Alder's New Case!

[Aldersan]

So, after much debating (and swooning over images ) I finally broke down and decided to get the new case I had been looking at:

The Level 10 GT Snow Edition!

Unfortunately, camera's aren't my favorite pieces of equipment, so I don't have a whole lot of pictures, but I got a few from where I'm at now

So, what do you do when you get something new?

Well, I suppose the proper answer would be to take lots of pictures for a worklog

What did I do?

Start putting things together!

Here's a pic of my mobo in the case, was working on cable management at that point. As you can see, this case is AMAZING when it comes to cable management. (side note, I did move that white SATA cable, so it doesn't stand out as much )

And a while later, I get to the point where I'm basically at now:

I suppose I should explain a bit

As it's fairly obvious by my waterblocks, I use water cooling In my old case, I had a nice big 360 rad up in the front of my case. However, there's just no room in this pretty new case for it, and its too pretty to cut up So, I have new parts on order! Got a 240 and a 120 rads coming, and a new reservoir for the top two 5.25" bays (it houses my pump inside it ). Hopefully that should be here tomorrow or Friday, so I'll get that together (and try to get more pictures too ).

My plan is to mount the 240 rad right up top (the case actually has a nice big hole designed for a 240 ), with a 120 at the rear panel (HOPEFULLY internal, I don't like things sticking out the back ), so that fan in the back is actually just sitting there, and the two wires across the top of the mobo that look so ugly are leading to two fans that I had sitting in the 5.25" spot, while I was fan testing lol.

Here's a shot from outside, doesn't my painted cpu block look so nice?

And one more, showing one of my favorite parts of the case:

And now, a small review of the case!

Not everyone may agree, but I really like the sleek look of the black/white. The original Level 10 was ridiculous, and the Level 10 GT was rather bland and (to me) rocky looking, but the white of the Snow Edition really makes it stand out and look great!
As I said previously, the case has amazing cable management. My old case wasn't much smaller, but had only a fraction of the cable management possibilities, and when as much of the wires were hidden away as possible, the back side panel was a PITA to get on! This case, I had no issues! I laid it on its front, spent about 20 minutes messing with cables, and using the included cable ties, I had it good to go in no time! The back slid right on with no problems, and no bulging!
Another thing I enjoy about this case is the I/O/PCI positioning in the rear of the case. Most cases that I've seen have that part recessed into the case, to account for the L in the PCI bracket. This case, however, has it flush with the back. For the L part of the plate, it has a small plate extending out where the screw that holds the PCI card goes, and then over the top of that it has another (removable) plate, which helps hold the cards securely. I think having it flush gives both the inside and the outside of the case a nice streamlined look, and I enjoy that bit!

Phew, what a novel!

Will update when my parts come!

(EDIT: fixed images lol)

[AmEv]

I agree with you on the color, too. Makes it stand out, almost reminiscent of the beige era.

The most ridiculous part about the original L10? The price!
I mean, $800 for THE CASE??? Come ON!
Almost every other case is less than $200.

Now, if they got the original GT for less than $200, that would be awesome.

[Aldersan]

Lol I agree, the price on the original L10 was ridiculous, completely. The GT is still expensive, but from the experience I've had with it, I'd say its worth it. We'll see how it works when I finally get the dang pc running

[billygoat333]

Lets get that mother up and running and folding!

[Aldersan]

Heh, it was folding before I got my new case, hence my 20k+ days Will get it folding again as soon as its running

[billygoat333]

well you know what I mean :p

[Aldersan]

nope!

[Aldersan]

Update time!

I'm posting from my pc That should tell you how things went.

So, without further ado, pictures!

Tubing and rads and res/pump setup:

I think it looks good! The white of the tubing offsets the black of the rads/fans/case interior.

I purchased the slimmest rads I could find (that would have decent performance, of course!) but I forgot to check where the fitting holes were in one of the rads, so it just BARELY fits (sucked putting it on too )

Here's a picture of my res, in my last case my pump was just sitting around, and I decided that was too ugly for this case, so I got the res that you put the pump into it

On a whim, I had decided to include one of those Phobya valves on the bottom of my GPU block, because that was the lowest point. Boy did it make draining easy! Definitely worth it.

Here's a couple shots with the door closed:

For this last pic, I tried to show how the fan gives the white tubing an underglow. The pic isn't amazing, but it does sort of show it. However, I think I might want some white cathodes soon

So, I installed all the tubing, rads, pump, and res, filled it with water, and turned it on (just the loop, of course ). No leaks, first time! Pump was loud, but once I got most of the air out, it quieted down and now I can barely hear it So much easier to do with this build, last time I had my res in the middle of the case, and the pump at the bottom..lotttssss of air bubbles everywhere

So, everything's working fine, my temps look fairly normal, if not a bit lower than my other case

Just a few small things I'd like to do: (but maybe not so soon )
Get some lights!
Get a new LED or two for my res (unfortunately, I wasn't paying attention and snapped the wiring off of mine while trying to situate it in the drive bays
I've got a small piece of white acrylic I still need to mount to the top of my video card (see the project Reality Bytes, post #31 to see where I got the idea, credit to Xperiment!)
Right now I'm using a PCI slot fan controller...and I currently have an empty 3.5" drive bay..hmm, I smell modding time Just need to find the right size drill bit for the knob.
Silly thing for this last one, the L10GT comes with 2 USB 3 ports on the top of the case, however there's one small issue: in the L10GT case, the ports are USB 3 to USB 3, you have to route them out the back of your case and plug them into existing USB 3 ports. That wouldn't be a problem for me, I have plenty of those!...But wait, the L10GT Snow Edition case has USB 3 to the 19-pin header..I don't have any of those So, maybe see about getting a PCI card to get some use out of those USB 3 ports up top.

Well thanks for reading my second novel, let me know what you think with lots of comments

[SXRguyinMA]

looks good man! I love the contrast on that thing!

[Aldersan]

Thanks!

Preview

EDIT: Also, my buddy got a hold of a cheap ps1 screen, so time to see what I can do with that!