colinreay

Finally done and Porsche also won Le Mans! I take that as good sign for 2017.
Thank you to everyone who followed this build! I've re-capped build details here, https://mnpctech.com/cooler-master-case-mod-mastercase-5-pro-window-clear-smoked-mnpctech.html
 

 

 

 

 

Parts list:
 
Loop components:
 
CPU Mark with all 44 cores. I guess it's safe to say that this is one of the most powerful mid-towers out there? 
 
Some photos of the mostly finished loop:
 
Update: Loop completed and tested! Here's a shot of the entire build...
 

 
 
More Photos:
 
 
 

Well, the motherboard tray, the back and the right panels will need to be one piece for ease of assembly, and the front/top/bottom and the left panel will be one piece to allow for that sliding. But the hardest part it still what to use

Z170a and Z170ar are identical, but the Z170a includes a DVI adn VGA port (Don't need one if you have a discreet gpu, get the cheaper version.)

Awesome!
Looks great.

Oh, hi, I saw you on SFFF, and I saw this project on there also. I'm the guy with the custom PCB keyboard design I posted yesterday.

Tool Talk
 
Hey everyone, hope you are having a nice day! 

IMO, sleeving and custom cables are sort of the dark horse of pc modding - many of the top modders I see on various forums do it themselves, but readily available information about how to do it is not as abundant as I would like (and much of the guides that exist are fairly old.) That being said, there are more options than ever for sleeved cables made by another person/company, but I still do think that custom sleeving is a great if you want to really feel involved when modding your pc (it's also a great sense of accomplishment!) Here's hoping to more future tutorials - by myself or others!
 
I figured I'd share some of my favorite tools for sleeving with you guys, and I'd love to hear what you like to use as well as any questions/comments! 

Crimper

Much to my surprise/bemusement, I found a Molex Service Grade crimper for around $110 including shipping on ebay about a week ago. Not too shabby, considering the crimper is about $300-400 new! I bit the bullet and ordered it. When it arrived, I was amazed to realize these are brand new units, with all of the packaging/manuals. 
 
If you guys want to get into sleeving, or already do it and don't have this crimper, I would STRONGLY encourage you to pick this up from the same place I got mine from. Granted, things like the MFC Crimper are half the price, but honestly this crimper just blows them out of the water, and will last you years (it also makes short work of UL1007 16AWG wire, something many cheaper crimpers struggle with.)
 
Crimper(s)
 
Here's a quick crimping demo using the new crimper!
 
 
Wire Stripper 
 
I can't say enough good things about my Capri wire stripper! After using the popular Knipex stripper for about a year, I bought this instead and have enjoyed it infinitely more. There is a little acrylic stop that allows you to strip 3mm lengths easily (what I do when crimping), and it has multiple holes for different wire guages. This prevents the stripper from slipping, something that I had a lot of issues with when using my Knipex. 
 
(Wire! Stripper)

 
 
 
 
Other Tools!
 

A leak that is not about Ryzen? HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE!?! 

Inb4 it's a "Ryzen Compatible" keyboard

Tool Talk
 
Hey everyone, hope you are having a nice day! 

IMO, sleeving and custom cables are sort of the dark horse of pc modding - many of the top modders I see on various forums do it themselves, but readily available information about how to do it is not as abundant as I would like (and much of the guides that exist are fairly old.) That being said, there are more options than ever for sleeved cables made by another person/company, but I still do think that custom sleeving is a great if you want to really feel involved when modding your pc (it's also a great sense of accomplishment!) Here's hoping to more future tutorials - by myself or others!
 
I figured I'd share some of my favorite tools for sleeving with you guys, and I'd love to hear what you like to use as well as any questions/comments! 

Crimper

Much to my surprise/bemusement, I found a Molex Service Grade crimper for around $110 including shipping on ebay about a week ago. Not too shabby, considering the crimper is about $300-400 new! I bit the bullet and ordered it. When it arrived, I was amazed to realize these are brand new units, with all of the packaging/manuals. 
 
If you guys want to get into sleeving, or already do it and don't have this crimper, I would STRONGLY encourage you to pick this up from the same place I got mine from. Granted, things like the MFC Crimper are half the price, but honestly this crimper just blows them out of the water, and will last you years (it also makes short work of UL1007 16AWG wire, something many cheaper crimpers struggle with.)
 
Crimper(s)
 
Here's a quick crimping demo using the new crimper!
 
