stargate125645

Last Official Thread Update:
September 19, 2007

I have divided this up into two sections, the first listing the links to the specific posts where I give you all updates on my progress (or lack thereof), and the second is a (long) introduction that goes through my thought process and explains what I was/am aiming for with this overhaul, including my initial purchases. Though since things rarely go as planned, expect there to be more log entires and changes than the introduction implies...

Please enjoy and leave your comments, critiques, and suggestions!

Log Entries:
Simple Red LED Mod: Post 2
A2400 25cm Fan Mod Part 1: Post 3
Disassembly: Post 19
Cable Sleeving Part 1: Post 24
Parts Arrival & Assembly: Post 26
A2400 25cm Fan Mod Part 2: Post 33
Fan Exchange Part 1: Post 35
New UV Cables & Cable Sleeving Part 2: Post 36
RAM Cooler Arrival: Post 39
Fan Exchange Part 2: Silenx Overhaul: Post 40
Cable Sleeving Part 3/Fan Exchange Part 3: AeroCool Overhaul: Post 66
The Ultra X3 1000W & AeroCool SilverLightning: Post 67
Motherboard, GPU, and RAM Arrival and Setup: Post 70
Fan Exchange Part 4: 25cm Fan Replacement: Post 72

Introduction:
A couple weeks ago, one of the 150GB WD Raptors that I had in RAID 0 decided to destroy all my data, which gave me the opportunity to do some upgrades and modifications, what with me having no computer to use anymore and all.

Both of those Raptors have been replaced with 4-36GB Ratpors, 1 used as an OS HDD on the JMicron controller on my P5W DH Deluxe, and the other 3 as a RAID 0 data array, controlled directly by the ICH7R southbridge. The RAID 0 array gives me a burst speed read of 250 MB/s and average read of 139 MB/s, according to HDTach, for those of you wondering. I imagine it would be faster if I didn't have the 4th drive on the southbridge as well, even if it isn't in the array directly. Anyway, back to the improvements... Below is a description of what I chose and why, as well as links to the places where they were purchased.

The first thing I did, while waiting for all my parts (listed and discussed later) to arrive was fix the red LED on the front bay panel. Those of you who own a Thermaltake Armor know how the blue LED that is on whenever the computer is turned on drowns out the red LED that turns on whenever the HDD is active, so I set about isolating the red LED so that it received no light from the blue LED, and it turned out fantastic! The steps for this are explained in my next post.

I wanted to create separate air channels in my Armor for better temperatures, one for the PSU and one for the CPU/GPU/RAM and other motherboard components. However, in order to do that I would need a fan in the top 3 slots that wouldn't look like the regular iCage, as that would be too plain, too boring, and make the case look ugly. I thought I was going to have to scrap the idea until I found the Silverstone CFP51-B 3x5.25" bay converter, which also has a fan and a cover in the front to make it not simply an iCage imitator, but a snazzy iCage imitator! Much to my chagrin, I also found out that it holds 4 HDDs, and has an isolator to keep vibrations from reaching the steel frame of the case. I was in heaven! So now the heat of my 4 Raptors will go to the PSU, which is rated at 50 degrees C, and since I never come anywhere near loading it, I was able to safely get the heat from those away from my motherboard components. To cool the rest of my motherboard, I was simply using an iCage that I already had, which will have a fan upgrade, probably to a blue LED 120mm Silenx fan, as will the Silverstone cage.

Furthermore, I was tired of cleaning those dust filters that sit behind the little bay guards for the Armor, so I have purchased some black 120mm fan filters to go over my two intake fans, as well as some 120mm rubber vibration dampeners to reduce noise further. With the dust filters, I am hoping to replace cleaning 6 mesh filters with cleaning 2 solid ones - something a simply blast of air can take care of. Plus, the solid filters will show the nuances of the case more, particularly of the moving fans as the spacing is regular and not random like the mesh fan filters (you will see in my pictures later).

With my new drive cage going at the top, where my old AeroCool GateWatch was (traded to NuclearCrap!), I needed a new fan controller. I wanted something that looked just as sweet, but only takes up one bay. The only single bay one I liked the look of was the Scythe Kama Meter, but a listing of its power supply abilities per fan channel were nowhere to be found. I wanted snazzy, bling, and just pure sexy (yes, I actually used that word, people, so mark this in your history books), so I took a chance on it. I can tell you that it is incredibly well-made, solid construction, very shiny, and easy to use. Unfortunately, this was the one of three things in this upgrade that I found some disappointment in. The Scythe Kama Meter cannot power all 4 fans in my case at full blast. The two that overload it are the Thermaltake A2018 120mm fan (0.48A at full speed) and the Thermaltake A2017 90mm fan (0.48A at full speed). The other two fans combine for about 0.3 A total, so that means the Scythe Kama Meter can barely push 1.25A (and can't really, as it reduces the speed of one to compensate when you increase another). 1.25A x 12V is 15W total, not even close to what my old, trusty GateWatch could do in one fan channel alone... However, all is not lost because the Silenx fans I will be getting use less than 0.2A at max speed, so I can easily put 4 of them on this fan controller at full load with no problems. So, I guess my comment to those thinking of this fan controller is to only use when you have very low amperage fans, which typically means a quiet case design is required!

