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GAME HARD, FOLD HARDER


Hukkel

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The purpose:
Because once you start modifying PCs you need another shot time and time again I have decided to build something for myself this time. I have made previous builds for others. One modified but still held back due to money concerns. This time it is for me and no cutting corners. I did want it to serve a purpose. For this build I am completely removing two purposes of my regular family PC. Which is gaming and folding. Especially folding will be the big purpose. Most of the time it will be used for folding 24/7. The build title is an adaptation of a line one of my sponsors uses. KFA2 uses "Play hard, game harder", for this project I have adapted it to "Game hard, Fold harder". Which basically means this build can be used for heavy high resolution high FPS gaming, but for a larger portion of the day it will be used to aid (medical) research through folding using software of FOLDING@HOME and B.O.I.N.C. The high end hardware will serve both purposes very well.
At a later point I will explain more what folding is all about for those that are not completely up-to-date with the term folding. I hope to promote the cause that is folding to a large audience with this buildlog.

 

The plan:
The plan is to completely modify a Silverstone TJ07. The theme will be completely black with orange accents. The shape that will be used a lot is that of the hexagon. About every panel of the case will see some sort of modifying. But it won't be a screaming build. It will be tastefull and have a clean look. The build will be using a i7-3770k (at first at least), overclocked to what the custom watercooling loop can handle. So max overclock for a 24/7 working system. It will feature the famous Samsung low voltage overclocking ram (also OC'd to the max) and two or three Nvidia GTX670 cards again under water and max overclocked. All wiring will see full custom sleeving. There will be multiple windows (with engravings). The cooling hoses that will be in sight are going to be made of acryl / plexi tubing. That is if it won't hamper the cooling performance too much. I don't want to spoil everything yet since that takes away the fun for me. I will update the thread in a chronological way. I want to keep some stuff a secret to hopefully surprise a few members.

 

Execution:
I have started the build a few weeks / months back. I didn't want to start a buildlog untill I could keep the thread flowing for a while with updates. I am not done with this build/mod yet. It will take a good amount of weeks to finish it. Sadly I am not a millionaire to buy everything day 1 ;).

 

First things first. The cse itself. I bought it used (because it was cheap and because I was going to modify it anyway). So here are a few pictures of her. Look at what the previous owner did. :(

The complete front full of ugly stickers, a big touchscreen fancontroller and knobs. YUCK. An additional top fan for who knows what reason. Holes in the top mesh and glue to fix it :facepalm: he case was even missing one of it's casefeet. How can you lose one of those?

 

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Next update: cleaning this baby up. Looking at the damage done and fixing her up.

Edited by Hukkel

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Lets first show a few pieces I will be using I received at that time. I had more photos of stuff, but I decided not to use that and other hardware instead.

 

I got this in a trade, a nice, clean looking Scythe 12 fan controller. This should work great with my radiator(s). It should be able to power them and keep them quiet enough. I love the style of it, really fits my case in my opinion.

 

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A brand new XSPC dual bay reservoir deisnged for a D5 pump.

This is going to look and work great for this build. And I sooo like the look of it. Not screamy with the faceplate on. Space saving yet powerfull.

 

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I found a store in my 4k inhabitants town that does powdercoating. They overcharged me like crazy in my opinion asking 100 euros for powdercoating the internals of my build. But I didn't feel like travelling for it and I wanted to get it done. I also got them to powdercoat the EK Supreme's mounting mount thingy. No shiney chrome in this case. It's be all black and orange if I can help it.

 

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But before I could bring the parts to the shop I had to strip her completely clean including drilling out all rivets.

 

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The sun was shining, the parts were in. Time to do some assembling. To much loose parts, time to combine it.

 

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Here are some pictures of her current state, I haven't fitted the sidepanels yet because I want to use thumbscrews for that but somehow the sidepanels have holes big enough to fit those wide fanscrews. So the thumbscrews I had didn't do the job very well. I will go searching for better thumbscrews that have a thicker base.

