Hello everyone. I recently joined the forum and wanted to share my modest modded build. This is really tame compared to all of the amazing work on here and is just a starting point for future mods. This is my work computer that I had to build for my new job. Overall I'm pretty happy with where this ended up, but like most projects it's far from complete or perfect. Base Noctis 450 case looks great, but as a racing fan I wanted to paint this in a Gulf Racing livery like the old Porsche 917s (my all-time favorite race car) and GT40s. Sorry for the potato pic as this was just to document the steps. Final pics are better. Parts were selected and provided by my employer (thanks Mitch!). Pretty modest specs, but decent for gaming, 3D CAD, and PowerPoint (LOL). Small mobo looks a little strange in a mid-tower, but plan to upgrade in the future. Locked CPU so I'm not going to water cool until I upgrade. Skylake anyone? PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/8xgJWZ Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/8xgJWZ/by_merchant/ CPU: Intel Core i5-4460 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($176.99 @ SuperBiiz) Motherboard: ASRock H81M-HDS Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($54.99 @ Mwave) Memory: G.Skill Value Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1333 Memory ($54.48 @ Newegg) Storage: Crucial MX100 256GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($99.00 @ B&H) Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($49.89 @ OutletPC) Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2GB Superclocked Video Card ($139.99 @ B&H) Case: NZXT Noctis 450 ATX Mid Tower Case ($139.99 @ Directron) Power Supply: NZXT HALE82 750W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply Monitor: Dell S2340M 60Hz 23.0" Monitor ($155.15 @ B&H) Monitor: Dell S2340M 60Hz 23.0" Monitor ($155.15 @ B&H) Keyboard: Ducky DK9087 Shine 3 TKL Red LED Backlit (Black Cherry MX) Wired Standard Keyboard ($129.00 @ Mechanical Keyboards) Mouse: Zowie AM Wired Optical Mouse Headphones: SteelSeries Siberia RAW Headset ($38.13 @ NCIX US) Total: $1192.76 Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-06-12 13:27 EDT-0400 I removed all of the panels, sanded (600 to remove some orange peel and give primer something to adhere to), primed (Rust-Oleum Flat White for metall and plastic), and painted. The blue is a little off from the official Porsche Gulf Blue, but I couldn't afford $170/gallon for the automotive paint. Spent a lot of time finding a rattle can color that was close, but still not perfect. The colors do pop in person, though. Here are the colors that I used: Maui Blue Navy Blue (for pinstripe, but ended up using 3M pinstripe over it to get a cleaner look - need more practice!) Fire Orange Can't see the orange peel in the pictures, but it's there. With the 24 hour plus cure times between coats, I didn't have enough time to colorsand before clear. I used a gloss clear on top as I could only find the Fire Orange in satin. I used Rust-Oleum Crystal Clear Enamel as I didn't want to experiment with mixing brands, though I'm sure it's fine as long as the color coats are fully cured. I waited a week to clear coat. I couldn't get the clear to lay down as smooth as I would have liked. I was out of time and was also worried about drips that I wouldn't have time to sand out. Next time I will budget more time and money and use automotive quality paint and will colorsand before clear and polish the clear. Final result before waxing (needed to let clear cure for a week or more before waxing). I sleeved the non-modular PSU cables with paracord. I made my own little tool to keep the paracord from snagging using a bit of a metal antenna extension for RC car radios and a ink pen refill. I did the ends shrinkless for a clean look. Custom cables and PET would have been cleaner (straighter), but I didn't want to rewire the non-modular PSU and didn't really have the time. I did use some clear cable combs that helped, however. My 24-pin cable was too short to route behind the mobo, so it's a focal point in the case now. Thanks to Lutro0 for the helpful tutorials on YouTube! Happy to answer any questions, but from the other builds I've seen here, you guys don't need any help!
