PROJECT LOG 900D Unforgiven - The Metalica Build

[uglykidmoe]

absolutely beautiful! it's amazing what one can accomplish with just basic tools, goes to show how much your skill contributes to the project.

 

[onevoicewild]

Thank you very much! I got myself into some more pain tonite ha ha I has been talking about replicating the EK diverter inside my reservoir in Copper. I started that and it's actually going good so far. It will probably take 2 or 3 more evenings? I hope to polish and everything. The only down side to this evil plan, is I'll have to run a lite colored fluid or it will just disappear. Ahh the best laid plans of mice and men.

 

[onevoicewild]

I wanted to finish off the Back section of the mid plate. Originally I was going to use the Black Acrylic I have.
Turns out that Acrylic is just to reflective. Considering the excessive amount of shiny stuff in this case already,
I'll have to shy away from that. I have a lot of diamond plate left, but I was afraid I Might be overdosing on one material.
I decided to just try the plate and if it didn't look good, I would try something else.










If I can't sand it, polish it or file it I have no Interest in doing it! No really on this build I just seemed
to gravitate to these finishes and have been blessed with good outcomes, A lot of them unexpected.





The window side of the case has a nice little edge to hold the plate on, but on the mother board side it actually overhangs.
I was able to extend the plate under the overhang and attach it from the backside. I drilled and tapped the holes so I can remove it.





















I was glad I went ahead and tried the Diamond plate. It blends into the look without being overdone.
The big plus was that I didn't have to buy anything new.




I made a cover for the off side panel. I still hope to have the Skully Air Brushed on that side,
But I have bigger fish to fry right now and I had the material.
Not a lot of contrast, but it looks better than nothing on that side.































Most people are trying to get scratches out of their Acrylic, I'm trying to put them in.
The Black Acrylic I uses to cover the back of the drive bays was just to reflective.
With all the other shiny stuff inside the case it just didn't look right.





I'll need to work on this a little more! when this is done right, it looks like brushed aluminum.

 

[uglykidmoe]

inspires me to unpack the dremel

 

[onevoicewild]

inspires me to unpack the dremel

ya the rush of hacking holes in expensive parts get's to be addicting. don't mess up now! I have a lot more to put up here! It's been a busy week. I had a GPU shipped and it is in town, but not to me grrrr. actually I'm about half happy, because I can get some other stuff done first. Never thought I'd say that. Ha ha do you have any slower shipping options?

 

[onevoicewild]

This is pretty Rich. Corsair sent me a perfect 900D case and I don't have a place to Install a 3 1/2" HDD. What?
Ohh that's my fault, I whole sale removed all the drive bays except the 5.25" bays on the front.
I wasn't even sure I'd be able to use them, with what I had planned for the front of the case. I guess I'll need an adapter.
I had to paint it, because my buzz was wearing off.










I have been meaning to do this for a while now. I wiped out all the Corsair Logos when I put the Overkill Grill in the front bezel,
So It's time to make a Copper Emblem for the side of the drive bays. Oh I don't have drive bays - He he he



































I had an extra saw blade from when I was working the front of the case. It was just a little to small for the Metallica emblem,
but it works well for this. I hate to waste money so it is good to find a home for it.











I was able to dull out the black Acrylic better, by using a courser grit of wet sanding. I didn't get any real pictures to show it off,
but It looks good now and it killed the excess reflections.











I really needed this copper fix. I need to start getting my hands in shape for the Metallica emblem for the window.

I'm told That my Care package is on the way from EKWB!

 

[onevoicewild]

Hey everyone - Just a small update. Trying to keep busy while I'm waiting for parts to arrive. With the exception of Sam,
I owe more to Bill Owen for helping to make this build happen than anyone else. I needed an MnpcTech Emblem for the case
to go with the others. I tried to get Bill to burn one off on the Mill, but that thing stays pretty busy. So here goes.


