[MSI PRO MOD S3] - KRAIT VENOM

[alexciobanu]

Hi guys and welcome to my build log for a mod I will be calling KRAIT VENOM. This will be my entry in the MSI PRO MOD Season 3.

The theme will be based around the MSI Krait theme and will be all blacks and white.

I will be transforming the Thermaltake Versa H34 and show that you don't need a high end expensive case to have a good looking PC

Here are the main specs:

Case - Thermaltake Versa H34
Motherboard - MSI Z170A Krait Gaming
CPU - Intel i5 6600K
Memory - 2 x 4GB G.Skill Ripjaws V 2800Mhz DDR4 Memory
GPU - MSI GTX 960
SSD - Intel
M.2 - 256GB Samsung SM951 PCI-E M.2 SSD
PSU - Thermaltake Toughpower Gold 550W

Cables - Icemodz Fully Custom Individually Sleeved Cables

LEDs - Icemodz RGB LED Strips

Thermaltake Custom Watercooling

Radiator - Pacific RL360 White Edition
Fans - 6 X Riing 12 LED White
CPU Block - Pacific W2 CPU Water Block
Pump - Pacific P1 Black D5 Pump w/ Silent Kit
Reservoir - Pacific R22
Fittings - Pacific G1/4 PETG Tube 5/8” (16mm) OD Adapter – Black
Tubing - V-Tubler PETG Tube

Coolant - Mayhems Aurora II Silver

Here is a pic with the starting hardware, I will most likely use the AIO for the first stage of the build before doing a full custom loop.

Thanks for checking it and stay tuned for more!

Cheers,

Alex

 

[alexciobanu]

Here's a look at the case and it's disassembly

Thanks for checking it out!

Cheers,

Alex

 

[alexciobanu]

Hi guys!

Today I'd like to introduce you to the awesome MSI Z170A Krait Gaming motherboard and a i5 6600K Skylake CPU to go with it!

Thanks for checking it out!

Cheers!

Alex

 

[alexciobanu]

Hi guys!

Back with another update, this time I want to showcase the MSI GTX960 following with the black and white theme of the build

Just a few more hardware updates and the modding will begin

Thanks for checking it out!

Cheers,

Alex

 

[alexciobanu]

Hi guys!

Time for another update!

It seems like the MSI dragon has gotten out of his cage and into the build as I'm doing some test fitting with the Thermaltake Pacific RL360 Rad.

The build looks like it will have a custom loop going in after all starting with this awesome and rather large rad compared to this case, already powdercoated in white by Thermaltake.

Once the test fitment is done, out with the dremel rotary, jig saw and scroll saw on this case before doing the paint job

Thanks for checking it out!

Stay tuned for more!

Cheers,

Alex

 

[spugm1r3]

Always enjoy your build logs Alex. One thing, that banner is huge. Like 3840 huge. When I load the screen, I see "MSI PR".I imagine that was not intentional

 

[alexciobanu]

Always enjoy your build logs Alex. One thing, that banner is huge. Like 3840 huge. When I load the screen, I see "MSI PR".I imagine that was not intentional

Thanks a lot man! Hahaha yea that was not intentional, I post in other forums too and they just shrink it to the size of the monitor or browser window, but some just show the actual size. I forgot to resize it originaly

 

[alexciobanu]

Hi guys!

Back with another quick update!

I want to show you some more goodies. Awesome Thermaltake Riing fans with white LED and Thermaltake Thoughpower 550W PSU which will be more than enough for this build as well as the the G.Skill Ripsaws V DDR4 memory.

Thanks for checking it out and stay tuned for more!

Cheers,

Alex

 

[alexciobanu]

Hi guys,

All the rough cuts have been made on the case and it's pretty much all torn apart. It's now time to start working with some aluminum panels

First up I shortened the I/O bracket and also the motherboard tray

I completely removed the back as best as I could leaving just the PSU mount

Also there is a massive hole in the top as well with some simple mounting left

Made a cut out to clean up the front as well to better accommodate the front 360mm radiator

Thanks for checking it out and stay tuned for more over the coming days which might answer some questions as to where I'm taking this mod by removing so much of the original case

Cheers,

Alex

 

[alexciobanu]

The motherboard tray is now mounted in it's new location.

