White Dragon - watercooled mini ITX project build log

[mr.doom]

Hi.

As of today I started on my most ambitious project build yet, and I'd like to share it with all of you. As I go through it, I would like to ask for inspiration and ideas as to how to proceed. I will be photographing the whole process, sometimes I will use my video camera as well. I will try to post in as regular intervals as possible, so visit this thread sometimes.

General outlines of this project are:

1. Mini ITX form factor;
2. Core i7 processor that will be overclocked to the limits;
3. High-end graphics card - overclocked as well;
4. Minimum of 1TB storage;
5. White, black and blue tones;
6. Watercooled;
7. Maximum 23 dB;
8. Look stylish and presentable;

Any comments, criticism, ideas and inspiration is very much welcomed.

Here we go. Yesterday, I received the case and started to prepare it for the components. Case in question is the Bitfenix Prodigy in white. Here are some shots of the case itself:

I started by removing all the insides, preparing for the watercooling. First went the top HDD cage,

then the top 5.25" bay,

next was the bottom HDD cage,

and finally, off with the stock fans:

First question: how would you cover the electronics for the side panel (on button, reset, etc.)?

Stay tuned, I'll be updating the thread often.


Update!!!

I just received my radiators. It will be time to paint them matt white

 

[spirit]

Looks pretty good, what hardware are you going to go for and how are you going to get a high end graphics card in there once you've got everything else installed?

 

[mr.doom]

Looks pretty good, what hardware are you going to go for and how are you going to get a high end graphics card in there once you've got everything else installed?

Thanks. General specs will be:

Asus P8Z77-I Deluxe - motherboard
Intel Core i7-3770K - processor

there will be an SSD + 2.5" drive and since this case can take the Radeon 7990, then I presume there won't be much issue with the watercooled GTX 680. I will squeeze in 2, 240mm radiators too At the end of the day, I will have to do little maths, length of the case minus radiator width and minus the fan with. If it doesn't fit, then it's the modding time!

 

[spirit]

Hmmm - do you mean a 7970? Looking at that case it will be a tight squeeze, but it should be OK for temperatures because of your water cooling.

 

[mr.doom]

Hmmm - do you mean a 7970? Looking at that case it will be a tight squeeze, but it should be OK for temperatures because of your water cooling.

I meant 7970 I just checked. I will have 335mm clearance in the case. Radiator is 30mm and fans are 25mm thick. GTX 680 is 270mm long. That gives me whole 10mm of clear space between them

 

[spirit]

Ah yes the 680 is shorter than the 7970 - not sure why but Radeons always seem to be longer - weird! Is the 680 going to be water-cooled too or not?

Anyway, I look forward to seeing the completed build!

 

[mr.doom]

Ah yes the 680 is shorter than the 7970 - not sure why but Radeons always seem to be longer - weird! Is the 680 going to be water-cooled too or not?

Anyway, I look forward to seeing the completed build!

I have no clue why, but Radeons tend to be a bit longer. GTX 680 will be watercooled as well. Watch out for more pictures, I will be updating this thread as I go.

Good LucK! Do u know how much the case is? she is very pretty

I paid around 80 Euros for the case and so far I'm pretty impressed how well thought through it is.

 

[spirit]

GTX 680 will be watercooled as well. Watch out for more pictures, I will be updating this thread as I go.

Awesome! I did my first case mod and a build thread a few weeks back - all I did was add some holes into the board tray of one of my cases for cable management, worked a treat!

On that line, are you going to get a modular power supply? Would seriously reduce the cable clutter, especially in a little case like yours where there won't be a great deal of room to hide excess cables.

 

[mr.doom]

Awesome! I did my first case mod and a build thread a few weeks back - all I did was add some holes into the board tray of one of my cases for cable management, worked a treat!

On that line, are you going to get a modular power supply? Would seriously reduce the cable clutter, especially in a little case like yours where there won't be a great deal of room to hide excess cables.

Yeah, I will be going for the Corsair AX series with the set of white braided cables.

 

[spirit]

Yeah, I will be going for the Corsair AX series with the set of white braided cables.

Good choice!

 

[Quickpaw]

when you've got this all up and running I would love to see a complete list of all the parts you used and how much it all cost.

wouldn't mind putting something like this together for myself, sounds like a neat little project!

 

[mr.doom]

So I received my radiators (see the first post), and I'm off to paint them

 

[claptonman]

Very nice. Only thing stopping me from getting a miniITX build would be heat, but yours will be super cool. How far can you overclock on an ITX board, though?

 

[mr.doom]

Very nice. Only thing stopping me from getting a miniITX build would be heat, but yours will be super cool. How far can you overclock on an ITX board, though?

I read the reviews of the board I'm getting and you can push the CPU to 4.6-4.7 GHz.

 

[mr.doom]

Radiators are painted

I guess I will have to be adding new threads as there's a limit of 20 pictures per thread.

The radiators are now painted! Excuse me if the craftsmanship is not top, but that was the first time I spray-painted anything.

And mounted What do you think so far? I need to think of some sort of shroud on the top radiator.

 

[mr.doom]

Tomorrow I will receive some fans and other things that need to be attached, so I decided to pay attention to details and painted the screws.

 

[kdfresh09]

im not sosure that painting the fins on the radiators was a good idea. by doing so, you may have actualy insulated it, preventing heat fron disapating properly. hope it still works theway it was designed to

 

[mr.doom]

im not sosure that painting the fins on the radiators was a good idea. by doing so, you may have actualy insulated it, preventing heat fron disapating properly. hope it still works theway it was designed to

I hope they do I chose non-insulating paint to do this

 

[wolfeking]

Even with non insulating paint it will still decrease performance of the radiator. It leaves a layer between the metal (copper?) and the air. The radiator is made to have only three layers, Air, Fins, and Water.

You should have went with either some sort of a white plating tech, or taped off the fins before painting.

 

[mr.doom]

Even with non insulating paint it will still decrease performance of the radiator. It leaves a layer between the metal (copper?) and the air. The radiator is made to have only three layers, Air, Fins, and Water.

You should have went with either some sort of a white plating tech, or taped off the fins before painting.

Oh well... We shall see, I used to cool the 2600K overclocked to 4.5GHz and the GTX 590 with the single 360mm radiator and got some great results, so having 2x 240mm should (with the GPU that will produce significantly less heat too), compensate for the paint.