Specifications

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maximumpc.com JUL 2011
MAXIMUMPC
EL WIRE, or electroluminescent wire, is thin copper wire that
glows a particular color (thanks to a phosphor coating) when
you run current through it. After mounting the primary inverter
to the rear of the case (image E), right around the hard drive (for
maximum concealment), I ran the black wire cabling for my two
str ands of EL wire through the holes in the rear of the case. I then
loo ped ea ch 5 -fo o t s tr an d of w ire ar ound th e b ot tom , f r ont , a nd to p
of t he c as e , s ecur ing it to the c ase’s sid es usin g cl ear adh e si ve t ape
(image F)—any other method would disrupt the strand of light.
TO ASSEMBLE the w ater -co ol ing a p par atu s, I b e gan b y at t a chin g Koo lan ce
Quic k D isco nn ec ts to m y va rio us wa te r-c ool i ng par t s (image I); these would
come in handy for adjustments and spill prevention later. My plan was to
r un 3/ 8 -i nch t u bi ng fr om m y S wi f te c h MCP 3 5 X p ump (o ver kill in po wer, bu t
ex tre mely s ma ll an d e as y to po si tion) t o the Bl a ck Ice r adiato r, w hic h wou ld
flo w o ut to my Ko ol an ce CPU -37 0 wa te r b lo ck , up to a Sw if te ch MCRe s M ic ro
Rev2 reservoir, and back down into the pump.
We’ve said it once and we’ll say it again: Test your loop away from expen-
sive compon e nt s before you pu t i t in your r ig. I te ste d the w ho le setup using
UV-reactive Feser One cooling fluid (image J) before cr acking open a cold
one and pondering just how I was going to get this into the case—and look
good, to boot. I decided to delay this decision a bit and proceeded to install
the system’s motherboard into the case using the provided standoffs and
screws, followed by the graphics card.
I NEXT DECIDED to thr ow in my Kin gw i n L Z-10 0 0 mo d u lar po w er
sup ply and 1TB Wes tern D i gital C av iar Bl ac k har d dr ive, be cause
I wanted to get a feel for how the system’s primary components
would affect the placement of the other aesthetically oriented
par ts I had in mind. I also wanted to star t testing out my system’s
lighting setup by connecting an Antec power supply tester to my
PSU, which would generate juice for anything attached to its wires.
Both the power supply (image G) and hard drive (image H) slid
right in without difficulty, and I hand-secured them with a smile.
E G
F
I
H
J
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ADD PSU AND HARD DRIVEINSTALL THE EL WIRE
5
ASSEMBLE THE WATER COOLING