Time for my Second Build! A Project LCD Case v3!

Some_Tech_Noob · November 22, 2018, 12:09am

Update 2023/06/2: AM4’s End Of The Line
Updated Parts List: Part List - AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D, GeForce RTX 4090, Fractal Design Define Mini C TG MicroATX Mid Tower - PCPartPicker

Update 2023/05/10: Defying PcPartPicker
Updated Parts List: Part List - AMD Ryzen 5 5600X, GeForce RTX 4090, Fractal Design Define Mini C TG MicroATX Mid Tower - PCPartPicker

Update 2020/12/25: Merry Christmas! It’s done!
Updated Parts List: Part List - AMD Ryzen 5 5600X, GeForce RTX 2070, Fractal Design Define Mini C TG MicroATX Mid Tower - PCPartPicker

Update 2020/12/13: I broke it. Let’s try this again!

Update 2019/10/13: Added a video showcasing the mod.

Update 2019/1/10: Build is basically finished! Check build log!

Original Post:

It’s been over five years since I originally built my computer. I’ve upgraded parts here and there since then, but I figured that it’s time for an update!

I decided to be a bit more ambitious for the build this time around. I’ve been fiddling around with transparent LCDs over the past year, planning for this build. As a result, I have some requirements for this particular system, which will hopefully also feature a transparent LCD panel!

Note: This is my working prototype case - I’ll be modding another case as well

First things first, parts list for the tower:
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD - Ryzen 7 1700X 3.4 GHz 8-Core Processor	Purchased For $150.36
CPU Cooler	Noctua - NH-D15S 82.52 CFM CPU Cooler	Purchased For $60.15
Motherboard	MSI - B450M MORTAR TITANIUM Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard	Purchased For $97.97
Memory	Team - T-Force Delta RGB 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3000 Memory	Purchased For $117.96
Storage	Samsung - 860 Evo 1 TB 2.5" Solid State Drive	Purchased For $103.02
Video Card	Gigabyte - GeForce RTX 2070 8 GB GAMING OC Video Card	Purchased For $512.86
Case	Fractal Design - Define Mini C TG MicroATX Mid Tower Case	Purchased For $65.53
Power Supply	SeaSonic - FOCUS Plus Gold 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply	Purchased For $75.04
Other	“Phanteks PH-CB-CMBO_WT 19.68"” Cables - Internal Power Cables"	Purchased For $0.00
Other	Noctua NA-HC4 chromax.white heatsink covers (for NH-D15, NH-D15S & NH-D15 SE-AM4)	Purchased For $26.91
Other	Intel Compute Stick	Purchased For $34.79
Other	1080P HDMI Female to VGA Female Adapter Video Converter with 3.5mm Audio for PC	Purchased For $3.28
Other	Cashback/eBay Bucks	$58.69
Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
Total	$1306.56
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-11-21 18:38 EST-0500

Restrictions:

Internals must be as white as possible to bring out the full effect of the LCD side panel.
Micro-ATX or smaller. Because mid-towers are just too damn big.
Quieter than my current system
Aesthetically pleasing in general
Less than $1.5k unless there are some killer deals.

After camping deals for the past week, here’s the breakdown. Keep in mind that I’m in California, so I get taxed out the ass.

Ryzen 7 1700X: $150 before tax with 8% eBay bucks back. This is a placeholder until Ryzen 3, which is what I wanted to wait for originally. At $150, it’s pretty crazy performance per dollar imo.
Noctua NH-D15S: $60.15 after an eBay 15% off I think. Purchased back in December 2017 because of how well it performs and how quiet it is. With the availability of white Chromax covers, it fits my requirements. Still waiting on the AM4 bracket. Noctua also is supposed to be shipping me white anti-vibration mounts, which is very kind of them to do.
B450M Mortar Titanium: $98 from B&H, so no tax! Sadly not as white as the B350M Mortar Arctic I was eyeing last year, but I think it will do. On the plus side, the VRMs are quite a bit nicer. There aren’t many boards which are white, and I always like MSI boards for some reason so this was an easy pick.
T-Force Delta RGB: $110 before tax, with 2% cashback. Not B-Die or super amazing clocks, but it looks good, is white, and is also RGB. I’ve heard of people running the full 3000mhz on Ryzen 1 so I’ll take my chances. Still a bit more than I’d like to pay (rip $60/16gb days), but oh well.
860 Evo 1TB: $119 before tax, with 30% cashback. I originally had a 970 Evo 500GB, but this deal popped up so I returned it. $100 for a Samsung 1TB? No brainer.
Gigabyte RTX 2070: $550 before eBay’s 15% off coupon today. Took the hit on price-performance considering some of the 1070Ti prices going on right now, but I saw the look of the white card and just had to have it. Also it’s new, and having new stuff is cool.
Define Mini C TG: The star of the show. I’ve built a LCD into one of these cases already, so I picked up another one of these on an eBay sale back in March '18. I’ve also purchased white Plasti-Dip spray. I haven’t actually started modding the second case yet - I’ll take some pictures when I do.
Focus+ Gold 750w: On sale and had a rebate. Great performance and it’s modular. Completely overkill, but the fan should run passively at idle. I’ve had it running in my current build for a few months now and will swap it over to the new one.
PSU Cables: Got gifted white extensions from a friend. Because white.

