My very first QPack! (pic intensive, beware)

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ciggwin

Supreme [H]ardness
Joined
May 30, 2006
Messages
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Well I've been waiting for the day when I would be able to post my own build. That day has come :)

Here are some shots of my newest build.

Specs:
Aspire X-QPack - Black Case w/ windows
Enermax Liberty 500w PSU
AMD Athlon 3700+ 2.2gHz Socket 939
Biostar T-Force 6100-939 MB
Western Digital 74gb SATA Raptor @ 10k RPM
Geforce 7900GT 256MB
2 x 512mb DDR 400 (from old PC)
2 12" UV tubes, UV sensitive IDE cable, UV sensitive SATA cable, UV sensitive cable ties

The first two images are just of the video card box.. had a little damage to the box but it works great (so far!)
geforce1.jpg

geforce2.jpg


First real order of business... making an AIR FILTRATION SYSTEM! This isn't as complicated (or as cool) as it sounds. Basically what I did here was go to the hardware store and look for any type of filter stuff they had. Being in Boston, it's a pretty small hardware store, so I found a filter for an air conditioner. It said it keeps out pollen and dust and it was $1.99 for a huge piece... good enough for the first experiment :)
filtermaterial.jpg


Next came the cutting and the mounting on the QPack's side vents. This was pretty easy to do: measured the vent size, cut out a cardboard template, then cut the filter material accordingly. Next was how to mount it?

At the hardware store I got some velcro, not knowing how I would manage to do this but figured velcro would work somehow. (I got the velcro on the first trip, for those of you that were wondering :p )

Turns out that the velcro is PERFECT for this. At least the hard side of the velcro... not sure that has a name or not, but you know what I'm talking about. The air conditioner filter stuck right to it! Just remember, you don't need 3 feet of 2" velcro to do this. You need about 6" of 2" velcro ... lol.

So I cut some small strips of velcro and mounted them on to the case along the edges of the vents:
rightintake.jpg


Slap the air conditioner filter pieces that you cut out on to that velcro and you have yourself a pretty nice filter:
leftintake.jpg


Now it was time to take my stuff and put it in, and make sure it worked:
leftside1.jpg


What a mess!!!!!!

Ahh but the GeForce looks so good :)
geforce3.jpg
 
Well everything went in pretty well... except the heatsink was a BITCH to get on. I felt like I was going to break it (only have built a few machines so ALWAYS tentative to use any type of force). But eventually I gained enough testicular fortitude to clamp down the heatsink.

Well it looked like the motherboard was bent a little upwards under the CPU. I figured this was due to the motherboard tray which has a ridge that goes around the bottom of it. Time to remove that! So that was case mod #1 (ever.. in my life). Didn't seem hard, just took a dremel tool to do the vertical cuts, then bent it off horizontally, then filed it down. Easy!

The second mod was a rocker switch that I needed to put somewhere on the case for the two 12" UV tubes I got. I figured the 3 1/2" bay was good for this since I won't be using that (have no need for anything there). So for this, I took a drill and drilled a hole in the middle of the plastic bay cover, then took a dremel tool and cut it out and filed it out until the rocker switch fit snugly in there.

You'll notice case mod #1 (mb cutting) and case mod #2 (rocker switch) in this pic. You'll also notice where the dremel got away from me just above and to the right of the rocker switch (it's my first case mod ever, give me a break!) and where I cut the notch for the rocker switch a BIT too much, but it's hardly noticeable.
casemods1.jpg


Next I wanted to see how the button looked on the actual case, so I snapped it in to place:
buttoninstalled.jpg

Not bad :)

I put the motherboard back in, and to my surprise.. still bent. It's got to be because that damn heatsink is SO TIGHT that it's pulling up on the MB. Asked a few people about this, they said it should be ok:
bentmb.jpg


Time to get some wiring going.. you'll notice the rounded UV sensitive IDE cable, the UV sensitive SATA cable, and the DVDR+ that I've yet to window mod.
wiring1.jpg


And a top view...
topview.jpg


I figured I should dry-fit the 12" UV lights. Good idea. The left tube would not fit in between the left side of the case and the mATX mb, so I had to break out the dremel once again and sand down the plastic square on the end that holds the cathode tube. This was nervewracking even though it only cost about 8 bucks for the 2 of them. Once I got that to fit, all I had to do was plug them in and see if they worked (that comes later).

If you go back to that first picture of the mess of wiring, and compare it to this one, your OCD will be at rest (as is mine!). I used the UV sensitive cable ties as well as some cable clamps I got at the hardware store for 4 bucks:
wiring2.jpg
 
Now, for the finished product! The rocker switch worked like a CHARM. Could not be happier with this, especially since it was my 1st mod ever (ok the MB tray cut does not count, I've cut metal before :))

Here's the front view, yes it's finger-printy but I've been working with it all day and that wipes up pretty good:
front1.jpg


With the UV lights on, here is the right side. You can see my Raptor (I love this thing) as well as the UV sensitive SATA cable, the QPack case fan (didn't replace this.. works fine imo) -- looking at this now it seems I have to re-stuff a few wires above the MB power plug into the bay below my DVDR+ .. must have fallen down:
right1.jpg


Here's the left side view, with the 7900 GT and a few UV cable ties as well as the SATA cable. Will do a little better cable management with those power supply cables in the top right:
left1.jpg


And an upclose view of the left:
leftclose.jpg


And finally a shot of the front. Currently the CPU sensor is stuffed in next to the heatsink (where the hell do you put this thing) and the HDD sensor is actually going to be a case temp sensor, that's just sticking out behind the front panel.
front.jpg


All in all it was a success. First build where I didn't have a part DOA. $1000 later, and I still need $200 for 2 1GB sticks of RAM :)

I plan on getting the RAM, and doing the DVDR+ window-mod at some point in the near future but wanted to get this thing together.

