# My quiet Cosmos - Phase 2



## Maju (Jun 11, 2008)

Right. Have now moved house and am ready to get cracking on phase 2.

Have now completed and here is the result. Read on to see just how I arrived at this..


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## Maju (Jun 11, 2008)

Have also been working which has allowed me to modify my original plans and I now have this lot






So I am now the proud owner of D-Tek FuZion v2 CPU block, GPU block and heatsink. Res, Xsilence fans, Black Ice extreme III rad, 1/2" ID tubing, Lights and other assorted bits and bobs.
Unfortunately I am still waiting for some other bits to arrive which I need before commencing with the watercooling install, so in the meantime I have been doing what I can before ripping everything apart.
Very minor mod but satisfying none-the-less, replacing the top of the pump with something a bit better.







originally I had planned something different for the side panel but as it stands now I have decided to go for a window.
After hunting around for some acrylic that was cheaper than AC Ryans I found a place not to far away and bought 600x600x5mm sheet for a tenner. Next job was masking and cutting the case panel and then fitting the acrylic.
Rather than just lay the sheet against the inside face of the panel I wanted to project the acrylic through the hole and thought using a router would do the job.











I would love to say that their was a good reason for making such a poor job of cutting the hole in the case panel, but alas I can't. The result - a 2 day wait for some c-trim to arrive to hide the poor fit.






Not happy with how that looks, so have had another go and enlarged the window slightly.
Though I hang my head in shame you can also see how far out of square the first window was.






Second attempt is much better. I also changed my mind a third time on the window size and shortened it so as to hide the blue knobs on the quick release drive bays. The hole is also square this time.






Decided to use 6mm acrylic this time to give a bit thicker mounting plate and ditched the router in favour of a circular saw which has given a much better (and squarer) result











Looking good so far.
Because i'd marked the aluminum with a cd marker pen it wouldn't come off with any solvent that I had to hand so i then proceeded to spend an hour in the sunshine with some 400 grit wet and dry paper with the idea of lapping the panel.
After the first horizontal pass i'd got rid of the ink lines and the coolermaster logo but where the mounting is fixed to the rear of the panel the aluminum is very slightly raised.
This has resulted in some rather unsightly patches. 






Not sure what i'll do about this yet.

On the positive side at least the acrylic window fits perfectly, and after flame polishing the edge I hope you'll agree that its looks pretty good so far.











Before fixing it in place i've got some transparent uv paint which I shall paint on the protuding edges so that when the lights are turned on it should give a nice highlight.

I have also been getting to grips with the electics - with the help of several people in the case mod and electics forums on TPU.
Here, after a bit of head scratching, is the switch setup for the lights. I shall wait until everything arrives before wiring and installing it but at least I know it works now.






Also I've been trying to figure out what to do with the fans. After reading several reports of the Kama meter not liking having more than one fan per channel and dying i've raided my bits-and-bobs box and found a beefier potentiometer (or whatever it's called).
I'm planning on wiring all the rad fans together and controlling them with this. The plan is to replace the volume knob in the kama meter and put the new fan speed knob in it's place.
I shall keep one of the Kama meters fan channels free so that I can plug the rpm monitor wire in. It appears to work - although looking closer as I write I notice that it is only reading 540 rpm. Shall have to investigate that one.






And finally, beware of catching a falling fan. The OCZ one out of the psu is quite powerfull and at full speed it bites.






So Lots more to do but am still waiting on WaterCooling UK to get parts in before I can do much more.


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## wtf8269 (Jun 11, 2008)

Very nice, man. A case mod isn't complete until you've hurt yourself in the process one way or another!


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## WarEagleAU (Jun 11, 2008)

Dude, truly that is a nice job chore to be working on. Good luck with it and I cant wait to see what else you got.


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## DrPepper (Jun 11, 2008)

A bit off topic but you have the same tv stand as me  and on topic its lookin good I'm thinking about getting a cosmos myself.


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## Maju (Jun 14, 2008)

Well,slightly frustrating news. Heard back from Watercooling UK and my parts won't be dispatched until 22nd June so i'm limited to the smaller aesthetic jobs for now.
First up is the top shroud.
Because I am mounting my rad on the ceiling of the case I need to improve the ventilation. So this is what I have






Have never used mesh before so hopefully it won't be too bad.

After some delicate use of the jigsaw and a pleasant hour sitting in the evening sun trimming the hole with a stanly blade this is what I am left with.






After looking round the net for a helpful tutorial on meshing and failing I decided
 to cut out a couple of wooden blocks the size of the holes, mount them in the workmate and then pin the  cut mesh panel to the top.
Cutting this stuff is a labour of love which has resulted with more blood being split (twice). The cut edges are razor sharp. Also a case of using the right tools for the job. Unfortunately I don't have a pair of tin snips so had to make do with some bluntish wire cutters before resorting to the jigsaw. Anyway, succeded and then commenced on the satifying job of hammering the edges over the template block






A little while later and this is what I have achieved






I was and am pleased with the result. I haven't fixed them to the shroud yet but shall probably use some black doublesided sticky foam that I have left over from a speaker wiring episode a few years back. Alternatively I might just superglue them in place.

With the shroud fitted it'll certainly allow for enough ventilation and doesn't look to bad.











and a comparison shot of before






I am not sure yet whether I leave the mesh as it is or paint the mesh the same pearlised purple as the case. Or I might even leave the mesh as it is and paint the black shroud purple.
Might be nice to keep the silver theme so as to match with the handles.
Your thoughts ?

Also took the easy route out and have painted the side panels to match the case. An hour using a polishing compound on the paint has made no appreciable difference so I mught just leave them as they are for now.






Its a real sod having to wait for a couple of weeks as most of what else I plan requires disassembling the computer.
Anyways, I am sure i'll find some bits to keep me occupied.


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## DanishDevil (Jun 14, 2008)

I like that a lot.  Matches the carry handles, too


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## wtf8269 (Jun 14, 2008)

At first I thought you should paint the mesh purple, but the more I look at it I like the way that it matches the handles. That sucks you couldn't get the side panels to shine more. I'm not the greatest at getting a nice shine either.


