[PROJECT]: "The blank.box"

[smee]

Well, I've gotten bored of building air cooled PC's....
I'm gonna get wet this time, with watercooling.
I call this,
​

Sponsored by:

************​

Me, my Dad, and "The blank.box"

Several years ago, I became very interested in computers. It started with the software, learning how Windows XP worked, what "CRTL+ALT+DELETE" really meant and discovering the Control Panel; I soon became the I.T. guy around the house (at least, when Dad was at work). . . But I had never really thought about what was really inside that rectangular box, the one that made noise beneath the computer desk. Some say, "curiosity killed the cat", but in this case (pun intended), "curiosity became a world of fun". . . And that, my friends, is where my obsession with Computers really had started.

Going back a few years (well, more than a few), my dad has been around since the Timex Sinclaria 1000, and ever since fiddling with that computer (and plenty more after that) he also became quite interested in computers, and eventually built a few for himself, friends and family.
He also browsed computer forums such as these, and soon discovered. . .(drum roll please). . . Watercooling.
He built his first watercooled system when I was about 9 years old, of course I new nothing about it all, just that it was a computer for us, and it worked like a dream.
Four years later in summer '07, he built a new watercooled system and I was able to help him do it all, which was quite an experience for me. . . and also led to my addiction with watercooling.

My Dad is also a "fix-it" kind of guy, if you had something needing fixing, 9 out of 10 times, he could fix it.
I grew up working in the shop (aka, garage filled with tools. . . ), and at a very young age started building things, messing with electrical, going out on jobs with my Dad. . . Boy those were some of the best times of my life. The knowledge I have gained through learning from my Dad all these years in the shop, I must say, has definitely paid off. As now I'm working in the shop more than my Dad does. . . and having access to the shop just about 24/7 gives me great opportunity to mod things, such as Computers.

So here I am, 16 years old, and still kickin' it with Computers. . . more specifically, "The blank.box".
I hope you enjoy watching this build come together, just as much as I am enjoying putting it together. :up:


Computer Hardware:
Updated 11-27-09

• Intel Core i7 920 D0 CPU | Have
• Asrock X58 Extreme Motherboard | Have
• Diablo 3x2GB DDR3 2000Mhz RAM | Have
• EVGA GTX260 1260-AR GPU | Have
• Corsair 850HX Modular Power Supply | Have
• 3x Seagate 500GB 7200.12 HDs | Have

WaterCooling Components:
Updated 11-27-09

• D-Tek Fuzion V1 CPU Block | Have
• Nafhjy Brass Promount | Have
• Fitseries3 Dual Port Delrin Top | Have
• 1x EK NB Delrin Top Block | Have
• 1x EK Mosfet Delrin Top Block | Have
• HK GT200 GTX260 Full Cover Block | Have
• 2x Swiftech MCP655 (D5) Vario Pumps | Have
• 2x EK150 Reservoirs | Have
• 2x Swiftech MCR320 Radiators | Have
• 2x Swiftech MCR220 Radiators | Have
• BitsPower Fittings (lots) | Have
• 2x (UN)Designs Z2 Bracket | Have
• 2x (UN)Designs Absolute Pump Bracket Rev. 3 | Have
• 20ft. 1/2" ID (3/4" OD) Masterkleer Tubing | Have

Other Hardware:
Updated 11-27-09

• 2x Rosewill R-225 Case | Have
• 2x RadGrillz / Stripes 3x120 Black | Have
• 2x RadGrillz / Stripes 2x120 Black | Have
• 12x Scythe SY1225SL12M Fans
• Pioneer Slim Slot Loading DVR-TS08 CD/DVD Burner | Have
• MurderMod MDPC-X 'Psychopack' Sleeving Kit | Have
• Sunbeam Rheobus Extreme Black Fan Controller | Ordered

Now, onto some pictures

Case, "The blank.box"

Inside of the case

Back side of the case

Ok, so I'm going to put the MCR320 up on the top panel of the case (still inside of the case though). But doing that won't allow me to put my power supply up there...
So heres the first mod:

I took out the 3.5" bays, I had to drill out the rivets to do that.
I'm going to put the PSU down in the front of the case, I'll have to mod a couple more things though

I'm waiting for the rad, grills and the fans to come. More updates soon!

