Geared Up

[Top Nurse]

Rofl

 

[grumblemarc]

Here are some pics that were asked for.

And here it is installed and awaiting water. It's about 5 degrees celcius hotter than the Aquadrive LT (also without water) so I'm eager to get it wet to see what it can do. I'll be off to source some aluminum to replace the plastic parts.

TN. I asked Modsquad but I haven't heard anything back yet.

 

[soulsaver_8229]

Few pics of Hiper psu in case please? and how heavy is it? seem like a dence psu?

and one very nice case god i was i was that good im stuck with premods


soulsaver

 

[Legion©]

How do you find that noise isolator works with your fans? I tried two of them with a range of different fans and they seemed to make them louder! Something to do with the PWM controller cycling the power on and off I think.

 

[grumblemarc]

Few pics of Hiper psu in case please? and how heavy is it? seem like a dence psu?

and one very nice case god i was i was that good im stuck with premods


soulsaver

It's pretty heavy. It's not in the case yet though. I'm concerned about the shorter length of the ATX power cabling. I have a wiring solution that will require drilling a hole into the mid-floor that will solve that problem. I ran the Hiper R beifly and it is VERY quiet. When I get to the next teardown I'll have it installed. I have a lot to do when that happens so I'm pretty much stockpiling parts until then. Hopefully in the next couple of weeks. This IS my main rig you know.

How do you find that noise isolator works with your fans? I tried two of them with a range of different fans and they seemed to make them louder! Something to do with the PWM controller cycling the power on and off I think.

Fans do seem to be a little louder with them running off of the Noise Isolator. I run them at the lowest settings when more cooling isn't needed.

 

[daedal]

How did you get the noise isolator/fan control on your top panel? Just drill out holes for the knobs to "slide" in? How are they holding on to the panel? It's something I would like to do seeing as my case is sitting on the floor at my feet. I just love this project and it's one of the very few threads I'm suscribed to.

 

[grumblemarc]

The fan controller is held on by the 2 bolts on either side. There are 2 screws that hold the controller to the original panel and I used them as a template to drill the mounting holes.

If you can use a Vantec fan controller you can forego the bolts as the Vantec uses a different kind of mounting system as seen here on Coolermeister's Flying Banana Wavemaster mod.

 

[daedal]

Awesome. Thank you very much. Will definitly do that.

 

[grumblemarc]

No real updates. Life is hectic just recently. Sorry. But I am entering the A.C. Ryan contest so wish me luck although I have VERY stiff competition.

I’m a Great Worklog Contestant and so are you...

 

[WhyYouLoveMe]

This mod is absolutely beautiful! One of the best I've ever seen. So sleek, so sexy, so freakin' sweeeeeeet. Great job, great job, great job! Thanks for all the pics!

 

[ikellensbro]

Wow, I really can't say anything else, other than 56k people might want to watch out, but it would be definately worth their while to wait it out to see the sickest mod I've seen in a while. Absolutely great work, keep it up!

 

[sector]

The mod looks fantasic, marc! What blue LCD is that in the earlier pictures?

 

[grumblemarc]

Thanks. Crystalfontz 634 4x20 USB LCD.
I've had it for a while and I'm trying to find some way to keep it a part of the mod.

 

[grumblemarc]

You never said if you got that 6800GT to work in the end. The soulution can be found here, and it is simply a case of fooling the card a fan is attached.

I haven't tried to re-attach the Innovatek waterblock yet as I plan on doing a MASSIVE teardown and rebuild soon (hopefully) so I can plumb a second loop into the mix. Thanks for the link. I'll take a look at it as soon as I can. I thought it might be the fan (or lack thereof) mucking things up.

 

[grumblemarc]

Okay.

Small update.

Got REAL tired of looking at that UGLY plastic panel on the "Innovadrive" so I decided to do something about it.

The before pic.

I removed the plastic panel and pretty much crammed in into
the back of a spare drive cover I had laying around.

I removed the tabs on the drive cover by scroing them with
the dremel and bent them right off and filed down the edges
to make them smooth.

Drilled some holes and mounted the new Innovadrive front panel.

Well it wasn't that easy because the srews that originally
held the plastic panel on were actually too short to mount the
new panel (sorry no pics of the screws). But that was easily
solved by sifting through my massive 10lb screw collection to
locate the proper length and threaded screws.

