If you had told me back when I started building custom computers that any of my handiwork would be graced comments such as, inspiring a modding culture, or, truly beautiful. I would have laughed. It was just 8 months ago that comments such as these graced my ears as I undertook the construction of a new project.
The vision for this project was simple; to create a one of a kind overclocking platform in which style, function and high performance could all take the stage. No compromises. I have always thought, what’s a computer if it has all show and no go, or vice versa? It is either a gleaming money pit or an overbearing brute which hurts everyone to look at.
A Blank Canvas
You can think of those of us who modify cases as a brand of utilitarian pop artists. We change and shape our cases into forms which express our own sense of style and individual attitudes. What we feel is cool, attractive or interesting will normally find its way onto our blank canvases. It’s no different with this project, I had to start with a blank canvas and Lian Li was my art store. I chose a variant of an ever popular Lian Li case, the PC-6085.
Courtesy – www.Lian-Li.com, Stock Photo.
This case has clean lines, good airflow and solid aluminum construction. In addition the front has blue light strips which set this apart from the sister Lian Li PC-60’s. Overall,it just begs for some improvements.
Aspects of Design
To fully realize my vision for a unique, stylish, high performance overclocking machine, I set several requirements. The computer had to have:
- A cutting edge cooling system.
- Moderate to low noise levels.
- Eye-catching exterior.
- Interesting interior.
- An ability to easily swap components.
All of these requirements played a part when designing and selecting each and every bolt, cut, part and piece. In any successful project, there is tons of behind the scenes planning that goes on, and believe me I planned my butt off.
After some carefull web surfing and countless hours of drawing and shopping, I had the makings of my future system. Though instead of letting my backside recover from the planning process, my components were chosen and work had to begin. Though I believe all of you reading this deserve to be let in on some of the hardware and planed specifics that will be used in my system that I call Fush Zero.
System Cooling
Water cooling for the Northbridge chipset and Graphics; consisting of an Eheim 1048 pump, Danger Den z-chip and GF4 copper blocks, a Danger Den acrylic reservoir and a Black Ice Extreme Radiator. The system will be closed loop with ½” inner diameter chemical grade Tygon tubing.
CPU Cooling
Vapor phase change cooling for the CPU; consisting of an Asetek Vapochill PE unit that will be heavily modified (more on this later).
Case Construction
The main case again will consist of the Lian Li PC6085 boasting enough changes to make it truly unique. In addition the Vapochill PE unit will be housed in a brand new separate case underneath the Lian Li. The separate Vapochill case will be fabricated from scratch utilizing an aluminum frame with acrylic sides and aluminum accents. The Lian Li and Vapo case will then be joined to form a single unit. In the end, the overall look of the two cases together must emphasize clean lines and uniformity. The challenge being, how to make a scratch built case blend well with a sleek Lian Li case to achieve that part of my vision for an overall eyecatching style.
From top to bottom, very few pieces of the Lian Li will go unmodified. We all know, stock is boring. There are several modifications, such as blowholes, that are just a given and can be planned for. Though many of the mods you will see in the final product, most likely will come from the brainstorming as I work. Here is the initial short list of planned modifications:
- 120mm top blowhole.
- Skeletonized motherboard tray.
- Fabricated radiator mounts.
- Grill removals.
- Complete rewiring.
- Custom water cut side panels and overlays.
- 6 different aluminum and blue acrylic 120mm fan grills.
- Blue UV reactive interior.
Hardware Components
Every computer need computer parts, right? So I went out and bought some top of the line parts to put in this project. The computer components I had started out with (per Summer 2003) are:
- AMD Barton 2500+ AQZEA, unlocked.
- Abit NF7-S 2.0.
- MSI GeForce 4ti4200, with Tweakmonster ram sinks
- WD Raptor 10k RPM 36gig SATA drive.
- GEIL Golden Dragon PC3500 512mb Dual Channel Kit (CL2 3-3-6).
- Performance-pcs Modified Antec True 550watt.
Of course with the length of time it will take to complete this project, many of these components may be swapped out, changed or modified.
Upcoming Articles
In the articles that follow this initial overview I plan on narrating the entire building process from start to finish. Every modification, fabrication, hack, slash, tip and trick will be exploited in writing and with full color pictures. Then when the project is complete, the entire set of articles will culminate in a step by step overclocking of every component that can be tweaked, resulting in my overall vision for a sleek and stylish, high performance, overclocked platform.
In Fush Zero – Part 2 you can see,
- Cutting into the case.
- Skeletonized motherboard tray.
- Water cooler setup.
- UV coated interior.
…and many, many more pictures. Here are a few for your enjoyment. Mod On.