Akubane
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- Location
- NB, Canada
Well I figured I'd have a little fun and make a worklog while putting together the WC for my rig. I'll also be cutting a side window as well. As soon as I get a sheet of acrylic.
Case: Coolermaster Cosmos 1000
PA120.3 Rad
EK Reservoir
D-Tek Fusion CPU block
Swiftech MCP655-B pump.
So far I have everything but the thermochill barbs. They seem to be on backorder from every canadian site on the internet I could find, that actually stocked them. I ordered from ncix only to find out they were allocated and it will be 8 weeks before they get more. I then called another place to check stock person to person, then ordered. Somehow even though it was confirmed.. no stock. XD but thats another battle.
I went out and bought a nice dremel and kit yesterday do get all this done with. Good deal on it too XD now down to the nitty gritty:
First observations: CM Cosmos must be the most Irritating case on the face of the earth if you end up needing to mod it.
1) The plastic casing that goes from the top corners, all the way around the case, tapers off to the front of the case.
Top View
-----
|....|
\..../
.|..|
..--
(I shoulda just used paint lol, ignore the '.''s It's just to give you an idea of what I mean, since I'm bad at describing.) Now this wouldnt normally be a big deal.. untill you go to remove it.
After Removing the black middle insert, the door, the front faceplate, the handles (which are attached under the faceplate, which itself can not be removed completely due to wiring) then finally the screws for the casing.. I'm left with a TON of hardware. I swear the thing is sealed so tight a stick of dynamite wouldnt rattle it. (well okay... lol)
Anyhow, at closer inspection.. the casing is all One piece! (for each side, so two I guess) I don't know how on earth they managed to attach it in the first place but the left and right are each one piece, respectively, outlining the cases edge. Seems to be attached by tabbed clips all the way around (Maaany of them).
The problem with this is.. The only way I can find to remove it, youd have to stretch at least two of the sides in order to slide it off. Stretch and unclip bottom right and slide to top left etc. That'd be just dandy if the hard plastic would stretch without snapping XD
So I screwed it all together again and figured I'll attempt this next week when I have two full days off, because this isn't just going to take one day.
2) Cutting the blowholes and hardware holes at the top is goign to be a bit of a bother, because there's already two top mounted case fans with honeycomb meshed blowholes. I think i'll be ok if I just use some of the meshes holes and some washers for the screws. The PA isnt all too heavy, and each corner would still have a Solid screw holding it in place. It'd only be the 4 (or 8, cant remember off the top of my head) center screws that wouldnt have super solid support.
And also you can't even get a square cut/measurment, or seat the fan grill/hardware without taking the casing off, because of the taper near the front. (which is the only real reason #1 is a big issue)
Now as far as room goes.. it looks like a TIGHT fit. The rad fits fine, but one of the fans doesn't quite fit because of the passive copper heatsink on the top of the p5k deluxe. the 8pin power connecter is a bit in the way but I think I could fold that back when I cut some holes in the MOBO tray. I don't think this will be a problem for long because I'm getting rid of this junk MOBO hopefully next thursday anyway. Lookin at the Gigabyte x38 DQ6 or a 780i. I'm kindof ruling out the 780i because I've heard its just a headache, and I don't need SLI anyway. I don't quite remember the overview of the board but maybe the heatsink will be lowered a bit.
Another option would be to offcenter the rad, that might work as well, though it would make it even harder to cut the blowholes.
Also at first glance it doesn't look like I'll be able to use the fan shroud I got. I'll have to see after I change MOBO's, who knows.
One last thing is the intake fan placed at the bottom is in my way. A bit of a bother since it's the only intake fan, so removing it is an issue in itself. I'm going to have to figure something out for the pump as well, sicne I can't sit it where the fan is. For a fulltower case fitting all this stuff in is going to be a bit more problematic than I expected, just from the layout of things.
Anyhow I'll be posting lots of pics and stuff. I forgot to take some shots of the trouble I ran into above, but i'll throw those in next weekend when I start the real battle.
