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Build Log: Wally, The PC case from a monitor's backlighting. Sponsored by CableMod!

iamdarkyoshi
By iamdarkyoshi
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This is a build log NOW sponsored by CableMod!
 
cablemod_banner_540_0.jpg
Be sure to check them out! http://cablemod.com/
  
Thanks to their great cables, we will no longer have messy cable management!
 
Iamdarkbowser and I will be building a wall PC/slimline tower PC. The backplate is a 7mm thick piece of clear plastic designed to spread out light put into it. Yes, it will be blue backlit in the final project. The rest of the box (it will be somewhat protected by a front cover) will be made of some clear plastic I got from the front of a rear projection TV. (seriously, this whole thing will be made out of parts from various forms of screens)

Specs:

PSU has been changed to a Corsair RM750i, it has been ordered with Amazon Prime.
i5 2500 with subject to change 212 evo cooler (to make it thinner)
Sapphire R9 290x Tri-x
16GB Corsair Vengeance 1600mhz
Asrock Z77 Extreme4 motherboard
Seagate 1TB SSHD

Post your comments below! This looks like a fun build!

Day One: I wish I had a template.


This is where an image of the clear backplate would be, IF I HAD ONE!!! @Dinkleberg ...

Unfortunately I kinda forgot to take lots of pictures. In the next two photos, I replaced the screws holding the PCB in place in the PSU, and because it used flush-mount standoffs (which have threads all the way through) this gave me a place to screw in the PSU from the bottom.

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This is the progress for today. The PSU has been mounted, and the motherboard. Also Butter the cat decided to... be a cat.
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I would grab an image of the back, but the forum's 2mb upload limit is really annoying. I have to upload the last image to compressjpeg, and then download them, and upload again, just to shave off 100kb.


Day Two: We have a GPU! And cable cancer!

So @Iamdarkbowser received a box! What was inside? A VERY well packaged R9 290x from fleabay. Yolo.
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This is how a MAN deals with GPU sag. I have used screws longer than the original ones and I have them screwed to an L bracket with insulating spacers in between. Much to my amazement, the holes pre drilled on the bracket line up with the ones on the GPU!
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Now I need places for the bracket to mount to, as well as the HDD.
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Now just put everything back on the board and plug everything in. Simple! Kinda...
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However, I cannot imagine the HDD will get much airflow due to a severe case of cable-cancer behind it.
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We now have a sponsor, CableMod! We can get rid of the messy cables, and we now have a reason to get a new PSU! I plan to finish my Autodesk Inventor models and release a 4K rendering of the planned case!

 
Day Three: Metallic blue Flexi-Dip looks awesome.

So we bought some metallic blue Flexi-Dip (Plasti-Dip clone) and the GPU and L bracket turned out looking awesome!
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Since I liked this stuff, I ended up painting the heatpipes on the 212 evo, turning it into a Blue-12 evo. Note to self, clean and rough up the surfaces first and do not use any type of spray paint... It still looks cool, albeit as a 10 foot mod.
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The corsair PSU and CableMod cables should arrive next week (today is Friday). And due to the fact that ThisPCNeedsABetterName/Turnip The Heat to 11 now has a 32GB kit that WORKS, the ram I was using can go back into the mediaserver and the second 8GB kit of ram from the mediaserver can go back in Wally.
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Next thing to do is install the blue LED backlighting.

 
Day Four: I painted a thing! Yay!

I seriously accomplished nothing today except for this:
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Day Five: We've been framed!

So I had to first remove the bumps on the end of the sheet.
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I did this by milling them away. With a drill bit and drill press. But hey, it worked.
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That crack was not there before! Its small, lets hope it stays that way.
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Anyway, the next step was to make the top and bottom of the sheet's edges reflective. I used foil tape.
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I then wired up the LED strips.
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 The LED strips need a way to be mounted, so I used adhesive pads.
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This is where I forgot to take some images again. We cut some angle iron aluminum with nice 90 degree angles, and bolted it into the plastic sheet. I made sure that the nuts do not hit the motherboard. I decided to use a fan header to power the LED strips because this fan header is always 100% speed.
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Finally, let there be light! I connected it to an external PSU using a completely safe method and just sat the motherboard on top of it to see what it would look like. And it looks sweet.
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We got a lot of work done today! Tomorrow the PSU will arrive.