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## intel igent (Jun 14, 2008)

lookin good!

what type of blade did you use on the table saw to do the window?

thnx for the pix + log


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## Maju (Jun 14, 2008)

Thanks people.

The silver look is growing on me. Shall have a play in photoshop and get some idea of the different outcomes.

@intel igent

Don't have technical name for the blade but its got pretty big teeth. I am fairly sure that it wasn't specifically designed with cutting acrylic in mind.


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## intel igent (Jun 14, 2008)

just thought you may have used something like a dado (sp?) blade, i guess you just made multiple passes untill you reached your goal?

any tips on flame polishing acrylic?


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## Maju (Jun 14, 2008)

Yep, many multiple passes.
re. Flame polishing.
This was the first time i've tried this so by no means am i very knowledgeable on the subject. 
Best tip I think is to practice lots on scraps first. initially I tried rapid side to side sweeps with the gas gun but found that a slower and consistent movement in one direction produced better results.
Keeping a careful eye on the sawn edge is important as it is crucial not to linger on the spot as soon as you see the edge shift from translucent (from the sawing) to clear.

Also if you have a very thin piece of acrylic, such as the edges of my window be careful not to apply too much heat to them inadvertently as they will start to sag and crinkle.
Fortunately I caught it just in time and was able to reheat it and flatten it out again.

It is a satisfying process and definitely worth having a go at.


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## kenkickr (Jun 14, 2008)

Love your mesh job!!  The paint looks vabrient as hell and now when I check your post out I have to wait til the GF is gone so she doesn't make me change my color scheme on my case.  Awesome job!


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## Maju (Jun 14, 2008)

Thanks kenkickr
must admit the mesh job worked out well. and I am ready to admit that it is vain and egotistical but the purple paintjob does look splendid.The inside paint is actually much more purple than the blue in the photos but for some reason it shows up blue. Saying that thou, the gun metal colour on the inside of yours also looks pretty darn good.


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## kenkickr (Jun 14, 2008)

Thanks, I do not believe that is what the color is actually called by Rustoleum but if interested, when I get back to painting the case I'll let you know what it is actually called.  I can't wait to get my case done cause this Antec Solo SUCKS!!


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## Maju (Jun 17, 2008)

Right. Back at it.

Only a little mod but it'll make things neater and easier.
As I don't use the volume control on the kama meter I thought i'd replace it with a fan controller man enough to run the three fans for the rad. 
Fortunately the volume control wasn't soldered onto the pcb, just a seperate unit that bolts on and plugs in. This was good news as I really didn't fancy desoldering it.
Removed wires from the new -(read butchered) potentiometer and after filing the side of the casing down so that it fitted squarely and dremmeling off the fitting lug, Plus filing down one of the pins on the pcb so that it didn't touch the potentiometer, it was a simple case of attatching a couple of wires ready for when it's fitted and bolting it on. Brilliant!






And with the face plate refitted you'll never know the difference






Its the top right knob just so you know.
Next up a small paint job on the old fan controller which shall be controlling the auxillary fans for the rad. Having to use this one as when turned down it switches the fan off and I want to have the option of running these two fans underneath the rad as they are both pretty powerful but bloody noisy - to use when/if that extra cooling is required.
Also had to redril the casing so the mounting holes match up with the 5 1/2" mounting adaptor






I've also spent some time with some polishing compound to smooth out the paintwork on the window panel followed by a couple of coats of car wax to give it a bit of a glossy sheen.
The first coat of transparent UV laquer has also been applied around the edge of the window but before I fit that I want to give it a few more coats to hopefully ensure it'll glow as desired.

Now on to the bit that i've been puzzling over for a while - mounting the Rad on the ceiling of the case.
Because the Cosmos RC1000 can accomodate 2*140mm fans it wasn't a simple bolt on and forget about it job. So after a fair bit of pondering I've made a fitting plate out of perspec and i'll cut the case out to maximise air flow.
Set up and ready to cut






Bugger !
Learn from my foolishness and drill a small pilot hole before drilling a larger hole close to an edge.






Thankfully the superglue worked
And finally cut.





Test fitting - It's going to work 






The down side of this approach is that the fans are going to have to be turned upside down in order to pull air through the rad. Not a problem but aesthetically less pleasing.

Figuring out how to mount the radiator has also been a pain as the fan holes in the top of the case don't line up with the rads fan holes. Thankfully I still have some spare perspex so another fitting plate made and I now ready to cut the case and mount the rad.
Although not strictly neccessary flame polished the acrylic just to give it a nicer finish. Looks great






Alas I don't have a workshop at the mo and I don't want to annoy the neighbours so I can't cut the case till tomorrow. Thankfully (in the nicest possible way) my girlfriend is laid up in bed with a bad back at the moment.
Just as well really






I've also gone a bit mad and just bought a second 8800 GTX to go SLI  

I am not sure whether i'm going to be overloading the capacity of the loop. Hopefully not.
Any thought ?
If I am would it be better to run another loop for the CPU or do you recon I could get away with just putting another .120 rad in the loop?
Would the single DDC ultra pump be man enough for the job?

Onwards and upwards - roll on the 25th and the delivery of the back ordered parts.


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## kenkickr (Jun 17, 2008)

You are very lucky to have a gf like that!  Mine would beat my ass and then some if I left the living room like that!  Case is looking awesome and I still can't get over what your mesh looks like.  Keep it up!


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## steelkane (Jun 18, 2008)

All the mods you've done look awesome, Hope you post this in the Case Mod Gallery when completed.


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## DrPepper (Jun 18, 2008)

Wow looks funky  good job with it but the thing that ruins it is that the 4 knobs for fan control arnt the same  otherwise 9.8/10 my coolermaster is arriving today


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## DanishDevil (Jun 18, 2008)

DrPepper said:


> the thing that ruins it is that the 4 knobs for fan control arnt the same



It's a Vantec Nexus Fan & Light Controller.  That's how they come.  The last is to control two CCFLs.


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## DrPepper (Jun 18, 2008)

I thought so since he said he modified it to be a fan controller  wish they were matching it would have been 10/10 for me.