What I am doing is mounting the I/O to the top of the case to change things around a bit

Here is the tray with the aluminum panel I made

The 90 degree aluminum corner bar is mounted there for a shroud to mount to once the motherboard tray is in the case. I will showcase this once done

Also here is how I am mounting the motherboard tray panel to the top of the case. Using these brackets and other 90 degree aluminum corner bars and leaving a small compartment in the top for cables to connect with ease.

Hope you guys like the progress so far and stay tuned for more

Cheers,

Alex

 

[alexciobanu]

Motherboard tray is in for test fitting and also so I can work on other stuff inside the case.

You can now see the orientation more clearly

Also please ignore any ugly screws for now and also the bare aluminum. In the end it will all be black.

You can see here the cutout I am going to make for a window on the back panel

Plenty of room for cables to connect to in the top

And plenty of room for cables in the back

Now time to go work on a shroud!

Thanks for checking it out guys and stay tuned for more!

Cheers,

Alex

 

[Ocellaris]

Good pics and I look forward to seeing the finished case design.

 

[Beaflag VonRathburg]

Interesting setup with the rotated motherboard. I'm guessing we'll see, but what are your plans for covering the IO area? I have a Silverstone Raven RV02 with similar mounting and it has a nice plastic / mesh piece that runs the length to cover the top.

 

[alexciobanu]

Good pics and I look forward to seeing the finished case design.

Thanks a lot

Interesting setup with the rotated motherboard. I'm guessing we'll see, but what are your plans for covering the IO area? I have a Silverstone Raven RV02 with similar mounting and it has a nice plastic / mesh piece that runs the length to cover the top.

Cheers Yea I will have some sort of cover with small hinges to open up and a small cut out for the cables to run through

 

[alexciobanu]

Hi guys,

The shroud for the build is ready.

It's from a 6mm thick piece of opal white acrylic. With some vinyl on it and an LED strip underneath, it should look pretty good

Thanks for checking it out!

Cheers,

Alex

 

[alexciobanu]

Hi guys,

Back with another small update on this project.

I've laid most of the components down to sorta get a visual of things and see how I'm gonna paint things, make some covers, backplates and a lot of vinyl work. Everything to tie in to the black and white theme of the MSI PRO MOD S3 as well as the MSI Krait theme I've chosen

This is how I usually work, just put everything together and get a good look at things and see what I can modify. I never start a mod with a set plan or design, just an idea of how things could look and most of it gets developed as I work on the system. Seeing what works and what doesn't as well as getting new ideas. Sometimes a mod can turn out differently as to how I see it in my mind the first time I get an idea.

So what I have here is the Intel i5 6600K processor, 8GB of G.Skill DDR4, the MSI GTX 960 and on the motherboard you can see a Samsung SM951 256GB M.2 drive which will be the boot drive for this system. There is also an Intel 535 240GB SDD for some extra storage.

Firstly the RAM will definitely have to be painted white and I will most likely use white Plasi Dip on it just in case I will wanna take it back to stock in the future. I also have some spare ram covers from some Asus Sabertooth motherboards that I have. I will use two of those just to fill the other ram slots. If you're not sure what I mean you'll see in a future update

I will be making a custom acrylic cover for the M.2 drive as well as for the Intel SSD and also a backplate for the GPU. I will use 2mm thick white acrylic with black vinyl design.

I'm also thinking of making a simple I/O cover for the motherboard also from white acrylic.

Thanks for checking out this update and stay tuned for more!

Cheers,

Alex

 

[alexciobanu]

Having a bit of a test fit and feel for things inside the case

Thanks for checking it out!

Cheers,

Alex

 

[silent-circuit]

Edit: Seems someone already pointed out the huge banner, so nevermind. Nice log.

 

[alexciobanu]

More hardware shots inside the case

A look inside the top compartment!

Thanks for checking it out and stay tuned for more!

Cheers,

Alex

 

[alexciobanu]

Edit: Seems someone already pointed out the huge banner, so nevermind. Nice log.

Hahaha yea I do apologise again, was not intentional

 

[alexciobanu]

Hi guys,

Did some work on the top panel and also made new side panels. 1.6mm aluminum sheets were used for this and everything was cut by hand with my trusty jig saw and moto saw as well as lots and lots of filing.

