Project Cylon PC

A little more progress last night.

I stripped the 512s down for their waterblocks.

Naked shot after a visit by Arctic Clean:

naked512sm.JPG


I didn't take pictures of it after I took off the stock heatsink. However I will say that it was obvious that the heatsink was removed by someone (perhaps BFG) and the "white" thermal grease on the GPU was replaced w/ Arctic silver. There was still white grease around the GPU and on the heatsink in the GPU area. The ram had two grease filled fiber pads on each chip connecting it to the stock heatsink. I'm not a thermal expert, and hardly a novice, but two of those little pads are pretty thick which can't be ideal.

A pair of BFG 7800GTX 512MB OC's ready for watercoolin'

readyforwater512s.JPG


The other bit is the 7800GTX cards are jumbo...my swiftech 655 pump is too "fat" to fit on the bottom of the Aurora with the GTX's installed. Now what.. :confused:

A trip to Fry's and I found this aluminum project box that fits the bill.

pumphousesm.JPG


The 655 fits perect in the housing:

pumpwhousesm.JPG


I'm going to paint it to match the rest of the project and rivet it to the right side of the case in the lower back corner. I think I'll stick some dynamat in the box w/ it to enusre that the little housing keeps the pump quiet.
 
I painted and attached the pump box (you can only see the bottom half) to the mobo side of the case. The pump housing has two halves, so it will be fully enclosed.

halfpumphouse.JPG


The system is starting to go together:

startingtogotogether.JPG


The black ice X-Flow fits really well on the back of the chassis:

radshotback.JPG


My scanner, sleeves, extra lights and cables should show this week. I'm hoping to have this wrapped up this weekend. :cool:
 
looking sweet man, could u post a pic of a close up of ur cable management, if u have the time? :D :D
 
Quick question for you and possibly a tip. For the hard drives you have there, couldnt you mount them the other way so the connector for the power and mobo connection are facing inside the case? That way, when you look at it through the window, you see no cable at all. Just and idea.
 
Lazy_Moron said:
Quick question for you and possibly a tip. For the hard drives you have there, couldnt you mount them the other way so the connector for the power and mobo connection are facing inside the case? That way, when you look at it through the window, you see no cable at all. Just and idea.
Click to expand...

Solid idea.

The aurora uses a screwless drive mounting system. Good...and bad. The bad part is that using the stock drive cage you pretty much have to use them, and they require the drive to be mounted as above. There's not enough room with the OEM mounting system for the drive to fit the otherway, the connectors protrude too far/past where the other side fo the case would be. The only way to "fix" the "issue" would be to remove the stock HDD cage, and replace it with one you made yourself or rooked from another compy.

I'm moderately lazy, so I'm using the OEM cage. I think it looks good the way I have it (I've further straightened it up) although it could be better.

Thanks for the idea. There are so many fantastic ideas on this board I've been reading and trying to incorporate as many as I can w/ my limited time. :eek:
 
Well - I had hoped to get this guy together this past weekend. It's turned out to be a little more work than I thought.

Things are shaping up though, and I've now worked through most of the fit issues.

Now for some updates!

Cable management underway:

cablemanagementstarted.JPG


The LED breather circuit tucked in a small box with 1/8" jacks on it.

breatherboxsm.JPG


Two 7800GTX-512s take up a HUGE amount of real estate in the case. In order to fit a sound card and not use the AC97 sound on the A8N32-SLI, I had to do the following:

Modify the mounting system on the back of the bottom card:

vidcardhack.JPG


Then this capacitor hit the plexi backing plate:

capintheway.JPG


So some soldering and it's fixed. (I've since put some electrical tape over it to keep it from shorting something out.)

capfixsm.JPG


One of the things I took a gamble on was the VL Systems Zephyrus. It's a really neat PWM fan controller. The reviews on the internet were so-so. It turns out they've updated the software and it works really well. It's pretty cool. :cool: The only issue w/ it in my opinion is that it's a slot based solution which makes for a mess with all the fan cables and temperature sensors, etc.

So...I changed it to fit into an electrical box by modding in an internal USB cable/mobo header, and setting it to be mounted in a small plastic electronics box.

Zephryus mod underway!

zephyrus%20modifiedsm.JPG


One of the things that this case just has to have is the Cylon scanning "eye."

It took awhile to get it from the UK..However it is a really cool piece, and it works perfectly as advertised. The red light leaves a "trail" and you can control the speed w/ the keypad.

scannersm.JPG


It's from knightlight.co.uk / Dan Potter.

Now I just have to create a smoked plastic window to replace the stock blue one, mount the eye, put the front panel on, and stab the last video card - and see if it works. :D

Off to the garage to try to form some plexi. :cool:
 
I like what i'm seeing...

Keep up the excellent work. And good job with the capacitator, lol, I probably would have just given up on the idea of using the Audigy.
 
Ozona said:
Solid idea.

The aurora uses a screwless drive mounting system. Good...and bad. The bad part is that using the stock drive cage you pretty much have to use them, and they require the drive to be mounted as above. There's not enough room with the OEM mounting system for the drive to fit the otherway, the connectors protrude too far/past where the other side fo the case would be. The only way to "fix" the "issue" would be to remove the stock HDD cage, and replace it with one you made yourself or rooked from another compy.

I'm moderately lazy, so I'm using the OEM cage. I think it looks good the way I have it (I've further straightened it up) although it could be better.

Thanks for the idea. There are so many fantastic ideas on this board I've been reading and trying to incorporate as many as I can w/ my limited time. :eek:
Click to expand...

I see, just trying to help you out, and I see that idea would not work. Oh well. Im still eyeing this project until it gets finished.
 
The front of the case does look somewhat like a Centurion.

I too love the new series and own the first season on DVD along with the entire original series.

I can't wait to see what this looks like in the end.
 
I keep checking to see more! I love that idea and the work so far. As you know the new season is on it's way! I would love to see what pregress you have made.
 
Did you decide to scrap the ptroject?? Your post made it to page 4 or 5 so I thought I would give it an update.
 
infini said:
Did you decide to scrap the ptroject?? Your post made it to page 4 or 5 so I thought I would give it an update.
Click to expand...
ditto, im still in love with this mod :)
 
This looks to be a first class build.

For such a premium video card BFG sure cheesed those flames.

With graphics horsepower like you have will it outrun a 4400 proc? I'm no expert and nowhere near your budget but can the 4400 keep up?


And when the build is done we'll need a video with the lights off :cool:


BTW: It doesn't fit with most builds nowdays but I remember and old-school Battlestar Galactica episode where Starbuck was trying to rewire a Cylon and there were wires packed in everywhere. I just thought of that when it was suggested you flip the hard drives around. :p
 
Yeah, WTH happened to the build.
How can I live vicariously through you if you don't finish the build?


think number six got him?
 
Majin said:
Yeah, WTH happened to the build.
How can I live vicariously through you if you don't finish the build?


think number six got him?
Click to expand...


:eek: big LOL :eek: I think six was making the project and they destroyed her ship so she can't get her mem back to another body. :D

Well I hope our project builder is getting emails for every post :mad:
 
Some very nice hardware is going in there. Nice modding ideas too. /subscribed.
 
If you don't get back to work RIGHT NOW!
I am going to send you to Caprica without and radiation meds!
 
hehehehe, that was funny. I just gave him an email so maybe we will get what we want. MORE PICS AND UPDATES!
 
infini said:
hehehehe, that was funny. I just gave him an email so maybe we will get what we want. MORE PICS AND UPDATES!
Click to expand...


whahahaha, good way to make someone realise we are still waiting for an update :p
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top