This is going to be an on going work log for my newest system build.

Codenamed Brilliant™

Specs:

• CM Stacker 830 EVO-2
  
• Real Power Pro 1000W
  
• Intel qx9650
  
• Asus X48 Rampage Formula
  
• 4gb Crucial Ballistix Tracer PC2-8500
  
• 4870x2
  
• LG GGW-H20L Blu-ray Burner/HD-DVD drive
  
• 2X Western Digital Raptor X 150GB
  
• 1X Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 1TB
  
• X-Fi Platinum Fatal1ty Champion Series
  
• Hanns-G 28" 1080p LCD
  
• MS Vista Ultimate
  

..to be continued

Case Mods/Modding
Bought so far.

Water Cooling:



15' Masterkleer Tubing 7/16" ID 5/8" OD
1 x Pentosin G11 Long-life Coolant - Blue
1 x Panaflo 120mm Ultra 115CFM (I'm getting a total of six for the Radiator)
1 x Arctic Silver Thermal material Remover & Surface Purifier
6 x 120mm Anti-Vibration Fan Gasket - Black
1 x Arctic Cooling MX-2 Thermal Compound




1 x Thermochill PA120.3 triple fan radiator
2 x Thermochill PA 120.3 Shrouds
1 x EK-Multioption RES 250 rev.2 - 1/2" Barbs
1 x Swiftech RadBox MCB-120 Revision 2 - Black



1x D-tek FuZion CPU Water Block Options: Barb: 1/2"
1x Swiftech MCP655™ 12 VDC Pump: Barb: 1/2"
6x 3 pin extension cable
sleeving
color: Black
heatshrink: Black
1x Thermalright HR-05 SLI for southbridge chipset
1x Petra'sTech "PT_Nuke" Concentrated Biocide
1x Sunbeam Multi Fan Power Port
10x Stainless Steel Worm-Drive Hose Clamp (Wide Band w/Liner)
1x OCZ XTC Memory Cooler
1x O-Ring, White, 1/2"ID x 5/8"OD x 1/16" Width (Pack of 10)"

*A big thank you goes out to PCTorque for hosting this amazing forum NBF.

Lapping a Thermalright HR-05 heatsink

Today, I decided to pratice lapping for the first time on my Thermalright HR-05 SLI heatsink. I checked it first with a razer to see how flat the base was and found it was convaved.

Items I used for this project are:

• 400 grit sandpaper Walmart
• 800 grit sandpaper Walmart
• 2000 grit sandpaper Walmart
• 91% alcohol Walmart
• Masking Tape
• Thin piece of glass or marble
• Paper Towel and Q-tips
• 1 hr of free time

My lapping station, note I have the sandpaper in thin long sheets, you want to make long constant strokes, without adding pressure. You want the weight of the heatsink on the paper only.



The three types of sandpaper I'm using today. Some people suggest using 400,600,800,1000,1200,1500,2000 grit paper, but really isn't needed, because the paper will get smoother as you sand and it saved me alot of time this way.



Notice the base of the Thermalright HR-05 SLI heatsink is pretty shiny, but it has a rough nickel plating on top of the copper base. Lets get to work on removing the nickel and getting a smooth base of copper.



I used a sharpie to mark out the X, ok lets begin with the 400 grit



After about 20 mins with one sheet of the 400 grit paper, the base looks something like this. Notice the nickel is still around the middle? That is were it is convaved.



After another 25 mins with 800 grit



Finishing up with the 2000 grit you can see the shine and the middle of the base is raised from the edges, this will allow better contact to the chipset of the motherboard.

For this build, I'll be lapping the SB, NB, CPU heatsink, and the CPU waterblock. Cooling is very important to my build.

I hope you enjoyed my pratice run at lapping a heatsink

Lapping and modding a D-tek Fuzion cpu waterblock



*Very Important to remove this from the gasket inside the waterblock
The rubber left over can clog the tubes, the barbs, the pump if it were to come loose inside the block.



This is how it should look after removing the excess from the gasket.



This is my work station for this lapping session.


Before

After, with 400,800,2000 grit sandpaper.


This is an amazing mod you can do to your D-tek Fuzion waterblock. Remember that o-ring I bought? You insert it as shown in the picture and screw it all back together. What this o-ring does, is seal the gap between the inlet jets and BOWS the waterblock center. What bowing does is it causes increased contact pressure to the center of the cpu heatsink and lowering temps even further.


Lapping a Noctua NC-U6 heatsink and sleeving 3 pin fan wires



2x Panaflo 80x25 Ultra High Speed fans for the chipset coolers
1x Noctua NC-U6 Chipset Cooler
1x Techflex Wire Sleeving Kit (Black)









About 80 passes with 400 grit paper, shows the middle is bowed, but isn't flat enough for my liking



160 passes with 2nd sheet of 400 grit paper



I forget how long I lapped it with 2000 grit to get this shine.



I used a tiny flat head screwdriver to remove the pins for the fan headers



Hardest part was having to walk the sleeving down, like an inch worm.



Before and after.



Did alittle sleeving tonight.


Six panaflo 120mm fans.





Tonight I decided that I'd mod the X-fi i/o flat ribbon cable. This cable is what is needed to connect the front panel connections and remote to the soundcard itself. Obviously this cable is very ugly and very hard to work with.




You'll need a very sharp razor.

Cut down in between the wires of your ribbon cable. It is not necessary to separate out every individual wire of your ribbon cable, but you can if you want to. I decirded to go by 3’s to make the separating effect.

I found it was best to cut down the ribbon cable about an inch and then gently pull the wires the rest of the way. Gently pull and separate the wires the length of the ribbon cable.



After separating every three wires we get something like this.



Sleeving installed.



All Finished. Looks alot better and it's alot easier to work with.


And of course I did recieve my new Sound Blaster X-Fi Platinum Fatal1ty Champion Series Sound Card



8x-3 pin extension cable
sleeve: Yes
color: Black
heatshrink: Black

1x-Sunbeam Multi Fan Power Port
1x-Ultra Products - 130pc Premium Toolkit


6x-120mm Yate case fans
Loon (88CFM)


Brilliant™

Install/Benchmarks

Nice Do you really need 8gb ram???

2-4gb
lol
meaning 2 or 4 gb sorry for the confusion.

I'll edit that.

This is going to be ....... BRILLIANT ! Keep us updated.

haha, np It's ridiculous but I could see upgrading to 4gb under vista...especially with games whoring more and more ram.

Hopefully I'll get the time to write up a guide to cpu/gpu lapping along with waterblocks.

It should take me 4-5 months to complete , but mostly because I want to wait for X38 and or the new offerings from Nvidia to come out.

I'm also thinking about getting a new monitor, but...I'm torn between the new Dell 30incher or just sticking with a 24in for a 3rd of the price.

Objection to buying a 32" Sharp Aquos LCD for about $1100? I would say it's a pretty good buy

Also, you're smart for waiting for the x38. I'm disappointed because I'd have to replace my mobo to support fully the 9800 series...although I think PCIe x16 1.0 will still let the 9800 come close to unleashing it's full potential.

No objection at all, great buy. Thanks for the suggestion.

This is it just in case you didn't know exactly what I was talking about It doesn't have DVI, but you can buy a DVI-HDMI cable and the problem is solved. It should go great with your beast!

or $999@newegg

Thanks pdonket, I think I found my new monitor.

Nice find on the price!

Glad you liked the suggestion

Lets see that lapping! Looks freaking awesome. I cant wait to see your build G.

EDIT ::CONTENT COMPLETELY REMOVED:: to satisfy GB's request