Project Cheapskate WC Antec 900

[MrGoat]

Sometime before Christmas this past year I decided that its come time to freshen up my PC build a bit and finaly take the jump over to the world of liquid cooling. The folowing is some pics etc. Unfortunantly when I get to building I typicaly forget to take pics I'll share what I have and explain the project as we go.

Basicaly I started with a typical Antec 900 build with typical Antec 900 wire managment as seen here.

I started work with the goal of cleaning up the wireing and adding watercooling to the box for both CPU and VGA without spending huge amounts of cash.

Here we have a couple shots of the case after cutting holes to re-route wiring behind the mb tray and after priming and painting. I chose to go with a metalic black as it has some bling with out being too over the top.

All in all it came out not too bad, especialy for being done with a Rattle Can in my garage.

After getting it all cut, debured and painted I re-assembled the machine, adding a Danger Den TDX, Swiftech Pump, XSPC laing Res Top and a Swiftech MCR-320. I'll be adding VGA cooling down the line as I will more than likely be performing a stepup in the next couple of days when the 285gtx arrives.

Now I hear some of you asking... where the hell is the MCR-320?? Great question, stuffing it in this case is about imposible without making a major hackjob and relocating components, which I really did not want to do, so.....

What you see here is a rough cut wood stand that allows the rad and 3 120mm fans to sit comfortably under the case. I took the front fans and used them on the rad and replaced the one on the drive bay with one that has no LEDs. This is where the project sits today.

Things that will be happening in the next few weeks
1)Step up to GTX285. This will alow simpler wire managment due to the need for only 2 6pins rather than 1 6pin and 1 8pin. Currently I need an adapter for the 8, which makes a mess.
2)Get the sides on the case.
3)Finish out the rest of the Rad Base. This will be the primary focus of the rest of this log. Basicaly the goal is to have the base match the rest of the case so in the long run it just looks like a really tall 900. I just received a 2x3 sheet of perferated steel from a freind and will be using that for grills as well as to cover the face of the base. It should match the front mesh quite nicely when finished.

 

[Ang]

Now it's the size of an Antec 1200

Lookin good though.

 

[Markistehnamezor]

whats your cpu?

 

[MrGoat]

Ang, yeah about the same size. Personaly I like the looks of the 900 better. And since I have had this thing for nearly 2 years now its much cheaper to go this way. (And WAY more fun.. Power Tools + computers = win)

CPU is a q9550. Obviously that rad is WAY overkill for just the cpu. When I get my 285gtx from step up I will be adding that to the loop as well via a mcr60 or the dtek equiv which I havent quite decided yet.

I should be posting up some non camera phone pics as well as some ideas for the side plates for the foot tomorow.

 

[MrGoat]

Ok so this weekend I was caught between being a lazy ass and work around the house. Thats not to say I didn't accomplish anything however.

After looking at things for a week I decided that I didn't like how messy the drive wiring looked so I decided to paint the drive cage and reverse mount the drives for a cleaner look.

Here is the drive cage trimmed and primed,.

And painted, you can really see how metalic the paint is in this shot, most other shots dont convey it very well.

Here everything has been reassembled, you can see how much clutter reversing the drives removes.

Here is the case fully assembled. I replaced the plastic rivet thingies with Stainless 8-32 hex head machine screws for looks as well as removed the plastic fan holder as the 240mm top fan is way more than enough airflow for my needs. If you intend to add the machine screws to your 900 I would recomend using 10-32unc instead as they will fit a bit cleaner than the smaller 8-32s.

Here is a pic of the rad mounted in the base. This will require a bunch of sanding and painting to get to match. Unfortunantly I havent got the appropriate metal working tools to do steel/alum for this bit so wood it is. Should still come out well with some elbow grease.

Inside the case I still need to get the 285 and remove the adapters and molex lead from the power sup. Lenghthen the front pannel leads so they can be hidden behind the mb tray and lenghthen the 8pin cpu power so it can go in the back as well. That should get the case pretty clean looking on the inside.

For the foot... well still lots to go there yet. I'll be triming and bending the mesh pannels this week/weekend.