CaseLabs SM8 Blue/Green w/ Custom 5 bay reservoir

[pennywise]

CaseLabs SM8 Custom 5 bay reservoir. I'm still working on a name for this build.

 

For my build this winter I'm going to be using CaseLabs new Merlin SM8 case,

 

EVGAs Z77 FTW board, 2 EVGAs GTX 680 Classified Hydros, and an Intel 3770k. I

 

am still working on the rest of the components. I will be building a custom 5

 

bay reservoir, feet, and a few other parts.

 

Thank you CaseLabs for another high quality case.

 

http://www.caselabs-store.com/product_images/CaseLabsStoreLogo.png

 

Thank you EVGA for your continued devotion to the enthusiast community.

 

http://imageshack.us/a/img805/6825/evgalogo.gif

 

Thank You Roccat for your outstanding products.

http://imageshack.us/a/img812/583/roccatlogoy.jpg

[pennywise]

These are my final pictures of Triton. It is featured on the front page of CPU Magazine.

Thank you everyone for your feedback, ideas, and support.

 

http://imageshack.us/a/img571/8813/tritoncover.jpg

 

http://imageshack.us/a/img7/2169/blueice.jpg

 

http://imageshack.us/a/img442/2153/roccath.jpg

 

http://imageshack.us/a/img713/875/sideviewopen.jpg

 

http://imageshack.us/a/img593/2425/tritoncloseup.jpg

 

http://imageshack.us/a/img534/1374/rightsidew.jpg

 

http://imageshack.us/a/img854/1656/nightm.jpg

[pennywise]

The CaseLabs Merlin SM8 case is smaller than my last build (EpiDemic). It is a single wide case with a variety of options.

 

http://imageshack.us/a/img41/2489/sm8r.jpg

 

http://imageshack.us/a/img4/6430/1122121359.jpg

 

http://imageshack.us/a/img805/1216/1122121368.jpg

 

http://imageshack.us/a/img708/8954/1122121366.jpg

 

 

The first thing I will be working on is the 5 bay reservoir.

 

http://imageshack.us/a/img6/8872/imag0351u.jpg

 

this is my first attempt to see how the water will flow

 

http://imageshack.us/a/img850/2850/imag0356sq.jpg

 

after getting it all glued together, and building an icycle design into it.

 

http://imageshack.us/a/img266/3548/imag0360g.jpg

 

I sanded down the outside to create a frost look to it. I still need to use a larger grit sand paper.

 

http://imageshack.us/a/img651/8795/imag0366b.jpg

 

I put together a quick gasket to see how every thing works. I also made a video.

I still have a few other things to do to, but let me know what you think so far.

 

http://imageshack.us/a/img267/2061/imag0370dn.jpg

 

I put togeather a video of the water flow for you guys to see.

 

[wytnyt]

looking good so far,,keep us posted

[pennywise]

I've been looking for fans that would go with my build. I picked up an Xigmatek xaf-f1256. It has white leds. not sure if I like the white leds or not. Great fan though. Very quiet and great air flow. Would be nice to have some blue leds in it though.

http://imageshack.us/a/img132/2227/imag0385a.jpg

 

I've been putting in some leds on top of the resevoir to illuminate the reservoir. This picture only has one for now, but when i'm done it will light it up really well. I will probably put it on a dimmer. I have a couple small tweaks to do on it, but minor ones.

 

http://imageshack.us/a/img585/248/imag0387s.jpg

[pennywise]

I started working on the feet today. I still have some polishing to do. I also ordered some MDPC sleeving.

Freshly cut

http://imageshack.us/a/img4/4570/imag0394l.jpg

 

After a little sanding

http://imageshack.us/a/img132/5001/imag0395j.jpg

 

And some more sanding

 

http://imageshack.us/a/img22/8486/imag0399w.jpg

[pennywise]

Happy Holidays everyone. I've been ordering parts and working on the feet.

I received my sleeving from MDPC. I picked up some Carbon fiber vinyl, and the rest of my fans.

I was playing around with the carbon fiber vinyl a little of a 240 rad my buddy DA gave me.

I ordered some other vinyl to do the rad in my build with.

I am also fabbing up a mount for my pump.

http://imageshack.us/a/img694/1509/imag0419k.jpg

 

http://imageshack.us/a/img600/7083/imag0402xp.jpg

 

http://imageshack.us/a/img822/9977/imag0405bw.jpg

 

http://imageshack.us/a/img831/3875/imag0418e.jpg

 

http://imageshack.us/a/img20/7800/imag0431w.jpg

 

http://imageshack.us/a/img211/8638/imag0428y.jpg

 

Here is an early picture of one of the feet i wrapped, drilled and tapped. I will be mounting a blue led inside once finished.

 

http://imageshack.us/a/img338/3023/imag0457k.jpg

[pennywise]

So I picked up a d5 pump and a 480 rad today.

