I have a build thread going over at OC.net and I just saw the announcement of your new community forum.
I have decided to be one of the first to share my build here since the new build is based on cutting up my old thermaltek Mk-1 Chaser chassis.
I recently finishing up my first attempt at hard pipe water cooling for the Corsair Domination contest and have grown bored now that it is complete. (for now at least) Link to most recent build thread.
I am in desperate need of an HTPC that can house my collection of "legally obtained" media, personal family photos, years of home movies and many many Johnny Cash mp3s.
I had planned to start this project in August and purchasing the newly announced Corsair Air 240 mini however, I have a few spare parts laying around and it feels silly to not take advantage of what I have and use the money that I would have spent on upgrading my main rig next year.
In an earlier build, I had been using a 400mm Phobya Rad that sat OUTSIDE my case and decided that it looked cheesy so I threw it aside and forgot all about it, until now.
Just recently, we were watching a movie in the living room and it hit me, that 400mm rad should be the main piece of hardware in my upcoming HTPC build. It's large enough to cool the spare A10-5800k and the 200mm fans on low settings should be inaudible. Brilliant. (or so I hope)
Only, what case out there can house a 400mm fan internally?... Surely my old Mk-1 Chaser from thermaltake couldn't hold it...unless.
After building many a PCs... all for fun and not for profit..I have never once taken to saws and paint. All of my builds have been hardware/watercooling expressions of love...but fear kept me from mutilating a $100+ investment on cases that looked great as they were imo. Now I have a reason to saw..a reason to buy a rotary...a reason to walk out of home depot with sheets of acrylic and an expression of confidence that can only be found by a man on a mission. Wish me luck.
Current Parts list:
AMD A10 - 5800k
Thermaltake Full Tower (Mk-1 Chaser)
1200 InWin Commander PSU (iffy, as it seems like way too overkill but it's what I got)
A ton of left over clear PETG Rigid tubing from PrimoChill
Swiftech MCP655 Pump (G1/4 threaded)
PrimoChill CTRâ„¢ Compression Tube Reservoir System Phase 2 - 240mm Clear
Phobya 400mm rad
Needs
One SDD and at least 8tb of HDD space
Gigabyte Sniper A88x
Some green RAM (not decided)
AMD water block (Brand undecided, leaning towards the EK clear so the green liquid can show)
Green/Black/Grey MDPC sleeving (first time, super exciting about this!!!)
4x 200 MM fans(Probably black with green accents and no LEDs)
Looking for a unique Mesh that will keep dust out and not look to tacky
Green accent lighting (Still undecided, so many ideas to chose from)
Numerous sheets of acrylic, this will be my first time playing with acrylic sheets so I may get carried away. Sorry in advance.
Build Mission
To build a Full Tower HTPC that can internally house my 400mm Phobya rad, be completely silent, CLEAN, green themed, powerful enough for HD movies/light gaming now with enough pre-planning to easily upgrade to 4K capability in the future and just showy enough to have visitors ask me what the #### is that when they step into my living room.
Old Build with my Mk-1
New Build What I have working WIth
Case modding begins
Finished cutting
400mm Phobya Rad and it fits!!
That's all I could do until next weekend. Hope you enjoyed the progress so far!
Fiberglass mesh I will use as screens
