Project Watermaster: Coolermaster ATCS 500 watercooling.

Project Summary:
I've always wanted to dabble in watercooling and I've been a fan of the Coolermaster ATCS 500 case for ages. When I heard that it was going to be discontinued I had to get one for old times sake before they were gone forever.

Project Gallery

Project Watermaster: Starting the Project

2003-10-30

I ummed and arh'd other whether to even display this project as its a bit old school really and I like to think I've moved on from those days but I decided to show it and let you lot comment anyway.

On that note I should explain what I am wanting from this project, it is based on the Coolermaster ATC 500 case. This is one of my all time favourite cases. It looks ace and is a very well built case. I know they have been discontinued so I took the opertunity to get one while I still can.

The only drawback with the case is that the psu goes over the cpu bit this will not matter with this project. My aim is to have a completly water cooled system so only one fan is required.

Here is a few shots of the case (Click on them for full sized shots)



I have stripped down the case removing any parts I am not going to be using, these include the 60mm and 80mm fans, the case speaker and usb cables.

I've not had a chance to get all the parts for the project yet so I will leave the wc kit as a surprise for the time being.

I have sourced a couple of bits though:




The grill is a lovely bit of ally and the fan is a 120mm ally fan, for some1 used to 80mm fans its huge. This is the second one as the first was broken in transit, but thanks to http://www.kustompcs.co.uk/ I got a replacement 8am the next day.

Its going to be a squeeze to get everything crammed in but if my scribbling and measuring are correct it should go in.

Here is a rough idea of where the rad is going to go



I've taken stacks more piccies of the case so if you want to see more pop along to the gallery. As I've said at the start this project is a getting back to my roots mod for fun. I'm hoping to make it nice and clean and not spoil the lines of an already bootiful case.

Project Watermaster: USB Ports and A Nice VFD

2003-10-30

I've paid particular attention to the usb port bit as I will be using this for an import part of the project:



I've got a graphics vfd for the project from noritake :
If you want more info on this vfd check it out here ( http://www.bit-tech.net/review/120/



A quick piccy to show you what I have planned for the fan and grill



And a nice shot of the case with all the bay plates in place

Project Watermaster: Hard Disc/PSU stuff

2003-11-26

Its been a while since I've updated this project, and this isnt going to show much I'm afriad. I've been snowed under and haven't got all the parts in order to start the project yet.

I have got a few things which should show you what I intend to do:

First up is my new hard disc , its a SATA seagate drive:




The advantage of the tiny sata cables is great. With the sata adapter I used in project silicon I won't need any nasty big ide cables.


Next up , I can't justify the 230 ish pounds needed for a AC watercooled psu at the moment so I've gone with my trusty Shuttle ickle psu. I've also managed to source some tasty looking silver wire with which I am going to replace all the cables with. It wasnt cheap at £2.50 a meter but it looks ace. I think I may have gone a touch over board by getting 10meters of the stuff but it will do for my next project hehe .

Project Watermaster: PSU modding

2003-12-01

Another small update from this weekend.

I've been working on the psu a bit as I had a spare hour or so.
I'm still undecided as to what I'm going to exactly do to it but I've a fair idea what I have planned.

First up I tried the psu in several locations to see what would be best. The first three are down the bottom of the case.




The final option is in one of the drive bays




As the psu is going to be on show I wasn't happy with the look of the shuttle psu so I decided to change it. I needed to take it apart anyway to remove the power connector and check out the fan as I will be replacing it soon. While I was at it I decide to sort its looks out.

The psu ready and waiting , i've removed all the stickers including the warrantee void if removed one hehe.




I then set to work with a sanding block:




Here's a bit of a before and after shot to show the change.




I'm wanting a very nice almost mirrored finish, it still needs another hour or so's work to get it all perfect but here is where I am at the moment:

Project Watermaster: PSU Cage modding

2004-01-12

I know its been a long time since I've done an update so my apologises .

I've removed the psu cage from the case, it was held in by a few screws and two rivets. The didn't last long hehe.




Here are the pictures of the case without the psu cage it looks much better and much more spacious:






While I was at I realised I could mount the psu in the space left by the cage and still have room for everything which was a result, here are a couple of piccies of where I will be mounting the psu.

Project Watermaster: More PSU modding

2004-01-14

I've started the work on the new psu wiring, I've done one of the molex chains and the p4 connector, I need to get hold of an atx pin remover as they are and pain to do without removing the pins.

Anyway onto the pictures:

This is the start of one of the molex connectors




Here is the nakid psu:




And lastly here is the p4 connector and one of the molex rig in place.

Project Watermaster: Matrix Orbital VFD

2004-01-15

Some more updates from today, I've not done much but I've been playing with my new vfd which I intend to use in the project.
Its a four line usb vfd from www.matrixorbital.com , its very similiar to the MX2 lcd with the fan control etc.

I plan to use the psu cage which I removed the other day to make a face plate that perfectly the case. I've got some piccies of me playing with the vfd placement. I won't be cutting it till next week as I'm gonna be snowed under.

Anyway onto the piccies:

The cage and the vfd:




The vfd in its rough place, sorry the second picture got washed out :

Project Watermaster: Monitor modding, keyboards and Cold cathodes

2004-01-20

As predicted I had a very busy weekend so I've not had a chance to do any work on the project really.

