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[oliverw92]

Introduction

So here we are again, starting another modding project! I built my first computer case in June 2009. At that point my only computer experience was an old Dell 2400 and my trusty aluminium iMac (which is still going strong today!) and I had absolutely no idea about how a computer really worked. This is now my 3rd project. Quite a lot considering I didn't even know what 'motherboard' meant this time last year! The first was The Bloo Box:

LINK

The second was (and still is - I havn't finished it yet!) Project MiniMe - The World's Smallest Watercooled PC:


LINK

Those two projects were both acrylic scratch builds. I made them from the ground up, using a fair amount of CNC work alongside practical techniques.

The two scratch builds were all fun and games, but I kept on feeling after finishing each one that something wasn't quite right. I have finally that realised that they both lack functionality. This is going to be a key element to this new project. My main issue with Bloo Box is how difficult it is to add a hard drive/5.25" drive. With MiniMe, it is actually getting to any components inside! This is to be expected since it is only 20x20x20cm, but it that doesn't validate the issue.

My solution (or experimental solution) for this project is to go effectively go backwards and do a case mod, instead of a scratch build. I came to modding in a different direction to most people - I started with a scratch build, most people start by simple case modding. By going back to the beginning, I plan to teach myself the methods and tricks that make consumer computer cases so functional and easy to use, and then apply them to future scratch builds.



The Plan

I have chosen the Silverstone TJ07 as the case to be modded. Originally I was going to go for a Corsair Obsidian 800D, but I felt that it was not a blank-enough canvas. The cable management is already done, hard drive issues sorted, radiator mounting accounted for. I need to go further back than that. The TJ07 is perfect in that it can adapt to anything I need. It is also one of the slickest looking cases out there!

I found with Project MiniMe that modelling the case accurately in Google SketchUp beforehand really works wonders and solves hundreds of issues that I would have come across when making, saving me money in the long run! I have done the same for this project. I owe credit for a few models such as the TJ07 shell, 5870, Enermax Revolution, RAM and hard drives.



The renders were done in Kerkythea.



Everything is 100% to scale.



Here you can see my pump configuration. The system is running on a single loop with dual Laing DDC 10W pumps connected in series by a white acetal EK Dual DDC Top.



The loop order is:

Dual DDC 10W -> Quad Rad -> GPU 1 -> (GPU 2) -> Southbridge/NF200 -> Triple Rad -> CPU -> MOSFETS -> Northbridge -> RAM -> IandH StealthRes 175

You can also see in this picture the solid floor. This is actually an illuminated floor. I am still deciding on the lighting to be used for this - it is either going to be an EL panel or a CCFL.



The case will be powdercoated gloss white. I am not sure what rad grill I will have on top yet. Most likely it will be a nice solid MNPCTech one.



I want to keep the front really clean. All the drive bay covers are replaced by a single sheet of aluminium. At the top there is a Lamptron FC-5 fan controller. Below that is a stealthed DVD drive. I have taken inspiration from Murdermod here, in that there is a cut out going up the front that operates the open/close button of the drive.



The color scheme for the build is White, Black and Blue. The blue comes from the motherboard and coolant. I'm hoping to use Bitspower Black fittings for the whole build if the budget will allow. It will help emphasise the colour scheme.



Here you can see one of the functional modifications. The front panel is easily removable to allow access to the hard drive bay. This takes 3 3.5" hard drives and 1 2.5" drive. I chose this number so i can have a RAID5 storage setup and an SSD for the operating system. The drive bay is made from acrylic. Each drive mounts on an acrylic tray that friction-fits into slots in the side supports. At the inside-end of the bay are two 80mm fans, one blowing in across two of the drives, one pulling out across the other two. There is a gap allowing the air to pass between the two.



I am still debating whether to have the two rear intakes. They may interfere with the top rad and they also make the back look more cluttered. The rear panel is being replaced with a clean plate (no annoying ugly squares!)



