Storm Trooper

[gcaster]

Storm Trooper v2 here.

Storm Trooper v3 below:

Specs:

Spoiler

Case:

Modded NZXT Phantom (White)​

Motherboard:

MSI Z77a-GD65​

CPU:

Intel SB i5 2500k @

4.2GHz 24/7 (1.200V)
4.8GHz Stable
5.2GHz Max (Benched But Volatile!)​

GPU:

GTX 670 w/ Custom Backplate @

1300/1850MHz 24/7
1319/1857MHz Max Heaven Bench​

RAM:

8GB: 4GB G-Skill RipjawsX & 4GB Crucial Ballistix (8-8-8-24)​

Sound:

Asus Xonar DGX​

Storage:

Crucial M4 128GB SSD (OS)
Samsung 840 256GB SSD
WD Green 2TB
WD Green 1TB
WD Green 500GB​

PSU:

Coolermaster 850W Silent Pro​

Cooling:

XSPC Raystorm CPU Block
Heatkiller GPU-X³ GTX 680 Ni-Bl "Hole Edition"
Laing D5 w/ EK X-Top (White)
XSPC RS360
EK-Coolstream XTC 140
EK-Multioption RES X2 - 250 Advanced
Bitspower 1/2" Barbs/Compression
EK Rotaries
Tygon 1/2" Clear Tubing
Mayhems Pastel Blue Coolant

Bitfenix Recon Fan Controller (White)
3x Corsair SP120 Quiet Edition
1x Bitfenix Spectre Pro LED 120mm (White)
1x Akasa Apache Black 140mm​

Monitors:

DGM IPS-2701WPH 27" IPS (2560x1440)
Asus ML-239H 23" IPS (1920x1080)​

Peripherals:

Logitech G600 MMO Gaming Mouse (White)
Razer BlackWidow Mechanical Keyboard
Belkin n52te Gamepad
XBox 360 Controller
Corsair HS-1a Headset​

My HWBOT profile.


Photos:
Apologies for the quality, taken with my S4.

Front:

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Side:

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System Off/On:

Inside:

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24/7 Clocks:

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And my next new toy! Click to enlarge.

I hope you like it! Feedback, criticism & suggestions are always welcome.

Greg (In Game: Yro)

 

[gcaster]

I'd potentially switch out the Crossfire GPUs and replace with something like a single 670 but I'm not really sure. I'll certainly be going NVidia when I do upgrade the cards though.

 

[gcaster]

apart from dodgy drivers

Hit the nail on the head with that one, they're completely useless.

 

[gcaster]

Soooo, I'm about to change it again. Sick of the mesh side panel so I've bought me some perspex to make a custom window, essentially gonna cut out the whole panel apart from the top right corner (don't want to be looking at the 5.25" bays) to make a big 'L' shape.

Excuse the crappy phone pics, will get some proper ones taken when it's finished but for the time being this should give you an idea of what I'm playing with. 3MM clear black perspex sheet, 500x500mm. £13 delivered from you least favourite auction site.

Spoiler

 

[gcaster]

Chopped the side panel to bits today. It's a little bit rough around the edges but once I get it sanded and when the u-channel arrives I can get that stuck around it should look nice and tidy.

Also ordered a 120cm LED strip to replace the CCFL tubes which should highlight the insides a bit more.

Perspex is just held in place by a couple of pieces of electrical tape at the moment but looking good thus far:

Spoiler

 

[gcaster]

U-Channel and mounting tape (3M 4010 tape) arrived today so the window is in, certainly was a tight fit to get a window that size in and still have the door fit!
Anyway it looks great imo, I'll get some proper pics uploaded and dropped in the opening post one my LED lighting arrives.

Spoiler

Lights off:

Lights on:

 

[gcaster]

Main post updated to show the new window.

 

[gcaster]

Lovely build mate, really nice

How's the perspex holding up, the tape strong enough?

What did you use to cut the perspex and door?

Would you mind trusting me the details of the place where you bought the perspex (and what one you bought), trim and 3M tape?

Did you use white LEDs?

Sorry for all the questions, just looking to something similar and yours looks ace

Cheers, really chuffed with hoe it came out.

Perspex is holding up great, the tape is seriously strong. I tried an alternative to the 3M 4010 that I could find in the UK but it wasn't anywhere near as good.

