A Window To Wales

[OJ46]

Been out there 3 times already mate, absolutely love the place! Be nice to have the cash to stay up north in the winter where it's hot all year round then go down south for summer, but as we'll probably be slumming it on awful wages just finding somewhere to sleep will be a start!

Now that's not a bad plan... Parvum MATX black on black, fern inlay in the front... FFS it's sounding expensive already

 

[OJ46]

Luckily the missus works in a BUPA care home and has enough qualifications + experience that she'd be allowed in. Now just need to start saving (after the PC is finished obviously!) then get job hunting

Definitely head out there if you ever get he chance though mate, even if it's just for a couple of months. Truly stunning place to travel around

 

[OJ46]

The scenery out there is on a different level, it's like they've taken all the best parts of the UK, photocopied them on a x5 magnification and then added in a few massive fault lines & volcanoes just for a giggle. Even manages to make Wales look boring

Their whole way of life is just how it should be really, kids outdoors messing about and playing sports, not sat at home all day playing on the Playstation. Guess that could also explain why they keep smashing us on the rugby field...

Oh yes, and before I get too side tracked thinking about my favourite place in the world again, a couple new toys just arrived via DPD

Have gone for the shinier, plastic finish in the end as I decided with dull pastel coolant it might add just a tiny bit more of a 'pop' to the overall finish.

Now for a quite possibly very stupid question: What's the best way of removing the old heatshrink / braiding from the standard cables? Is it just a case of being very careful with a sharp blade? Cheers

 

[OJ46]

Some top tips right there, cheers mate

Won't be about for a day or 2 but will have a shot at it early next week and see how it goes. If it all goes to plan then brilliant, but if I did end up screwing it up it doesn't really matter as the original plan was to get some ready made anyway, so all it would have cost extra is a couple of quid for the sleeving and a bit of my time. Only bought a short length of white for this very reason

 

[OJ46]

Thought I'd just remove the heatshrink & braiding from the MoBo cable to see how the white looked and... Yeah, not exactly what I was expecting! Why, with a cable that long, do they have to put the awkward **** right on the end that shows?! Come on EVGA, I'm bad enough at things like this without you making life even more difficult

 

[OJ46]

I was a bit confused as to why there were capacitors across certain pins like that, but smoothing out any ripples seems like a decent enough explanation

Just don't understand why they feel the need to put them right on the end that's visible. Could they not have put them the other end where nobody would ever see them?! Proper PITA unless I can safely remove them. Will ask in the PSU forum and if there's no response... Erm... Yeah, could be worth a punt anyway

 

[OJ46]

Ah that makes sense. Not convinced it would make any difference at all in real world conditions but guess the guys in white coats tested it in lab conditions and managed to convince the pen pushers it was a good idea! Might just solder in longer pieces of wire so the capacitors are hidden out of sight behind the motherboard

Oh yes, and I am now beyond happy. IT'S ON ITS WAY!

Cheers for finally sorting it guys, can't wait to see it in the flesh and start playing about with some new ideas

 

[OJ46]

First up I'd just like to take 2 minutes to personally apologise to JR. I just assumed, completely wrongly, that Parvum were doing all the work for you to get some quality builds knocked out to drum up some publicity. After seeing some of your builds I could completely understand why they would but I really shouldn't have jumped to conclusions when I didn't know the facts, so I apologise for any hassle that I have caused you because of this. Next time I'll keep my gob shut unless I know, 100%, that what's coming out of it is right!

As I have said numerous times on here and also directly to the guys at Parvum, the anger wasn't due to the time taken to produce the case or because of the delays, it was 100% down to the lack of communication regarding the delays. A simple 'sorry, we're having problems getting this cut, it'll be another 3 - 4 weeks' and everything would have been tidy, but when you have no idea why the case still hasn't been posted and your emails aren't being answered, that's when you start getting a bit wound up and wrongly take your frustration onto the forum.

Right, back on track: So basically it's perfectly safe to remove the capacitors completely, I just wont be setting any records for 'worlds smoothest power supply'. Stupid question (I am a complete noob at this after all!) but after removing the capacitor do I then join the 2 cables that led to it together, just without the cap?

Was hoping to just sleeve the stock cables rather than get into the added expense / hassle of making completely new ones. I did look at getting them ready made but the price was just a bit crazy for some pieces of wire, so thought this would be the cheap / easy option... Well I was right on one!

 

[OJ46]

Ah, won't be doing that then! Looks like sleeving from both ends could definitely be the easiest option, guessing a small dab of glue on the join could keep things fairly tidy and be more than good enough if it is hidden just behind the MoBo

A PSU with simple, straightforward cabling would have made my life far too easy lol

Should be here Monday cheers Mads, really appreciate the response from Parvum this last week and it has definitely restored my confidence in them. Can't wait to get started on it now!

 

[OJ46]

Good news, a little something arrived in the post today! To say I'm happy with how it turned out would be a massive understatement, looks so much better than I ever thought it could

With all the detail the guys have engraved into it it's easy to see how this caused them a few headaches

But as you could probably imagine with the luck I've been having, that's when things started to go a bit wrong...

