Project: Monolith.

[Omega]

So there's that, and this:

http://imgur.com/a/rFPlb

(which is an image gallery of some of the different colors).


Today I stripped out the motherboard, removed the drive bays, all the front panel wiring, PSU, basically anything that might be in the way, and mounted the LED strips. I got the ones that will sit behind the mobo and the ones behind the front panel as well, but I need some 4-wire ribbon cable and probably an hour or two with the soldering iron to get them all wired up nice and proper.

Also the adhesive that came with the LEDs kinda sucks, so I'm going to look in to different double-sided tape, likely that really awesome 3M all-weather outdoor rated stuff, which I've used to stick badges back on to my car and have held for 4+ years of rain, dirt, sun, and wind. So I think they should hold some LED strips inside a computer just fine.

If anybody knows where to get a spool of four-wire ribbon cable (preferrably red/green/blue/black so I can keep everything color coded), I would be pretty grateful.

Mod on!

[Omega]

Twice now I've had to deal with OnTrac's bs... Package was supposed to be here today, tracking says it was delivered, but no box in sight. Last time they gave it to one of my neighbors, probably did that again this time too.

God damnit I just want my GTX 660...

[Omega]

Okay so OnTrac got their **** together long enough to deliver my box.

So, here goes...

Bam. EVGA GTX 660 Superclocked, and an OCZ SynapseCache "128gb" SSD.

Interesting thing about that SSD though. It's not like a normal SSD, which I learned yesterday. Supposedly how it works is it has two 64gb partitions, one you can access and use, and one you cannot. On the one you *can* access is OCZ's "dataplex" software, which watches the files and stuff you use most often, and then writes that to the half you *can't* access. What this means is it essentially acts as a 64gb hard drive cache, giving you SSD speeds for files that are on your hard disk drives. People report less than stellar performance when trying to use it as a normal SSD, but report fantastic performance when you let it do it's thing and act as a cache. Plus the software will constantly watch and adjust what is cached depending on usage. So that's neato.

Okay, on to the GTX 660. Not much to talk about here though really. It's a kickass card that will well outperform my GTX 550 Ti. Only complaint is that, as with pretty much any reference nVidia card, the stock cooler sucks and I already know it's going to be louder than all hell. Just like the GTX 550 was. So I'm going to have to look in to other VGA cooling solutions (naturally, the Accelero I already have doesn't fit 660s, but does fit 660Tis... goddamnit). On the other hand, I do love the big, solid, menacing look of the reference cooler... sighs

[Omega]

Grrrr...

GTX 660 worked fine for ten minutes. Then black splotches and messed up textures everwhere. Contacted EVGA for warranty replacement.

On the other side, those ten minutes were *awesome*. I'm liking the Kepler architecture a lot more than I liked my Fermi card. Plus it automatically de-clocks itself and throttles back power use while at idle, which helps keeps temps more reasonable at idle. Even with the reference cooler on there, it was doing about 35c idle, 65c load. Compared to the 550 which did about 50c idle, 80c load on the stock cooler, and about 30c idle, 50c load with the Arctic cooler.

The stock cooler is still loud as all hell though, which is no bueno. So I think a Prolimatech (sp?) cooler with dual Fractal 140mm fans is in order...

[Omega]

So I sent off the GTX 660 back to EVGA for my RMA return. (enough acronyms for you?)

Decided I may keep the Synapse but I wanted a normal SSD as my boot drive. Newegg is running a killer sale on Samsung 840EVO SSDs right now, so I nabbed a 240GB one and a 120mm Fractal fan which is necessary to run the LED strips along the back edge, instead of the 140mm fan.

A few days after putting the strips in, they fell out. The adhesive they come with is utter crap. So I bought some really high quality 3m stuff (automotive exterior grade...) and started taking the adhesive off of the strips. I also got a good length of RGB LED strip wire so between those two things, I hope to have all the strips positioned, hooked up and 100% operational by the end of the week.

I think I'm going to remove the 140mm fan from the bottom of the case, and possibly make a PSU cover for down there. I also want to look in to buying some LutroO cable combs to keep the cables nice and neat where they do poke out. If I do make a PSU cover, I want to look in to some way to mount the SSD to it as well. Gotta show it off. I may also make a drive bay cover for the 5.25"s up top to make it looks a little cleaner.

The GPU runs cooler than the old 550Ti out of the box (hooray Kepler!) but it's still loud as hell. Assuming EVGA sends me another 660 back (and not something else, they are known to occasionally "upgrade" customers on RMA returns), I've been looking at the big Prolimatech cooler, which can take dual 140mm fans. Would be a nice way to keep everything super cool, and super quiet.

Overall I think that's pretty much everything I'm gonna do. I've abandoned the top vent idea, really just looking for a fairly neat, minimal case with good lighting.

[Omega]

Another update.

Cut and stuck the new adhesive strips. Figured out where the ribbon cables for the LEDs are gonna run. Soldered the first "long" one in place, and realized my initial measuring and everything didn't account for the ribbon cables. I'm going to have to make some adjustments to the lengths of the LED strips to account for this.