Alright, now why do I have a compute stick listed? I could go on for awhile about why, but it boils down to this:

Eliminates stutter on >60hz displays
Allows for the side panel LCD to be connected internally

Alright, that’s about it. Now I just have to wait for the parts to arrive!

Some_Tech_Noob · November 22, 2018, 12:09am

Computer parts as they come in.

2018/11/21: Parts which are already here

R7 1700X

B450M Mortar Titanium

Team T-Force

2018/11/26: A lotta stuff arrived today.

RTX 2070, 860 Evo 1TB, Noctua AM4 Bracket, as well as some white rubber corners for the noctua fan(not pictured)

RTX 2070. Because white.
20181126_232205

2018/11/27: Here’s stuff that I’m going to be using that I already had.

Define Mini C TG for the case. This is actually my second one, for those familiar with my first prototype.

Seasonic Focus+ 750w for the PSU.

Noctua NH-D15S + Chromax Cover

Some_Tech_Noob · November 22, 2018, 12:09am

Build Log

2018/11/27: Unboxed case to actually begin modding.

Define Mini C TG, except literally everything is removed.

After 3-4 layers of white plasti dip

Still requires some cleanup, but I’ll wait for the plastidip to cure before working on it any further.

2018/11/27: Parts Pre-Test & Windows Installation

Ryzen 7 1700X + B450M Mortar Titanium + Team T-Force Delta. Looks awesome.

Noctua NH-D15S w/ Chromax & anti-vibration pads installed.

First boot, first try!

Default RGB lighting

I’m really liking this RAM.

2018/11/28: Installing into case
Cut out white circles to put over the Fractal Design fan stickers.

Grabbed the case and cleaned up some overspray.

Reinstalled fans, grommets, panels, etc. Had to take out the CPU cooler because it was blocking a mounting hole.

It’s a tight fit, but it fits. I might try doing something to that Noctua to make it white…maybe. We’ll see.

She’s alive!

2018/12/6: Small things

Soldered together the LED strips in preparation for the LCD side panel.

2019/1/10: Finishing it up

Woah it’s been a heck of a while. Happy new year. Being busy with finals and then being ultra lazy during winter break made me put the project aside. But today, it’s time to wrap things up and see if it all works.

I first cut out some “opaque” black vinyl to black out the areas around the LCD panel. I probably should have put two layers as even this vinyl isn’t thick enough to block out some of the brighter areas. Oh well. I am lazy.

Then I grabbed the LCD panel and mounted it with some 3M mounting tape. Awesome stuff by the way. My previous prototype was mounted like this and I encountered zero issues, so I went with this method again.

Mounted the LED strips around each side of the panel. Should have had longer lengths of wire for the LEDs, oh well.

I mounted the LCD controller pcb/box(right under the front fans) and put in the false bottom acrylic plate into the case. Looks a lot cleaner. And super white! I did miss a step here as well- I put in the Intel compute stick and a longer than needed VGA cable in the basement as well. Lemme see if I can find a picture…

Can’t find one!! Oh well. Here are stock images to make up for it.

Along with one of these vga adapters from ebay.

Lol what is cable management? Actually though, the extensions take up SO MUCH SPACE.

Put on all the panels and booted her up. And yeah, it somehow worked first try.

Here’s a video for the non weeaboos.

And here’s one for the weeaboos.

Overall, colors look a bit better with an all-white background, but silhouettes are definitely the star of the show when it comes to a mod like this.

And that’s it! If I want to change the background, I remote into the Intel Compute Stick via Teamviewer and change it. It’s not the most optimal way, but running 60hz videos don’t mess up my 144hz panels when gaming now. Now I gotta figure out if it’s worth parting out my old reliable.

Some_Tech_Noob · November 29, 2018, 10:09am

2019-7-15

I wrote up a rather lengthy guide regarding specifics of the LCD for SoulFallen in a PM. So I’ve essentially copied/pasted it here since it’s quite relevant.