The rear fan was supposed to have been removed (this isn't an issue, I'll happily keep those panels and just put a fan there) but all the reservoir / pump mounting and cable routing holes were also supposed to have been removed as per the pic below

Guess that means more emails and more waiting for the replacement to be cut and shipped, but never mind, that front panel more than makes up for any delays waiting for a new motherboard tray

Also gives me more time to figure out this braiding malarkey... Cheers for all the tips guys, much appreciated

 

[OJ46]

Not heard anything back yet mate, but guessing I'll have to wait until next time they're cutting a batch of them.

Never mind, all these delays might be a blessing in disguise as it's now very tempting to wait until the Z270 / Kaby Lake CPU's and motherboards are released in the new year before making a start on this, which could then possibly make it worth waiting for the 1080Ti depending on release dates...

Oh yes, and does anyone fancy an EVGA SuperNova G2 750W '80 Plus Gold' Modular Power Supply on the cheap? Still determined to braid my own cables but this thing is bloody ridiculous so will offload it and get something a bit simpler like the Silverstone JR recommends. Have removed the braiding from the 24pin and, if I remember correctly, one GPU cable, meaning I can't really return it... Cheap to a good home!

EDIT: What's the general consensus on the PSU below? And before I mess up again... Simple to braid?!

My basket at Overclockers UK:

• 1 x Silverstone Strider 800W 80 Plus Titanium Modular Power Supply= £152.99

​

 

[OJ46]

Scrap that, just emailed me now and sorting it ASAP. Cheers all at Parvum

 

[OJ46]

MOAR Deliveries, also contained much (now eaten) Haribo

First up a new PSU to replace the PITA EVGA unit, and a Samsung 500GB SSD for storing games.

No Sez, not every single parcel that enters the house is food for you... #GreedyMutt

Impressed with how small the Silverstone PSU is. Also, the reason for the change, SENSIBLE CABLES!

Mmmmmmm, 500GB of SSD goodness

Now onto the bit I need help with... I know I know, always needing the help of people less stupid

Got a small EL Panel to try, just need to wire it up with a Molex connector now...

...Am I right in thinking that I just need to cut the bottom right connector off (bottom picture), then put a Molex connector on that end? Pretty sure I've got it right for a change but always safer to check!

 

[OJ46]

Bloody hell, I got one right! Figured that was correct but just thought I'd check before ruining it with stupidity

Now to see if they're bright enough to work through the frosted acrylic before ordering a big one for the floor panel...

 

[OJ46]

Right, so now Andy has kindly confirmed I'm unlikely to blow anything up it's time to run a quick test, just to see if my ideas are plausible...

First up a bit of ghetto wiring using paperclips. Happy to say both the PSU and EL panel survived and are both still in good health

Then time to check out if it would give off the right amount of light to make the dragon glow without it being unbearably bright...

SUCCESS! That's the power light sorted then

Just wish I'd bought a slightly bigger EL panel to use as a tester, for obvious reasons


Then to use one of the off-cuts Parvum threw in to check if the floor design idea was going to work...

Oh yes, quite happy with how that worked out. Also have a deeper red vinyl that will be used for the actual floor as this tester was just a bit light. Not quite as light as the pictures show, but still, deeper red would definitely look better.

Now to save up for the horrendously expensive larger EL panels...

 

[OJ46]

Haha cheers mate, you wouldn't believe how massively happy and ****ed off I was at exactly the same time when the dragon looked awesome but the test panel was millimetres too small...

There was a bit of coil whine as well like you warned there could be, but luckily I don't think it's enough to actually hear from where the PC will be placed. If it was an ITX or MATX build going to sit on the desk next to me I'd say don't do it, but for a PC sat on the floor under the desk I reckon a couple of fans running 600rpm and you're not going to hear it...

Now just need to grow some balls and order the components needed to get this done, too caught in 2 minds atm re Z270 & 1080Ti... Will be highly intoxicated next Wednesday as my local is closing so hopefully that will swing it lol

 

[OJ46]

Will definitely have a look into that one cheers mate, although with the price of the larger panels there's a good chance I might just go 'cheap'! The other thing I thought of, if they're going to be out of sight anyway, was to make a little block out of expanding foam to deaden the noise... Sure someone will tell me why that's an awful idea but in my head it's worth a go

 

[OJ46]

From the 30 seconds I spend playing with the small EL panel they're good mate, and if they don't overheat in 30 seconds then they won't in 30 minutes will they...

...2 chances and we'll soon find out!

 

[OJ46]

Will give that a try on my little test one next week cheers Smffy

Now onto stupid question number 164818: Why am I finding it extremely easy to remove the pins from one end of the PSU cables, but impossible to remove from the other? They're lose enough and wiggle about but I can't seem to get a single pin out of the one end... Will paint my face red in anticipation of the probably extremely simple thing I'm doing wrong

 

[OJ46]

Awesome, cheers Cenedd. Will try a bit more brute force but if they do break will do as you said and order a crimper, some new pins and a plug. Was hoping it wouldn't come to that but never mind, always good to have a plan E

Would like to use the original wires just to cut a tiny bit of the expense, but IF they break when trying to remove them I'll use this as an excuse to cut the wires a fair bit shorter as well