mightyMite

[x88x]

Well, I've been sitting around here just reading long enough, methinks, so here we go :devious:

I've always loved the design of the Dell Dimension L700CX. The slim sub-tower form-factor, combined with the simple, minimalistic drives and decoration (or rather, lack thereof) just always appealed to me. Well, I recent came into possession of one... and so it begins.

I've been a computer enthusiast for a long time now, but this will be my first real mod..and also my first adventure into watercooling.

In the interest of keeping images to a sane level, here's links to my PhotoBucket and MediaFire folders. Pics will be in the PhotoBucket album, SketchUp models will be in MediaFire folder.
PhotoBucket (http://s428.photobucket.com/albums/qq3/x13931x/)
MediaFire (http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=e2facc24cc492a2391b20cc0d07ba4d2025e22db 816f0b56)

Ok, so this is what I'm starting with:
http://i428.photobucket.com/albums/qq3/x13931x/HPIM0362.jpg

My current rig is in an Aerocool m40, which to be honest is starting to feel a little big :devious: At first I was thinking that I would maybe be able to get everything into the case, but I started making some mock-ups, and found out there was more space in there than I thought there was.

My basic idea with this is to get my whole system, plus a watercooling setup in there, like so:
http://i428.photobucket.com/albums/qq3/x13931x/mightyMite_12.png
Sealing off the side, front, and rear panels so there is a constant airflow stream pulled in the bottom, up through, and out the top. I will also be modding the PSU, sealing the back panel, heavily meshing or possibly even removing the side and front panels, removing all unused cabling and shortening all cabling that is used to the minimum possible length.

I found that the top of the case was not quite long enough for a 120.2 rad, but dual 120.1 rads will fit. (well, kinda. really, I'd rather cut out the side than one end)

For fans, I chose the Evercool AL12025, which came today! (along with the grills)
http://i428.photobucket.com/albums/qq3/x13931x/HPIM0369.jpg

I wrestled with putting in an ODD or bigger rad(s) but after reading through craigbru's Rogue (http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/forum/showthread.php?t=17346) and L.O.S.I.A.S. (http://www.sudhian.com/index.php?/forums/viewthread/95399/), it occurred to me that I could use a slim drive (yeah, yeah, I know..it just honestly never occurred to me), and I took a page out of cases like this (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811110012) odd thing, took advantage of the change in case length, and I will be putting it in so the tray comes vertically out the front of the case, which will fit almost perfectly. Eventually I want to put in a slot-loading drive there, but for now I'll be using a slim tray-loader (which also got here today!).
http://i428.photobucket.com/albums/qq3/x13931x/HPIM0370.jpg

I've got a pretty good idea what I want the inside to be like, but apart from smoothing over the current front bays and logo insets, I have no clue yet what I'll be doing with the outside. Internally, I am a little worried about the airflow, with everything stuffed in the middle, and the power of the pump to push liquid through some of the tight corners that are going to be required with my current design.

Like I said, this is my first real casemod, so any input would be greatly appreciated.

note: The SketchUp model incorporates some parts that I wouldn't be getting right away (mainly, the 3 SSDs), and consists mostly of parts that I was able to find models of, that, while not what I'll be using, are close enough for the purposes of the model.

[x88x]

Ok, finally got started on the actual modding today. I cut off the old HDD mount:
before (well, kinda..I forgot to take a pic of it, so I'm holding the mount in place)
http://i428.photobucket.com/albums/qq3/x13931x/HPIM0367-1.jpg

after
http://i428.photobucket.com/albums/qq3/x13931x/HPIM0364-1.jpg

I got rid of it for two reasons: 1) I wasn't going to use it in the mod, and 2) it got in the way of my graphics card fitting in :p (eVGA GTX 260 SSC)

I also got the hole cut for the ODD:
http://i428.photobucket.com/albums/qq3/x13931x/HPIM0365-1.jpg
http://i428.photobucket.com/albums/qq3/x13931x/HPIM0366.jpg

I've also dismantled the computer that's going in here, both for actual dry-fits of the hardware, and also to give me more motivation to work on the mod >_> (posting from my laptop)



On another note, I'm curious. Along the way, I'm going to be removing all of the rivets on the case and replacing them with domed-head hex socket screws with anti-slip nuts...I hate rivets...not sure why, I just do *shrugs* Anyone else out there with an irrational hatred for rivets in their case?

[BerticusPryme]

Looking good and it is off to a very clean start. I am really diggin the vertical mount for the optical drive. +rep for the design and a warm welcome to TBCS.

[Kumo]

Hi.
Like the vertical mount and overall design.

[x88x]

Thanks both, I was a little apprehensive about the vertical drive mounting, but looking at it in place, I think it'll work really well (not as well as it will once I have a slot-loader in there, but hey, what ya gonna do).

I made a little more progress tonight, I got the initial holes cut for the bottom holes:
http://i428.photobucket.com/albums/qq3/x13931x/HPIM0368-1.jpg

...and promptly realized that the flat file I have isn't gonna work very well for finishing off the holes...*adds to list of things to buy tomorrow*
(I also drilled out the rivets holding the back panel on)

Also, after coughing up metal shaving this morning...*kicks self for not realizing before starting yesterday*, I went and bought a nice dust mask and safety glasses (which I didn't already have why you ask? well..that is a very good question.)
http://i428.photobucket.com/albums/qq3/x13931x/HPIM0369-1.jpg

And surprise surprise, it doesn't hurt to breath this time :banghead:

Anyways... I'll be out of town this weekend, so I won't be able to get any work done till maybe Sunday night. I did order the screws and nuts for replacing the rivets though. Nice little button-head hex socket bolts with matching lock-nuts :D

[The boy 4rm oz]

I am liking how this started and your preliminary SketchUp. Eagerly waiting for more.

[x88x]

Well, I've been away over the weekend, but I'm back now and got some more work done on mightyMite tonight.

Oh, but wait, what's this waiting on my doorstep? Bolts! Yay bolts! :bunny:
http://i428.photobucket.com/albums/qq3/x13931x/HPIM0370-1.jpg

Ok, now on to actual mod work. Tonight I finished off the two holes in the bottom of the case, as before I had just kinda cut rough holes (well inside the circle I wanted) with large fiberglass cut-off wheels.
comparison:
http://i428.photobucket.com/albums/qq3/x13931x/HPIM0371.jpg

I forgot to grab any pics of the progress on the first hole, but on the second one I got this pic of the process I used. Like I said, I had previously cut smaller, rough holes, so this time I used some thick cutting wheels to cut slots in the hole, radiating out to the hole border I wanted.
like so (sorry, kinda a blurry pic...camera can't seem to focus that close very well):
http://i428.photobucket.com/albums/qq3/x13931x/HPIM0373.jpg

By the way, anyone out there looking to buy a new dremel, my 300 died recently and I replaced it with an XPR 400. This project is the first I've been able to use it, and I must say, it is sooo much nicer to use. I never would have thought something as simple as an on/off switch independent of the speed control would make such a big difference, but it really does. Also, the flex extension is, I think the single best accessory Dremel has ever made :D It makes working in confined spaces sooo much easier.

Anyways...
I got both holes cut out:
http://i428.photobucket.com/albums/qq3/x13931x/HPIM0375.jpg

with fans set in place:
http://i428.photobucket.com/albums/qq3/x13931x/HPIM0377.jpg

After cutting the holes out with the dremel, I used a big hand file with a curved edge to get it to exactly what I wanted, and a small, straight hand file to smooth out out the edges. I must say, they really turned out a good bit nicer than I thought they were going to.

Well, that's it for now. I will be doing a bit of work on the sketchup model tonight to add in the control panel, so that should be up soonish.

edit: Ok, apparently my laptop's OpenGL settings are screwed up or something, b/c SketchUp keeps crashing...well, tomorrow I think I'm gonna be putting my desktop back together (had it pulled apart to gauge some component sizes) and I'll work on the model then.

