Scratch Build – In Progress * r e f l e X i o n *

Haha, not quite Just a figure of speech but seriously though I've never encountered a screw in my life that's done up as tight as what these ones are, this is the second one I've attempted to open up, the first one I thought they were overly tight but I just managed to get them off however this one is taking the biscuit.

 

Just a short update for tonight, guys.

I've began work on the motherboard. Just small aesthetic things for now, and then over the weekend I'll be installing all the components in the case for a brief period to have a better idea of how the wiring and tubing will look.

I've been hesitant to show any pictures of the motherboard, because the end product will look quite different than it does now. This is a fantastic motherboard. It's the Foxconn "Flaming Blade" X58. It's the most polished mainboard that I've ever owned which is why I'm keeping it for this build, even though there's a lot of red on it that I'll be changing to black to blend in better with my color scheme. I'll provide updates on how I'll be doing that later, but for now just know that all the different colors that you see on the board will be just one or two colors when everything is complete.

I began the aesthetic changes by polishing all aluminum brackets/boxes on the motherboard.



I used my dremel and polishing wheels again to do this as it makes such an easy job of polishing anything. Why do this? Because I've seen how nice metal can look when polished vs. unpolished, and because I want there to be no compromises with this build. I'm a believer in fine-tuning every last detail because I believe it puts a nice signature on an item. So while I don't plan to spend the next year or two eyeballing every little thing through an electron microscope, you will see me be very meticulous about cosmetics and taking my time when you probably want to slap me and just wish I would skip on ahead to the next stage.

Here you can visually see the difference between a polished bracket/box and an unpolished bracket/box:



The capacitors will either be painted or sanded down (perhaps both) so there's no red showing. They'll either be silver or black. The stock red northbridge/mosfet cooler will be coming off in the next day or two and be replaced with waterblocks/heatsinks that fit the color scheme of the build better.

Now for something that will probably be a little more interesting.

Here are a few nice shots of the beautiful rad grills that I received from MNPCTech. I'll be building two custom radboxes for the two Swiftech 240s that are going into refleXion, and these grills will be bolted on top of the fans and the radbox.









I've thanked Bill about 10 times for these already, but I'll thank him again. MNPCTech was the first to show faith and support in this build while a few other companies I've done business with for years wouldn't even dignify me with a response (even a "no, sorry" would've been fine.) So thanks again to MNPCTech for their faithful support.

In other news, if anyone is a regular at TheBestCaseScenario, then be sure to stop by the Weekly Spotlight as refleXion was recognized for February.

Thanks, guys!

 

Xonar: Ah, ok. Well, you know there's a saying: "The right tool is half the work done". Or something like that. And it's really, really true, I've realised!

Xion: Looks awesome! Won't painting the caps' tops damage their heat dissipation capability?

 

polishing makes the different, that looks much better

 

New Sponsor: Performance-PCs

Thanks, guys!

On the caps, I've decided to just sand the top of them very, VERY lightly with a high grit and just brush a very, VERY light coat of silver paint over the tops of them and leave the sides alone. My only goal is to get rid of the red paint that's on top of them right now as it clashes with my color scheme. I'll be very careful when I'm doing this and hope that everything turns out ok. I think it will as long as I'm careful.

And now I'd like to announce another big sponsor who's come on board to partner with me on refleXion.



PPCs will be sponsoring me with three of their nickel-plated RAM waterblocks, the RAM-33:





The staggered inlet/outlet design of these allow you to stack as many of them together as you like:



Each one has a carved path for the coolant to travel so that it comes in contact with every memory chip.

http://www.performance-pcs.com/cata...e=product_info&cPath=59_294&products_id=25760


Given the mirror-like finish of these, they should go great in refleXion and help keep my three DDR-3 sticks nice and cool. Aside from that, they just look great and fit the theme well.

Thanks to Performance-PCs for their support in helping mold refleXion into its final form!

 

Those ram blocks look great, but I am wondering when it says that they made out of nickel plated stainless steel and not copper. What good is stainless steel going to do at removing heat?

