Corsair 500r personal build and mods.

[JdSpoel]

Hi Everybody! 

 

This is my first post on LTT and I thought I'd share a little bit of my build with you guys. Hope you all like it and would love to hear what you think about. 

 

Also, if you have any suggestions for future additions or modifications please comment!

 

So let's start of with a bit of reference and build specs

 

Corsair 500R Case

Msi  Z87 GD65 Gaming Edition 

Intel i5 4670k @ 4.5Ghz

Msi GeForce 760

Kingston Hyper X 16Gb 1866MHz

Antec 750W HC Pro

Samsung 840 250Gb SSD

WD 4TB Green 7200Rpm HDD

WD 1TB Green 7200Rpm HDD

NZXT Kraken x61 280mm AIO

Corsair k70 Blue Switch

Razer Mamba and Naga Epic Chroma

Asus PA248Q

 

This PC has been in the works for the last year and it's my first build. It's been a blast learning about all the parts and really learning about what a PC is really capable of. The most fun though has been the constant desire to perfect the look and operation of it. It's a never ending project and that is the best part!

 

Heres a few shots. Got the color representation as close as possible but quite frankly the lighting in the basement is horrible and doesn't do the color justice. 

 

This first shot is the stock case in white with the grill on the side. 

 

 

 

The first major mod, other than the obvious color change, was to put window on this baby. 

 

They always say, It's what is on the inside that counts right?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Technically this case does not support a 280mm rad up top but with a little creativity and a dremel, you'll find that it does fit

 

 

 

 

Please excuse the few scratches in the paint. Had it lying down on the desk the other day and scratched a few spots here and there.

Going to be touching up the paint and probably putting on a clear coat to protect it a bit better soon enough

 

 

 

 

Below is an example of some clean up work that needs to be done.  also why you always just go buy the right  tool for the job.

 

 

 

Some of the future updates I have in mind for this rig are a bit of painting to be done with the fans to have them match the rest of the build. Love those Noctuas but man are they uuuugly. 

 

I'd really like to build a power supply cover and have only done a little bit of research into it so if you guys have any tutorials or suggestions on how to go about it I would love to see them!

 

Cable sleeving is also on the books but I'm kind of hesitant to do that because of the time and skill involved but who knows, might just go for it anyways. 

 

Also, do any of you guys/gals know about smoking acrylic? The window on there right now is very clear and I think with a slight smoke it might make the lighting a little less harsh.

 

Anyways, I hope you guys enjoyed this post and thanks for looking! 

[deVIZtation]

Very nice. Yeah, do cable sleeving, it makes the whole inside look sexy.

[shawn finkenstead]

Very nice. Nothing better than getting your hands dirty on a custom rig!!!

[JdSpoel]

Very nice. Yeah, do cable sleeving, it makes the whole inside look sexy.

 

Do you  have any suggestions for sleeving? I've been having trouble finding supplies for it here in Canada. 

 

 

This morning i was working on getting my sizing for the PSU cover. Used a piece of cardboard to come up with a template that i can later use for aluminum or acrylic but to be honest, it looks so good already i might leave it

 

 

 

[deVIZtation]

Do you  have any suggestions for sleeving? I've been having trouble finding supplies for it here in Canada. 

 

 

This morning i was working on getting my sizing for the PSU cover. Used a piece of cardboard to come up with a template that i can later use for aluminum or acrylic but to be honest, it looks so good already i might leave it

 

 

Paracord, you can buy it on Amazon. You will also need a few more tools. I would suggest you look into heatshrinkless sleeving. It looks a lot better. Check out Lutro0 customs, he has very detailed demos on how to cable sleeve.

[DjGrizzly]

what did you use to paint it i have the black version

[JdSpoel]

Tremclad Fire Red is the type of paint i used. I'd recommend putting some sort of clear coat over it though, mine scratched pretty easy but it does get harder after a few days/week. 

 

Also if you sand the surface down a bit to remove the stock gloss it would probably help the paint adhere more. 

