[Build Log] NZXT H440 "Chaos"

[krnmastersgt]

They are Bitspower mounts. It makes life much nicer in a small case!

As useful as those look for mounting in tight areas, unfortunately won't work for my mounting design, but cool to see that kind of product anyways!

Did you get around to the tubing and testing for your set-up yet or is it on hold till you have some more spare time to work on the system?

 

[Tweakin]

As useful as those look for mounting in tight areas, unfortunately won't work for my mounting design, but cool to see that kind of product anyways!

Did you get around to the tubing and testing for your set-up yet or is it on hold till you have some more spare time to work on the system?

Funny you should ask as I had emergency surgery Tuesday night. It seems as though I've had a hernia for some time, and it finally let loose on me. Anyway, I made the final mods to the case for the plumbing, and the rads are now drying as I applied the final coat of white on them...they had gotten scratched during all the testing.

I'm currently playing with the pump decoupling and isolating it totally from the case...I hope to have the case assembled this weekend, leaving only the wiring to complete.

 

[krnmastersgt]

Glad to see you're up and about so quickly after any sort of surgery. I do wonder if something like a D5 needs to be bolted to anything as my current design plans have it just sitting on the bottom of the case with the adhesive foam pad being the only mounting it has, and otherwise held in place by a combination of gravity and the tubing runs I'll have up. Have you found this to be enough isolation or would it still find a way of vibrating through something to make more noise?

 

[SimsReaper]

I only have my D5 on a double sided adhesive foam pad. No sound at all. my previous setup was used only a little two sided tape. And you couldn't hear it then either. I found the biggest thing was to make absolutely sure all the bubbles were out of the pump.

 

[Tweakin]

Glad to see you're up and about so quickly after any sort of surgery. I do wonder if something like a D5 needs to be bolted to anything as my current design plans have it just sitting on the bottom of the case with the adhesive foam pad being the only mounting it has, and otherwise held in place by a combination of gravity and the tubing runs I'll have up. Have you found this to be enough isolation or would it still find a way of vibrating through something to make more noise?

As Sims stated, normally the foam pad is enough for 99% of the users out there with respects to security and isolation to keep the noise down. I used a sample of tempurpedic foam with double sided tape in my test case and that was the best isolation I have ever used.

I just take silence to the next level in almost every aspect. The mountings for the res are rubber isolated, which should help keep the vibration from the pump and fans isolated from the case...again keeping the noise down.

As for my surgery, I'm getting better every day...I'm off the pain meds and I feel like I've been kicked by a mule in the gut...more sore than pain.

 

[Tweakin]

Things have been slow after my surgery, but it's starting to pick up again...into the final stretch!

I finished with the final tubing mods by installing the pass-through in the psu cover and creating the drain holes in the case. This way I can drain straight from the lower rad:

I also completed the LCD mod to allow it to mount on the psu side of the bezel...I knew this would be tight but you have no idea. The leds have been changed out to green and the voltage dropped and the lcd is green with black digits:

I also mounted the rear supports for the MB Tray and finished all the lower riveting. I was planning on mounting some led strips behind the MB for a 3-d effect and glow output. Just not enough room for my liking...too close to circuit contacts so this was scrapped. Installed the I/O shield and mounted the MB. Now I can start working on the wiring for the psu before I complete the front end rad build...I need a break from all the tubing issues I've run into. Too much for such a small case, acrylic would have taken almost 13 fittings out of the build and made life easier...next build or future mod on this one.

I also added some foam to the res cradle...this should help insulate and protect the res from the pump vibrations:

 

[Tweakin]

After destroying lots of connectors, I think I finally have it down. Now it's time to get serious about the wiring in the middle of this chaos. Prep your work area (beer is just out of viewing area):

Now shred and burn your fingers for the next few hours and you can have this:

While it's not a custom LutroO loom, it turned out really nice if I say so. I think the shrinkless is much cleaner then using shrink...IMO. I also think I'm going to redo the SATA cables in green as I've taken all the black out of the wiring. The black adds a really nice contrast on the white psu cover, but I think the green will be equally as eye catching:

While it's not trainable like a custom LutroO loom, it turned out really nice if I say so. Burnt my fingers way too many times performing the shrinkless mod, but it's much cleaner then using shrink...IMO.