Hope you guys like how they turned out and don't worry I didn't forget about the dot in i from MSI haha I have a plan for that

As you can see I will use some small hinges to attach the top panel and some larger thumb screws in the front to secure it. There is also a cut out at the bank for cables to run through.

Should all look nice once it's all painted black

Here is the work I did on the side panels. I thought an MSI logo will look good on the back panel with some mesh behind it and also some lights. So I started cutting at it followed by lots of filing.

New windowed panel that will nicely show the motherboard area.

Pretty happy with the end result, I hope you guys agree! I will also have some hinges for the side panels as well, with thumb screws at the front to secure them

Thanks for checking it out and stay tuned for more!

Cheers,

Alex

 

[silent-circuit]

I realize this is more of a showpiece than something meant to be lived with daily (though you're doing a great job -- thus far it looks like it could be!) so while I realize the hinged side panels will give you a little "difference factor" I don't think it's the most realistic way to handle attaching them. A piece of channel on the bottom to allow easy alignment and a couple thumbscrews (or 4, one at each corner for the sake of symmetry, even) would make more sense.

Still, really like what you'e doing with this so far.

 

[mangapc]

This project is very nice and looks to be going very well. Can not wait to see the finished project. Be nice to see a video of the finished project.

 

[alexciobanu]

I realize this is more of a showpiece than something meant to be lived with daily (though you're doing a great job -- thus far it looks like it could be!) so while I realize the hinged side panels will give you a little "difference factor" I don't think it's the most realistic way to handle attaching them. A piece of channel on the bottom to allow easy alignment and a couple thumbscrews (or 4, one at each corner for the sake of symmetry, even) would make more sense.

Still, really like what you'e doing with this so far.

Thanks a lot! The only reason I went with the hinge is just to be a bit different and wanted to try it so will see how it goes. The panels will still be lined up nicely with the bottom and two thumb screws at the front will keep it in place. I reckon 4 thumb screws to hold it would have been to tricky to get on everytime and yea this is mainly a showpiece mod for the MSI Pro Mod however I'm still trying to do it practical in order to be able to use it for a bit but I do have other more powerful systems

This project is very nice and looks to be going very well. Can not wait to see the finished project. Be nice to see a video of the finished project.

Thanks a lot mate

 

[alexciobanu]

Hi guys!

Side panels are on and the back window has been cut. Just need to get some proper screws for the hinges and the case will be ready for powder coating

You may also spot the new acrylic on the front panel!

Thanks for checking it out!

Cheers,

Alex

 

[alexciobanu]

Hey guys,

All of the panels on the case are done and the case is getting powder coated in a satin black, should turn out good.

Here it is before it went away!

Once done I will mount some thumb screws towards the front of the case to hold the panels to make it easier and also the front panel is offset a bit and I will do it a bit more, this is purely for airflow as the fans will be pulling air in from there.

Thanks for checking it out!

Cheers,

Alex

 

[alexciobanu]

Hey guys,

With the case now getting powder-coated it is time to start adding details to the rest of the components!

Starting with some custom SSD covers and vinyl designs.

Here is a cover for the Samsung SM951 SSD

Very simple and effective

And also for the Intel 535 SSD, just need to round the corners to match it

Now to add vinyl

Also changing the motherboard heatsink to be more Krait looking

Now to get the RAM sticks painted white!

Thanks for checking it out and stay tuned for more!

Cheers,

Alex

 

[alexciobanu]

Hi guys,

Got quite a bit done on the build in the last few days and getting ready to finish it by next week I hope!

The memory is now plasti dipped white, it's a bit rough but it's plasti dip so it's all good.

Just taped and sprayed

Also here is the CPU block from Thermaltake made by Swiftech so it's pretty much the same deal and with the swap-able inserts.

I made sure to customise it of course

and it lights up really nice and bright

Also made a custom backplate for the GPU

Thanks for checking it out and stay tuned for more!

Cheers,

Alex

 

[auntjemima]

I love the white look.

 

[alexciobanu]

I love the white look.

Cheers mate

 

[alexciobanu]

Hey guys!