Inspirations

There are loads of things that have inspired be over my short time of modding, too many to mention here. However here are some that have directly influenced this project:

Project PURE - subset7 - LINK
Hulk V2 - dingdong555 - LINK
Dual Loop Phase Cooled Lian Li - RetroGamer1990 - LINK
Purple Rain - mrdbristol - LINK
PC Beto - p0pe - LINK
.:Filtration:. - Skorchio - LINK
Acronym - Achron - LINK
refleXion - Xion X2 - LINK
Silentium - Syrillian - LINK



Components

i7 920
6GB DDR3 Corsair Dominator 1600MHz
MSI Big Bang XPower
2x 5850
4x Samsung F3 1TB RAID10
1x Corsair Extreme 64GB SSD
Enermax Revolution 850W



Watercooling

HWLabs Black Ice Stealth 360
EK Coolstream 480 Rad
2x Laing DDC 10W
EK Dual DDC Top v2 - White
EK Supreme HF with white top
2x EK 5850 Nickel with white top
MIPS Corsair RAM Block
MIPS Motherboard Blocks
IandH StealthRes 175
White 3/4" OD Tubing
Matt Black Compressions

Order will be:

Pumps -> 480 -> GPU 1 -> GPU2 -> NB/Fets -> CPU -> RAM -> 360 -> Res



Partners



Updates

Here are links to all the updates:

• Update #1 - 07/03/2010 - First Cuts - LINK
• Update #2 - 08/03/2010 - Motherboard Photos - LINK
• Update #3 - 11/03/2010 - Hard drive bay manufacturing - LINK
• Update #4 - 20/03/2010 - Nickel Party - LINK
• Update #5 - 27/03/2010 - Bottom Compartment Work - LINK
• Update #6 - 29/03/2010 - Motherboard Blocks - LINK
• Update #7 - 02/04/2010 - Illuminated floor creation - LINK
• Update #8 - 13/04/2010 - Mounted rad stand and new feet - LINK
• Update #9 - 15/04/2010 - Arrival of some watercooling stuff - LINK
• Update #10 - 16/04/2010 - Mounted MNPCTech rad grill and top rad - LINK
• Update #11 - 19/04/2010 - New RAM cooler tops - LINK
• Update #12 - 21/04/2010 - Flush smoked acrylic window - LINK
• Update #13 - 06/05/2010 - This project is interrupted by the attack of the BP Dragon! - LINK
• Update #14 - 24/05/2010 - New hard drive trays, custom faceplate - LINK
• Update #15 - 06/06/2010 - Motherboard tray finished - LINK

[oliverw92]

Update #1 - 07/03/2010



Here is the case! The mighty TJ07! Weighing in at 17KG and packed in a box twice width and 1.5x its height/depth, it is a monster! I had to carry it back about a mile from where it was dropped off on my own!



Some of you may be wondering why parts are black already. I got the case second hand from Bisley_Bob (along with an awesome hose cutter ) and he had painted it black inside already. The paint job is a bit scratched now though.



I dislike the front bezels alot.



Power button is awesome though!



I plan to change the window a bit. I have a few ideas i want to try, these will be shown in due course



You can't get enough TJ07.



After i got it home i stripped it down to what i would be using (removed hard drive bays, fans etc).



Bought a new tool for the project - a Dremel 300 with flexible shaft extension. Most people will be surprised to know this is my first rotary tool!



Top notch build quality.



The first issue I sorted out was cable management. There is a distinct lack of it in the TJ07.



This cut allows cables to be taken up behind the motherboard tray from the PSU area.



At this point, I plan to only do a few cuts in the actual motherboard tray. I am still working on a few ideas this.



To accommodate the illuminated floor, the midplate needs to be opened up completely. Unfortunately i managed to break my favourite cutting disk



Ended up using the ones that run out really quickly until I could get some new ones.



First part cut out.



Before finishing the edges.



After finishing!



I just need to get some emery paper and some wet and dry to make the edges perfect.



This is how the case stands at the moment.

[oliverw92]

Update #2 - 08/03/2010

I already have the motherboard for the project, it is an MSI Eclipse Plus x58 board. It is basically MSI's version of the EVGA Classified (the one with an NF200 chip on), and in my opinion the MSI one looks way better (not a huge fan of the red/black thing).

Loads of people have heard of the MSI Eclipse, but barely anyone knows about the Eclipse Plus. It is a bit of a strange situation. If you google it, it is on MSI's website, there are loads of reviews of it, but there is NOWHERE to buy one. Not a single etailer has one, none appear on ebay. I managed to get one from a guy on overclock.net who was selling it off (was a bargain - £200!).

