Orange is the new...black?

[nccish]

                                                                                                                                                                                                              

 

 

Hey guys, long time video watcher and forum reader, first time (kind of) poster.
 
 
So, I recently won an Antec High Current Pro 1200w PSU (so much overkill for my rig that it's not even funny).  I of course wanted to sleeve this bad boy.. because why would you not?  So I went with a orange & blue color scheme, firstly because I've always liked that specifik combination, and secondly because I've got the phanteks ph-tc14pe cooler with the blue twin radiator. The fan blades of the fans that come with the ph-tc14pe are also blue, so I painted the fan shroud orange a few weeks back.  This paint job was far from perfect so I'm going to redo it.

           Hardware

• Fractal Design Define R4 Black Pearl Phanteks Enthoo Evolv Glaciar White
• 4670K @ 4.3GHz
• Gigabyte Z97M-HD3 Gigabyte GA-Z97M-D3H
• 16 GB Kingtston 1600mhz HyperX
• Gigabyte GTX 780 GHz Edition
• Antec HCP 1200
• Phanteks PH-TC14PE BLUE
• OCZ Agility 3 120GB

 

Pics.
(Not very good images I'm afraid)

 

 

The PSU. A real beuty despite what this image may show.

 

 

This is what my PC looked like right before I changed PSU's. Not very tidy, I know. I just couldn't bring myself to fix my cable management after I cleaned it this spring. It's usually less of a bird's nest.

 

 

The sleeving. First time trying heatshrinkless. Looks pretty good if I may say so myself.

 

 

The orange sleeving looks pretty red in this picture. It's a lot more vibrant IRL. (I really need to take some photography classes)

 

 

Everything assembled. Now, you can tell that the paintjob on the fan shrouds doesn't match the sleeving very well. The picture is a bit over exposed, but even so it doesn't look as good as I'd like. So I'm re-painting them sometime this week.

 

 

To do:
 

I've got a bottle of orange plasti dip ordered, should be here tomorrow or the day after. I plan on painting the pci slot covers with that.

I also plan on re-painting the fan-shrouds on my phanteks fans. I'll either try it with the plasti dip or the same color I used last time, but try to get a deeper coat to make the color darker to match the sleeving more.  The problem with the Phanteks fans is that It's not possible to remove the fan blades, so painting them is a pain in the ass, since you have to mask the entire inner dimension. Plasti dip would solve this since I can just peel it off when I'm done...

 

 

I'd also love to paint the fan blades on the stock fans in my R4,  but I'm too worried about putting the blades off balance to do that. If anyone could give me some tips on that I'd appreciate it.  Ideally I would exchange the stock fans for something like cougar vortex fans, but those are expensive and I'm a student.

 

 

I also have two new modular cables ordered for the PSU. I'm not very pleased with how the 6+2pins for the GPU came out so I ordered two straight ones (as opposed to the split ones I got with the psu). Hopefully theese new ones will look good once I sleeve them.

 

Also thinking of painting my GPU shroud. I think my GPU would look awesome with some orange accents.

 

 

 

If anyone has any tips/comments/criticism I'd love to hear about it.


I'll post more pics when I'm done painting stuff.

I'll be posting my updates in the my original post to make it easier to keep track of things.
[uPDATE 1]

I got my plasti dip today and decided to try my luck with the pci-slot covers, the GPU shroud and the fan housings on my phanteks fans.

 

The GPU shroud looked promising after 3 coats.

 

I improvised a painting rack with a laundry-hanger and some steel wire.




The pci slot covers turned out quite good...


...but ultimately the GPU shroud didn't turn out how I'd hoped. I don't know if I didn't give the plasti dip enough time to cure or what, but it's as if it doesn't stick well to the plastic that the shroud is made of. I'll have to re-paint it with something else later on. This will have to do for now though.



I've never taken apart a windforce GPU before and I didn't look forward to it. But in the end it was a lot easier than anticipated. I think the version with a backplate (which I have) is a bit trickier than the one without, but still not hard.



View from within the case. You can see why I'm not happy with the paintjob on the GPU. My phanteks fans turned out pretty good though. The plasti dip gave them a darker tinge. Still not matching the sleeving very well, but better than before, which is as close as I'll come, probably.







Guess I'll have to go look at better options for coloring my gpu shroud... I'm considering dyeing it. Anyone got experience with that sort of thing? Feel free to give me tips.

 

[uPDATE 2]

 

Yo, it's been a while since I updated. Nothing major has happened in my build but I thought I'd post some pics anyways.

