The New Cube (AKA BEAST)
 

Well after much hard work, my beast is just about done. For a long time I have wanted a pimped out rig, now I think I have just that. Those of you who know my 'old rig' (Lite-On FS-020), this new rig has all the same parts, except now I have 2 Heater Cores running in parallel. The new rig sports 13 fans and is lighter and QUIETER than the box it replaces.

My main mission on this project was to seperate the case, which a cube does by design (well this one does anyway) . I wanted the pump, PSU and all drives AWAY from the MOBO and processor. I have achieved my mission.

FANS
------
120mm's:
4 Panaflo M1A's on the HC's - 86CFM @ 35dBa all on Rheostat
2 Panaflo L1A's on the 2 top front intakes - 69CFM @ 30dBa
3 Mechatronics, 2 on top (one blowing in mobo side, one exhausting, pump side and one behind the mobo) - 55CFM @ 25dBA
80mm's:
4 Panaflo L1A 24CFM @ 22dBa on rear exhausting.

CPU temps are roughly 4C - 5C better with the same settings and the same components, the added air and dual HC's really help.

I plan to do a build 'article' in the near future but I will show some early finished pics here.

The Old Rig:

http://www.netbetty.com/H20/asus/fullinside.jpg

New Rig-

Front:

http://www.netbetty.com/H20/frontdone.jpg

Rear:

http://www.netbetty.com/H20/reardone.jpg

Mobo side:

http://www.netbetty.com/H20/h20sidedone.jpg

Pump side:

http://www.netbetty.com/H20/pumpsidedone.jpg

Nice!

In green, it would have looked like the "Borg Cube" that <what's-his-name> built.

What's the front fan grille made of?

Did you intend for light to come out between the 5 1/4 bays?

No room for a blower, eh? ;)

No blowers for me ben... The front fan grills are just aluminum mesh, not the best for keeping fine dust out, but they do stop a good bit of dirt. Not much I can do about the light coming out of the 5.25 bays really, I actually think it looks cool that way ;)

And here are some outside daytime shots where you can see the guts...

http://www.netbetty.com/H20/cube/outside/front.jpg

http://www.netbetty.com/H20/cube/outside/mobo.jpg

http://www.netbetty.com/H20/cube/outside/pump.jpg

http://www.netbetty.com/H20/cube/outside/topopen.jpg

http://www.netbetty.com/H20/cube/outside/back.jpg

That's still a fair number of fans, no? 12 by my count. Is it still quiet, or does it have a "firm but low rumble"?

I like those aluminium filters.

I pondered going to a cube, but now I'm not sure if I could fit everything... ;)

It is actually very quiet... All fans are less than 30dBa, except the HC fans which are M1A's and are on rheostat. And there are 13 fans ;)

Very nice.

Let me guess, #13 is either in the PSU, or it's a 40 mm in a bay cooler. Oh I see it, it's a NB cooler (blue orb)!

That looks almost homemade yet so professional I can't believe it. How'd you get it?

No that was NOT counting the NB or the PSU fan... Lets see,
9 120mm's - 4 on the 2 HC's, 2 in the front, 2 on the top and 1 in the rear
4 80mm's all at the rear.
So I guess I really have 15 if you count the PSU and NB :p

Does Mountain Mods sell alumnium bay covers that match their cube case? I don't think I would use all 5 of the slots. Pluse I like having match bay covers for modding purposes, such as CDrom stealthing and making rheobus faceplates.

You can get the ones for LianLi cases, or Coolermaster cases. They work according to owner. I can not wait to get my hands on one of these beasts....

BrianW