Project John Major

Bensons

Bensons

Bensons

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Joined
9 May 2015
Posts
349


Hiho, I'm Bensons and this is my first proper build. In light of the recent UK general election I bring you.......
..........Project John Major, because well it's all a bit grey isn't it?

My aim is to build a system that is fairly low on power consumption, quiet, a little bit grey and all squashed in to my existing mATX case.

Here is the very conservative parts list:D

CPU - i5-4690k
MB - ASUS Z97M Plus mATX
RAM - 8GB Corsair Vengeance Pro 2133Mhz
GPU - GTX 960 4GB EVGA
PSU - Corsair Builder Series CX 500 Modular
CPU Cooler - Corsair Hydro H100i
Drives - Crucial MX100 256gb SSD and an old DVD drive

I already have the case and PSU from a refresh I did a while back. I have access to an ok workshop (at work) that I only use out of hours, honest. So lets get started.

I never really liked the side mesh on the Inwin so I decided to pop in some perspex.





Some black bolts came in handy.



I always loved those cover plates that hide the psu and drive bays like the NZXT's have so I decided I would make one.



You got CHOPPED son (and bent a bit).



Test fit at home that night in the kitchen as you do.



Look, I made a tunnel.



One of my mates at work has a sticker printer and we made up some carbon fiber effect wrap.





In order to fit the rad in the roof for the H100i I had to drill out the rivets for the top drive bays.



It fitted well.



Then there was a slight problem with airflow:eek:



Easy. I will just drill loads of holes and copy the pattern of the existing cooling vent.



Needless to say it took ages and looked terrible after I had done a few. I had no choice but to fire up the Dremel. Get CHOPPED!



Hmm, this handy bit of ABS was just lying around in the works off-cuts bin and not in the storage racks at all.



Added some airflow.





The hard part was getting this roof to bolt on to the top of the case with the rad. Measure twice drill once. I used the black bolts again, I love black bolts.

I took this cross member out while the Dremel was warm for when I add in some fans.





Another feature I like on cases is the rubber type grommets that you poke cables through from the back. Again mine didn't come with any of these so I decided to make some.



Spray it up and glue it on.





Now for the scary bit, the processor goes in!



And locked safe and sound. That's a first for me and I am proud but relieved.



Get out!



My bebe girl has small hands so she could get to all the fiddly bolts but the drool was just too much.

A magic floating SSD, what will they think of next? I also plan to fit a dvd drive in there.



A view of the top.



Starting to take shape.



More to follow soon, thanks for reading.
 
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good work so far, always like to see what mods people do to cases as I never do them due to not having funds to buy a new case if it goes wrong lol.

are you going to be putting some mesh or dust covers for the top of the rad?
 
dacads said:
Great stuff dude! I think that's a future gamer girl you have there ;)
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Haha thanks.

good work so far, always like to see what mods people do to cases as I never do them due to not having funds to buy a new case if it goes wrong lol.

are you going to be putting some mesh or dust covers for the top of the rad?
Click to expand...

Yes ED209 I think I will have to eventually add some mesh there (maybe I can use the mesh I took off from the side window). I like the exposed look for now though. As for the case, I had nothing to loose as it lacked so many of the features I needed:)
 
Coming along nicely. What model of Dremel do you have and what cutting wheels do you use? The cuts along the top of the case look very clean.
 
kaku said:
Coming along nicely. What model of Dremel do you have and what cutting wheels do you use? The cuts along the top of the case look very clean.
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Hi thanks, I used this one.



With these wheels. I went through about 4 I think.



Agree Sandycheeks, it has been moved:)
 
I would put a powerful GPU in the case and call it a Edwina Curry decision, because as we know, he was not as dull as he seemed!
 
Update.

Very happy. It all fired up first time and I have now installed a GTX 960 4GB EVGA. Gta 5 at 60fps with the important settings on high was my aim and I now have it with a little overclock.





I also finished making my desk and I'm pleased with the way that turned out too.





I finally have my battle station sorted, time to stop messing around and actually play some games:)
 
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