My system build Siverbox (AKA Shoehorn). *56k warning*

I built this system over a year ago, but I flushed it out a few days ago, and did a little work on it, so I decided to post all the pics I took when I built it.

Specs of the system:
Antec P180 case
AMD Dual core 4400+ (currently at 2.6ghz)
Asus A8N-SLI Premium
2gb of Mushkin XP4000 (IIRC, it was over a year ago)
Enermax 600w (or is it 650?) power supply. I love this thing BTW. You can remove any unneeded cables from it.
ATI Radeon X850XT 256mb
2x 75gb Raptors in Raid 0, which has since been upgraded to 2x150gb raptor X drives in JOBD (the raptor X drives kept dropping out of the array due to some changes WD made to them over the regular raptor drives)

Specs of the cooling system:
Hydor L40 pump
DD Maze 4 cpu block
DD maze 4 gpu block (not installed yet)
I also have TECs and coldplated for both blocks which I haven't installed yet, as well as a nice power supply for them.
Innovatek Tank-O-Matic which I modified with 1/2" fittings
Black Ice Extreme 3 radiator

And now for the pics. I'm sorry, I took these with my camera phone:

The brand new P180 waiting to be hacked appart.




The top of the case, which will be modified to fit the BIX3




Cutting of the top



All done!



For the pump, I decided to mount it in the lower hard drive cage.



There wasn't enough clearance so I had to cut the output of the pump down a bit.



And a bit more (sorry, only allowed 10 images per post, had to link this one):

http://offsite.lostjournal.com/rob/Computer Pics/silverbox/case 9.jpg


The BIX3 is mounted on the top of the case finally.




The Tank-O-Matic is mounted inside the case




Final picture of the computer a year later. The pump ended up not fitting in the hard drive cage, so the cage was removed, and the pump just sat where the lower cage used to be. Last week, I wanted the cage back, so I moved the pump beside the PSU. It JUST fits. Only 2 of the 4 drives are installed in the cage in this picture. You can see the 3 120mm fans installed beneath the radiator blowing up through it. The system was originally built with Tygon tubing, but the stuff just kinked like crazy, I hate it. So, I ripped it all out, and rebuild most of the system with a combination of thin wall, and thick wall vinyl tubing, which I like so much better.

I'm linking to the pic becasuse it's so big. This was also taken with my camera phone, my new camera phone.
http://offsite.lostjournal.com/rob/Computer Pics/silverbox/case 12.jpg

And yes, the upside down drive cage has been fixed.

Overall, the system is working beautifully. Currently the system is running at 2.6ghz (stock is 2.0), full load (on both processors) I get temps of about 37C on both the processor, and inside the case . I need more airflow in the case , with that I'm sure I could get the processor temps down to about 35C. The only case fans now, other then the ones on the PSU, are the 3 on the radiator. While they DO move a lot of air, it's not enough. I'm going to re-install the 120mm fans in the front of the computer some day. I'm not too worried until I break 40C honestly. The system is rock stable.

BTW, I absolutely LOVE the P180. Best computer case I have ever had.

Action shot of the computer. Yes, the cover isn't on completely. The drive cage is out because I'm doing some hard drive work. There's a few old 160gb drives in there right now I'm trying to recover some data off of, and I needed to make some room. I really like the radiator placement. A lot of people think the case came that way.

That looks sweet. No chance of doing an internal 3x120 rad?

Sure you could. Right now, the fans take the top most drive bay, If I put the rad inside, it would take 2 drive bays, that's all. I thought it just looked cooler on the top like that

that's quite the difference from your new and old pics. Are you sure it's a camera _phone_ that took those last pics?

Nice build. You should get a new CPU block IMO. The GPU block is still very good.

SolidxSnake said:

that's quite the difference from your new and old pics. Are you sure it's a camera _phone_ that took those last pics?

Nice build. You should get a new CPU block IMO. The GPU block is still very good.

Click to expand...

Haha. Sony Ericsson K790. 3.2 mexapixel with a mechanical autofocus, and xenon flash. More like a Digital camera with a phone attached

What's so bad about the block? I'm curious. I'm sorry to say I've been out of the watercooling loop (har har) for some time now. The last system I built before this had an RBX, and that was new technology at the time

Depending on how much you want to spend there are better blocks you can get. However, as far as I'm concerned its kind of a waste because you have a working block and as long as it works and mounts why spend the money for a potentially minimal improvement. If you upgrade the block you might then need a new pump to take advantage of the block and all in all you are looking at spending a bit of money. Personally I suggest waiting until you can't mount your block anymore and then upgrading to save some money.