[Cobra]

project looks promising in these early stages. looking forward to see where it goes =o)

[x88x]

As you may have noticed, there's this big hole in the front of the case (almost like they wanted me to put drive there or something...weird :D ). There's also a bunch of supports that are going away to make room for the radiators, so I figured I'd kill two birds with one stone and just make a solid panel to cover the hole and reinforce the case.
http://i428.photobucket.com/albums/qq3/x13931x/mightyMite_34.jpg

It's already taped off for tomorrow I'm gonna start filling holes with JB-Weld. If it works well on that panel, I'll use it to fill in all the old ventilation holes in the chassis. If not, I'll go get some body filler for that.

[DonT-FeaR]

coool nice work good start

[x88x]

Well, I didn't get to Ace for the JB-Weld till today, so not much updates.

Holes filled in, waiting for stuff to set:
http://i428.photobucket.com/albums/qq3/x13931x/mightyMite_37.jpg

Also, last weekend I was up visiting some friends at my old college and found a random computer case in the trash. Yay donor case :p
http://i428.photobucket.com/albums/qq3/x13931x/mightyMite_38.jpg

More to come tomorrow once the JB-Weld sets.

[DonT-FeaR]

koool
ill be watching

[x88x]

Wow, it's been 6 days already? Whoops... Anyways, classes started this week, so life has kinda been getting in the way of modding :(
I finally got around to filling in the front panel:
http://i428.photobucket.com/albums/qq3/x13931x/MightMite_38.jpg

[XcOM]

looking good mate, im glad your going to fit a slot load drive, as i feel yiour vertical drive would require two hands to change disc

[x88x]

Yeah, probably, I just didn't want to sink that much cash into that part of it until I know it's going to work.

[Indybird]

I have one of these Dell cases, I would start a mod on it if I A) had parts and B) didnt have 3 other mods going :twisted:

The plans and progress look great. +Subscribed.

-Indybird

[x88x]

Sorry, no pics tonight. I should be able to put in some modding time tomorrow, but for now I just wanted to run an idea by some of the members with experience with water cooling. What I'm thinking for the loop atm is
....CPU -> Rad -> GPU -> Rad -> pump -> CPU....
Cooling a Q9450 and a GTX260, using two Black Ice GTX120 (http://www.dangerden.com/store/product.php?productid=255&cat=90&page=1#tabs) radiators, driven by an 18W DDC-12V (http://www.dangerden.com/store/product.php?productid=281&cat=23&page=1). Do you think this will keep the components cool enough? I haven't seen many people using 120.1 rads, but I feel like two should keep the loop cool enough. Another thought; should I try to squeeze a small reservoir in there or should it be fine with that loop, using 1/2" OD tubing?

[The boy 4rm oz]

My loop is res>240mm rad>pump>CPU>GPU>120mm rad>res
I use a BlackIce GTX120 and an Alphacool NexXxos 240mm rads.

I get temps of about 36c idle for my Q6600 and about the same for my 8800GTX. Do you have space for a 240mm rad instead of one of the 120mm rads? Cos you are cooling a high end quad and a hot graphics card the extra wouldn't hurt, especially for over clocking.

[x88x]

I'm trying to keep everything inside the confines of the original design as much as possible, and a 240 would stick out the back (or front) about 3-4mm, thought it would fit better for width. This was why I originally decided to go with dual 120.1's. Turned sideways, I think they would just barely fit. Do you think a single 240 would provide more dissipation than dual 120's? I'll try messing around with sketch-up model, try and see if I might be able to fit more rads in there. Thanks for the pointers.

[The boy 4rm oz]

Yeah there is always the space issue with radiators lol.

I dunno what performance gains a single 240mm rad would have over duel 120mm rads. If you use full thickness rads like the Thermochill PA120.1 or the Feser radiators you shouldn't have a problem, even BlackIce GTX radiators work really well.

The configuration in your Sketchups look good and should work fine.

[x88x]

Ok, that's good to know. I probably won't be overclocking on this system, so it will only have to deal with stock heat....though that's still something like 300W at peak usage... The Feser and Thermochill radiators look nice, but really, even 157mm depth is pushing it, so I don't think theirs would even fit. Maybe I'll try them for my next project... The Black Ice GTX radiators are 2-pass radiators though, so hopefully that'll help. Since there wouldn't be a boost in dissipation going with a 120.2 over dual 120.1's, I think I'll stick with that; it lets me cool off the coolant between the CPU and GPU...or would it be better to have them both run after the GPU to have the coolant hitting the CPU as cool as possible...hmmm. I did play around with the model, trying to see if it would be feasible to switch to a 120.2, or even 2, and while it could...maybe...be possible, the amount of modification I would have to do to the case is such that I might as well just go with a scratch build (which I think is the direction I'll be going with my next project, but one thing at a time, right?).

[The boy 4rm oz]

I think the loop you should be looking at is pump>CPU>rad>GPU>rad>res. That will best utilize the radiators you have at your disposal. Rule of thumb is to always cool the CPU first cos it puts out less heat than the GPU.

[x88x]

Ok, I was thinking that would be a good route to go. I had been hoping to be able to get away with no reservoir, but I think I might be able to squeeze something like this (http://www.xoxide.com/swiftech-mcres-micro.html) in. Thanks for your help.

edit:

So, I worked Sketchup around a bit more, and I think this is where I'm heading atm. I dropped the SSDs (at least for the moment) because I honestly don't see this system ever getting that upgrade. I think I might go ahead and build in a mount for one or two between the vertical HDD and the reservoir though, just in case.
http://i428.photobucket.com/albums/qq3/x13931x/mightyMite_38-1.png
http://i428.photobucket.com/albums/qq3/x13931x/mightyMite_39.png

So, on the to-do list:
Seal back of case
Seal side of case
File/sand down the JB-Weld on all surfaces to make smooth and ready to paint
Get PSU and prepare it for modification
Get various water-cooling parts
Design/Make CD/HDD/SSD/res/PSU/pump mount
Design/build control electronics
...yeah, ok, so I've got a ways to go

[The boy 4rm oz]

Yeah those Swiftech reservoirs work very well, Make sure you do get the V2 though, it has more inlet/outlet options.

The cads look very good. If you have the space you could always attach the pump directly to the res. That would give you some extra room above the PSU. I know you can get acrylic tops for that particular pump which allows for a vertical inlet rather than the 2 horizontal ones. You could make a compact res/pump combo to save space.

*EDIT*
This is what I mean
http://img6.imageshack.us/img6/338/22886762em9.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

[x88x]

Ok, not much of an update, but a little bit... it's been too long. Anyways, the front panel is looking pretty good, I've still got a couple little holes I want to fill in, but overall I'm happy with it. As a side note, 25-grain sand paper is freakin course! :eek: well, granted, the last time I bought sandpaper, it was for lapping a heatsink, and was stuff ranging from 800-2000-grain, but still..dang. Anywho.... I realized as I was trying to fit stuff together, that, while the locking nuts will be nice once I get it together, they kinda suck now...b/c I can't hold stuff together... so I put in an order with boltdepot.com (awesome site, btw) for some normal nuts, and also some 6mm bolts instead of the 10mm I got before. The 10mm are nice for testing b/c they give me more leeway to work with, but once I get stuff finalized, I'll want something shorter (yeah, I know I could just grind them down, and I will probably end up grinding some down, but considering I'm replacing all the rivets in the case with these, I really don't want to have to grind down ~40-50+ bolts).

I think tomorrow I'm gonna take the plunge and order the radiators (would do it tonight, but DangerDen's website is down). I've kinda been putting this off, but I really need them to get the top of the case planned/done, and plus, it'll give me more motivation to work on it more :D Also, I have more free time on Wednesdays, so hopefully tomorrow I'll be able to get started on the center mount.

