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Custom Bitfenix PheNomNomNoM. i5 4670K + ASUS R9 280X DC2Top mATX (update March 2014: 95% done, PICS)

FullMetalJimbo
By FullMetalJimbo
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Part 1

 

So over a year ago I committed myself to move away from consoles to PC gaming and now I have finally arrived!

 

This thread is partly showing off my build, I am rather proud of it! But mainly to thank Linus and the team for all the YouTube education he provides for those who are new to tech. 

 

I spent numerous hours (100+) self educating with the help of Youtube, and many hours specifying, budgeting & re-speccing my build as I learn't new things and also as new products became available. Eventually I was able to reach a good comfortable medium between price v performance for my needs.

 

Anyway after fulfilling my family obligations over Christmas I submitted my order with PC CaseGear (Australia) on Sat 28th Dec in the evening. After a short and exciting wait I picked up my order from their Mulgrave warehouse around midday Mon 30th.

Parts list:

Bitfenix Phenom M

Asrock Z87M Extreme 4

i5 4670K

2 x 4gb G-Skill Trident X 2400
250gb Samsung EVO

Asus R9 280X DC2 Top

Silverstone Strider Gold 850w

Windows 8.1 64 Pro

Bitfenix Spectre 230mm Red LED fan

Shintaro external SD reader

 

Other parts I already owned:

Thermaltake water 2.0 performer closed loop cooler $49 from Centrecom
WD green 1TB rescued from tempermental external drive enclosure. $0
 

 

Eventually after mentally fapping over my pile of parts, and once the wife went off to bed I could finally begin in earnest at midnight...

For a first timer I was pretty happy to physically be completed 4 hours later (yep 4am). Would have been faster if it was done during the day thanks to all the black on black, I found it difficult to see at times. I had the complete concept worked out in my head and this was always going to be a neat rig. Anyway once I was done assembling I had no interest in attempting to start it up as either success or failure would see me spending several more hours awake....

Next day I grabbed my 1080p 60Hz Syncmaster and plugged it in, flipped the switch and...... nothing but spinning fans.

Damn it.

Not sure what was going on but the monitor would not auto detect an input signal. Swapped the DVI cable between the two outputs on my GPU and the onboard mobo output, nothing still. Removed the GPU to eliminate the possibility of a DOA unit and at least now something came up on the screen.... Please insert bootable drive. At least it was something....

Over the next 20 odd minutes of head scratching & jigging cables etc looking for a loose connection and resetting the computer several times before finally catching a millisecond glimpse of an AsRock logo. Heart skipped a beat. Turns out the damn thing boots so fast that if you literally blink you miss the Fkey bios prompt!

Fap.
20131231_002601.jpg


Putting the thingy into the doodad.
20131231_005619.jpg


Here's one I prepared earlier...
20131231_042239.jpg



It lives!!!
20131231_095503.jpg



Have now installed Win 8.1 which I had to make a bootable USB of (no dvd drive by choice).
Purchased start is back the make windows 8 like windows 7, but with the speed of 8.
 

Thanks to the LTT crew for the knowledge, guideance and confidence to get out there and have a go!
Very happy so far, 10/10 would build again!  :)

 

 

 

Still to come:

 

Custom window mod.

Custom top fan mount mod.

Re-work the cable management.

Re-work the custom 3.5" HDD mount.

Change fans on AIO radiator.

Adding LED lighting.

Changing the power and activity LEDs to red ones.

My custom Bitfenix PheNomNomNoM build log.

i5 4670k + ASUS R9 280X DC2Top. Custom window. Custom fan mounts. Custom HDD mount. Custom keyboard. LED lighting. AIO waterworks. Properly cable managed. All 5 expansion slots fully operational.

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Looks good man. can't wait to see the mods!

PC: Corsair C70 Arctic, FX 9370, Corsair H80i, Gigabyte 990fxa-ud3, Corsair Vengence 16gb, Palit JetStream GTX 970, OCZ Vertex 4 128gb and Western Digital Blue 1Tb + 500gb, Antec Gamer 520w

Peripherals: Logitech G19 and SteelSeries Sensei RAW

Toshiba L50-A: i7 4700mq, 8gb, 1TB HDD, GT 740M 2gb

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Why not put the  I/O on the other side? http://imgur.com/a/6uZFv this is what I did ;)

This would put the I/O against a wall, making it pretty difficult to use.  :P

My custom Bitfenix PheNomNomNoM build log.

i5 4670k + ASUS R9 280X DC2Top. Custom window. Custom fan mounts. Custom HDD mount. Custom keyboard. LED lighting. AIO waterworks. Properly cable managed. All 5 expansion slots fully operational.

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Part 2

 

Alterations and mods

 

Got myself a few more bits and pieces.

 

350 x 350 x 2.0mm clear acrylic for $3

NZXT 2.0m braided red led lighting $25

 

 

Working in my factory makes it an easy job.  ;)

 

Cordless drill

Drill press

125mm angle grinder with 1mm stainless steel cutting blades.

Pin punch

Files

Satin white spray paint

Rivet gun & rivets

 

Enjoy!

