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H440 "Inverted" - 2012 Rebuild - Updated 5th September

j4m3

Hi all! just thought i would share with you my rig rebuild and give a few tips to those thinking of picking up the NZXT H440.

this is my first build log so lets hope it goes okay

 

The OLD

 

So this is a rebuild of my rid that i put together about less than 18 months ago pretty average nothing at at all special. The specs are;

 

CPU: Intel Core i7-3770K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor  (£228.90 @ Amazon UK) 
Motherboard: Asus Sabertooth Z77 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard 
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  (£127.99 @ Amazon UK) 
Storage: Sandisk Solid State Drive 128GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  (£46.00 @ Aria PC) 
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  (£49.98 @ Aria PC) 
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 670 2GB Video Card - Getting replaced soon with R9 290X
Power Supply: Corsair 860W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  (£132.44 @ More Computers)
 
734334_4897480322224_1558162776_n.jpg
 
my cpu was cooled by a, wait for it.... thats right, stock intel cooler!!! i originally bought a h100i AIO but it bricked after a firmware update and i never bought another one. The case i had was the CM Storm Stryker which is a really nice case with a lot of potential for mods however just to big for what i wanted and i just stopped liking the white. This means here i am 18 months later and its time for a refresh. 
 
 
The NEW
 
The components in my rebuild are going to remain pretty much the same, ive picked up a new Corsair H110 for cooling and in the next month or so will be picking up a new gpu. but i wanted to do a little something with the case. not too over the top.
 
The Design
 
I fell in love with the white H440 as soon as i saw it but having learnt my lesson from my stryker, i was reluctant to get another white case. there's something i like about a back and white themed pc so the solution was my "inverted" H440. the plan was to take a black one and paint all the plastic accents white, drop in some nice braided cables and im hoping it looks good...
 
H440_White_Main_24x32in.jpg
above is a cheap and dirty Photoshop to give me a rough idea of how it would look.
 
 
so thats that, lets get started, the following is my short build guide and il give a few tips along the way too.
 
 
 
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nice. followed.

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i actually love you right now dude because that just gave me the idea of doing the same thing as the panel are so easy to take apart and paint. dude this is awesome it looks way cooler

"You know it'll clock down as soon as it hits 40°C, right?" - "Yeah ... but it doesnt hit 40°C ... ever  😄"

 

GPU: MSI GTX1080 Ti Aero @ 2 GHz (watercooled) CPU: Ryzen 5600X (watercooled) RAM: 32GB 3600Mhz Corsair LPX MB: Gigabyte B550i PSU: Corsair SF750 Case: Hyte Revolt 3

 

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i actually love you right now dude because that just gave me the idea of doing the same thing as the panel are so easy to take apart and paint. dude this is awesome it looks way cooler

...Why would you paint the white panels black and the black accents white, when you could get a black H440 and paint the accents white?

Specs: 4790k | Asus Z-97 Pro Wifi | MX100 512GB SSD | NZXT H440 Plastidipped Black | Dark Rock 3 CPU Cooler | MSI 290x Lightning | EVGA 850 G2 | 3x Noctua Industrial NF-F12's

Bought a powermac G5, expect a mod log sometime in 2015

Corsair is overrated, and Anime is ruined by the people who watch it

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...Why would you paint the white panels black and the black accents white, when you could get a black H440 and paint the accents white?

well honestly because already have a white h440 and im not getting a new one duhh -.-

"You know it'll clock down as soon as it hits 40°C, right?" - "Yeah ... but it doesnt hit 40°C ... ever  😄"

 

GPU: MSI GTX1080 Ti Aero @ 2 GHz (watercooled) CPU: Ryzen 5600X (watercooled) RAM: 32GB 3600Mhz Corsair LPX MB: Gigabyte B550i PSU: Corsair SF750 Case: Hyte Revolt 3

 

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Great idea, subbed

CPU: Intel Core i5 4460 | GPU: XFX r9 280x DD BLACK OC EDITION | RAM: 8gb Kingston HyperX Fury 1600Mhz | Mobo: Gigabyte h97n-WIFI | PSU: EVGA 600B | Case: Cooler Master Elite 120 | Cooler: Stock intel | SSD: Samsung 840 EVO 120gb | Storage: WD 150 gb

CPU: Intel Core i7 4710MQ | GPU: NVIDIA Geforce GTX 850M | RAM: 8gb Corsair 1600Mhz | Mobo: Metabox WA50SJ Motherboard | Case: Metabox WA50SJ case | Cooler: Stock | SSD: Sandisk 256gb

:wub:  :wub:  :wub: 

Best purchase this year, bcuz forza

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I always hated the fact that there was no full black H440...

