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[Australia] Alex Ciobanu


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Hey guys and welcome to my build log for the Thermaltake CaseMOD Invitational Season 2.

 

So honored and excited to participate in this along such great modders who have inspired me from the start!

 

Thanks a lot to Thermaltake for selecting me to represent Australia and also a huge thanks to all the sponsors of this project which are of course Thermaltake along with premium partner Newegg and also AvexirPerformancePCs, MNPCTECH, Icemodz and Ramcity. Without all of you all this would not have been possible, thank you!

 

Lets have fun with this one and hope you guys enjoy the ride.

 

The theme of this build will be a sci-fi space theme such as the banner suggests and it is named after one of the largest stars known to man, VY Canis Majoris. I also draw inspiration for this project from the awesome game Elite Dangerous though not sure if I will implement any aspects of the game into the build as of now. The colour scheme will be a dark grey/gun metal, black, orange and blue.

 

As for the mods to the case you will be finding that out as I go along with the build log but yea I will be stacking two X9 cases.... with a twist ;)

 

The packages received from Thermaltake were larger than my entire desk area :D

 

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For now I will give you a quick look at the cases!

 

One of them still intact and the other one is gutted empty, only the panels remain :)

 

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These cases are massive, here's a size comparison with an iPhone 6Plus for those of you who are not familiar with the X9 case.

 

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Thanks for checking it out and stay tuned for more!

 

Cheers,

 

Alex

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Hey guys,

 

Back with another update as I start working on one of the cases.

 

I do wanna apologise from the start for the phone pics but there is no way I can take out the DSLR when doing this :)

 

Will do my best to show everything as I go along and once all the work on the case is done I will take proper pics of all the bits.

 

So here we go, out with the dremel and jig saw! 
 

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Small incision with the dremel and fire away with the jig saw.

 

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Out it comes.

 

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Just a frame left of the X9... for now

 

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Still a lot of filing to do and heaps more work to come.

 

Stay tuned for more.

 

Cheers,

 

Alex

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Hey guys!

 

This should give you a better idea where I'm going with this build!

 

After cutting up the back panel I decided I will remake it fully but love that I managed to keep the front panel and can still mount it.

 

Lots more work to do in remaking the back and both side panels as well as getting new mid bars and the radiator mounting. That should make the case more rigid on an angle like this. 

 

Once this is done I will start working on the second case :)

 

Also keep in mind that everything is just mounted temporarily to get a feel of things :)

 

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Thanks for checking it out and stay tuned for more!

 

Cheers,

 

Alex

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Hey guys,

 

Ready to tackle the other X9 case :D

 

First have to take it apart!

 

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You can see the other one in the background, not much has changed as of yet :)

 

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You might be able to spot all the popped rivets on the floor :P

 

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Or check them all out here :D

 

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Stay tuned for more!

 

Cheers,

 

Alex
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Back with another update!

 

Playing around with ideas in the other case :)

 

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And making progress on the main case :P

 

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I had an idea with the original mesh but probably not gonna keep it

 

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That's about it! I need to secure the rad mounts on the side and mount some rads in to test fitment.

 

Stay tuned for more!

 

Cheers,

 

Alex
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Hey guys!

 

I have secured the side rad mounts and mounted two of the 480mm radiators going in this build just to get a feel for how much room there will be in that section of the case.

 

Also the radiators on the bottom of the other case are mounted on an angle like that but I'm probably not gonna go with that idea. They will most likely go with two sets of fans on them mounted to the bottom of the case. The LEDs from the Riing fans should give it a nice underglow :)

 

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Also front panel still looks the same from last time however I will most likely get rid of the mesh and redo the whole front.

 

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Pump/res combo should fit nicely under the motherboard tray. A new motherboard tray will be going in :)

 

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Thanks for checking it out!

 

Cheers,

 

Alex
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Hey guys,

 

Here is another update on the system. Work on the case continues but first I would like to let you guys know the entire spec list :D

 

Case – Two modded Thermaltake Core X9s

Motherboard – ASUS Sabertooth X99

CPU – Intel i7 5930K

GPU – 3 x ASUS STRIX GTX970s

Memory – 8 x 4GB Avexir Core Series DDR4 2400Mhz (4 x orange LED, 4 x blue LED)

SSD – Samsung SM951 512GB AHCI M.2 ; 2 x 500GB Crucial MX200 SSDs

PSU – Thermaltake Toughpower Grand 1200W Platinum

 

Cables – Icemodz custom sleeved cables

 

Radiators – 4 x Thermaltake Pacific RL480 Radiators

Fans – 26 x Thermaltake Riing 12 High Static Pressure LED Fans - Orange, Blue and White

Pumps – 2 x Thermaltake Pacific PT40-D5 Silent Kit Reservoir/Pump Combo with Thermaltake Pacific T11 Reservoirs

Reservoirs – 2 x Fully Custom Reservoirs and 2 x Thermaltake Pacific R33 Reservoir

Fittings – Various Thermaltake 16mm Rigid Compressions fittings , right angles and extension fittings as well as some soft tubing compression fittings for 3/8†ID x 1/2†OD tubing that I will be using in some spots. Also a few Bitspower pass-through fittings.

