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Case Mod - Complete Project: UniKaorn Farts

Discussion in 'Project Logs' started by davido_labido, 8 Mar 2018.

  1. davido_labido

    davido_labido Your Alphacool Contact.

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    Well, it has been a while folks! As a few of you know, I left my job at bit-tech and I now work for Alphacool instead as the UK and US rep!

    As such, modding is my hobby again rather than my job so I best start with some build logs :D

    The first build:

    [​IMG]

    Yes, that is correct. RGB. I am not a huge fan of RGB, but as everything is RGB at the moment I thought I would embrace it. Afterall, I have done things in the past that included RGB lighting, but I usually just set all the colours to one and leave it at that.

    So, First things first.

    Hardware pron:

    A huge thanks goes out to Cooler Master for this project, seriously, I was just chilling out one day having some food and I got a message asking if I fancied doing a build. Cooler Master sorted out pretty much everything (bar a processor). They offered their cooling too, but obviously, I want to use Alphacool as I am now staff. Once again, a huge thank you guys!

    This is what turned up:

    [​IMG]

    So, let's go through some of it... First of all, the ASUS stuff! Now, as some of you may know, ASUS are one of my favourite sponsors, they help me out a lot and I meet the team a few times a year at events and they're always top folks. However, for this build, ASUS Taiwan dealt with the motherboard and one of the 1070s who I have never met! (I was meant to, but I ended up in hospital whilst in Taiwan!!)

    The motherboard is the ROG Strix Z370-F Gaming. This is the first Z370 board I have had and it is rather tasty.

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    As always, the Strix board is quite aggressive and has some nice details, I like the hidden m.2 slot for instance.

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    I was surprised there weren't more USB ports on the back of the board, but I have a 12 port and an 8 port powered USB hub anyway, so that doesn't matter to me! :D

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    mmmmmmmm.... socket.

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    As mentioned, ASUS TW sent me 1 x 1070 Strix for this build.... "but there are 2", I hear you cry. Yes... remember when I said ASUS are babes? they sent me one a while back for another build and as always, I repurpose everything that I can :D

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    I was really struggling to find a processor for this build. Until very recently I would only have a few pounds a month to myself to spend and most of that would go on paint, tools and other items so a new processor was going to be a big hit for me. I did think about doing the build without a processor, but whilst talking to my guys at ASUS, they mentioned they had an 8700k that I could have! Mental.

    [​IMG]

    So, that is the motherboard, GPUs and CPU sorted - I think this is going to be a beast!

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    For the SSD and the RAM, Cooler Master managed to get Apacer on board with me, this is the first time I have used Apacer for a build so a huge thanks for supporting me!

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    As always, I am as honest as possible and I am not sure about the aesthetics of this memory, but, that is why I mod things! I will make them something I like. If everything was perfect, there would be no point in modding it!

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    Once I had popped the ram into the slots, it does look a lot more pleasing to me - What do you folks think?

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    I really do like the SSD however, like, I NEED this pattern somehow. I might have to change the panther to a Unicorn though just to fit in with the theme :D

    [​IMG]

    Now, let's get onto the case! I was asked if I wanted an H500P or the Cosmos C700P. Now, I REALLY like the cosmos, but I know a lot of my modding friends are working on them, so I thought I would go for this one instead.

    [​IMG]

    ooooh, I made a gif!

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    So, this is the case! when I took these pictures, I had no idea what I was going to do with this, in fact, I still don't really, but I certainly have a theme now!

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    These vents are not going to be black once I have finished with them.

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    In fact, the whole case needs to change colour... and I am not sure about this layout for me either!

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    The PSU cover is great... but... I doubt I will keep the PSU here...

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    A lot of people love this case because of the huuuuuuuuge fans. Well, I don't think I will be keeping them! Sorry!! I am a big fan <- fan... get it? Of 120mm fans so I will be using those.

    [​IMG]

    So, I want to RGB all of the things. I don't particularly like RGB, so I thought I would go all in for it and make my PC look like a unicorn farting rainbows.

    [​IMG]

    Obviously, I am going to be using Alphacool for the liquid cooling, but I will go through the parts I have chosen for this build at a later date.... but I think I have plenty of fittings!

    [​IMG]

    So, the first task? stripping down the case - how far can a case be stripped? well... very.

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    This is where I am going to leave it for now, I have ideas. you can see a rather big clue as to what the idea is here ;)

    [​IMG]

    For now though, I am going to leave you with this... Yes, I did buy this costume thing just for this build.

