Project Beta Evolved

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Hi guys, so this will be my first real mod of any kind and I've only done it to this extent because it is for my daughter, my daughters 5th birthday. Now, this may seem kind of young to some of you but let me assure you this kid knows her stuff, she's been looking at heavily modified rigs since before she could crawl! :p

It all started a few years ago, I was in the shed sorting some things out and my daughter came in to me from the garden, she instantly looked up and knew what this blue box up on the shelf was and hit me with "I want that to be my computer one day Daddy", she must have been around 2 and a half at the time but ever since then she's almost constantly reminded me about the PC in the shed, that it should be hers, told me it needed a window with "BGR" lights (she means RGB) and white cables (she says this because I have custom cables in my rig that are white), I even took her into the local Halfords to let her pick the colour she wants for the case which she did not let me down on, wow am I in love with the colour, I did however add something a little girly but we'll get to that later.

So here I am a couple of years down the line, what was once a quick spray job on a NZXT Beta Evo case has now started to evolve into something much more special for my daughter. I have for what I think to be obvious reasoning called this the NZXT Beta Evolved so let me get this project log started!

The specs of this build are rather old to say the least but this machine will only be playing child/indie style games and the specs are something I can work over time but the main part of this project is purely bringing back a case from 2010 into 2018!

Before I go any further I'd like to give a big big thank you to my sponsor, none other than themselves Overclockers.co.uk without them I wouldn't of been able to give this build the perfect look!

Specs: upon completion.
NZXT Beta Evo.
CableMod Pro cable extensions.
CableMod Silver thumb screws.
Asus Crosshair IV Formula.
AMD 1090T.
AMD R7 260.
Crucial Tactical 2x 4Gb 1866mhz DDR3.
Some Cooler Master PSU
Corsair H80
NZXT Hue+
NZXT AER RGB 120mm x3


It all started when I had no clue about what I was doing (who's to say I have a clue now I guess), anyways, Here's what the case looked like before I started working on it this time around and I must apologize for the bad quality photos but the first couple was taken many years ago.

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I know what you all thought, what a state though right? How can I ever produce something good if this was my previous work? :O

Anyway's Here I go, lining up to make the first cut! I might of been wishing for a bit of luck here on out...

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And of we cut!

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As it turns out I got rather into cutting and didn't stop to take any more photos.

Time for prepping!! If I'm honest I rather like this look, reminds me of Robocop but then I remind myself that this build isn't for me...

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On goes the primer.

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Now this is where you start to see the colour my daughter chosen for her rig and it is Ford Purple velvet!

First layer of base coat

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Second layer of base coat.

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Once the final coat had been applied along with the layers of clear coat and buffed the weather wasn't so great and had to settle for this somewhat appetizing photo.

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Here's a better shot though.

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Now that all the panels are painted I think it is time to concentrate on the front bezel of the case. This was the hardest part of the build by far, somewhat by my own mistakes but the end results was more than worth it, let me show you the beauty after I explain the steps used to create this look.


It all started with a little sparkle...

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Then... Primer, matt black paint, sprinkle with glitter whilst wet, flat off, lacquer (at least 800 times maybe more depending on how much glitter you used) flat off with 1200 then 2000 wet and dry sandpaper and a block re-lacquer and then finally buff the hell out of it!!

In the end you should end up with something looking a little like this.

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I understand this look won't be for everyone but let me just take this moment to remind you all this for a little girls 5th birthday. :)

Here's the acrylics :D
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Now, time for some artwork on the side and top panels.

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Here we go some test fitting... And we have a PSU shroud!

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The pink in the front may be changed to purple acrylic mirror but right now this will fit.

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... And that's it folks, you've all caught up to where I am with the build and the log will be updated accordingly. Really hope you guys appreciate the time and level of work I've put into this build, it's taken a lot more hours than I ever thought possible but I am loving this project.

The build is somewhat behind schedule by a fair bit now, my daughters birthday has passed but she has yet to see the whole thing put together despite that it was suppose to be a birthday present so as I type this I am still hopeful that she will be blown away by the build. The delay mainly is because I am waiting for the custom cables but I am hoping that won't be too long now, I got the NZXT Hue+ and AER's just today so not had time to fit them, as mentioned I will update the log when things get done this end. :)
 
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Who doesn't want some purple glitter with silver accenting in their life?

Just make sure it's pure white LEDs inside to properly shine the colour.

I wanted pure white but we're having to settle for somewhat old hardware of mine, I just don't have the funds believe it or not for anything more and so I don't think pure white LEDs will help with the ascetics of the hardware, that said though this build is for my daughter and she has the final say when it comes to her personal use... It'll probably be unicorn puke (RGB) for some months.
 
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It's almost play time! :D

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Alright so this is long over due and I'm sorry about the delay. In the end I'm happy to of waited and super happy with what the printer guy produced for the project! This does now at least mean I can get the rig finished over the weekend and wait for the right weather for a small photo sesson to finalize the build.
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