Case: Modded Fractal Design ARC Mini R2
Motherboard: ASUS ROG Maximus V Gene
CPU: Intel i7 3770K
GPU: EVGA GTX 970 SLI (still need to acquire)
RAM: 4 x 4GB Corsair Dominator GTs 2133Mhz
SSD: undecided
HDD: undecided
PSU: Corsair AX860
 
Cables: Icemodz custom sleeved white and green cables
 
Radiators: Alphacool NexXxoS Full Copper Monsta 240mm, Alphacool NexXxoS Full Copper ST30 360mm
Fans: 7 x Gelid Wing Green
Pump: Swiftech MCP35X with Koolance casing and heatsink
Reservoir: Bitspower Water Tank Z-Multi 150 Full Acrylic
Fittings: Primochill Rigid Ghost Green fittings, various Bitspower matte black extensions and angle fittings
Tubing: Primochill Rigid Clear
CPU Block: EK-Supremacy CSQ Polished Nickel Plexi
GPU Block: 2 x EK-FC670 CSQ Nickel Acetal (reusing old blocks that will fit on some GTX 970 reference cards)
RAM Block: EK-RAM Monarch X4 CSQ Polished Nickel Plexi
Motherboard Block: EK-MOSFET ASUS M5G Acetal
SLI Bridge: EK-FC Bridge CSQ Polished Dual Parallel
Coolant: Mayhems UV Emerald Green
 
Lighting: DarkSide UV LED strips
 
Other: nVidia Claw SLI Bridge, Aquaero 5LT USB fan controller
 
SPONSOR
 

 
Hey guys! My name is Alex, I'm from Gold Coast, Australia and I just joined the forum.
 
I would like to welcome you to my new build log and what will be my second mod project.
 
Hope you guys enjoy the project and pop by and say hi 
 
This build is more of an upgrade of my system in a Fractal Design ARC Mini R2 in which I will be keeping most of the components as well as adding new ones and a lot of modding work to the case and other bits
 
Here is the build before disassembly and before a pretty major event happened ...
 

 

 

 
Now back to the pretty major event that went down with the build. One Saturday morning a few weeks back now, while I was still enjoying my sleep my partner wakes me up telling me there is a burning smell coming from the system, me thinking she's just making fun of me as she sometimes does, I choose to ignore her. However as she kept insisting and telling me that it's no joke I got up and went to the other room where the system was just to be greeted by this awful smell of burnt plastic and a couple of seconds later realising that the DDC pump had burned out.
 
The CPU was rocking 105C according to Real Temp but was still running fine. Not sure how long it's been like that, it was running the whole night as we stream movies to our bedroom from it and before I went to sleep it was fine. I immediately turned it off by just a normal shut down and there went my day as I decided to just dismantle the thing there and then.
 
The aftermath is shown in the following pics as I went ahead and took everything apart, cleaned it and installed the system on my desk to test everything. Fortunately everything was fine minus a burned out DDC pump  . The little guy has been pumping my liquid pretty much 24 hours straight for the past two years and a bit and it decided it's had enough of the Queensland heat. Just when I was about to mount a heat sink on it along with the upgrade of the system.
 
And let's start straight with the dirty stuff
 

 

 

 
As you can see the little guys burned out pretty good, I doubt I can salvage it with a new PCB from that DIYINHK site that still sell them
 

 

 

 
If I'm guessing right the fluid must have been boiling around the CPU area that caused the tube to fog up as well as deform a little bit to the touch. My partner may have woken me up just in time to save it. Not sure if the system would have shut itself off after a while or if the acrylic tube would of just melted but I think I'm lucky nothing further happened.
 

 

 

 
Here's the empty case and by the looks of things something funny happened to the label on that Corsair Force GT SSD.
 

 

 

 

 
And everything out on the table to be cleaned and inspected 
 
You may also spot the new side panel that I have been working on the few days prior, finished it the night before.
 
Here's a better look at the side panel
 

 
The plan was to have more molecules but I managed to mess up the left side of it so decided to just make the window bigger. Still think it came out pretty good in the end, minus a few painting mess ups due to an unexpected storm that occurred as the paint was drying.
 

 
These are the molecule shapes I used as I am not good at drawing things
 

 

 

 
A better look at the finished side panel as well as the very last pic of the system running 
 
The side panel was fully crafted by me using a Dremel rotary tool, a jig saw and lots of filing 
 
I was also playing around with this new Aquaero 5LT controller the night before. Installed the optional heatsink but didn't get to test it out.
 

 

 

 

 
The modding begins !!!
 
First I cut a small hole in the floor which I will use as a drain from the bottom outlet of the Alphacool Monsta 240mm rad that will be going in the front of the case.
 

 
Did a cut on the MB tray as well. I will be making a shroud for the bottom so I cut the bottom right corner of the MB tray as to better help with cable management at the back.
 

 

 
I made a small mistake here and started cutting higher that I wanted to. However it doesn't make a difference as I will be putting some white acrylic around the MB that will cover everything.
 

