[Sponsored] Project Halcyon : Watercooling changed, downsizing but still will complete. - Page 8

As if there wasn't enough to do with the build I've added some stuff to the mix

I purchased 200ft of black and 100ft of red paracord to sleeve the PSU. Also purchased a molex removal tool from robertts25 (he sells them on ebay). Once that gets in, it's finger cramping time!

Dwood is busy working on designing and building the rad cage for the side of the case. I saw the concept drawings, me likey

I need to find a dremel to slice and dice the top of the HAF-X to house the Phobya 400mm rad. I'm notching the top bay out but not cutting the support out completely. Will be reinforcing with some brackets I'm fabricating to assist in getting the strength back to the drive cage support.

The second pump arrived and the buyer had not removed the Bitspower top to it. Unfortunately it was a 3/8" top not a 1/2". Luckily, I had the 1/2" Bitspower top to put on it. Looks great

Also have the fill line I need to put in as well. That is TBD on placement

More to come!

Ordered today:

• Clamps
• Quick Disconnects
• Phobya 400mm RAD
• Phobya Reservoir
• Case Lighting

Estimate: 2 Weeks to get remainder of parts

Plans:
Begin Cable Sleeving and Cutting the case to accomodate the 400mm RAD

Thank you sir! Appreciate the support. High gear modding to come over the next few weeks!

What happens when you take a HAF-X case, throw a huge watercooling loop on it, and still am waiting for parts to come in???

You order more parts of course

The 2 RAD system has evolved to become a 3 RAD system. I found an excellent deal on an XSPC RX480 Quad 120mm RAD and it's on it's way
Will be slapping 4 Scythe Ultra Kaze 3000rpm fans on it for cooling; HOWEVER, plans for it are that I am going to put a switch on the fans (after sleeving) to be able to operate the RAD in passive mode unless I really need the extra cooling and then I can switch the monster fans on. This way, I can still maintain the quiet operation unless I'm gaming and can then go crazy with waking up the neighbors by kicking on the propellers fans

The only problem: Where to mount it

Danger Den first order, GTX480 Radiator, and the paracord received. Reviews to come soon!

Still remaining on the parts front:

• HDD (Boot) - OCZ Vertex 3 240GB 2.5IN SATA3 6Gbps Sandforce SF-2281
• HDD (Backup/Data RAID 1+0) - Western Digital Caviar Black WD1001FALS 1TB 7200 RPM
• GPU Water Blocks - 3x Danger Den DD-GTX480 water blocks (1 of 3 purchased)
• RAD2 External Box - dwoods Custom Side-Mount Stand

Hey Nic, good to hear from you again and I appreciate the sponsors checking in to see how things are going. Always good to see when a Sponsor shows interest by following up with the community it is supporting.
So to curb your curiosity, here's some notes from my head on current plans/issues I'm working through....

The External Rad Box Design and Weight Issue
Fact: The radiator with rad enclosure filled will water and eight fans is going to be heavy, approximately 15-16lb heavy. The solution? Our mad-scientist/resident engineer dwood and I got our heads together and knew there would have to be bottom support for the cage itself. The framework to the madness is this:

The side facing you will have one set of 4 fans in a push config. They will be mounted to the frame itself. The radiator and additional set of 4 fans (in pull config) will mount between the side facing you and the back portion and will be bolted in for stability. The four posts going into the side will be drilled and bolted to ensure it is held against the case, while the bottom of the entire closure will be level with the bottom of the PC case and allow for a disbursement of the weight of the unit. The entire design will allow for routing the hoses and connections and will have a top that will slide over it (which will not be shown until fully assembled since that in itself if a work of art).
To remove the side panel, you just need to disconnect the Quick Disconnects going to the external RAD, disconnect the power harness, unscrew the side and it will slide off, completely independent.

NZTX RX480 RAD on back
Recently aquired, the RX480 rad was a suprise addition, but one in which I decided to take on. While the addition of another rad outside the case may be not-so-cosmetically appealing to some, the design with using Quick Disconnects allows me three options:

1. When mounted, the back radiator will be connected with Quick Disconnects for flow inclusion to allow for additional passive or active cooling potential depending on the application.
2. When running in passive mode I have the ability to maintain the silence of the system while still having an additional level of heat dissipation. When running in active mode it will have 4 Scythe Ultra Kaze 3000rpm fans mounted on it with a potentiometer controlled setup I am working on, independent of the cooling system within the case.
3. If not needed and moving it, the Quick disconnects for both the water line and electrical can be removed. The 1260 external radiator will already have a set of quick disconnects on it, allowing me to easily route the flow going from the 1260 rad to the 480 rad to change to just go from the 1260 rad and back into the case.

NZXT Sentry LX issue:
The electrical issue and limitation of the Sentry LX touch screen makes it less than ideal when you are powering multiple fans on a single channel. To correct this, a single channel to power 4 of the CoolerMaster Megaflow 200's would require 13.44w draw with 1.12A. A bit out of the range of the Sentry LX. while most would just purchase a 4 or 6 channel controller with 30 watts each, the problem comes in that I do not have any room within the 5.25" bays to add an additional controller. The solution is to come up with something on my own. Currently, I am looking at building my own 3x30w controller capable of either being mounted on a PCI bracket to the back of the case, or working to integrate it within the front (or back) of the case. The 3 channels are: Channel A (4 Kaze 3000's on the RX480), Channel B (Bank 1 of the 200mm fans in push), and Channel C (Bank 2 of the 200mm fans in pull).
Edited by halcyon-twin - 8/21/12 at 1:10pm