Mike Dulay

 

After the watercooling, I used CorelDraw for some layouts for the side, top and front panels for case. I did the designs hoping I could fine a place that did some custom lasercutting service and fortunately a shop had some scrap acrylic that they could spare for me to use. The laser cutting service was bit pricey but I was able to get a discount because I was able to help them rid of their scrap acrylic.

 

 

 

 

Prepping the acrylic pieces for painting...

 

 

 

 

 

Painting the pieces with an airbursh...

 

 

 

 

 

There were two pieces that needed to be bend first. I used my DIY bench PSU and bender...same one I used for my entry for the CMWS2019...

 

 

 

 

 

After the painting of the pieces...

 

...There was this space at the rear of the case where the PSU is usually placed...

 

I decided to put a small LCD screen to be used as a sensor panel...I cut up a small acrylic piece for the LCD...

 

 

 

...Tested it to make sure that it works (I accidentally dropped it while trying to fit the acrylic piece)...

Took some time but finally!!! I disassembled the hardware for the next phase...watercooling!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The fans are barely touching the PSU...

 

This caused me a lot of troubles. The inlets/ports for the GPU block where blocking the fans for the radiators....

 

 

I didn't know what to do....fortunately, a fellow modder, Paul Perez of PAULPEREZMODS, suggested that to rid my issues with the inlets/ports, to mod the GPU block...

 

And his idea did make sense and after sending it to him 'coz  I didnt have the tools for it, here is the result of the mod to the block...

 

 

 

Getting the reference 5700XT ready for the waterblock....

 

 

....Plus checking if the front GPU plate would fit...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The block now would not be interfering with the fans for the radiator.

 

 

I used 90 degree PCI-E adapters because the clearance between it and the fans are just too small...

 

 

 

 

 

...And using these adapters solved the problem of the cables interfering with the fans.

 

Doing a bit of cable management...

 

Here is the GPU with the block and proceeding with the rest of the watercooling...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I used a small compressor to check any leaks in the loop...

 

Hooked up the compressor hose with quick detach fittings and a 15mm extender...

 

Success!!! No Leaks!!!

 

 

 

After passing the leak test, it was time to add the purple coolant....

 

 

 

 

 

I also set the rgb lights for fan, cpu block and small rgb strip near the gpu to white...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Installed the rest of the hardware and wanted to see the overall look of the case with all the hardware installed....

 

 HAF Stacker "SHORTY" Airflow configuration.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Overall, me thinks the case still looks like the original Haf Stacker albeit shorter. I'm relieved that the parts were able to fit in the case nicely....

 

 

 

I wanted to test if the fans with the magnets can hold it well even when the fans are at full RPM for extended periods of time and I was impressed that even with just 3 corners of the fans with magnets, it managed to stay in place.

 

 

 

 

After the motherboard and power supply was installed, I needed to install the front fan....

 

What I did was to put small rectangular neodymium magnets and hot glued them at the back of the fans...

 

 

 

The fans stuck to the front panel well!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Motherboard substitute arrived!!! First thing was to set it up on my open bench table and make sure the motherboard works....and it does!! Booted up with no issues!

Thanks Again to Martin Lopez for reaching out!

 

 

Installed the motherboard inside the case...

 

...Power supply

After the paint and top coat dried, assembled the case and to ready it for hardware installation.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After drying the primer for about 20 hours, I sanded the dissassembled case with a 2000 grit sandpaper to remove small bumps and others.

 

 

 

 

After sanding the parts, I set it out on the roof for it to dry while I mix the paint needed. I choose the official Cooler Master Gray which is found on the website.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dissassembled the case and prepped it for the paint to be removed using paint strippers, metal brush and sandpaper.

 

 

 

Paint stripped and sanded ready for priming

 

 

Drying them parts under the sun on mom's clothesline lols!

 

 

Primer done!!

 

While waiting for the motherboard replacement, I started making the PSU bracket/support/frame. I used right angled aluminum bars, screws and velcro.

