A Window To Wales

OJ46 · 28 Nov 2016 at 14:38

Still not found the time to get on with the braiding unfortunately as thing's have been a bit busy the last week or 2, and doesn't look like it's going to get done until nearer Christmas... Hopefully this side of it though! Will keep those things in mind when I do finally make a proper start on it cheers Smffy

One small update from today: New panel arrived from Parvum and also included some free fans. Cheers guys

OLD:

NEW:

Ahhhhh, much smoother! Hopefully things will start moving along a bit quicker in the new year, especially if OcUK have some bargains in the sales

OJ46 · 1 Dec 2016 at 11:41

Things I learned today...

1: Don't braid cables when drunk if you want them to be tidy. Looks like I'll be re-braiding quite a few of these

2: Order enough braid to do ALL of the cables, especially when OcUK are low on stock... Gotta wait for more stock to arrive now before I can fix the mess and complete the job :mad:

I know the white heat shrink won't be to everyones taste, but fancied doing things a little different

OJ46 · 1 Dec 2016 at 13:53

I actually quite like the look of the heat shrink, thought I'd go with white instead of the usual black just to be different and add a bit of interest to an otherwise boring part. Definitely going to have to redo a couple of them though so they're the same length, probably should have marked them so it would be easy to get them the same but logic doesn't work after a few beers! Don't think it helps that some have a pair of wires in, made it a touch more difficult to get them looking identical to the others. Also going to look odd where there's a wire missing so might have to put a false one there just to make it symmetrical

OJ46 · 1 Dec 2016 at 15:34

Top tips cheers mate, will give it a go once I've got my hands on some more sleeving

This build is definitely going to be a learning curve, just wait until I start on the loops...

OJ46 · 2 Dec 2016 at 15:37

Not had the new sleeving delivered yet so unfortunately that's still on hold, but Santa (Jeff @ DPD) was nice enough to bring me a little gift to drool over while I'm waiting...

32GB of sexy 3000MHz DDR4 RAM

Was originally planning on using 32GB of 3200MHz Corsair RAM but OcUK had these beauties on sale and I couldn't resist hitting that order button

Will be painting the 'wings' white once they've been tested, so bye bye fugly warranty sticker. Also, if it voids the warranty to remove the sticker, why do they have to use such an awful sticker? Seems a bit mad to completely ruin the look after designing such a nice heat spreader.

OJ46 · 2 Dec 2016 at 18:41

Yeah there's a ton of room in the top of these cases mate, even in push/pull it should clear easily and I'm only going with push

Must admit I'd never really paid much attention to Team Group but after looking through their RAM on OcUK I'm impressed with the looks, now to see if it performs! Certainly makes a nice change from the same old Corsair like normally use

OJ46 · 4 Dec 2016 at 10:46

That's good to hear, have always defaulted to Corsair myself as well but always nice to try something different. Only once in the past have I moved away from Corsair RAM (think it was to Kingston) and it failed, so RMA'd it and went back to Corsair! Hopefully have better luck this time...

OJ46 · 6 Dec 2016 at 17:36

That's sounding promising, 2 running TeamGroup RAM and 2 happy customers

Cheers Harvey, just hope the build does it justice now!

Well some good news and some bad, as per usual. The good news? These beauties arrived today so I could finally test everything (except the non existent GPU as I'm waiting for the 1080Ti), install Windows, stress test everything then get on with voiding warranties and painting things...

Just one small problem: This idiot forgot to order a CPU cooler... D'OH!

Ordered one now though and should be here for the weekend, so then it's finally all systems go

Couple of random pics. Sorry about the awful quality but December evenings in Wales aren't exactly renowned for being the brightest...

RAM looks so good with this board it's almost a pity to paint em both... Almost.

Hopefully come Saturday I'll have the cheapo cooler here and will be able to check everything's working, then the ol' spray cans will be coming out and there'll be no going back

OJ46 · 6 Dec 2016 at 18:32

An extremely quick mock-up of the current Mobo & RAM paint plans:

Reckon that should look pretty good with the red LED XSPC RayStorm Pro CPU block

OJ46 · 6 Dec 2016 at 19:10

Still toying with a few different ideas on GIMP so nothing will be 100% decided until after the weekend (assuming the cooler comes!) That ain't be a bad shout though

OJ46 · 6 Dec 2016 at 19:32

I hope whoever paid em asked for a refund! My technical ability when it comes to GIMP is limited to bodging up an idea that someone else can (hopefully) turn into a masterpiece. Think part of this might be down to a lack of patience though...

OJ46 · 8 Dec 2016 at 18:45

Cheers Bone9

A little something arrived today, so finally got to make a proper start on things...

