CM HAF 932 - White & Black Build [Update 1/6/14]

[Exotath]

Update: 1/06/2014 - WC parts have arrived!

 

Sorry everyone for the long delay on this project. After I got all the parts I became very busy with work and even now I have limited time.

 

Initially the plan was to do an air cooled build in a Fractal Design Define R4 Arctic White Windowed case. While it is a nice case I had a few issues with it and have grown apart from it. Also I decided I want to do a real mod and a real build.

 

So what I did is hauled my old Cooler Master HAF 932 out of the closet and decided to mod it and do a watercooled build.

 

Teaser:

 

Updated Hardware Specifications: (Already have these parts)

Intel Core i7 4770K

MSI Z87 MPower

16GB Corsair Vengeance LP Arctic White
eVGA Geforce GTX 780 Ti

Samsung 840 SSD

Western Digital Black 1TB

Hitachi Deskstar 1TB

PC Power & Cooling Silencer MK III 750W -> Might be swapped out for a SilverStone ST75F-GS

 

Updated Cooling Specifications: (All have been ordered from FrozenCPU.com - awaiting arrival)

EK Supremacy Nickel Plated CPU Block

EK Supremacy Nickel Plated Universal VGA Block

Alphacool NexXxos UT60 Full Copper Radiator (Triple 120MM)

Phobya 200MM Extreme Radiator

XSPC X20 750 Bayres/Pump Combo with white face plate

EK 3/8 Compression Fittings

Bitfenix Spectre Pro Blue LED 120MM / 200MM / 230MM fans

Primochill tubing and Coolant

XSPC LCD Temp monitor and probe

 

This will be enough to get the project well off the ground and then I can add stuff in the future.

 

 

I will do my best to work on it often and update often...work permitting of course.

 

Latest update post - > WC Parts have arrived!

 

 

 

Old build plans - Scrapped!:

My current rig started to take a dump on me so I decided it was time to just build a whole new one, and eventually turn my old one into a home server. This is a work in progress log and I will be updating it as I progress through the build.
 
Specs:

i7 4770k
MSI Z87 MPower
16GB Corsair Vengeance LP Arctic White 1600Mhz @ 1.35V (Received)
MSI Twin Frozr III HD 7950 (Owned, and may upgrade this also...undecided)
256GB Samsung 840 Pro
1TB WD Black
PC Power & Cooling Silencer MK III 750W (Received)
Fractal Design Define R4 Arctic White with Window (Received)
Xigmatek Dark Knight II Night Hawk (Received)
 
 
Other items I will pick up along the way:
 
Some more Fractal Design 140mm fans Got 4 NZXT B/W 140mm fans for $32 shipped
White LED Light Strips by Phobya Got 2x Logisys Sun Sticks in White LED for $20
All New Peripherals - Got a CM Storm Quickfire TK MX Brown w/ White LED
A UPS Batter backup with AVR (Gotta protect your investment)
 
God bless credit cards.....
 
 
First and foremost: Sorry about the bad pictures....My brother in law is a professional photographer and has some billion dollar camera....however he is out of town and all I have is a bad camera phone. I promise better pics when he gets home on the next update. lol.
 
The Case:

 
The Ram:


 
The Heatsink:

 
The Videocard:





 
Now since the build focus is White & Black I will be doing my best to modify the components to stay in line with this theme. And...sorry no watercooling in this build as it just isn't my cup of tea anymore.
 
I decided to start with my MSI Twin Frozr III HD7950 vidcard....but seeing as I am completely on the fence about keeping it...I can't really mod it if I decide to sell it. So with that in mind and my past experience in various fields of printing.....
 
I decided to wrap it in 3M White Vinyl wrap. lol. This allows me to be in line with my theme and if I decide to sell the card I can pull the wrap off without worry.
 
Some pics:
 

 



 


 


 


 



 


 


 
 
It took about an hour to wrap the fan shroud in the vinyl wrap. For the most part I think it came out pretty good...we will see how it holds up over time.
 
Tips if you plan to do it:
- Be VERY patient!
- Clean your work surface, work area, and hands thoroughly before beginning.
- Peel the wrap and lay it face down, and place the shroud on the vinyl with one side first...then "roll" the shroud over the film.
- Smooth out the vinyl into all nooks and crannies using your fingers and finger nails. Smooth toward edges, not in from the edges.
- Be gentle....this stuff can rip.
- Trim with a SHARP razor.
- Smooth edges with fingers.
- Be prepared to start all over.
 
