My MODRIGS PC "Xazax" HAF-x case mod

[Xazax310]

Please +1 my Modrigs on EVGA.COM trying to get a sponsorship!
http://www.modsrigs.com/detail.aspx?BuildID=29499

This has been a work in progress since March 2012 - Present date
Credit to Lost4Words for his help in building the case


Build History
My build as almost been a year in the making my First edition is aircooled with an Asetek self-contained CPU watercooling unit. Used two GTX 560's in SLI and loved them, kept with LGA 1366 even though there was the new LGA 1155 out and 2011 because i always loved the first core i7 series and got a great deal on a 6-core 970. My plan was to watercool the whole rig once the GTX680's hydrocoppers came out. During this time i went through two different motherboards my first was an ASUS P58XD-E but somehow i shorted out a PCI-E lane and couldn't get the graphics cards to work. So i RMA that and bought my friends old Rampage II which ran just fine, that is the one you'll see in the aircooled edition.

Well time goes on and i spot a tasty 7970 /w waterblock for an awesome price... meanwhile the GTX 680's just came out and where costing over $600+ for watercooled editions. I picked up the 7970 and also picked up another motherboard the EVGA x58 4-way Classified refurb from newegg. I get my first watercooled edition up and running everything going pretty well i enjoyed it. Started running into a few major issues, the 7970 while the best card for that time was crashing(due to bad drivers from AMD) in one of my favorite games Shogun II, and Empire total war i couldnt even play unless i did so in window mode or i got extreme frame lag. The evga x58 classy(refurb) was a good overclocker didnt have any issues with the motherboard itself just a strange issue using ASUS sound card, the motherboard would refuse to read any Asus PCI-E sound card i ended having to use my X-FI titanium which im not a fan of at all. Well i searched and searched trying to get something Nvidia to replace the 7970, i bought a HD 570 but that ended up being faulty great, so i sent it back and for a good while i was using GTS250 512mb in SLI(my old cards) as i have already sold my 7970. It was extactly one week before i was going to tear down my watercooling rig to fix it up that disaster struck. Every watercooler's nightmare my CPU block fitting sprung a leak and killed my motherboard .

So now no motherboard and they don't make LGA 1366 unless its a refurbished. I decided I'm screwed and i moved on to the latest and greatest, Intel Z77 and Ivy bridge! Of course now i had to change out my whole rig the 12GB of ram in 3x2GB sticks of ram wouldnt work anymore as i use over 8GB and since ivy bridge only has 4 ram slots i bought new 4x4GB ram. I picked the motherboard i liked the best and because it has built in watercooling ASUS Z77 Formula V and paired it with the best Ivy bridge LGA 1155 cpu I7 3770K. I picked up a MSI GTX 580 3GB Lighting originally and my plan was to watercool it. I found out though a bit too late that the card was a special PCB so the waterblock i bought for the 570 earlier wouldn't fit back to trying to find another card! Searched these forums and stumbled upon two 6970's with waterblocks for a pretty insane price. So i figure the 6900 series wont be as buggy as the 7000 series and there waterblocks already on them everything is dandy!

Now with my whole Computer part situation finally resolved(phew) I can actually start my Original intention and start MODDING!! Please enjoy the pictures for your viewing pleasure

Accessories!
1x HP ZR30W 2560x1600
Corsair Speakers 2.1 SP2300
Razer Black Window Ultimate 2012
Logitech G9X Mouse
Razer Vespula mousepad
Corsair 1500 headphones

First Edition Aircooled
ASUS Rampage II LGA 1366
Intel Core i7 970 3.2Ghz 6-core Gulftown
Asetek 1366 self-contained CPU watercooler
12GB Gskill 1600mhz CAS9
ASUS GTX560
Gigabyte GTX560
OCZ Agility 240GB SATA
ABS 1050w Powersupply(Same as Enermax Revolution 1050)
HAF-X Full tower Case
ASUS Blu-ray player
X-FI titanium Sound card

