[In-Progress] Project Comilinx (updated 3 August 2015)

[CtW]

 

Thanks to @Rumikarimu for the banner!

 

Welcome to my build log of Project Comilinx. Here's a link to it: http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/123649-red-phantom-small-not-important-update/. This is going to be my first major attempt at case modding as well as watercooling, and I'd say that I'm going pretty hardcore with this for someone who has no experience with watercooling or case modding. In addition to the 90 degree motherboard rotation that I mentioned in the title, I will be removing the 3.5 and 5.25 inch drive cages to make room for a front 360mm radiator, modding the rear panel either to accomodate a 360mm radiator (which would mean moving the PSU) or a 240/280 (which would allow it to stay where it is). I'll have do do a similar thing to the top panel and cover to make way for the I/O area, the various cables that get plugged in their and maybe a fan or two. There will be a shroud that will cover up the power supply, the HDD and maybe the pump. There will be a cutout where my Samsung 840 will stick out a little bit and the radiator will be attached to the top of this. Clearance with the GPU will not be an issue as I plan on upgrading to a 970 with a short PCB. I'll also be cutting holes in the side of the case's front panel for additional air intake as the entire top and most much of the bottom fans don't have much in the way of direct intake. I will plastidip everything (panels, motherboard, back of GPU) and plan on doing a cool paint job with the RAM to make it match this build. I won't try and pursue any sponsorships because of the fact that this is my first modded/watercooled build but if anyone wants to give me parts that is definitely welcome. Onto the parts

 

Red = do not have

Yellow = ordered

Green = have

Black = reused from v1

 

Main components:

• Case: NZXT Phantom 410 in black 
• CPU: Intel Core i7 4770k @ 4.2 Ghz
• CPU Cooler: Corsair H60 --> look in watercooling bit
• Mobo: Gigabyte Z87X-UD4H
• RAM: Crucial Ballistix Sport 2x8GB @ 1600mHz
• GPU: Gigabyte GTX 970 G1 Gaming 
• Storage: 1 x 120GB Samsung 840 and 1 x 2TB 7200rpm Toshiba HDD
• PSU: EVGA 750 G2
• Fans: 6 x Corsair SP120 Quiet Edition Fans 
• OS: Windows 8.1 

Watercooling: (subject to change)

• EK Supremacy EVO acetal + nickel
• EK 970 WF3 Acetal + Nickel
• EK Coolstream PE (1x360mm and 1x240mm)
• EK XTOP D5 vario - acetal (pump w/ top)
• Bitspower Watertank Z-Multi 150  
• All of the various fittings I would need (from EK)
• Primochill PrimoFlex Advanced LRT Crystal Clear 7/16" ID x 5/8" OD
• Mayhems Pastel Premixed coolant in color to match build

Modding:

• Sheet aluminum for PSU cover and new motherboard tray to go over current one
• sleeved cables (color coordinated with build)
• Modder's mesh to act as fan filters for everything
• some thing that I can use to fill in the gaps of the 5.25 inch bay door to make it flush with the rest of the case or just some glue
• Black Plasti-dip to go over everything
• Red spray paint (I'm pretty sure I have some)

The color scheme of this build is one thing that I'm thinking about changing. My whole room is painted blue and my peripherals have RGB LEDs in them. The only issues are the red paint job on the motherboard (however that can be solved with some careful painting) and the Debug LED which is bright red. 

 

Here's a terrible concept thing I made a while ago that details what I want to do

 

UPDATES:

28 February 2015 - Modded the Front Panel a Bit

19 March 2015 - (2 part update) Side panel window mod, plasti dip RAM, and paint SSD

24 July 2015 - Quick pic of the finished build in the Define S

5 November 2015 - Discoloration and LEDs

 

Onto the pics. Recently I started off the project by removing the 5.25 inch drive cage and made way for 360mm radiator capability.

 

Please excuse the blurriness of the following pictures. My camera doesn't do that well in low light situations.

