System is running Linux Mint for now, I may end up dual booting with windows 10 if I want to play overwatch.. but that wont be for a few weeks probably cos windows key too expensive ; ;
Before Photos
After Photos
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What does it look like through the side panel window?
Great job! Beauty of a computer!
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That is one sexy cable management :)
Congrats :) really nice job :)
Great job, it really came together nicely.
I'm running Linux mint as my main OS & only switch into windows for a few programs that I can't get running in wine.
I've found it a really stable OS. I think I killed it once or twice when I was first starting out on linux, but it's been solid since version 17.3 for me.
There is some good info out there on locking down windows 10 & it's not a terrible OS, aside from the data harvesting. I do much prefer linux though, it just feels better to use, I spend 95% of my time in Mint now.
The blues. Love it. :D
Thanks to everyone in the Tek Syndicate community for following this build and making helpful suggestions on the way, this has been a work in progress for 3 months when i count the fact that I had to save slowly for each part, and wait for stuff to be delivered and also wait for the paint to dry literally lol.
I hope that following along has given all builders some ideas, but there are a lot of pros on this forum who have absolutely amazing rigs, like eastexas for example and his build guide. I really have seen some amazing stuff from this community, and I hope that even for many new pc builders who may have joined here recently that all our builds give you some ideas and provide a nice guide to what you can do.
What I also like is that the range of computers that are built and shown by community members. We have budget / mid range and high end pc's catered for, so we really have a community here that shows all sorts of gear and how to make the best use of all of it.
I named it Blue Lightning feeling that it was appropriate based on its aesthetics. And I can say I have enjoyed this process a lot, I may even submit this to Asus 'their community website' since it is an all Asus build and perhaps also to the AMD enthusiasts site cos its an all AMD build too, both of whom might like it.
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Got a reply from JJ from the Asus DIY team (I think hes the dude on their youtube videos) and also a reply from one of AMD Community site administrators for Team Red and AMD Gaming, both gave this customized case a thumbs up ^_^
Feels so great when a project comes together and goes well. Also if people were wondering what sort of budget I had here, I believe in US Dollars all up I might have spent around $500ish, mind you I did recycle quite a few parts and the new motherboard / cpu / gpu was the bulk of the investment, there was some additional spend also in the cooling and case modding gear.
It did take a lot of effort though from sanding down the old case, applying and then re-applying the paint for a good finish, placing the acrylic correctly on the window cutout, ensuring all the cooling items were also made vibration and sound proof with silicon or rubber padding protecting each part such as fans etc. I guess what should be learned here is that you do not need the most money in the world to get something nice, what you do need though is a bit of elbow grease and effort to put into whatever project you do and as you reach the end result, you can truly surprise yourself.
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Very awesome build dude.
I love when people do budget right.
Reuse what you can, buy only what you need :)
And take an old case and make it look really nice!
Seriously keep up the great work and its awesome you heard from those guys!
Its when you have a goal to finish your project and that's all, that's when you get the most recognition in my experience :)
Also, nice framing on that side window, I'm sure most people would have wanted to just make the whole side acrylic, but then the problem is you have unpainted steel inside that wouldn't look too night.
So I think the framing on that window is perfect, it shows just enough ;)
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Yes the framing was something I put a lot of thought into, given this was an older steel case to begin with and the fact that the PSU was mounted on top and the drive cage was welded on so could not be removed, I had to make sure that anything unsightly would not be visible whatsoever from an external view. In addition to this one of the panels on the old case had some unsightly ventilation holes at first which as you can see were completely cut out to make space for the window.
If anyone is actually adding a window like this, then please make sure to sand the edges down so their blunt and smooth once you cut the metal, use rubber padding they sell the right type of stuff on Bill Owens site http://mnpctech.com/ he also has full guides available on how to do each step of a custom mod, this is basically where I learned the method from and then it is just a case of applying the method.
Also when cutting steel use safety gear, it is worth investing $50 on safety gloves which protect your hands from cuts, goggles which ensure no metallic bits get into your eyes as you cut the metal etc, this is vitally important. And lastly just take your time there is no rush, as I said it took me 3 months to do this slowly, cos I had to go through the learning curve of case modding,
I think these days we get so used to buying cases that just have all the appropriate cut outs and cooling and cable management and so building in a new modern case is very easy and fast, but the old cases were never like that and so understanding how the old case is designed and then planning out cable management is the main thing, as I even show on this above guide I had to do the cable management a few times before I got it right, the first and second iterations were terrible but the third attempt I worked out all the kinks and managed to get a satisfying result.
There maybe one final item I add to this which is a 5.25' NZXT LED controller (to replace the bay where the optical drive has been removed), I was thinking of getting some magnetic LED lighting and setting it up.
I think my next custom rig wont be til the end of next year, my wifey has asked for me to build her one too next year so kinda holding out for Zen and Vega before I determine how both of those builds might go.
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