This is going mankind's next epic struggle. -.- lol
Case: Coolermaster Cosmos 1000
PA120.3 Rad
EK Reservoir
D-Tek Fusion CPU block
Swiftech MCP655-B pump.
So far I have everything but the thermochill barbs. They seem to be on backorder from every canadian site on the internet I could find, that actually stocked them. I ordered from ncix only to find out they were allocated and it will be 8 weeks before they get more. I then called another place to check stock person to person, then ordered. Somehow even though it was confirmed.. no stock. XD but thats another battle.
I went out and bought a nice dremel and kit yesterday do get all this done with. Good deal on it too XD now down to the nitty gritty:
First observations: CM Cosmos must be the most Irritating case on the face of the earth if you end up needing to mod it.
1) The plastic casing that goes from the top corners, all the way around the case, tapers off to the front of the case.
Top View
-----
|....|
\..../
.|..|
..--
(I shoulda just used paint lol, ignore the '.''s It's just to give you an idea of what I mean, since I'm bad at describing.) Now this wouldnt normally be a big deal.. untill you go to remove it.
After Removing the black middle insert, the door, the front faceplate, the handles (which are attached under the faceplate, which itself can not be removed completely due to wiring) then finally the screws for the casing.. I'm left with a TON of hardware. I swear the thing is sealed so tight a stick of dynamite wouldnt rattle it. (well okay... lol)
Anyhow, at closer inspection.. the casing is all One piece! (for each side, so two I guess) I don't know how on earth they managed to attach it in the first place but the left and right are each one piece, respectively, outlining the cases edge. Seems to be attached by tabbed clips all the way around (Maaany of them).
The problem with this is.. The only way I can find to remove it, youd have to stretch at least two of the sides in order to slide it off. Stretch and unclip bottom right and slide to top left etc. That'd be just dandy if the hard plastic would stretch without snapping XD
So I screwed it all together again and figured I'll attempt this next week when I have two full days off, because this isn't just going to take one day.
2) Cutting the blowholes and hardware holes at the top is goign to be a bit of a bother, because there's already two top mounted case fans with honeycomb meshed blowholes. I think i'll be ok if I just use some of the meshes holes and some washers for the screws. The PA isnt all too heavy, and each corner would still have a Solid screw holding it in place. It'd only be the 4 (or 8, cant remember off the top of my head) center screws that wouldnt have super solid support.
And also you can't even get a square cut/measurment, or seat the fan grill/hardware without taking the casing off, because of the taper near the front. (which is the only real reason #1 is a big issue)
Now as far as room goes.. it looks like a TIGHT fit. The rad fits fine, but one of the fans doesn't quite fit because of the passive copper heatsink on the top of the p5k deluxe. the 8pin power connecter is a bit in the way but I think I could fold that back when I cut some holes in the MOBO tray. I don't think this will be a problem for long because I'm getting rid of this junk MOBO hopefully next thursday anyway. Lookin at the Gigabyte x38 DQ6 or a 780i. I'm kindof ruling out the 780i because I've heard its just a headache, and I don't need SLI anyway. I don't quite remember the overview of the board but maybe the heatsink will be lowered a bit.
Another option would be to offcenter the rad, that might work as well, though it would make it even harder to cut the blowholes.
Also at first glance it doesn't look like I'll be able to use the fan shroud I got. I'll have to see after I change MOBO's, who knows.
One last thing is the intake fan placed at the bottom is in my way. A bit of a bother since it's the only intake fan, so removing it is an issue in itself. I'm going to have to figure something out for the pump as well, sicne I can't sit it where the fan is. For a fulltower case fitting all this stuff in is going to be a bit more problematic than I expected, just from the layout of things.
Anyhow I'll be posting lots of pics and stuff. I forgot to take some shots of the trouble I ran into above, but i'll throw those in next weekend when I start the real battle.
This is going mankind's next epic struggle. -.- lol
