Project Glacier Blaze - NZXT S340

[PC Crazy Dario]

Hi everyone,

 

I'm new here and just a week ago I have found out that to the awesome Youtube channel, there is a forum as well.

Since I was very busy with my first custom build, I couldn't start posting here until I got some free time.

 

The project is called Glacier Blaze and the logo with the title is going to be like this:

 

Since this was made in the further phase of development, I have just revealed something I should have done later on, but no problem.

 

The plan for this build is not based on components, some special work based build or performance, but just to make a custom build as much as I can and know and to do some loops. Since I have funded completely everything by myself, this was the maximum I could buy. I didn't want to modify my main build since I work on it all day and couldn't be without it because of it.

The specification for this build are:

 

Build components:

Intel Core i5-6400
Intel SSD 535 Series m.2 120GB
G. Skill RipJaws Series 4 16GB (4x 4GB) Blue
ASUS Z170-A USB 3.1
ASUS GeForce GTX 960 TurboOC 2GB
NZXT HALE82 V2 550W
NZXT S340 White
NZXT Sleeved LED Blue kit 2m

 

EKWB parts:

1x EK-Supremacy EVO - Nickel (Original CSQ)
1x EK-RES X3 250 - White
1x EK-XTOP DDC 3.2 PWM Elite - plexi (incl. pump)
8x EK-HDC Fitting 12mm G1/4 - Blue
1x EK-CoolStream SE 240 (Slim Dual)
2x EK-Vardar F4-120ER (2200rpm) - White
3x EK-HD Tube 10/12mm 500mm (2pcs)
1x EK-Ekoolant Pastel blue (Concentrate 250mL)

 

Some pics of the packages:

 

 

Since everything is bought by me, I had to check everything before doing any changes (like you didn't know that ) because of the warranty... I used stock cooler, but didn't take the picture with it...

 

 

My goal with this build is to manage the right color combination of glacier (white/light blue) and try to get that awesome sight of them at night when the moonlight hits them.

 

[LazyPigeon]

Ahhh I had that idea but as i a kinda poor i cant do it so quickly if i have started my buid i would call it frostbite!

[KezzaMcFezza]

Lol i had money i would make myself a themed pc ;-; but if i had to my theme would be green

[LazyPigeon]

Just now, ProKeero said:

Lol i had money i would make myself a themed pc ;-; but if i had to my theme would be green

''I don't have enough money'' Said the guy with and GTX 970 Strix and a beast processor!

[KezzaMcFezza]

Just now, LazyPigeon said:

''I don't have enough money'' Said the guy with and GTX 970 Strix and a beast processor!

 you know how long it took me to get those? not to mention i'm 15 and still in high school xD.

My GPU took 4 months of saving up.

My CPU took about 2 as it was on sale.

Not to mention my GTX 650 Ti was my goto card for about 2 years before my 970 xD.

[PC Crazy Dario]

5 minutes ago, LazyPigeon said:

Ahhh I had that idea but as i a kinda poor i cant do it so quickly if i have started my buid i would call it frostbite!

First idea was Glacier, but then it looked plain simple next to the logo... Had to add something...

 

4 minutes ago, ProKeero said:

Lol i had money i would make myself a themed pc ;-; but if i had to my theme would be green

That color scheme would also be awesome...

[LazyPigeon]

Just now, ProKeero said:

 you know how long it took me to get those? not to mention i'm 15 and still in high school xD.

My GPU took 4 months of saving up.

My CPU took about 2 as it was on sale.

Not to mention my GTX 650 Ti was my goto card for about 2 years before my 970 xD.

I am only 12, and that is the reason i am always scared to go into forums. And i have 30 euro ram that took me 1 month of saving up and my gpu is gonna be brought for my name day and birthday money and the gpu costs 105 euro...

[Moonzy]

custom watercooling parts must've costed more than your gpu `-`

 

i'll never understand why people custom cool their pc when there's still a ton of room for improvement that makes more sense lol

[PC Crazy Dario]

38 minutes ago, Moonzy said:

custom watercooling parts must've costed more than your gpu `-`

 

i'll never understand why people custom cool their pc when there's still a ton of room for improvement that makes more sense lol

And it has... By 150 euros more...

 

But as I wrote in the first post, I wanted to build a custom build with a watercooling loop. I won't use this build that much since I have my main build for all other stuff (gaming, working, etc.). Since I was on a budget, I had to choose which components are going to be limited to fit the EK Water Blocks in the build.

[Moonzy]

2 minutes ago, Dario27 said:

And it has... By 150 euros more...

