Pandoras Purple Box (ooh, er)

[davido_labido]

oooft,
Looks good.
it's a bit wavey, but those pics are closer than anyone'll get

Yeah, i really struggled to keep the paint between the lines tbh... the problem is that the armour is actually textured, so every now and again the texture and the lines intermingle, which throws the pen/paint/brush everything else i tried off. I will probably give it another go if i get more feedback though, and as you say, I think we will see the imperfections a lot more now than when the board is in the case.

 

[davido_labido]

looks really nice dave, liking the extra purple bits a lot.

Thanks Nick! I'm still on the fence at the moment, I think i wont know for sure until the EK blocks arrive (which ive been told will be sent out ASAP!!)

armour looks quite good. where did you get your vice from, just what im after.

That one is actually from ALDI lol. It does the job well for less than a tenner!! I needed something clean and quick though as my vice is covered in oil and bits of metal which scratches up the acrylic.

Like what you've done no easy way to avoid the textured surface issue though.

Thanks Colin, yeah, its a real shame that i dont have much knowledge on how to paint these lines other than i have. I like the idea, im just not sure that I can do it correctly.

+1 for more purple!!

Thanks Luggs! with so many positive comments on the idea it certainly makes me feel better about it haha

 

[davido_labido]

The armour looks quality mate. Nice job

Thanks buddy

I love this, it's also nice to see you got sponsored, its great to see the companies put money back into the community. I would love to get sponsored but never have the time to build something as nice as this.

Yeah, I'm chuffed to bits to be sponsored by so many awesome companies, especially when some, like E22, HyperX and Mayhems have sponsored me more than just once! Its great they help us out

David loving the purple. I honestly think i would prefer the purple line to be thicker. But so far looking like another amazing build mate. !

I have followed lines that were in the motherboard armor itself, i didn't really want to add any thickness to them as i didnt want to overdo the purple I doubt we will see much of it in the final build unfortunately.

the purple on the motherboard looks absolutely amazing mate!!! I love it

Thanks buddy!!

Well, today i checked the DPD website and it seems my ekwb goodies are in the UK i hope i get them tomorrow as i have 2 more days off work to try and figure out exactly how im going to do things. Then i can get my dremel out, cut the side panel and then take a trip to E22.biz HQ for some laser work!

 

[davido_labido]

Looking good david.

Thanks paul!!

You've got the eye for detail, love your builds Dave

Cheers Tony!! I have a few this year by the looks of it!!! Im going to try and so something special around the end of the year or next year too. Give something back to the community and all that!

 

[davido_labido]

Amazing job as wells dude. The purple on the white looks stunning.

Cheers beaut xxx

Stunning job on the armour Dave, very reminiscent of a formula i saw done in white but with red accents. Ive been tempted to do mine, but too lazy and im a painter by trade.

I'm sure yours would look far better than mine if you have a painting background!! I'm rubish at fine detail haha

Being completely honest - that screen cut out looks pretty bad dude. It's not square and because of that I can't seem to stop looking at it. Can't you fill it in and re-cut it?

Rest looks lovely, but given that's the whole focal point of the front of the case I think it lets it down really bad.

Yeah, as mentioned its not perfect, but the pictures do make it look far worse than it is. It is on my to do list (I Dont need to fill it in or anything, I actually cut it slightly smaller so I could file it back after ) I only have around 9 days to complete this in total and I have far more to concentrate on. Tbh at shows most people don't even look at the front which is a shame as I spent ages on my last build on the front and every one just looked into the side lol....

Lovely so far. Keep up the good work

Thank you sir!!

Well, just some little updates, nothing much as I'm on my mobile haha....

My ekwb parts have arrived and also OcUk have helped me out a lot and made it so I could buy the EK fittings I was missing so massive thanks to the legends at OcUk HQ for continuing to support me when they can!!!

Also, I have a new sponsor!! They are known for their cases, cooers and psu's but I was interested in their peripherals!! They have some nice goodies on the way to me as we speak, can anyone guess who??!

 

[davido_labido]

Guessing coolermaster, and if i happen to be right...would the item in question be the CM Storm MECH?
I hope i'm not wrong, could have just left a guess about name!

It is CM!!! And noo, not the MECH (for this build ) I wanted to try a TKL! So I've gone for the Quick Fire Rapid-i. I was going to have the new NovaTouch, but I think the white back light will look nice with this build instead!

All that time ago in the pub when I was talking you through the basics of water cooling and now look at you.

So proud

Haha, I know man... You certainly got me addicted to something i didn't have a clue about until we had beers!! If it wasn't for OcUk and you in particular I doubt I would have even bothered with watercooling, modding and I certainly don't think I'd get sponsored by huge companies!!