    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited: 3 Jul 2018
    TheMadDutchDude likes this.
  2. Cheapskate

    Cheapskate Insane? or just stupid?

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    Did he really name it that? Yes.. He did. Well, ^ it's not mankini at least. :hehe:
     
  3. Huskybongs

    Huskybongs Minimodder

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    God above..
     
  4. davido_labido

    davido_labido Your Alphacool Contact.

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    Whilst the weather was still rubbish, I decided to at least start on the waterblocks.

    [​IMG]



    Alphacool NexXxoS GPX blocks this time, for my next build, I will be using the new Alphacool blocks, they're rather sexy!

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    One thing I do like about these blocks is how the bags are colour coded, it makes it so much easier to know which pads go where on the instructions.

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    First thing I did was just a quick test fit of the card. Always worth doing if you're going to mod a block!

    Fits perfectly! Yay!

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    Have some (anti) peel porn ;) :p




    [​IMG]
    We're going to be giving these blocks a quick blast with some paint, nothing too crazy, but still, I want to make sure that I mask off the areas that I need to.

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    Obviously, anything that touches the card I want to keep paint free. I won't be spraying the underside of the block, but when it gets sprayed some will inevitably get on it so as a precaution I taped the contact plates.

    [​IMG]

    A quick coat of primer and a quick coat of white and I am done! Hopefully, they will dry in this horrible weather... seriously, this year sucks for me so far! I can't do anything outside!!!

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    The next job is to de-rivet the whole case. Quite a few of you are on my facebook (search davido_labido) so you will have seen the completed article, but here is the process!

    [​IMG]

    first I took the lid off, I want to invert the case, so everything needs to be flipped.

    [​IMG]

    I still want to floor to be the floor, this does mean I am actually making the case less useful for liquid cooling at the moment. The reason being is that the rad space at the top will be fouled by the PSU now. I might put a rad on the bottom though, I will see how it pans out.



    So many rivets! This was around 50% of the way through the case...

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    As it had started to rain/snow/sleet/drop hellfire outside again, I had to resort to using sheers to cut the case in places where I needed to remove things.

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    My cutters are rubbish... it wasn't really worth doing, but it allowed me to test fit how the case would be!

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    early in the morning the following day, there was a little bit of sun! Wooooohooooo! time to do some work outside
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    First things first, clean up that horrible edge that the sheers made.

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    Then rivet the case all back together to make sure inverting it doesn't make it too unusable.

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    Yay! It worked!

    Hmmmm, I am going to have to make a bracket to hold the PSU I think!

    [​IMG]

    Also, some of the edges don't really go together properly, not a problem, I will make some makeshift brackets for now and then if they can be seen when I finish, I will make some nicer ones.

    [​IMG]

    It all fits together! Yay. Well, time to drill out all the rivets again.... I want to change the colour of the case!

    That is where I am going to leave it for today! Now a question for you....



    ... I have 3 blocks which one should I use in this build? The build will be white and multi-coloured basically.



    clear satin with RGB ring?

    [​IMG]

    Clear with RGB ring?

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    Black XPX but with a white casing

    [​IMG]

    Let me know folks!
     
    Last edited: 3 Jul 2018
  5. Cheapskate

    Cheapskate Insane? or just stupid?

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    Eloquent video. All it lacked was some cat hair, or cheeto dust.
    1 vote clear.
     
  6. Vognen

    Vognen Minimodder

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    I need to follow this vote, because unicorn farts :lol:
     
  7. davido_labido

    davido_labido Your Alphacool Contact.

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    Sorry it has been a while folks! I have been crazy busy in Taiwan, Germany, America and next week I fly to Canada! It's all fun and games, but it has meant I have been neglecting the build logs. Oh, and I have fixed all the images =D

    So let's start getting this case sprayed up, I said I didn't want the grills black, and that is the first thing I am going to tackle.

    [​IMG]

    Some of the clips are very easy to get off, just use a craft knife or small screwdriver, some of the others you have to melt the tabs - I just used a soldering iron.

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    As per usual, a blast of primer first.

    [​IMG]

    Then let's go with those UniKaorn farts!!! colour... colour everywhere.

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    Second coat to clean it up a little bit :D

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    Once the mesh was put back in, it looked rather tasty, I just wasn't sure about the case colour.

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    Now, I usually use rattle cans, but I have recently starting to use an airbrush - I am still learning, I am a VERY VERY new user.