4770k Delid @ 4.5Ghz/1.25V w/ NH-D15, Maximus VII Hero, HyperX Beast 8GB 1600Mhz, GTX770 DCII OC, Strider Gold S 750W, 120GB 840 EVO, 2TB Barracuda, No case : D

Quickfire TK (MX Brown), Naos 7000, 128GB Surface Pro 2, 32GB G2 With Lightning Rom V4

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i thought you were inverting the mobo -.-

ITX Monster: CPU: I5 4690K GPU: MSI 970 4G Mobo: Asus Formula VI Impact RAM: Kingston 8 GB 1600MHz PSU: Corsair RM 650 SSD: Crucial MX100 512 GB HDD: laptop drive 1TB Keyboard: logitech G710+ Mouse: Steelseries Rival Monitor: LG IPS 23" Case: Corsair 250D Cooling: H100i

Mobile: Phone: Broken HTC One (M7) Totaly Broken OnePlus ONE Samsung S6 32GB  :wub:  Tablet: Google Nexus 7 2013 edition
 

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i thought you were inverting the mobo -.-

I did think someone might think that! Thats way more work than I'm prepared to do.

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actually i just thought about it and if one would want an all black one getting a white one as a base is easier because you wil only have to paint the flat sides not the grills. and for the sides one could even use some kind foliage instead of spraypaint. hmm i might even just go black and then if dont like it could still paint the grills white.

"You know it'll clock down as soon as it hits 40°C, right?" - "Yeah ... but it doesnt hit 40°C ... ever  😄"

 

GPU: MSI GTX1080 Ti Aero @ 2 GHz (watercooled) CPU: Ryzen 5600X (watercooled) RAM: 32GB 3600Mhz Corsair LPX MB: Gigabyte B550i PSU: Corsair SF750 Case: Hyte Revolt 3

 

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actually i just thought about it and if one would want an all black one getting a white one as a base is easier because you wil only have to paint the flat sides not the grills. and for the sides one could even use some kind foliage instead of spraypaint. hmm i might even just go black and then if dont like it could still paint the grills white.

It's pretty easy to paint

 

Edit: Oh man, this crappy Moto X camera really highlights how much dust there is in that filter :P

IMG_20140901_101910364.jpg

Specs: 4790k | Asus Z-97 Pro Wifi | MX100 512GB SSD | NZXT H440 Plastidipped Black | Dark Rock 3 CPU Cooler | MSI 290x Lightning | EVGA 850 G2 | 3x Noctua Industrial NF-F12's

Bought a powermac G5, expect a mod log sometime in 2015

Corsair is overrated, and Anime is ruined by the people who watch it

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actually i just thought about it and if one would want an all black one getting a white one as a base is easier because you wil only have to paint the flat sides not the grills. and for the sides one could even use some kind foliage instead of spraypaint. hmm i might even just go black and then if dont like it could still paint the grills white.

If I was going to do all black I would simply buy 2 h440s. A white one with the black accents and a black one with like the green or blue accents. Then simply take them both apart, swap the panels and you will be left with an all black one, And a white one with green accents or whatever. Then simply sell the white and green one on. Its not really in the spirit of modding but you haven't had to paint anything.

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If I was going to do all black I would simply buy 2 h440s. A white one with the black accents and a black one with like the green or blue accents. Then simply take them both apart, swap the panels and you will be left with an all black one, And a white one with green accents or whatever. Then simply sell the white and green one on. Its not really in the spirit of modding but you haven't had to paint anything.

Spray paint is like 4 bucks though, and a can of plastidip is 10 or so.

 

You're going to spend an extra $120 to avoid having to use a $4/$10 can of paint?