 
Wire Stripper 
 
I can't say enough good things about my Capri wire stripper! After using the popular Knipex stripper for about a year, I bought this instead and have enjoyed it infinitely more. There is a little acrylic stop that allows you to strip 3mm lengths easily (what I do when crimping), and it has multiple holes for different wire guages. This prevents the stripper from slipping, something that I had a lot of issues with when using my Knipex. 
 
(Wire! Stripper)

 
 
 
 
Other Tools!
 

Hey everyone, I hope you are having a great day, and thank you for checking out my build log! I have been working on this project for a while, and actually made a forum post a very long time ago (which has been deleted), but progress has been slow until a week or two ago, and I’m stoked to finally be able to post about it! I’ll first lay out everything I’ve done up to this point, and then update this log regularly as I make progress. Without further ado, let’s go!

 
Background: I’m a highschool student in the Bay Area, and really love PC modding. Apart from a relatively simple and small mod, I haven’t done much - most of my interest is perpetuated by reading/watching other people’s excellent build logs. Hopefully this can be my sort of gateway into the realms of PC modding, and be the first of many projects!
 
Goal: I’m a stickler for clean, understated builds. Don’t get me wrong - I love the builds that go all out as well, but something about that slate, flat appearance really appeals to me. In addition, I love SFF stuff - trying to cram all of your components into as small of a footprint of possible is a challenge (plus materials cost less!)
 
With this build, I’m trying to capture the essence of both, creating as small of a PC case as possible given my current hardware, while maintaining a clean and subdued aesthetic - “monolithic” even (which is where the name came from.) As a side note, this build’s name is completely unrelated to MetallicAcid’s Monolith, which I didn’t know of until this build was underway.
 
As of right now, the build measures in at (273.65 x 112.9 x 264.84mm, 8.18L) excluding the feet, and 8.8L with them included. As it stands now, I believe this is on track to be the smallest M-ATX case built that supports Dual-Slot GPUs (255mm Max), and a fully internal PSU (no DC-ATX Converters.) My intentions aren’t to be the first in the world or anything, I just designed the case around hardware I had (either bought used or donated by friends), and it ended up being pretty small.
 
Materials: The case is made out of a combination of ⅛ and ¼ inch P95 matte acrylic sheets from Tap Plastics. This stuff looks absolutely gorgeous, the way the matte side catches and swallows the ambient light is really something unique. As far as fastening the panels together, I am using Parvum Mod Cubes, in conjunction with various lengths of button head M3 screws, which make the case look pretty industrial/clean IMO. I also used M3 standoffs and nuts to secure the motherboard to the case, and am 3d printing several brackets to mount the GPU and SSD.
 
Parts:
 
Like I stated above, most of my parts either were free from friends, or bought used (on hardwareswap). I’ll list everything I have now, and update it as needed.
 
PC Portion:
 
CPU: AMD A10-7890K (Have)
Motherboard: MSI A88XM Gaming (Have)
RAM: 2x4GB DDR3 1600 G.Skill Bare Black PCB RAM (Have)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-L9A (Have)
SSD: Intel 320 120GB SSD (Have)
GPU: EVGA GTX 750Ti FTW ACX (Have)
PCIe Riser: 3M 500mm PCIe x16 Riser (Have)
PSU: Seasonic M1U Flex ATX 300w (Have)
 
Case Parts:
 
Laser Cut panels: Tap Plastics P95 Matte Black Acrylic ¼ and ⅛ inch (Have)
Window: Tap Plastics Cast Clear Acrylic ⅛ inch (Have)
Mod Cubes: 2x Sets Parvum Mod Cubes (Have)
Screws: 6/10/16mm Black M3 Button Head Screws from Amazon (Have)
Standoffs: 6+6mm Black Nylon M3 Standoffs (Have)
Nuts: M3 Nuts Black (Have)
M3 Washers: Black 8mm M3 Washers (Have)
3d Printed Parts: Black ABS parts printed with a Zortrax M200 off of 3d Hubs (Shipping)
 
Sleeving Parts:
 
Sleeving: Paracord Planet 550 Paracord Black (Have)
Wire: Buywireonline UL1007 16AWG White (Have)
Connectors: 24 Pin Female, 18 Pin Female, SATA Crimp connector, PCIe 6 Pin Female, 4+4 Pin EPS/CPU Female (Have)
Terminals: MainFrame Female ATX Terminals (Have)


 
The Design: The case has certainly been through several iterations, and I would like to believe that the latest design (the one I am using) has benefitted from things I have learned along the way.


 
My first concept is pretty similar to what I have now, the basic form is still the same, as well as the Parvum Mod Cube fastening method. However, the way the GPU and PSU were mounted at the back was extremely inefficient as well as the weird slotted grill on the right side panel.
 
