U2-UFO Project.

[Clunk]

Ouch.. sounds like they don't want to admit they're wrong.

That seems incredibly rude of them to complain about having to pay for replacements for damaged goods.

One thing though, surely if they're going to send out cases with plexiglass windows, wouldn't it make sense for them to be covered in a layer of that sticky plastic stuff so that it won't get scratched to bits in transit? Or even better.. package the spare bits and bobs in a separate cardboard box..?

Exactly.

Every cost that can be cut on these cases has been, right down to the screws that come with it, to the finish of the edges which are dangerously sharp, to the powder coating which scratches so easily, it is almost unbelievable, to the side panels that dont line up with the holes, to the 5.25 blanking plates that are lopsided..its a shame really, because it could be an awesome case.

[Colossous]

Exactly.

Every cost that can be cut on these cases has been, right down to the screws that come with it, to the finish of the edges which are dangerously sharp, to the powder coating which scratches so easily, it is almost unbelievable, to the side panels that dont line up with the holes, to the 5.25 blanking plates that are lopsided..its a shame really, because it could be an awesome case.

I'd been wondering where the progress with your project was at dude !! Sounds like a nightmare !! I bought mine 2nd hand but unused and did'nt have to go through the delivery bit !! I have'nt started mine yet as i'm finishing something else off first, the side and top panels are the bit i did'nt like (well flimsy) and i'm making new ones from 2mm aluminium. Mines the Opti 1203 (2 of the 5.25" drive cages) and i'm modding the case and will have a spare 5.25" cage in black that you can have if they dont sort you out duder, let me know if its any use ?

[Supershanks]

I can understand your feelings, think i'd be pretty teed off:-

These few observations :-
1)

"when the plexi plate is added it is registered as a second box, thus the increase."

what's with mm or what it adds no volume, minimal weight so as you say how can it add $20
2)

We also marked the parcel “GIFT” there is no “warranty replacement” category for marking

I would have thought that mm over the years would have got fairly well used to handling exports & therefore also how to account for warranty replacements which even with the best company & workmanship arise from time too time.
3)

The glue in which you are speaking is most likely leaking from other containers. Our packaging is not substandard – we’ve shipped thousands of cases oversees without a reaction like yours and very low damage ratios.

if this was the case there would be traces of glue on the outer packing. This glue would have to soak through 2 layers of cardboard, whatever material was round the case?? definately sounds plausable
4) Most EU suppliers will send replacements rather than expect a return. To expect a return as if it were a interstate sale is ridiculous.

don't inspire much confidence to me. I may be cynical but are export standards lower than those applied to the us mainland ??. Yes international shipping is stressing on shipped products that's why companies normally take great care. I personnaly don't know of any uk based case manufacturer, but we don't see many isssues with shipping normally, certainly not to the scale here. I know many uk outlets that supply hi end lian-li cases which are ordered & shipped individually from the far east.

I must admit have seen & heard of great things about mm, though nothing of customer service & quality control. I certainly don't think i'll be switching case. Which is a shame.

You seem to have a great case but built & shipped by muppets
Hope something can be sorted out of the shambles.
Really sorry. 1/10 to mm by the look of it

[Clunk]

OK, back to the build.

Last time, I was messing around with a pair of EK Multi Option Reservoirs (see pics further back), but unfortunately, they are just a few MM too wide to let me fit a second set of hard drive brackets to the rear 120.2 radiator, and were just touching the first set of hard drive brackets, which was making an annoying buzzing sound from the vibrations, so I had to ditch them and get something smaller, it took a couple of weeks to find them in stock, and was about to hit the button and buy from jab-tech, when Steve B found that Specialtech had some in stock....

The Swiftech MCRES-Micro reservoirs. Here they are with some brackets on, I didnt end up using the brackets as shown in the pic, same brackets, just a different way round.



Made a start on draining the CPU loop, and undoing some of the wires so I could reach other stuff.



As I was doing this, I lifted the pump up, and it was all wet underneath, but it wasnt water, it was the silicone gel mat that had melted and turned to liquid. I measured the temp of the underneath of this pump, and it was 75c+ . I'm pretty sure that that isnt right, but it is working fine, so I'll email Petras and check what is wrong.




I removed the DDC pump, and then drained the second loop and removed bother reservoirs and the aluminium bracket that I made last time.



I pondered for a long time, and couldnt find anywhere decent for the new reservoirs to go, even though they are so small, but it turned out, that with the brackets on the wrong way, they fitted perfectly on either side of the 5.25 cage and didnt touch anything

Here is the first one in place.



Theres not much clearance at all, in fact, it is less than 1cm between the hard drives and the reservoir here!



Here's a shot of the other side, so you can see how the bracket fixes on.



Here is the second reservoir in place. I tried the bracket on both sides, but when it was on the inside, it caught on the screws for the fan controller. I decided I didnt like it like this, so I changed it to the inside of the 5.25 cage, and bend the bracket slightly, so that it was in like with the other reservoir.



