H440: Optimus Sublime! (Finished)

[gradyhawks]

Right,

So I am finally on the home leg of my PC and have a couple of pictures as well that I think look good, so have decided to post them up as a Build Log. Now red and black is overdone, but they are my favourite colours and I will happily go out of my way to make things match. My OCD for red knows no bounds!

--== The Build ==--
1 x Sapphire Radeon R9 290X Tri-X 4096MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (11226-03-40G) £289.99
1 x Intel Core i7-4790K 4.00GHz (Devil's Canyon) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £269.99
1 x MSI Z97A Gaming 7 Intel Z97 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £134.99
1 x EVGA SuperNova G2 850W '80 Plus Gold' Modular Power Supply £114.95
1 x NZXT H440 Mid Tower Case - Black / Red £89.99
1 x Samsung 250GB 850 EVO SSD 2.5" SATA 6Gbps 32 Layer 3D V-NAND Solid State Drive (MZ-75E250B/EU) £89.99
2 x Avexir Core Red Series 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-21000C12 2666MHz Dual Channel Memory Kit (AVD3U26661204G-2CIR) - Red Light £79.99 (£159.98)
1 x Raijintek Triton AIO Water Cooling Solution £62.95
1 x Corsair SP120 Performance Series High Pressure - Dual Pack (CO-9050008-WW) £22.00
3 x Alpenföhn 120mm Wing Boost 2 Plus PWM Fan - Red £8.45 (£25.35)
Total : £1,276.67 (includes shipping : £13.75 Ex.VAT).



Also included is a few LED strips and braided cables for the bling. I have recently upgraded from the Fractal S36 to a Fractal S24 ... then to a Raijintek Triton. Both Fractals were louder than a train which annoyed the hell out of me, so settled with the Triton.

I've used a 2m NZXT white LED kit for the inside of the case along with a 1m NZXT red LED kit for the underside. I can turn the brightness down or off with a switch at the back of the case.

The case runs quite hot, 30c or so on the desktop and around 60c+ for gaming. The H440 isn't great at cooling as you well know and it get get rather noisy when I have all the fans going. To get it any quieter or cooler I will have to upgrade cases and have the Enthoo Primo lined up (the £200 black and red one!).

Finished Product


With the cover off, nice and naked!


You might notice that the NZXT sign doesn't light up .... well I accidentaly snipped it off whilst cable managing! I've got a replacment wire and such coming from america and will replace it soon.

The final thing that needs to be done, is to paint the GPU red. Yes, I am going to paint it red! It's 2 years old now and if it dies I will just replace it so not too fussed about the warranty. I've seen a tutorial for it online and have got a can of red spray ready to go!

Will update with pictures as I go for the GPU! Oh, I also plan on doing my own cables to improve the cable managment... so much spare cable at the back!

Cheers,

Grady

 

[gradyhawks]

That looks stunning, excellent job my friend. Just as a question for airflow. Have you tried removing the H440 mesh to increase airflow from the front fans ?

As for the primo if its anything like the luxe you won't be disappointed

I've not tried it yet, considered if after some other chap with a H440 did it and it reduced temps. Problem is that I quite like the mesh and without it, it looks odd... But like I said, if I want to get better I will go Primo! Just need to find a desk big enough >_>!

Thanks

 

[gradyhawks]

I like it very much, have you considered shortening the tube a wee bit just to neaten it up? Maybe even clip the tube together would look spot on. Sorry for sounding picky but if you want it that bit neater I think it would help.

I certainly recommend Phanteks also, excellent cases

I do agree that the tubes need some work. A slight problem with them if I cut them shorter is that they might kink as they are very thin tubes... another is that I will eventually be upgrading to a Primo. I might cut them anyway though and get new tubes for the Primo, new thicker ones.