Molex Plugs
In Part-1 I showed how I used the shower hose ends to conceal my plugs. With the molex plugs for the DVD drives I simply took a black permanent marker and coloured them in. Once inserted the plug practically disappears and creates a near seamless transition between conduit and drive.
Radiator and Fan
When in the planning stages, after deciding to put the reservoirs in the top of the case, I decided the most sensible option for the radiator was behind the existing 120mm fan hole in the front of the case. The Rad fan would then also act to cool the HDDs which will be located in a rack directly behind.
The Radiator is a Black Ice Extreme Chrome (unsurprisingly...*whistles innocently*). A nice Rad but still needing some modding to add a bit of uniqueness to it (and for a couple of practical reasons which will become clear). The chrome is not as nice as the chrome work I have had done locally being a little patchy in parts but It\'ll do for this mod as only about half of it will be easily visible.
Firstly I wanted to mount it and the fan using some 4mm threaded rod to allow me to trim it to any length required and enable me to use dome nuts instead of having to screw it onto the case. This means easy removal later for cleaning or removing the case front and will look better and be a more stable mounting. However the holes in the Rad were only about 3mm and didn\'t extend all the way through the width of it. Solution...
...drill out the holes (carefully) to 4mm - carefully as I only wanted to drill the sheet metal and avoid puncturing the radiator flow channels (or whatever they are called). I then used a narrow Phillips screwdriver to work my way through all the copper fins and bend/break them off. As long as I didn\'t puncture the main channels I was ok as the fins are only soldered onto these and don\'t carry any water.
I also made a rubber surround to sit between the fan and the Rad and a mesh screen to sit in the front of the radiator. The rubber surround was ruled up using the fan frame as a template and cut out with a craft knife and a pair of scissors. It will soak up vibration from the fan and help keep things quiet.
My biggest disappointment and something all the Water Cooling gurus out there will criticize is my lack of a fan shroud. Unfortunately, there was simply no room at all in the case for a shroud as it would have pushed the hard drives back into where the PCI cards go. I end up with a slight dead spot in the middle (the rubber surround helps a bit though) where the fan hub sits. However I can live with a few more degrees in the system especially as I don\'t plan on overclocking (much).
The mesh screen was made using some architects model making mesh (the stuff they make model chain link fences out of). Basically it is a super-fine aluminium mesh. I measured and cut it out with scissors before flexing it carefully and sliding it into the front of the rad. The Phillips screwdriver was used to puncture it where the screw holes are to ensure it won\'t fall out once the Rad is assembled.
The mesh screen is designed to act like one of those fancy aluminium dust filters you can get for case fans. Plus it looks pretty cool as well and hides all the copper fins. A vacuum cleaner should keep it clean without a worry.
Because of space restrictions I needed to recess the dome nuts securing the fan to the Rad. I did this by...
...drilling clearance holes part way through the Aluminium fan frame to allow the nuts to sit inside.
If you are thinking that aluminium fan looks pretty shiny, you\'d be right! I had it chromed as the brushed Alu look didn\'t match the Rad (or anything else). As I planned on wiring the fan up using my mesh sleeving and fish tank air hose I needed to make a bit of room for this so...
...a hole was drilled for the newly wired and sleeved fan wires. Oh yeah, I vinyl dyed the plastic back part of the fan silver to help it blend in a bit better as well.
Mmmm...chrrrrommmme (drool)
In Part-1 I showed how I used the shower hose ends to conceal my plugs. With the molex plugs for the DVD drives I simply took a black permanent marker and coloured them in. Once inserted the plug practically disappears and creates a near seamless transition between conduit and drive.
Radiator and Fan
When in the planning stages, after deciding to put the reservoirs in the top of the case, I decided the most sensible option for the radiator was behind the existing 120mm fan hole in the front of the case. The Rad fan would then also act to cool the HDDs which will be located in a rack directly behind.
The Radiator is a Black Ice Extreme Chrome (unsurprisingly...*whistles innocently*). A nice Rad but still needing some modding to add a bit of uniqueness to it (and for a couple of practical reasons which will become clear). The chrome is not as nice as the chrome work I have had done locally being a little patchy in parts but It\'ll do for this mod as only about half of it will be easily visible.
Firstly I wanted to mount it and the fan using some 4mm threaded rod to allow me to trim it to any length required and enable me to use dome nuts instead of having to screw it onto the case. This means easy removal later for cleaning or removing the case front and will look better and be a more stable mounting. However the holes in the Rad were only about 3mm and didn\'t extend all the way through the width of it. Solution...
...drill out the holes (carefully) to 4mm - carefully as I only wanted to drill the sheet metal and avoid puncturing the radiator flow channels (or whatever they are called). I then used a narrow Phillips screwdriver to work my way through all the copper fins and bend/break them off. As long as I didn\'t puncture the main channels I was ok as the fins are only soldered onto these and don\'t carry any water.
I also made a rubber surround to sit between the fan and the Rad and a mesh screen to sit in the front of the radiator. The rubber surround was ruled up using the fan frame as a template and cut out with a craft knife and a pair of scissors. It will soak up vibration from the fan and help keep things quiet.
My biggest disappointment and something all the Water Cooling gurus out there will criticize is my lack of a fan shroud. Unfortunately, there was simply no room at all in the case for a shroud as it would have pushed the hard drives back into where the PCI cards go. I end up with a slight dead spot in the middle (the rubber surround helps a bit though) where the fan hub sits. However I can live with a few more degrees in the system especially as I don\'t plan on overclocking (much).
The mesh screen was made using some architects model making mesh (the stuff they make model chain link fences out of). Basically it is a super-fine aluminium mesh. I measured and cut it out with scissors before flexing it carefully and sliding it into the front of the rad. The Phillips screwdriver was used to puncture it where the screw holes are to ensure it won\'t fall out once the Rad is assembled.
The mesh screen is designed to act like one of those fancy aluminium dust filters you can get for case fans. Plus it looks pretty cool as well and hides all the copper fins. A vacuum cleaner should keep it clean without a worry.
Because of space restrictions I needed to recess the dome nuts securing the fan to the Rad. I did this by...
...drilling clearance holes part way through the Aluminium fan frame to allow the nuts to sit inside.
If you are thinking that aluminium fan looks pretty shiny, you\'d be right! I had it chromed as the brushed Alu look didn\'t match the Rad (or anything else). As I planned on wiring the fan up using my mesh sleeving and fish tank air hose I needed to make a bit of room for this so...
...a hole was drilled for the newly wired and sleeved fan wires. Oh yeah, I vinyl dyed the plastic back part of the fan silver to help it blend in a bit better as well.
Mmmm...chrrrrommmme (drool)
MSI MPG Velox 100R Chassis Review
October 14 2021 | 15:04
Want to comment? Please log in.