The board will be watercooled, as seen in the renders. The board came from the guy i bought it from with custom made waterblocks by Duniek. At the moment they are acrylic and copper. The copper has dulled and looks a bit horrible now, so it will be nickel plated. I am also working on getting some white acetal replacement tops machined for it to better fit the build. If i can't, it isn't a tragedy, and may add some aesthetic appeal as you will see the blue coolant!



The board fits the standard ATX spec.



I really like the heatsink design on the board, shame they will be coming off! Under this heatsink lies the NF200 chip and the ICH10R



The board sports 4 PCI-E x16 slots, 1x PCI-E x1 and 1x PCI. It can run x16 x16 x16 x4 on the 4 slots (x8 isn't possible on the last unless you don't use a sound card - msi supply an X-Fi soundcard).



More of the lovely heatsink design.



The onboard controls are a really nice touch. They have gone all out on this - there is a button for everything!



Random shot



A nice addition is the POST code display on the back. Not sure whether it warrants the removal of onboard sound, however.



MSI really have done a great job on the colour scheme!



My i7 920 also arrived today from the US.

[GheeTsar]

If it comes to fruition, that's going to be one nice machine. I'm really quite envious. Any sponsorship again for this project?

[oliverw92]

Maybe I should be able to make an announcement later tonight

[Pob255]

Your sketchup skills do you very proud again
Although if you want a flexible and upgradeable system then this sort of custom build is not what you should be considering.
I don't want to put you off, in fact I want to see more of this as it develops.
However that doesn't change the fact that a custom build will look great but is dependent on a limited set of hardware, say you find you need a 5th drive bay slot? then you're going to have to replace the whole drive bay setup you've got planned.
Water cooling is similar, new graphics card means new waterblock and repipeing.
Yes you can do them, it's not amazingly hard, however it will take far more effort and time than just swapping a component in an unmodded case.

You're not going very far backwards from your scratch builds as this is a very major remodeling job you're doing.
As you said most people just start off putting in a couple of extra fans or similar, at the same time most people work to a far smaller budget
Still is amazing work for someone with so little experience in computer modding

[oliverw92]

Your sketchup skills do you very proud again
Although if you want a flexible and upgradeable system then this sort of custom build is not what you should be considering.
I don't want to put you off, in fact I want to see more of this as it develops.
However that doesn't change the fact that a custom build will look great but is dependent on a limited set of hardware, say you find you need a 5th drive bay slot? then you're going to have to replace the whole drive bay setup you've got planned.
Water cooling is similar, new graphics card means new waterblock and repipeing.
Yes you can do them, it's not amazingly hard, however it will take far more effort and time than just swapping a component in an unmodded case.

You're not going very far backwards from your scratch builds as this is a very major remodeling job you're doing.
As you said most people just start off putting in a couple of extra fans or similar, at the same time most people work to a far smaller budget
Still is amazing work for someone with so little experience in computer modding

Thanks Pob That is the 3rd sketchup revision you are looking it, I started each one from the ground up. Well worth it in my opinion

Funny you say that about the hard drives, i started making the drive bay today and managed to squeeze a 5th slot in

I think what i mean about 'functionality' is the ease of everyday use. You say about new graphics cards, theres nothing stopping me running on air to test it. I don't mind putting in a couple of hours to properly change the system i.e. add hardware. The main thing that is essential for me is being able to test something/get data off a hard drive for someone/access the cmos etc. You have a very good point though

Yeah you have a point, it looks quite different to the original, however it is nothing compared to what some people do to a stock case! In my head, there are key elements to the build, and there aren't very many of them. Some are a little complex to work out, such as drive bays (already screwed one attempt up!), and others are pretty simple like get it powdercoated.

On the money side, my builds generally follow my budget, and i don't plan things that i can't pay for. Sometimes designs will change because i get more/less money etc.

[oliverw92]

I would like to introduce my first partner, MNPCTech!

They are sending me a Pro Line 360 Rotary Rad Grill:


http://www.performance-pcs.com/catal...ath=59_362_540

and some Billet Aluminium Case Feet:


http://www.mnpctech.com/CaseFeetMachined.html

Thanks Bill!

