A70 Build Log

[GavX]

Well I figured I might as well do a wee build log now that my A70 has arrived!

Tom from TTL kindly got me a Lian Li A70, powdercoated the interior Firetruck Red, added a grill in the roof as well as a window, and here it is!:

mmm, tasty indeed

And this is what it will be replacing, my ageing Antec 900:

Nice upgrade I think!

On to the PC itself. Nothing special, just a file server/web browser really, but I thought it deserved a pretty home!

Athlon X2 5000+ Black Edition (stock, at the moment)

ASUS M2N SLi Deluxe (570a chipset)

2Gb G.Skill Hunter Killer 4-4-3-5 800Mhz

460w Corsair PSU

Creative X-Fi

Logitech Z5500's

About 2Tb of storage

Our keen eyed viewers will have spotted watercooling toys in the first picture, the A70 will be getting the watercooled treatment! Just cheap parts but I thought it would be a shame to use air cooling in such a pretty case!

I will hopefully be building this up Saturday night if I can persuade my friend to come over to help/photos etc, so keep an eye out for an update then!

Again, but thanks to TinyTom for the case, as you can see he done a sterling job!

 

[GavX]

OM NOM NOM!

 

[tinytomlogan]

w0000t do breathe a sigh of relief when they arrive safe.

Get on with the build log and dont forget to update the thread in my forum dude

Just realised it looks very 80's sheek does that case

 

[GavX]

First problem, I have 5 optical drive bays, I use 5... what order? I have a Veris media thingy (2 bays) and I was thinking of putting that at the top, since its *****in' looking. I also have a bay resevoir/pump combo thing, a dvd drive and a fan controller, that order sound best? I was going to get the res as high as possibly, but for purpose of filing etc right at the top is not ideal, so 3rd highest should be ok. thoughts?

 

[lasher]

As your using a combo unit dont worry abut height placement, you may have a job bleeding the air out if the rad is roof mounted but once you've assured the connections and have no leaks a few shakes and tilting will dislodge any air from the system.

When i used a bay res i left just enough slack on the hosing to allow it to be pulled enough foreward to allow a small long necked funnel to the fill screw port.

 

[sammytomjohn]

hi gav i see you are gettin urself well medicated with the ol' kronenbourg to help settle the new build nerves

 

[sammytomjohn]

nice case by the way well done tom

 

[GavX]

Good point with the fillport, I am sure I can keep an inch or 2 slack so I can fill it if need be, but the Veris will be taking the top spot I think as it looks cool, if I have the res just under nether means that should I need to do some maintanance that is not just slipping it out a bit, it can easily be done!

Needing some M3 bolts from B&Q before I can mount the rad, so basically just got the fan controller stuck in tonight... still, it looks good and cable management is a doddle since I found a perfect sized gap on the front of the case behind the front cover that is ideal for fan cables!

The 1664 is what is left from Wednesday night Apparently I am weird for drinking at 8:20...

 

[GavX]

Well sadly my friend done a no show (No drinks for them!) so I soldiered on alone, with my awesome camera work.

I did run into a few problem's, firstly I don't actually ahve bolts for the radiator, so a quick run to B&Q and that should be sorted. The screws for the HDD are currently unavaliable and should be with me Wednesday, so the completion date is then I guess!

Also for some reason only 3 out of 4 screws would play ball in the bay pump/res, no idea why, but 3 still do the job I guess.

Anyway, not alot of work done tonight, test fitted the radiator, installed the bay res/pump and got the fan installed with 4 fans. Not alot of work, but here are some pictures to keep you entertained.

*taps fingers* Hurry up Internet!*

Ah, here we go.

Me with some screws, facinating

The case from higher up, looks pearlesent (whatever its called when it changed colours!)

Front of case with dirty res and fan controller installed

Side shot

Sneaky hole for fan wires!

Roof from underneth, no idea why

As you can see my photo skills are not 1337, infact all were done sitting down...

 

[AntiHeroUK]

Looking good GavX. I can't wait to see it finished

 

[tinytomlogan]

Me either

*heads off to cut some red ttl customs vinyl decals for gav*

 

[PeterStoba]

Got one of these myself, love it, nice job on the paint tom

 

[GavX]

Well I never made it to B&Q today (partly as I only got out of bed 3 hours ago..) but still no rush, just waiting on the HDD screws to arrive, can't finish it without them Not much else I can do before they arrive as I can't go without my file server for long, all my tunes are on it!

 

[HafMaster]

MMMMMMMM

Yumm!

Looking good! I do like the red.

 

[Brooksie]

sexy

more pics pls

 

[matthod128]

That red powdercoating looks great against the black. Can't wait to see the finished product

 

[GavX]

Patience is a virtue friends Hopefully the HDD screws will arrive soon so I can finish the transfer. Never did make it to B&Q but can easily do that tonight, that way I can get some of the watercooling done and dusted. Going to try and get hold of another red SATA cable as I only have 3 red and a yellow, not good enough for this case!

On a side note, can you get away with running a PSU "upside down" on the A70? I noticed the PSU looks like it is going to hover off the bottom, can I get away with running it like that? Otherwise the sticker is going to be upside down! (I am not putting the PSU in the top for several reasons, firstly the radiator will be there, secondly I want as much weight in the base as possible)

 

[GavX]

She lives!! Albiet with a few technical difficulties... photos once they are sorted out, got a few when I was building it up, so after dinner hopefully upload em

 

[GavX]

Rad installed with 2 sharkoons

PSU, turns out upside down has a fair bit of room for intake

HDD screws

And hard drives (I know they are backwards, hoped I could have them like this, PSU wont let me)

The old dog

Shiney!

With CPU block

Mobo tray inside

added GPU

had to settle for ugly SATA at front

Tada!

Still needs some tidying

The two

I know I have a gap in the front, the Antec Veris hasn't yet made it over, and I will do that tomorrow with more pictures, tidying the cables a bit more, I just wanted this thing working so I could get my choons!

Thanks for reading

 

[tinytomlogan]

It actualy makes me proud to see TTL rigs being built up.