Project Dual Loop and Tidy Up

[Ducky Spud]

Following on from this thread where I was doing my first real mods to my PC, Im now working on finishing it off to a high standard and just making it look good!

This is my PC as it is now

Not too bad, but as the photo shows the cables are a bit messy and need sorting out so will be working on those. Also going to be painting the internals matt black. Also adding watercooling to my GPU and hoping to get a fully internal dual loop in my PC-A07 seen dual loops in them before but never fully internal... we'll see how this works out haha. Basic plan is like this: (excuse the shoddy sketchup skills)

Its a pretty rough idea but you can figure out the second loop, straight down from one of the res's into the DDC below, then into rad in front then the GPU block. Main problem Ive noticed so far is getting those res's to fit properly but should be possible. Would be easier using res tops for the pumps but wheres the fun in that

Anyway, photo of the pile of bits I've been collecting over time, still need the GPU block and tubing and then a few other little bits (black screws and such) but other than that I think Im all sorted

Spent all day braiding the cable extensions, takes forever but think they look alright. Need to do the rest of the case now which Im not looking forward too!

Doing all this is gonna mean Im gonna have to either use my mums pc or be running this one in a cardboard box lol. Need the weather to pick up a bit too for spraying the case, this constant rain isnt helping at all and dont want to be on my mums useless old thing for too long!

Anyway, not much more to update for a while, not much more I can do until I take my PC to bits and not too sure when that will be

 

[stevej696]

Nice pc looks very good :drool:

Which case is that??

 

[tinytomlogan]

Is that etch primer mate? If not you need some for alu.

 

[Ducky Spud]

Is that etch primer mate? If not you need some for alu.

Doesnt say that on it? Web page for it doesnt say much either link

Says its alright for bare metal, is alu different tham most in some way?

And steve, its a Lian Li PC-A07B. Dont think they make it anymore, cant see it on they're site. Theres loads of different versions of the PC7 case with only slight differences, easy enough to find some of them

 

[Pat123]

How did you do that model of the case?

 

[Ducky Spud]

It was done using Google Sketchup (link)

Not done much of that myself, its all various parts Ive downloaded and then just arranged how I wanted them Some people create some pretty good stuff but Im not very good at using it lol

 

[stevej696]

Cheers for reply. I see what you mean about the pc7 series, cant see any major differences. Tidy little cases.

Keep up the good work! Looks awesome now, definatly gunna keep an eye on this one

 

[Ducky Spud]

Small update for you Ripped my PC apart, completely stripped the case down so all clips, switches, feet etc are off and primed it Drilled the holes for mounting my pump and drilled out the rivets holding in the hard drive cage first too so I wont go messing up my case after its painted!! Did a coat or primer this morning and another about 30 mins ago.

In the time between that Ive braided a couple more cables, SATA ones and my other pump. Also marked up where I need to cut the front panel to fit the rad grill so the rad can get a bit more air too it than the case allows at the moment.

Got a few photos but Im off to work now so will upload them later on They're not exactly exciting anyway haha

 

[tinytomlogan]

Yeah alu is different matey, you need to use etch primer then go over the top with plenty of normal primer.

If you dont the paint wont last 5mins.

 

[Ducky Spud]

Not updated this on here for a few days! Just a few photos from the last couple of days.

The case completely stripped down of everything!! Photo before it was cleaned and prepped for painting so still all the greasy finger prints and such on there.

Dont know if its very clear, but just marked up the area I need to remove from the front panel here. Still not got round to this, but its pretty much next on the list, not much else I can do til the next deliveries get here in a few days

PC mid painting, this is after 2 or 3 coats I think. Added a couple more after this though. Tom, I couldnt find etch primer at homebase (pretty much the only place that sells paint anywhere near me) so just sanded the case down a bit, did a few coats with the normal primer, 4 or 5 coats of black and 3 lots of top coat! Seems to be holding up alright for now though

Then test fitting parts for the new loop. This is when it had 2 coats of primer, about 5 coats of black, before I did the top coat. Its looking alright, should hopefully all fit. Sadly camera/me is rubbish so photos arent great but you get the idea

Looks like it should all fit alright. Just going to be the tubing at the res's which may be a problem, the heatsinks on my RAM may get in the way as they're pretty epic... Just wait and see!

