Well, it's been a long time coming, but I finally cut into my Lian Li PC-A10B. I have been disgusted with the lack of radiator support for this case and cut the top to fit my Swiftech MCR320, which is (along with the MCR220) the only rad that lines up with the knock-outs for the tabing from the rad. During this process I have taken out my watercooling and gone back to air. Amazingly (or maybe not so), with just three Yate Loon DSL12's in the top (running on 4 or 5v) the CPU temp has dropped 4-5C degrees, plus I've been able to take out the OCZ XTC ram cooler.

I've got some pics coming, but I just wanted to share what I've got so far...

OK, here are the pics I promised. First up, this is the top of the case. I have it all masked off so I could transfer measurements and make cut lines:


I took it outside and worked it over with the dremel and a cutting wheel, ending up with this:


For the time being, until I can install the water loop again I've got just three Yate Loons installed in there with a RadGrillz on top:


While I had the camera out I took some pics of the noise dampening material I laid down. I felt like I was laying carpet! Shag rug anybody?


I covered the entire PSU area and the entire HDD cage area, as well as the right side panel. I'm still debating on whether or not to mod a window and/or VGA vent into the left panel, so I haven't "shagged" that one yet.

What do you guys think so far?

Excellent!!:nod:

Great job!

Great job on the top of the case! I need to get back to mine, have a lot of work to do... Using neoprene for sound dampening and vibration absorbtion... what material did you use?

Thanks. I think it was this stuff:

http://www.jab-tech.com/Noise-dampening-ma...al-pr-1845.html

I actually bought some from two different places and got the same thing. One package was not enough to do this Lian Li because it's larger than a normal midtower (PSU mounts on it side, etc.).

beautiful work my friend

I love Lian Li cases. I currently own the PC-V1000B case; however, I'm trying to sell it right now to move down to a smaller Lian Li case since I don't need all that room.

Everything looks great so far. A side window is always nice when you're WC'ing so you can look at your loop. However, given that it will be a window it won't be able to dampen the sound as much so you need to take that into consideration. I say leave the side panel like it is for now because you can always go back later and put a window in without having to take apart your whole computer again.

Very true. As for dampening, I've used 1/4" think Lexan and bolted it on. That worked very well to stiffen up the side panel.

wow how you manage to stick in a triple up top.
i mean. when i use still using my a10b

just the fan up top was nearly hitting stuff on the board.

now you slap a 30mm rad and fan. lol

Heh-heh I know what you mean. TBH I don't have the rad in there yet. I pulled out the WC to do the mods, and I got some air-cooling to work on for now. When I get the WC back in the rad will be on top of the case - I think you're gonna like it :beer

hah im still gathering parts for a g5 project. but ill check but ever now and thing to look for pics.

getting some scythe kama bays or lianli 3x5" fans in the front will help alot
especially for gfx

i found out the hard way with my 88gtx

Well, I haven't forgotten about this project, but I've been so busy I just never got time to finish it up. PLus, I've been testing so many heatsinks and stuff that going back to watercooling would be just a pain. With the looming possibility of testing some new WC gear, I needed to install the ol' loop to get some baseline numbers to reference.

So I took out the fans and built a simple loop with just the Storm, D5 and the Swiftech rad using Tygon 3603.



The rad sits on top of the fans on top of the case. I had to go with this method because the openings on the rad for the barbs are a different level than the fan mounting surface. I had a 1/8" shroud I was planning on using, but the wacky M3.5 screws Switech includes weren't long enough.



That Tygon is so soft and supple, it's hard to work with. Good thing I had the coolsleeves laying around, or my tubes would've been all kinds of kinky (well, except the good kind of kinky). I do still have some MNPCTech mesh I'm planning on using around the rad to tone down the fans, but it has the holes in there to still let some light through.

It would have been nice to have some quick disconnects in there, but the ones I had I never used so I ended up selling them. Plus, I need to figure out how to work it with the back barb being right by the MOSFETs and stuff (probably going to use a 22 degree elbow if I do). Of course, the best part is temps have dropped way down, even on this cool G0 stepping E6850. Idling at roughly room temp, and load is probably only around 32-34 C.

freakin gorgeous dude.
Don't know how I missed this the 1st time.
Kudos!

