![[H]ard|Forum](/styles/hardforum/xenforo/logo_dark.png){kind=logo}
skyline889
[H]ard|Gawd
- Joined
- Oct 15, 2007
- Messages
- 1,368
I've had my Rocketfish for about a year now and have been doing mods all along the way, thought it was time I finally made a worklog for this monstrosity! 
Bear with me as future additions will have more pictures of the actual modding.
Evo I:
I found a Rocketfish at my local Best Buy and decided that with this new case, I should replace my aging P4 Prescott Rig. I decided I wanted something that would combine both solid performance and bang for the buck, much like the case, however my funds were limited for this new build so I decided I would have to build it up in stages.
Parts:
Lian Li Rocketfish
Gigabyte P35C-DS3R
Intel Core 2 Duo E6600
Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme
4GB OCZ SLI DDR2 800
EVGA 7600GS
EMU 1212m
WD Raptor 150GB
Hitachi 1TB
Sony 18x IDE CD Burner
Corsair HX520
4x Scythe Slipstream 800rpm
1x Scythe S-Flex 1600rpm
Lian Li C-01B Drive Bezel
Mods:
Sleeved fan wires and front panel cables, reversed HD cages.
EVO II:
Shortly after building the pc up, I got hit by the upgrade bug. My 7600GS was just far too slow for 1920x1200 so it needed to go. I found a good deal on a used 8800GTS 320MB and decided to throw that in and at the same time, replace the aging IDE burner with a spanking new LG-GGC-H20L SATA Blu-ray/HD-DVD drive. I also had to replace the Hitachi 1TB since the legacy input caught fire so I replaced it with 2 new Seagate 7200.10/7200.11 750GB hard drives. I know I didn't need to but I had also found a good deal on a Corsair HX620 and decided to replace the HX520 at the same time as well.
I had originally had a Lian Li aluminum bezel cover but decided to remove it so I could see the shiny LG drive.
Parts:
Lian Li Rocketfish
Gigabyte P35C-DS3R
Intel Core 2 Duo E6600
Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme
4GB OCZ SLI DDR2 800
EVGA 8800GTS 320MB
EMU 1212m
WD Raptor 150GB
2x Seagate 750GB
LG GGC-H20L
Corsair HX620
4x Scythe Slipstream 800rpm
1x Scythe S-Flex 1600rpm
Mods:
No change.
Evo III:
Nothing much to add but the big change was the addition of a new EVGA 9600GT. The 8800GTS was running at like 75-80c at load and was turning my room into a sauna so it needed to go. The 9600GT ran about 10-15c cooler so it was a welcome change.
Parts:
Lian Li Rocketfish
Gigabyte P35C-DS3R
Intel Core 2 Duo E6600
Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme
4GB OCZ SLI DDR2 800
EVGA 9600GT 512MB
EMU 1212m
WD Raptor 150GB
2x Seagate 750GB
LG GGC-H20L
Corsair HX620
4x Scythe Slipstream 800rpm
1x Scythe S-Flex 1600rpm
Mods:
No change.
Evo IV:
Came home for Xmas break to find my pc refusing to POST. I had to rip apart the whole thing to find that it was just the soundcard cable shorting out. I had lots of free time over so I wanted to overhaul the pc for better cable management while I had the whole thing ripped apart. Also added 4GB more ram, a new 1.5TB Seagate 7200.11 hard drive, and put the drive cover back on.
Parts:
Lian Li Rocketfish
Gigabyte P35C-DS3R
Intel Core 2 Duo E6600
Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme
8GB OCZ SLI DDR2 800
EVGA 9600GT 512MB
EMU 1212m
WD Raptor 150GB
2x Seagate 750GB
1x Seagate 1.5TB
LG GGC-H20L
Corsair HX620
4x Scythe Slipstream 800rpm
1x Scythe S-Flex 1600rpm
Lian Li C-01B Drive Bezel
Mods:
Dremeled through the motherboard tray and cut out slots for the 4 pin ATX power cable up top, the 24 pin power cable on the side and the 6 pin PCIe cable on the side, the SATA cables, the front panel cables, and a hole for future fan cable routing on the bottom. I also cut out a hole to route the SATA cables behind the drive cages. Taped up everything in back and squished the side panel back on.
I also lapped the TRUE while I had it off, decided I was not brave enough to do the same for the E6600.
