[Build Log] hmmblah's Mercury S3

It feels like I've had my X58 rig for decades. It's seen quite a few updates along the way including SSDs, SLi 470s, GTX 680, GTX 980, custom watercooling, then back to the H105 AIO, but the i7 930 and Gigabyte UD3R have been at it's heart all along.

Small form factor PCs have always intrigued me and with the growing options available I decided to dive in and give mITX a try.

System specs:

Intel i7 4790k
Corsair Vengeance Pro 2400 DDR3 16GB (2x8) kit
ASUS Maximus VII Impact mITX motherboard
Crucial MX100 512GB SSD
Corsair H105 AIO cooler
Corsair HX750i Power Supply
Caselabs Mercury S3
MSI GTX 980 Gaming 4G

Caselabs is a case company that most people are aware of. They make top of the line aluminum cases for the enthusiast crowd. Their cases are very well thought out and constructed to the highest quality. You won't find a rivet in their cases and the panels are thicker than most vehicle bodies on the road today. I placed my order for the case on January 10th 2015. It wasn't until March 3rd that my case arrived. If you are thinking about getting one of these cases, make sure you order well in advance of the rest of your parts! The wait was well worth it though as the case is beautiful.

I'll let the pics speak for themselves.






CaseLabs Mercury S3



















ASUS Maximus VII Impact











I did assemble everything today to make sure it all works. Right now it's an absolute mess using the cables that came with the HX750. I will be replacing the cables with custom cables made to the exact length needed so there isn't any extra cable lying about. I will get more pictures as well as progress continues. Thanks for looking!

Should be a nice and powerful little rig when it's done, enjoy your build!

Nice choice of hardware dude and excellent choice of case, I can spend hours dry building my dream case on Caselabs website.

Very nice fella. I'm kinda angry at Caselabs because that case is too big to be ITX only and mm away from being MATX. Had it been I probably would have built my uber rig quite differently.

Nice to see it in white too, I love white cases they remind me of the old beige ones

Looks like an improved version of mine

Do you have any special plans? Please tell me you're not just putting it together and leaving it like that!

Feronix said:

Looks like an improved version of mine

Do you have any special plans? Please tell me you're not just putting it together and leaving it like that!

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Oh I'm not just going to leave it lol. I'll be making custom cables and probably adding some white LED strips too. Also trying to figure out what color I want the cables. I was originally looking at black with a few wires red and/or gray. Then I was onto white...really don't know what I'm going to do yet.

Considering the components are all black & red and the case is white, I'd say black cables with for instance on the 24pin maybe 8 red and 4 whites?

I've never seen any one do red and white cables. Maybe there's a reason for that but yeah, never seen it.

Vault-Tec said:

I've never seen any one do red and white cables. Maybe there's a reason for that but yeah, never seen it.

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Cables in my server are red & white - CableMod made me up a custom paracord set R&W too

Oh cool. Don't you do your own then? gotta say it's boring but really rewarding.

Vault-Tec said:

Oh cool. Don't you do your own then? gotta say it's boring but really rewarding.

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No need when they are this easy. If it needs custom I just ask Pexon

Yeah I bought a set in purple once. It is tedious man. Like hours just melt away :S

Might get the PCIE wires I need made up.

Vault-Tec said:

Yeah I bought a set in purple once. It is tedious man. Like hours just melt away :S

Might get the PCIE wires I need made up.

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Pexon for custom - say TTL sent you

So... a new Folding rig?

A lot of fantastic hardware going into the build, I like it

The 980 has been folding. My 680 is currently in a box. It's going into my wife's rig along with an ssd and a new case. The 560ti is going to my old x58 rig and that's going to a good friend who is currently pc-less. Lots of shuffling going on lol. All said and done I'm hoping my points sit at 500k ppd.

tinytomlogan said:

No need when they are this easy. If it needs custom I just ask Pexon

Click to expand...

I need to do this more....I do it myself and its tedious for me....

no friggin way. I basically have this build on PCPartPicker saved as a list as one of my current dream builds. Can't wait to see what this turns out like!

looks nice - cannot wait to see it built.