Project: Grounds For Divorce

[SCORPIONlt1]

Well after about a year and a half since any upgrade of any sort I finely decided to bight the bullet and build a new system. My wife’s laptop just died so I promised her I would give her my old rig, witch makes her happy. But if she finds out how much I spent on parts for the new rig I’m a dead man or as my title suggests a single man.

So I wanted to do something a bit custom and totally contained. You know I actually want to have the side on my computer for once. So I’m going with water-cooling and a large enough case to hold everything in it. I work in a machine shop and have some pretty good equipment available so I’m going to try to incorporate a decent amount of custom finishing touches.

Some of the mods I’m planning are complete disassembly of the case to deburr and smooth all edges and anodize, paint or powder coat all interior parts that are not already black. A couple holes in the side panels one of witch will show the coolant level in the reservoir maybe a flow gage. Gutting the bottom of the case to fit the radiator and pump. On the back panel I plan on engraving a large scorpion using a HAAS CNC vertical milling machine. And as much stuff that comes to me as the build progresses. So I would be glade to hear any opinions or ides you guys have.

Here’s a list of my parts I have, have on order and plan to order.

Case: SilverStone TJ07 Have (can’t wait to start cutting holes in a $300 case)
CFP51 hard drive transfer bracket
FP51 3.5 Transfer bracket

PSU: Corsair HX620W Have
MOBO: ASUS striker extreme Have
CPU: E6300 Have
RAM: Corsair Dominator 8500C5D Have
Video Card: EVGA 8800 GTX Plan to order
Hard drives: 2 74GB NEW Raptors Have
CPU water block: Storm Have
GPU water Block: EK full coverage Have
Pump: MCP 655 Have
Radiator: Black Ice GTX 240 Have

And I’m sure there are a couple other things I haven’t listed but will as it comes to me.

Hers a picture of what I’m starting with minus a couple parts I’m waiting for.
My RAM and CPU I let dylskee borrow to run mem test on the memory and let him play with the CPU. But for some reason he hasn’t given them back yet!!!




If you guys noticed the parts are on a conference table. I keep all the parts at work so my wife doesn’t get to curious as to how much I’m spending.

Hopefully I'll be updating with new picks on an almost Dayle basis. I've been waiting along time to build my new rig and want to get some serious progress on it.

 

[Fr3@k3r]

lol, i cant wait till the divorce papers comes and it says she wants the pc's and the house and the cars LMFAO

but cant wait to see this done

 

[jivetrky]

Ugh....that looks awesome....I'm drooling a little. can't wait to see it all together!

 

[dylskee]

His wife blames me for his computer addiction so I get almost as much grief as he does from his wife!!! Man I love that case and I can't believe you're going to put the side panel in MY HAAS to carve it up! You can push the button on that one! Oh and by the way, it seems i've mis-placed your memory but i'll gladly replace it with some value ram for ya.

Seriously though can't wait to see the progress of this build, nice setup bro!
**Subscribed**

 

[WejRepus]

where/how are you planning on mounting the rad?
i am starting am similar build with the tj07 and a 2x120 radiator

 

[rseven]

Good luck with it, SCORPIONlt1. Half the married guys in this forum would be single if our wives ever found out how much we've spent on computer gear. Make sure the receipts are well hidden and try to have them delivered when your wife can't see you sneak the parts in the house. Cheers!

 

[SCORPIONlt1]

where/how are you planning on mounting the rad?
i am starting am similar build with the tj07 and a 2x120 radiator

I am going to remove the hard drive bays and mount the radiator in the bottom where they use to be. I got the Silverstone CFP51 witch takes up 3 of the 7 5.25 bays and holds 3 hard drives. it also has a 120 fan. I'm only going to run duel 74GB raptors so i only need two hard drive bays.

http://www.silverstonetek.com/products-cfp51.htm

 

[SCORPIONlt1]

Good luck with it, SCORPIONlt1. Half the married guys in this forum would be single if our wives ever found out how much we've spent on computer gear. Make sure the receipts are well hidden and try to have them delivered when your wife can't see you sneak the parts in the house. Cheers!

I have all the parts delivered to work.

 

[rseven]

I have all the parts delivered to work.

LOL! Smart man!

 

[Dukeman]

My wife handles the finances so she knows exactly what I spend. Then remindes me occasionally that she never says no .

 

[SCORPIONlt1]

Stainless Steel Barbs

Well I have started on one little mod that needed to be done. I can’t stand plastic barbs on my water cooling blocks. And nobody bakes a proper metal barb for the Swiftech water blocks. Some people use ones with a ¼ G thread but that thread is very different. The ¼ G is a 19 TPI thread but even worse is it is a 55 degree included angle thread. A ¼ NPSM thread is an 18 TPI thread with a 60 degree included angle. There is no way I’m going to put a thread with that many different characteristics in to my $80 water block. So I made my own barbs out of 303 SS on a CNC Swiss machine. They have the proper thread and are much more durable than the plastic

Hers a pic of what I came up with. that's the stock plastic on the right

 

[jivetrky]

Well I have stated on one little mod that needed to be done. I can’t stand plastic barbs on my water cooling blocks. And nobody bakes a proper metal barb for the Swiftech water blocks. Some people use ones with a ¼ G thread but that thread is very different. The ¼ G is a 19 TPI thread but even worse is it is a 55 degree included angle thread. A ¼ NPSM thread is an 18 TPI thread with a 60 degree included angle. There is no way I’m going to put a thread with that many different characteristics in to my $80 water block. So I made my own barbs out of 303 SS on a CNC Swiss machine. They have the proper thread and are much more durable than the plastic

Hers a pic of what I came up with. thats the stock plastic on the right

Wow, that's awesome. Where do all of you people get access to CNC machines and stuff like that? schools? or is everyone on this forum a machinist or something?

 

[||Console||]

Very nice , Cant waite to see the build finished . Did you make any more of those barbs ? If what you say is true about the barb problems im sure there will be a few ppl here that would buy them from you.

 

[dylskee]

Very nice , Cant waite to see the build finished . Did you make any more of those barbs ? If what you say is true about the barb problems im sure there will be a few ppl here that would buy them from you.

We made a dozen or so but we have the means to make plenty more.

 

[SCORPIONlt1]

I work in a machine shop that is owned by my family so that’s where I get access to the CNCs. Dylskee Works with me if you couldn't tell. He programs a HAAS CNC milling machine. I came up with the dimensions and our buddy Billy who programs the Swiss CNC machines made the barbs for me.
This is my project log so I don't want to say anything about selling stuff but when I get access to the classifieds I may see if anyone is interested. The other problem with barbs like these is that Stainless Steel barbs would cost a lot. Witch is why no one makes them. In high production situations chrome plated brass is the economical way to go. Glad you guys like them

 

[SCORPIONlt1]

here is a pic of what the barbs look like in my Storm

 

[jivetrky]

Those are slick!

 

[Femto]

Looks awesome so far

Keep up the great work, I'm drooling all over my keyboard right now

 

[SCORPIONlt1]

well I got the case totally disassembled. now I'm going to clean up all the sharp edges and look into getting all the aluminum anodized that's not already. here's a pic of all the pieces. it's amazing how much spring there is in the main piece. it kind of popped open when i took out the last screw, surprised the crap out of me.

 

[Seven]

That case looks amazing, very very nice.

The reason it popped open is the way that those cases are made. Basically tyhe front is made on automotive quality metal rolling equipment, and getting that 1 piece shape is very very difficult. Anyway, looking great so far.

I'm doing a project like this and I can't wait to see how it turns out in this instance.

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