad is going to be able to take a Q6600 and an 8800GTX?

not entirely sure, but with yate loons at the full 12v i should be okay. i dont plan on clocking the gfx as there simply is no need for it as im only running a small res monitor (compared to some monitors out there lol) 1280x1024.

Another update on the spec im getting some OCZ Flex 9200 ram to go in here also

and the 620w version of the hx psu

StevenG

w3bbo · 1 Jan 2008 at 17:25

Sounds like its gonna be a monster rig in a small package. Looking great thus far!

StevenG · 4 Jan 2008 at 12:33

Updaed OP with new specs, parts should be arriving next week so hopfully i'll get some sort of update up soon

StevenG

StevenG · 8 Jan 2008 at 17:44

Massive Update:

Covered in this update: switch problems, radiator fitting, watercooling mockup/problems (a lot of problems lol as always)

to fit the graphics card with the EK block i had to remove the bottom of the hard drive cage this is shown in the next 2 pics. these will be sprayed black once i get a chance.

after i rivited the bracket together and sprayed it the switch had moved slighly so i had to fix that by cutting some larger holes to allow the mounting to be changed.

in this picture i couldnt press both switches they were pushed against the case and this would have caused problems when turning the pc on etc.

i had to modify the switch to allow it to be slid into place once i'd tried to fit the bracket. this seems to have fixed the problem. all these little mods are holding me back (as well as parts not being here lol and not having the time)

i thought i'd try the black parts id sprayed in the case to see how it looks and please could you comment on this to see if it looks better than the silver

Thanks for reading
StevenG

StevenG · 8 Jan 2008 at 17:45

as you know i'd taken out the 3.5" bays from the front so i have started to try find a way to blank these off.. i think this will look quite good once i get some glue to fix it to the case

held in with tape to get an idea

think it looks quite good. comments please.

water gear arrived so i thought i'd try fit some of it. pictures speak for themselves really. fitted the fans to the radiator and fit that in the case. i measured up and if the graphics card is the stated 27cm long i'll be able to squeeze it in *just* with some longer screws on the motherboard tray.

started to install the cpu block mounting screws to get an idea of where my tubing might go, need the graphics card to show up to start getting a propper idea. but heres some pics of how it could look.

Thanks for readin/looking should be getting the rest of my gear in the next 2 days including a Canon 350D to get you some better pics

thats all for now i'll update once ive sprayed the hard drive bay and the other parts have gotten here to start fitting the tubing.

StevenG

w3bbo · 8 Jan 2008 at 17:50

Looking great m8, Should have a rather large parcel coming your way in the next couple of days

.

WarBird · 8 Jan 2008 at 17:52

ah man, nice job, looks great so far

CaDLoN · 8 Jan 2008 at 18:08

startin to look nice & snug already

Cupra · 8 Jan 2008 at 18:14

w3bbo said:
Looking great m8, Should have a rather large parcel coming your way in the next couple of days .

and another parcel from me too

StevenG · 8 Jan 2008 at 18:39

just waiting on your 2 parcels to show up to start fitting things together really im going to have to cut some of the metal away from the drive cage to allow the tubing through.

so really waiting on the gfx card getting here to get things sorted

StevenG

V|per · 8 Jan 2008 at 20:13

the gfx card is 276mm long iirc... hope u got room for that extra 5mm

Great work so far dude, have some stars