Took a picture and quick video for you guys. There is no resistance an I need to turn the pump down a little, so the water is just flying through there. should have less bubbles once turned down.

http://imageshack.us/a/img833/5816/dscn0787i.jpg

[pennywise]

So I have been very busy the last 2 weeks. Used up about 220 feet of wire and sleeving. I have wrapped my gpus, psu ssds, hard drive andp with brushed blue steel, carbon fiber, and green vinyl. Its all starting to come together. I decided to order in a corsair force gt 240 gig ssd, and 16 gigs of dominator platinum memory from corsair. It should be in tomorrow. I have sleeved and sewn cables for th3 mobo, and gpus. I have almost run out of sleeving, so i must order more asap. Why is it when you do your take off of how much sleeving you need and then add some to that number, you always need more. I am wiring the feet light tonight and plan on wiring in the uv lights and cutting in the switch on the front panel tomorrow. Im under the gun now with pdxlan in just 3 weeks. I will be picking up the pace this next week. I promise more pictures tomorrow. I also have a new keyboard and mouse coming in from Roccat. They make some really good quality products. I cant wait to try these out.

[pennywise]

As promised, here are some pictures of what I have been up to the last couple

 

weeks. First here are some pictures of what I got in the mail.

 

I talked to the guys at Roccat this week about a mouse. These guys are great.

 

They are sending me there Kone XTD mouse, and there Isku FX keyboard. Thanks

 

Roccat.

 

Blue connectors in as well as my ax1200 connector kit.

 

http://imageshack.us/a/img715/9263/dscn0843d.jpg

 

 

The rest of my Fittings, Orings, and Tamper proof buttons.

 

http://imageshack.us/a/img18/2103/dscn0898w.jpg

 

Picked up this 480 gtx rad from Clamdip on the PDXLan Forums.

 

http://imageshack.us/a/img843/1336/dscn0808bh.jpg

 

I got my Dominator Platinum, and force GT 240 gb ssd in today.

 

http://imageshack.us/a/img12/9519/dscn0933db.jpg

 

http://imageshack.us/a/img267/5223/dscn0932n.jpg

 

I started out by wrapping the gtx 480 rad with some brushed blue steel vinyl.

 

http://imageshack.us/a/img11/1724/dscn0819j.jpg

 

I wrapped the koolance block with vinyl and cut out the dark grey metal.

 

http://imageshack.us/a/img805/3774/dscn0903e.jpg

 

http://imageshack.us/a/img600/2857/dscn0904a.jpg

 

http://imageshack.us/a/img191/7434/dscn0911su.jpg

 

The 2 gtx 680 classies were pretty time consuming to wrap.

 

http://imageshack.us/a/img850/6840/imag0509do.jpg

 

http://imageshack.us/a/img221/4726/dscn0892r.jpg

 

I continued on my vinyl wrapping spree by rapping my AX1200, followed by my

 

drives.

 

http://imageshack.us/a/img405/7990/dscn0869t.jpg

 

http://imageshack.us/a/img803/5492/imag0554w.jpg

 

http://imageshack.us/a/img685/7824/imag0555i.jpg

 

I have about 90% of my wiring complete at this point. I finished the 24 pin,

 

the 4 pci 8 pins, and the 2 mobo 8 pins. I still have a couple more to do. I

 

also built, wired and sleeved the feet light and I also lite up the acrylic

 

peace behind the pump.

 

http://imageshack.us/a/img145/783/imag0500od.jpg

 

http://imageshack.us/a/img203/2483/imag0501.jpg

 

http://imageshack.us/a/img202/5751/dscn0884ed.jpg

 

http://imageshack.us/a/img547/1074/dscn0917.jpg

 

http://imageshack.us/a/img820/1221/imag0575u.jpg

 

Here is the support and mount for the pump that I built.

 

http://imageshack.us/a/img90/5885/dscn0858e.jpg

 

http://imageshack.us/a/img22/1314/imag0541j.jpg

 

I did some decals and painting a little yestarday.

 

http://imageshack.us/a/img59/5708/imag0577x.jpg

 

http://imageshack.us/a/img26/564/imag0566n.jpg

 

http://imageshack.us/a/img855/315/imag0565q.jpg

 

 

Ok, lastly. I need your opinion. Should I wrap the top of the Dominator

 

memory and put green lettering on top that says dominator. OR, should I leave

 

it chrome. It looks so nice the way it comes.

 

http://imageshack.us/a/img163/3128/imag0580u.jpg

 

http://imageshack.us/a/img819/874/imag0592x.jpg

 

 

Let me know what you guys think.

[FlawlessSoul]

Standing on its own, I really don't like that blue paint at all.

 

But in the case, it looks fantastic. Really, really like the overall effect!

 

I'd say go with the painted Dominator covers. The top of the GPU looks great, so as long as the lettering is clear and clean on the RAM, it will too.

 

What method did you use to get your 24pin to run like that? I can see that it's "trained", but not sure how it's held there.