 

\/ The only good shot I got of the PC before the teardown began. I apologize for the flash \/

\/ All the panels are off \/ 

 

\/ A couple interesting shots of the GPU and cooling assembly out of the case \/

 

\/ The motherboard and H60 out of the case \/

 

\/ Close up of the VRM heatsink \/

 

\/ Everything but the fans and PSU out of the case \/ 

 

\/ The case is completely empty \/

 

\/ All the parts that came out of the case \/

 

\/ The case in my dad's workshop before teardown \/

 

\/ After much rivet drilling and struggle, the 5.25 inch cage is out of the case! \/

 

\/ Now to cut out this strip of the case to allow room for a 3rd front fan \/

 

\/ It's out and the edges have been ground down. For my first time cutting metal with my dremel micro, I think I did a pretty good job \/

 

\/ Time to put on some music while re-assembling the computer  (if anyone wants the playlist, PM me. It has 3,654 songs now) \/

 

\/ The case empty before re-assembly \/ 

 

\/ The case is assembled and 1 day has passes! \/

 

Any advice on the modding process or what type of sheet metal to get is greatly apreciated! Also, I know that many other builders post their build logs on a bunch of different forums (OCN, Bit-Tech, etc), should I do the same? Is there any benefit other than more user feedback?

Edited November 5, 2015 by CtW

[Darkman]

I cringed when I saw your motherboard on carpet...

 

Like the build though.

[Marvzl1357]

That's NOOOOOOOIIIIIIIIIIIIIIICCCCCCCEE

[CtW]

I cringed when I saw your motherboard on carpet...

 

Like the build though.

Haha I never thought about the issues with it being on the carpet actually. The PC is working so it was fine I guess. Anyway thanks!

 

That's NOOOOOOOIIIIIIIIIIIIIIICCCCCCCEE

Thanks!

[CtW]

I just finished some front panel mods so expect an update in the coming hours!

[CtW]

Banner created by @Rumikarimu

Update 1!!!!

 

The main focus of this update is a mod I did to the front panel and drive bay door. The plastic that was on the back of the door and in the area covered by that door was a problem: It would block any air from going into the top fan of the 360mm radiator I will put there. So I removed any plastic that would block the fan from drawing in any air. I did this instead of cutting holes into the door simply because this was my first time cutting plastic and it would not look good. Also I'm both mad and really happy with NZXT for using 1/8th inch thick plastic. That shit is solid and a pain in the ass to cut. I ended up having to stop using my dremel and resort to a pull saw and hack saw blade. The cuts I made are pretty sloppy imho but they won't be seen by anyone. On to the pics!

 

A pic of my dad's workshop where I did everything. This place is huge and has pretty much any tool you would need in it.

 

The front panel before the cutting

 

The door's off

 

The fascia off of the door

 

I cut out the flat bit that practically touched the dummy fan I put in when planning this. Using the dremel on it was a pain in the ass.

 

The door with the fascia back on. You can see the difference in how big the door is.

 

After much frustration and fiddling around with saw blades, i managed to get the lower part of the plastic that blocked air from getting from the front intake to the yet to be installed fan (it also covered up 20% of the middle fan)

 

An inside view

 

After much less but still real frustration, I cut off the top part of the plastic that was there. I did this to allow the fan to draw some air in from the top to supplement it's fairly limited airflow

 

I removed the door's latch as the door won't need to be opened and was broken and was unable to keep the door shut.

 

The door is back on the panel

 

And the panel looks stock from the outside!

 

A shot of the inside

 

All the tools I used

 

The music I listened too while working. (This album is amazing btw)

 

And the panel is back on the case!

 

I sat a fan down where the top fan of the rad would go to test air flow

 

In my testing, I noticed that even with the door closed, the fan was still moving a good amount of air!

 

Thanks for looking through such a long update! Leave a comment and tell me what you think! Expect a major update before the end of march.

[CtW]

Sorry about the weird spacing of the text, Idk what's causing it.

[CtW]

Crap! I forgot to tag @Darkman and @NerdNinja.

[CtW]

I just placed an order for a bunch of plastidip and some plexiglass for a larger window. I'll be getting some sheet aluminum and metal cutting blades for my dad's jigsaw soon! Expect an update in a week or 2!

[CtW]

Yay the plexiglass came!

All I need now is the Plastidip and some metal cutting blades for my dad's jigsaw and I'll be able to do the window mod!

