Hi Guys, first time poster here and I'm honored to have been selected as Gear Up with EVGA Custom Case Modding Program for November last year.
 
Build Sponsors
EVGA
CableMod
Bitspower
 
Build theme - I don't really have a build theme but if you're familiar with my builds I like to keep everything looking sleek and clean. The DG-87 is an interesting case and it's going to be a challenge to create something more unique than how the case originally is. I think I'll rotate the motherboard tray and do a heap of clean tube runs going down to the bottom of the chassis.
 
Lets jump in and take a look at the hardware
 

 
Hardware wise we see the insanely huge EVGA DG-87 chassis. The detail EVGA has put in to this case is insane and the fan control system in this case is quite elaborate. Something I definitely want to keep in tact. Other hardware we have the EVGA Z270 FTW K motherboard which will go great with the case. EVGA also sent the GTX 1070 FTW Gaming video card. The stock cooler on this GPU is incredible and a shame I have to take it off to install a water-block. The rest of the build consists of EVGA DDR4 memory, EVGA Powerlink connector and the 1000w G3 PSU.
 
I'll be throwing in a 7700k in this build as well as some random SSDs I can find :p
 
Let's jump in to the build log.
 
First thing I had to do was fully strip the case. Like all cases, there is actually a standard steel chassis under all the fancy covers and side covers. As mentioned above, I want to rotate the motherboard tray so I'll work on that first.

 

 
 
Basically the best way to do this was to take an angle grinder to the motherboard tray. As much as I hated doing this to such a nice case, it needed to be done. Any lines that weren't perfectly straight will be fixed up later or covered up.

 
And of course a few rivets had to be removed.

 
 
Okie, now the original motherboard tray has been removed and I've added a right angle piece of aluminium along the back for some extra support for the new motherboard tray.

 
 
Basically the new motherboard tray will be one full piece of 3mm aluminium running from front to back with required cut-outs needed. Then up the top will have the motherboards IO cover etc.

 
 
Cut-out for the motherboard IO cover to go up top.

 
 
A rough shot of how the cover will go in.

 
 
A shot of the new motherboard tray with required pass-through holes (for mobo cables) and after it's been primed. Same with the IO cover.

 
Now a shot with it inside the case. And you may have noticed I added two support bars down near the bottom. These will be the supports for the basement cover. I'll do a final coat of the case in matte black once all the new internal framing is done.

 

 

 
Well that's it for now. Next I'll be painting all the covers of the case satin white, start working on the basement cover and the tube runs.

Hello Stuart, 
 
First and foremost, welcome to the EVGA Forums! What a great first post! I'm excited to see the end result! 
 
 
Regards,
ThomasN

Looking forward to this build

Have done a few more updates. Internal case has been painted matte black and all the external panels in satin white. I think this colour combo looks quite good together. I've also added an RGB strip that will sit under the motherboard. I've done a quick test and it looks like no light glows out at all. Will probably just leave it there now :p
 

 

 

 

 

 
 
Now the painting is out of the way, my next step was to complete the mid-plate. I also decided I'll run all the hard tubes down to the basement as there is just so much room down there once the 3.5" HDD bays are removed. 
 
Now I had a few ways of dressing this panel up. Either paint it all one colour or add a vinyl pattern. As you can see I've used opal acrylic. I use this a lot in my builds as it allows me to use LED strips under it to create cool lighting effects. An idea I had was to create the new EVGA pattern seen on the their new X299 boards. Although I am not using a X299 board. I still thought that lava pattern would look cool. I managed to find a similar image of a lava pattern and spent about 2 hours in photoshop making it usable in my vinyl cutter.

 
 
As you can see the pattern adds a real dramatic touch to the build and will look even better once backlit.

 

 

 
 
And now with 2 meters of RGB strips under it :)

 

 

 

 
 

Is there anything you don't have in your creation area? I am assuming you are either a custom PC builder or professional reviewer, from the first pic with all hardware. You have some great ideas for this build. Looks great so far. Welcome to the forums! 

Now it's time to put all the hardware in. This really didn't take long as I had already modified what I needed and the tube holes were already done.
 
This is a great shot of the new layout and how clean this is going to look.

 
 
Really not much work here with the bends. My main aim was to keep all the runs consistent. Now it's time to fill

 
 
After some decal work with logos etc, the build is done. I must say I'm really happy with how this build turned out. I spent about 1 week on and off working on this build. Also the RGB midplate looks amazing.
 
Here's a quick time-lapse build video I did as well - 
 
Final pictures are below but first I'd like to thank EVGA for giving me the chance to do this project. Also Bitspower and CableMod for supporting this build as well.
 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 
 
 

Very nice Rig

Nice!

Custom water cooling looks great, although I'm not a huge fan of the case.

i would love to know how the bottom part works as i am about to do my video cards now and want it to look clean.this is my old set up but added 2x 1080it and got waterblocks today for it  its change a little from this photo