# [Project] HAF Envy - Water Cooled HAF 922



## HAFenvy

Well as other 922 owners have already noticed, the space in the case is pretty decent. The top position where I plan to put the double radiator is a bit tight which is why I have gone with a thinner radiator (and yes you could pop a triple up there if you were so inclined to cut more metal and drill holes)

Why so tight? The Gigabyte EX58-UD5 board has a Mosfet heat sink right at the top of the motherboard that is close to the top of the case and has enough height off the motherboard to get in the way. This is not to say you can't put a radiator up there, you just have to be a little inventive in your positioning. By moving the radiator over to the case door side, I'll be able to leave clearance to that Mosfet location. As far as memory location goes, I have enough room there and have already dry fit the radiator to be sure with 25mm fans. Use a thin radiator and go with low profile fans that should give you enough room to work up top with minimal if any modifications. Don't expect to stuff a big thick 60mm thick radiator up there without running into problems.

Here is the system in the ultimate of stock form (boring) but up and running







Ignore the cabling, that was just done quickly to get the system up and running for component testing and air benchmarking.









Here is the top with the Swiftech (34mm thick) radiator and a 25mm fan - as you can see it ends up right on top of the heatsink for the Mosfet location. By moving the radiator over to the one side of the case (towards the camera), I'll have clearance there and there is enough room to clear my big tall Dominators so we should be good to go. If things aren't working well, I'll put low profile fans on the rad.









Here is another shot on an angle into the case showing the eventual position of my radiator and the clearance I will have to the mosfet location. Adding a set of water cooling blocks to the chipset/mosfets will be tight in this spot but I'm going air for now so I'll worry about that some other time.









Here is a top down view showing how the Swiftech radiator holes don't match the existing fan mount holes on the top of the case. Since I need to move it over that won't be a problem (and since I will actually be cutting the top panel and putting my own custom piece up there, even less of an issue







) You can see the Mosfet heat sink fins at the middle-left of the image - if you don't move the radiator over to the side, you will hit that unless you use low profile fans. So you can leave the top panel alone but you may need to move the radiator over a little with thin radiators.









This image is to show where I plan to put the single radiator in the bottom. There is a lot of space here and if you are really into modifications, you could easily nuke that drive cage in the bottom and put a double down there (after you cut ventilation in the bottom of the case). Obviously Triple-SLI fanatics will run out of room here very fast but a single board has lots of space and I believe even SLI will be fine. With 2 GPUs, I probably would end up taking out the bottom drive bay and putting in a bigger radiator down there.









We'll see how this all works out once I get rolling on this project. There may be delays in progress as I do have that pesky thing called life that interrupts my projects on a regular basis.


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## HAFenvy

*Sep 5:* I did a quick check of the LED fan switch at the top of the case. It is a double throw, double pole switch with one pole ready to be used for something else. The possibilities of what I could do with the stock switch get my mind buzzing (use the double throw to switch between different lighting setups or other interesting effects).

*Sep 6:* Well, here is the layout work for my top panel modifications. First, lets have a look at the top panel itself - as you will see, the perforation/fan section is raised so I had to think - how do I deal with this raised panel area? (You can see the radiator in the spot where I want it if you look closely)









Then the solution hit me - just make an overlay panel that follows the contour of the raised section so I can cleanly hide the newly cut opening underneath it. A benefit of this overlay design... down the road I can easily make a new overlay to move my radiator position if I need to or for new designs up top. Just cut and bolt on a new overlay without messing with the case any more







. I like!









*Sep 12:* Here is the fabricated top panel after I finished building it (see Post #29 for an angled shot showing the countersunk screws)









*Sep 18:* Side panel modifications are under way... I'm building a framed window design that will allow me to bolt the 200mm fan directly to the frame so I can keep blowing air into the case right onto the memory and chipset heatsinks if I want to. Or go with a solid window - I'll have more options with this frame design. Here is where I am thus far.. see Post #36 and Post #40 for the full sequence of getting to this point.


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## HAFenvy

Here I plan to discuss different things as far as the water cooling setup goes with this case design and how I get around issues.

First off as you saw above in the System Design Notes, the radiator position in the top of the case is a bit tight depending on your motherboard design. If you are doing a ton of water cooling with really thick radiators, you might want to go with the 932 instead.

The Danger Den MC-TDX water block for the CPU doesn't come with a backplate for the motherboard. They sell an acrylic backplate for this block but I opted to go with a nice solid metal EK Waterblocks plate instead (nice thick strong). I do like the CPU access hole in the back so I can change out coolers without removing the motherboard.

Two 1/2in ID - 3/4in OD Straight compression fittings do NOT fit side by side on the MC-TDX CPU water block. I have heard the HK 3.0 has the same problem. Make sure you have a couple extra fittings (45 degree ones for example) just in case the port positions are too close together.

Pump position may be in the 5.25in drive bays or not because I ultimately de-riveted the bottom drive cage for coating. Might put the pump in the bottom. I bought the replacement EK-D5 X-Top so I have more flexibility with my tubing runs.

I'm going to use all compression fittings and found some really nice TFC rotating 45 degree fittings which I'll use for some of my tighter postions. Going to have some thick tube in there - 1/2in ID 3/4in OD.


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## HAFenvy

Ok, I have this system in what I now classify as "Basically-Final" status. I redid the photos due to changes to the case and posted at 1024x768 so they are better detail. "Envy" is officially up and running, water cooling is working great, most of my cable management is complete and I'm pretty darn happy. Still have tweaking to do and a couple other modifications but those I can do over time.

Here we go - interesting photos for you to enjoy

What the case is supposed to look like (from Cooler Master site)










And the nasty thing that was the original air cooled installation for testing my components to make sure they actually worked:










And now my customized, completely re-powdercoated and water cooled version of it... also known as the money shots...

Front view - Stealthed DVD drive and Fan Controller installed...










Rear view - seldom seen but still nice to look at...










Side offset radiator installation and custom top overlay panel design with fill port of course...










Custom side window cut out and custom frame mounting...










Full interior shot in green glory with UV coolant loaded...










Close up shot of the upper half of the case...










Lower section of the case with bottom radiator and hidden cabling...










OCT 16 UPDATE!!! I replaced that dying UV Cathode, got my camera to cooperate - let there be night shots!!

Shot of the tower with the office lights on...










Now with lights off...










Side view with the panel off, office lights on...










And of course lights off once again...










What it looks like looking through the window...










And finally a shot for the fun of it showing how the UV coolant is visible through the clear acrylic top of the CPU Water Block...










That is some yummy looking green wouldn't you say?


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## HAFenvy

Well as I mentioned earlier, I wanted to do some basic benchmarks to see the overall impact of going from Air to Water.

Instead of filling up my top level page with duplicate information, go to the Water Cooling thread where I have posted the test results I had originally put here in greater detail over there. Thread link --> HERE

This way, I can share the results in a topic area that makes more sense and will be seen by more poeple than in my build log. Also, it allows discussion about that specific set of tests in a separate thread away from the build itself.


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## ModMinded

You've been busy! Can't wait to see the difference with WC.


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## HAFenvy

Quote:


Originally Posted by *ModMinded* 
You've been busy! Can't wait to see the difference with WC.

Me too, that is why I am doing that burst of tests. Once I clear off some of my work projects I'll be diving into the case modifications so I can get the system back up and running on water. It is so nasty having this nice fast machine sitting there taunting me knowing full well I have to put it out of commission for quite some time while I modify the case *sigh*


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## xxbassplayerxx

I haven't seen a WC 922 yet, GL with the build! It's looking nice so far.


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## snipes23

what brand is that black and green fan?


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## HAFenvy

Quote:


Originally Posted by *snipes23* 
what brand is that black and green fan?

That would be a GELID Wing 12 UV Reactive Green Fan - 1500RPM, 25dba, 64CFM - going to give those a shot








GELID Solutions Web Site - 120mm Green Fan

Oh yeah one neat trick with these... you can just pop the fan blades out of the special bearing super easy - ahhh cleaning fans will be so much easier now. They also come with sleeved cables so you don't have ugly wiring to look at.


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## Swagman

Hi There, as your modifying a 922, I've been looking for a dimension for ages, but can't find it anywhere.

I'm also thinking of modyfying a 922, so could you tell me the distance from the top fan grill, to the top holes of the motherboard fixings... ?

So I can determine what thickness fan and radiator combo I can get away with...

As you know radiators come from about 29mm - 65mm and I also don;t want to interfere with any mother board components

I'll be following your posts closely to see how you get on..

ps. if you have any other meaningful dimensions you care to pass on, they may be helpful too..

Good luck


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## HAFenvy

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Swagman* 
Hi There, as your modifying a 922, I've been looking for a dimension for ages, but can't find it anywhere.

When you look at the photos, I'm working with a Swiftech MCR-220 34mm thick radiator which I will be able to fit up top with "just" enough room to my Corsair Dominator memory which sticks up pretty high off of the motherboard. Any thicker with a 25mm fan and I will hit those DIMMs even with the radiator shifted to the one side. Now if you are using a different board then you may have more clearances to play with up top depending on your component locations.

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Swagman* 
I'm also thinking of modyfying a 922, so could you tell me the distance from the top fan grill, to the top holes of the motherboard fixings... ?

So I can determine what thickness fan and radiator combo I can get away with...

Measuring from the bottom of the fan in the case (30mm thick fan), I have 20mm to the top of the motherboard itself and 26mm to the middle of the top ATX screw hole. So in effect, 50mm to the top of the motherboard and 56mm to the middle of the ATX screw holes (plus or minus a mm). Keep in mind that the top panel has that raised perforation area so you have bumps to contend with as well. The screw holes are dimpled down so they can hide the countersunk screws flush to the panel which brings that 30mm fan down a bit but I would consider that to be basically where your radiator will end up too.

I haven't made a lot of measurements so far because I have all my parts in hand and actually put them in the case as I size things out. There is a fair amount of room to work with throughout the case but that top panel area is definitely tighter and won't handle thick rads without hitting something on your motherboard.


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## Swagman

Thanks for the speedy response, I saw from your photo's it was a bit tight, and with about 55mm to play with, unless I fabricate a new mesh top grill, the 29mm rad and a 25mm Fan will work.

Of course it may be nice to cut out a oblong portion of the current mesh grill / top of the 922, and create a 25mm raised mesh box, that the rad could slot into, and have a 55mm Rad









I suppose the options are endless.
















Anyway thanks for some precise measurements, it makes my kit research that much easier...

Cheers


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## HAFenvy

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Swagman* 
...Of course it may be nice to cut out a oblong portion of the current mesh grill / top of the 922, and create a 25mm raised mesh box, that the rad could slot into, and have a 55mm Rad









I suppose the options are endless.
















Actually, there is another problem with the 922 top panel... the radiator is actually a bit longer than the raised section when you add the fitting chambers on the one end. It actually goes past the raised panel section so building upwards will not be so simple if you are trying to move the radiator up (the plastic bezel on the front of the case will get in your way now). The black lines are my custom overlay design, the red lines are the Swiftech MCR-220. You can also see where I'm going to squeeze in my Danger Den fillport so it doesn't hit the motherboard backing panel (dashed lines are the fillport, solid line is the 1in hole).










Now if you want to build a raised section for fans on top of the radiator, yeah that will work and you could have a push/pull set of fans for more oomph. Now if Cooler Master had not made that little fancy angled raised area at the back of the case and made the raised section go straight across, we would have lots more options for space and could stuff the radiator entirely in the raised panel area.


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## HAFenvy

Because of the thickness of the aluminum sheet metal I bought for the top overlay (aluminum is easier to work with when thicker), I believe it will be more than rigid enough to "clamp" down to the top panel with the 4 radiator screws and the fillport. Basically, the radiator and fillport will hold the overlay panel in place so I have very few exposed screws on the top. If it is too loose in the top right corner (see image above), then I'll put one more screw location there to tighten things up a bit (or a tiny bit of double-sided tape). I want this top panel to look pretty clean with minimal visible mounting points.

I may even experiement with dimpling the top panel material so I can use countersunk screws for the radiator. I don't have a dimple-die set so I may just rig something up for the whole 4 screw dimples I would want to make. You have probably done that on your own by accident... screwing a countersunk screw into something too hard and mooshing the metal - that would be my cheap man dimple trick. Countersink a piece of material, put my metal over it, put a countersink screw through the hole and then tighten it down a lot until I make the dimple I need.


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## HAFenvy

5AM (my time), can't sleep so I worked on a couple more ideas (of course now making MORE work for me to do on the case







). Anyway, I am looking at that Cooler Master emblem in the front and thinking... hmmm... custom "Envy" logo... yeahhhhh







.

Ok... too many ideas and not enough execution. Later today I'm going out to visit a couple shops to nail down a few odds and ends and will hopefully begin modifications this week.


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## HAFenvy

Sigh... somehow I knew by going out to those shops today I'd get myself into some kind of chaos. First stop was basic, got some sleeving from my local electonics supplier - 1/4in for thin wires (fans, etc) for 33c a foot and 3/8in (which fits over SATA cables) for 44c a foot. Got to love buying only what I need cheaper than buying a "Sleeving Kit".

Next stop started the overall chaos... I went to a coatings shop to see what it would cost and what prep the case would need to have it powder coated. Basically for what it would cost me in spray cans (Primer+Paint) I can have this thing powder coated (quoted about $60 to $70 for their "Flat" black which basically matches the current black on the case). Bad news... I would have to get the prepared form of the case to them by Thursday afternoon/Friday morning because that powder coat they don't do often and are doing a run of it Friday afternoon for another job (with no future runs for a couple weeks after that) I'd have to have all my case modifications finished in the next two days









They don't do prep work there so they directed me to a place they work with nearby called "U-Blast" - a sandblasting shop where you can have them sand-blast your stuff or you can do it yourself with their equipment (how cool is that!). Since I haven't fully decided on paint/powder... I didn't want to test blast the black side panel I had with me to see if the black comes off easily or not. The black has to be removed off of the side panels in order for the powder coater to do them properly to have the insides of those black too.

Sigh... I have to make up my mind pretty darn fast to get this case dismantled, modified, sand-blasted and to the coaters by Friday if I am going to do Powder coating (and I have a TON of real life work to do with my actual job







). On the plus side, I'd have my powder coated case back early next week and can move forward with my project that much sooner.


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## HAFenvy

Well, the modifications have begun on the case. I took the system apart today and put the components back into their respective boxes. I then put all the case pieces into ziploc bags to keep them all in one place and organized. So today's plan was to get the top panel cut. Here is the top of the case with everything removed but I have not drilled out any rivets so the case shell is still fully intact:










I then masked up the area I wanted to cut out of the top panel so I had nice easy lines to follow when I went out to start cutting. There is a reason why I masked this specific pattern which I'll talk about later in this post:










So I then proceeded to go out to the garage, set up my work bench with tools of mass construction, grabbed my Workmate and clamped my case to it. I hung my Dremel on the work bench with the flex extension attached and my reinforced cutting wheel loaded. Flex extension







- made life so much easier for doing cuts - just don't bend it too much or it heats up a bit at the bends if they are tight (and take a break once in while - good for you - good for your tools)

I slowly worked my way around the cut lines with the cutting disc - ahh the noise and sparks and smell of metal. *Here is a cutting tip*... leave a couple tabs of metal keeping the piece attached so you can continue using the area in the middle to rest your hands on. When you are done the major cuts, cut those little tabs and your piece comes out easily.

So I filed all the edges smooth, cleaned up any rough spots and here is the end result:










So why did I leave those top two corners intact?

Less material to cut - I just cut the little tabs on the hex in that area because the radiator will be on the squared out side (bottom of image)
I am drilling a fill port hole in the top right corner of that raised area so having case material there will make it more solid when I mount it
That whole area will be under my custom overlay so you won't see it anyway
More to come as I work through this modification - I still need to cut the overlay piece but it is already after midnight and sleep is a good thing.


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## i7bigrig

Wait, you can definitely fit a 360 rad into the top of the HAF with no issues whatsoever. In fact, I fit the largest Rad possible, the Feser 360 Xchanger, which is 65mm width, plus 6 25mm fans in push pull. It doesn't even hit the mobo, and there's even space if there was a vreg sink sticking out.

Take a look at my sig link to see.


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## i7bigrig

Ah nvm, disregard previous post, I didn't know you were using the 922.


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## HAFenvy

Quote:


Originally Posted by *i7bigrig* 
Ah nvm, disregard previous post, I didn't know you were using the 922.

No problemo







I think the fact I'm using the 922 is what will make this a rather unique build. Hopefully some of the ideas I come up with can help others if they are crazy enough to try and squeeze water cooling into this case too


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## Swagman

Hi,

I'm still looking at perhaps fitting a 3 fan rad in my 922...

Could I bother you to get me another dimension?... (or two)









From a point as far to the back of the case as possible, and perhaps another dimension from the existing rad mounting holes (closest to the back of the case), at what point through the wedge shaped front I/O would 397mm come too.

I am thinking of trying to fit in a Black Ice GT Stealth 360 with dims of 397x133x29mm.

I could loose most of the front wedge but just make the rear of it look good with a backing plate, as long as it doesn't destroy it all







as the actual buttons are quite a way forward.

Sorry to keep bothering you, but like you said, not many people are trying this, and as you have the dimensions to hand, your a great help.

excuse my poor attempt in paint to indicate at which point the 397mm may hit the I/O...


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## HAFenvy

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Swagman* 
Hi,

I'm still looking at perhaps fitting a 3 fan rad in my 922...

Could I bother you to get me another dimension?... (or two)









From a point as far to the back of the case as possible, and perhaps another dimension from the existing rad mounting holes (closest to the back of the case), at what point through the wedge shaped front I/O would 397mm come too.

Good thing I didn't cut out the fan holes on the one side hahaha - I dug out the top panel part and put it back on the case to check your dimensions (my case is stripped down at the moment).

If you pushed the 397 all the way to the back minus 25mm for spacing due to the rear 25mm fan and the I/O panel sheet metal which will get in your way, you would be exactly where you drew that red line, on that black edge in the flat spot of the bezel. Now you have to remember the tank portion the fittings go into so your actual fan area is 360mm (if they are butted against each other on the rad) so you could do it if you move the rad towards the back.

You won't be able to use the existing fan mount holes as that will move the radiator another 60mm towards the front putting it closer to the I/O than I think you want to be.

I saw in another post, I can't remember where and will have to look later when I have some time, a guy is doing something similar with the 932 top bezel piece and a quad rad setup. He is cutting those gaps between the plastic fins at the back of that bezel piece to allow the airflow out from under that plastic piece with minimal cosmetic impact. Considering it is 1.5in tall at the very peak by the logo, I don't see why that wouldn't work for the 922 with a triple pushed to the back of the case. Put a small wedge piece underneath to direct air out those fins and so you don't cook your front panel I/O and it probably would work.

The dimensions are plus or minus but I think you could do it if you move the radiator. My only concern is that raised panel section at the back, you'll be cutting more material out of the top which might look kind of funny back there depending on how you did it.


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## Swagman

Cool,

Thanks once again, I think then I will go with a 3 fan rad setup, should be interesting if nothing else... lol.

I'll probably produce cut out in the top panel, then block it up round the edges very slightly, and lay a honeycomb grate over the top, if I made the hight of this raised section as high as the hight of what is left of the I/O front wedge, and butted it up with that, it may look almost as if it was supposed to be there..







.

Thanks again, and can't wait to see yours finished.


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## HAFenvy

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Swagman* 
Cool,

Thanks once again, I think then I will go with a 3 fan rad setup, should be interesting if nothing else... lol.

I'll probably produce cut out in the top panel, then block it up round the edges very slightly, and lay a honeycomb grate over the top, if I made the hight of this raised section as high as the hight of what is left of the I/O front wedge, and butted it up with that, it may look almost as if it was supposed to be there..








.

Thanks again, and can't wait to see yours finished.

Here is a top view image for you of my case with the bezel shifted over to the side so the tape measure lays flat. I noted where I think you could easily cut out the plastic bezel part to make custom venting from under that panel area if you didn't build a raised panel and mounted in the case - this of course means moving your radiator to the back of the case.









If you raise the top panel like you describe, you could probably cut the plastic fins right out to the beginning edge of the Cooler Master logo spot (left edge). Your fitting area for the rad would be underneath the Cooler Master logo on the plastic and the fans from the fins back on your custom top. For reference the fin area is 132mm (inside recesses - top to bottom on image above) and 150mm to the inner part of the chamfered edges (basically the width of that flat part the Cooler Master logo is on).

Thanks, I am looking forward to progress on my case as well. The powder coating place ran the black I wanted early so I have a bit of time before they do another run of that black. This is good for me really because 1.) I can focus on my actual job and get real work done (you know - income), and 2.) I can slow things down a little to spend more time tinkering with the finer detail things


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## triggs75

Great idea and set up.

I have very similar plans as you. I have the XSPC RS360 Rad with 25mm fans and it hits my RAM clips along with my Alpha Cool CPU Block.