< disassemble the monitor down to bare LCD. Will vary per monitor >

FYI i started with 4, damaged the polarizer somewhat on 2/4 trying to learn how to take off the anti-glare cover. Be careful!!

You get to something like this. Like with any PSU, don’t touch anything.

Take off the clips around the LCD to seperate LCD from backlight. Didn’t need backlight for this proj so I put it aside.

Figure out what the wiring is like from the PSU to the LCD controller(green pcb). If you are lucky, you can find a service manual which can tell you. Otherwise, it’s multimeter and guessing.

FYI: please hardwire this shit - I had a SATA > breadboard connector type of harness and ended up having a burnt connector on the breadboard side. Also, most SATA are only 4 cables. Look for the 5 cable version if you want to steal the 3.3v line.

< Removing Anti Glare >

AFAIK this is extremely bad on IPS displays. It will kill them. Do your research if you are using IPS.
Thankfully my monitors are shitty $5 TN TFT ones so here we go.

There’s a video online on this mod, and the dude uses heavy duty shop paper towels drenched in water and leaves it on top of the LCD for 10 hours or something. Then he just peels it off. I tried this with both regular paper towels and regular towels. The anti-glare film was still stuck on super hard and I ended up either tearing or making streaks in the polarizer underneath.

My solution was this:
Grab a large af tray with a lip to hold water. Fill with water. Put microfiber cloth in so you don’t scratch up your LCD. Dunk whole LCD in, minus PCB just in case. Leave there for 24 hours minimum.

Then slowly poke around the edges with your fingernail and try to get each corner started. Once you have maybe 1cm peeled, grab a microfiber cloth and cover your finger with it. Go and start trying to lift the coating even more on each corner, using your finger as a gentle wedge. If the adhesive is still stuck, leave that corner and go to a different one. I spent like 1/2 an hour on this. Eventually you should get something like this, except not creased at all:

I think I did take a video, so if you need more help on this step lmk and I’ll find it.

Then just take out the LCD and wipe most of the water off with another microfiber towel. Let air dry.

< LEDs>

Buy some 828 Lumen/ft cool white LEDs because they bright af

Make a wire harness for LEDs and test

< Side Panel >

take a clear tempered glass side panel and slap vinyl around it to the size of the monitor. Better to go slightly smaller than slightly bigger.

If you do end up doing this i also recommend doing 2 layers of vinyl minimum, as 1 layer still lets light through. FYI carbon fiber does not show through on the other side.

Use this shit to mount the monitor

just on the edges like so, so you don’t see it from the other side of the window. You only need to peel off one side.

Cut up the LEDs, solder, and stick em.

< Case >
Do whatever mods to your case that you want. White is always better, because the whole case is acting like the backlight for the LCD.

Mount the LCD controller somewhere near the connector for your LCD. I put mine in the front right underneath the fans. It’s the white box with the sleeved wire sticking out.

Then all you do when you put on the side panel is first connect the LEDs, then the LCD, then close it up.

< Powering the LCD >
I came up with 2 solutions. I use solution 2, but I thought I should mention solution 1.

USB 3.0 header => USB > VGA => LCD Controller. This is all internal and works great as long as you do not have any high refresh rate monitors.
Intel Compute Stick(atom x5, windows version!!) => HDMI > VGA => LCD Controller. Remote in via Teamviewer. Essentially you have a small computer inside your actual computer. This decouples the LCD from your actual PC and therefore graphical content doesn’t destroy the gaming experience on your high refresh rate monitors.

The most fragile part is probably not the LCD itself but the ribbon cables which connect it to its PCB. I feel like that’s the most likely point of failure, as I dont mount mine down because connecting it to the LCD controller box when assembling the PC would be a huge pita.

Made a short (and shitty) video showing how everything works!

Some_Tech_Noob · January 10, 2019, 11:09am

Time to celebrate! The build is finished!

If you have any questions or comments, feel free to ask!

TeckMonster · January 10, 2019, 3:27pm

That thing is sweet!
I’m surprised which how many white PC parts you found. I had no idea you could make a pure white build.

Some_Tech_Noob · January 10, 2019, 7:29pm

White PC parts are extremely limited for sure! In fact, the motherboard was discontinued just a few weeks after I bought it which is quite unfortunate.

I was tired of all the generic RGB builds, so this build is one which strives to go against the trend.

Argone · January 10, 2019, 8:27pm

Looks absolutely amazing! Monsterous!

Goalkeeper · January 10, 2019, 8:30pm

Very original bro. Great work!

