Cold Winter | By C4B

**C4B** · 04-11-2013, 08:11 AM

Hello again!

Now that Im finished with CURV3D I can start with my next project. I have been waiting to start working on this. Ive been planning how to make this as good as possible. This is the project I will spend most time on ever. Hope you will enjoy this log, feel free to comment and please give me advice and tips.

Lets start with a little info about this build. You may remember my log of this build from another forums that I posted around a year ago. I also made a version 2 of it, and now the third and last version is coming.

This is my favorite build of all time, so now I want to make it as goodlooking as possible. What Im going to do is to correct the mistakes Ive made before, add some features to hide cables and things like that. I will also fill it with a little bit newer hardware and this time Im going for some nice watercooling, not an all-in-one like the Antec Kuhler I had in V.2.

List of things to do:

Paint the right acrylic side of the case (on the inside) black, so you cant see in from the side. Thats the side where the motherboard will be installed. DONE
Make coverplates out of acrylic to cover cables, psu and waterpump.
Make a hole in the bottom and in the backpanel for the new psu.
File down the acrylic so it fits perfectly with the acrylic piece. DONE
Sleeve everything white, black and aqua.
Hide as much of the cables as possible
Install watercooling
Getting the hardware

Hardware:
MB: Gigabyte GA-F2A88XN-WIFI
CPU: AMD A10-6800K
RAM: Corsair Dominator Platinum 2x4gb 2133MHz
SSD: Samsung 840 120gb
PSU: Be-Quiet SFX 300W

In V.2 I used AMDs Llano, and I fell in love. Since then I have been waiting for the next generation and now Trinity is here. When I have time for games I either play Starcraft 2 or Dota 2 and those arent really hardware demanding games, but the Trinity still is pretty good. So what I want is a HTPC but with possibilities of some simpler games to be played. So what I want to add for hardware is a m-itx motherboard for Trinity, socket FM2. As APU I want the best possible so Im trying to get a hold of a A10-6800K, and then add 2 sticks of 4GB DDR3 2133MHz ram.

EKWB! Thank you for helping me.

Be Quiet sponsored me with a Shadow Rock 2.

Gigabyte sponsored me with a GA-F2A88XN-WIFI.

MNPCTech sponsored me with this fan grill to have in the front, should look awesome!

Clear Acrylic 120mm Overkill "Nautilus" PC Fan Grill from Mnpctech.com

EK DCP 2.2 Combo:

What Ive done so far is to strip the case from almost everything except the LCD and powerswitch.

Front:

Back:

Left side:

Right side. This is the side I want to paint black on the inside so you cant see into it from here.

The acrylic is pretty messed up as you can see. It was that from the beginning. Many scratches. But at the same time I feel like it gives the case a kind of vintage look, I still want to make it look a bit nicer though. So I will start by cleaning and polish it as much as possible. Do any of you guys know how to remove scratches from acrylic? Clearcoat it? Use a little blowtorch? Any advice?

First thing Im going to start with is to cut the acrylic maybe 3-4mm so it fits perfect with the white plate. Then paint the backside of the acrylic black. So this is what I have to work with for a couple of weeks:

I painted the right inner side of the acrylic piece black. Looks pretty good. Now you cant see anything from the other side, just as I wanted.

I started with isolate a little bit.

Then I just painted it, 3 layers.

And this is how it looks from the outside.

Ive lowered the plexi a few mm to fit better to the white bended plate. I put everything together and took some pictures, I really love the black side.

The edge before. A little bit to high.

Measured how much to cut.

Dada!

Think this looks really good.

Right now Im waiting for the hardware so I can start measuring out how to fit everything, how to make the shroud and so on.

Will be updating as much as possible. Please comment and give me advice and tips. Everything and everyone is welcome.

With kind regards
Johan Nyman

**hollywood** · 04-21-2013, 10:07 AM

Johan,

That's a GREAT case concept. I like it's lines and compact design. Would love to have a killer mATX gaming box crammed in it...

**C4B** · 05-02-2013, 10:17 AM

Originally Posted by hollywood

Johan,

That's a GREAT case concept. I like it's lines and compact design. Would love to have a killer mATX gaming box crammed in it...

Thank you!
If I wanted too I could probably make a pretty good gaming rig in this little case, some pci-x risers and so on. But I dont need it.

