- Joined
- Jan 5, 2005
- Location
- Ormond Beach, FL.
I'm at MC yesterday and I see an open box special on the Antec Skeleton. Yes, I'm one of the weird ones that loves the case. I'm wondering if there is anyway to watercool with that puppy with my gear below. It all has to be external and it has to be portable. I have to be able to carry it all in one piece.
I bleed and take my old rig apart and so it begins.
[URL=http://img525.imageshack.us/i/008ggp.jpg/]
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The 8800GT's will fit just fine under the top, but unfortunately, not with the full waterblocks on them. Nothing removing 12 screws doesn't solve.
[URL=http://img525.imageshack.us/i/012qbx.jpg/]
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Put the cards in and the top back on for a second just to be sure this isn't a lost cause. Eerything fits, but just barely.
[URL=http://img20.imageshack.us/i/013rzc.jpg/]
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Now that that's out of the way, what to do with the rad? Out come the trusty zip zies.
[URL=http://img195.imageshack.us/i/015nxr.jpg/]
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I was trying to utilize both cards in the 16x slots, but I couldn't get it to work. I had to use way more tubing for this than I normally do and that would have made it worse. I may see about getting one of those joiners for single slot spaces later.
I finish it up this morning and carry it back into the bedroom and it's alive! I'm stuck with an IDE DVD writer for now. My Pioneer SATA crapped out last week so I put the drive it replaced back in. I see why I bought the Pionerr now, the eject button doesn't always work on this one, but at least it reads disks.
[URL=http://img524.imageshack.us/i/021epc.jpg/]
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I boot up and as soon as Windows loads, it shuts down. I do this about 3 times and then I figure out Everset is shutting it down due to some setting I have for auto shutdown for temps or pump. I know the CPU temps are fine. I was concerned I did something seating the GPUS because getting the perfect size middle tubing between the blocks is a pain in the butt. Too short or long and the cards start bending in ways you don't want, the bracket holddown holes don't line up, and the SLI bridge won't fit. Then it hits me. I had everest to shut down when my pump drops below 3,000 rpms. I had the pump plugged into a different header before. Had to bootup in safe mode and uninstall the program and everything is peachy now. I thought that the program would run if I tried it in safe mode so that I could adjust it, but it does.
The only things I don't like ablout the case are:
LEDS's: I absolutely hate LED lights. I can't sleep at night with these bright things glowing in the dark. You can change between 10 color combinations on the 250mm, but one of the choices is not "off". The led's will be snipped on the controller very soon too. Id do that to my PSU if I could too.
Instructions: I feel like an idiot because it took a good half an hour to figure out that the motherboard tray was removeable (that part is in the instruction at least saying it's removable) and that th PSU brace was removable. I couldn't figure out how to fit a 5" wide psu into a 4" hole.
Only room for two 3.5" in devices. I need to figure out what to do with my SSD drive. They give you four braces that look to be external mounts, but they don't tell you where to mount them. I'm guessing it has to be on the wire mesh door covers on the sdes, but my rad in tied to the right side and my pump is protruding out the left, so no mesh covers available.
All my temps dropped over 5 degress with this setup. I have no kids or pets living with me, so the open air design shouldn't be much of any issue. The 250mm fan should blow stuff of the motherboard.
I bleed and take my old rig apart and so it begins.
[URL=http://img525.imageshack.us/i/008ggp.jpg/]
[/URL]The 8800GT's will fit just fine under the top, but unfortunately, not with the full waterblocks on them. Nothing removing 12 screws doesn't solve.
[URL=http://img525.imageshack.us/i/012qbx.jpg/]
[/URL]Put the cards in and the top back on for a second just to be sure this isn't a lost cause. Eerything fits, but just barely.
[URL=http://img20.imageshack.us/i/013rzc.jpg/]
[/URL]Now that that's out of the way, what to do with the rad? Out come the trusty zip zies.
[URL=http://img195.imageshack.us/i/015nxr.jpg/]
[/URL]I was trying to utilize both cards in the 16x slots, but I couldn't get it to work. I had to use way more tubing for this than I normally do and that would have made it worse. I may see about getting one of those joiners for single slot spaces later.
I finish it up this morning and carry it back into the bedroom and it's alive! I'm stuck with an IDE DVD writer for now. My Pioneer SATA crapped out last week so I put the drive it replaced back in. I see why I bought the Pionerr now, the eject button doesn't always work on this one, but at least it reads disks.
[URL=http://img524.imageshack.us/i/021epc.jpg/]
[/URL]I boot up and as soon as Windows loads, it shuts down. I do this about 3 times and then I figure out Everset is shutting it down due to some setting I have for auto shutdown for temps or pump. I know the CPU temps are fine. I was concerned I did something seating the GPUS because getting the perfect size middle tubing between the blocks is a pain in the butt. Too short or long and the cards start bending in ways you don't want, the bracket holddown holes don't line up, and the SLI bridge won't fit. Then it hits me. I had everest to shut down when my pump drops below 3,000 rpms. I had the pump plugged into a different header before. Had to bootup in safe mode and uninstall the program and everything is peachy now. I thought that the program would run if I tried it in safe mode so that I could adjust it, but it does.
The only things I don't like ablout the case are:
LEDS's: I absolutely hate LED lights. I can't sleep at night with these bright things glowing in the dark. You can change between 10 color combinations on the 250mm, but one of the choices is not "off". The led's will be snipped on the controller very soon too. Id do that to my PSU if I could too.
Instructions: I feel like an idiot because it took a good half an hour to figure out that the motherboard tray was removeable (that part is in the instruction at least saying it's removable) and that th PSU brace was removable. I couldn't figure out how to fit a 5" wide psu into a 4" hole.
Only room for two 3.5" in devices. I need to figure out what to do with my SSD drive. They give you four braces that look to be external mounts, but they don't tell you where to mount them. I'm guessing it has to be on the wire mesh door covers on the sdes, but my rad in tied to the right side and my pump is protruding out the left, so no mesh covers available.
All my temps dropped over 5 degress with this setup. I have no kids or pets living with me, so the open air design shouldn't be much of any issue. The 250mm fan should blow stuff of the motherboard.
