Project: Aqua Stealth

[autobot]

Hey there folks! I just thought I would go ahead and start a project log for my newest case mod labeled "Aqua Stealth". The mod started months ago, but being the lazy bum that I am I never really got things moving....until now. This mod will feature the case from a Sun Microsystems Netra NFS150 and a nice custom 1/2"ID watercooling system. I'm looking to complete this mod before March 18th as this is when I plan to feature this case at PDXLAN 4.05 on March 18th in Portland, Oregon. The design for this mod is based on the Stealth Bomber. The actual computer components may not be top of the line by todays standards, but it runs all current games with no hickups and in great detail. Anyways...on with the component listing....

*NEW*AMD Athlon64 3500+
*NEW*MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum
1-gig PDP/Patriot PC3200 Ram Cas2
ATI 9800pro 128MB R360core/Hynix memory - XT bios
SoundBlaster Audigy2 ZS
Quantum 20gig HDD
Maxtor 120gig HDD
MSI CD/RW
MSI DVD-ROM
Ultra 500watt PS

Cooling:
*NEW*DangerDen TDX-64 CPU waterblock
DangerDen Acetal topped Maze4GPU
AquaXtreme 50Z-12DC
DangerDen Dual-120 HeaterCore
*NEW*DangerDen Dual-5.25 Acrylic Resevoir
DangerDen Fillport (remote fill for resevoir)
Masterkleer 7/16"ID tubing

Anyways, here is where my mod started off. A trip to a local electronics surplus store brought up the Sun Microsystems Netra NFS150 server...

Interior of the case when foam encasement was removed

Stripped interior

Collection of water cooling equipment

Leak testing of water cooling equipment (resevoir not yet constructed)

Newly trimmed front doors

Test fitting of heater core with mock-up shroud/housing

 

[themark]

This looks cool, I love those angular SUN cases. It will fit in nicely with your theme. Let me guess... flat black is on the horizon?Lots of room in there for your big dia. cooling hoses too. Any chance of making the front display functional?

 

[darkisz]

That is an awesome case and you've gotten off to a great start.

I'll be watching this thread closely, I can't wait to see what you do with that monster!

 

[KrakenGuy]

I like where this is headed so far. Keep up the good work.

Are you planning to do something to that front bezel or is it going to stay that holey?

 

[Rezistor]

I would recommend installing the fill-port on the center barb of the T, instead of on the side barb. This way, the flow through the horizontal part of the T will not be affected by the sharp bend of the vertical part.

 

[autobot]

I would recommend installing the fill-port on the center barb of the T, instead of on the side barb. This way, the flow through the horizontal part of the T will not be affected by the sharp bend of the vertical part.

The T was only used for leak testing the components and will not be used in the completed build. A custom double 5-1/4 bay resevoir will take up the space of the 2 5-1/4 slots on the front and the fillport (which will serve as a fill port for the res) will be localed to the right of the 3-1/2 openning which can be seen in this picture...

The openning to the left of the 5-1/4 and 3-1/2 slots will be used for the big red LED power and reset/HDD activity buttons.

 

[autobot]

Well today I set out to paint the DD dual-120 Heatercore and to dye the white parts of the 2 Evercool 120mm aluminum fans. For the heater core I used 3 coats of standard flat black enamel spray paint followed by 2 coats of clearcoat to give it that nice smooth and shiny black look.

Here it is outside hanging out and dryin off after the 1st coat of clear.

At the same time that the heater core was drying, I disassembled the 2 120mm aluminum fans and taped off the motors and spindle hole. I then hung them from some nails off the roof's eve and applied 3 layers of Plastikote back vinyl dye.

Here's one of them swingin in the breeze...

After everything dried off, I pulled them inside, and reassembled the fans. I put some bladck electrical tape over the back of the fan motor to cover up the spindle hole.

Mmmmm....nice glossy black...

After those small projects, I decided to carve up the case some more to allow some internal space for the DD Fillport and to the 90 degree bend that will go into the resevoir for filling.

Here is the slot I cut...

...and here is what the slot allows...

Overall I'd say its been a productive day. Tommorow I'll be working on mocking up the interior panels of the case along with some mock up computer components using foam board and poster board.

 

[X NetJag X]

very nice. i really like how the fillport looks....it looks like it was supposed to be there.

