Cold Winter | By C4B

C4B

New member
Hello again!

Now that Im finished with CURV3D I can start with my next project. I have been waiting to start working on this. Ive been planning how to make this as good as possible. This is the project I will spend most time on ever. Hope you will enjoy this log, feel free to comment and please give me advice and tips.

Lets start with a little info about this build. You may remember my log of this build from another forums that I posted around a year ago. I also made a version 2 of it, and now the third and last version is coming.

This is my favorite build of all time, so now I want to make it as goodlooking as possible. What Im going to do is to correct the mistakes Ive made before, add some features to hide cables and things like that. I will also fill it with a little bit newer hardware and this time Im going for some nice watercooling, not an all-in-one like the Antec Kuhler I had in V.2.

List of things to do:

  • Paint the right acrylic side of the case (on the inside) black, so you cant see in from the side. Thats the side where the motherboard will be installed. DONE
  • Make coverplates out of acrylic to cover cables, psu and waterpump.
  • Make a hole in the bottom and in the backpanel for the new psu.
  • File down the acrylic so it fits perfectly with the acrylic piece. DONE
  • Sleeve everything white, black and aqua.
  • Hide as much of the cables as possible
  • Install watercooling
  • Getting the hardware


Hardware:
MB: ASRock FM2A85X-ITX
CPU: AMD A10-5800K
RAM: Corsair Dominator Platinum 2x4gb 2133MHz
SSD: 2x Samsung 840 120gb
PSU: Silverstone ST45SF-G

In V.2 I used AMDs Llano, and I fell in love. Since then I have been waiting for the next generation and now Trinity is here. When I have time for games I either play Starcraft 2 or Dota 2 and those arent really hardware demanding games, but the Trinity still is pretty good. So what I want is a HTPC but with possibilities of some simpler games to be played. So what I want to add for hardware is a m-itx motherboard for Trinity, socket FM2. As APU I want the best possible so Im trying to get a hold of a A10-5800K, and then add 2 sticks of 4GB DDR3 2133MHz ram. Im currently looking for sponsors so lets see what happens! :)

EK DCP 2.2 Combo:

img0381c.jpg


What Ive done so far is to strip the case from almost everything except the LCD and powerswitch.

Front:

img0391otv.jpg


Back:

img0393u.jpg


Left side:

img0392xf.jpg


Right side. This is the side I want to paint black on the inside so you cant see into it from here.

img0394yt.jpg


The acrylic is pretty messed up as you can see. It was that from the beginning. Many scratches. But at the same time I feel like it gives the case a kind of vintage look, I still want to make it look a bit nicer though. So I will start by cleaning and polish it as much as possible. Do any of you guys know how to remove scratches from acrylic? Clearcoat it? Use a little blowtorch? Any advice?

First thing Im going to start with is to cut the acrylic maybe 3-4mm so it fits perfect with the white plate. Then paint the backside of the acrylic black. So this is what I have to work with for a couple of weeks:

img0397qi.jpg


I painted the right inner side of the acrylic piece black. Looks pretty good. Now you cant see anything from the other side, just as I wanted.

I started with isolate a little bit.

img0422vg.jpg


Then I just painted it, 3 layers.

img0423nk.jpg


img0424o.jpg


img0425bq.jpg


img0426ut.jpg


And this is how it looks from the outside.

img0427wwg.jpg


Ive lowered the plexi a few mm to fit better to the white bended plate. I put everything together and took some pictures, I really love the black side.

The edge before. A little bit to high.

img0455sb.jpg


Measured how much to cut.

img0456pv.jpg


Dada!

img0467jx.jpg


Think this looks really good.

img0469si.jpg


Right now Im waiting for the hardware so I can start measuring out how to fit everything, how to make the shroud and so on.

Will be updating as much as possible. Please comment and give me advice and tips. Everything and everyone is welcome.

With kind regards
Johan Nyman
 
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If I'm being honest my issues with your last build were that the lines cut into the case weren't straight. Many may not have noticed it but I did and it made it look a bit bodged.

This project seems to have the same issues. The hole in the front for the fan just totally isn't round.

Whilst I appreciate you may not have the right tools and may be doing this by hand there's no excuse for a hole not being round, given that a hole cutter/saw set costs about £8 (Look for Silverline on Amazon, that's what I used for this)

side.jpg


So as you can see, £8 gets you a perfectly rounded hole.

When finished.

upperboardlightson.jpg


It makes all the difference. I also don't like the scratches,they add nothing but making it look like it's been dropped. Not sure what you can do about it but personally I would start again with a new piece of acrylic.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Silverline-...365696722&sr=8-1&keywords=silverline+hole+saw

^ I strongly suggest investing in one of those.
 
