Case Mod - Complete nvidia 303 aura edition

Hey Guys,

Ian here from IDPC mods, long time lurker full time worker, you get the idea... anyway wanted to start sharing some progress on my latest build. designed to fully showcase the latest update to the ASUS aura control software. the idea is to build a system that almost every component features aura compatible hardware. some of which i had to do custom. (note: the case mod itself was done earlier in the year the build has only recently been majorly started recently)



we started out with this lovely IN WIN 303 Nvidia edition. Looks great, nice black chassis tempered glass, and a big damn green Nivida logo on the front and a green glowing IO..... that's not gonna work for an aura themed build.... sooo this happened...



basically i took a dremel to it and cut the logo out, then got some acrylic and stuck it behind,


Which when illuminated becomes...


(i put the link here as i have no idea how to embed it in the thread... any suggestions fire away)

Now when i posted this on my Facebook page, it was just going to be a standalone case mod, no hardware, just showing what can be done with a budget, and going from something good, to something amazing.... ironically, something amazing happened.... Dial back 12 months and i was sitting in a hotel room with three mates, Stephen Hoad, Ken Byrne and Jack Cheng from ASUS we had just finished hosting a seminar on custom loop water cooling for retailers and were enjoying a drink and a laugh before heading home, one of the things we discussed was different things we'd like to see appear on hardware and concepts.. one of those, was addressable rgb headers and full software control. i said its something new its unique and gives the end user basically unrestrained customization... fast forward to computex 2017 when i was doing the initial mod... and ASUS did it.... not only did they do it, the first board to feature it was the updated model of one of my very own... the ROG X299e Strix gaming. we then discussed doing a build when the board became available and they agreed! so here we are...

Board is here, i had the processor as i planned to do some reviews and comparisons with the various I5's (6600k, 7600k, 7640x) and i already had a strix 1070 with aura compatible block just sitting there. so heres where things are at now, im still awaiting many other rgb and non rgb goodies to arrive so i can complete this build. so ill leave you with this and a few notes







(note to self: cable management will suck without further "customization")

Other than the the fact the the Mobo is a bloody tight squeeze to get in and my aforementioned note on cable management i'm keen as hell for this to progress further, hope most of you agree

i will be continuing the post below to include the more up to date stuff as the system is now basically ready to use, just missing a few small components
- Ian

 

the story continues... time and my memory let me down.

Hey guys and gals,

back again with another update, this will cover the the final stages of the build I’ve been focusing on, the layout and interior of the build. had to dump youtube links as something still isn't right. works everywhere else just not here

When I left you last time the board had arrived and id test fitted it to the case, the next part was the shrouds and cable pass-throughs. So the inside looked a little cleaner so basically I cut a piece of 2 mm clear acrylic to just under the height of the case left a 5mm gap on top just in case I needed extra room when the res arrived. and added a nicely shaped slot for the 24 pin mobo and 8 pin gpu cables.. I then “frosted” it by sanding it with some 120 grit on an orbital sander.. the result is then wrapped in black vinyl, I then also hand cut the aura logo out up top. Which you can see below.



I now had a conundrum, ok so I have this plate that sits on the side of the mobo tray, but how can I get the light to diffuse properly and leave a gap so I wasn’t hard against the lights. I then realised I had some concreter’s foam tape…. Perfect, 15mm thick so I can have the lights facing into the image not stuck either side. Bonus! So I installed a few stripes of that into the case and got to soldering, im no expert solderer so I took no photos of this stage as I was expecting disappointment… but you can have some after shots



So lights are in, shrouds are in, I was still awaiting the psu so I fished up a spare psu from another manufacturer, and did some tests to make sure my handy-work was well… handy.



I reckon it came up alright.

So now ill move through the loop setup up in all the pics previously the radiator was mounted with the ports facing forward, one problem I had with this was the way the lop layout looked so I flipped it over so I could come out of the gpu and up into the rad and then into the cpu.



The res test fitting was interesting, as the base of the case is basically a honeycomb pattern opening with a few 120mm mount holes for fans and the base of the res was about 80mm square I was a little stuck, considering the only outlet for the pump is on the rear right side, I didn’t want to turn it so you couldn’t see the LCD speed display or the logo, so I brought it as far forward as I could and drilled 2 holes at the correct spacings. I then had to order some extenders, double 45 degree bends and other fittings to bring it around so all the runs were semi straight



now that was sorted, I ran the rest is simple, bending tubing. While id enjoy doing a nice intricate loop one day, this build was not going to be that, just clean lines and clean bends (clean freehand bends, no jig, just a heat gun and insert tube)



filling the loop was a very simple job as well with the positioning of the res as the front port on top of the res was free to run a filler tube, so filled and ran it with de-mineralised water for an hour to make sure there were no real air pockets or crap in the loop… then added roughly half the concentrate and a few drops of the mayhems aurora booster

side note: a lot of people asked me about using the aurora as a clear mix and is it doable using just the booster? Answer nope… you would have to dump about 2-3 bottles in for it to be a reasonably noticeable effect. Even after adding the concentrate I wasn’t satisfied with the effect so I dumped the whole booster in which definitely improved things… but judge for yourselves.











anyway thats almost it, it runs, im just waiting on some pretty rgb fans by inwin to arrive and have to order some cable combs to make it all look pretty i also have some small things to clean up and address, for instance the lighting strip I need to relocate so its in a better position, I need the fit the shrouds in a little better, and tidy the fitment of them and then have some fun making crazy lighting profiles for the final shoot in approx 2 weeks time!

Thanks for viewing!

-Ian-

 

ok ok i'll show you some final shots...










now some final points on this.

the entire build was due to run on asus aura. however due to limitations from asus' software department, it was not possible. they based the led count on simple 55/ led's per meter strips... most of the effects are created using strips with almost triple that... so most of the lighting is running on the inwin aurora controller.

the board is phenomenal in the control, and even the limits of aura make some really great opportunities for custom lighting and effects.

and for those that doubt the mayhems aurora is still going strong!

 

Might want to think about larger images! Nice mod/.

 

i try to keep the image sizes small and to a medium thumbnail size so various forum mods and admins dont scream bloody murder