[DonT-FeaR]

cool sounds good,

[x88x]

Sorry for the slow/small updates recently...I rather underestimated how much of my time my two classes + 30 hours/week at work would take up :dead:
Anyways, pics! I got the front panel finished up, and the bay cover mounted.
http://i428.photobucket.com/albums/qq3/x13931x/mightyMite_43.jpg

One thing I didn't really think about before I actually got it assembled; the drive-bay assembly actually provided a lot of support, which my cover plate doesn't. Main point of interest was here:
http://i428.photobucket.com/albums/qq3/x13931x/mightyMite_44.jpg

There used to be a huge assembly here, bracing the top, front, and side, and that's gone now.... Solution: make a better brace.
http://i428.photobucket.com/albums/qq3/x13931x/mightyMite_45.jpg

Mounted in place:
http://i428.photobucket.com/albums/qq3/x13931x/mightyMite_46.jpg

The brace was actually made out of the left-overs from one of the big holes I made in the bottom. It's amazing how much stability that one little piece adds; I think it might actually be stronger now than it was originally.

The rads are scheduled to get here on Thursday, so hopefully Thursday or Friday I'll be able to get started on the top. I've got some plans laid out for the center structure, and while I'll need the PSU before finishing them, I should be able to get at least the front section done. I have another donor case that I'll be cannibalizing for the mounts. Whoever threw away the other case took the panels, the only large pieces of flat sheet in the case. :evil:

Anyone know of a good source for the Swiftech MCRES Micro V2? I found it here (http://www.sidewindercomputers.com/swmcmire2re.html), but it's a bit more than I was expecting ($25, vs $15 for the V1 @ xoxide). Is about what would be expected for the V2 or is that just Sidewinder price-gouging?

[The boy 4rm oz]

The V2 seems mor eexpensive because they are trying to clear the stock of the original. Personally I would go for the V2, I have seen many of the originals crack and leak, they seemed to fix the problem with the V2.

Progress is going smoothly. Your doing Uni aren't you? I am starting at the end of the month, got 4 subjects first semester, no time for modding :(.

[x88x]

Ah, ok. I was wondering if there was something more to the difference than just the extra port. Yeah, I'm in college. I went for 2.5 years one place, took a year off, got a job, and now I'm going back part-time somewhere cheaper/more local to where I work. I'm only taking 2 classes this semester, but it's still kinda a shock going from just working full time to 2 classes, plus 30 hours/week working, commuting a good distance for each. Life gets kinda full when some days it's a full 12 hours from the time I leave in the morning till I get back at night. On the bright side though, I can actually afford to fund more of my projects :D

[DonT-FeaR]

nice bracket... looks strong

[x88x]

Well, I got home today and what do I see, but an unexpectedly early package from Oregon. Yay new parts :banana:
http://i428.photobucket.com/albums/qq3/x13931x/mightyMite_47.jpg
http://i428.photobucket.com/albums/qq3/x13931x/mightyMite_48.jpg

As you can see, it's a really tight fit, but they do fit, though it turns out the brace I made was a bit too big (I should have realized that sooner, but oh well, not a huge problem).
http://i428.photobucket.com/albums/qq3/x13931x/mightyMite_49.jpg
http://i428.photobucket.com/albums/qq3/x13931x/mightyMite_50.jpg

A little cutting/filing later, I had a revised brace:
http://i428.photobucket.com/albums/qq3/x13931x/mightyMite_52.jpg

That's all for today because I've got a big pile of homework I've kinda been ignoring for a few days, that hasn't magically gone away (funny thing about that). :( But yesterday I cut/filed/sanded out a panel to bend into the ODD mount (no pic, just picture a smallish rectangular sheet of 1mm steel). Turns out the vise I've been using isn't quite wide enough... *ponders building a metal brake*


EDIT:
(ok, so I lied about that being it for today >_> )

Back to thinking about my loop, I was thinking... (Please, correct me anywhere if my thinking/facts are wrong) IIRC, reservoirs serve three main purposes, to facilitate filling the loop, to hold extra liquid in the loop, and to give that liquid a little extra time to cool, before entering the loop again. I would think that the last function would be minimal, considering what I know of thermodynamics and the properties of plexi, and the other two functions I have frequently seen substituted for by adding a fill-plug and a bit of tubing branching off from the rest of the loop at a T, to go to the plug. Now, looking at the parts I am considering, most of my loop is currently 1/2", narrowing to 3/8" at the pump, and 1/4" at the reservoir. I played around with SketchUp a bit, and if I took the reservoir out, and rearranged the HDD/SSDs, I would be able to fit in a DD12V-D5 (http://www.dangerden.com/store/product.php?productid=274&cat=23&page=1#tabs), which has 1/2" fittings. What I'm wondering, anyone who has more experience with these things than I (read: most everyone here), would this improve my flow, or do radiators and blocks restrict flow to the point that it wouldn't make any difference? And if it would increase my flow, would it improve or hurt cooling? Or have to affect? (If I do use a D5, I would also put in a short T-line to a fill-port somewhere)

[The boy 4rm oz]

Really you should keep the diamiters of your tubing all the same. There is a big stigma about the bigger bore the tubing the better the cooling, this generally isn't true, it doesn't really make a difference. The tubing may be gigger but the liquid has to go through the same hole ;).

For a case your size I wouldn't use 1/2" tubing. It is big, cumbersome and has a very poor bend radius forcing you to use flow restricting adapters "T, Y and L connectors" I had enough trouble using 1/2" tubing in my NZXT LEXA mod and can tell you next time I will be using smaller tubing.

Now I think you may be a bit confused about the barb sizes. Most water cooling components come tapped at the standard G1/4" sizing. This allows for any barb with the G1/4" thread to screw into it. I know for a fact that the BlackIce GTX120 rads you are using come tapped at the G1/4" standard so you can easily use 3/8" barbs in the threads. Now the reservoir. I am also pretty sure that res is tapped at G1/4", not supporting 1/4" barbs so you can use 3/8" fittings on that also. I would stay with that pump (it is a very good pump) and addopt the 3/8" fittings on your rads and res. Over all the loop will be tidier and have better flow due to the lack of right angle bends you will need to make with the 1/2" tubing.

Boosting flow rate isn't always a good idea. If the fluid is running too fast it wont be able to effectively draw the heat from the water blocks and disperse it through the radiator. If the fluid is moving to slowely you will have very bad temps.

As for the use of a reservoir. The primary use of a reservoir is to collect and store extra fluid in a loop and to make it easier to fill, drain and top up a loop. The more fluid you have the slower your temps will (theoretically) rise. However this all depends on the orientation of your loop, if the fluid is comming from a radiator to te reservoir the fluid will stay coolerlonger than if the fluid is comming from a water block.

Personally I use a "T" line and a Dabger Den fillport the fill my system, my bay res has a fill cap but I find the "T" line easier. If you are using the Swiftech V2 res than you don't need to worry about the "T" line, you should be able to attack the fill port directly to the fillport on the res by simply replacing the cap with a barb.

So basically, keep the pump you have, addopt 3/8" barbs all around and if you want attach a fill port the the fill port on the res.

I hope that info helps.

[DonT-FeaR]

nice gear mate looks good so far

[x88x]

Hmm, ok, I was wondering if that was the case for the blocks. Is the G1/4" standard referring to the ID bore of the fitting? With everything having the same bore, it seems rather odd to me, then, that 1/2" tubing would actually be used much, unless that's just because of people (like me) thinking that it would give better flow. Maybe with a big loop it could kind of act like a small distributed reservoir? Ah well, thanks. That cleared a lot up for me. :D

edit:
Another thing I just remembered. What kind of affect do different type (not size) fittings have on the loop? I like the look and idea of compression fittings (http://www.dangerden.com/store/product.php?productid=307&cat=34&page=1#tabs), but would they have an adverse affect on the flow compared to other fittings?

[The boy 4rm oz]

The G1/4" standard refers to the size of the tapped hole the fitting screws into.

