Project "ICE" - Overclock.net

*CyberDruid* · 12-25-06

Well I thought I would go ahead and show you the latest. I have teased you all enough with my Firing Up the Phase and "LAN party in a box" threads.

I apologize in advance for the missing photos of the actual fabrication. But my loss is your gain. Due to a camera malfunction I have no record of the actual build process--so I do not feel right about entering this in the Case Mod Competiton--which means I might as well share what I got with my fellow Modders and Cooling Enthusiasts!

This rig was built on my porch in the rain from 5 PM to 3AM in one blast--I scrupulously shot every piece being fabbed and assembled--from the empty case to the initial start up. Somehow the camera glitched and those shots are lost forever. Believe me it hurts!

My Wife nicknamed this monster Munch (since it is much larger than Crunch LOL). And what an apt moniker it turned out to be--the Monster ate about $500 worth of gear in the first few moments of its life, put a vicious hex on my camera and killed my Case Mod Comp build and adorned itself with the remains! I am almost afraid to use that name! So I call this particular variant of Munch "ICE"

Here are the Hardware Specifications for "ICE"

Chilly1 Phase Unit
FX57 (EDIT--actually it is a 3700+ KACAE LOL--silly Cyber)
Asus A8NSLI
2 x 1 GB OCZ DDR400 2.5 3 3 8
2X 160GB Seagate 7200.10 HDDs (RaptorX, Seagate 320GB 7200.10 Coming!)
BFG 800 Watt Quad Rail PSU
2X eVGA 7800GT fitted with Zalman V900 heatpipe coolers
Sony 18X DL DVD RW ODD
Mitsumi FDD
2 AC Ryan Blackfire (4 UV LEDs) UV Red 120mm fans exhausting straight up.
Round Copper shielded IDE cable and FDD cable (EL wire lit SATA cable coming!)
1 15" Red CCL (2 more coming!)

So without further ado feast your eyebulbs on my first phase chilled rig.

4 Anigre legs (1.75" x 1.75" x 28.75"), 1 solid Anigre top (.75" x 24" x 24"), 4 Perforated Stainless Steel side panels painted in Polar White Epoxy Enamel (1/8" x 17" x 19") attached with Stainless Steel Panhead #10 screws and fender washers.

2 Bulgin switches--one to initiate the Phase one for the PWR SW pins on thethe Mobo--one more is coming for Reset SW pins. The Switches have LED rings that are not yet wired up--but will be for the PLED and HDD pins on the mobo. The Colors will be Red for HDD, Green For PWR and White for Phase.

With lights on in the room the case looks solid.

But with the lights of this is how my eye perceives it....

The Camera Flash creates another look...psychedelic...LOL

I mounted the FDD and ODD (Sony 18X DL DVD Burner) on 1/8" x 1" aluminum bar stock. Under the burner is a sheet of acrylic and under the FDD is a noisedampening pad--both are held down with industrial strength exterior-grade double-sided rubber tape. The bar stock is pop rivetted onto the top flange of the side panel--the drives are made to be non-removable are are dressed up with some brushed stainless-look PSA veneer.

With the top off it is easier to see some of the cooling apparatus and the basic construction.

Nothing to hide--I wanted an industrial no-nonsense aesthetic to pervade thebuild inside and out.

Gotta love AC Ryan Blackfire Fans...

Even the FDD looks good--that's a first. The Chilly 1 is nestled under the removable mobo tray.

A single 15" Red CCL tube lights the back panel beside the Chilly1. Except for the 2 USB cables leading off to the Saitek Eclipse2 and Razer Copperhead there are no stray leads up top.

Here you can see how the Evap Head sockets into the Neoprene matting around the CPU.

The HDDs are mounted in an aluminum cage salvaged from one of my Lian Li mods. The cage is velcroed to an 1/8" x 1'" x 1" aluminum angle that is screwed into the case legs. The HDD cage is positioned atopt the BFG 800 Watt Quad Rail PSU--taking advantage of the airflow from the PSU fan. The air exitting the PSU is barely warm--and better than no air. I wanted the HDDs visible. I plan to run 1 RaptorX (visible) and a pair of large SATA behind it for mass storage. At this time I amd running 2 Seagate 160GB 7200.10 in RAID0.

Another view of the Phase--it's very shiney--but I am thinking of painting it either Red or White....probably White. It is sitting on a 1/4" sound absorbing material bonded to 1/4" marine plywood pop rivetted to aluminum angles pop rivetted onto the side panels.

