Project L.O.S.I.A.S. Modified Sugo (LCD,TEC, and SLI)

Whoa! :eek: Amazing job! That should definitely keep it cooler. The velcro straps seems a bit out of place, but looking at the pictures, I've no idea how else you'd mount it. Maybe it's a toss up between those and zip ties, but whichever way, it's amazing to see all of that go into that miniatx case. Nice!
 
Wow! I can't believe I missed this thread! This is the greatest thing I've seen on these forums! Incredible!
 
Thanks for the compliments guys! This project keeps getting bigger and bigger. I'm amazed that I could find room for all of these parts, and still maintain good airflow and temps.

For those of you that are interested, the temps are currently running in the mid 30's. There is only a few degrees variation whether at idle, or sustained full load. I think to some degree, the radiator and the Freezone, are' canceling' each other out. By that, I mean any lower temps achieved by the Freezone, may be raised slightly by the above ambient air being pulled through the radiator. Overall, it's still cooler than without the radiator. Also, since there is little variation in the CPU temps, it leads me to believe that I could potentially have great performance with a hotter CPU as well. That's really what the addition of the radiator was about, I wanted to lay the groundwork for a future platform change. I may love my S939, but it's eventually going to get replaced. I would love to see how well I could cool an oc'ed quad core...
 
I got to say this again, it's amazing! I was thinking of moding my freezone as well. What do you think of this: Take out the pelts from the freezone and attach them to a better heatsink maybe even a radiator:rolleyes: (filled with water:D ) then to change the cpu block for a better one and also add an extra water tank (your idea), because of the what you said about the radiator "canceling" the freezones effect i would leave that out. Also a 120mm fan would help. I installed a silenx 120mm fan (the 90 cfm at 18dba version) and it does a great job of keeping the heatsink cool and the noise down.
 
Subscribed! Awesome work man can't wait to see the finished product.
 
Sorry guys, I've been a little busy the past week or so. My daughter plays softball, and has had games almost every night, in addition to tournaments on the weekends. I watched 6 games on Sunday alone! I'll get back on this very soon....

In the meantime, I managed to get Falcon Northwest to send me a Fragbox handle. It may find a way on to the Sugo, depending on how it looks. I'm also investigating the feasibility of a dual loop setup. I've still got a lot of work ahead of me!
 
6/14/07

Well, my Fragbox handle from Falcon Northwest arrived yesterday. I’ll post a few pics tonight. After looking at it, I’ve decided it would make a great weapon should I ever be at a LAN where my ninja skills were needed. This thing is solid! It looks freaking great as well. It’s definitely going to make it’s way on to the Sugo.

I’m going to make one other small change. I’ve decided that the gloss case cover isn’t doing it for me. I like the flat blacks of my Shuttles much better. I found some paint that should replicate the feel of the SN26P’s cover, and am going to give that a try.


6/15/07

Bad news… my pump died. I went to fire the machine up, and it was sitting at the ‘EVGA’ boot screen forever. I hit reset, and it wouldn’t go for more than a few seconds without shutting off. What the hell, I thought to myself. I pulled the cover off and felt immediate heat from the CPU block area. A quick touch with my finger to the block, was all I could stand. I unplugged the pump, and plugged it in to another power source, and nothing happened. Crap! I’m hoping my CPU is still okay, but it’s obvious I’m going to need to buy a new pump. If the CPU is toasted, then it’s time for a platform change, because I’m not going to buy another S939 chip. I do have a X2 4400+ I can drop in the machine for a temporary fix if I need to…


6/16/07

I’m really hoping it was the bios shutting the comp down… and not a fried CPU. I guess I don’t need to be worrying about gaming taking away from my modding time for a little while.

The more I’ve been thinking about it, the more I realize that I was probably pushing that pump pretty hard. Due to space constraints, I’ve got 6 elbows in the system that are likely causing a fair amount of resistance. I’m not wondering if I may get better temps with a new pump as well. Maybe there simply wasn’t enough flow to begin with.

Does anyone have pump recommendations for me? It’s got to be small and quiet, low flow, but have decent pressure. Oh, and it has to be able to accommodate 1/4” ID tubing.