I am getting the Alphacool CoolCover Universal CPU Mounting Kit that will replace those flat disc's on it along with getting some Yate Loon Slim Fans 20mm so hopefully I will be clear the CPU block as well.

My Yates slims just shipped today, wont get till next week to see if they fit.

I am planning on cutting that section as well for air to get out of the front of the RAD.

I will be keeping a very close eye on your worklog to see how it goes and I am sure it will turn out great.

Chad


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## HAFenvy

Quote:


Originally Posted by *triggs75* 
Great idea and set up.

I have very similar plans as you. I have the XSPC RS360 Rad with 25mm fans and it hits my RAM clips along with my Alpha Cool CPU Block.

I am getting the Alphacool CoolCover Universal CPU Mounting Kit that will replace those flat disc's on it along with getting some Yate Loon Slim Fans 20mm so hopefully I will be clear the CPU block as well.

My Yates slims just shipped today, wont get till next week to see if they fit.

I am planning on cutting that section as well for air to get out of the front of the RAD.

I will be keeping a very close eye on your worklog to see how it goes and I am sure it will turn out great.

Chad

I just saw your post in the 932/922 Case Owners Club thread - that is one nice looking paint job you did with the two tone. Yeah this 922 is a bit snug for water cooling but I'm sure we'll both make it work - looks like you are almost there from your images. Thanks for the vote of confidence, I will do my best to not disappoint.

I'm currently working on side panel window concepts since I won't be getting the case in for coating for a while yet. I still need to do my top overlay but real life work took priority today so I'll probably work on that this weekend. I did manage to take a break and do some testing with my top panel scrap material and the countersunk screws I have worked perfect - the top panel will be smoooooooth (except where my hex perf goes). That is why I went with aluminum, I bought thicker material, it is easy to cut and form and will look perfect since it will be coated at the same time as the case (perfect match).


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## HAFenvy

I worked today on my top panel overlay and got all my cuts and drilling done. It holds just like I intended and because I used thicker aluminum, I countersunk the holes and cut down some 6-32 countersunk screws I had so they were the right length. It all holds solid and looks way cleaner than having those stock screws sticking up that come with the radiator. I like how my fill port looks in the corner and it is also used to anchor the overlay in place while I screw on the radiator - works like a charm! So the hex perforation material I put in just gets sandwiched between the overlay and the radiator - protects my fins on the top









So the overlay is pretty well ready to go - I might do some more fine finishing to it but I'm very happy with how it turned out. Once the case, overlay and hex are all powder coated, they will blend together very nicely and look almost factory.



















Next target... side panel once I decide what evil plan I have for it.


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## triggs75

That is awsome. You wanna sell one top.







Very well done this puts your RAD out of arms reach of the ram clips and the CPU block. Great work..

Chad


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## Swagman

Yep that looks nice, are you using a T line with the fillport, or are you using a reservior as well..

Just wondering how you plan on getting the bubbles out of the loop







.

But it's taking shape... good luck.


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## HAFenvy

Quote:


Originally Posted by *triggs75* 
That is awsome. You wanna sell one top.







Very well done this puts your RAD out of arms reach of the ram clips and the CPU block. Great work..

Chad

Thanks for the compliment. Sorry Chad, I only made one of the tops. My template was a weee bit off that I created but I just filed things until I was happy with the radius, etc. This puts the radiator in the position I want away from that top Mosfet heatsink in the one corner of the board and leaves room that I can actually get my fingers in to release the DIMM clips.

The nice thing about this overlay too, if things don't work out the way I like them, build a new overlay and do something else without screwing up the paint on the case again (when it actually gets painted)


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## HAFenvy

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Swagman* 
Yep that looks nice, are you using a T line with the fillport, or are you using a reservior as well..

Just wondering how you plan on getting the bubbles out of the loop







.

But it's taking shape... good luck.

There will be a reservoir right below the fill port - it is one of those EK-Multiport Res units that has the port into the top and the three at the bottom. So the tubing goes directly from the fill port right straight down into the reservoir - should look nice and the reservoir will make it easy for bleeding the system.


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## HAFenvy

Just a quick update on my status today. I quickly updated a couple sections of the top level page removing some of my wall of text from there. I'll take out more of the blahblahblah from those pages as I complete stages and replace with photos of completed work.

I'm working on a side panel modification design and bought some more material for an idea I have. I'm waiting to hear back from the acrylic shop on something I wanted them to quote me on as well - I might just go buy some clear acrylic just to get rolling on a solid window design first and worry about my custom idea later. No news from the powder coater on when they are doing another run of the color I want (saves me the setup charge if I can sneak my stuff in with another job







)


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## HAFenvy

Work took over all of my time like usual so I'm behind on my modification work. I picked up an offcut of some Lexan today for my side window (because it was really cheap







) while I was at the plastic shop. They wanted too much to route my custom design so I'm going to come up with some ideas on what I can do myself using my router/dremel/tools-of-mass-construction. I also picked up some smoked acrylic for a custom reservoir mount idea I have









I should have time to get rolling on more modifications in the next day or so.


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## HAFenvy

Yay... progress!!! Ok, I finally got back onto working on some of my modifications and today was the side panel change. I don't like the look of that perforation on the side panel so it had to go... first I masked where the main part goes bye bye...










I then fired up the Dremel with my reinforced cutting wheel and cut out the perforation (same cutting wheel from the top panel cuts - darn good wheel I tell ya! - And yes - flex-extension







)...










So part of my side panel design is to do something like I did up top, make a custom piece - or in this case a custom window frame (for reasons you will see shortly). So I took my nice thick aluminum and cut it to match the rounded recess portion where the perforation was...










I then marked my inner cuts for the frame portion, grabbed the drill and jigsaw and bzzzzzrrrrzzz the middle was gone. Fired it into my new Dremel Multi-Vise (had to buy a new toy for myself hehe) and filed down the edges including beveling them a bit to make them look nice. Kind of nice having this clamp down vice you can rotate into strange angles...










So I drilled my holes and here is what I'll ultimately end up with using the frame concept...










Those holes are the exact mount holes for the fan so it in effect will clamp the frame and plastic in place (much like my top panel concept). If I don't like this, I can change it out with a different window and those holes are 110mm apart (height) so I could make a window with a 120mm fan if I prefer later. Or no fan at all and just a solid window.

I'll be countersinking those screws again just like the top panel and this frame will be powder coated along with the entire case when I get to that point. Everything will blend together and look factory. I could of course make the frame any color I want which is kind of a cool feature too









The clear 200mm fan is positioned up from the factory perforation location to blow better onto the memory and chipset heatsinks. I will be changing the LEDs out to go with the theme too. When it is spinning you'll still see into the case - I think it will look pretty cool when it is done









Tomorrow - countersinking, minor panel tweaks, plastic window work and other misc. nit picky things.


----------



## K10

I am very excite! /boratvoice


----------



## triggs75

Very nice. I thought you might put the fan lower so you would have the top part of your window to see through to your system. But with the fan higher it will hit the components more. Great Job.


----------



## HAFenvy

Quote:


Originally Posted by *triggs75* 
Very nice. I thought you might put the fan lower so you would have the top part of your window to see through to your system. But with the fan higher it will hit the components more. Great Job.

Thanks. One of the nice things about that fan is once it is spun up, being clear you can see through it pretty well. If I don't like it, I'll just put a solid window there and position a fan somewhere on the interior but I'd like to use that fan if I can (and throw the black one in the front).

I'm working on the plastic right now and my test clamping of the frame isn't quite working out as I had hoped. The metal flexes just enough to lift in the corners and while I could just double-sided tape those down, I know at some point it will lift and bug me. I'm going to drill some more holes in the corners of the frame and just add a couple more screws to tighten the whole thing up a notch. They are countersunk so they won't be nasty looking once painted to match









Ok, back to the garage.


----------



## HAFenvy

Side panel modification update... it all fits nice now









I have enough plastic to do 3 windows so I tried one way and didn't like it. So I cut a second window and worked with it (the third piece will be if I screw up something on this window or to have 2 windows to pick from). As I mentioned in my previous post, the frame was flexing a little so I put more screws into it in the corners to lock things down a bit better. It will all be painted to match the side panel so you won't really notice the screws that much later. Below is the result:




























So there you have the front, back and an angled detail shot of the countersunk screws. Next task which I'll do on my scrap window will be to test cut some fan venting using my router and/or Dremel. I actually have this on order Dremel Circle Cutting Attachment and will give this thing a whirl for cutting circular fan vent holes in my window









That's it for now - hopefully I can get all my pieces into coatings this week now that the frame and top panel overlay are done


----------



## HAFenvy

Progress update: Went into the sandblasting shop this morning and took care of all the "sanding" preparation the easy way. The black coating won't blast off without getting really close and possibly warping the side panels so I hand sanded all the black sections that I could. All my pieces are now at the Powder Coaters getting a brand new black powder coat done to the entire case, PCI slot covers, screws, custom panel work and my hex perforation screens. Should be sexxxxy as long as the hand sanded pieces come out without issues.

I should have the pieces back late tomorrow or Thursday - Yeahhhhhhhh


----------



## triggs75

Can't wait to see the results.


----------



## HAFenvy

Guess what I JUST picked up from the Powder Coater....










More images to come later when I have time... had to rush this online though because... well... I just had to. Oh yeah and the side panels turned out fine even with the existing coating on them. You can actually still slightly see the "HAF" on the side because I didn't sand it totally out - looks cool


----------



## HAFenvy

Above you see the chassis job which turned out really good. I didn't take the whole thing apart but I did drill out the rivets for the bottom drive cage for a couple reasons: 1.) it made it a lot easier to sandblast the guts of the case and 2.) it made it easier for them to coat the case. The chassis turned out really good so why take more apart than I really have to (and now my rivets are all coated too which looks awesome). So this is what they call "Flat Black" at the coaters but it really is more of a mild satin finish than flat.

So here are the rest of the images







... The first is the customized side panel, the top overlay, the custom window frame, the 5.25in bay drive mounts and a chunk of aluminum that I used for all the screws (and some extras) so everything would be coated to match...









Next is the bottom drive cage, the PCI slot covers, my radiator mesh and a 200mm fan mesh I decided to make just in case I feel like using it in my fan/window design (we'll see about that yet)...









Next is a shot I took showing the inside of the side panel along with the stock plastic front piece and a drive blank - they match really well don't you think?









Here is a closer shot to show the stock plastic against this flat black powder coat...









Yeah I could have gone with some other color (which would cost more) or a gloss but I like the fact this all is subtle and blends together nicely.

I'm looking forward to starting to put this together but it will have to wait until at least the weekend - I've got a motherload of work to catch up on


----------



## K10

looks great!


----------



## HAFenvy

Here is a bit of a teaser... during a break between work projects I HAD to test fit my top panel/mesh/rad combo to see how it looked (having all these pieces sitting here is driving me nuts). It has definitely motivated me to get this customer workload off my desk so I can put this system together. I think I'll be a busy boy this weekend


----------



## triggs75

very nice and clean. can't wait to see more. Cant wait to get more of my parts, your killing me.


----------



## HAFenvy

Today was a nice little burst of productivity. Late last night I put a couple components back into the case and started looking at the layout. I decided that before I got too far ahead of myself with assembly, that I needed to sleeve things up. The HX750 already has a sleeved 24-pin bundle but not at the connector which looks ugly coming off the motherboard. I needed to sleeve that - here is the before shot right after I cut off the shrink piece holding the stock sleeving:










And now after I got done with it:










Now you are probably wondering why I did such a short run of sleeves. Well, the bundle is mainly behind the motherboard tray so I only sleeved what was really visible - the 6in section that bends around and then disappears behind the tray. If I did the entire length, that would have been 46ft of sleeving (it is a 2ft long bundle). Here I did 6in lengths so just shy of 12ft. This is all Techflex from a local electronics store where I can buy 1/8in, 3/8in, 1/2in, etc all by the foot so I only buy the amount I need which is good.

I then did end sleeving on all the front panel pieces (not the whole lengths because again, they are all hidden in the back so who cares). The USB, HD indicator, switch cables, power LED cable, HD Audio cable (with 3/8in sleeving) and a few other odds and ends.

To really take this a notch further, I also put 3/8in sleeving over my SATA cables... this is how they turned out (a before/after shot in one image):










Basically today was sleeving day with some assembly while I sorted out cable positions and other little bits like that. Still a ways to go but progress is always good


----------



## triggs75

I know how much fun that must have been.







Looking good.


----------



## HAFenvy

Quote:


Originally Posted by *triggs75* 
I know how much fun that must have been.







Looking good.

Fun... not really but just time consuming. I'm so glad I went out and bought a dual-temp heat gun that was on sale 70% off so for $10 (ohhh yeah). Made shrinking the shrink-tube so much easier to do. I've got the PSU in the case and connected to the motherboard now after I bent the cables the way I wanted them. So much easier to do when individual like that than in the big bundle.

Today I have to take a break from this machine and do some other stuff but it is coming along. Last night I was working with what were supposed to be 2V LEDs I picked up to replace the ones in the clear fan... well they don't light up until about 2.4V (I need to test how low they go but they won't fire at 2.0V). So I think I'll just go out, get some resistors and wire the lights direct to a 12V lead instead of using the existing in the fan which is only delivering about 1.9V to each LED (which is fine for Red's as they typically are 1.8-2.0V). You use resistors to do 2 things... limit the current through the circuit (so you don't pop your LEDs) and to tweak the voltage to the right level. Google "led calculator" as there are several tools out there for sizing LED circuits.


----------



## HAFenvy

Ok, I know it has been a while for an update - my business life has been exceptionally busy lately so the computer had to wait. Today I caught a break and got going on another modification... the clear 200mm fan.

So... I went out and bought what were supposed to be 2V forward voltage super bright greens. Well.. they aren't. After testing (which I finally got around to) I determined that they are in fact 2.8V to 3.0V greens.

Why might this be a problem? Well the voltage running across the existing red LEDs in the clear fan measure off at 1.95V - at that voltage the greens will not light up. But I wondered... there is a surface mount resistor on the PCB in the fan which is in the LED circuit. All the resistor is doing is being a current limiter (to keep the current flow through the LEDs to a proper level aka 20mA). I tried the Green connected to a 12V source with the proper resistor as sized here: http://led.linear1.org/1led.wiz and it worked perfect. LED was running at 3V as expected. (Note: there is a link on that page to switch to Series/Parallel LED circuit sizings too Here )

So I grabbed the camera, my tools of mass construction and decided to swap out the red ones to these green ones and see if the existing circuit would work. As long as that circuit is being fed 12V, if anything the resistor inside is bigger than required so the LEDs may get less current (say around 15mA instead of 20mA) but should get the appropriate voltage they need.

Here is the fan running the red before I started the modification:









To pull the LEDs, you just need to dig out the silicone or whatever it is holding them in (pretty easy to do) and they come right out. Cut them off at the LED legs (to save the length on the wire) and then strip off the clear shrink they used so you have the wire end. Below is my third arm setup I did using the scrap aluminum from my top modification as a base to work from (short cables)









On the 200mm fan, the existing wiring is as follows: the copper wire is your positive and the silver wire is your negative (looks like speaker wire). So the long end of your LED goes to the positive and the short leg to the negative. If you have already cut them to length and forgot... the small piece of metal inside the LED is positive and the bigger piece is negative. Also, before soldering on the new LEDs, cut some shrink if you have it and slide it on the wire so you can protect your connections - here is what I had after soldering but before moving on to shrinking and sleeving things:









I tested it before shrinking and setting the LEDs back in place and it ran perfect. Green lit up at 3.0V on the nose so I grabbed my sleeving, shrink and heat gun and sleeved up both fan cables right to the center. Had to cut off a plastic tab along the wire path but that was minor. After, I took this shot to show how bright these green LEDs are:









Yum


----------



## triggs75

Good work. Hmmm a green theme. This will be an interesting build, cant wait to see whats comming this weekend.

Quick question for you regarding your RAD your placing up top, are you going to have your fans blowing the air out through your RAD or pulling it in through your RAD?

I am planning on having mine blow out through the RAD. I was going to have my front and side 230 fans blowing in along with my bottom 120 blowing in, that should keep the case nice and cool and have the outtake through my top fans/RAD and back fan/RAD.


----------



## HAFenvy

Quote:


Originally Posted by *triggs75* 
Quick question for you regarding your RAD your placing up top, are you going to have your fans blowing the air out through your RAD or pulling it in through your RAD?

My current plan is to have that position blowing air out. I have the big 200mm in the front and the rad in the bottom I'm going to have pulling air into the case to keep case pressure up. I prefer positive case pressure - my other case has more negative and sucks dust in through every possible crack (including a now dead DVD drive).

We'll see if I go ahead with the side window fan or not - at least I designed my side frame to take the 200mm fan there without any further modifications if I decide to do that (just make a different window







) The 2 x 200mm's plus the bottom intake in that case would certainly be pushing a lot of air into the system.


----------



## HAFenvy

Another update... going to be a busy day today









I modified the Cold Cathode kit wiring, took off the stupid daisy chain connection and PCI switch plate. The switch wires are now soldered to the second pole on the top LED switch so both the new Fan LEDs and the UV lights are controlled from that single switch (so nice). Sleeved the cables of course.

I also finished sleeving up more of my other cables and just finished putting the main system components back into the case to continue my cable management work. I modified one of my SATA power connectors to move the second end position closer to the very end position as I have the DVD and HD both next to each other in the top of the case (no ugly power loop hanging in the middle of the case).

System is up and running right now on stock air components. Going to now fit my reservoir, find the pump's official happy place and start to work on the water cooling. Still have a ways to go but I am making lots of progress today


----------



## HAFenvy

Ok, time to tease you with a photo. I have been working on cable management, layout and assembly, etc for this build ALL day. Well, the guts are in, I switched the GTX285 over to the water block, cleaned up my CPU, installed all my rads/fans etc and did a ton of cable work to make this system super clean. I have a ton more photos to go through but I am super tired and will do it tomorrow when I have time.

Behold, this is a shot of the system before I filled it with distilled water and started my leak test. It is running right now behind me, that pump is super quiet and no leaks so far (still the odd bubble gurgling through the pump though). I still have more work to do to this system but I made some major progress today.

Enjoy










PS: Before you go slagging my loop sequence, I want to test this layout first. Currently it is:
Res. --> Pump --> Top Double Rad --> CPU --> GPU --> Bottom Single Rad --> Res.

Why? Well as you can see it is a nice short tight little loop and is flowing beautifully right now. Also, I want to measure what the actual temperature increases REALLY are through each block to see how much really gets added at each point. I've seen so many different setups - I'm going to try this and see if it works - if I am not happy with my temps, then I'll adjust my loop.


----------



## Evilcraft

It looks great! looking forward to some posts of some temps along with some benchmarks of that beast!


----------



## K10

Is the side panel done? If so, pics? Looks amazing so far btw.


----------



## triggs75

Looks great, cant wait to see more pics and see how your temps are.

How did you mount you Res? Good thinking on placement with your parts.

Chad


----------



## Spart

I like it! I have always stood by making your loop how it looks best to you. The temp difference between blocks is no more than a few Â°C because of how fast the water is flowing.


----------



## HAFenvy

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Evilcraft* 
It looks great! looking forward to some posts of some temps along with some benchmarks of that beast!

Thanks! I'm looking forward to the temperature tests as well and will probably be firing the system up today to do that very thing. The temperature benchmarks will take longer because of the thermal capacity of water vs air cooling so I might not have results for a while depending on what I get done today (also pending other life distractions).

Quote:


Originally Posted by *K10* 
Is the side panel done? If so, pics? Looks amazing so far btw.

Thanks. The side panel is done, the frame is ready and the solid window cut - I just haven't assembled them yet as getting the system up was the first thing. I have more cable management to do but should be ready to put the panels back on this thing in a day or so. I'm tossing the idea around about mounting the clear fan in the side window and the black up front for more cooling in the case - I want to see what the temps are like with a solid window first and build up as I go.

Quote:


Originally Posted by *triggs75* 
Looks great, cant wait to see more pics and see how your temps are.

How did you mount you Res? Good thinking on placement with your parts.

Chad

Thanks Triggs... looking forward to your Dremel-fest you are starting today. For the res. I used one of the plastic holders that came with the res and cheated in a rather inventive way. I bolted the plastic mount through the hole in the top of a PCI filler plate, drilled a hole in the long section of that plate and just bolted it to the bottom 5.25in bay side (existing hole). I only had to drill that one hole in the spare PCI plate I have to get it done







. The tubing once installed pretty well keeps it in place too - the PCI plate mount trick just makes sure it doesn't move around.

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Spart* 
I like it! I have always stood by making your loop how it looks best to you. The temp difference between blocks is no more than a few Â°C because of how fast the water is flowing.

Thanks and my thoughts exactly... really the whole system will hit a temperature equilibrium so I don't think a couple degree change through different parts of the loop is really going to matter that much. My actual thoughts were... if this were a triple rad... it would be before the CPU. Essentially, I'm using the bottom rad to take the edge off the video card heat before it hits the res/pump, and then cooling further with the double before the CPU which I want the "coolest" water to hit first as it is more temperature sensitive than the GPU.

