Project: "Marduk Grows Up"

[Marduk]

I figured I'd start a journal of my impending mod.

Marduk, my dual Opteron workstation is at the limits of her current capabilities.
I can't put in more hdds.
I am wary of putting in a 2nd 7800GTX, as I think I'm near the limits of the T51X-CL1 PSU, as it was specced and designed for a dual core + SLI, not dual CPUs + SLI.

So...with my birthday coming up soon, I figured I'd spend some money and do things right and let it grow.

First, let us take a look at where we are at now, and where I intend to go..

The Chenbro SR107

An amazing chassis. By far the nicest steel case I've ever used. Rackmountable (5U) if you remove the top panel . 3x 5.25" and 8x 3.5" were all I'd thought I'd ever need

Lian Li V2000B Plus

While this is not my ideal chassis due to the default cooling setup...I have plans to make it ideal.
The support for 12 3.5" drives meets my needs of 2 4 drive RAID 5 arrays + 4 onboard SATA. The fact that it cools the CPU/mobo area seperately is both a plus and a minus. As there is active cooling on the hdds, I'll be happy. The passive cooling in the mobo area bothers me...which is why I've purchased the following:

Lian Li EX-34B
I've already placed the order. Pics to be added as soon as I receive it.
While I have no interest in the 4 3.5" hdds it supports (at this time), I would like the front 120mm for a wind tunnel.

The Sacrifice
This chassis was purchased for a system that was obsoleted by the purchase of Marduk. It's sat in my room since late June 3rd. No one on the FS/FT has offered to give it a good home...so I plan on sacrificing this system to the gods of dremel and metalwork.

The mobo-side side panel has no marks on it. no ventilation holes cut for fans. The Lian Li is large enough to fit another case inside it...so why not make that prophecy come true?
My intention is to take advantage of the brace offered by the Lian Li...as well as having a client I built a PC for a few years back be a metalworker. I intend to form the panel in such a way to act as a wind tunnel to direct airflow from the 120 in the front EX-34B to the rear exhaust 120mm over the 2 CPU HSFs. I have enough of the protective strips from Lian Lis to keep anything from grounding out, however I plan on leaving 1cm space between the formed shroud & the motherboard.

The T51X-CL1.

This was originally a re-designed T51X-SLI, with cable runs custom done to match the sizes Marduk needed, as well as an 8 pin 12V connector for dual CPUs. Technically, this is more closely related to the T51X-ASL, only with more connectors.

I have written to PC Power & Cooling with proposals for a T85SSI-CL1, which is a T85SSI with a slightly modified CL1 wiring harness.
T85SSI-CL1

However, the CL1 was designed for the Chenbro SR107. I resubmitted a proposal for a CL2, as I was not sure with which upgrade path I'd take.
T85SSI-CL2:

More will be added later on. I have every hope of having this system up and running (at least w/o the 850W PSU) by a LAN on Sept. 9th. If not, I'll take The Morrigan to the LAN. No harm, no foul. I hope to have everything complete and all cables hidden away(as best as is possible)by our 200 man LAN that this system will host the BF2 tourneys for at the end of September. At that time, I'll be able to sell off my SR107 & PSU to try to recoup some of the price involved with this endeavour.


Any insights & suggestions you guys can offer, I'm more than happy to hear.

 

[zoom314]

Nice Heatsinks, They are Big alright, Good luck on Your Project.

 

[Marduk]

Ran into the first problem.

A friend of mine looks like he wants my case I had planned to sacrifice.

So, any suggestions on replacement material? I can go look for a scrap steel case...but I'd prefer to stick with aluminum if possible, as I'd prefer to bend it and have it still look decent.


Anyone know where I can find a piece of oh...18"x24" aluminum sheet?

Or, I could go with a piece of plastic(lexan?). Can you bend lexan in 90 degree angle, or are you better off just cutting it and using brackets to fix them together?

 

[FadedSpark]

IIRC lexan can be bent cold... but im the guy who hasnt done any REAL mods lol

 

[justin82]

This chassis was purchased for a system that was obsoleted by the purchase of Marduk. It's sat in my room since late June 3rd. No one on the FS/FT has offered to give it a good home...so I plan on sacrificing this system to the gods of dremel and metalwork.

How much?

 

[Marduk]

How much?

$20 local...but I've got a guy that wants it (as I mentioned in the 3rd post)

I'll call Lowes.



*update*

Menards has a 24"x24"x.025" sheet of aluminum for $13.18. That comes out to just over .6mm.

Think that'll be adequate?

 

[Marduk]

quick update with a few pics.

I'm waiting on some new SATA cables so I can clean those up, but I have my doubts as to just how much I can do to clear up 8 SATA cables.

Ordered my new PSU...it should be here in a month or 2...I decided to go with the Kilowatt model from PC Power & Cooling rather than the 850 I had planned on. An extra $40 gives me 150W...that's good for my peace of mind.

 

[Majin]

Nice diagrams!

 

[Ozone77]

What are you doing with the aluminum? a shroud to tunnel the air from the front fan ,trhough the HS and to the back fan?

If so, I would try to bend some lexan, I think it looks cooler if you can see whats going on, not just an aluminum shroud that blocks everything. Oh, and thanks for the idea, i am also trying to make a shroud and i was cutting and glueing (or trying to) pieces of lexan, I think I will give bending a try.

 

[Marduk]

More pics.

I got 4 new 39" 270 degree SATA cables...so I've done some cable organization. It's about as good as it's going to get until I get my new PSU with the proper cable lengths needed for this chassis (as opposed to this PSU, which was customized for the Chenbro)

 

[qbackin]

Let me tell you something. That is one kick ass pc, and the first time (and second ) that I have seen that Massive heatsink installed. Excellent job very :drool: worthy.

btw what kind of 3dmark05 do you pull with that?
Temps?