Need to work with Sgtgates on a front/top panel mod and give my fingers a day or two of rest. We came up with a couple pretty cool designs, now I need to get mine on paper for the master to emulate...more to follow on that.

 

[SimsReaper]

Great work on the sleeving, looks excellent! Haha, shred and burn is right. I quickly canged it up there and had a large mouthed glass of water right beside me when I was sleeving, and dipped my fingers in it before melting the loom so that I would stop burning my fingers! lol

 

[Tweakin]

Great work on the sleeving, looks excellent! Haha, shred and burn is right. I quickly canged it up there and had a large mouthed glass of water right beside me when I was sleeving, and dipped my fingers in it before melting the loom so that I would stop burning my fingers! lol

I went for the beer to dull the pain, but I'm going to try your idea next!

So, I spent a little time trying to put down my idea for the additional vents on the front and top of the case...I'm not a pain expert and have little patience for such things while working on a laptop...but you will get the idea:

 

[Tweakin]

So work has been slow due to the sore hands...but I've completed all the lighting and wiring work.

First came the MB ambiant lighting. I wanted to slightly illuminate the surrinding area of the mb when the system was installed so I mounted some slim leds behind the mb and adjusted the output down to a low glow:

Then I remounted the MB and completed the cpu block led's:

This was followed by the final wiring and testing (changing out the drop resisters) until I had a nice even glow from the bezel, lcd, mb and cpu block:

This is a early morning shot with no lights on, just daylight. It's hard to see and I will get some better pics when the evening arrives:

The oem light switch is only running the outside led's, all internal is coming from the 3-pin feed.

 

[dan1229]

Wow. Absolutely incredible.
On my H440 how should I just change the LED on the PSU? Is it easy or too much effort?

 

[Tweakin]

Wow. Absolutely incredible.
On my H440 how should I just change the LED on the PSU? Is it easy or too much effort?

It's easy, but you are going to have to remove your PSU to get at two of the three screws that hold the bezel on. I have pics of this throughout this build.

 

[Tweakin]

Sorry for the bleeding, but camera phones don't like bright against black. I was working on lighting up my res, but I just didn't like the way it turned out so I removed the leds. The bleed will come around to the front of the case with the back on, just a slight hint of green. This is a dirty pic but you get the idea:

 

[krnmastersgt]

Looking classy in green Tweakin!

Is there a reason you took the LCD temp readout of the PSU cover and just left the gaping hole?

 

[Tweakin]

Looking classy in green Tweakin!

Is there a reason you took the LCD temp readout of the PSU cover and just left the gaping hole?

It's still there, the camera just can't see it. Looks like a big green hole though...

 

[Tweakin]

Completed the rest of the custom wiring. Some day I would like for someone to explain to me why we spend countless hours making exact/custom wires for fans, led's, pumps, etc....

We will never get these hours back...I could be drinking a cold beer and getting ready for the draft...yet here I sit making these silly little looms!

 

[krnmastersgt]

After all the trouble I've been going through trying to sleeve the PSU cables I think in the future I'll just order the connector terminals, plugs, and wires and just make them myself and imitate the diagram. Of all the annoying steps in the sleeving process, taking the pin out of the connector is the part I hate the most lol. Still haven't fully sleeved mine due to work schedule being all weird but got all my water cooling parts so going to have to force myself now.

I like the LED strip connected off the 3 pin fan connector, might need to steal that idea for myself since I just tore apart a USB accent LED strip out of curiosity since the wires had frayed at the switch. Seems like something I could repair by just twisting the wires and shrinking over the wire so it doesn't move about too much (or melting it down with my soldering iron). Are you doing that for the same reason I want to, variable brightness on the LED strip?

 

[Tweakin]

After all the trouble I've been going through trying to sleeve the PSU cables I think in the future I'll just order the connector terminals, plugs, and wires and just make them myself and imitate the diagram. Of all the annoying steps in the sleeving process, taking the pin out of the connector is the part I hate the most lol. Still haven't fully sleeved mine due to work schedule being all weird but got all my water cooling parts so going to have to force myself now.