Now that I'm awake again - I'll be doing some more on the system today. It ran the leak test all night - no leaks - no more bubbles - pump is super quiet as all my blocks are low restriction so I can run it slower (the water is zooming along in there nicely). Yes I will overclock but I'm not going to push my clock super high - just enough to keep me happy and so I can keep the system running relatively quiet.


----------



## HAFenvy

Ok... got a little bit of sleep and took some more photos this morning now that I have better light to work with. Here are some more detailed shots of the pieces.

First, the bottom of the Danger Den MC-TDX water block (photo I took yesterday) - it came already lapped with a protective film on the base - super smooth and flat - so much so my camera focused on the reflection and not the block itself:










Next - something triggs asked about - how did I mount the reservoir. I just used the PCI slot filler plate... bolted the EK mount to the top screw hole, marked and drilled a hole in the PCI plate in the right spot and bolted it into the bottom 5.25in bay existing bolt hole







(this also allows me to easily move the mount later if I need to):










Next we have my bottom radiator and the cable work I did with the PSU cables and my sleeved front panel/USB headers:










Next we have the CPU/GPU block shot on a cool looking angle - and again another sleeved front panel cable (the HD Audio connector):










Next is the 24-Pin sleeving, SATA sleeved cables, the front fan connector and the GPU cables - again fairly neat (the fan cable you won't see once the UV Acid Green fluid goes into the system







):










And last for today - the top radiator and UV reactive fans. Those are GELID Wing 12s which I will run at full blast aka 1500RPM/64CFM (and they are quiet too):










Today... install the UV Cathodes, finish connecting a few cables and more cable management (sigh more cable management) and then I fire Envy up.


----------



## HAFenvy

I just updated the first page temperature testing notes. I fired up Envy a few hours ago and it has been sitting there humming away for the last 2 hours. Because the CPU/GPU are in the same loop, no surprise here I've got both at the same temperature right now. So my CPU and GPU are both at 35c and my office ambient is about 25c. I don't have the side panels on right now so that will make a difference and I will retest that later once everything is back together. Considering idle on air with the stock Intel cooler and stock EVGA fan was 38c and 44c respectively, this is still way better already (especially for the video card). Later today, I'll run the OCCT tests and see what this thing can handle - then I'll start looking at lowering the fan speeds to reach a happy mid-point for cooling/noise ratio.

Quick reference to the results thus far: Page 1 - Post 6 - Temperature Testing


----------



## HAFenvy

Another temperature test update - just completed the OCCT 3.1.0 full one hour CPU test and got my results. I've updated the first page entry with the totals and will be doing the GPU test next (Page 1 - Post 6)

Quick table of Air cooling vs water cooling for the CPU test... total stock BIOS settings (no overclock)
... CPU ... GPU
... 70c ... 57c ... Stock air
... 52c ... 41c ... Stock water

I'll take an 18c drop in CPU and 16c drop in GPU temperatures thank you very much. Going to run the one hour GPU test now - should be interesting


----------



## DUNC4N

Very nice work. Thanks for sharing. Now I have haf-envy.


----------



## HAFenvy

Quote:


Originally Posted by *DUNC4N* 
Very nice work. Thanks for sharing. Now I have haf-envy.









Thanks Dunc4n







. Now you probably understand the whole green theme going on too


----------



## HAFenvy

Here we go again... the next round of temperature tests. OCCT GPU Test run for about 45min but the temps didn't move for a long time so I stopped it early. Here is what I got:

Quick table of Air cooling vs water cooling for the GPU test...
... CPU ... GPU
... 48c ... 88c ... Stock air
... 46c ... 53c ... Stock water

Now those numbers right there are a perfect excuse to at least water cool your video cards on say a double rad loop of their own if you keep your big huge stock air cooler on your CPU. (Water cool it later - do the video cards first).


----------



## triggs75

Very clean set up. Great cable management and color scheme going on in that case. Also great placement on the Res. good thinking.

How much fluid did your system take and did you flush your RAD's as well?

Also is the a 100 Res or 150? I have the 150 on its way, just seeing how much it will fill up the case.

Chad


----------



## HAFenvy

Quote:


Originally Posted by *triggs75* 
Very clean set up. Great cable management and color scheme going on in that case. Also great placement on the Res. good thinking.

How much fluid did your system take and did you flush your RAD's as well?

Also is the a 100 Res or 150? I have the 150 on its way, just seeing how much it will fill up the case.

Chad

Thanks - yeah it took some sorting out for the reservoir fit in the case. The reservoir could have gone higher but then I couldn't integrate it in with my fill port design as easilly. The other thing is that 24-pin cable is annoying and somewhat in the way - by sleeving it I could spread the wires out and get them bent tighter to squeeze by. Another benefit, the reservoir obscures any SATA cables coming off - not that it matters as I route them behind the tray too anyway haha. If you keep the bottom HD cage, I don't know how well it will fit there for you (of course you could just bring it towards the other side of the case away from the motherboard and have lots of room to avoid the cables).

Ya that is the EK Multioption 150. I didn't measure exactly how much fluid I used but it took about 5 reservoir fills to get the system loaded up. You should easily be under 1 litre to fill something like mine.

I did flush the rads too - I just took my distilled water, heated it up in a stainless kettle we have after cleaning that out and poured the hot water in them and let them sit for a few minutes. I then drained some out, shook the water around, drained it and flushed them each twice with the rest of my hot distilled water. I bought a 4litre jug (1 Gal.) and still have half a jug here.


----------



## triggs75

Quote:


Originally Posted by *HAFenvy* 
Thanks - yeah it took some sorting out for the reservoir fit in the case. The reservoir could have gone higher but then I couldn't integrate it in with my fill port design as easilly. The other thing is that 24-pin cable is annoying and somewhat in the way - by sleeving it I could spread the wires out and get them bent tighter to squeeze by. Another benefit, the reservoir obscures any SATA cables coming off - not that it matters as I route them behind the tray too anyway haha. If you keep the bottom HD cage, I don't know how well it will fit there for you (of course you could just bring it towards the other side of the case away from the motherboard and have lots of room to avoid the cables).

Ya that is the EK Multioption 150. I didn't measure exactly how much fluid I used but it took about 5 reservoir fills to get the system loaded up. You should easily be under 1 litre to fill something like mine.

I did flush the rads too - I just took my distilled water, heated it up in a stainless kettle we have after cleaning that out and poured the hot water in them and let them sit for a few minutes. I then drained some out, shook the water around, drained it and flushed them each twice with the rest of my hot distilled water. I bought a 4litre jug (1 Gal.) and still have half a jug here.


Thanks for the info. I wasn't sure how much distilled to get. 1 gallon sounds good to me for leftovers to have. I have a little plan for the Res. just hope it turns out the way I see it in my head.









Chad


----------



## spRICE

Wow IMO it is actually TOO clean. Where are the cables?
But really nice job there.


----------



## HAFenvy

Quote:


Originally Posted by *spRICE* 
Wow IMO it is actually TOO clean. Where are the cables?
But really nice job there.

Thanks... it took quite some time to get the cables nice and neat - just don't look behind the motherboard tray - still need to clean things up a bit back there yet haha.

I just put in my UV lights - need more black zap straps so I just used white for now - glows nice but my camera blows for taking night shots - I need to borrow a better camera to really get the glow effect captured effectively.


----------



## HAFenvy

Quick update - checked out my UV lighting last night and this green turned out exactly how I hoped. I put the window in the side panel and put everything together to get a feel for the overall system. I did notice the top of my reservoir has a little bit of water so I'm just fixing that now (just probably wasn't on tight enough so I took the top off, am drying the threads and will reseal it)

I'm hoping to take some better photos of the system today. Then I'll leave this for a while to catch up on work and get back onto the fine detail work stuff like my custom front logo to replace the Cooler Master emblem and other nit picky things I want to do


----------



## HAFenvy

Added some more photos to the first page - my "Semi-Final" photo shoot of the current system. More minor modifications to come but I'm pretty well 95% complete with this system. Will probably be stealthing the drive, adding more goodies to the case (fan controller, etc) and need to replace my "Cooler Master" bezel logo with my new custom one that I need to finish off - which - of course - will be backlit in green <insert evil laugh here>

EDIT: Direct link to make life easier for you...
Page 1 - Post 6 - Semi-Final System Photo Shoot


----------



## triggs75

Love the "Money Shots". Great job with your system, lookst great with and without the UV lighting.

I can't really see too close, but it looks like your res water is pretty low. Not sure if that is the case or if you topped it off since those shots.

Also, your temps post was great, now your making me want to WC my GPU as well.









Chad


----------



## HAFenvy

Quote:


Originally Posted by *triggs75* 
Love the "Money Shots". Great job with your system, lookst great with and without the UV lighting.

I can't really see too close, but it looks like your res water is pretty low. Not sure if that is the case or if you topped it off since those shots.

Also, your temps post was great, now your making me want to WC my GPU as well.









Chad

I just added a couple more shots for more of a before/after thing on the top page. As for the reservoir, it is filled to the top with distilled water right now - I'll be draining that and replacing it with Feser 1 Acid Green UV Reactive coolant later once I'm happy with everything and am more final with the build - then my reservoir will glow too <evil laugh>

The temperature differentials on the video card were pretty impressive in all 3 cases - I'm glad I took the time to test it to prove to myself that all this money I just spent was worth it hahaha


----------



## Legacy8500

AMAZING looking build, I wish 922's came all black instead of some ugly silver parts.


----------



## HAFenvy

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Legacy8500* 
AMAZING looking build, I wish 922's came all black instead of some ugly silver parts.

Thanks! Have a look at the new Cooler Master Storm Sniper Black Edition - if that thing was available when I started this I probably would have bought it - although it is a lot taller due to the top/bottom plastic parts but the internals are basically identical to the HAF 922. I still love this box now that it is all done and knowing I did all this myself (well except the powder coating because I don't have equipment for that hahaha)


----------



## HAFenvy

I'm starting another round of tests. The GELID fans, when I did my first temperature tests, were running at full speed - 1500RPM. I've now thrown in the included little fan controllers and dialed all 4 fans down to the minimum (800RPM). So all 3 rad fans and the rear exhaust fan. Going to see what the temperatures are like with the fans slowed down. At 800RPM, this case is really nice and quiet and the loudest thing I can hear is the front 200mm fan which was quiet to begin with.

Should be interesting to see what this thing is capable of


----------



## HAFenvy

Added a note to my top level page about the temperature testing I am doing. I've moved that information over to a dedicated thread in the "Cooling > Watercooling" area. You can view the results --> HERE


----------



## HAFenvy

I've done even more testing on the system to see how hot things are getting and have decided it will be better to implement my side fan/window combination. I'll have to make a customized window for the fan ventilation. You can see the testing I've done over in that temperature testing thread I started (see Post 41 for chipset stuff) Main Thread link --> HERE

Basically, by putting the fan on, my water loop temperatures during the OCCT GPU test are lower by 3Â°C and the chipset temperature by 7Â°C with the fan versus the solid side window. I'm doing a OCCT CPU comparison test now and will add that information shortly.

Here is what the side panel looks like with the solid window out and the black fan installed with my custom mesh I had powder coated that fits the fan - as you can see I shifted the fan position up from the default HAF side panel position. My custom frame was designed specifically to be able to mount this fan if I wanted to


















It will be interesting to see what this looks like with the clear fan there and the LEDs either on or off with the UV behind - either green overload or it will be nice. We shall see later when I have time to yank that fan out and move it to the side panel.


----------



## new001

This. Is. Just. Amazing.


----------



## HAFenvy

Quote:



Originally Posted by *new001*


This. Is. Just. Amazing.


Thanks new001







 It has been a bit of a time consuming distraction in my life for sure. Scary thought... I'm still planning more additions and changes!

Plans... move my clear fan to the side panel and build a custom fan/vented window (frame is already designed to take the fan). Add a fan controller. Possibly stealth the DVD drive and do some kind of stealthing to the fan controller I buy (when/if I buy one). Etc, etc, etc.


----------



## HAFenvy

Ordered a 4 Channel fan contoller today - the little 3.5in bay Scythe Kaze Q with just the 4 knobs on it. None of the ones with displays really thrilled me and I can monitor my temperatures via software so I figure, small controller mod'd into the 3.5in bay behind the existing perf to stealth it better. Maybe if Lamptron ever releases that FC5, I might be inclined to get a green one







. Anyway, I'll put my top two rad fans together on a channel, bottom rad on another, rear fan on the third and the side panel fan on the last one. That way I can yank these little GELID fan controller dongles and control the fans from the front. Guess I'll have to pick up some more sleeving since I only have about 2-3ft of 1/8in left.

On another note - I'm running a quick OCCT GPU test with my pump slowed down. Didn't even realize the thing was running full speed (those MCP655s are quiet!) - so I cranked it down to 1 to see what difference it makes. My side panels are off while I move my front fan to the side but it should give me a good idea of temps anyway at slow flow rate. I have low flow blocks throughout so I have a feeling it probably won't make that huge a difference. We'll see


----------



## HAFenvy

Ok, I've tried moving my clear fan to the side window as an intake and yes you can see through it but... meh... I'm not all that sold on it. The solid window shows off my tubing nice but the fan adds exta cooling and brings my temperatures down. The Green LEDs are also a bit on the strong side in the side panel so when they are on, the UV lighting is basically nullified. Anyway... here they are in one shot for you to comment on (the photo doesn't do the UV justice - it is actually brighter but my camera doesn't pick that up well)... Left would be the solid window... middle is with the LEDs off and right... well.. easy to figure out:










Right now, I'm actually thinking of trying a solid window with a spot fan on the chipset heatsinks instead. I can get a GELID UV Green 80mm fan which might look cool if I installed it right. Going to slap this old Antec 80mm fan I yanked from an old machine and try out the cooling with a side window.

Fire up your thoughts and comments









EDIT: Side note, dropping my MCP655 from setting 5 to setting 1 really had little impact on my cooling temps. The GPU did go up 2 degrees in a test so I'm trying the pump at both speeds to narrow down what might have happened.


----------



## triggs75

I think I would go for the 80mm fans or even a 40 or 60 and place it right on top of the chipsets if you sould some how because that window you did looks great.


----------



## HAFenvy

Quote:



Originally Posted by *triggs75*


I think I would go for the 80mm fans or even a 40 or 60 and place it right on top of the chipsets if you sould some how because that window you did looks great.


Testing that right now - 80mm spot fan, solid window. Also going to test it again with the 120mm rear fan as exhaust (causing negative case pressure







) vs intake. Because the 200mm fan was blowing a ton inside I switched that 120 to exhaust again. Turning it around will give me positive pressure again and feed cool air directly into the chip/memory area and top rad again.

More tests - sigh.

Update: At idle, that spot fan brings the TMPIN2 reading down a LOT. Old tests... 50Â°C with just the window, 41Â°C with the 200mm side fan and now down to 36Â°C with the spot fan. I think I'll be buying me a GELID 80mm green fan







Testing load situations now to see the impact there (when I should be sleeping - BAH! sleep







)


----------



## triggs75

NIce, Good to hear the 80mm fan dropped your temps that much. I think my next MOD will be the side panel as well, have to put that window in....


----------



## HAFenvy

Here is what the fan setup looks like with my new GELID 80mm UV fan chipset spot cooler:










And the case back together with the front clear fan/Green LED combo and the window side panel - camera flash off to try and get the glow effect but this camera really does not do this justice - the glow is way better in person but still looks good in this shot:










OCCT Test runs gave me 50Â°C with no fan and the solid window, 43Â°C with the 200mm view obscuring side intake fan and 41Â°C with the solid window and this new spot fan. Hmmm... kind of a no brainer decision don't you think? (Plus that extra little UV fan looks pretty cool in there!)

Now if I yank that blue Gigabyte cover plate off the chipset heatsink fins - I bet I can drop those temps even further but I'll leave it alone for now.

Hmmm... I wonder if my fan controller made it to the store today - better go check (I need more sleeving from the electronics place across the street anyway - and Milk Bones for the real life Avatar dog)


----------



## new001

There was an article about Milk-Bone in the New York Times today... I really do like the extra green fan. It's so... Green!


----------



## HAFenvy

I picked up my fan controller today. I looked at 5.25in bay ones with displays and all that but didn't really find any I liked. I will most likely run my fans slow most of the time and just want the convenience of tweaking the speeds if I need to. Therefore, I opted for a small 3.5in bay Scythe Kaze Q controller. The 922 came with a blank panel that already had a 3.5in opening in it so you can blend the perforation together nicely with the other blanks in the front. Here is the fan controller and the 5.25in bay blank with the 3.5in inner blank removed:










And here it is in the case:










I like it. At the moment, Fan 1/2 are controlling the top rad fans, Fan 3 the bottom rad fan and Fan 4 the chipset fan. The rear fan is on one of those baby GELID fan controllers, turned to low and buried in the wiring jungle behind the motherboard tray - I'll probably just leave that one on low all the time so that works.

To do and future thoughts...
- Need to sleeve all these new cables - sigh - more sleeving.
- Maybe pull the yellow RPM sensor wire and hook that sensor to the fan connectors on the motherboard... that way, I can still see what my fans are doing via software.
- Might combine the two top rad fans onto a single channel so I can spin them up and down as a pair and throw the rear fan on the 4th channel.
- I may drill out the holes for the knobs in that 3.5in perf blank and cover the aluminum face plate - right now I'm happy with the way it looks with the factory 5.25in bay plate with the built in opening so I doubt I'll bother.


----------



## HAFenvy

Did some more work on my cable management today due to the new fan controller wires (more cables!!!). I had a fun thought and decided to implement it. Because I'm using the little fan controller which I really like due to the simplicity of it, I wanted to see what my fan speeds were on the radiators. My solution... steal some fan connectors and the wires with the pins already on them from a set of old 80mm Arctic Cooling fans I had on a shelf (noisy little ....). Anyway, here are the fans I stole my connectors and pin'd cables from:










I only needed one fan connector and a single lead from it to go into the extension cable. I pulled the yellow (RPM) sensor pin from the extenstion cable, moved it to the 4th pin hole to keep it safe and out of the way. I then put the new cable connector end with pin attached into the proper sensor position - this is what I ended up with at the fan connector end:










The fan connects to this end so now I can run the new lead off to the motherboard connectors to monitor the RPMs via whatever tool I feel like. Of course... what are a bunch of colored wires to me?? Something I need to sleeve:










Yeah yeah I didn't sleeve the power adapter part but it is behind the motherboard so I don't care. They are all in now, nice and neat and I did more final zap strapping of my wiring behind the motherboard tray now that this is done. I now have all 3 of my radiator fans monitored individually directly through the existing fan connectors on the motherboard. I kept the 3 fans on separate channels just because I felt like it. The 4th channel handles the chipset spot cooler. The other two case fans are fine and I'll leave their speeds alone.

I have more to do but this system is almost there


----------



## 88EVGAFTW

DAMN dude, turned out HOTTTTTTTT ans SEXXXXXXXY





































http://www.overclock.net/case-mod-wo...ml#post7363638


----------



## HAFenvy

Quote:


Originally Posted by *88EVGAFTW* 
DAMN dude, turned out HOTTTTTTTT ans SEXXXXXXXY





































http://www.overclock.net/case-mod-wo...ml#post7363638

Thanks - it has been a lot of work and taken a lot longer than I thought but well worth the effort.

Still need to work on replacing the Cooler Master front bezel logo with my own and stealth that DVD drive (it looks out of place and I don't like it). I only have the one blank plate so I better not screw up since Cooler Master still has not returned any response to my part request for a couple more blank plates.


----------



## HAFenvy

And the next modification has arrived! DVD Drive Stealthing. I have been inspired by the way others have concealed their DVD drives so with this case, I opted to stealth the drive and make it go bye bye.

First I had to take apart one of the drive blanks which looks like this:










Now the sheet metal piece is too big to fit over the existing drive bezel so I had to yank that. Simple enough, extend the drive tray and use a screwdriver to get the drive tray blank piece off. Then push the 4 chassis bezel retaining pieces and pull that off. Easy! I then put the drive tray blank back on so I had something more solid to stick to later.

I needed to modify the sheet metal blanking piece so it wouldn't hit the DVD chassis. The only place it hit was the top so this was a super easy cut - just cut the sheet metal blank piece back 5mm across the top, filed it and I was done. The left/right edges and the bottom slide right past the chassis no problem so it worked perfect. Here is a top down shot after it was installed:










I then grabbed my new favorite modification material, Creatology Fun Foam this time with the sticky backing, and cut it a bit larger than the inside of the metal blank face so it was a tight friction fit. (Sticky side facing the DVD drive). I left the backing paper on for this step. I then cut a narrow piece and put it on the DVD tray plastic piece to get it in the right spot and test fit the depth. Two layers works good (foam is 2mm thick) but I had to shorten the width on the drive tray piece a bit because of the angle on the sheet metal face plate (made it stick out too far).