**C4B** · 12-05-2013, 03:19 AM

I rushed to finish a aircooled version for Dreamhack that was this weekend thursday, for a Gigabyte contest there. After that I will start the real project with custom loop and other goodies.

To start off:

Be Quiet sponsored me with a Shadow Rock 2.

Gigabyte sponsored me with a GA-F2A88XN-WIFI.

What I started doing was to fix the 120mm hole in the front and also make the 92mm hole in the back to 120mm.

Then I started working on a shroud that would cover the powersupply. Used acrylic that I painted black on one side.

Then I painted the inside of the acrylic black too so it would hide the powersupply and everything else.

Then I added the fan grill I got from Bill. Looks awesome!

I got the motherboard and cpu down at J?nk?ping where Dreamhack is, so I installed everything there. It ended up looking like this.

And here it is together with all the other mods, I always ends up with the smallest mods haha.

So next thing to do is to make a watercooled version. I also have to get ahold of a CPU, I think Ill wait for the new AMD A10-7850K, should be released in January, the 14th I think. I was thinking of using a 50-60mm 120mm radiator in the front. Should be enough for the CPU.

So what did you think about the "aircooled Dreamhack" version of this mod?

With kind regards
Johan Nyman
Minimalistic PC's

**C4B** · 01-23-2014, 05:01 AM

Sorry for no updates here, but I have been waiting for the release of AMD A10-7850K, now it is here and I cant wait to start. Im still waiting for watercooling gear from EKWB though, after I got that I can start the casemodding for real.

**C4B** · 02-20-2014, 07:01 AM

I want to start by announcing a new sponsor and thank them for all their help, EKWB! Thank you for helping me and sending me:

120mm XT Radiator
Supremacy Clean CSQ Nickel-Acrylic
RES X3 150mm
Fittings

I started out installing the loop to see how I wanted everything, the RES is installed in the top like this.

The 120mm XT rad goes in the front of course together with the DCP 2.2 pump on the bottom.

The entire loop from behind, whats missing here is the cover over the PSU and the pump, working on that right now aswell as fixing all the cables to perfect lenght.

I cant get a good photo from the side because of the tinted plexiglass, although, as soon as I have some lights inside the case there will be good pictures.

Last picture of the day!

What do you think so far?

I have dissassembled everything now to finish the last small details.

Complete the coverplate for the PSU and pump.
Fix all the cables to perfect lenght.
Install a SSD.
Leaktest.
OS Install and config.

Hopefully Ill have a new update this weekend, until then, have a good day!

With kind regards
Johan Nyman
Minimalistic PC's

**C4B** · 02-21-2014, 05:42 PM

The loop is filled with Mayhems, its leaktested and the computer boots up! This project is now finished. I took some pictures of the result, the final pictures will be taken tomorrow though, but here are some sneakpeaks.

What do you think?

With kind regards
Johan Nyman
Minimalistic PC's

**C4B** · 02-22-2014, 04:19 PM

Hello everyone!

So I finally finished Cold Winter, the third version. I went back and checked when I started the first project log for this case, 2011-01-04, a while ago. However, this mod has meant a lot to me, this was the second serious project I made and the first one I was really satisfied with. Since then I made a second version and then started planning a third version that I promised myself was going to be the last, and here it is!

The sad part is the scratches on the acrylic, this was made when I built this case at my school, someone there thought it was funny to start etching stuff on it, the same happened at Dreamhack. So sad, I tried as good as possible to polish it but not with a really good result. The good part is that isnt really easy to see if you dont put a light right on the scratches.

I want to say thank you for all the nice comments and feedback of Cold Winter and I also want to give a big shoutout to the sponsors for helping me with the hardware!

EKWB! Thank you for helping me.

Be Quiet sponsored me with a Shadow Rock 2.

Gigabyte sponsored me with a GA-F2A88XN-WIFI.

MNPCTech sponsored me with this fan grill to have in the front, should look awesome!

Clear Acrylic 120mm Overkill "Nautilus" PC Fan Grill from Mnpctech.com

Well do you want to see the final pictures? Here you go!

Ill be back here with more updates on other projects. Until then, I would be happy if you would like to check out my facebook-page where I post all my projects, updates and giveaways. Check it out and like it.

Thank you everyone!

With kind regards
Johan Nyman
Minimalistic PC's