 

 

 

 

 

Filing the aluminum burrs and making it even.

 

 

 

 

Drilling holes for the screws

 

Velccro!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After semi-permanently assembling the case, I was supposed to try to install the hardware in the case if in case there are more adjustments to be done, unfortunately the mobo started to have issues booting up. I was able to send it for RMA however it took quite some time for the replacement to arrive. After the replacement arrived, I immediately tested it but alas, still having the same issues.

 

Here is a video of the replacement motherboard: 

 

Fortunately, Martin Lopes of Aorus Philippines, after telling him my issues with both motherboards, reached out and sent a substitute motherboard to be used.

 

While waiting for the mobo to arrive, I took some time to take pictures of the case.

 

 

After filing the metal burrs from the mobo, doing a test fit of the front panel.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Removed the 80mm fan mounts from the front panel because it was interfering with intended 120 fan to be installed and to add space.

 

 

With the modded front panel fitted

 

 

 

 

 

Getting ready to cut the top horizontal bars...

 

 

DONE!!!

 

 

Test fitting...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Checking the lower and upper parts for cutting

 

 

Cutting the lower legts/skids..

 

 

DONE!!!

 

 

 

 

Test fitting the plastic feet/skids

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Looks good to me!!!

 

 

 

 

 

Prepping the top mesh for cutting

 

 

 

 

Cutting!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Test Fit!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cutting time!!! But first, I needed to remove the different plastic parts and rivets from the case for dissassembly. The goal here was to shorten the case to be able to fulfill the conditions for the SFF category but still has the same overall look of the original case. 

 

 

Starting to remove the rivets

 

 

 

Front removed

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

With the top horizontal bars and plastic parts removed

 

 

Measuring the motherboard tray 

 

 

Readying to cut the tray

 

 

Cutting time!!!

 

 

 

 

 

Removing the uneven burrs from the mobo with a metal file

 

 

 

 

Test fitting

 

 

 

Before dissassembling the case, I had to do a stock build first to check for possible changes in orientation and also of course to check the measurement and placement of the parts.

(the motherboard used here was the B550i, and the PSU haven't arrived yet) My initial plan was to use a standard ATX sized PSU but based on the my measurements, it would be a very tight fit and additional hardware like watercooling parts with be problematic. I had to reuse the CM 240mm radiator that I previously used in the CMWS2019 event :). 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Building on this case I'll be using the following hardware:

 

Processor - Ryzen 9 3900, provided by AMD Philippines c/o Matthew Yap

Motherboard- X570i Aorus PRO Wifi, provided by Aorus Philippines c/o Martin Lopez

* I was supposed to use a B550i Aorus PRO AX however I had to RMA the mobo because of boot issues and the second unit that replaced the first one still has the same issues. Martin Lopez reached out and sent a temporary motherboard for me to use for this event.

Memory- Corsair Dominator Platinums RGB 16 x 4 3200mhz, provided by Corsair c/o Aloy Magtoto

Storage - Corsair MP510 M.2 NVMe 480gb 

PSU - Cooler Master V750 watts SFX modular PSU, provided by CM Philippines

Case - Cooler Master Haf 915R, provided by CM Phils, c/o PC Square

Cooling - Barrow Pump/Reservoir/Waterblock, Bykski GPU waterblock and fittings. Cooler Master 240mm radiator and 3 Masterfan SF120R ARGB Fans.

Graphics Card - 5700 XT reference and 5700 XT Gaming OC from Gigabyte.

 

 

Good day everyone! Mike here of Mikol Pc Concepts and this is my second time to join this event. My entry for this year is the Haf Stacker 915R "Shorty", a modified Haf Stacker 915R. I've decided to use this case because I've noticed that a lot of SFF cases are coming out and I wanted to try something different. The 915R though is made for ITX builds, the length was that of those full tower cases. I feel like shortening the length would make it ideal and can directly compete with other SFF cases.

 

 

 

An extension would be fine.

But somebody started the mod in 2019? Woah!! Talk about an early bird...