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    First I did a test run on the GPU backplate - not a bad job for a first attempt :D

    [​IMG]

    Then I thought I would try with a small part of the case, hmmm again, not too bad.

    [​IMG]

    So, Let's try with the WHOLE case, first I hit it with some primer.

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    Then started with the air brush hype

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    every panel.... with a tiny airbrush. It took ages.

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    But I did it!!! and now the table is trash :D

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    The finish is pretty good too, I haven't done a clear coat yet as i still don't really know what to do with the case.

    [​IMG]

    Once again, I put the mesh back in, white and rainbow barf, what a winner!

    [​IMG]

    Speaking of rainbow barf, let's start on the back panel. ooooooh yeah, taste the rainbow baby! by now, you should know this build isn't serious and I don't intend it to be. I spoke to some of the Cooler Master crew in Taiwan and I think they think I've lost the plot. At least I am having fun!

    [​IMG]

    UNIKAORNS!!!! UNIKAORNS EVERYWHERE!!!!!

    I am hoping that I can do what I want here, basically, I want this jumble of unicorns and colour to be like a background, then I want to spray text over it, but, do I have to spray another colour on first in a block so that it stands out?

    I.e, do I have to put white on, then the text? I have no idea - this is the first time I have tried to do paint like this.

    [​IMG]

    Whilst I try to figure that out, I thought I would start with the PSU!

    [​IMG]

    It wouldn't be a build without some nice warranty voiding. Remember, if you're doing this, don't touch any capacitors! They can store electricity for quite some time and can give a nice jolt. You can't see any large ones here, but I used a multimeter to discharge the caps.

    [​IMG]

    Now, I can paint the case without getting any paint in the PSU.

    [​IMG]

    A few hours later UniKaorn PSU!

    [​IMG]

    And that is where I'm gonna leave it tonight. Have an old picture of me in the UniKaorn onsie to giggle at this time as I don't really have anything to give you a hint as to what the next update will be this time - sorry!

    [​IMG]
     
  8. TheMadDutchDude

    TheMadDutchDude The Flying Dutchman

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    Good lord, Dave. XD

    It’ll be good to talk to you on Discord again... soon. :)
     
  9. Cheapskate

    Cheapskate Insane? or just stupid?

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    I've used the report button...
    The pictures indicate you may not have been dressed during this procedure as well. :eyebrow:

    Anyway, a suggestion to make it 'fartier': Hit it with the clear, and dust it while still wet with glitter. I ain't talkin' about rustoleum glitter paint either, I mean that giant star-shaped glitter!
     
  10. davido_labido

    davido_labido Your Alphacool Contact.

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    aaaaah, glitter! I never thought about that... I don't think I will use crazy big glitter, but that horrible crap stuff you get from cheap shops that gets everywhere sounds like a plan! I might have to incorporate it somewhere :D Nice idea!!! :D

    aaah, for sure dude! I haven't been on discord for aaaaaages, in fact, I just noticed it isn't installed on this computer! I shall install it now :D
     
  11. Goatee

    Goatee Multimodder

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    Loving the build!

    im assuming your doing a hard line glitter loop*?

    * i.e. a separate loop and old pump to get some glitter moving around seems like it would fit the build. Especially if lit with some aurora RGB fittings to add extra awesome!.
     
  12. Nexxo

    Nexxo * Prefab Sprout – The King of Rock 'n' Roll

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    Still, kudos for going above and beyond in RGB modding.
     
  13. davido_labido

    davido_labido Your Alphacool Contact.

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    haha, I do have a lot of old pumps kicking around, I am not sure how well that would work though (and how long a pump would last!) if I can make the pump accessible so I can switch it out every few hours, then possibly :D

    I am a little disappointed it hasn't had loads of hate tbh, I need to try harder!!

    ---

    Well, I started on the GPU blocks.... not a huge fan tbh and I ran out of blue paint -.- I will try them like this, if I don't like them once they're fitted I will strip them down again and start again! Hopefully when they're in they won't look quite as loud as you won't see as much of the block, we shall see.

    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]

    Very quick update this time, I am crazy busy at the moment! I go and visit Linus Tech Tips, Jayztwocents and Gamers Nexus in a few days and I am organising that trip.... I wonder if they can teach me how to build a PC ;)?
     
  14. davido_labido

    davido_labido Your Alphacool Contact.

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    Wait, a small update? Woot!

