Time for a re-build (and testing) in a new Banchetto 101

[daw123]

Hey Guys and Girls,

It's been awhile since I was last here and even longer since I bought a new computer case.

I've had a few issues with my main computer, such as knackered HDDs, a leak to the water cooling due to a faulty component, overheating graphics cards, etc.

I think I resolved some of the problems, although one of the biggest still outstanding is the fact that it will no longer boot.

I also bought a new laptop as an interim measure, since I can't be without a computer (I bought the new laptop the day after)

The case I am currently using makes it very difficult to carry out testing and swapping out components, since space is quite tight inside the case (Lian Li PC-A70A) and the tubing for the liquid cooling gets in the way.

For example, I had to drain and re-fill the liquid cooling loop in order to remove the graphics cards, which was a PITA. I sliced my fingers to bits on the internals of the case within 5 minutes of removing the side panel, which p*ssed me off. I also wanted a change, since I was bored with the Lian Li.

Anyway, to cut a long story short, I decided to buy a new 'open air' case where it would be easy to swap-out components, whilst having the option of the components permanently residing in their new home (I don't think I will put anything back in the Lian Li). Plus it looks cool whilst being functional.

I have done a lot of research on open-air / test bench cases. The cases I considered were:

Sunbeam Ultra Tech Station Acrylic Case

Pros: Cheap and looks cool
Cons: Questionable robustness if moved around. Drives are 'hooked' into the drive bays - not a secure mounting. No space for liquid cooling.

Dimastech Bench/Test Table Easy V2.5

Pros: Cheap and easily sourced.
Cons: Can't install a rad (it may happen in the future) without affecting the drive bay cages. Review sites mention that the quality of the case is poor.

Lian Li T60B Test Chassis

Pros: Excellent build quality and cheap.
Cons: Limited clearance for HSF; need to remove carry handle, which then make the case look like cr*p. Not very stable and can be toppled over. I'm very disappointed Lian Li in these major, yet simple oversights in the design.

HSPC Top Deck Large Tech Station Kit

Pros: Very simple and versatile; will suit needs with modifications.
Cons: Only one UK stockist and currently out of stock. Unknown when new stock will arrive and importing from the US is very expensive (£185.00 due to shipping, taxes, admin. costs, etc.). Drives and PSU rest on bottom shelf, which is not secure if the case is moved. No inbuilt reset / power buttons, Power LED and HDD activity indicator LEDs. Plastic screws / fixings, which need to be replaced. Modding required to satisfy requirements; install Dimas 3.5"/5,25" drive bays and PSU mount to bottom shelf. Fabricate power / reset switch and LED indicators in a plastic Hammond box mounted to underside of top shelf.

Antec Skeleton Open-Air Case

Pros: Cheap
Cons: Looks sh*t, limited access to components and potential issues with larger HSF.

Microcool Benchtable Banchetto 101

Pros: Looks cool and satisfies majority of requirements.
Cons: Expensive. Only one UK stockist. Acrylic easily scratched. May have to mod PCI stands if taped threads get stripped during installation. Will likely need cable extentions for the 24-pin ATX and 6-pin and 8-pin PCI power cables.

Danger Den Torture Rack

Pros: Completely acrylic.
Cons: Need to import from the US, since there are no UK stockists, which is expensive (£175.00 plus).

After weighing the pros and cons, I decided to go with the Banchetto 101. I also ordered a new WD Caviar Black 2TB HDD, Prolimatech Megahalems HSF with fan clips (the fan clips were out of stock in every place I tried in the UK - I bought two pairs off eBay), 2No. 120mm dia. Yate Loon fans (1No. on the HSF and 1No. in the lower part of case for the HDDs), 2No. 92mm dia. Yate Loon fans with black metal grilles, and cable extenders for the ATX and PCI power cables. My bank account was hit by about £450 including shipping and taxes.

I will also coat the metal drive cages, rad mount and PSU mount with 0.25mm thick rubber adhered to the metal in the locations where the cages / mounts are likely to contact with and scratch the acrylic of the case. I hate scratched computer cases.

Everything I ordered should arrive next week.

I will update with screen-shots after the components have been relocated to their new home and give my own opinions on the Banchetto 101.

Here's some more pics of the Banchetto:

After all this, I've then got to start fault finding the issue with the PC rebooting.

Thanks,


daw123

 

[Corporate Thug]

beautiful rig daw123. Honestly, I don't think any test benches hold a candle to the banchetto.

 

[RavenSEAL]

Why would you build an open case PC? The purpose of a case is protect all the expensive shit inside of it from the stuff OUTSIDE of it...such as water and dust...

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

I like your enthusiasm on even the picture taking!

time for some new GPUs though

 

[Corporate Thug]

I like your enthusiasm on even the picture taking!

time for some new GPUs though

waaaa? It looks like CF 4870s? Not much out there that it can't run.

 

[RavenSEAL]

waaaa? It looks like CF 4870s? Not much out there that it can't run.

I agree, the GPUs are fine. Even my HD4870 single runs a lot of games really well @ 1080p.

 

[disports]

Haha hmm I believe those aren't his computer parts and case as he'll receive the case next week.

 

[disports]

Why would you build an open case PC? The purpose of a case is protect all the expensive shit inside of it from the stuff OUTSIDE of it...such as water and dust...

He's going to be swapping out components a lot and testing components so it makes sense.

