[SQZY]

Hey Guys,

here's my Build Log around a Parvum S2.5 mATX case. Some modifications have been done to the case so it fits a 'organic' theme I guess.

Following pictures show first renders of the case:




As mentioned already, I'm aiming for a 'organic' theme and with that I watercool the PC and mod some parts along with sleeving the cables myself.
I'm doing all of this the first time (not the building a PC part), so advices are well appreciated!

The colors I will be using are mainly matt/glossy black, silver and few accents with mint green (#00ffb9ish)

I've been constantly upgrading my hardware since the beginning of the year to the point where I pretty much have a whole new system today.

Main components (reused):

Case: Parvum S2.5 mATX
CPU: Intel Core i7 4790k
GPU: EVGA GTX 980 ACX 2.0
RAM: HyperX Fury 4x4GB DDR3 1866MHz
Motherboard: Asus Z97 Gryphon mATX
PSU: bequiet! Straight Power 10 550W (semi-modular)

Watercooling components:

CPU-Block: EK-Supremacy EVO - Acetal+Nickel
GPU-Block: EK-FC980 GTX - Acetal
GPU-Backplate: EK-FC980 GTX Backplate - Black Nickel Black
Reservoir: Bitspower Water Tank Z-Multi 150mm clear
Reservoir mount: Singularity Computers CORE SINGLE V3
Radiators: 2x EK-CoolStream SE 240 26mm
D5 Pump: EK
D5 Pump top: Bitspower Premium D5 mod kit
Fans: 4x Noiseblocker Blacksilent PRO PL-PS
Fan splitter: ModMyToys 4x 4-pin PWM
Fittings: Alphacool HT 13mm HardTube - knurled - deep black
Tubing: Alphacool Eisrohr 13/10mm satin
Fluid: Mayhems Clear mixed with emerald green and dark blue dye



Miscellaneous:

Sleeving: MDPC-X black & Shakmods "dark green" expandable 4mm sleeve
Sleeving kit: Lamptron
RAM "cooler": XSPC Universal heatsink

Chapters

• Motherboard cover
• Installing waterblocks
• Fan mod, cable sleeve
• Fittings
• Case arrival
• Test fitting
• "It fits"
• Tubing, Bleeding the loop
• GPU power cable, translucent/pastel fluid
• "Le Fin"

 

[SQZY]

Stuff that has already been done:

Disassembly of the RAM modules:
This was quite a pain to be honest. The thermal pads of the HyperX Furys are extremely sticky and consist of a foam pad on the empty side (the 4GB sticks are single sided) and a strange multylayer paper-y pad on the side housing the memorychips. But with enough patience and a pinch of force I got it to loosen up. I was able to rescue the foampads of the empty side for future use, but the other pad was torn apart too badly. Luckily XSPC includes termal pads for the RAM modules.

Here are some pictures of the finished product:






Another thing I wanted to do is to replace the included 'Armor' with something more elegant. So I created something in Sketchup to CNC. After a lot of paper mockups and drawing I came up with this draft:


It basically covers all the unnecessary parts from the motherboard. Thermal-wise I will have to see. This is made out of acrylic so it might even bent at hot sections of the motherbaord. But I got it cut anyways:



(pictures taken with phone)

The bend has some inperfections which I want to cover with some vinyl coming soon.

Thanks for passing by!

 

[paultoke]

Subbed

 

[wizardbro]

Love the grill and window pattern. Kinda like black alien ooze.

 

[Mads1]

subbed.....

 

[SQZY]

Quote:

Originally Posted by paultoke

Subbed

Quote:

Originally Posted by wizardbro

Love the grill and window pattern. Kinda like black alien ooze.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mads1

subbed.....

Awesome, thanks! They really did a great job with the design. As if they read my mind. Though the frontpanel will be changed to the normal footprint. I kind of regret that decision now. But we'll see when the case arrives

 

[SQZY]

Just ordered the nickel version of EKs GTX980 backplate along with some matt black vinyl. The backplate was an absolute steal at just 5€ on Highflow.nl

 

[SQZY]

New stuff

The Lamptron tool kit came in today. Seems like it's worth the price, but we'll see when I get to the sleeving part of the build.