Thanks. I'm still on the fence about whether or not to put a window in. I want one, but then again I don't. I had an idea of reusing the mesh fan grill from the top and putting it on the vide to where it could blow cool air onto (or exhaust hot air away from) the video card, then putting a window around that. I definitely don't want a full window, because I don't like the cables and stuff from the bottom showing. At most I'd want a 2/3's window like the ones at Performance PC's:

http://www.performance-pcs.com/catalog/ind...oducts_id=21900

Looking great SKI! Awesome work!

That's incredible, ski!

The rad almost looks like it's "levitating".

I think you're right about the window size. A smaller window would look great, but a full-size window would be too much on that case. I've seen pics of cases where people made full side panels out of plexi on that series of Lian-Li's (and did a good job), but to me it ruined the whole "look" of the case.

If you had a window that just showed from the GPU-up, it would look great with the lighting from all those fans!

I'm with you.
Even the 2/3s windows at ppc look "too big" for my taste.
But those Blue LED fans and hoses are screaming for a window.

(Lian-Li rig to t_ski) DUDE! YOU FINALLY FINISH AND NOW YOU WANT ME TO WEAR A CHADOR!
I NEED A SEXY WINDOW TO FULFILL YOUR MANLY NEEDS!

So there you have it.
Done deal.
Can't ignore a case that talks (shouts)

Like a 50-60% window centered on the upper rear of the case
maybe somethin' trick.
heard about some "dang t_ski it's uber kewl ZOMG that is so friggin' awesome and l33t" 2-way mirror stuff and you can brush your teeth and come your hair when the rig is off in the mirror.

The "levitating" radiator/fan reminds me of a hood scoop.
velly velly nice

Very nice work t_ski.

How much force did it take to remove the cap off of the P5W DH's chipset cooler?

I am so going to mod a case now...damnit!

That little piece of thin aluminum? Nuttin' at all. Stuck on with double-sided tape, and I just took a screwdriver and lifted one edge, then ripped it off. I did it with the heatsink off, when I did my civic duty and replaced the TIM with some Ceramique. I did the SB heatsink the same way...

Are those fans on the radiator pushing or pulling? Im thinking of modding the top of my case too and I was wondering what would work best - push or pull.

What works better is to have the cool air go into the case. It you have the hot air exhaust through the rad, you have all the extra case temp to enter the loop. Whether that means pushing or pulling depends on how you stick the rad and the fans. It would be even better to have six fans on the rad - three pushing and three pulling.

Do you have a high res of this one?

Grrr, I do, but ImageCrap keeps resizing the image even if I post a new one, and I can't attach the file to this post since it's to big. PM me your email addy and I email the dang thing to you... :mad:

What you got in mind Carl?

Started playing around with a new idea today. Since I don't enjoy filling the rad on the top, and since I have to swap stuff out a lot, I was thinking about mounting the rad down low.



That's on the right side panel at the bottom. I'd have to remove the HDD cages and mount the raid array in a 4-in-3 device and remove half of the partitioning wall underneath. The rad would be against the side panel with some kind of bracket/wall to mount it to, and the fans pointed toward the middle. Air would intake from the side and I would flip the fans on top to exhaust up and out. The water pump would be on the bottom by the rad barbs.

Your back at it

Good idea for the new rad placement. Will this cause any issues when swapping hardware, it appears the side panel will be hard to remove once the water loop is in place.

This will be the right side panel, which is behind the motherboard tray. My plan is to not mount anything to the panel except for the grill(s). They only things that will be in the top section will be the waterblock(s), fill port and tubing.

You done good, boy.

Every time I look at my old HP case, I think "How ugly". Well, ski, you have inspired me to begin thinking on how to make it look great. I will first begin with cutting the large HP out of each side panel. This will allow for some cooling or other goodies. I think some flames would be nice to help cover the bland silver. Spoken like an old_geekster, of course. Once the case is complete, then it will need some new components to bring it up to speed.

I want it to look as cool or better than my Cooler Master "Wave Master".

Glad I could inspire you. Make sure to start a thread for all of us to enjoy

Beautiful job t_ski! Made me :drool:

Can you share with us which tool you used for the perfect cuts made on the case?

