[PROJECT] "The blank.box"

[filthysanchez]

You should put the GPU under water too, just get a MCW60

 

[aingeal]

looking good so far

 

[Simpleness]

Hec yes its looking good so far.

 

[smee]

What a sweet setup looks great

Just wondering, what do you have the CPU OC'd to? Do you have a real hsf for the cpu yet?

Currently I don't have the CPU OC'ed... been busy building the whole thing!!
And yes I have the waterblock.

nice parts! that cpu fan mount is amazing

You mean GPU fan mount. Thanks!

Nice job lapping

Thanks!

Decide which block you like better? I've got dibs on the loser of your showdown, remember?

Yep I still remember! I'm liking the V2 the most, so the V2 will be yours.

You should put the GPU under water too, just get a MCW60

I wanted to, but I'm going to watercool the NB and my radiator won't be able to handle the GPU, NB and CPU. so I aircooled the GPU.
And besides, i wouldn't get any better temps with watercooling on my GPU.

looking good so far

Hec yes its looking good so far.

Thanks guys!!

And wow, I didn't realize that I haven't posted pictures of my watercooled setup yet!!!!
I've actually been running a water cooled loop for a couple of weeks now....

I'll go get the pictures.

 

[smee]

First off, I want to thank Rich over at HardwareLogic (forum owner) for sending me a board to use since my striker died on me.

Heres the main setup atm:

The rad and pump in the window....

The res sitting high and mighty above the beloved computer parts with it's thermal sensor sitting inside it through a ghetto tubing portal, sitting next to it is my custom wired LCD displaying the temp of the water (running of a 9 volt battery )

And heres the whole setup, as you can see, the pic is very blurry, sorry about that....

 

[fx9]

Cool project, I want to see when you put your psu in your case, sorta Lian-Li A05 style.

 

[smee]

Cool project, I want to see when you put your psu in your case, sorta Lian-Li A05 style.

Thanks!
Yea I'm looking forward to putting it in the case too! just have to make that little PSU bracket....

 

[smee]

Got a Striker board back from an RMA, it's up for sale!!! $170 Shipped!
http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1311525

 

[jtg1993]

Thats a nice test bench you got, Do you have any updates?

 

[smee]

@jtg1993, Thanks! yea heres update:

Hey all, just want to update you all with the status of "The blank.box"....

Back in June, I decided to sell my watercooling, because in July I was going to camps and things and had other things that were more important than watercooling was.
I then got the photography bug.... BAD.
So I bought this big guy:

Canon 30D w/Canon 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM lens

So that burned out my wallet for a couple weeks, but I have recuperated.
Although I may or may not be getting watercooling again, I'm not sure, and the project my be changed a LOT because I've gotten some idea's for, other things.......

I will finish the case mod, and will decide if I'm going to keep the case or sell it afterward. Because my "other" idea's don't exactly use the case I'm working on in this project................

Soz, I just wanted to let ya'll know, that I didn't just drop the whole project down the drain. It's still here, and I'm still thinking about it.

Thanks guys,
~Parker

 

[smee]

BWAHAHAHA, and you guys probably thought this was dead.
Well it's NOT! I was just taking.... uh... a break... for uh... a while.

Let's get the ball rolling, again...
12-22-08

So I gots a GREAT deal on somethin' from my buddy, Bigslappy.

Hmmm, wundr wat dis iz....

O.0

GEE WIZ! Would ya look at dat. It's a RADIATOR!!

I can't say thank you enough to bigslappy, but I'll say it once more, THANK YOU!! :up::clap::clap:

More updates SOON, I've got a lot of new plans for this build... hehehe....

 

[smee]

Ok so TWO things, First off, notice the new banner at the top of the worklog!
What do you guys think of it?

Second, I did some renders the other night of what I'm planning for the build:




(you will just have to mentally switch the TC rad's to MCR rad's in the picture... and then also mentally put a case around everything....... )

Ok well I took some extra measurements today, annnnnd I don't think the Dual rad at the bottom is going to work, so I'm going to go with a single methinks...
So two Singles and a Triple. :up:

Lemme know what ya'll think about this.
~Parker

 

[Trageta]

^Sketchup?

 

[smee]

^Sketchup?

Hey now, that was my first time EVAR doing any rendering of anything.... lol
I'm 15, and CAD isn't really something I'm interested in at the moment...