First Iteration


 
My second design is pretty much what I have now. I tweaked things and changed the placement of the PSU and GPU to create a much smaller and more space efficient case, and changed the right side panel to have a direct grill over the CPU cooler. I explain the different aspects of the case in more detail in the spoiler.
 
Second iteration


 
What I’ve done so far: At the moment of starting this build log, I have laser cut most of the case panels, and am waiting for the 3d printed parts (I can cut the window on Friday.)
 
Here are some photos of the case as it stands right now!
 




 



 
 
 
 
Roadmap/Updates: This is as much for me as it is for you guys, which will help me stay on track and culminate my ideas.
 
3D model the case (Completed)
 
Laser cut the case (In Progress)
 
3D print mounts/brackets (In Progress)
 
Sleeve/Make custom cables (Planned)
 
LED light the case (Planned)
 
Finish/paint the case (Planned)
 
That’s it guys! Hopefully I’ll have some more posts up soon detailing the issues I’ve had so far, as well as explaining more about how everything works. It would mean the world to me if you followed along, and I’d more more than happy to answer any questions!











 

Hey everyone, I hope you are having a great day, and thank you for checking out my build log! I have been working on this project for a while, and actually made a forum post a very long time ago (which has been deleted), but progress has been slow until a week or two ago, and I’m stoked to finally be able to post about it! I’ll first lay out everything I’ve done up to this point, and then update this log regularly as I make progress. Without further ado, let’s go!

 
Background: I’m a highschool student in the Bay Area, and really love PC modding. Apart from a relatively simple and small mod, I haven’t done much - most of my interest is perpetuated by reading/watching other people’s excellent build logs. Hopefully this can be my sort of gateway into the realms of PC modding, and be the first of many projects!
 
Goal: I’m a stickler for clean, understated builds. Don’t get me wrong - I love the builds that go all out as well, but something about that slate, flat appearance really appeals to me. In addition, I love SFF stuff - trying to cram all of your components into as small of a footprint of possible is a challenge (plus materials cost less!)
 
With this build, I’m trying to capture the essence of both, creating as small of a PC case as possible given my current hardware, while maintaining a clean and subdued aesthetic - “monolithic” even (which is where the name came from.) As a side note, this build’s name is completely unrelated to MetallicAcid’s Monolith, which I didn’t know of until this build was underway.
 
As of right now, the build measures in at (273.65 x 112.9 x 264.84mm, 8.18L) excluding the feet, and 8.8L with them included. As it stands now, I believe this is on track to be the smallest M-ATX case built that supports Dual-Slot GPUs (255mm Max), and a fully internal PSU (no DC-ATX Converters.) My intentions aren’t to be the first in the world or anything, I just designed the case around hardware I had (either bought used or donated by friends), and it ended up being pretty small.
 
Materials: The case is made out of a combination of ⅛ and ¼ inch P95 matte acrylic sheets from Tap Plastics. This stuff looks absolutely gorgeous, the way the matte side catches and swallows the ambient light is really something unique. As far as fastening the panels together, I am using Parvum Mod Cubes, in conjunction with various lengths of button head M3 screws, which make the case look pretty industrial/clean IMO. I also used M3 standoffs and nuts to secure the motherboard to the case, and am 3d printing several brackets to mount the GPU and SSD.
 
Parts:
 
Like I stated above, most of my parts either were free from friends, or bought used (on hardwareswap). I’ll list everything I have now, and update it as needed.
 
PC Portion:
 
CPU: AMD A10-7890K (Have)
Motherboard: MSI A88XM Gaming (Have)
RAM: 2x4GB DDR3 1600 G.Skill Bare Black PCB RAM (Have)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-L9A (Have)
SSD: Intel 320 120GB SSD (Have)
GPU: EVGA GTX 750Ti FTW ACX (Have)
PCIe Riser: 3M 500mm PCIe x16 Riser (Have)
PSU: Seasonic M1U Flex ATX 300w (Have)
 
Case Parts:
 
Laser Cut panels: Tap Plastics P95 Matte Black Acrylic ¼ and ⅛ inch (Have)
Window: Tap Plastics Cast Clear Acrylic ⅛ inch (Have)
Mod Cubes: 2x Sets Parvum Mod Cubes (Have)
Screws: 6/10/16mm Black M3 Button Head Screws from Amazon (Have)
Standoffs: 6+6mm Black Nylon M3 Standoffs (Have)
Nuts: M3 Nuts Black (Have)
M3 Washers: Black 8mm M3 Washers (Have)
3d Printed Parts: Black ABS parts printed with a Zortrax M200 off of 3d Hubs (Shipping)
 
Sleeving Parts:
 
Sleeving: Paracord Planet 550 Paracord Black (Have)
Wire: Buywireonline UL1007 16AWG White (Have)
Connectors: 24 Pin Female, 18 Pin Female, SATA Crimp connector, PCIe 6 Pin Female, 4+4 Pin EPS/CPU Female (Have)
Terminals: MainFrame Female ATX Terminals (Have)


 
The Design: The case has certainly been through several iterations, and I would like to believe that the latest design (the one I am using) has benefitted from things I have learned along the way.


