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PLANNING AND DESIGN
Stuart Tonksexplains his ideas and how he made them a reality.
WESTERNDIGITAL
I’vebeenworkingwithWesternDigital
forawhilenowandhavebeenusingits
SSDs,HDDsandNVMedrivessinceas
longasIcanremember.Thecompany
reachedouttometocreateaoneof
kindthemedsystemthatwouldbe
featuredandgivenawayinAPC
magazine.Forme,thiswasafantastic
opportunitytotalkaboutmoddingand
thesometimestrickychallengesIface
fortheAPCreaders.Idon’texpect
anyonetotryandreplicatethisbuild- buttheremaybeideasandtipshere
thatmaysparkyourimaginationtodo
somethingsimilaryourself,evenona
smallscale.
Thethemeforthebuildwastocreate
anddesignasystembasedaround
WesternDigital’snewWDBlackSN750
NVMeM.2SSD.Theperformanceof
thisSSDistopnotch,socombiningthis
SSDwithotherqualitycomponents
meantitwasaboxthatcouldlookthe
goods,anddeliverin-game.Iwantedto
gothatlittlebitfurtherandadaptthe
caseintothisthemeandshowcasethe
actualSSDinplainsight.Asyoucan
see,thewholefrontandrightsideof
the chassis is a complete replica of the
tinyWDBlackSN750NVMeSSD’s
uniquesurface,coloursandtexture.PRACTICALITYRULES
Ifyou’vefollowedmywork,you
probablyknowI’masuckerfor
monstrousoverthetopcustom
water-cooledsystems.Forthisproject,
Idecidedtotoneitdownabitandthink
moreaboutthepracticalityofa
machinetobeusedregularly,rather
thandoacompletelyoverthetopmod
thatwouldbefragileandhigh
maintenance.
Assomeonewilleventuallywinthis
completePC,Ihadafewchallengeson
hand.Firstly,Iwantedtocreatea
relativelysmallsystemthatdidn’ttake
upmuchroom–yetbeagaming
powerhouse.It’s 2019 andsmallform
factorsystemsarebecomingthenorm.
Notjustthat,butalsosilentsystems
arebecomingmoreandmorepopular.
Withthosedecisionsoutoftheway,I
hadtotossupbetweeneither
completelycustomwater-coolingthe
PC,orgoingwithamorebasicAIO
setup.Iwentwiththelatterforafew
reasons.Noteveryoneiscomfortable
with a custom water-cooled system.Theon-goingmaintenance,changing
ofpartsandthethoughtofsomething
leakingcanbehorrifictomany.Plus
havingthesystemeventuallybeing
shippedtothewinner,goingwithan
air-cooledGPUandclosedloopcooler
meansthisPCwilltravel safely.KEEPITCLEAN
Thentherewasthewholeappearance
factor.PCmoddingoftheyearshas
grownsignificantly,andthecreations
fromaroundtheworldaremind
blowing.Butinsayingthat,not
everyonewantsaspaceshipora
monster-shapedPCsittingontheir
desk.I’vealsofoundafterthemany
buildsI’vedonethatsometimesit’sthe
lessmodifiedonesthatgrabthemost
attention.
Cleanandsleekbuildsareamongthe
mostpopularonmysocialmedia
channels,sotakingthatcluethisisthe
directionIwentwithhere.Itisadesign
thatstillpreservesmuchoftheclean
aestheticsoftheNzxtchassisfromthe
mainviewingside,butfromanother
anglecompletelytransformstotakeon
theuniqueandgreat looking feel of the
modded theme.“Thethemeforthebuildwastocreateanddesigna system
basedaroundWesternDigital’snewWDBlackSN750 NVMe
M.2SSD.TheperformanceofthisSSDistopnotch,
socombiningthisSSDwithotherqualitycomponentsmeant
it was a box that could look the goods, and deliver in-game. ”
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