HELIOS (Caselabs SMH10 | black/copper | EVGA SR-2 | Geforce Titan) - by alpenwasser - Page 22

alpenwasser · #**211** 19-07-13, 04:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AverageNinja

That raystorm is

Very nice mate! Keep them updates coming

Thanks mate, I will!

Quote:

Originally Posted by antihero

May I ask how you're planning to run your pumps? I'm a big fan of the idea of dual pumps. I've been looking at the RP-452X2 bay res from Koolance but I can't find the PMP-450 anywhere and I fancy a tube res anyway.

In series, see here for more info on why.
Basically, parallel pumps are not a very good idea in most scenarios.

In place of the PMP-450 you can pick any D5 Vario pump. If the tach signal is important
to you, pay attention to that, not all models come with it (though AFAIK you can
add it with some soldering on any D5).

Alphacool sell a D5 motor without tach signal, whereas AquaComputer sell one with
Tach signal (I have two AquaComp motors with Alphacool tops).
I also think that Swiftech has recently come out with a PWM D5, maybe that would
also be of interest to you.

I would definitely recommend a tube res over a bay res, or at least not a bay res
with integrated pump mounts. The D5 does give off vibrations (i.e. noise) when you
do not dampen it properly, and having it in a bay reservoir makes that a very difficult
task indeed. I think it would be quite noticeable unless the rest of your rig is rather
loud as well.

antihero · #**212** 19-07-13, 05:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by alpenwasser

In series, see here for more info on why.
Basically, parallel pumps are not a very good idea in most scenarios.

In place of the PMP-450 you can pick any D5 Vario pump. If the tach signal is important
to you, pay attention to that, not all models come with it (though AFAIK you can
add it with some soldering on any D5).

Alphacool sell a D5 motor without tach signal, whereas AquaComputer sell one with
Tach signal (I have two AquaComp motors with Alphacool tops).
I also think that Swiftech has recently come out with a PWM D5, maybe that would
also be of interest to you.

I would definitely recommend a tube res over a bay res, or at least not a bay res
with integrated pump mounts. The D5 does give off vibrations (i.e. noise) when you
do not dampen it properly, and having it in a bay reservoir makes that a very difficult
task indeed. I think it would be quite noticeable unless the rest of your rig is rather
loud as well.

Ohh the almighty Martin wrote an article about it!! I can't believe I didn't notice considering the time I spend on his blog.

Yes, I'm aware of the MCP655 PWM but there are no Swiftech resellers where I live so essentially all Swiftech products are unavailable to me.

I've heard of that issue with bay reservoirs before, there was also another 900D specific issue on OCN but I can't happen to find the thread anymore.
Since we're already talking about reservoirs, how are you liking that 250ml (?) Aqualis Pro?

alpenwasser · #**213** 19-07-13, 07:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by antihero

Ohh the almighty Martin wrote an article about it!! I can't believe I didn't notice considering the time I spend on his blog.

I actually failed to find it via his site's navigation and had to resort to Google to
find it again when I checked just now.

Quote:

Originally Posted by antihero

Since we're already talking about reservoirs, how are you liking that 250ml (?) Aqualis Pro?

So far I'm pretty damn happy with it. Build quality is absolutely phenomenal. The
glass cylinder is really solid and thick (and has some substantial heft to it). Also,
it's machine washable (the glass cylinder) since borosilicate glass is extremely
resistant to most chemicals. The workmanship on the Acetal parts is also
excellent.

I will upload some detailed pics when I get to modding the reservoir (intend to
paint some parts of it).

Overall it's not cheap, but from what I've seen so far I can definitely recommend
it. Since it's so durable it can easily be considered a long term investment, so the
price evens out over time.

antihero · #**214** 19-07-13, 09:40 PM

You've got me sold, build quality is a major factor in my purchase.

Do you have the regular 450 ml (my bad, they don't even do 250 ml ones) version without the nano coating?

btw seems like the Alphacool D5 pumps also come with a tach signal - http://www.alphacool.com/product_inf...ml?language=en

alpenwasser · #**215** 19-07-13, 09:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by antihero

You've got me sold, build quality is a major factor in my purchase.

Same here. I will easily go for a product with slightly worse performance and better
build quality (at least most of the time).

Quote:

Originally Posted by antihero

Do you have the regular 450 ml (my bad, they don't even do 250 ml ones) version without the nano coating?

Yes, the regular version. The nano coating one was out of stock when I placed my
order, and I didn't really feel like waiting another few weeks just for that (AquaComputer
are a bit notorious for their sometimes not exactly stellar delivery times).

I'm not sure how much of an improvement the nano coating really brings though,
but if they had had it in stock I would have tried it out.

I also wanted to buy their pump top and place the reservoir directly on the pumps,
but that was out of stock as well, so...

Quote:

Originally Posted by antihero

btw seems like the Alphacool D5 pumps also come with a tach signal - http://www.alphacool.com/product_inf...ml?language=en

Ha, did not know that, I always thought there motor was without tach. Ah well...

alpenwasser · #**216** 22-07-13, 04:37 PM

A Copper Face Plate for the Lamptron FC5V2

While I really like the brushed alu look on the FC5V2, it doesn't really fit all that
well into the rough powder coat on the Caselabs case. So instead of having two
black things which are not the same sort of black I thought I'd turn the fan controller
into an element of contrast and make a polished copper face plate for it.

Taking Things Apart

First I took the fan controller apart to see how everything fits together and get
access to its existing face plate so that I could fit the new one to it.

(click image for full res)

Sketching Things Out

The new plate will be made from a 1~1.2 mm (not sure anymore) piece of copper
sheet I had laying around. First: Use the old plate as a stencil and sketch the outlines
of the new plate onto the sheet of copper.

(click image for full res)

Raw Cut

After some Dremel work it looked like this:

(click image for full res)

Current Status

After lots and lots of filing, sanding and polishing (~5 hours), it currently looks like
this. It is not yet completely flawless, but I'll save the rest of the work for when the
build is in its closing stages. Since the surface is very finicky I don't want to spend
lots of time making it absolutely perfect now only to possibly damage it in a mishap
during the build and then have to redo the whole thing.

(click image for full res)

The new plate is simply taped to the stock plate. It's a lot easier (and cleaner) than
having to drill holes for the screws into the new plate.

(click image for full res)

(click image for full res)

That's it for today. As always, thanks for stopping by.