 
My first concept is pretty similar to what I have now, the basic form is still the same, as well as the Parvum Mod Cube fastening method. However, the way the GPU and PSU were mounted at the back was extremely inefficient as well as the weird slotted grill on the right side panel.
 
First Iteration


 
My second design is pretty much what I have now. I tweaked things and changed the placement of the PSU and GPU to create a much smaller and more space efficient case, and changed the right side panel to have a direct grill over the CPU cooler. I explain the different aspects of the case in more detail in the spoiler.
 
Second iteration


 
What I’ve done so far: At the moment of starting this build log, I have laser cut most of the case panels, and am waiting for the 3d printed parts (I can cut the window on Friday.)
 
Here are some photos of the case as it stands right now!
 




 



 
 
 
 
Roadmap/Updates: This is as much for me as it is for you guys, which will help me stay on track and culminate my ideas.
 
3D model the case (Completed)
 
Laser cut the case (In Progress)
 
3D print mounts/brackets (In Progress)
 
Sleeve/Make custom cables (Planned)
 
LED light the case (Planned)
 
Finish/paint the case (Planned)
 
That’s it guys! Hopefully I’ll have some more posts up soon detailing the issues I’ve had so far, as well as explaining more about how everything works. It would mean the world to me if you followed along, and I’d more more than happy to answer any questions!











 

So it goes, after I had to grind all parts again and rework



Everything was painted





Afterwards, all parts were fixed to the base plate and glued with Acrifix 1S 0116.



As expected, of course, I slipped a few times with the syringe, damn grrr





The attempt to paint it was not particularly satisfying. I will foliate the places later



Despite all this, I am very satisfied with the color concept. I like it:thumbsup:



After a long time, I think a good design for the front and the top. It is a mixture of 2mm and 3mm Plexiglas combined in high gloss and matt.
So now I began to transfer all the patterns to the Plexiglas and cut them out
The front



and the top





Besides, I disconnect a graphics card from Light Glass, it hurt: heul
and this converted to Bitspower.
For that, the PCI bracket had to be folded again and painted black









For the HDD Cover I now still cut a second plate in white and for the strip of the front plexiglass 2x6mm



All parts for the top and the front are now bevelled (is there a term for this in English?)



Now the Coolermaster logo away with 2x polyester 2 / K spatula



And then I glued the 6mm strips on the front, fixed with seconds glue and the outer edges all closed with Acrifix, really complicated because the front is slightly bent.



after the glue was dry, I then again revised the ends of the strips until all straightened with hand and power file, minor damage were 2 / K spatula



Then everything again primed and varnished





Now the edges of the white plate are polished and



So the result.
Here everything is already positioned for the water cooling and measured whether everything fits so far.
Therefore only the pipes have to be cut.



so then, see you soon!

Hi Guys!


Go on.
After transferring the designs to the Plexiglas, I also cut these out



then tailored for the small strip on the far left a few times 2mm strips



Actually the red plexiglass should be polished but these small 2 x 20mm strips all the same to grind brought me to white heat. So I glued the small stripes with epoxy glue to the aluminum and just sanded them after curing.
The Red Plexiglas later foiled everything anyway. I just wanted the UV effect of the polished edges. But in this one place I will be able to cope with it. These strips are then painted with. ;-)





Two aluminum brackets have now been cut for the holder of the Aquaero





In this form, the entire cover did not fit into the PSU bay anymore. I thought I had to shorten the whole aperture still a bit but the angle adjust has also helped.



Since I have failed with the actual midtray miserably as far as the soldering, but it left me no rest,
I still had to practice and test something.
Screws I wanted here actually very reluctant.
Somehow it worked then, I believe at least.
It looked quite ok for a few remnants



So I now ventured to the correct angle.
Everything with as little contact with other surfaces so that the heat can not be dissipated as quickly and as a base a granite slab. Last but not least, the veneer of the workbench flown around my ears, they gave a loud bang XD!
So everything neatly sanded and degreased and then everything for soldering eigespannt.





I am really satisfied with the result. In the sample I did not have such good capillary action.



