MountainMods Twice7 build log

[juneau]

Yay! My case finally came today. Excuse the quality as usual. Still using my pathetic phone camera.


The beast!


Stripped Bare.


Holding it altogether? Loads of thumbscrews!


Top left to bottom right. 5 1/4" bay, clear acrylic case feet, 5 1/4" bay cover, HDD mounting brackets.


Removable motherboard tray FTW!


3 Windowed panels. Note the box it comes in. Nothing flashy.

[juneau]

Grills, grills, grills.


Fans, fans, fans.


Finished for now....



Note to self. Never ever base your fan/grill purchases on case images. Always use the description! Because you never know when the case might get a new revision, and said images aren't updated to match. This way you end up buying 1 less fan and grill than you actually need! Dammit!

[Trooper110]

Looking good so far juneau!

[Fitty-Six K]

Does it double as one of those "Set it and forget it!" rotisserie ovens?

[Dead...Again]

LOLz lookin' good! I always just buy a case with the fans already installed...

[Apache Warrior]

Nice Juneau. Next time I need a case I am seriously looking at this one.
Apache

[juneau]

LOLz lookin' good! I always just buy a case with the fans already installed...

Preinstalled fans, from experience are very very crappy.

Nice Juneau. Next time I need a case I am seriously looking at this one.
Apache

Go for it Apache. It's totally amazing. The paint finish is so amazing i swear i could use it as a mirror for shaving.

[Apache Warrior]

The finish is one of the things I noticed.
Apache

[DougBob]

Hmmm, what the price tag on that case again ?

[juneau]

Twice7 Black Powder Coat - 3 Big Window
[T7B] $295.99

Sadly with the way our prices are it set me back $400 with shipping.

[juneau]

New parts arrived. Been a bad few days. Ordered the extra parts i needed, yet 3 of the 4 items were incorrect. Something is trying to slow down my building of this case.

Will be continuing tomorrow.

[WalkinTarget]

You have run into the #1 problem with an oddball case design, in that it drastically veers from the norm in its fit and finish in regards to hardware going into it.
I know where to hide my wire runs on a traditional tower case by now, but those funky cases are ALWAYS a real challenge, so best of luck with it, Juneau. We always have fun looking for just the right accessory to add to the build, don't we ?? I've sent Darth on a few parts searches already, and luckily he always comes through for me.

Keep us updated once you get some parts shoved in there, and don't rush it either. I hope the rest of the build goes OK for you too.

[juneau]

You have run into the #1 problem with an oddball case design, in that it drastically veers from the norm in its fit and finish in regards to hardware going into it.
I know where to hide my wire runs on a traditional tower case by now, but those funky cases are ALWAYS a real challenge, so best of luck with it, Juneau. We always have fun looking for just the right accessory to add to the build, don't we ?? I've sent Darth on a few parts searches already, and luckily he always comes through for me.

Keep us updated once you get some parts shoved in there, and don't rush it either. I hope the rest of the build goes OK for you too.

I'm back up and running in my new Bling case. Man, what a pain!!!! Whatever could go wrong did! Never had a 5hour build before.

Will post some pics tomorrow. Hopefully with my girlfriends dads camera.

[WalkinTarget]

Juneau .... the best part is us hearing of your struggles so that we know what to expect if we decide to build a similar rig !!

C'mon .. cough up some gory details. You know how my quad build went, so let's hear the bad stuff now !!

[juneau]

Hmmm. Where to start? I'll probably do this as a list.

#1 Install HDD brackets onto newly aquired front 12cm fan.
#2 Install HDD's onto bracket.
#3 Install HDD fan onto front of case.
#4 Remove motherboard tray.
#5 Screw motherboard spacers onto tray.
#6 Screw motherboard onto tray.
#7 Install GFX card. Which doesn't fit properly into port. Notice expansion bracket of case is the problem.
#8 Try soundcard. Same problem.
#9 Cuss like crazy.
#10 Lightbulb! Motherboard is sitting too shallow on the tray. Maybe try rubber o-rings between spacers and motherboard?
#11 Go back all the way to step #4.
#12 Sudden urge to check spacer size compared to the ones in my old case Thread length the same. Hexagonal part slightly smaller! No need for o-rings.
#13 Start removing spacers from old case and screw them into mobo tray.
#14 Screw motherboard into place.
#15 Grab GFX card. Please fit, please fit. Yes!!!!!
#16 Grab sound card. Repeat above. Yes!!!!
#17 Put mobo tray back into case.
#18 Smoke break
#19 Start working on the otherside of the case. 5 1/4 bay, PSU etc.
#20 Trying to squeeze PSU into place. Tight fit but it gets there. Dang! Position of modular ports directly into line with lower HDD. Not enough space in between HDD and PSU. Remove HDD bracket.
#21 Try HDD in lower position in the bracket. Still blocking modular port .
#22 Remember i had read about this case and modular PSU's being a tight squeeze.
#23 Feel lucky as HDD bracket can be mounted onto any 12cm fan. Attach to rear fan. Not ideal, but will have to do.
#24 Start wiring up HDD's, DVDRW, fan controller, ATX power.
#25 Smoke break.
#26 Done for now. Just hope it boots after all this messing.
#27 Grab monitor, spare keyboard and mouse. Hookup. Boots!

To do list.

#1 Slap myself silly for fixing the rear HDD fan the wrong way round. Rear is extract not intake dummy! Turned fan off via controller.
#2 Attach temp sensors to fan controller.
#3 Possibly have a play with wiring. Bit messy on the PSU side but who really cares? The main section is pretty much wire free due to the case design.

After thoughts.

Damn this thing is bright! Have my controller lowering the fans to 600RPM, which in turn drops the voltage to the LEDs and it still looks like a landing beacon.

Wow it's quiet! 3 more fans, of which 2 are 8cm.

This case is a cooling monster! My 8800GTS G80's idle temp is down from 59c to 48c! Can't wait to see what loads temps are down to.

CPU temp has dropped by 6c. HDD temps are down by 4 (should be better when i switch the fan around). Overall case temp is down by 10c.

Sit back, relax, and look proud. You have one seriously stunning PC sitting next to you.