Project : White is the new Black

[paulstung]

Time for yet another build, my M-ATX, didn't get very far as 2 Gryphon motherboards had problems, so here we are again.

Specs :
MSI Z97 Gaming 5
I5 4690k
8 GB 2666Mhz Tem Group Frost edition
XFX R9 290, in Crossfire
White Enthoo Luxe
Super Flower Leadex 1000w 80% Gold
2 corsair SP 120 LED fans up front
Storage
2 x Kingston 120gb HyperX SSD's
2 x Kingston 60gb SSDNOW 300V
1TB Seagate SSHD
Cooling :
XSPC AX 360
3 x Alpenfoh 120mm black and white wing Boost 2
XSPX Raystorm
Aquacomputer Aqualis ECO 150ml Reservoir with Nano Coating
Deluxe White Bitspower fittings
7/16 pro LRT tube
Mayhems Black X1 fluid

Just a relatively basic build with the odd mod here and there, like the MSI claws on the motherboard painted white, and a plate, to cover the back of the drive bays, there might be more, it depends on if I can be bothered at the moment, but if not they will probably follow in the weeks to come, one thing I want to do is to add a stealth motherboard try cover, we'll see I might just get it done when I sort the bay cover plate.




What looks like a smeared edge is masking tape gunk.






I'm off to finish painting the rads, for some reason the paint keeps flaking, even after 3 primer coats, so I bought a thicker paint on primer, and useds a roller so it needs a good sanding before the first top coat.

 

[barnsley]

You've not only peaked just my interest with that part list


Subbed

 

[Feronix]

Liking that colour scheme!

 

[BigBlue1]

What did you clean with before painting? Prep is 99% of painting.

 

[paulstung]

I firstly sanded, back the factory silver, then iso to clean. It was strange how, it started on the 4th coat of top coat, and that's after the 3 of primer.. I done it in the shed, and it was quite cold, and the paint was warmed in water before hand, so, at least I think anyway, the cold metal and warm paint didn't like each other.

 

[paulstung]

I've managed to get a bit more done today, I've swapped the front 200mm intake, for a pair of SP 120 LED's, my ram arrived so that's gone in, so as the power supply, I'm also toying with the idea of mounting my 2 HyperX ssd's on the drive bay side panel, but until my res comes, I'm not sure if it is even staying or not yet. I'm also in the process of sleeving some extensions, in black and white, so my day will be taken up with doing that and finally painting the rad, it's had 3 coats of primer, and a good wet sand read for paint.






Iv'e had a couple of spare hours to play today, and finally got around to getting the cables finished, well almost, I like the idea of a third colour, and the usual go to is grey, but I'm going a little different, and going with silver, as the GPU's have the chrome, the rad ports, and the Aqualis res has a stainless rod, deflector plate, and mounting bracket, so I think it will bring them all together.

I managed to get the drive bay blank in, as well as some well placed drilled holes for air flow, hopefully, there are enough, if not, I've got another plate made for a different idea, involving a scroll saw, and a template....

I can't really get any more done as I'm waiting for my Bitspower deluxe white fittings, and res to arrive, bloody Parcelforce, I paid for Saturday delivery, and even phoned ahead to Specialtech, and Martin got the order ready on Thursday, as I didn't get paid till Friday, BLOODY Parcelforce.









I need advise hear, I have 3 options for the position of the 2 ssd's and maybe the new MSI, case badge, that may or may not be used, which configuration do you guys think works best ?


The phanteks badge isn't covered it's just the angel.



Or without the MSI badge...

 

[Tripp]

Looking great so far paul

 

[paulstung]

Cheers mate, what do you think about the side panel drive ideas ?

 

[Tripp]

Cheers mate, what do you think about the side panel drive ideas ?

Personally I prefer it with our the MSI badge, mainly because it's not a special white MSI badge (I think the red stands out too much). That's just my personal taste though fella

 

[paulstung]

Yep I'm leaning that way too mate, to me it looks just to busy.

 

[Tripp]

Yep I'm leaning that way too mate, to me it looks just to busy.

Aye mate, the brushed aluminium on the hyper x ssd's looks the mutts nuts though mate ^_^

 

[JR23]

I also prefer it without the MSI badge. Keep it clean out there lads

JR

 

[paulstung]

Yep the badge is gone. I've just tried the add on light strip, for the first time at night, and my god they're awesome, it's a shame my phone doesn't do the tru colours justice. Even for RGB the white is pretty good, which I'm quite surprised at.





This is actually orange.




There is also yellow, blue a violet, but they don't show up to well, they just look like different shades of white a bit like Dulux, with their apple white, and lemon white paints..lol

 

[Samsammy]

Like the idea of painting the motherboard white! Tooooo many red out there already.

 

[paulstung]

A little update, I've decided to go in a slight different direction with the build, I'm adding the stealth motherboard tray, and GPU blocks from day one, so whilst I wait till payday, I can concentrate on hole placement in the tray, and finish the black white and grey, extensions.

I've got just over a week to get all I want done, and I'm off work for 10 days, so plenty of time to wrap this build up, and a couple of days to play with the finished product, yea me...


This is just a mock up, with a scrap piece of hard board for the tray, and acrylic for the bay panel, the drilled hole idea was a bust, so I've got some very fine black insect mesh from my old reptile keeping days, so I'll cut some design out of the bay cover and place the mesh behind. I also need to measure and drill some holes for tube inlets and outlets, as the res is going to be under the rear fan.









Not much of an update, only the 24 pin cable extension finished, god they take an age to do





A small update, I've finished the cable extensions, black, white and silver, I did at first just have them black and white, but it looked a little too flat, so added the silver, and it looks totally different now. As well as cables I've finished the radiators, for some reason, the end pieces of the XSPC AX360 wouldn't take paint, even primer, so I went down the white sticky film route, and have done both rads, in mainly white but the Monsta has black end tanks, and the XSPC has all white except for the edges of the end plates, I've painted them black, and the result looks pretty cool.

I've also got most of the fittings in place, including the res, I'm just waiting for my last bunch of fittings, new pump, and the GPU blocks, so I can't go much further until then. I'm happy with the way the runs have turned out, I've managed not to get one bend, they are all nice straight, and bellow 6 inches long, the bottom run, just needs to be run beneath the psu shroud, going to the pump, I just need to dig out my spade bits to drill the hole for the Bitspower white bulkhead fitting.

 

[paulstung]

I haven't really got much done at all as I've been waiting for my new pump, and block, as well as the final couple of fittings.

I ended up going with the DDC, with the Aquacomputer top, just so it matches the Aquaero 150ml res, and I'm glad I did, it is a sexy little chunk of plastic, with a touch of brushed what looks to be steel.

I almost forgot, my blocks are now on the GPU's now, and again very sexy chunks of plastic with a lovely shiny nickel plate, touch of bling. I'm glad I added silver as a 3rd colour to the cables now, as the odd silver colour here and there, gives it a bit more of depth, rather than just being black and white.

The cable combs, are not staying in the next couple of pictures, I only use them to get some shape, into the cables, and I find it easier, to lace them with the combs in place.

I can at last start to get her wet tomorrow, that is if my last 2 fittings arrive. I'm slowly starting to have enough now, I just really really want to get my game on.

 

[Wraith]

It's so pretty.. kudos to you.

 

[Feronix]

Looking great!

 

[Permafrost]

very nice

 

[RadeonHDx]

Nice on Paul! Looking awesome as usual .