Case Mod - In Progress Project Proteus

Let's start building!

Big update! In short, let's just start building this thing! I'm sure that along the way I'll find bits and pieces that are missing or need to be reworked. But for now it's a bit of a mess and I want to see if I can get all of it together!

It's exciting tho! Because now I can see it truly come together. I'll start with some cables that were in dire need of cablecombs. I would say that the cables are just a bit too thin for epic results but I'm really happy with where I can take this. The cables were provided by bequiet! For which I thank them!




I'll be routing the 24 pins behind the motherboard. With enough struggles I managed to create just enough space for them to go through! Really happy with that since I don't want them to be too much in front of the screen.


Next I spend time painting the parts of the case, which came out horrible for the most parts that you won't see. I had some strange paint, which did NOT fill up any sanding lines and made the entire apartment block smell bad (I painted in the basement). Luckily the back panel came out great.



Let's fill this case up! Starting with the parts in the bottom. There's pretty much one way so that everything fits.


Little cable fits nicely.


First bump, had to cut out a piece of this thing so that the cables would fit.



Fit these old badboys in there. (I will hopefully soon swap them out for a SSD)



Isn't that a beautiful sight!


Installed front rad. I love that everything is black now.




Blacked out the fans.


Pump goes there. Fits just right and I can still reach the valve from the backside of the case.



And mounted the top radiator. Here you can see some of the scratches in the paint.


Want to put those pipes in before the midplate! Otherwise there's no way I can put them in.


And now the paintjob becomes really obvious. I had to fix this so I asked my good buddy Tim aka Dutch Lion Customising for advice and he simply said, black vinyl. I went for it and it looks super good! Really happy with that result.



With vinyl.



And got that in! Can't do anything underneath anymore now..


Fitting the GPU cables through the holes. They will need cablecombs at some point, I'll get to that in another update. You can also see how the 24 pin cables go in this shot.



Alright, time for some hardware!



I'm really happy with how this is turning out!


But wait, there's more! A little preview perhaps?



I couldn't resist! Anyways, next step would be adding the watercooling pipes, fixing some of the cables etc. etc. Let me know what you think! Thanks for reading as always!

 

Looking good , the vinyl is better than I thought it would be. Would the GPU cables look better they came out the GPU and went straight down and through holes in that bottom cover, rather than wrapping around the res? that's if its possible and the isn't stuff in the way under that cover.

 

There actually a chrome tube going from the GPU to the reservoir, which is blocking the cables from going straight down. I could push them in between the GPU and the chrome tube but I actually prefer them having a bit more room this way. It's going to look a lot better with cablecombs!

 

Love the LCD screen in a case idea ! i would never have thought of that the scratches in your paint could have been fixed using some primer then high fill or spray putty.... waiting a week or so then wet rubbing flat the prob with vinyl is you always get air bubbles.... you don't want that on a mod of this high quality

The last pic with the screen really looks amazing

 

Thank you!

Repainting was an option that I thought about but since painting in the basement was not ideal, I preferred another option. I was rather scared of getting air bubbles but I'm actually amazed with how it turned out, no air bubbles at all!

 

Gosh, this reminds me a bit of my dream PC at age 20. I had the idea of getting a massive ATX tower big enough to accomodate a stripped-down LCD panel into the side panel, that would be the main display and slide up on runners to lock into place on top of the case (like a huge ATX version of a transformer tablet), for semi-portable gaming. I was between uni and home a lot at the time with an ATX case, and transporting both the case and the monitor was an absolute pain.

I'm delighted to see someone actually do something similar, even if the second panel is aesthetic rather than functional!

 

Haha, great minds think alike right? But yes, it's totally unpractical and aesthetic haha!

 

Let's continue building!

With the holidays now fully behind us, it's time to continue to work towards a final result. Last update I painted everything and started building, this update I will continue that. Not a whole lot that I can say about it so here are the pictures!

I have this monitor and it's grey, which nobody will ever see but I know it is. I had some vinyl left so why not make it black?



Also, do you remember what a mess the cables were?


I put some effort into fixing those! Much better right? The 24-pins will get some extra attention next time.




I put the loop back in, forgot to take pictures of that. But it's time to fill the loop. I came to the conclusion that I have WAY too little cooling fluid. I ordered more, have to wait for that untill the 10th of February, which sucks.




While I'm waiting for the fluid to arrive, I can focus a bit more on this mess!


That's it for now. I'm happy to say that the pc is working so I can use it. I'll do some cablemanagement, figure out what to do for the side panels and make some better pictures of the monitor when it's turned on.

Let me know what you think! See you in the next update.

 

Some nice pictures!

Like the title says, it's due time for some nice pictures! But first, the final package came in the mail so now I finally have a phanteks controller to control the new lights, which will be installed soon. And also more liquid to fill that loop up! Once that is done, I will do the final cable management (a bit more effort into the 24-pins) and I need to figure something out for a side panel but I think I'll be going with good old plexiglas untill I have budget to get a glass panel made.

But now, pictures! Note, the RGB lights are not on yet, just the monitor.










I just had to display some nice synthwave-ish stuff, the colours are just too good! But yeah, that looks rather good don't you think? Let me know what you think of it!

 

Looking good

 

This has far exceeded my expectation on how this would end up looking ! Pro Clean and elegant

 

Very nice idea to integrate a screen as a background inside panel!

 

Love it! I'm not sure you need the argb. If you are just adding it into your light strip in the front, that's perfect.
If you go full rainbow barf on the interior, though...

 

Thanks!

Haha thank you! I have to say, it does shine a lot better in some decent pictures.

Thanks, I think it came out great!

Thank you! Well, the argb is added and the rainbow is exactly what I was going for! Nah, no rainbow, don't worry. It does look amazing on the front, but it also has a really nice reflection in the chrome tubes. I'll be sure to make some extra pictures soon!

 

So I tried to install the Phanteks Digital Controller yesterday and it fried, I think? None of the LED's worked anymore, I heard static noises and it smelled burnt. I went back to just plugging the led's into my motherboard and they still work so I might just ditch the Phanteks controller and use the light like this, it looks fine. I also did some cablemanagement and will make some pictures later today or tomorrow. Stay tuned for that!

 

Cables looking lots better , still loving that screen in there

Sounds dodgy lol, its not 12v wired into the 5v is it?

 

As all of you know, it's been a little while. I've been going through some personal things but it's time that I (re)make some of the final pictures. The first batch did not turn out so great so I will soon put in some effort to create some new ones and share them with all of you. There will also be a little sponsor post in between so stay tuned for that as well!

 

be quiet!

This build would of course not have been the same without the fantastic support of be quiet! For which I would like to give a special thanks to Kat for helping me out! The looks and performance of the products fit the build really nice and I made some video's to support this.

Check them out here!

be quiet! Straight Power 11


be quiet! Silent Wings 3 120mm


And some pictures




I had a lot of fun creating these video's and got to try some different things again.

Thanks!

 

Final - part 1

So I took my time and tried to make some new pictures, during daylight that is. I still want to make nighttime pictures of course. But for now, some pictures without lighting just yet, those will come in the next update but I'm still processing those and I didn't want to let y'all wait too long! So without further ado, here are the pictures.


















I hope you like it and stay tuned for more!
Cheers!

 

Looks great. It's a pity you cooked the light box, but at least you didn't... I don't know, say, cross the wires on your pump.