Once I had that, I peeled the backing off the drive tray foam piece and attached it. I then pulled the backing off the sheet metal big piece and stuck them together. Perfecto! Last, I grabbed some material to cover the exposed sticky areas so they don't get gross over time with dust and stuff.

So here is what a stealthed drive looks like now in my case.

Closed:









Open:









Next problem... I can't open the drive with the front DVD eject button. I worked out how many layers I needed of the fun foam (3 layers) and built a button extension that stuck to the face plate.










Now when I push on the bottom corner of the blank, the DVD drive opens because this triple stack of foam is right over the button. Works like a charm!

Now I have a stealthed DVD drive

"Hey, where is your DVD drive?"
"Right here..." <CLICK>
"Ooooo"


----------



## SniperXX

I've been following this from start to finish and must say you did a really good job with the 922. Nice work!


----------



## LemonSlice

Amazing JoB!! +1 and I'm going to borrow that stealthy CD drive idea, since I haven't seen it before







. That deserves another +1







.


----------



## HAFenvy

Quote:


Originally Posted by *SniperXX* 
I've been following this from start to finish and must say you did a really good job with the 922. Nice work!


Quote:


Originally Posted by *LemonSlice* 
Amazing JoB!! +1 and I'm going to borrow that stealthy CD drive idea, since I haven't seen it before







. That deserves another +1







.

Thanks guys! The nice thing about using the foam like I did, it completely covered all the perforation so I don't see into the DVD now that the bezel is removed. You could also call this a very good dust filter - nothing is going to be sucked through there into the DVD drive with the bezel off. Win Win









By the way, I borrowed the idea of stealthing from so many other builds I have seen and just loved how it looks when you don't have a case with a front door to hide drives behind.


----------



## triggs75

Quote:


Originally Posted by *HAFenvy* 

Now I have a stealthed DVD drive

"Hey, where is your DVD drive?"
"Right here..." <CLICK>
"Ooooo"

Classic!!!!









Oh and that looks amazing as well. Very clean job!!!!


----------



## LemonSlice

I finished my version







. It look's pretty weird, since the foam sheets are not solid, I had to connect 2 since the the single piece wasn't big enough. It also juts out more than the regular, but my next project will make it look normal







.








Doesn't look as good as HAFenvy's, but at least you can't see the CD drive







. Now I gotta take care of that annoying cardboard box lol.


----------



## HAFenvy

Quote:


Originally Posted by *triggs75* 
Classic!!!!









Oh and that looks amazing as well. Very clean job!!!!

Thanks - and it was pretty simple to do









Quote:


Originally Posted by *LemonSlice* 
I finished my version







. It look's pretty weird, since the foam sheets are not solid, I had to connect 2 since the the single piece wasn't big enough. It also juts out more than the regular, but my next project will make it look normal







.

Doesn't look as good as HAFenvy's, but at least you can't see the CD drive







. Now I gotta take care of that annoying cardboard box lol.

It is a start and it only sticks out so very slightly from what I can see. That is where a little bit of tweaking comes in but a definite good start. Love the cardboard box drawer by the way - rather inventive place to store your pens haha


----------



## LemonSlice

I'm thinking to take an old CD drive and use 3 slots to create a motorized sliding storage container







. I got school so I'm just gonna start the prototyping







. I store my cell phone in there, my brother loves stealing my electronics


----------



## HAFenvy

I changed the coolant out today. Drained my distilled water which was a lot more interesting of a job to do than I thought. Glad I had lots of tubing left to hang down and put into a container which made rotating the case to get the water out much easier.

Once I got it all drained, I put in my coolant, primed the system and let it run on my separate power supply for a few minutes. I then hooked things back up and it is running on the main system now. I've already leak tested once so this is just a coolant change - not so worried about running the main system.

Here is a shot I just took showing how the UV coolant looks in the clear reservoir - if you look closely, you'll even see the coolant glowing in the CPU water block (which has a clear acrylic top):










There is the bottle of Feser 1 UV Acid Green, it is a 1 litre bottle so you can see exactly how much fluid it takes to fill up my system. I'd put it at about maybe 650ml in total for my water loop.

Next issue, replace that top Cathode because it is basically only half the brightness of the other one, is dying and generally just annoying me







. I'll pick up a new set tomorrow when I pick up my new SSD drive (ohhhh yeahhhh)


----------



## triggs75

Very nice. Like the look of it in your Res.

I was originally going to put red uv liquid in mine until I saw how much it gunks up the system so I decided to go with the distilled water + silver.

Chad


----------



## HAFenvy

Quote:


Originally Posted by *triggs75* 
Very nice. Like the look of it in your Res.

I was originally going to put red uv liquid in mine until I saw how much it gunks up the system so I decided to go with the distilled water + silver.

Chad

Yeah I've seen that but it seems to happen more with the restrictive blocks and especially ones with the jet nozzle designs. My blocks are all low restriction so I don't expect them to gunk up with this stuff. If they do.. I'll just go back to distilled with some nuke or silver in it. I just HAD to try out the UV green for a while







Plus you can totally see the reservoir through the front open drive bay slot perforation - very cool indeed


----------



## HAFenvy

New Photos!! I have updated my Post 5 system photos with higher resolution shots of the system with the recently stealthed DVD drive, spot cooler fan and my UV Coolant all installed.

Enjoy









EDIT: Updated link to open in a single post browser window


----------



## Zoso77

I have a life and can't spend all day looking at build logs, but of the ones I've seen on the HAF, this one is rockin'. A beautiful and understated build with good docs on what you are doing. Outstanding







:

From a 50+ geezer just trying to keep up.


----------



## HAFenvy

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Zoso77* 
I have a life and can't spend all day looking at build logs, but of the ones I've seen on the HAF, this one is rockin'. A beautiful and understated build with good docs on what you are doing. Outstanding







:

From a 50+ geezer just trying to keep up.

Thanks! That was kind of a minor goal of mine... make the case look clean while putting a lot of neat things into it. As much as I love the idea of lots of cooling, I didn't want stuff hanging outside of the case.

I also made a point of saving some top page posts for final images and added links to my key posts to keep things simple. It can be time consuming and daunting to scroll through a long batch of posts to find the good stuff - so I point the good stuff out in the first post









Glad I could help


----------



## Coz_411

Beautiful job you have done there, Fantastic work mate! Inspired me to put some more work into my case.


----------



## HAFenvy

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Coz_411* 
Beautiful job you have done there, Fantastic work mate! Inspired me to put some more work into my case.









Thanks! Be careful with that inspiration... once you start doing this it becomes a little addictive. My system is basically done but I still have ideas and things I want to add to the system


----------



## HAFenvy

I decided to change my SATA power cable configuration to put the connectors closer together. I didn't like having the extra cable looping out into the open part of the case. I know my 5.25in bay components are a specific distance apart so I took my cable apart and changed it.

First I took the pins out of the end connector and then removed the second and third position connectors. This is what it looks like when you take them off:










I needed to put the third connector back where the second one was, put the second one between that one and the end. Before doing that I put individual heat shrink on each of the wires over the old 3rd position to protect the exposed insulation there. Definitely shrink them separately so you isolate them properly from each other - these are power wires ya know!

I pushed the wires back into the slotted connector positions by starting them with a screwdriver and then pushed them into place using a Leviton plastic network connector punch down tool I had. I *strongly recommend* using a proper punch-down tool so you don't damage the cables or metal pieces inside the connector. It takes a fair amount of pressure to cut through the insulation at a new location and you could easily damage your connector and wire with an improper tool. Look for a disposable one like this at the electonics store or hardware store where they sell Network and Phone jack connector parts:








This is the exact same one I just used and trust me - it works awesome and made my life a lot easier.

In the end, the top cable is my revised cable and right below is my second SATA power cable that I haven't touched:










Here is what I ended up with once it was installed in the case and connected to the top DVD, middle SATA drive and the bottom SSD drive position:










You can see the nice short jumps between components. It makes for a much cleaner cabling setup. I also used a heat gun to heat up the bottom SATA cable to make bending that jogged leg easier so it didn't put pressure on the connector there when connected to the SSD.

Yes... I'm a bit of a cable neat freak


----------



## HAFenvy

MORE New Photos!! I have updated my Post 5 system photos with higher resolution shots of the system night shots now that I replaced my dying UV Cathode. Go check it out in glowing green glory!!

Enjoy


----------



## triggs75

Wow, that is a great difference. that baby is bright. Looks great.


----------



## HAFenvy

Got my part approval for my part request into Cooler Master







- hopefully I'll see some front drive blanks sent my way soon and I can start working on ideas on how to implement a couple little goodies I have laying around. Might take my Optimus Mini 3 apart and mount the OLED displays in a blank panel - that'd be cool


----------



## Marcam923

Quote:



Originally Posted by *HAFenvy*


Got my part approval for my part request into Cooler Master







- hopefully I'll see some front drive blanks sent my way soon and I can start working on ideas on how to implement a couple little goodies I have laying around. Might take my Optimus Mini 3 apart and mount the OLED displays in a blank panel - that'd be cool










How did you get them to approve new 5.25 bay covers, I traded for a HAF 922, but it was missing 4 of the drive covers and I need them!

Any info would be great!

oooh another question, what size are the led's in the fans? 5 or 3mm and was there a specific voltage led you used?

Thanks,
Marc


----------



## HAFenvy

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Marcam923* 
How did you get them to approve new 5.25 bay covers, I traded for a HAF 922, but it was missing 4 of the drive covers and I need them!

Any info would be great!

On the Cooler Master USA site, there is the eRMA request page where you can also submit a part request. Make sure to change the "Type of request" to "Part Request", enter in your information and then wait. It took two weeks to get an approval notice (submitted on Oct 5th, approved on the 19th). I'm still waiting on a ship notice. Because the 5.25in blanks for the 922 are not available on the CM Store yet, I guess they decided to be nice and approve my part request. Thank you Cooler Master!

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Marcam923* 
oooh another question, what size are the led's in the fans? 5 or 3mm and was there a specific voltage led you used?

Thanks,
Marc

The front fan takes 5mm LEDs and the existing Reds measure at 1.9V. The greens I used are rated 2.8V-3.0V forward voltage. If you do the math, the number works - 12V in, 3.0V x 4 LEDs = 12V drop. Any higher than 3V and they won't work. I detailed how I did the change in Post 51. This post also has a link to an LED Circuit calculator that will show the current limiting resistor size you need for an LED circuit. Basically, an LED is just a diode so you need to ensure you don't let it have too much current flowing through it. The resistor is there to reduce the current amount through the LEDs to a safe level (typically 20mA). So you could use that circuit calculator to work out how to wire up a single LED to 12V with the right resistor or a bunch of LEDs. For the fan, don't go past 3.0V or below 2.0V on the LED forward voltage rating and you should be good.

Hope this helps


----------



## phaseshift

envy I would like to know how much you spent on your water cooling mod? and I see you did have to do some modding but was there another way to keep from modding the case?


----------



## HAFenvy

Quote:


Originally Posted by *phaseshift* 
envy I would like to know how much you spent on your water cooling mod? and I see you did have to do some modding but was there another way to keep from modding the case?

Material wise you mean? It wasn't a lot for the aluminum - I bought small offcuts from a place called Metal Mart that sells small and large pieces of almost everything - I got good deals - think my top piece was about $5 and the side window frame piece was thicker at $6 or so. Plastic I got from a plastic supply shop and I recall it being about $7 or $8 for my lexan which gave me enough to do 3 windows (way cheaper than Home Depot).

As far as the side window, you don't have to do it, I just wanted to. You can actually buy the Storm Sniper Optional Side window panel from Cooler Master and it fits the 922 case (see the Cooler Master 932/922 club posting here put up in the last few days for actual pictures). That is Trigg's machine and you'll see the sniper side panel on a 922. Also, you'll notice he is water cooled without modifying his top panel because he used a thinner rad and thinner fans to make it work (EDIT, except he did a triple rad and cut a hole out for the front part - a double would have worked fine with only a couple drill holes at the most for the hole pattern to match).

The top panel, I didn't have to cut that out and could have mounted the radiator up there using the existing perforation with my radiator and my fans. I just didn't like the look of it with the fan perforation still there so I did my change. On my first page, Post 3, there is a picture looking down where you can see the radiator offset to one side as I was sizing it out. Depending on your motherboard, you might not even have to shift it as far to one side like I did. I had no choice but to shift to one side because of the thickness of the rad (34mm) + the fans (25mm) hit the MOSFET heatsink. Plus, the DIMM clips are pretty high too. If you are ok with the perforation and a baby sized dead zone in the corners of your rad up top, go for it.


----------



## HAFenvy

Oh yeah... the mesh material cost me a bit more, was $15 for this big 3ft x 1ft offcut which gave me way more than I needed but hey, why not right? Also, an interesting place to get "mesh" is again at a crafting store like Michael's (where I got my black fun foam stuff)... Sculptors Mesh - used for the wire inner-structure when doing sculptures with clay or other materials where you want it to be light - easily could be used as a fan mesh although some of it is pretty flimsy compared to what I used.


----------



## davidm71

I am really impressed at the level of detail you put into your case and the custom mods look really nice. I did something very similar and mounted my 360 rad into the top inside of a Thermaltake Spedo and a similar resovoir design, but it was messy. I perforated my rad mounting it in the case, mounted the rad crookedly onto the top of the case, but looks all right now that its done. Was my first try at it. Next time I'll borrow a few ideas from here for sure....

PS: Do you have those thermal readings you were going to take?

Thanks.


----------



## HAFenvy

Quote:


Originally Posted by *davidm71* 
I am really impressed at the level of detail you put into your case and the custom mods look really nice. I did something very similar and mounted my 360 rad into the top inside of a Thermaltake Spedo and a similar resovoir design, but it was messy. I perforated my rad mounting it in the case, mounted the rad crookedly onto the top of the case, but looks all right now that its done. Was my first try at it. Next time I'll borrow a few ideas from here for sure....

PS: Do you have those thermal readings you were going to take?

Thanks.

Thanks! I was a bit picky about my layout since this machine sits out in the open in my office unlike some of my other hardware I have in the house. As for the thermal numbers, I updated my top level page post about that and moved the results to their own thread in the Water Cooling forum. The link to that is right here --> Thermal Test Results

I have more ideas for this system but need to focus on work once again. I did however pick up a Blu-ray/DVDBurner combo drive today so I'll be replacing my plain DVD Burner shortly


----------



## ounderfla69

Quote:


Originally Posted by *HAFenvy* 
On the Cooler Master USA site, there is the eRMA request page where you can also submit a part request. Make sure to change the "Type of request" to "Part Request", enter in your information and then wait. It took two weeks to get an approval notice (submitted on Oct 5th, approved on the 19th). I'm still waiting on a ship notice. Because the 5.25in blanks for the 922 are not available on the CM Store yet, I guess they decided to be nice and approve my part request. Thank you Cooler Master!

Coolermaster is very good I broke the Sata connector on the front panel. They sent me a whole new top even after I explained that I did it. I guess they had some problems with the front panel connections because it was a new revision with different connections.

How do those Gelid fans work? I was thinking about getting some for my Radiator.


----------



## HAFenvy

Quote:



Originally Posted by *ounderfla69*


Coolermaster is very good I broke the Sata connector on the front panel. They sent me a whole new top even after I explained that I did it. I guess they had some problems with the front panel connections because it was a new revision with different connections.

How do those Gelid fans work? I was thinking about getting some for my Radiator.


The GELID fans push pretty decent - I can't really compare their performance against other fans as I've never had any Noctua's or anything like that to try. I might take one and try it at a buddies place to check. I like them as they are UV reactive, 1500RPM and rated for 64CFM at that speed (which we know is less in reality especially pushing through a rad). I like the fact you can literally just pop the blades out to clean them super easy. They are also nice and quiet which is another requirement I have of my fans.

Right now I'm looking to put in my Blu-ray drive and ran into a minor snag - the darn drive is literally 3/4in deeper than my current DVD burner I had there originally. I'm going to have to put a bigger bend into one of my SATA cables to keep the pressure off the connector to the top hard drive now - minor problem which will be quickly resolved. Of course the metal chassis now extends more into the case and is visible - might have to paint this new drive black to hide it now - dangit!


----------



## HAFenvy

Blu-ray is in and works nice - transferred the stealth face over to it once I confirmed it was happy and the system is all back together. Down the road I'll probably paint out the Blu-ray drive to hide the metal a bit better but for now - works for me


----------



## Rick Arter

I love this case and your mods make me love it even more.


----------



## HAFenvy

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Rick Arter*


I love this case and your mods make me love it even more.


Thanks Rick









I'm still really happy with the way this case turned out - I'm so glad the "Flat" powder coating actually is more a satin look and matches the plastic bezel components almost perfect. Next time I do a case like this, I'll definitely use those guys again.

Today I visited the sand blasting shop and did some special etching work on a logo idea I have to replace the front Cooler Master emblem. It isn't ready to reveal just yet - I still have to figure out how to light it up effectively







I will say this much, I took mirrored plexi, blasted the logo out of it and left the mirrored background intact.


----------



## triggs75

Quote:



Originally Posted by *HAFenvy*


Thanks Rick









I'm still really happy with the way this case turned out - I'm so glad the "Flat" powder coating actually is more a satin look and matches the plastic bezel components almost perfect. Next time I do a case like this, I'll definitely use those guys again.

Today I visited the sand blasting shop and did some special etching work on a logo idea I have to replace the front Cooler Master emblem. It isn't ready to reveal just yet - I still have to figure out how to light it up effectively







I will say this much, I took mirrored plexi, blasted the logo out of it and left the mirrored background intact.


Can't wait to see it. I am sure it will look awsome!!!


----------



## HAFenvy

Quote:



Originally Posted by *triggs75*


Can't wait to see it. I am sure it will look awsome!!!


Thanks - but you'll have to wait for a bit - still need to sort out a few details and clear off some actual time to do it hahaha


----------



## HAFenvy

In honor of winning MOTM, I will release something early that I am currently working on... a new badge for the front of the case where the Cooler Master logo is - I just have to figure out how I want to light it up. It is mirrored acrylic, I took some 3M vinyl and hand cut a logo I designed, sand blasted with aluminum oxide on low pressure to take off the mirror film from the back side so only the logo is see through but the background is actually still mirrored. Should be interesting







.

Here it is leaning against my monitor - I made two just in case I screw one up while fitting it and preparing the edges


----------



## new001

Tasty... Delicious... Yummy...

I am hungry for updates!


----------



## triggs75

That is going to look sweeeeet. Can't wait to see the picsof it in place.


----------



## photonmoo

Quote:



Originally Posted by *HAFenvy*


In honor of winning MOTM, I will release something early that I am currently working on... a new badge for the front of the case where the Cooler Master logo is - I just have to figure out how I want to light it up. It is mirrored acrylic, I took some 3M vinyl and hand cut a logo I designed, sand blasted with aluminum oxide on low pressure to take off the mirror film from the back side so only the logo is see through but the background is actually still mirrored. Should be interesting







.

Here it is leaning against my monitor - I made two just in case I screw one up while fitting it and preparing the edges



















Fudging Awesome so far dude, I likey


----------



## HAFenvy

Quote:



Originally Posted by *new001*


Tasty... Delicious... Yummy...

I am hungry for updates!











Quote:



Originally Posted by *triggs75*


That is going to look sweeeeet. Can't wait to see the picsof it in place.



Quote:



Originally Posted by *photonmoo*


Fudging Awesome so far dude, I likey










Thanks... it unfortunately is still sitting on my shelf waiting to be cut out. I'm hoping to get on it for this weekend after I clear up a bunch of work I'm behind on.


----------



## Syrillian

Congratulations on MOTM.










To a job well-done.


----------



## HAFenvy

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Syrillian* 
Congratulations on MOTM.










To a job well-done.









Thanks Syrillian!


----------



## HAFenvy

Go figure, exactly one month after I submitted my part request, my part request status for the front drive blanks changed to "Part Shipped" today. Not sure how many they are sending but at least I'll have a couple extras to work with now for some other ideas I have in mind


----------



## guscol

beautiful system congratulations


----------



## Anish

An excellent build! I love the watercooling you did


----------



## triggs75

Quote:



Originally Posted by *HAFenvy*


Go figure, exactly one month after I submitted my part request, my part request status for the front drive blanks changed to "Part Shipped" today. Not sure how many they are sending but at least I'll have a couple extras to work with now for some other ideas I have in mind










That sounds about right. When I received my case it came with 3 case feet only. They had no problem sending me new ones, but it did take 1 month as well to send them.

Chad


----------



## HAFenvy

UPS guy stopped by a few minutes ago with a big box from Cooler Master. Thinking "Yay!" my drive blanks arrived I opened it up to find two blanks inside... for the 932









1 x full blank and 1 x blank with the 3.5in opening. Hmmm. Ok, I waited a month for the wrong parts but the plastic retainers look the same so now I have some extras of those. I can also use the 3.5in bay mini-blank perf to stealth my Scythe fan controller a bit more so at least I have an extra of that now. I might just use the flat perforation on the other blank for a different idea.

