Ordered the following new parts:
01. Corsair 5000D Airflow Case (Black)
02. Corsiar AX850 Power Supply (80+ Titanium)
03. Corsair Premium Individually Sleeved PSU Cables Pro Kit Type 4 Gen 4 (Black)
04. Generic Cable Combs (Black)
05. Corsair iCUE SP120 RGB PRO Fans
06. iCUE Commander PRO Smart RGB Lighting and Fan Speed Controller
07. iCUE Lighting Node CORE Digital Fan RGB Lighting Controller
08. iCUE H150i ELITE CAPELLIX Liquid CPU Cooler (Black)
09. WS2812B 5050 RGB LED Strip - 144 Per Meter - White PCB - 1 Meter Strip
10. SK6812 4020 Side Emitting RGB LED Strip - 120 Per Meter - Black PCB - 1 Meter Strip
We added all of the parts listed above to the parts we already had to build this system.
The Corsair iCUE SP120 RGB PRO fans are 3-pin (non-PWM).
The Commander Core that comes with the H150i ELITE CAPELLIX Liquid CPU Cooler does not support custom fan curves for 3-pin (non-PWM) fans. However, the Commander PRO does support custom fan curves for 3-pin (non-PWM) fans.
We already had one Commander PRO and we added a second one so that we could set custom fan curves for the 3-pin (non-PWM) SP120 RGB PRO fans (nine [1-9] fans in total).
We connected six [1-6] of the nine SP120 RGB PRO fans to the first Commander PRO. We connected three [7-9] of the nine SP120 RGB PRO fans to the second Commander PRO.
We used the Commander Core that comes with the H150i ELITE CAPELLIX Liquid CPU Cooler to control the RGB on six [1-6] of the nine SP120 RGB PRO fans. We used the Lighting Node CORE Digital Fan RGB Lighting Controller to control the RGB on three [7-9] of the nine SP120 RGB PRO fans.
We airbrushed the silver trim on the rear I/O shield of the motherboard satin black so that it would blend better with the aesthetics of this build.
We disassembled the cooler on the NVIDIA GTX 980 Founder's Edition graphics card and airbrushed it satin black so that it would also blend better with the aesthetics of this build. While the cooler was disassembled, we removed the backlit "GEFORCE GTX" logo from the cooler and sanded the green paint off of it.
Next, we carefully removed the white, non-addressable, LED's that provide the backlighting for the "GEFORCE GTX" logo and replaced them with a small strip containing 14, fully addressable. WS2812B 5050 RGB LED's. We routed the leads for the fully addressable RGB LED's around the back of the blower fan shroud, out the end of the GPU cooler, and connected them to an LED port on one of the Commander PRO units.
We removed the V1tech RGB GPU backplate that was mounted to the NVIDIA GTX 980 Founder's Edition graphics card and replaced the WS2811 side emitting RGB LED strip (containing 15, fully addressable, WS2811 side emitting RGB LED's) that was on it and installed an SK6812 4020 side emitting RGB LED strip (containing 32, fully addressable, side emitting RGB LED's).
We used an orbital sander and a 320 grit sanding disc to lightly sand the edges of the V1 tech RGB GPU backplate to mimic the appearance of frosted glass and diffuse the RGB LED lighting.
We re-mounted the V1tech RGB GPU backplate, with the new RGB LED strip installed, to the NVIDIA GTX 980 Founder's Edition graphics card and connected the leads to an LED port on one of the Commander PRO units.
With all of this completed, we are able to control all fan speeds and lighting effects in this build using the iCUE management software.
Finally, we installed the Corsair AX850 PSU, PSU cables, cable combs, and completed a bit of cable management.
Overall, we are pleased with the way the build turned out. The airbrushed motherboard and graphics card really blend well with the overall aesthetic of the build and the updates to the RGB LED lighting elements really brought it all together nicely.
We hope you like it too!
Have FUN, be CREATIVE, and, BUILD ON! :D
-Billy G.
Completed build - Non-RGB,Side (centered)
Airbrushed NVIDIA GTX 980 Founder's Edition
(Top) "GEFORCE GTX" logo
(Middle) White, non-addressable, backlight
(Bottom) WS2812B 5050 RGB LED Strip
Fully addressable, "GEFORCE GTX" logo (spectrum)_01
Fully addressable, "GEFORCE GTX" logo (spectrum)_02
V1tech GPU backplate
(Top) New RGB strip for V1tech GPU backplate
(Bottom) Old RGB strip for V1tech GPU backplate
New RGB strip for V1tech GPU backplate installed
New RGB strip for V1tech GPU backplate spectrum-01
New RGB strip for V1tech GPU backplate spectrum-02
New RGB strip for V1tech GPU backplate spectrum-03