Gary Murphy Posted April 9, 2017 Author Share Posted April 9, 2017 The chrome plating process went fairly smoothly and I decided to chrome the two D5 pump covers, the two front grills and all the copper tubing. Here you can see the two chromed pump covers. This shot shows a little more of the chrome. There are two grills on the front of this beast, a 4x120mm and a 1x120mm. You can also see the recently mounted switch plate cover with the chrome vandal switches. Close-up of grills. Another shot. The switch plate is painted Candy Cobalt Blue. This is the color that all of the exterior panels are painted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Murphy Posted April 9, 2017 Author Share Posted April 9, 2017 Here are the two pump covers mounted in the system. The chromed tubing all lined up and ready. These are a fingerprint magnet and you can see some of mine on them. Here is a before and after of the tubing. Left is bare copper and right is chromed copper. First up is to install the small sections between the two video cards. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Murphy Posted April 9, 2017 Author Share Posted April 9, 2017 The leak testing went smoothly with no leaks evident anywhere. The unit was running for over 12 hours without a single drop. The one thing that was bothering me was the EVGA SLI bridge. The dull silver color was just not cutting it. Time to chrome the aluminum shell. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Murphy Posted April 9, 2017 Author Share Posted April 9, 2017 I kept the exterior panels in the original box for protection. The Candy Cobalt Blue came out beautifully. The finish is as smooth as silk and the reflection is like a mirror. The top 120mm Riing fans are still perfectly visible through the panels. This is a shot of the BAWLS logo on the side panel. Here is the back panel with the logo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Murphy Posted April 9, 2017 Author Share Posted April 9, 2017 Here are some final shots of the build in it's current state. Contemplating some additional modifications to the mid-plate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Murphy Posted April 9, 2017 Author Share Posted April 9, 2017 After listening to the Modders Inc video after QuakeCon, I am in agreement that my case interior did not match my theme of BAWLS. The exterior was good with the Candy Cobalt Blue and BAWLS logo, but the interior was lacking and too stock (i.e. flat black). I decided to disassemble the case and paint all the interior panels (except the back panel) a Pearl White color. The pearl color is a softer white and the sheen will emphasize the chrome nicely. After about 5 hours of draining both loops and disassembling all the components, the case is finally apart. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Murphy Posted April 9, 2017 Author Share Posted April 9, 2017 Here are the interior panels with that Pearl White color. The panels include the top and bottom shelves, the front fan bracket and the complete motherboard tray assembly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Murphy Posted April 9, 2017 Author Share Posted April 9, 2017 I was able to re-assemble the case with pretty much no effort at all. Here you can see all the panels have been installed and the motherboard mounted on the tray again. Definitely like the contrast that the white provides. Have replaced all the black mounting screws with chrome screws. You can see some of the screws on the bottom shelf on the left side and above the motherboard. Black screws would have broken up the white too much and the chrome actually complements the chrome tubing. One of the hardest things to reinstall was the rubber grommets on the backplate and shelves. Those things fit extremely snugly! It took some effort to get them back inside and lined up smoothly again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Murphy Posted April 9, 2017 Author Share Posted April 9, 2017 I now have the interior components mostly reassembled and mounted. As you can see, the reservoirs really stand out now with the white interior. I also mounted a BAWLS bottle into the interior. The hardest part was drilling a clean 1" diameter hole in the bottom of the bottle without breaking it. I found a nice 1" diamond tipped hole saw at Home Depot and cut cleanly through without too much problem. Now the chrome pipe runs through the bottle. That area was kind of empty previously. Also, it would not have been too noticeable with the original black background. The leak testing finished with not a single drop showing on any fitting. Now to work on the wiring. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Murphy Posted April 9, 2017 Author Share Posted April 9, 2017 Received some Gosumodz Alliance Combs from MAINframe Customs. The items were shipped promptly and delivered on-time. These are some truly beautiful cable combs made out of a special aluminum alloy! I ordered the 24-pin, 12-pin, 8-pin and 4-pin versions in the natural color. I removed the clear plastic cable combs and these new combs will really complement the build more. They also have anodized versions in red and black. The sizes available are 4-pin, 6-pin, 8-pin, 12-pin, 14-pin, 16-pin and 24-pin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.