My quiet Cosmos - Phase 2

Mounting a 360 radiator in cosmos RC1000

Now onto the fun stuff. Fitting the radiator.

I've been thinking about this for quite a while and eventually have come up with this.
As seen earlier i'd made up some perspex mounting plates as the existing fan mount holes arn't suitable for what I needed to do, plus I needed to cut some of the case away so as not to block the rad.
So some measuring and masking later i'm good to go



and I only hope that this works coz it's too late now



One of the downsides of using such a thick piece of acrylic is that i'd need long screws to attach the radiator - 46mm to be exact and after searching in all the home hardware stores locally realised I was buggered as they didn't have them and I couldn't find them on the net either. So a bit of improvisation was called for.
Have ended up using 50mm electrical socket screws which I have cut down to size.



Also found that I needed to brace the heads when I was cutting them as even though most of it was in the wood it still bent.



Of course, rarely in life is anything so easy. The electrical screw are 3.5mm width so I had to drill out the fan holes on the radiator with a 3.2mm drill and then thread the holes.
Worthwhile though as it works.



Next up, because of the way that the mounting holes in the cosmos are set into indented recesses in the top panel it meant that there would be a 2.5mm gap around the top of the inner mounting plate. Fortunately I'd kept the soundproofing from the side panel and it's perfect for making a gasket to maintain an airtight (ish) seal. So the order of assembly



To make fitting everything together easier I stuck the gasket onto the panel using doublesided tape and then stuck that panel to the rad using only a couple of small bits of tape - as it's all got to be disassembled agian before final fitting. I may also cut another gasket to fit between the rad and the mounting plate.
I found it easiest to fix the middle fan first. This way you aren't putting excessive starain on the fan mounts on the rad whilst you're screwing it all together.
And a little while later I have this.





And although premature I couldn't resist just to get an idea of what it would look like



I reckon it looks pretty good. It was also just as well that I did try the shroud as with the fan grills on it was catching in a couple of places so I need to trim the shroud. This can be avoided if you use a thinner piece of mounting material - say 3mm acrylic.
I also had a nice surprise. Instead of a boring technical sticker on the back of the fans the is a simple sticker with a triangle. I kind of like this as it matches my tat



Not that i'm vain at all.
Anyway for all of you other cosmos owners that might be thinking of doing the same I hope that this might be of some use. I know I found very little when looking for relavant how to's on the net.

Lets see what tomorrow brings

Long story cut short.
For me it is a roadmap to life. The resolution of duality through to unity.
The points at the ends of the baseline represent the polar opposites of any situation, with the third point representing the unification of those points. This can be applied to pretty much everything on the dense physical up to and through the lower mind.
How closely we align ourselves to one point or the other to a large part directly influences our perception of reality and subsequent actions in life, with the aim to function from the third point of unity.
Also imagine yourself standing in the middle of a very long, straight road in the middle of a desert with your arms held out at shoulder level to your sides. This is your baseline and the road in front of you forms a triangle, with the apex forming a point on the horizon. And like in life as we reach that point on the road we realise that it is illusionary and that that point is in fact our new baseline with the apex of the triangle once more in the future. How close we walk to the left or right side of the road is up to us.
Plus lots more stuff but here isn't the place to get into all that

Well have spent a fair bit of time seeming to go not very far.

First up was painting the CPU block....possibly a bit of a mistake as the finish isn't as marvelous as i'd have perhaps liked but too late now. - I haven't cleaned up the in/out holes yet. Was waiting for the paint to cure properly



Have still got several more days before I can start assembling the water loop so I shall see if I can live with this as it is or whether i'll clean it up and start again.

NOW, IF YOU ARE OF A SENSITIVE DISPOSITION AND/OR AFRAID OF VOIDING YOUR WARRANTY LOOK AWAY NOW !!


Because I am held up due to parts not being here I've started playing with the wiring.
First things first - Reference pictures in case it all goes pear shaped.




If I hadn't have swapped out my psu fan already then at this point I can definitely kiss my warrant goodbye



Again, perhaps overkill but I really didn't like having the last bit of the ATX wires showing so decided to do something about it.
I did try removing the pins from the connector but only managed to remove 2. The others steadfastly refused to pull out even with the use of an atx pin remover. - worked fine on other atx sockets but this one wasn't having any of it.
Only left with one option then - wire cutters.
IMPORTANT - Label all wires both sides of the cut ! you really don't want to get this one wrong.