Door and perspex were cut with a Dremel, looks a lot easier with a jigsaw but I don't have one!

LED's were just white yeah. I went with Phobya LEDs in the end as BitFenix's LEDs are a tad on the expensive side.

 

[gcaster]

Alright guy that pc looks sick. Absolutely love the window. Did you cut the perspex bigger then the hole in the side? How secure is the tape?

Cheers. Window's easy enough to make if you're handy with a dremel. Cut the hole, cut the perspex bigger than the hole and stick it behind it. The tape is as solid as a rock, more than strong enough for the perspex.

 

[gcaster]

Nice 1 mate thanks for the info. I figured thats how you did it. Just a bit concerned about the gap between side panel and the perspex.

What thickness did you use?

Cheers

I was also pretty dubious about that but it looks great, there's no gap at all. The u-channel helps to hide that it's set back from the metal panel and with it you can't really tell the perspex is deeper than the panel. If you use plenty of tape all around the cut it'll hold the perspex tight enough to seal any gaps, just be sure to leave enough room for the perspex to be able to overlap your cut when putting the panel back onto your case. I had to fine trim the perspex several times as my cut is VERY close to the internal case structure at the left and right edges.

sorry to post another question about the window, but with the U channel fitted, surely the window is sitting 1-2mm away from the actual panel, has taping it down not made it flex in the middle?

Yeah you're right there is a very slight bow to the perspex but not that you can tell. It helps with mine that I've left the top right of the panel in tact as the intrusion into what would be a rectangular window provides more stability and counteracts the bowing. Also, the 4010 tape is pretty thick (maybe 1.5mm?) so the perspex doesn't actually sit much closer to the panel than the channel edge anyway.

 

[gcaster]

I love the pic with the MSI wallpaper on the screen. Great mod mate!

Cheers bud.

Is that black electrical tape on your res?

Sure is, it was originally a 150mm res until I bought a 250mm tube from EK to extend it but it leaked like hell. Bit of plumbers tape on the threads sorted it out but looked kinda hideous so I just covered it up with the electrical tape. I'm pretty anal about the looks in there and it doesn't bother me so it'll do.

 

[gcaster]

Build looks great mate.

Quick question, why are two of the mounting screws on your CPU block different ?

Cheers.

I used to run the top rad under 2x 200mm fans and the rad overlapped the top 2 bolts so had to trim them down. I'm looking at replacing the CPU cooler with an XSPC Raystorm before long so those bolts will soon be history!

 

[gcaster]

Just pulled the trigger on the Raystorm

 

[gcaster]

Updates coming soon...

Previous build below.

Spoiler

Not so much of a project log this one, just an end result gallery of my NZXT Phantom rig. I started this project just over a year ago(it's first incarnation looking like this ) and I've finally settled on the following after LOTS of gradual changes both big and small.

Anyway, there's a little explanation and system specs at the end but I'll kick off with some images (sorry for the quality, these were taken with a compact):

Without the custom window:

With the custom window:

Hope you like it!

The cooling loop took quite a bit of case modding including a big hole in the floor at the front.
Although not that obvious from the pictures the metal behind the mesh has been removed and when viewed from the side acts as a window.
You may be able to spot the full cover GPU block is actually a copper block but I've since painted it silver.

System:

Intel Core i5 2500k
MSI Z77A-GD65
4GB G-Skill RipjawsX
4GB Crucial Tactical Tracer
MSI Radeon 6950 (@6970)
XFX Radeon 6950 (@6970)
64GB + 128GB Crucial M4 SSDs
4TB HDD Storage
Coolermaster 850W Silent Pro
Pioneer BD-ROM​

Cooling:

EK Supreme LT CPU Block
EK FC6970 GPU Block
EK VGA Supreme GPU Block
Laing D5 w/ EK X-Top
EK Multioption X2 250 Advanced Res
EK Coolstream XT 240 Radiator
EK Coolstream XT 140 Radiator
White Primoflex 3/8" - 1/2" Tubing
Mayhems Pastel Blue Coolant
Nickel Compression Fittings
1 x Akasa Apache Black 120mm
1 x Akasa Apache Black 140mm
2 x Akasa Viper 120mm​

 

[gcaster]

6 Months after "coming soon" updates have arrived.
I hope you lovely people like it, let me know what you think.

 

[gcaster]

It sure does, bloody nightmare to fill but once that rad is filled and bled it runs a treat.