 

[silent-circuit]

A 30D "burned out your wallet for a couple weeks"? Christ man. I'm 23, and it'd do a lot more than that for me.

 

[smee]

A 30D "burned out your wallet for a couple weeks"? Christ man. I'm 23, and it'd do a lot more than that for me.

Rofl, well I started my own little computer business... anddddddd... yea.

 

[silent-circuit]

On an unrelated note, you're going to need to alter spacing at least a little bit, as I'm sure you realize. That test render has the 1/2" barbs sticking /in/ to the top of a HDD, and you need /considerable/ space for a 90 degree tubing bend as well (or 90 degree barbs, though those introduce some restriction).

 

[smee]

On an unrelated note, you're going to need to alter spacing at least a little bit, as I'm sure you realize. That test render has the 1/2" barbs sticking /in/ to the top of a HDD, and you need /considerable/ space for a 90 degree tubing bend as well (or 90 degree barbs, though those introduce some restriction).

Yes sir, you got it right.

I'll be using swiftech's MCR320 up there instead of the TC rad, the MCR's are half as think, so I will have plenty of room.

 

[jtg1993]

On an unrelated note, you're going to need to alter spacing at least a little bit, as I'm sure you realize. That test render has the 1/2" barbs sticking /in/ to the top of a HDD, and you need /considerable/ space for a 90 degree tubing bend as well (or 90 degree barbs, though those introduce some restriction).

He could always just spin that top rad around so the barbs come out at the rear panel.

EDIT: Nvm, he is a ninja and posted before I could finish.

 

[silent-circuit]

Yes sir, you got it right.

I'll be using swiftech's MCR320 up there instead of the TC rad, the MCR's are half as think, so I will have plenty of room.

Not for the bend, you don't.

 

[smee]

Not for the bend, you don't.

http://www.performance-pcs.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=393&products_id=24756

 

[silent-circuit]

Nice.

 

[smee]

12-29-08

:clap: Just ordered a second case! Should be here in a week.

Also, got a small package in the mail today...

Hmmm, wonder what that is. . .

It's from Dave at (UN) Designs!! I wonder whats inside...

Z-Bracket awesomeness!

Absolute Pump Bracket Rev.2!

Love that slogan.

Check out what you can do with these amazing brackets:

Dave, thank you very much for these, (UN) Designs is an awesome company you've got.

More updates soon!

P.s.... ordered something special this afternoon... wonder what it is

 

[smee]

Hmmmm....
1-1-09


So I had an urge the other day...... to, get a second case...
The urge... to do something like this:

(picture from user "jedda" at XS)

Bolting two case's together to make one.
Doing this, will allow me to have more space, I could put the PSU behind the mobo (unseen), then add a MCR320 at the bottom of the current case (the one I have now), then add an MCR320 at the top of the other one, and more rad's... etc...

So I ordered a second case!!
And after 4 hours in Google Sketchup...
Here's the basic concept of what I'm thinking for the two case's together:

Then yesterday morning... I got to some more (6 hours) or sketchup:

(btw, the case sketchup is at precise measurements of the real thing. :up

What do you guys think about this?

Also, where should I put the pumps??? (two loops if you haven't noticed)
Suggestions please.

Hehe....

 

[SaiNRuB]

looks good smee. have you looked into a mountain mods case, i saw a real nice used one for sale on the fs forums. It looks like you want some room to play and one of those would fit the bill.

 

[smee]

looks good smee. have you looked into a mountain mods case, i saw a real nice used one for sale on the fs forums. It looks like you want some room to play and one of those would fit the bill.

Oh yes, I know all about MM case's... But there just too darn expensive, and Its funner to mod the case yourself...

Thansk!!

 

[DexNFx]

Nice pics, I like the idea.

 

[mrmylanman]

A 30D "burned out your wallet for a couple weeks"? Christ man. I'm 23, and it'd do a lot more than that for me.

Haha yeah. I bought a Nikon D40 a year ago and that was all my money for like 6 months....

On topic though looks like a sweet build keep it up

 

[smee]

Thanks guys!