[CtW]

So I've been thinking about the name of this project and I really want to change it but I have no idea what to change it to! Red Phantom isn't a creative name at all and I think I can do much better. I've been considering a name that references the planned motherboard rotation I can't come up with a good name that does that. So if any one has any suggestions or wants me to keep the name please leave a reply!

[CtW]

Banner created by @Rumikarimu

Update 2a!!!

 

Oh man oh man oh man oh man. There's a damn huge update coming your way!!! So over the last week I have, touched up the previous mod to the front panel, painted my SSD, plasti-dipped a side panel and made a window mod to that same panel. This post will be about the side panel mod. There will be a 2b which will focus on the SSD and touch ups to the previous mod. Those things were done a while ago so that's why it is 2b and not 3. Also please do give suggestions for the new name as I do need an new one. Anyway lets get to the pics (and boy are there a lot of them)!

 

So today I got a package from amazon which had my plasti-dip in it

 

I had to move over to the workbench by the radial arm saw as my mom is currently restoring a chair

 

Inside of the box was another box and inside that box was the plastidip

 

Time to tear apart the side panel

 

I bent back the tabs that were holding the window in place and removed it

 

Time to search through my dad's massive collection of power tools to find the jigsaw

 

By sheer luck I actually managed to find it in the first try and it has the right blade for cutting metal!

 

The side panel has been taped up with the proper lines drawn on it and I have measured out the proper size for the window with a massive t-square thing

 

After much frustration, I have finally cut the hole in the panel and refined the edges. For this being the first time I've ever used a jigsaw in my life, I think I did a good job.

 

Time to cut the Plexi/Lexan with the table saw

 

The process of getting it down to the right size was terrifying. I do not recomment trimming the edge of a plexiglass sheet with a table saw. Bits of plastic go flying, there are many loud noises, and you get covered in shavings.

 

After this I began the dipping process. I decided to do this to my RAM  to stealth it.

 

The DIMMs are masked and ready to go!

 

Fast forward a few hours the paint is complete! I put 5 coats on the side panel which resulted in a powdercoat-like finish and one really huge coat on each side of the memory which was much more smooth.

 

I applied double sided tape to the edges of the panel and stuck the piece of plexi on it.

 

Overall, I think this turned out pretty well. If I could I would redo the panel as it isn't perfect, but its fine. I do need to sand down an edge of the window so that it can properly sit in the case. I have no idea how I'm going to do this with it attached to the side panel but I'll find a way!

 

Here's a pic of the panel back on the system

 

So there it is! For now the name of this will be project no name because it has no name.

[CtW]

Banner created by @Rumikarimu

Update 2b!!!

 

This update is going to focus on work I did a week ago and never got around to posting. As mentioned in update 2a, this will involve painting my SSD and touching up the mods I did to the front panel. i will likely plastidip over all but the red square on the SSD, to make it all stealthy, and have it displayed on the side of the shroud that will cover the PSU.

 

Here's the SSD that's about to get painted

 

All masked up

 

Getting painted

 

The paint is dry

 

And the tape comes off!

 

Here it is back in the case

 

Now for the polishing up of the previous mods!

 

After much sanding and dremelling

 

Here's the whole assembly. It's much cleaner than before

 

That's all for update 2! 

 

Well not quite. I have both good and bad news. The bad news is that my dremel micro is kinda broken. One of the contacts for charging the device broke off somehow and as a result it won't charge. I am very fortunate to have access to an immense amount of tools that can do many things, but that dremel does allow me to do things that I can't do with the tools that my dad has (unless he has a rotary tool I don't know about) or by hand. Also it was a gift so there's that too. The good news is that I have set a timeline for the completion of this whole thing!

 

• Motherboard rotation, rear 240mm rad mount, PSU shroud (all plasti-dipped) and motherboard/other non GPU PCB's plasti dipped - End of March/Early April
  
• Sleeved cables w/ cable combs purchased along with whatever WC supplies I can afford after that - end of April/beginning of  May
  
• New GPU and remaining WC parts - after 16th Birthday (June 29) <-- I tend to get a decent amount of money during this time which should allow me to afford all this
  

Unless I'm forgetting something, that should be all! Leave a reply and tell me what you think of the build so far!

[NerdNinja]

Nice build!