My hero <3 haha.

Speaking of pubs.... SOON.

 

[davido_labido]

Well, as mentioned, the EKWB stuff has arrived!!! wooohoooo!

so once again a massive thanks to:

This is mostly just product porn, but hey, I personally think i took some nice pics for once so im going to share them

So, what they sent me:

Out of the box!

120mm LC solution Coolstream PE radiator

The 240mm LC Solution Coolstream PE rad

and them both together having a spooning session!

The CPU block is so shiny i could actually get it to reflect the EK logo from the box

Luckily i actually had a load of fittings so I didn't need any more from EK. They doo look like they are ganging up on this Supremacy EVO block though :/

The DDC pump Rez combo:

I added this EK DDC heatsink to the pump/rez combo.

I also sleeved the cables <3

I also did a test fit of the GPU block

hmmmmm, tasty.

So, urm... can anyone see the problem?

So, as you can see, most of the products are black.. this will be changing soon! Also, I guess I will have to get creative with the GPU placement haha luckily id already bought a riser cable as I did have my suspicions the GPU wouldnt fit

 

[davido_labido]

So, another day, another bit of modding!

I took apart the CPU block and the rez, and chucked them into my spray box of awesomeness.

Gave them a good coat of primer and white paint.

Once this had dried I started to add some purple!

hmmmm, white and purple!!

The rez, im not 100% happy with the paint job on this, but for now, it will have to do whilst i sort out the loop. If i get time, I will be redoing it!

Both together

I got the dremel out and cut the slot so that the motherboard tray could sit flush!

GPU placement hopefully!

and where it will roughly sit, don't worry, the mounting will look far better when i do it properly lol.

Confused (Garry) from the OcUK forums was helping me today, he bought his pillar drill around, as i don't have a workshop or garage, we were kitching modding as per usual. LOTS of dust and metal flying around today!

Although it looks like we have done very little, we really have made a lot of progress today. Garry has gone away with a little task... re soldering a PCI-E riser... 164 pins and counting!!! This is so we can give the card the angle I want. If we cant, then I will have to change the angle slightly so that we can ensure that the riser doesn't get blocked by the PSU.

It's starting to come together now!!

 

[davido_labido]

Oh yes looking rather dandy my friend

Thanks John!!

Damn, that looks good.
Wanted to do white and purple to replace my white and red theme.
But after looking at this, mine won't have anything on it!

aaah, im sure you can do far better buddy! If i can do it anyone can!!


Right, so some progress!!!

A huge thanks again to BitFenix! I forgot to grab some fans and LEDS when i grabbed my bits from them last time, so I rang OcUK yesterday and they sent them out for me, BitFenix picked up the bill <3!

So, the fans:

I have never used these on radiators so it will be interesting to see how they do. This build really will be a challenge to cool, the loop layout isnt the best, but with such a small case i have to make some little sacrifices.

I also picked up a 60cm white Alchemy LED strip

with the fans fitted, I could finally see where im going to place the radiators!
The 240mm one will be going at the front, the fans fit perfectly fine, however the radiator doesn't. Im going to have to make a bracket or find another way to attach it as due to me flipping the motherboard tray, the radiator now wont sit flush with the fan holes. Its annoying, but hey, this is modding!

I needed the top rad to go here, unfortunatly this area is reserved for SSDs... Not any more!!
I drilled holes where the red circles are, i also cut away where the red crosshash is so that the PSU will fit in a little better...

Now the fan can sit inbetween the top cover and the chassis.

and the radiator sits pretty underneath

I have also sorted out the placement of the GPU!!!!!!!! WOOOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOO!!!!

i fitted the CPU block, and started to add some tubing, its started to finally come together!

The rez is attached directly to the radiator with 2 90 degree fittings and a male to male fitting.

I need to change these fittings to some black chrome ones, but for now, i think im going to do a parallel loop, it looks so much cleaner in this case.

How the GPU will sit, ok, I do need to redo the bend from the block to the rez, tbh, i wasnt expecting to be able to even start doing the loop for a couple of weeks yet!!!!

Excuse the mess!, here you can see how close the 2 radiators are, and also how close the PSU is to everything.

The radiators, PSU, GPU and case will soon be white and Mayhems are busy making me some purple coolant ready to fill it up!

Its starting to get there now! Exciting!

 

[davido_labido]

Looking good!

Thanks Gary!! And thanks for the help the other day!!

Can't help but think if you used a reference GPU you wouldn't have the spacing issue - that Asus card's custom PCB is a lot bigger, hence the ports on the block are a lot higher.