 

 

 

I've spent a little bit of time with an old power supply and some paracord this evening. Not a lot of luck with the sleeving yet but i think that may be because of the heat shrink i have. It doesnt seem to get tight enough around the end of the connector to get back into the 24pin but I'm going to keep at it and try a few different types of heatshrink to see what works best. 

 

Also, don't grab the metal connector when it's hot... just an fyi.  :blink:

[JdSpoel]

Bit of an update today. 

 

Went around this morning trying to find a shop that can do a CNC cut out of aluminium for my power supply shroud. Turns out there is almost no shop in Calgary that is open on Saturday...  <_<

 

Anyways, I came home and spent some time coming up with some exact specs for both the cover and the back plate. 

 

Going to give AutoCAD a shot and see if a rendering of them would be within the beginners level of my skill with autocad programs. 

 

Here's what i've come up with for designs. What do you guys think? Any suggestions? 

 

What I'm thinking of is putting rubber grommets in the cutouts for the front connectors etc. Cant decide if I should run the PCI cables through a separate hole or continue running them through the motherboard tray.

 

Also excuse the electrical tape.. didnt have a piece of flat cardboard big enough

 

 

 

 

For the backplate I'm thinking aluminium if it isn't too expensive to do. Does anyone have experience with an acrylic backplate? That I could probably make with no cost over the price of the acrylic.

 

[W-L]

-SNIP-

 

Looks good, as for the backplate what material are you using currently and for acrylic backplate they work well since you can cut and paint it easily but also not have to worry as much about spacers or needing to insulate the bottom of the aluminum form the PCB. If there is a local shop you can find with a laser cutter and you provide them with a CAD drawing they can laser cut that piece of acrylic for you and even engrave it if you want.

[JdSpoel]

Looks good, as for the backplate what material are you using currently and for acrylic backplate they work well since you can cut and paint it easily but also not have to worry as much about spacers or needing to insulate the bottom of the aluminum form the PCB. If there is a local shop you can find with a laser cutter and you provide them with a CAD drawing they can laser cut that piece of acrylic for you and even engrave it if you want.

Right now there is no backplate on it. In the picture is just a piece of paper that i used to create a template. 

 

Hmm well I'll keep looking around for a shop that has a laser cutter. Might have to do some calling around on monday. 

[W-L]

Right now there is no backplate on it. In the picture is just a piece of paper that i used to create a template. 

 

Hmm well I'll keep looking around for a shop that has a laser cutter. Might have to do some calling around on monday. 

 

I thought that was a piece of styrene or plastic you had on there, but yeah check around and see if there is any places that can cut that for you but if needed you can cut it yourself on a fine tooth table saw or a jig saw with a plexi or a fine tooth wood blade.

[JdSpoel]

found a local place in town that is pretty close to my place that was interested in cutting my backplate 

 

they only charged me 25$ and went from quote to finished in 3 hours. one of the holes for the screws is a little bit off but it's not vital so no big deal

 

here it is after i buffed it and prepped for primer.

 

 

 

EDIT!! 

for anyone that is interested in making their own, i've attatched a pdf of the drawing.  All measurements are in Centimeters Msi 760 GTX Backplate specs.pdf

[W-L]

found a local place in town that is pretty close to my place that was interested in cutting my backplate 

they only charged me 25$ and went from quote to finished in 3 hours. one of the holes for the screws is a little bit off but it's not vital so no big deal

here it is after i buffed it and prepped for primer.

 

 

 

My god say goodbye to GPU sag, that's a thick piece of metal there. Can't to see that thing on the card. 

[JdSpoel]

My god say goodbye to GPU sag, that's a thick piece of metal there. Can't to see that thing on the card.

Haha that it is! 1/8th inch aluminum.

Never actually thought about how it will get rid of the sag but glad it will. That always drove me nuts.

Waiting on a quote for the power supply cover

[JdSpoel]

Here's the finished satin black paint job. thinking of putting a logo on it but cant decide which one to do. what do you guys think?

 

 

logo ideas

 

 

 

this one is sort of blasphemous i know but it matches the rest of the colors

 

[JdSpoel]

Got the 760 a bigger brother. Gtx 760 Hawk Edition