Quakcon2015 Modders-Inc Core X1 Staff vs Staff Mod Off Entry

[Dirty South PC Mods]

Hey hey guys Nick here from Dirty South PC Mods and Modders-Inc. Back to bring you another awesome mod.

 

This time it is based off of the Doom or Quake video game series I'm not sure witch at this point. 

 

Brought to you by the good folks at Thermaltake

 

 

And by the awesome crew at Modders-Inc

 

 

The following are the rules of the competition that I must adhere to. 

 

1) We each start of the with the same case, the Thermaltake X1
 

2) Each person can only spend $250 USD to create the actual case mod. Taxes are not included in the total for the $250 USD
 

3) A theme was picked to help keep us on the same playing field. You can pick from either the DOOM universe or the Quake universe or both

 

4) Our completion time is from right now to July first. (This could get pushed back one week, please shoot for this  date)
 

5) All work on the mod must be done by the modder
 

6) If you need to have something created that you cannot make yourself from what you have on hand (Graphics, 3D printing, media blasting, cutting metal and etc) you MUST deduct this from the $250. NO FRIEND OR BARTERING pricing is allowed. We want to represent  the actual cost of creating the mods.
 

7) You can use what you have on hand but you need to deduct CURRENT value from the $250. (Just because you have $1000 worth of something lying around doesn't mean you can use it for free)
 

8) Hardware (motherboard, CPU, Coolers and WC, RAM, ROM Drives, graphic cards, storage media) is optional. BUT if you have to "mod" the hardware the cost MUST be deducted from the $250.

 

9) Tools bought to create the mod are NOT counted against the $250 USD.

 

10) You MUST do a work log in the Modders-Inc forums for it to be in the contest. It can be either images or videos.

 

11) The case must be on display at QuakeCon 2015 to be part of the contest.

 

First up lets take a look at the Thermaltake Core X1 ITX case that I will be using as the platform for the build.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Tt Andy]

awesome, cant wait to see the progress

[Dirty South PC Mods]

Alright first thing is to remove the factory paint form the case...To do what I want to do I need to get to the bare metal.

Ok so the paint stripper doesn't work if there is a ceramic in the paint so Good ol Grinder with a flap disk gets that paint right off.

 

Ok used a cut off wheel on the grinder to cut two more window holes on the top and right side panels.

 

Now exposed metal will start to rust over time. That is something I don't have at the moment, so I need to accelerate the process. 

 

That's where this little mad scientist trick comes in handy. 1 x 32oz empty/clean spray bottle, 1 16oz bottle of 3% Hydrogen Peroxide, 2oz of Distilled Vinegar, and 2 oz of table salt. Don't forget to wear safety goggles as you don;t want this stuff getting into your eyes.

 

What this solution does is rapidly accelerate the oxidization process to a matter of seconds/min depending on the raw metal you are working with.

After about 20 min the rust starts off looking like a light orange color....but if you let it sit for a couple days it starts to develop the dark Redish-Brown more commonly seen.

 

 

After we let the rust develop over a couple days. I went ahead and air-brushed some UV Green in some areas to make it look like there is still some corrosive on it, and then sealed it with Rustolium Matte Clear.

 

 

Alright time to turn my attention to the Motherboard I am going to be using in the build I decided to go with a MSi Z97M.

First up I removed the heatsinks and soaked them in paint thinner overnight to remove the paint on them. Then a quick hit with the grinder to get to the exposed metal. So the oxidation solution can do it's magic. The claw inserts I ended up spraying with some UV green.

 

 

Now for the Front Fan I am going to use a Tt 200mm Fan first up paint it UV Green. after that I took a Green 5050 LED strip hooked up to a dimmer switch.

 

 

The two radiators I am going to be using are a 200mm Phobya Extreme and a EK 240mm PE.

The rads are getting the same treatment the rest of the metal. Stripped/Corroded/Sealed.