[Project Log] - CANIS MAJORIS (modded Tt Core X9)

[alexciobanu]

Hey guys and welcome to my build log for the Thermaltake CaseMOD Invitational Season 2.

So honored and excited to participate in this along such great modders who have inspired me from the start!

Thanks a lot to Thermaltake for selecting me to represent Australia and also a huge thanks to all the sponsors of this project which are of course Thermaltake along with premium partner Newegg and also Avexir, PerformancePCs, MNPCTECH, Icemodz and Ramcity. Without all of you all this would not have been possible, thank you!

You can find more info about the CaseMOD Invitational here: http://casemod2015.thermaltake.com/season2/home.html

Lets have fun with this one and hope you guys enjoy the ride.

SPECS

Case – Two modded Thermaltake Core X9s
Motherboard – ASUS Sabertooth X99
CPU – Intel i7 5930K
GPU – 2 or 3 ASUS STRIX GTX970s
Memory – 8 x 4GB Avexir Core Series DDR4 2400Mhz (4 x orange LED, 4 x blue LED)
SSD – Samsung SM951 512GB AHCI M.2 ; 2 x 500GB Crucial MX200 SSDs
PSU – Thermaltake Toughpower Grand 1200W Platinum

Cables – Icemodz custom sleeved cables

Radiators – 4 x Thermaltake Pacific RL480 Radiators
Fans – 26 x Thermaltake Riing 12 High Static Pressure LED Fans - Orange, Blue and White
Pumps – 2 x Thermaltake Pacific PT40-D5 Silent Kit Reservoir/Pump Combo with Thermaltake Pacific T11 Reservoirs
Reservoirs – 2 x Fully Custom Reservoirs and 2 x Thermaltake Pacific R33 Reservoir
Fittings – Various Thermaltake 16mm Rigid Compressions fittings , right angles and extension fittings as well as some soft tubing compression fittings for 3/8” ID x 1/2” OD tubing that I will be using in some spots. Also a few Bitspower pass-through fittings.
Tubing - Thermaltake V-Tubler PETG Tube 16mm OD
CPU Block – Thermaltake Pacific W1 CPU Water Block
GPU Blocks - Thermaltake VGA Water Block for ASUS STRIX-GTX 970
Coolant – Mayhems Aurora 2 Silver base concentrate and a combination of Mayhems Dyes in Red, Yellow and Blue to achieve the desired coolant colour

Lighting – Icemodz RGD LED Strips

Other – Thermaltake Commander FT – Touchscreen Fan Controller, 3 x Vandal Momentary and Latching switches for custom power button as well switch for the reservoir LEDs, custom MNPCTECH case feed, MNPCTECH machined aluminum fans grills and acrylic grills for the radiator fans as well as some modders mesh.


The theme of this build will be a sci-fi space theme such as the banner suggests and it is named after one of the largest stars known to man, VY Canis Majoris. I also draw inspiration for this project from the awesome game Elite Dangerous though not sure if I will implement any aspects of the game into the build as of now. The colour scheme will be a dark grey/gun metal, black, orange and blue.

As for the mods to the case you will be finding that out as I go along with the build log but yea I will be stacking two X9 cases.... with a twist

The packages received from Thermaltake were larger than my entire desk area

Here's a quick look at the cases!

One of them still intact and the other one is gutted empty, only the panels remain

These cases are massive, here's a size comparison with an iPhone 6Plus for those of you who are not familiar with the X9 case.

And now I know you guys like the modding so here is the start of it!

I do wanna apologise from the start for the phone pics but there is no way I can take out the DSLR when doing this

Will do my best to show everything as I go along and once all the work on the case is done I will take proper pics of all the bits.

So here we go, out with the dremel and jig saw!

Small incision with the dremel and fire away with the jig saw.

Out it comes.

Just a frame left of the X9... for now

Still a lot of filing to do and heaps more work to come. Hope you guys will enjoy this one!

Stay tuned for more.

Cheers,

Alex

 

[alexciobanu]

Hey guys!

Just wanted to share and showcase the items Mnpctech will be providing to use for this build!