Edit: My bad, didn't mean to make two points. I was originally just going to comment on the case pictures posted.

 

[daw123]

I like your enthusiasm on even the picture taking!

time for some new GPUs though

You may be right since I don't know if the graphics cards are still working.

waaaa? It looks like CF 4870s? Not much out there that it can't run.

I have cross-fired HD4870 X2s, which may or may not be dead.

Haha hmm I believe those aren't his computer parts and case as he'll receive the case next week.

No they're not my parts.

He's going to be swapping out components a lot and testing components so it makes sense.

Edit: My bad, didn't mean to make two points. I was originally just going to comment on the case pictures posted.

A bit of the back story as to why I'm doing this:

Dying HDD

The PC was originally set up so that the OS was on a SSD and a second HDD would be used for programs and data storage.

The HDD started dying, so I bought a replacement. The first HDD I received was DOA since it wouldn't initialise in Windows:

I used an old HDD I had lying around as a temporary measure. Whilst I was inside, I topped up the res for the liquid cooling as it was looking a bit low (it was months since I had last done this, so I didn't think too much about it).

The second new replacement HDD arrived.

GPUs Overheating

The day before, I was planning to swap out the dying HDD for a new one, I played some games (it had been months since I had last done this).

During a game, the PC rebooted. I checked the CPU temps first; everything was okay. I then checked the GPU temps whilst the game was running and voila, the GPUs were hitting 100+ degrees. Oh sh*t, the heat sinks must be blocked up with dust, since this a common problem with the HD4870 X2.

So I now had to re-build both graphic cards as well as swapping out the HDD. Swapping out the graphics cards would be difficult because the tubing for the liquid cooling was in the way.

Leaking Loop

Whilst I was inside the case messing about, I noticed that the res was looking a bit low. Considering I had only topped it up a couple of weeks beforehand, I was a bit concerned. After poking around a bit I noticed that there was staining around a fitting to the flow meter. On further inspection, the acrylic around the bolts bolting the two halves of the meter together was cracked. It must have been leaking very slightly and thankfully not on to any other components. Here's the photographs:

Cr*ppy Alphacool product.

The silver lining to this cloud was since I had to drain down the liquid cooling loop anyway to remove the flow meter, it would give me good access to swap out the GPUs.

What was originally going to be 3-hour job, ended up taking about 11-hours.

Started up the PC and during the Windows install, which was taking an inordinate amount of time, I got the following error message:

Okay, it looks as if the replacement replacement new HDD was also faulty. I thought it could be that the shop, which I bought the HDD from, received a faulty batch of HDDs.

I then put the old HDD I was using before back in expecting everything to work correctly. Nope, PC just continually reboots and I have no idea why. I have checked all the cables and connections and they are fine, so it is something else.

Hence, why I need to carry out some testing to find out what the problem is.

Since I didn't know how long this was going to take and I couldn't be without a computer, I went out the next day and bought one of these:

 

[daw123]

I've received all the parts except for the 38mm Prolimatech fan clips.

On a side note, I didn't realise that the Prolimatech Megahalems HSF comes with 2 pairs of 25mm fan clips - oh well, at least I have the option of using 25mm of 38mm thick fans.

I've spent a few hours preparing the Banchetto 101.

Here are some pictures. (I apologise about the quality - they were taken using my camera phone).

A few things that I noticed, which have also been commented upon in the Banchetto reviews:

Although, the bottom, mid and motherboard shelves are made from 8mm thick plastic, which gives the illusion that the plastic is very robust, it is very easy to scratch.

In fact the plastic had a few scratches on it straight out of the box, where it appears that the HDD and optical cages have moved around a little during transit scratching the plastic in the process.

The threaded PCI mounting bars are very difficult to screw in to the threaded holes in the plastic removable motherboard shelf. If you're not careful, you can strip the threads in the plastic.

I have modified the case slightly as described below, to overcome the above issues.

As mentioned previously the PCI cards are screwed into vertical threaded bars, which are in turn screwed into counter-sunk holes in the top of the removable motherboard shelf. I had a go at screwing a couple of the bars into the shelf and after a while, I was concerned that if I applied any more force, I would strip the threads to the holes. btw the bars use an M3 thread.

I overcame this problem by turning the bars upside down. I then screwed 10mm long M3 black anodised allen-key headed bolts through the bottom of the hole in the plastic into the threaded hole of what would be the top of the bar (but is now the bottom). Hence, instead of the PCI cards been secured to the bar using normal thumb bolts, they would now be secured to the threaded top part of the bar using black anodised M3 knurled nuts (which I had fabricated).

Here are some photographs, which illustrate what I mean.

(You can just about see the heads of the bolts fixing the PCI bars in place and I also crewed on one of the knurled nuts as a demonstration)

To overcome the issue of scratching the plastic bottom shelf and mid-shelf when removing the PSU mounting bracket and HDD and optical drive bay cases, I covered the sharp edges of the bracket and cages, using rubber. The meeting faces of the bracket / cages and plastic were also covered in rubber.

The rubber I used was 0.25mm thick latex rubber adhered to the black anodised metal finish on the bracket / cages using double sided tape. I chose a double sided tape, which would not provide a permanent bond and could be remove din the future, without leaving too much residue behind.

Again, here are some pictures.

That is all I did today. I'll start stripping down my old case next week.