Maybe later this weekend I'll fab up the aluminum I snagged to
finish off the front and botom where the other plastic pieces are
hiding.

Later

 

[grumblemarc]

UPDATE TIME!

Prepped the Hiper PSU prior to installing it in the case.

And swapped out the fan grills.

I was going to swap out the fans with some nice shiny
Evercool LED ones BUT the 80mm fan in the Hiper is very low profile so
the Evercool one wouldn't work. I could've left the 120mm one in but I thought
it would look stupid since you wouldn't be able to see and
illumination.

Currently I'm scrambling about the house looking for an ATX extension
I bought last year. Cannot for the life of me remember where I put it.
I am worried about the short length of the Hiper's ATX cables so
before I commit to ripping out the old PSU (old faithful) I have to
make sure it will be long enough.

 

[Groffy77]

Any updates on dim pics?

That is really looking great. I'm waiting for the finished pictures..

 

[grumblemarc]

Not that I planned this today but while I was looking around in the case I decided to temporarily take care of that ugly area around the drive cage. I say temp because
I plan on getting another replacement door and do this up properly out of the panel
itself so that it will match. I might also redo the floor area with this instead of the
plexi.

Fabbed up a piece of black mirrored plexiglas, drilled a few holes and...

Sice I was in there I scouted out a location on the upper floor of the case
to mount a pass-through for the ATX cable since I could not locate the
extension. It SHOULD give it enough reach so I might swap out PSU's
soon enough.

Later.

 

[grumblemarc]

I spent the last hour or so whipping up THIS piece of work.

Just let me tell ya that this thing cut up VERY easily. For what
it is actually used for I'm surprised that it does what it does. I'm
glad I never really got around to installing it. While I was cutting it
up the drill bit I used to start a pilot hole caught on the aluminum
and spun the piece around and wacked me in the hand, drawing blood.

Anybody figures out what this is made from gets the booby prize.
Anyone that figures out what I plan to use it for gets 2 prizes.

The bolts will eventually get cut down and the brass piece will get a
coat of silver paint.

Later.

 

[grumblemarc]

Quick question. I plan on addding the GPU block and "Innovadrive" to the mix. I have another rad to mount so my qustion is will I need another pump OR can the one I have handle 2 more components? Or would it be better to just get another pump and make it 2 separate loops?

Guess that was 2 questions.

 

[DarkenReaper57]

My guess is that it is made from a rotary bike lock. It looks like you put a pipe inside for support, too.

Perhaps you are using it for some sort of fancy switch? What about a valve for the watercooling?

Just a shot in the dark.

 

[grumblemarc]

Okay!

It's part of a coilover kit I bought years back and never got around to installing on my Prelude (I mod my car too).

It looks like this when not hacked to pieces.

It didn't come from a set of the Skunk's. They were an eBay special so no real loss. The brass gear came from a batch of parts I won from eBay months back for the mod and never found a way to integrate into the case design.

 

[Elysian]

geez i knew what it was, but i didn't see that post until just now haha

 

[grumblemarc]

Okay.

Decided to get the PSU installed today. The thing that bothered me was
that there was no LED lighting on this versio of Hiper's PSU's. Pardon for
the lack of decent pics but I'm back to using the old Camedia today. SO.

I opened back up the PSU and swapped in the 120mm Evercool. I
used 6/32 hex head screws with acorn nuts because regular fan
mounting screws do not work. And if they do I wasn't going to make
them.

I left the stock 80mm in because I just didn't feel lke modding LEDs into it
at the moment. This IS my main rig right now so down-time has got to
be minimal. You can see that the 80mm is very low profile.

I put it all back together and mounted the jumper dohickey to the
ATX cabling. Just to make SURE I didn't screw up such a simple thing
I ran it into the workroom and attached a fan to it before powering it up.

Even with the horribly bad pic you can see that the Evercool does throw
off a slight bit of light. Not so overpowering and I was pretty satisfied that
it wasn't all that bright. But it IS brighter than seen in this bad pic.

Running it back out to the case I proceeded to mount it up.
I was concerned about the clearance in getting the PSU mounted
through the back of the case due to the added height of the nuts
and I was right. I had to slide the PSU in through the side of the
case and then mount it to the mounting plate. This would have
been MURDER if not for this thing being modular because of all the
tubing routed through there.