I started by mining and smelting the Copper and Aluminum.
Ya Right! I started by getting off my ***.





When I think of MnpcTech I think of Billet Aluminum and a company name with to many letters in it that I have to file out by hand!
But I wouldn't be happy if I couldn't get some copper in there somewhere. I made this a two layer piece with Brass screws.




The screws had to be turned down a little, they are still a little larger than I would like. When you live in a small town,
compromises have to be made and it was a good excuse to put something in my drill.











At about this point ,I'm thinking I've really screwed this up and may have to start over?
You just have to keep nibbling away and hope it gets better by the end.





















































This Commercial Is brought to you by MnpcTech and The Metallica Build He he he http://www.mnpctech....semodstore.html

 

[uglykidmoe]

i'm sure your suppliers appreciate the work you put into this rig, heck, the labor spent in producing the stunning looking nameplates alone is amazing, hope they realize it, and you are appropriately compensated

2013 mod of the year in my opinion

 

[peanutbudder]

Oh holy ****!!!

I never curse on this forum but bravo sir you are freaking amazing!!!!

That is truly a work of art!!!

 

[onevoicewild]

TY guys I have much more to show you. I just need to get enough time to put it up!

 

[Zodicus]

I've been modding off and on for years. Nothing ever like that. I have seen some awesome builds buy DAYUM! That thing is sick! Probably one of the best looking mods I have ever seen. Great job

BTW: Love the company slogan, I lol'ed so hard my wife threw her house shoes at me

 

[onevoicewild]

Thanks Zodicus - I'll take the shoe for you! he he he I do really appreciate honest opinions. some one was telling me the company logo's looked like a bill board - true I am proud to have the privilege of my sponsors. Pure and simple sponsorship is marketing and I am glad to do my part to earn the faith they have had in me. If I was a big name builder, just using someone's products might be enough. I do understand that persons opinion and everyone has different tastes and I'm glad for that. Otherwise all our stuff would look the same. At least I didn't use stickers, everyone of those logo's are crafted with blood sweat and tears. Thanks a lot for following the build!

 

[GTXJackBauer]

Really amazing work onevoicewild! I was going to leave a message thinking to give you time to finish it but figured this isn't going to be done anytime soon since you put so much time in these fantastic looking pieces of art. I am in a loss for words really and glad you came here to show your workmanship. Very talented and can't wait to see the finished product.

 

[onevoicewild]

Thanks Jack! I'm not in a big hurry/ need a bit more money and working on some little details. I figure about two or three months more to get completed? I really appreciate the invite here! there are some great people on this forum.

 

[TransformedBG]

i like... just wish it wasnt Metallica...

 

[GTXJackBauer]

i like... just wish it wasnt Metallica...

lol???

 

[onevoicewild]

Ok I have a problem! I can't stop modding stuff, I need an intervention team ASAP.











It's got so bad, I'm starting to make light switch covers? Or at least it looks like it.

















How convenient, This Awesome SSD that Corsair provided for the build fits right in there.











It's a shame that this will most likely be mounted behind the mother board. Well I wasn't gonna just stick it in there, I still have Copper left.

 

[onevoicewild]

Game ON

I was wondering what was delaying my parts delivery from EK?







Actually DHL delivered everything very quickly and the box wasn't mangled like they usually are.
Note to self - Use DHL


They delivered 14 kilos of beautiful water cooling parts that were packed
so well by EKWB that I swore there had to be something missing.
The box was like DR who's tartus, bigger on the inside than the outside.

I owe my incredible thanks to EK for supporting The Metallica Build!





I dug into the boxes to see what was there and I found two of these radiators.