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## Maju (Jun 18, 2008)

LOL. The 4th knob is for the light controller so as manufactured, intentionally different. However I appreciate your point of view and may well rectify the situation.
At the moment i'm getting funky with the dremmel and drill bit fitting a fan under the case to cool the hard drive. Lots of drilling and cutting to do today.
Hope the delivery guy turns up soon - both for you and myself - still waiting for the 2nd 8800GTX to arrive.

edit - that was quick DD

The knob that I modified for the fan controller is for the skyth Kama meter - in the photo the top right knob.


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## DrPepper (Jun 18, 2008)

Cheers man  good luck with the rest of it Cosmos' look so amazing when you guys Maju and DD do things to them


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## DanishDevil (Jun 18, 2008)

I really need to start mine back up.  I think I'm just gonna do a quick cut and paint job and mount everything.  Summer time's running out.


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## Maju (Jun 18, 2008)

*A productive day*

Well today has been quite productive

First up it was time to strip the case down to a bare shell ready for cutting.
Before starting on this latest round of improvements the hard drive's were running at about 40-42*c which whilst ok is a little hot for my liking. So lets put a fan in to actively draw air up over the drives and into the case.
I've opted for a 80mm fan as all in all it makes it a lot easier than trying to fit a 120mm and I don't have any 92mm to hand.






Lots of drilling and dremmelling later and the fan fits perfectly. I've also drilled the supporting upstands so that I can screw into the side of the fan casing to get a secure fit. Unfortunately there is only about 12mm from the fan bottom to the hard drive cage so I hope that that isn't going to cause any excessive turbulence noise but seeing as it's a quiet fan anyway and i'm probably going to be running it at 7v anyway I think that it should be ok.


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## Cold Storm (Jun 18, 2008)

It looks pretty good man! Can't wait to see that bad boy up and running! To bad the water system is going to take a long while..


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## Maju (Jun 18, 2008)

*Mounting a 360 radiator in cosmos RC1000*

Now onto the fun stuff. Fitting the radiator.

I've been thinking about this for quite a while and eventually have come up with this.
As seen earlier i'd made up some perspex mounting plates as the existing fan mount holes arn't suitable for what I needed to do, plus I needed to cut some of the case away so as not to block the rad.
So some measuring and masking later i'm good to go







and I only hope that this works coz it's too late now






One of the downsides of using such a thick piece of acrylic is that i'd need long screws to attach the radiator - 46mm to be exact and after searching in all the home hardware stores locally realised I was buggered as they didn't have them and I couldn't find them on the net either. So a bit of improvisation was called for.
Have ended up using 50mm electrical socket screws which I have cut down to size.






Also found that I needed to brace the heads when I was cutting them as even though most of it was in the wood it still bent.






Of course, rarely in life is anything so easy. The electrical screw are 3.5mm width so I had to drill out the fan holes on the radiator with a 3.2mm drill and then thread the holes.
Worthwhile though as it works.






Next up, because of the way that the mounting holes in the cosmos are set into indented recesses in the top panel it meant that there would be a 2.5mm gap around the top of the inner mounting plate. Fortunately I'd kept the soundproofing from the side panel and it's perfect for making a gasket to maintain an airtight (ish) seal. So the order of assembly






To make fitting everything together easier I stuck the gasket onto the panel using doublesided tape and then stuck that panel to the rad using only a couple of small bits of tape - as it's all got to be disassembled agian before final fitting. I may also cut another gasket to fit between the rad and the mounting plate.
I found it easiest to fix the middle fan first. This way you aren't putting excessive starain on the fan mounts on the rad whilst you're screwing it all together.
And a little while later I have this.











And although premature I couldn't resist just to get an idea of what it would look like






I reckon it looks pretty good. It was also just as well that I did try the shroud as with the fan grills on it was catching in a couple of places so I need to trim the shroud. This can be avoided if you use a thinner piece of mounting material - say 3mm acrylic.
I also had a nice surprise. Instead of a boring technical sticker on the back of the fans the is a simple sticker with a triangle. I kind of like this as it matches my tat






Not that i'm vain at all.
Anyway for all of you other cosmos owners that might be thinking of doing the same I hope that this might be of some use. I know I found very little when looking for relavant how to's on the net.

Lets see what tomorrow brings


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## wtf8269 (Jun 19, 2008)

Why do you have a tattoo of a triangle?


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## Maju (Jun 19, 2008)

Long story cut short.
For me it is a roadmap to life. The resolution of duality through to unity.
The points at the ends of the baseline represent the polar opposites of any situation, with the third point representing the unification of those points. This can be applied to pretty much everything on the dense physical up to and through the lower mind.
How closely we align ourselves to one point or the other to a large part directly influences our perception of reality and subsequent actions in life, with the aim to function from the third point of unity.
Also imagine yourself standing in the middle of a very long, straight road in the middle of a desert with your arms held out at shoulder level to your sides. This is your baseline and the road in front of you forms a triangle, with the apex forming a point on the horizon. And like in life as we reach that point on the road we realise that it is illusionary and that that point is in fact our new baseline with the apex of the triangle once more in the future. How close we walk to the left or right side of the road is up to us.
Plus lots more stuff but here isn't the place to get into all that


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## steelkane (Jun 19, 2008)

Maju said:


> Long story cut short.
> For me it is a roadmap to life. The resolution of duality through to unity.
> The points at the ends of the baseline represent the polar opposites of any situation, with the third point representing the unification of those points. This can be applied to pretty much everything on the dense physical up to and through the lower mind.
> How closely we align ourselves to one point or the other to a large part directly influences our perception of reality and subsequent actions in life, with the aim to function from the third point of unity.
> ...



I think he got what he asked for, & then some. Mods looking good.


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## wtf8269 (Jun 19, 2008)

steelkane said:


> I think he got what he asked for, & then some. Mods looking good.



Lol yeah pretty much.


