MSI MPower Plastidip

[DaftBehemoth]

I felt that it was time for my 2600K to be retired and decided to pick up a 4790K and some faster RAM (because reasons), but I ran into a bit of an issue with socket 1150 mobo offerings... everyone stopped making good blue and black boards. This, of course, was unacceptable because everyone buys motherboards for the looks right? .... right? After looking through a few notable options and only finding a billion black and red options and some ugly new color choices (I'm looking at you, Asus), I decided it was time to paint. I opted for the MSI MPower boards since I've always liked their offerings and went with the Z87 option as it seemed to be the easiest to paint (and the most attractively designed, in my opinion). As for the paint selection, I recently happened upon Plastidip (which I'm completely convinced is a 50/50 mix of rubber and magic) and figured it would suit my needs nicely. I double checked the manufacturer's website to make sure it was safe up to Holy Balls Celsius and continued along my merry way.

 

The results are after two coats of white plastidip as a primer and four coats of Blaze Blue.

 

I started off with the RAM as it was by far the easiest. And yes, I picked up the red Vengeance 2400 simply because it was cheaper (I'm painting anyway so it'll be fine... maybe). Anyway, the colored bits pop off easily which is convenient and the labels peel off cleanly (thanks Corsair!)

 

 

And here's the MPower in all its not blue glory.

 

 

After removing the chipset heatsink and masking everything else carefully....

 

 

FAIL. The chipset heatsink turned out great, but peeling away the masking on the rest peeled some of the plastidip with it... since it's made to do that. I learned that this is a great time to take a very sharp X-Acto knife around the edge of your masking to make sure it peels off clean. This did give me the chance to test whether or not Plastidip lives up to its claims of hassle free removal and I'm happy to say that it worked fabulously. After picking away at an edge for a second, I was able to peel off the rest of the paint in a single, rubbery strip. 

 

At this point, I also decided to remove the VRM heatisnk as well just to make things easier. I also took a screwdriver and popped the top layer of metal off of it. to get it out of the way for easier masking. It turned out to be held on with some sort of double sided adhesive. Who knew?

 

 

That seemed to have done the trick and I'm quite happy with the results!

 

 

 

And just for good measure, a before and after shot of the whole build! 

 

i7-2600K, MSI Z68A-GD80, 4x4GB Corsair Vengeance 1600

 

i7-4790K, MSI MPower MAX Z87 AC, 2x8GB Corsair Vengeance Pro 2400

 

Thanks for checking it out and I hope you guys have some fun with Plastidip in the future. I'm somewhat amazed with the stuff and I can see myself using it again in the future for sure. It's nice to be able to go back and remove your mistakes if need be.

 

[Aniallation]

PC parts are starting to become like cars lol PLASTI DIP EVERYTHINGGGGGG

[Freaky_spider]

That plastidip turned out REALLY good, didnt expect such good looking finish... :wub:

 

the only thing killing it is the yellow MSI logo

[helping]

 

did you manage to check your temp sensors before dipping?

[DaftBehemoth]

That plastidip turned out REALLY good, didnt expect such good looking finish... :wub:

 

the only thing killing it is the yellow MSI logo

I don't hate it as much as I expected (the yellow logo), but I did originally try to replace the yellow plastic behind the logo... but it's held in with a tiny screw that WILL NOT MOVE. I tried my best lol. Thanks!

[Freaky_spider]

I don't hate it as much as I expected (the yellow logo), but I did originally try to replace the yellow plastic behind the logo... but it's held in with a tiny screw that WILL NOT MOVE. I tried my best lol. Thanks!

stupid answer, didnt see that it had a led behind the logo -.-

[notenoughtv]

Plasti Dip is awesome, I painted the bezels on my monitors matte black because they were glossy and got on my nerves.

You got some really nice results

 

One other thing, if you have a very clear edge on the thing you are painting and it doesn't touch the part you don't want painted, there is no need to mask anything, just paint everything and peel off the excess. And give at least 4 coats so it peels easily.

[notenoughtv]

I don't hate it as much as I expected (the yellow logo), but I did originally try to replace the yellow plastic behind the logo... but it's held in with a tiny screw that WILL NOT MOVE. I tried my best lol. Thanks!

You could probably use some black plastidip on the chipset heatsink to cover the yellow logo

[Luckris]

I got green plastidip on my TJ07 and stuff. Cool thing is it's kinda UV reactive. 

[DaftBehemoth]

did you manage to check your temp sensors before dipping?

To be honest, I couldn't be bothered to install the board twice, so I just went with what people were saying on forums about heatsink painting. The OC3D consensus seems to be that it only slightly lowers temperatures, oddly enough, so I figured that I should be fine. Most of what I painted wasn't functional anyway (surprisingly little of these heatsinks' surface area seems to actually serve a purpose lol). But here's my temps after the fact, and I seem to be doing fine.

 

 

 

One other thing, if you have a very clear edge on the thing you are painting and it doesn't touch the part you don't want painted, there is no need to mask anything, just paint everything and peel off the excess. And give at least 4 coats so it peels easily.

Thanks! The monitor bezel idea sounds great. I might actually look into that... and I mostly agree with not needing much masking as well so long as you watch for over spray along the bottoms of your heatsinks. 

 

I might think about spraying the logo the next time I need to remove my board as well

 

 

I got green plastidip on my TJ07 and stuff. Cool thing is it's kinda UV reactive. 

That sounds awesome! I have a friend who'd probably want to see some pictures

[Luckris]

 

That sounds awesome! I have a friend who'd probably want to see some pictures

 

The PSU died, so I'm rebuilding it atm. Had to destroy everything to find out what went wrong. 

 

got a few pics on facebook, but to make it simple I got one on twitter. It'a the PCIe things that i painted green.  

pic.twitter.com/QtajVQVvKe

[DaftBehemoth]

The PSU died, so I'm rebuilding it atm. Had to destroy everything to find out what went wrong. 

 

got a few pics on facebook, but to make it simple I got one on twitter. It'a the PCIe things that i painted green.  

pic.twitter.com/QtajVQVvKe

That looks brilliant man! It works perfectly with the T-Virus res

[Kevin Fletcher]

I hope you don't ever have to return that ram. lol

[DaftBehemoth]

I hope you don't ever have to return that ram. lol

Pop off the heatsink. Peel off the plastidip, good as new. I've already done it once

[Praksis]

I just ordered the Z97 version of this board, or specifically the MSI Z97 MPower MAX AC. (Yes.. The one with the stupid water cooling thingies...) I really like the yellow, but since my Corsair AF Series fans dont have any yellow rings, i decided to paint the heatsinks White. Yes, i could just paint the rings yellow, but when i have to do it, i would rather stare into the black and white scheme. So, my question: When i take the heatsinks off the board, do i then have to get some new thermal pads, or thermal paste? Is it reusable? And if im just going to be using regular White Plasti Dip, how many layers do you think is enough? And how long should each layer dry? 
As closure: do you have any other tips and tricks, when i'm going to paint it? I have never done this before, let alone disassembled any computer components, so any advice is much appreciated. 

Sorry for any spelling mistakes, my mother tongue is Danish, sooooo there probably will be a mistake, here and there. 
- Praksis 

[Destroyer]

This looks awesome mate! nice work, given me some inspiration to try this as well!