I don't see fittings playing a massive hole in performance, it's just personal taste. The main fittings you see are the high flow fittings, perfect seal fittings and compression fittings. High flow (http://www.dangerden.com/store/product.php?productid=70&cat=104&page=1) fittings are the fittings you see most commenly. they slip on the hose easily and require a clamp/zip tie to hold in place. Perfect Seal (http://www.dangerden.com/store/product.php?productid=210&cat=104&page=1) fittings are harder to get onto the tubing but generally don't require a clamp to secure in place. Compression (http://www.dangerden.com/store/product.php?productid=351&cat=103&page=1) fittings are basically like your garden hose. You slide the collet onto the hose, plug the hose into the fitting and then screw the collet in place, no clamp required. Danger Den (and a few others) also make a FatBoy (http://www.dangerden.com/store/product.php?productid=318&cat=104&page=1) fitting, these fittings are a hybrid between a high flow fitting and a perfect seal fitting, you get the best of both worlds. As far as I know different fittings really don't make much difference.

[x88x]

Ah, ok, that makes more sense (about G1/4"). Thanks for the explanations :D
If the fittings don't affect the performance significantly, I think I'm gonna go with the compression fittings. I really like the smooth, unified look, and I over-engineer stuff so much I would never trust Perfect Seal fittings without a clamp.

[chaksq]

Interesting start man! I love how you mounted that DVD drive, the radiators also seem to fit well where you have them. Good luck with this.

[x88x]

Not really an update, just a peak at things to come....

I've got a bunch of these (http://c1.neweggimages.com/NeweggImage/productimage/17-121-172-03.jpg) sitting around.... One of them will be sacrificed. :twisted:


More to come once I get time to work on the top.

[Eclecticos]

I have several of these internal drive bay enclosures myself.
I gutted one of them for the frame and bolted a cd player motor to one side in the front.
I created a barrel or squirrel fan out of 1½" acyclic pipe. I simply cut several slots into the pipe at a 45° angle, glued styrene strips into the slots, then attached it to the motor with pieces of a toilet paper holder.
Worked great as a intake fan for an unoccupied drive bay.

[DonT-FeaR]

lol /\ pics?


you have them laying around... send me one :P

[The boy 4rm oz]

They are like $40AUD each lol, for the cheap ones and you have them lying around ? LOL.

[DonT-FeaR]

lol /\ exactly why i want one :)

[x88x]

Well, long story (very) short, an old system of mine and had all the storage HDDs mounted in these. The system is no longer in use, and actually has been cannibalized almost in entirety by now, but the case and drive bays are just sitting around gathering dust. I had been planning on rebuilding it with better components, but ever since I discovered multi-drive bays (ie, 5-in-3's, 4-in-3's, 3-in-2's, etc) I doubt I'll ever use 1-in-1's ever again, for that purpose (the system was a fileserver, incase you couldn't guess ;) ).
pic of case with populated front (yeah, I know the top bay is off a bit; this was after its effective lifetime):
http://i428.photobucket.com/albums/qq3/x13931x/HPIM0349.jpg

re: DonT-FeaR, I might could be persuaded if you've got an interesting idea :D but I feel like the cost of shipping would probably be more than the cost (at least in the US) of buying a new one. (I think they cost me ~$20-25 each, originally)

[nevermind1534]

Could you weigh it? I have a UPS account, so I get a little discount through them if they're cheaper.

[x88x]

I would guess around 8 oz, but the cheapest shipping according to UPS and FedEx's online calculators for that would be ~$70US

[nevermind1534]

Where are you? And $70 for 8 oz can't be right, unless you're having them pick it up.

[DonT-FeaR]

wow... thats alot... and the postage is ridiculous

[nevermind1534]

If you say that you will schedule a pickup (for UPS, at least), they only give you the outrageous quotes, not the normal ones.

[x88x]

I tried for drop-off and pick-up, which were actually about the same. The problem, I would think, is that it's shipping from Maryland, USA to Gawler, Australia. There seems to be a minimum cost of ~$75 for UPS, and ~$70 for FedEx (1 pound was the same for both).

[nevermind1534]

I tried for drop-off and pick-up, which were actually about the same. The problem, I would think, is that it's shipping from Maryland, USA to Gawler, Australia. There seems to be a minimum cost of ~$75 for UPS, and ~$70 for FedEx (1 pound was the same for both).

Try this, too http://postcalc.usps.gov They can pickup the packages for free, too. And could you give me a shipping quote to 48167?

[DonT-FeaR]

how you know where i live :0 looks around nervously...... lol

[x88x]

:mad::mad::mad::mad:
BLAGREH!!!!

So after two weeks, I finally got time to work on my mod today (or rather, on the metal brake I need to continue my mod) and just ~10 minutes into it, my dremel suddenly dies! GAH! Motor just went kablewi and started smoking... :mad:
Here's hoping Dremel has good customer support...though I really don't want to spend a long time waiting for shipping/repairs/shipping...grrrrr....
Does anyone know of anything currently available along the lines of this (http://www.internethobbies.com/dremmod73hea.html) little gem? If the motor isn't covered under the warranty (or even possibly if it is) I think I'll want to try and get (or build) something a little tougher, and that seems like it would have been a great solution because ever since I got my flexshaft attachment, it hasn't left my dremel.

On happier topics, I got the PSU I'll be using for the mod; a PC Power & Cooling Silencer 500:
http://i428.photobucket.com/albums/qq3/x13931x/mightyMite_55.jpg
It was on sale for ~60% off (after rebate) plus I got a free 4GB flash drive :D

I also learned the hard way that you can apparently get female as well as male adapters for slimline ODDs.... But after ordering the wrong one from Newegg, deciding it wasn't worth the cost of shipping it back, and finding out Newegg doesn't carry male adapters, I finally got what I need from cpustuff.com:
http://i428.photobucket.com/albums/qq3/x13931x/mightyMite_56.jpg
The tiny SATA cable next to it is a 4" cable for the HDD...I had been thinking I might want something even shorter, but after seeing it...no, no, 4" is pretty freakin short.
For scale:
http://i428.photobucket.com/albums/qq3/x13931x/mightyMite_57.jpg

Also, this is the metal brake as it currently stands:
http://i428.photobucket.com/albums/qq3/x13931x/mightyMite_54.jpg

I got inspiration for the design from FrooP here (http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/forum/showthread.php?t=15761&page=6), and yeah, I know, I need to flip the hinges over....I was in the process of doing that when the magic smoke left.

re: DonT-FeaR and nevermind1534, I checked the USPS pricing, and that might actually be worth the shipping. PM me and we can work something out.

[The boy 4rm oz]

Well when the variable speed on my Dremel died they fixed it without question .They will fix the motor if it wasn't abuse of poor care that killed it. They recommend you clean the Dremel after every use such as blowing metal shards out of it and generally keep up the maintenance. Most likely a metal shard got stuck in the motor and burnt it out, happened to my older Dremel rip off, cooling blades melted and all.

If you are looking to get that other rotary tool you may be out of luck. That page you linked to says they are out of production and sold out.

[x88x]

Yeah, it seems to have been quite a while since they stopped making it. I'm considering this (http://www.amazon.com/Heavy-Duty-Rotary-Flex-Shaft-Grinder-Accessories/dp/B001MN884Y/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1236818641&sr=1-1). Anyone have any experience with that company? I hadn't heard that before about cleaning it after every use, though it certainly makes sense. It would be a bit odd though, if that was the problem, since I've actually never used the thing without the flexshaft attachment, so it always hangs up about 8 feet off the floor.

update:
Well, it looks like Dremel's gonna fix mine for me, but after this, and considering how much metal cutting I've been doing with it recently..and how light a hand I've had to use with it at times... I decided that it just wasn't quite powerful enough for my needs. I finally remembered where I originally saw the kind of tool that I want. The company is called Foredom (http://www.foredom.com/home.asp). Unfortunately, their products are quite expensive, so I got this (http://www.amazon.com/Grinder-Carver-inch-flexible-shaft/dp/B0002JF5EA/ref=sr_11_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1236914024&sr=11-1) instead. Hopefully it should get here sometime next week and I can get back to modding. In the mean time....idk, I might start working on my plans for the fileserver I want to build :D

update:
YAY! New not-a-dremel-thingy got here today! I couldn't find any reviews of it online anywhere, so I made one here (http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/forum/showthread.php?p=235473#post235473).

update:
...I am not having good luck with tools these days... The dremel-on-steroids is doing just fine, but I completely forgot to think of the torque that this thing would put out. Long story short, if you get something like this, do NOT use Dremel cut-off wheels. I was able to use the fiberglass reinforced wheels just fine, until the screw broke. Yeah, that's right, I hit a snag in the metal and the screw that holds cutting wheels on the attachment broke. Sheared right in half. So, yeah, I'm gonna have to find some new wheels to use with this thing.