 

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TUNNELVISION 8-)

 

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Parts that are on their way to me now:

 

- some Alphacool fitting, D5 pump, 16/10 hosing, black 32-6 screws;

- new stock top mesh and about 5 front bay covers (take a look at what that animal did to its poor top mesh :mad:

 

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awesome build but before you finish, replace that XSPC dual bay reservoir. I had it when I did W/C and it started to crack at the threads. I used glue to seal it with the barbs on. Second, the rez created more air bubbles than removed. I fixed it by have a single 5" rez above it to feed the small XSPC (solved the issue). If I could I would have gotten a different one but I was out of money by than.

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awesome build but before you finish, replace that XSPC dual bay reservoir. I had it when I did W/C and it started to crack at the threads. I used glue to seal it with the barbs on. Second, the rez created more air bubbles than removed. I fixed it by have a single 5" rez above it to feed the small XSPC (solved the issue). If I could I would have gotten a different one but I was out of money by than.

 

Thank you for your comment. At the moment it suits my build very well. But I will defenitely keep your comment in mind and pay attention to it.

Do you think using the top 1/4 opening instead of the back in-port would also sort these things?

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the top is 3/4 threaded. I sold my W/C setup to a freind last year and it sitll works with about 80% of glue over the thing. The mirco cracks are still scary to look at.

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the top is 3/4 threaded. I sold my W/C setup to a freind last year and it sitll works with about 80% of glue over the thing. The mirco cracks are still scary to look at.

 

Hmmm I am going to have a watchout for that defenitely. If it scares me it's going out lol.

 

A small update this time. I received a package the other day from my good friends of..

 

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Which contained some parts to restore my case to it's former glory. See mister TJ07 former owner / case demolisher, THIS is how a top mesh should ook like without holes drilled into it and glue all over it.

BTW At Silverstone Germany they have an amazing service. The front bay covers are 1.50 euros each and the top mesh 2.50 euros. I payed as much for shipping as I did for the items. Good stuff Silverstone :thumbsup:

 

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I have a serious case of tunnel vision.

 

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My new mesh installed. Looking like factory new.

 

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The front bay covers testfitted. WOW how clean does this case look from the factory?

I might just buy a slim DVD burner + slim baycover at some point. But then again I really like this clean look. Silverstone did a great job designing this case. They should just update the case to a 2012 version with a black interior and a closed motherboardtray with cables holes. This case is a classic.

 

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This is what I planning to do with it. Keep the outside original and turn around all the bay content. Close the rest with original bay covers. This way I get like a tunnel to put all the cabling through and a portion of the watercooling setup. It will house my fancontroller and my double bay XSPC reservoir and pump. Finally I wil make a custom bay cover side panel to make it all into one complete clean finish. At least I hope so :)

 

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When daddy is working on his case and his youngest daughter isn't stealing his screws and other parts she is calmly making puzzles next to me :)

 

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Even more tunnelvision

 

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That is it for now. I expect another package in the next few days. Hopefully :D

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What do we have here.... a package. I like unpacking *.*

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This is how one should pack this stuff, quality.

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All kinds of stuff; 2 new case feet, a mobo backplate with an extension part and combs. Beautiful combs :drool: Some screws, clips for cables and a huge bunch of bay covers. Oh almost forgot, a hexx PSU plate with dustfilter.

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NUUUUU moar tunnelvision

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Showing the difference between the standard one and the new hexx one.

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A few more pictures of the motherbord. I think it truely is a work of art. Companies should give us such mobo plates standard in high end cases.

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Everything installed. My case had one dented foot and one was missing so it was very unstable. Now it sits exactly right.

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These aren't really flashy parts or updates. But I think in the end such parts make the difference between a nice mod and a great mod.

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Time to give those 3 heads and the mobo spacers a nice black coat. No one sees them...but I know they are black

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Time for a small unfolding of the concept of this case. I told you I wanted the hexx design. It will actually use multiple layers. I want orange accents, not a full orange grill. I just heard today my order will be shipped. I designed two grill types and here are the renderings for them:

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One is for the top grill. It should be able to house a 360mm radiator and/or 3 120mm fans. It will be attached like the original so flush with the case bolted from the bottom up into the 4mm thick aluminum.

Next to that the two bottom grills. Regular size, again black and orange layered, then a dustfilter and another layer behind it. Also flush to the case.

With these grills I hope to have orange accents and add depth to the case. The orange layer hexx with be slightly smaller holed. So they optically will feel like hexx holes going deeper. Lets hope they will also look like this in real life :D

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