Phantom 820 MOD - Worklog by Jompenleet

[jompenleet]

Welcome!

I am now back with another build to work with.

This worklog is originally from TheModZoo but i wanted to share it with you guys aswell for opinions.
Original link: Phantom 820 MOD - Big Beast by jompenleet - Member Worklogs - The Mod Zoo

My previous build was a Phantom 410 by NZXT

It was a fun build wich also was very appreciated by alot of you. Wich lead into the oppurtunity of this Phantom 820 mod.

At this time i i've been building in NZXT cases because i really dig their futuristic look with lots of
internal space to work with. NZXT is also very good with listening to their customers reviews & opinions
and i believe that they really try to do their best satisfying all their customers, no matter what sort of components they intend to
put in their cases.*
That is why the NZXT cases are created compatible with lots of different radiator options etc.


I would love to give you some rendered pictures of what my goals is with this project
but every time i've tried making something in photoshop it ends up looking like a cartoon bisquit.
So you're just going to have to check back every now and then to watch the progress here.

Anyway i am thinking of giving this case a red interior to match with a grey paint i will be applying to the outside of the case.*
Why is this project called The Big Beast?
If you check back every now and then you will see why.

All of the work you'll see here on these following pages will be made at my house without any 2000$ tools.

I Believe That Minor Changes can have a BIG impact if done right

Hope you have a great time beeing a part of my progress with this project.




Hardware for this build:

NZXT Phantom 820 - Black (not for long)
(CA-PH820-M1)

Intel Core i7 4770k Hashwell (i'll be giving some video tutorials on how to overclock this badboy when this project is nearly finished)
(BX80646I74770K)

Asus Maximus VI Hero ATX
(MAXIMUS VI HERO)

Asus Geforce GTX 780 3GB Reference Design (With an EK backplate)
(GTX780-3GD5)

Corsair 16GB (4x4GB) CL9 1866Mhz DOMINATOR PLATINUM
CMD16GX3M4A1866C9)

Corsair HX 750W 80+ Gold Modular (With sleeving from Million Dollar PC)
(CP-9020031-NA)

Corsair Hydro H80i (Custom Loop from EKWB)
(CW-9060008-WW)

Samsung SSD EVO Desktop Kit 840 -Series 120GB
(MZ-7TE120KW)

Creative Sound Blaster Z (With some changes to the looks of the card)
(SOUND BLASTER Z)

Cooling:
EK Coolstream RAD XT 360
EK CSQ13/19mm, Black
Ek Supremacy Acetal + Nickel
EK-FC Titan SE Backplate
EK RES x3 250
Alphacool D5 PUMP VPP655T12 barbed
EK-PSC 90degrees angled fittings Black
EK Coolant Blood Red - 1000ml
Masterkleer 19/13 Clear High-Flexible Tubing



Some of the modding materials for this build:

Dremel Rotary Discs

Smoked Acrylic Sheet

Black, white & Silver Pop Rivets

Round Modders Mesh

3M Di-Noc Carbon Fibre

U-Channel Molding

Silver PC Case Tumbscrew's 6/32 thread

All this great stuff can be found at PC Case Mods Store





Sleeving for this build:





SLEEVE SMALL - COLOR-X

SLEEVE SMALL - SHADE 19

Cable Management Clips

Crimp Contacts MALE for ATX, PCIE

All of this from Nils at MDPC-X International









This is another mod by Jompenleet!
Case is sponsored byNZXT.
Modding materials sponsored by MNPCTech
Enjoy!

This just arrived from NZXT Corp California. They had a local reseller send it to me though.

Bigger in person than i thought it would be.

They even attached a box to organize all the case screws for the case. Cred to NZXT (Y)
I really missed this when i got the older Phantom 410 case.

Backside

Rear side. Sorry you have to tilt your head*

Lets dig in fellow monkeys!

As you can see, this case will give me plenty of room to work with. Whatever i intend to do with this case.

200mm fan in the side
200mm fan in the front
200mm fan in top.
140mm rear fan
These are the fans they included as stock fans.
You can put way more fans in there though

 

[jompenleet]

Rear dust filter for the PSU. Covers 120 & 140mm fans.

Bottom air intake. PLENTY of room for optimal airflow! In case someone would like to put a 240/280 rad in the bottom?

So much room a small person could live here. A very ventilated case though, so make sure to overclock during cold winter nights. To get some heat in there

Removable HDD cages. Unforunately NZXT These are the most beautiful HDD cages i've ever seen so i am going to have to reconsider using these for my mod. Even though the original plan was to remove these right away.

3.5" Brackets. With predrilled SSD mounting holes. I love this

HUE Led Controller pre-installed. So that will save me a 5.25" bracket.
Gives you a big variety of colours.*
Might be using some cold cathodes anyway. But thats something i will decide later.

New cool looking fan controller.
This gives you the ability to change the voltage on all your fans. Thereby either increasing or decreasing the airflow & noise levels.

