Tempest SXR

[SXRguyinMA]

Alright I got some more work done tonight!

I made up a harness for the last 4 RGB LEDs in the top 140mm fans. Every time I wire up another set I do it differently and improve upon the last version. For instance, since first doing them in Armor Redux, I've found that if you shed an old cat5 cable, the 8 wires inside are PERFECTLY suited for wiring LEDs. And they're already twisted pairs, which is very nice.

Then comes making the actual harness. The first 140mm fan I did on this case had each LED wiring section in it's own sleeving which all got joined together. This one I did tonight has all the wiring in one continuous harness. It was a lot more work on my part to do but the end result is much nicer.

Here is the second completed harness:

And a close up of each wiring joint. I simply cut small sections of sleeving, then went progressively bigger as the wiring bundle got bigger.

And the 4-pin molex on the end:

And here it is installed on the fan. All I had to do was put a small dab of hot glue over each LED to make sure it wouldn't pop out as they are pretty loose in their spots.

And a shot of both fans mounted to the case:

I also sleeved the 3-pin fan harness for each as well.

I also got the Asus P5E Deluxe from Trace (thanks again) mounted in it's final resting spot. I've got my old Pentium D930 in there just to make sure no dust or anything gets in the socket. Once my Q6600 comes out of this Abit board it'll get lapped and put into the Asus board. Then that D930 will go into my Abit board and be turned into an HTPC at some point.

And I also sleeved the 3-pin harness for the rear 120mm Exhaust fan and installed it into the case with a vib. dampener. (no pics of that, but it's pretty self-explanatory).

That's it for tonight. Hopefully within the next few days I can take apart my current rig and start swapping some hardware! The two 120mm RGB fans that are in the front of my armor are going to go into the front of the Tempest (this will save me from having to wire up 2 more RGB fans, and the LED ones that come with the Tempest have 3mm LEDs, so I can't convert those).

Now the only thing I'm still debating on is whether or not to transfer my third clear 120mm fan into the Tempest side panel to replace the blue LED one, or swap out the blue LED one for a plain black and white NZXT one without the LEDs.

[SXRguyinMA]

It's getting there

Once my replacement fan controller shows up from NZXT I'll be ready to do the final transfer of the hardware.

In the meantime I got some more work done tonight!

I started off by re-stealthing my DVD drive into the Tempest. i popped off the Tt faceplate that was hot-glued on, and found that it was rather simple to get the NZXT faceplate installed. I simply used the 3 tabs along the top that are meant to hold to foam in, and the 2 tabs on the side that hold the plate into the front panel. I just bent them as needed and adjusted them.

Drive closed:

And opened:

The next task was to transfer the buttons, switch and LED from the Tt faceplate into the NZXT faceplate. This went quick, as I simply traced the holes from the Tt plate onto the NZXT plate, and re-drilled them.

Switches in the panel:

Then I had to cut the foam to fit around the components as I had to do with the Tt plate.

One thing I noticed was the difference in density between the NZXT foam and the Tt foam.

NZXT foam on left, Tt on right:

This should help trap more dust than the Tt units did

And the panel installed:

And a shot with the top panel temporarily placed into position:

And of course a vid (click on pic for vid)

Now one thing you'll notice is that the DVD faceplate doesn't sit quite flush. This is due to the mounting location for the drive. It actually needs to be mounted between the provided mounting holes. I'm going to work on fixing this without having to do more drilling on this case (it's super thick and has killed 2 of my drill bits so far lol).

That's it for now. My computer is currently without the switch panel and DVD drive, but that's ok, they're not needed right now. As soon as my new fan controller shows up then it'll be teardown time! I'll lap the proc and install the hardware and do all the cable management at that time.

[SXRguyinMA]

alright I got an email from NZXT today saying they shipped my new Sentry 2 and it will be here thursday!

So hopefully this weekend I can get it all installed and prettied up and get some nice pics taken!

I have to do some unplanned trimming to the top panel. I say unplanned because I hadn't originally planned to put the Sentry 2 in the top panel, and some of the wiring for the USB, etc hits the top panel, so I'll need to hit it with some tin snips and make the hole bigger so everything clears properly.

Stay tuned!

[SXRguyinMA]

Update time!

A shot from a couple weeks ago when I was doing the hardware transfer:

Here is how the hole in the top of the case comes:

Now I needed to open this up more to the front and rear to allow room for the cables that go to the i/o panel.

I used regular tin snips and cut a piece out of the front and the rear

Then used some plastic trim I had to cover up the sharp edges:

A HUGE thanks goes out to NZXT for this next part! I broke my touch panel to my Sentry 2 in a freak modding accident. I shot an email to NZXT asking them if there was any way I could purchase a replacement screen, as I didn't want to buy a whole second Sentry 2 just to take it's touch panel. They replied back and said they'd send me a whole new unit for free!

I got it in the other day and tore it down. Here is the touch screen mounted:

Then the LCD mounted on top of it:

I then re-attached the top panel. I'm saving pics of this for later when it's 100% done

I was in the process of finishing up my cable management when I realized I still had a mess of wires in front of the PSU, so I came up with an idea to make a partial false bottom.

I started by marking 2 rectangles on some carbon leftover from Rockin Case:

Then a few mins later with the band saw and we have 2 pieces:

I then hit them with the belt sander to make all the edges a perfect 90º and straight:

Then I tilted the sander deck 45º and beveled one edge on each piece. When fitted together it looks like this:

I then got my super thick CA glue and glued the two pieces together:

It's currently drying. Tomorrow after work I'll wet sand the outside of it and then hit it with some clearcoat!

That's it for now. I hope to have this 100% finished by the end of this weekend!

[SXRguyinMA]

small update tonight

I cut a small notch in the side where it rests again the HDD to give it some clearance.

Then I noticed a spot on the case that was just open and not particularly useful to me at this point, so I measured it up and made a piece to cover it as well:

Then after sanding the sides all flush and smooth, I wet sanded the faces and hit them with some clearcoat:

That's it for tonight. These parts will be dry tomorrow afternoon, then I'll install them, then it'll be ready for final pics!!!

[SXRguyinMA]

alright so I got the 2 carbon pieces in tonight

The first 90º piece fits over the PSU like so to cover us any cable clutter that couldn't be managed normally:

Then I had this mesh area at the back of the case with wc grommets that I wasn't using. So I took 2 pieces of double-sided tape and stuck on the other piece I made to dress it up a tad:

And with those final parts in it's done! Enjoy some so-so completed shots for now until I can get my father-in-law's D3000 and get some nice shots!!! Should hopefully be this week sometime.

[SXRguyinMA]

was playing with lighting, backdrops, etc. then messed with PS

went from this:

to this (which is now my background):

Hopefully this week I'll get with my FIL and his D3000 and get some nice pics taken

[SXRguyinMA]

Alright my father-in-law left about 30 mins ago, here's a teaser

(Oh and it was a Pentax, coulda sworn it was a Nikon though)

I should have the pics in raw format on a DVD from him withing the next few days! He also took some nice pics of Rockin Case (FINALLY!)

[SXRguyinMA]

thanks!

speaking of motorization....

[SXRguyinMA]

they're controlled by a single temp sensor, and it is taped to the topside of the base of my CPU cooler

The two red lines are where the temp sensors are. one for the louvers and the other for the sentry 2 fan controller for the CPU fan. it reads about 10ºC less than what Core Temp says in that position, but part of that may be due to the fan blowing air directly onto the sensors. I may move them, but that seemed like the best place for now. I may put them under the CPU retention bracket like that in that one vid someone posted on here a while back