Specs: 4790k | Asus Z-97 Pro Wifi | MX100 512GB SSD | NZXT H440 Plastidipped Black | Dark Rock 3 CPU Cooler | MSI 290x Lightning | EVGA 850 G2 | 3x Noctua Industrial NF-F12's

Bought a powermac G5, expect a mod log sometime in 2015

Corsair is overrated, and Anime is ruined by the people who watch it

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Spray paint is like 4 bucks though, and a can of plastidip is 10 or so.

You're going to spend an extra $120 to avoid having to use a $4/$10 can of paint?

Time is money, there's nothing worse that getting to the end of a project and messing up your paint! You would have the other case to sell remember.

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UPDATE 1

 

So i ordered up my H440 and this is what arrived. Its the orange special edition.

 

2014_08_21_19_53_34.jpg

 

Why would i buy a special edition color? Simple it was £10 cheaper than the rest, one thing i will say is the orange color is much more vibrant than it looks in the photos! its actually really nice, but i didn't care.

 

Disassembly

 

One thing i will say is these things really do come apart as easy as everyone says, 4 screws along the side then a couple of tabs to bend, the grills are just held in with either 3 or 2 screws.

 

2014_08_31_12_16_33.jpg

 

The NZXT panel on the PSU shroud i almost snapped trying to get it off, its held on with three screws and 2 very tight push fit pins, make sure you push them flush before trying to yank it off.

 

The Paint.

 

With the money i saved buying the orange h440 i invested in some really nice gloss white spray paint. The only problem i had with the paint was the initial plastic surface wasn't too great, i don't know if it was just mine but they had really bad casting lines across the plastic parts (where the two half's of the mold have closed when it was made i assume.) they where really hard to see on camera but it took me a while to sand them flush.

 

the plan was to paint 2 coats of primer to help cover the casting lines and then 3/4 coats of paint with a wet sand between coats, i figured this would give me a nice glossy finish.

 

2014_08_31_01_06_42.jpg

 

2014_08_31_01_07_07.jpg

 

This is after the second coat of paint, getting into all the edges where the grills are was a pain but i could already tell it was going to be worth it the finish was coming along nicely.

 

another 2 coats of paint later and this is my end result, the wet sanding took me a while but the finish you get is fantastic. (higher res images)

 

2014_08_31_12_15_00.jpg

 

then came the job of putting all the parts back together, i haven't finished the NZXT badge yet so it will come when i finish putting my system inside the case.

 

2014_08_31_12_43_00.jpg

 

next.jpg

 

Make sure you paint around the usb ports because you do see that through.

 

2014_08_31_12_43_20.jpg

 

and one last image just to show you the kind of finish i got with my paint so sorry for the weird back door thing going on, it was so i could catch the light. (not the casting line i was talking about, i diddnt see this one till after the second coat of paint so i just had to smooth it out the best i could)

 

next_2.jpg

 

 

So thats all i have the now, over the weekend i will be finishing the nzxt badge and putting the system together so i hope you will come back to see the finished rig, and some proper high res photos (not taken with my nexus) thanks.

 

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UPDATE 1

 

So i ordered up my H440 and this is what arrived. Its the orange special edition.

 

Why would i buy a special edition color? Simple it was £10 cheaper than the rest, one thing i will say is the orange color is much more vibrant than it looks in the photos! its actually really nice, but i didn't care.

 

Disassembly

 

One thing i will say is these things really do come apart as easy as everyone says, 4 screws along the side then a couple of tabs to bend, the grills are just held in with either 3 or 2 screws.

 

The NZXT panel on the PSU shroud i almost snapped trying to get it off, its held on with three screws and 2 very tight push fit pins, make sure you push them flush before trying to yank it off.

 

The Paint.

 

With the money i saved buying the orange h440 i invested in some really nice gloss white spray paint. The only problem i had with the paint was the initial plastic surface wasn't too great, i don't know if it was just mine but they had really bad casting lines across the plastic parts (where the two half's of the mold have closed when it was made i assume.) they where really hard to see on camera but it took me a while to sand them flush.

 

the plan was to paint 2 coats of primer to help cover the casting lines and then 3/4 coats of paint with a wet sand between coats, i figured this would give me a nice glossy finish.

 

This is after the second coat of paint, getting into all the edges where the grills are was a pain but i could already tell it was going to be worth it the finish was coming along nicely.