[x88x]

Wow, it's been a while, but I promise; I'm not dead :p

First off, I gotta say, Dremel support is pretty awesome. After getting the shipping info for my 400, I decided to try with my 300 that I have no receipt for. And guess what? They replaced both of them with no questions. Yay for companies that actually have good customer support :D

Back on topic, I finally got some time to work on my mod today, and I finally got the metal brake done.... unfortunately, it bends itself...needs some modifications before it'll really be useful. That aside, I came up with a better idea for the ODD mount. My previous design was basically to have a whole wrap-around thing that the ODD would sit in, but now that I can't bend large sheets, I got this idea:
http://i428.photobucket.com/albums/qq3/x13931x/mightyMite_63.jpg

I've also got the PSU mount modified to fit my new PSU, and I just ordered the rest of the materials for my water cooling setup. The last few weeks I've been really busy, but the night class I'm taking is off for the week and only has one week left, and the college courses I'm taking are over in a couple weeks, so soon I should have more time to work on modding now :D I'll post more as I make more progress.

[The boy 4rm oz]

Glad to see you are making some progress.

[x88x]

I finally settled on a design for the top vents/side (side design affects how the top vents would be). I decided to go with the stock method for securing the side panel, so I couldn't cut the ideal full circles in the top panel, but I think I got enough out that airflow shouldn't be too impeded, especially since it's also flowing through the rads.
holes:
http://i428.photobucket.com/albums/qq3/x13931x/mightyMite_64.jpg

holes with spring thingy that holds the side one:
http://i428.photobucket.com/albums/qq3/x13931x/mightyMite_65.jpg

Now structural stuff is almost done; aesthetic, I'm not sure about yet, so main stuff left is the wiring. I have all the parts I need on order with the possible exception of a right-angle connector or two for the GPU water block (I'm hoping I won't need them), so I'm hoping to have everything with the possible exception of the shell (aesthetics) done by this time next week.

[x88x]

Everything's come in now, so it's all just waiting for me to finish the mod, and then it can all get installed! I'm forcing myself to not install anything in the old case...if I want to use it, I have to finish the mod...at least the structural and electrical portions.

Happy fun pile of awesome!
http://i428.photobucket.com/albums/qq3/x13931x/mightyMite_66.jpg

And, let's see...what exactly is the most awesome little nugget in there (or rather, nuggets)? What have we here...
http://i428.photobucket.com/albums/qq3/x13931x/mightyMite_67.jpg

I fought with myself long and hard over this, but in the end, my techno-lust won out over my tax refund, and I decided on these. (So, for those of you who have been following this log for a while...I suppose I lied about not putting SSDs in this build :D )

post-unboxing shot:
http://i428.photobucket.com/albums/qq3/x13931x/mightyMite_70.jpg

Now I just have to make the HDD mount, paint, and do the wiring....thankfully I don't have much going on tomorrow.

More to come soon.

[The boy 4rm oz]

Nice gear especially the SSDs.

[DonT-FeaR]

wow.. those ssds would have set you back a bit!

yeah nice idea about not using anything until ur mods done,,

[The boy 4rm oz]

Yeah I wish I got all my tech after I finished my mod. By the time I was finished LEXA all my good gear was nearly second gen tech.

[p0Pe]

Yeah I wish I got all my tech after I finished my mod. By the time I was finished LEXA all my good gear was nearly second gen tech.

think we all tryid that:D

[x88x]

Yeah I wish I got all my tech after I finished my mod. By the time I was finished LEXA all my good gear was nearly second gen tech.

Yeah, though to be honest it was really more of a "Oh, hey, I suddenly have $1000 that I never calculated into my budget! ...*pst*..*hey budget, look over there*.." And actually, after I do all the upgrades, the only things coming over from my current setup will be my CPU and RAM. And while my CPU is over a year old, it's still a really nice CPU (Q9450).


wow.. those ssds would have set you back a bit!

yeah nice idea about not using anything until ur mods done,,

yeah...a bit more than I care to admit...but I just couldn't justify buying a raptor, and I wanted something faster than a standard HDD for my OS and Apps, so that was the best choice. And, yeah, not letting myself use any of the new stuff till the mod is done is definitely giving me a lot of incentive to finish it soon. (Well, nothing aside from the 1.5TB HDD that is; I hooked it up last night to get stuff off my aging 7200.10 500GB drives....and they were not happy about working that hard...definitely gonna be RMAing those things before I sell them).

[DonT-FeaR]

rofl... yeah i cant justify buying an ssd but i want to ... lol

[The boy 4rm oz]

I can justify buying one but my bank account doesn't lol. I HAVE to save for my trip to New Zealand next year lol.

[DonT-FeaR]

might cya there jase...

dad wants to go for fishing :P

[x88x]

So, yesterday I finally got the HDD mount done:
http://i428.photobucket.com/albums/qq3/x13931x/HPIM0433.jpg

Fits in like so:
http://i428.photobucket.com/albums/qq3/x13931x/HPIM0434.jpg

Unfortunately, it looks like I underestimated how much space the watercooling tubing would take up...also fans...also some other stuff...yeah... Anyways, I've rearranged some stuff and it should work now. The biggest change is that I'm ending up having to use a total of 7 right-angle connectors, which I'm sure will wreak havoc on flow, but hopefully it won't be a problem. I also ended up dropping one of the bottom fans, possibly both. One I had to drop because I ran out of space for the pump, but hopefully the other will still fit. I think I'll also leave the fan in the PSU for now, though I switched it around so it's pulling air in to the case instead of blowing out.

New partial layout:
http://i428.photobucket.com/albums/qq3/x13931x/HPIM0431.jpg

Better shot of the pump and the newly water-blocked GPU:
http://i428.photobucket.com/albums/qq3/x13931x/HPIM0432.jpg

And I will say this; prepping and blocking a GTX260 is a PAIN. All those little surfaces that have to be cleaned, prepped and gooped...geh. But, once it's all together, it'll be worth it. Still got a lot electrical work to do, but I probably won't get the new right-angle connectors I need to finish the loop till Wednesday, so hopefully I'll get a chance to finish the wiring before then.

[The boy 4rm oz]

The HDD mount looks awesome, nice work. The GTX260 looks great with the block on, would weigh a whole lot less also lol.

[DonT-FeaR]

like the hdd mount looks good

[x88x]

The GTX260 looks great with the block on, would weigh a whole lot less also lol.

Heheh, yeah, I thought it would too, but that water-block is almost a solid slab of copper...I think it's actually heavier now than it was with the stock HSF. It does look pretty though :D

Thanks both on the HDD mount. When I was cutting out the sheet to form it out of, I actually forgot about the SSDs, and made it just under five inches tall...a tad too narrow to get mount holes for both SSDs in there. Fortunately, it worked out well because I was able to put them almost flush together and the upper and lower edges stuck out just far enough off the edge that I was able to just throw a washer under each of the screws and it holds it on. I'll try and remember to get a pic of it when I takes it apart for painting.