My custom Bitfenix PheNomNomNoM build log.

i5 4670k + ASUS R9 280X DC2Top. Custom window. Custom fan mounts. Custom HDD mount. Custom keyboard. LED lighting. AIO waterworks. Properly cable managed. All 5 expansion slots fully operational.

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Side panel window:

 

Pin punching to centre the drill bit.

qkdk.jpg

 

Hole 1 done, 22mm diameter FYI

iept.jpg

 

 

Straight Edge as a guide. Just a piece of lasercut 6mm stainless I had lying about!

Make sure you put the straight edge on the good side not the waste side.

6k64.jpg

 

 

60 seconds to cut each edge.

j97v.jpg

 

 

After 5 minutes filing and clean up. Straight clean lines...

chm1.jpg

 

 

A preview before adding the acrylic...

grbv.jpg

My custom Bitfenix PheNomNomNoM build log.

i5 4670k + ASUS R9 280X DC2Top. Custom window. Custom fan mounts. Custom HDD mount. Custom keyboard. LED lighting. AIO waterworks. Properly cable managed. All 5 expansion slots fully operational.

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Top Fan Mount:

 

Before. Fan hanging down low with a 15mm gap between the fans and the grill. Arrrgh looks tacked on and cheap. Also can't utilise the 5th expansion slot.

20131231_042319.jpg

 

 

After. Raised up all the way to the grill. Now have room for all 5 expansion slots. As seen here with the NZXT LED controller.

20140117_094726.jpg

 

 

View with grill removed.

d0ob.jpg

 

 

Grill in place... Looks OEM.

jk3z.jpg

My custom Bitfenix PheNomNomNoM build log.

i5 4670k + ASUS R9 280X DC2Top. Custom window. Custom fan mounts. Custom HDD mount. Custom keyboard. LED lighting. AIO waterworks. Properly cable managed. All 5 expansion slots fully operational.

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  • 4 weeks later...
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Wow been a while since I last updated....

 

Here are some pics of the 95% completed build. The only thing left is to change the horrid blue power and activity LED's to red ones I bought off Ebay..... Probably an hour of work and no more purple glow as the blue and red mix.

 

 

As it is now on the netcode roulette homepage...

vm93.jpg

 

For all to see.

ja8b.jpg

 

Peek a boo I see you EVO

84ce.jpg

 

Right side open. To fully remove the panel I have to unscrew the I/O pcb... No biggie.

dhxh.jpg

 

Left side open.

0sma.jpg

 

Top open with fans removed. Dat DCU2 <3...

tni5.jpg

 

Offcut of acrylic between the power supply and GPU to prevent sagging.

du2q.jpg

 

G-Skill Trident X, a very sharp looker...

03if.jpg

 

Phenom cable management....

vl7s.jpg

 

Front panel cable management. Behind the panel is roughly 10-15mm of space.... Use it! ;)

wtb7.jpg

 

Ducky Zero MX Browns with Corsair WASD caps and palmrest.

f4xc.jpg

 

Thermaltake Volos MMO mouse. Perfect for FPS...

Red = crouch/prone

Green = grenade

Blue = gadget 2

Yellow = gadget 2

Scroll up = primary

Scroll down = secondary

Scroll click = melee

M button (right side ring finger) = Zoom map

ahe2.jpg

 

 

Enjoy. Thanks for looking, and please ask any questions....

My custom Bitfenix PheNomNomNoM build log.

i5 4670k + ASUS R9 280X DC2Top. Custom window. Custom fan mounts. Custom HDD mount. Custom keyboard. LED lighting. AIO waterworks. Properly cable managed. All 5 expansion slots fully operational.

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That is the best self cut window I've ever seen! Very nice!

i5 4670k| Asrock H81M-ITX| EVGA Nex 650g| WD Black 500Gb| H100 with SP120s| ASUS Matrix 7970 Platinum (just sold)| Patriot Venom 1600Mhz 8Gb| Bitfenix Prodigy. Build log in progress 

Build Log here: http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/119926-yin-yang-prodigy-update-2-26-14/

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That is the best self cut window I've ever seen! Very nice!

Thanks for the compliment! :)

There is an overriding sentiment that a Dremel is the go to tool for modding.

In reality there a several better options for most mods, most of the time.......

My custom Bitfenix PheNomNomNoM build log.

i5 4670k + ASUS R9 280X DC2Top. Custom window. Custom fan mounts. Custom HDD mount. Custom keyboard. LED lighting. AIO waterworks. Properly cable managed. All 5 expansion slots fully operational.

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Very nice build mate!

I see you play bf4 ;) what's your origin id?

"if by "bass" you mean wet farts then yes, those are the razer crapkens"

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Very nice build mate!

I see you play bf4 ;) what's your origin id?

Same as this login...

FullMetalJimbo

 

And you?

My custom Bitfenix PheNomNomNoM build log.

i5 4670k + ASUS R9 280X DC2Top. Custom window. Custom fan mounts. Custom HDD mount. Custom keyboard. LED lighting. AIO waterworks. Properly cable managed. All 5 expansion slots fully operational.

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