The window for the PSU I now cut from 2mm Plexiglas and polished all edges.





I have now completely glued on a 1cm larger plate



Is a little bubble but I like the effect. Thanks to the brass pipes of the water cooling you will not see any water in the system anyway.





The holes for the PSU aperture were still set at an angle behind I cut thread





The patterns for the front I have all transferred to 2mm Plexiglas and sawn.
Who knows?
Here I have already made the first changes to the original file?
I have here, incidentally, two 2mm slices glued together and both with a dishwashing cut;)
 




The two elements above the arrows I have cut from 2mm aluminum because I want to bend here a small rod





I have now marked these rods and cut them with the fine-boring grinder, which, by the way, did not say goodbye after two years. Man again buy new machine grrr
These I then clamped between two steel strips and worked something with the hammer until I was satisfied





Jooooo, So beautiful I could not even imagine it 



Oh so on Sunday I wanted to spare my neighbors times a bit so I began to polish some parts of the red plexiglass



All these here
I cut off all cutting edges with a Cutta blade, then polished from 320 (400, 600,) to 800 paper wet and finally polished with two polishing pastes on high gloss.
Pagan work, man man and that was not even half



In order to see slowly times to go forward I began yesterday with the paint.
Will finally also see whether it all acts as I imagine it before it goes with the other surfaces.
Aluminum got a special 1 / K aluminum primer and the Plexiglas I primed with plastic adhesion mediator.
Then continue working with spraying spatula.





My workshop is definitely too small 

So then, let's see how far I come next week.

Building your own case from scratch is a pretty daunting task the first time around (I'd be a little more confident doing it again now), particularly when you don't have access to a workshop and all the equipment that entails.
 
So below you'll find pictures of what I went through to build this case. I was set on the Micro ATX form factor as I didn't want it to get too big, though compactness wasn't the ultimate goal. Being as quiet as possible was the priority (while not getting too hot).
 
The hardware itself isn't as fancy as many of the builds that you'll see in the forum, so there is no water cooling and the specs are pretty modest (still need a better GPU).
The original case build was done in May/June 2011, so I've used this for a couple of years now.
 
The current specs are:
 
Intel Core i5 2500K @ 4.3GHz
8GB Mushkin Silverline DDR3 1333
ASUS Maximus IV Gene-Z
AMD HD 6670 1GB GDDR5 (Accelero S1)
Corsair AX850
Samsung 1TB HDD
E-MU 0404 USB Sound Interface
Thermalright TY-140 Intake (bottom), Exhaust (top) and CPU (Thermalright Ultra-120 Extreme Rev.C)
 
This was the original rough design mockup in Sketchup (with a fan controller that was later removed in favour of motherboard fan control):
 

 
Below are the stages of building the case (there are more detailed photos, but I'm just picking them out to give a flavour):
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 
And this is what it currently looks like with hardware:
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks guys!
 
Time to get some tubing going on this build. As per usual I am using fittings at the bends instead of bending the acrylic. A few has asked me why this is, and the simple answer is that I just like the looks of it better than bent tubing. Might change in the future, who knows:D
 

 
First of all, I had to mod the radiator so that I could get one of the fittings futher "up" in the case. The reason for this was so that I could make as easy a tubing route as possible.
 

 
These are the two tubes that goes to, and from the radiator in the top.
 

 
And here it is mounted. I used an extender fitting for the rear port, which is why I had to mod the radiator, as the shroud would not allow for this to clear.
 

 
Both pumps done! Luckily all 4 of the tubes going to and from the pumps was the same for both pumps, so I only had to find the correct length once, and then just make two of each tube.
 

 
Another angle. These tubes JUST steer clear of the cables for the GPU's'
 

 
Cpu loop done. This was one of the more complicated runs, and I actually thought about reversing the in and outlet of the waterblock as that would have fittet so much better, but I know someone would have spottet it:D
 

 
Another angle.
 

 
It is realy nice to be able to take apart the case bit by bit when working with stuff like this. Especially when you have fittings in the utmost outer parts of the case, such as the two visible in this picture, going to the GPU's
 

 
Another shot of the CPU runs.
 

 
This is how the tubes goes into the GPU's. Lots and lots of bends! But the pumps where more than able to handle it.
 

 
This was a quite tight run, as the back panel had to fit in place as well.
 