Oh well... I just have to get all this real life stuff caught up with so I can actually work on my modifications I still want to do. No time for fun lately


----------



## triggs75

Sorry to hear but yeah hopefully you will be able to put them to use. Still waiting to see your new Envy front. Hurry up with that boring real life stuff.


----------



## HAFenvy

Quote:


Originally Posted by *triggs75* 
Sorry to hear but yeah hopefully you will be able to put them to use. Still waiting to see your new Envy front. Hurry up with that boring real life stuff.









Heh thanks Triggs... ya the real life stuff has been crazy lately but I do promise to get my butt onto that logo at some point. Even if it is just to get it cut out and mounted in place and not lit up yet. I also need to get some of my tools back that I loaned out to my brother for his house renovations - I wonder if he is done yet


----------



## the_milk_man

WOW!









I am at a loss of words to describe how great a case mod this is.

Why does the single rad go to the res then pump and then the dual rad? I would think you would wanna go from dual rad to cpu then single rad then gpu.


----------



## HAFenvy

Quote:


Originally Posted by *the_milk_man* 
WOW!









I am at a loss of words to describe how great a case mod this is.

Why does the single rad go to the res then pump and then the dual rad? I would think you would wanna go from dual rad to cpu then single rad then gpu.









Thanks! I am a bit of a picky and detail oriented person so you can imagine the number of hours I spent just figuring out exactly how I wanted this done. If I was building this system for someone else... I might have done less but still would have put a lot of effort into it.

As for the rad order... well it was basically a combination of the space I had to work, component temperatures and the ease of tubing runs. I thought about trying to squeeze that 120mm into the upper 120mm rear fan position but the connections were too close together and it ended up too tight to the top rad with my top mod design. For simplicity and good flow, I went with the order I have now. Really if you think about it, it is almost like having a single triple rad in the case before the CPU. I did some temperature tests and the CPU puts out less heat than the video card so I figured, put as much cooling as possible before the CPU which is the other reason that 120mm follows the video card.

922's aren't the biggest of beasts to squeeze all this stuff in. Check out Triggs system (post above me) and check out his rad setup in his 922. It can be done, you just have to be sneaky about it


----------



## HAFenvy

Quote:


Originally Posted by *HAFenvy* 
........Thinking "Yay!" my drive blanks arrived I opened it up to find two blanks inside... for the 932









Looking at the blanks again I realized, these aren't 932 blanks because those have the border around them. These are the flat faced blanks from the Storm Sniper front which is much the same as the 922 but with flat blanks instead of the angled edge (deeper) ones on the 922. Oh well, I'll figure out a use for them


----------



## stilllogicz

Hey Envy, excellent job there, looks really good







I'm gonna be starting a 922 project in the coming month and it's a great inspiration.

Could you tell me what size tubing you used for the wc?

Also I love that custom top you made for the rad. I'm gonna be using a feser dual 120mm rad and I'm starting to wonder if I'm gonna run into space issues









Thanks and keep up the good work.


----------



## HAFenvy

Quote:


Originally Posted by *stilllogicz* 
Hey Envy, excellent job there, looks really good







I'm gonna be starting a 922 project in the coming month and it's a great inspiration.

Could you tell me what size tubing you used for the wc?

Also I love that custom top you made for the rad. I'm gonna be using a feser dual 120mm rad and I'm starting to wonder if I'm gonna run into space issues









Thanks and keep up the good work.

Thanks







The tubing is Primochill Primoflex Pro LRT UV Green 1/2in ID - 3/4in OD Tubing - works good and bends pretty decent without kinking. As far as stuffing the Feser rad in there, your space will depend on the motherboard component positioning. I used a Swiftech which is only 34mm thick, the Feser is 55mm thick (if it is the one I'm thinking) so you will be encroaching your MB zone even more than mine did unless you use low profile fans or put them on the outside in a pull setup.

An alternate position that would take some modifications but would work is where I put my pump (hard drive cage area)... you could easily drop a double rad down there just by opening up a new vent hole where the hard drive cage is supposed to go - plenty of room there and maybe then do something like Triggs setup where he has a single rad on the rear 120mm position. Of course if you use a really big PSU, it'll get tight down there too.


----------



## stilllogicz

Thanks, I was thinking of switching the rad to maybe a gtx240 with dual 120x25 mm fans, but I think it will be tough.. I might have to get a thinner rad... ugh.. space limitations ftl.


----------



## Jolly-Swagman

Very nice WC build there HAFenvy well done!


----------



## Tardious

I've just got one of these today, It's great, It replaced the ugly as hell HAF 932, And I find it better in everyway, And yours looks stunning ! I think I will mod mine at some point, Sho0uld have sprayed it before I put my stuff in but didn't.

Nice work !


----------



## HAFenvy

Quote:


Originally Posted by *stilllogicz* 
Thanks, I was thinking of switching the rad to maybe a gtx240 with dual 120x25 mm fans, but I think it will be tough.. I might have to get a thinner rad... ugh.. space limitations ftl.

The case is a bit tight for water cooling but as you can see, it can be done with a little planning. I was going to use a Black Ice SR1 at one point but the 55mm thickness nixed that. I went with the Swiftech's because they are thinner and I could get them right away. I also thought down the road, I could throw a stacker on top of the 120 in the bottom and double it up if I needed to.

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Jolly-Swagman* 
Very nice WC build there HAFenvy well done!

Thanks









Quote:


Originally Posted by *Tardious* 
I've just got one of these today, It's great, It replaced the ugly as hell HAF 932, And I find it better in everyway, And yours looks stunning ! I think I will mod mine at some point, Sho0uld have sprayed it before I put my stuff in but didn't.

Nice work !

Thanks - it is a pretty nice case - my only gripe would be the lack of filtration they did on the case but that is minor. I went with this because of the space it had and that it was a big mid-tower. I didn't want an uber-tall system next to my monitor so this was my pick. If they sold these things in a Black Edition, they'd make a lot of people happy


----------



## HAFenvy

Sorry about the lack of updates - work has been CRAZY lately so my down time is spent... well.. as down time. That and I'm actually using the system and playing games like I originally intended. I do plan to get that logo in there at some point but just haven't gotten the free time to get my head around it.

Hmmmm where is my MOTM postbit?


----------



## Dark-Asylum

i have to say i love your work log + the dog in your avatar


----------



## Nightm4re!

looking good HAFEnvy









what are the rest of your plans?


----------



## N3G4T1v3

Awesome MOD, looks really professional


----------



## HAFenvy

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Dark-Asylum* 
i have to say i love your work log + the dog in your avatar

Thanks







And the real life dog is sleeping next to me right now haha.

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Nightm4re!* 
looking good HAFEnvy









what are the rest of your plans?

Thanks







I do want to change out the front logo and do some more cosmetic things to the build. I've mainly been spending the last while enjoying my new machine and the power it provides to play my games and do things with. I have an interesting idea to layer some UV reactive plastic under my top overlay panel to make a halo effect but need to test some ideas out for that yet - would make for some crazy lighting









Quote:


Originally Posted by *N3G4T1v3* 
Awesome MOD, looks really professional

Thanks. I'm kind of picky and detailed oriented to the point of insanity sometimes so I did a lot of thinking and planning before I started the build. That is also why I had it powder coated... I just know that if I painted it myself, I probably would find something that bothers me (overspray, some orange peel I don't like, something). The coating turned out so nice and is really durable - can take a cloth and wipe off the drool and finger prints from the case really easily without marking or scratching the surface









I do plan on a few more things with this case but am taking a break for a bit to catch up on work and other life things with the holidays speeding up.


----------



## Nightm4re!

Quote:


Originally Posted by *HAFenvy* 
Thanks







I do want to change out the front logo and do some more cosmetic things to the build. I've mainly been spending the last while enjoying my new machine and the power it provides to play my games and do things with. I have an interesting idea to layer some UV reactive plastic under my top overlay panel to make a halo effect but need to test some ideas out for that yet - would make for some crazy lighting









Sounds great! i had the same idea but not exectly the same ^^
more like uv reactive gell pen (Dont know if ppl know what i mean)
and than i need to draw with the gell pen on all the pipelines on my mobo. ^^


----------



## POLICE

great work man!!


----------



## to_the_zenith

Looks awesome HAFenvy, I could just imagine if The Hulk was to ever buy a PC, he would be wanting yours! The green is awesome.


----------



## HAFenvy

Quote:


Originally Posted by *POLICE* 
great work man!!

Thanks









Quote:


Originally Posted by *to_the_zenith* 
Looks awesome HAFenvy, I could just imagine if The Hulk was to ever buy a PC, he would be wanting yours! The green is awesome.

As long as he doesn't go "Hulk Smash!!!" we are all good. He can look but not touch. Might need a bigger keyboard for him too hahaha


----------



## Xion X2

Mirrored acrylic... mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

Looking forward to seeing how that looks. Nice build.


----------



## HAFenvy

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Xion X2* 
Mirrored acrylic... mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

Looking forward to seeing how that looks. Nice build.









Get some of my tools of mass construction back from my Brother who borrowed them so with luck, I can get my logo's done soon


----------



## Firestrm

Awesome build HAFenvy, your log inspired my WIP mod.... Thanks


----------



## disk

HAFenvy, I saw that you mentioned the Creatology Foam in another thread. I'm in Vancouver too - did you also get it at Michael's? How much was it?


----------



## HAFenvy

Yeah I got it at Michael's and it was inexpensive - only $3 or $4 for a sheet of it. You can get it thin, thick and even with sticky backing on one side. Comes in quite a lot of colors too so you can do some interesting things if you have a theme. Got to love leveraging crafting supplies for high tech purposes







. It does compress down quite a bit so as a fan insulator or vibration insulator for something heavy, you might need a couple layers if it is something screwed down tight.


----------



## disk

Dang, $3/4? Americans get it so cheap, $.99. Lol. Oh well. There's the 40% off coupons that might help.


----------



## HAFenvy

It might have been less, I'm just going off the top of my head from when I bought it. I might be thinking the thicker sheet I bought was more... I'm pretty sure the thinner stuff was pretty cheap (+PST +GST haha)


----------



## Aick

dude i am TRULY jealous of you.


----------



## Rebel4055

Looks good! Subed!


----------



## ExTrEmE_lIQUID_cOoLeD_pC

Hi HAFENVY Love the feser one uv acid green coolant but can you please tell me what tuning you used thanks.


----------



## HAFenvy

Quote:



Originally Posted by *ExTrEmE_lIQUID_cOoLeD_pC*


Hi HAFENVY Love the feser one uv acid green coolant but can you please tell me what tuning you used thanks.


Primochill PrimoFlex Pro LRT UV Green Tubing. So even when I was running distilled, the tubing glowed really nice. I added the Feser Acid Green UV Coolant so that my clear reservoir and other locations would also glow. The impact it made on the overall tubing glow is minimal as the tubing already glows.

They sell the PrimoFlex in multiple UV color options - I went with Green because I wanted to try something different.


----------



## qcd

Hey HAFenvy,

Been following your build for a while now... Turned out epic man (in addition to triggs75), even motivated me to water cool my own HAF 922. It's still within early stages but I've attached a few pics any ways.

Luckily the EVGA x59 SLI LE mobo allowed just enough room to squeeze in a swiftech duel rad plus 2x CoolerMaster Silent fans (120x120x25, 90 CFM at 19 dB). I'm currently running barbs atm but bought some compression fittings today as I'm a bit worried of a detrimental blowout (plus they look cooler).







I ran the system yesterday to check temps etc.. all went well but chip sets are a little toasty at 50 degrees C (122 degrees F). I think I might setup a small fan blowing directly onto the chip as you did (just out of curiosity what fan size did you use). I also used your little trick to change the LEDs in the front fan to a nice blue (matching the rad fans).. Many thanks for posting that section! (Also borrowed (stole? sorry)) your idea regarding the hidden drive bay. It adds an epic look to the already stealthy HAF 922 design.



I'll keep you updated on my build.. Hopefully all goes to plan







Thanks for creating an epic reference guide!

Also how is the SSD going? Find much improvement in gaming application, or would going SLI provide a better improvement?

Thanks again mate.


----------



## HAFenvy

Quote:


Originally Posted by *qcd* 
Hey HAFenvy,

Been following your build for a while now... Turned out epic man (in addition to triggs75), even motivated me to water cool my own HAF 922. It's still within early stages but I've attached a few pics any ways.

Luckily the EVGA x59 SLI LE mobo allowed just enough room to squeeze in a swiftech duel rad plus 2x CoolerMaster Silent fans (120x120x25, 90 CFM at 19 dB). I'm currently running barbs atm but bought some compression fittings today as I'm a bit worried of a detrimental blowout (plus they look cooler).

I ran the system yesterday to check temps etc.. all went well but chip sets are a little toasty at 50 degrees C (122 degrees F). I think I might setup a small fan blowing directly onto the chip as you did (just out of curiosity what fan size did you use). I also used your little trick to change the LEDs in the front fan to a nice blue (matching the rad fans).. Many thanks for posting that section! (Also borrowed (stole? sorry)) your idea regarding the hidden drive bay. It adds an epic look to the already stealthy HAF 922 design.

I'll keep you updated on my build.. Hopefully all goes to plan







Thanks for creating an epic reference guide!

Also how is the SSD going? Find much improvement in gaming application, or would going SLI provide a better improvement?

Thanks again mate.


Thanks and nice work! I'm glad my efforts could inspire others to use some of the same tricks I did. I have done nothing on my case lately at all - I've been too busy enjoying the system and the with the holidays, etc... things just got put on hold.

The spot fan I threw in there is an 80mm fan - I cheated and used one of the long screw posts from the CPU block to hang it from and then just ran a screw threw the other holes in the fan and did a cheapo zip-tie hanger - it works









I STILL have that SSD sitting on the shelf - that is sad I know. I need to finish loading some of my main software pieces onto the main system drive, make sure everything is happy and then ghost my system to the SSD for a nice clean boot/program drive. If you have a game that slurps a lot of data from the drive... the SSD is definitely a huge boost. If you already get really good frame rates off your card and are happy, the SSD is a good investment. Also, it just makes everything else run faster too where files are concerned









I like what you did with the rear radiator on the 120mm vent... thought about putting mine there but I had space issues. Didn't think of putting the fan like that as a standoff to flip it upside down like that - good idea. My only concern with the fittings at the bottom is getting the air out of the system and that really tight run to the video card... that is where a 45deg fitting would come in handy on the Video card for that run.

Nice stuff and thanks for posting your work - I like it! And by all means "borrow" my ideas... that is why I posted them - so others could see how something might work and use or tweak the methods like you did.

Definitely start a build log - I think other's would love to follow your work. And certainly drop a post into the HAF Club area too - tons of chat and ideas bouncing around in there all the time.


----------



## spiderm0nkey

This is a really beautiful build Envy. Quite impressed with your attention to detail; so much so that I've realised there were a few things on my own build that I hadn't thought of changing







Really looking forward to seeing how that logo comes out. Would you mind letting me know how to remove the CM logo from the front of the case? I'll have to do that with my 690 2 when I get it


----------



## HAFenvy

Quote:


Originally Posted by *spiderm0nkey* 
This is a really beautiful build Envy. Quite impressed with your attention to detail; so much so that I've realised there were a few things on my own build that I hadn't thought of changing







Really looking forward to seeing how that logo comes out. Would you mind letting me know how to remove the CM logo from the front of the case? I'll have to do that with my 690 2 when I get it









Thanks! I've looked at the logo on the faceplate and it is a thin metal sticker in a recess. I haven't had the time due to work and business travel lately to even ponder starting some new things with the case so the logo thing is on hold for now. I do want to do more but I just don't have the time to be taking the system down when I need it to do stuff with.


----------



## HAFenvy

TopCustomPanel.pdf 8k .pdf file


I've had a few requests for this so here it is... I have attached a PDF of the top overlay layout I used when I made my top panel. This includes the cut out for my Swiftech MCR220 radiator, the screw positions for the radiator and Danger Den fillport hole positioning I used.

The top panel is basically held in place by the radiator and fillport without needing to add extra mounting screws. If you cut your hole really big at the top, you may need to do more - definitely go back to my top panel work images to see how I cut my top out.

As a note about the PDF... the overlay is a bit bigger than 8.5x11 when I was doing it so I used Legal sized paper for my print. The PDF is done at 8.5in x 14in (Legal) if you want to print it in one piece. The radius corners are fairly close but I basically filed the corners to match and fit it to my liking on the actual case. Because your case may be slightly different, I would use this as a general guide and fine tune from there. Print it out, cut it out, test fit it and see if you need to go a little bigger or smaller.

Hopefully this will help others who want to mount their radiator the way I did up top.


----------



## HAFenvy

Ok... I've been bad as of late and left that big elephant in the room that is the Logo teaser. I feel bad about that so I grabbed my jigsaw and fine tooth blade, my files, fine sandpaper and some polishing compound. Guess what I did today!!

First I cut it out to the rough size I needed it at










I of course had to take off my Cooler Master badge. Sorry Cooler Master, you have enjoyed your fame but now it is time to make the case truly mine. It is thin aluminum (so will bend if you are not careful) and only held on with thin tape. Use a thin knife and it comes off without much fight.










Because I'm not going to backlight this just yet, I used a white background piece to space the logo out from the recess. I was going to file it down to fit exactly but liked it better sitting on top (it is cut bigger than the hole of course!). After filing, sanding, a bit of polishing of the edges and installation... the case is now officially branded ENVY!



















When I actually have time (which won't be for quite a while), I think I'll backlight this bad boy mwoohahahahaha! The images don't do the fact it is mirrored any justice. I just made sure there was something black reflecting in the background so you could see the logo and not the junk in my office.


----------



## K10

Beautiful job


----------



## lndeed

Very nice man, I hope you know I'm planning on doing something similar


----------



## sNiPeRbOb

love the new case badge you made there! really clean looking!


----------



## triggs75

Nice job. Yeah a little led in that thing would look sweeet. Good job.

Chad


----------



## HAFenvy

Quote:


Originally Posted by *K10* 
Beautiful job









Thanks









Quote:


Originally Posted by *lndeed* 
Very nice man, I hope you know I'm planning on doing something similar









Thanks and feel free to borrow ideas - that is why I share them like this









Quote:


Originally Posted by *sNiPeRbOb* 
love the new case badge you made there! really clean looking!

Thanks - I am a neat freak









Quote:


Originally Posted by *triggs75* 
Nice job. Yeah a little led in that thing would look sweeet. Good job.

Chad

Red for you... green for me! Down the road I will backlight it but just got back from a 2wk Asia trip and have a ton of work waiting on my desk. I do want to do more to the case but it will have to wait until I dig out of the pile.


----------



## Jolly-Swagman

Looking mighty Awesome HAFenvy, like th WC set-up and the badge looks real cool tops it off!


----------



## nzgroller

this is probably the coolest computer i have ever seen, i like how it's in that case, it looks like it has all the space managed well, i dunno just awesome, i like what you have done with the fill and drain ports, i love it


----------



## HAFenvy

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Jolly-Swagman* 
Looking mighty Awesome HAFenvy, like th WC set-up and the badge looks real cool tops it off!


Quote:


Originally Posted by *nzgroller* 
this is probably the coolest computer i have ever seen, i like how it's in that case, it looks like it has all the space managed well, i dunno just awesome, i like what you have done with the fill and drain ports, i love it









Thanks guys - it certainly was a labour of love building this system. I'm now contemplating a "minor" upgrade to the system to put in a new set of NVIDIA 4xx series boards - all depends on how flexible my wallet feels like being in the near future and what happens with the water cooling options. The Hyrdo versions are pretty pricy upgrades - it will be interesting to see what EK and DD come up with for add-on blocks.


----------



## mylastregret

I love your work. I two have the HAF922 case as well and have been looking at dangerden for all the right stuff. I was wondering if you cut the metal your self and was wondering if you knew any other good sites.


----------



## F1ForFrags

Quote:


Originally Posted by *●●●●●●●●●●●●* 
I love your work. I two have the HAF922 case as well and have been looking at dangerden for all the right stuff. I was wondering if you cut the metal your self and was wondering if you knew any other good sites.

I have to say, you have quite the username.

Although I'm not quite sure if it's allowed within the ToS.....


----------



## TwoCables

Quote:


Originally Posted by *F1ForFrags* 
I have to say, you have quite the username.

Although I'm not quite sure if it's allowed within the ToS.....









hehe I want to know how to pronounce it.


----------



## K10

Quote:


Originally Posted by *TwoCables* 
hehe I want to know how to pronounce it.









dots


----------



## TwoCables

Quote:


Originally Posted by *K10* 
dots









hehehehehe

Or, Dotty.


----------



## spectre023

if you dont mind me asking..
how or where did you get that envy badge made?
i've been trying to find a way to get a badge custom made like that to replace the logo on the front of my nvidia ed cm 690 forever, and looking at it.. its the exact same badge.


