Hey guys and welcome to my build log for the Thermaltake CaseMOD Invitational Season 2.
 
So honored and excited to participate in this along such great modders who have inspired me from the start!
 
Thanks a lot to Thermaltake for selecting me to represent Australia and also a huge thanks to all the sponsors of this project which are of course Thermaltake along with premium partner Newegg and also Avexir, PerformancePCs, MNPCTECH, Icemodz and Ramcity. Without all of you all this would not have been possible, thank you!
 
You can find more info about the CaseMOD Invitational here: http://casemod2015.thermaltake.com/season2/home.html
 
Lets have fun with this one and hope you guys enjoy the ride.
 
SPECS
 
Case – Two modded Thermaltake Core X9s
Motherboard – ASUS Sabertooth X99
CPU – Intel i7 5930K
GPU – 2 or 3 ASUS STRIX GTX970s
Memory – 8 x 4GB Avexir Core Series DDR4 2400Mhz (4 x orange LED, 4 x blue LED)
SSD – Samsung SM951 512GB AHCI M.2 ; 2 x 500GB Crucial MX200 SSDs
PSU – Thermaltake Toughpower Grand 1200W Platinum
 
Cables – Icemodz custom sleeved cables
 
Radiators – 4 x Thermaltake Pacific RL480 Radiators
Fans – 26 x Thermaltake Riing 12 High Static Pressure LED Fans - Orange, Blue and White
Pumps – 2 x Thermaltake Pacific PT40-D5 Silent Kit Reservoir/Pump Combo with Thermaltake Pacific T11 Reservoirs
Reservoirs – 2 x Fully Custom Reservoirs and 2 x Thermaltake Pacific R33 Reservoir
Fittings – Various Thermaltake 16mm Rigid Compressions fittings , right angles and extension fittings as well as some soft tubing compression fittings for 3/8” ID x 1/2” OD tubing that I will be using in some spots. Also a few Bitspower pass-through fittings.
Tubing - Thermaltake V-Tubler PETG Tube 16mm OD
CPU Block – Thermaltake Pacific W1 CPU Water Block
GPU Blocks - Thermaltake VGA Water Block for ASUS STRIX-GTX 970
Coolant – Mayhems Aurora 2 Silver base concentrate and a combination of Mayhems Dyes in Red, Yellow and Blue to achieve the desired coolant colour
 
Lighting – Icemodz RGD LED Strips
 
Other – Thermaltake Commander FT – Touchscreen Fan Controller, 3 x Vandal Momentary and Latching switches for custom power button as well switch for the reservoir LEDs, custom MNPCTECH case feed, MNPCTECH machined aluminum fans grills and acrylic grills for the radiator fans as well as some modders mesh.
 
The theme of this build will be a sci-fi space theme such as the banner suggests and it is named after one of the largest stars known to man, VY Canis Majoris. I also draw inspiration for this project from the awesome game Elite Dangerous though not sure if I will implement any aspects of the game into the build as of now. The colour scheme will be a dark grey/gun metal, black, orange and blue.
 
As for the mods to the case you will be finding that out as I go along with the build log but yea I will be stacking two X9 cases.... with a twist ;)
 
The packages received from Thermaltake were larger than my entire desk area :D
 

 

 
Here's a quick look at the cases!
 
One of them still intact and the other one is gutted empty, only the panels remain :)
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
These cases are massive, here's a size comparison with an iPhone 6Plus for those of you who are not familiar with the X9 case.
 

 

 

 
And now I know you guys like the modding so here is the start of it!
 
I do wanna apologise from the start for the phone pics but there is no way I can take out the DSLR when doing this :)
 
Will do my best to show everything as I go along and once all the work on the case is done I will take proper pics of all the bits.
 
So here we go, out with the dremel and jig saw!
 

 

 
Small incision with the dremel and fire away with the jig saw.
 

 

 
Out it comes.
 

 
Just a frame left of the X9... for now
 

 

 

 
Still a lot of filing to do and heaps more work to come. Hope you guys will enjoy this one!
 
Stay tuned for more.
 
Cheers,
 
Alex
 
 

rjohnson11
Your builds are always awesome Alex and of course I can't wait to see this one.

Thanks a lot Robert :D

Very nice !

 
Hey guys!
 
Had to take out the power drill and get rid of all the rivets! :D
 

 
Lots of rivets
 

 

 

 
What will become of this case?!
 
Stay tuned to find out :D
 
Cheers,
 
Alex




 

rjohnson11
I will be watching this mod with great interest.

Thanks a lot Robert, always glad to have you around :D
 
 

XrayMan
 
So far so good.           =)

Cheers mate! Should have a new update up soon :D
 
 

 
Hey guys!
 
This should give you a better idea where I'm going with this build!
 
After cutting up the back panel I decided I will remake it fully but love that I managed to keep the front panel and can still mount it.
 
