Description
Hi everyone \o/
I'm Bennies and this epic build is a design by Jason "Bits" Lau from New Zealand. The idea behind this one is to make a special reflective gaming pc to celebrate the upcoming mirrors edge 2 game that's set to release in June, unlike our fallout 4 build = https://www.instagram.com/p/896RYKhbg4/?taken-by=gorillarigs this one is a little less blatant :P
Starting out with the monstrous inwin S frame in red/black we began carefully stripping things down, this was necessary for the metallic silver finish that would make the build shine. Disassembling the chassis was relatively straightforward with no issues safely removing the I/O which was great, however there were a few screws that once removed we could not re-attached.
Best bits,
- The craftsmanship from InWin is incredible, it's like a single piece of steel was folded to create the chassis.
- Love the ability to mount sideways, graphics cards won't reflect the ceiling lights :P
- such logo
Once stripped we took one last look at the logo (wasn't too sure if it would survive) then carefully wrapped everything to be sent to the workshop for electroplating.
With the chassis away it was time to get to work on component choices and general layout, for the motherboard we went with the excellent Asus Sabertooth X99 which comes in an almost perfect gunmetal colour, ram could only be Corsair Dominator platinum which has the shine we wanted to really make the build pop. Graphics cards are twin Titan X fitted with very shiny EKWB waterblocks.
The final rig is going to use chrome pipes but to size things up Jason set to work building with plastic until he got the arrangement just right (much plastic was sacrificed in the process), the goal is to create a build that allows for as much reflection as possible so the pipework has to be very tight.
And then the chassis arrived back.... Looking amazing! We're pretty lucky to have painted, stripped and modded a fair bit for builds in the past but having never seen the effect electroplating has in person this exceeded all expectations - mind totally blown. Logo survived.
With the chassis now back with us we reassembled then loaded in the motherboard. Keeping reflective surfaces as unobstructed as possible we started fitting water cooling for the CPU and SLi GPU, with the titan x in place we checked and re-checked that the long res could be mounted underneath and then went to work.
The build was now coming together well and with only a few final touches to go it was almost time to check how well the mirror effect would work. Fingers crossed.
On its own the rig is quite stunning and looks extremely solid with the chassis metalwork complementing the internal components nicely but the way it catches reflections couldnāt have turned out any better :) It soaks in the world around it and depending on what room itās in or where you are standing the build looks different.
Hope you like it, we're still playing with the storage options so I might update with some new pics soon :)
Weāve got some cool new scratch builds in the final stages for CM CaseMod we canāt wait to show you as well.
GG from Bits and Benwaki!
Part Reviews
CPU
For me personally, this CPU is sweet spot for high end performance :) Was certainly tempted to grab the 5960X though and I can't wait to try the new 6950X!
Motherboard
If I could give this motherboard 6 stars I would. Craftsmanship is on par with the mighty InWin chassis and this was a top choice for using in the build. The rear IO shield has a very cool hexgrid which looks great but sadly we didn't get to use it for this build. Overall it's an overclockers dream, you can even connect your phone to it via the TUF port for diagnostics (will test this out soon)
Memory
Stunning ram with a silver finish and subtle glow, if you're wanting to create a metallic effect this ram is great. A little pricey in New Zealand sadly.
Storage
For when you absolutely need to have a cool looking skull on your SSD :) Never let me down.
Storage
I previously used WD for everything but recently tried Seagate out and I'm very happy with performance (and price!)
Video Card
Great graphics cards, can't wait to compare these to the new 1080 for myself :)
Case
My 3rd time building with InWin, Jasons 100th lol :P Quality, style and a really great design make this a stand out chassis to have built with. Thanks InWin!
Power Supply
Great power supply from Cooler Master yet again, decent price in NZ as well!
Operating System
Growing on me more and more, especially because of the blog by NZXT on how to turn off automatic updates!
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