Tubing - Thermaltake V-Tubler PETG Tube 16mm OD

CPU Block – Thermaltake Pacific W1 CPU Water Block

GPU Blocks - Thermaltake VGA Water Block for ASUS STRIX-GTX 970

Coolant – Mayhems Aurora 2 Silver base concentrate and a combination of Mayhems Dyes in Red, Yellow and Blue to achieve the desired coolant colour

 

Lighting – Icemodz RGD LED Strips

 

Other – Thermaltake Commander FT – Touchscreen Fan Controller, 3 x Vandal Momentary and Latching switches for custom power button as well switch for the reservoir LEDs, custom MNPCTECH case feed, MNPCTECH machined aluminum fans grills and acrylic grills for the radiator fans as well as some modders mesh

 

I'm really excited for everything going in this system and can't wait to see it up and running :D

 

Here are some more pics of the work in progress. Started working on the bottom section too!

 

Acrylic motherboard tray is in.

 

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And here is the case with the bottom section attached!

 

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Hope it's starting to look more like a spaceship :D

 

Thanks for checking it out and stay tuned for more!

 

Cheers,

 

Alex

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Back with another update!

 

Fixed the motherboard tray to the case and mounted pumps and res.

 

Just a perfect fit for the little pump and res combo. I cut a small hole for the fittings to come out of but forgot I need another one for the fill port. Hopefully I don't mess the other one up and the two fittings align properly :P

 

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You can also see I added some supports to the bottom panel. Very simple, just some threaded rods and the build is very solid along with the brackets I made. Once panels go on it will reinforce it even more.

 

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CPU cut out and also tapped for the motherboard stand-offs. The cables will come from underneath the motherboard to plug in. Will give it a nice clean look.

 

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Reservoir inlet fittings

 

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Just need to drill for the fill port now.

 

Also if you guys are wondering why the small reservoirs hidden under there then stay tuned as something really exciting will go in the top section of the build next to the motherboard :D

 

Thanks for checking it out and stay tuned for more!

 

Cheers,

 

Alex

 


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More updates on the case guys!

 

Front and back panels are on. They are from 4.5mm thick black gloss acrylic. More work still needs to be done to them.

 

Also the front panel there is a little window cut out and below there is room for a fan controller and the vandal switches :)

 

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Thanks for checking it you!

 

Cheers,

 

Alex

 


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Hey guys,

 

Sorry for the lack of updates on the build lately. I've been working hard on it to get it ready for the EB Games Expo in Sydney next weekend. The build and I will be attending the Tt booth during the expo :D.

 

There have been lots of late nights working on it till 4am and this morning around 5am I'm happy to say it is ready. All wrapped up and ready for pick to get pallet shipped to Sydney.

 

Unfortunately there was no time for me to leak test it this morning before I had to get it ready so fingers crossed everything goes well once it arrives at the expo.

 

All I'm gonna share for now is this pic with it wrapped up haha. I've taken a bunch of pics as much as I could while working on it so will be posting throughout the following days before the expo.

 

More work will be done on it after the Expo, it will be all about the finer details after that :D

 

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Stay tuned for more!

 

Cheers,

 

Alex

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Okay guys here we go with the updates :)

 

I mounted the Thermaltake Commander FT Fan Controller to the front panel, drilled holes for the vandal switches and cut the shape for the acrylic that will go over the front panel aluminum.

 

This is a piece of smoke acrylic so you can still see through it. Something similar will go on the top panel.

 

The rest of the acrylic in the build is all gloss black, once the build is up and running and with LEDs, it should give some nice reflections.

 

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Thanks for checking it out!

 

Cheers,

 

Alex

 


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Gonna keep the updates rolling!

 

Custom top panel windows piece is done. Smoked piece of acrylic will come over same as the front panel.

 

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All the pieces ready for powder coating. Going to be a gun metal looking colour.

 

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Drilling fan holes to mount with the MNPCTECH grills on the back panel.

 

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Looking awesome with the Riing RGB fans!

 

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Two of the 480mm radiators going in the bottom section of the case with the Thermaltake T33 reservoirs on top on each side. I used the MNPCTECH 480mm acrylic grills to mount the reservoirs to.

 

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And finally, running some Mayhems Blitz cleaning system through the rads. Thanks to PerformancePCs for sending through the kit!

 

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Gotta be cautious with this stuff!

 

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Thanks for checking it out!

 

Cheers,

 

Alex

 


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