6/21/07

I ended up getting an Alphacool Laing DDC. It’s pretty compact, yet should be powerful enough to overcome any restrictions in my loop. I also ordered a fillport that should make maintenance and filling much easier. With any luck, my CPU is still working. If not, things are going to change quite a bit. I’ll drop my X2 4400+ in the case until the July Intel price drop. At that point, I’d have no choice but to get a new quad core…
 
6/23/07

Things may have been a little slow lately, but I do have a few updates for you all just the same.

First of all, the face plate is completely finished. All that's left is to get the mounting figured out. That should be the easy part considering all the other things I've had to do so far. In addition to the face being finished, I've also finished tying in the USB hub. I tapped in to one of the USB cables heading to the front of the case. This one cable feeds the hub, while one of the hub outputs heads back to the port on the front of the case. I didn't have to sacrifice any ports that way, as there are only two USB headers on the motherboard.

Here are a few pics of the completed face.

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I've also got a few pics of the Fragbox handle that will be put on the case.

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I should have my new pump on Monday. So, I'll have a little more plumbing to do at that point. I should have time to get the USB video adapter mounted inside the case yet this weekend. The hardest part of that process will be shortening the cables for the LCD. They are no less than 6' long, and I have to get them down to less than a foot. However, the cable has quite a few conductors. It houses two video feeds, audio, VGA, and a USB feed. It's gonna take me a while to get that shortened and soldered back together...
 
So, who wants another update?

In order to get the face plate ready to drop on, I had to get the LCD cable shortened. I only needed to retain the VGA and USB portions of the cable, but we're still talking about a lot of wires here. I had to slit the cable and separate all the individual wires. Once I had everything traced, all I had to do is cut, solder, and shrinkwrap the wires.

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Here is the mount for the USB video card.

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Finally, the card is mounted in the case. I've still got space yet!

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Looking nice! Nice job on the cable. That spot for the usb video card looks like it was made for it. Yet again, it's amazing at how much you've stuffed into that case. Can't wait to see it done with that big panel lit up on the front.
 
Thanks Jon! The cable wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be. Once I got the splitter cut open, it was pretty easy to figure out the routing. I tend to be a bit of a perfectionist, so I wish the cable weren't a little lumpy where I made my splices, but I'll deal with it. ;) The cable will never be seen in the case anyway.

I'm going to drop my new pump in the case tonight, so I should finally know whether or not my CPU is still working. If everything is as it should be, I can finally get this thing one step closer to finished. I've still got to work out the lighting, and face mounting though. Have I really been working on this thing since December? :D
 
very sweet indeed, you will definately have to give us your opinion and experiences with that usb - vga adapter! i wanted to get one.. btw what make/model is that one you purchased?
 
omegatotal said:
very sweet indeed, you will definately have to give us your opinion and experiences with that usb - vga adapter! i wanted to get one.. btw what make/model is that one you purchased?
Click to expand...

I've actually been using the adapter quite a bit. I was using it with the Xenarc LCD, before I started this project. Under XP, the adapter has been flawless. It functions just as you expect it would. There is an icon in the sytem tray that let's you change resolution and adapter state (extended, mirror, off), on the fly. It was a little quirky under Vista. After my initial installation, I couldn't get it to enable anything but a mirrored display. No matter what I tried, I simply couldn't get it to work. I didn't think it was a problem with Vista itself, it felt more like a software conflict that I couldn't track down. I actually did a fresh install of Vista, installed the adapter drivers, and haven't had a problem since.

The adapter is from Tritton Technologies, model SEE2. The cheapest place I found it at the time, was the dreaded Tigerdirect.
 
I finally got my new pump hooked in to the loop, but it took forever to get the air out. The pump definitely moves more water than the old one. I’m really anxious to see if I can score a temp drop. I still don’t have it mounted though. It’s a bit bigger than what I had before and I need to improvise a nice vibration resistant mount. Due to the way it has to be situated, it actually has to be mounted on a riser that puts it about 2cm above the bottom of the case. I’m gonna have to hit the hardware store and see what I can find.
 
