[FINISHED] Wiretap's v351 Project

[wiretap]

FINISHED PICTURES START AT POST #66

Final Specs:
- Intel i7 920 @ 4GHz
- 6GB DDR3-1866 Corsair Dominator GT
- EVGA x58 SLI Micro Motherboard
- XFX ATI Radeon HD 5870 @ 900MHz core / 1250MHz memory
- 300GB Velociraptor HDD
- VL System LIS2 Premium VFD & Fan Controller
- Zalman ZM500-HP Power Supply
- EK Supreme 1366 Waterblock
- Magicool 2x120 Slim Radiator w/ Noctua NF-S12-1200 fans
- XSPC 750 Dual Bay Reservoir w/ Pump
- PrimoFlex Pro 3/8'' ID Red Tubing
- Koolance 10mm Anti-kink Metal Springs

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I'm building a new gaming PC. I am going to be using a Lian-Li v351 micro-ATX case which is going to be watercooled. I'm cooling the CPU only since there's not much room inside for a big enough radiator to dissipate tons of heat. I will be using an i7 setup with a ATI 5870.

I am going for a black and red theme, something I haven't really done yet in a PC for myself. Red is my favorite color as well. The case is black of course, and I'm going to be anodizing some of the parts red that are normally silver.

I'm going to be working on this over the next month or two (as well as some other projects and school/work), so it may be a little slow, but feel free to comment or give suggestions.

The pieces are coming in week by week, so here's what I worked on in some of my spare time today.

XSPC x2o 750 Reservoir

I installed the 3/8'' barbs and did some cable sleeving on the power cable.

The LED that came with the unit was blue and had a super long cord. I took a trip over to RadioShack and purchased a ~800mcd wide angle red LED and a 100ohm resistor to make the new dongle which goes in the back of the reservoir to light up the water.

More in a bit.

 

[wiretap]

Anodized red thumb screws. ^_^

Sleeved ATX & 8-pin extenders.

VL System LIS2 Premium (VFD Screen with 4ch Fan Controller)

Black Ice Pro II 2x120mm Compact Radiator

2x 120mm Noctua NF-S12-1200 fans
1x 80mm Noctua NF-R8-1800 fan

 

[qazwsxokmijn]

This is gonna be epic.

 

[wiretap]

I hope so.. lol.

 

[eklock2000]

The 351 is such a great case to work with. Looks like the makings of a killer project. Please add pix many and often!

EK2K

 

[zagood]

"If it curves, sleeve it!"

It's threads like this that make images in posts so much more meaningful. Looking forward to the updates.

 

[wiretap]

XFX ATI Radeon HD 5870

300GB Velociraptor

EK Supreme Waterblock

 

[smackababy]

Can't wait to see how this turns out.

 

[wiretap]

Since my VFD screen was previously blue, I needed to change the color to red for this new build. I went out and bought some high quality gels usually used for par lights.

026 Bright Red -- works awesome!1!!11!

Cutting tools ready!

Disassemble the VFD.

You can see I used the old blue gel as a template to cut the new one.

Punch the holes..

Bam!

 

[zagood]

hah...great little mod. Keep 'em comin.

 

[ScorcherDarkly]

Looking forward to seeing updates. I'm almost finished doing a red/black Antec 900 mod, but I'm just doing spray paint, no anodizing. So far it's come out looking pretty good.

Out of curiosity, what kind of camera are you taking your pictures with? They're very clean and sharp looking. You seem to have a good eye for photography on top of your crafting skills.

 

[wiretap]

I'm actually just using a cheap Canon SD600.

The right settings and lighting make a big difference in what you can do with a cheap camera. Afterward, I tweak the mid-tones, brightness and contrast using Microsoft Office Picture Manager. But thank you for the comments.

When I am finished with the mod, I'll take some pictures with a DSLR camera. My brother has an Olympus E-500 with a bunch of lenses.

 

[Hey Zeus]

Very nice.

 

[ScorcherDarkly]

I'm actually just using a cheap Canon SD600.

The right settings and lighting make a big difference in what you can do with a cheap camera. Afterward, I tweak the mid-tones, brightness and contrast using Microsoft Office Picture Manager. But thank you for the comments.

When I am finished with the mod, I'll take some pictures with a DSLR camera. My brother has an Olympus E-500 with a bunch of lenses.

It's the lighting that really makes it look nice. Even a cheap camera can take good pictures if the operator knows what they're doing.

 

[wiretap]

I got the case in today.

And then I found out the radiator is a few millimeters to wide to fit in the case.. LOL. I thought it was going to fit, but obviously not. (Black Ice Pro II for reference)

I ordered it from Performance-PC's, and they gladly gave me a RMA number to return it, so I ordered a 2x120mm Magicool slim radiator which will fit with plenty of room to spare.

 

[wiretap]

Installed the Noctua 120mm fans in the front where the radiator is going to go.

Sleeved the power/reset/led wiring and routed it to the other side of the case.

I put the 3-pin wires for the fan up in the 5.25'' bay because that's where my fan controller is going. Also, you'll notice the fan in the front blocks where the USB/1394/HDaudio connectors. I'm not going to have those connections installed.. I'll be putting some black material there so when the side of the case goes on, it will blend in a little better.

Test fitment of the hard drive in the 3.5'' bays.

Test fitment of the graphics card. Plenty of room for a radiator.

 

[zagood]

Lookin good...is the 5870 going to have enough airflow to cool at load, or are you going to cut the case? A duct straight to the outside would probably work well there.

 

[KH85]

Looking great!

Cant wait too see the finished item...... wish i had the time/ability to do this sort of thing!

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

The picture quality is the impressive part. Then I think, there's an i7 and a 5870 in there + other goodies, a nice little seasonic X 650w Gold would be nice in there. It would compliment the high quality build nicely!

 

[wiretap]

Lookin good...is the 5870 going to have enough airflow to cool at load, or are you going to cut the case? A duct straight to the outside would probably work well there.

Yeah, it's going to be alright. The side panels allow for air intake, and the radiator directly in front is going to have good airflow through it directly to the intake ducts on the end of the card. The intake for the radiator/fans is on the front and bottom the case. There's going to be good airflow.

The picture quality is the impressive part. Then I think, there's an i7 and a 5870 in there + other goodies, a nice little seasonic X 650w Gold would be nice in there. It would compliment the high quality build nicely!

I have a Zalman ZM500-HP that's going in there. It should be ok for what I'm doing. I may upgrade it later on with something else.

 

[wiretap]

I picked up my processor from Microcenter today. =D

Intel i7 920
Stepping: D0 (SLBEJ)
Batch: 3945A824
Pack Date: 12/03/2009

 

[wiretap]

Red anodizing is underway.

 

[wiretap]

A little bit of hotness. More tomorrow.

 

[MedicBob]

Stop teasing us!!!

Looks very nice and nice attention to detail too.

 

[wiretap]

Motherboard tray. The camera kind of has a hard time capturing the true color. In person it looks like a transparent candy coat red.