 

Gotta agree with Voigts, if Koolance really have made them out of steel it seems pretty pointless. There are any number of other materials that they could've made it out of that would've been better, but I guess they were trying to make an affordable product. Maybe the metal that's actually in contact with the chips is different. Also they're $5 cheaper if you get them from Koolance direct

Still I bet they'll look mint for this build

 

Also agree with voigts. Steel/Stainless steel is just pointless (then again, I think WCing RAM is pointless unless going for aesthetics or high OC anyways lol). Sure wish it was Aluminum (Probably cheaper than Stainless Steel) or Copper (best in performance for price).

Just curious, how exactly are you planning to paint the caps?

 

From Koolance's site:

So, I dunno. Regardless, I bought these more for aesthetic purposes, although I'd have a hard time believing they don't work as well or better than normal heat spreaders. Otherwise, I don't see why they'd go through the trouble.

I didn't pay for these; they're sponsored by Performance PCs. Thanks for the props.

Here's an update on the caps situation.


First, I began removing all the red connectors from the board that could be removed easily.

I began with the floppy connector. What high-end board needs a floppy connector these days, anyway?



Then, the USB connectors. I'll be replacing these with black ones.



These were both easy and just slid right off. Just be careful with the floppy, if you attempt this, because the pins can bend easily. The USB pins were more sturdy.

Here's a shot of the board with the connectors removed.



Looking better, already.

Now for the good part.

I've found an easy, safe solution for clean capacitors. I've found that polishing them with a metal polish and polishing cloth works great for taking off the ugly ink/paint to give you a clean, painted look.

Check out the difference.



And now, with 3 polished.



Slowly but surely, we're getting rid of all the red.

3 caps down.. only 55 to go!

Yes, there are 58 caps on the board. Luckily, the polish makes quick work of them. Takes less than 5 minutes for each one. But if you multiply that by 58, I could be spending almost five hours just polishing caps.

 

Here it is, guys. Even better than painted caps are mirrored caps:





I've taken things a bit further to get down to the pure aluminum surface under the paint with the same aluminum polish but using my dremel and a soft polishing wheel, instead. You just have to be careful not to apply much pressure and be aware of the other components/circuitries that are in the area.

This looks so much better than that ugly red paint and should go great with my theme. :up:

Now I just have to figure out a way to rid the board of those red connectors. I plan to practice on some junk mobos to see if I can remove them successfully without breaking anything and replace them with new connectors that better mesh with my color scheme, like a black.

 

If you think 5 hours polishing caps is a lot, wait till you hit the sleeving

 

Looks good with the caps, although I think you'ld get a better result just polishing the tops? If you use a Dremel and a polishing wheel, OR a piece of cloth and some very, very fine polishing creme, I'm sure they'd be getter a much more even surface. But that'll take forever... sigh.

 

Sigh... forget everything I've just written. I must have forgotten my reading glasses somewhere...

I think I was fooled by the bumpy surface of the polished caps. I would exspect them to have been all even and smooth. How come they're so bumpy?

 

You Sir are my personal modding hero now. So much attention to little details, no compromises. Who cares about warranty anyway huh? Those polished caps look awesome.

 

The caps look good!

PS: The caps are not very thick. Keep this in mind as not to polish too much off and make the metal too thin as that could lead to failure down the road.

 

Talk about attention to detail. I have not ever even though of polishing caps or changing out the colors on the plugs.

 

I didn't even know that you could change the plugs


Where did you find different colored plugs?

 

Yeah, I know. There's more tedious work on the way.

They're not all that bumpy; it's just the lens picks up every little imperfection. They're smooth to the touch, and I'm not willing to sand them. Don't want to take the chance.

Warranty-shwarranty.

Thanks, bud. Appreciate it.

Yep. I had my dremel on the lowest setting just barely resting on the caps, and I was using the soft polishing wheels. It's just enough to buff the paint off the top; it wasn't sanding away any metal.

Yeah, I can't help it. All those crazy colors they slap on a motherboard just drive me crazy. It's like a kid's crayon box.

There are lots of online shops that sell them. I haven't picked any up as of yet.

Thanks for the replies, everyone! I continue to chug away and will post updates when I can.

 

I couldn't agree more. I don't know where in the world most MB manufacturers come up with their colors from. Most of them look horrible.

Do you have a link and/or what search term(s) to look for? I'm looking but am not finding anything.

 

Wow!!