__________
UPDATE!!!
12-28-07
Apparently I won't be getting my rad or fans untill the 1st or 2nd of Jan.
So I'll update with pics of the rad when it gets here

But for now, heres a pic of some dremel work I did tonight:

I'll be getting some of that rubber edging stuff from petra's soon to put around those sharp edge's.

It will be a while till I order some more components (gotta make some more $$), but I'll post pics and update ya'll whenever I do something new
Thanks for all the support guys :up:

__________
UPDATE!!!!
01-03-08
Ok, so I got my shipment from newegg and petra's today.

8 Tt 130mm Silent Wheel fans:

_

And my MCR320 wOOt!!

Going to mount six of the fans in push and pull config on the rad and the other two inside the case.
I'm going to do some more cutting in a little bit too, I'll keep you updated

 

[smee]

Alright, as promised heres another UPDATE!!!!!!!
01-03-08

Since those fans won't fit close enough to line up with the holes on the rad (and I knew they wouldn't) I had to mod them.

I screwed one of the new fans to an old square fan.

So now I have to sand it down until both fans are level with each other.

I used 80 grid.

There we go

I sanded down the sides that I needed to on all the fans.

Heres one up close.

Mounted them on the rad, they look pretty good!

The under side of the rad with the fans on.

I'm doing push and pull. I tested the fans out while they were on the rad and it pulls air through likes nuts! It's super quiet too, I can feel air coming out 10" away from the rad when the fans are on.
Now I've just got to do a little wiring and soldering on the fan wires.


Tomorrow I'm going to be doing some more cutting.
I should be getting the rad grills in the morning.
I also plan on cutting a window into that ugly ol' side panel :

Yuk.

Put some blue tape on the front.

And a little on the back.

Well, it's late and I'm tired, I'll UPDATE ya'll tomorrow.

 

[andrewsmc]

Cant wait for more

 

[smee]

Another UPDATE
1-5-08

I've done alot of things in the past 48 hours, But I'll start with some wire management

I did some soldering on the rad fan wiring:

(yes, very messy table)

I tested them and they all work great
Now I don't have 6 nasty wires hangin' around on the rad :ROTF:

Heres the rad grillz I got yesterday:

Outta da box... they look sweet

Here's what I did with the small grill:

Cut out a squarish circle in the black thing that use to have the power button in it.

Put it together

Put it on the front plastic piece.
BTW, I put a longer wire on this fan because it needs to reach behind the mobo.

different view

On the case

Looks pretty good!
This mod took me about 10 minutes... record time :rofl:

 

[smee]

More mods!!
1-5-08

I finished cutting out the side window, I did it with my good ol' dremel and some reinforced cutting disc's.

It took a while, but was well worth it

Fits very nicely, now I just have to go get some plexiglass.
And, BTW, the rad is not mounted on the bottom of the case, it's just sitting there for now.

Next mod:
The other day my mom and I went to Target... I was looking through the isles when I came across these:

And I thought, oh, I could use those!
They cost like 7 bucks each, I bought them

This morning, I cut one of them up a little,

I cut a little piece out...

Then I folded the edges over and fit it to size. Then screwed it on the case.

Close up

Full picture.

Now i've just got to cut the top of the case and mount the rad to the case and rad grill.

I might do that tonight, not sure yet.
I'm still not feeling so well... *sigh*..... *cough*.... *sniff*.... etc

Tell me how you like it all, comments and ideas are welcome!
~Parker :woot:

_________
UPDATE!!!!!
1-8-08

So the other night I got to some cutting...

Drawn out

I cut it out with my dremel (I love dremels )

I don't have my camera with me now, but I'll take some pics of it assembled with the rad attached later and post them.

For now,
Parker :up:

 

[smee]

UPDATE!!!!!!!!
1-31-08

Ok, so it's been a while!
Heres a bunch of pics:

Rads mounted with fans on both sides.

Another view

Top view of the rad. I got two sizes of screws that match, score! :top:

Another look at the top, sorry for bad pics, i took them real quick...

And another one...

Heres a pic of the inside of the case with the rad at the top.

Ok, the tubing is going to come really close to the mobo on that back barb... but I've got a plan for that! It's called stubby's They help with really tight turns.

