What can I paint, and what can I not?

[リチャード]

I.e

 

If I wanted to colour RAM sticks... if I covered the pins, could I just spray-paint it and everything'd be fine?

 

If I wanted to colour a fully modular PSU... if I covered the fan, the socket, the switch and all the different size pin holes... good to go?

 

Covering all the PCI slots and CPU socket and all the other little things etc. on a motherboard...

 

Covering SATA and IDE (Or whatever the other thing's called) on HDDs/SSDs... good to go?

 

Considering I will want to watercool the GPUs, I just get clear waterblocks and put white LEDs on.. but let's say I wanted to paint an aircooled GPU. Could I take the aircooler off and paint it white, put it back on and have everything work fine?

 

 

 

 

tl;dr : Title.

 

 

EDIT: To some people who may have seen many of my comments the last couple of days... yes, I am planning a completely white build. But not for a year. I'm just collecting some information so I can utilize it later.

[unidentical]

I would advise against painting any PCB.

 

To Paint a PSU properly you'd probably want to disassemble, better off to just buy a white psu and remove the stickers.

Basically, I wouldn't recommend any of this.

[Skrumpi]

Me neither, definitely not a wise decision.

 

In the build log of the week, they showed someone who had painted the shroud of the sabertooth motherboard, that's one way of getting your white mobo :D

 

Edit: Here is the link that build log http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/12982-build-log-snefs-icy-blue-angel/

[airdeano]

quick paint lesson.

 

paint used highly destructive chemicals to allow the pigment bond to the surface.

the chemicals if used on electronics can melt any insulation needed to protect the

circuit and first power-up all the magic smoke escapes from the PCB and it no longer

functions. no RMA will touch modified parts (painting in modifying).

in the ole days, some would paint the motherboard, some worked, some didn't.

 

painting the PSU is easy.. remove the metal housing around the innerds.. sand,

prep, clean, paint... let it cure and reassemble.

 

airdeano

[リチャード]

That's too bad.

 

Brb while I write a threat to all the motherboard manufacturers about making a white mobo for Haswell.

 

Okay... disassemble PSU, I can do that.

 

What about the covers on i.e Corsair's Vengeance sticks? If I take it off and paint it on the outside it shouldn't be a problem, right?

[airdeano]

the covers are "bonded" to the memory modules themselves. some have actually

popped the memory modules off the PCB while removing the heat spreaders.

if you mask the dawg crap out of the PCB and paint only the spreader, you should be fine.

 

airdeano

[Skrumpi]

What about the covers on i.e Corsair's Vengeance sticks? If I take it off and paint it on the outside it shouldn't be a problem, right?

 

Why go through the hassle of painting when you can just buy white Corsair Vengeance anyway?

http://www.corsair.com/memory-by-product-family/vengeance/vengeance-low-profile-8gb-dual-channel-ddr3-memory-kit-cml8gx3m2a1600c9w.html

 

If you haven't already, i highly advise you to check out the guys build log I posted above, he uses all white components pretty much.

[BeyondNight]

You can paint quite a bit if you know what your doing, other options would be covering (the PSU) in carbon fiber or whilte vinyl. you could also remove your motherboards heatsinks and pain those with Heat resistant pain, as for PCB's its not advisable to paint them, although im sure there are some pains that would work, they arent something you'll find in a hardware store.

[リチャード]

Why go through the hassle of painting when you can just buy white Corsair Vengeance anyway?

http://www.corsair.com/memory-by-product-family/vengeance/vengeance-low-profile-8gb-dual-channel-ddr3-memory-kit-cml8gx3m2a1600c9w.html

 

If you haven't already, i highly advise you to check out the guys build log I posted above, he uses all white components pretty much.

 

Lol, I actually googled for white memory and found 4GB sticks of Vengeance. But I wanted 8GB sticks... so thanks for that link ^_^

 

You can paint quite a bit if you know what your doing, other options would be covering (the PSU) in carbon fiber or whilte vinyl. you could also remove your motherboards heatsinks and pain those with Heat resistant pain, as for PCB's its not advisable to paint them, although im sure there are some pains that would work, they arent something you'll find in a hardware store.

 

Mmh.. delicious information...