Mnpctech Machined aluminum "Diamond Knurl" PC Case Feet in Anodized Black, http://mnpctech.com/pc-computer-stereo-desktop-case-feet/

Mnpctech 100% Aluminum Expanded "Diamond" pattern Perforated Mesh for making fan guards, grills, cooling vents, window overlays, http://mnpctech.com/case-mods-gaming-pc-liquid-modding-custom-computer-mnpctech-overclock-cooling-fan-grills/modders-mesh-perforated-aluminum-steel-honeycomb-grill-intake-front-fan-slotted-diamond-round-hex/

Mnpctech 480 Quad Open Air Radiator grill Frame (4x120mm, 4.120mm) Open Air grill fits radiators and measure 5-7/8" x 5-1/8" wide with 15mm spacing, http://mnpctech.com/pc-computer-alphacool-ek-bitspower-hardwarelabs-heatkiller-liquid-cooling/480mm-open-air-quad-radiator-grill.html

Machined aluminum "Overkill" Custom PC Fan Grills rings, http://mnpctech.com/pc-computer-cooling-fans-grills-custom/

Heavy Duty PETG & PVC Ratchet Hand Cutter. Cuts PETG tubing up to 1.3" or 35mm outter diameter,http://mnpctech.com/case-mods-gaming-pc-liquid-modding-custom-computer-mnpctech-overclock-cooling-fan-grills/petg-and-pvc-ratchet-tube-cutter.html

 

[KazeoHin]

Noice! glad to see an Australian in the modding scene. don't let us down.

 

[alexciobanu]

Noice! glad to see an Australian in the modding scene. don't let us down.

Thanks a lot mate

Should be a pretty unique case mod once done

Make you you cast a vote when the time comes, I will update the thread with it and how to do it

Cheers,

Alex

 

[alexciobanu]

Hey guys!

Had to take out the power drill and get rid of all the rivets!

Lots of rivets

What will become of this case?!

Stay tuned to find out

Cheers,

Alex

 

[soulesschild]

Awesome work! And yes this case looks massive. Interested to see what you'll do with it.

 

[alexciobanu]

Awesome work! And yes this case looks massive. Interested to see what you'll do with it.

Cheers mate, stay tuned

 

[alexciobanu]

Hey guys!

This should give you a better idea where I'm going with this build!

After cutting up the back panel I decided I will remake it fully but love that I managed to keep the front panel and can still mount it.

Lots more work to do in remaking the back and both side panels as well as getting new mid bars and the radiator mounting. That should make the case more rigid on an angle like this.

Once this is done I will start working on the second case

Also keep in mind that everything is just mounted temporarily to get a feel of things

Thanks for checking it out and stay tuned for more!

Cheers,

Alex

 

[alexciobanu]

Hey guys!

Here is a quick video Bill Owen from MNPCTECH.com made before shipping out all the modding supplies. It sure put a nice big smile on my face when I saw it

Thanks a lot for the support Bill, much appreciated!

https://www.facebook.com/Simpl3Modz/posts/876457409109187

 

[AceGoober]

Subscribed! Nice work so far.

 

[alexciobanu]

Subscribed! Nice work so far.

Thanks mate

 

[alexciobanu]

Hey guys,

Ready to tackle the other X9 case

First have to take it apart!

You can see the other one in the background, not much has changed as of yet

You might be able to spot all the popped rivets on the floor

Or check them all out here

Stay tuned for more!

Cheers,

Alex

 

[alexciobanu]

Back with another update!

Playing around with ideas in the other case

And making progress on the main case

I had an idea with the original mesh but probably not gonna keep it

That's about it! I need to secure the rad mounts on the side and mount some rads in to test fitment.

Stay tuned for more!

Cheers,

Alex

 

[alexciobanu]

Hey guys!


I have secured the side rad mounts and mounted two of the 480mm radiators going in this build just to get a feel for how much room there will be in that section of the case.


Also the radiators on the bottom of the other case are mounted on an angle like that but I'm probably not gonna go with that idea. They will most likely go with two sets of fans on them mounted to the bottom of the case. The LEDs from the Riing fans should give it a nice underglow

Also front panel still looks the same from last time however I will most likely get rid of the mesh and redo the whole front.

Pump/res combo should fit nicely under the motherboard tray. A new motherboard tray will be going in

Thanks for checking it out!


Cheers,


Alex

 

[alexciobanu]

Package from Newegg has just arrived! A huge thanks to everyone there for the awesome support!

I will be updating the full system specs for this build shortly Also more pics will be coming!