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## intel igent (Jun 19, 2008)

i find it best to cut those type of screw's with a hefty pair of side cutter's 

more pix plz


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## Sasqui (Jun 19, 2008)

Wow, you're doing what I exventually plan to do with my Koolance case... The top has three 80mm fans and I want tree 120mm fans, a larger radiator and larger hose.  The control module is about the only thing I want to re-use.

Your work on the top shroud is really clever, as well as the rest.  Great pics, Kudos.


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## Maju (Jun 20, 2008)

Well have spent a fair bit of time seeming to go not very far.

First up was painting the CPU block....possibly a bit of a mistake as the finish isn't as marvelous as i'd have perhaps liked but too late now. - I haven't cleaned up the in/out holes yet. Was waiting for the paint to cure properly






Have still got several more days before I can start assembling the water loop so I shall see if I can live with this as it is or whether i'll clean it up and start again.

NOW, IF YOU ARE OF A SENSITIVE DISPOSITION AND/OR AFRAID OF VOIDING YOUR WARRANTY LOOK AWAY NOW !!


Because I am held up due to parts not being here I've started playing with the wiring.
First things first - Reference pictures in case it all goes pear shaped.








If I hadn't have swapped out my psu fan already then at this point I can definitely kiss my warrant goodbye






Again, perhaps overkill but I really didn't like having the last bit of the ATX wires showing so decided to do something about it.
I did try removing the pins from the connector but only managed to remove 2. The others steadfastly refused to pull out even with the use of an atx pin remover. - worked fine on other atx sockets but this one wasn't having any of it.
Only left with one option then - wire cutters.
IMPORTANT - Label all wires both sides of the cut ! you really don't want to get this one wrong.

Several hours later all the sheathing is loose fitted and ready to be fixed in place






And after some deft work with the flame torch this is what I have at the moment






Still have a lot of soldering and reattaching to do but I think the end result will be worth it.
I bloody hope so anyway coz i've spent about 5 hours getting to this point.

Other than that haven't got much further.
I did apply another coat of transparent UV coating to the edge of the perspex panel.
Bit of a bummer, the coating shows up the very fine stress fractures (I think) from cutting it with the circular saw.






As I say - bit of a bummer but will have to stay like that for the moment as I have seriously overspent on the build so far. If it looks too bad when installed then it will be replaced but I am hoping that it will actually help accent the uv edge.

Still waiting for the second GFX card to arrive. Starting to get a little worried now as the seller hasn't responded to my email yet.

Thats all for now, more pics for you guys as and when.

Cheers


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## Cold Storm (Jun 20, 2008)

I wouldn't think about doing the PSU like that man! pretty sweet if it turns for the good! But, by tagging both sides, I believe you have done everything you needed to do! 
So far looks good and  to ya man!


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## intel igent (Jun 20, 2008)

you are a VERY patient person my friend.

lovin' the painted fuzion


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## Maju (Jun 20, 2008)

Cheers guys - or possibly gal. Guys and Gals, whatever

Glad you like the fuzion. I've got it sitting on my desk in front of me at the moment trying to see if I like it enough to leave it as it is. Have a crazy idea to do something else to it but shan't spoil the surprise yet.

The other advantage of cutting the wires on the psu was that it enabled me to use the smaller size heatshrink. Trying to fit it over the pin and onto the wire/cable sleeving just wasn't working and the next size up that i've got just wouldn't shrink that small. Yes, lots of work but it does look good and when its installed it'll look even better.


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## intel igent (Jun 20, 2008)

a trip to your local automotive supply store should solve your heat shrink dilemma

and yes it's totally worth it!


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## steelkane (Jun 21, 2008)

I like the individually sleeved PSU wire's, looks really nice, I've been wanting to do that to my enermax but, never got around to it. well done


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## Maju (Jun 22, 2008)

Next up

Getting the fans wired up. Was wondering how best to do this and think this solution is ok.
I wanted to leave it so that I can change the fans if need be without too much hassle so needed to use fan connectors. I could have butchered all of my spare cables but then had a brainwave. So a trip to the local computer repair shop and I walked away with three dead motherboard for nothing. 

Some deft plier work and use of the soldering iron later and voila






Followed by lots of soldering later. I got the extra hands thing at the start of this mod and I must say it has been really useful. Has made this task a lot easier.






Half way there and it's looking good so far






After wiring the male connectors up I then tested it out with the fan controller only to find that it wasn't working. Thankfully it was only the potentiometer that had failed and not my wiring and fortunately I had another one the same lying around so it was a straight swap over.
Then had to shorten the fan wires. Fiddly job but it looks ok. Not marvelous but seeing as for the most part it's not going to be seen it'll do.






It all works and thankfully the kamameter registers the fan speed even though the fans aren't powered by it.
It isn't quite finished yet as I have to attach the power connector but alas I am held up because I don't have the rest of the watercooling kit yet and I want to get that in place before I cut all the wires to length and stick the fan connectors to there mounting plate.

Also still haven't recieved the second 8800gtx yet. :shadedshu
Several emails later and the seller finally deigned to reply only to tell me he hasn't sent it yet. Not best pleased to say the least but at least I am now less worried that I have been scammed. Time will tell.
The other minor annoyance was getting outbid on a danger den 8800gtx waterblock so I will now have to get a new block from somewhere unless anyone here has one going spare and wants to do me a good deal ?

Still debating whether to add a 120 rad into the loop between the cpu block and the gfx cards. I think the DDC ultra should manage but don't know if it's necessary. Shall have to think on this one.

Hopefully I should get the rest of the kit towards the end of the week and then I can get cracking with the watercooling. In the meantime I shall see what else I can do.


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## mrw1986 (Jun 22, 2008)

Odd, none of the pics work for me.


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## intel igent (Jun 22, 2008)

mrw1986 said:


> Odd, none of the pics work for me.



try to reload the page they come up for me 

nice work with the fan connector's


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## Maju (Jun 22, 2008)

Odd, working fine on mine.
It could be that they are taking a while to load as there are quite a few pics and they are not the smallest file size about 700kb each. Might take a while for the page to fully load.
Anyone else not seeing the latest pics?


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## Cold Storm (Jun 22, 2008)

I'm seeing the pictures on Firefox with ABP on it... But, it takes awhile depending on the speed of the internet. 