[MzCatieB]

best way to paint a PSU is to unscrew the cover and spray it away from the inner components, paint it how you would a computer case

[Terminashunator]

I've heard of people doing this, even with metallic (gold) colors.
I'd suggest doing some research on the specific paints, and know that once you paint it, it's voiding all warranties.

Not only do some paints have metal flakes, checmicals that etch, etc, but if it conducts, say goodbye to your motherboard.

Power supplies are simple. Shell it, paint, reassemble. 

[airdeano]

something i've toyed with was painting the interior of the PSU one color (accent) and

exterior another. so for an ROG build painting the interior red and exterior black. possibly

the blade assembly white. although the interior is not noticeable, it is those lil details peeps

notice and really start to look deeper into the build and finish.

 

airdeano

[Mr. Chairman]

Just don't get mad :)

My father allways used to say:

"All mushrooms are eatable, but some of them only once"

 

Thought you might consider that, what you're planning to do requires some guts.

[Spannerhands]

FYI PSU!

Make sure it is unplugged and avoid touching any exposed wires or connections from the board, as this could result in one of the capacitors discharging and you getting shocked!

[Terminashunator]

Usually when I work on a motherboard I make sure to unplug it from the wall, press the power switch a few times to dump the caps, then use a big screwdriver WITH AN INSULATED HANDLE to "short" the big caps. Never have had an issue.

I'm also paranoid and leave the PSU unplugged for a few hours before I do that, too.

[enRodjavel]

 You could do some thin Acrylic covers over the components u wana make white. Paint one side white and put that side down, would look kinda like the Sabertooth thermal armor but silkysmooth, And all covers/heatsinks you just remove from Component (use a good tutorial for RAM modules cause if not done right u pull the modules right of the pcb) sand down, clean with "Alcohol", primer and coats of your color of choice reassemble an d your done hehe, 

 

Color of choice would be something that can take the heat from all the components, so like engineblock color/industrial grade paint that can take 120+ celsius. 

 

You can wing it and paint all the Components Head on but make sure to wait wait wait for the paint to dry, hope for the best that the Color hasnt Broken anything and that it can take temps over 120+ celsius. it might go with a waterbased color with not so much chemicals but do this at your own Will and chance,

 

(Im not Responsible for any attempts of this if you do so) but i can tell ya this i have Painted my old P4 totally black inside with the compoments installed , didnt tape off anything just pulled 3 Cans of black engineblock spraypaint in the Case and waited for it to dry for a couple of days, its started right up and is now running in my basement as a little Home&securityServer. 

But I killed my 6950 with a Black Paint Job of the Back-PCB, Did the same to my GTX 560 and it survived and is still running. 

 

After doing som Paintjobs of heatsinks and other stuff u might get a tad worse temps on the  Components but u shouldnt and we arent talking about 10:S of Degreas just a slightly higher temps.

 

thats all from me, hopefully this helps a bit atleast =D.

 

//enRodjavel

[excalibrax]

You might want to look into CF Vinyl, This guy is applying it to almost his whole build, It's an awesome looking machine. 

 

and a link to the Carbon Fiber Vinyl on 3m's website

http://www.carbonfiberfilm.com/

[リチャード]

If painting is the easiest, then painting is what I'm going to do.

 

I don't really have most tools or experience with DIY. And I can't really finance both an awesome computer and experimenting with DIY. I can however, do the most easy parts just to make it look a little more clean. I might have to settle for a black/white, since 100% white realistically won't be possible. Maybe 80% White/20% Black. I originally wanted all the hardware white and with blue LEDs and watercooling a little like Snef's build. But you know... can't have it all.

 

I'll just take the PSU housing off when I get it, because I understand that it's like a tray with components on it, and then a housing over it. Then I'll sand the colour off of it, and re-paint it white. The inside will probably be black already.

 

Then I'll just buy black or white RAM sticks.

 

Watercooling of course will be clear blocks with white LEDs. And the coolant could be white. Pumps will probably have to be black.. I don't want to risk messing them up. I can buy white adapters and fittings etc.

 

I've no idea what to do about the SSDs & HDDs...

[excalibrax]

For Ssd's and Hdds the best option would be to buy a case that hides them on its own through its mounting system in which case you could paint the front part of the mounting bracket. Or to just cover it up with something like a piece of cardboard that Velcros on the HDD cage that you've painted.

[WitzTech]

I used white vinyl for my PSU, and it turned out quite well, although my standards may not be as high as yours...