Overclock.net › Forums › Case Mods & Cases › Case Mod Work Logs › Case Mod Competition 2010 Work Logs › [Intermediate] savnac's Dark Tower TJ07
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:

[Intermediate] savnac's Dark Tower TJ07

post #1 of 16
1/13/10 at 11:03am
Thread Starter 
So I bought a computer from craigslist. Here is a link to some pictures of the original build as it was when I bought it.

My goals with the case are:
1. Paint everything black that I can or get black parts (hence "Dark" Tower)
2. Have the best cable management EVER
3. Sleeve every wire/cable that will be visible
4. Try to seal off the bottom compartment the best I can to keep heat from coming up into the case (radiators will be in the bottom chamber)
5. Have a sleek looking front, with stealth dvd drive, and ventilation for the hard drives
Edited by savnac - 3/18/10 at 12:21pm
Dark Tower
(13 items)
  		  
CPUMotherboardGraphicsRAM
Core i5 750 @4.2ghz Evga P55 EVGA GTX 295 G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 1600 
Hard DriveOptical DriveOSMonitor
160gb (dell) Velociraptor + (2) 1tb Samsung DVD RW Windows 7 Ultimate ASUS VW246H 24" WS 2ms 
KeyboardPowerCaseMouse
RAZER Lycosa 1000 Watt Corsair Modular SilverStone TJ07-BW Logitech G9 
Mouse Pad
Everglide 
  hide details  
Reply
Dark Tower
(13 items)
  		  
CPUMotherboardGraphicsRAM
Core i5 750 @4.2ghz Evga P55 EVGA GTX 295 G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 1600 
Hard DriveOptical DriveOSMonitor
160gb (dell) Velociraptor + (2) 1tb Samsung DVD RW Windows 7 Ultimate ASUS VW246H 24" WS 2ms 
KeyboardPowerCaseMouse
RAZER Lycosa 1000 Watt Corsair Modular SilverStone TJ07-BW Logitech G9 
Mouse Pad
Everglide 
  hide details  
Reply
post #2 of 16
2/11/10 at 10:05am
Thread Starter 
Here I have the case stripped down.



I had some help dusting the case out.



Getting the mobo tray ready for some cutting. I did a cut out for the cpu backplate, cpu power, case i/o, and a big opening for atx, pci and sata cabling.



While waiting for some parts to arrive I sleeved the power supply. I decided to only sleeve the ends so that I wouldn’t have to enlarge the power supply opening. I found a trick for removing ATX/PCI-e pin and posted a video here.




Interior parts sanded and ready for painting.





1st coat of primer.





Didn’t take any more pictures of the painting process because things got a bit messy, you’ll just have to see the final result once assembled.
Edited by savnac - 3/18/10 at 2:34pm
Dark Tower
(13 items)
  		  
CPUMotherboardGraphicsRAM
Core i5 750 @4.2ghz Evga P55 EVGA GTX 295 G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 1600 
Hard DriveOptical DriveOSMonitor
160gb (dell) Velociraptor + (2) 1tb Samsung DVD RW Windows 7 Ultimate ASUS VW246H 24" WS 2ms 
KeyboardPowerCaseMouse
RAZER Lycosa 1000 Watt Corsair Modular SilverStone TJ07-BW Logitech G9 
Mouse Pad
Everglide 
  hide details  
Reply
Dark Tower
(13 items)
  		  
CPUMotherboardGraphicsRAM
Core i5 750 @4.2ghz Evga P55 EVGA GTX 295 G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 1600 
Hard DriveOptical DriveOSMonitor
160gb (dell) Velociraptor + (2) 1tb Samsung DVD RW Windows 7 Ultimate ASUS VW246H 24" WS 2ms 
KeyboardPowerCaseMouse
RAZER Lycosa 1000 Watt Corsair Modular SilverStone TJ07-BW Logitech G9 
Mouse Pad
Everglide 
  hide details  
Reply
post #3 of 16
3/18/10 at 3:02pm
Thread Starter 
I got some black shelf lining for looks and to keep vibrations down. The cut outs are where the radiators will sit. I used 3M double sided tape to try and keep the radiators in place.



