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[Build Log] Shadow Box - Parvum S2.0 & Custom Black MSI MB

36K views 195 replies 45 participants last post by  RexTempus 
#1 ·
SHADOW BOX

Shadow Box is inspired by and in a way a v2.0 of my Project Umbra build that went defunct when I had to move this past winter. I had the project at about 95% but a lot of damage occurred during the move. I'll be reusing the pair of 780s I had for that build, as well as the corsair ax860 psu and my 4770k.

What you can expect from this log:
Attention to detail
Carefully calculated choices
Awesome computer stuff

I fully intend to order only a few parts at a time so that I can ensure a proper fit with the next items to purchase.
The order will be something like this:
Case
Motherboard
Waterblocks/Rads/Fans
Pump/res
Fittings/tubing
Cables

Update Table of Contents:

1. The Case
2. Parts Arrive pt 1
3. Parts Arrive pt 2 & first block polishing attempt
4. Case mod update 1: shortening mobo tray
5. CPU block polishing
6. Motherboard arrives
7. Ram gets dressed in EK heatsinks
8. Test fitting components, GPU gets blocked
9. New case panels arrive, drilling and test fitting
10. Unnecessary GPU upgrade
11. New GPUs get polished blocks installed
12. Blackout teaser
13. Adding a black badge
14. One-of-a-kind MSI Z97M Gaming Black Edition
15. Front radiator & fan mounting + shroud fabrication
16. Case panel fabrication
17. Sneak peak at custom front panel
18. More front panel work
19. Custom front panel fitting
20. Angled I/O panel fabricated, outside custom panel work complete
21. Parts arrive pt 3
22. New photography setup
23. Block polishing finished, cable holes cut, components fitted
24. Tube bending pt 1
25. Tube bending pt 2
26. Tube bending pt 3
27. Tube bending pt 4
28. Panel fusion
29. 80mm fans
30. Potential EK badge
31. Badges & misc.
31. Reassembly begins
32. The last of the bends
.
 
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#3 ·
The case has been chosen, and without further ado:

What could it be?


Appears to be safely packaged...


I think I got it all out.


Maybe you can tell by this?


Or this?


IT'S A PARVUM S2.0!!


I requested that the mid-wall not have any holes so that I can get their placement just right the way I want them, and without any extras. Clean is fun.


Starting the assembly...


Back wall goes on.


Front and HD/SSD mount bracket


Top and power/usb




Fin.






I originally requested black with grey accents, but Justin over at Parvum informed me that the grey would have to be custom ordered and instead suggested the frosted clear, which gives a grey appearance with the black. I liked that idea and decided to go with it. Justin got the order done and shipped out very quickly, as it arrived only 9 days after payment.

I'm very pleased with the case quality and design and I can't wait to start building and modding it (small mods of course because it is just gorgeous as it is). Huge thanks to Justin for his service and product.

The next major decision I have to make is on the motherboard. I'll likely use a z97 board, since they will be released in just a few days. I'll be able to re-use my Haswell 4770k, with the option to up grade to Broadwell when it comes out.

Initial thought with z97 is the ASUS Maximus VII Gene. I really like the mosfet blocks EK makes for the ASUS Maximus line of boards. On the other hand, I would have to do something to mask a lot of the red accents in order for it to work with the theme of the build. If I chose this board, I would likely watercool the RAM as well for a fully watercooled setup.

Second thought is the ASUS Gryphon with armor. The accent colors are subdued enough that they would just blend and I would not have to do anything to hide them. On the other side of things with this board, I would have to forego watercooling the mosfets (which in the end is not a huge deal... I just like the look of water going to everything). I would also likely skip watercooling the ram with this board.

What are your thoughts on the motherboard options?
 
#4 ·
I've added a poll to gather opinions on the best Z97 motherboard for this build. The board chosen would be blacked out to the best of my ability.