Quick Update...
1-9-09

Arite guys, so I guess what happened was the case i wanted was not in stock at the place I ordered it, and they had refunded me in Paypal... and I wasn't aware of that until a few days ago...
I tried another place, but the same problem... out of stock and cannot be ordered... : /

I've looked around, and I just can't seem to find any other places with the case in stock. So it looks like that I MAY just have to find a different case to get two of...
However, the case's need to be cheap, looking at like $40 each...
But yea, we'll see...

Also got a couple other things for ya'll to see... but that'll have to wait.

 

[filthysanchez]

Centurion 534? Or maybe a 590

 

[GigantoR]

Yeah, the Centurion series by CoolerMaster would probably be your best bet

 

[smee]

Update!
1-17-09

Sooooo, guess what! We've got a new sponsor.
Lets welcome, PetrasTechShop!


Petra's is one of my favorite places to get all my watercooling gear to feed my addictions.
Got to go down and pick up the stuff at there shop, Alex was out for dinner, but I got to meet Quoc. Really nice guy, and cool shop!
Hope to meet Alex in person too some time down the road.
Heres what they got me:

2x EK150 Res
20ft Masterkleer
PT_Nuke (some awesome stuff!)
EK Res Holder

This helps tremendously, will be posting an update pretty soon!!
Again, thank you PTS!

~Parker

 

[smee]

Update!
2-4-09

It's been busy lately, but we've made a bit of progress.... got a package the other day.

This is the Rosewell R223-P-BK. Apparently they bought out NSpire a while back (the original case was by NSpire).
The ONLY difference between this case and the case I already have is that the front plastic part is different... we can deal with this methinks.

Gutted down a bit, without the side panels and front.

Another angle...

Sat the cases together just to check it out....

I'm liking this... hehehe...

I've decided to ditch that Mest idea to cover the original PSU hole, will be doing something else instead....

Got another 120.3 rad grill, going to cut the top of the second case like you see i have done on the left case.

Hehe.....

So how to make these two case fronts work together.... that is the question.... :hmm:

More updates soon!
~Parker

P.S. do you guys like it with the pictures so small? are they viewable enough? or is it just too small.....?
Feedback please.

 

[luddha]

Looks great man. Keep up the good work.

 

[Elledan]

Geez, that's the biggest power button I have ever seen

 

[Pzych0]

HAha xD You don't push it, you smack it!

 

[Elledan]

HAha xD You don't push it, you smack it!

Exactly! That button is like 60 mm or so @_@

 

[smee]

Rofl guys... yes thats one big power button.... xD But unfortunately you will not be seeing this on the front of the case.
I have better plans

Ok another update!!!

Got to work monday night!!
Pics explain them selves basically, but I just took out a ton of rivets to take out the pieces of the case I will not be using, then cut the top of the second case for the radiator.

The case's ready to be de-riveted.

First case done.

Second case done.

Now for the top of the new case.

Cut out.

Methinks I done good!

Weapon of choice.
Also, see the dremel discs, I used the one on the Right for the ENTIRE cut, the one on the left is just showing the original size of the disc that I used.
These disc's are AMAZING!! I was cutting through steel.... took about 20 minutes..... the discs are a tad more expensive than regular disc's, but I HIGHLY recommend them. :up:

Holes drilled.

Can't forget my handy assistant! My little bro, Preston.

Alright! So the tops are done!

My mess, along with the ghetto table!

Just laid the grills on top to see how they look, I like em! Will do test fit with radiators in next update.

Time to head back inside...

Time for a nice root beer float.
(btw, thats not photoshopped, safeway sells "Parker's Root Beer"!! It's great!! )

Till next time,
~Parker

 

[smee]

Update 2-24-09

It's been a while, but gots many little things to come, been getting packages left and right!
I'll just share a couple of them first.

We have a new Sponsor!
I want to thank Vincent at BitsPower for providing me with fittings!

I have always loved the look and style of BP fittings, and also the Quality that there made of.

On with pictures!

Shipped all the way from Taipei, Taiwan, got it here in TWO days... amazing service.

Nice packaging.

Tons of fittings! I feel like a plumber. xD

That be:
26x BP-WTP-C01
14x BP-45-R
2x BP-90R2

Some sexy shots:

These fittings will definitely be put to good use! Thanks again Vincent and BitsPower!!

More updates coming.
~Parker

 

[Elledan]

Ohh~ shiny!

Good luck with fitting everything together