Update Time
My Old Rig
I took my old rig apart last week and needed to get a few things in order before being able to
properly continue the log.
My old rig had been in a Xigmatek Elysium since December 2011, and previously to that I
had been using a Lian Li PC-343B since about September 2007. The Elysium I picked
due to its many 5.25" bays since I was running two Aquadrives and another 3 HDD's on air,
and even though it has quite a few faults, the core chassis is sturdy enough to handle all that
weight quite well. Also, it's quite affordable for what it offers, which was relevant as well.
I won't go into too much detail here since you will be seeing most of its parts in other upcoming
rigs, so for now I give you a few impressions of the old lady.
Overview
As one can see, it was not exactly a work of art. Due to budget and time constraints
I had to make a few compromises, but it did its job, and it did it well. It just didn't look very
elegant doing it
HDD's
The Front
The two Aquadrives at the bottom housed 4 x WD RE4 2 TB, 3 x Samsung 1 TB and
1 x Samsung 750 GB, above that I had 2 x Samsung 500 GB and 1 x WD Velociraptor
150 GB.
Cable "Management"
Yes, ahem, as I said, not exactly a work of art
Some Dust
As you can see above, the radiator was at the top of the case, and it pushed air out. It's not
very dusty where I live, and it looks a lot worse here than it actually was. The dust was
really only at the radiator's fins' edges. But yes, it was time for a cleaning anyway
The Raystorm
Since XSPC could not deliver Raystorms for a while, I had to wait a few weeks between getting
my first one and the second one. Interestingly, they changed the surface work on the copper
top. The one I got from an earlier production batch had milling marks on top, whereas the newer
one was buffed to some degree.
These two different surfaces won't really go together, so I will be polishing them both to a nice
mirror shine (that was always my intention anyway, but now it has become a necessity).
The Earlier Sample
You can see the milling marks quite clearly here, especially in the full version of the pic (click
for that).
The Newer Sample
The difference is quite striking, especially so in person. These two would not look right next
to each other as soon as they are hit by light.
Sanding and Polishing: Round One
There are still lots of micro scratches in the surface, although they are only visible if the light
hits them at the right angle. Not good enough yet, but I've never done this before, so I estimate
it will take me a while and a few tries to get this right. But this would be boring without having
the occasional challenge and learning new stuff, so that's ok
.
This is the one from the earlier batch, and so far I've spent about five hours working the surface.
Custom Copper Cover
I wanted to try out how a it would look replacing the black cover with a copper one. This was
two days of Dremel work and filing by hand, and it's still in a rather crude stage, as one can
easily see from the edges. However, it was enough to allow me to get an impression of how
it would look. I painted the silver alu bracket black with a sharpie and placed the copper
cover on it.
But alas, it was just too much copper, and I doubt I will be going with this for the final build.
It was an interesting Dremel challenge though. Most likely I think I will paint the silver
bracket black. The silver just doesn't quite look right to me.
I didn't want to paint the black covers with copper (I do have copper spray paint, which you
will see later), since for one I was skeptical if it would look right from the get-go and I didn't
want to ruin the original covers, and secondly if it had looked right I would have felt like I
was cheating.
Custom Cover on Block
I forgot to take any pictures with the black sharpie on it, but trust me, it was still not right.
Also keep in mind that I will probably have two Alphacool RAM blocks (yes, I bloody know
they are pointless, but I like the looks, probably
) in copper next to these.
Next up I will be planning the cable management (and therefore possibly custom cables),
but that will be a tricky one, so don't expect me to solve that problem within the next
two days.
That's it for now, thanks for watching. Stay tuned for the build in which the UT60 will end up
this is an awesome setup wish i had that setup to work with and the hardware your using those rads are insane cant wait for more pics .not that i can talk been a bit lazy on that front myself lol
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