 

But as I wrote in the first post, I wanted to build a custom build with a watercooling loop. I won't use this build that much since I have my main build for all other stuff (gaming, working, etc.). Since I was on a budget, I had to choose which components are going to be limited to fit the EK Water Blocks in the build.

well, beauty is in the eyes of the beholder

i'd totally understand you'd pay premium just to experience custom watercooling ;P

ill probably do the same one day lol

 

aesthetics > usability `-`

[PC Crazy Dario]

18 minutes ago, Moonzy said:

well, beauty is in the eyes of the beholder

i'd totally understand you'd pay premium just to experience custom watercooling ;P

ill probably do the same one day lol

 

aesthetics > usability `-`

I understand your point of view. Since it was my first custom build and watercooling, didn't want to experiment on my build since it cost a lot. I wanted to practice, learn something new and to show others that I can manage this. I would never go for something like these if it was my working build. I would at least go for i5-6600k and GTX 970... Since this build isn't sponsored, has to choose carefully where my money is going.

[PC Crazy Dario]

The installation of the OS was finished basically in 10 minutes with USB 3.0 and M.2 SSD.

 

Next idea was to paint the whole case in white. I couldn't call it Glacier Blaze with black colors, so that had to be done. Some isolation, but don't worry about USB ports and the rest. I noticed later on (before spray painting that I can remove them):

 

 

Since two vents from NZXT were with black housings and white propellers, and the EK-Vardars were completely white, had to manage something in between. So decision was to color all housings of the vents in sky blue color. To be honest, I was a bit afraid since the base colors were different and didn't know how will it all look after few layers. Backplate of the motherboard was also up for coloring, since I didn't want that nickle look from the back of the case. The results:

 

 

Also, since everything was going white / sky blue or light blue, the backplates for PCI slots were colored as well and turned out great. I did the screws in blue as well, but unfortunately didn't take any picture of them...

 

[PC Crazy Dario]

To continue the story of Glacier Blaze.

 

Vents came along nicely. Place the propellers back in their place and I am quite satisfied how they turned out. Since EKWB radiator was whole black, I had to color it as well in white. Now those "ribs" of the radiator should be touched, so I had to cover that somehow. I saw someone dissambling the whole radiator just to get those side panles clear so they could be colored. I had a bit different approach. You see, on every side of the radiator between the "ribs" and the casing there is 5mm free space. So I have placed a cut out paper between that and covered the "ribs" from spray exposure. Unfortunately, don't have a picture of that, but have the picture of the finished product with everything.

 

 

Since I was out of time (was on vacation and had to finish everything in two weeks) I have ordered custom sleeved cables from ShakMods and they did an awesome job for a fair price. More pictures:

 

 

Now graphics card had some red stripes and parts in the red color which wouldn't fit the whole color scheme of Glacier Blaze. Problem was should I spray those parts or just put some stickers over it. Spraying them I would lose the warranty, so sticker it was.

 

 

Hope you guys like the work I did so far. Tomorrow more.

Just a hint, I had an incident with the case and paint spraying it. But all of that tomorrow.

[PC Crazy Dario]

Next up for spray painting was the case... Now everything would end up fine if something didn't happen. I was spraying in my garage (which is completely closed) and somehow a fly got in. You can imagine what happen. Third layer was on the case and the fly got stuck on it. I did removed it and waited for the paint to dry so I could dust it, but every other layer after that, you could see the difference. So I had to use some sort of Dynamitt to remove the color from the top of the case and to respray it. Here are the pics of everything...

 

 

After these pictures I have spray two more layers since you can see that the sides are still blackish. Needed to cover that as well...

Day after finishing the paint, I have decided it was time to place everything in the case and to see where the pump is going to be placed.

 

 

I couldn't place the pump anywhere else except underneath the GPU. I though to place it where the HDD cage is, but then I had to think of something else for the reservoir. Since reservoir was that big, it got me thinking that everything might not fit.

 

Why did I get that big reservoir? Well the situation was like this. As I said before (I hope I mentioned), I had a limited amount of cash for this build, and EKWB had only this big reservoir for 50 euros. If I bought a smaller one with black top and bottom cover, I would have to pay extra 40 euros to get white top and bottom. Now that was really out of my budget, and I had to figure out everything like this. Here are some pictures of the pipes.

 

I'll continue later on with the updates...

[PC Crazy Dario]

Had to find a printing company, so the stickers look like this:

 

 

Without the stickers and the backplate for the graphics card:

 

 

And finally with the backplate, stickers... The Glacier Blaze is finished and waitting for the new project to start. Hope you guys like it:

 

 

Next project hopefully starts from tomorrow...