Be sure to DM a mod to get the builder “build log” badge.

https://forum.level1techs.com/badges/104/builder

Some_Tech_Noob · October 13, 2019, 6:22pm

Added a short video to showcase the mod and how it works!

anon75264233 · October 13, 2019, 7:36pm

Is there a way to feed system data like CPU/GPU temps and load onto your case?

But what you’ve done is so cool.

Some_Tech_Noob · October 13, 2019, 10:58pm

If you hook up the monitor as a secondary display, it should be very easy. I have mine running off a seperate intel compute stick so I don’t mix refresh rates in Windows though, so it would be a bit tougher.

On another note, found a new wallpaper which fits my build pretty nicely.

As you can see, I now have 4x8GB of ram since my kit went on sale again. Overkill, but looks awesome.

TeckMonster · October 14, 2019, 12:29am

Very well done man! Looks great, and your video makes perfect sense to me.

Guys, if you want to help support @Some_Tech_Noob please give his video a like (I know it can be easy to forget with embedded videos).
From what I can tell he’s put a lot of research and time into this very cool and well made project and he even took the time to make a video explaining how we could do it, I think that deserves a good bump on YouTube.

Some_Tech_Noob · December 14, 2020, 12:08am

2020-12-13 Update: Oopsies.

Well uh, I accidentally ripped off one of the ribbon cables on the LCD when taking apart my PC for some debugging/overclocking/cleaning. There were definitely some flaws in v2 of the mod when it came to durability and serviceability - which I hoped to avoid by being careful. It just took one time of me being sloppy to wreck it all. I tried to align the pins and tape it back together, but the LCD displays garbage lines now.

After doing some research, It looks like the ribbon cable is heat sealed to the PCB at the factory - and it theoretically is possible to re-seal it back on with a soldering iron or something, but the success rate is low due to the ridiculous amount of connections that have to line up.

This was back in August. I’ve unplugged everything related to the side panel LCD since then, but was too lazy to remove the mods since my computer still works fine with or without them. I don’t have any more monitors to take apart either. After pondering for a week whether or not to go back to a basic case or re-do the mod, I chose the latter. LCD Side Panel v3!!

So there you go. Assuming all goes well, a revamped version 3 is coming soon. Also got my hands on a Ryzen 5 5600X yesterday at Microcenter since my $150 1700X was intended to just be a placeholder until Ryzen 3000. Now I just need to wait until MSI pushes out an update to the B450M Mortar Titanium sometime this month to actually use it. Meanwhile, my 1700X will slot into the ASRock B450M Pro4 I purchased as a combo and become a second pc. Why not use the B450M Pro4 which already has beta support for Ryzen 5000? It’s not white.

So since I now have a soft deadline of whenever MSI pushes out the bios update for my motherboard, I spent a bit of time today working on the new mod. I ordered stuff from AliExpress back in Aug/Sept, so everything’s been sitting in my closet just waiting to be modded.

What’s different between v2 and v3?
The idea is the same. Disassemble a LCD, figure out how to power it with the ATX PSU, and mount everything. However, instead of buying old 4:3 monitors on Craigslist for $5-$10, I’m trying the next most popular route. Purchasing laptop LCD panels and a compatible controller. This is much easier because you don’t have to figure out the LCD Controller board’s power pins and voltage. I can also source an IPS panel for much better viewing angles. The viewing angles on my old side panel LCD were extremely bad.

The Goods:

Matte Black & Chrome Vinyl - $9.29. I want to try doing chrome on the inside of the side panel to reflect more light.

eDP LCD Controller Board - $13.09. Aliexpress listing usually lists the compatible LCD panels.

LCD Panel N156HGE-EB1 - $44.52

Purchase another SATA extension cable. Use your imagination.

My Ryzen 5 5600X

Time to get to work

Took apart my PC. Also removed the lcd from my side panel and removed all the old vinyl too - side panel is back to it’s clean, original state.

Figured out the the 12v and GND power pins to solder my SATA extension to.

Testing the LCD powered off the PSU & Compute Stick

Disassembled the LCD. There was some sort of black tape going around the whole thing to keep it together, as well as some light adhesive around the backlight. Spent way too long trying to peel it off. Ended up just cutting the last 2 sides and i think it looks cleaner too. Since this is a laptop LCD, it’s a LOT thinner than the dell desktop monitors I used previously. I also reinforced the ribbon cables with electrical tape on both sides since these looked infinitely more fragile than my old LCD.

I didn’t even test the LCD after it was disassembled in fear that I’d damage something - the panel feels ridiculously fragile.

