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Loading ...Purple ‘Project Violet’
bassdominator
Project Violet Introduction:
Started upgrading my pc just before christmas 2008, early pressies was the excuse and from there I seemed to have got the modding bug
I named my rig ‘Project Violet’ in May when I purchaced 6×30cm UV CCFL’s and 20×3mm UV led’s,
it seems to have spiraled from there.
Rig spec :
- Q9450 @ 3.47 Ghz
- OCZ Flex XLC 2×1GB @ 1151mhz
- 700W OCZ Sli PSU
- 74GB Raptor
- 2x 320GB HDD’s
- Zotac 8800GT AMP @ 756/1164
- X-fi Audio Sound
- Liteon 20xSata Drive
- Zalman ZM-MFC1+ (Fan speed controller)
- PCI-E Exhaust fan
Loop 1 : Swiftech MCP655 Pump -> Thermochill PA120.2 Rad -> Blackice GTS240 Rad ->
D-Tek Fuzion WB -> D-Tek Fuzion quad injection nozzle -> Swiftech MC30 N/B WB ->
Swiftech MCRES Reservoir : Masterkleer 7/16″ tubing : 2x Scythe 110cfm fans :
2x Tt Thunderblade fans : Feser Blue Fluid.
Loop 2 : Swiftech MCP350 Pump -> BlackIce GTS120 -> ASUS 3a Mosfet WB ->
ASUS 3a Mosfet WB -> OCZ Flex PC8500 -> OCZ Flex PC8500 -> XSPC Reservoir top :
Tt Thunderblade fan : 3/8″ Masterkleer tubing : 1/4″ UV Blue tubing : Feser Red Fluid.
Firstly a few piccys to show where I have got to so far…
Might make my next case from scratch using some wood and alu, not going to be a conventional pc case shape though…
The list below will show some of the mod projects that I have done to the case, not in any order 
<Second loop>
All working so far… <fingers crossed> had a major hassle finding some 6mm barbs, also had problems getting the correct size smart coils for the 3/8″ ID tubing (mosfets) but couldnt wait to plug it all together, so filled the loop and then had to wind on the coils when the system was full… Found 2 very slow leaks from the mosfet blocks but all sealed now. Put 2x 5mm red leds in the base of the res to give it a glow.
<Going Purple>
Okay finally decided to do something about the drab matt black paint on the Stacker, was pondering for ages about what color to do it, most stackers are either Black or Silver so that was out of the question and then it hit me…’Fiesta Metallic Purple’ as its different and sort of represents the UV theme…
Sanding powdercoating is not fun, it takes ages, hard as sanding steel, takes about as long too…
<Mirrored Internals>
I wanted the internals to reflect as much of the UV light back around the case so I brought some mirrored styrene from ebay for £3, removed the back mesh (from the original fan), cut out the shapes required and then stuck it to the inside of the case using double sided tape.
<Top Radiator, now another twin fan rad> - Dropped temps by 4-8 Degrees C
I have seen people fit twin fan radiators in the top of the Stacker 83* series but with the sole purpose of cooling mosfets and ram i thought a single fan rad was more than enough…
Scrap that I saw a PC for £2.5k that had a twin rad setup and wanted the same so I put the small rad on the back of the case fan to make way for another twin rad to cool CPU, Northbridge and soon the Graphics card, but that will wait until I have a new GPU…
<Fan led switching>
I found the cable on the fans which supplied the led’s only with a 12v supply and ran new cables to switches, then supplied the switches with 12v from the molex supply. I did this with all 4 fans and wired my blue CCFL’s to one of the switches, so now if I want the PC to not be illuminated then I can just throw the switch.
<Tidier Sata cables>
Removed the black tubing from the SATA PSU rail, cut the cables down to approx 1″ in length and then soldered them back together again and taped around the wires to tidy.
<Improved front fans airflow (x2)>
Its the origonal 5.25″ bay surrounds with polycarbonate fronts, the holes were cut and then sanded using 1500 grit wet and dry, took ages to make both but has much better airflow now, Raptor HDD dropped by 3/6 Degrees C, it looks tidier and I can now see the Watercooling stuff from the front of the case.
<Replacing the side panels with polycarbonate>
I Used the original mesh inserts and drew around them laid on polycarbonate and cut out the polycarbonate to match sizes and then used existing screw holes to fix, wet and dry used again to 1500 grit. The standard side panels let alot of fan noise out of the PC and I couldnt see through them very well at all.
<Custom filter for Radiator>
Stacker 83* cases with base mounted rads suck up dust like you would not believe so because no filters are commercially available to my knowledge I made one using polycarbonate and cloth mesh, just removed the filter to see how much dust it stopped from entering my pc after 2 months (see 3rd piccy)
Nice…
<Noise reduction>
Watercooled rigs are quiet and thats one of the main benefits but I decided with some leftover Dynamat from my car, I could improve on the noise levels. I covered the back of the motherboard tray, the base of the case, the back of the door, the inside of the top panel and some other bits and pieces. Made quite a difference.
<Mounting the main Radiator>
The hole in the base of the stacker is nowhere big enough for a thermochill radiator so I had to carve up my nice new Case <cringe> The Rad mounting brackets are made from Alu from B&Q with silicone washers.
<illuminated UV Reservoir>
This is something I played with just to keep myself amused, I thought id try fitting 5×3mm UV leds in Poly again, stuck to the base of the reservoir, the effects were pretty impressive I thought for a random experiement… (piccy shows old purple fluid)
Some of the things that I am considering for the future…
- Another 2GB 1150Mhz Ram
- Replace the GPU for a Zotac 9800GTX+ AMP Edition
Anyone in the market for Watercooling parts I highly reccommend Adrian @ Specialtech, he helped me alot along the way.
And if you are buying ram OCZ provide the best after sales support I have come across for any PC components to date.
Lippy
WARNING : When using a stanley knife always cut away from yourself! rofl 
I have added some random construction pictures at the bottom for anyone who has a stacker or just wants to see construction pictures etc… some of them are from a long time ago so no watercooling and most pretty messy tbh.
Just got my Stacker case, running my AMD processor
This is my first watercooling loop fitted to the AMD cpu (purple fluid)
Changed the fluid color to blue, this is the Quad core CPU and new mobo
This piccy shows 1 WC setup and all the stuff that I was trying to hide away
Brought 3 scythe hdd mounts, they made a hell of a difference to the raptor due to the 10k rpm
My old 4×512MB Geil memory & the 2×1GB Watercooled stuff
The improved view from the front of the case