    Well, I have had a busy few weeks! I flew to Canada and met with a few nice YouTubers, visited the Linus Tech Tips HQ after doing an event there. Then I landed back in the UK (ready for a nice relaxed week of modding) and the missus had booked a trip to Turkey for a week!!! I had less than 24 hours in the UK -.- .

    Below is the last picture of the Linus event.... I am the fat balled bearded one on the left in the black top, can you name anyone else on the pic? :D


    [​IMG]

    Soooooooo, I ordered a load more paints! Lots of white and orange, because....reasons ;)

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    Finished the GPU blocks!!! I think i am going to put my logo into the middle of the 4 screws. I have inverted the case, so these will be on the top rather than the bottom of the cards like usual.

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    I did the backplates too, but I don't like the blue on them, I need to redo them a little.

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    I also bought all the sleeving I will need! :D

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    Just a little bit of a mock-up of what the cables may look like :D

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    Oh, and I ordered this. it looks like iron filings I know, but if you look at it in the bag, you can see rainbows ;)


    [​IMG]

    This needs to be finished in the next 2 weeks, so full steam ahead now! I think I have everything I need so I will be updating this build log more and more as it progresses. Bye for now though! xxx
     
  15. Cheapskate

    Cheapskate Insane? or just stupid?

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    I never thought you'd use actual unicorn grindings.
    You should check the OSHA datasheet on unicorn dust just to be on the safe side. -Hate to be the first person to die of unicorn overdose. :worried:
     
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  16. davido_labido

    davido_labido Your Alphacool Contact.

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    Time for another little update!

    Soooooo, I didn't really want to do too much to the motherboard, because, well, quite honestly, I wanted to use it in another build in the future which I think will be a match. Then, I thought it was too dark and all plans went out of the window and I thought, let's get it white!
    [​IMG]

    So, first things first, let's strip off the motherboard, what a dirty naked girl!

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    Gotta cover that RGB goodness!

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    After a bit of time, I give it a thin coat of paint. Tbh, I just used primer here. I don't like to do too much on north/south bridges. That will do it for now :D

    [​IMG]

    As you can see above, I chose the clear XPX block in the end. So, I can use the XPX RGB ring to make it spew rainbows. This isn't an addressable RGB strip, but I think we should make it into one :D

    [​IMG]

    So, I pulled out the standard RGB strip and rummaged into my box of LED strips and found this!

    [​IMG]

    It doesn't have any connectors on, so I need to make one quickly to test it out

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    I stole a female connector from one of my older strips and popped a bit of solder on.

    [​IMG]

    then, the other end to the strip. Nice and easy! I didn't want to do it too long and they won't be multicoloured cables at the end, but this is just a little test.

    [​IMG]

    ooooou, look at that! It works! Rainbow!!! (also, bask in the glory of my custom Open Benchtable!! They laser etched my name and logo into it! wooohooo)

    [​IMG]

    I thought I would pop it on the block and see what it looked like. I didn't have any control of the colours/effect as I only popped into bios quickly as obviously, it isn't cooled at the moment. Luckily it will be fine for a few seconds with the copper plate :)

    [​IMG]

    Here is a little video of it :D



    Another job ticked off, Let's get some logos back on the blocks. Although these won't really be seen, I thought I would add them.

    I decided to spray the logos on, rather than using vinyl.

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    Did I mention I added glitter...... GLITTER!!!! Ok, it is hard to see but when it is in the light, you can really see it sparkle.

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    I added MOAR glitter. MOAR!!!!

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    Glittery Glittery ooooooooou.



    So, I started to put some things in the case. The motherboard looks so bare, it needs the rainbow treatment.

    [​IMG]
     
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  17. Cheapskate

    Cheapskate Insane? or just stupid?

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    It does kinda say, "LOOK AT MY FRIGGEN VIDEO CARDS!!" right now.
    I'd make the motherboard rainbows line up with the gpu rainbows as much as possible.
     
  18. _Prometheus_

    _Prometheus_ Minimodder

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    Not, not, not... there is enough...:cooldude:
     
  19. Goatee

    Goatee Multimodder

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    MOAR UNI-PUKE!!!

    Loving the build. Still wanting glitter in the loop!

    The SLI bridge needs some work too
     
  20. Cheapskate

    Cheapskate Insane? or just stupid?

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    @_Prometheus_ Embrace the tacky. -wait. :worried: God only knows how that translates...
    I mean: He knows it's bad. WE know it's bad, but it's fun.
     

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