However, the angled GPU placement looks crazy cool. Great work so far. Will be good to see the top panel go on with the fan there - I've been looking at pics measuring in my head wondering if everything will fit.

Wanted to have a crack at watercooling a Pandora before your log showed up, and now I just want to do it ever more!!

Aaah, yeah, a reference card would probably fit, but tbh, I didnt want the build to be too easy else i wouldn't have anything to show you guys... I had already ordered the riser cable too, which i guess shows a little planning ahead Everything will definitely fit... I still have plenty of blades for my dremel


So, I got back from working away this morning and had 2 parcels waiting for me !

One was from:

I sent Mayhems a little bit of paper with some spray paint on which im using for this build. Unfortunately in my rush to get it out of the door i didn't wait for it to dry for long enough so the paper got stuck together! Still, they did a fantastic job colour matching and today I got this. So this is what i sent:

It looks like mine and Mayhems relationship has gone past the labeled 1litre bottles and has got to the stage where they are sending me huge 5litre drums haha. I love these bottles!!

I absolutely love this colour! This is made with the brand new "non stain" or reduced stain dyes that Mayhems have created. These are made so that they only colour the fluid and not any hard surfaces or your skin. You can tell they don't compromise on the colour!!!

And here are 2 pictures next to the panels ive spray painted. The colour looks almost identical, ok, its a little lighter, but some of that will be the reflection of the lights, it really is so similar its crazy

Im super happy with this!!

Thanks Mick and Steve!!


Another package was from my brand new sponsors!!!

Now, I have a good relationship with the CM crew, we always have a laugh and a few beers when we meet so its great that they are able to support me!

CM Storm have sent me this lovely bunch of goodies!

They sent me a mouse mat....

The mouse mat is a really nice size and with this stitching around the edges, i can imagine it lasting a good while.

And they sent me a nice mouse!

So far I havnt plugged it in, but it is meant to have some nice LED features, so I will be interested in seeing them!

And now onto my favourite peripheral. The Rapid-I has some amazing LED features and really is a dream to type on (yup, im using it now, but SHHHH!!! don't tell them!!!)

Nice and simple <3

And with no over the top branding... GJ

Just playing around with the keycaps a little

The keyboard is only available with 1 switch type in the UK, luckily its a brown!!!

Love the white LEDS with this font

hmmmm, this keyboard is a little bit... black though...

I am going to be trying to make sure the keyboard and mouse match the build obviously. The Keyboard im not too worried about, i will probably do that this afternoon, the mouse... well... my thinking cap is on there!!!

A massive thanks to Cooler Master and Mayhems again for making this happen!!

It wont be long till my next update! Im going to have a few hours sleep (worked nights) then il be modding!

Thanks folks!

 

[davido_labido]

I can ship over a little more Red dye to darken it a touch more how ever i think once its in the system with the tubing its should pretty really close.

Its spot on already tbh Mike, I am super impressed as per usual! Thanks buddy!!!!

This looks ridiculously good! Loving the colour combo and GPU placement.

Thanks man il will be spraying everything white this weekend, and booking in my chassis for some powder coating love!!!

 

[davido_labido]

Nice keyboard.
Why am i getting a feeling it wont be staying that colour?

of course it wont!!! haha, I will be starting to make the first changes to that tomorrow probably!

Amazing progress, one of my fav builds. That Mayhems looks epic!

Thanks man! yeah I am really impressed with Mayhems as per usual! They do an amazing job!

Right, first of all, apologies the following pics are not so great, ive been neglecting the camera a little in favour of getting the build into a somewhat completed state, I have had a few deadlines dropped on me and i need to get it into a somewhat good looking state before the weekend !!!!!

once ive done that, i will strip it again and add the finishing touches before the event its attending in 2 weeks time

So:

what ive done!

Kicked my bloody cat out of the Pandora box... it seems its his favorite toy lately!

painted the rads:

and also painted the GPU block!

which i REALLY like

(except for the finger prints haha)

I have also started to cut the window, original plan was what you see here with the curved window.

but I ran out of time, i even had to carry the panel on the train with me whilst i worked away from home for 3 days, i took it with me with a file, a saw and some emery cloth!!

by the time id got to work on the train, i had to go sleep, work my 12hour shift, go out with the family for dinner, came home at 11PM (i have to be back up at 4am) and had to finish the panel ready for the powder coaters.

It meant i ditched the curved idea to save me a lot of time. I finally finished it at 1.30 AM so i managed to get a massive 3.5 hours sleep before my next 12 hour shift

unfortunately i did forget to grab a snap of this (I was tired!!!!) I will make sure i get some when i get it back though!!!