It's been about 10 days since I got it running with the bare essentials... and my filters are already dusty. Just goes to show how much they're going to help out. I am considering putting more filters in behind the front panel, since there's space between the DVDR+ and the bay sides.

For those of you wondering, the Enermax Liberty is a great PSU. I have a Lite-On DVDR+ drive (from my old PC). I've heard the Lite-On drives are pretty short in themselves, but this one JUST FITS. The IDE cable and the power cable are touching the power supply, but it does fit without jamming it in there.

I think that's it!! Comments welcome!
 
Nice job!

But one question: where did you get those cable clip ties? I see them in a lot of qpacker's pictures but I didn't get one (well, mine was from a store display, so maybe I got ripped).
 
Looks like you got the filters worked out just fine. Did you also rememer to do the one by the case handle? Good job!
 
adri1456 said:
Nice job!

But one question: where did you get those cable clip ties? I see them in a lot of qpacker's pictures but I didn't get one (well, mine was from a store display, so maybe I got ripped).
Click to expand...

Thanks!

The cable clips came from my local hardware store. It was 4 bucks for 10 of them (I got 14 since they repackaged them and apparently can't count!) They've got a pretty sticky side, and once you stick it down you better want it there.
 
WarlordOne said:
Looks like you got the filters worked out just fine. Did you also rememer to do the one by the case handle? Good job!
Click to expand...

Thanks!

I am thinking of putting one there now, I think I need to get one around the DVDR+ too since there is a significant gap. How much air actually comes in the front panel though? It seems like it's pretty closed up. (and yes I realize dust is quite small :p )
 
Nice call on the filter for the 2 side intakes, they get really dusty. Might take your idea ;)

Overall great job dude
 
how's the temp on the raptor? I'm considering buying that case and putting a raptor in there, but it seems that they woudln't get any airflow. also, any idea how much clearance the cpu's heatsink gets?
 
ciggwin said:
I am thinking of putting one there now, I think I need to get one around the DVDR+ too since there is a significant gap. How much air actually comes in the front panel though? It seems like it's pretty closed up. (and yes I realize dust is quite small :p )
Click to expand...
Quite a bit of air gets drawn in through the front panel.
 
does that size PSU normally fit in there... or did u mod the case to make it fit... i wanna get a qpack just dont wanna use the PSU that comes with it
 
badbadtz560 said:
how's the temp on the raptor? I'm considering buying that case and putting a raptor in there, but it seems that they woudln't get any airflow. also, any idea how much clearance the cpu's heatsink gets?
Click to expand...

I don't have the sensor on the raptor, i have it as a case temp sensor, but the case stays around 27-31 depending on if i have the a/c on or not. Although i'm not too sure how accurate that really is.

xFuryofFivex said:
does that size PSU normally fit in there... or did u mod the case to make it fit... i wanna get a qpack just dont wanna use the PSU that comes with it
Click to expand...

the PSU doesn't fit perfectly. i would recommend filing down the case (or cutting) where the plug on the PSU meets the edge of the large hole cut for the PSU. you should be able to mount it correctly (fan pulling up from bottom). i took away some of the plastic on the plug itself, and that worked fine for me, but i'd rather have filed down / cut the case, just didn't have the tools at the time.

Quick update - I noticed my case temp has gotten warmer... time to clean out the filters, and I'll show you all just how much dust is on them once I get a pic.
 
not to get off topic.. the PSU that was in it...is that one any good... maybe for a system such as mine?
 
Can you post how much you paid for the case, psu, gpu and all that stuff? thanks
 
Hupo said:
Can you post how much you paid for the case, psu, gpu and all that stuff? thanks
Click to expand...

Well i ordered my stuff in the first week of june (all from newegg). so since then prices have dropped... keep that in mind. however...

7900GT: $274.99
TForce6100: $69.99
Athlon 3700+: $229.99 (now what are they.......... $105? /cringe)
QPack: $85.99
Enermax Liberty: $109.99
WD Raptor: $159.99
 
ciggwin said:
Well i ordered my stuff in the first week of june (all from newegg). so since then prices have dropped... keep that in mind. however...

7900GT: $274.99
TForce6100: $69.99
Athlon 3700+: $229.99 (now what are they.......... $105? /cringe)
QPack: $85.99
Enermax Liberty: $109.99
WD Raptor: $159.99
Click to expand...

\Tank you!
 
Very cool. I like it a lot. Later on down the road, if you wanted to clean up the wiring even further, you could get some of the UV reactive cable sleeving to clean up the front panel wires, fan wires, etc. Its pretty easy to do, looks cool, and benefits airflow.. although your airflow looks fine. You can get a sleeving kit for like 10 bux on xoxide.
 
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