Several hours later all the sheathing is loose fitted and ready to be fixed in place



And after some deft work with the flame torch this is what I have at the moment



Still have a lot of soldering and reattaching to do but I think the end result will be worth it.
I bloody hope so anyway coz i've spent about 5 hours getting to this point.

Other than that haven't got much further.
I did apply another coat of transparent UV coating to the edge of the perspex panel.
Bit of a bummer, the coating shows up the very fine stress fractures (I think) from cutting it with the circular saw.



As I say - bit of a bummer but will have to stay like that for the moment as I have seriously overspent on the build so far. If it looks too bad when installed then it will be replaced but I am hoping that it will actually help accent the uv edge.

Still waiting for the second GFX card to arrive. Starting to get a little worried now as the seller hasn't responded to my email yet.

Thats all for now, more pics for you guys as and when.

Cheers

Cheers guys - or possibly gal. Guys and Gals, whatever

Glad you like the fuzion. I've got it sitting on my desk in front of me at the moment trying to see if I like it enough to leave it as it is. Have a crazy idea to do something else to it but shan't spoil the surprise yet.

The other advantage of cutting the wires on the psu was that it enabled me to use the smaller size heatshrink. Trying to fit it over the pin and onto the wire/cable sleeving just wasn't working and the next size up that i've got just wouldn't shrink that small. Yes, lots of work but it does look good and when its installed it'll look even better.

Next up

Getting the fans wired up. Was wondering how best to do this and think this solution is ok.
I wanted to leave it so that I can change the fans if need be without too much hassle so needed to use fan connectors. I could have butchered all of my spare cables but then had a brainwave. So a trip to the local computer repair shop and I walked away with three dead motherboard for nothing.

Some deft plier work and use of the soldering iron later and voila



Followed by lots of soldering later. I got the extra hands thing at the start of this mod and I must say it has been really useful. Has made this task a lot easier.



Half way there and it's looking good so far



After wiring the male connectors up I then tested it out with the fan controller only to find that it wasn't working. Thankfully it was only the potentiometer that had failed and not my wiring and fortunately I had another one the same lying around so it was a straight swap over.
Then had to shorten the fan wires. Fiddly job but it looks ok. Not marvelous but seeing as for the most part it's not going to be seen it'll do.



It all works and thankfully the kamameter registers the fan speed even though the fans aren't powered by it.
It isn't quite finished yet as I have to attach the power connector but alas I am held up because I don't have the rest of the watercooling kit yet and I want to get that in place before I cut all the wires to length and stick the fan connectors to there mounting plate.

Also still haven't recieved the second 8800gtx yet. :shadedshu
Several emails later and the seller finally deigned to reply only to tell me he hasn't sent it yet. Not best pleased to say the least but at least I am now less worried that I have been scammed. Time will tell.
The other minor annoyance was getting outbid on a danger den 8800gtx waterblock so I will now have to get a new block from somewhere unless anyone here has one going spare and wants to do me a good deal ?

Still debating whether to add a 120 rad into the loop between the cpu block and the gfx cards. I think the DDC ultra should manage but don't know if it's necessary. Shall have to think on this one.

Hopefully I should get the rest of the kit towards the end of the week and then I can get cracking with the watercooling. In the meantime I shall see what else I can do.

Odd, working fine on mine.
It could be that they are taking a while to load as there are quite a few pics and they are not the smallest file size about 700kb each. Might take a while for the page to fully load.
Anyone else not seeing the latest pics?

Well, took the plunge last night and decided to finish wiring the fans up to the fan controller. Have connected the power for the rad fans to the power connector of the fan controller - splicing the +'ve feed into my modded potentiometer and the fan speed wire to the no.1 channel of the kama meter.
I know it doesn't look so pretty but it is better than lots of bare wires running all over the place - plus it isn't going to be seen really as the kama meter is going to be in the top 5-1/2" bay.





And best of all it works !

ps. the power supply wires are still bare but can't finish those until the psu in fitted so that I know how long they'll need to be. But they will be sleeved.

YIPEE ! PARTS HAVE ARRIVED

well after waiting for what seems like an age the final parts have arrived



Those compression fittings are bigger than I expected but at the same time I do like them. There is something that appeals to me about well engineered parts and these fit the bill.



I also decided to get some tygon tubing instead of the other stuff i had bought. Glad that I have as the tygon is completely clear and puts the other stuff to shame. A costly but worthwhile buy.

