≠ No Equal: A New Project Large Case High Standards Gaming Horsepower Modifications UK Companies I wanted a system that showcases my own tastes and designs whilst using hardware from vendors I work closely with. Parvum Systems Mayhems XSPC Pexon PCs Caseking Corsair Antec Monsoon Everything is coming together very slowly at the moment so I have been hesitant to post up but now plans are finalised, decisions have been made, hardware is being purchased. Pictures will come. For now, I will leave you guessing.
Hi Guys hope you all had a good week, festivities over, I thought I would show some snapshots of whats coming. progress is proving difficult at the moment as I am still finalizing specifications as well as puttings designs down around the chassis that I am using. some small teasers to whet your appetites.
** Pexon PCs & MDPC-X ** A few months ago at Insomnia 49, I felt like everyone I was being introduced to was showing me cable braiding services. I have braided a few power supplies in the past and I must say, I absolutely hate it. I would literally rather do anything else than braid a PSU. The work I was being shown was all fairly decent until I met James from Pexon. The guys from Parvum Systems introduced me to him, we exchanged business cards and talked a little about what Pexon offer. Fast forward a few months and I am starting to get hardware together for the ≠ project. Insomnia 50 was on and myself and James had a chance to catch up. We have some things in the pipeline between OcUK and Pexon now and I thought he would be the best person to sleeve my PSU cables. I wanted MDPC-X braid. It is expensive yes, but my hamfisted photography 'skills' do very little to showcase the finish of this product. I chose white, green and grey and left the design and pattern up to James. I am sure you can all appreciate the time and effort that goes into a service like this. James has really put in the hours here despite being plagued with problems because of my PSU choice. I'm sure someone will ask, so I will briefly touch on it. This is expensive. It is NOT a £50 job including materials that most people seem to assume it is. I paid in excess of £150 for this service and would happily do so again given the superb attention to detail and finish that James at Pexon PCs has provided me with. Huge thanks to Pexon for this.
** XSPC Watercooling Hardware ** My friends over at XSPC have been putting out increasingly desirable hardware over the past three years and it has got to the point where the stuff they are making is becoming the reason I am watercooling my system again. Just looking at XSPC hardware in person, it is easy to see why they are easily the most popular brand at OcUK and why their popularity is increasing as fast as it is. XSPC have agreed to assist in this project by kindly providing the blocks and radiators for the system. In standard form, the blocks are superb, they have an industrial but sleek look to them. I am contemplating having parts of the blocks powdercoated but am still undecided on what look I will be going for with the GPU blocks. Then there are the AX series Radiators. Hands down the nicest looking radiators I have seen and performance is supposed to be fairly spot on too. A huge thanks to XSPC for their contribution to this project and for their continued support.
Decided to start stripping down the case to get a feel for the space I have to work with as well as testing for rigidity of the chassis with certain parts removed. ideally I want to get rid of the drive mounts and a few other parts. Stripping the case down so it can be sent to powder coaters at some point this month as I am sick of my computer looking like this: So I made a start taking all of the panels and accessories off the case. I then started drilling the riveted sections out. removed the SSD mounts front ports were very fiddly this shows the scale of the case compared to a 7990 Now the case is just a frame, I will test fit some hardware to ensure it is sturdy enough and if everything is good, remove the rest of the rivets so it is just panels. the casters on the bottom are coming off too. they will probably be really useful but they dont fit the look I want. This is my pile of bits left over... hopefully some actual progress soon...
Sadly yes. choosing to start a project like this shortly after buying a house was a pretty dumb idea on my part in honesty. It has meant setbacks for the project as things like washing machines and fridges have taken priority sadly. Another delay was sourcing some of the hardware. with manufacturers contributing to a project like this it has helped but it has taken a lot of the responsibility for delays out of my control. Obviously I cant complain and everyone has pulled through in the end but it has meant that the start has been a real drag. I am trying to make some progress on the chassis structure now whilst I wait for my fittings to become available.
Hi Guys Bit of an update, something that Justin sent me today: My front panel for the case. Will get some proper pictures etc when I get it test fitted over the weekend. Needless to say, I am now very excited about the arrival of the courier tomorrow. Just need to get the case back from the powder coaters tomorrow and the building & modding can begin.
So, after a monumental wait to get my blocks nickel plated, I have finally managed to get them back and start work on modding my VGA blocks to match my CPU block. The pictures say more than I can really. It took all weekend, I used primer, paint and then clear lacquer. the XSPC logo embossing is still there which looks brilliant under the white paint but I havent been able to capture it on the photos. anyway, enjoy