I will put the final pictures up soon, and then call this worklog a wrap! And just in time to get started on a few more logs

For the side panel i'm going with one that's airbrushed and also doing a plain one painted the same as the rest of the case.
I'm doing the airbrushing in 3 stages, first the panel was painted the same as all the case but then sanded down ready 
for the shadows and base colours, protected again with some clear coat and then stage 2, now I have clear coated all 
the design and will be waiting for that to harden before doing the highlights and fine details followed by a final protective 
clear coat.
Some parts of the design will hopefully have a matte look where others will be a nice mirror/gloss finish 
to help him pop-out from the back background.  






This might look a bit crap at the moment but should look great when completed, I like to try use as many skills as I can when 
doing my builds, this is something I've never attempted before so i'm learning as I go along
As promised, here are some pics of the smaller project I just completed "Tron 2.0" this was just a case mod for now, using the
CoolerMaster MasterCase 3 Pro.
No log for this one, it was a very quick job with only the paint dry times taking most of that time up.
Done in white with slightly thicker EL wires and the same Mirror finish paint but this time in white.
I wont post lots of photos on here but you can find all the other on my facebook page if you need.
Thanks to elpanelandtape.co.uk and CoolerMaster UK for providing most of the bits needed for this one. 

Hello everyone!
finally a bit of time to post a little something
Work on CERBERO WARBOY continue ...






I opened a new thread because it completely changes the hardware configuration and finally ride on the rigid tubes !.
 
For the uninitiated CERBERO is a PC chassis made from square sections 4x4 cm for 2mm thick all cut and welded with the art of a Master Blacksmith and painted and airbrushed from me.
 
NEW hardware configuration will be:
MOTHERBOARD: MSI Z170A GAMING carbon gaming pro
CPU: Intel I7 6700k
RAM: HyperX Predator HX421C13PBK4/32 4x8GB DDR4
VIDEO CARD: MSI GTX970 4G
SSD:  HyperX SAVAGE SSD 240 GB
SSD M.2: HyperX Predator SSD da 240 GB
HD: WD Hard Disk 1 TB SATA 3.5
PSU: Cooler Master V1000
KIT : Bitfenix Alchemy2.0 Modular Cable for CM V1000
FAN: 6 JetFlo White
 
 
The liquid cooling system includes:
CONTROLLER: Lamptron CW611 Water Cooling Controller
SSD WB: EK-FC970 GTX TFX
VIDEO CARD BP: EK-FC970 GTX TFX Backplate
WB: Watercool HEATKILLER® IV PRO ACRYL
RADIATOR: Alphacool NexXxoS ST30 Full Copper radiatore 360mm
POMP: EK-XRES 100 DDC 3.2 PWM Elite (incl. pump)
ADDITIVE: Mayhems Additivo X1 UV GREEN
TUBI: EK-HD Tube 10/12mm
FITTING: EK-HDC

Hello and welcome to the restartet project!
- Intro
After a lot of wait, it is finally back on tracks! I promise to update frequently unlike last time. If you want to find out why I stopped, then read the spoiler underneath. But here goes it again!
I'll be building a watercooled HAF Stacker, and painting it white, alongside my little NAS server as awesome sidekick. My previous case was the Corsair 700D, which was gorgeous, but i wanted something bigger with a lot of space  The choice was between the 900D or HAF stackers, and since there is a lot of 900D mods out there, then I just wanted to try something else.
This casemod is called Avalanche. Simply because it is white, big and is gonna be terrifying heavy! I live on 1. floor and almost can't lift it down the stairs alone, even without anything inside it.
I plan to live up to the name, which I'll be doing with the watercooling, that'll be themed white and black. Fittings, res etc will be themed white, while the fluid will be black as the best contrast. I will be running hardline tubing and soft tubing in the bottom for draining and easy acces. Cables will be sleeved with white paracord which looks insanely awesome with a twist of black sleeving spinning around it. As of lightning goes, then I took it to the next level and ordered a RGBW Pure White LED strips. With that I'll be using a DX8 Touch controller, which I'll be mounting in a place which is easy to reach. We also know that a Avalanche ain't no quite thing. So i'll be taking a WAM5500 as a "built in" soundsystem. Uhh, bluetooth
For the frosted look, I'll be sanding the waterblocks and tubing. If you got wany neat tricks for sanding the tubing, please share!  
 