Cheers,

Alex

 

[alexciobanu]

Hey guys,

Here is another update on the system. Work on the case continues but first I would like to let you guys know the entire spec list

Case – Two modded Thermaltake Core X9s
Motherboard – ASUS Sabertooth X99
CPU – Intel i7 5930K
GPU – 3 x ASUS STRIX GTX970s
Memory – 8 x 4GB Avexir Core Series DDR4 2400Mhz (4 x orange LED, 4 x blue LED)
SSD – Samsung SM951 512GB AHCI M.2 ; 2 x 500GB Crucial MX200 SSDs
PSU – Thermaltake Toughpower Grand 1200W Platinum

Cables – Icemodz custom sleeved cables

Radiators – 4 x Thermaltake Pacific RL480 Radiators
Fans – 26 x Thermaltake Riing 12 High Static Pressure LED Fans - Orange, Blue and White
Pumps – 2 x Thermaltake Pacific PT40-D5 Silent Kit Reservoir/Pump Combo with Thermaltake Pacific T11 Reservoirs
Reservoirs – 2 x Fully Custom Reservoirs and 2 x Thermaltake Pacific R33 Reservoir
Fittings – Various Thermaltake 16mm Rigid Compressions fittings , right angles and extension fittings as well as some soft tubing compression fittings for 3/8” ID x 1/2” OD tubing that I will be using in some spots. Also a few Bitspower pass-through fittings.
Tubing - Thermaltake V-Tubler PETG Tube 16mm OD
CPU Block – Thermaltake Pacific W1 CPU Water Block
GPU Blocks - Thermaltake VGA Water Block for ASUS STRIX-GTX 970
Coolant – Mayhems Aurora 2 Silver base concentrate and a combination of Mayhems Dyes in Red, Yellow and Blue to achieve the desired coolant colour

Lighting – Icemodz RGD LED Strips

Other – Thermaltake Commander FT – Touchscreen Fan Controller, 3 x Vandal Momentary and Latching switches for custom power button as well switch for the reservoir LEDs, custom MNPCTECH case feed, MNPCTECH machined aluminum fans grills and acrylic grills for the radiator fans as well as some modders mesh

I'm really excited for everything going in this system and can't wait to see it up and running

Here are some more pics of the work in progress. Started working on the bottom section too!

Acrylic motherboard tray is in.

And here is the case with the bottom section attached!

Hope it's starting to look more like a spaceship

Thanks for checking it out and stay tuned for more!

Cheers,

Alex

 

[Trimlock]

The more rivets I leave on the drill bit it becomes exponentially harder to get them off, you either love pain or you know some trickery

 

[alexciobanu]

The more rivets I leave on the drill bit it becomes exponentially harder to get them off, you either love pain or you know some trickery

Hahaha I usually don't leave this many on too but this case had a lot of rivets

I just pull them off with pliers

 

[alexciobanu]

Back with another update!

Fixed the motherboard tray to the case and mounted pumps and res.

Just a perfect fit for the little pump and res combo. I cut a small hole for the fittings to come out of but forgot I need another one for the fill port. Hopefully I don't mess the other one up and the two fittings align properly

You can also see I added some supports to the bottom panel. Very simple, just some threaded rods and the build is very solid along with the brackets I made. Once panels go on it will reinforce it even more.

CPU cut out and also tapped for the motherboard stand-offs. The cables will come from underneath the motherboard to plug in. Will give it a nice clean look.

Reservoir inlet fittings

Just need to drill for the fill port now.

Also if you guys are wondering why the small reservoirs hidden under there then stay tuned as something really exciting will go in the top section of the build next to the motherboard

Thanks for checking it out and stay tuned for more!

Cheers,

Alex

 

[alexciobanu]

More updates on the case guys!

Front and back panels are on. They are from 4.5mm thick black gloss acrylic. More work still needs to be done to them.

Also the front panel there is a little window cut out and below there is room for a fan controller and the vandal switches

Thanks for checking it you!

Cheers,

Alex

 

[alexciobanu]

Hey guys,

Sorry for the lack of updates on the build lately. I've been working hard on it to get it ready for the EB Games Expo in Sydney next weekend. The build and I will be attending the Tt booth during the expo .

There have been lots of late nights working on it till 4am and this morning around 5am I'm happy to say it is ready. All wrapped up and ready for pick to get pallet shipped to Sydney.

Unfortunately there was no time for me to leak test it this morning before I had to get it ready so fingers crossed everything goes well once it arrives at the expo.

All I'm gonna share for now is this pic with it wrapped up haha. I've taken a bunch of pics as much as I could while working on it so will be posting throughout the following days before the expo.

More work will be done to it after the Expo, it will be all about the finer details after that

Stay tuned for more!

