Project: Reptile

[Craigferrie]

This is my first project log posted on this forums.
I have done 4 others this year.
had a little girl, so took some time off.
i also took some time to write a few articles for PC Gamer, which today has released my 4 page long article in their ultimate hardware 2015 edition magazine.

Thanks to box.co.uk for being an awesome sponsor, been with me for 4 and soon to be 5 builds

ANYWAY!! as always let's start with the box photo! everyone loves boxes lol

Spec list (Could change at any time)
Case - Pkanteks Enthoo pro M
MOBO - Maximus VIII Hero
CPU - i7 6700k
GPU - ASUS Strix 980Ti
PSU - be quiet! Dark Power Pro 11, 1000W
RAM - 16GB Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4 3200mhz

First of all i'm going to begin this project with wrapping the case in a heat transfer vinyl. If feels like paper with no adhesive before applying heat.
This was a little tricky as it becomes so fragile when heated. Threw some on the GPU too

The nest day i toyed with different ideas and colors using normal vinyl.
Glued some fake plastic ivy leafs inside the case, got a resin skull made for the inside too Added some green lights to give the leafs life.

you'll notice in these 2 pictures the GPU is standing :O ?
got a little creative and cut out 2 of the brackets for the GPU's so i could use the HDMI.
i then bent another one to allow me to screw the GPU to the bracket.
got the PCI-E extension cable out that i found in a box of bits.
Stood the GPU and fed the power cables through the back of the case, pulled them tight(ish) leaving enough slack for the cables not to break.
it now holds solid. Won't even move when i shake the case.

next i put some red vinyl on the outside of the case (Again testing ideas) Then cut out some cardboard scales for the top to see how it'd look.
I liked the scales and the red (at the time)

Okay i like the scales so i went out to buy some air drying clay.
Apparently hard to get a hold of locally. Ended up finding it at toymaster.

i then started to paint the scales red..
This is where i started to hate red.

So.. i scraped the red and went with green.
Which (in my opinion) looks far better

Decided it was still lacking... Something.
Had a little think and went over to my lazer cutter.

And here's where i'm at as of tonight

Will update as i progress as always.
Would also like to note that the watercooling is going to change in the coming weeks.

I will be changing out the following very soon

Green Vinyl - Will be sprayed on instead (Better looks)
Fans - Changed to green
Cooling - Changed to green with the reservoir mounted outside the case at the front. (up and down)
May be overkill with the watercooling, because im only cooling the CPU.
However i'm going for looks, So rigid watercooling the CPU is a great choice.

 

[Tripp]

Not quite my style of build, but kudos on the mods an the wrapping mate

 

[Craigferrie]

To do list:
1. Change out the fans, put in new Thermaltake Riing12/14 Fans
2. Cut 2 circles out of the front mesh, add two Riing fans.
3. Mount 250mm reservoir to the front over the riing fans.
4. Re-spray Green spikes on the case instead of vinyl.
5. Change our RAM, place in modified green avexir RAM.
6. Change over watercooling to new CoolForce Rigid set up.
8. Spray (Rubber paint) to the GPU cooler (removing vinyl)
9. Wrap or spray PSU.

 

[Craigferrie]

Progress update:
New fans arrived from box.co.uk, new look too
Wired up the Geforce badge from my titan X to the system, placed where the base of the GPU sits and also skinned the PSU

Finished skinning some interior parts, GPU needs to be re-done at the top right corner.

Also changed over the original dark green, and created a dark backing light green effect kind of thing lol

 

[DarthDudo]

Im not really keen on the spikes (inspired by an Iguana perhaps) but I love pretty much everything else its certainly unique and well executed in my humble opinion gratz on the build mate!

P.S. I keep some reptiles (A green tree python and a suriname red tail boa) and have never seen a reptile themed build before thanks for sharing!

 

[Craigferrie]

Im not really keen on the spikes (inspired by an Iguana perhaps) but I love pretty much everything else its certainly unique and well executed in my humble opinion gratz on the build mate!

P.S. I keep some reptiles (A green tree python and a suriname red tail boa) and have never seen a reptile themed build before thanks for sharing!

Yeah, i wasn't sure where i was going with the spikes.
Thanks for the feedback
Hopefully it'll be complete this week at some point.

 

[Craigferrie]

So i've done a major re-vamp of the case and mod.
Here's where i'm at tonight, quite a bit different.

 

[Oseth]

Oh wow, this is a beauty!!! Looks super gnarly.