Well, this isn't exactly a worklog, but I just wanted to document this project the best I could, to try to get some advice on what needs to be done during this move.

Basically, the only thing going on is moving my internals from the Chieftec Server Tower to a Lian Li PC-65B, with some superb air cooling (five Vantec Tornados) and some uber wire management. I'll also be using a power supply mod kit, UV Blue, thanks to Thrasher, heh. Then, putting in some blue cold cathodes.

All the fan wiring will be sleeved in blue with standard connectors, and all the power supply wires will be sleeved in black with black connectors. The connectors, black sleeving, and blue cold cathodes will be arriving from Xoxide.com on Tuesday, so this should be completed on Wednesday or Thursday.

No real "modding" will take place here. The case is already nice, and I've purchased a rheobus with it (made from a Lian Li drive bay cover), and I just may stealth the CD drive. Nothing is for sure just yet, though.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

......Sweeeeet Work!!!
You lucky Dogg.....where did you get the Lian Li PC-65B case? (SWEEEEEEET CASE)

Quote: Originally Posted by Thrasher2 You lucky Dogg.....where did you get the Lian Li PC-65B case? (SWEEEEEEET CASE)

I actually probably should've posted that.

For future information, if anyone's curious, I actually got this case on a freaking STEAL! I got this case, five Vantec Tornados, the rheobus, the fantails, etc. all for $120 from a good friend of mine. The case and parts were lightly used, but with a little cleanup with a compressed air can and some anti-static wipes, it cleaned up real nice!

Now, I just need to buy his Vapochill rig.

Quote: Originally Posted by subdismal I actually probably should've posted that. For future information, if anyone's curious, I actually got this case on a freaking STEAL! I got this case, five Vantec Tornados, the rheobus, the fantails, etc. all for $120 from a good friend of mine. The case and parts were lightly used, but with a little cleanup with a compressed air can and some anti-static wipes, it cleaned up real nice! Now, I just need to buy his Vapochill rig.

What ya puting inside da new case???????

Quote: Originally Posted by HemiCuda1970 What ya puting inside da new case???????

Well, it's going to be all the current internals. I'll go ahead and list them now:

Antec TruePower 430-watt PSU
Asus A7N8X-X
AMD Athlon XP 2100+ t-bred 1.73@2.25GHz/1.775v
2x 512MB Crucial PC3200
Seagate 40GB, 7200rpm hard drive (OS)
Western Digital 120GB, 7200rpm hard drive (secondary)
LiteOn DVD CD/RW



I've also decided I'll probably go ahead and stealth the drive. I'd like to stealth it, and run a mometary switch to a spare 3.5" slot cover for external open/close action.

The parts will be here on Tuesday to fully get this project going.

Quote: Originally Posted by subdismal Well, it's going to be all the current internals. I'll go ahead and list them now: Antec TruePower 430-watt PSU Asus A7N8X-X AMD Athlon XP 2100+ t-bred 1.73@2.25GHz/1.775v 2x 512MB Crucial PC3200 Seagate 40GB, 7200rpm hard drive (OS) Western Digital 120GB, 7200rpm hard drive (secondary) LiteOn DVD CD/RW I've also decided I'll probably go ahead and stealth the drive. I'd like to stealth it, and run a mometary switch to a spare 3.5" slot cover for external open/close action. The parts will be here on Tuesday to fully get this project going.

What happend to your other projects? X-Box and that other computer ya got as a gift?

5x5000+ RPM fans...hmmmmmmmm!!

Well enjoy your sleep.

Next time to ensure that you dont burn the heatshrink ( I assume your using a lighter) only use the base-blue part of the flame. Never use the tip-orange part of the flame due to that being the point where oxygen is being consumed and the gas is burning off. If you only use the blue youll have much better results.

Quote: Originally Posted by TYCOON 5x5000+ RPM fans...hmmmmmmmm!! Well enjoy your sleep.