Anyways, the kit gave me the opportunity to test something out. I did this with left over extentions and it might fit my theme very well.
But I have to figure out a way to make it straight, cable combs will obviously not work here. What do you think?

 

[SQZY]

Vinyl for the motherboard cover

It's been a while. I've pretty much gathered all the parts I need for this PC at this point. The only stuff that's left is the sleeving, replacement cables (if I decide to make a whole new cable set), tubing (heavily tending towards frosted tubing) aaand fluid.

Through the help of a friends plotter I got this vinyl pattern cut. The initial idea was to cover some inperfections of the acrylic that way but now I actually really like it.

 

[Mads1]

Looks good.

 

[paultoke]

Very nice not to much just right.

 

[SQZY]

Installing the waterblocks

I disassembled my current PC yesterday for the sake of testing the motherboard armor and seeing how things will look. I installed the CPU and GPU waterblock + backplate. Here are some pictures

:

Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!

*floods with pictures*

The motherboard armor somehow barely fits

Though, the border between the CPU and RAM cutout had to leave the party. The CPU block mounting system was wider than I expected. I might redo the armor at some point and publish it for others to cut, but this thing was quite expensive.

One thing I'm wondering though: Is the rubber gasket of the CPU backplate supposed to be pushed up like that? The pins of the motherboard are pusing against it so it's at a slight angle. This looks kind of strange to me.

 

[SQZY]

NVM

 

[easynator]

Subbed

 

[SQZY]

Quote:

Originally Posted by easynator

Subbed

Great! Your build was actually one of the first PCs I have seen built around Parvum cases.

 

[SQZY]

Update (or not)

There isn't too much going on right now. Currently waiting for two orders that carry fittings, tubes and sleeving as well as smaller parts.

additional Parts ordered:

Alphacool Eisrohr 13/10mm satin
Alphacool Eiszapfen double nippel
Alphacool HT 13mm HardTube CP fitting G1/4 - knurled
Bitspower Matt Black T-Block
EK-AF Pass-Through
BitFenix SATA cable sleeved - black
MDPC-X sleeving in black and white (white gets dyed)

A bit of a mixed bag here, but it should look fine.
To make this post not as boring:














Thanks for passing by

 

[SQZY]

Update

So apparently a package from Icemodz spent past night in my mailbox. Found it this morning and proceeded to open it up to get straight to work.
The package included the MDPC-X sleeving, some 18AWG wire for the PSU cables and heatshrink as well as female ATX pins. Today I did the fans only, as it doesn't really make sense to sleeve before the PC is up and running.











The white sleeve isn't supposed to keep it's color for long. Today was my first attempt at dyeing. I used 70ml Rit dye (color: teal) and mixed it with 30ml vinegar as well as 2 spoons of salt. All of that on top of 1L water.
After letting the sleeving simmer for around 30 minutes I archieved this tone:



Not really what I hoped.
The translucent molex connectors were in the bath for just a few minutes, so they seem to absorb the dye very well. But also not really the color I hoped to get.

This thread was very helpful and informative. Feel free to visit cpachris' thread if you want to do this yourself

. Though, I'll probably end up spraypainting the sleeve as dispersion dye (the one that worked best in the tests) apparently isn't available in Germany.

 

[Mads1]

like the sleeving on the fans, looks a nice clean job.

 

[nzphil]

Subbed! Very nice work on the mobo cover.

 

[SQZY]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mads1

like the sleeving on the fans, looks a nice clean job.

Quote:

Originally Posted by nzphil

Subbed! Very nice work on the mobo cover.

Thanks! I'll try to fix some measurements for a v2, so it fits better. Maybe others are interested in this cover, so I could publish it then. Though, CNCing is not cheap ._.

Anyways, case should actually land here tomorrow (was supposed to be here on friday, got resceduled to monday). A lot of updates to come
Can't wait for it.