Lots more work to do in remaking the back and both side panels as well as getting new mid bars and the radiator mounting. That should make the case more rigid on an angle like this.
 
Once this is done I will start working on the second case :)
 
Also keep in mind that everything is just mounted temporarily to get a feel of things :)
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
Thanks for checking it out and stay tuned for more!
 
Cheers,
 
Alex
 

 

 
Hey guys,
 
Ready to tackle the other X9 case :D
 
First have to take it apart!
 

 
You can see the other one in the background, not much has changed as of yet :)
 

 

 

 
You might be able to spot all the popped rivets on the floor :P
 

 
Or check them all out here :D
 

 
Stay tuned for more!
 
Cheers,
 
Alex
 

 

 
Hey guys!
 
I have secured the side rad mounts and mounted two of the 480mm radiators going in this build just to get a feel for how much room there will be in that section of the case.
 
Also the radiators on the bottom of the other case are mounted on an angle like that but I'm probably not gonna go with that idea. They will most likely go with two sets of fans on them mounted to the bottom of the case. The LEDs from the Riing fans should give it a nice underglow :)
 

 
Also front panel still looks the same from last time however I will most likely get rid of the mesh and redo the whole front.
 

 

 
Pump/res combo should fit nicely under the motherboard tray. A new motherboard tray will be going in :)
 

 

 

 

 

 
Thanks for checking it out!
 
Cheers,
 
Alex
 

Are three GTX 970s going to be a tight fit in that chassis?

 
Hey guys,
 
Here is another update on the system. Work on the case continues but first I would like to let you guys know the entire spec list :D
 
Case – Two modded Thermaltake Core X9s
Motherboard – ASUS Sabertooth X99
CPU – Intel i7 5930K
GPU – 3 x ASUS STRIX GTX970s
Memory – 8 x 4GB Avexir Core Series DDR4 2400Mhz (4 x orange LED, 4 x blue LED)
SSD – Samsung SM951 512GB AHCI M.2 ; 2 x 500GB Crucial MX200 SSDs
PSU – Thermaltake Toughpower Grand 1200W Platinum
 
Cables – Icemodz custom sleeved cables
 
Radiators – 4 x Thermaltake Pacific RL480 Radiators
Fans – 26 x Thermaltake Riing 12 High Static Pressure LED Fans - Orange, Blue and White
Pumps – 2 x Thermaltake Pacific PT40-D5 Silent Kit Reservoir/Pump Combo with Thermaltake Pacific T11 Reservoirs
Reservoirs – 2 x Fully Custom Reservoirs and 2 x Thermaltake Pacific R33 Reservoir
Fittings – Various Thermaltake 16mm Rigid Compressions fittings , right angles and extension fittings as well as some soft tubing compression fittings for 3/8” ID x 1/2” OD tubing that I will be using in some spots. Also a few Bitspower pass-through fittings.
Tubing - Thermaltake V-Tubler PETG Tube 16mm OD
CPU Block – Thermaltake Pacific W1 CPU Water Block
GPU Blocks - Thermaltake VGA Water Block for ASUS STRIX-GTX 970
Coolant – Mayhems Aurora 2 Silver base concentrate and a combination of Mayhems Dyes in Red, Yellow and Blue to achieve the desired coolant colour
 
Lighting – Icemodz RGD LED Strips
 
Other – Thermaltake Commander FT – Touchscreen Fan Controller, 3 x Vandal Momentary and Latching switches for custom power button as well switch for the reservoir LEDs, custom MNPCTECH case feed, MNPCTECH machined aluminum fans grills and acrylic grills for the radiator fans as well as some modders mesh
 
I'm really excited for everything going in this system and can't wait to see it up and running :D
 
Here are some more pics of the work in progress. Started working on the bottom section too!
 
Acrylic motherboard tray is in.
 

 

 
And here is the case with the bottom section attached!
 

 

 

 

 
Hope it's starting to look more like a spaceship :D
 
Thanks for checking it out and stay tuned for more!
 
Cheers,
 
Alex
 

peteo_85
This looks amazing! Great craftsmanship! You should do build VLOGS, I think we could all learn a thing or two!

Thanks a lot! I have been looking into that for a while. With this build I really have no time, I'm currently rushing to get it ready for an event. It will be on display at the EB Games Expo in Sydney in 2 week. At least a version of it as I will work on it more afterwards :D

 
More updates on the case guys!
 
Front and back panels are on. They are from 4.5mm thick black gloss acrylic. More work still needs to be done to them.
 
Also the front panel there is a little window cut out and below there is room for a fan controller and the vandal switches :)
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
Thanks for checking it you!
 
Cheers,
 
Alex
 

rjohnson11
Continuing to impress!

Thanks a lot Robert :D
 
 

notfordman
Interested to see how this turns out. Keep us posted. :)

Thanks mate, should have an update soon :D