BTW, I'm using these screws for the Rad/rads:

Big ones on the actual radiator and fans, the little ones used to mount the rad grills to the case (I used some nuts too). :up:

My updates to come...
For now,
~Parker

 

[smee]

OMI GOSH!!!!!!!!!!!!
2-26-08

Check out what my dad brought home for me last night!!!!

Looky looky! Hard drives....

500GB Hard Drives with 32MB Cache!!!!!
mg:

I had talked to him about HD's the other day and how I couldn't decide, and well, he decided for me... I didn't do anything special or nutting, he just surprised me with em! I love my dad :sD

More updates later.... :up:

Small Update!!

So last week I got to some lapping!!! :up:
It's a QX6700.

Rubbed some 1500 grit on the proc to see where the dips were:

Starting off with 400 grit:

More 400 grit:

Finished with 400 grit:

And then after 800 grit:

Finished pics:

So far, I'm getting better temps than before by a couple C in idle temps, I haven't tested load temps though. But when I do, I'll let you guys know.

Reason I decided not to go 1200 grit is that I've heard that 800 grit is enough and that theres not any performance gain going above that.
But I just might.... sometime....

 

[smee]

Alrighty
12-13-08

So it's been a year since the build was started. Around summer time however, the build progress somewhat stopped, due to Life, School, and... well it was Summer and I had lots of things going on during this summer and things I had to pay for.
So I decided to move aside things that weren't on the top of my priority list for a while.

During summer however I bought a Camera, hehe, yes a Camera.... I have ALWAYS wanted to get into photography, and finally decided to pull the trigger on it:

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

Man, once you go DSLR, you DON"T go back. This thing is great, you can view some of my pictures in the Flickr link in my sig below.

But back to the build, over the last month, I've gotten REAL serious about finishing this build, as I've gotten new idea's and inspiration.
I've come up with some cool plan's for the hardware and the watercooling.
With the new camera, I can now take GOOD photo's of the builds progress too. :up:

So stay tuned folks! It's gonna be a wild ride. :fact:

 

[smee]

Hey guys, UPDATE. :up:
12-22-08

It's almost Christmas! Unbelievable to me really, lol it came so fast...

But Check this out, Bigslappy gave me a REALLY great deal on radiator from him:

Super fast shipping too!

Man, I've said thank you so many times already, but just want to say it again. THANK YOU!

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

 

[smee]

12-29-08

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. :up:

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! :up:

 

[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....

 

[spearman914]

This seems like partially a case mod. Looks nice! Keep it up.

 

[spearman914]

Woah u added like a 100pics right after I posted. lol

 

[Fitseries3]

itsmee!

 

[erocker]

Looks great! Those drawings are excellent too!

 

[blkhogan]

Very cool. Cant wait to see more.

 

[oily_17]

Looking forward to seeing the rest of this build.

Wish I had your skill with Sketchup as well.

 

[steelkane]

Awesome mid tower Cube mod, tons of room, for tons of goodies. Good work young Jedi

 

[EnergyFX]

Welcome to the forum. Nice work.

 

[Castiel]

This is sweet, very awesome.

 

[smee]

This seems like partially a case mod. Looks nice! Keep it up.

Woah u added like a 100pics right after I posted. lol

Hahaha, thanks!

itsmee!

FITS! My man.

Looks great! Those drawings are excellent too!

Very cool. Cant wait to see more.

Looking forward to seeing the rest of this build.

Wish I had your skill with Sketchup as well.

Thanks!
Yea google sketchup is LOADS fun, I've only been using it for 4 days however...
It's really not that difficult, this site helps:
SCC

Awesome mid tower Cube mod, tons of room, for tons of goodies. Good work young Jedi

Welcome to the forum. Nice work.

This is sweet, very awesome.

Thanks guys!!
Yea I am LOVING the cube idea, always wanted a cube really...
Second case comes in tomorrow, or monday.

Thanks for all the comments! Much appreciated.

 

[johnnyfiive]

damn, nice sketching and build!

 

[oli_ramsay]

Very nice build! Can't wait to see the finished product

 

[Wozzer]

Looks awesome - can't wait to see it all finished.