Project: ELITE (Watercooled Rocketfish)

cheezeit

Limp Gawd
Joined
May 2, 2007
Messages
219
Hey Guys,

Its time to write my own project log :) This mod is inspired by many other mods I have seen here and on other forums. After seeing a great mod like Dark Desire go unfinished, I decided that I had to take it into my own hands to finish a nice rocketfish. :D Credits to Sum0n3 at OCN for many of the great ideas!

The goal of the mod is to mod this $47 full tower Lian Li rebadge that I picked up at clearance at best buy into a custom clean watercooled rig. The case itself is huge, which leaves plenty of potential for watercooling. Anyways, on with the modding!:dremel:

Sponsored By


Sketched up a logo and some plans for wiring/ tubing (sorry for the bad pic)
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The chinese character LI means Strength, which fits perfectly in ELITE and is part of the name Lian Li. Perfect :D
It'l go on the case somewhere.
The case itself (Thanks for the pic, skyline889)
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Its huge!:eeek:compared to my old 900
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Hole drawn out; lets cut with my new jigsaw
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Crap! I learned that this jigsaw likes to curve to the right. Good thing I cut inside the lines just in case this would happen. Notice how the edges are not straight:nono:
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Time to file :)
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Not bad after working out my arm.

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I can make it better, though;)
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I went to the hardware store and picked up some of these allenheads:
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Look what came in the mail from sidewinder :clap:
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At this point, I was like wtf? Apparently radgrillz holes don't line up with the radiator holes.:confused:
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After some filing to enlarge the holes, it fits. But I need to shorten the screws.
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For some reason, I had the sudden urge to yank off part of one screw that didnt get severed.:duh: I ended up getting a 6/32 tattoo on my middle finger :hehe: Hurt like hell!:hehe:
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But the sacrifice was well worth it:) rad mounted:
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More comming in a bit, hang on!
 
Ok, so I decided the DVD burner looks pretty out of place with that plastic cover.
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After brainstorming for a bit, I discovered how I was gonna stealth it with the lian li faceplate.
Lets cut the sides off:
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Here's the material I'll use to secure it. It's called dual lock by 3M. I like it because it is very sturdy, but like velcro it is removable.
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Sticking it on there:
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I used some metal thread and a rubber grommet so that when the corner is pushed, the tray will eject.
But then, How are the noobs going to know how to open this?
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Lets try out my engraving bit:
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Practice makes perfect:
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I like that look :) and the nubs can open it :D
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Ok, so now to the question in the title. Do I suck or blow? :eeek:

I mean, should the fans on the top of the case draw air into the case, or exhaust air out of the rad? :p Which will have better temps?

Any comments and input are greatly appreciated :)

Hope you guys like it so far!
 
Air from the outside to the rad would give better temperature but gives off warm air in the system itself.
Air from the inside to the rad would give a higher temperature but will keep warm air off the system.
It's basically your preferences. But if i was the one modding (which I'm no) i'd definately get fresh air from the outside to the rad.
 
Damn that is a sweet looking case. Good job on the mod and i especially like the stealth drive.
 
Nice mods man. Does the stealth drive catch at all on the side of the front panel? I was thinking of doing the same steal mod to my Rocketfish.
 
I sense this will turn out good. Keep up the good work.
 
i have a rocketfish an it is sexy but not lick yours......ummmm in one word...... bravo
 
boobstar:
Thanks for your input. I have decided that I will pull in fresh air from outside through the rad into the rocketfish, and leave it to the exhaust fan to get it out.

Citizen_insane:
Thanks :) If you notice on the pics, I completely cut off the tabs on the side of the stealth cover. It does not catch on the sides of the case at all. Go ahead and do the mod, its an easy one with great results.

Thanatos, dCom, and zerocool2g:
Thanks for your kind words! They keep me going. I think you guys will be pleased with my update. (comming in a couple mins) :)
 
Hey guys, got some work done:

Drilled a hole in the top for fillport:
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Spade bit works well on aluminum :D
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Made some brackets to mount a divider in the middle:
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With a cardboard mockup:
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Got a package in the mail:
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Measure once, cut twice :D
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My dad showed me an old tool I forgot about :)
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the plexi is a nice glossy black:
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Leave no room for error: ;)
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It seems like the divider kind of bows in the middle so I made a support:
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its all straight now:
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The sunbeam rheobus looks kinda cheesy at first
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I think it looks better after modding
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So far:
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Next time I'll be working on some plates for the wiring

Comments?:thumb:
 