 

another 2 coats of paint later and this is my end result, the wet sanding took me a while but the finish you get is fantastic. (higher res images)

 

then came the job of putting all the parts back together, i haven't finished the NZXT badge yet so it will come when i finish putting my system inside the case.

 

Make sure you paint around the usb ports because you do see that through.

 

and one last image just to show you the kind of finish i got with my paint so sorry for the weird back door thing going on, it was so i could catch the light. (not the casting line i was talking about, i diddnt see this one till after the second coat of paint so i just had to smooth it out the best i could)

 

So thats all i have the now, over the weekend i will be finishing the nzxt badge and putting the system together so i hope you will come back to see the finished rig, and some proper high res photos (not taken with my nexus) thanks.

Looking very good! Can't wait to see the final product :D

Edit: Damn even without the pics the quote is too large :P

CPU: i7 - 2600kGPU: GTX 1070Mobo: intel somethingRAM: Corsair XMS3 @1600Mhz (8GB)SSD: Crucial MX100 256GB. HDD: WD Green 1TB . Case: Cooler Master HAF XB EVO Monitors: LG 25UM65-P and Benq 2200HD Keyboard: Corsair vengeance K70 FPS Red switch. Mouse: Logitech G502 Proteus Core. Headset: Steelseries Siberia V2

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  • 1 month later...

Hey J4M3, 

 

I'm also a lover of black cases at heart, been trying to convince myself to just take the easy route and pick up the white case with black trim but your initial post has convinced me otherwise. Think I'm going to pick up the black and red case now and just spray paint the trim white like you, everything's looking really awesome from the pics you have up but I wanted to see if you've finished the build and have any pictures of the finished product? 

 

Any comment on how the PSU cover badge looks lit up as well? Does the clear plastic light cover for the NZXT logo come off as well to make spray painting the badge portion easier? 

 

Thanks! 

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Hey J4M3, 

 

I'm also a lover of black cases at heart, been trying to convince myself to just take the easy route and pick up the white case with black trim but your initial post has convinced me otherwise. Think I'm going to pick up the black and red case now and just spray paint the trim white like you, everything's looking really awesome from the pics you have up but I wanted to see if you've finished the build and have any pictures of the finished product? 

 

Any comment on how the PSU cover badge looks lit up as well? Does the clear plastic light cover for the NZXT logo come off as well to make spray painting the badge portion easier? 

 

Thanks! 

You can completely disassemble the bottom lit up section, but it's a bit fiddly. 

You have to "break" it, and tape it back together. It's easy, but don't do it if you don't mind prying it apart.

Specs: 4790k | Asus Z-97 Pro Wifi | MX100 512GB SSD | NZXT H440 Plastidipped Black | Dark Rock 3 CPU Cooler | MSI 290x Lightning | EVGA 850 G2 | 3x Noctua Industrial NF-F12's

Bought a powermac G5, expect a mod log sometime in 2015

Corsair is overrated, and Anime is ruined by the people who watch it

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Didn't this case come with a black/white edition as well?

NZXT H440   //   MSI Z87 MPOWER MAX AC   //   i5 4670K   //   MSI GTX 780 Lightning 3GB   //   HyperX Beast 8GB 2400mhz   //   OCZ Agility

 

 

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Didn't this case come with a black/white edition as well?

It was white with black accents. This guys is doing black with white accents.

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You can completely disassemble the bottom lit up section, but it's a bit fiddly. 

You have to "break" it, and tape it back together. It's easy, but don't do it if you don't mind prying it apart.

 

Awesome, thanks for the info, making me more excited for my case to arrive haha 

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It was white with black accents. This guys is doing black with white accents.

 

I know that, I have the white with black accents myself.. but I thought they released a reversed one as well?

NZXT H440   //   MSI Z87 MPOWER MAX AC   //   i5 4670K   //   MSI GTX 780 Lightning 3GB   //   HyperX Beast 8GB 2400mhz   //   OCZ Agility

 

 

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I know that, I have the white with black accents myself.. but I thought they released a reversed one as well?

nope

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Love the h440 and love your choice of going black/white with it, makes it really clean yet less bland than full white, which is my problem with the white version.

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