The DarkC0d3r marking out #2

Okay guys so...

I got SOME work done, well it doesn't really count as work but oh wells; it took some time (:

So marking out the spot for a 360mm radiator.

Tools

Outline done

Drilling holes marked out

Lines where I cut, and DONE

Now to put it to the test, I get a small torchlight and place the 3x 120mm fans onto the 'template'.

I shine it through the holes and see if the fan holes are aligned with the ones I marked out, see the black dot?







Well, it passed the test, I'm happy (:

It's good to get cut any day.







So that's it for now, stay tuned for more.

Sapphire 5770 vapor-x; a closer look

Hey guys!

I'll be providing a closer look on a Sapphire 5770 vapor-x v.2

 The card itself.

 Heatsink and Card separated.

The famous 'Vapor-X' cooling system, looks a little simple to me (:









So here's the thing I was looking for, some T.I.M is already applied onto the GPU die. As you can see on the right side of the card there is a column of Sapphire's exclusive "Black diamond Chokes".

They are hidden inside the aluminium encasing which double as a heatsink.



Bad job Sapphire, didn't solder them in properly, but shouldn't do much.

Up close, at first I thought they were massive metal heatsinks glued on but they can't be removed unless you have a soldering iron, which I am not prepared to buy and do (:

On the top of the GPU die and the right side of it are 4 ELPIDA ram chips, there are 4 on the other side of the PCB as well. 

Adds up to a total of 125mb of RAM in each chip, sweet :)

Measured up; It turns out to be just 18cm, which is approximately 7.1 inches. That's pretty damn short! A short video card is a good thing, it doesn't cover your SATA slots and it's easier to manage.

Time to measure up the GPU dimensions.

I am wanting to watercool this monster but sadly it isn't reference design, meaning the Chokes and VRM are not in place, though they are improved they aren't reference.

So it's pretty much 45mm x 45mm, which is why it's a 45nm architecture GPU

45mm on the other side too.

I'm guessing this will be compatible with a 

Swiftech MCW80.

It's a universal waterblock so it should do fine (I hope)

I'll also have to throw in some RAM sinks, Don't need heatsinks for the Chokes and VRM as first I can't find them (LOL) and the Chokes have custom heatsinks.

This video card also has Crossfire support for dual and quad fire set-ups, pretty sweet.

Also comes with a beautiful matte black painted PCI backplate which perfectly suits the connector color, the matte black should blend perfectly with a black painted case.
Nah just kidding, I just did a little paint job (:






So there it is, the Sapphire 5770 vapor-X with a closer look.

I will post up an overclocking under-water review along with benchmarking some time later.

Thanks for looking people :)

The Darkc03r marking out

Hey guys!

Just a small update, I'm going to begin some of this planning for doing the hardwork.

First of all I'm going to introduce some mod-items I bought.

Well, permanent markers are a MUST for modding, you can't do very much without these. Pencils, textas, fine-liners or whatever just fail miserably.
Permanent markers are just hardy, though they don't come cheaply.
But I bought these for 5 yen, just like 73c, these are pretty high quality, the 2 ends are Chunky and soft tipped, I'll be using the chunky tip for marking out on rough surfaces.

And the most exciting item? Double sided foam tape, this stuff is ULTRA STICKY, and the foam works pretty well for noise dampening.

So it works dual purposes to both dampen vibrations and to stick, pretty sweet.

Made by Nikto, oh yea!

You have to peel some non-stick paper off one side, the inside-side is already adhesive with no stick.

The relatively thick foam layer, the bad side though is that trying to take this stuff off is very hard, 1 it's sticky and 2 it's more powerful than the foam material, so if you rip it off the foam comes in shreds and taking it off will result in a sanding session.

Bought this beautiful stuff in 2 different sizes/width, suits my different needs.

Pump noise cancellation here I come : )









Now here comes my blabbering on about fan placements and mounting.

I made a Sketchup model at one point I really couldn't be bothered to finish it, as I am an amateur in Sketchup so I decided to do this in real life.

So here it is:

I took this picture just the afternoon after I took the pictures of the modding tools. This is NOT what it's going to look like, the PC will be placed on a side down position.

The reason why?

I want to make a side down PC chassis for a change; and that's not the only reason. Water cooling and the installation of hardware is just so much easier downwards than through the side, water cooling also becomes very very convenient and placement of items such as pumps and reservoirs is easier.

Starting off with the 3x120mm fans at the 'top', to accommodate a 360mm radiator, things I love about these cases are there are sheets of metal begging to be cut at.

The funny thing though is that the design on this sheet of metal is pretty sweet, you see that H? The edges of the H can very very comfortably nestle a 120mm between them.

Pretty cool yea? Now all I need to do is mark out the holes, saved me the pain of having to do it myself : )

And that 120mm fan at the 'back' of the case, I will be cutting out an extra hole OVER the 2x80mm fan holes at the back, (yes, it can fit one) and marked out the cutting lines. Just need a boring weekday to do this stuff.

And finally 2x120mm fans at the 'bottom' of the case, this will accommodate a 240mm radiator (I'll be using the XSPC rx240 from my scout build).










So this leaves the front panel and the side panel, my options with this? I am thinking of placing the power supply in the 5.25" bays, it ALMOST fits, a snug fit always means I don't need screws. A slight mod will make it fit nice and snugly.

As with the sidepanels, the sidepanel which I am resting the PC on will have rubber feet drilled onto them, screwed onto the main framework and sealed with screws, and along the sealing edges I will apply some of that double sided foam tape to reduce vibrations/noise.

With the sidepanel at the top, I am thinking about a clear window, maybe with a dark or coloured tint depending on what Gammods has to offer.

Well anyways I'm beat, that's all for this update.

Stay tuned for more.