Project : Purple Rain

Brizzles · 6 Dec 2009 at 20:37

More work completed

The mesh for the fan grills arrived on Friday, so i had most of the weekend to crack on with buliding.

Last time i tried to drill mesh i managed to snag it on the drill bit, so instead of drilling the mounting holes i cut the corners off the mesh squares.

De burred and ready for spraying ( 5 down, 4 to go ).

Into the high tech spraying workshop ( Well, bathroom and 3 tins of Mushy Peas and a tin of Baked Beans !)

Brizzles · 6 Dec 2009 at 20:38

Front fan grills completed and mounted.

Mounting the pump for the RAM loop, hidden behind the radiator shroud.

Both finished;

Brizzles · 6 Dec 2009 at 20:40

Onto some internal lighting.

Didn't want to use cathodes as they are hard to hide and they have nasty inverters with them.

Welcome to these babies, SMD LED tape.

Self adhesive, low profile (so can be hidden), can be cut to just the right size and brighter than cathodes.

Here's some test shots of the UV lighting;

Should be leak testing tommorrow, all being well.

Cheers for now

Mark

GJS1 · 6 Dec 2009 at 21:44

It looks amazing

I will look into those LED strips

PishY · 6 Dec 2009 at 22:27

wow wow and wow!

speechless mate, great colours and build! thanks for the pics and the read!

TheTard · 6 Dec 2009 at 23:20

The White tubing looks much better, especially under the UV light

Monkey Puzzle · 6 Dec 2009 at 23:57

Didn't want to use cathodes as they are hard to hide and they have nasty inverters with them.

Welcome to these babies, SMD LED tape.

Looks very nice - do they provide even lighting? It's difficult to tell how far apart the leds are...

How do you power them - just solder a molex connector to the connections of one end of them?

Where can you get them from?

Ducky Spud · 7 Dec 2009 at 10:32

I asked on here before about LED strips instead of cathodes but nobody posted any photos

This shows they work great though! I was worried about the lighting not being even but no problems there

Looking good

dekez · 8 Dec 2009 at 11:26

Looks really good, I'd be interested to know more about those LED strips as well.

Brizzles · 8 Dec 2009 at 12:03

Cheers guys

The LED strip was supplied by my new sponsor for my lighting and LED supplies ;

http://www.phenoptix.com

I have used them for some time, and highly recommend them for their service and quality.

They have kindly agreed to supply me with the lighting to finish this product, so big thanks to Ben at Phenoptix.com.

As these were only testing photos of the strips, i'll post in a bit more detail when i've finalised the position of the internal lighting.

Monkey Puzzle said:
How do you power them - just solder a molex connector to the connections of one end of them?

Its that simple, Yes.

They are supplied in a continous strip,pre resistored for 12volt, you just cut the strip to size. I'll post in more detail about them soon.

Thanks for all the comments

Mark

Brizzles · 12 Dec 2009 at 17:03

Back again with a small update

Finally completed the wiring

With windows on all sides and no motherboard panel, or bottom chamber, to hide the wiring i had to make small molex leads and other lighting wiring.

Before :

After ;

(Certainly not perfect, but tidy anyway.)

And fitted the internal fan covers and mesh ;

Brizzles · 12 Dec 2009 at 17:04

As it was a rare day in December that wasn't grey, i put on 2 of the panels just for some semi-finished pics.

( Not powered up, so no case lighting )

To do;

1) Fit the Reservoir fronts, that kinda match the fans grills ( Delayed by Christmas post ).

2) A good polish

3) Finished photos, when i borrow my dads camera.

Thanks for looking, and have a good xmas all.

Cheers,

Mark

maddness · 12 Dec 2009 at 17:43

not bad, looks almost as good as mine

personally i dont think the black grills does it justice

is the side panel also tinted, you cant see anything from the top

i like the crystal clear res

good job nevertheless

Brizzles · 1 Jan 2010 at 18:22

Well the big bloke in red with the white beard brought me a failing mobo, or faulty PSU, or both !

To semi quote Gene Kranz :

I've never given up on a build, i'm sure as hell not gonna lose one on my watch!

Failure is not an option.

Out will come the trusty Asus Maximus Formula SE which has served me well.

EDIT 4/1/10 ( Turns out it was just the CMOS battery causing the issues, but im upgrading anyway

)

In will go the rather tasty looking Asus Maximus II GENE iP45.

mATX will give me a nice option for smaller builds in the future, something i've often looked at.

So nothing really to add to this thread, other than it will get finished

On with replacing the watercooling and redoing all the wiring and rebraiding the next PSU.

Back soon.

Cheers.

Mark

Brizzles · 1 Jan 2010 at 19:15

Couple of things i can add

The leds strips, i said i'd post abit more about them.

They are supplied in 'strips' - 1 strip = 3 leds

Multiple strips are supplied in a continous length, then you just cut to suit.

The are pre-resistored to take a 12v current, so just solder + and - to a molex.

DISCLAIMER - SOLDERING IRONS ARE HOT, I'VE GOT THE SCARS TO PROVE IT !!

OK, wood might not be the best heat resistant material, but it allows the iron to cool down without torching your house.

Last up, my reservoir fronts/fascias.

1 for the double, 1 for the single bay res.

Have added ' dummy' bolt heads for effect in the corners

I'll fit them when i've sorted the new watercooling .

Cheers and Happy New Year

w3bbo · 1 Jan 2010 at 20:10

Loving the build Mark. UFO's rock but are a total PITA for cable tidying as I'm sure you have found out! Excellent colour choice too! Not often I am envious of other peoples work but I do like this build mate. Well done.

From a personal perspective I would have left the front white grills as they were along with the unsheathed white tubing without the additional black grills as it looked somehow neater but hey thats just me.

GJS1 · 1 Jan 2010 at 21:47

looks amazing, keep it up

manbearpig · 1 Jan 2010 at 22:43

looks really good

esK` · 2 Jan 2010 at 12:27

w3bbo said:
Loving the build Mark. UFO's rock but are a total PITA for cable tidying as I'm sure you have found out!

I got a U2UFO and I am quite perdantic about cables but didnt myself find the cabling worse than most chassis out there, Just took some head scratching to sort out.

han_solo · 2 Jan 2010 at 13:13

great build there!

notice a brushed aluminium keyboard in one of the pics.. can you tell me which one that is?