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Cold Winter | By C4B

C4B
Level 7
Hello again!

Now that Im finished with CURV3D I can start with my next project. I have been waiting to start working on this. Ive been planning how to make this as good as possible. This is the project I will spend most time on ever. Hope you will enjoy this log, feel free to comment and please give me advice and tips.

Lets start with a little info about this build. You may remember my log of this build I posted around a year ago. I also made a version 2 of it, and now the third and last version is coming.

This is my favorite build of all time, so now I want to make it as goodlooking as possible. What Im going to do is to correct the mistakes Ive made before, add some features to hide cables and things like that. I will also fill it with a little bit newer hardware and this time Im going for some nice watercooling, not an all-in-one like the Antec Kuhler I had in V.2.

List of things to do:

  • Paint the right acrylic side of the case (on the inside) black, so you cant see in from the side. Thats the side where the motherboard will be installed. DONE
  • Make coverplates out of acrylic to cover cables, psu and waterpump.
  • Make a hole in the bottom and in the backpanel for the new psu.
  • File down the acrylic so it fits perfectly with the acrylic piece. DONE
  • Sleeve everything white, black and aqua.
  • Hide as much of the cables as possible
  • Install watercooling
  • Getting the hardware


Hardware:
MB: Gigabyte GA-F2A88XN-WIFI
CPU: AMD A10-6800K
RAM: Corsair Dominator Platinum 2x4gb 2133MHz
SSD: Samsung 840 120gb
PSU: Be-Quiet SFX 300W

In V.2 I used AMDs Llano, and I fell in love. Since then I have been waiting for the next generation and now Trinity is here. When I have time for games I either play Starcraft 2 or Dota 2 and those arent really hardware demanding games, but the Trinity still is pretty good. So what I want is a HTPC but with possibilities of some simpler games to be played. So what I want to add for hardware is a m-itx motherboard for Trinity, socket FM2. As APU I want the best possible so Im trying to get a hold of a A10-6800K, and then add 2 sticks of 4GB DDR3 2133MHz ram.

EKWB! Thank you for helping me.



MNPCTech sponsored me with this fan grill to have in the front, should look awesome!

Clear Acrylic 120mm Overkill "Nautilus" PC Fan Grill from Mnpctech.com





EK DCP 2.2 Combo:



What Ive done so far is to strip the case from almost everything except the LCD and powerswitch.

Front:



Back:



Left side:



Right side. This is the side I want to paint black on the inside so you cant see into it from here.



The acrylic is pretty messed up as you can see. It was that from the beginning. Many scratches. But at the same time I feel like it gives the case a kind of vintage look, I still want to make it look a bit nicer though. So I will start by cleaning and polish it as much as possible. Do any of you guys know how to remove scratches from acrylic? Clearcoat it? Use a little blowtorch? Any advice?

First thing Im going to start with is to cut the acrylic maybe 3-4mm so it fits perfect with the white plate. Then paint the backside of the acrylic black. So this is what I have to work with for a couple of weeks:



I painted the right inner side of the acrylic piece black. Looks pretty good. Now you cant see anything from the other side, just as I wanted.

I started with isolate a little bit.



Then I just painted it, 3 layers.







And this is how it looks from the outside.



Ive lowered the plexi a few mm to fit better to the white bended plate. I put everything together and took some pictures, I really love the black side.

The edge before. A little bit to high.



Measured how much to cut.



Dada!



Think this looks really good.



Right now Im waiting for the hardware so I can start measuring out how to fit everything, how to make the shroud and so on.

Will be updating as much as possible. Please comment and give me advice and tips. Everything and everyone is welcome.

With kind regards
Johan Nyman
Scratchbuilds | CURV3D | Cold Winter |
14,509 Views
17 REPLIES 17

C4B
Level 7
The loop is filled with Mayhems, its leaktested and the computer boots up! This project is now finished. I took some pictures of the result, the final pictures will be taken tomorrow though, but here are some sneakpeaks.







What do you think?

With kind regards
Johan Nyman
Minimalistic PC's
Scratchbuilds | CURV3D | Cold Winter |

C4B
Level 7
Hello everyone!

So I finally finished Cold Winter, the third version. I went back and checked when I started the first project log for this case, 2011-01-04, a while ago. However, this mod has meant a lot to me, this was the second serious project I made and the first one I was really satisfied with. Since then I made a second version and then started planning a third version that I promised myself was going to be the last, and here it is!

The sad part is the scratches on the acrylic, this was made when I built this case at my school, someone there thought it was funny to start etching stuff on it, the same happened at Dreamhack. So sad, I tried as good as possible to polish it but not with a really good result. The good part is that isnt really easy to see if you dont put a light right on the scratches.

I want to say thank you for all the nice comments and feedback of Cold Winter and I also want to give a big shoutout to the sponsors for helping me with the hardware!

EKWB! Thank you for helping me.



Be Quiet sponsored me with a Shadow Rock 2.



Gigabyte sponsored me with a GA-F2A88XN-WIFI.



MNPCTech sponsored me with this fan grill to have in the front, should look awesome!

Clear Acrylic 120mm Overkill "Nautilus" PC Fan Grill from Mnpctech.com





Well do you want to see the final pictures? Here you go! 🙂















Ill be back here with more updates on other projects. Until then, I would be happy if you would like to check out my facebook-page where I post all my projects, updates and giveaways. Check it out and like it. 🙂

Thank you everyone!

With kind regards
Johan Nyman
Minimalistic PC's
Scratchbuilds | CURV3D | Cold Winter |

jaggerwild
Level 7
Great work! Love it!
Asus X79 DELUXE
3930K WATER
2X Intel 520 Raid o
2X GTX 780ti DCII OC WATER
16 GB G skill 2133
Corsiar AX1200
Acer 24" 1080
Swiftech MCP655 Vari
HWlabs 3/120
Asus DVD

BLIND BIOS FLASH LINK http://rog.asus.com/forum/showthread.php?12749-RIVE-BIOS-FlashBack

jaggerwild wrote:
Great work! Love it!


Thank you jaggerwild!
Scratchbuilds | CURV3D | Cold Winter |

Antronman
Level 10
Bitfenix Prodigy, only better. 🙂
Say hi to the next generation.

Peace is a lie, there is only Passion

Through passion, I gain strength

Through strength, I gain victory

Through victory, my chains are broken

The Republic of Gamers shall free me

Antronman wrote:
Bitfenix Prodigy, only better. 🙂


Hehe thank you, for me this is a pretty perfect size for a mini-itx case. 🙂
Scratchbuilds | CURV3D | Cold Winter |

hero1
Level 7
Good job on the build C4B.
i7 4770K| ASUS Maximus VI Formula| G. Skill Ripjaws Z 16 GB 1866 MHz| 256 Samsung 830| AMD R9 290X CF| Silverstone S. E 1000W| Creative SB Z| Samsung DVDRW| Dell 27" U2713HM| Logitech G710+| Corsair M60 and G27 Racing Wheel| Sennheiser PC 350
Cooling: 2 x 360 mm EKWB XTX rads, EK-D5 Vario w/ Plexi Top, X3 Res, Supr Plexi Copper, CSQ fittings, Noctua Fans

hero1 wrote:
Good job on the build C4B.


Thank you hero1!
Scratchbuilds | CURV3D | Cold Winter |