Project: LEXA

Well, I dont know about you guys, but im feeling lucky! ;)

Well my luck ran out lol. I encountered another little problem which had me leak testing overnight. Anyway everything is fine now, I am typing from LEXA now :D ;), I will post pics later today.

wow TB4O, the case is looking slick. nice work on it +rep

hows temps?

Thanks Spawn.

Currently at idle my Q6600 and my 8800GTX are both around 30*c (without OC or side panels). This is pretty good considering on air my Q6600 used to idle around 54*c and the 8800GTX around 65*c with the fan at 70%.

Well guys I have a 2 part update for you all, the first part is the completion of the RAM cooler and the second part is the installation of the water cooling.

Firstly I marked up the piece of plexi for cutting:

I then printed out the piece of text which would be engraved:

It fits perfectly on the plexi:

I then cut out the plexi:

I glued the text to the plexi and was ready to engrave:

I was just about to start engraving when my Dremel crapped itself, yet the variable speed was stuck on max. I sent it away for repairs and was forced to use this old engraved I had laying around:

Absolutely gutless haha.
This is what resulted from the attempt of engraving:

Not bad for a first shot I must admit.
I touched it up and about 20 mins later I was left with this:

Turned out pretty well I think.
I then glued the plexi piece in place and now a fully functioning RAM cooler:

I know you can't see the engraving too well in that pic but it looks much better in the PC with the rest of the gear.

This concludes part 1 of this update, onto part 2.

Ok time for part 2 of this update, water cooling.

Before I could do anything I needed to install the PSU into position:

The PSU cover plays it's part perfectly, it looks great.
I installed everything to the mobo and then installed it into the case:

I had a few problems while installing the motherboard but nothing I couldn't overcome. The first problem being the fan grill on the rear fan interfering with the on-board Karajan audio, simple fix, remove the grill lol. The other problems were with he thumbscrews I was using to attach the motherboard. 1 of the thumbscrews interfered with the southbridge cooler and the other with the graphics card slot. I left these screws un-installed, simple fix.

The next thing to do was install the GPU block to the graphics card and the heatsinks to the graphics RAM:

I did encounter a problem with this stage. The Swiftech RAM sinks are utter crap, the thermal pads which are installed on the base can not keep the heatsinks attached to the RAM chips. Even if I heated up the pad with a hair dryer there was no adhesion. Even the Zalman sinks (blue ones) stuck first time. Very disappointing for Swiftech. I fixed this problem by putting a small dab of Arctic Silver 5 on the base of each sink, instant adhesion.
Once I fixed this problem I installed the graphics card along with the rest of the hardware:

I then attached all my hoses and started to fill the loop:

Loop filled and leak testing:

This first batch of leak testing went flawlessly, no leaks at all. I went away for a few days (leaving the system off) and when I powered up the system for the first time I immediately noticed a leak on the GPU block. This resulted in the draining of the loop, a whole new piece of hose and another run of leak testing.

Everything is running beautifully now. Here is a final pic of the water cooling:

Currently my Q6600 is idling at around 30*c and my 8800GTX hovers around 30-31*c.

Well that's the water cooling done and the end of this update. I still need to do some cable management on the mobo tray then I will clean up the case and (tttttooooooo many finger prints lol) and do a proper photo shoot. Until then...

Happy Modding.

Outstanding!!! Love it. Is that a Thermaltake Extreme Spirit II chipset cooler?

Thanks blue, Yes it is a Thermaltake Extreme Spirit II chipset cooler on my northbridge. The copper matched the orange on the motherboard plus it cools pretty well and has pretty lights. I think the stock DFI one does cool better though.

Looking great! Glad everything is leak free and working as it should. +rep

:O oh mah god man....

Thanks guys, she is running perfectly ATM. I can't wait to finish up the last few things so I can take some proper pics.

I'm jealous of you and anyone else with a good water-cooling setup. Sigh, someday....

Couple of questions on your chipset cooler, for my own ongoing build: Will it work on the southbridge also? Are the LEDs on it wired such that they can be cut to disable the LEDs without affecting the fan?