[x88x]

Ok, yeah, yeah, it's coming up on two weeks....oh well, better to do it right than quick, right? :D

I've been working on the wiring the last few days, so I'm getting closer. I gotta say; I'd never used heatshrink tubing before, but I LOVE IT! It makes insulating connections soooo much easier, and lets me do much smaller, more streamlined connections. Like so:
http://i428.photobucket.com/albums/qq3/x13931x/HPIM0435.jpg

I decided to route my ATX connector through two sleeves because it gives me more flexibility with routing the cables (ok, so initially it was because all 24 wires wouldn't fit through the sleeving I have, but it worked out well).

ATX connector done:
http://i428.photobucket.com/albums/qq3/x13931x/HPIM0436.jpg

and in place:
http://i428.photobucket.com/albums/qq3/x13931x/HPIM0437.jpg

I got one of the PCI-E power lines done today, and started on the second one, but I ran out of the narrow heatshrink tubing *kicks self for not getting more*. So tomorrow I'll head off to Ace and pick up more tubing...stupidly overpriced there, but I'm not gonna wait for delivery, I want to get this thing running this weekend. Once I get the wiring done, I'll finally be able to run the tubing, and I want to run the loop without the majority of the hardware in there for at least 12 hours. If it's not raining tomorrow, I'll be disassembling the whole thing again and throwing a few coats of paint on the frame.

[DonT-FeaR]

very cool..
im in the process of doing something similar :)

[The boy 4rm oz]

Never seen a duel sleeved 24pin ATX cable before lol, epic. +rep

[x88x]

Bleargth... stuff taking way more time than I thought it would... Oh well, my finals were last week, and I've got a 3-day weekend next weekend, so I'm hoping to have it done by next Monday at the very latest.

I got more wiring done, I got the PCI-E power set; also a little unique setup:
http://i428.photobucket.com/albums/qq3/x13931x/HPIM0440.jpg

My new motherboard has some pretty weird power requirements; it needs a separate power connection for each PCI-E x16 slot, and I don't want to have to add any wiring later, and the Xonar needs a separate power connection, so...weird funky wiring it is:
http://i428.photobucket.com/albums/qq3/x13931x/HPIM0439.jpg

close-up:
http://i428.photobucket.com/albums/qq3/x13931x/HPIM0442.jpg

I also got the res mount done, though the more I complete of this mod, the more I realize how much of a pain it's going to be to actually assemble...mainly, getting the video card and the water loop in at the same time..

[The boy 4rm oz]

BTW the power on the PCI-e slots is only if you are running SLI, otherwise they arent necessary. The sleeving does look good though.

[x88x]

BTW the power on the PCI-e slots is only if you are running SLI, otherwise they arent necessary. The sleeving does look good though.

DFI recommends in the manual that power be provided to each x16 slot that there is a card in, and even if it's not needed, it won't hurt :D

[The boy 4rm oz]

Hmm, that's strange. In my DFI manual it says that the power connector isn't required but it is recommended for SLI use lol. They must have changed their thinking. Are they still using floppy drive power connectors to supply the power? That is a major fail. I would prefer 3pin or Molex myself.

[x88x]

Yup, still using those horrid floppy connectors. I remember my old AGP X800XT AIW had a floppy connector, and after a couple years of use it was getting a lot looser than I was realy comfortable with...though it took a bit of persuasion to get it off each time, a bit like on my Xonar. But on the MBB, the connectors seem to have hit a good balance of secure but not so secure you have to pry them off.

[x88x]

Wow, I had been considering not painting any of the metal (to save time, get the mod done faster, and thus get to use my hardware sooner) because almost none of it is actually going to be visible, but in keeping with my work with the wiring, I decided I would rather do it right than fast, so I picking up some automotive primer today and got to work. ..and I gotta say, it looks niiiiice. Even with just the primer, the paint really transformed the case. No pics yet because it's dark, but when I bring the pieces inside later, I'll get some. I also slimmed down the HDD/SSD mount, enlarged the foot holes to accommodate the new feet I got a couple weeks ago, and I made this..
http://i428.photobucket.com/albums/qq3/x13931x/mightyMite_86.jpg

Any guesses :twisted: (and no, it's not a fill port)

EDIT:
whoops, just realized I never posted a pic of my res mount. here we go:
http://i428.photobucket.com/albums/qq3/x13931x/HPIM0444.jpg

[DonT-FeaR]

its a key lock... to either... stop people opening the side pannels... or to power it up

[x88x]

Heehee, well, it's a key lock...to power up something. (I actually don't have anything planned for the system power switch yet...I should probably start thinking of something for that..)

Also, pics of primed metals (I'm gonna be doing another coat of primer tomorrow, plus a coat of matte black, and then a final coat of this nice textured black stuff I found; feels a little like a poor-man's powder coat):
http://i428.photobucket.com/albums/qq3/x13931x/mightyMite_87.jpg
http://i428.photobucket.com/albums/qq3/x13931x/mightyMite_88.jpg

Yes, I know that one panel looks pretty horrid; I ran out of paint.

[DonT-FeaR]

lol poor mans powder coat :P

hah i was right :P

[The boy 4rm oz]

So that is one of those key locks with the built in starter switch? Those things are awesome.

[x88x]

Well...now let this be a lesson to me...always read the instructions on the can before buying...or at least before using... The new primer I got apparently wants 48 hours till fully dry (as opposed to 4 like the other stuff), so I'm stuck for at least a day.

Oh well, live and learn.
pic of the new coat:
http://i428.photobucket.com/albums/qq3/x13931x/mightyMite_89.jpg

[The boy 4rm oz]

The new coat is much neater.

[pcclan]

nice you gotten far

[DonT-FeaR]

new paint looks much better :P

i hate that slow drying paint...
normally enamel when it takes that long to dry..

[x88x]

Thanks guys, that's actually just the second of three primer coats. Working on the third now, but today when I went to Lowes to pick up another can of the stuff I was planning on for the final coat... well, they didn't have what I was looking for, but I found this:
http://i428.photobucket.com/albums/qq3/x13931x/mightyMite_90.jpg

Methinks two layers of that should make for a nice, durable coat. :D

Also, that's my back panel drying its second primer coat (I ran out of paint on the first coat, so it's one layer behind).

[pcclan]

hope to see it done

[x88x]

So, painting is done for most of the parts now. The bed liner makes a beautiful finish, very similar to a powder-coating, but unfortunately wants 72 hours to fully dry....so unfortunately it won't be completely done drying till probably some time on Thursday :( Oh well, it's worth it imo.

Pictures really do not do it justice, but here's a shot of some of the pieces:
http://i428.photobucket.com/albums/qq3/x13931x/mightyMite_91.jpg

On a side note, I was driving home today from picking up another can of bed liner, and I saw something awesome on the side of the road. One of my neighbors was throwing away a Samsung 225BW (a 22" 1680x1050 panel, for those who don't know), coincidentally, the same model as one of the monitors I already had. I talked to the buy, who said it stopped working, so he was throwing it out...heheheh.. I took it home and powered it on, and saw that the power light was flashing; according to Samsung, this means that either it's out of range (not the case) or the power supply board is going bad. Since, as I mentioned, I have another panel already that's the same model, I decided to go the easy route and just swap out parts to determine what was bad. It turns out that it's just the power supply board that's bad, and I found a website where I can order a new board for $30..... so, new $250 monitor for $30 and a few hours work :D


EDIT: forgot; here's a pic of a 225BW (right)
http://i428.photobucket.com/albums/qq3/x13931x/mightyMite_92.jpg

[x88x]

As I've been reading over pOPe's 'DnA - revisited' thread, I happened to notice that completely by accident, it turns out that all the PCBs in my build will be black (which fits well with the color scheme).
http://i428.photobucket.com/albums/qq3/x13931x/mightyMite_93.jpg

I also today finally got my WC loop run:
http://i428.photobucket.com/albums/qq3/x13931x/mightyMite_94.jpg

pulled out of the case:
http://i428.photobucket.com/albums/qq3/x13931x/mightyMite_95.jpg

and filled:
http://i428.photobucket.com/albums/qq3/x13931x/mightyMite_96.jpg

Now it's running as paint dries, to hopefully pull out all the air bubbles. I gotta say, I didn't really anticipate the actual filling of the loop to be such a pain, though it was probably made much worse by me not having a fill point; I used the "bottom" port on the res..while turned upside-down, so I had not much leeway at all in between top-ups.