I must say that this thing it super quiet. I was much impressed
with that. Also you can't see it (becasue I forgot to take a pic) but
the ATX cable was just long enough. I can put off instlling my
pass-through solution for the moment but for boards that have the ATX
connector on the other side, like the Chaintech I have sitting here, this
WILL be a problem.

 

[grumblemarc]

Not so good news.

The new PSU doesn't seem to be capable of running my 6800.

I shut down the machine last night and when I restarted I got a looooong boot, video instability shortly thereafter with TONS of artifacts. That damned alarm on the card drove me nuts. I swapped in my 6600gt in the meantime and I'm happy/unhappy to report that the rig now runs stable.

I'll probably pull the PSU out and remove the LED fan in there just in case it's responsible for the instability. Hell, FrozenCPU sent me one of their new PSU testers so I'll grab that up and get testing.

Looks like the Hiper may be all hype.

 

[T0ddyH0oddy]

Looks like the Hiper may be all hype.

Somehow I'm not surprised.

Do the right thing. A project as amazing as yours deserves a solid PSU.

I reccomend PC Power and Cooling or Antec.

 

[grumblemarc]

I agree.

 

[skudmunky]

Or Fortron Source. FSP psus are great.

 

[grumblemarc]

Thinking about one of those OCZ units,. PCP&C or Antec PSU's. Checking reivews on them right now.

 

[grumblemarc]

Well. The rig became totally unusable after my last post and needless to say that I was PISSED! I was trying to use the color picker in Photoshop and the damned thing just froze up on me. SO...

I spent the last several hours doing a bunch of things.

Firstly, I sleeved the TTGI PSU I just pulled out of this beast to make room for that poor performing Hiper PSU. I have learned my lesson with that one believe you me.

Second, while I was doing that I contemplated whether or not to just go ahead and add the remainder of the watercooling gear to the mix since I was going to be down for a while. I didn't contemplate long and went ahead and gathered up all the waiting parts right after I finished the sleeving. Ultimately a PCP&C is gonna power this thing but the steadfast Superflower will keep things running until then.

I came up with a sneaky solution to get by the PNY 6800GT's fan sensing issue that kept me from booting with the vid card block installed. I'll get more into details after I finish resizing and posting the pics.

All in all I added another rad, the Innovatek GPU block and the "Innovadrive" to the loop. The Innovatek HPPS PLUS 12v Pump seems to be able to handle all that extra headroom without issue. Temps are sitting nicely with the CPU@30, GPU@43 (GPU ambient@32, which didn't change all that much so the stock cooling was doing it's job), and the hard drive sitting at 33 degrees celcius. Not bad if I do say so.

So that makes a mojor portion of this mod complete. Just a few more details to take care of and it's all over. I shouldn't have to mod anything major interior wise so I can concentrate on finishing up the exterior..

Now let me get to Photoshopping so I can get some good pics up. By the time you see them it'll be my birthday!

Later.

 

[T0ddyH0oddy]

Ultimately a PCP&C is gonna power this thing but the steadfast Superflower will keep things running until then.

Congratulations on making the right choice.

Good luck with the remainder of your work. I think I speak for everyone when I say it's coming along very, very nicely.

 

[el rolio]

Good luck with the remainder of your work. I think I speak for everyone when I say it's coming along very, very nicely.

i'm with that guy! oh and happy birthday as i assume its now if you at EST otherwise it prolly will be next time you sign on!

 

[grumblemarc]

PICS!!!

First off a quick look at how I got around the PNY's fan issue.

As you can see I simply rigged an aftermarket chipet fan to the underside of the card. It's powered right off the card itself so the stupid card can get over itself. I read where a rigged up resistor might help with that but I didn't want to go searching for any just then. The fan serves nothing in the extra cooling department. It's just to trick the vid card into thinking the stock solution is still present. It's only temporary so don't freak.

Here's a wider shot if the innards where you may be able to make out where the "Innovadrive" is actually hooked up. I don't know why I didn't but I thought I took more shots of it than that. Possibly I have imbibed a tad much?

The location of the 2nd rad. It's real cramped in that area. Hope it doesn't affect airflow too much.

Some of the tubing is clear becasue it's new and some is cloudy Don't know if that's from the Innovaprotect fluid or not. Doesn't seem to be hurting anything other than looks.