As you can see two radiators with all the tubing hardware made for a tight fit, but it worked.



Radiators in place with a brace across the top that I made real quick out of a piece of aluminum sheeting.




3M tape is pretty amazing, holds the radiators vertically no problem.



I put in a tee line with a drain. This location wasn’t my first choice but it will have to do. The top part of the tee is where the tubing will head up into the case and hit the cpu block.



Here I’ve placed the power supply and mounted the pump. Pretty much maxed out every bit of space in the lower chamber.




I mounted the pump as low as I could with still allowing the outlet tube to ride over the radiator. It was a really tight fit but it made it.

Dark Tower
(13 items)
  		  
CPUMotherboardGraphicsRAM
Core i5 750 @4.2ghz Evga P55 EVGA GTX 295 G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 1600 
Hard DriveOptical DriveOSMonitor
160gb (dell) Velociraptor + (2) 1tb Samsung DVD RW Windows 7 Ultimate ASUS VW246H 24" WS 2ms 
KeyboardPowerCaseMouse
RAZER Lycosa 1000 Watt Corsair Modular SilverStone TJ07-BW Logitech G9 
Mouse Pad
Everglide 
  hide details  
Reply
Dark Tower
(13 items)
  		  
CPUMotherboardGraphicsRAM
Core i5 750 @4.2ghz Evga P55 EVGA GTX 295 G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 1600 
Hard DriveOptical DriveOSMonitor
160gb (dell) Velociraptor + (2) 1tb Samsung DVD RW Windows 7 Ultimate ASUS VW246H 24" WS 2ms 
KeyboardPowerCaseMouse
RAZER Lycosa 1000 Watt Corsair Modular SilverStone TJ07-BW Logitech G9 
Mouse Pad
Everglide 
  hide details  
Reply
post #4 of 16
3/18/10 at 3:53pm
Thread Starter 
DVD RW painted black.



Hard drives mounted in a Scythe Hard Disk Stabilizer x4 that was painted black.



Fan attached to the stabilizer with zip ties (had to zip 4 together to get them long enough). I stuck rubber spacers in between the fan and the cage to keep vibrations down.



And mounted into the 3 lowest 5.25 bays.



Mother board and gpu installed as well as the reservoir. Note that all of the cuts I made in the motherboard tray have either grommets or c-channel edging.



Close up of the tubing with grommets going between the lower and upper chambers. I used a piece of aluminum sheeting to cover the stock cutouts in the divider, then added a piece of black shelf liner to give it a finished look.



Tubing up the water blocks and reservoir.



No leaks, I used 7/16" i.d. tubing over 1/2" o.d. barbs. Heated up the tubing with near boiling water and slipped them over the barbs.



RAM Heatsinks


Edited by savnac - 3/19/10 at 11:00am
Dark Tower
(13 items)
  		  
CPUMotherboardGraphicsRAM
Core i5 750 @4.2ghz Evga P55 EVGA GTX 295 G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 1600 
Hard DriveOptical DriveOSMonitor
160gb (dell) Velociraptor + (2) 1tb Samsung DVD RW Windows 7 Ultimate ASUS VW246H 24" WS 2ms 
KeyboardPowerCaseMouse
RAZER Lycosa 1000 Watt Corsair Modular SilverStone TJ07-BW Logitech G9 
Mouse Pad
Everglide 
  hide details  
Reply
Dark Tower
(13 items)
  		  
CPUMotherboardGraphicsRAM
Core i5 750 @4.2ghz Evga P55 EVGA GTX 295 G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 1600 
Hard DriveOptical DriveOSMonitor
160gb (dell) Velociraptor + (2) 1tb Samsung DVD RW Windows 7 Ultimate ASUS VW246H 24" WS 2ms 
KeyboardPowerCaseMouse
RAZER Lycosa 1000 Watt Corsair Modular SilverStone TJ07-BW Logitech G9 
Mouse Pad
Everglide 
  hide details  
Reply
post #5 of 16
3/19/10 at 11:04am
Thread Starter 
Back side of the case.