I like the LED strip connected off the 3 pin fan connector, might need to steal that idea for myself since I just tore apart a USB accent LED strip out of curiosity since the wires had frayed at the switch. Seems like something I could repair by just twisting the wires and shrinking over the wire so it doesn't move about too much (or melting it down with my soldering iron). Are you doing that for the same reason I want to, variable brightness on the LED strip?

Nope, just building some small custom led strips to accent specific areas of the case. No variable lighting in my case, I just use drop resisters to reach the desired effect.

 

[HDD FTW]

Looks good... how is that case? I've been looking for a good case since I wrecked my nanoxia....

 

[Tweakin]

Looks good... how is that case? I've been looking for a good case since I wrecked my nanoxia....

I love the case. Easy to tear down, decent access for a mid-tower, and overall quality is very good.

 

[Tweakin]

Finished the front pump and rad water leak test...all is good! I also played with a little Bitspower funnel nozel that swirls the water in the tank...really cool, but the vortex it creates when the pump is running full speed reaches the intake and could introduce air back into the system...SIGH, really cool looking!

I also assembled the front of the case and realized that I need to modify the window side of the cage a little more. I don't like the way the top covers the rad, so I'll cut this out tomorrow and touch up as necessary.

I need to remove this piece with the yellow border:

Then I need a 20mm fan for the exhaust...the 25 will just not fit...that or enlarge the top mounting screws by a few mm. If I can still find my old Yate Loons, I'll go that route as they are all black and uber quiet.

 

[krnmastersgt]

I should really stop being lazy and finish off my power supply so I can do my build, your build log is about to be over and I haven't really started! Just ordered some new memory for naming purposes... just realized how bad a reason that is for buying more memory.

Anyways ETA on a finished build with all lighting set up? I'm interested in how all the work you put into the lighting is going to look in a semi-dark environment.

 

[Tweakin]

I should really stop being lazy and finish off my power supply so I can do my build, your build log is about to be over and I haven't really started! Just ordered some new memory for naming purposes... just realized how bad a reason that is for buying more memory.

Anyways ETA on a finished build with all lighting set up? I'm interested in how all the work you put into the lighting is going to look in a semi-dark environment.

Hopefully by this weekend...I have some plumbing to finish and then a final leak test and then power up!

 

[Tweakin]

Completed the final mods on the cage panel...looks much better. Tomorrow I'll clean up and install molding and take a pic.

Tonight was spent on the lower end of the rad/pump assembly. It's a really tight fit in there, but after heating the tubing in boiling water I was able to mold it into place without any additional fittings!

Front side shot:

Back side shot:

Was also able to finalize fill tube location. This is located on the top panel and will come down in front of the angled backplate next to the MB. This will be installed with a pressure valve to keep the system in check:

I'm currently hanging the tubes to straighten them out after boiling all of them. This will help keep the lines as clean and straight as possible...have them taped in place to keep the shape. The temp sensor will be installed between the two rads on top.

Hopefully i can get the cpu and gpu's completed and do a full system leak test! I had planned on hiding the return line almost completely, but after several hours working with the tubing and multiple fittings I came to the conclusion that it was not going to work. As such I ordered some acrylic tubing. I'll be doing a system refresh in the late summer to convert it all over to hard line and remove all those fittings and make the lines straight and clean. For now I need to get the system up and running.

 

[Tweakin]

The Chaos continues...today I was able to get the cpu plumbed up:

This was followed up the the mounting of the fill port:

And into the res:

Which was the followed by the gpu's:

All together it looks like this:

Front end looks like this:

I can just barely hear the pump wide open. This is significant as I am all about the silence, and adding the foam to the res and decoupling the pump on the other side with tubing really worked. The eloops are wonderful, top is running at 1400 and I can't even tell they are on. The front fans are bp3's which run at 1900 and all I hear is a "woosh" from the air moving.

So I'll let the entire system run overnight and tear it back down tomorrow to finish the wiring as I don't think I can reach the bottom connections with the plumbing in the way. Maybe I'll get lucky and be able to work on the wiring with the gpu's and tubing in the way, but I've got large hands and there is not much room left in the case...have to wait and see, but I already planned on tearing the front back down to finish.