[CtW]

Nice build!

Thanks!

[CtW]

I decided to just use a tumblr name generator to get the new name and the one that sounded best to me was Comilinx. What do you guys think about it?

[JT8101997]

I decided to just use a tumblr name generator to get the new name and the one that sounded best to me was Comilinx. What do you guys think about it?

i like it

[CtW]

I've decided that I like Comilinx as a name so I made it official. Now to ask @Rumikarimu for a banner!

[CtW]

I've also been thinking of changing the color scheme from Red/Black to Blue/Black w/ Chrome accents. This would be done to match my room and also red/black is pretty over done. I'd probably strip the red paint off of my mobo's heatsinks and put some form of heat resistan blue paint on it. Should I do that? Keep in mind this will add time to the build and idk if the fluid i want to use would fit with the blue fan rings on the sp 120s

[JT8101997]

I've also been thinking of changing the color scheme from Red/Black to Blue/Black w/ Chrome accents. This would be done to match my room and also red/black is pretty over done. I'd probably strip the red paint off of my mobo's heatsinks and put some form of heat resistan blue paint on it. Should I do that? Keep in mind this will add time to the build and idk if the fluid i want to use would fit with the blue fan rings on the sp 120s

i like that idea. might be a little difficult but everything you can do to separate yourself from other builds and make yours unique is something i will support looking good so far btw nice job. oh and also if you were thinking of doing that and if you wanted it to look really nice (idk what your budget is on this build) but you could have them powder coated. that way it would look just like it came that way from the factory. idk if theres any plastic in those parts but i would think not. and just a guess it would be around maybe $30-$50. just a thought

[CtW]

i like that idea. might be a little difficult but everything you can do to separate yourself from other builds and make yours unique is something i will support looking good so far btw nice job. oh and also if you were thinking of doing that and if you wanted it to look really nice (idk what your budget is on this build) but you could have them powder coated. that way it would look just like it came that way from the factory. idk if theres any plastic in those parts but i would think not. and just a guess it would be around maybe $30-$50. just a thought

I've been thinking of maybe putting plasti-dip on the parts of the heatsinks that say ultra durable and strip off the red to give it a chrome/black theme with the only blue being on the fans and the fluid.

[JT8101997]

I've been thinking of maybe putting plasti-dip on the parts of the heatsinks that say ultra durable and strip off the red to give it a chrome/black theme with the only blue being on the fans and the fluid.

yay my first friend lol yeah that sounds good. what kind of fluid are you using? and btw let me know if you need any water cooling advice im happy to help ive done just about everything when it comes to pc modding but i just recently started with making the build logs.

[JT8101997]

i'm using mayhems nebula blue in my portal build and probably the same fans as this build.

 

http://www.frozencpu.com/products/24286/ex-liq-386/Mayhems_Aurora_2_Coolant_Premix_-_1L_-_Nebula_Blue_.html?tl=g30c337s1809&id=nvPDCKJ2

[CtW]

I just updated the update posts with the banner  that @Rumikarimu made for me! I think it looks pretty damn nice!

[CtW]

Ok so this is a bit of a big small update. I have recieved/ordered many parts since the last update and will post a proper update with pics and everything soon. The purpose of this update is about the future of this build and why it has been taking so damn long. The main reason for this is the lack of proper tools (drill press to drill out holes), and the fact that my dremel broke a while ago and honestly, I've been to lazy to RMA it (i finally sent Dremel something about it tonight, over a month after it broke).

 

SO

 

I have 3 options right now. 

1. Leave build in the ghetto state that it is in with the same cooling and whatever until I complete the case mod then finally build the loop in the case.
2. Get all of my parts and make some weird ass ghetto loop on my desk.
3. Put the case mod on hold until I get around to doing it and buy an enthoo pro or Define S and put the loop in that. 

Imma make a poll about this so PLEASE VOTE ON IT PLEASE. I really don't want to abandon this case mod because it will look fucking sick when it's done, but it really might be out of my league for now IDK.

 

Here's what the computer's current state is:

Yes that is my hard drive on top of the box for my camera being cooled by a blue LED fan with the PSU next to it. What you can't see is that my SSD is hanging from the sata cable that is attached to it.