Front



Hard drives



DVD RW



Front panel connections



SATA connections



ATX and PCI-e



Some overall shots




Dark Tower
(13 items)
  		  
CPUMotherboardGraphicsRAM
Core i5 750 @4.2ghz Evga P55 EVGA GTX 295 G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 1600 
Hard DriveOptical DriveOSMonitor
160gb (dell) Velociraptor + (2) 1tb Samsung DVD RW Windows 7 Ultimate ASUS VW246H 24" WS 2ms 
KeyboardPowerCaseMouse
RAZER Lycosa 1000 Watt Corsair Modular SilverStone TJ07-BW Logitech G9 
Mouse Pad
Everglide 
  hide details  
Reply
Dark Tower
(13 items)
  		  
CPUMotherboardGraphicsRAM
Core i5 750 @4.2ghz Evga P55 EVGA GTX 295 G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 1600 
Hard DriveOptical DriveOSMonitor
160gb (dell) Velociraptor + (2) 1tb Samsung DVD RW Windows 7 Ultimate ASUS VW246H 24" WS 2ms 
KeyboardPowerCaseMouse
RAZER Lycosa 1000 Watt Corsair Modular SilverStone TJ07-BW Logitech G9 
Mouse Pad
Everglide 
  hide details  
Reply
post #6 of 16
3/19/10 at 11:17am
Thread Starter 
I got some air conditioning filters for the front intake over the hard drives and for both bottom vents. I don’t really need one on the exhaust side vent in the bottom but it hid the radiator and looks nice.







Stealth DVD RW




And the overall, finished product










Dark Tower
(13 items)
  		  
CPUMotherboardGraphicsRAM
Core i5 750 @4.2ghz Evga P55 EVGA GTX 295 G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 1600 
Hard DriveOptical DriveOSMonitor
160gb (dell) Velociraptor + (2) 1tb Samsung DVD RW Windows 7 Ultimate ASUS VW246H 24" WS 2ms 
KeyboardPowerCaseMouse
RAZER Lycosa 1000 Watt Corsair Modular SilverStone TJ07-BW Logitech G9 
Mouse Pad
Everglide 
  hide details  
Reply
Dark Tower
(13 items)
  		  
CPUMotherboardGraphicsRAM
Core i5 750 @4.2ghz Evga P55 EVGA GTX 295 G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 1600 
Hard DriveOptical DriveOSMonitor
160gb (dell) Velociraptor + (2) 1tb Samsung DVD RW Windows 7 Ultimate ASUS VW246H 24" WS 2ms 
KeyboardPowerCaseMouse
RAZER Lycosa 1000 Watt Corsair Modular SilverStone TJ07-BW Logitech G9 
Mouse Pad
Everglide 
  hide details  
Reply
post #7 of 16
3/19/10 at 11:27am
Thread Starter 
So that’s it. First time with a water cooling setup and first major case mod. I’m really happy with how everything turned out. I approached this with lots of planning and used Google sketch up to help make sure everything would fit. I had no real problems along the way and this project was a lot of fun. Kind of addicting, I’ve found myself searching craigslist for old cases for my next project.
Dark Tower
(13 items)
  		  
CPUMotherboardGraphicsRAM
Core i5 750 @4.2ghz Evga P55 EVGA GTX 295 G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 1600 
Hard DriveOptical DriveOSMonitor
160gb (dell) Velociraptor + (2) 1tb Samsung DVD RW Windows 7 Ultimate ASUS VW246H 24" WS 2ms 
KeyboardPowerCaseMouse
RAZER Lycosa 1000 Watt Corsair Modular SilverStone TJ07-BW Logitech G9 
Mouse Pad
Everglide 
  hide details  
Reply
Dark Tower
(13 items)
  		  