However some parts for the project have arrived. First up I got a antec usb powered light kit, this was too be mounted behind my hercules tft to give a bloo light over the keyboard.

The pictures dont do it justice they look ace and light up the keyboard in a nice glow:




I also got a spare keyboard for lans and work, its a mini cherry keyboard and will work on usb or ps2.




I also got some cold cathodes on a cheap deal so I ordered a few, I have a dual blue 4in cathode , dual uv 4in cathode and 2 dual uv cathodes. They look good but I've not had a chance to test them out yet:

Project Watermaster: VFD Bay plate modding

2004-01-20

I've found sometime to do a little modding , so I set to work on the faceplate for the vfd. I'm not happy with the results as the aluminium doesnt match perfectly with the case. I will use it as a practice instead.

I used the psu cage aluminium thinking it would match but its different to the front aluminium.

You can get the idea of what I am aiming to do though.


I start attacking the aluminium:



The finished piece:




And in place in the case

Project Watermaster: Modding the cathodes

2004-01-29

Another update for u all.


I've done a few bits and bobs the main thing is making the cathodes look much nicer by removing a load of cabling and braiding the special cathode wire. For the power cable I used the silver cable I used on the psu.

Onto the pictures:

Heres the cathode beforehand its a dual 12in uv cathode:




The first cathode gets its braiding:




The power cable , invertor and both finished cathodes:

Project Watermaster: Modding the switch gear

2004-01-31

I had 30mins spare yesterday so I set to work on the led and switch cables. I changed them from nasty green/orange/blue and white cables to the silver cable I've used elsewhere.

Here is the cables beforehand:




The completed cables in place, unfortunately the shots I took of the cables on my desk didnt come out so you will have to check out the ones with them in the case.

Project Watermaster: Wiring the PSU Cables

2004-01-31

Two updates in one day for you lucky lot hehe :D , I've been working on the psu some more. I wasnt happy with the sanded finish so I attacked it again , this time with my new automatic sander which made short work of the job and is certainly less tiring on the old arms. I gave it a quick coat of clear coat to try to protect the finish.

A picture of it done,



After that I attack the mess of wiring, I've made all the wiring looms and connected them up. I also created a connector to supply power to the psu (More on that soon ;) )

This is the psu with the cables attached




The psu in its little polished casing




Another shot showing the connector for psu power in place




And finally the psu cleaned up and with all the wires tidied with zip ties, as you can see I havent done the mobo connector yet, I'm not sure how I'm going to sort that out yet it depends on whether I can get a atx pin removal tool sorted :)

Project Watermaster: SATA And power wiring

2004-01-31

I'm going to be even nicer and give you all a third update :D

I've been wiring a sata cable and this is the result:




I've also hooked up the psu power connector this is the other half of the cable. It will connect the psu to the kettle lead. I will show you why I've done it this way sometime soon. ;)

Project Watermaster: More wiring

2004-02-01

Another day another update :)

I've finished more of the psu wiring , I remembered I needed a y adapter for my dvd writer as its going to be sata connected not ide. So I made one up this morning:




And here is a quick shot to show how the psu will look with all the wires connected and the psu power connector in place.

Project Watermaster: PSU Powered up

2004-02-01

Second update for the day , I've tested out the psu and it is working :)




I was worried something would have gone wrong with it after all the stuff I've done to it :) Luckily it works a treat :)

Project Watermaster: Case window

2004-03-02

Over monday and today i've been working on the side window for the case. I've been thinking about a multitude of designs but finally settled on this. It still needs a bit of tidying up but you get the idea.


The first three pictures show the window being made, I used my new jigsaw for the main section and my trusty dremmel for the top and bottom strips.


Heres a couple of shots of the side panel on the case to give you an idea of the final look:

Project Watermaster: Keyboard modding

2004-02-05

Another day another update .

I've been working on two things , first off I cut a small section of perspex for the window. I've not had a chance to secure it in place yet though





After this I got bored which in my house is dangerous it usually ends in tears or blood or modding hehe. Luckily it was modding, I decided to mod my new mini keyboard. I've never liked green or orange leds so they had to go. I replaced them with 3 3mm blue leds, however the orginal leds were much smaller so I had to file down the blue leds to get them to fit.

The keyboard beforehand:




The keyboard front taken off




I did the first led to test out how it was going to work




You can see the height difference between the old leds and the new blue one. Above you can see a filed and a non-filed led to see how much I took off




And the last two pictures are of the finished keyboard with its new lights

Project Watermaster: Cold cathodes

2004-02-06

Not a spectacular update today as I've just been working on a few cathodes. I've got loads here as I bought a bumper load hehe. I've changed all the wiring and braided the cathode wire on these 8 (2uv 6 blues) here

Project Watermaster: Window fitting

2004-05-19

I hope you don't pass out with shock, but I've actually done some more work on this project after a bit of a rest on it. I've finally got around to finishing the window off at long last. I've used a similiar technique to attach the perspex to the panel as I have done on my other project liquid bloo. The small allen headed bolts look quite funky, I decided against glueing as its messy and not as secure.

Onto the Pictures (Click on them for full sized shots):