EDIT: also, w00tz! 10 pages! :D

[DonT-FeaR]

looks great good work on the loop

[The boy 4rm oz]

Loop looks good but may I ask why you chose to use the 90 degree barbs from the rad to the GPU? The 90 degree fittings were hardly needed and it just makes the overall loop look a little cramped around the mobo.

[x88x]

Loop looks good but may I ask why you chose to use the 90 degree barbs from the rad to the GPU? The 90 degree fittings were hardly needed and it just makes the overall loop look a little cramped around the mobo.

Because otherwise it would have had to run straight through the PSU. It'll make more sense once I have the PSU in there. Also, coming out of the rad, there wouldn't have been space to use something other than the 90-degree fitting, because even with it, it almost scrapes the PSU mount (in fact, after painting, it might scrape it a little), and going into the GPU block, I think it only has about 1" or so of clearance.

I gotta say, I'm glad I went with your recommendation and dropped down to 3/8" tubing; I really don't think the 1/2" would have fit...the case is a bit more cramped than I thought it was going to be (go figure :p). I was struggling for a long time, trying to figure out how I was going to get everything in there, and (perhaps more importantly) how I would go about taking everything out again if I needed to replace something. As a side-effect of having to work without the back panel, I ended up deciding to thread the screw holes for the back panel, and put that part on last. The PSU will still be a little awkward, but that's a lot better than having to cut up more of the frame.

[The boy 4rm oz]

Ah yeah I forgot about the PSU, makes perfect sense now lol. Yeah I told you the smaller tubing would be a better option, I will go going smaller again for my next W/C rig.

[billygoat333]

good score on the monitor! :) I love simple fixes like that.

how do you like that spray on liner stuff? that stuff would be perfect for my sub box I built, which is currently ugly plywood still lol

[x88x]

good score on the monitor! :) I love simple fixes like that.

Yeah, I'm really excited because it lets me put off buying another monitor :D


how do you like that spray on liner stuff? that stuff would be perfect for my sub box I built, which is currently ugly plywood still lol

It's actually really nice. I was a little disappointed at first because it seemed a little fragile, but once I actually let it dry 72 hours (like it says you're supposed to) it came out to a really nice, durable finish. I didn't realize just how tough till I started sanding down the portion around where I left it sitting on cardboard...it really drove home that the stuff is designed to be used as truck bed liner. It recommends using it on bare metal or primed surface, and doing 2 coats within a few minutes of each other, and I did 3 primer coats, followed by the recommended 2 coats a few minutes apart, then left the parts to dry for 72 hours. For the first batch, I made the mistake of flipping the parts after only an hour of drying, and ended up having to touch up several parts, so on the second batch I left them drying for about 32 hours before flipping and painting the other side, and there are no errors this time. The only down side is that it's about $7/can, and though the cans are a good bit larger than normal cans, that's just because of the little particles of..whatever it is. It covers about the same area as a normal can, maybe a little less.


....doh.....I just realized, in the pic of the monitors, I pointed out the wrong one. The one on the right is the 225BW.

EDIT: Also, don't know if I mentioned this, but I was only able to find the bed liner stuff at Lowes.

[x88x]

So, question to the cloud. I can't seem to get this little bubble out:
http://i428.photobucket.com/albums/qq3/x13931x/mightyMite_97.jpg

Now, keeping in mind that the highest point in my loop is gonna be the two rads, do you think this'll be a problem?

[billygoat333]

thanks for the info on the spray liner stuff +rep. will have to check it out. and 7 bucks a can isnt too bad... considering @ autozone its like 90 bucks a gallon for bedliner in a can... lol dont think I need a whole gallon just for my sub box, although I could just skip the primer and do a super heavy coat on it... haha

[x88x]

well, I tested the PSU before assembling everything and it worked just fine....now after stuffing everything into the new case, it stopped working...now to bang my head against the wall for a while, trying to figure out why....

EDIT:
and...I tried it with a PSU I know works....and something on the MBB flashed red and the whole thing died...

[x88x]

W00TZ!!! Turns out the MBB and PSU are both actually fine! :banana: :banana: :banana: I just had one of the PCI-E rail floppy connectors plugged in wrong :bash:, and apparently both the PSU and MBB are smart enough to not power on in such an event.


EDIT:
...and down again....

As it turns out, the MBB was not happy with the PSU that I had modified for the case. Apparently it wasn't providing enough current on the 5V line, though it supposedly only needs 2A and the PSU is rated at 2.5A. As a result, it would power on, but do nothing and show nothing on the post code LEDs (which is what tipped me off to try a PSU with a higher 5V current rating). So I hooked up my 700W Thermaltake Toughpower, which is rated at 3A on the 5V line.....now it powers on but does nothing but spout gibberish in the POST code LEDs. I tried clearing the BIOS, and now it just spouts different gibberish.... :bash: ...this is really putting me off DFI....

EDIT:
So, as it turns out, DFI's support is quick...but very unhelpful.
Only about 30 minutes after I sent in the ticket, I get a response: "I would rma the board with the your place of purchase."
...gee thanks, I'm so glad that didn't cross my mind....OH WAIT. (Unfortunately, NewEgg put a 30-day limit on replacing the board, and it's been 35 days...I think I'm gonna try contacting NewEgg, see if they'll make an exception.


EDIT:
So, at least he gave me the email address for the DFI RMA dept (something I could not find on their website). So I guess that's what I'll be doing....now to extract the MBB from this case...

[DonT-FeaR]

fail...
bad luck mate

and gl in the future

[The boy 4rm oz]

Yep it's the mobo, sounds like the NB to me, same thing happened when my LANParty went down. DFI took 2 months to get me a new board cos they didn't make it anymore but your board is still in production so you should have no trouble at all.

Sucks about Newegg, they should still have to take it though to send it off for RMA, that's how it works here in Australia. I had a 1 year in store return policy and 3 year DFI warranty, I had exceeded my return policy but they still took it to RMA cos I wanted to fix it, not replace it.

[x88x]

Yeah, before I go further with DFI, I'm gonna contact NewEgg today and see if they can make an exception.

[x88x]

Well, it looks like NewEgg's gonna let me replace it through them. :D

In other news, my replacement power supply board came in today, and voila!
http://i428.photobucket.com/albums/qq3/x13931x/MightyMite_98.jpg

Shiny new $250 monitor for $35 :D Great for viewing scanlations on :P

[985323]

...nice collection of manga dude

[The boy 4rm oz]

Damn, I want a new shiny $250 monitor for $30 lol, then I actually could afford to upgrade.

[DonT-FeaR]

/\ lol yeah true that :)

[x88x]

...nice collection of manga dude
Heheh, thanks. There's actually a couple more shelves above the frame of the pic too. :D


Damn, I want a new shiny $250 monitor for $30 lol, then I actually could afford to upgrade.


/\ lol yeah true that :)

Keep your eye out on common dumping sites. I know at the college I used to attend, they made it nice and easy by having electronics drops by each of the large dumpsters..ostensibly to separate out the potentially hazardous and/or recyclable electronics from the trash, but it made it nice for us scavengers :P (I actually found two 15" monitors during my time there that had been thrown out, but that was before I knew how to fix them)
Also, not quite as cheap, but eBay is full of people selling broken monitors that just need a new inverter, power supply, backlight, or whatever....just don't get one with a cracked screen... Incidentally, for anyone looking to do a similar repair, but even cheaper, I found an article talking about how when the inverter goes, it's usually actually just needs to have the capacitors replaced, which (depending on the source) could cost pennies...or at least just a few dollars.

[Notyab]

Well, it looks like NewEgg's gonna let me replace it through them. :D

In other news, my replacement power supply board came in today, and voila!
http://i428.photobucket.com/albums/qq3/x13931x/MightyMite_98.jpg

Shiny new $250 monitor for $35 :D Great for viewing scanlations on :P

looks good. bleach manga ftw!!