PS. If you want to know reason i restartet this log from scratch, and save you self 6 months wait. Then you can read it here
- Specifications
I haven't been saving on anything. That is, of the time of buying  

- Hardware
HAF Stacker 935 HAF Stacker 915R MOBO: ASUS X99 Deluxe CPU: i7-5960x GPU: 2x GTX 980 Ti RAM: 64GB DDR4 2800Mhz PSU: Corsair AX 1500w 11x SHADOW WINGS 120mm 1x SHADOW WINGS 140mm 3x SHADOW WINGS 92mm Samsung R5000 / WAM5500 For the NAS:
HAF Stacker 915R MOBO: ASUS Z87I-PRO CPU: i5-4690S PSU: Be quiet! System Power 7 600W Cooler Master Vortex Plus Be quiet! SHADOW WINGS 92mm 4xWD Red 3TB HDD RAM: Corsair 8GB DDR3 1333MHz Kingston DataTraveler Micro 32GB (For OS) - Watercooling
Mayhems Pastel Pure Black 2xMonsoon clear PETG tubing 16/12mm 4pck 2x980 Ti clear acrylic water block Intel clear acrylic water block 16xMonsoon chain gun hardline fittings 16mm 8x Alphacool D-RAM module 2xAlphacool D-RAM Cooler X6 2x XSPC D5 PWM 800-4700rpm Masterkleer tubing PVC 16/10mm 4xBlack compression fittings 16/10mm Koolance Quick Release Connector 16/10mm Koolance Quick Release Connector 16/10mm XSPC RX240 V3 White 2xXSPC RX 360 V3 White PrimoChill CTR Phase II End Cap White PrimoChill CTR Phase II Aluminium Ring White PrimoChill CTR Phase II 360mm Tube Frosted PrimoChill CTR Phase II D5 Pump Head White - Progress pictures

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
And a lot more to come!

PC Specs
 
Thermatake Core P5
Asus Maximus Hero VII 
Intel I7-4790K 
Gskill 64 gb DDR3 PC12800 
Asus STRIX GTX970 4gb x2 with ROG SLI bridge
Win 10 64 bit
256gb Samsung M.2 950 PRO SSD (Main OS/Programs)
240gb Kingston SSD (Primary Games)
2tb Seagate HDD 64mb cache (Other Games) 
3tb Seagate HDD 64 mb cache x2 (Media Drive and Fraps) 
Logitech G910 Orion Spectrum Keyboard
Roccat Kone XTD Mouse
Logitech Z-5300 5.1 Speakers 
Kingston Hyper X Cloud II Headset 
Asus 22" V223W x2 
Samsung 32" F5500 1080p Smart TV (primary)
 
Being that I live in an apartment and my gf has a fairly large desk and pc aswell for gaming, i decided that i wanted to integrate my pc into my desk and when saw the Core P5 case I knew that was going to be the focal point of my build. I more or less already had an vision in my head of how i wanted the desk to look. Once I spent some time drawing it out on paper I started picking up the materials needed. In addition to the Core P5 case I decided to use the Ikea "Ingo" dining table as my base "desk" to build off of.

after picking the table up from Ikea next stop was home depot for some pine and hardware

began assembling the back/monitor stand and top shelf





once the main portion of the desk was compete I started measuring out the cut out for the Core P5. My plan was to use the lexan window of the P5 as the desktop surface and have the pc components visible from the top of the desk.


with everything measured out I started cutting out the center and using a router bit for the recess for the lexan window to sit in. I would like to point out this is my first time attempting this kind of woodwork lol, im more of a car guy and can bolt things to other things like its nobody's business   I did this desk build using only a Black and Decker Matrix system 20v Li-ION cordless drill

With the desk portion of the build more less finished, I painted the desk black because, well, black... While waiting on the paint to dry I started dismantling my old desk and putting my components onto the P5 panel.
Before:

After:

Moving parts from my old Antec 900 gamer case to the new P5 "case" (which I wrapped in white carbon vinyl wrap prior to installing the parts)

with all the parts mounted (hdd's mount below) i put some finishing touches on the desk such as 2 control panels (Aerocool V12 control panel and Asus ROG front bay) to monitor the fans/temps ect and 2 Zalman power monitors for the video cards (monitors voltage/amperage/wattage) also moved the control panel from the P5 to the desk as well for more accessibility.

I had some custom ROG and Strix logos made for the lexan window to give a frosted look to the lexan

with the "case" mounted under the desk I was able to remount the monitors and add the lights


for the mic i wanted a boom but wasnt willing to pay the 200ish price locally for a mic boom so I was able to modify a $9 Ikea desk lamp to work with my Blue Yeti black edition

Still to come is watercooling, some finishing touches on the desk itself including closing off the rest of the case, thanks for taking a look at my build

So...
Its been a while.....
But not forgotten!
 

 
First stage paint on today and I machined the plastic inserts for the side panels!
And its ma burfday intit.!

Update time again!
 
