FreeStyler

If pics load slow, blame planetinternet, I got no other FTP's anymore, thus it'll have to do.

Got myself a new case, Lian-Li PC60 (review comming). But I liked the chieftech too much to dump it. I was thinking file server, but I'll need more then 6 data drives, and adding them to a chieftec is pretty hard. So that will remain the Aopen. Thus I'm going to turn it into an office workstation. The Lian-Li will be the gaming/LAN rig.

My "old" case, and it's hardware, this will be used in the Lian-Li:


For more info on this one, and previous modding projects check This Thread .
Now for the "New" stuff...

FreeStyler

The Officer:

I got another Epox 8RDA+, another AMD XP1800+ JIUHB, and TwinMOS 2*256MB PC3200 KIT. Hey I liked them. I'm going to mount my old zalman CNPS7000 on it, since it doesn't have a XP mounting kit. This is how I fixed that problem:

Using 2 mobo mounting screws stacked gave me about the right heigt to mount it with enough force. It worked several months like this, it should do fine (it does BTW). This is what it looks like when mounted:

Also showing is a recycled hercules 9700 cooler, this is a "whole" unit, not a fixed one like before. Should be more silent, and mounts much easier.

I used the same PAPST fans over in the chieftec, since the Lian-Li comes with it's own fans. I did replace all the cables with custom length cables, so they all come together in the same place, together with the chipset fan. They are now running at a constant 7V, but there will be a switch installed for 7V-12V selection (maybe with an off position, but that would be hazardous) All cables were nicely tucked away, I might not have a window, but that doesn't mean it can't look good.

And a nice view of the top, including PSU cables.


This is with the motherboard in place, it took me several times, but I got there. In the end, the chipset fan and CPU fan cables are all routed underneath the mobo, as is the floppy cable and the HDD power cable. The switches and LEDs cables are routed under the noise dampening foam.


Finally a final shot of the mobo area and the entire case and a front shot. I added all brackets cause this is a "work"-station, and I might need them. and the open floppy bay used to house my switches, they are however no longer in use.


Current hardware list.
Cieftech DX01W, 360W PSU, all fan grils removed.
Epox 8RDA+, hercules 9700 cooler on NB.
AMD XP1800+ @ 2000MHz, still testing the limit.
zalman CNPS-7000
TwinMOS 2*256MC PC3200 RAM KIT
5 * Papst NGML 80mm
Allmighty floppy
TEMP: Gainward GF3 ViVo
TEMP: BTC 52* CD-rom
TEMP: Maxtor diamondmax 80GB

ToDo:
- Get new graphics card, A radeon 9200 or better most likely, 3D isn't the key here. Image is.
- New hard drive, Seagate gets my preference. not too big, 40-80GB is the spot, probably a 80 since we don't sell smaller anymore.
- New CD drive: a Lite-on CD-RW or Combo drive.
- A cardreader in the 3.5" bay, with USB2.0 port. Stuff up the bay and makes the USB bracket obsolete.
- HDD rack, there are very long however and I'll have to rerout my IDE cables, or I'll just use a rounded 45CM for the top drives.
- Add a fan switch, 7V-12V or 7V-0V12V, I have the second type of switch, but for security I'd prefer the 2 step switch.
- Add the epox NB cooler on the SB, it's not needed in the other rig anymore.

This baby is pretty finished, the to-to list is an easy one, and nothing extensive has to be done anymore. Not so with the Lian-li however...

FreeStyler

The Lian-LAN case:

This baby uses the stuff of my previous rig, added with some new cooling [H]ware. To start with I bought a new NB cooler, the Titan CUV2AB (revieuw also upcomming) It's the only cooler with 4 sizes of clips, one of them that fits perfectly. Luckily the only retailer I found is a 20 min drive from here (by bike) and they had one within 4 days. On the SB comes a Zalman NB47J chipset cooler, BTW this thing is HUGE, but still all alu (I got one more ordered, review also TBE) The zalman CNPS 7000 got replaced by the -A model, with socket A mounting hardware.