Okay, so I got some more work done yesterday:
These are the toys I get to play with:
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My hardware (still with aircooling on it)
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Some older stuff... 965 DS3, E6400, 9600GT, Firestix, Corsair 520HX
While cleaning it, I devised my poor man's compressed air out of a bendy straw :)
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Here's where we left off last time:
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Got to work on putting holes for tubes and wiring through the Divider Plate
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Wiring hole made by joining two of the holes with a dremel
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Finishing touches with the needle files:
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Done. I really like the looks of the acrylic, I'm glad I picked it over an aluminum plate.
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:eeek:
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Here's what I'm going to mount the fans with: 6/32 machine screws with rubber grommets.
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Notice how the middle fan is missing a chunk out of it. That's from modding it to fit the window in my 900. I hope I can get sponsored with some nicer fans sometime later:rock:
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Got it up there:
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Made a cardboard mockup of the wiring plate:
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I thought it looked a little plain, so I made two holes in the middle. Guess what they're for?:hehe:
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Pump mounted with velcro so I can easily take it on/off
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This piece of metal is leftover from the radiator cutout. I polished it up and stuck it up on the radiator to hide the rad and fans.
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Progress shot:
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Hope you guys like it. As always, any comments are appreciated. :cooldude:
 
How do you did your bracket ?

I will need to do some sort of bracket for my Mac ONes X project, and I'm realy not sure for that part ??

Thanks
You can PM me or show the how to here with photos here.
 
Thanks, haze! :D

Simon, Ill be more than happy to show you how i did the brackets. However, I dont have internet at home so all i can post with is with my smartphone(like now) until i go to the library to post and upload pics. once im there, ill post an explanation of how its done :)

Meanwhile, Im working hard on the case! got alot of work done, so check back for a juicy update soon.
 
Looking really good. Some nice attention to details there. Are the fans directly connected to the rad? Or is there a space between them?

Can't wait for the next update. Don't rush it, though, it looks too damn good. I like the mods that are focused on clean, good looking installs over the elaborate flashy "look at me" mods. Nice work.
 
Thanks for the encouragement, urmom. Im glad you like my tastes. :)

The fans are directly touching the rad, with a rubber grommet between the screw and fan. Should i put the grommets between the fans and rad instead? Its pretty damn silent running off the rheobus already.

What bugs me is that I have a huge load of work done but I cant show you guys lol. I'll try to get to the library and post an update tomorrow. Anything in particular you guys wana see?
 
Very nice!.. I have the same fan controller..

How did you take it apart? I'm afraid to take mine apart.. and then what did you do? Sand it to give it the brushed look?
 
Just pull off the front knobs. They are just stuck on to metal knobs. Great work btw! Very sexy!
 
Thanks guys :)

You got it, amoeba. The knobs are glued on so if you yank on them and wiggle a bit they come right off. Then, there are two screws securing the circuit board to the faceplate in the back.

my faceplate has the brushed look because it is one of the bay covers from the actual case itself. I measured it up and drilled out the holes to mount the pcb.
 
Update on Pg 2!


How do you did your bracket ?

I will need to do some sort of bracket for my Mac ONes X project, and I'm realy not sure for that part ??

Thanks
You can PM me or show the how to here with photos here.

Ok, here's a pic for you:
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I bought a long length of aluminum L and cut out the desired length.

Then I measured up the holes, drilled, and tapped to 8/32 for my allenheads.
 
Hey Guys,
Here's the big update I promised:
First off, gotta thank Gabe at swiftech for making my GTX possible. I had bought it off of FS/FT but the top was terribly corroded. I told him what it was like and that I was making a case mod. A few days later, I had a brand new GTX top waiting on my doorstep :D
I highly recommend swiftech for their great products and support, check them out @ www.swiftech.com
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Now on with the update:
I needed some aluminum so I just cut out the window:
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After cutting holes for wiring and tubes, i needed to bend it. I don't have a metal brake for kickass bends like Craig does for his Rogue, but I got a cheap solution:
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I just clamped it in between some wood and used the large piece to bend with my hands.
Not too bad:
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Cheezeit's Rocketfish wiring plate: :D
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The NB on my mobo gets hot enough to burn my hand, so I took a 40mm fan, sleeved it and added a 3 pin.
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I noticed that the 4 pin power cable is really ugly, so I cut a hole up top to go through.
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Front panel sound goes thru the same hole:
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After that, It was getting all the tubing on my blocks. The first part was easy:
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But man oh man this part took me like an hour to get. Connecting the T line to the pump in this tiny space almost made me give up lol. I ended up boiling the whole length of that tube to get it on.
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Patience got it on eventually:
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The loop:
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Then came time to fill the loop. This was really hard with the t- line that close to the pump, I spent some time in ridiculous positions with the case that probably arn't appropriate to post here to fill the thing. :eek: :D
Lets get that pump started!
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Left it on its side to bleed/ leak test overnight.
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In the morning, the moment of truth:
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Sweet, all the wiring and soldering I did actually worked. Lights and fans on!:hehe:
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That cathode on the divider is going to go, because if I extend the wire, the tube becomes really dim. I guess you can't extend the wire between the cathode and inverter?:confused:
Some more pics:
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With the window I made earlier:
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Progress shot: :)
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Something is waiting for the bottom part, but I'll save that for the next update :D

