Caselabs nova x2m "midnight special"

[trestles126]

When I heard caselabs was no longer offering colored cases after June I jumped the gun and orders a gunmetal grey nova x2m to build a watercooled htpc for our front room. My plan was to find all components on eBay for a fairly discounted price. I already had a a few components left over that I will be using.

So hear is what I've gathered thus far

Caselabs nova x2m gunmetal everything accept the back tray in black.

Evga supernova 850 g2 psu I had left over I may try to re sleeve the cables while i wait for my case.

I just picked up a evga z97 wifi stinger open box special off eBay for 120 bucks

I also picked up a evga gtx 680 with ek full csq black waterblock and back plate for 150

Also picked up a betfinex recon fan controller for 10 dollars new off eBay

Grabbed white 120 spectre pro betfinex fans for 8 dollars as well


I have a d5 ek clean acrylic pump and a ek 140 resivoir

Some ram, a CPU (still unsure what i want to go with now that i have a z97 board and a gtx680 maybe a I5 intel) and a SSD and i'll be ready to rock

Color scheme will be Greys, whites, and blues. Probably go with pastel blue for the liquid i saw a s3 awhile back on Overclock.net that was gunmetal with blue liquid and loved it.

[gdesmo]

Some excellent bargain basement acquisitions for sure !!!

[nass]

can you reverse this nova, if so a clean block with blue be sweet for cost of block for a 680 now.

[trestles126]

Yes I ordered a reverse layout

[trestles126]

as much as i don't like going to fry i stopped there today to check out some specials. picked up this 120gb SSD which matches my color scheme and has good reviews on newegg for 54 dollars and this ddr3 1600 2x4g corsair vengeance ram for 52 not shabby

[gdesmo]

Damn, that's pretty cheap. I'd say a pretty good score.

[trestles126]

while I'm waiting for my case i bought 15 feet each of light blue, charcol gray, and white cable sleeving as well as some tools and heat shrink to take a stab at resleeving all of my evga 850 psu cables.

[nass]

that is something i still need to learn to do

[Father Fuzzy]

sleeving is a real time waster

your going to need alot more sleeve

24 pin about 2 ft long needs 48 ft plus all the other cables

Daz did a video about ordering sleeve

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gVWQW4E9FCk

[trestles126]

I ordered 15 feet of each color and plan on shortening the cables since the reach will be so close. I got time to waste n like drinking lots of beers n fiddling and acting like I'm interested in the junk tv my wife is watching 😆

[10e]

Easiest way to "sleeve" is buy the ModFlex stuff from CableMods. They have 8", 16" and 24" lengths of pre-sleeved wiring and it's decent quality, paracord-like 3mm sleeving.

Right now only at PPCs though

http://www.performance-pcs.com/catal...blemod+modflex

I almost bought the EXACT same configuration trestles! I had it in the cart, just didn't pull the trigger because I wasn't sure if I really wanted gunmetal or white. But everything nearly identical indcluding reverse motherboard layout.

Nice score on the case, and on the internals. Still have a soft spot for the GTX 680.

[trestles126]

Right on that woulda worked too late though! I like a challenge. And my case prob won't be her for another 4 weeks. The hardest part of the sleeve job is gonna be the 24 pin mobo cable cause evgas has the split end and the capacitors on them. I've read a few treads at overclock.net about the process and it seems straight forward enough though tedious 😁

Easiest way to "sleeve" is buy the ModFlex stuff from CableMods. They have 8", 16" and 24" lengths of pre-sleeved wiring and it's decent quality, paracord-like 3mm sleeving.

Right now only at PPCs though

http://www.performance-pcs.com/catal...blemod+modflex

I almost bought the EXACT same configuration trestles! I had it in the cart, just didn't pull the trigger because I wasn't sure if I really wanted gunmetal or white. But everything nearly identical indcluding reverse motherboard layout.

Nice score on the case, and on the internals. Still have a soft spot for the GTX 680.

[bungwirez]

that's the spirit Tres. you wanna give sleeving a go, beer is the right choice. perhaps spaced evenly with a celebratory scotch.

[trestles126]

Ha ha ya I'll even drink a beer while thinking about sleeving just to get the mood right! Nothing a fine sculpin ipa or racer 5 can't handle !

[trestles126]

Last main piece is the processor. Like usually this went from a htpc to a fairly capable game rig. But it'll still be a front room media PC. With that said having a hard time deciding between a i3 dual core or i5 quad. Any recomendations. If the i3 will really rob from the computers final performance im willing to spend a tad more.