Great mod so far man! Can't wait to see the end of it!


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## Maju (Jun 23, 2008)

Well, took the plunge last night and decided to finish wiring the fans up to the fan controller. Have connected the power for the rad fans to the power connector of the fan controller - splicing the +'ve feed into my modded potentiometer and the fan speed wire to the no.1 channel of the kama meter.
I know it doesn't look so pretty but it is better than lots of bare wires running all over the place - plus it isn't going to be seen really as the kama meter is going to be in the top 5-1/2" bay.











And best of all it works !

ps. the power supply wires are still bare but can't finish those until the psu in fitted so that I know how long they'll need to be. But they will be sleeved.


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## Maju (Jun 25, 2008)

YIPEE ! PARTS HAVE ARRIVED

well after waiting for what seems like an age the final parts have arrived






Those compression fittings are bigger than I expected but at the same time I do like them. There is something that appeals to me about well engineered parts and these fit the bill.






I also decided to get some tygon tubing instead of the other stuff i had bought. Glad that I have as the tygon is completely clear and puts the other stuff to shame. A costly but worthwhile buy.

Plus thankfully the 8800GTX arrived - all be it a week late due to the chap selling it forgetting to post it  but it is new, works and cost me £80 less than my other one so i'm happy.
I also plumbed for the EK gpu full block as opposed to going for a secong DeFuzion GPU as this way I will hopefully not loose the expansion shot beneath the card.
Not sure what I was expecting but the EK block is quite large. Looks well made though and will I am sure perform adequately.

Whilst waiting for this lot to arrive I've also been busy making a cover for the ATX cables. Although it won't really be seen it should tidy the back of the case nicely











And so now that everything is here it is time to rip the computer apart and get busy assembling it all again.
Now that I am at this point I am suddenly a little daunted by it all. Still I shall have a go and with luck it'll all work first time when I plug it back in.
Although I think that that'll be a job for tomorrow as i'm a couple of glasses of shirraz into the evening and prudence says don't do it now.

So unless it all goes tits up the next post will have some completed pics with it.

Yipee!


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## Maju (Jun 29, 2008)

Not finished by a long way.

After thinking about the psu problem and not having enough pci-e connectors have gone down the road of haveing two psu. Fortunately I had my old OCZ 520w spare so I have ended up using that.
Unfortunately the sheething that they use for the motherboard cable is rather thick and very stiff so after trying to bend it and failing I came up with this idea.






Chop the bugger off and cover the ends. I have left the 4th and a ground wire free to connect up with the same wires of the other psu. Have tried it and it works ok.

Whilst I was at it I also replaced the fan with a Noctura NP-12 and made up a suitable mounting plate.






Next up was soring out the powersupply. After a little though, searching through my parts box and a trip to the computer shop for a dead psu (free  plus got a 120mm Yate Loon and wire fan grill for free) came up with the idea of using an old cathode inverter and a mounting box for the power plug.






Fits perfectly - all be it with a bit of trimming with a stanley blade.
Then making up some wire clamps from the blanking plates from the drive bays, some drilling, cutting and rewiring and .... Ta-Da.











Quite pleased with how it's turned out and best of all it worked first time when I tested it. Always a good feeling.

Next up getting the cards and motherboard waterblocks fitted.

No hassles for the first card but the second card is using an EK Block and with the compression fittings I ran into a problem with the board preventing the fitting screwing in all the way.
My solution has hopefully not knackered the card.






I did check that I wasn't going to cut through any circuit lines completely although it has nibbled into some of the copper on the card. Here's hoping.






I have now started to assemble the bits in order to get the tubing cut and fitted. Alas I think I am going to have to get a couple of 90* elbows to connect the 2nd gfx card to the first and the res. Shall have to do a bit more testing first. Be a bit of a shame as I didn't really want to use them if I could help it.






So thats were i'm up to at the moment. Have a full weeks work this week so limited time, plus need to wait for the elbows to arrive before cracking on with this one.
I think it's going to be worth it though


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## Maju (Jul 7, 2008)

Bit of a go slow week plus bit of a hiccup with the tubing. The elbows arrived but no matter how hard I tried I just wasn't going to be able to get the tube to bend without kinking and when using the elbows the connectors just wouldn't line up.
The results - should hopefully be arriving tomorrow and will look much neater than how I had origonally planned it.

In the meantime have been putzing about doing little jobs.
Sorting out the switches which I have been putting off for ages. Had to move the led's in order to make room for the switches, which meant having to make new mounting bracket.
Holes drilled, dremmeled and finally trimmed with the stanly knife. Then top plate masked and primed






And a couple of coats of paint and clear laquer later






If i'm honest I probably should have put the switches either side of the existing switches but the switches would have fouled the mounting plate too much to easily trim. Still at least they are in and it doesn't look too bad. Just need to get the tubing sorted before I can put the case trim back on and then wire the switches.

Next up another job i've been putting off for a while, Reconnecting the MB power cables
Getting ready for the soldering marathon






and a couple (nearer 3) of hours later






I'm fairly sure i've connected everything back together in the right order - bit nerve wracking to say the least and in the future I think i will definately percevere with the pin removeral tool for a little longer before doing this again

Still it was worth it - ( the clamping bolts will not be staying that long and more than likely won't even be seen )






And from the rear






Unfortunately not all of the smaller screws managed to hold in the perspex as had to use a bit of pressure to hold all the wires in place so have had to use some larger screws. Shall probably swap the others out in order to keep them matched.

Still looks ok though.

Just waiting for the postman now and then I can get cracking with connecting this thing up and discovering whether i've fried my graphics card with the dremmeling.


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## Cold Storm (Jul 7, 2008)

Dude, I can't even believe I forgot all about your mod! It's looking so Jaw dropping! Man, I'm putting in water, but not going that crazy! I can't wait to rat that baby a 10! 

I just hope that GTX card works! I had to re read it a few times to make sure I wasn't going crazy!! lol.


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## DOM (Jul 7, 2008)

pics take forever to load


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## Cold Storm (Jul 7, 2008)

DOM said:


> pics take forever to load



Lol.. I get nothing but a flashing screen.. lol But, you gotta love the look of it so far!