Since last time I've peeled off the plasti dip of my GPU, fitted a proper LED strip that I soldered to 5V molex and exchanged my stock fractal exhaust fan for a Cougar Vortex hdb cf-v14h. I also changed the power-LED in my Define R4 from blue to orange. All in all I'm pretty happy with the results. I had the rig with me at Dreamhack Winter 2014 and got a lot of compliments  on it. It does look a lot better IRL though ( as some people who had seen pictures of it commented on).

Things I'm thinking about now:  I want to get a new case. I've been in love with the Phanteks Enthoo Evolv since I first read the rumors about it. It is the best looking mATX case ever made in my opinion (despite it's rather large dimensions for mATX). Unless this becomes a reality, the Evolv is what I will be moving into in a couple of months.

 

And speaking of Evolv, I'm also thinking about making a custom CPU loop with orange colored tubing. I already own a EK ltx block and I could probably get a hold of a 240rad for cheap.
But I digress, here are some pictures.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And as always, I appreciate any comment/tip/criticism you give.
Thank you.

 

 

 

 

[uPDATE 3]

 

So as I mentioned, I am now the owner of a Phanteks Enthoo Evolv chassi. A real beauty of a chassi and with a build quality to match. This will most likely be the last update of this little project log in a while since I'm out of ideas for the build, save for building a custom water loop, which I can't afford right now.

Anyhoo, here are some images of the Evolv and the build. Take care.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[thatguyjerry]

That rad will look awesome once its painted to match the sleeving more. I really like the way this will turn out. Are you gonna put in a PSU shroud or paint the case?

[Jambls]

I love orange and blue.

Also welcome to the forum.

[nccish]

That rad will look awesome once its painted to match the sleeving more. I really like the way this will turn out. Are you gonna put in a PSU shroud or paint the case?

I've considered a PSU shroud. I love the idea but I've never really worked with metal in that sense. I do know a guy who's a mechanic so I could probably ask him to bend some sheet metal for me. I'll have to look into it.

And thanks

 

I love orange and blue.

Also welcome to the forum.

 

Thank you!

 

[nccish]

Nice build, and welcome to the forum!

 

Thought it might be an IRN BRU themed build from the pics

Do you think they'll sponsor me if I tell them it is?

 

Thanks

[nccish]

Update.

I got my plasti dip today and decided to try my luck with the pci-slot covers, the GPU shroud and the fan housings on my phanteks fans.

 

The GPU shroud looked promising after 3 coats.

 

I improvised a painting rack with a laundry-hanger and some steel wire.




The pci slot covers turned out quite good...


...but ultimately the GPU shroud didn't turn out how I'd hoped. I don't know if I didn't give the plasti dip enough time to cure or what, but it's as if it doesn't stick well to the plastic that the shroud is made of. I'll have to re-paint it with something else later on. This will have to do for now though.



I've never taken apart a windforce GPU before and I didn't look forward to it. But in the end it was a lot easier than anticipated. I think the version with a backplate (which I have) is a bit trickier than the one without, but still not hard.



View from within the case. You can see why I'm not happy with the paintjob on the GPU. My phanteks fans turned out pretty good though. The plasti dip gave them a darker tinge. Still not matching the sleeving very well, but better than before, which is as close as I'll come, probably.







Guess I'll have to go look at better options for coloring my gpu shroud... I'm considering dyeing it. Anyone got experience with that sort of thing? Feel free to give me tips.

[Optimumz]

Update.

I got my plasti dip today and decided to try my luck with the pci-slot covers, the GPU shroud and the fan housings on my phanteks fans.

The GPU shroud looked promising after 3 coats.

I improvised a painting rack with a laundry-hanger and some steel wire.

The pci slot covers turned out quite good...

...but ultimately the GPU shroud didn't turn out how I'd hoped. I don't know if I didn't give the plasti dip enough time to cure or what, but it's as if it doesn't stick well to the plastic that the shroud is made of. I'll have to re-paint it with something else later on. This will have to do for now though.

I've never taken apart a windforce GPU before and I didn't look forward to it. But in the end it was a lot easier than anticipated. I think the version with a backplate (which I have) is a bit trickier than the one without, but still not hard.

View from within the case. You can see why I'm not happy with the paintjob on the GPU. My phanteks fans turned out pretty good though. The plasti dip gave them a darker tinge. Still not matching the sleeving very well, but better than before, which is as close as I'll come, probably.

Guess I'll have to go look at better options for coloring my gpu shroud... I'm considering dyeing it. Anyone got experience with that sort of thing? Feel free to give me tips.