Thanks

All the cuts were made by hand with my Black & Decker Wizard rotary tool (ie: dremel) and cut-off disks. The key was taking careful measurements, drawing it all out on the masking tape and verifying it all before cutting. Taking it nice and slow all the way helps a lot. Also, this is the second case I've done like this (I had the $19.99 SVC case mod a while back), so I've had a little more practice at it.

Nice I have one of those!

In your opinion what is the best case Lian or not that would be compatible with a triple 120mm rad with the minimal amount of mods?

I was thinking about a foot mount for the rad (on the bottom) but dunno how that would work out (had to have some swiftech spacer boxes for sure) and fans pulling air from inside the case to the floor, but would that affect my temps to much?

Such a pain to fit triple rads

This Lian-Li PC-G70 would eat a triple rad for breakfast, using a dremel for a fork

Anything that has a lot of room above or below the motherboard would work great. If the case can hold a PSU above or below the motherboard, then you have about 3-4 extra inches below the board to do something like that. Check this one out:

http://lian-li.com/v2/tw/product/upload/im...0R/p80rf004.jpg

That one doesn't allow a mount below the board, but you can see the extra room. Also, that's an Extended ATX (EATX) board in there, which is probably about as long as a triple rad. You could mount the rad inside with fans above, below, or maybe even both.

I think one of the CM Stackers had the dual PSU mount, but there are others, too. Several Lian Li's have it, but IDK how much you want to spend.

Wow that's what I call extra space! From who is that case you linked?

PS.: If the WC kit doesn't sell in bundle you still have a friend wanting the Dtek Fuzion?

The case is a Lian Li PC-P80R. That's the red ATI CrossFire X Spider Edition they game up with for CES 2008. Basicly the same as the black PC-P80, but with the red theme and the special cutting on the side window.

IDK on the watercooling - I'll have to ask him. Or, you could PM me your info and I can pass it on to him.

That's a lot of money to give in a case I don't care if it comes with the fans made out of solid gold or not! $400 bucks you can get a phase-change :eek2:

But this thread really inspired me to work in mine so I guess I'll work with what I have (TT Xaser V w/ window).

Did you made your fans to PUSH Air INSIDE the Case or to Pull Air FROM the case?

lol I just used that one for the example. (Did you notice how that extended ATX mobo looks small inside that case?) Like I said, the CM Stacker 810's are similar, but more affordable. Here's one with a PSU for $260:

http://www.svc.com/rc-810-kka1-gp.html

If you can find it by itself, it would probably be around $100-120.

For my situation, I wanted to have cool air pulled through the rad. I felt this would be the best for lower temps, and it also worked well for how I was going to have to work the fan & rad mount. If I finish the new addition to the mod, it will pull cool air in from the side panel through the rad and I'll have three fans blowing the hot air out the top.

Hey Ski!

I ended up buying the biggest one I could find: the Lian Li RocketFish on my local Best Buy.

The price is a Steal! $47.99 with their price match policy (originally $119). Saved $350 from a the V2000 case

Now for the mods I will use your thread to do the top triple rad mount to fit a PA120.3.

I will put a thread with my build log when I'm ready to begin. Plans are to WC 2 x GPUs, NB and PWM area. Phase Change unit for the CPU. Tricky part will be to fit all that in the case.

I have a question for ya, it seams you had to use a 8pin mobo power connector extension so that the connector could reach the psu, if thats positive can you confirm if this is the one to get for our DFI X38-X48 mobos:

http://www.censuspc.com/12-Inch-8-Pin-ATX-...8P-pr-3352.html

The one I used was a four-pin cable that came with the Lian Li. It looks like the cable you linked will work.

If you need some ideas, I know another guy who bought a RocketFish and did a triple rad mod. Just LMK and I'll get you the link (if my senile old brain hasn't done so already :confused: )...

BTW, PM sent

Yes in fact you did send me and it will help me tons!

I still have to wait till OCZ put the Cryo out for sale and that will take a while.

And only after I receive the unit I have to go to measurements and see if I can do what I plan (phase + wc hybrid all inside the case).

Till then I have to get back to my old trusty Toaster Sig NF2 as my X38 is Server now :-(