Plus thankfully the 8800GTX arrived - all be it a week late due to the chap selling it forgetting to post it but it is new, works and cost me £80 less than my other one so i'm happy.
I also plumbed for the EK gpu full block as opposed to going for a secong DeFuzion GPU as this way I will hopefully not loose the expansion shot beneath the card.
Not sure what I was expecting but the EK block is quite large. Looks well made though and will I am sure perform adequately.

Whilst waiting for this lot to arrive I've also been busy making a cover for the ATX cables. Although it won't really be seen it should tidy the back of the case nicely





And so now that everything is here it is time to rip the computer apart and get busy assembling it all again.
Now that I am at this point I am suddenly a little daunted by it all. Still I shall have a go and with luck it'll all work first time when I plug it back in.
Although I think that that'll be a job for tomorrow as i'm a couple of glasses of shirraz into the evening and prudence says don't do it now.

So unless it all goes tits up the next post will have some completed pics with it.

Yipee!

Not finished by a long way.

After thinking about the psu problem and not having enough pci-e connectors have gone down the road of haveing two psu. Fortunately I had my old OCZ 520w spare so I have ended up using that.
Unfortunately the sheething that they use for the motherboard cable is rather thick and very stiff so after trying to bend it and failing I came up with this idea.



Chop the bugger off and cover the ends. I have left the 4th and a ground wire free to connect up with the same wires of the other psu. Have tried it and it works ok.

Whilst I was at it I also replaced the fan with a Noctura NP-12 and made up a suitable mounting plate.



Next up was soring out the powersupply. After a little though, searching through my parts box and a trip to the computer shop for a dead psu (free plus got a 120mm Yate Loon and wire fan grill for free) came up with the idea of using an old cathode inverter and a mounting box for the power plug.



Fits perfectly - all be it with a bit of trimming with a stanley blade.
Then making up some wire clamps from the blanking plates from the drive bays, some drilling, cutting and rewiring and .... Ta-Da.





Quite pleased with how it's turned out and best of all it worked first time when I tested it. Always a good feeling.

Next up getting the cards and motherboard waterblocks fitted.

No hassles for the first card but the second card is using an EK Block and with the compression fittings I ran into a problem with the board preventing the fitting screwing in all the way.
My solution has hopefully not knackered the card.



I did check that I wasn't going to cut through any circuit lines completely although it has nibbled into some of the copper on the card. Here's hoping.



I have now started to assemble the bits in order to get the tubing cut and fitted. Alas I think I am going to have to get a couple of 90* elbows to connect the 2nd gfx card to the first and the res. Shall have to do a bit more testing first. Be a bit of a shame as I didn't really want to use them if I could help it.



So thats were i'm up to at the moment. Have a full weeks work this week so limited time, plus need to wait for the elbows to arrive before cracking on with this one.
I think it's going to be worth it though

Bit of a go slow week plus bit of a hiccup with the tubing. The elbows arrived but no matter how hard I tried I just wasn't going to be able to get the tube to bend without kinking and when using the elbows the connectors just wouldn't line up.
The results - should hopefully be arriving tomorrow and will look much neater than how I had origonally planned it.

In the meantime have been putzing about doing little jobs.
Sorting out the switches which I have been putting off for ages. Had to move the led's in order to make room for the switches, which meant having to make new mounting bracket.
Holes drilled, dremmeled and finally trimmed with the stanly knife. Then top plate masked and primed



And a couple of coats of paint and clear laquer later



If i'm honest I probably should have put the switches either side of the existing switches but the switches would have fouled the mounting plate too much to easily trim. Still at least they are in and it doesn't look too bad. Just need to get the tubing sorted before I can put the case trim back on and then wire the switches.

Next up another job i've been putting off for a while, Reconnecting the MB power cables
Getting ready for the soldering marathon



and a couple (nearer 3) of hours later



I'm fairly sure i've connected everything back together in the right order - bit nerve wracking to say the least and in the future I think i will definately percevere with the pin removeral tool for a little longer before doing this again

Still it was worth it - ( the clamping bolts will not be staying that long and more than likely won't even be seen )



And from the rear



Unfortunately not all of the smaller screws managed to hold in the perspex as had to use a bit of pressure to hold all the wires in place so have had to use some larger screws. Shall probably swap the others out in order to keep them matched.

Still looks ok though.

Just waiting for the postman now and then I can get cracking with connecting this thing up and discovering whether i've fried my graphics card with the dremmeling.