Soldering it down was a PITA and the ribbon I'm using is also really stiff. Doing 90* folded bends works, kinda. The heat from soldering softens up the plastic coating enough that I can bend them, but the wires inside shift and pull while doing so. I also didn't account very well for where to run the cables to and from the strips under the mobo so that will have to be part of my adjustments. It looks like it'll be a tight fit, but I should be able to pull it off.

I need to invest in a hot glue gun, I think. I would like to fill the area around the solder joints with hot glue before heatshrinking over them, to help protect them more. Especially the ones under the motherboard. I would hate to short out my mobo against my LED strips, though it might be interesting to see what color that would produce on the strips


On the other side of things...

EVGA sent me an email saying that my RMA return is coming, and should be here on Tuesday. My Samsung 840EVO SSD showed up and I re-installed my OS to it. Running it off of SATA 6.0gb/s and it's stupid fast. Standby mode may as well be "on" for how fast it gets to login, and a full boot doesn't take that long either.

I have decided that I do really want to make a PSU / HDD bay cover to help channel airflow in the bottom section of the case as well as show off the Samsung SSD. It's a very beautifully made and finished little piece of hardware, so why not make it a focus? I have a sheet of plexiglass laying around that's about 2x2 that would be perfect to cut and bend to shape. I'm still a bit on the fence about it though.

And since I haven't in a bit, have some pictures.

Welcome to the PC Modshop, AKA "my workbench". I know it's messy.

The two different ways of stripping wires. The one on the left is my normal stripper, the one on the right is the one I bought specifically for this. I wanted to keep the exposed bits as short as possible, to retain cleanliness and flexibility.

Comparison of my strippers. The black pair can strip the whole ribbon at once but it's a little less precise. The grey pair is more precise, but can't strip short enough lengths.

A trimmed end of the LED strip.

New adhesive backing in place, it's already more solid than the old crap. This also gives you a good idea of exactly where the LEDs will be. Along the outer edge for overall light, under the mobo for glow, and behind the front panel vents for glow there too. When they're all wired up, they'll run in sync. Ignore the placeholder 120mm fan poorly mounted there until I can drill new holes for the proper mounting.

The two long ribbon cables. The LED controller is going to go in the bottom drive bay, then the light strip goes around the edge of the case. The end of the first strip is at the base of the backside of the front panel. Then the ribbon cable will lay flat along the underside of the fan mounts, turn, lay flat along the back edge and then up through that grommet to the under-mobo lighting. Then it'll go through the strips on the mobo, and out the top grommet. The second cable will also be folded and stuck to the top edge of the case before coming out the hole in the front for the front panel connectors, folded flat against the case and soldered in place.

The strips on the interior are going to be the most difficult because I can't do them in place. The ones on the front panel I'll have no issue soldering while they're on the case and then simply using some hot glue and liquid electrical tape to seal up.

[Omega]

Well after dicking around for an hour and a half trying to solder up the rest of the LEDs yesterday, I gave up. I got all of three things soldered, all of which decided to break instantaneously.

So I've scrapped the mobo lighting and behind the front panel and I'm just sticking with the perimeter lighting.

Given that was the last thing I was waiting on really, I just went ahead and moved my hardware over.

All the room behind the motherboard tray was really nice for all the cables. Wasn't easy, especially behind the drives, but I got everything to fit and be fairly well hidden. Plus, all but one of the fans is being run right now off of the motherboard and the fan controller on the front.

Anywho, have some ****ty pictures I just took with my phone for ****s and giggles.

Hardware specs, for the interested:

Intel Core i5-3570K
Biostar TZ77A mobo
EVGA GeForce GTX 660 SuperClocked
8GB G.Skill RAM
Corsair RM750 full modular PSU w/Corsair sleeved cables
Samsung 840EVO 250GB SSD
OCZ Synapse 128GB Caching SSD
1TB Seagate Barracuda HDD
250GB Seagate Barracuda HDD (soon to be replaced by another 1TB)
5x Fractal Design Silent R2 series 140mm fans
1x Fractal Design Silent R2 series 120mm fan


Computer is fairly quiet at idle but the stock cooler on the GPU is louder than all hell. Luckily, Arctic just updated their GPU coolers with a few improvements and most importantly, support brackets...


Above all though right now I'm just really happy to have a case that I can finally say is actually modded. I know it's just a side window and fancy lights, but it's the first time it's been more than just fancy lights for me.

[TheMainMan]

End result looks great! Bummer about the rest of the LED lights. I like the full panel window more and more as I continue to look at it. Might have to think about going that big myself.

[Omega]

End result looks great! Bummer about the rest of the LED lights. I like the full panel window more and more as I continue to look at it. Might have to think about going that big myself.

IT's like rocking with your sidpanel off, but quieter and cleaner looking

[OvRiDe]

Looks great! Sorry about the LED strips, that sucks, but it still looks fantastic the way it is now.