Yeah I have some experience with plasti diping plastic components, with the GPU give it 2/3 undercoats of white or maybe a light grey (incase you don't want in your face orange) then give it 3/4 coats of orange could always do more but whenever I've done more than 8 coats my screw holes really clog ect

[nccish]

Yeah I have some experience with plasti diping plastic components, with the GPU give it 2/3 undercoats of white or maybe a light grey (incase you don't want in your face orange) then give it 3/4 coats of orange could always do more but whenever I've done more than 8 coats my screw holes really clog ect

Thanks for the tip.

[nccish]

Yo, it's been a while since I updated. Nothing major has happened in my build but I thought I'd post some pics anyways.

Since last time I've peeled off the plasti dip of my GPU, fitted a proper LED strip that I soldered to 5V molex and exchanged my stock fractal exhaust fan for a Cougar Vortex hdb cf-v14h. I also changed the power-LED in my Define R4 from blue to orange. All in all I'm pretty happy with the results. I had the rig with me at Dreamhack Winter 2014 and got a lot of compliments  on it. It does look a lot better IRL though ( as some people who had seen pictures of it commented on).

Things I'm thinking about now:  I want to get a new case. I've been in love with the Phanteks Enthoo Evolv since I first read the rumors about it. It is the best looking mATX case ever made in my opinion (despite it's rather large dimensions for mATX). Unless this becomes a reality, the Evolv is what I will be moving into in a couple of months.

 

And speaking of Evolv, I'm also thinking about making a custom CPU loop with orange colored tubing. I already own a EK ltx block and I could probably get a hold of a 240rad for cheap.
But I digress, here are some pictures.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And as always, I appreciate any comment/tip/criticism you give.
Thank you.

[Crazy Ginger]

This would be a great PC for the owner of DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA BEARS

[AlexStriz]

That cooler is sext as fuck.

 

I've always wanted to see the black one with the fan frames painted black/dark grey. Cheap Cryorig R1 Ultimate anyone?

[nccish]

That cooler is sext as fuck.

 

I've always wanted to see the black one with the fan frames painted black/dark grey. Cheap Cryorig R1 Ultimate anyone?

Or the Be Quiet dark rock pro 3! But then again, they cost about the same so I guess it's redundant ^^.

[AlexStriz]

Or the Be Quiet dark rock pro 3! But then again, they cost about the same so I guess it's redundant ^^.

I think that Phanteks is a bit better performing than the DRP3. Plus the the bequiet! goes in and out of stock quite often (a lot less than before, but it still happens). The price fluctuates a lot too. Right now it's $90 on Newegg.

 

The Phanteks looks more like a Cryorig too. You can see both fans. The bequiet! has that top thing covering the second fan.

[nccish]

I think that Phanteks is a bit better performing than the DRP3. Plus the the bequiet! goes in and out of stock quite often (a lot less than before, but it still happens). The price fluctuates a lot too. Right now it's $90 on Newegg.

 

The Phanteks looks more like a Cryorig too. You can see both fans. The bequiet! has that top thing covering the second fan.

Yeah, the Phanteks performs almost as good as the D15 in most tests I've seen. It's a real beast for a low (ish) price.

Yeah you're right. I think the DRP3 is one of the best looking coolers ever made though

[nccish]

Update: I just ordered a white Phanteks Enthoo Evolv. Very excited for this. I've been in love with that case since I saw the first images of it. I think the white color is going to contrast better with the blue color of the sleeving and cooler than my current black case.

[Buildmeasystem]

looks good. 

why didn't you paint the PCIE bracket from the graphics card to match the spares? you've already voided the warranty by painting the cooler anyway. 

[nccish]

looks good. 

why didn't you paint the PCIE bracket from the graphics card to match the spares? you've already voided the warranty by painting the cooler anyway. 

Yeah I thought about that, but I couldn't find any way of removing it from the PCB. Maybe I just missed something simple though?

 

Warranty? pffttt. what's a warranty?

[nccish]

Third update, with images, is now in the OP. Please be gentle.

[Wulfgar]

Interesting color combo, I've never seen it before but I think it works really well in your build! Great job with the custom cables.

[don]

WOW! Always wanted to see a build in this for a while I'm planning on getting this case also but in grey with the asus gryphon z97 and the i5.

[nccish]

WOW! Always wanted to see a build in this for a while I'm planning on getting this case also but in grey with the asus gryphon z97 and the i5.

That will look great

[nccish]

More images added to the latest update (most of them are better quality since I actually got a tripod a few days ago)