Cheers,

Alex

 

[KickAssCop]

Nice work. Such a cock tease at the end though lol.
Also why 970s? Sponsors didn't send in 980 Tis?

 

[alexciobanu]

Nice work. Such a cock tease at the end though lol.
Also why 970s? Sponsors didn't send in 980 Tis?

Hahaha thanks mate! I'll be updating the build log to the current state of the build by next week, should have an update later today. I just didn't want to ruin the unveiling at the event And also I want to post more of the building process but just didn't get a chance to while working on it. Been a crazy few weeks

Also everyone in the Tt CaseMOD Invitational S2 is using 970s

 

[alexciobanu]

Okay guys here we go with the updates

I mounted the Thermaltake Commander FT Fan Controller to the front panel, drilled holes for the vandal switches and cut the shape for the acrylic that will go over the front panel aluminum.

This is a piece of smoke acrylic so you can still see through it. Something similar will go on the top panel.

The rest of the acrylic in the build is all gloss black, once the build is up and running and with LEDs, it should give some nice reflections.

Thanks for checking it out!

Cheers,

Alex

 

[alexciobanu]

Gonna keep the updates rolling!

Custom top panel windows piece is done. Smoked piece of acrylic will come over same as the front panel.

All the pieces ready for powder coating. Going to be a gun metal looking colour.

Drilling fan holes to mount with the MNPCTECH grills on the back panel.

Looking awesome with the Riing RGB fans!

Two of the 480mm radiators going in the bottom section of the case with the Thermaltake T33 reservoirs on top on each side. I used the MNPCTECH 480mm acrylic grills to mount the reservoirs to.

And finally, running some Mayhems Blitz cleaning system through the rads. Thanks to PerformancePCs for sending through the kit!

Gotta be cautious with this stuff!

Thanks for checking it out!

Cheers,

Alex

 

[alexciobanu]

Got another update for you guys!

Some vinyl work for the rads and fans as well as finished some of the acrylic panels.

The vinyl work is based on the Elite Dangerous game, that's actually the emblem from the game. Think it looks really cool on the fans and rads.

Had to do a lot of fans!

I would stick the whole thing and then peel out the bits not needed. Pretty easy but time consuming.

This panel is the bottom front panel.

Some MNPCTECH mesh, will look awesome behind the panel once painted.

Front bottom and top as well as back bottom acrylic panels mostly done!

MNPCTECH mesh and grills painted black.

And the case frame is back from powder-coating. Also bottom rads are in!

Pump/res combos as well as the PSU are mounted.

And did some cable management for all the 16 fan cables coming from the bottom up into the top section of the case! I used four 1 x 4pin extension cables to turn the 16 fan cables into just 4 and these will connect straight to the Thermaltake fan controller at the front of the case. Thanks a lot to Performance PCs for helping out with these fan extension cables.

That's it for now!

Thanks for checking it out!

Cheers,

Alex

 

[alexciobanu]

I have probably one of the most exciting things to share, at least I think it is

I have been waiting weeks to show these!

Custom reservoirs Canis Majoris style!

I really wanted the reservoirs to be unique in this build and I had an idea of these round spherical reservoirs with Mayhems Aurora fluid in them and making them look like a red giant star and a white dwarf star. So those are the two colours I'm going for in the two loops in this build. One will be orange looking and the other one a white with a little bit of blue in it. The reservoirs have two 5mm LED holes as well in order to try and light them up nicely and with the Aurora fluid they should resemble the two stars pretty good.

This idea came to me from the Elite Dangerous game as every time you exit a jump next to a star it's just an awesome experience!

These are about 150mm diameter and they are made up of two domes put together. I had a long chat with an acrylic manufacturer in my area for making these and at first they weren't really sure what I wanted but we managed to sort it out in the end. This design was sorta the only way to make a spherical reservoir thick and strong enough to drill the G1/4 thread and be all sealed and water tight.

At first I wasn't too happy with the way the gluing looked on them however after some Rustoleum frosted glass spray paint they came out really good. With coloured fluid in them they should look even better!

Check it out and let me know what you think. I'm not sure if anyone else has done this before.

They took about 1.1L of water to fill each so there will be quite a lot of fluid going in this build!

Thanks for checking it out and stay tuned for more!

Cheers,

Alex

 

[spugm1r3]

Digging the reservoirs sir! Thinking about your star idea has me wondering about running an LED up to the center, to really church up the effect. Looks awesome though!