Time to get some cables into the distro plate, and get it all done. I got quite a few pictures of this progress as it took SO damn long! I also made a mistake in the 3D file for the distro plate that forced me into manually make a tiny tiny acrylic piece. Who needs a cnc or a laser cutte when you are desperate and low on time:D
 

 
Some of the small parts that will help hold everything together.
 

 
I went with classic black and red for this project. Normally I really like using the Fusion sleeving from Teleios, but I thought that this would look better trough the distro plate.
 

 
This is the lasercut 6 mm plate that will hold all the fluid channels tight, and also keep the cables in place.
 

 
Had to manually tap G1/4" holes in them to support standard fittings.
 

 
Lots and lots of holes to keep the o-ring channels tight!
 

 
Around 150 screws all in all. Glad that I did not have to tap all those holes manually!
 

 
The pumps will be mounted directly to the distro plate, with a piece of 5 mm acrylic in between.
 

 
The small piece you saw in the first picture holds the 8 pin power wires down so that they slide under the graphic card wires. There is actually 4 layers of cables, the first two is the 24 pin + 8 pin, and the next two is the graphic cards.
 

 
The start of the nightmare! I only just made enough room for the cables to be in, so everything has to be squeezed into place!
 

 
Graphic cards done. You can see that I made some small acrylic pieces to hold them down until I got the main plate on. Without these it would be impossible to keep the wires in the channels.
 

 
Here you can better see how the graphic card cables goes over the 24 and 8 pin cables.
 

 
So. Many. Wires! I am actually super glad that I did not go 4 way SLI on this build!
 

 
To keep everything down on the top side I needed some help in the form of a couple of clamps.
 

 
And here is when I noticed that I messed up... I made the arc in the acrylic bigger than it should have been, so there is a gab between the cables and the acrylic wall. Leaving it like this would make the cables loose, which I did not want.
 

 
I could have gotten a new piece lasercut, but I was low on time, so I had to figure something out.
 

 
Lots of sanding, dremeling, and cursing helped me make this thing.
 

 
Cutting and sanding acrylic in itself is not really that hard, but when it is pieces this small, that has to be SO precise, it starts to become fun.
 

 
A few hours later.
 

 
Lots of time, but worth it!
 

 
Like a glove!
 

 
I had to take the connectors off the cables for the next step as there was not a lot of room to work with.
 

 
Down goes the 6 mm plate, and now just to keep everything in place while securing this!
 

 
This plate is going to tighten both the o-rings and the cables down, so quite a few things needed to be perfectly in place before putting it down. I could have made it out of multiple small plates, but what is the fun in that.
 

 

 
Everything done!
 

 
Now just to mount it on the case itself!

As im awaiting some more parts for the main Tron build I've been working on a couple of things 
and due to the time needed for the paint to dry im moving between the main build, Tron (black) and
my second mod, Tron 2.0 (white).
I wont be doing a full build log for the 2nd Tron case mod but I will add a couple of photos to this log.
As I mentioned before, not to happy with the original PSU cover I did with clear plexi so I ordered some more
white and did the cover again, much better now for the reflections im wanting to capture.


Like with the sound card, added some EL lightning to the RAD.


Sticking with the EL, time to get the Tron disc painted to better match the case and the original look of the disc.
I really enjoyed this part and im very happy with the result.




After some very careful and painfully slow masking the disc is almost completed, painted with water-based black so as not to damage the plastic coating.



here's some pics of the Tron 2.0 mod, all the paintwork is completed and im now working in the lighting.

Hey guys and girls! Welcome to another ATX worklog before I start do some smaller builds again (size wise)
 

 
This will be a somewhat strange worklog, as this build is already complete. I am showing it now as I have not had time to put it up sooner.
This build was a show-rig I did for the Gigabyte Suite at computex 2016, and some of you might already have seen it on facebook or youtube, but for the ones of you that has not, I will make a full worklog here. 
To give you a glimpse of what you are going to be seeing in this worklog, I have posted the final filling video here below:
 
 
 
For this build I made a complete sidepanel with integrated cable routing and water routing channels. All cables beside the pump cables runs into this plate, and is neatly routed to the PSU.
The side panel is made from a 25 mm thick acrylic plate that has been CNC machined to make room for the watercooilng and cables.
 
Specs:
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-X99-ULTRA Gaming Graphic cards: Gigabyte 980TI G1 gaming CPU: Intel i7 6900K SSD: Intel 750 400 gb PCIe ssd RAM: 32 gb corsair Vengeance 3000 mhz PSU: Corsair HX1200i Case: Hex Gear R80 Watercooling: EK waterblocks Fittings: Bitspower Tubing: E22 solid tubing First update will come tonight, and they will then roll steadily over the next few weeks as I have time to put them up!