Red & White NZXT x MSI Tribute

[Nazka]

Hello LTT Community!

 

In June, I started the modding of my NZXT S340 tower case that was a bit... underwhelming. Apart from a Razer Chroma sticker in the front and a few LEDs in it I mean. I wanted it to look E P I C so I started improving it... Bit by bit. Get ready for a LOT of images, GIFs and a few talks about each part. So lay back, relax and let's go for a ride.

 

 

Yup... That's it.

 

▼ RIG ▼

Spoiler

Original RIG:

• CPU: Intel i7-6700K - 4.00 GHz
• CPU Fan: Be Quiet! Dark Rock III
• GPU: MSI GTX 1060 Armor OC V1 - 6Gb
• RAM: 2x8 Gb Corsair Vengeance LPX - 2400 MHzMoBo: Asus Z170-A
• Case: NZXT S340 - Glossy White
• PSU: Cooler Master G650M semi-modular power supply

 

The first step was to add a backplate to my GPU, I ordered it on V1 Tech and I have to say it's pretty darn sexy. At that time, I was using a Be Quiet! Dark Rock 3 to cool my CPU and it was hiding a large part of that back plate so I moved it to the second PCIe slot and it started to look better already. 

 

 

Summer was hitting hard and airflow was lacking, but some money came in and I bought... Paint. 

The brand is Liquitex, their paint is made of high quality pigments and I have to admit this is a really good spray paint. I opted for the Cadmium Red tint, the brightest red they had in store.

 

 

 

You can find all Liquitex products here

 

I masked my side panel and started cutting of the glorious MSI Dragon I drew... Right off my screen (please don't hit me). It's a long process that requires a lot of elbow grease, and a lot of focus. The whole cutting and peeling process took north of two hours. Here are a few processing steps.

 

     

 

     

 

All of these steps were carefully monitored by my cat Loki. 

 

 

He's a great assistant. And a hugger. And cute. I LOVE THIS CAT.

 

 

Painted and dried, I finally peeled the remaining painter's tape and cleaned the small bits of leaked paint. It's a water-based paint so some of the tape crinkled and some paint went under it. Here's the first paint stop I made with a fancy shot, while I was thinking about what to do with the front panel. I kept that Razer sticker during this time.

 

 

Mmmh... Beasty.

 

Then came August. With more money, I bought fans! YAY AIRFLOW!... Then nay heat, as I moved back to South of France... I hate seeing temps above 50 degrees. I ordered two Corsair SP140 and an NZXT Kraken X42 and got rid of my Dark Rock III. While mounting the watercooling and the newcoming fans, I took of the white metal bar from the inside and painted it red too, leaving the NZXT logo blank for it to stand out. Here are some eye-candy pictures of the inside of the case. 

Spoiler

      

 

      

 

I feel pretty happy about how it came out, it looks clean, colorful yet simple.

 

 

 

Then I figured that my PC was pretty much showcasing two brands: NZXT and MSI. I decided to showcase NZXT a bit more, as the big a*s dragon was already representing MSI quite a lot, the front panel had to balance things up a bit. First things first, I had to create a stencil that would fit the front panel. I measured every bit of the tiny NZXT logo on the front panel and redrew it in AutoCAD. I could've printed the logo but hey, let's save trees. 

 

 

Rocky montage to fast foward 20 minutes of drawing and measuring! YAY

 

Masking and cutting as usual, bla bla bla... Here's the final result and some more sexy photos of the final case! 

 

 

   

 

 

"Browse privately AND securely with Tunne" - Wait I'm not Linus.

 

I hope you guys enjoyed the trip through me improving that boring white case into a glorious red and white showcase... Case. 

 

Here's the final rig:

 

• CPU: Intel i7-6700K - 4.00 GHz
• CPU Cooler: NZXT Kraken X42
• GPU: MSI GTX 1060 Armor OC V1 - 6Gb
• RAM: 2x8 Gb Corsair Vengeance LPX - 2400 MHz
• MoBo: Asus Z170-A
• Case: NZXT S340 - Glossy White
• Case Fans: 2 x Corsair SP140 / 1 x NZXT Aer P 140mm / 1 x NZXT Stock 120mm fan
• PSU: Cooler Master G650M semi-modular power supply

 

I'll swap the stock 120 exhaust NZXT fan for a Corsair AF120 white LED quiet edition fan by the end of September, and buy CableMod custom sleeved cables!

 

Cheers!

 

Edited September 5, 2017 by Nazka
Adding spoilers

[Evolution.]

that's pretty sick I'd prolly buy a custom case form you like that

[Energycore]

19 minutes ago, Nazka said:

the big a*s dragon

Why would you censor ads?

[Nazka]

Thanks folks.

 

@VenomZ_ : DM me if you want we could work something out depending on what you're looking for. 

 

@Energycore : Because I can't advertise on the forums of course. Right? Right?

[Paytend01]

Yeah, this case is nuts

[haft2doit]

Very nice.  Clean look.  Myself and painters tape don't get along.  I need to find the secret to eliminating the frayed edges along a paint line after removing the tape.

[Nazka]

My secret is using a dull knife to scrape it. It takes forever but the result is neat.

[r3loAded]

1 hour ago, Nazka said:

My secret is using a dull knife to scrape it. It takes forever but the result is neat.

You just showed me that White and Red looks as nice as Black and Red. Nice clean job.  

[Nazka]

Thank you! I will not join the dark side though