Project : Primo Midas

[colinmcr]

Personally I can't stand gold as it's awlays hideous and tacky. You sir have done an exceptional job and it's not tacky in the least.

I personally think your yellow sleeving is wrong as it just doesn't fit. I would've kept it black and grey 19. but overall a mighty fine job, much grats!

Appreciate your comments, its tough decision on colour choices. I've changed my mind several times over. I do actually have a different extension in only black/shade 19 which I had Dave make for me as I just couldn't decide.

At the end of the day I went with the yellow, but its obviously not everyone's favourite. I'm currently waiting on Dave to do the gpu cables and they will have yellow also.

Its just difficult to know if its really going to work until you see it in the flesh. I loved Vanilla Sands also but I didn't want to appear to be copying million dollar pc, which looks stunning with that colour of sleeving.

My advice for anyone using Yellow though is to think long and hard about it, as its a tough one to get right and trying to get Yellow LED's that don't look amber appears impossible. Although to be fair the fact that the Enthoo case uses black tinted windows and side strips doesn't help.

 

[colinmcr]

I think yellow looks great
It gives some contrast inside which is always a good thing.

Btw, Colin, log started
So you can come and visit, updates starting tomorrow.

That's great news, I'm back at work so I'll be trawling these forums a lot for the next 4 weeks until I get home again.

Can't wait to see how you get on

Enjoy

 

[colinmcr]

Hi lads, no update yet I just got back from abroad and awaiting on gpu cables to arrive (hopefully today).

I've been looking for a keyboard as you maybe have read from previous posts, but the MSI GK-601 is very elusive.

I have a plan to get the all yellow ducky (purely for the yellow led's) I'd plasdip the frame black and maybe change the keys to white ones.

However on looking for keycap I came across the Ducky DK-9008 Shine 3 Tuhaojin ! Nice board but the price is crazy at £183.

 

[colinmcr]

ducky do a shine 2 which is black and yellow LED's i think!

If you can find it can u message me so I can have a gander, cables just arrive also Dave, thanks man great job. Oh and my 8yr old daughter won a pound with the scratch cards (nice touch)

 

[colinmcr]

Looking good mate. The GK-601 is very elusive mate, I'm on the hunt for one too, as you I'm considering the yellow Ducky, and changing the keys for the side etched black.

I found a Ducky in yellow and am now using it ! It is really nice but will take a bit of getting used to I think I would have preferred Cherry Red switches instead of black. I like how you can adjust the intensity of the LED's.
Shame about the GK-601 just to rare and couldn't wait.

Very nice. Subbed.

How did you get that finish after spraying the front grill. Mine got the odd piece of dust stuck in the paint while drying and its not fully smooth. Did you sand down the grill or just go over the black?

I did no sanding at all I did it in my garage with the door open for ventilation, otherwise the house smells of paint ! White primer, then straight on with the Solar Gold (Ford). I'm no expert when it comes to painting by any means, but I don't have any fluffy bits that I can see.

*UPDATE*

I now have the GPU cables back from my good buddy Mr Davido and they look awesome. However I am waiting for a nice day to take some pics to show you as its rather dull and grey atm.

 

[colinmcr]

Has the nice day arrived yet!?
Need some final pics please buddy !!!

I guess I should apologise guys for the lack of an update, I'm in India atm and will be home in 2 weeks.
Last time I was home I kinda suffered from a lack of enthusiasm (does anyone else get that?) and hardly touched my build other than fitting the cables Dave did for me. I was also waiting for a new SLi bridge to come from EVGA, I had to get the triple one due to the gap increasing to make Sli work. It looks much bigger than the 2 Slot bridge, so hopefully I can do a better finish on the paint this time.

I do feel my build is lacking something, just can't put my finger on it. Needing some inspiration....

I will endeavour to finish off some things and get you an update when I get back to the UK.

Thanks for the comments lads, I've seen a few more Black and Gold projects cropping up and they look great, hoping mine can be worthy of the theme when its done.

 

[colinmcr]

Not normally a fan of gold but have to say this looks really good. I have the sudden urge to play Deus Ex?

Glad you like it, I have some things to finish still. I've just ordered another Samsung 840 PRO SSD to match the original one I bought then I'll ditch the corsair one, think it'll look neater. Maybe even change those orange squares to gold ones !

 

[colinmcr]

Finally finished?

UPDATE (Yes, long time coming)

Ok so here's the changes.

1) Added a second Samsung Pro ssd, for continuity
2) All the cabling finished, LED lighting (white) added bottom and side behind cable cover.
3) Added x2 120mm fans which are exhausting out the side panel, it also filled the space which I wasn't happy about being empty.
4) Added the new Nvidia Sli bridge, which as the keen eyes will notice its not painted (well it is, as I type its drying in the garage, pic to follow).
5) Cut the original plastic cover the went over the cable cover to match it, after having scratched the metal work underneath. It looks nicer with the black plastic cover refitted also.

A big THANKS, to all those who have helped me with the project, I really appreciate your words of advice, valued additions to the build and feedback. David (Davido) and Lloyd (doyll) in particular couldn't have done it without your help guys. Great community here on OcUK

That's about it, I may update this in future but its basically as far as I'm gonna go for now fellow project followers. Anyway here's the pics....

 

[colinmcr]

Should make the SLI bridge gold as well! Good result, came out awesome !

gold sli bridge would look nice actually!