Unfortunately the powder coaters couldn't do the actual frame, just the panels, as they weren't sure if it was powder coat or paint on the frame and didn't want to risk it. so i have had to paint it at home

which is still drying on the washing line whilst i post this!!

So, it really is a bit of a Poopadilly update this is, but i will leave you with this pic: this is what it looks like with the new sprayed blocks and rads its starting to look like a PC now!!!

Tomorrow i will be doing some far better pics and updates, including getting my new keyboard sprayed!!!

Cheers folks!!

 

[davido_labido]

cheers bro, il be sending Andy some finished (looking) shots tomorrow morning hopefully!!

 

[davido_labido]

I am thinking of a way to do it whilst keeping the logos for now though with being short on time, things that are already white are in the "if i have time, finish this off" pile

 

[davido_labido]

When you paint parts (like those hyper x SSD's i've seen in H2Orange) do you sand them down first or just spray straight over the current paint?

What paint do you use as well if you don't mind me asking?

depends entirely on what it is tbh buddy, if it has a rubber coating or is really glossy, i will give it a quick rub with some wet and dry just so the primer sticks better

 

[davido_labido]

Would it be possible to do the lettering on them in purple? Its difficult to see as theres no close ups but changing what looks to be black to the purple used on for the lines on the motherboard would look awesome

I will be trying something with it if i get the time (it looks like i wont have tbh) but after the events i will have another crack at it!

Epic sauce.

Thanks buddy! Sorry for taking 2 of your stock

looks amazing!

Thanks BitFenix!! Thanks for the support as always!!!

So, i took my panels to be powder coated last week, i got them done at a local place and they have really done me proud! they look excellent.

Unfortunately i couldn't get them straight away as i was playing with about 40 processors, 10 GPU's and 4 or 5 Mobos... oh, and 200 liters of LN2.

LN2 overclocking was fun!

I went straight from that event to work away for 3 days and then picked up the panels and headed to E22.biz and Hex Gear!

Whilst i was there, i of course wanted to see the new hex gear case, so here is a little preview of the CEO and his partners computers! These are not the finalised cases, there are a few new features to be added, but still, they are rather sexy!!

(theres 3.5cm of cable management space behind the mobo tray!)

The CEO's

The CEO of Hex Gear also owns E22.Biz, so it was a few steps into his workshop and we got to this (sorry about the aweful quality of this pic, i just simply forgot to focus haha)

The idea is to laser off the powder coating, keeping the brushed aluminium of the Pandora intact underneath.

this is the first test image we did on the inside of the back panel

we could see the white still, so we intensified the laser

FIRE ZE LASER!!!!

then to test it on the outside panel, somewhere inconspicuous first!

and what i really wanted to add, my sponsors!!!

I wanted to do it in a way that stands out, but not too "in your face"

I dont like stickers too much, so I think this is a really nice way to do it

It has also given me ideas for another build that i want to do!

I really like these, and thanks to E22 for making it happen!!

I have also started to mod the cables again, now i know where the GPU is going, i want to cut all the extensions down, then add the connectors for the BitFenix PSU so that they can go straight into the PSU rather than onto the standard black sleeved PSU cables

whilst i was doing this, a nice suprise from OcUK turned up! Thanks guys!

and this is where i am now.

Jobs to do:

• drop the GPU down around 10mm, somehow i have lost the position i had it in originally and now the fittings are sticking out of the case again!!
  
• re do all the tubing
  
• make a back plate to hide the cuts that i will have to make for the GPU wires.
  
• paint the PSU
  
• fill the loop
  

Im only at home 3 days of the next week to get this build finished now, so this is why this part of the build log is so scattered! but i will make sure that i add more pics once its done!

 

[davido_labido]

Thanks guys.... I have 2 days at home to finish this build now (Tuesday and wednesday) and then it will be on show!

Getting slightly worried whether I will finish in time, but I think I should be. Fingers crossed for no problems Haha =D

 

[davido_labido]

Not long now Steve!

Tbh, it's just sorting out cable management (which will be a huge job in this case Haha) fill the loop and test it and then make sure it all works ready for it to be on an awesome stand at I54 =D

 

[davido_labido]

Be careful where you grab the crimping tools from, some won't work with atx pins, I can't tell from that pic on rapid online (the crimps are the same, just not sure about the teeth which is what matters)

If you want to be sure look at e22.biz they have crimping tools regularly that are pre set for atx pins for sure!

 

[davido_labido]

What spray paint did you used for painting?

its actually just cheap automotive paint, as long as your not too crazy with it you can get some good results!

right folks, need your help again! ive been nominated for mod of the month over at bit-tech!!! if you guys have an account, could you please pop in a vote for me?

http://forums.bit-tech.net/showthread.php?t=282671

thanks!!