The Display for the Phase is visible through the mesh and it reads -45C at that moment.

There are so many more shots I wish I could show you all....to recreate them will mean unhooking the phase head--which I am not going to do right away--it took some prep to get it right. Anyway just to describe some of the details of the build: the mobo tray is attached to aluminum angles by velcro and easily removes--it is about an inch above the Phase unit. I had to customize the tray with 1" 6-32 machine screws and 1/2" nylon spacers to make clearance for the neoprene and phase back plate. The 7800GTs are not going anywhere (short of a sudden reversal of the Gravity LOL) and the Asus SLI bridge helps stabilize them--the PCIe power leads offer yet one more "stabilizer." Once the mobo is removed the Phase can easily be lifted out of the case. The PSU drops into a rectangular opening to which the PSU backplane is screwed and then the HDD cage fits dead over the PSU adjacent to the mobo. The PSU cables all run below line of sight--but are tidied with PSA cable blocks and cable ties. As usual there is room for improvement. On the first mobo I installed (now inert) the leads to the SLI set up and ATX mobo power fit well--in this particular mobo the PCIe power leads are stetched dead straight from the PSUto just barely meet the cards...I need to rewire the switches--I will likely mount them into holes in the upper flange pointing up--that sort of drilling won't be happening until I pull the sensitive gear out of harm's way. I have a third switch on it's way that will need to be hooked to the relay in the Phase that is supposed to momentarily trip the PWR SW pins on the mobo.. That way I will have a visual indicator as to when to push the PWR button. Another improvement might be to mount the FDD and ODD below the height of the top flange--this will necessitate cutting into the side panels to fit the units--which i am not entirely sure about the look of...I kind of like everything out in the open...

EDIT: hey guys the system specs on this RIG are in constant flux...so read on....

johnnys · 12-25-06

that is awsome

**BrinNutz** · 12-25-06

Awesome work CD...Awesome...

*CyberDruid* · 12-25-06

"ICE" thanks you very much for the compliments!

Would have been an interesting addition to the competition I think.

Digging up some shots of the raw materials...

**Burn** · 12-25-06

VERY cool! That must have been a helluva build for you, quite a nice job! ICE looks sexy

Great work as always!

b3ar · 12-25-06

Awesome, CyberD! Have you oc'ed ICE yet?

**gonX** · 12-25-06

Extreeeeemely cool, that is really ModderDruid in action

*CyberDruid* · 12-25-06

Quote:

Originally Posted by Burn

VERY cool! That must have been a helluva build for you, quite a nice job! ICE looks sexy

Great work as always!

I thnk so too. This build really flowed. I knew the minute the ETO on the yacht gave me those white shelves that I would be building a "Crunch" box. Then when we had some leftover Anigre the die was cast. After Xavier sold me the CHilly! I knew where the build was headed. And then it was a trip top Lowes for angle and rivets and I started fabbing.

The first thing I did was attach the legs to the sides--that took about 20 minutes. The top I had already routed and sanded to 220 in Savannah. Then I popped in two angles to support the sound deadeding panel that would support the phase.

You know things are meant to be when unrelated materials are in compliance...the interior was exactly the right width for the phase, and the right width for the mobo tray and the PSU with no space left over!

I put the Phase in and one inch up popped in two more angles to support the mobo tray. I popped another angle in above that to support the HDD cage. When I saw how perfectly the Cage fit over the PSU I knew it had to go there. I then saw that it would be perfect for featuring a RaptorX.

I then modded the mobotray for the phase set up and installed the 7800GTs and found I had adequate clearance to mount the FDD and ODD on a rail above that.

I did not even worry about where anything went--it all seemed predetermined. Even the PSU cabling worked out great--hidden and easy to sneak up beside the Mobo. I broke out my stash from the Case Mod Comp build and installed a pair of 15" Red CCL tubes on the bottom flange--one beside the phase and one on the mobo side--but one of the tubes was DOA. After much fiddling about I decided it looked good with just that red glow beside the Phase.

I found that the ODD and FDD were a snap to install with industrial tape--but the beige metal housings needed some pizzaz. So I raided the stash again and broke out the PSA brushed Stainless paper. A few slices and they looked much nicer.

After my "Follies with Phase" I consider any mobo or CPU that I install in "ICE" strictly disposable...so rather than focusing on a particular arrangement of Hardware, "ICE" is all about the box. My Wife calls the monster "Munch" and I have a feeling "ICE" will be "Munching" some silicon on a regular basis...