[razer121]

ah bill, top chap he is, this project is looking to be sweet! subscribed

[Pob255]

I think what i mean about 'functionality' is the ease of everyday use. You say about new graphics cards, theres nothing stopping me running on air to test it. I don't mind putting in a couple of hours to properly change the system i.e. add hardware. The main thing that is essential for me is being able to test something/get data off a hard drive for someone/access the cmos etc. You have a very good point though

Well ok that point is more on watercooling per say, however it's more relevent on a very tight build like this.
There is something stopping you just running something on air to test it, namely your water loop.
to replace a graphics card you'll have to drain the whole loop, remove the card and tubing attached to it, fit a new length of tube to fill in the gap and then refill and re-leak test.
Not a quick 10 min job, although this would apply to most water loops, it's just a very neat and planed job such as yours is planned around the hardware you are using, where as a general pc case is designed around a range of possible hardware.
Granted your end resaults are going to look ten time better than just a general purpose case esp if you custom make the cables, which tend to be the uglyest things inside a case.

On the money side, my builds generally follow my budget, and i don't plan things that i can't pay for. Sometimes designs will change because i get more/less money etc.

You've shown this before with MiniMe also you're nack for getting free stuff which helps
What I was getting at is that many mods start off far smaller & simplier because the budget is far smaller, like £50 in materials and whatever tools you have to hand.

Some are a little complex to work out, such as drive bays (already screwed one attempt up!)

Show us that, give us the gruesome details!
For me a build log is about the process, both good and bad.


ps nice snag on the eclipse+ such a nice motherboard and it does look great, almost a shame to replace the coolers with water blocks.

[oliverw92]

Yeah i have a few plans for the cables

Yeah most people can't afford/don't have the time to do big mods.

I will, i left all the photos at school last night though

Yeah you would actually have a heart attack if i told you how much i got it for Oh and the waterblocks are gonna look so sick, i just confirmed with Duniek that he is going to make custom white acetal tops for the custom blocks he made for the board

[nibbler]

i still can't believe you have A) the money B) the time C) the knowhow to do this kind of build when you are still at school! Look at my build by contrast, budget, rough and rushed

[oliverw92]

Well the money side of things, my first scratch cost a total of £750 including all materials etc. That was a combination of birthday money, money from doing gigs, money from doing well in exams and some savings. Then i sold that PC, and used the money from it to start MiniMe. All this time i was making money from gigs and working in the holidays, which allowed me to put more money into minime. I also did some small modding projects that cost me not very much, but the skills made it worth quite a bit (such as custom pcbs) that ended up providing me with the money to buy the TJ07 and dremel to start this project! Sponsors are also a massive help!

The time, it is just a case of balancing things carefully, taking breaks when you need to focus etc.

Knowhow, just read the internet

[oliverw92]

Update #3 - 11/03/2010



Introducing Mr L. Aser Cutter!



Today I started making the HDD bay that goes in the 5.25" bays.



I decided to use black 8mm acrylic for the rails.



Here are the pieces for one of the sides after laser cutting.



And then glued together with dichloromethane. The one pictured above actually went wrong and i glued on the rails the wrong way round, so i remade it. Costly mistake! (8mm acrylic is not cheap!)



Here you can see one of the trays. I used a belt sander to take 1mm off the sides to make it slide in to the rails nicely.



I then glued the back on.



And the other side glued on!



The gap at the back is designed for 2 80mm fans. The bottom one blows cold air onto the bottom 3 drives, the air then goes to the front of the case, goes up the gap inbetween the drives and the front bezel (due to convection currents), and is then exhausted into the main case area to be blown out of the case by the top rad. I'm hoping that having the hot air exhausting out of the top of the drive bay will stop air circulating (convection currents should make the hot air rise up out of the case instead of cycling back into the bottom fan).



The trays pictured here are meant for 3.5" hard drives.



I need to make a couple for 2.5" drives.



Two fan grills on the front.



I then took it home and put it in the TJ07!



The holes lined up perfectly with the 5.25" mounting holes. Was very lucky on that one!



I managed to squeeze 5 drive lots into the space, meaning i can have a triple-HDD RAID5 setup, an SSD boot disk and then a spare slot to stick in a hard drive if i need to get data off for someone.



The drive bay is pretty much finished now.


I would also like to announce another partner, EK Waterblocks!



They will be sending me a few of their awesome waterblocks and watercooling accessories! Thanks Eddy!

[razer121]

dude i envy you, i want a laser cutter! how much did it cost? that drive bay is looking super sweet

[oliverw92]

It cost my school £13k