Not the best looking machine I've ever thrown together but it'll do for a quick BIOS update, Windows install and future stress testing

BIOS update went as smoothly as you'd expect with an ASUS board

Glad this bit takes minutes these days rather than the hours it used to. Anyone that mentions "good ol' days" when talking about computers needs shooting!

Aaaaaaaaand relax :cool:

Now just need to stress test it, then chuck the Samsung SSD in so I can install Linux Mint & Kali on it. Data storage for all OS's will be on a couple of 2TB drives, with another SSD just for games.

Buuuuuuuut, how could I have all this here waiting and not see what it's going to look like?! Spoiler: I couldn't

BEFORE

AFTER A QUICKLY BODGED, 5 MINUTES ON GIMP MOCK-UP

Was more than a little nervous before starting this build as there's so much I've never attempted before, but now I'm starting to get my head around it I can't wait to properly start on it. Reckon that should look pretty damn sweet with this GPU backplate design...

OJ46 · 8 Dec 2016 at 19:58

Haha I'm a weird one when it comes to bendy screens mate, love curved monitors but hate curved TV's! They somehow just work when you're sat close, but they look bloody awful when you're sat 10ft away. Actually went from a dual monitor setup to that beast and would never go back

It's quite worrying how silent that little cooler is, making me wonder why I've spent a fortune on 4 massive rads now... Oh yes, because they look awesome

OJ46 · 8 Dec 2016 at 20:46

Exactly, works when you're sat close enough for it to actually wrap around, but worse than useless when you're sat further away and it just looks bent!

Will hopefully test it out on the weekend, see what it can do when stress testing the CPU... Should be entertaining

A quick MemTest later and it'll be time to hit it all with some paint

OJ46 · 9 Dec 2016 at 10:54

Cheers Smffy, will stress test it all tomorrow if I get time then it's time to pull it all apart and get painting

If it's simple to remove the blocks do you think it would be worth removing them even if they're not being painted to replace the TIM with some of the Thermal Grizzly stuff I've got sat here?

OJ46 · 9 Dec 2016 at 12:07

Ah, that's good to know, will just leave them alone then if I decide not to paint them

OJ46 · 11 Dec 2016 at 11:54

Bit more progress made and finally got around to finishing the 24pin & 8pin cables, so the swearing has died down a bit now

Ran a quick Prime95 test and a quick MemTest just to make sure nothing was 100% broken and all seemed good, although I decided to quit the Prime95 test early when the CPU hit 86°C...

Thought I'd make a start on the RAM today as I have a few hours free, so made it naked ready for painting :cool:

Mmmmmmm, naked RAM *drools*

The heat spreader. This would have a nice shiny back and be held on to the chips with some good quality thermal pads right?

WRONG! Not actually a 'heat spreader' at all, more naked RAM with a fancy metal shape taped onto it... :eek:

Not exactly impressed by that. Oh well, tools ready!

Primer done, now waiting for it to dry...

...So got the motherboard ready for paint while I wait

Will get the RAM painting finished today, then hopefully find time to get the new stickers made up in the next couple days. Still playing around with a couple of ideas on that one but all depends how small the plotter can accurately cut

Once the RAM is finished it's onto the motherboard. I know I could do it at the same time but want to make sure I'm happy with the paint finish first before I cover everything!

OJ46 · 11 Dec 2016 at 14:05

Not really any point in using thermal tape tbh as the 'heat spreader' only really touches a tiny part of the chips anyway, so it's worse than useless heat wise. If it wasn't a theme build I'd almost be tempted to leave em off, might have to do a 'tech' build next time with naked RAM

OJ46 · 11 Dec 2016 at 14:37

Never would have thought of that but that's a top tip, will remember to save the leftover backing next time I'm using the plotter!

Yeah I was a bit worried about using too much force but luckily with a bit of heat they came off very easily, so not much threat of pulling a chip off the board

Surely with so little of the heat spreader actually touching anything it isn't really doing a lot even with thermal tape? Just assumed it would have a flat surface to properly cover the chips.

OJ46 · 12 Dec 2016 at 09:37

Aye, just found it very strange that the heat spreader had those bumps on the rear, meaning a lot of the chips area wasn't even in contact with the spreader. Very odd decision and it would probably run cooler naked with better airflow than being blocked in but not actually in contact with the spreader.

Left em all sticky side up for now hoping they'll remain sticky enough to reuse, just need to keep the dog away from them! No big deal if the tape does need replacing though, just adds another small delay to the build... Getting used to those!

100% guaranteed you'll be needing those heat sinks now, happens every single time without fail!

Talking of orange themes, I'm really liking the look of these ASRock boards for a future black & gold / orange build... Asrock Z170 Extreme4 Intel Z170 (Socket 1151) DDR4 ATX Motherboard