Here are some exterior shots of the case. I let the wife takes these.

I still have to finish off that cut to the panel of the main window. Maybe when I sober up I'll take a jigsaw to it. I tried the Dremel once and it took too long.

That's all for now. Going out to celebrate!

Later.

 

[T0ddyH0oddy]

PICS!!!

First off a quick look at how I got around the PNY's fan issue.

As you can see I simply rigged an aftermarket chipet fan to the underside of the card. It's powered right off the card itself so the stupid card can get over itself. I read where a rigged up resistor might help with that but I didn't want to go searching for any just then. The fan serves nothing in the extra cooling department. It's just to trick the vid card into thinking the stock solution is still present. It's only temporary so don't freak.

Here's a wider shot if the innards where you may be able to make out where the "Innovadrive" is actually hooked up. I don't know why I didn't but I thought I took more shots of it than that. Possibly I have imbibed a tad much?

The location of the 2nd rad. It's real cramped in that area. Hope it doesn't affect airflow too much.

Some of the tubing is clear becasue it's new and some is cloudy Don't know if that's from the Innovaprotect fluid or not. Doesn't seem to be hurting anything other than looks.

Here are some exterior shots of the case. I let the wife takes these.

I still have to finish off that cut to the panel of the main window. Maybe when I sober up I'll take a jigsaw to it. I tried the Dremel once and it took too long.

That's all for now. Going out to celebrate!

Later.

Absolutly gorgeous. Glad to see a Blue Orb in action; a classic never dies. Tell the wifey she's a good photographer and don't have too much fun celebrating

 

[grumblemarc]

BTW

I'm a Great Worklog Contestant and so are you...

 

[Lord Argent]

Beautiful work, I'd pay to own that rig, that's darned nice. I'm thinkin' you're gonna be hard to compete against. Whew!

 

[Top Nurse]

So what is the problem with the PSU? Low wattage unit? Is that one of those PSU's that is "modular" in design? If so that is probably the problem as you lose a lot of amperage at the connectors. Found this out because I had originally planned to use an Amptron circular connector to get my ATX wiring loom through the middle case partition. PCP&C engineers persuaded me not to use it due to the loss of current on every connection point.

BTW, I really like the idea of running the wires through the tubing. Quite an original concept and looks hot.

 

[grumblemarc]

So what is the problem with the PSU? Low wattage unit? Is that one of those PSU's that is "modular" in design? If so that is probably the problem as you lose a lot of amperage at the connectors. Found this out because I had originally planned to use an Amptron circular connector to get my ATX wiring loom through the middle case partition. PCP&C engineers persuaded me not to use it due to the loss of current on every connection point.

BTW, I really like the idea of running the wires through the tubing. Quite an original concept and looks hot.

More than likely one of the 2 is probably it. With my luck it's probably both. It is modular. I cannot see how a SPU that got so many "high" ratings turns out to be so unstable. I'll whip out the old multimeter and run some quick tests to see. I had the 6800 on it's own cable that connected to a bulkhead connection which fed staright back to the PSU. Nothing else was on that cable but it was MAJORLY unstable. Back on the TTGI I'm happy (and certain) to report no issues. TTGIs are highly underrated PSU's. But PC Power & Cooling is going to get my money next time.

 

[T0ddyH0oddy]

More than likely one of the 2 is probably it. With my luck it's probably both. It is modular. I cannot see how a SPU that got so many "high" ratings turns out to be so unstable. I'll whip out the old multimeter and run some quick tests to see. I had the 6800 on it's own cable that connected to a bulkhead connection which fed staright back to the PSU. Nothing else was on that cable but it was MAJORLY unstable. Back on the TTGI I'm happy (and certain) to report no issues. TTGIs are highly underrated PSU's. But PC Power & Cooling is going to get my money next time.

You have to understand that the majority of PSU reviews you'll find online are complete trash. Most run 3Dmark or whatever for like a day "under load" or whatever and that's supposed to be a proper gauge of how the PSU will handle dirty power, hot weather, and more power-hungry componenets in the future in addition to other concerns.

I think you'll find the case is quite the opposite with your PC Power and Cooling unit.

 

[grumblemarc]

I would tend to agree but the "bling" factor made me foresake all reasonable judgement. If I could swing it I'd go for that 850 watt monster but I think a 510 would do just fine. Can't beat that 5 year warrantee.