 

[DraginDime]

the reservoirs are awesome! I don't think I've ever seen anyone with anything like that before.
Excellent work so far, can't wait to see more. Keep up the good work!

 

[zaniix]

looks amazing, cant wait to see the final build all together

 

[alexciobanu]

Digging the reservoirs sir! Thinking about your star idea has me wondering about running an LED up to the center, to really church up the effect. Looks awesome though!

the reservoirs are awesome! I don't think I've ever seen anyone with anything like that before.
Excellent work so far, can't wait to see more. Keep up the good work!

looks amazing, cant wait to see the final build all together

Thanks a lot guys! I had the same idea to run an LED in the middle but there is no way to manufacture that out of acrylic like that. Perhaps a mold and then to be made from glass or something like that but that would be in the thousands of dollars to make just one or two pieces. There are LED holes on the side

I will have another update shortly. I just got back from the EB Games Expo in Sydney where the build was on display at the Thermaltake booth!

If you follow my Facebook page (Simple Modz) or Thermaltake ANZ you may have caught a quick speak peak of the build! And for all the Aussies in Sydney, you maybe saw it in person if you were at the EB Games Expo!

I will need to post a few more work in progress updates that I didn't get a chance to post and once I get the build back there is still some work to be done before it will be fully finished.

Stay tuned!

Cheers,

Alex

 

[alexciobanu]

Hey guys,

Here are some pics of tubing up the bottom section with the rads and reservoirs mounted.

Sorry for the bad lighting in some of those shots

Here is the side panel, one full clear piece of acrylic to cover the entire case!

And some work on the front panel windows or a stealth window as I like to call it.

Thanks for checking it out!

Cheers,

Alex

 

[alexciobanu]

Testing out the bottom fans before building on top of them and I can't access the cables!

Custom reservoirs are in and I started taking off the protective backing on the acrylic sheets. The nice reflections are just what I was hoping for!

Also hardware update!

Thanks a lot to RamCity.com.au for sending out these two Crucial MX200 500GB SSDs and also an awesome 512GB Samsung SM951 M.2 PCI-E SSD!

The two Crucial SSDs are in!

Just having a laugh as I can't believe how many Strix 970s I have acquired! Two are going in the Parvum build I've been working on for a mate for ages now, some of you may have seen it! And the other either 2 or 3 are going in this build!

Time to install the MB, CPU, GPUs, RAM and all the awesome Tt water blocks!

Thanks for checking it out!

Cheers,

Alex

 

[alexciobanu]

A quick look before tubing up! Most of the part were in at this point!

Thanks for checking it out!

Cheers,

Alex

 

[alexciobanu]

Okay guys, here it is all tubed up! This is how I had it set up for the EB Games Expo and only used two cards. Not sure if I will change things around with the loop before final completion.

I'm waiting to receive high res pics from EB Games but I can post some I took with my phone later on.

Let me know what you guys think of the tubing, I really like it going around the outside like that!

These shots were taken around 5am when I was rushing to get it finished in time to get picked up for the EB Games expo in Sydney last weekend.

I'm currently waiting for the build to arrive back sometime this week, then more work will continue!

I'll post those EB Games pics in the next update

Cheers,

Alex

 

[Fritzz]

Looks awesome.

Only critique I would have and it's purely aesthetic is the tubes coming off the reservoirs. The one connected to the CPU does not appear to be in the same line as the one coming off the GPUs. Like I said a minor thing, but something I noticed.

I really like the over all build and can't wait to see it done!

 

[alexciobanu]

Looks awesome.

Only critique I would have and it's purely aesthetic is the tubes coming off the reservoirs. The one connected to the CPU does not appear to be in the same line as the one coming off the GPUs. Like I said a minor thing, but something I noticed.

I really like the over all build and can't wait to see it done!

Cheers mate!

The tube are the same height just the bend is different as it depends where the components are, it's not always that the CPU and GPU blocks line up. Nothing that can be change there

 

[alexciobanu]

Hey guys!

Here are the pics from the EB Games Expo! The build is about 90% finished here.

Just some minor things still need to be done and I will be changing some thing with the loop.

The build should arrive back on Monday! I'll also have some better pics up shortly from the EB Games Expo!

Thanks for checking it out! Hope you guys like how the build looks at this point

Cheers,

Alex

 

[hazexban]

Looks amazing!

 

[alexciobanu]

Looks amazing!

Thanks mate