Project : Primo Midas

colinmcr · 18 Jan 2014 at 10:48

Weedode said:
Seriously bro, we need to make a light box, some of your pics are terrible. No excuse with a D3200 skins.

Anyway on a lighter note...

I am very impressed with your project, you have taken an incredible amount of time coupled with serious thought to produce what you have thus far. What's more impressive is your patience level in doing this. Trust me all, I am his brother, I know what he his like, Mr Impulsive combined with DR Iwant Itnow. So hats off to you bro.

Also surprised your able to use such intricate tools, considering your normal implement in the engine room is a mega-spanner aye.

Good luck for the final stage's, I offer my help/opinion to you, but I guess like many here, to achieve (mostly) solo brings a greater sense of pride and joy.

GAME ON!

Aha Dode you finally made it onto the forums, awesome bruv ! I like the idea of the light box, will my old kitchen cupboard carcass do? We need to get on it.
Thanks for the comments also, feel free to lend a hand when I get back.

colinmcr · 18 Jan 2014 at 11:59

Aneskimo said:
Them cables are great, he put that shade 19 in mine its just enough to break up the colours a little without taking your attention away fully.

A little idea to incorporate the greek lettering is a backplate? i got one knocked up and was a reasonable price!

Can you tell me where you had that done, or pm me?

Yep the extension with the Shade 19 is great its a nice touch with the grey of the Corsair fans.

colinmcr · 18 Jan 2014 at 14:06

doyll said:
No problem Mate. Will be on it's way Monday, Tuesday at the latest.

Love what you are doing. A custom front grill (and top grill) with lettering sounds awesome! Front grill has plenty of relief area behind face for lettering to be kinda camouflaged behind face. Top is trickier

Gold accent on outside may be tricky. Yellow/gold lighting sounds very nice. Having a hard time envisioning other possibles. Obviously yellow/gold lighting through grills and from bottom onto floor. Will be interesting to see what you come up with.

I said in my OP that I wanted to keep it simple ! LOL now I wanna try all sorts, I guess that comes with confidence and seeing what other's are doing.
However maybe I should keep it simple and not disrupt the outside too much, its got such clean lines anyway. Its a tough call, I'd hate to spoil it by trying too hard (if you get my meaning).

colinmcr · 19 Jan 2014 at 10:02

Aneskimo said:
Morning mate, place called Coldzero did the backplate either a quick google or find him on facebook. He can do pretty much anything you want in any colour the company is based in portugal i think but delivery is not a problem took less than 24hrs to deliver

Cheers for that Aneskimo.

@ crypto / Sin_Chase / Staffy50

Thanks for the comments guys, will hopefully get it up and running soon but some of the other changes I have in mind might take a bit longer.

colinmcr · 24 Jan 2014 at 21:24

Guys is this just called a Dupont 2 pin male connector? Its what powers the LED strip on my case. Just wanna double check.

Sorry for the image quality on this one Davido, thought you might like to see.

colinmcr · 24 Jan 2014 at 22:04

Aneskimo said:
Looking good buddy, did you get anywhere with finding a place for the project lettering?

Only been home a day so not sussed anything out yet, need to decide best way to go I had a rather cool idea suggested.

Thanks for the comments also Setter.

colinmcr · 25 Jan 2014 at 09:58

davido_labido said:
Aah, you got the sleeving then buddy? How you finding it?

Awesome job man, its just a shame most of its hidden

I really need need to see it properly in daylight, but its pouring rain here and very dull. I like the black one also its more stealthy, its difficult to choose man !

Here is another update, these are coming from Iceland.

Looks kinda amber in the pic but its defo yellow, 4mm strip 55cm length

colinmcr · 5 Feb 2014 at 13:12

*UPDATE*

Hi guys well I've had a few issues, but I currently have the machine running but its far from what I want it to look like. I just wanted to get her powered up and checking the cooling loop and I'm currently stress testing on Folding@Home 362k PPD at the moment.

GPU temps are 32 degs CPU is sitting at 50 degs while I'm folding. At idle GPU was 26-27 and CPU was 28-30.

So I'm not happy with the LED's I got they aren't bright enough and its makes the light strip look broken ie. its not a solid line of light due to the light being emitted off to the side.
There is a lot of cable tidying needing done but also the GPU power cables need to change from red to yellow or black, atm they look awful.

I guess you all want a pic, will get one up soon of the current mess ! Anyway main thing is she's working fine.

Does anyone know how you control the Avexir ram lighting? Its like random flashing and I just want it to be on all the time.

colinmcr · 5 Feb 2014 at 13:33

Cabling ! Don't worry this is just for testing

Here is my drain valve that I fitted on the bottom rad. I simply remove the spare psu slot cover turn the fitting through 90 degs and I can drain out the case

colinmcr · 5 Feb 2014 at 13:34

Uncle Petey said:
You'd have to buy the ram direct from Avexir and specify fixed lighting for that I'm afraid.

Personally, I love the random effect on mine

Ah well I better get used to the effects then

colinmcr · 5 Feb 2014 at 14:47

doyll said:
Love the gold accent. Looking really nice.. except for no base under it.

I can assure you sir the base is in use, its been a godsend

I'll take a better shot which actually shows it lol. Have had to move it all out of the living room before the wife gets hame !

colinmcr · 5 Feb 2014 at 17:20

Its now that I discover you can't use Sli on this motherboard in slot 1 and 3. I'm supposed to be using slot 1 and 4.