 

 

 

 
I then got the case ready for painting 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
In this last pic you can see how the brushed aluminum aspect of the front panel looks after painting.
 
Some parts will be going green while other will stay white.
 
The plan is to have the inside of the case white and the outside shell green like the side panel. Hopefully it will look good like I'm imagining it.
 
Here is the frame of the case assembled once the paint dried.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 
That's it for now. Stay tuned for more.
 
Cheers,
 
Alex

drake187
Subd greatness awaits i think

Thanks, I hope it will haha :P

 
Looks good so far.    :P

Definitely awesome mod work.

rjohnson11
Definitely awesome mod work.

Thanks a lot mate :D

🔥🔥🔥🔥👍👍

Hey guys. Here's a quick look at some of the components and water blocks.

EK Maximus V Gene water block painted white







Polished EK Ram block with the Primochill rigid fittings that I will be using











EK Supremacy EVO CPU block polished and painted white









Waterblock installed on the motherboard





Removed the heat sink for painting









Added some white vinyl to the side of the ram slot that will be seen. The ram will also get custom graphics



Batter look with all the waterblocks on



You can also see I added some white vinyl on top of the sata connectors



White strip on the RAM though I don't like the look of it, as I said custom graphics for the RAM will be coming





















Heat sink is back on the motherboard after painting. I will be making a custom plate for it with some nice ROG graphics to match the theme of the build.









That's pretty much it for now guys. Most of the red bits on the motherboard will be covered by components so they won't be seen and the build will still stick to the green and white theme.

Stay tuned for more.


Cheers,

Alex

drake187
So clean and new

Thanks man :D

Babyzone2
very nice build , I look that green Theme.

Thanks mate :D

Hey guys,

Here's how the fans look after painting them white :D















Thanks for checking it out.


Cheers,

Alex

Gold Leader
ZOMG!! I L U V the blue and green and white! best combo eva!
Keep it coming man!
When it's done don't forget to leave a post here as well:
http://forums.evga.com/FindPost/1588237
 
With that you will get way more attention too, this rig fits in that list as much as everything else I have seen, just wow! 
You are a good Computer artist, this is not case modding anymore but a form of art
We could call the MR+1 members the EVGA Computer Art Academy |ECAA|, because that is basically what we are part of

 
Wow such kindness!!! :D Thanks a lot man, I really appreciate it!
 
I will definitely post there once it's finished :D

Gold Leader
 
Hay no worries, your builds are worth liking and worth the publicity.
 
Computer Art is plain awesome, we all have a gift here and everyone has a different design, different method different way of doing things in general.
The coolest is that all the computers I seen here are all different and your style is one of my favs, mainly due to your original ways of doing these not too much fancy stuff but still a change from the original factory designs and a clean build likewise.
 
Blue, Green & White yeah love the color theme, keep up the good work n this beauty Ever thought on doing a 2CPU system?
Just wondering as I only do 2CPU builds,I make my server builds look like modern game PC's with CCFL lighting and simple window kits
 
To view all my builds go here :)
385.) Gold Leader - Valkyrie SMP 2014
139.) Gold Leader - Blue-Leader SMP 2009
250.) Gold Leader - Firefox SMP 2006
251.) Gold Leader - Sveta SMP 2004
377.) Gold Leader - Stealth 2001
281.) Gold Leader - Gradinko SMP 2000
298.) Gold Leader - Avenger M99

 
Again, thanks a lot for the kind words :D.
 
Those are some pretty crazy systems you have there sir! :D I would definitely love to do a dual CPU system in the future, if I could afford it off course and go all out :)

 
Hey guys,
 
I am proud to announce Icemodz as a sponsor for the build! :thumb:
 
I would like to thank them as they will kindly provide the custom sleeved cables :D
 

 
As for the current state of the build, both rads are now in the case and I have also modded a vandal switch for the power button on the front panel. That got rid of all the cable mess that was coming from the front panel connectors and it also looks really good in my opinion.
 

 
Those drilled holes are for something special going in the 5.25" bays
 

 

 

 

 

 

 
Thanks for checking it out. Stay tuned for more!
 
Cheers,
 
Alex

 
Hey guys!
 
Here is my first time using the Silhouette Cameo. Fan stickers, molecule pattern on the back panel and the same will be used on the shroud once I'm done with it :). I also did custom stickers for two of the memory sticks that will be seen as well as the EK memory block in white.
 
The colour of the white vinyl used as you can see from the pictures is different from the white acrylic colour and the rest of the case however a nice UV effect should be visible from all the stickers once the LEDs are in. I will test that out in the following days.
 
Really happy with the results from the Silhouette. Very good software that comes with it and very easy to use, the designs you can do are unlimited :thumb:
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 
Thanks for checking it out!
 
Cheers,
 
Alex
 
 

ILikeBeans
Looks awesome! Almost there.

Thanks, yea almost :D