♠.Scarlet Spade.♠ - watercooled + modded lian li build.

[joxang]

See HERE for my newest build log

♠.SCARLET SPADE.♠


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Progress so far...(31/05/11)
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Components
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Modded Lian Li PC-8FIA (exterior anodized silver)
ASUS Rampage III Extreme
i7-930 processor
CFX ASUS RoG Matrix 5870 2GB
ASUS Essence STX
3 x 2GB Geil Black Dragon (red led)
Vertex 2 40GB boot drive
Corsair HX850W
MDPC braiding

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Background
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Hey guys .
This was my last build, 'Red Spade'. Spade as in the playing card symbol, and as my handle on other forums and sites is 'mrjackspade'. As an attempt at a 'beautiful build', this was very much a starting point, through which I learnt how to braid properly. Also the first time I'd coordinated a proper colour scheme in a PC build .
This time I wanted to try to do something similar with watercooling, using the same components in a new case that I'll mod for the purpose.

 

[joxang]

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Case
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I originally bought this case to turn into a Hackintosh (silver!) but after I got tired of using OS X, I decided to use it for this next project. It's not the prettiest of Lian Li cases; in fact I think the front grill looks absymal. Not the best case for watercooling either - the proximity of the top of the case to the motherboard means there's barely room for a fan up top, let alone a radiator, so the only place where you might fit one would be the front. Three things that need doing anyhow:
(1) Better looking front grill
(2) Radiator mount
(3) Case window

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Here's two of those things half sorted . I went for laser-cutting instead of dremelling as it's a lot cleaner and faster, and isn't too expensive either. If anyone is looking for a laser cutter you can find a very good guy on eBay (not hard to work out what to search!). Turn-around isn't the fastest, but he's a top guy and keeps in touch constantly.


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Sorting out the window - quick dremel on the acrylic and a rough sand, thin double sided-foam tape (look for the industrial strength stuff!)




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Cut the modder's mesh to the right shape (AC Ryan black mesh), and notched to fit into the case front. This'll probably be held in place by a mixture of the double sided tape and superglue.

 

[joxang]

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Case 2
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I decided to fit a set of wheels on the case with the assumption that it was going to be pretty heavy after water-cooling. I had originally planned to fit red led 120mm fans to the front - sadly, didn't look that great even behind the mesh. Just too small behind the humongous black bit out front!

So, cutting 140mm holes .



And the result...





Pretty much the look I set out for so I'm pretty pleased with that. I will be putting black foam panels on the silver bits behind the mesh, so the shiny bits surrounding the fans don't show through. That's all for today .

 

[joxang]

Thanks for all the comments guys .

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Rad Mount
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There was simply no room for a 280 rad mount in the front of the case (which I wanted to do) and no room for any radiators at the top of the case, so I decided to put a 240 mount where the hard drive cage used to be. Used a Lian Li 343B radiator cover plate as the base for the mod:





Very simple mod - cutting the sides off...



And ghetto hammer bending !! This bit was a lot harder than I thought it would be.







And the result:



The rad mount screws into the bottom of the case, and there's a foam pad at the top which slides into place and stops it moving around. I have some concerns about the air flow as the grill is quite restrictive, but there is room for push pull on the rad. If worse comes to worst I can cut out the grill bits on the rad mount.

 

[joxang]

Anyone have any suggestions for any particular radiators that would be good under a restrictive grill? I have an RS240 at the moment but I don't anticipate the performance to be spectacular.

 

[joxang]

Sorry for lack of updates, exam next week and will post after . Also waiting on the new Lamptron Fan controller.

Are those white fans on case 2 140mm NZXT fans (FN-140rb) ? If they are, how do you find them? Looking at getting some for my rad.

Yep they are, I bought them off an alternative retailer based here in the UK. [REDACTED!]

Out of interest, what are you doing with your previous project?

Dismantled, most of the internals are going in here. Rest are getting sold. x900b case is on sale in MM at the moment as I need the monies .

I think I'm going to make the grill less restrictive with a bit of drill work...don't think the rad stand will be strong enough to withstand a giant dremelled hole in the middle.

 

[joxang]

Do you have a build log of Red Spade anywhere, would love to see a more detailed look at it as it looks fantastic!

Aw thanks . Sorry no build log as it really is mostly stock with Nexus Quiet fans, braided cables, and an SSD mount on the floor of the case. If you click on the pic in the first post it should take you to the flickr album though.

 

[joxang]

Well here's just a lil update .