CPUMotherboardGraphicsRAM
Core i5 750 @4.2ghz Evga P55 EVGA GTX 295 G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 1600 
Hard DriveOptical DriveOSMonitor
160gb (dell) Velociraptor + (2) 1tb Samsung DVD RW Windows 7 Ultimate ASUS VW246H 24" WS 2ms 
KeyboardPowerCaseMouse
RAZER Lycosa 1000 Watt Corsair Modular SilverStone TJ07-BW Logitech G9 
Mouse Pad
Everglide 
  hide details  
Reply
post #8 of 16
7/4/10 at 7:52pm
Nice Mod!
Koru
(13 items)
  		  
CPUMotherboardGraphicsRAM
Phenom II 1090T - @4.26 NB@3.078 Asus - Crosshair IV formula 5850 100/1200 - looking to xfire Dominator GT @ 8-9-8-24 1894 
Hard DriveOSMonitorPower
OCZ Vertex II 60GB - WD Black 640 Win 7 Ultimate 64bit AOC 23" IPS + 21.5" Benq + samsung syncmaster Corsair HX650 
CaseMouse
Hand crafted - Koru Deathadder 
View all
  hide details  
Reply
Koru
(13 items)
  		  
CPUMotherboardGraphicsRAM
Phenom II 1090T - @4.26 NB@3.078 Asus - Crosshair IV formula 5850 100/1200 - looking to xfire Dominator GT @ 8-9-8-24 1894 
Hard DriveOSMonitorPower
OCZ Vertex II 60GB - WD Black 640 Win 7 Ultimate 64bit AOC 23" IPS + 21.5" Benq + samsung syncmaster Corsair HX650 
CaseMouse
Hand crafted - Koru Deathadder 
View all
  hide details  
Reply
post #9 of 16
7/4/10 at 7:57pm
Amazing job. Even more awesome since this is your first major mod. Keep it up!
Baldy's Slave
(14 items)
  		  
CPUMotherboardGraphicsRAM
|Athlon II X3 440 @ 3.6GHz| |Biostar TA890FXE| |MSI GTS 450 Cyclone 1GB| |Geil Ultra DDR3 2133 4GB (2x2GB)| 
Hard DriveCoolingOSMonitor
|Seagate 7200.12 500GB| Noctua NH-D14 |Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit| |Sony Bravia 22" LCD TV| 
PowerCase
|TT Toughpower 750W Cable Management| |Lian Li A70FB| 
View all
  hide details  
Reply
Baldy's Slave
(14 items)
  		  
CPUMotherboardGraphicsRAM
|Athlon II X3 440 @ 3.6GHz| |Biostar TA890FXE| |MSI GTS 450 Cyclone 1GB| |Geil Ultra DDR3 2133 4GB (2x2GB)| 
Hard DriveCoolingOSMonitor
|Seagate 7200.12 500GB| Noctua NH-D14 |Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit| |Sony Bravia 22" LCD TV| 
PowerCase
|TT Toughpower 750W Cable Management| |Lian Li A70FB| 
View all
  hide details  
Reply
post #10 of 16
7/5/10 at 9:45am
You did a nice job but next time I will like to see more exterior work on the case!
darknight Complete
(13 items)
  		  
CPUMotherboardGraphicsRAM
Core 2 Duo ASUS P5NSLI MSI 512MB 128bit 2GB Kingston 
Hard DriveOptical DrivePowerCase
2x WD 250GB 20x samsung DVD-R Lightscribe Rosewill 600w - Performance Custom Build 
View all
  hide details  
Reply
darknight Complete
(13 items)
  		  
CPUMotherboardGraphicsRAM
Core 2 Duo ASUS P5NSLI MSI 512MB 128bit 2GB Kingston 
Hard DriveOptical DrivePowerCase
2x WD 250GB 20x samsung DVD-R Lightscribe Rosewill 600w - Performance Custom Build 
View all
  hide details  
Reply
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:
  Return Home
Overclock.net › Forums › Case Mods & Cases › Case Mod Work Logs › Case Mod Competition 2010 Work Logs › [Intermediate] savnac's Dark Tower TJ07