The Concept:
The plan is to break away from traditional aesthetics while tipping my hat to a generation of forward thinkers. I strive to create something that goes beyond “standard” ideas and instead pursue this project inspired by layout, location, and function. Frank Lloyd Wright’s mentor, Louis Sullivan famously stated that, “Form follows function”. This idea is expressed by Modernism's tendency to have the function of a project dictate much of the design ideas. I will attempt to look through the eyes of this perspective throughout the build.

IKONiK will be my interpretation of a sleek, modern and high tech PC. It will feature the latest hardware modded into one cohesive design. I have purchased a good deal of exotic materials and finishes that will help give it the modern design cues I am looking for.



The concept design for this build serves as an outline of what I want the build to look like. As the build progresses I will add some things, keep a lot from the design and change a few. This helps to assure that this build is up to my standards when its finished.








I will be using the new DARK Base Pro 900 from Be Quiet for this build. I am honored that they approached me to be the first person to mod this case. It has a lot of new features; with modularity being a big part of the design. The plan is to invert the motherboard and take advantage of the design features found throughout the case.



This build will primarily focus on modding the hardware as well as the case. My last build, “Dark Matter” was a scratch build that required hundreds of hours focused primarily on building the structure of the case. For this build I get to save that energy and focus it towards modding the case/hardware. As with all of my builds the main features tend to evolve. The build usually takes on a personality of its own during the process. I have set guidelines and a concept for this build but, it will have a lot more “freestyle” modding that I tend thrive in.





Be Quiet: http://www.bequiet.com/en

• Dark Power Pro 11 PSU (1,200 watt)
• 4 X Be Quiet PureWings 3 – 140mm fans and 2 X 120mm fans (These are the new ones that recently came out.)




EVGA: http://www.evga.com

• Motherboard: Z170 Classified K
• GPU: GTX 1070 SC
• Ram: 16gb Superclocked DDR4






OCZ:https://ocz.com/us/ssd/

• Vector 180 (480gb) SSD
• RD400 NVM M.2 PCIE SSD




Mnpctech: https://mnpctech.com/#/home

• Billet aluminum cable combs (3 X 24-pin & 7 X 8-pin)

You can buy your own set of billet aluminum cable combs here:

<a href="https://mnpctech.com/buy-...s/#/category/497" rel="norewrite external">https://mnpctech.com/buy-...category/497</a>




CableMod: https://cablemod.com
Fully Sleeved Modular Cables:
• B-series ModFlex modular cable set (Black







ModMyMods: https://modmymods.com
Alphacool: http://www.aquatuning.us

• Alphacool Eisblock XPX CPU block (silver)
• Alphacool 250mm tube reservoir
• Alphacool UT60 420mm radiator (special edition white)
• Alphacool Single GPX SLI connector
• Alphacool GTX 1070 GPU block
• Alphacool Eispump VP755 (version 2) x2 w/acetal blocks
• Alphacool brass (chrome) hardline tubing 13mm
• Alphacool bulkhead fittings
• Alphacool assorted adaptors including check valves and pressure release valves
• Alphacool Aurora reservoir RGB LED ring
• Alphacool Dual 45 degree rotatable fittings

rjohnson11
Looking forward to this. Your design and ideas are quite awesome.

Thank you very much. There's also a lot of suprizes that I've saved for later. There will be some sweet watercooling features as well. Thanks again for checking out the log.

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And so it begins:

Meet The Dark Base Pro:

The Dark Base Pro 900 case by Be Quiet has recently arrived at the shop. The case comes in black, silver or orange accents. I went with the silver Pro version. The Pro version comes with an upgraded PWM fan controller that can be controlled through your motherboard. It also has modular RGB LED strips that can easily be moved to multiple locations.

Another neat feature is the tempered glass side panel. Everything inside of the case is modular which allows you to move things to accommodate your specific needs. I will be flipping the motherboard 180 degrees for the IKONiK build. I took a few pictures right after unboxing it and the 1,200 watt Dark Power Pro 11 PSU.