It won't be perfect...you will have some lines and air bubbles but most can be smoothed out to edges.
 
Next weekend I will have more updates as my vacation begins, and I head down to Microcenter & Frys to buy all the remaining components...It'll be my birthday.
 
Thanks for looking.

Edited January 6, 2014 by Omid

[Homicidium]

Oh, this is going to look so great! 

[Exotath]

Thank you, I really hope so. In spring I move into a new apartment and am planning to go white and black throughout the place lol.

 

So this will be a nice focal point of the living room.

[Youssef Medhat]

looking good already just imagining them all togther ! good luck bro ! :D

[Bluejay0]

Nicely done Omid! I hope for an amazing finish!

[Snef]

I will follow this build

Very nice job on gpu with wrap

I will try it for sure

Nice rig

[mvitkun]

that vinyl wrap looks sexy man,keep it up.

can't wait to see more of this build.

[EFD307]

I plan on doing a black and white build with the z87 mpower too, im interested to see how yours turns out. ill be following along with it :D

[Exotath]

Thank you all. Been brainstorming with this vinyl wrap and it really opens up a lot of possibilities....especially since I can print on rolls of it with a 60" printer...... I have some ideas I am gonna play with for the case.

 

 

I plan on doing a black and white build with the z87 mpower too, im interested to see how yours turns out. ill be following along with it :D

 

Awesome! Annnnd....omg.....by the looks of your avatar we have the exact same thing in mind for the motherboard. Wow! 

[liveturbo24]

build lookin sweet so far

[EFD307]

Thank you all. Been brainstorming with this vinyl wrap and it really opens up a lot of possibilities....especially since I can print on rolls of it with a 60" printer...... I have some ideas I am gonna play with for the case.

 

 

 

Awesome! Annnnd....omg.....by the looks of your avatar we have the exact same thing in mind for the motherboard. Wow! 

haha yea but don't get too excited, i photoshopped that just to see how it would look. I think it looks much better than the yellow. Im going to start working on the actual mod soon, keep an eye out for the thread :D

[delet my acc pls]

Keep the pics coming i want moar

[EFD307]

How do you think you will be painting the accents on your board? I was thinking of airbrushing the parts but now im starting to worry about voiding the warranty so early on in its life. I think a few coats of nail polish and a clear coat on top might do the job and you could always take some nail polish remover to it if you ever need to send it back in.

[DinckelMan]

This is going to be awesome

[alpenwasser]

Oh, I like where this is going...

[Exotath]

Thank you all :D
 

How do you think you will be painting the accents on your board? I was thinking of airbrushing the parts but now im starting to worry about voiding the warranty so early on in its life. I think a few coats of nail polish and a clear coat on top might do the job and you could always take some nail polish remover to it if you ever need to send it back in.

 

Yea I planned on rigorously testing the components for 24hrs (or more lol) then go on with painting. Which looking at everything I believe the hardest part, and only part I'll have to paint, will be the motherboard. I've read almost every review there is for the board and the heatsinks seem to come off and apart with ease. The top VRM appears it will take some careful prying...but it should come apart. I don't see anything other than paint working for the heatsinks sadly.

As for the yellow lettering on the board...that is tough to paint....I may cheat and get creative with some vinyl on that lol. 

I chose the Mpower because ultimately this will be my main rig and features/functionality will have to come first....and this board has tons to offer. Also it was the only board that came with soooo much black. There will be some yellow you just can't remove such as the yellow LEDs. Now I am decent with a soldering iron....but those little guys are tiny tiny little LEDS. What you can't paint....hide. lol

By the way check out this sexy beast Xigmatek came out with: http://www.xigmatek.com/product.php?productid=186

I can't find it anywhere for sale. 

[EFD307]

Thank you all :D

 

 

Yea I planned on rigorously testing the components for 24hrs (or more lol) then go on with painting. Which looking at everything I believe the hardest part, and only part I'll have to paint, will be the motherboard. I've read almost every review there is for the board and the heatsinks seem to come off and apart with ease. The top VRM appears it will take some careful prying...but it should come apart. I don't see anything other than paint working for the heatsinks sadly.