You can see here, that the right hand reservoir is really close to the top rail of the chassis of the case, again, this is about 5mm away from the top, and about 25mm away from the side, but most importantly, it doesnt touch anything, so no unwanted vibrations there.



A slightly better shot of the clearance on the second reservoir.



Some of the new tubing in, you can see how quickly the clearflex tubing goes cloudy and white. The new tubing is starting to frost up after just a few hours, and within a few days, they will all be the same colour, it is something to do with plasticides leaving the tubing wall (or something like that).



It is taking shape a bit now, but still looks a mess.



A slightly better view, thats the loops done, and there is much more space than there was with the EK reservoirs (which are for sale if anyone wants them ).



You should be able to see the route that the tubing is taking now, it has got to keep out of the way of the hard drive bays, as there is a monster raid setup going in later



Continued....

[Clunk]

Next, I thought that I would fit my sound card, something that I hadnt done since I had the U2-UFO, and I ran into possibly one of the most idiotic design flaws that Ive seen on a PC case at any price.
As you can see in the pic below, there is a rivet that pokes though from the other side of the case that completely obscures the bottom PCI slot, ans the rivet wont let the bracket anywhere near the case.



I had to cut off the rivet with a pair of snips, and the card went in...just. And there is the other problem. These cases are "precision" cut from aluminium, but then when they add the powder coating, it sends the measurements off, and it makes it quite difficult to fit any cards in any of the slots.

So, anyway, I got the sound card in, after a lot of gentle (ish) persuasion. The paper towels are ready for filling the reservoirs, in case of any splashes.



Its looking a little bit neater now, and I have put the front hard drive bays in.



Ready for filling. Better safe than sorry I suppose



Continued later...

[Supershanks]

Think you could market that silicone gel ......... Joke leak

put one in the bottom of your m8's case hours of fun for all the family

That is a bit of a concern, didn't reckon pumps got that hot. - needs water cooling:lol;
Looking really good despite the problems.

[Clunk]

Yeah, it is a bit weird, I could hear a kind of sploshing sound when I moved the pump, and there was a puddle of silicon under the pump, and on top of the pad, and it was most definately wet, but it wasnt water, it was greasy like silicone.

Anyway, thats all the air out of both loops, and Ive just got the hard drives in.



This should be fun doing the cabling.

The cables for the RAID controller are Mini SAS into 4x SATA and a Sideband cable. I'm not entirely sure what the Sideband cable is for, and I cant find anywhere to connect it in the card. It looks identical to a motherboard USB/Firewire connector, 10 pins, with one pin blanked off in one corner.



I've just noticed that I will have to shift the sound card from the bottom slot after all, because the RAID controller's airflow would be blocked by it, so the sound card will have to go above the RAID controller - pics of that later.

Continued later.....

[Funkstar]

What RAID card are you using?

Is that cable loom specifically for that card, a more generic one, or does it happen to belong to a Supermicro system?

Have a look at this:
http://www.supermicro.co.uk/support/...q.cfm?faq=5333

The sideband cable is for sending status information etc. back to the controller card from a Supermicro SAS or RAID backplane. Not needed in your system i don't think.

[Clunk]

Its an Adaptec 3805. The cables have got Adaptec on them, so I think they are the ones that come with it.

Looking on the website, it seems that they bundle these cables with a few different cards, so thats probably why its there.

thanks for the info

[Funkstar]

no probs. the Supermicro stuff was the first things to come up when googling "sideband cable)

[Clunk]

Yeah, I couldnt find much about it, even on the Adaptec site.

It is building the array now, it said I can use it, but it will be slow. it wasnt kidding, my 2gb Maxell sd card scores better in HDTune

Its on 32%, so I'll check again later when its done.

[Clunk]

Right, some pics of the RAID controller before it goes in - Adaptec 3805, its a passively cooled card, so needs some half decent airflow, and thats why I decided to move the sound card into a higher slot.





So, sound card moved up, and RAID controller fitted, just need to do the cables now.



Well, those cables arent very inconspicuous are they? Normally, cables are too short, but these are about 1.5M, and a lot of them, so I think I'll have to see if I can get some shorter black ones (anyone? ) I've also run out of spiral wrap, so can't do much tidying until that gets here.



RAID setup is still on 75%, so Ill continue later.

[Supershanks]

Oops Clunk your pc just barfed
Sorry see what you mean about the cable
Looks a beast of a card.

[DecomposingStar]

you always get the bad luck with RMAing items, don't you, Clunk?

[Clunk]

Oops Clunk your pc just barfed
Sorry see what you mean about the cable
Looks a beast of a card.

Yeah, its fugly . I've found some black 0.5m, but they are genuine Adaptec and are £16 quid each Must be some cheaper ones about.

you always get the bad luck with RMAing items, don't you, Clunk?

No RMA here, the case was in a terrible condition when sent, shouldnt have been sent out at all like that.

[DecomposingStar]

well you get bad luck with ordering.