As part of my upgrade, I wanted to change the 25cm case fan to this Power Works model from Performance PCs, which included a bezel. Unfortunately, the A2400 door doesn't fare too well against a drill bit, so I am back to the original Thermaltake Armor door (no 25cm fan), and a cracked A2400 door, pictured in post 3. This was disappointment number two, and also means I will have to order a new door and explore a new method of getting the bezel on there without drilling the holes wider...

Finally, I wanted to get some UV stuff for my case, something sound-reactive so that when my Raptors kicked in, the cables would light up like the computer were alive. I chose UV Red cables from Thermaltake:
IDE: http://www.xoxide.com/idecable4.html
Floppy: http://www.xoxide.com/floppycable5.html
SATA: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16812106001
along with a Logisys sound-reactive blacklight, that is 15" long instead of 12". Well, the blacklight works great, and it operates like I wanted to in terms of being activated by sound, but the light is too long! Disappointment number three came with me wishing I had gone with the 12" light...

Oh, I forgot to mention that somewhere along the line, I intend to sleeve the cabling of my fans, as well as the front panel power switch of the Armor, using this Xoxide cable sleeving kit (which is actually made by OKGear, but don't tell anyone).

Please stay tuned, as I will add more photos in the next two posts in this thread, showing the new computer parts and my thoughts as I put them in the case, as well as showcasing my final results - which were better than I had dreamed, despite the disappointments!

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Case Air-cooling:
[ Vantec Nexus 205-B | 3 x AeroCool XtremeTurbine-Black | 1 x AeroCool SilverLightning ]
Links:
[ G15 LCD Program Archive | Project Ablative Armor ]
[ Info: Overclocking Effects on Benchmark Scores | Info: Explanation of LCD Terminology ]

stargate125645

What you need:

• Scissors
• Cardboard (preferably on the thin side)
• Duct tape (or some other form of strong tape)

This image shows what I mean by thin cardboard. It was taken from a plain shoe box. I only say to use thin cardboard because it is easily foldable into small shapes, unlike thicker cardboard.

Those scissors are nothing special, just from my roommate's kitchen knife kit. He won't mind.

The next step is to separate the (black, in this case) bezel from the power panel, by pushing down the tabs and pulling out the bezel, as depicted below:

The tabs on the other side should slide right out since they are no longer under any force to stay in place.

The inside of the bezel should look like this, with the red LED casing being the lower of the two shown:

You will want to bend the cardboard around the LED casing; it works best just folding it into a square. I suggested using duct tape because it is strong enough to be used in a thin slice, as will be needed here, to hold the cardboard in its form around the LED casing.

It should look like this when you have the cardboard on the casing:

Notice that the cardboard is taller than the casing. This is because the LED does not actually fit inside the casing, but sits on the end, so the cardboard actually needs to be tall enough to surround the casing and the LED. This will take some trial and error - I need about 4 or 5 different cut outs before I got the right size (this is where the patience requirement kicks in). When completed, simply put the bezel back on and it should fit snug and look like this:

Don't worry, you can't see the cardboard from outside the case - it's too dark to see it without a flashlight shining directly on it, especially while the case is running.

Below is the final product, one picture with the red LED on by itself, and one with the blue LED on to show that it is indeed still bright enough to be seen. (I apologize for the graininess, but had I used a flash you wouldn't be able to see the LEDs...)




And it's just that simple!

Addition on 5/8/07:
When I was removing the front panel switches so that I could sleeve the wiring, I decided to also add cardboard around the blue LED casing, as shown in the next picture:

There was no noticeable difference versus before with only cardboard around the red LED casing, so if you are going to do this mod it really is only worth the time to do the first part.