Oddly enough, there seems to be some sort of diffuse layer/anti glare coating on the reverse side of the LCD, despite this LCD being glossy. I really hope this isn’t the polarizing layer. According to this video:

it appears this couple encountered a similar setup on their monitor so I’m hoping for the best.

One layer of wet paper towels shown here. I layered on 3 more, totaling 4 wet paper towels.

Covered with another towel to hopefully stop the paper towels from drying out too quickly. I will likely wait overnight at minimum before trying to peel off the anti glare coating, because I am not taking any risks on such an expensive part.

That’s it for today. Hopefully I’ll have good news for y’all soon. Thanks for reading!

edit: 5 hours later, I gave the peel a try. Seems to have come off smoothly! Now I gotta wait for everything to dry up and give it a test.

Some_Tech_Noob · December 15, 2020, 7:14am

2020-12-15: Side Panel progress!

So I had a pack of the typical 3-fold commercial paper towels that I have been using in order to try to loosen the anti-glare film. Turns out these things absolutely suck at holding water. I used some actual paper towels and the anti glare film peeled right off after laying down a few coats of wet paper towels.

I let the LCD dry overnight and gave it a test. Looking good!

One thing I do notice differently about this panel is how much light it blocks out when powered off. My previous LCD blocked a lot of light, but this is on a totally different level. I expected this coming in since it’s always harder to punch light through smaller pixel sizes, but didn’t really factor that into my planning.

Double layer vinyl filmed the side panel and mounted the LCD. Matte black vinyl for the first layer, then the chrome. Some dust specks got under the vinyl which is unfortunate, but I don’t have the tools here to prevent that. It doesn’t bug me too much though so I didn’t bother cutting new pieces of vinyl. Electrical tape to reinforce the ribbon cables and reduce the risk of short circuiting on the vinyl(if it’s conductive, it shouldn’t be though…). Secured it firmly to the side panel with some mounting tape. So now unless I really rip something, the only thing that will probably fail is the connector at this point.

Looking pretty good!

I just wanted to mention how tiny the PCB that’s directly connected to the LCD is compared to my old LCD. So much cleaner. However, since this LCD is a 16:9 aspect ratio it really pushes all the way to the top and bottom edges. That means I can’t mount 2 out of my 4 LED strips on the side panel. I’m planning to mount one of my LEDs strips in the top of the case(which will hopefully light up the top of the noctua cooler - one of the things I overlooked from my v2), but other than another LED strip in the front of the case, I don’t see anywhere else to put the second strip. However, it’s late and that’s work for another day.

Thanks for reading, so far so good!

Some_Tech_Noob · December 16, 2020, 6:26am

2020-12-15: LEDs

Well before doing the LEDs, I did a quick modification of the display controller shroud. I created an exit hole for the display ribbon with the tip of my soldering iron.

I actually modelled up a new one to get printed at my local library, but they are backed up on 3D print orders so I have no idea when I’ll be able to get it printed.

Now the LEDs. One strip on each side of the LCD panel this time, since there’s no space on the top and bottom. Wire fits right underneath the panel, barely squeezing in the gap between the side panel LCD and case…

Did some weird wiring work for the ones that I mounted inside the PC. One strip in the front, one strip on top.

With just the two inside strips, the case is lit up quite a bit!

Gave it a test with the side panel on but not powered. Basically pitched black. Don’t think I’ll be able to see the full effect until after I get my PC built. There’s a bit of light bleed in the front that I need to fix, but other than that it’s looking good.

Now we just need to wait for MSI at this point… Can’t wait!

Some_Tech_Noob · December 25, 2020, 6:41am

2020-12-25: MSI finally pulls through

As of late 12/22/2020, MSI finally pushed the beta bios for my motherboard. Awesome! I tried doing usb bios flashback without any CPU installed with no luck. Reading online, apparently the mobo is very picky about using a usb 2.0 drive which I don’t have atm. Took out the 1700X from the B450M Pro4 I was testing with to do a quick bios flash the old fashion way. Worked like a charm after that.

Finally! 5600X in the B450M Mortar Titanium. Literally waited almost 2 weeks for this.

Installed everything back together, and of course it works first try again.

My lcd ribbon cable did get folded during shipping and is actually damaged unfortunately. Might have to find a way to keep it straightened out, but it isn’t causing too many issues for now so I’ll leave it be.

Viewing angles on this panel are very good, especially when compared to the previous LCD I had.

Multicore is insane. Higher performance than my 1700X with 2 less cores. Single core isn’t even comparable.

Put back on all the panels and filters.

Sadly with the lack of the LED strip at the very bottom, there’s a rather noticeable dark area now. The CPU Cooler area is a bit better than before with the new LED strip location though, albeit it’s not perfect.