----------



## HAFenvy

Quote:


Originally Posted by *spectre023* 
if you dont mind me asking..
how or where did you get that envy badge made?
i've been trying to find a way to get a badge custom made like that to replace the logo on the front of my nvidia ed cm 690 forever, and looking at it.. its the exact same badge.

I made it myself









I bought a piece of mirrored acrylic, hand cut my logo into a chunk of sign vinyl I had and put that on the back of the acrylic. Using a sand blasting gun on low pressure, I etched the logo into the back side to remove the metal coating from the acrylic (too high a pressure and you'll blow away the vinyl).

I put masking tape over the plastic to protect the finish, grabbed my Jig Saw with a real fine tooth blade, cut the plastic out. I filed, filed, filed, and filed some more to get the edges right and then sanded, buffed with my Dremel and finished up with an automotive polishing compound to bring out the shine on the edges. Grabbed some double sided tape and presto-magico... new emblem.

Other options: Get a sign shop to cut you some vinyl with a logo of your liking provided to them in vector format - apply that to a piece of something cut to size or try to etch like I did. Maybe try a trophy shop or some place that has engraving/etching equipment to put a logo on a metal badge instead. Either way, this was a hand made project that took me a while to do but certainly made this machine my own


----------



## HAFenvy

Quote:



Originally Posted by *●●●●●●●●●●●●*


I love your work. I two have the HAF922 case as well and have been looking at dangerden for all the right stuff. I was wondering if you cut the metal your self and was wondering if you knew any other good sites.


Hi Dots or Dotty or Multidot or..............

I cut all the metal out myself using my various weapons of mass construction. Dremel with the cut off wheel to take out the case mesh panels, my jig saw for some of the bigger cuts which I did later when making my aluminum parts (fine tooth metal blade), a grinding tool and other Dremel fun attachments. The flex shaft attachment is your best friend - just try to keep it somewhat straight as using it under load when it is curved heats it up.

Once cuts were done, a simple set of metal files to clean up sharp edges and any little bumps/wobbles in your cut. Cut a little in from your line so you have room to fix things - it is always easier to remove material than try to add it back because you cut too deep. Biggest tip - take your time and don't rush your cuts - take breaks and don't try to do it all at once - that's when you are liable to make mistakes.

Hopefully this helps


----------



## PhaedraCorruption

This is some great work








I live in Vancouver myself so, It's good to know there are some skilled case modders here


----------



## XtachiX

sweet thing! rep+


----------



## Stridarn

How did you attach that 80mm fan?


----------



## HAFenvy

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Stridarn*


How did you attach that 80mm fan?


I cheated... the CPU water block mount has those long threads that stand off the mainboard... I slid the screw hole of one side of the fan onto one of those threads but the other side did not line up. On the other side, I put a long bolt through the fan with a nut to keep the bolt in place and used a zip-tie to hang it from the other long CPU thread. Last, I pulled the fan cable tight and looped it past the audio cable to keep other side of the fan (not hanging on threads) close to the mainboard... the combination of those three points and it never moves


----------



## Stridarn

i got the same mb and a cpu ekwb with long screws so i might do that too


----------



## Stridarn

I might do the same thing cuz i got the same mb and an ekwb with long screws








REP+ <3


----------



## Stridarn

ups wrong, internet shut down and i thought it didnt post sooo


----------



## HAFenvy

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Stridarn* 
I might do the same thing cuz i got the same mb and an ekwb with long screws








REP+ <3

The one thing I didn't do is try to take the Gigabyte cover plate off the heatsink at that position. If my temperatures get ugly around there as I overclock higher, I'll look at taking that off to expose the fins of the heatsink but I just didn't want to do more than I really needed.


----------



## R1P5AW

Looks sweet-keep modding man!


----------



## JokerCPoC

Yes very nice, Two Rads. I was thinking of two rads also, But I noticed that even though there's space for a 360 rad, There are only vent holes for a 240.


----------



## HAFenvy

Thanks







You could squeeze a triple in the top but yes you will have to open up some more ventilation and then get that air out from under the plastic top panel. There have been guys that have done it in the HAF Case Owners club with triples in the top of the 922. Honestly, this case really isn't designed to take a ton of water cooling and if you need that much you might want the bigger 932 for more breathing room (so to speak).

The other option would be to use the lower fan opening like I did for my single rad to install a double down there. Under the drive cage there is no reason why you couldn't cut out another fan opening and put a double in the bottom of the case. If was to ever SLI this rig with new graphics cards, I would most likely do that myself just to add that extra cooling into the loop (and of course move my pump somewhere else).


----------



## crowellalex

Did you put in a drain also? Can you show some pictures of that?


----------



## kill_mellon

pure win! i love it


----------



## HAFenvy

Quote:



Originally Posted by *crowellalex*


Did you put in a drain also? Can you show some pictures of that?


Thought I had this shot in my log but I must have posted it in another water cooling discussion thread. Here is the the drain line off the bottom of my reservoir which I just hang out the other side of my case (it just sleeps in the bottom of the case next to the pump). I actually have a barb in a piece of leftover tube that I can quickly thread into the fillport after the initial drain is done so I can easily rotate the case to get everything out (with the other end of the hose in a bottle or container on the floor).









Sorry it took a while to respond... I was in Vegas last week and well... it was Vegas so e-mail was a low priority









Quote:



Originally Posted by *kill_mellon*


pure win! i love it










Thanks


----------



## sohamgujral

Sweeeet...btw wat companys fans r those??


----------



## HAFenvy

Quote:

Sweeeet...btw wat companys fans r those??
Thanks, those fans are GELID Solutions Wing 12 fans... you can find more information on them <HERE>

They push air nicely, are fairly quiet and are UV reactive so they glow along with my tubing.


----------



## mav2000

Sweet build man...what size res is that.


----------



## HAFenvy

Quote:



Originally Posted by *mav2000*


Sweet build man...what size res is that.


Thanks! That is a 150ml EK Multioption res







. I like that the base has 3 ports so I could have my in/out as well as a drain connected.


----------



## naturaldisaster

hi. i have gone through your entire thread build log and i must say, i love your work. your rig looks and performs great.

i have a HAF 922 that iam planning to water cool. but i dont have the technical expertise or the means to get the top outline of the rad designed and fabricated.

hence, do you know of any other 2x120mm rad that would directly fit into the HAF?

also, i noticed that you didnt use a NB water block. you could have easily done. is there any reason?

cheers and keep up the cool modding


----------



## HAFenvy

Quote:



Originally Posted by *naturaldisaster*


hi. i have gone through your entire thread build log and i must say, i love your work. your rig looks and performs great.

i have a HAF 922 that iam planning to water cool. but i dont have the technical expertise or the means to get the top outline of the rad designed and fabricated.

hence, do you know of any other 2x120mm rad that would directly fit into the HAF?

also, i noticed that you didnt use a NB water block. you could have easily done. is there any reason?

cheers and keep up the cool modding


Thanks for your feedback









The top overlay is totally something I did to just clean it up for my own liking. You can in fact put the 2x120 up top without modifying the case. If you have to offset to one side a bit like I did, you will only end up with a bit of a dead zone in the corners of the rad where you may be lacking some perforation. I just hated the look of the top so I covered it up to make it look nice.

As far as other rads... well I went with the Swiftech because of the thickness. I believe there are some others that are around the same size. It also depends on your motherboard and part positioning which is why I started with the system on basic stock air components and then measured everything before ordering any water parts.

The NB block for this particular Gigabyte UD5 is actually 3 blocks. One for each mosfet heatsink position and then the NB/SB heat block. That is 6 more fittings all really close together and a motherload of tubing. To squish all that in there just for the sake of watercooling the chipset... I just didn't see the point or value of doing it. My chipset is fine as is temperature wise so that is one less thing to worry about.

One last note... the bottom fan position, as I have shown, works for a single 120mm rad but you could also put a rad on the back 120mm position too. I have seen it done in another build but can't remember off the top of my head who it was (it was another HAF 922 build)

As I have mentioned in posts before... if you water cool anything - do the video card. The fan is super noisy when it is working hard and it blows a motherload of heat out the back of your system. CPU air coolers have come a long way and are incredibly quiet by comparison. One of my goals was to have a quiet system and this thing is great.


----------



## naturaldisaster

hey thats for the reply,

its good to hear that any good 2x120 rad will fit onto my haf. iam planning the following setup, expert comments would be welcome

rad - Black IceÂ® GT Stealth 240 XFlow
cpu block - DangerDen MC-TDX or the Swiftech GTZ
gpu block - DangerDen-Summit Block or the Switech gpu block

not decided on chipset block, tubing, reservoir and fans. (help needed







)

another lil doubt that i have. would i need another 120mm rad or will i be able to run all of them off the 2x120?

thanks for the support


----------



## HAFenvy

Looking at the specs... that radiator looks thinner than mine so you should have less space issues than I did.

As far as recommending specific pieces - I'm probably not the best person to ask but have enough information to lead you on some things. I am actually using the DD MC-TDX block in my system and it works fine for me. That being said - it depends on what you want to do - how fast you want to run your system and how much you aim to cool. The GTZ will outperform this block from what I've seen - I just liked it for my own reasons.

Full coverage GPU blocks are nice and from what I've seen, the differences between most of these nowadays is not a huge margin so go with the one you like best.

Adding a chipset block on a single 2x120 is probably pushing your luck for cooling. I'm running a 2x120 and a 1x120 in my system and it can hit the about 47c under load so you will be running hotter than that with just a 2x120. Many have the belief that the more you can put in the better which is why I added the single in the bottom to kill off some more heat (and yes it would have still fit with the drive cage intact) I've also seen a single mounted on the rear 120 position above the PCI slots. If you can squeeze it in... I say go for it - more cooling is always better.

Check out some of the systems that have been created in the Water Cooling Club thread (in my signature) if you want to see the wide variety of fans, reservoirs and setups people do. Many describe what they used and picking out some of the pieces you specifically like is half the fun of doing this.

As much as I would love to say - buy this, don't buy that... there are just too many variables and I'm not totally up to speed on the latest goodies out there.


----------



## Oochi

I own a HAF 922 as well, and I got to say, you have really inspired me to try out water cooling in my 922. You have done excellent work man. Keep it up!


----------



## HAFenvy

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Oochi*


I own a HAF 922 as well, and I got to say, you have really inspired me to try out water cooling in my 922. You have done excellent work man. Keep it up!


Thanks... I know there has been nothing done for quite some time but it is nice to know my efforts can inspire others who may want to dive in to water cooling (pun indended).


----------



## cblaxx19

your build is what made me decide on the 922. im currently working on my own modifications and water set up.

heres a link to my build log and what ive got so far
http://www.overclock.net/case-mod-wo...case-mods.html

id love to get your opinion ENVY. you did such agreat job on yours and i just want to do half as good a job as you on mine.


----------



## Winrahr

Where did you buy the sleeving and what kind are they? Thanks








Awesome build btw







, doing my first build soon


----------



## HAFenvy

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Winrahr* 
Where did you buy the sleeving and what kind are they? Thanks








Awesome build btw







, doing my first build soon









Thanks







. The sleeving is just simple Techflex I got at a local electronics supply shop. Handy being able to buy by the foot of any size sleeving I need from 1/8in up to 1in (and in some colors). It isn't the most solid of sleeving and you can see through it a little but it worked well. Just remember to singe the end after you cut it with a lighter or it frays like a beast. (especially on thicker stuff like the SATA sleeving I did.)


----------



## godofdeath

ooo nice job with the logo on the front of the case


----------



## Winrahr

Quote:


Originally Posted by *HAFenvy* 
Thanks







. The sleeving is just simple Techflex I got at a local electronics supply shop. Handy being able to buy by the foot of any size sleeving I need from 1/8in up to 1in (and in some colors). It isn't the most solid of sleeving and you can see through it a little but it worked well. Just remember to singe the end after you cut it with a lighter or it frays like a beast. (especially on thicker stuff like the SATA sleeving I did.)

Thanks!








Can you give the name of the store? I live in vancouver too


----------



## HAFenvy

Quote:


Originally Posted by *godofdeath* 
ooo nice job with the logo on the front of the case

Thanks - that is the little piece I made that I'm actually the most proud of - it looks so cool on the front of the case to truly make it MY case.

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Winrahr* 
Thanks!








Can you give the name of the store? I live in vancouver too









I'm actually out in the Valley and got it in Langley at SMI Industrial Electronics on 64th Ave at about 201st (strip mall, south side). You will probably find sleeving in any electronics supply place like Main Street Electronics in Vancouver http://www.mainelectronics.com/ (where I got my super-bright green LEDs - right on Main Street in Vancouver). Not sure if they have sleeving you can buy by the foot or not so I would call them first. The Yellow Pages are your best friend - Electronic Equipment and Supplies category









I also got my heat shrink from there too because it was WAY cheaper than the hardware store pre-packaged stuff and you can buy the shrink in pretty well any color you can think of (at least at SMI you can - they have a huge rack of 4ft lengths in lots of different colors and sizes - right next to... the rolls of SLEEVING YAY!)


----------



## Winrahr

Quote:


Originally Posted by *HAFenvy* 
Thanks - that is the little piece I made that I'm actually the most proud of - it looks so cool on the front of the case to truly make it MY case.

I'm actually out in the Valley and got it in Langley at SMI Industrial Electronics on 64th Ave at about 201st (strip mall, south side). You will probably find sleeving in any electronics supply place like Main Street Electronics in Vancouver http://www.mainelectronics.com/ (where I got my super-bright green LEDs - right on Main Street in Vancouver). Not sure if they have sleeving you can buy by the foot or not so I would call them first. The Yellow Pages are your best friend - Electronic Equipment and Supplies category









I also got my heat shrink from there too because it was WAY cheaper than the hardware store pre-packaged stuff and you can buy the shrink in pretty well any color you can think of (at least at SMI you can - they have a huge rack of 4ft lengths in lots of different colors and sizes - right next to... the rolls of SLEEVING YAY!)

Thanks a lot!


----------



## HAFrage

Quote:


Originally Posted by *qcd* 
Hey HAFenvy,

Been following your build for a while now... Turned out epic man (in addition to triggs75), even motivated me to water cool my own HAF 922. It's still within early stages but I've attached a few pics any ways.

Luckily the EVGA x59 SLI LE mobo allowed just enough room to squeeze in a swiftech duel rad plus 2x CoolerMaster Silent fans (120x120x25, 90 CFM at 19 dB). I'm currently running barbs atm but bought some compression fittings today as I'm a bit worried of a detrimental blowout (plus they look cooler).







I ran the system yesterday to check temps etc.. all went well but chip sets are a little toasty at 50 degrees C (122 degrees F). I think I might setup a small fan blowing directly onto the chip as you did (just out of curiosity what fan size did you use). I also used your little trick to change the LEDs in the front fan to a nice blue (matching the rad fans).. Many thanks for posting that section! (Also borrowed (stole? sorry)) your idea regarding the hidden drive bay. It adds an epic look to the already stealthy HAF 922 design.



I'll keep you updated on my build.. Hopefully all goes to plan







Thanks for creating an epic reference guide!

Also how is the SSD going? Find much improvement in gaming application, or would going SLI provide a better improvement?

Thanks again mate.

Which fittings, tubing and pump are you using on that setup?


----------



## HAFenvy

Quote:



Originally Posted by *HAFrage*


Which fittings, tubing and pump are you using on that setup?


In the pictures you quoted, that is Tygon tubing, looks like standard boring barb fittings and the Swiftech MCP650/655 pump with the stock housing/top.

In my system, I'm using Primochill PrimoFlex Pro LRT UV Green tubing (1/2in ID, 3/4in OD), TFC Compression Fittings and the MCP655 pump with the EK-D5 X-TOP Rev 2 replacement pump housing/top (because the stock housing is barbs only and you can't switch them out to fittings).


----------



## HAFrage

Quote:


Originally Posted by *HAFenvy* 
In the pictures you quoted, that is Tygon tubing, looks like standard boring barb fittings and the Swiftech MCP650/655 pump with the stock housing/top.

In my system, I'm using Primochill PrimoFlex Pro LRT UV Green tubing (1/2in ID, 3/4in OD), TFC Compression Fittings and the MCP655 pump with the EK-D5 X-TOP Rev 2 replacement pump housing/top (because the stock housing is barbs only and you can't switch them out to fittings).

Hmm I see, and you have four 45 degree angled fittings and 8-10 normal ftc compression fittings? I'm completely new to LC and I'm very interested in making a similar / identical build to what you did HAF, only just to change the color to red. Awesome build btw, the moment I saw all that tubing compressed into the 922 along with the inside coat you gave it made me want to give my case a personal touch aswell. I'm still wondering how the finishes would look between powder coating vs spray paint. I live in Puerto Rico so I'm not quite exactly sure how the prices are going on that kind of treatment.

These are the parts I'm planning for the setup:

Black Ice XtremeII Radiator (240mm) 1/2 OD Fittings

Black Ice Pro Radiator (120mm) 1/2 OD Fittings

DD-5970 Water Block 1/2 OD Fittings

DD12V-D5 Pump Fixed Speed by Laing 1/2 OD Fittings

MPC-CPU - i7 Nehalem/1366 Block 1/2 OD Fittings

Still not sure on which reservoir, fans, and fittings to go with though.

Are those FTC fittings 1/2" ID - 3/4" OD? I'm still confused as to what size of tubing goes accordingly with the fittings or vice versa.


----------



## HAFenvy

Quote:



Originally Posted by *HAFrage*


I'm still wondering how the finishes would look between powder coating vs spray paint. I live in Puerto Rico so I'm not quite exactly sure how the prices are going on that kind of treatment.


Powder coating is a lot tougher surface than paint because it is baked on. The original coating on the exterior of the case and panels is powder coated to give you an idea. That being said, there is nothing wrong with spray painting it because the interior really doesn't see a lot of handling and when you take your time, can come out quite nice as well.  The key is taking your time with prep work (scuffing up the surfaces)... using a decent primer and then several light coats of paint with plenty of time between coats to let the paint completely dry (very important... paint your coatings too quickly and you'll have a weak paint job that is easily scratched). There are several topics in the forums on painting techniques.

Quote:



Originally Posted by *HAFrage*


These are the parts I'm planning for the setup:

Black Ice XtremeII Radiator (240mm) 1/2 OD Fittings

Black Ice Pro Radiator (120mm) 1/2 OD Fittings

DD-5970 Water Block 1/2 OD Fittings

DD12V-D5 Pump Fixed Speed by Laing 1/2 OD Fittings

MPC-CPU - i7 Nehalem/1366 Block 1/2 OD Fittings

Still not sure on which reservoir, fans, and fittings to go with though.

Are those FTC fittings 1/2" ID - 3/4" OD? I'm still confused as to what size of tubing goes accordingly with the fittings or vice versa.


The Black Ice XtremeII is 40mm thick whereas mine is 35mm thick so you will be a little tighter up top than I am. I do have about 9 to 10mm of clearance from my fans to my memory itself so you might be fine but just a bit tighter. As for the 120mm, you should have no problem putting that in the bottom or on the back like qcd did in those photos above.

The pump... if you are going to use compression fittings for everything, I suggest getting the EK X-TOP Rev 2 which gives you the G1/4 threaded positions for using fittings. The stock pump comes with 1/2in ID barbs that can't be replaced. If you want to stick with the stock pump, you should go ahead using 1/2in ID tubing.

The CPU block... while Danger Den makes decent blocks, these are not the best coolers out there by any means. The Heatkillers and others definitely blow them away performance wise. I bought mine because it was before I really researched the CPU blocks in greater detail but that being said... the block works perfectly fine for what I'm doing with my system. EDIT: Here is a cool thread by Bundymania on a whole bunch of waterblocks: http://www.overclock.net/water-cooli...d-roundup.html

Video card blocks... I don't really see where you can go wrong with any choice here. There may be slight cooling capability differences between brands but I don't know how much different they are. The DD block I have (and the one you picked)... you'll be suprised at how heavy these things are... made me nervous the first time putting the card in because of the weight.

Now the fittings... on the DD site it shows a choice for fittings but I believe that is just the standard barbs that come with the selected part. For actual tube and fittings... I would suggest the following based on a couple things:

If you using the stock pump, go with 1/2in ID tubing
For stronger tubing, go with the 1/2in ID x 3/4in OD tubing... it has a thicker wall to it and is more resistant to kinking than using 1/2in ID x 5/8in OD
And yes... I used TFC (The Feser Corp) 1/2in ID x 3/4in OD.

And now a *WARNING* about compression fittings... they are BIG. The two ports on my DD CPU block are so close together that two standard straight fittings will NOT fit side by side (I was forced to use the 45deg fitting because it has a smaller base). Keep this in mind on your CPU block. The reason I also went with 45deg fittings is because it allowed me to take some initial bend out the tubing and make some of the tighter tubing runs a lot easier to connect. If you have a really tight spot, you can also get 90deg fittings - the choices out there are awesome.

