[Build Log] Project Blue Fractals

[bmawn]

Hey guys!
Some time has passed since I posted in these parts of the internets since I mostly hang out in swedish forums such as SweClockers.com. After spending some time here in the last few days though I can definately tell that I've been missing out. Such amazing and interesting builds and so much inspiration all over.
Enough blabbering, I came here to tell you about my new project:

BLUE FRACTALS
by BMAWN

INTRODUCTION

Hailing from a cramped apartment of a hard-working soon to be 23-year old I am going to do my best to bring you my most ambitious custom build yet. Some of you might've seen my previous project; Dark Knightmare. This build let me in the championship class of the Dreamhack Casemod Championship and allowed me to share the stage of some of (in my opinion) the best modders in the nordic region.

ABOUT THE PROJECT

Blue Fractals will be a different build in a number of ways. Firstly I am going to build in a mITX case for the first time, the case of choice is the Fractal Design Nano S which will be modded to fit an mATX board. Fully watercooled with a GTX1080 and a 7700K I am excited to create a small computer which definately packs a punch. 
Some panels of the case will be replaced with either acrylic panels or tempered glass panels, depending on availability and implementation possibilities. Even though I want to use the latter its probably going to be the former, but we'll see.
The GPU will be horizontally mounted. Lately I've seen a lot of build implementing this, I've had my GPU mounted like this in my daily driver inside a Phanteks Enthoo Evolv Glass and I see no reason not to implement it into the next build since it looks awesome.
This time around I'll be making my own custom cables with sleeving, although I am getting all of the stuff needed from Icemodz.com.
After using glass tubing in Dark Knightmare I'm happy to return to PETG tubing this time around, although using glass was a learning experience I appreciate the flexibility and versatility of PETG.
Something special for this build is that I am going to control the lighting in the case via a microcontroller. The microcontroller in question will be an Arduino Nano and the LEDs will be the Adafruit DotStar APA102 LED strips. This will allow me to control the lighting howewer I want and choose, and it will also force me to learn how to work with and program the Arduino. With no earlier experience with microcontrollers I am excited to see how it turns out. A bonus feature will be the ability to control the lighting via WiFi or bluetooth, depending on whatever I can get to work.
This is a summary of some of the things I am aiming to achieve with this project, but some things might change throughout the course of the build.

HARDWARE

Fractal Design Define Nano S
ASUS STRIX Z270G GAMING
Intel Core i7 7700K 4,2GHz
EVGA Geforce GTX1080 Founders Edition
Corsair SF600 600W
G.Skill Trident Z Series DDR4-3200MHz CL16 32 GB
Samsung SSD M.2 EVO 500GB
Samsung SSD EVO 250GB
Arduino Nano V3.0 ATMEGA328
ESP8266 WIFI transceiver
Adafruit DotStar APA102- 60 LEDs
COOLING
Black Ice Nemesis Radiator GTS 240
Black Ice Nemesis Radiator GTS 280
Phanteks Glacier C350i CPU Block - Intel LGA1151
PHANTEKS Glacier GTX 1080/1070 FE Watercooler - Acryl, RGB - Black
2xProlimatech Ultra Sleek Vortex 120mm
2xCorsair ML140 PRO
PrimoChill CTR SFF Phase II High Flow D5 Enabled Reservoir System
PrimoChill Enhanced D5 Liquid Cooling 12V Pump PWM 
PrimoChill 1/2in. OD Rigid PETG Tube - 8 x 36in Clear
PrimoChill 1/2in. Rigid RevolverSX Series Fitting 12 pack - Sky blue

 

 

After this wall of text-introduction I still hope I kept your interest all the way through, and if you had the energy to read through my rambling I applaud you.
Critisism is appreciated and encouraged, whether if its about my photos or the way I choose to write this project log I want to hear it.
Other than that, I am absolutely excited to get started on this project and I can't wait to see the end result.
That's all for now, until next update!

// Oskar

[KSP]

Looks exciting!! Followed!

[bmawn]

Hey guys. Things have been turbulent for me these last few weeks. Monday was my last day at a previous workplace, since then I've been spending time at a new workplace basically all day every day. This weekend will be no different will be no different which is a shame since pretty much all parts needed to get started have arrived. But it is what it is. I have a lot of programming to learn for the arduino since I currently only wrote some basic code to move a servo and light up one LED.

Until the next update I have a couple pics from the hardware thats going to be used along with some other stuff.

Bear with me, I'll be able to get this project rolling for real very soon.

It's going to be a challenge fitting all of the parts I want to fit inside this case. But that's the fun part

Size comparison between the Phanteks Enthoo Evolv Glass and the Fractal Design Nano S

Such a teeny little PSU!

One of two kinds of fans that will be used in this build. The new ML140's by Corsair.

Hastily made some measurments to kind of eyeball how everything would fit. It's tough without really having any hardware to put there.

 

Please tell me if the pictures are too large and I'll make them smaller.

On 2017-03-17 at 0:37 AM, KSP said:

Looks exciting!! Followed!

Awesome!