Thanks and again, excellent work. :up:

The cooler will work on both north and south bridge chips. There are 2 ways of mounting the block, bolt through or hooks (depending on how the stock cooler is attached). I have mine attached with the hooks. The cooler has adjustable arms so it will fit almost any chipset, see the website for a complete list, I think lol.

As for the fan. The fan has 3 LED's which are powered by the fans movement, the slower the speed, the dimmer the light. The LED's are embedded into the frame of the fan but my guess is that you should be able to just cut the wire and they should be fine.

Hope that helps.

Sweet thanks for the info, I'll place the order. :D

I'll be looking forward to some glamour shots of this case, they've been a long time coming. :banana:

They sure have lol. One I can get my hands on some adhesive cable tie mounts I will get snapping ;).

Looks awesome, congrats. Can't wait to see the glamour photos

Thanks overmark.

Just a quick question, where did you get the switches with the blue LED's for the front of the case? Not sure where to get good LED type switches in Australia

Thanks

I got those particular ones from PC Case Gear (www.pccasegear.com.au) I think they were $4.50 each, they also come in red LED's. Your local Dick Smiths or Jaycar store will also stock switches like that.

Cool, thanks heaps for that

hmmm... adhesive cable tie mounts... 6.95 for 6 from bunnings .... isle..... 6?


dont-fear = bunnings price guide on wheels - wheels + feet :)

I can get a pack of 20 from Jaycar for something like $5 lol.

dam i got ripped off...

You sure did lol.

Absolutely Amazing, your getting the same temps as me by about a degree, yet i only have a 240 rad

Yeah I am happy with the temps, I was expecting much higher.

After a couple of hours casual gaming the Q6600 only hits about 36*c with the 8800GTX sitting around about the same temp. I am very happy.

*EDIT* OMG, my post is No.666 lol.

bastard.. i have been trying to que that up for like 300 post now...
grr.... butt...

Well guys, today I come to you with mixed emotions. I am very happy because the mod is now 100% complete standing proud on my desk just to the right of me. However I am also saddened. The mod that you know of as "Project: LEXA" is now complete and this shall be my final update.

After a long yet enjoyable 16 months and 14 days "Project: LEXA" is complete and as I promised, here are the final pics.

There you guys, LEXA is all her glory. You may have noticed the absence of the fan on the side panel. It was in the way of the water cooling so I decided it was best to remove it, no major loss. I do intend to eventually put a fan grill on that rear fan but for the time being I think it looks fine.

I would like to thank everyone who has supported me throughout this mod. Thank you for your kind comments, helpful hints and ideas (thanks Sean ;)) and ongoing support and most of all thanks to those who have taken the time to read and post a comment, it means a lot.

Once again, if you have any questions feel free to post them and I will try my hardest to answer them.

Well until my next mod...

Happy Modding.

It looks great. +rep

Thanks a lot nevermind, thanks for the rep.

I think im in love. Great work Jason, you deserve to be as proud as you are, you've made a masterpiece. Looking forward to your next mod. +rep

KiLLERMAN

Thanks KiLLER, I'm also looking forward to my next mod (I promise it wont take this long lol ;)). Thanks for the rep.

looks killer jason! bout damn time you finished :P

now i gotta catch up lol

Thanks Sean, yeah it took a long time but I am very happy with the results.

Outstanding results, my friend. Your persistence and attention to detail really paid off. :D

Wow! That's outstanding man. +rep

Good work ! super case

Great work, looks amazing, guess i should do a final shoot for my lexa now that i got it running properly

Hell of a nice Mod. +rep on this one :up:

@ blueonblack - Thanks very much,even though it took so long to make I thinkt he end result was well worth it.

@ mittelmeier - Thank you, thanks for the rep.

@ Thorn - Thanks a lot mate.

@ 985323 - Thanks. Yeah you should do a final shoot. I thought it would be a chore but it was actually quite fun. 1 tip for you, Windex is excellent for cleaning up a case, shiny and streak free ;).

@ Bozzi - Thank you very much, thanks for the rep.