Welcome to a new extreme modding video in this channel.
Today we are going to see a PC case completely handcrafted from scratch.
It has taken really hard work so I really really hope you guys enjoy it.
After the Fortnite Chest PC we build by the end of last year,
AOURUS regathered the team to build a new epic PC but Minecraft themed this time.
But being quite honest, I struggled a lot.
I was really afraid of making a Minecraft mod, because, of course the game is great, very funny and so on.
I do not even hesitate to say this is one of the best videogames ever developed.
Yet, do not take personally what I am about to say: It is not exactly pretty and aesthetic.
So, building a nice premium PC, with awesome liquid coolers, like we are used to in this channel
but additionally, Minecraft-themed, was at least, difficult.
I don’t know if this is the right expression, but yes, it is what it is.
We spent more than a month drawing sketches, prototypes, modifications, different versions…
I even entered the creative mode of the game and tried to craft a PC using blocks yet without success.
I was not satisfied with the results.
But finally we met a promising design, so we went forward through this line.
It is a cubical box made out of Minecraft blocks, similar to this Corsair 280X
that are regular PC cases but wider, resembling a cube.
That was the idea we followed.
But indeed, making it real is quite challenging
That is why we needed a member of our crew:
our metallurgy and materials expert, my father, José.
He basically made a 3D prototype of the whole chassis,
and the two of us, and little by little during several days
figured out where every component was about to be placed,
where the cables and the coolers would be laid and this sort of issues.
After you handled me the sketch, I started thinking how we could manage to get that shape.
Then, after researching some materials,
we reached the conclusion that the best we could choose was aluminium.
We needed to give it the thickness needed to reach those 40mm (1,57in) we got here.
we could not use solid aluminium, but plates or something similar.
Then we crafted different surfaces and we screwed them together until we completed that final shape.
Obviously, that was a lot of work, but it was the proper way to get a light PC case with good finishes like the one we obtained.
We caulked it afterwards to hide the screws and joints and we got a quality finishing as we were expecting.
But well, there was a further element I wanted for this PC which is the Nether portal.
If you ever played Minecraft it is almost impossible not knowing it.
It is basically a portal inside the game that leads you to a parallel dimension called The Nether.
As I remember, to build that portal, you have to build a door out of some obsidian blocks,
then you light it up with a lighter, and there you go. You have that dimension-travelling portal, the Nether.
So we designed a flat water container on the backside of the box,
like the ones we saw in other videos from this channel
through which the cooling liquid would flow from the left upper part to the bottom and up again.
We needed the container to be always full, so we made the tube exit up there to avoid it to empty,
then a central methacrylate plate and a cover to which the figure would stick afterwards
and a back cover to withstand the pressure of the screws forming the sandwich.
As you can see, it has many screws.
We also build some joints that we wanted to build with sealing stripes
but due to the current season in which the manufacturers are on holidays,
we went for a rubber gasket like the ones used for gearboxes or high pressure pumps. And it worked.
And for the flowing of the liquid to be seen we used a very special one.
The liquid you are seeing is the Vue by PrimoChill
a special liquid with particles inside and it is extremely delicate.
In fact it needs a previous meticulous prepping of the circuit.
That is why it comes with this tiny liquid prep that we need to mix with water
and insert in to the circuit for 72 hours,
so three days with that water flowing to remove all the foreign bodies and impurities or reactive materials that can damage our cooling liquid.
It would be completely eliminated.
Once this process is complete, you need to empty the circuit and fill it up with the particles liquid
of which I needed two jars because this circuit was huge as we will see.
The final result is, despite all the prepping, stunning.
The liquid is really delicate
It is so delicate that once you buy it, you get the guarantee of only six months lifespan
even if you do not use it during this time you will have to throw it
Although it really depends on the production date what means that depending on where you buy it, it could be already useless.
Normally this type of particle liquids are suitable only for expositions, for modding, etc
but this one we got here is the only one that could have in your PC,
if you do not mind changing it every six months,
which is a bummer
That is the price to pay if you want glitter inside your computer.
But you know, no pain, no gain.
Honestly, I do not recommend you to use it. Just not for your personal computer.
Let’s talk about hardware.
Once we started planning that project AORUS told us:
Alright kids, what do you wish for Christmas?
Ask for whatever you want.
The only requirement was that the processor needed to be Intel because they are one of the sponsors of this project.
So we just started to ask…
First of all, the processor is the top product from the new Intel range,
the i9 10900K has ten cores and reaches very easily and almost automatically to 5.3 GHz,
at least this unit.
Currently, it is the processor that gives you more FPS in videogames, although I need to say it is very expensive.
For this one, we ordered the best AOURUS motherboard, the Z490 Aourus Xtreme Waterforce
which is one of the most expensive ones you can find in the market.
It is a huge motherboard that comes with a liquid cooling block to cool down the whole of it,
well, only what you need to cool.
It is a very big nickel-plated copper block over which the liquid passes and can be seen through a plexiglass.
It also has RGB.
Basically it cools the processor but it also cools the RVM that is the unit adjust the processors voltage,
and it passes also thought the chipset, which really does not need cooling but, why not?
Also the M.2 are cooled with the same.
In this case we got two M.2 with 1TB storage to install Minecraft and presumably any other game the owner wants.
We got very cool AORUS RBG RAM units with a very nice lighting.
We ordered four units but only two arrived which is not bad at all because it is 32 RAM-GB at 4400MHz.
