Project Lian-Li PC-A16 (no real name, yet)

[mellojoe]

Ok. Its official. I'm starting my new project. FINALLY! :banana:

Background (you can skip this part if you want):
It was a couple weeks ago when I realized that I have never owned a store-bought computer. Never. When I was 15, my first computer was put together by my father, which we then upgraded from a 386 to a 486, 66mhz, with a 500MB harddrive. Rocket speed. And then when I was 16, we built a new one that was a true Pentium 100mhz with a 1.2GB harddrive. Blazing.

When I turned 21, I started my first build. It was an AMD 750mhz using 128MB RAM and a 15GB harddrive. I've since upgraded it to the point where it is now. You can see it in my sig. But, it is now past its 6th birthday, and it is beyone upgrading anymore. In fact, I was a winner in The Great AMD Giveaway and won an Athlon 1800+. Only to find out that my motherboard didn't support them. I had v1.0 of this particular board which did not support that particular chip. Oh, of course, v2.0 and v3.0 all supported them just fine. :mad: But, I had to be all cool and get the first one that came out. So, I traded that one for an Athlon 1.4ghz, which I overclocked as much as I could get out of it, and now resides in my signature.

Yes, 6 years with the same computer. Its time to start fresh.

New Beginnings:
I have known that my next computer was going to be watercooled. This is just a statement of fact. It is something I will do. So, I've been doing my homework and putting my list together. If this computer is going to last another 6 years (maybe?), then it needs a solid base.

http://images10.newegg.com/NeweggImage/productimage//11-112-131-01.jpg

http://images10.newegg.com/NeweggImage/productimage/11-112-131-09.jpg

This is the case. Lian-Li PC-A16. Perfect.

That front 120mm cage houses the harddrive cage and a 120mm fan. There is a 120mm fan in the back that has two holes set up for watercooling as well. This is exactly what a watercooling case needs to look like. Oh yeah, that silver protrusion in the center is a third 120mm fan directed to pull air off the hot video card. All 3 will definately need to be hooked up to a rheostat to keep the noise down at idle. But, their positioning seems almost ideal for this project. I'll be going for maximum cooling at minimal noise levels in a clean and simple design.

Ok. I need to get back to work. I'll be uploading a few SketchUp images in the next couple days.

WISH ME LUCK!


PS: Silver or Black? That's the question right now. Which Lian-Li case? Black or Silver? Hmm.... :think:

[Nick_Black]

sweet, your computer story is similar to mine, (only my comp is 4 years old, not 6... and I started off with a 133mhz...) but anyway, I prefer the colour black... but I wouldn't mind seeing how cool you could make a silver looking case (maby some equip, instead of the standard black with silver equip...) but it's up to you to decide, were not going to decide for you.

good luck! I hope it goes smoothly!

[XFOX]

looks like a good case for modeling good luck. silver or black dosent matter:think: it depends on the creativity maybe you could use both colours combined:banana: ;)

[mellojoe]

Thanks for the input.

Overall, I am leaning toward a Chinese Imperial theme. The main cutout on the side panel is going to be Chinese writing that juxtaposes the harmonies in water vs. steel. Flow vs. Rigid. Something along those lines. I have not fleshed out any of those ideas as of yet. I am basically working on Stage 1 of this project.

Stage 1 is going to be simple, clean, stealth look. Don't worry about matching drive bays, as each one will be completely stealthed and hidden behind the stock Lian-Li bay covers. I am going to be hiding all of the components inside the case, except for the one watercooling radiator which will be hung off the back.

This is going to be an overclocked setup, for sure. I will probably be jumping back into the Intel camp for this one, as I've had a lot of fun with the AMD side these past 6 years and I'm ready to try something new. I plan on watercooling the CPU as well as the video card GPU, which will probably be nVidia as I've been in the ATI camp for over 5 years now. Again, trying something new.


I've been playing around with SketchUp over the last few weeks and here are a few ideas....

[mellojoe]

Taking the look of the Lian-Li PC-A16, you can see that the front harddrive cage and 120mm fan are movable. You can position them in any of the front slots. I will move it up slightly and go with this configuration.

http://www.jpdimaggio.com/computer/1.jpg

I started mocking up some concepts to get an idea of fit and flow. I feel like I've been standing on the shoulders of giants, though, as I found many of the basic concepts already modeled, so I am using other people's work. But, they fit the idea of a basic layout, and add some pizzaz that I could never do myself.

http://www.jpdimaggio.com/computer/2.jpg

Here you can see the rear 120mm fan and the radiator hanging off the back. This will probably be the DangerDen Black Ice Xtreme GTX, as it is the biggest single 120mm radiator I can find. And, the Lian-Li was built with the Black Ice line of radiators in mind as the rear holes in the case line up perfectly with the barbs of the radiator. Less work for me! :)

You can also see how I will be modifying the front harddrive cage. Originally, they are designed to lay flat like most other harddrive cages, but I want to turn them up on their butt. This will allow me better access to routing the wires out of the way and hide them behind the mounting brackets. Again, for that clean, stealth look.

This will also help open up some front room for a second, although thinner, radiator. The 120mm SLIM series of Black Ice radiators should fit nicely, with some mounting brackets made.

http://www.jpdimaggio.com/computer/3.jpg

By moving the harddrive cage up to the position I have here, we open up room underneath for a watercooling pump and reservoir. The reservoir will probably have to be a full custom one in order to get the position and size that I am looking for. It is hard to tell in the picture, but the pump is not supposed to be centered in the middle of the case, but offset to the near side. This will make room to mount tubing from the pump to the radiator along side the harddrives. Again, much of this will be hidden by the mounting rails.

I don't know if the second radiator will be needed. I don't know if the second radiator will truly fit. This determination will have to be made once I get the actual parts in hand and can start laying this out inside the actual case.