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Window Mod
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Personally don't like tinted acrylic - reminds me a bit of bad car mods - but I love the effect of having a reflective window until the lights come on inside. So to get roughly the same effect (but classier imo) I just put a mesh window behind the transparent acrylic.








Put black foam panels around the front case fans to hide the metal. Looks a lot cleaner.

This next pic's a bit of a teaser, stuck all the components in and gave it a spin . Just a rough idea of where I want to end up - I'll post incremental updates after my exam next week .

 

[joxang]

Thanks + you're most welcome to the idea . Was just experimenting a bit, didn't expect it turn out as well as it did.

 

[joxang]

That's why I reckon - pretty obvious indication on who the competitor retailer is, and you can't link (or cite) competitors.

Twas for 'thread trashing' in MM! Not sure what I did or which thread but there you go .

But that's a good point and I'm going to go ahead and redact that before I get suspended again .

 

[joxang]

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Water Cooling
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Obligatory water-cooling component shot . It's not going to be a massive WC set up as I change GPUs all the time, and the primary aim is to get a high CPU overclock.



Everything roughly set-up with routed tubing. First time I've used 'flex' tubing - my god it's flexible lol! You can almost bend it back on itself without it kinking. It's also really light so plenty of room for cfx or triple cfx.

Original plan was for two phobya PWMs running off a splitter connected to the mobo, but I couldn't get a profile running that meant they were quiet enough. I'm going to go for push pull (phobya nano-Gs pulling, GTs pushing) but this means the front case fans will be pushing into the GTs. Which is probably massive overkill but I need something to put on the 8-channel fan controller I'm getting . Can't wait to bench some temps on this mofo .



And leak testing!! I bloody electrocuted myself while I was jump-starting the psu by touching the exposed bridging wire. Had a numb finger for an hour . It was really easy to bleed this loop, all done in 30mins and left it running for 12 hours.

Having put the watercooling stuff in the case, it feels awfully small (compared to working in a Lian Li full tower for example). Cable routing is going to be FUN .

Note to self: do some really cliched macro shots of the braiding.

 

[joxang]

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Fan Controller
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Been waiting for this since I was born!! (actually, since it was announced a few months ago).







Lamptron FC8. 30W per channel, and wants you to hook three molex connectors to it (I'm on two at the moment and it's running fine). Probably only needs three if you're running 8 Delta fans on full blast .

Took these on Sunday, and I'm afraid it was a case of 'there's no ******* way I'm braiding 8 fan controller cables today'. Bunched the cables into two groups of four (four for the rad, four for case fans) and braided them with SATA sleeve which will probably make cable organisation a lot easier. May rebraid them in the future (as if ).



This thing is beautiful. The dials have nice resistance too, it's not like you're turning against air. Oh, and you can individually adjust the leds on each channel to whatever colour your want . Pics in next update.

 

[joxang]

Thanks ryu!

Loving the interior, really like the combo of the bare metal along with the red and black theme. Am hoping to buy your old x900 project but it is out of my range at the moment, but it looks absolutely fantastic.

Cheers . I've closed the x900 thread so keeping the case for now, maybe for a future build but it's still on sale to any buyers. Just trust mail me in the future if you fancy putting a nice build in it (which I have no doubt you would do looking at your worklog ).

 

[joxang]

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Pre-Easter Update
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More pics.





Trying out a 140mm Prolimatech 'Red Vortex' fan in the roof. The fan controller colour scheme will be the one I'm sticking with - red = rad fans, white = case fans.



Finally another 'teaser'. Have a nice Easter . I've got a new macro lens arriving after easter (Miranda 28mm OM mount + 4/3 adapter ).

 

[joxang]

@ryu
Well glad to hear that . The PC61 is a lovely case, old school but pretty timeless (like most LL!). You mod sounds great - you should def put a worklog up here as you're working on the case! Also check this place out: http://www.million-dollar-pc.com/ - it's like the museum of crazy amazing computer builds .

 

[joxang]

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Cables and Sleeving
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PSU was braided for my previous build so didn't need to do much work there - just re-did a couple of cables and evened out the heatshrink as much as I could (first time round I did a horrible job!). As HX850 is only partially modular and I didn't fancy taking the PSU to bits, the exit point of the bundle was a mess. Ghetto ninja-ed with some black foamy stuff that I use for lots of mod jobs.





PCIe power cables here (also braided power cable to WC pump).



Couple of SATAs...



Hacked up a molex power cable for this project to supply two molex connections to the fan controller only.



