Case Mod - In Progress Purple Rain / CustomPC 'Readers Drives' - Issue 81 / Apr '10

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Sponsored by ;

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( www.tacens.com )
Tacens Ventus Ice 120mm fans

( www.techflex.com/prod_PTN.asp )
FlexoPet 'Uptown Purple' Braiding

( http://www.phenoptix.com/shop/ )
LED lighting supplies

http://www.chilledpc.co.uk/shop/index.php
(Chilled PC Aluminium Case Feet - 4 Pack - Black )

Hi all.

New build time, so welcome

Not sure how long this build will take, but it'll keep me busy anyway.

Nothing hi-tec in the hardware department, so attention to detail will be my main priority.

The Case :



Doesn't need an intro. , a MM U2 UFO.

Never worked with one before, so looking forward to it. Bit scratched at the moment, but not a problem.

The Colour :



Thanks to Craig / Madcat for the piccies.

Hoping to match the purple metallic finish in the above pictures by stove enamelling.

The Hardware :



Q6600
Asus Maximus Formula SE
4g OCZ Reaper
Nvidia GTX 285
Asus Xonar D2X
74g Raptor
500g Samsung F1

Watercooling :

Single loop - CPU, NB, SB, Mosfets + GTX 285


CPU Block - To be decided
Swiftech Komodo Water Block for gtx 285
D5 vario + EK top
Clear Dual bay reservoir
XSPC RX240 Radiator
XSPC R120-T Crossflow
Compression Fittings
White Tubing
Purple coolant

Smoked/Tinted Acrylic Windows.

Tacens Ventus Ice 120mm fans.

Stealthed DVD drive.

Stealthed Rheobus fan controller.

Possibly some custom Acrylic work inside, similar to my Dark Water build from last year, plus whatever else springs to mind along the way.

Thats the plan anyway.

Thanks for looking.

Mark

 

That colour is tasty Really liked your Dark Water project so this should be good.

 

wow now thats a sexy colour! just took a look at dark water and if this is up to the same standard its going to be awesome...

 

Thanks for the comments

A few weeks have passed since i started, so time for an update.

The initial idea was to stove enamel the case in a metallic purple.

This proved an expensive idea !

The case would of needed to be stripped back to bare metal for the enamel to take. Bead/shot blasting would have twisted the panels, and chemical stripping was too expensive.

After a chat with the local powder coaters we decided on this colour. The best i can describe it as is 'Cadburys' purple.

Inside my front room :



As it wasn't raining for a change, i wheeled it outside for some shots ( not sure what the neighbours thought ! ) :





Close up of the colour :



So far, so good

Cheers,

Mark

 

I knew the fans i wanted for this build - Black casing, white blades with white Leds.

Enter Tacens who very generously sent me 9 of their Ventus Ice fans for my build.

MM cases need alot of fans, so a huge thanks to Tacens for their support

Some pics of the beauties :







They ooze quality.

Whisper quiet whilst shifting alot of air ( I've been using 2 today plugged into my mobo as air conditioning as we've had some sun ! ) .

Great finishing right down to the black sleeving ( no thin fishnet stuff here ) and black fan plug :



Saves me sleeving 9 fans

Things are beginning to slot into place

Cheers,

Mark

 

this is really cool but thats an odd colour

 

nice, cant wait to see whats going to be done with the MM UFO... doesnt it fit standard ATX?

 

I like those fans

 

Never seen those fans before, is there a switch to turn off the LEDs?

At some point I want to do a project based on a MM case, great project!

 

I would so get a MM UFO case for my server, but I think my server wont fit cause of all the stuff in it lol

 

Don't see many purple cases around i agree, but i wanted something different

Those pics were taken in bright sunlight, so the colour isn't quite right. In normal daylight its darker. I'll get some 'decent' shots of it near the end of the build.

Yep, standard ATX mobo

No switch, the LEDS are hard wired to the fan.


Cheers,

Mark

 

Update time again

Braiding, a neccessary part of any build.

But what colour ?

Black was too obvious. Purple would of been too much for my liking. So i set off to search for a mixture of both.

Techflex came to my rescue

Saw this braiding on their website and decided that it was perfect.

They very generously sent me a reel from America for this build, so a massive thanks to Techflex for their support.





120 foot of top quality braiding goodness.


Now the time consuming part

Braiding an entire PSU, Sata cables, molexes, fan extension cables...........the list goes on and on.

Old school braiding workshop ;

Stanley knife
Very small precision screwdriver ( for pin removal )
Lighter ( for heatshrink )
Insulting tape ( to wrap around the pins to stop snagging when threading through the braiding )



Purple Heatshrink



Many hours later, and very sore thumbs :



1 double Pci-E cable and a molex chain done......... Well, its a start !

Plenty more to keep me busy.

 

A few pics of the build, as it stands.





New PSU ( Birthday present to myself ! ), Silverstone Decathlon DA850.



The next 2 show the fixings i am using ( simple screw covers ) as i was not keen on the look of thumbscrews, something different anyway.





Replaced the original silver switches with black vandal switches with white LED rings. (Will be fitting white 5mm LEDs in the 2 small holes)

Had a Fansis fan controller powdercoted at the same time, just need to change the 3mm LEDs from Blue to White to keep the theme going.

And finally the stealthed DVD drive ( test fitted - Will need to either spray the bare grey casing or hide it as you can see it inside ).

Thanks for looking, and any comments or critique are always welcomed.

Cheers,

Mark

 

nice job on the PSU sleeving, and purple heatskrink to boot, this is going to be good. Maybe purple coolant?

 

Nice colour, you don't see many purple cases around lol. I really like those fans, you got a link to the product page?

 

Thanks.

It takes time, but worth it in the end.

Yep, looking at purple coolant, mainly to show in the front dual bay res.

But i think i'll be using white tubing to match the fans and give it some contrast.

I agree, i went for purple to do something a bit different, and i think the colour has worked out well.

Its a bit tricky to get the colour photographed to the exact colour ( due to my camera skills ! ), but its very close to the bit-tech logo colour purple.

The fans are here : http://www.tacens.com/ > Products > Cooling

Cheers

 

Thanks for the link .

 

Nice choice of purple there mate , and the sleeving has to be some of the best Ive seen .Pity i cant get quality stuff like that in N.Z. (BTW fan of Prince? )

 

The color is awesome! I can't wait to see this progress!

 

Good job on the sleeving

I gotta get my DA700 as soon as this month's check clears so I can get sleeved and then post up pics of my own (stagnating) mod
Aren't they great PSUs?