What the heck Is a coolstream PE? I opened the box and wondered where were all the Logo's? Only a small EK emblem by the water connections.
Where did these shrouds come from on the headers? I had originally requested 480 XT's because I wanted a thinner Rad for room.
Well After all this time has passed, they no longer carry them and recommended 480 XTX's well they are a little thicker than I was looking
for but ok I'll take those. That's not what I got. I did a quick check at Performance pcs and these don't exist?
It finally hit me that these are a brand new design - COOL

















They really cleaned these up. In my opinion these are much better looking radiator and only 40mm thick
which was exactly what I was looking for.





The delays I had waiting for these EK parts was mostly due to all the barrage of new products that came into the market in the last six months.
EKWB had to put customers ahead of me and I applaud that, because they are doing me a major favor with there support. This really worked out in
my favor! I got the cool new radiators, I was able to switch from 2 - GTX 680's to 2 - GTX 770's. There isn't really much difference in these cards
that you couldn't get from overclocking. I do prefer to be on the newer 770 software and hopefully it's better for EK to show off their newest stuff!
They also kicked in some extra fittings and 4 way fan splitters, to simplify the wiring.























I was having trouble with light for pictures tonight, so I'll pick this show and tell back up tomorrow evening. I was playing with taking pictures through
the radiators ( easily amused ) ha ha I'll try harder and replace these last three pictures later. They are blurry but still look kind of interesting.












I was able to get a few more pictures this evening. Amazingly I haven't even got all my boxes open yet, because I wanted to get
Pictures as I open them and the sun Is starting to go down so early.

















These GTX 770 water Blocks are a serious chunk of metal. It almost seems they would cool the cards without water at all. For at least 30 seconds anyway.
EK has been listening to the customers wanting to get away from the crop circles so they are offering these CSQ models with the clean look.


































I always looked at build logs and people were showing off all their parts. I know it can get boring, but when you get a bunch of awesome new parts
you get pretty excited and want to show them off to your friends. Hey your my friends, no one else could put up with me!

 

[onevoicewild]

There's no way around it, Some days Modding is just a lot of work. Saturday was not one of those days. I have a big pile of parts to play with,
no one to bug me, except those voices in my head - Shut up , I got it! I was happily assembling all my prepainted fans for the upper 480 radiator.
This is a 900D so everything should bolt right in place. Ha ha ha ha - shut up I got it! Ignorance is bliss or is it? It never occurred to me that people
don't put the water connections in the front of the case. I have a total disrespect for drive bays and the damn connections are going in the front,
The fact that is doesn't fit is irrelevant. A bit of cutting took care of the offending case material that should have never been there in the first place.



















Another rookie moment. I bought the cute gold pump dress up kit. That would be great, but those don't work on the EK pump top I have.
That just as well, It turns out that the pump Is going down in the basement. Some other time maybe? The EK pump top looks better anyway.





The water cooling part of this build should provide a lot of Entertainment for the veteran water coolers! Shut up I got it! Actually I used to do a lot of
boiler work and my loops had thousands of feet of piping. Parts of that translate here, but there is no substitute for experience! Bring on the water
cooling 101 or just talk amongst yourselves. he he he





The original plan for this build was hard piped copper, all shiny and pretty. First I want to try something with the acrylic tubing with cut brass rings on
the outside. In the pictures I don't have the rings fixed yet, so they are not spaced perfectly.











I ran that pipe right under the fans to get over the drive bay cover. This thing is enough of a jig saw puzzle already! It would be nice to have a few
things out of the way. Originally I was going to mount the pump to the midplate in the background. I decided I wanted to mount the reservoir on
stilts, with no other mounting. I temporarily used the SLI fittings I had and EEL is shipping me some proper fittings. I really like the look of it.
This required me to move the pump to the bottom so it would be below the Res.











This allowed me to pipe straight out the bottom of the res directly into the pump inlet.





I got the upper radiator piped fairly tight to the top, so I'll still have a few drive bays left.








That's about it for now. waiting for parts and money for parts. glad to be making some progress again.

 

[GTXJackBauer]

Awesome! It's coming along.

I ran into this a few days ago and thought of this build. EK WB GOLD