As far as the reservoir goes... there are so many options out there it is a bit overwhelming. Mine is a bit big for this case and you could easily go with the smaller ones and mount it in a different spot. Definitely check out the OCN Water Cooling Club link in my signature for ideas - there are TONS of photos in that thread and a wide variety of reservoirs people use.


----------



## HAFrage

Thank you so much for the help. I'll be posting the results of my paint job in a few days. Then onto parts! Really looking forwards for this mod. I'll try to get as creative as possible. I've been thinking of a way to flush the controller you have on the front. Hopefully it works out.

I'll keep researching through the OCN club along with the heatkiller blocks see what I can come up with.


----------



## ipullstuffapart

Looks pretty smexy, In the coming new year i will be doing a black and white theme throughout my HAF 922, gonna look pretty sweet! (lol first post on OC.net had account for a while just havnt put it to use yet)


----------



## ryan9939

Where in Vancouver did you get your case powdercoated? How much did it cost you?

Thanks


----------



## Mr.Pie

nice job OP
may I ask are you using UV dye in your loop? I didn't read all your pages, but you should know that using UV dye in your loop will make your maintenance very very VERY hard when you need to....cause UV dye breaks down a few months after being put in the water
when it breaks down, it can stain your tubing and res, clog up your waterblocks and rads and your pump.....

use coloured tubing IMO, sorry if its already been mentioned...just somethign worth noting if nobody's mentioned it


----------



## HAFenvy

Quote:



Originally Posted by *ryan9939*


Where in Vancouver did you get your case powdercoated? How much did it cost you?

Thanks


I got it coated at a place in Langley named Hi-Pro Coatings. They primarily do railings and stuff but I managed to drop my case off to be run at the same time as a regular run of their flat black (which is like a satin finish really). By having it done the same time they were already doing that color, I didn't have to pay for a setup charge, etc so it only cost me $60 because I prepped everthing ahead of time for them. They have specific needs and I had to blast the coating off the metal for a good finish which was a whole other thing entirely. They won't do the prep work for you other than their standard pre wash which is a part of the powder coating process.

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Mr.Pie*


nice job OP
may I ask are you using UV dye in your loop? I didn't read all your pages, but you should know that using UV dye in your loop will make your maintenance very very VERY hard when you need to....cause UV dye breaks down a few months after being put in the water
when it breaks down, it can stain your tubing and res, clog up your waterblocks and rads and your pump.....

use coloured tubing IMO, sorry if its already been mentioned...just somethign worth noting if nobody's mentioned it


I'm not using a dye, I'm using a pre-mix coolant ... Feser UV Acid Green. Because my blocks are not very restrictive (thus not as efficient but I don't really care)... the breakdown has not been a problem for me. My coolant still looks fine and I've had it in there for over 6-months. If you use a more restrictive set of blocks you can bet coolants will break down. Even more so if you run the machine all the time - this thing is not pushed 24/7 running super overclock high temperatures like some people might be doing with their WC setups.

I actually did use colored tubing as well - Primoflex UV Green tubing. I originally had it loaded with distilled when I was leak testing, etc. I like being able to see all the coolant in my res. glow so I swapped it for the Feser UV Green once I was happy with everything. I haven't checked to see if the coolant is staining the clear plastic of the reservoir but even if it is, I'll just keep using the green coolant (or buy a new T-Virus res nomnomnom)


----------



## ClearDenominator

Cool, I like your use of the Green Coolant!


----------



## audirs

thank you for the top panel PDF, i will be using this for my haf aswell









ps awesome build


----------



## HAFenvy

Quote:


Originally Posted by *audirs* 
thank you for the top panel PDF, i will be using this for my haf aswell









ps awesome build

Thanks and I'm glad the PDF will come in handy. As I mentioned in a private message to Audirs... the design I did was specific to the Swiftech Radiator I used so the opening cut for the radiator may vary slightly depending on what radiator people use.

The other thing to note is that the radius corners are close to the case design but ultimately I just used it as a general cut guide and then used a file to fine tuned the radius corners to match the case to my liking.

Glad my efforts can be re-used for someone elses case top panel


----------



## cj3waker

awesome man such a great job, one of the cleanest builds ive ever seen!


----------



## Ace Telekinesis

Hi firstly i'd like to say well done on an excellent mod. I'm doing some modding myself on a HAF 912 Plus case and trying to get an idea before I go fully balls out and start buying radiators etc. One thing that i'm looking to do first is get shot of my red leds in my front fan like you did and I thank you for the correct specifications and resistor information regarding that. Also though I wondered if perhaps it was the same leds used in the front power and hdd activity leds as i'd like to swap those out too? Finally I wanted to just pick up on something else led related that you had said in an ealier post that i've also been thinking about. That is the possibility of multicoloured leds so the colour could be changed to literally any colour desire via a simple knob or switching system. After doing some googing there are some rgb leds that apparently fit the bill but how i would go about making a colour dial is tricky. Apparently the special rgb leds are three leds in one so I though perhaps I could have three potentiometers for each colour, connect all the leds in my system in parallel and then simply adjust each knob to the desire colour balance to indicate the hue. Although perhaps you may know an easier way to get around this issue with a simple off the shelf controller chip? With a controller chip maybe a nice few profiles of different colour moods could be created to pulsate chosen colour groups. Thoughts?


----------



## HAFenvy

Thanks for the comments. About the LEDs... changing out the fan LEDs to be controlled by a color changing contoller will mean wiring them directly to that controller and not utilizing the power from the fan itself. Just means some more wires coming off the fan but that isn't a big deal if you plan to control several LEDs throughout the case for some fun ambient lighting effects.

For the HDD and Power lights, on my 922 those are different sized LEDs than the ones in the fan. You'll have to be sure to get the correct size LED for those and I'm not sure what those will be on the 912. A good group of guys to ask would be the ones who post in the HAF Club (link in my signature)... they usually can tell you information specific to your case and even offer suggestions for stuff they might have used themselves already.

The idea of a color mood changing knob is interesting and I did see a long time ago a controller that ran off USB and could be controlled via software on the PC called LED-Wiz. If you google it you'll find several references to it and how it works. I never investigated it further but thought it was an interesting concept.

This 922 has been chugging away nicely and I still love the look of it. Wish I had time to do some more things to it but that will have to wait a while.


----------



## Ace Telekinesis

Ah thanks yeah im looking into that LEDWIZ now to see if its any good. Kinda looks like a cut down Arduino. Im off to bed now but il get on this tmrw and have a good dig and see some youtube videos to try and get an idea of what to expect. Thanks again.


----------



## FannBlade

Nice work here and that LedWiz is actually what I'm looking for too!

Thanks +1


----------



## Oreic

Hey great job with this whole mod and I envy it quite a bit, anyways Im going to be building my first nice rig soon and I want to change all my fan LEDs to green. You mentioned the red LEDs in the stock Cooler Master fan were about 2 volts. If I were to buy 2 volt green LEDs would they just switch out no problem? Heres a link to the ones i found. http://www.sparkfun.com/products/9592


----------



## HAFenvy

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Oreic;12913341*
> Hey great job with this whole mod and I envy it quite a bit, anyways Im going to be building my first nice rig soon and I want to change all my fan LEDs to green. You mentioned the red LEDs in the stock Cooler Master fan were about 2 volts. If I were to buy 2 volt green LEDs would they just switch out no problem? Heres a link to the ones i found. http://www.sparkfun.com/products/9592


Hmmm normally I get notifications of new posts but nothing came this time







Thanks for your compliments, this is an old build now but it is nice to see it still inspires to some degree.

For the LEDs, if you are replacing ones that are already 2V I don't see it being a problem. I actually ended up going to a higher voltage because I used superbrights and when you use the LED sizer, you actually need a bigger resistor for higher voltage LEDs to limit the current so I felt pretty safe with my change. If you are replacing 2V with 2V, odds are you will be good to go as well. Make sure you check the polarity of the LEDs and mark your wires before you cut out the old ones... google "led polarity" and you'll find all sorts of information and images that clearly illustrate how to spot the positive and negative nodes on LEDs


----------



## sch010

How do you like your Gelids, OP? I'm considering getting some, since they seem to be reasonable alternatives to the impossibly hard to find Gentle Typhoons.

Awesome build, btw. Nice to see somebody use the bottom fan grill for mounting a rad... I may look into that when I switch my loop out in the near future.


----------



## HAFenvy

I'm quite happy with the GELID Fans actually. They are very quiet, push a decent amount of air and work great for me. I'm not sure how they stack up against some of the other fans like Noctua but I mainly got them for the UV effect and because they were super quiet (nanoflex bearings - very cool design). They even come with their own mini fan speed controller which drops them down to about 800rpm if you want to use it (mine are on a Scythe controller).

My fans run on low all the time unless I'm pushing the machine


----------



## sch010

Thanks! Nice to know they actually are as quiet as the specs would suggest. The Gelids seem like very good alternatives to the GTs.

Nice avatar btw, haha.


----------



## Angrybutcher

Love the build! I've seen many nice builds on here, but yours finally convinced me to dive into liquid cooling.

One question though, did you ever have any issues with the Acid Green fluid?


----------



## HAFenvy

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Angrybutcher;13395046*
> Love the build! I've seen many nice builds on here, but yours finally convinced me to dive into liquid cooling.
> 
> One question though, did you ever have any issues with the Acid Green fluid?


Thanks







- I still love this thing and continue to get comments on it from people who see it in person.

Now pre-mix and color coolants versus using pure distilled with either silver coils or PT Nuke or whatever additive is always an ongoing discussion among the WC threads. From what I have seen, the main problem with pre-mix, especially ones with color or UV additives, is when you have the more restrictive water blocks in your loop. Heat load on the system is another factor as constantly cooking the fluid hastens the degradation of whatever is in it.

I've seen photos of systems with very restrictive (but efficient) CPU water blocks that caused the additives in the pre-mix coolant to precipate and gum things up. I believe if you are using restrictive blocks and pushing a big heat load (overclock) into your loop, you are better off sticking with the pure distilled water with drops of additive to keep it from going the wrong kind of green on you.

For me, my CPU block is not very restrictive at all and not the best cooler but I got it for the clear top and looks of it more than anything. I've had no problems with this green coolant I'm using with this setup. I also don't push this thing very hard except playing games with the video card dumping heat into the loop but even then, this coolant has stood up in my particular situation.

Short Version: Restrictive blocks and lots of heat... use distilled and buy UV tubing. Less restrictive blocks and want things to glow pretty everywhere... try out a pre-mix coolant.

My tubing is UV Reactive green as well so the only place the UV coolant is glowing is in my reservoir and through the clear top of my CPU block (which gets fun comments from people who look at it).


----------



## Angrybutcher

Thanks for the reply. I ended up going with the EK Supreme HF and GTX580 blocks, both Nickle with Acrylic tops as well as their bay reservoir. I also got the PrimoFlex tubing, in the same UV Green. Can't wait to get this thing up and running


----------



## coelli123

Biggest inspiration!


----------



## HAFenvy

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *coelli123;14485508*
> Biggest inspiration!


Glad I could inspire you







. Once my huge pile of work I have to do is over, I'm planning a few upgrades to Envy. I have some cool ideas for a new system as well but am not sure if I'm ready to zoom down that road just yet.


----------



## Shodhanth

Awesome Mod, OP.
Three questions:
1. Y u no upgrade GPU?
2. 12Gb of RAM, I assume you encode or something?
3. Any residue/side effects of UV coolant?


----------



## HAFenvy

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Shodhanth;14487198*
> Awesome Mod, OP.
> Three questions:
> 1. Y u no upgrade GPU?
> 2. 12Gb of RAM, I assume you encode or something?
> 3. Any residue/side effects of UV coolant?


Thanks and answers to your questions:

1.) GTX285 has served me really well and I haven't really needed anything stronger (yet). I have been looking at new cards lately and may upgrade the system. Not sure if I want to just add a new card and keep the GTX285 or just replace it entirely. That of course affects my loop design, cooling capacity and my power supply loading.

2.) Yeah I've done some video encoding work and do graphic design work so I love me some memory (well that and the memory went on sale one day so I couldn't resist filling it up)

3.) The UV coolant in my system isn't really a problem. There is a tiny bit of residue build up on the walls of the reservoir but because I'm using non-restrictive blocks, it hasn't been a problem. If I changed my CPU block to something more efficient (restrictive but better cooling), I'd probably switch back to distilled and investigate other reservoir options.


----------



## bob808

Overall thats a very nice looking build! Great job. The only criticism i have is the sleeving on the 24 pin and think it would look better to have a smaller cathode attached to the 5.25 drive cage.

Out of all the pc's I have build, I have yet to make a glowy/UV one. Looking at your project makes me want to. It's not too over the top like some others I've seen.

+rep


----------



## HAFenvy

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *bob808;14488153*
> Overall thats a very nice looking build! Great job. The only criticism i have is the sleeving on the 24 pin and think it would look better to have a smaller cathode attached to the 5.25 drive cage.
> 
> Out of all the pc's I have build, I have yet to make a glowy/UV one. Looking at your project makes me want to. It's not too over the top like some others I've seen.
> 
> +rep


Thanks Bob









I've since tweaked the routing of the 24-pin cables and really they were just sleeved to make them less visible in the case (which worked very well). Another trick I've seen people do is to just sleeve the 24-pin extension cables so they don't have to modify the actual 24-pin itself. Yeah I cheated by not sleeving the whole length but since that big chunk is behind the MB tray... I don't see it so I don't care haha.

As far as the Cathode... those come in a pair in the kit so I went with what I had. That one isn't seen from the window normally anyway and casts lots of light onto the bottom tubing to make it glow so I'm good with it hanging lower than the drive bay. A shorter one might not cast light past the video card so it is a trade off.

Lighting can be good and lighting can be bad. Some people definetely overdo it but if they want a system that acts as a disco ball room filling light source... that's their choice. I like being able to have a neat glow without burning my eyeballs out and having a massive green light cast all over my office.


----------



## HAFenvy

The beginning of some changes going on with Envy... time for a sexy stack of SSDs in a 5.25in bay rafter kit and modification of my other modular SATA Power Cable to connect them in a clean fashion.

Still have to sleeve up the SATA data cables and then I can start organizing my drive setup.

Once my drives are all sorted out... then the loop gets drained and the GTX580 goes in


----------



## Angrybutcher

Nice cabling









Sticking with Feser Acid Green?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## HAFenvy

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Angrybutcher;15134508*
> Nice cabling
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sticking with Feser Acid Green?


Thanks Angrybutcher - I like the inside of my case nice and clean and hate big loops of cable hanging off drives. I'm also sticking with the Feser as it has held up very well in my particular system *(if I was using restrictive blocks I probably would be using distilled).

Today I think I'll do some software setup stuff and see if I can squeeze in some time to install the GTX580 and do some clean up on my reservoir.


----------



## spiderm0nkey

Looking forward to seeing this!


----------



## HAFenvy

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *spiderm0nkey;15138438*
> Looking forward to seeing this!


Thanks Spider! I'm working on the disk setups right now actually (moving partitions around on/off of the new SSDs). Nice to see you have got back on your Viper project and I'll be stealthily watching that "snazzy" build as it progresses. By the way... using green... e-High-Five! (I love da green)


----------



## spiderm0nkey

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *HAFenvy;15139587*
> Thanks Spider! I'm working on the disk setups right now actually (moving partitions around on/off of the new SSDs). Nice to see you have got back on your Viper project and I'll be stealthily watching that "snazzy" build as it progresses. By the way... using green... e-High-Five! (I love da green)


Thanks! Progress is slow as I am planning an even better build


----------



## HAFenvy

Word: Torture

Definition: Severe mental or physical pain

Symptoms:
a) EVGA GTX 580 with Koolance WB and EVGA Backplate installed.
b) Needing system online to work on current projects
c) Not having enough time to take system offline to drain water loop, install new card and leak test.

Soon my pretty... soon!


----------



## Indulgence

nice upgrade! cant wait to see that little pretty on your rig full load of prettiness!


----------



## Lucky Strike

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *HAFenvy;7385514*
> And the next modification has arrived! DVD Drive Stealthing. I have been inspired by the way others have concealed their DVD drives so with this case, I opted to stealth the drive and make it go bye bye.
> 
> First I had to take apart one of the drive blanks which looks like this:
> 
> http://hafenvy.shawwebspace.ca/asset/view/24847/55-dvdstealthblanks.jpg
> 
> Now the sheet metal piece is too big to fit over the existing drive bezel so I had to yank that. Simple enough, extend the drive tray and use a screwdriver to get the drive tray blank piece off. Then push the 4 chassis bezel retaining pieces and pull that off. Easy! I then put the drive tray blank back on so I had something more solid to stick to later.
> 
> I needed to modify the sheet metal blanking piece so it wouldn't hit the DVD chassis. The only place it hit was the top so this was a super easy cut - just cut the sheet metal blank piece back 5mm across the top, filed it and I was done. The left/right edges and the bottom slide right past the chassis no problem so it worked perfect. Here is a top down shot after it was installed:
> 
> http://hafenvy.shawwebspace.ca/asset/view/24847/56-dvdstealthcut.jpg
> 
> I then grabbed my new favorite modification material, Creatology Fun Foam this time with the sticky backing, and cut it a bit larger than the inside of the metal blank face so it was a tight friction fit. (Sticky side facing the DVD drive). I left the backing paper on for this step. I then cut a narrow piece and put it on the DVD tray plastic piece to get it in the right spot and test fit the depth. Two layers works good (foam is 2mm thick) but I had to shorten the width on the drive tray piece a bit because of the angle on the sheet metal face plate (made it stick out too far).
> 
> Once I had that, I peeled the backing off the drive tray foam piece and attached it. I then pulled the backing off the sheet metal big piece and stuck them together. Perfecto! Last, I grabbed some material to cover the exposed sticky areas so they don't get gross over time with dust and stuff.
> 
> So here is what a stealthed drive looks like now in my case.
> 
> Closed:
> http://hafenvy.shawwebspace.ca/asset/view/24847/57-dvdstealthclosed.jpg
> 
> Open:
> http://hafenvy.shawwebspace.ca/asset/view/24847/58-dvdstealthopen.jpg
> 
> Next problem... I can't open the drive with the front DVD eject button. I worked out how many layers I needed of the fun foam (3 layers) and built a button extension that stuck to the face plate.
> 
> http://hafenvy.shawwebspace.ca/asset/view/24847/preview_59-dvdstealthbutton.jpg/
> 
> Now when I push on the bottom corner of the blank, the DVD drive opens because this triple stack of foam is right over the button. Works like a charm!
> 
> Now I have a stealthed DVD drive
> 
> "Hey, where is your DVD drive?"
> "Right here..."
> "Ooooo"


really nice this one!
im trying to do something close to it...


----------



## HAFenvy

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Lucky Strike;15278375*
> really nice this one!
> im trying to do something close to it...


Thanks, the DVD Stealthing is actually the one modification that can be done that makes such a visible impact on the case.

I thought of a way to add a light pipe so I can still see the activity light without screwing up the stealth but just haven't got around to doing it yet.


----------



## HAFenvy

UPDATE.... I drained the loop earlier today, removed my GTX 285, installed my GTX 580 and then hit a snag. The straight compression fitting I had CPU side on the 285 is too big and hits the EVGA Backplate on the 580. I swapped the lower 45deg fitting with the straight fitting and even that was rubbing. I removed the backplate, filed a little bit where the fitting rubbed and then reassembled so now the 45 fits properly. Worked some magic with my tubing and now have it all hooked up again.

Currently doing a leak test / bubble removal run on the system. Photos to come soon


----------



## HAFenvy

Guess what I just got running...









EDIT: Changed the tubing from my CPU to my GPU because I didn't like it. Added a new photo of the green glowy goodness. Enjoy!


----------



## HAFenvy

Pondering purchasing a second GTX 580 for a SLI setup - I really have to stop thinking of new ways to stuff more into a mid tower case that wasn't built to have all this internal


----------



## Indulgence

i do love my haf 922 and yes i was thinking of the same thing, that this is a mid tower and not good to eat all the stuffs i wanted to put in.







heck, i still love it. and it might spend me another year before i find another case.

your haf envy is my inspiration in building my rig, and i just want to share it..


















have a good day


----------



## HAFenvy

Thanks for the comment and... wow - nice job on your system







. I like the black/white and the custom PSU cover - very nice.


----------



## HAFenvy

Out of interest, I decided to run the OCCT GPU test against the GTX 580 and compare that to the same GTX 285 tests I did before (also is a Koolance vs Danger Den water block comparison).

Everything is the same as the tests I did before:
Room Ambient Temp: 25c
3 x Rad Fans: Average 950rpm (my quiet mode)
OCCT Version V3.1.0
Video Card and CPU for both tests: Stock settings, no OC
1 hour OCCT GPU Test

Results

Original: GTX 285 + Danger Den block
CPU Idle: 36c _____ CPU Load: 52c
GPU Idle: 37c _____ GPU Load: 59c
New: GTX 580 + Koolance block
CPU Idle: 37c _____ CPU Load: 53c
GPU Idle: 32c _____ GPU Load: 48c

The Danger Den block is a very unrestrictive block so I'm not surprised it ran hotter than the Koolance. It is nice to see that the new Koolance and 580 actually run cooler under the same load with the exact same fan and loop setup.

