Project Watermaster: Coolermaster ATCS 500 Modding

[Gordy]

Another small update from this weekend.

I've been working on the psu a bit as I had a spare hour or so.
I'm still undecided as to what I'm going to exactly do to it but I've a fair idea what I have planned.

First up I tried the psu in several locations to see what would be best. The first three are down the bottom of the case.







The final option is in one of the drive bays



More to come in a second post in a moment

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[Gordy]

Second part

As the psu is going to be on show I wasn't happy with the look of the shuttle psu so I decided to change it. I needed to take it apart anyway to remove the power connector and check out the fan as I will be replacing it soon. While I was at it I decide to sort its looks out.

The psu ready and waiting , i've removed all the stickers including the warrantee void if removed one hehe.


I then set to work with a sanding block:


Here's a bit of a before and after shot to show the change.


I'm wanting a very nice almost mirrored finish, it still needs another hour or so's work to get it all perfect but here is where I am at the moment:




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[bledd]

Originally posted by Gordy
I may do its a bit cost prohibative

its a matter of pennies to watercool your psu!

[Gordy]

I know its been a long time since I've done an update so my apologises .

I've removed the psu cage from the case, it was held in by a few screws and two rivets. The didn't last long hehe.





Here are the pictures of the case without the psu cage it looks much better and much more spacious:





While I was at I realised I could mount the psu in the space left by the cage and still have room for everything which was a result, here are a couple of piccies of where I will be mounting the psu.






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[Gordy]

I've started the work on the new psu wiring, I've done one of the molex chains and the p4 connector, I need to get hold of an atx pin remover as they are and pain to do without removing the pins.

Anyway onto the pictures:

This is the start of one of the molex connectors


Here is the nakid psu:


And lastly here is the p4 connector and one of the molex rig in place.



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[Gordy]

Some more updates from today, I've not done much but I've been playing with my new vfd which I intend to use in the project.
Its a four line usb vfd from www.matrixorbital.com , its very similiar to the MX2 lcd with the fan control etc.

I plan to use the psu cage which I removed the other day to make a face plate that perfectly the case. I've got some piccies of me playing with the vfd placement. I won't be cutting it till next week as I'm gonna be snowed under.

Anyway onto the piccies:

The cage and the vfd:






The vfd in its rough place, sorry the second picture got washed out :






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[Jonathan500]

Looking good Gordy, i like the idea of the shuttle PSU should save you plenty of space. I am looking at putting a lcd (LK204-24-USB) into project AquaWave hopefully to control all the fans, i guess the fan adjustment is from 0 to 12v ? not much detail about the fan control on the matrix site.

[Gordy]

I'm not sure that model has the fan control option , I think its only the mx2 the vfd and the new mx4 coming soon. There is loads of info on the cd you get with the lcd's on everything

[JAMAL]

Looking good Gordy, the VFD is in the perfect place just like my LCD

[Gordy]

Looking good Gordy, the VFD is in the perfect place just like my LCD

Nice did you do that as I recognise it ?

[JAMAL]

Yep, Me and Craget of OCUK have the same case, lcd etc and we did it over 12 months ago

[Gordy]

Ah that would explain it Wot lcd is it and have you got any other pics I'm always a sucker for nice cm500 piccy's

[JAMAL]

I ain't got any other pics at the moment as its stuck under a desk and i also need to fix the lcd in again as its moved.

Its a Crystal fontz lcd btw in blue

[joshwa]

that is a sweet case keep up the good work

[Gordy]

As predicted I had a very busy weekend so I've not had a chance to do any work on the project really.

However some parts for the project have arrived. First up I got a antec usb powered light kit, this was too be mounted behind my hercules tft to give a bloo light over the keyboard.

The pictures dont do it justice they look ace and light up the keyboard in a nice glow:





I also got a spare keyboard for lans and work, its a mini cherry keyboard and will work on usb or ps2.



I also got some cold cathodes on a cheap deal so I ordered a few, I have a dual blue 4in cathode , dual uv 4in cathode and 2 dual uv cathodes. They look good but I've not had a chance to test them out yet:



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[Gordy]

I've found sometime to do a little modding , so I set to work on the faceplate for the vfd. I'm not happy with the results as the aluminium doesnt match perfectly with the case. I will use it as a practice instead.

I used the psu cage aluminium thinking it would match but its different to the front aluminium.

You can get the idea of what I am aiming to do though.


I start attacking the aluminium




The finished piece


And in place in the case


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