The New Dark Base 900 Pro (silver edition)







Some great shots of the Be Quiet Dark Base Pro 900. These pics give you an appreciation for the work that went into this high end case. By Malik

XrayMan
 
Looking good.        

Thank you XrayMan. I really appreciate that.

Awesome. Already ahead of the Game!  Cant wait to see the progress and finished product!

Starting Work On The Custom Reservoir:

I have determined the shape and design but, I needed to figure out the actual size that the reservoir will be. I ended up going with about an inch and a half thick. As with all my acrylic stuff I cut out I make templates first and then use my scroll saw to cut out the pattern.



I've got the majority of the mount finished and about a half of the reservoir cut out. Once I have all the pieces I will glue them all together, drill and tap the threads for the water cooling fittings.




Painting 140mm 3D Printed Fan Grill & IKONiK Lettering:

Now that I've had time to finish sanding and priming the grill and lettering I have started doing some test painting. I will start out with a black and sterling silver combination. This will be my first time working with sterling silver paint so I hope it lives up to my expectations. The first few layers went down well on the main grill.

When the rest of my fans arrive from Be Quiet I will test mount everything. Im also going to try a new 2–tone paint job on some of the fans so it'll be neat to see what they look like together.








New Sponsor: EVGA

I am very happy to announce that EVGA has decided to sponsor the IKONiK case mod with all kinds of sweet hardware.. I will update the list with the exact parts that will be used. Ive been a big fan of EVGA for quite sometime and I'm excited for the new hardware to arrive. I will also update and take pictures once the new gear arrives at the shop.

Gonna follow this one. This is gonna be gud.

Envious Mods

gendreaur
Gonna follow this one. This is gonna be gud.

Thank you and I'm glad to hear your along for the ride.

 
I wouldn't miss it for the world. 
 
You see "Classified Demon" ? 

Optical Drive Bay Removal:

One of my favorite parts about this case is the modularity. It allows you to move, change or remove any of the pieces you want. They all have removable bolts versus pop rivets found on most cases. It only took about 10 minutes or less to remove the optical drive bays. Im sure this time would have been more like 5 minutes but I tend to look at the design of things when I take them apart. The two front bay covers come off in a matter of seconds and the 3rd fan is easily bolted into place. Be Quiet did a good job of anticipating wiring routes which allows you to cleanly wire the fans.

Stock Fan Arrangement & Optical Bays Mounted:


3rd Fan Added & Optical Bays Removed:



Custom Vinyl Decals For 140mm PureWings 3 Fans:

I decided it was time to try out a design to replace the decals on the front 3–140mm PureWings fans. This isn't something that makes a huge statement but, its one of those small details that will bring everything together in the end. The plan is to mount a 420mm radiator on the inside and I also have some neat ideas for painting these fans that I will detail later on.

I downloaded the font used for the IKONiK logo onto my laptop so that I could generate a cut file for my vinyl cutter. In order to determine the size needed I used my digital calipers to measure the space available. I could have just removed the stock decals and placed the IKONiK decal but, it doesn't look as good as it would if I re-cut a new black, blank circle. It adds some time and steps to the process but, its worth it in my opinion.

Once I had everything cut I added the white IKONiK letters to the black circles and prepped the fans for installation. Proper placement for the vinyl is always the trickiest part. It requires you to take lots of measurements so that each decal is centered and laid out correctly.

rjohnson11
Continues to look great

Thank you very much. I really appreciate it!!

Aluminum Side Piece:

There is piece that is used to mount the power supply inside the case. I wanted to cut a piece of aluminum that it is thick enough to make it even with the PSU shroud. It will also help to give it a much more polished look once its cleaned up. I used a scrap piece of aluminum because you wont notice a difference after I clean the piece up.

I also inset the bolt heads a little bit which helps to locate the bolts almost exactly where they would be before the plate addition. I will update once I have time to do the finish work on the aluminum. Below I've added pictures of what it looked like before the installation and after so you can easily reference the differences.