NZXT threw in an 8pin individually sleeved Mobo extension. They knew the height of this case would be a big problem to the PSU cord.

Front dust filter removable (fits 2x 140's or 2x 120's.)
The little plastic clip broke before i even got the case onto the table because i actually held my grip over this filter while lifted the case. I will fix this with glue and magnets

This is the Phantom 820 Naked.
Enough dissembling for today. I've got to assemble this again and put the new hardware in. For you to understand the size of this beast.

Alright i but it back together, and i put my Midi tower Phantom 410
(Phantom 410 MOD - PROJECT LOG - Member Worklogs - The Mod Zoo)

right next to it. And as you can see it is enormous.

Here is a shot of the new hardware i have to work with for this project.
Unfortunately my camera's batteries died here and i still havent found the charger.
That is why this pic is a low resolution phone photo

The new RAM. Looks stunning

Asus threw in alot of accesories for the motherboard.

this is the processor that will be used for this project

These memory modules are..... I..am lost for words....





Now... Let the modding begin!
Check back for updates.

First off will be dremeling, painting & sleeving.

 

[jompenleet]

Here is the case taken apart. After i finally got the last pop-rivet removed i was seriously considering throwing this away to go for a mATX case.
But i'm sure you'll be happy i didnt

Here you can also see some already painted parts. Ignore those for now..
I took a few pic's of me sanding these parts down and priming them preparing for the new paint. But those pics got so blurry i don't even bother uploading them! You are here to see beautiful casemods

Close up look of the new internal paint
Wich type of paint this is can be found in a previous post

Even closer.
Btw this looks dirty but it isn't. You'll see

Test piece of the new external paint.
Looks great in combo with the blood red in my opinion
Wich type of paint this is can be found in a previous post

Mesh, sanded down, primed & repainted with*
Silver Chrome
Wich type of paint this is can be found in a previous post

Bling Bling

Do the parts ever stop coming?
By this time my back is already killing me and we're not even half way there..

Getting some results and im as happy as when i started today

Trying to show you the effect of the clearcoat on this Matte Color.
I need a better camera for it though!*
Give me a week or so

The color combination is working out great!

Some parts are finished and those iam putting back together asap. Or i'll loose the screws

I'm in love with Montana Gold's colours though.

This is sparta!!!

Putting the skeletal back together with fresh white pop rivets

After another hour or so this is what came out..


Btw i've fixed the dark spots already.*
So ignore them

DURGH!
I dropped this 3,5" Bay so abit of color fell off.*
Applied some more paint on it after this pic was taken so it's fixed now

The 5.25" Bay locks will be the same color as the Front & Top Mesh.

This is after 1 layer of paint was on it. Applying 2 more layers fixes the marks

Even the fan control button's come some Chrome paint applied to it. Case looks dirty but it's just dust.

This will give you a hint of the color combinations getting married

Closer up..

 

[jompenleet]

Custom Loop!

This arrived today. These products can be found on*EKWB - Liquid Cooling Solutions EK Water Blocks

EK Coolstream RAD XT 360
EK CSQ13/19mm, Black
Ek Supremacy Acetal + Nickel
EK-FC Titan SE Backplate
EK RES x3 250
Alphacool D5 PUMP VPP655T12 barbed
EK-PSC 90degrees angled fittings Black
EK Coolant Blood Red - 1000ml
Masterkleer 19/13 Clear High-Flexible Tubing


I first considered buying a GPU Waterblock for my graphics card.
When i had it my shopping card i stopped, itched my head and created an imaginary
ups & downs list of this block.
Let me show you!

UPS
+ The graphics card will run more silently
+ It would fit the looks of my CPU block

DOWNS
- The GTX 780 reference cooler is the most beautiful cooler i've ever seen on a graphics card
- Keeping my ref cooler wont hurt my wallet
- My reference cooler isn't running noisy
- I can always add the GPU waterblock later if i change my mind.

So i decided to skip the waterblock for the Graphics Card for now!

These fittings look very slick, read some good reviews on these so hopefully they wont leak any liquid.

My new backplate for my Asus 780 Reference Design.
Well packaged & protected.

Unpackaged
All shiny

Close up look. This will look great inside the case

*XT 360 Rad well packaged aswell.. I really get why people go for EKWB. It just stinks of quality, even outside the boxes

When picking radiator for this build i was first considering a 420 or even a 480mm radiator.
But then again this Phantom 890 case already supports 360 radiators and i've got some really decent 120mm fans just laying around looking for work. Now they're hired by this 360mm Radiator from EKWB

Almost perfect fins. Just a few misses, not even compareable with corsairs closed loop radiator fin's wich looks more like a soccer field than a heat radiator.

D5 pump by Alphacool*VPP655T12 barbed, looks like the front of an old train...
This pump will be mounted under my PSU cover so there is now worries fellow modders.
It wont show!

The pump comes with 2 predrilled holes in the mounting bracket..

