MSI 694D Pro V:1.0 Successful Recap!

[shadow]

Like the title states. I have done a successful recap of an MSI 694D Pro motherboard, complete with the C390 mod! And it was the first time I did such a thing!
It was damn hard to find appropriate capacitors down under, however I settled for Nichicon HE series capacitors. Works like a charm now. Before the recap, it would not run correctly with two CPU's installed. Took a very long time to diagnose the problem as a badcaps problem. Mainly because the motherboard was never run in two CPU mode in its lifetime!

Now I have another problem, I have no case fans for this case. So I bought a couple of 120mm fans. Due to negligence, I did not measure them. I knew that this case fits fans that are larger than 80mm since I had a 80mm fan lying around. The shop only had 80mm or 120mm fans, so I bought the 120mm one's. Only when I got back home did I actually measure the spaces for the fans on the case and was horrified that it actually took 92mm fans and not 120mm fans. Now I am thinking about modifying the case to fit 120mm fans.

What methods would anyone recommend to me in modding this case. I am unwilling to buy speciality tools that I would use once in 10 years!
So far the feasible options that I can think of is the following options:

* Just drill some holes around the existing perforation to increase airflow from the larger fan when fitted.
* Drill some holes around the existing perforation and take a hack saw and cut out a rough hole which I then could file down with a file. Long procedure but I have all the required tools.
* Make my own 92mm to 120mm transition.

I am unwilling to:
* Drill out the hole with a hole saw,great idea but these hole saws are damn expensive and I would use it once or twice in 10 years! I would go down this route if someone from Melbourne could possibly let me borrow a 4.5inch hole saw.
* Use a dremel or similar device to cut a hole, I am basically not willing to buy one, I also read that it is quite difficult to use.
* Use a jigsaw, do not have one, of all the speciality tools, this one I would most likely buy. I have also read that a fine tooth bit is required and it is quite difficult to cut a round hole.

Any ideas are welcome!

Btw, sorry the pictures that I took are quite large and not exactly high quality.

[Rainbow]

Re: MSI 694D Pro V:1.0 Successful Recap!

Buy 92mm fans and sell the 120mm ones - that's probably the easiest, cheapest and fastest way.

[willawake]

Re: MSI 694D Pro V:1.0 Successful Recap!

i agree with rainbow
also you could purchase 92mm to 120mm converters.

for the jigsaw and dremel it is very difficult to do a nice job, requires much practice. it is likely to look bad. for the hole saw i have not seen ones so big....it would be no probs in wood but for steel i think it would be difficult to do.

[Lance Thornton]

Re: MSI 694D Pro V:1.0 Successful Recap!

And congratulations on the extensive recap. Glad it is up and running properly!

[shadow]

Re: MSI 694D Pro V:1.0 Successful Recap!

And congratulations on the extensive recap. Glad it is up and running properly!

Thanks!


Actually I searched http://www.rsaustralia.com and found that they do stock hole saws of similar size! It is possible to buy them, however they cost a bomb. Aus$53.20 for a 114mm hole saw and Aus$60.40 for a 121mm hole saw. They are designed to cut through timber, plastic and thin sheets of steel. The material that is being used is high speed steel, so reasonable stuff. Their main problem is the price! $60 for just one specialized drill bit. Abit steep for me I think.

I am still considering buying or making my own 92mm to 120mm transition or converter (depending what you like to call it ) or cutting a rough hole and slowly filing it down with a circular file I have lying around in the garage.

[willawake]

Re: MSI 694D Pro V:1.0 Successful Recap!

hole saws are pretty dangerous. must be careful.

anyway if the case is already cut for 92mm it would probably not be possible to use a hold saw to cut around the hole/grille and make it 120mm because the hole saw has a drill bit in the middle which is absolutely required to be used to hold the saw steady in position during the cut.

a cd is 120mm if you want to draw a circle....
if you dont use anything motorised it will be a big job

[shadow]

Re: MSI 694D Pro V:1.0 Successful Recap!

hole saws are pretty dangerous. must be careful.

anyway if the case is already cut for 92mm it would probably not be possible to use a hold saw to cut around the hole/grille and make it 120mm because the hole saw has a drill bit in the middle which is absolutely required to be used to hold the saw steady in position during the cut.

How others have combated with this problem is that they first drill drill the holes required to hold the fan, then with timber screws they screw on a block of wood. That way the drill bit has something to keep in steady and the block also stops the metal from bending around at the cutting area during the cutting process. I will not be doing this, since a can not afford to buy one drill piece for $60. I do have hole saws at home, however these are significantly smaller than 120mm. I have seen an article on the Internet how someone drilled four smaller holes with a smaller hole saw to cover most of the area (and made an interesting pattern by accident I believe). I have to find the link to explain it properly. However my hole saws are designed for timber only, they would probably get eaten alive while cutting metal.

if you dont use anything motorised it will be a big job

I know
But I think it is what I am going to do.