And finally, here you can see an overall layout of the system. The harddrive mounting cage is going to be the most work, but I think it will be hugely successful in aiding the airflow and stealth look of the theme.

http://www.jpdimaggio.com/computer/4.jpg


We are going to be going from something like this:

http://images10.newegg.com/NeweggImage/productimage//11-112-131-07.jpg

To something like this:
http://www.jpdimaggio.com/computer/5.jpg


You can see how much can be hidden. This is the concept so far. Clean lines. Hidden cables. Good airflow. Excellent cooling. Overclocking. Harmony.

Kind of like a Zen Garden for my computer. :D

[Nick_Black]

Nice, this should look verry clean, also I like the Idea of putting the Hdd's up like that, I never thought of doing it like that. awsome. can't wait to see you start building this thing :D

[The boy 4rm oz]

Looks good. Can't wait.

[mellojoe]

Thanks gang!

I will be ordering the case real soon. I'm taking the wifey on a little vacation starting tomorrow, so I'm spending all my F*You money for the month.

But April Showers bring New Case Projects.... or at least I think that's how that saying goes.

[NocturnaL]

Nice, i always love a good old Lian Li mod, keep us updated

[mellojoe]

Well, we survived the month. :)

I have just verified that the case has been shipped. :banana: Hopefully it will get here soon (I have no patience) and I can start the mock-ups.

[mellojoe]

Its HERE!

First off: Huge props to the folks over at Performance-PCs.com. They recieved my order late Thursday evening, and the case still arrived on Wednesday with no special shipping charges. The order sheet was marked and signed by two people showing that it had be double verified before shipping. I am definatly (and have already) ordering from them again. Highly recommended.

The pictures don't do this case justice. In fact, I'm going to have to re-think how I take the pictures just so that they DO show up well. I'm not posting any just yet, because the lighting sucks. I will set up my little workshop with some flood-lights and get some good photos.

Now that I have the case, and I've tested out my mock-ups, I can't tell you how excited I am. The Thermochill PA160 will NOT fit without serious modifications, and I'm not up for that, yet. But, this case was OBVIOUSLY made with the Black Ice Xtreme line of radiators. I have modified my initial layout because they seem to work so well.

The POWER and RESET buttons on top are great. But, I may replace those with lighted versions just for a little added effect. I'm not a huge fan of the top I/O panel (USB, FireWire, Mic, Headphones), so I'm going to be making a cover for them. Every other case uses a cover, so I don't really understand why Lian-Li chose to skip that part. But, that will soon be fixed.

This case is awesome.

I am so stoked!

[mellojoe]

This weekend, I finally did it.

I'm ressurecting this old thread because of the good news. This project stalled and died many times over the course of the past couple of years. For a long time stretch, I seriously thought I would just sell the case and the parts since I didn't think I could make it happen. Well, after a long time, we're finally here. :)

http://jpdimaggio.com/other/Watercooling_031.JPG
-
http://jpdimaggio.com/other/Watercooling_032.JPG


You can see the second radiator in this photo:
http://jpdimaggio.com/other/Watercooling_017.JPG



Intel E7200 @ 3.8 ghz
VCore @ 1.36v
DTek Fuzion v2
2 x 120mm BIX GTX II
Swiftech MCP655
Swiftech MicroRes
1/2" Barbs
7/16" MasterKleer
clear PrimoChill Liquid Utopia
clear Distilled Water
black Anti-Kink Coils

All tucked nice an neat inside my black Lian Li PC A16. :):D

http://jpdimaggio.com/gallery/albums/lian-li/100_3468.jpg

This is where we started:
http://jpdimaggio.com/gallery/albums/lian-li/watercooling_stuff.jpg
-
http://jpdimaggio.com/gallery/albums/lian-li/100_3494.jpg


PS: One of these days I'll set it up on a table somewhere so I can take some really good shots of it. I want to setup a mini photo-shoot and try to get some good pictures. Black on black is hard to shoot.

[mellojoe]

Ladies and Gentleman, may I present to you.... 4 Gigahertz!

It took every bit of 1.44v Vcore to get there, but I did it. Its an E7200 that was originally clocked at 2.53ghz, and now we are at a full 4.0ghz.

I feel like Doc Brown. I want to run through the streets shouting 1.21 Gigawatz! 88 miles per hour! YEEEAAAAAAAA!

CPU: Intel E7200 (2.53)
o/c: 4.0 GHz (9.5 x 422)
Stepping: 6 M0
Week:Q811
Code: A400

Vcore: 1.44v

Cooling: watercooled
DTek Fuzion v2
2 x 120mm BIX GTX II
Swiftec MC655

Motherboard: DFI LanParty P35-T2RS Dark
OS: WindowsXP (32bit, SP3)

RAM: G.Skill 4GB PC8000
RAM 1::1 divider = 422mhz at 5-5-5-15-2T
Rated FSB: 1690mhz

7hours 12minutes stable in Orthos
Temperatures a bit on the high side, but still comfortable at full stress.


Click Here for Full Size Image:
http://jpdimaggio.com/other/orthos_stability_4012mhz_7hrs_stable_small.jpg (http://jpdimaggio.com/other/orthos_stability_4012mhz_7hrs_stable2.jpg)


PS: Check the time. 4 o'clock in the morning. My wife was relentless this morning, in good humor. She couldn't believe I was awake at that time knowing I had to wake up at 6:30am for work. I know I'll be paying for it, but I'm riding the high.

[nevermind1534]

nice

[XcOM]

sweet dude, nice to see it get finished

[The boy 4rm oz]

I was wondering where this mod got to. Glad to see you finished it. Looks really clean.

[DonT-FeaR]

loving it...

looks cool