[Alot of writing at the bottom of this post way down there]
Box...
Case + packing removed
Better than I expected for a cheap case.
Opened up
Installing motherboard standoffs (Isolate the motherboard's PCB from the metal case)
Board installed
Needed to change the orientation of my heatsink, so...
I needed some alcohol to clean the old paste off.
Nice and clean.
Routed and connected the front panel USB and audio cables
Interior
Powersupply mounted
Graphics card installed, as well as cable management.
And cable management around the back. Looks pretty messy, but I'll clean it up later probably.
I am still waiting on two more parts to come before I can call this computer finished. I needed an adapter to let me mount the smaller laptop hard drive I am using. Because the case is a 'value' oriented case, it didn't have the correct mounts for that drive. Also, I needed an extension cable for one of the power supply cables. These two things should get to me tomorrow.
One other thing I did was to move the computer I am actually going to submerge onto the test bench. This will give me a place to test and validate all of the hardware while I go about designing and building the acrylic parts. One more thing, I traded 9600 GSOs with a friend. They are basically the same card, just with different coolers. This one has a slight problem where the fan will go at 100% speed all the time, even though the card isn't really hot. The one I had was much quieter. Anyways, I traded him so he could shut his computer up (this thing gets pretty dang loud - very annoying after a while). The fan issue won't matter to me as this will eventually be oil cooled, and the fan will barely be spinning anyways.
I also added a much bigger fan to the test bench. This fan was in the roof of my new build, but it makes a really annoying rattling sound when it is mounted horizontally, which it was in my other case. Anywho, I took it out, and turns out the spacing on the fan mounts of the tech station were exactly correct for this fan as well, so I mounted it. I love how ridiculous it looks. So I'll be testing this computer over the next little while, and giving it some TLC. After all, I replaced it about five months ago and it's just been collecting dust ever since.
Brings me to my next topic. I need to figure out a way to get every little bit of dust off each component. I really want the oil to stay clean, so I need to get all the dust off. A little blast of compressed air usually does the trick, but this graphics card has some serious dust build up inside of the heatsink and under the plastic shroud. I may have to disassemble it to clean it. The rest of the parts should be fine with some air blasts from the old compressor.
Actual things I will be doing to the computer will be minimal, I'm thinking. It works fine as it is. But I may wipe the hard drive and reinstall Windows 7 which should make hard drive performance much better. (I can't believe I was using something this darn slow for my main computer...)
Another thing I though of today is that I can apply for a Red $ Gold Grant from IPEI to help fund some parts of my project. This could potentially include a small SSD for this system to run off of if I can swing it, but that is still a LONG way off. If I was awarded the grant, it would go toward paying for things like oil and acrylic.
So today I met with Mr. Sauve, and he was able to look up the purchase order from when he ordered acrylic last summer for the school's supply. He ordered the acrylic from Laird Plastics in Syracuse. I went to their website, and they have literally 30 different types of acrylic. I'll call them tomorrow and see if they have any recommendations on specific type to use for my project.
Mr. Sauve also mentioned that the maximum size of acrylic sheet that the tech department's laser cutter can accommodate is 2 ft x 1 ft. This could mean I need to change my design, although I was thinking about changing it anyways. Think of the last design I posted as like a 'first revision'. 2nd revision coming soon.
Another thing I need to keep in mind for this 2nd revision is the volume of oil I would need to fill it up to the proper level. Too much oil and I will be spending a lot more on oil. Too little oil and it could have a negative impact on cooling performance.
Anywho, that's all for now. I hope you enjoyed this monster of a post.
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