 
Day Six: Its alive! And it has not detonated! 

So we got another thing in the post today:
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I am not a huge fan of these cables with two PCIe connectors on one plug. I guess it is fine for testing, as we get CableMod cables soon!
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I modified the SATA power cable because there is only one HDD and eventually it will get an SSD.
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For now, I added a derpfan to the side of it to add a bit of additional airflow. The cat in this image is named Peanut. The original post had a picture of Butter.
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Day Seven: Redneck Repairs Galore!

So we began by constructing the rails for the top, and they are basically the same as the bottom. I taped the corners together to help align everything.
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Obviously, we needed a piece of acrylic to go in the top frame. Unfortunately, my dad broke our second table saw's motor bracket. He broke something else in the first one. Thankfully, I was able to use a ratcheting strap to hold the two pieces together, somehow. But it worked!
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I wanted to prevent major scratching, so I put down a couple sheets of cardboard, held down by tinfoil tape.
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I test fit the acrylic sheet that I just cut by taping it into the taped together frame. I had also prepared the corner frame pieces and put a scrap piece of acrylic between them.
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Now I added screws and removed the tape from the top panel. This is what it looks like with the tape removed and the screws installed.
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Then I had to "mount" my saber saw and cut the back panel. Not my best work, I wish I had a laser cutter. I would be able to use one if I didn't move to Nevada, our school had one.
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Hopefully the CableMod cables come tomorrow! I cant wait!

 
Day Eight: Is it there yet?

Pretty much this happened:
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We still need to make the side panels and receive the glorious CableMod cables.

 
Day Nine: Did I skip a day or two?

Yes, I did. Today we pretty much finished the majority of the case. I forgot to take pictures... again. We plan on getting better fans and eventually watercooling it, but we will use these for now. I am going to do uncompressed images from Imgur, so have fun loading them!
 
The first surprise was the in line capacitors on the CableMod cables. I managed to hide them.
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Here is where I forgot to take images of the build process again.
 
Here are images of the (semi) final build! I have not mounted the front panel USB and power/reset buttons yet.
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And of course, thanks @CableMod!
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So here is today's progress!
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This thing looks sweet! I might have to abandon my Arc Mini and get make one of these! It is not much of a wall PC because the one-who-must-be-obeyed does not like mounting things to the wall.

Donate your unused computer resources for cancer and other research. For Zinsey ❤

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What's up with the PSU...

Thats that. If you need to get in touch chances are you can find someone that knows me that can get in touch.

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That CapXon cap needs to die a quick death, seriously you don't want that crap on a PSU, hell, you don't want to see that anywhere.

The stars died for you to be here today.

A locked bathroom in the right place can make all the difference in the world.

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That CapXon cap needs to die a quick death, seriously you don't want that crap on a PSU, hell, you don't want to see that anywhere.

I know, but this PSU has been in use on a 3930k 64GB rendering machine for at least four years, running nowhere near it's maximum output. The majority of reviews on N00BEgg have been very good. Its either this or the non modular EVGA 500W 80+ PSU with one cable for both PCIE connectors.

Donate your unused computer resources for cancer and other research. For Zinsey ❤

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Day Two: We have a GPU! And cable cancer!

So @Iamdarkbowser received a box! What was inside? A VERY well packaged R9 290x from fleabay. Yolo.

post-128204-0-81307000-1444971330_thumb.

 

This is how a MAN deals with GPU sag. I have used screws longer than the original ones and I have them screwed to an L bracket with insulating spacers in between. Much to my amazement, the holes pre drilled on the bracket line up with the ones on the GPU!

post-128204-0-91274700-1444971323_thumb.