Last night I didn’t get anything done. I was too tired to mod. Sucks, huh? Yesterday wasn’t a total waste though. I talked to SilverStone about the possibility of getting a new case cover with the acrylic windows. It turns out that they had one, so I ordered it and should have it next week. Why, you ask? Well, I’ve never been completely happy with the paint on my current cover. While I had a stellar gloss paint job on it, I decided that I didn’t like the glossy look. I’ve actually stripped and painted it twice since. I simply can’t find the look that I want, although I’ve tried multiple different paints. The closest I’ve come, is actually a paint meant for car bumpers. It’s a flat black, and has a feel very similar to that of a Shuttle SN26P case. I still wasn’t satisified though. That’s where the new cover from SilverStone comes in. The black will be exactly what I want, and the windows mean that I won't need to cut the cover like I did previously. To take it one step further, I’m actually going to be receiving it without the acrylic. So, at this point I could just drop in mesh like I did before, or I can take it a new direction. Being the guy that I am, I think I’m gonna work out something with my friends at Front Panel Express. Custom acrylic side panels FTW!
 
very nice.. Think I might be messing with my small PC sooner now that I read all of this..;)
 
all4spl said:
would there be a way that this case would fit a atx motherboard?
Click to expand...

If the board were mounted sideways, then technically, yes. However, all of your motherboard connections would have to be routed out the side of the case. That's not a look I would want for this project, but others have done it with pretty good results. Take a look through the worklogs and you'll come across a few.


On a different note, I got the machine put back together last night. I hit the power button, and she booted up no worse for wear. The chip appears to be working fine, and I’ve got a 2 degree temperature drop. I should state that at this point I don’t know whether it’s the new pump, or the new 92mm Panaflo H1A fan I dropped in, that accounts for the drop. The machine is also a little quieter than before. The loudest hardware in the machine are the 8800 GTX’s.

I’ll get some pics up tonight of the new pump in place.
 
Oh My! As everyone here is already saying, GREAT MOD craig! :D

I saw that you did a '2 phase TEC/Rad' setup that was discussed on the main [H] review of the Freezone. I was going to do the same thing with alphacool W/C products. I am curious how much of a difference do you get from 2 phase the setup?

Excellent work!
 
KrulL said:
Oh My! As everyone here is already saying, GREAT MOD craig! :D

I saw that you did a '2 phase TEC/Rad' setup that was discussed on the main [H] review of the Freezone. I was going to do the same thing with alphacool W/C products. I am curious how much of a difference do you get from 2 phase the setup?

Excellent work!
Click to expand...

Thanks!

I've got to say that the modified loop has had some interesting results. The addition of the radiator didn't lower my idle temps more than a few degrees at most. That makes perfect sense in this case though, as my temps weren't really that much above ambient anyway. The biggest difference is quite apparent under load however. My load temps only increase a couple of degrees at most, and sit around 6 or 7 degrees lower than the previous temps. This leads me to believe that I've still got some cooling headroom. Overall, I've been very happy with the results.
 
I got a little busy and didn’t get my pics posted, but I’ll see if I can get to it tonight!

Today, I have my new case cover arriving. That means I can start planning some custom windows for it once I get the measurements. In addition, since I used my USB video adapter instead of my ATI card, I still have an unused PCI extender. Well, I just ordered an X-Fi Xtreme Gamer audio card to drop on the end of it. That will make it’s way in to the case as well. It will fit between the video cards and the hard drives.
 
craigbru said:
Thanks!

I've got to say that the modified loop has had some interesting results. The addition of the radiator didn't lower my idle temps more than a few degrees at most. That makes perfect sense in this case though, as my temps...
Click to expand...
Heya!

Glad to hear that there was some improvements no matter how marginal it is! I've been playing around in my heard of doing something like what you did with the Freezone 2-Phase setup to my ZMAXd2 build here. I was kind of disappointed at all the reviews about the Freezone being 'inadequate to perform'... probably coming from those peeps who, unlike us where space is a premium, only care about their o/c per $$ investments and overlook at the difference of TEC/WC hybrid brings on the table...

So with the LIANG Pump, is the TCM still powering everything (FAN/Pump/TEC/etc..)? Although I am seriously considering using a dual rad setup (2*240) added in the loop. As to where to put it, well that's another matter to brainstorm on... :D theehehe...

Needless to say, you're my new hero for trying out something radical! Thanks for the insight on your build process! It sparks up ideas like wildfire! :cool:
 
KrulL said:
Heya!

Glad to hear that there was some improvements no matter how marginal it is! I've been playing around in my heard of doing something like what you did with the Freezone 2-Phase setup to my ZMAXd2 build here. I was kind of disappointed at all the reviews about the Freezone being 'inadequate to perform'... probably coming from those peeps who, unlike us where space is a premium, only care about their o/c per $$ investments and overlook at the difference of TEC/WC hybrid brings on the table...