Hey chaps, the bridge is now Gold however it was very fiddly and I wasn't happy with the finish, I stripped the paint off and redid it but the pictures I took weren't the best so I never uploaded them. It was so difficult taping off the 3 light strips at either end of the bridge and on second attempt it let some paint through onto the black plastic. So I'm not happy at all with showing it when it looks a bit rough round the edges. It looks great from a distance but macro on dslr shows the flaws in my skills so that's why no pics of the gold sli bridge.

In addition I have added another 140mm fan to the rear for an exhaust as I had two spare. Also I'm surprised none of you noticed my error in the pics, I didn't refit the 3 missing pci slot grills ! I'm back at work now and looking at the pics again I realised I'd missed them D'Oh !

Now for some crazy talk.... I think I want to learn how to use hardline ! They even do it in black tubing !

 

[colinmcr]

@ Pgreenwo

Yeah I was tempted by Vanillia Sands (I even post an image of it in my log) but I felt like it was like copying Murderbox MKII a bit, it uses Vanilla sands and quite frankly is a stunning build.
In the interests of just being different I stuck with yellow, but as Dave says once he gets gold sleeving might have a rethink.

I think the build will not stop, I'll just add or refresh over time.

Things I'd like to change....

The led strips front and top didn't really come off in yellow due to the black tint to the outer plastic and very uneven lighting.
The internal lighting doesn't really show off the internals well, due to again the black tint to the side windows (are you listening Phantek? I want clear replacements)
Maybe gold more of the black metal mesh particularly on the front and side, however have to be careful not to overdo it as it'll end up looking too bling.
I'd also love to have the name somewhere on the PC I just haven't come up with a good idea (yet).
Hardline would be nice to, seeing as they do it in black also.

It'll evolve I'm sure but I have other plans for a scratch build but that's a long way off.

Here is Murderbox MKII, stunning build.

 

[colinmcr]

For the name maybe something in the center panel in lower front vent? Could be a cut out back lighting. Could even be a backlight plastic plate mounted flush with face of panel.

Yeah I did consider that, sounds like a nice option. Currently abroad again so maybe I'll have a go at that next time home.

 

[colinmcr]

Do you mind me asking what paint you used for the gold accents? All the sprays I've looked at just don't quite match ASUS gold boards..

For the gfx card / rads / and lettering highlights I used "Uni Coloured Paint Marker Oil Based Opaque Pen" size fine (PX-21) and medium (PX-20) GOLD.

For fan screws / accent rings and Sli bridge I used from Halfords "Ford Solar Gold" spray paint.

There is a slight colour variation between the pens and the spray paint, with the pen being slightly darker gold.

Hope that helps, but its extremely difficult to match the motherboard colour. The only other advice I'd give you is don't use the pens over a large area as the finish can appear uneven and every time you lift the pen from the surface it leaves a tiny blob, which I blotted off with a piece of paper.

Hope that helps

 

[colinmcr]

Thanks mate, its nice to get such feedback. Good luck with your build and let me know if you do a log so I can follow it.

I'm so upset about my poor Sli repaint I've just ordered another bridge from EVGA. I'm gonna practise on the old one some more and when I get it right only then will I do the new bridge so its perfect. I'm gonna try removing the metallic covering on the old one, think it might be hot glued on so will keep you all posted once I'm back in the UK.

Off to do some Hardline research

 

[colinmcr]

Looking for some advice, I'm back home this week and I have a brand new Sli bridge waiting for me, seeing as I made a bodge of the last one getting paint on the lighting strip.

So I'm gonna first take my bodged one and use my carbon wrap on it to see how it looks. So I will be looking for honest opinions, I will post a pic with carbon wrap, if you hate it tell me. Then I will attempt to spray paint the brand new one in my lovely Solar Gold.

Also is there a better tape to use while spraying other than masking tape? I see some green looking stuff on tv all the time, is it worth getting a roll?

One more thing, if I went to Hardline sometime in the future would you guys go with black acrylic tube? Or clear with some kinda colour, although colour fluid options would be limited based on current theme.

 

[colinmcr]

Bring it on!

I just use commercial masking tape like paint shops use. Maybe stop by one and ask to buy a roll off them. Would be cheaper than retail shops. Paint shops buy it in sleeve packs, often boxes of it at time.

I like the looks of hardline, but Primo Midas is beautiful as it is! Black, unless you want more gold colour and can colour the coolant gold.

Thanks mate, I'm also looking to add a large storage drive, not sure which tbh prefer one that's reasonably quiet.

 

[colinmcr]

wow wow wow love the colour scheme!

Glad you like it, although sometimes I'm tempted to change the yellow sleeve for Vanilla Sands. Davido made me two motherboard extensions, so I could redo the spare just to see (one day).

 

[colinmcr]

I just ordered some Vanilla Sands, so will see how that turns out

 

[colinmcr]

Well Rainagul & Davido as requested Gold Sli Bridge.

I got out my trusty heat gun and carbon wrap today. This is my old Sli bridge which I've done as a practise and tbh I quite like it. I like the texture instead of paint. What do you guys think?

 

[colinmcr]

See what you think with it fitted here's some pics... The thing is when the cover is on it looks very different.







Just threw in some shots as I've never shown it running...

 

[colinmcr]

Looks nice!

Wonder what it would look like if the lettering was in gold?
Maybe pin-stripping tape?

Do you mean the EVGA lettering?