Caselabs SM8 Build - EVO IV - Final pics now up

mav2000 · May 20, 2013

Why EVO IV?

Well, cause its my 4th water cooled build in as many years. While I was quite happy with the way things turned out on the other mods, I think this time this is going to be something special. And for something special, we always have to start with a good base canvas....

After traveling 16,000 kms in the last few days, the case has finally arrived.

thepoopscooper · May 20, 2013

what are all the parts gonna be? looking at your other mod, i have a feeling this is going to be great. Subbed

mav2000 · May 20, 2013

Thanks man....parts, will be worked out as the build progresses. We are at that time of the year when we are between two generations of technology, IB and Haswell.

The part list will completely depend on this.

But in the meanwhile, for a 480 rad, The XSPC AX480 or the Alphacool XT45? I like the extra ports on the Alphacool and I like how the AX looks. But both seem t perform about the same. So am a bit confused.

mav2000 · May 20, 2013

The first case labs in India...

socketus · May 21, 2013

Subbed for a CL build in India !

mandrix · May 22, 2013

Begs the question......which case?

mav2000 · May 22, 2013

Its the Merlin SM8. Well so lets start off. A whole lot of packaging material. Thick plastic sheets. Packing peanuts and cardboard. Took me close to 30 mins just to unpack the box and get the parts out. Was easy to put it together, but I think a few things need to be better explained in the book. For eg. the motherboard tray comes with these nuts which are on the thumbscrews that connect to the case. These nuts need to be removed, otherwise the motherboard tray sticks out a bit. This I think got missed out in the manual, unless I am doing something wrong. There were 1 or 2 more exceptions like this, which got me a bit confused, but its more or less done now..

First off, the unpacking:

And this is where I am right now. Had some confusion on the hinges, but sorted them out soon enough.

I also needed to change the sleeving on the front panel connectors. The quality of the sleeve is nice, thick and nt see through at all. But since the sleeving ends a few mm's away from the connectors, I decided to resleeve it with some MDPC:

Off with the old:

In with the new:

Thats it for this update. I have ordered most of the cooling parts from performance pcs. Its shipped last night, so I guess that will take 2 weeks to get here.

In the meanwhile, I need to work out the placing of the heatmaster and the cabling for it. I also got my reservoir tube today, so need to work out where thats going to go.

mav2000 · May 25, 2013

And finally its all together. It took a while but I finally decided to go RATX.

And trust me, I could not be happier. The quality is just something else. I have worked with a few aluminium cases, but this is just on another level.

Now, a few plans. At the bottom, there is going to be mid plate, but one which will not cover the PSU, as the PSU is too close to the mobo and then I wont have enough place to install a light panel....yes, thats right, this build is going to have a mid panel light mod...

The whole piece will be made out of acrylic. and I will install a length of LED's which will light up the top of the box. And trust me, I could not be happier. The quality is just something else. I have worked with a few aluminium cases, but this is just on another level.

Now, a few plans. At the bottom, there is going to be mid plate, but one which will not cover the PSU, as the PSU is too close to the mobo and then I wont have enough place to install a light panel....yes, thats right, this build is going to have a mid panel light mod...

The whole piece will be made out of acrylic. and I will install a length of LED's which will light up the top of the box. AT the bottom, I have installed the Heatmaster, which will automate my water cooling pumps and fans as per temperatures. And the white box is the controller for the LED's.

thepoopscooper · May 25, 2013

looking great!

spikeSP · May 25, 2013

Wow I can only imagine what shipping was like to India.

Look forward to seeing this build!

mav2000 · May 25, 2013

Thanks. I got it shipped to Canada and then my friends got it down here when they came back. So was not all that bad. Work on the light panel starts tomorrow.

mav2000 · May 26, 2013

Started work on the mid plate/light box. The box is like a U shaped acrylic piece, which will hold the light box on the top. Cut outs have been made where required, so that wiring can be done inside of it.

The U shaped box is now done:

Sorry for the crappy pics. But this was in a shop with a whole lot of acrylic dust flying around. And I just could not take my camera inside.

thepoopscooper · May 26, 2013

can't wait to see more!

Ragsters · May 26, 2013

Looking forward to seeing your lightbox progress.

mav2000 · May 26, 2013

Thanks. I now need to make a frame on the top to house the light box

mav2000 · May 29, 2013

Started work on the top of the mid panel. Like I said earlier, the idea is to get a light panel in here which can light up the whole case. So heres how it went:

So first up, the frame with a mirror acrylic inside and the LED strip attached to the sides. Then:

On top of that we install a plain thick block of acrylic which has been scored

And finally a white piece of acrylic on the top. And this is the final product:

The controller can dim the lights, can brighten it up and do about 13-14 different colors, which you can change according to the theme you want. It can also do a bunch of other stuff, but I am not getting into that right now.

Next is the moment of truth. Will it fit? Are the dimensions right? It looks a bit bigger than I thought. But hopefully it will be fine.

Ragsters · May 29, 2013

^ This thing look amazing. I can't wait to see what it looks like in the case. I want one really bad now. I would love to see more detail so I can copy you.

How much did the box ended up costing you in material?

Voxer · May 29, 2013

Wow, that acrylic panel looks REALLY awesome. Subbed!!!

barkinos98 · May 29, 2013

looks great! subbed

mav2000 · May 29, 2013

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ragsters

^ This thing look amazing. I can't wait to see what it looks like in the case. I want one really bad now. I would love to see more detail so I can copy you.

How much did the box ended up costing you in material?

The whole thing cost me about 10 usd for the materials and cutting and another ten for the light strip. One of the advantages of staying in India. But then we get shafted by shipping costs on wc stuff. I will put up a quick idea of how I made it as well. It was something of a dark art that no body wanted to share. But I saw one guy share it on his project and copied it.
Quote:

Originally Posted by Voxer

Wow, that acrylic panel looks REALLY awesome. Subbed!!!

Quote:

Originally Posted by barkinos98

looks great! subbed

Thanks guys. I think the final theme will be decided once I get some reviews and costs on a haswell setup. Till then I have to keep waiting.

Caselabs SM8 Build - EVO IV - Final pics now up

mav2000

thepoopscooper

mav2000

mav2000

socketus

mandrix

mav2000

mav2000

thepoopscooper

spikeSP

mav2000

mav2000

thepoopscooper

Ragsters

mav2000

mav2000

Ragsters

Voxer

barkinos98

mav2000

Top Contributors this Month

Recommended Communities