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## DOM (Jul 7, 2008)

Cold Storm said:


> Lol.. I get nothing but a flashing screen.. lol But, you gotta love the look of it so far!



yeah its looking good but not to fond of purple


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## steelkane (Jul 8, 2008)

Nice mods, with the power supply & W/M. looking really nice.


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## Maju (Jul 12, 2008)

To say that this is taking a long time is a bit of an understatement. 1 month and a day so far. Thankfully I finish work in a couple of days so will be able to get on a bit quicker. 

@dom

Sorry about the long loading times. Partly a result of being a cheap skate and using free file hosting but also the images are quite large in size. Have resized them from 12mb to about 800kb but it still takes a while.
Can only recomend tabbed browsing,open the pages and then come back to them in 5 mins.

And it will be worth checking back as it is starting to come together. Have finished the power connecters for the drive bays and spraying the molex's so as to blend in a bit better.
No photo's at the moment as I am only catching a few mins on someone elses computer.
Currently deep into a(nother) tangle of wires while I sort out the lighting and switches.

With luck I should be reassembling the case and fitting the tubes tomorrow.
Cheers for sticking with it and your comments.


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## Cold Storm (Jul 12, 2008)

Maju, the build is nothing but sweetness. I love how you've done it so far, and like I have said in the past, I can't wait to rate it a 10!


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## Maju (Jul 13, 2008)

Cheers Coldstorm, hopefully shan't be too long now before it's posted in the mod gallery.

Finaly finished wiring up the 4 lighting circuits last night. Routing the cables too the switches and inverters/leds without having them seen was time consuming to say the least but even if I say so myself it's going to look sweet.
Had planned to do the tubing today but forgot that i'm meant to be at a friends christening and reunion so that idea has gone out the window.
Have also run out of heatshrink so am debating whether to wait another couple of days for some more or just use electrical tape. Not the prefered solution but it's going to be sleeved and shan't be seen so we just have to see. So far i've got through 2.5m of 3mm shrink - crazy amounts
Look forward to getting the next lot of photo's up for you all, I think you'll like how it's progressed.

Onwards and upwards


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## Cold Storm (Jul 13, 2008)

I can't wait for that post my man.   There is all ways something that will slow you down!


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## Maju (Jul 15, 2008)

Have finally finished the work i was doing so am now able to hopefully crack on a bit quicker.

So whilst haven't managed to do a great deal lately it hasn't come to a complete standstill.
So first up.

I wasn't particually happy with the ocz molex power cable as the connectors were in the wrong position for tidy cable management. Of course, this wouldn't do so had to do something a bit different.

First up, back to the circular table saw and a bit of nifty cutting to make a holder for the molex.







which have been fixed in place with some power putty..
Then had to wire and solder it up..






May not seem like a lot of work but seemed to take ages.

with the facing plate attached and mounted roughly in its final position






As you can see have made up my own power leads to the drive bay devices. Note the 12 & 5v wires have also been heatshrinked in order not to detract the eye with the yellow and red wires.


Next up, I am starting to get a bit concerned that this is going to far with reference to my next purchase for this build. It's going to be the best dressed computer this side of the river.






This build is not taking over my life, honest

The tights are actually for the dust filter that ive made for the intake fan of the 2nd PSU.
You can also see the 80mm hard drive fan that has been fitted with cable extended to reach the fan controller without having to use the fan connector cables.







With that done I then set out on the lighting. Origonally I had only planned to use two lighting circuits hence the switch plate as seen earlier  in the log. Things changed and I now have 4 new switches on the top plate with all the ascossiated wires. Again a fairly time consuming task cutting everything to length, soldering and hiding all the cables.






Also ended up taking the cathode tube connectors off and spray painting them black, along with the other molex connecting blocks so as not to glow under the uv light and detract from the feel of the rig
Best thing about this was connecting the leads to a spare psu and feeling the satifaction and relief when everything worked as intended


With the lighting sorted then moved onto the the hard drive power supply. Again the origonal leads were far too long and made for some fairly unsightly cable management, forcing the excess cable behind other wires or into avaliable spaces.

No More.
Another session with the wire cutters, soldering iron and gas torch and here is the result






the wire ties are only tempory until the other gfx power leads are made and fitted.
the molex at the top tight connects with the molex power strip mounted to the second hard drive exhaust fan.

And so this is where I am upto at the moment, starting to make the second gfx card power cables, which need to be in place before mounting the pump and signature panel to hide the wiring.






I also made a bit of a blunder and ordered the wrong size sli w/c connector, triple slot instead of dual. In my defence the description didn't make it clear and this is my first water cooled build so i'll know better for next time.
Hopefully the replacement will be here tomorrow along with some more heatshrink so I don't skimp and use too much electical tape instead.

OK, back to it. Hope you like it.


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## wtf8269 (Jul 15, 2008)

Amazing.


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## Cold Storm (Jul 15, 2008)

Maju, that's one amazing set up my man! I just can't help but google over the art that you have done. Even on that plate.  Can't wait to see how those Catodes really look lit up!


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## steelkane (Jul 15, 2008)

Clean, well thought out build, is what I like to see.


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## Maju (Jul 17, 2008)

Hi All.

Finally got around to another job i've been hanging back from - Wiring up the power supplies to the gfx cards..

One of the hardest things about this job has been getting the pins out of the plastic sockets. Trying to maintain pressure on the pin removal tool whilst pulling on the wire and pin and at the same time hold the plastic socket steady is tricky. Doing all that and not getting the pin tool to shoot across the room is a trick built up over time.
Anyway. Needed two complete new leads from psu 2 to gfx 2 and needed to shorten the existing pci-e leads.

I had initially started to do this using old wire from a dead wiring loom and electrical tape to wrap the solder joins. After cocking up the length and making the first lead too short I decided to wait till the heatshrink arrived and do it properlly. I also took another trip to my local computer repair shop and for a small donation got another dead psu with long wires on the loom with lots more molex/atx pins.

So first job was to sleeve the power wires like so..