ASUS Gryphon w/ armor. Not much modification would be done to this because the accent colors tend to blend fairly well with their environment.


ASUS Maximus VII Gene. I would likely cover most of the red plastic with black vinyl on this board, and use EK blocks if they release them. The red on the PCB kind of turns me off to this board slightly for this particular build.


MSI Z97M Gaming. I'm leaning towards this board because of it's use of mostly black components. The red on the heat syncs looks like it can easily be taken care of as they appear to be just accents.


What are your thoughts?
 
#5 ·
if you go gaming, the msi boards are fail. I would pick one of the asus ones, due to your liking i would take gryphon tho i personally love red-black gene
smile.gif


do you plan on watercooling it with your own kit? if so i would suggest going black and red so the coolant will look like it powers the rig with blood
biggrin.gif
 
#6 ·
Do you mean that the gaming series of MSI boards are no good, or that gaming with any MSI board is not good? And why is that? I'm not a huge gamer, but if those same concerns are applicable to other things, I'd like to know.

I was planning on blacks and grays for the color scheme. IMO the black and red layout is a little played out. I want to use some strategic lighting to make the components pop even with the dark colors. I was able to do it before but the build was wrecked in my move.

Not sure if I want to do black tubing or clear rigid with either black or clear coolant. That's why I'm taking the build slowly to make the right decisions based on installed components.
 
#7 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by Torvi View Post

if you go gaming, the msi boards are fail. I would pick one of the asus ones, due to your liking i would take gryphon tho i personally love red-black gene
smile.gif


do you plan on watercooling it with your own kit? if so i would suggest going black and red so the coolant will look like it powers the rig with blood
biggrin.gif
Why would you say that? I've had nothing but love for my MSI Z87M Gaming board. It overclocks well, has a great sound solution, and the pricing is competitive.
 
#8 ·
and i got 2 of them bricked in 3 months. z87 chipset.
 
#11 ·
if i would have to pick something else than asus it would be gigabyte

asus>gigabyte>msi=asrock
 
#12 ·
Thank you for all the input and votes. The poll was all tied up, so I went with the MSI like I was originally leaning towards. Newegg says it's release date isn't until the 20th, so I'll just have to sit tight until then.

One of the next big decisions I'll need to make is on the water blocks. I'm debating between ek acetal and black tubing or csq with rigid tubing and black coolant. I'm leaning towards the csq & clear tubing to help break up all the dark colors of the build. Thoughts?
 
#14 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by rRansom View Post

If you're going with black coolant, go with an acrylic clean CSQ water block for the CPU and polish it until it becomes really transparent. Just imagining it makes me drool.
drool.gif


Here's a shot from lowfat's acrylic polishing guide that you might find handy
thumb.gif
:

And oh, subbed!
biggrin.gif
I hadn't thought about polishing because I thought the frosted blocks would go great with the frosted case parts, but now that you bring it up, it's something I'll have to strongly consider. I've seen lowfats guide before and I liked the results he's gotten. I'm picturing it in my head with the black coolant and I like it. Thanks for the input!
 
#15 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by RexTempus View Post

I hadn't thought about polishing because I thought the frosted blocks would go great with the frosted case parts, but now that you bring it up, it's something I'll have to strongly consider. I've seen lowfats guide before and I liked the results he's gotten. I'm picturing it in my head with the black coolant and I like it. Thanks for the input!
I think there are pictures of EK Supreme HFs with black pastel coolant somewhere in that thread.
 
#17 ·
Spent a good bit of the morning searching for the best retailer to purchase some stuff for the build from. Ended up purchasing all these goodies (and a few more surprises) from 6 different companies to get the best deals.

