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[Project Log] GREEN MOLECULE (modded Fractal Design ARC Mini R2)

alexciobanu
Level 10
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Case: Modded Fractal Design ARC Mini R2
Motherboard: ASUS ROG Maximus V Gene
CPU: Intel i7 3770K
GPU: nVidia GTX 970 SLI (still need to acquire)
RAM: 4 x 4GB Corsair Dominator GTs 2133Mhz
SSD: undecided
HDD: undecided
PSU: Corsair AX860

Cables: Icemodz custom sleeved white and green cables

Radiators: Alphacool NexXxoS Full Copper Monsta 240mm, Alphacool NexXxoS Full Copper ST30 360mm
Fans: 7 x Gelid Wing Green
Pump: Swiftech MCP35X with Koolance casing and heatsink
Reservoir: Bitspower Water Tank Z-Multi 150 Full Acrylic
Fittings: Primochill Rigid Ghost Green fittings, various Bitspower matte black extensions and angle fittings
Tubing: Primochill Rigid Clear
CPU Block: EK-Supremacy CSQ Polished Nickel Plexi
GPU Block: 2 x EK-FC670 CSQ Nickel Acetal (reusing old blocks that will fit on some GTX 970 reference cards)
RAM Block: EK-RAM Monarch X4 CSQ Polished Nickel Plexi
Motherboard Block: EK-MOSFET ASUS M5G Acetal
SLI Bridge: EK-FC Bridge CSQ Polished Dual Parallel
Coolant: Mayhems UV Emerald Green

Lighting: DarkSide UV LED strips

Other: nVidia Claw SLI Bridge, Aquaero 5LT USB fan controller

SPONSOR

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Hey guys! My name is Alex, I'm from Gold Coast, Australia and I just joined the forum.

I would like to welcome you to my new build log and what will be my second mod project.

You can check out my first mod project, the Vault Boy, here.

Hope you guys enjoy the project and pop by and say hi

This build is more of an upgrade of my system in a Fractal Design ARC Mini R2 in which I will be keeping most of the components as well as adding new ones and a lot of modding work to the case and other bits

Here is the build before disassembly and before a pretty major event happened ...

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Now back to the pretty major event that went down with the build. One Saturday morning a few weeks back now, while I was still enjoying my sleep my partner wakes me up telling me there is a burning smell coming from the system, me thinking she's just making fun of me as she sometimes does, I choose to ignore her. However as she kept insisting and telling me that it's no joke I got up and went to the other room where the system was just to be greeted by this awful smell of burnt plastic and a couple of seconds later realising that the DDC pump had burned out.

The CPU was rocking 105C according to Real Temp but was still running fine. Not sure how long it's been like that, it was running the whole night as we stream movies to our bedroom from it and before I went to sleep it was fine. I immediately turned it off by just a normal shut down and there went my day as I decided to just dismantle the thing there and then.

The aftermath is shown in the following pics as I went ahead and took everything apart, cleaned it and installed the system on my desk to test everything. Fortunately everything was fine minus a burned out DDC pump. The little guy has been pumping my liquid pretty much 24 hours straight for the past two years and a bit and it decided it's had enough of the Queensland heat. Just when I was about to mount a heat sink on it along with the upgrade of the system.

And let's start straight with the dirty stuff

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As you can see the little guys burned out pretty good, I doubt I can salvage it with a new PCB from that DIYINHK site that still sell them

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If I'm guessing right the fluid must have been boiling around the CPU area that caused the tube to fog up as well as deform a little bit to the touch. My partner may have woken me up just in time to save it. Not sure if the system would have shut itself off after a while or if the acrylic tube would of just melted but I think I'm lucky nothing further happened.

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Here's the empty case and by the looks of things something funny happened to the label on that Corsair Force GT SSD.
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alexciobanu
Level 10
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And everything out on the table to be cleaned and inspected

You may also spot the new side panel that I have been working on the few days prior, finished it the night before.

Here's a better look at the side panel

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The plan was to have more molecules but I managed to mess up the left side of it so decided to just make the window bigger. Still think it came out pretty good in the end, minus a few painting mess ups due to an unexpected storm that occurred as the paint was drying.

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These are the molecule shapes I used as I am not good at drawing things

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A better look at the finished side panel as well as the very last pic of the system running

The side panel was fully crafted by me using a Dremel rotary tool, a jig saw and lots of filing

I was also playing around with this new Aquaero 5LT controller the night before. Installed the optional heatsink but didn't get to test it out.

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alexciobanu
Level 10
The modding begins !!!

First I cut a small hole in the floor which I will use as a drain from the bottom outlet of the Alphacool Monsta 240mm rad that will be going in the front of the case.

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Did a cut on the MB tray as well. I will be making a shroud for the bottom so I cut the bottom right corner of the MB tray as to better help with cable management at the back.

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I made a small mistake here and started cutting higher that I wanted to. However it doesn't make a difference as I will be putting some white acrylic around the MB that will cover everything.

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I then got the case ready for painting

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alexciobanu
Level 10
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In this last pic you can see how the brushed aluminum aspect of the front panel looks after painting.

Some parts will be going green while other will stay white.

The plan is to have the inside of the case white and the outside shell green like the side panel. Hopefully it will look good like I'm imagining it.

alexciobanu
Level 10
Here is the frame of the case assembled once the paint dried.

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That's it for now. Stay tuned for more.

Cheers,

Alex


alexciobanu
Level 10
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Hey guys. Here's a small update of what I've been working on for the front and top panel grills of the case 😄

I previously painted them white, I then cut some molecule shapes out of white vinyl, though any colour could have worked. I then painted green over them and after drying I took off the vinyl stickers. Very simple do to and I'm very happy with the result.

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Cheers,

Alex

Bourgeois
Level 7
Nice idea.
I'd like to recomend install fan next to aquaero heatsink. I've got the same set and mosfet temperarure is around 70*C without fan.

Bourgeois wrote:
Nice idea.
I'd like to recomend install fan next to aquaero heatsink. I've got the same set and mosfet temperarure is around 70*C without fan.


Thanks 😄

Wow ok, I didn't think it was getting that hot. The way I'm gonna install the Aquaero is that I'm gonna be making a shroud for the bottom, covering the PSU and sorta creating a bottom compartment so I will be mounting it on the inside of that. There will be air blowing from the front radiator through there so hopefully that will be enough. I'm working with pretty limited space here so I won't really have where to install and extra fan for it

alexciobanu
Level 10
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Hey guys. I've been getting quite a few things done to the case in the past few days.

Firstly here's the case with the top and front panels finished. Pretty happy with the way they turned out.

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alexciobanu
Level 10
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I ended up fully stripping both side panels, including the windowed one as I was not happy with the finish. I will be painting them in the next couple of days 🙂

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I also did some work on the acrylic panels that will be covering up the inside of the case in some places. It is a nice glossy white acrylic so hopefully it will show some cool reflections once the build is complete.

Here's the front bit

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This will be the shroud for the bottom of the case. Hiding the PSU and also I will mount the Aquaero to the inside of it.

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Cut and ready for bending, though it was getting quite late that night so I haven't bent it yet. Finger crossed it will turn out good. It will be the first time I'm bending an acrylic panel.

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This is the panel for the back

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Here it is cut and in place inside the case. The top right corner bit will be covered by the radiator and fans.

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I decided to make two small windows to show off the SSDs on the back of the motherboard tray.

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Haven't filled the cuts as again, it was getting quite late that night

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Here it is on the case though

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That's all for now guys.

Stay tuned for the next update.


Cheers,

Alex