Update: PSU Shroud (Test Painting)

I got tired of looking at the un-painted PSU shroud and I really wanted to get an idea of what it would look like painted black. I have some left over from the Dark Matter build so I thought, “why not?” I quickly prepped it with a sanding sponge and then I used Rustoleum 2X. The nice part about this paint is the primer and paint being in one can. It really makes test painting rather painless to do.

After remounting the PSU shroud and the PSU access panel I was really happy with how it looks. Theres a lot more pieces that go together to make up the full PSU shroud but, these are the main ones.

 
Status Update: Envious Mods HQ
I just wanted to update you all as I will have more updates on the build log in the next couple days. I have just finished moving into a rental while I build the new Envious Mods HQ. It will have a machine shop, final assembly room, walk in paint booth and a rather large apartment adjacent to it. I have been planning this over the last year or two and it is the next big step for Envious Mods. The machine shop and paint booth building was already on the land purchased. It just needs some TLC, new electrical and some shelves/stands for my heavy equipment. I am currently setting up my daily workspace and reconnecting Internet service.
 
This is a huge commitment for Envious Mods but, with all the growth of Envious Mods over the last yr; I would be stupid to not invest in its future. As many of you know I do almost daily updates and I felt it was only fair to let you know what's going on. In the next couple days I will resume the detailed build log as well as share a few surprises I have in store. Thanks again to all my faithful fellow modders and forum followers.
 

rjohnson11
Looks great and looking forward to final pics

Thanks you very much. I should be getting the hardware from EVGA soon and I'll have some updates in the next day or so. Tomorrow I get my new Internet connected so I can get back to updating build logs.

This build continues to amaze.

 
PSU Shroud Side Pieces:
 
I started putting together ideas for the side of the PSU shroud. I want to carry over the design cues from the tempered glass side panel. This will help it look like a cohesive design. These pieces will be cut out of sheet metal and layered to give the piece more depth. So far I've put together the basic design and transferred it into a template. I still need to break up the template into multiple pieces so that they can be cut. As you can see in the picture below I used the Sketchup design but, built off of it to give it a better look.
 

 

Front Fan Surround Design:
 
After playing around with different ideas for the front piece that will go around the 3 X 140mm fans I decided to integrate the design of the fan inlets. These are custom designed for Be Quiet's Silent Wings 3 fans that just came out. They have a distinctive shape that helps with airflow and the pattern the air creates on its way into the radiator. I am using the high speed PWM versions of these fans. The high speed version is specifically designed with a higher static pressure rating for top of the line radiators. The main surround will be made out of 15mm thick lexan and I will add a top piece made out of sheet metal. Once the lexan is backlit it will make the fan and edges of the lexan glow. I have the basic surround template finished for the lexan and I will update the logos once the template for the sheet metal is finished.
 

 

Vinyl & Paint Technique Testing: Texture & Embossing
 
I've been wanting to test out some ideas I've been tossing around when it comes to adding texture to paint and vinyl. I started out using spray paint to try and add a texture to a painted surface. I used a sanded piece of thin metal rod and taped it to the front of the spray paint can. I filed the tip of the rod so it would taper to a point and then positioned its just below nozzle height. Once sprayed it changes the natural flow of paint causing a textured effect.
 
The embossed vinyl was made by first designing and cutting a vinyl pattern. Once that pattern was laid down on an acrylic surface I grabbed another sheet of vinyl and laid it over the placed pattern. Using a hair dryer I slowly heated the top layer of vinyl to help it sink into all the nooks and crannies. Using my finger I helped coax some of it into the more detailed sections of the pattern. I've never seen this technique done and it really gives a new aspect to uses for vinyl. Ideas like this is what I thrive to discover and I enjoy being the first to implement it into case modding. That way more people can try these ideas and take them to the next level.
 
Embossed Vinyl Technique:

 
Textured Paint Technique: (With Embossed Vinyl Under)