This bit was quite time consuming.

... and some time later the first two leads are ready






Then it was onto the next two. A bit trickier as I didn't want to have to remove the psu.
Again, more laborious wire cutting, stripping, soldering and sleeving.











And after the fourth lead this is what I am left with - although this isn't final fix obviously.






And the aftermath






All I I am happy enough with how it's looking.
With the gfx leads sorted and the two slot card connector arrived I could now start to sort out the tubing of the loop.
Alas can't finish this just yet as I am waiting for another couple of parts to arrive. Hopefully a worthwhile wait as it will make working on the system in future so much easier, plus I really am not sure whether i'll end up using the purple coolant as under uv it glows a bit too orange 

Anyway. this is where it is upto at the moment. 





- actually not quite true as I have since trimmed the metal slots so the dvi connectors do not foul the case.
Have also been cutting perspex again and have started spraying some test pieces with different arrangements of black and white.
The plan is to shine the uv light through the edge of the perspex and then to either etch, score or leave blank a design onto the perspex so that when the light shines it illuminates and highlights the design.
Don't know if this will work as I hope. Shall find out later.

Thats it for now. Hopefully parts arrive tomorrow so i can continue once more

Cheers


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## Cold Storm (Jul 17, 2008)

just plain sick! I love it man! Where did you get the quick connects for the hose? I was thinking of grabbing them, but I didn't know if I should of...


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## Maju (Jul 17, 2008)

Cheers coldstorm

Alas not quick connects, just 1/2" compression fittings, although the drain set-up will be quick connect fittings


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## Cold Storm (Jul 17, 2008)

ahhh I see that now. Thanks on that part. Can't wait to see the rest!


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## Maju (Jul 22, 2008)

At last, some major movement forwards on the build. Bits have arrived and I have been getting busy.
But before they arrived I decided to colour co-ordinate my peripherals, so first up my revamped mouse.






Bloody job that turned out to be. Unfortunately when I was taking the top off of the plastic primer the cap caught the spray nozzle and sheared the nozzle off from the can.
Undaunted I carried on and shortly afterwoods had a horrible paint reaction that resulted with major cracking and crazing.
All in all there are 16 different coats of paint and laquer on the shell of the mouse as a result of several more paint reactions. Still, the end result looks a rather nice shiny metallic purple.

I was trying to fit the water pipe from the fill port but using 1/2" tubing just wasn't working as the tube was fouling the rad mount and side panel release.
Solution, downsize the fill pipe and get some right angle fittings. Whilst ordering noticed that the shop had a 2 line lcd display for £14 so I decided to take a chance and go for it.
Unfortunately the cable supplied was made to plug into a parallel port on the back of the motherboard using the screw in type parallel fitting - like the old printer connectors.
Unfortunately my motherboard only has a parallel connector of the bare pin type.
Not to be detered an old floppy cable comes to the rescue.






A while later






My only concerns are whether the pins have breached the adjoining wires and have created a short between the wires.
Also, I am not 100% sure the wires are wired up in the same order on the MB as on the display. Shall have to check that out on the internet before I connect the display up properly.

As I am not mounting the display in the drive bays this required a bit more modding with the dremmel.






Have since completed cutting and bending the metal frame of the display, sleeved the ribbon cable and exteneded the power lead to nearly a meter long 

Next up was the pretty mammoth task of cable management. You have no idea how long it took to do this, suffice to say you'd need more than one hand to count the hours.






Then onto cutting and fitting the tubing, plus rebuilding the case
Fitting the two graphics cards with the solid sli connector was a bit of a struggle but have managed it. Am about to fill the loop for the first time so I just hope that nothing leaks as it's going to be a MAJOR pain in the arse if there is a leak.






Right, thats where I am upto at the moment and I now have to give the laptop back to my friend. Hopefully the next post will once again be on my own computer - as long as the trimmed graphic card still works


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## Cold Storm (Jul 22, 2008)

That's some crazy stuff my man! Call I can say is wow... That's sweet!  I hope the graphic card works out for ya!


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## yogurt_21 (Jul 22, 2008)

sweet can't wait to see it up and running.


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## Maju (Jul 24, 2008)

What can I say.....

Bugger should cover it.
Alternatively ....  it didn't work. 

Looks pretty but that is no consolation.

When I turn it on it posts ok and I can get into the bios. It then shows the loading bar for windows and then .... nothing. The screen goes blank where the user name box comes up to sign in.

Not sure where to go from here.
Have tried swapping the power leads over - no change.
have tried a power lead from each psu to each gfx card - no luck.
have tried running both cards from the 700w psu - nada.

Have an awfull feeling that i'm going to have to drain the system, reconfigure the water fittings and try each card seperately - major hassle.

When Ifirst turn pc on it shows that it recognises the gfx card - the one that I trimmed the pcb (recognises the bios ##05 - the new card is ##15)
plus and correct me if I am wrong but if the card wasn't working wouldn't it be the case that I couldn't even see the bios screen.?

Also when the screen goes blank the HDD light is still twinkling merrily away showing that it is doing something, I just acn't see what.

Any ideas people.

cos at the moment I have 5 weeks work and effort and a very expensive but pretty pile of stuff doing nothing in my living room.

Hope someone can help.

Cheers

ps, you gotta laugh.


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## Maju (Jul 24, 2008)

Things are looking up. 
I am writing this post on my computer using Knoppix. So while that in a way isn't marvelous news at least it shows that the graphics card works.
Big relief I can tell you.
Looks like a reinstall of windows  coming up.

and of course I also need to put the wiring back together after I pulled the loom to pieces to fiddle with the power lead arrangement

Ho Hum


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## steelkane (Jul 25, 2008)

That's what I was thinking, fresh copy of windows,, & Knoppix has helped me more then once, great software. are you using 3.7 Knoppix or GameKnoppix.


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## Maju (Jul 26, 2008)

Well what a journey it has been.
Thankfully it is all working once again after a reinstall of windows.
Am still in the long laborious process of reinstalling everything and setting things up the way I like it but what sweet relief that it works.