Evo V:
Got home for summer break to find Hawaii was as sweltering as ever. Booted up my pc and found that after a few hours, my drives were heating up to a toasty 48c and everything else had temps jumping through the roof as well. Decided I need to do some further modding to not only take care of cable management but fix the temp problem as well. Other than mods, I added another 1.5TB hard drive and a 500GB hard drive too. I have the 750GBs backing up each other, the 1.5TBs backing up each other, and the 500GB as my torrent drive. I also bought a Tuniq Sanctum hard drive silencer but I have not yet decided what to do with it.
Parts:
Lian Li Rocketfish
Gigabyte P35C-DS3R
Intel Core 2 Duo E6600
Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme
8GB OCZ SLI DDR2 800
EVGA 9600GT 512MB
EMU 1212m
WD Raptor 150GB
2x Seagate 750GB
2x Seagate 1.5TB
1x Seagate 500GB
LG GGC-H20L
Corsair HX620
4x Scythe Slipstream 800rpm
1x Scythe S-Flex 1600rpm
Lian Li C-01B Drive Bezel
Mods:
Ripped out the two hard drive cages and flipped them over and zip tied the ends together. I was originally scared this might not hold and was contemplating drilling but to my surprise the cage held 6 drives perfectly fine for what I needed, the cage itself is a little wobbly because of the thin aluminum used for the cages but the two cages themselves are solidly attached and aren't coming apart anytime soon. I then used the existing holes on the cage to mark the floor of the case and drilled out the new mounting holes for the cage assembly. After this was done, I marked holes for two 120mm fans, one on each cage, and drilled these out as well. Re-routed all the cables and again squished the side panel on. The cable routing was actually harder than the marking and drilling, it was a bitch to fit that many cables in the tiny gap between the cage assembly and the motherboard tray/side panel.
For those of you looking for a new drill, google the drill below. My dad just picked up the new Makita Li-ion kit and it is bad f*cking ass. I thought the Panasonic I was using was top notch but this thing blows it out of the water! My dad always has cooler toys than me.
Future:
I have two new GPU coolers coming, an Accelero S1 Rev2 and a Thermalright T-Rad2. Not sure which one is going to be making it onto the 9600GT yet but you'll see it in the next installment. I'm pretty happy with the pc right now, the only thing I'm considering right now in terms of mods is a 3x120mm exhaust up top. I might end up just going with a 120mm fan and mesh bay covers in front however. I'm still trying to think of what else I can do though.
In terms of new parts, a new single slot soundcard will be replacing the dual slot EMU sometime soon but that's about it for new parts as I figure I'll keep it another year or two and then move up to socket 1366. Let me know what you think!
Bear with me as future additions will have more pictures of the actual modding.Evo I:
I found a Rocketfish at my local Best Buy and decided that with this new case, I should replace my aging P4 Prescott Rig. I decided I wanted something that would combine both solid performance and bang for the buck, much like the case, however my funds were limited for this new build so I decided I would have to build it up in stages.
Parts:
Lian Li Rocketfish
Gigabyte P35C-DS3R
Intel Core 2 Duo E6600
Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme
4GB OCZ SLI DDR2 800
EVGA 7600GS
EMU 1212m
WD Raptor 150GB
Hitachi 1TB
Sony 18x IDE CD Burner
Corsair HX520
4x Scythe Slipstream 800rpm
1x Scythe S-Flex 1600rpm
Lian Li C-01B Drive Bezel
Mods:
Sleeved fan wires and front panel cables, reversed HD cages.
EVO II:
Shortly after building the pc up, I got hit by the upgrade bug. My 7600GS was just far too slow for 1920x1200 so it needed to go. I found a good deal on a used 8800GTS 320MB and decided to throw that in and at the same time, replace the aging IDE burner with a spanking new LG-GGC-H20L SATA Blu-ray/HD-DVD drive. I also had to replace the Hitachi 1TB since the legacy input caught fire so I replaced it with 2 new Seagate 7200.10/7200.11 750GB hard drives. I know I didn't need to but I had also found a good deal on a Corsair HX620 and decided to replace the HX520 at the same time as well.
I had originally had a Lian Li aluminum bezel cover but decided to remove it so I could see the shiny LG drive.
Parts:
Lian Li Rocketfish
Gigabyte P35C-DS3R
Intel Core 2 Duo E6600
Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme
4GB OCZ SLI DDR2 800
EVGA 8800GTS 320MB
EMU 1212m
WD Raptor 150GB
2x Seagate 750GB
LG GGC-H20L
Corsair HX620
4x Scythe Slipstream 800rpm
1x Scythe S-Flex 1600rpm
Mods:
No change.
