Building another Box (full tower this time)

[hackintosh]

I was trying to think what to do with the fans because the ones on the front of the box and the back are red and I am not a big fan of red and black, and the fans on the rads are flat black.
So if I paint the box fans they wont match up properly which really would have bothered me.
I was trying to figure out what I thought would be a good look and I came up with the idea of painting all the fans Night Hawk Black Pearl which is a honda color. It is black with a blue pearl in it, and when I put leds on all the fans you should really see the peal shinning through, and it will match the blue tubing and leds inside the case.

 

[m0r7if3r]

one thing you want to watch with painting fans is how even your coating is, if you get an uneven coat, the fins will be weighted differently and it will spin slightly off axis and be a good bit louder than it should. I'm really liking this build though, and you haven't even started. I can tell I'm gonna learn a lot from this one

 

[Conumdrum]

From what i have read, it's thin patient coats. No rush. Thin coat, rotate 90 degrees next coat etc etc.

 

[hackintosh]

I am going to be very careful with the painting. With the Ultra Kaze's spinning at 3000 rpm any little bit throw them off could be very annoying.


anyway the case came in today so work will begin tomorrow!
After reading everyones hate for the case, after getting it I must say that this is a case that I would not count out until you have seen it in person. There are a lot of features that I like about the case and only a couple things I am on the fence about right now.

Like the psu is mounted upside down, I am not sure how I like that since I am trying to keep all the heat out of the middle of the case. With the front sealed I am not sure how the air is going to move inside the case, but we will find out.

 

[m0r7if3r]

Like the psu is mounted upside down, I am not sure how I like that since I am trying to keep all the heat out of the middle of the case. With the front sealed I am not sure how the air is going to move inside the case, but we will find out.

if the df85 is anything like the 1200 the psu mounting is reversable if you take out the atx plate and just flip it over.

 

[hackintosh]

Well I decided the weather outside sucks and thought I would take a couple minutes to play around.

I removed all the wiring from the case and the front panel and went to work on the hdd case and I got it removed.
The front rad fits perfect, its almost like this case was designed for a 360gtx
But on the back side the the back panel needs to be timmed by about 3/4 of an inch in order to make the rad fit. I am going to take out the tray tonight and I might trim it down, now sure yet.

 

[m0r7if3r]

you sure you need to trim the tray? if you put the fans on the outside the spacing might be right with the tray...unless it's interfering differently than i'm picturing

 

[hackintosh]

The tray runs into the middle of the rad, so the rad doesnt fit in the space. Her is a little picture so you see what i mean and where the tray hits the rad

 

[hackintosh]

second rad fitting after a little dremel work


This is about all I am going to get done today considering it is football sunday and I go watch the games somewhere till 8.

Plan for tomorrow is make some brackets for the rads. Then work on blocking in the rads. Once I have that done I am going to start working on fitting in the pump and res.

 

[hackintosh]

Well it looks like I will end up running the gentle typhoons because the Ultra Kazes stick out more than I thought. You have to love those simple miss calculations.

I am a little bummed because I was really looking forward to the cooling power of the Ultra Kaze fans. But I might keep a couple of them and use them on the inside of the rads

 

[Conumdrum]

Hey Hack, why don't you just get a tech station? Kids? No? Cats No?



Easy Button.

 

[m0r7if3r]

Well it looks like I will end up running the gentle typhoons because the Ultra Kazes stick out more than I thought. You have to love those simple miss calculations.

I am a little bummed because I was really looking forward to the cooling power of the Ultra Kaze fans. But I might keep a couple of them and use them on the inside of the rads

to my eye (and by the calculations I ran earlier), the ultra kazes should work, what's the issue? Space between em?

EDIT: hey con, is that Thermochill rad flexing, or is it a trick of the camera?

 

[hackintosh]

Couple reasons I didn't do a bench.

1. 2 cats and one dog and they all shed like crazy
2. Until I came to this site I had never even seen a bench
3. I have no clue to even start on one, with a case I know how to start and what I do


With the Ultra Kaze I would practically have to have the radiators touching and I need to keep enough space to mount my pump between them.

 

[m0r7if3r]

ah, I see...any chance you could get a pic, just for future reference?

 

[hackintosh]

Yea I will try and grab a pic tonight.

 

[hackintosh]

Here you go.
If I wanted the fans to sit flush with the side of the case I would not be able to connect the rads because two fittings will not fit.
I have decided instead of going with the gentle typhons which still would be a really really almost impossible fit I am just going to cut the side of the case and let the fans stick out a little. I will just create some kind of a shroud on the side of the case.
It sucks and won't be as pretty as I wanted but I will just have to live with it for now.

In a couple months I am just going to buy with an 800d, or tj07 but I will also be upgrading my system with some more cooling and possibly another video card and different mobo. But I am limited because of my dual cpu setup.


one good thing about me allowing the fans to stick through the case is that between the cd rom cage and the side of the case I will not need to mount the radiators to anything. Even without the sides on they are in there pretty solid, I have to use a lot of force to get them to come out.
Mounting the Fan controller is going to prove to be difficult as I don't really have any room. But thats half the fun isn't it, trying to make everything fit!

 

[Conumdrum]

Get stubby fittings. Really short barbs. I'd for sure clamp them with hose clamps tho.
http://www.dangerden.com/store/micro-stubby-sli-fitting.html

 

[hackintosh]

even with those fittings it wouldnt fit because the front two fittings would almost touch which would make it impossible to run any of the lines out of the rad to the components.
I am fine with leaving the fans out of the case for now. I can just get a new case in 6 months or so. Maybe a sealed bench station
My only real issue with the bench now is that I move often so it is nice to have a box that I can just pick up and go with.

 

[m0r7if3r]

what if you had the barbs on opposite sides? one up top one at the bottom...or do you have it like that?

 

[hackintosh]

in order to get the fans to sit flush I would only have the distance of one of the compression fittings between the two rads so I dont feel that would be enough room to fit the hose considering it is 1/2 and run it even if I inverted one rad.


I could change to the 28mm gentle typhoons but I don't think I want to deal with returning everything. At this point I just want to keep the ball rolling forward with the build as I use my computer everyday for work so I cant have it down for long. Right now I have not taken the other box apart because I am trying to find grommets to run though the metal I will use to block off the case.
So if anyone has a suggestion on where to get them please let me know because I have had no luck.