 

Now I need places for the bracket to mount to, as well as the HDD.

post-128204-0-61738100-1444971317_thumb.

 

Now just put everything back on the board and plug everything in. Simple! Kinda...

post-128204-0-27785000-1444971310_thumb.

post-128204-0-47124300-1444971303_thumb.

post-128204-0-55598400-1444971296_thumb.

post-128204-0-53768800-1444971292_thumb.

 

However, I cannot imagine the HDD will get much airflow due to a severe case of cable-cancer behind it.

post-128204-0-65772000-1444971283_thumb.

post-128204-0-54490400-1444971274_thumb.

 

Perhaps CableMod can sponsor a better PSU and cables for this thing! I plan to finish my Autodesk Inventor models and release a 4K rendering of the planned case!

 

Photos in OP

Donate your unused computer resources for cancer and other research. For Zinsey ❤

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I know, but this PSU has been in use on a 3930k 64GB rendering machine for at least four years, running nowhere near it's maximum output. The majority of reviews on N00BEgg have been very good. Its either this or the non modular EVGA 500W 80+ PSU with one cable for both PCIE connectors.

I hope it lasts for a long time, I don't have high hopes in it though, heat can reduce the life of capacitors pretty quick.

The stars died for you to be here today.

A locked bathroom in the right place can make all the difference in the world.

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I hope it lasts for a long time, I don't have high hopes in it though, heat can reduce the life of capacitors pretty quick.[/quoteI might desolder it and test it with my ESR meter. I do know how heat kills them though. The dell monitor I did a debezel guide on had proper quality caps, to my surprise.

Donate your unused computer resources for cancer and other research. For Zinsey ❤

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What's up with the PSU...

My old one was not modular and only 500w.

Edit: And tbh the lack of lights was underwhelming. 

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My old one was not modular and only 500w.

Edit: And tbh the lack of lights was underwhelming.

my old one was thermal take non modular non 80 plus 600w and buzzed very loudly. When the system was off.

Thats that. If you need to get in touch chances are you can find someone that knows me that can get in touch.

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my old one was thermal take non modular non 80 plus 600w and buzzed very loudly. When the system was off.

@Iamdarkbowser is the one with the 290x maybe you can strike a deal xD

And ya, I expect that from thermalfake...

Donate your unused computer resources for cancer and other research. For Zinsey ❤

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@Iamdarkbowser is the one with the 290x maybe you can strike a deal xD

And ya, I expect that from thermalfake...

and you are the one with the water cooled 390. I got a crusty 120mm rad and an old swiftech pump with its name on it..

Thats that. If you need to get in touch chances are you can find someone that knows me that can get in touch.

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Damn that 290X is some sexy card.

 

Havent you tried to find a 2600K once i had one laying arround being used for like a couple of hours than i had the idea to scrap it and make an X79 build since my motherboard didnt really work.

 

 
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It's almost like the L-bracket was made for the GPU!

 

"Yolo"

My rig: Intel Core i7-8700K OC 4.8 | NZXT Kraken X62 | ASUS Z370-F | 16 GB Trident Z RGB 3000 (2x8) | EVGA 1070 SC | EVGA SuperNova NEX650G1 | NZXT H700 | Samsung 250GB 850-EVO | 2x 2TB Seagate Barracuda HDDs 

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So, I forgot to say that the build is going to be blue. we bought some blue flexidip (rustoleum plasti dip clone) and it will be used on the gpu. We were going to get the vaporx version from newegg becsuse it had an amazing deal, but it went out of stock. And @Redicat how much? A z77 motherboard really deserves a K series chip xD

Donate your unused computer resources for cancer and other research. For Zinsey ❤

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390x*

Sorry... :/

Even better..

not kidding about the crusty radiator. It is falling apart...

Thats that. If you need to get in touch chances are you can find someone that knows me that can get in touch.

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that sounds... Less than ideal.

and then you have my dad that wants me to cool my 4790k with it... and a 775 block..

Thats that. If you need to get in touch chances are you can find someone that knows me that can get in touch.

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