Sleepy; The extreme Sony Vaio

Lupac · October 25, 2020

Hello LTT Forum. I am excited to show you all my build and start a build log to better document my efforts over this silly machine.

So this is my Sony Vaio. The family got one of theses new at PC Richards, Half-life 2 was on the shelf above it the day we got it. Needless today it had a huge impact on me, was the best gaming experience that 12 year old me couldn't afford, it home schooled me in windows xp, started my professional career, all that good stuff. I had the idea years back when I learned about water cooling systems. I'd say I started this is 2015 when I purchased hardware, a 4790k and 980ti classified. I got the hardware fitted but at the time I was not competent to complete it, shortly after a box of parts was thrown in the garbage and I gave up. After looking for a year in 2018 I got lucky found a new in box never used model and I completed it February this year.

The goal of this build log is to start looking threw my old photos and document what parts of the build I can. My other goal is to collaborate with you all on LTT forum to help finish my build, and lend a hand with all of yours

The next part of my build is to develop and my own custom usb 3.0 front panel with 2-3 usb type A, 1 usb type c adapter, and front Panel audio connectors. I have no pcb development experience, But lucky in my research there are no active or even passive components necessary to make one. It's an issue of trace length and signal integrity which I am hoping to find some help with this part.

I also have a side panel, and I want peoples opinion on how sleeper I should keep this. Should I go with a full window cut? or just a clearance cut to clear the gfx watercooling? I have to cut the side panel if I want it to fix around my gfx card.

AndreiArgeanu · October 25, 2020

Spectacular looking build. The Vaio's case definitely looks way more modern than it actually is. I'm also curious on how you got the power supply connected to the port at the back, I assume the mounting for the radiator and power were custom made.

DildorTheDecent · October 25, 2020

19 minutes ago, Lupac said:

Can you take off the top panel? Curious as to where those tubes going upwards go.

Very cool build. That case looks great considering how old it is.

Lupac · October 30, 2020

On 10/25/2020 at 1:06 PM, AndreiArgeanu said:

On 10/25/2020 at 1:14 PM, DildorTheDecent said:

Okay so were going to work in reverse for this build log because it's already complete! Heres a shot of the Vaio with most of the plastic trim removed.

When I was building this a lot of people suggested that I use a 240 or 280mm rad for the top and mount it horizontally. I went with the two vertical rads, one 120mm and one 140mm. I was up for a challenge and I wanted the look of all the tubes passing threw the opening in the case. I got extremely lucky with the 120mm rad, the dimensions of the rad fit exactly to the space available with a friction fit, I still threw some screws in the back. Now the 140mm up front was a last minute choice took months to fit. I was planning on using some dual 50mm Alphacool rad and I had designed a shroud to adapt some 80mm fans. I realized that I needed more radiator surface area or I could have some cooling problems. Fitting the rad wasn't the difficult part, the problem was I had already mounted the power supply in that location. In the stock metal work there was a hard drive cage that would slide and lock in along two metal tabs on the lower front of the chassis. So I designed and printed some mounts that would attach to the PSU and slide it onto the metal tabs, I got so lucky because there is about 2mm of clearance between the gpu and psu.

Mounting the power inlet at the back became a problem once I choose my motherboard. The Asus crosshair VIII impact has a daughter board that is installed about the gpu. This board was going to contact the 92mm radiator so I had to move the power inlet and flip the radiator. This took a lot of tweaks because there's exactly enough space to fit and it makes draining a PITA.