Futuremark Scores!
http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/3257183
http://www.3dmark.com/3dmv/4040435

Second Edition Watercooled
EVGA X58 4-way Classified
EK Blocks Mosfet/NB/SB
Intel Core i7 970 3.2Ghz 6-core Gulftown
EK Supreme Waterblock
12GB Gskill 1600mhz CAS9
Sapphire 7970 Watercooled
EK Waterblock
OCZ Agility 240GB SATA x2
ABS 1050w Powersupply
HAF-X Full tower Case
ASUS Blu-ray player
X-FI titanium Sound card

3dMark scores!
http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/3783328
http://www.3dmark.com/3dmv/4165772

Third Edition watercooled and case modding
ASUS Z77 Formula V
Intel Core i7 3770k
16GB Crucial Tracers 1866mhz CAS9
2x Sapphire 6970 Watercooled
EK Supremacy Waterblock
EK ASUS Z77 waterblock Mosfets/SB
OCZ Agility 240GB SATA x2 RAID 0
ABS 1050w Powersupply
HAF-X Full tower Case
XSPC Dual Bay 5.25" Res/Pump combo
XSPC Triple Rad
Enermax UTC B12 case fans

Modding in progress Pictures

I bought a Tribal triple rad grill for my last project and it just sat around getting no use since i scraped it. Im going to mount the rad in front of the case ill try it out see how it work some cutting and forming and it fit perfectly. Used JB Weld to hold it in, ssanded it down put on primer then black paint i plan a little later to give the front some more color.

Inside Side cover panel

This took a lot of aluminum not cheap you know... Me and my friend(Aka Lost4words) cut out the 5.25"/HDD bays to fit the triple rad in the front and to hide all the wiring we folded a piece of aluminium that can be screwed in and taken out. Later on he is the one who came up with the idea of curving the bottom so the air flow will go up from the bottom fan. Pieced them together with JB Weld and painted once it was set we cut into the side panel holes for the Waterline, 24-pin connector, SATA connectors. It was when we put the rig together for mock-up that we found out we forgot to put the 6-pin... so had to go back and cut it out.

Motherboard prep and watercooled 6970's

Case Internals/Hose running

Specially crafted Fan connector for all the fans inside the case

SSD Mounting

The Finished Build!

3dmark Scores!
http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/4891448
http://www.3dmark.com/3dmv/4394583
*NEW*
3dmark Firestrike score!
http://www.3dmark.com/fs/231189

 

[amuffin]

Looking good!!!!!


Moto (modding dude on the forum) will be proud.

 

[Xazax310]

Don't understand why some pictures are posting correctly but others are not :\

 

[amuffin]

Don't understand why some pictures are posting correctly but others are not :\

It's 10 pictures per post!

 

[Xazax310]

-.- o well atleast the links are there!

 

[manofchalk]

Very nice, as an owner of a HAF-X myself this is pretty interesting. Really liking that Cover over the PSU, might just steal that idea myself .

From the looks of this pic.
http://img.techpowerup.org/130306/computer4.jpg
It seems that the bottom fan is intaking while the upper two exhaust. I noticed the bend in the cover behind it was to deflect that intaking air upwards, aren't you concerned that your cycling hot air back through the rad?

 

[Xazax310]

You have a very keen eye lol, yes the flow is incorrect i took the front panel off to inspect and clean and i mistakenly put the top two fans on backwards.. havent gotten around to puttting them on right.. its a pain in the butt

 

[Lutfij]

This build log is nice and all but no offense mate, most of the tasty pics are blurry Mind taking some fresh shots for all those newbs!

But lemme get this straight - you can enroll with a non-EVGA rig for rig modz? Cos I don't have any EVGA gear but I do have alot of gear hehehe

 

[Xazax310]

Sorry about the pictures but i use my Android phone for pics all I have