Arctic F8 PWM 80mm case fans for the rear of the case:


Cougar Vortex PWM 120mm fans for the radiators:


Alphacool NexXxoS ST30 240mm radiators:


EK Supremacy Universal CPU Liquid Cooling Block:


EK GeForce 780 GTX Ti VGA Liquid Cooling Block - Nickel CSQ:


EK GTX Titan/780/780Ti/770 VGA Liquid Cooling RAM Backplate - Black:


EK Monarch Series X4 Ram Liquid Cooling Block - Nickel CSQ:


Meguiar's PlastX Clear Plastic Cleaner and Polish (as seen in lowfat's polishing guide):


So yes, I will be polishing the blocks using lowfat's method. Along with the polish, I also bought all the different grits of sandpaper needed.

I've got a couple fun ideas for modding the case that Justin at Parvum is helping me out with. I'm going to leave it as a surprise for now, but I'm pretty excited to get the pieces from him so I can start hacking at this case.
 
#19 ·
More stuff came in the mail today! I guess I can start polishing the blocks now while I wait for the mobo and rest of the case pieces to get here.



Edit:
Gave the block polishing a go to get a feel for the process. Tried it out on the bridge and I'm very happy with the results. These pictures are with only one round of the polish and not too much attention to detail. I'm confident that with a few more coats it'll be pristine. I also need to wrap some sandpaper around a pen or something so I can polish inside the tubes.



And through one of the rings:
 
#20 ·
Was able to do some measurements now that I've got the rads and fans in. The good news is that the 25mm fan and the 30mm rad actually only combine to 53mm. Yay for more room! Anyways, in order to fit all 3 240mm rads in this case, modifications must be done.

All taped and lined up:


The dremel makes quick and dusty work of it:


I really like the cubes used to hold all the pieces together. They're easy to relocate when you want to do a mod like this. All it took was a few new holes in the mid wall and front and back panels and this thing looks like it came from parvum like this.

There really is nothing more I can do to the case until the new panels arrive, so I'll just get back to polishing the blocks.

Edit: the angles in the pieces make the cut look uneven, but rest assured that it is perfectly straight
 
#23 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by rRansom View Post

Looking good!
thumb.gif
Thanks

Quote:
Originally Posted by lowfat View Post

Good luck on the inside tubes of the bridge. I haven't ever actually seen anyone try on a bridge before. It looks relatively easy and it should stand out if done well.
I'm going to give it a go, but I'm not expecting the same kind of quality as the outside. I'm not overly concerned about the insides of the blocks being 100% perfect because I think the black coolant won't even show that anything was done, but I'm going to try my best.

Worked on the CPU block today:


The inside was very tough to get to, but I think it came out well enough for the black coolant.

I need to stop being lazy also and break out the good camera for these updates because the cell camera is not doing this any justice.
 
#24 ·
The motherboard came in! This thing is beautiful. I can't wait to get rid of the red though. Decided to break out the good camera for updates from here on out. Sorry I don't have any backdrops, so you'll have to live with the wood of my table. I'll maybe get something in the future.

These images are large, so if you want to see more detail, just right click and open them.

The box:




All the goodies:



Chipset block:


Mosfet heat sinks:


Audio Module:


Power and OC Genie:






Art-ish shot:


And the full board:


Here we see how easy it is to modify the heat sinks. I think MSI has done this on purpose for modders. They don't seem like they would serve much cooling purpose as there's no real interface between the pieces that would allow for decent heat transfer. I don't think a quick sand and recolor will affect temperatures at all.





The chipset heat sink should be fairly simple to recolor as well. The red on it is just the two strips painted on either side so a quick tape job, sanding and spray should do the trick without negatively affecting the cooling. I'm not sure yet what I'm going to do about the shield on this heat sink though. It appears to be just a stick-on badge, so I'll see what I can do about safely removing it and recoloring in some way.

In other news, I polished up the 780 Blocks and they look pretty good right now. Like I said before though, I'm going to give all the blocks one more go with the full polishing procedure prior to final assembly.

I'm still waiting on the additional panels to arrive from Parvum before I can start the real fun. Hopefully they'll arrive soon.
 
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