Lucky 13 - NZXT Phantom featuring the new Primochill Compression Tube Res!

Hi everyone! I'm new to the HarDd Forum, and wanted to share my latest build with you all!


I just completed this mod yesterday, and got some free time to make a log.

System Specs are

Asus CrosshairFormula V
AMD FX-8120 @4.6Ghz
16GB G.Skill Ripjaw 1600Mhz
2 - XFX 6970 w/EK 6970v2 water blocks - Bitspower Crytal links
XSPC Raystorm CPU Block
2 - MCP355 Pumps w/ XSPC Dual Pumo Acrylic
Alphacool 240mm Radiator
XSPC RS360 Radiator
Primochill Compression Tube Reservoir
Primochill Primoflex PRO LRT UV Red Tubing
2 - Corsair Force Series 3 60GB SSD in Raid0
1 Seagate Barracude 7200rpm 2TB for storage.
ModSmart 24pin, 6pin PCIe, 8pin PCIe sleeved cable extensions.



A little background for the motivation on this build. I've been into hot rods for a good majority of my life. I used to modify and drag race a few of the cars I have owned through out the years. Mostly Camaro's, but I've built a few decent DSM's as well. 2 years ago, I injured my shoulder at work, and have not been able to do any of the heavy mechanicing that I used to be able to do. I have since had 3 surgeries on my shoulder, and have been told heavy lifting or a lot of repetitive work is going to be off of my list of capabilities now.

Luckily, I have also been building and fixing computers for at least the last 10 years as a smaller, back burner(winter) hobby. So I started modding cases, and building more computers while recovering from my surgeries. It has now become my passion, and I can do it one handed if the need ever arises again

On to the mod. I decided on Lucky 13 for the name, because I like the brand, and it deals around the old school hot rod scene, which is the theme I wanted to go far.

I loved NZXT's Phantom case, ever since I laid eyes on it in a few forums. It's shape, size and cable management possibilities are great, not to mention the moddable aspect of them. I loved my white Phantom, but with all of my watercooling gear, it felt cramped, and I got sick of feeling claustrophobic, looking inside the case. So I obtained a black Phantom, and got started.

I ditched the 5.25", and all the HDD bays immediately. I fabricated a panel to smooth out the visible part of the MB tray, and gave me room to mount my HDD and SSD's in the back of the case, and wrapped it around to the front of the case also. I decided to add 2 more 120mm fans where the 5.25" bays used to be, since I removed the original fan mount on the front of the case. Next, I made up my PSU, and radiator shroud for the bottom of the case.





Once I had all of that test fitted, I drilled out all the rivets on the case, sandblasted all the panels(except for the plastic pieces of course) and got to repainting. I painted the exterior, the MB tray, and cover satin black. I then taped off the back side of the rear panel, and painted it, and the PSU/rad shroud, and the exterior plastic trim, satin red, to accent all of the black.






Reassembly of the case after painting.


I then decided that the front door of the case needed to be able to flow some air, for the 2 new fans that I was going to install, and took the opportunity to make something special. This is what I came up with.




Case and new fab'd parts all put together.






Once all of the big modding jobs were completed, I got started build all of my wiring blocks for my pumps, and LED's. Turned out to be a good time to do it, while I waited for my new reservoir to arrive.




Resistors soldered onto the LED's


They worked! Success!





The first Primochill Compression Tube Reservoir to leave there building





With the arrival of the new res, and tubing, the transfer of hardware could commence!







Here is how she sits now, back up and running. I'm still going to doing a better photoshoot of the build later tomorrow, and will update the log with the new pics.

As Promised, here are the final build photographs from my photoshoot today. Hope you all enjoy them

Wow that's pretty damn sick.

A very nice build indeed.

Excellent. Waht do you think of the Primochill Res?

Thanks everyone. The Primochill res is pretty amazing. Getting the fittings where you want them by spinning the end caps is a great option, and the tube itself feels very high quality. The EK res I was using before this felt almost flimsy, like it would easily break. Not to mention, it last all of 5 months before it cracked and started seeping fluid out of the cracks.

With the amount of work you put in there, the Yate Loons just look out of place. I would have gone with the Corsair AF120s.

Very decent static pressure for their quiet series, and if you arent a noise nazi like I am, you could go with the SP120s and put on the red ring. (they comes with white/red/blue included)



Nice Phantom though! Looks amazing.

Thanks JLangevin I don't think the yate loons are completely out of place, though those Corsair fans do look awesome, I wouldn't have had the $325 to replace all of my fans, with the budget I had for the build. I already had all of the hardware, except for the fittings, res and tubing.

Awesome Job and love it just as it is. Of course we can all go further depending on what we want to spend .But i think its just perfect as it is.

Love It

MybadOmen

Incredible, nice work.

Love where you stuck the drives. Awesome build!

I agree - excellent work.

Only one thought - perhaps you could come up with a graphic to liven up the long red PSU cover, as the window is cut down low enough to see almost all of it.

Maybe use one of these logos from their site :



The larger versions can be downloaded here:

http://www.nzxt.com/new/download_sections.php#wallpaper

What's the big deal with that reservoir anyways?

stratosrally said:

I agree - excellent work.

Only one thought - perhaps you could come up with a graphic to liven up the long red PSU cover, as the window is cut down low enough to see almost all of it.

Maybe use one of these logos from their site :

http://www.nzxt.com/new/downloads/wallpapers_thumbs/17.JPG
http://www.nzxt.com/new/downloads/wallpapers_thumbs/18.JPG

The larger versions can be downloaded here:

http://www.nzxt.com/new/download_sections.php#wallpaper

Click to expand...

Thanks I have been thinking about something to add down there. That is the one spot that I feel could use something extra.

Phishy714 said:

What's the big deal with that reservoir anyways?

Click to expand...

The res uses a compression fit for the end caps, compared to screw on pieces that most cylinder reservoirs have. That alone, makes it less likely to form stress cracks around the edge, like the screw on ones can form after a short period of time.

Also, with the compression fit, it allows you to turn the end caps independently from each other, to any position that you need for your fittings. As opposed to only being able to turn the whole res assembly with screw on caps. Lastly, the smaller end cap real estate, allows more room for coolant, in a comparable size res with screw on caps.

I made a video build log, with all of my pictures a couple nights ago. It's my first attmept at making a video in ~10 years. Constructive criticism is welcomed
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AA3bEjZF3S8

I didn't know that the end-caps turned like that. That's pretty frickin ingenious! I'm gonna have to look these up. Where'd you get yours, if you don't mind me asking?