[Foreword] So this project came as a surprise to me a few weeks ago. My Girlfriend bought me a Hex Gear T shirt some months back (Awesome right?) and it turns out she also won the recent giveaway raffle for an R40 too! She kept as it as a surprise and told me some random eBay delivery was coming one day. The aim of the build is to demo what the case can achieve with no major modifications. For this build I will be using my preferred choice of angled fittings rather than bending tubes. I've done a fair few builds, both styles and this is what I feel is the right choice this time. As the build came as a surprise I didn't have as much time as I normally do to prepare. I began searching for a mATX motherboard to complement the R40. Having recently finished two Red, Black and white systems I opted for something different. I stumbled across the Gigabyte M5 and knew that was the board I needed, sadly due to it's age I had no luck sourcing one. Thankfully a good friend of mine had one sat idle, and sent it over to me (Thanks Mike!) In the future I may revisit this case as I have some other mods planned, such as ATX motherboard support. So the name project Yoshi, I must confess the names of my builds either mean something of significance or not, in this case not really. So why Yoshi? heh, my son recently took a liking to all things Mario, and I just happened to see Yoshi in the corner of my eye. [FAQ] What case is it? It's the HEX Gear R40, a recently released mATX flat packed unique case, now retailing from the UK Why use angled fittings rather than bending PETG? A few reasons.. First I had many spares from past projects, second I like the look they give rather than bent tubes, and finally they help to control the amount of liquid visible. Im going for a simple black, white and hint of green scheme. What Colour is the Liquid Is a custom made batch. Started with Mayhems Pastel White, added UV green and Laser Green. I wanted something as close as I could to match the green around the PCIe and DIMM slots, but added some uv to produce something with more eye candy. Why Slim rads? Just a personal choice for this build, not a limit of the case. The top and bottom plates of the R40 are interchangeable. So you can have either a 240mm and PSU or 360mm in the roof. The top and bottom of the case has chambers for either fans or rads on the outside too, depending on how you set it up. The 240mm slim in the roof allows me to use push/pull or grants me extra viewing room around the components. You can use thicker rads in the R40 [Current Progress] Before we jump into the log I want to share the current progress shot - 28/07/15. Case: HEX GEAR R40 Motherboard: Gigabyte Sniper M5 (mATX) CPU: TBA GPU: MSI R9 270X RAM: 2x 4GB Kingston HyperX Beast 2400Mhz SSD: TBA HDD: TBC PSU:Bitfenix Fury 750G with custom sleeved cables Radiator 1: DarkSide - Dual LP240 Extra Slim Radiator Radiator 2: DarkSide - Dual LP360 Extra Slim Radiator Fans: NoiseBlocker 120mm Pump: XSPC D5 Reservoir: EK-XRES D5 Fittings: Bitspower Multi Links + few misc for fill/drain Tubing: PETG tubing clear CPU Block: XSPC RayStorm RAM Block: XSPC GPU Block: Alphacool GPX M05 270 MSI 270X Lighting: TBA Sleeving: Telios Self Sleeved Other: E22 FG01 Fan grilles 1x240, 1x 360. C Right then, we'll start with a quick look at the actual build process of the R40, as it comes flat packed and takes little to time assemble [ ] The whole process is extremely easy and takes no time at all. An interesting aspect of the case is the ability to swap to the top and floor plates around. The reason being is that one supports a 360mm radiator and the other a 240mm radiator and the PSU. it really is child plays, hence my 4 year old son helping out The board is stunning, let's hope we see more like it soon from Gigabyte! ] Now I had some XSPC parts spare for this build, and I was delighted to see that XSPC also produced a motherboard block too, so I ordered it from OverclockersUK image upload no compression [Test fitting the parts ] [Tubing MOCK UP] The real challenge was to pipe up every block but keep a sleek a minimal look. I've tried a few different combinations and it's still work in progress at the moment I was a few fittings short and looked at my options, sadly the BP fittings I have here are not so easy to locate in the UK and could not find any stock , so picked up some similar style ones. I was then able to link all the blocks and experiment with the tube run, this is where I am at currently I still need to tweak and re-align the pump, so the tube from the res to 240mm rad will straighten out Sleeving and liquid to follow Thanks for reading
Sure thing 99% of them are from OverclockersUK I'm having a tough time photoing the actual liquid colour, it's more vibrant than the images show. The mixture is Pastel White, UV Green and Laser Green Small update on the liquid and the sleeving process. I really didn't want to modify the case at all but I wanted a low key fill and drain port. The res im using has a port in the top and I could have made something removable really, but opted to drill out a hole and fit something more permanent and hassle free. Some of the fittings, tubing and the pump appear to be slightly misaligned, This is because the rad is not fixed completely and I'm working on some dampeners for the pump, having misplaced the original mounts for the bracket. For sleeving I was going to use Black,white,green and two shades of grey. At the last minute I droped the white and went for something more neutral instead. I still have the main 24 pin to do, so ignore any signs of the fixed and none removal able black standard bitfenix one
Looking good, I'm eager to try out those Barrow fittings, are you happy with the quality? Your green is looking damn close to the Gigabyte green, great work on that. Your GF is a keeper! surprise R40! marry that girl. Subbed, looking forward to seeing more. J.
Very nice This build has made me take the jump and use fittings rather than tube bending. I'm already doing the latter in my build and can't quite get the lines parallel, so figure not only will fittings be easier but actually I think they look better, too!
Yeah man, I used a few 90 rotary's and female extenders in a past build and found them to be great especially for the pricing. I was more skeptical with this one being for hardline but mate they're just fine, no concerns at all. The drain especially is top quality. Colour is as close as I could get it but photography ain't my strong point so I'm gonna have a friend help with the final pics I've done both on a few builds now and fittings can look better in some situations, in this case it helps control the amount of liquid, as the blacks breaks it all down. Had I gone for bent tubes it would look to much. I'm approaching the end now and I’m torn really, I'll either call it soon after a few tweaks or perhaps add a few more things I’m not sure. The aim was clean and simple, I've achieved that so I don’t want to overdo it.. We will see next week Ok I've managed to do all the cabling now and I’m pleased with the outcome, though I may tweak it some more, making use of other cable holes and such. I have a 6 fan splitter hub to integrate and I'm 50/50 if I should make it a centre piece around the back or hide it away, Also I have fitted 2x RGB strips today. Early testing is good but I'll need to wait until tonight to see it shows it's potential I've also added the fans and E22 Grille, thanks for reading