Made a small cover for the motherboard rear I/O and added some vinyl to it. Also vinyl on the G.Skill memory as well as the backplate for the graphics cards is completed now and looking awesome I must say!

Check it out and let me know that you guys think?

Thanks for checking it out!

Cheers,

Alex

 

[alexciobanu]

Hey guys!

Here is the case back from powder coating. I'm not perfectly happy with the results as it did have some reactions in some spots however that is at the bottom which will be covered by the PSU and shroud.

Check it out as I start to install the components inside!

Tubing is also done, just missing some fittings for now to be able to plug everything is to show you. Had to swap them around to do the bends

The back window came out pretty nice

Reservoir mounts on the radiator

And Krait vinyl on the fans

Thanks for checking it out and stay tuned for more!

Cheers,

Alex

 

[alexciobanu]

Hey guys!

Back with another update as the build is getting closer to completion!

The shroud is now installed and of course you can see more vinyl work being done!

Some snake skin going over the shroud that I thought would look really cool. It didn't come out perfect due to my transfer paper not being very good at the time but I'm pretty happy with it.

Underneath the shroud at the back there will be an LED strip so this will light up between the vinyl quite nicely.

I've also done the front panel vinyl but this again due to the transfer paper finishing and I believe that it wasn't really that good towards the end, I messed up towards the bottom where the MSI logo is and this had to be pulled off to be redone but in the end ran out of transfer paper and vinyl so ordered some more to do the rest!

Check out the results guys!

I've also re adjusted the tube here and instead of redoing it completely I've decided a little curve like that makes it match more in line with the snake theme of the build.

You can imagine that once the front panel is completed it will look so much better once on and lit up. It should light the snake head really nicely!

Thanks for checking it out guys and stay tuned for more!

Cheers,

Alex

 

[alexciobanu]

Another update close to completion!

A few more details to be added to the outside of the case with vinyl and just waiting on cables to arrive!

Also I need to stick the window acrylic on the side panel

Check it out with the side panels on

Thanks for checking it out!

Cheers,

Alex

 

[alexciobanu]

Sexy Icemodz cables and LED strips are here! Thanks a lot for supporting me yet again

This means I can get them all in and finish the build!

These LED strips are awesome and Icemodz can do them in any length both the LED and cable.

Very strong 3M double sided tape too

Can't wait to get all these in!

Thanks for checking it out and stay tuned for the finish line!

Cheers,

Alex

 

[alexciobanu]

Hey guys!

Merry Christmas!

The build is nearly finished, just need to fill it up! Check it out and let me know what you think.

For more pics and higher quality you can check out my Facebook page Simple Modz - https://www.facebook.com/Simpl3Modz/

Cheers,

Alex

 

[alexciobanu]

Nearly forgot about the acrylic windows, if you didn't notice, it wasn't on in the last update!

Before sticking it on I decided to do some engraving of the MSI Krait head.

It was a really quick job that turned out pretty good and it will give the build that extra bit of detail!

It must have taken me about 30mins to do all up and I think anyone can have a go at this if they have a dremel and want to add some extra details to their case.

Just print your design, stick it to the acrylic and trace it with the dremel. You can buy the engraving kit and use the bits as you see fit.

Check it out guys!

Let me know what you guys think!

Final pics coming up next

Cheers,

Alex

 

[alexciobanu]

Hey guys!

Here it is, FINAL PICS!

Hope you've enjoyed this build log!

Please check out the MSI PRO MOD here and cast a vote once ready!

http://gaming.msi.com/event/msipromod_s3

Keep in mind that this mod has all been done by me using hand tools only!

If you would like to see pics in higher quality you can check out the album on my Facebook page here - https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.928925223862405.1073741849.772776719477257&type=3

Thanks a lot for checking out this build log and stay tuned for many more builds to come in 2016!

Cheers,

Alex

 

[Ocellaris]

Finished product for your build looks fantastic and super clean. I was a bit worried when you added the side door hinges and the hinges didn't look lined up correctly at first

 

[alexciobanu]

Finished product for your build looks fantastic and super clean. I was a bit worried when you added the side door hinges and the hinges didn't look lined up correctly at first

Thanks a lot! Haven't changed anything for the hinges, must have been the angle on the pics