[Shroomie]

Re: MSI 694D Pro V:1.0 Successful Recap!

I'd take a jigsaw, a Dremel, tin snips, anything you got...failing that, a hammer and awl can punch holes in a ~115mm diameter circle, twist the awl back and forth until the metal between the holes gives way, and trim/file the extremely jagged edges back down, then straighten out the case with a clamp, visegrips, etc. I've done it before, and it's time-consuming and ugly, but effective.

Or maybe my way's a little TOO crude.

[willawake]

Re: MSI 694D Pro V:1.0 Successful Recap!

How others have combated with this problem is that they first drill the holes required to hold the fan, then with timber screws they screw on a block of wood. That way the drill bit has something to keep in steady and the block also stops the metal from bending around at the cutting area during the cutting process.

excellent. a very good idea and much safer. *takes notes*

you could maybe find a dremel copy for cheap.

[shadow]

Re: MSI 694D Pro V:1.0 Successful Recap!

Have not updated the progress on this machine for quite some time!

Anyway I finished building this nice little server. I ended up cutting the holes out for the fans. a month ago or so my old man and I decided to finish building the PC and he helped me out in cutting out the hole.The process went something like this:

* Mark out the circle that you want to cut out.
* We we were going to drill out some small holes along the perimeter of the circle, therefore mark out a centreline around the perimeter of the circle.
* Using a caliper, mark the centreline every 5mm or so.
* Using a punch, punch a dent into the case at the intersections of the centreline and the marks caused by the caliper. (Use someone else to hold an 'anvil' of some kind underneath when you are punching)
* Drill out the holes at each punched mark with a reasonably small drill bit.
* With a chisel, chisel out the gaps between the holes. (Use someone else to hold an 'anvil' of some kind underneath when you are using the chisel)
* With a semi-circular file, file out a neat circle.

It worked quite well, except for some mi-communication between me and my dad. I told him that the size of the hole that we want is exactly the size of a CD. And so he assumed that I was referring to the centreline. Therefore my hole is around 13cm in diameter.

By the way that was for the rear fan, the front fan grill was made up of 8mm perforations. I just added some more holes to make it cover the whole area of the fan.

Anyway here come the pictures!!!


Rear of the case with custom 120mm hole and 120mm fan installed.


Front of the case with extra perforations and 120mm fan installed.


Another picture of the whole system, with fans installed.


Picture from front of the server fully assembled.


Picture of rear of server fully assembled.

[Nitwig]

Re: MSI 694D Pro V:1.0 Successful Recap!

Wow! Really nice work. I am impressed with the quality of workmanship. The power supply looks a little bit sketchy however. It would be a shame to waste all that hard work with a power supply explosion. Is that a generic PSU? Did you recap it? I only say this because I had one of my favorite machines fall victim to bad caps in an Antec. It would be a shame to see that happen here. You probably have dealt with this already.........but just in case you hadn't I thought I might say something. Again great work on the case and the recap.

[shadow]

Re: MSI 694D Pro V:1.0 Successful Recap!

Actually I did not, this is the best power supply that I have. It is rated at 400W but I know that it is bogus and it is lower. It a Hairong, do not know the capacitors inside, I have to check them, I guess I can crack it open and post a picture.

I really do not know what constitutes a good power supply besides the caps in it! Thing is that the PSU is barely used, maybe has two hours of total life in it and the server is purely a developmental server. It does not run 24/7 or for very long periods of time.

Besides this '400W' PSU I have an AOpen 250W power supply, needs a recap. It has one bad capacitor, I think on the 5V rail. It is a shame that the AOpen mixed various different grade capacitors. It has Rubycon 200V caps and some Teapo's mixed with YEC and Vent. I have another 250W PSU, no name, has been running this MSI motherboard 24/7 for several years. No idea on capacitors or anything. I have another 230W PSU, also not a huge name but it has served me well for around 10 years now and has never given me troubles. I choose the cheapo 400W model because I am hoping that it will have a higher power rating than the other three that I have.

After all I am running SCSI RAID in it with two SCSI 10,000 RPM hard drives, HP tape drive, SCSI CD Burner and two CPU's. I'm pretty confident that that would suck up quite a bit of juice!

Maybe some others can shed me some light on a reasonable power requirement of my setup. Also some experience with Hairong PSU's would be appreciated and any recommendations.

[kc8adu]

Re: MSI 694D Pro V:1.0 Successful Recap!

the psu in the case is a "gutless wonder"
recap the aopen.its probably a fortron and decent except for fuhkkyu caps.
bet the model starts with fsp.
if so recap and put it with your 694