Just a teaser pic for the moment until I get the pics taken, sorted and resized.
I hope that you like it.






Have also been busy with the spray can once again and I am now tpying on my shiny pearlescent purple Saitek Eclipse keyboard. You've gotta love this modding lark.

and without wanting to sound a sour puss the photo's really don't do this build justice - or perhaps it is just my ability as a photographer.
Anyways, more computer porn to look at tomorrow.



& @steelkane

used knoppix 5.1.
Have never used linux before now and have to say I am quite impressed. It was a great relief to see it load and work I can tell you. Definately a disk that i'll be keeping on hand in the future.


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## Cold Storm (Jul 26, 2008)

Maju... That's not a case... It's a work of art!!! 
I'm glad that you have allowed us to see the case build from not only phase one but phase two. I would never try to hurt one's feelings, but I have to agree with you... I wish I could be there right now to just gaze and take my own pictures of that case. 
I will say, I am quite impressed at all the craft men ship that you have done with it. IT has taken you about a month and a half to get that baby done... And, It's.... wow... 

I do want to thank you again on the ability to see your work in progress. It was an amazing trip to see!


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## Maju (Jul 27, 2008)

Well here it is at last.
Completed....apart from finishing the reinstall and benchmarking and overclocking

I apologise for the quality of the pictures. Try as I might I just can't get them to do justice, especially with the lighting effects. So rather than try yet again for better shots i've made a (rather poor - using my camera) short video which can be downloaded here (10mb) -might take a little while to d/l as it's only a free hosting service.

cosmosgloria.wmv

Anyways, here are the photo's














































Bottom of case lighting to give a nice white glow underneath the case






and with the internal white cathodes on, rigged to a sound controller 






Just the main 10" UV's + the UV LED's in the pump housing and in the bottom of the res.











Although it doesn't show it too well the transparent uv blue nail varnish that I used on the perspex does give a nice sharp line which delineates the window nicely.





















I have also yet to get the lcd display working but I am sure that that will be just a matter of time.
I may also have to swap some of the rad fan out for some more powerful ones as the temps are a little high - at idle coolant is 32*c with fans on full. I reckon that if I put the old psu fans in there then I should be able to drop that to closer to 25*c. Shall see what happens when I bench it and how high the core and gpu temps get.
Not 100% sure that I'll keep the picture behind the drive bay blanking plate. Possibly a bit too busy so may change it out for a rather nice galaxy photo that is a lot darker. The original hope was that the uv would shine through the edge of the perspex and highlight the stars more than it actually does. Oh well, Live and Learn.

So thankyou for your time and comments in following this log. They have been welcomed.
Let 'us know what you think of it, either here or in the case gallery.

I am sure that there is much more that I can and probably will say about the build but its  one forty in the morning and I am knackered.

Thanks Again

Maju


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## DonInKansas (Jul 27, 2008)

Now you need to paint your speaker boxes purple.

Fine work sir!


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## Cold Storm (Jul 27, 2008)

I love the looks of the case my friend. I am just a awww about it all...

Now, for some questions... is it at 32c on a oc of the CPU or just everyday thing? Because, It would be around 25c if it was just to the CPU.. You also have to think about how you have two GPU's that are going threw the water loop as well. So, the higher temperature has to do with the fact it's taking more to cool the water.. Getting better fans, may do the trick, or adding just another say 240 rad will help also...
But, tell me anything you can think of, and we'll make sure that baby is the best for ya man! 

Great work!!!


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## Maju (Jul 27, 2008)

@ DonInKansas

Strange you should mention that...
whilst I think I shall leave the main speakers as they are my next little project is to sort out some 6" speakers that I have to augment the current speakers - of course these will be mounted in custom built boxes, currently thinking of 8" plastic balls, painted matching purple and mounted (removeable) to the back of my chair.

Going to have a rest before that one though.

@coldstorm.

Cheers. Haven't overclocked anything yet. Am sure swapping the fans will help a lot as the current ones are quite low cfm and speed.
Of course I could just leave them as they are and the temps would still be ok. 32-37 on the cpu cores is hardly excessive.
At the moment I still have lots to load back onto the drives, plus for some annoying reason some progs are encountering an unexpected error and needs to close. Sorry for the inconvenience 
Might just cut my losses and clean install before I get too much further.

Of course, I might live with it for a little while longer and load up racedriver GRID and the wheel and peddles I got yesterday and have a blast on that


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## kyle2020 (Nov 8, 2008)

Gorgeous. Im getting a cosmos soon and this is exactly what i was looking to do in terms of watercooling. Dont hate me if i steal a few ideas! 

Loving that res and how you have mounted the radiator. Can i ask, what temps do you get with the overall setup? (GFX + CPU?)

Thanks again!


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## Maju (Nov 8, 2008)

Hello Kyle2020

Glad to hear your getting a Cosmos. I'm sure you won't be disappointed.

As regard temps.
Bearing in mind that the fans that I have on the rad aren't that powerful - around 57-62cfm if memory serves me correctly, the temps aren't too bad considering that there are 2 beefy graphics cards and a amd 64x2 6000+ processor.

Running on idle and just doing general stuff such as surfing the net I get average temps of around 31-33 degrees Celsius.

Playing CPU and GFX intensive apps - such as the excellent X series of games and the temp shoots up to 48. 
Starting to get a little warm but not excessively.

I have left it running overnight a few times and forgot that I had turned the fans off and woke up to find that it had been sitting at a toasty 83 degrees for god knows how long.

If I were too put in stronger fans then I am sure that I could get the temps down further but I don't want to make the noise sacrifice


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## kyle2020 (Nov 8, 2008)

Those temps are still excellent when you factor in 2 cards aswell!

Ill only be running (at first) a cpu loop with a 24cm rad mounted the same way yours is - im going to have to look into those reservoirs, im loving how that looks.


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## FreedomEclipse (Nov 9, 2008)

that sir is a badass case mod - I wish i had your skills & also such resources at hand then mayde i could start modding too


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## Odin Eidolon (Nov 9, 2008)

lovable!

BUT why do you use those crappy xilence fans? I have four (payed 2€ each) and they really suck


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