[Project Log] Rhapsody in Red - Page 3

They've had black interiors for a while now; they just don't offer it on all of their cases. I reviewed the PC-X900 mentioned before almost two years ago now.

Good news; the PC-V750WX is on its way! I've also ordered some items that will make the build look even better.

• 12' Primochill Pro LRT Red (more than enough)
• 30 4" Red Tie Wraps
• 10 8" Red Tie Wraps
• Red spiral wrap for non-sleeved cables (not sure if that'll work out or not)

Ok, small update for you. There is good news and bad news. The first good news is that I received all the stuff from Jab Tech in very quick order. If you need to buy stuff they sell, the service is excellent. Jab Tech and Sidewinder Computers are both great companies to deal with.

Now, the bad news - Lian Li had a shipping snafu and shipped the silver version of the PC-V750. We're going to take lemons and make lemonade though...Rhapsody in Red just changed from black to silver.

Unfortunately, that left me with a problem - my fan controller is black. Thus, thanks to a quick email and very supportive modding-community-supporting company, Lamptron has stepped up to the plate and agreed to supply a fan controller for the build!

They've got to check what they have in silver. It's not exactly a very common request, so we'll see what options they have.

Thanks Lamptron!
Edited by hokiealumnus - 8/13/12 at 11:04am

Houston, we have a problem. There is no way a radiator is going to fit in this thing. That motherboard needs every mm of space up to the top mounting screws and a radiator would unfortunately cut into motherboard space.

Looks like we're going with an external rad. Not preferable, but doable. The only question is whether to drill holes for the tubing and ruin the case or run it through the holes on the back. I know what I want to do...and what I should do; but I don't think I can bring myself to do it. Maybe red tubing going out to an external rad will look nifty.

Anyway...now that I know it's here for good, it came out for a photo shoot. While it's not a perfect fit for the radiator as I'd hoped, it sure is a nice looking case!




Edited by hokiealumnus - 8/13/12 at 9:33pm

Well, Rhapsody in Red seems to be very close to complete! It didn't go without its share of pains in the rear, but for the purposes of this case review at least, it's done. Since this IS supposed to be a build log, I'll share a few of the interim points too.

First, I put the Bit Fenix 120mm fans where they went, front and back (still no 140mm fans or 8-pin PCIe extensions from them).




Then the PSU was installed. You'll remember, the PSU goes in the front of this case. It's strange, but as the build went on, it actually grew on me. You do NOT want to forget to leave the power switch ON, or you'll be in a world of hurt. There is no access other than the front grille on the case (with very small holes). Thankfully I remembered.





Then the motherboard went in.



Since you can't fit fans and a radiator internally, I decided to put the fans outside the case and the radiator inside. It's cleaner to get wires into a case than tubing. So I tried to install the radiator...

...and it wouldn't FIT. The fan holes are just a bit too close for radiator spacing. There is no reason for this, it doesn't make sense. I mean, since internal water cooling isn't really an option, I suppose they didn't need to make the spacing right, but if they're cutting fan holes, they might as well make it the person's choice, you know?

So I didn't screw up a LOT of the case, I decided to only use two screws on the front fan. As much as it pained me to do this to a Lian Li case, that radiator was going to fit one way or the other, so I broke out the drill and expanded two of the holes.





After that, the radiator installed without issue. I used the stock fan grilles on top of the fans to keep the exterior mostly silver except for the 25mm of black for the fans.





With that out of the way, the loop went together. With a spare PSU on hand, I always build the loop, fill it and leak test while finishing the rest of the build. It always takes several hours - especially with a build like this, with a silver interior that needs to be clean. Thus, plenty of time for any nasty leaks to show themselves.



This was the first time I've built aloop without screw drive clamps, opting for color-matched red wire ties. They work surprisingly well and I wouldn't hesitate to do it again.

After filling the loop, I went to the lights to test out positioning. This is after the bottom strip was installed. The strip is a 60mm BitFenix Alchemy chainable strip. These things are great to work with. They're very flexible and as flat as an LED strip could possibly be. The adhesive is quite strong and should hold for quite a long time. No complaints about the lighting solution at all.





There was another identical strip installed in the top of the case. In this photo you can also see the red wire ties used as hose clamps.



The other hiccup is with the overall build. This case will not fit two GPUs and a reservoir like the one I'm using. Thus, this will be a one card build. Since the 8-pin extensions haven't arrived but two 6-pin extions have, I went ahead and made it look pretty using an ASUS GTX 670 DirectCU II TOP.

There are only a few more odds and ends to go over before getting to the final, prettified build.

Since this build is called Rhapsody in Red, what better item to add then a red SSD? This holds the benching install of Win 7 for the 3960X build. By sheer good fortune, it happens to be a red drive. Like the pump, the drive is held in with 3M Command picture hanging strips. They hold great and come off without leaving residue.



You can also see that I used red electrical tape to keep the front panel connectors uniform with the build. I bought wrap for that purpose, but it turned out the wrap from Jab Tech is HUGE and wouldn't work for purposes of the small wires.

Currently in this machine I have two HDDs and two SSDs. The other SSD and two HDDs went in the rack. The HDDs are hot-swap, but the SSD has to be hard wired.



To get the top fan wires into the case, I just put them through the side panel and flattened them with tape. Surprisingly it worked great. There is a very short wire run to the side of the case and you never see them again.



...and that's it! I'll show you the rats nest behind the build, which isn't too bad considering the amount of connectivity in this build.



I'll sift through the completed build photos sometime this morning/afternoon and come up with some you'll hopefully like.

Ok, final pics!! I'm actually excited about this one and think it turned out relatively well. Without further ado....lights, camera, action!

Lights on:











Lights OFF photos will follow shortly.

White lights OFF, LEDs engaged!







Two last photos, with case lights and ambient lights on.





Now Rhapsody in Red is 90% completed. All that remains is the Lamptron controller (the one in use presently is black and ugly on a silver case, hence no photo), 140mm BitFenix fans and 8-pin PCIe extensions so I can put the intended GPU in there (HD 6990). As far as looks go, however, the ASUS GTX 670 DCUII does look pretty nice as a substitute.

Hope you like it!

Yay, the rest of the stuff arrived...now I just need to find time to finish up. I'm hopeful it will be next week. We shall see.

Anyway, the first arrival were the two 140mm BitFenix fans and subsequently the 8-pin PCIe cables. Yay!



The cables are very well done. That they don't have heatshrink is just awesome.



The fans of course look sweet too.



Also, thanks to Lamptron, we have a silver controller to finish the exterior!



It sure does look good in silver; it will compliment this case perfectly.



That's it for now!