And another space saving hacked up cable which will lie flat against the back of the case, and supply power to pump, hard drives (molex to Lian Li hotswap cage) and any case leds I might use. One day I will cut and crimp my cables properly, but not quite there yet .



And here's just a few sleeving tips that might come in handy:

A few tips
There's plenty of sleeving guides on the internet, and you get given a comprehensive guide if you buy MDPC sleeving. I think there's one on OCUK forums floating around too. Thought I'd just post some tips though that might help a couple of people who might stumble across this . I am in no way an expert on sleeving (I'm fairly atrocious in fact!) but these are just some things which I've picked up which have made my life a lot, lot easier.

ATX pin removal (and avoiding breakages)
Familarise yourself with how the pin is structured, and the two 'prongs' which hold the pins in place. Don't bother with staples or paperclips - in my experience they only work on certain psus.
Two of the best ATX tools I've used are the ones you get from MDPC, and the Frozen CPU branded atx tool. It's not a problem removing pins, but technique is extremely important.
1) You must hold the tool completely parallel to the pin.
2) Insert the ATX tool into the right position, making sure it's still parallel.
3) With the ATX tool in place, pull on the cable really hard, then push it all the way in again. As you push it all the way in, also push the ATX tool in as far as it will go (but KEEP IT PARALLEL!).
4) Now with the ATX tool pushed all the way in, give the cable a massive tug. It should come flying out.
5) If it doesn't work the first time, take the tool out and repeat from step one.
It will take some practice to get your hands right such that you're holding the tool in the right position. I've found the best way to do this is to wind the relevant cable in a loop around a finger. If you use the tool properly, there's zero chance it will break. Breakages occur because you're bending the tool or wiggling it from side to side.
If all else fails, the Frozen CPU tool has a single attachment at one end you can use to insert into one side of a pin and force the 'prong' into its hole. You'll need a scapel to get the prong out again though.

A few sleeving tips
(1) If you're sleeving lots of wires of the same length, cut your first length of braid out, pop it on the wire to check it's the right length, then cut the rest of the braiding you need using the first piece as a template. It's a lot faster, and end result is a lot neater.
(2) When you cut any length of braiding, use a lighter to burn the ends until all the plastic bits are melted into each other. Don't be afraid to melt a lot of it, it really needs to be totally fused. Reasons for this are a) so that it doesn't fray, even when you open the braid up for big bunches of cables and b) so the heatshrink stays on the braid and won't slip off. Biggest reason for heatshrink slipping off your braiding is that it's started to fray on the inside. Make sure all your ends are melted .
(3) Before you manipulated sleeved wires let the heatshrink cool down. When it's still warm the braiding will still be able to move a bit inside it. Nothing worse than rush sleeving a SATA cable, then bending it round to connect to a HD, and having the braiding pop out of the heatshrink.

Hopefully some of these might be helpful to some people .

 

[joxang]

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Cable Management
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Nearly finished .

Cable management was a pain in the ***. Very limited clearance behind the back panelt - the MDPC small clips just about fit.





Below: see the two slightly hacked molex PSU cables I used in my last post. Molex 1 needed to supply two connections to power the fan controller. Molex 2 supplies the HDDs - 2a to a sata adaptor powering the SSD, and 2b to a molex extension cable powering the Lian Li hotswap cage.



One day I will cut and re-solder all of these fan cables so they're all the right length .


Hard drives:





60GB SSD for OS, and applications + my dropbox folder. 500GB photo storage and games installation - will replace this with a large enough SSD when I have enough monies. 2TB media storage drive.

 

[joxang]

Waiting on one last item from abroad - will take 9-10 days to arrive. It's something quite special .

Final pictures will follow after that. Thanks to everyone who's taken time out to have a look!

 

[joxang]

Thanks . @zytok back fan is phobya nano-g pwm, and top fan is prolimatech vortex 140mm. Both red led.

 

[joxang]

Thanks for the kind words !!

Absolutely fantastic, really warming to silver cases now! Going to see how much cash I can put to together to see I will be able to buy the X900b, not sure I can afford it right now, but I have quite a lot for sale!

Just drop me a trust mail if you fancy buying it - it's just sitting in a cupboard atm and I can't see myself using it in the near future so I'd be happy to take another big chunk off the listed price.

Will you do a video of the final product? Maybe a walk around and peek inside? Just to show us all it in the flesh without pictures?

Would be happy to .

Some pics coming tomorrow now I've got hold of the package.