Adding an Extruded Aluminum Housing For The LEDs:

I found this alumnus led strip housing online about 3 months ago. It took me a long time to find. It's what they use for glass jewelry displays at stores. The main piece us aluminum and this type comes with a milky white cover that helps to diffuse the lights. I added one strip on the roof above the motherboard and the other one is going vertically along the side. I really enjoy the look of these and they come in several different styles.




Fitting Radiator & Mockups:

Now that the radiator is in and all mocked up I wanted to run most of the tubing on the front side. Even though I won't be using the frosted hardline; it gives me the exact measurements needed in order to perfectly cut the polished chrome tubing. This also gives me a chance to decide exactly where I want to put the passthroughs and flow meter.




Vinyl Work For The Alphacool UT60 420mm Radiator:

I had previously done the design for the vinyl work on the radiator. I decided it was time to get it cut and mounted on the beautiful special white edition 420mm radiator. Originally I was going to do the OCOOL logo in the same silver as the rest of the decal. I decided to cut it out of mirrored chrome instead and I'm glad I did. It gives it a better contrast and gives it a much more polished look.

OCOOL Aurora Ring Logo Change:

The Aurora ring LEDS come with a blue OCOOL logo on them and I wanted the color to match the rest of the build. I decided to make some new logo decals that are the exact same size as the original but, are in the different color. I decided to go with mirrored chrome and they came out great. Taking the OCOOL logo and putting into my design/cut program allowed me to scale it to the correct size. Once I had the proper size it was a matter of cutting and placing the logo so that it matched the stock ones.






EVGA Logo Flip:

The logo on the EVGA Z170 Classified K motherboard was also inverted due to the orientation of the motherboard. I've been playing around with several ideas and this is the latest one. I cut some extremely thin acrylic and covered it in black chrome vinyl. I then cut the EVGA Logo out of the mirrored chrome vinyl and remounted everything. Once I pull everything out again I may repaint the EVGA logo.

New Alphacool Block & LED Strips Arrive From ModMyMods:

I finally managed to get my hands on some of the Alphacool LED strips that are not yet available on the market. These strips are well built and 100% diffused which is a big thing in my book. It allows for an even glow instead of a beam coming from the strips. Most of the time I have to add Extruded Aluminum mounts with diffused covers to get the glow I'm looking for. I will be testing these out a bit and using them in the build.





I also got the new Alphacool block for the EVGA GTX 1070 SC GPU that recently replaced the GTX 980ti Classified GPU I had originally planned to use. This was swapped out in order to use the components I wanted in the watercooling. It was a much appreciated upgrade and the new EVGA GTX 1070 SC performs like a champ. It offers up more power and used less plugs from the PSU.


Putting an Alphacool NexXxoS Waterblock on AN EVGA GTX1070SC GPU:

Once you've done a few of these swaps it becomes very easy to do. It can also be intimidating to those who don't have much experience with them. I start by using a good antistatic work surface such as a Alphacool modding matt. Any antistatic surface will work good. I also use nutrile gloves as they keep oils off of the components and help with any static discharge issues that may arise.

Usually you will need to start on the side that is opposite from the cooler. If you can remove the little fan/led cables before start it will make it easier. If they are not very accessible, you can remove them once the cooler is loosened. Usually the larger bolts hold the cooler on and there will be 4 of them in a square pattern which are surrounding the GPU chip. I remove the largest ones first which usually removes the backplate. After that's removed I move onto removing the last of the bolts to get the cooler free.

Once I have the backplate and cooler removed I usually clean off the old or stock thermal paste. Grizzly thermal paste comes with the new cooler and it can be applied once the old paste is removed. To apply my new thermal paste I use an old credit card or store card which allows me to spread a very thin layer of paste across the entire surface. You want it to be thin so that it just covers the entire surface. Once you have thermal pads on both sides it's only a matter of bolting everything back together.

Installing The GPU Block:





NexXxoS Block Mounted on The EVGA GTX 1070 SC GPU:

INCREDIBLE BUILD!! Me likey! Keep up the GREAT WORK!!

This build rocks. Looking forward to final pics.

Some great work here!

rjohnson11
Some great work here!

Thanks buddy! Getting ready for final mods, paint and reassembly soon!

Can't wait to see the build when you finished!

MitchWh
Can't wait to see the build when you finished!

Thanks Mitch! Lots of neat surprises in store as well.

Making Passthroughs:

The passthroughs went together fairly easy as I had already marked out where my holes need to go. The only tricky part is working with stainless steel. It's a lot stronger than most metals and I went with a step drill bit to make my 20mm holes. I also decided to run a vertical acrylic strip. I think doing so gives it a much cleaner look and it also looks more polished. The combination of acrylic and brushed stainless steel will look sharp.








Alphacool Eislich Under Case Mount:

I have a white Eislich light and a blue one. The plan is to use the white one inside the case so I thought the blue one would work best under the Dark Base 900 Pro. This works really well considering that the case has feet that keep it off the ground a bit. I didn't want to run wiring up the back as it would be noticeable no matter what so I decided to drill a small hole that was big enough to get the cable through. Once I had the Eislich mounted under the case it was a matter of running the cable through the bottom of the case. Luckily it is long enough that I won't need an extension to power it. After having it all mounted up I got my 1st look at it and I'm very happy. It gives a perfect flow without being overbearing. There's nothing worse than a light that's too bright. These lights also seem to play well with cameras. I didn't have to do any tricks or weird settings in order to directly photograph them which is an added bonus.

rjohnson11
Very interesting

I thought so 😃

Re-installing Controller Shroud:

Now that the custom made controller shroud is painted I can remount it back where it went. This gives the controller a much more finished and polished look. I also finished modding the cable combs sets so that they are all 1 sided 5 pin for the SATA power. These won't be seen much but on those few occasions; I want everything to look as clean and tidy as possible.



Final Metal Finishes:

All of the metal panels on this build are brushed. I started the process a while back but I want to do the fine detail using finer grit sandpaper and then polish all of them before they go back on. Some of these panels you only see a little bit of. I managed to get the main ones refinished and ready to be polished. I've starred polishing one of the panels so you can get an idea of the differences.

Painting Acrylic Passthrough Plate:

This was a quick paint job. All I needed to do was paint it flat black so it fit in with the rest of the case. I don't think I'll need to make anymore adjustments to it.




Re-installing Passthrough:

Now that I've started reassembling a lot of the watercooling I can start to see how the passthrough will look. I'm exremely happy already and it's not even complete yet. I used my new Dremel to round out a lot of the holes in each layer of the passthrough and it saved a lot of time. It's amazing how powerful this cordless Lithium-ion rotary tool is.






Painting Rear Shroud and PSU Shroud:

Now that it's time for final paint I can sand down the black primer a bit and go to town. I want these panels to looked a tiny bit above flat so I bought a matte clear coat to help protect the pieces. This should also help with the dreaded finger prints. Early on in wanted to see what these pieces would look like it black so I coated them in black primer. I've never tried to paint so long after laying down the primer coat but, it turned out great.

rjohnson11
Love the work going into this mod

Thank you very much. It's nice to see all the hard work come together for sure.

Nereus
 
Amazing attention to detail, awesome. I'm loving the be quiet! SilentWings 3 fans - best fans I've ever used (using for case fans and the high speed PWM for radiator fans).
 
 

Thank you. I really appreciate the kind words. I have mine setup the same way. The intake duct shape is really effective. I can't wait to see this build completed as well. I couldn't have picked a better motherboard for the build. The EVGA classified fits perfectly and really helps show off all the details work done.