Ek Blood red coolant, cant tell you much about this
until i've actually used it myself

Res was well packaged aswell.

All that was included with the res

The EK logo in the third generation reservoars is just a milled piece of acrylic. I think it's a good idea, it really improved the looks from the 2nd generation EKWB made

CPU Block.
Supremacy Acetal + Nickel.
say no more

This will definately go well with my motherboard.

NEXT UP:*
Will be doing some more work on the case, then i've still got lots of sleeving to do. Then some cable management work.
Also ordered some Lighting from germany! We will see about that in an upcoming update.
See you soon /J

 

[jompenleet]

Decided to take a few pics with better light for you to see the color combinations better.

The front "door" is still not mounted since i will be painting the tribal bear on there.
Sorry but you're going to have to tilt your head

top

 

[jompenleet]

Update - Cutting the side panel


Started off by measuring how far in to cut

Taping it up with regular Scotch Masking Tape & Measuring where to make the cuts

Decided to make my marks about 4cm from the edge.
How to translate this to inch is your job* B)*

A MUST HAVE*

Then this small Hole-Saw came to use, i think this is a 29mm but any small one will do the job

Now, The Jig Saw!

I used a "Fine Wood Cutting Blade" for this.*
The Saw chewed this aluminum material as if it was hot butter

This was so much better than using a rotary tool!*
It was actually almost easy cutting this straight

Looks pretty good! But the hand file can always improve this abit!

If you make a wrong cut or f**ked up really bad, you can always visit MNPCtech for some molding, very useful

I mean it's not Bill Owens work but this will do *

 

[jompenleet]

PSU COVER

First off i must say i did consider cutting two pieces and then gluing them together in a 90 degree angle, pretty much what i did with my previous project in my phantom 410.
Yet then this case does only have round corners, you won't see many edges at all looking at the outside of this case
And since the PSU cover is a very visual object i figured i might aswell try bending one piece of acrylic to fit the smooth & round feeling this case gives you!

I had a hard time deciding if i should use 2mm thick or 5mm thick acrylic for this job.
The 5mm would be alot stronger and heavier, although the 2mm are easier to shape.
Ended up with the 2mm, here's some pics

Here's what i've got!

This is what i'll be using for the psu cover of this build

I did also record a video of me doing this mod. Ill post it up here soon

These following tools is what i used for this particular mod

1. Clamps
2. Callipers
6. Pen
3. Carpenter's Square
4. Jigsaw
5. A piece of wood
6. Heat gun

A piece of wood to help you make a straight cut with the jigsaw

When its cut to size, heat it up using a heatgun to get a round corner

Fits like a glove

Gonna do some drilling in the new cover for cords & hoses to go through.*
will also paint the inside of it so that the outside will remain shiny*

I will keep you guys updated though

Painted the inside of the plexi to give it that extra glow on the outside

PSU COVER improvements for cable & hose management

Using a multitool from Bosch, using this tool really saved me both time and money.
Also made a few cuts in the aluminum with the standard blade that comes with the multitool and it worked its way
through the aluminum as good as with the plexiglass.

This was a very handy tool for cutting acrylic.*

 

[jompenleet]

FAN REPAINT


Today i decided to go Corsair's fans.
I first bought a set of BeQuiet SilentWings2 but according to me, those fans were overrated for their price.

So after googling around looking for fans that was easy enough to dissemble in order to paint them to fit the rest of the case, i decided to return the BeQuiet fans and got me some Corsair AF140's and SP120's.
Although there was no good tutorial on how to take them apart out there, so after some researching i decided to make a tutorial video of my own.*
Just to show you how easy it really was to take the Corsair fans apart.


Corsair Fan Disassemble - YouTube

Each box contained the following

 

[jompenleet]

UPDATE
SLEEVING

The PSU is a Corsair HX750W+Gold


This is just an overview of what i used for the sleeving job.

Tools used
A very small regular screwdriver
Heatgun
Modding tool set (to remove the PCI Headers from the cord)


Sleeving & heatshrinks

Sleeve small - Shade 19

Sleeve SMALL - SHADE 19 | Sleeve | MDPC Sleeve | MDPC-X International



Sleeve Small - Color-X

Sleeve SMALL - COLOR-X | Sleeve | MDPC Sleeve | MDPC-X International


Heatshrink small - Anthracite

Heatshrink SMALL - ANTHRACITE | Heatshrink | MDPC Sleeve | MDPC-X International



If you want to know how to sleeve or resleeve your PSU there are plenty of good tutorials on youtube.

6pin & 6+2pin to GPU

24pin to mobo

8pin CPU all tangled up atm

 

[jompenleet]

Ok guys big update incoming, here's some preview pics for you monkeys

Just noticed there are lots of dust on the fresh peeled acrylic sidepanel. Forgot to wash it with soap after removed the protection.
Ill get a better camera and remove the dust for you to get better pics at my next update

More to come... Stay tuned