[altec]

You should change your name to Otaku man! :D

Hey- Where in MD are you?

[x88x]

You should change your name to Otaku man! :D

Heehee, yup :P


Hey- Where in MD are you?

Silver Spring

Also, +rep to Notyab for recognizing the latest Bleach chapter :D

[The boy 4rm oz]

I love Bleach, never got into the Manga but I have every episode of the Anime.

[altec]

Heehee, yup :P



Silver Spring


Ah! I live down below Bowie (East of Upper Marlboro). :)

[x88x]

I love Bleach, never got into the Manga but I have every episode of the Anime.

I originally got hooked on the Bleach anime, but started following the manga at...some point, I forget when...and I think the one best thing about it as opposed to the anime is that I don't have to suffer through filler. I found it also made me enjoy the anime more, since I don't have to wonder what's gonna happen with the main story as I wait through filler. Also, it's nice to be able to anticipate seeing what the animators do with some of the more exciting parts, like Hisagi's recent (in the anime) fight :D

[x88x]

Ah! I live down below Bowie (East of Upper Marlboro). :)

Cool, I actually work with a guy that lives down there.

[x88x]

Just thought I'd throw up an update since it's been a while. NewEgg ok'd a replacement, which awesome because I'm sure they'll get a new one to me much faster than DFI would have been able to (and also, added bonus, they pay shipping :D ). So I got that shipped off on Tuesday, hopefully it'll becoming back some time next week...in the meantime I'm using my old system...Athlon 64 FX-55, 2GB DDR-400, GeForce 8600 GTS, with a random 60GB IDE drive I had lying around. I'd forgotten how much of a performance difference there is between an FX-55 and Q9450 :dead: also 1/4 the amount of RAM I'm used to...at less than half the speed...gr, oh well, at least I have something to fall back on.

[DonT-FeaR]

lol... hope it all goes smoothly.

[x88x]

I got confirmation today that NewEgg ok'd the RMA! :banana: Now to wait on shipping....

[The boy 4rm oz]

Good news mate.

[x88x]

WOAH!! I got shipping notification just now; next-day air from their Tennessee warehouse! Sweet! :banana:

[DonT-FeaR]

SWEET!

congrats mate

[x88x]

Well, it came in yesterday and it's working just fine. Through the final steps of this mod, I've dropped the ODD because it ran into some structural elements that I had forgotten about, and I've dropped the 3.5" HDD because when I designed the mount, I neglected to remember that there would be cables and tubing running through there. I'll post pics when I get back home and pull them off my camera, but what I ended up doing was using some of the mounting velcro that came with the res to mount the two SSDs onto the big flat side of the res. For storage outside of those SSDs, I'll be building up a nice fileserver as my next project (got most of the parts already) and I'll just access that over a gigabit LAN.

I finally got all my new hardware together and working last night (well, except for my old 18" LCD..I need to figure out a way to mount it on my desk before I can use all 3), and I have to say, I was not entirely prepared for the results.

Updated system specs:
Core 2 Q9450
DFI Lanparty Jr GF9400-T2RS
8BG (4x2GB) DDR2-1066 OCZ Platinum
2x 60GB OCZ Vertex SSD (RAID-0)
eVGA GeForce GTX260
PC Power & Cooling Silencer 550W
Asus Xonar DX

Running Windows 7 RC1 x64

I fired it up last night and got Windows/etc installed, and I have to say, I think this is about the fastest PC I have ever used. :banana: Seriously, I never realized before how much of my time on a computer is spent waiting for things to finish, even on this system before the SSDs. I think there are now two bottlenecks on my PC; my internet connection (10/2 FiOS) and...me. Ok, granted, the performance difference may have been a bit exaggerated by my spending a week using my old FX-55, but still...this thing is crazy fast.

[x88x]

Hmm, well, I haven't been able to find my USB cable, so no pics...

I thought I'd post some stuff about the performance, and my future plans.

I'm quite happy with my first foray into watercooling; I didn't get extreme cooling, but that's not really what I was going for. I'm getting around 60C at full load on my CPU and about 55C on my GPU, also at full load.
http://i428.photobucket.com/albums/qq3/x13931x/mightyMite_98-1.png
Oddly, I'm getting pretty different temps for cores 0 and 2 than I am for 1 and 3...not really sure why, I'm confident I applied the Arctic Silver correctly...maybe because of where the inlet/outlet are located on the block?
Ah well, even 69C is well within the operating temps of a Core 2 chip, and I have yet to see the temps go above what you see in the screenshot. The only temp I'm a little worried about is the GF9400 onboard, which is the GPU listed at 65C in the screenshot. I'm sure the reason for it being so hot is because it doesn't have much airflow around the block, but still...oh well, it won't be getting hit with much of a load anyways, just running a monitor or two with low-load stuff (like network meters and IM windows). One interesting thing about the watercooling setup is that even under load, my temps only drop about 10C from where they are at load; I know a little of this is the Arctic Silver needing time to set, but I'm guessing a lot of it is also just that the heat gets so evenly spread out that the overall temp stays similar. (BTW, anyone wondering, everything's at full load b/c I'm running BOINC, and I only have ~30 minutes of uptime b/c I just installed the CUDA drivers.)

As for future plans for this mod, I haven't done much of anything with the outer shell yet, so that's next on the list. Right now it's just kinda sitting there with the side open, but that should be fine for a while... I want to get my fileserver up and running soon, so that portion of this mod will probably get pushed back a bit. Hopefully I'll be able to get to it before the end of July though; I don't really want to move the thing lying open like that, and I'm hopefully gonna be getting my own place in August (free room/board is nice and all, but...well, you know).

As a side note; Verizon upped their FiOS speeds again!! w00tz! Hurrah for 15Mbps down/5Mbps up. :bunny:

[The boy 4rm oz]

You should always get different temps on the 3rd and 4th core of a quad core, especially in Vista. Vista utilizes core 1 and 2 more than 3 and 4 so they will naturally be under more load, leading to the temp difference. Try core temp if you are worried about temps, has always worked well for me.

[x88x]

I've been using SpeedFan, but I'll fire up CoreTemp and see what it has to say. I feel like it wouldn't just be because Windows is using some cores more than others, because BOINC is pushing them all the 100%, and the temp differences are still there (Also, the temp pairings are 0-2 and 1-3, but that might be something weird with 7).

[x88x]

Ok, finally found my universal USB cable, so a couple pics of the current status:
http://i428.photobucket.com/albums/qq3/x13931x/mightyMite_99.jpg

closeup of SSDs mounted:
http://i428.photobucket.com/albums/qq3/x13931x/mightyMite_100.jpg


As I think I mentioned in previous posts, I ended up ditching the HDD and ODD, but honestly I don't think I'll really miss them that much. Once I get the new fileserver up and running, that'll have all the storage I'll need, at pretty nice speeds, and I recently realized that...honestly, there's not much reason to have internal ODDs in all my systems. I have a USB DVD+/-RW drive and a USB Blueray drive. That lets me switch between machines without any hassle, and frees up a lot of space inside the case.

I've got the case for the fileserver mod, and most of the hardware; I'm gonna start ordering HDDs tonight, I'm gonna get 3 new ones right away, so I figure I'll just order one every few days to mitigate the possibility of getting ones from the same manufacturing run.

I'll be starting a separate thread for it soon, but here's a preview of the case, with an of HDD for size reference:
http://i428.photobucket.com/albums/qq3/x13931x/mobiServ_004.jpg

[DonT-FeaR]

woah thats cramped.. looking good tho mate.

[The boy 4rm oz]

Really is cramped in there isn't it lol.

[x88x]

woah thats cramped.. looking good tho mate.


Really is cramped in there isn't it lol.

Heheh, yup. That was the general idea :D I was a little afraid that the temps would be too high on the passively cooled stuff, but I'm quite happy with how it's doing.