Comments?:thumb:
 
Fantastic work so far.
The cuts you made on the wiring plate were by dremel and then filed or what?

Pity the lower half of the power supply looks a bit cluttered with the wires compared to the top, even though i know you have something planned for it.
 
I'm sure the bottom must still be a work in progress as well. The rest of it looks great! Nice clean lines, and a very uncluttered look. I like how you reused the cut outs to keep the Lian Li "grain" throughout your mod.
 
Hutch:Thanks! First, I used my jigsaw to cut the rough piece out of the window cutout, then the small notches were made by dremel. All of it was accompanied with alot of filing to make it nice and smooth.

Cnealjr: Yeah, I thought about keeping the great lian li brushed look and decided the best way would be to reuse my cutouts when I could. I'm glad that you guys think its a clean look too.

And you guys know I wouldn't just leave the bottom like that:D I just needed to throw in the wires to get the thing lighted up. I'm working on a piece for the bottom but I'm still waiting for a couple parts to finalize it. ;)

Preyed:Thanks :)

As for the 5.25 and floppy bays, do you guys have any input on what I should do with those?I have a few ideas but I value your input and would like to see if you guys have some good ideas. Let me know!
 
Well, it's a bit late in the build now, but seeing as how everything else seen through the window looks black, you could have painted the cages black - probably a flat or matte finish to complement the brushed, anodized pieces used as covers. I realize the time to have done that would have been when you had the case torn apart cutting your radiator holes, but it's just a suggestion.
 
Cnealjr: Yeah, its a bit late to go back and paint. I would have to totally dismantle the watercooling and case to get to the drive bay, since its actually riveted onto the frame. Thanks for the suggestion though, I'll probaly use something black to cover it up.
 
Hey guys,

I love posting updates cuz they mean progress is being made! This is for all of you who worried about the bottom :) So I worked on the bottom panel this time. I'll let the pics show you the results.

Bottom Window

Started with this leftover acrylic from the divider:
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Drew my plans on it:
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Commence cutting:
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Getting close:
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It took SO LONG to file it to the results I wanted. Needle files cause some major pain to your fingers after using them for hours :D
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What it looks like on the case:
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Progress shot:
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I'm waiting for some acrylic to put behind it still.

What do you guys think?
 
Looks good.

you could, keeping with the color scheme, get some blue acrylic behind the "elite" graphic thinggie on the bottom and light it up for added effect.
 
Stain and Cnealjr: Haha, That's exactly what I was referencing to with the acrylic in the mail! It should be here tommorow, some blue acrylic and I'm thinking of putting a white cathode behind it. Glad we think alike;)

Xyphox:Thanks dude, I want to hook this think up!

Hutch: Thanks, I'm think im getting better with more and more practice!
 
Hey guys,

I'd like to welcome aboard Petra's Tech Shop as a sponsor of this project! They are a great store with enthusiast watercooling and modding supplies that I have been shopping from for years. They sell American brands like Swiftech, DD, and D-tek internationally with unmatched customer support. Be sure to check them out!



All in all, I'm very excited to announce Petra's partnership in this project.:D
 
good work my friend. Can't wait for you to help me install water cooling on my Lian Li PC-V1000Z :)

see you at school
 
Asgard: Thanks! :)

Noodle: Thanks for the compliment man. when its all done you can show me how your canon 20D owns the SD850 im using;)

Yang: Thanks bro, your guys' encouragement keep me modding.

Meanwhile my acrylic came in and Alex @ Petras just shipped out some generosity:). I'm actually in palm springs on vacation for the weekend, so lets see how that panel looks lighed up when i get back!

Have a great weekend guys! :D
 
Coming along very nice!

Do you mind posting, or PM'n me the measurements you got for the inside Acrylic panel?

I have my case all un-rivited and would just like to be sure before I cut as I think I should ask as well to be sure my measurements from it apart are close or not
 
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