 

[lamarth]

How do you plan on using the fillport? I would think you'd get some spillage when you try to fill it....

 

[KrakenGuy]

This project gets nicer everytime I see it. Keep up the excellent work my friend.

 

[autobot]

Well today I popped my MSI K7N2 Delta-L motherboard out along with most of everything else and did some test fitting of the watercooling equipment.

As you see the DD Delrin topped Maze4GPU looks right at home...

The Swiftech MCW6002-A gets the same treatment...

Here is the motherboard with all its cards and new cooling equipment...

Whilst the motherboard was out, I made a mock-up of it and the cards so when test fitting I don't mess any important stuff up.

I really didn't like the way the blue Swiftech mounting bracket looked, so I changed it to a more suitable color.

...and lastly I thought the dull looking Swiftech MCW6002-A needed a little sprucing up. Yea you can see fine scratches, but you will hardly notice them when its all installed.

This is after the sanding/polishing and getting a nice coat of clear so it doesn't turn ugly colors...

Tommorow I work on test fitting the mock-up motherboard on a motherboard tray and aranging things within the case. I'll also be designing most of the bracketry and interior paneling.

 

[KrakenGuy]

Hot. No seriously. I really enjoy the way this project is coming along. Just for a kicker, I think you should invest in a waterblock for the northbridge. I think that would be pretty neat.

 

[autobot]

I was thinking about doing an NB waterblock, but they really aren't all that beneficial. I don't overclock and don't fiddle with voltages, so the stock MSI heatsink will work just fine. I'm gonna be heading over to a local electronics surplus store and picking up some long aluminum heatsinks that I will attach the HDDs to so they get adequate cooling.

 

[cgrant26]

This looks like it has some potential.
BTW, when did DD change the graphic on the Maze 4?

 

[altec]

I want more

 

[autobot]

Well I've been a bit sick and stressed as of late and havn't made much progress with this casemod. Sadly, I won't be finished with it in time for PDXLAN 4.05 on the 18th. I've got all the parts, its just that there is too much fabrication that needs to be done including some plasma cutting of the 1mm thick steel side panel.

Anyways, I'd like to share what I completed today. I've finally got the heatercore shroud completed. All that needs to be done is attaching a bracket to the side of it for mounting the CD-RW/DVD drive to and for the whole shabang to be painted flat black with a flat satin clear coat.

A shot of the front showing how the HC shroud is riveted to the case frame. The spacing to the left of the HC is for the CD-RW/DVD drive to be mounted verticly.

A side shot showing how much space the HC shroud takes up. I built it this large so it hides the CD-RW/DVD drive from view.

A shot of the HC shroud internals.

A shot of where the DD dual-bay resevoir will be mounted.

Test shot of the front with the doors loosly attached. A large decorative sheet of styrene will cover most of the face except for the HC, CD-RW/DVD drive, resevoir, power/reset buttons and lighting/fan controls.

Here are the pair of Aerocool HB-101 HDD heatsinks and 3 red led backlit Compunurse temp. monitors that will be implemented into this case build.

A close up of the aluminum fins and heatpipes of the Aerocool HB-101 HDD heatsinks.

A free sample of decorative perforated 20ga. sheet metal I got from a metals company in Woodburn, Oregon. I shall be using this sheet metal instead of the $2.00 perforated sheet metal that I posted in this thread...
http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=878986

I'll definatly be updating this more within the next few weeks, but for now I need to make my CoolerMaster WaveMaster case a little more presentable for PDXLAN 4.05 this Friday.

 

[KrakenGuy]

I really like this project. I think its nice, your turning a shitty case into something spectacular. Keep up the excellent work dude.

 

[autobot]

Well its been a bit since I updated my log, so here we go with some new tidbits.

Today I recevied some new components to help my system chug through some gaming.

Da new shtuff....

Unpackaged...

Just a nifty picture of the CoreCell chip. I just thought it looked neeto...

Retail AMD Athlon64 3500+ "clawhammer core"...

What the mystery white box was conceiling...
Yep, DangerDen TDX-64 w/ nozzle kit...

A picture of the internals through the inlet barb...

DangerDen really needs to check-up on who is doing their lazer-etching...

Anyways, thats it for now. New stuff entails an MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum motherboard, AMD Athlon64 3500+ processor and DangerDen TDX-64 CPU waterblock w/ oddly labled nozzle kit.