:mad:

*UPDATE*

Ok now I have drained the system back down, moved the lower gpu into slot 4 and redone the tubing, refilled with no leaks and she's back up and running again and Sli is now available as an option in Nvidia control panel, selected and it worked a treat. For a quick test I did the Valley benchmark and scored 4080. Now this has also created a wee problem. I now can't use my lovely EVGA Sli bridge, I'm having to use the one supplied by Asus from the motherboard box.
Hope EVGA so a 2-way one with longer reach???

colinmcr · 6 Feb 2014 at 02:32

Its from MDPC-X mate, Nils has some very nice colours. But Davido_Labido did my extension for me, tried it myself but not up to his standards.

colinmcr · 6 Feb 2014 at 08:06

I actually have a sample of the red sleeve, if you want to see it in the flesh I can post it to you. Just send me a trust message.

colinmcr · 6 Feb 2014 at 11:14

Well I have two samples in an envelope, variety is the spice of life after all.

@Dave scratch build for x2 GPU power cables to replace these hideous red ones I have, you up for it? If you'd rather the originals I can send them.
So I'd need 8pin to 8pin+6pin times two of. To match the yellow/black you did for me. See below. I'm done my sata data

Here's my work from this morning, Need to get the end over better without fraying it so much that's why have have rather long heatshrink

Black cable taped with white insulation tape prior to putting on the yellow sleeve. (Makes a huge difference to the colour)

colinmcr · 6 Feb 2014 at 14:42

*UPDATE*

So guys this morning I've been messing around with colour combinations and carbon wrap. I am considering displaying the ssd in plain sight and thought to wrap it. Now I've come to the conclusion after trying Gold 3D/ Gold+Black 2D / Black 4D carbon that Black 4D is by far the nicest option. Although I'm torn what with having already used the Gold+Black 2D already in the case.
With that in mind I'm not 100% sure it will happen but here is some images I took to try help me make up my mind.
For the backdrop you can see the psu extension Davido sleeved for me and that I will be using in the build.

This first image show a sample of all the wraps I have covering an ssd from my laptop, also using the sata data cable I did this morning which I've decided to make yellow as opposed to black.

As I said not sure if I'll defo show it but we'll see.

This next image shows the drive in only 4D Black which is fantastic looking stuff.

The final two images are just that bit closer and really show off the nice sleeve.

colinmcr · 9 Feb 2014 at 20:59

*UPDATE*

Ok guys little bit of time today with the front fan cover panel and the front intake fans got the coloured ring inserts done. SO here are a few pics from last couple of days.

First up is the psu extension finally in place. Observate ones will notice I've scratched the cable cover panel off to the far right

Maybe have to get more carbon out to cover that!

Here is the front panel, I've got an issue with this the left hand side push in/out catch doesn't click in place only the one on the right does, although with a rather firm hit with the heel of the hand the cover does sit flush still.

First remove the outer screws, and squeeze the four tabs to release

Now remove the inner screws which hold on the front centre panel

Now the front panel is removed

Marked with top of each piece with yellow tape so when I came to reassemble I wouldn't get it mixed up !

Lift off the mesh

Then to the garage we go for some white primer first

Then one with the "Solar Gold", difficult to see the colour with the background but once you see it back in the case you'll see how nice it looks.

Here is the whole thing rebuilt ready to go back into the case, hope you like it

Some close ups

This is what it looks like from the back

Front fans minus their gold coloured rings

Now with them fitted, even though you arent gonna see them once the cover is on !

The panel fitted on the case with the top door open to view the bay res, with my gold accent XPSC

With the door closed, excuse the grease marks I should have given it a wipe down

This image shows my LED strip lit also, not happy with them though with the poor brightness and leakage make the light very uneven.

That's it for now, can't wait for the gpu cables as then I'll probably be pretty much done until I can find better LED's for the exterior strips. I also think I may have to light inside also a wee bit.

colinmcr · 10 Feb 2014 at 19:28

Bart_Hunt said:
Good job. Great build
Also makes me very jelous
Can't wait to start mine, but that's another 3 weeks

Look forward to seeing it mate once you get going

Ace_finland said:
What a great looking build! I love all the gold details, is all of it spray painted on? Seems to match all the other gold colors really well

Not much is actually sprayed, the fan rings and the front panel mesh only. The rest was done with paint marker pens of various sizes. The colour came out quite well I think. Matching things can be a pain but overall its pretty even. Glad you like it and thanks for the comments.

doyll said:
Front grill looks good in gold.

Yeah it looks pretty sweet, I'm still thinking it needs the name to go somewhere, I haven't forgotten your suggestion. I also think the interior needs more lighting as with the black smokes side panel you can't see much from the outside other than the ram flashing away.

colinmcr · 10 Feb 2014 at 19:32

Guys quick question, on the D5 pump I have the tacho output wire. Where is that supposed to be connected? I just have it on a fan header on the motherboard.

I'm assuming if I download something like HWMonitor I'll see the pump rpm?

colinmcr · 11 Feb 2014 at 22:12

Mole. said:
Saw this and thought of your Colinmcr!

http://thinkcell.ekwb.com/idea/red-gold-or-blue-backplate

Everyone need to get on there and vote for gold!

I voted gold !

So lads today I swapped out my blue res led for a yellow one, soldering isn't my forte ! I've also tried to make a warm white strip to help light the case when the covers are on as it's very dark in there. Also changed the positioning of my external strip led's and it look better than previously when placed under the plastic defuser as opposed to above it, as it is originally. Will try get some pics to show you.