I would get much better numbers if I cranked my fans up to full (1500RPM) but the goal of my build was to run quiet even under load. I'll test full speed next just to see how much difference I get.


----------



## HAFenvy

Ok, same test as above except this is a comparison of Quiet mode versus Whoosh mode (950rpm fans versus 1500rpm fans).

Results

Quiet Mode: Fans at 950rpm
CPU Idle: 37c _____ CPU Load: 53c
GPU Idle: 32c _____ GPU Load: 48c
Whoosh Mode: Fans at 1500rpm
CPU Idle: 32c _____ CPU Load: 45c
GPU Idle: 31c _____ GPU Load: 42c

Not too bad a drop considering I'm running a single CPU/GPU loop with only a double and single rad (equiv. of a triple really). Works for me


----------



## HAFenvy

Pulled the trigger on ordering a second matched GTX 580 to go SLI. Going to pull the CPU off the main loop and run just the two video cards through the top/bottom rad combo. CPU will be put onto a separate loop and I'm cheating by going with a Corsair H80 which will go on the back 120mm position. And yes... it will all fit internally.

Now I just have to wait on all my orders coming in, buying and sleeving up a bigger PSU and all that fun nit picky detail stuff that I tend to do.


----------



## Fan o' water

Beautiful job. I wish I could get myself to sleeve cables - it would put the final touches on my build. I put mesh over them, but it isn't tight since I didn't remove the connector. I got stuck making a custom reservoir and just stopped. There was gaming to get to! ;>)
Winter is coming - time to take another stab at the reservoir and finish the build.

Since i wanted to use a 280mm SR-1 I had to put the fans outside the case, so I made a box for it. Not everyone's idea of cool, but it made it different.

Pic 38 shows my old internals( it is cleaner now, but I haven't photographed it yet) - I added it to show what I made to support the weight of my DD block. I have since sleeved it to hide the threads.
2 well nuts, threaded rod and some felt ends. Bottom sits on top of the psu.


----------



## HAFenvy

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Fan o' water;15505420*
> Beautiful job. I wish I could get myself to sleeve cables - it would put the final touches on my build. I put mesh over them, but it isn't tight since I didn't remove the connector. I got stuck making a custom reservoir and just stopped. There was gaming to get to! ;>)
> Winter is coming - time to take another stab at the reservoir and finish the build.
> 
> Since i wanted to use a 280mm SR-1 I had to put the fans outside the case, so I made a box for it. Not everyone's idea of cool, but it made it different.
> 
> Pic 38 shows my old internals( it is cleaner now, but I haven't photographed it yet) - I added it to show what I made to support the weight of my DD block. I have since sleeved it to hide the threads.
> 2 well nuts, threaded rod and some felt ends. Bottom sits on top of the psu.


Thanks! If you are going to remove the pins when you sleeve, I would look at getting yourself a pin tool (ie: ATX Pin Removal Tool / Molex Pin Removal Tool). Makes life a lot easier for removal of the pins when you want to sleeve cables. I didn't have one the first time so I have these on order and a short sample of some high density sleeving I want to check out.

As far as your box, that is a great idea as you made it look like a part of the case, nicely done







. Interesting trick with the card support you made too. Fortunately for me, my lower tubing to my bottom radiator acts as a card support but yeah I can see people wanting to add more support. Those blocks sure are heavy and I've seen a few images of sagging video cards from the weight.


----------



## Selvanthos

Nice build, Im thinking of a Rasa 750 for my pc, and then maybe adding another single 120mm radiator into the loop.


----------



## HAFenvy

Upgrade Status Update. I was travelling the first half of December and am now into XMAS Chaos. I plan to upgrade Envy to the next level in the near future which will include the following:

1.) A Second matched EVGA GTX 580 with Koolance Waterblock for SLI (max res, max settings, ohhhh yeah)

2.) Change the custom water loop to be dedicated to Video Card cooling for the SLI setup and then install...

3.) Corsair H80 with radiator on rear fan position for CPU cooling... not running a big overclock so should be fine

4.) Upgrade power supply to Corsair HX1050 to handle the increased load from SLI GTX 580s, etc.

Now... the problem is finding time to get all these components installed (and yes I have all these pieces sitting ready to go). Should be interesting to see all this gear stuffed entirely inside a 922 "mid-tower"


----------



## HAFenvy

Before...



After...



Ok... so what did I do?

- Added second GTX 580 for SLI with matching Koolance block and SLI fittings for Parallel coolant flow.
- Upgraded HX750 to HX1050 for the increased power requirements
- Changed custom water loop to be for GPUs only
- Added Corsair H80 with radiator on rear of the case for CPU only cooling with Push/Pull fans
- Re-wired all my connections hiding behind the motherboard tray

Bonus Trivia... this "mid-tower" now weighs just over 50lbs


----------



## nickbaldwin86

The 750w would have done the job









The H80 looks gross. You don't think it would have been fine with the CPU in the loop?

Great work. I really like the setup and think you did a great job with a mid-tower. I to have a mid tower I am packing just as much into... but I have a bigger externally mounted rad.


----------



## HAFenvy

I bumped to an HX1050 because a 750W is just cutting it with 2 x 580 and all the other pieces in there. During a benchmark test I ran I was pulling over 600W which would have had that 750 working harder than I like. I prefer a little more breathing room with my PSU.

I could have kept the CPU in the loop but wanted to move to a dual loop setup. That involved either buying another pump, rad and reservoir or the H80 which I got for a really good deal. I'm not a big fan of the appearance of those black tubes either but I can live with that for now while I try the thing out.

Thanks for your compliment and btw... your Avatar is the exact same CPU block I just pulled from my system - go figure!


----------



## nickbaldwin86

yes it is a TDX... but mine is custom with a Green top on it









sounds good to me, I don't see the reason for dual loops, i had 3 cards a mobo and a cpu on a single loop but each their own


----------



## HAFenvy

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *nickbaldwin86*
> 
> yes it is a TDX... but mine is custom with a Green top on it
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> sounds good to me, I don't see the reason for dual loops, i had 3 cards a mobo and a cpu on a single loop but each their own


Same posting information from a discussion in the WC club thread, fits that I should put it here as well









---

I went with the H80 for a couple reasons actually. First, when I originally added the GTX 580 to the loop with the CPU block, I noticed my coolant flow rate dropped quite a bit (the Koolance block is much more restrictive). Adding another GPU block, even in parallel, would be another hit to the pump and flow rate so I thought it would be fun to go dual loop. Second, going dual loop would allow me to isolate the two different heat load profiles of the GPU vs CPU (either way I wanted to go dual loop). Going dual loop meant either buying another pump, reservoir and radiator and stuffing all that into the case or go with a kit... the H80 was on sale so I thought... hey why not.

I made a point of temperature testing before and after to see what the effect would be. These tests were done with the CPU back at my 2.8GHz testing baseline, all fans on low (900rpm) and with the H80 on setting one (slow/quiet). I ran the OCCT GPU test (Furmark with some CPU load) for one hour and monitored the temperatures... this is what I got:

Ambient: 22c

Single GTX 580 + i7 on the same loop
CPU Idle: 37c *** CPU during test: 53c
GPU Idle: 32c *** GPU during test: 48c

Two GTX 580 (SLI) on loop, i7 on H80
CPU Idle: 36c *** CPU during test: 43c
GPU Idle: 32c *** GPU during test: 61c

Not super amazing numbers but you have to keep in mind, all my fans are slow and super quiet. I water cool to make my system quiet, not to get crazy low numbers on my cooling. Kind of nice being able to game on a system and the loudest component is the 200mm fan in the front.

Oh and if I crank the fans to full (1500RPM) and my H80 to setting 3 (fastest) which puts those same replacement fans on the H80 at 1500RPM, I knock the GPU temperatures down by another 10c and my CPU by 5c when tested for an hour.

I can live with that, next will be to overclock the video cards now that they are on their own loop and see what they can handle


----------



## nickbaldwin86

with those temps I couldn't justify running a H80 in my case... but its your computer so


----------



## HeadlessArbiter

Are you sure your cards are set up in the loop right? Just looking at the picture it looks like the water is coming from the sli fitting and going straight through the second card holes


----------



## HAFenvy

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *HeadlessArbiter*
> 
> Are you sure your cards are set up in the loop right? Just looking at the picture it looks like the water is coming from the sli fitting and going straight through the second card holes


The loop is done in parallel. The water flows into the one side of the first card and passes through the SLI connector to split the water flow through both cards at the same time. The water passes through both video blocks at the same time and then exits the opposite side. It is a good way to avoid creating a lot of restriction with the cards in series. When in series, the flow goes throught he first, gets heated up and then enters the second card and that isn't as effective.

Some people use those bridge connectors for their SLI which are typically offered in both Series and Parallel flow options. My case probably looks a little different because I'm just using SLI adapters that go between both blocks.


----------



## HeadlessArbiter

I never thought about running SLI in parallel, that would be so much more effective.


----------



## Kires

Hmmm..... I have read all over that Parallel Flow does not make that much of a difference in SLI or Crossfire. Have you tried testing that in your computer? Since you already have done a test with that configuration, (if you feel like breaking your loop) try switching it to Series Flow and see what happens?


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## HAFenvy

The only thing I could see with moving to serial is a slightly higher temperature on the second card and an impact on the flow rate of the water. To split my loop up now is a hassle as I would have to drain the loop, take the SLI fittings out and move my tubes. I think I'll have to take a pass on testing that myself but it would be interesting to see if someone has done real world tests on the overall impacts each setup actually has.


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## mandrix

Just found this thread, and I love it! I've been recently considering custom water cooling my HAF 922 / Z77 or at least a kit, and this has me fired up again. Great work!


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## HAFenvy

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *mandrix*
> 
> Just found this thread, and I love it! I've been recently considering custom water cooling my HAF 922 / Z77 or at least a kit, and this has me fired up again. Great work!


Thanks Mandrix, sorry for the slow response but my OCN notices didn't tell me about your post (odd). As you probably saw, you'll want to be sure you size things up before stuffing everything inside the 922, it can be done but it is pretty darn tight.

I'm already pondering my next build and being Star Wars day (May the 4th be with you!)... let's just say it will be a Star Wars theme build. Expect to see that sometime late summer once I get some free time and figure out exactly how I want to attack the new design.


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## sunset1

Simply amazing. Im a hardware guy but my working with metal is like drawing stick figures out of proportion in art class.
Your ability and attention to detail is stunning.
I am going the opposite route and putting my radiators outside the case. To me its all about ease of use and efficiency. We both are trying to achive the same goal tho, great cooling and low noise. Because i have no background or budget for watercooling, i decided on a low maintenance closed loop system. Actually two.
I saw a thread a while back on OCN about using a closed loop cooler for a gpu. That idea really appeals to me as the gpu cards make a lot of heat and are loud.
I have a build page under my nic and ill try to figure out how to make a link for you to see.
I got a thermatake water 2.0 extreme for the top and I have yet to purchase the system for the card.
I took the plastic piece off the top of the case and cut a hole there to pass my cpu block thru along with hoses. the plastic cover hides the hole i just used gorilla black duct tape on both sides to close the hole. Yes its large on top of the case and i think ill call this case Hotplate. :> Now to find a griddle top for it to put my coffee on. My main idea is to get the most heat out of the system to keep the vrms and power supply etc cool.
Prob a medium+ overclock as stability is the most important thing to me. Ill put the Khuler or whatever radiator in the back 120mm fan space.
I had no choice but to external the rad as it did not fit with my 200mm fan internally. I kept the fan on the inside and put two 120's on the top in a pull configuration.
Once i figure out photo bucket ill past some pics.
thanks again and when i can do so ill rep. :> So many ideas so little time.
sunset1


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## kevindd992002

Sorry for bumping this thread but I'm looking for the best way to mount a radiator of the Arctic Cooling Accelero Hybrid Cooler for my GPU. Here's the pic of my case:



I will be buying Arctic Cooling Accelero Hybrid Cooler which is an AIO liquid cooling system and don't know where to put the radiator in such a way that the airflow (which I optimized vastly) of my current setup will be minimally interrupted. My current setup is for a positive pressure setup following ideas of ehume in his thread.


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## HAFenvy

Really with this case, you have two nice locations near the GPU because the radiator is a single 120mm unit. You could use the bottom fan position or the rear fan position and set the airflow up in such a way that works best for you. Considering the amount of heat a GPU spits out, I would strongly suggest putting it at a position for exhausting straight out of the case so you don't dump hot air into the positive pressure setup. My vote would be for the rear of the case exhausting out if that is your current heat exit location. Your MSI fan is already shoving air out the back now so essentially this would be much the same.


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## kevindd992002

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *HAFenvy*
> 
> Really with this case, you have two nice locations near the GPU because the radiator is a single 120mm unit. You could use the bottom fan position or the rear fan position and set the airflow up in such a way that works best for you. Considering the amount of heat a GPU spits out, I would strongly suggest putting it at a position for exhausting straight out of the case so you don't dump hot air into the positive pressure setup. My vote would be for the rear of the case exhausting out if that is your current heat exit location. Your MSI fan is already shoving air out the back now so essentially this would be much the same.


I forgot to mention that I modified the placements of some components from the picture I've posted above. The fans of the Silver Arrow heatsink are in a pull-pull configuration now in order for my side panel fan to fit (when the right fan is in push configuration I have to place it higher because of the RAM modules). With this config, I think the rad/fan combination would not fit. Even if it would fit, the hot air of the heatsink will be exhausted out of the case through the rad and I don't think that's good right?

Also, my GPU is now a Gigabyte GTX 670. If it was still MSI, the fans are exhausting hot air inside the case and not out the back (only reference blower style cooler exhausts out the back). I did a lot of reading and it seems that more people recommend to put the rad/fan combo in the bottom fan slot in intake config because it produces better temps than setting it as exhaust. What do you think?


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## HAFenvy

If you want to maintain the positive pressure and also suck cool air through the radiator in the bottom position then yes that is a good spot for it. My only concern would be the amount of heat being dumped into the main chassis and how that would affect your CPU cooling temperatures. If you are not running crazy overclocks and the processor is at a reasonable temperature, the bottom position would work well.


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## dalastbmills

Hey, just wanted to say awesome job with your rig!

I just installed a Rasa RX240 Raystorm Extreme in my rig yesturday. Although I am still fine-tuning the installation and whatnot, I definitely had a blast installing the loop!

I love how sexy those (black??) lights are in your rig! Where did you get them? Also, I believe I read that you are using some UV coolant, but is your tubing UV as well? I am using just plain distilled water in my UV blue tubing but I would LOVE to get one of those lights! Do you think the light would still work well with just UV tubing?


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## kevindd992002

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *HAFenvy*
> 
> If you want to maintain the positive pressure and also suck cool air through the radiator in the bottom position then yes that is a good spot for it. My only concern would be the amount of heat being dumped into the main chassis and how that would affect your CPU cooling temperatures. If you are not running crazy overclocks and the processor is at a reasonable temperature, the bottom position would work well.


Ah ok. So with the bottom intake option, the COU temperature is the only thing I should be worried about? How about the case temp that may affect the VRM and MOSFETs of the motherboard itself?


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## HAFenvy

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *dalastbmills*
> 
> Hey, just wanted to say awesome job with your rig!
> I just installed a Rasa RX240 Raystorm Extreme in my rig yesturday. Although I am still fine-tuning the installation and whatnot, I definitely had a blast installing the loop!
> I love how sexy those (black??) lights are in your rig! Where did you get them? Also, I believe I read that you are using some UV coolant, but is your tubing UV as well? I am using just plain distilled water in my UV blue tubing but I would LOVE to get one of those lights! Do you think the light would still work well with just UV tubing?


Thanks! I'm using both UV tubing and UV Coolant. You won't need UV coolant to get the same effect as your tubing takes care of the glow effect (the coolant won't make it any brighter). I just wanted to see the coolant glowing in my original clear top Danger Den CPU block and the reservoir as well. The UV lights you can get at most computer part shops (I got mine from NCIX). The lights I'm using are a Dual 12in Logisys UV Cold Cathode kit. With one horizontal across the top and the other vertical along the drive bay, I get pretty good UV coverage on all the tubing.
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *kevindd992002*
> 
> Ah ok. So with the bottom intake option, the COU temperature is the only thing I should be worried about? How about the case temp that may affect the VRM and MOSFETs of the motherboard itself?


Only testing will tell once you get the new hardware installed into the case. The effect of the heat from the new radiator will most likely raise the temperature you are getting now inside the case but I'm not sure if it will be enough to worry about or not. The best thing to do would be to get a temperature test baseline now before the cooler is installed to see what your temperatures are now (running GPU benchmark to stress the system a little). After you install the new cooler, do the same test(s) and see what and where things changed. If some stuff goes up a lot, then start looking at changing airflow to adjust the cooling in the case.


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## kevindd992002

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *HAFenvy*
> 
> Only testing will tell once you get the new hardware installed into the case. The effect of the heat from the new radiator will most likely raise the temperature you are getting now inside the case but I'm not sure if it will be enough to worry about or not. The best thing to do would be to get a temperature test baseline now before the cooler is installed to see what your temperatures are now (running GPU benchmark to stress the system a little). After you install the new cooler, do the same test(s) and see what and where things changed. If some stuff goes up a lot, then start looking at changing airflow to adjust the cooling in the case.


How do I get that temperature baseline now though? I have an Infrared Thermometer would me but I'm not sure where to point it at during benchmarking?


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## HAFenvy

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *kevindd992002*
> 
> How do I get that temperature baseline now though? I have an Infrared Thermometer would me but I'm not sure where to point it at during benchmarking?


Most people will use a monitoring tool like the ones from CPUID. They are free and you can use HWMonitor to see your temperature readings being reported directly from components: http://www.cpuid.com/softwares/hwmonitor.html . Using this, you'll be able to see your temperatures, fan speeds that are connected to motherboard fan headers, etc. Very handy tool for monitoring your system temperatures. You could then use your infrared to monitor locations in the case that aren't monitored by the software (ie: temperature of the air coming out an exhaust position, etc)

This site is also where you get CPU-Z that you might have seen people reference when showing proof of their Overclock speeds: http://www.cpuid.com/softwares/cpu-z.html .

As far as pushing the system, there are lots of different tools out there you could use from game benchmarks to ones you have to pay for. I would let the system idle for a while and then note the temperatures from HWMonitor. Then crank up some game or push your system with HWMonitor running in the background and you can check out the "Max" reading column later to see how hot things actually got without having to keep watching it.


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## kevindd992002

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *HAFenvy*
> 
> Most people will use a monitoring tool like the ones from CPUID. They are free and you can use HWMonitor to see your temperature readings being reported directly from components: http://www.cpuid.com/softwares/hwmonitor.html . Using this, you'll be able to see your temperatures, fan speeds that are connected to motherboard fan headers, etc. Very handy tool for monitoring your system temperatures. You could then use your infrared to monitor locations in the case that aren't monitored by the software (ie: temperature of the air coming out an exhaust position, etc)
> This site is also where you get CPU-Z that you might have seen people reference when showing proof of their Overclock speeds: http://www.cpuid.com/softwares/cpu-z.html .
> As far as pushing the system, there are lots of different tools out there you could use from game benchmarks to ones you have to pay for. I would let the system idle for a while and then note the temperatures from HWMonitor. Then crank up some game or push your system with HWMonitor running in the background and you can check out the "Max" reading column later to see how hot things actually got without having to keep watching it.


I'm actually a long time user of cpuz and hwmonitor with that. What I was actually asking if those can monitor ambient case temps which is what I'm concernedd at because we are setting a baseline temp reference here.


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## HAFenvy

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *kevindd992002*
> 
> I'm actually a long time user of cpuz and hwmonitor with that. What I was actually asking if those can monitor ambient case temps which is what I'm concernedd at because we are setting a baseline temp reference here.


I guess pick a spot that is somewhat central where you think there may be heat build up and stick with that for both tests. I'm usually more concerned about the component temperatures that HWMonitor watches than the overall case interior air temperature might be for the most part. The only thing I ever did for air temperature was to put a digital thermometer on my exhaust fan position to see how hot that was.


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## kevindd992002

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *HAFenvy*
> 
> I guess pick a spot that is somewhat central where you think there may be heat build up and stick with that for both tests. I'm usually more concerned about the component temperatures that HWMonitor watches than the overall case interior air temperature might be for the most part. The only thing I ever did for air temperature was to put a digital thermometer on my exhaust fan position to see how hot that was.


Ok. Why is it important to monitor the temp of the exhaust fan though?


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## HAFenvy

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *kevindd992002*
> 
> Ok. Why is it important to monitor the temp of the exhaust fan though?


It's not that important, just interesting to get an idea how hot the temperature exiting the system is (to give you an idea what the interior of your case is like)


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## XtachiX

this has come so far since last time i visited here








nice work


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