So with the LIANG Pump, is the TCM still powering everything (FAN/Pump/TEC/etc..)? Although I am seriously considering using a dual rad setup (2*240) added in the loop. As to where to put it, well that's another matter to brainstorm on... :D theehehe...

Needless to say, you're my new hero for trying out something radical! Thanks for the insight on your build process! It sparks up ideas like wildfire! :cool:
Click to expand...

That's a pretty cool Iwill build you had there!

A lot of the motivation behind this whole project was to do something pretty extreme. I know quite a few people have had success with good ol' watercooling, but I wanted to take it a different direction. I think it's safe to say, that I've done exactly that.

The TCM is currently only controlling the TEC's The pump is connected to the PSU, and the fan is controlled by the fan controller on front of the case.
 
It's not a big update here, but I have a few pics of the new pump in place.

Here's the new pump compared to the old one.

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This is the mount for the pump. It raises the pump up enough to allow clearance for the Freezone control module.

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Finally, here is the pump mounted in it's new home.

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Just to update you all on my current work... I've received the new case cover from SilverStone. UPS was not kind to it however. There was obvious bending of the cover in several places, even though it appeared to be well packaged. Luckily none of the damage was so severe that it couldn't be easily fixed. I've mounted the Fragbox handle on the case, and it's looking mighty sexy. As usual, I'll get pics of that up as soon as I can.

So, now that I've got a windowed case cover with no windows, there's only one proper thing to do. I've got to fill 'em! I fired up Front Panel Designer, and am working on designing custom acrylic side panels for the cover. I'm trying out several ideas, but I don't know what I like the best yet. I've got several designs with different sized perforated holes. I've also got designs with slots, vertically, horizontally, and diagonally. Ugh, so many choices! We'll see what I can get figured out over the weekend.
 
I've got another fairly big update here guys. Sorry for the delay!

I'm really close to finishing the project up except for a few small details and the unfinished side panels.

So, to all those that complain about losing a PCI slot on some mATX boards, this is to show you that there is always a solution. In fact, this would work very well in a Shuttle also. You just gotta think outside the box a little!

Here is the flexible PCI extender plugged in to the slot. The clearances may be tight, but it really is a perfect fit. The 8800 GTX has no problem dropping in to place.

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In this picture you can see that I've used trusty zip ties to secure the adapter to my X-Fi card.

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Here is the card sitting in place. It fits snugly and securely between the video card and PSU. I really couldn't ask for a better fit.

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As you can see, I've improvised a little with my sound card connections. I simply attached extensions to the card and ran them out a small hole in the case near the fan. The connections may not be integrated in the case, but I though this was the best solution for the time being. It certainly offers me the flexibility I need for future changes without hacking up the case.

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So, I've really only got one problem at this point. I've got to find a way to disguise the PCI extender. It really stands out in an otherwise attractive case.

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But wait, there's more! When I dropped the new pump in the case, I also added a tube and fillport to the case. Why not? Hell, I still had room!

All I needed was a little piece of aluminum stock and a hole...

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Here is the fillport in the case. Perfect!

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And finally, here is the case with the cover fitted, but waiting for side panels.

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I'm going to see if I can get the face mounted tonight. After that, I just have to get the panel design done... after that, who knows?
 
Awesome project and amazing work. Quick question... just wondering if it would be possible to round the cables for the extended PCI. Seems like it would show off the 8800 GTX card in the window more. Something like the internal scsi cables do.

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That's a good idea, and I tried it. Unfortunately the cable simply isn't long enough to allow it. I purchased the longest adapter I could find at the time. I think I'm going to have to make some sort of shroud or cover for the cables. Maybe I can even incorporate the eVGA logo. I've got a few ideas that I'm working on.


In other news, I had the face mounted last night, only to realize I had to rethink my mounting. The acrylic spacer is simply too flexible to mount the face securely. I'm going to have to switch to aluminum. Not a big deal really, it's just going to add to the build time... :(
 
I think you should paint those ribbon cables, since you don't have enough slack to round them.
Paint them black to make them blend in with the heatsink on the 8800, paint them like racing stripes, or just simply paint them to match any lighting you have planned...anything to hide that ugly grey.
 
Wow, great idea using a PCI extender for your x-fi card. That rig is simply incredible. Btw, I think a black permanent marker like a sharpie may also work to blacken out the cable. Anyway, I can't wait to see your next update...
 
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