Last photo... bit more braiding haha. Mostly done now, just a couple of problems with trying to figure out the HDD power cable and how best to braid it Plus need to get some PCI-E extensions but am officially now skint haha

Ordered the GPU block, adapter, tubing and some more RAM sinks the other day and got them this morning. Also ordered a hell of a lot of allen cap bolts and such to finish off the build. Should be building it all up by the end of the week, fingers crossed

Wont be complete till next month though, aside from not having the money to finish off the cables fully and a few other bits, I also dont have my spare front bezels with me, they're in Sheffield, Im currently at my mums haha. PC will be almost complete with just a few holes in the front

One thing im still not sure about, is should i go for a loop with gpu and mosfets cooled by the single tfc rad and the other loop just being the cpu and nb cooled by a xspc rs240? Or stick with my original plan of gpu only and the other loop staying as it is already? Any ideas on these would be great

 

[Ducky Spud]

Just finished off the front panel... sort of

Thats not the grill I want to use in the long term. Want one to match the hex grill I have on the top but cant find one anywhere!! May end up just buying 2 new grills, probably the common old stripes ones

But yea, front pretty much done there! The actual cuts need sanding down a bit more, they're still a little rough, but on the whole not looking too bad

 

[Ducky Spud]

Right, nobody has commented since my last update, but still, system is pretty much built up and finished now! Still plan on going i5 next month, but need somthing in the time being so built it back up with the P5Q-E and E8500. Will give me a chance to compare temps and such this way too. I expect them to be better purely because of the better airflow from having a decent grill in the front.

Anyway, photos. And lets start boring haha, all the nuts and screws and things I bought, wanted to do this case right, all the little details too

Test fitting a few parts for the new loop

Sorting the loops out and fitting the GPU block. I decided to include the mosfets in the GPU loop in the end. Makes it a bit of a mess of tubing inside but think it would be the most even distribution for the loops really.

Naked card!

And in its new outfit

Still trying to figure out the best way for the last bits of the loop here. GPU loop sorted but the NB/CPU loop still needs a few finishing bits sorting.

And there, finally finished! Its one hell of a mess in there and did all this before connecting the front panel wires... doing it after this was pretty tricky haha

One loop filled...

Two loops filled

The purple looks pretty good here in my opinion... check out the photos later on to see it the morning after, looks well faded The res's are at slightly different heights or there was not enough room for the tubing

System turned on, pumps working, fans spinning... all looking good! Apart from that gap in the front haha! Still need some elastic to bungee mount my HDD's in there, and also need to get my spare bezels, theyre in Sheffield and Im not back there until the 8th Oct! Excuse the blur, I have trouble taking photos with the flash off but they look better when they do work out

The obligatory close up shots of rad grills! People always seem to include them so here are my battered old ones! Need to get some new ones that match anyway

And after it taking so much time I wanted to get a photo of the 24pin cable... this is about as good as it gets haha. Wraps round the tubing which is leaving the bottom of the purple res

And just because sombody always asks to see the back too, my average cable tidy job

Pics of it this morning, check out how much more... watery I guess, the purple is. Its faded loads. And everybody moans about Feser leaving gunk, the pink is Feser and apart from dying my res its been fine. The purple is Primochill ICE and its left loads of gunk all round the waterline in the res Not the best... And it doesnt glow under UV and its supposed to... Personally Im sticking with Feser from now on!! Also SATA power cable just hanging down... sorry, like I said, its not in use yet so just there temporarily until I get hard drives sorted out

And thats it for now! Still need to get the hard drives in there like I said, but on the whole I think thats pretty well done, and its a pretty thorough job! Every screw replaced pretty much, mobo screws, case screws, fan screws... everything lol. The PCI-E cables need work as mentioned in another post earlier, but they can wait, just need to buy and braid some extensions. Also, as Tom mentioned, the paint is damagable. Its held up to a few good knocks but a few bits have chipped where, for example, Ive been struggling to get a screw in or whatever.

But yea, fully internal dual loops in a Lian Li PC7... quite a feat! Hope you guys like!

 

[Freak]

you ort to get some from mayhem when he gets back from his hols.

 

[Diablo]

Yeah primochill is a rubbish, the blue fades really fast. Looks like a really nice project, love the braided cables and the res mounting. Nice and simple...I like it.

 

[Ducky Spud]

you ort to get some from mayhem when he gets back from his hols.

Not a bad idea that! I'd not even thought about it.

Cheers diablo I bought the res's off retrogamer on here and he sent the mount with them haha, made it a lot easier but all credit goes to him for that one!

 

[tinytomlogan]

Id be worried about the cooling on the gpu, please keep checking the sinks on that 2nd smaller chip, a for heat and b to check they are still on there

when glue gets hot it gets soft, with a small contact area they may fall off

 

[sammytomjohn]

when glue gets hot it gets soft, with a small contact area they may fall off

and then it wil be byebye card!

 

[Ducky Spud]

and then it wil be byebye card!

I dont want it to be bye bye card!

I know those 2 dont look very secure but theyre quite well stuck. Had ati tool testing out some higher clocks for around half hour last night, played a bit of GRID and GTA IV and all seems to be holding up well. Ideally I would have a larger heatsink for it but could only thing of NB ones and would have no idea how to mount them You guys any ideas?