These show the titan and zalman NB coolers on their places, and the CNPS7000-A mounting kit.

2 nice shots of the same with the CNPS7000-A mounted. you can also see that I didn't use the pushpins of the zalman NB cooler, I used screws screwed into mobo ounting studs, much greater pressure, and it's not the the SB cares about that.
Also you can see the MOSFET cooling next to the CPU, just an old P2(3) HS chopped up, I might add it to the officer too, but I'm not sure yet. It was pretty hard to saw/dremel.

2 shots of the case with hardware mounted, first without IDE and second with IDE cables:


The cabling here is a bit harder, I don't have my main PSU yet so I did't really bother with that, ditto with most other cables actually. Fans will come together at the lian-li's switch at the front. But everything connected to the mobo-tray will have a small connector to disconnect them for maintenace. and I'm going to add a fan+blowhole at the back, so those cables are pretty messy ATM too.

Shocking I know, that's what you get with Temp cabling. Next up is a front terror shot.



Finally this shows the place where the extra fan will be installed, I really don't know why lian-li doesn't use this place, since it fits a 80mm fan perfectly.

Hardware:
Lian-Li PC60
TEMP: Enermax 460W PSU
Epox 8RDA+, TTC-CUV2AB on NB, Zalman NB47J on SB, some HS on MOSFETS and Voltage regulator.
AMD XP1800+ @2200MHz (limit for now)
2*256MB TwinMOS PC3200 RAM, winbond BH-5 (not a kit)
Hercules Radeon 9800Pro default cooling, to be replaced by a zalman, as soon as they are going to use copper (BTW a dual heatpipe design will come soon) and not OCed
Lite-on Combo 16DVD 48/24/48CD-RW (painted silver, but I'm going to redo this)
Seagate cuda4 20GB (OS)
Seagate cuda5 120GB (all else)

ToDo:
- Install new PSU, Zalman 300W
- Drill blowhole with 80mm drill, remove stamped fangrill of the other one (top fan will remain)
- Add a fan there (duh) same type (harder)
- fix the cabling (realy looking forward to this one)
- better cooling for GPU, (zalman) and OC it a bit.

The smaller ToDo list but the most work, PSU and cable routing is hard enough, but for the drilling I wil have to remove the mobo again. (don't want any metal on there)

FreeStyler

To finish a front shot of the two brothers in action:


Ow a final todo:
- Clean up room, this is what it looks like after about 3-4 weeks of messing with the PC:


OK, so it always looks like that, still need to clean it up.uke:

And buy a good digicam, this HP brol can't take good closeups, I had to dump several pics cause they were unfocused. I should lear to take them from a distance and crop them wihout resizing.

BTW any spelling etc errors, please report them so I can fix them.

FreeStyler

The result sofar, needing an extra blowhole and cable management, and running 2 HD's and a R9800Pro.
The Lian-Li is about 6°C hotter then the chieftech (CPU)

If total I might shave a few more degrees off. Stability hasn't been comprimised. Temps have risen about 10°C from the first rig, but that's probably due to distributed.net

FreeStyler

Update 2:
I placed a 9800XT on my main rig, which is lying apart to drill the extra blowholes in it.
My office PC (that has an affinity with Sim city 4 ) had a Hercules 9200 card installed in it, with a zalman HP80C. Talk about overkill, I just can't heat this baby up.
I hooked up a hyundai Q17-DVI on it, this baby ROCKS. Great for LANs. Speakers ad USB hub included. No dead pixels,which is good, cause hyundai apparenty has somewhat of a bad rep on this point.

Thinking about buying a DVD burner, that way the combo can go in the office PC.
Still need more HD and gigabit LAN for the file server (so hoping for NForce2 MCP-S1000)
And a seagate for the office PC.

jmke

check yer PM-box!

__________________

[Bonbon]

I'm thinking about buying an elephant.

hoping for pm from jmke now

FreeStyler

I'm big, got a wide ***, and I can do tricks with my trunk :grr:
But you're not getting a PM.

HOCSuperCoupe

Hey it looks really nice. Now you must do alittle painting

-=[HOC]=-