[pennywise]

the blue is more of a navy blue, but reacts to light, especially uv light. Its not paint, its a vinyl wrap, so it can be completely removed. I will make up some lettering and finish my lighting in my case before i make my mind up on it. I use an old school method sewing method on my cables. the cable are all sewn together using a wax based string. Your basically tying a series of knots. as for the ram. It already has a piece of acrylic in that top piece for the led in the ram, so that piece is purely cosmetic. Wrapping it has no affect on heat. plus i have so much air moving through my case, its doesnt matter.

thanks for the input.

[pennywise]

The gtx 680 classified hydros come with the red led, that light up the frosted acrylic block in the water bridge. The Led are soldered onto the board, so i covered them up and drilled a hole in the bottom of the water bridge. I made a new acrylic block with a channel board out on the bottom. I ran up some wire through the channel to some blue leds on either side of the acrylic. Looks realy cool. I need to put my dimmer on for my UV lights. they are up way to high.

I then wrapped the cover to the block.

So, I needed to see what the ram would look like with the lettering on it to make up my mind.

 

http://imageshack.us/a/img571/4839/dscn0935u.jpg

 

http://imageshack.us/a/img838/8990/dscn0947bx.jpg

 

http://imageshack.us/a/img254/9782/dscn0964l.jpg

 

http://imageshack.us/a/img248/2854/dscn0963w.jpg

 

http://imageshack.us/a/img837/1579/imag0623w.jpg

[pennywise]

I was sick all last week. I did manage to get a few things done though. I sleeved the sata power cables, sleeved the sata

 

cables, sleeved the 6 pin power cable for the pci slots, wrapped all the dominator memory (Thanks for everyones input), built

 

a mesh guard for the wires that sit over the top of a fan. Organized some wires, and have been trying to come up with a name

 

for my build.

I also received a Roccat Kone xtd mouse, and Isku keyboard. I spent the night playing around with the mouse. Is all I have to

 

say is, WOW, what a great mouse. Besides just the basics of a mouse, comfort, smoothness. It looks amazing. I love the way I

 

can customize the colors on the sides.

All I have left to do is build a power cable for my pump lighting and fans (I'm just waiting on the sleeving to come in.),

 

install the wire guard above the fan by the pump, and get some decal work done on the outside.

 

http://imageshack.us/a/img705/8643/imag0628n.jpg

 

http://imageshack.us/a/img849/2032/imag0644u.jpg

 

http://imageshack.us/a/img405/1272/imag0640tm.jpg

 

http://imageshack.us/a/img24/534/imag0642k.jpg

 

http://imageshack.us/a/img339/6587/imag0647o.jpg

 

http://imageshack.us/a/img842/3940/imag0648t.jpg

 

http://imageshack.us/a/img28/1000/imag0632g.jpg

 

http://imageshack.us/a/img26/733/imag0649k.jpg

[pennywise]

Ok guys, I'm finally finished with this mod. I have decided to name this build Triton. I brought it out for some pictures and will be posting up some after PDXLan this weekend. Here is a teaser for you guys till then. Let me know what you guys think, and thanks for all the feedback.

 

http://imageshack.us/a/img198/6228/blueicer.jpg

[stratosrally]

The pinstriping really brings it all home, man!

 

Gorgeous...

[AenonElec]

Your eVga hydro cooper and cables color are sick. Nice work man

[pennywise]

Hey guys, PDXLan this weekend was a blast. I won first place in the mod contest and will be featured on the front page of CPU Magazine. I have some pictures of other cases, and If you haven't seen the youtube video yet of the Harlem Shake here, Check it out. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90YhkMNoEg8. I will have more pictures up after I get a chance to develop them this week.

[stratosrally]

Congrats!

 

I'll keep an eye out for their next issue...

[pennywise]

Ok, guys as promised, here are the final pictures.

Thank you guys for following my build. Keep watching for new ones, I have one already in the works. Let me know if you have any questions and how you guys like the final pictures.

 

http://imageshack.us/a/img849/2169/blueice.jpg

http://imageshack.us/a/img267/875/sideviewopen.jpg

http://imageshack.us/a/img72/1135/roccat.jpg

 

http://imageshack.us/a/img29/8701/tritonside.jpg

 

http://imageshack.us/a/img221/8536/rightsidee.jpg

 

http://imageshack.us/a/img706/802/nightlf.jpg

[stratosrally]

(gurgle)........

 

Whew, that's some killer photography - and the subject ain't too bad, neither! ;):

 

I like that little detail of the partial shield over the bottom fans to keep the cables from hitting the fans.

[pennywise]

Ok guys. Here it is. My build is now on the front page of CPU Magazine.

You can view it as cpumag.com Check out the 4 page article on page 38.

Let me know what you think.

 

http://imageshack.us/a/img259/8813/tritoncover.jpg

[joejoe69]

Just beautiful. Loving the cable sewing, too.