White Knight - Lian Li Q08 Watercooled Build

fireisdangerous · 3 Oct 2011 at 20:55

Hi All,

This project came around because I was bored and wanted to mod something and I happend to have a lian li q08 lying around that I used to have as my server case.

This is how it looked as stock and as my file server.

The mod started by sending off my silver stone sf450w psu to get sleeved at a shop I cannot list here, it will be braided grey but with light and dark blue braid to act as a contrast. This place also powder coats cases so I decided to get the case powder coated in white as they had another case being powder coated in white so offered me a cheaper price so I went for it.

The case is currently with them and when its finished the inside, outside, hard drve cages and dvd besel will be powder coated white. Since they already had my psu that will also be powder coated. They will also be cutting a window in the side panel as well. So the case is getting modded but not by me

Cant wait to get my hands on it once it is finished.

This case is going to be my extreme HTPC and will be going pride of place in my living room (if the misses permits it!!!)

Going into the case will be:

MotherBoard: Zotac h55 itx wifi
Cpu & Water Block : Intel i3 with xspc rasa block
Ram: 4gb kingston ram
Hard Drive: 40gb ssd
PSU: 450w silverstone sfx psu (currentley being sleeved)
Radiators: 120 & 140 Black ice rads
Pump: laing ddc 10w pump
Fans: Undecided!!
Tubing: UV Blue
Fittings: XSPC black nickel compression fittings

GPU: Undecided, as it will be mainly used as a HTPC but would like to be able to play some games so i would like to get the KFA2 550TI white PCB addition as it would go perfectly with the white case.

More updates when i get the case back

fireisdangerous · 5 Oct 2011 at 11:16

Case is being sent to the powedercoaters today! might take upto a week for them to do it. Cant wait to see it when its done.

fireisdangerous · 19 Oct 2011 at 22:25

I finally have an update on my project. Below is a pic of the case which is being reassembled at shop I sent it to. I think it looks amazing. Just waiting for them to received my braided PSU back then they can ship it back to me and I can finally get around to putting this project together.

fireisdangerous · 19 Oct 2011 at 22:30

Some more updates.

I have fitted my white EK top to my DDC pump and have braided the wires.

It may not be the quickest card in the world but my new KFA2 550 ti White edition is the best looking card I have seen. Will look even better if I decide to put an EK VGA supreme block on it.

Pic of the card on my motherboard. Wish they did white motherboards and a white version of the rasa CPU block.

fireisdangerous · 20 Oct 2011 at 08:25

Thanks for the feedback, im not 100% sure on the fans yet. My psu is being braided mainly grey but with light and dark blue braid also so should look real nice. So the colour palette will be blues/white and grey with black from the 2 rads and motherboard. I currently have some blu mayhems fluid to use but might get some of his blue pastel fluid not sure yet.

Fan wise i have one of those enermax fans and its loud as hell even when put on a fan controller. I also need to decide wether to use UV on led as the lighting in the case. Its going to be going into my living room so i need it to be a bit subtle.

fireisdangerous · 20 Oct 2011 at 23:40

Hyburnate said:
Your like me, want everything when you see it

I really like white too.

Thanks very much, case should be with me on monday!!

fireisdangerous · 20 Oct 2011 at 23:41

KiiYzOo said:
looks really nice how much did you get the itx board for? I really want to do a sff gaming htpc too

bought board new ages ago was just over 100.00 i think

fireisdangerous · 23 Oct 2011 at 12:31

ray168 said:
very nice setup

thanks, one more day till i have the case, will post pics tommorow

fireisdangerous · 24 Oct 2011 at 15:07

A sneek peak before i get home from work and take more pics.

fireisdangerous · 24 Oct 2011 at 19:22

Hyburnate said:
Is that a window? If it was mine I would have wanted a smaller window so I didn't have to see the optical drive and hdd'a. But apart from that, abso fab!!

Hard drives cages wont be used mate.

fireisdangerous · 24 Oct 2011 at 19:29

Here are some pics of the case before I filled it up with kit.

Only time you will see the hard drive cages

In the buff!!

You cant have the white knight without the dark knight!!

Mobo, 140m rad and fans and my kfa2 550i white edition

Closer shot of the awesome white pcb

Psu installed, flash on camera doesn't do the braiding justice as it makes the grey look shiny when it is actually matt.

Pump mounted at the bottom of the 5.25 bay, and the res at the front, just working out where to put everything. You can also see the psu extender, didnt want my psu to take up most of the space in the case.

Some angled shots

Just need to work out tube routing, need to flip the 140 rad onto its side. Not sure whether to water cool the gpu, not sure if there is enough room for the tubing! we shalls see.

Let me know what you think.

fireisdangerous · 25 Oct 2011 at 08:06

KiiYzOo said:
you definitely know how to do a nice sff watercooled rig

Thank you very much, ive done a couple now so they get a bit easier each time

fireisdangerous · 25 Oct 2011 at 08:06

Tokin said:
Really looking forward to this one,Also that case looks so sexy!

Thanks, really pleased how the case turned out.

fireisdangerous · 25 Oct 2011 at 08:12

Hyburnate said:
Looks absolutely fantastic.

Where are you keeping the HDDs then? :s

Im just using it as a HTPC for my living room so will just mount my ssd in the 5.25 drive tray. All my data is on my media server so only need one hard drive for the os.

fireisdangerous · 25 Oct 2011 at 08:17

Here is a quick mock up of the tubing, wont be using white just had some lying around from a previous build. Still dont think there is enought room to put a gpu block on the card.

fireisdangerous · 4 Nov 2011 at 20:08

Right finally an update, got my hands on the new mayhems pastel fluid and filled up the loop. The fluid like amazing!!!!

fireisdangerous · 4 Nov 2011 at 22:38

KiiYzOo said:
WW, awesome little rig fid

Thanks

fireisdangerous · 4 Nov 2011 at 22:40

Have fitted everything apart from the ssd. Again the flash makes the psu braiding look shiney but its not. Need to tidy the wires up a bit but there is no cable management in this case so i will need to be creative!

fireisdangerous · 4 Nov 2011 at 22:44

Hyburnate said:
I.. I... I loove it.

Res > Pump > RAD1 > GFX > CPU > RAD2 > Res?

Thanks,

Yup thats the loop, took a bit of planning!!

fireisdangerous · 8 Nov 2011 at 22:45

Thanks for all the positive feedback, glad you all like it.