As for the yellow lettering on the board...that is tough to paint....I may cheat and get creative with some vinyl on that lol. 

I chose the Mpower because ultimately this will be my main rig and features/functionality will have to come first....and this board has tons to offer. Also it was the only board that came with soooo much black. There will be some yellow you just can't remove such as the yellow LEDs. Now I am decent with a soldering iron....but those little guys are tiny tiny little LEDS. What you can't paint....hide. lol

By the way check out this sexy beast Xigmatek came out with: http://www.xigmatek.com/product.php?productid=186

I can't find it anywhere for sale.

cool im interested in seeing how yours goes, im waiting for the 780 lightning so i cant truly stress test until then. i dont think im going purely black and white its just too hard with the LEDs and stuff, i mean my sound card has a red led so that throws a wrench in the kogs but for pictures i might just have to take it out ;) the LED under the chip set cooler  i think is white, the MSI logo is yellow though, you can maybe find small piece of white plastic or whatever to put in there or paint over it very lightly so it looks white and still lights up, or just paint it completely, i mean the only one whos really going to know is you lol that cooler looks nice but idk how its going to stand up to dust and what not, i went with the H100 and im going to buy some white tubing cut it down the back and slide it over the tubes, the light on the pump is already white, ive got white sp120's up top and an ap 120 at the back plus dominator platinum ram. there are a few things that i cant do much about, i want to go for the 780 lightning, no one has seen it yet but the previous gen had that blue led on the back stuff like that you cant really change, just cover up. im not looking for absolute perfection in my build, just something that i think looks nice. the yellow lettering on the sound chip is going to be the hardest part i think. i might just flip the tab over and screw it back in lol

[Exotath]

lol I hear ya, there is really only so much you can do. If I had $$$$ to piss into the wind I'd mod/solder/paint everything without second thought. Which back in the day when I was a kid I would vmod and blow up a $300 card and not think twice about it....now that I am 29 and it comes out of my pocket....I am pretty damn cautious lol.

[Liam-McShane]

Love the wrap on the video card, looks great. Can't wait to see this finished, I love white and black builds :)

[acturisme]

I have high hopes for this build.

[GreetsFromGermany]

If it wouldnt be too much trouble for you , I can post a link to a german PC shop with that awesome cooler , even in matte black :)

[EFD307]

lol I hear ya, there is really only so much you can do. If I had $$$$ to piss into the wind I'd mod/solder/paint everything without second thought. Which back in the day when I was a kid I would vmod and blow up a $300 card and not think twice about it....now that I am 29 and it comes out of my pocket....I am pretty damn cautious lol.

haha I know what you mean, I work 12 hour night shifts as an EMT at a power plant while im going to school full time for physics its good money but when you have a car and a girlfriend money goes pretty fast, ive been buying parts piece by piece for almost 2 years to get this build done. Pro tip torrent .pdf textbooks and spend scholarship money on computer parts B) One day when (if) ive got a solid job hopefully i can dump a few grand into a build i can spend some time on and get every little thing the way i want it.

[Akula]

Nice job on the wrapping of the shroud :)

[Exotath]

Received the PC Power & Cooling Silencer MK III 750W PSU today.

 

I have read a few reviews and this PSU looked like it was made for my build, and having had a PCP&C TurboCool 510 SLI way back in the day I knew this PSU would be good.... And it was a friggin' steal at $99 shipped from Newegg. The finish on it is a matte white...looks great!

 

Here are some pics:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This thing is soooo well built, PCP&C may have been bought by OCZ....but the quality has remained the same. I did some research before buying and OCZ left PCP&C exactly the way it was and even left the founder of PCP&C in charge of the division. Smart move.

 

The switch on the back of the PSU changes the fan between normal and silent. 

 

Other notes for the build:

- Ordered a Cooler Master CM Storm Quickfire TK with white LED's http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16823129019
- Also I decided to go with Logisys Sun Stick's in white for the LED lighting in the case. Got them at FRYS cheap and they are REALLY bright. But I can't get good pics with this bad cam. Again once my bro is back with the SLR I promise some good pics.

 

That's all for now.

 

[Raboo]

Sweet