Well, I have three of them in my rig now; it's not so bad on a rheobus. But, it's still god-awful loud

Quote: Originally Posted by Sparky Next time to ensure that you dont burn the heatshrink ( I assume your using a lighter) only use the base-blue part of the flame. Never use the tip-orange part of the flame due to that being the point where oxygen is being consumed and the gas is burning off. If you only use the blue youll have much better results.

Thanks for the tip. I usually use a heat gun, but the only one I have heats to a minimum of 850F, so it ends up melting the sleeving, the heatshrink, and the wires. So, that's not good. Thanks for the tip, though!

A hairdryer on high works pretty good too. Probably depends on the dryer though.

I have used green and blue heatshrink before with the same results as yours, but then I tried just using black and you can't see the char marks if there are any

On a kinda-sorta-related subject... oddly enough, I found that the heatshrink that came with my sleeving kits was of a pretty bad quality, or just was too hard because it wouldn't shrink down that much. I went to my local electronics shop and bought like 4ft of 6 different widths of it for like $10, and it worked super.

Lookin' good with the case and fans

Quote: Originally Posted by thedemonxanth A hairdryer on high works pretty good too. Probably depends on the dryer though.

Yeah, I've heard that from a couple different people. I own a heatgun, but it's meant for stripping paint so the minimum heat is 850F, so it ends up shrinking the heatshrink, and melting the sleeving to the wires. I definitely need to see if I can't take some aluminum foil and make some sort of attatchment for my mom's hairdryer to center the output of the hot air to a smaller point. I may try that when I sleeve the PSU with the black loom. Or, I'll just go back to the trusty Bic.


Torn, I wasn't aware that electronics places carried heatshrink. Is it cheaper than ordering online? You mentioned the quality was better, so that's a plus. Does RadioShack carry that stuff? Other than RadioShack, Best Buy, Circuit City, etc. that's the only stores around here that carry any sort of electrical stuff.

Quote: Originally Posted by subdismal Does RadioShack carry that stuff?

Yes, they do, But they only sell it in small strips (about 1 1/2in each), probably not what TORN was talking about.

*edit* here's a link to radio shacks's very wide (not) selection of heat shrink. http://www.radioshack.com/category.a...8%5F002&Page=1

Subdismal, I use a bench lamp on heatshrink. Bend the light so the bulb is about 1-2cm away from the heatshrink and leave it for a 3/4 mins.

Works a treat

Yeah, as stated above, radioshack carries mainly packages of assorted colors/sizes that are a waste of money if you have specific sizes and lengths you want. The store I was talking about is just right near me, kindof a mom-and-pop shop.

Well, the move over into the new case is finally complete.

I don't really know how I feel about it just yet, I didn't end up sleeving the wires afterall. I really don't like the look of it, believe it or not. I'll sleeve some stuff here and there for general purposes and whatnot, but I just don't like gobs and gobs of sleeving. I think it's a bit more of a challenge if you can hide a group of bare wires, haha.

Anywho, I'm overall satisfied, but think it's going to need some more wire cleanup in the future. This is only my second or third attempt at uber wire management, so it'll only get better the next time I try it. I found out the hard way that the Lian Li doesn't give a whole lot of extra room to hide wires. I had to take the 4-pin molex connects off and run them through the motherboard stand-off holes on more than one occassion to get wires from A to B.

Anywho, enough jibber jabber! Here's the pictures:

Quote: Originally Posted by THRASHER2 BLING,BLING!!!!! Sweeeet work on the project................

Thank you, thank you!

I rebuilt my old rig so many times, but had so much space to work with. Working with a midtower case definitely proved to be a challenge in getting it to turn out the way I wanted.

Not sure where this case is heading next. I'd really like to either etch the window, or just put in a piece of black smoked acrylic or something. Drive stealthing may be in the future, too. Wired up to a push-button switch which will be mounted in a 3.5" drivebay. We'll have to see how much time/energy I have to tinker with this little devil.