Evo III:
Nothing much to add but the big change was the addition of a new EVGA 9600GT. The 8800GTS was running at like 75-80c at load and was turning my room into a sauna so it needed to go. The 9600GT ran about 10-15c cooler so it was a welcome change.
Parts:
Lian Li Rocketfish
Gigabyte P35C-DS3R
Intel Core 2 Duo E6600
Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme
4GB OCZ SLI DDR2 800
EVGA 9600GT 512MB
EMU 1212m
WD Raptor 150GB
2x Seagate 750GB
LG GGC-H20L
Corsair HX620
4x Scythe Slipstream 800rpm
1x Scythe S-Flex 1600rpm
Mods:
No change.
Evo IV:
Came home for Xmas break to find my pc refusing to POST. I had to rip apart the whole thing to find that it was just the soundcard cable shorting out. I had lots of free time over so I wanted to overhaul the pc for better cable management while I had the whole thing ripped apart. Also added 4GB more ram, a new 1.5TB Seagate 7200.11 hard drive, and put the drive cover back on.
Parts:
Lian Li Rocketfish
Gigabyte P35C-DS3R
Intel Core 2 Duo E6600
Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme
8GB OCZ SLI DDR2 800
EVGA 9600GT 512MB
EMU 1212m
WD Raptor 150GB
2x Seagate 750GB
1x Seagate 1.5TB
LG GGC-H20L
Corsair HX620
4x Scythe Slipstream 800rpm
1x Scythe S-Flex 1600rpm
Lian Li C-01B Drive Bezel
Mods:
Dremeled through the motherboard tray and cut out slots for the 4 pin ATX power cable up top, the 24 pin power cable on the side and the 6 pin PCIe cable on the side, the SATA cables, the front panel cables, and a hole for future fan cable routing on the bottom. I also cut out a hole to route the SATA cables behind the drive cages. Taped up everything in back and squished the side panel back on.
I also lapped the TRUE while I had it off, decided I was not brave enough to do the same for the E6600.
Evo V:
Got home for summer break to find Hawaii was as sweltering as ever. Booted up my pc and found that after a few hours, my drives were heating up to a toasty 48c and everything else had temps jumping through the roof as well. Decided I need to do some further modding to not only take care of cable management but fix the temp problem as well. Other than mods, I added another 1.5TB hard drive and a 500GB hard drive too. I have the 750GBs backing up each other, the 1.5TBs backing up each other, and the 500GB as my torrent drive. I also bought a Tuniq Sanctum hard drive silencer but I have not yet decided what to do with it.
Parts:
Lian Li Rocketfish
Gigabyte P35C-DS3R
Intel Core 2 Duo E6600
Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme
8GB OCZ SLI DDR2 800
EVGA 9600GT 512MB
EMU 1212m
WD Raptor 150GB
2x Seagate 750GB
2x Seagate 1.5TB
1x Seagate 500GB
LG GGC-H20L
Corsair HX620
4x Scythe Slipstream 800rpm
1x Scythe S-Flex 1600rpm
Lian Li C-01B Drive Bezel
Mods:
Ripped out the two hard drive cages and flipped them over and zip tied the ends together. I was originally scared this might not hold and was contemplating drilling but to my surprise the cage held 6 drives perfectly fine for what I needed, the cage itself is a little wobbly because of the thin aluminum used for the cages but the two cages themselves are solidly attached and aren't coming apart anytime soon. I then used the existing holes on the cage to mark the floor of the case and drilled out the new mounting holes for the cage assembly. After this was done, I marked holes for two 120mm fans, one on each cage, and drilled these out as well. Re-routed all the cables and again squished the side panel on. The cable routing was actually harder than the marking and drilling, it was a bitch to fit that many cables in the tiny gap between the cage assembly and the motherboard tray/side panel.
For those of you looking for a new drill, google the drill below. My dad just picked up the new Makita Li-ion kit and it is bad f*cking ass. I thought the Panasonic I was using was top notch but this thing blows it out of the water! My dad always has cooler toys than me.
Future:
I have two new GPU coolers coming, an Accelero S1 Rev2 and a Thermalright T-Rad2. Not sure which one is going to be making it onto the 9600GT yet but you'll see it in the next installment. I'm pretty happy with the pc right now, the only thing I'm considering right now in terms of mods is a 3x120mm exhaust up top. I might end up just going with a 120mm fan and mesh bay covers in front however. I'm still trying to think of what else I can do though.
In terms of new parts, a new single slot soundcard will be replacing the dual slot EMU sometime soon but that's about it for new parts as I figure I'll keep it another year or two and then move up to socket 1366. Let me know what you think!