If I'm being honest my issues with your last build were that the lines cut into the case weren't straight. Many may not have noticed it but I did and it made it look a bit bodged.

This project seems to have the same issues. The hole in the front for the fan just totally isn't round.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Silverline-...365696722&sr=8-1&keywords=silverline+hole+saw

^ I strongly suggest investing in one of those.

Well as I wrote before Im going to correct all the mistakes I done before on this case. So the front hole will be fixed.

Thanks for the link to the holesawkit! :)
 
Really like the general concept of this, and if you fix those little niggles I think it will
be pretty bloody phenomenal :rock:
 
You have a thing for classy-looking, small form factor builds, eh? Good, so do I ;)

Will certainly follow this one.
 
I rushed to finish a aircooled version for Dreamhack that was this weekend thursday, for a Gigabyte contest there. After that I will start the real project with custom loop and other goodies.

To start off:

Be Quiet sponsored me with a Shadow Rock 2.

54ui.jpg


Gigabyte sponsored me with a GA-F2A88XN-WIFI.

ow3v.png


What I started doing was to fix the 120mm hole in the front and also make the 92mm hole in the back to 120mm.

wnti.jpg


Then I started working on a shroud that would cover the powersupply. Used acrylic that I painted black on one side.

vdml.jpg


Then I painted the inside of the acrylic black too so it would hide the powersupply and everything else.

1qs0.jpg


6q9w.jpg


Then I added the fan grill I got from Bill. Looks awesome!

4xzm.jpg


I got the motherboard and cpu down at Jönköping where Dreamhack is, so I installed everything there. It ended up looking like this.

jz54.jpg


8d7w.jpg


2s3x.jpg


And here it is together with all the other mods, I always ends up with the smallest mods haha.

oor2.jpg


So next thing to do is to make a watercooled version. I also have to get ahold of a CPU, I think Ill wait for the new AMD A10-7850K, should be released in January, the 14th I think. I was thinking of using a 50-60mm 120mm radiator in the front. Should be enough for the CPU.

So what did you think about the "aircooled Dreamhack" version of this mod?

With kind regards
Johan Nyman
Minimalistic PC's
 
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Wasn't sure about the plastic fangrill when you first stuck it on, but it looks really nice with the lighting :)
 
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That case is awesome! So sleek and would be amazing for LAN :). And oosh, that fan grill.

Yeah it is awesome for lan-partys. :)

Oooo I like that. :)

Thank you! :)

Wasn't sure about the plastic fangirl when you first stuck it on, but it looks really nice with the lighting :)

Thanks! :)

Sorry for no updates here, but I have been waiting for the release of AMD A10-7850K, now it is here and I cant wait to start. Im still waiting for watercooling gear from EKWB though, after I got that I can start the casemodding for real. :)
 
I want to start by announcing a new sponsor and thank them for all their help, EKWB! Thank you for helping me and sending me:

wwyw.jpg



  • 120mm XT Radiator
  • Supremacy Clean CSQ Nickel-Acrylic
  • RES X3 150mm
  • Fittings


uii8.jpg


68rc.jpg


d8uu.jpg


ucty.jpg


I started out installing the loop to see how I wanted everything, the RES is installed in the top like this.

j0g0.jpg


ir23.jpg


The 120mm XT rad goes in the front of course together with the DCP 2.2 pump on the bottom.

4ro7.jpg


qv6b.jpg


z2b6.jpg


The entire loop from behind, whats missing here is the cover over the PSU and the pump, working on that right now aswell as fixing all the cables to perfect lenght.

kawi.jpg


b6vp.jpg


I cant get a good photo from the side because of the tinted plexiglass, although, as soon as I have some lights inside the case there will be good pictures.

3a61.jpg


Last picture of the day!

yec2.jpg


What do you think so far?

I have dissassembled everything now to finish the last small details.


  • Complete the coverplate for the PSU and pump.
  • Fix all the cables to perfect lenght.
  • Install a SSD.
  • Leaktest.
  • OS Install and config.


Hopefully Ill have a new update this weekend, until then, have a good day!

With kind regards
Johan Nyman
Minimalistic PC's
 
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I like that mate, small but mighty!

Thank you! :)

The loop is filled with Mayhems, its leaktested and the computer boots up! This project is now finished. I took some pictures of the result, the final pictures will be taken tomorrow though, but here are some sneakpeaks.

zxbi.jpg


xnap.jpg


t8mo.jpg


What do you think?

With kind regards
Johan Nyman
Minimalistic PC's
 
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