__________________
Case Air-cooling:
[ Vantec Nexus 205-B | 3 x AeroCool XtremeTurbine-Black | 1 x AeroCool SilverLightning ]
Links:
[ G15 LCD Program Archive | Project Ablative Armor ]
[ Info: Overclocking Effects on Benchmark Scores | Info: Explanation of LCD Terminology ]

stargate125645

Since no one was interested in essentially a free A2400 Thermaltake Armor door, I decided to experiment upon it to see what went wrong. If you revisit my first post, you will read my initial discussion of my attempt to widen the holes on the door to fit the bezel of the faster 25cm fan I ordered, with the following results:



You can clearly see the crack that was created by the drill bit. Well, I tried to widen the other holes, this time drilling from the other side (plastic side), as my roommate suggested. I was able to drill the rest of the holes much easier, but none of them go through metal like the first one.

Only one of the remaining 3 holes cracked while drilling, as you can see in the upper right.

(That is my roommate playing MVP Baseball 2005 on the Game Cube, if you must know.)

And here is the door with the bezel that now fits:

As you can see, the bezel covers the new crack that was made, and much of the original crack. I think the bezel looks pretty sweet in there, and as such I am pondering buying another A2400 door and having another go at it.

For those of you who wish to do this mod yourselves, I suggest drilling from the back (plastic side) first, as it reduces the risk of cracking. I have noticed that when drilling, the plastic will rattle against the metal outside, and I believe this is what causes the cracking, so if there is a way to separate the metal casing and the acrylic, then you would be in business.

Just thought I'd share my experience so no one else makes the same mistakes!

__________________
Case Air-cooling:
[ Vantec Nexus 205-B | 3 x AeroCool XtremeTurbine-Black | 1 x AeroCool SilverLightning ]
Links:
[ G15 LCD Program Archive | Project Ablative Armor ]
[ Info: Overclocking Effects on Benchmark Scores | Info: Explanation of LCD Terminology ]

TrAncE XD

wow, you wrote alot, i'm lookin forward to your work

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The Pain Train [AOC COMPETITIVE PVP CLAN]

stargate125645

I like to explain my thoughts and reasoning, because it not only adds insight into why I did things, but perhaps it can encourage you all not only to give me alternative ideas but to motivate you to improve your own cases.

P.S. There is a Star Trek reference behind the title, although I later found out that ablative armor is real and not just science fiction. Anyway, just letting you all know the reasoning behind the clever title, as well.

__________________
Case Air-cooling:
[ Vantec Nexus 205-B | 3 x AeroCool XtremeTurbine-Black | 1 x AeroCool SilverLightning ]
Links:
[ G15 LCD Program Archive | Project Ablative Armor ]
[ Info: Overclocking Effects on Benchmark Scores | Info: Explanation of LCD Terminology ]

FlaKing

Very comprehensive!

So how is the noise (or lack thereof) compared to your old setup?

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grunion

Very nice, yeah that Blue Led is quite overpowering.
Thread subscribed, I'll be checkin on your progress. Can't see the pics cause of the work filter
I'm gonna take a Dremel to my Armor soon mainly for wire management but I'm also gonna hack out the fan bay mesh.
What did you do with your RaptorX?

Edit> Make sure you have the clearance for the Side fan with the Tuniq cooler.
My side fan does not clear my Ultra Extreme

Ah I read that wrong, you already had the side fan, just changing it out.

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How to Set/Verify 3870X2 overclock
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stargate125645

I had the Tuniq before the overhaul, so I know it fits (I had the A2400 door with the Tuniq as well). My drives are inside the Silverstone bay converter that I mentioned above. The third post, when I get around to it, will show the innards of my case, including the Raptors. I didn't use RaptorXs because I do not have an acrylic case so there is no way to see them move around, hence paying the extra money for the retail aspect is worthless.

__________________
Case Air-cooling:
[ Vantec Nexus 205-B | 3 x AeroCool XtremeTurbine-Black | 1 x AeroCool SilverLightning ]
Links:
[ G15 LCD Program Archive | Project Ablative Armor ]
[ Info: Overclocking Effects on Benchmark Scores | Info: Explanation of LCD Terminology ]

stargate125645

LED mod has been added. It's 1am here, I'll add the parts photos tomorrow.

__________________
Case Air-cooling:
[ Vantec Nexus 205-B | 3 x AeroCool XtremeTurbine-Black | 1 x AeroCool SilverLightning ]
Links:
[ G15 LCD Program Archive | Project Ablative Armor ]
[ Info: Overclocking Effects on Benchmark Scores | Info: Explanation of LCD Terminology ]

trendy

Stargate, great start man. Hope to see some more work from you.

How many IDE devices do you have? If you just have like two that sit right next to each other, might I suggest an FX IDE cable:

http://www.performance-pcs.com/catal...ndex&cPath=286
IDE FX Cables @ Performance-PCs.com

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