Regarding video cards we do not have the best of the best, which could be a 2080Ti or the Titan RTX
but we have a 2080 Super because it was the newest they had with water block.
This is the 2080 Super Waterforce that comes with a built in water block prepared to assemble with cooling liquid.
For that, we got an old friend, the EK Waterblock that comes along though many videos. I like that brand a lot to be honest.
This time, for once, I decided not to bend the tubes but to use elbows even though the final result is the same.
It depends on the user and on the build.
In fact, the most premium builds I have seen in Computex used to have those metal elbows.
And I just was looking forward to repeat the experience.
For Sara’s PC I already used this system and it looked very good.
The liquid cooling of this PC is, let’s say,
entertaining.
To avoid the PC from becoming a huge juggernaut
we tried to squeeze it to the maximum and build it in a fairly small box where everything fits and gets cooled.
This project, as you can imagine, has been very time consuming.
Normally, when you buy a PC box, it is designed for every kind of hardware.
That is why you need certain margins and sizes to build bigger or smaller motherboards,
bigger or smaller liquid coolers, fans... All sorts of components,
to make it suitable for the biggest amount of hardware possible.
But building your own chassis from scratch, allows you to adapt it right to your needs.
You can can squeeze all the hardware, have smaller margins...
And customize it completely and optimize it.
So in this box we got, first of all, the right side
where this container is placed, nothing less than the Nether portal.
And above it, in the backside there is another black painted plate, where the motherboard is placed.
And here is a blank space for the power supply cable, the ATX, the EPS and some more things.
This plate, in the right side, has a small hole exposing the cooling liquid input and output from the flat container.
Two tubes will have to be laid through here
and right under it lies the cointainer with the pump.
Why is there another container if we already have one?
Just to make it easier to refill the circuit.
We have the pump there and in order to fill it, it is very convenient to have a container here.
In fact, that is usually the use of 
custom liquid cooling containers.
All these items are connected to a radiator that is placed at the bottom.
It is the Vardar Series EK-140 slim with two fans of the same series with RGB.
And right above it, we find the video card and, since it fitted,
another radiator on the backside where all the plugs are and where there are no drawings.
And in this side we placed all the plugs and motherboard and video card connectors,
the airflow exit from the radiator and even the power supply cable,
although the power supply is not really there. There is another cable that comes from there
to the power supply which is located somewhere else
And now the major drama.
How to paint the box?
Because, sure, there are lots of techniques to paint a chassis...
From painting it with spray to having the aluminium printed.
For the strucuture of the box and the fact that the plaques are caulked, it was impossible to print over them.
So to meet a quick and easy solution, we tried vinyl.
And frankly, to place the vinyl over this box was terrible, it was a terrible experience.
We lost two days of work.
We had to try it four times in total.
Trying, changing it, retouching it.
And the last try was the good one, considering we are not professionals
It ended up perfectly.
Vinyl is a proper solution for many cases, but honestly, if you want a high quality finish in a computer box,
vinyl is not really the best choice.
On the video it looks good, but in real life it does not look that good.
When the giveaway winner gets it, he or she will see its a sticker.
Moreover, vinyl peels off after a while
but there was no other way of doing it with this chassis.
Its a bit shabby.
So we thought of fairly slim matt white plexiglass sheets and overprinted.
We sent it to get printed with a huge printer since we dont have the Gutenberg print plant
We used the same technique we wanted over the aluminium, but on the plexiglass.
The alternative option has a very similar result. You dont see a difference unless you touch it.
By sticking those sheets, the thickness made it difficult to assemble them perfectly.
It is really hard to make them fit exactly,
so José suggested to leave a 2mm margin between the sheet and the edge
and make this spacing you see here.
This spacing had to be obvious and not look like an error but look like part of the design
and to give the perception that the cube is somehow being built
with the sides a bit set apart.
To my liking, the result is at least very good.
We spent like 300€ in vinyls to finally remove them and throw them away,
but sometimes you need to go wrong to learn.
Finally, one of my favourite parts of this mod:
the magma pool.
This also tells a story.
It turns out that I wanted a configurable LED strip to reach that bubbling magma effect with on and off lights that we find in Minecraft.
It is relatively easy to program with Arduino.
You can do almost everything with LED strips and Arduino.
But I need to be really sincere with you guys, this mod was completely made against time
In the midst of august and during a worldwide pandemic.
And I consider a miracle having finished it on time
In fact, we did not finish it on time, we delayed it a week
Have in mind that everyone is on holidays and there is very few stock
and for the time we had, I did not really want to risk it.
I wanted to put something for the LEDs
that I knew it worked that gives us a good result
so I bought a Corsair Commander Pro and a ton of LED strips.
So I have prepared this plexiglasss plate where I placed some Corsair strips.
Well, in fact, I have only placed six of them
and this is because for some reason that I am totally unaware of
when we configured the Corsair software I could not manage more than six LED strips
Anyway, the result is good because the LEDs form a grid with all of them well distributed.
I really have chosen the Corsair LED strips because of the software
but I am not really a fan of them.
They are not great because the distance between the LEDs is too big.
I believe the result is going to be OK, but I would have liked some more LEDs on the strips
This is something they could really improve. I would not mind paying more to see more LEDs on these strips.
By the way, we are going to connect that plate with this tiny cable
to connect it to the Commander Pro.
I took it already from down there.
And above them it has two more sheets.
First, this one here that is to separate the LEDs from the diffuser.
It helps to avoid seeing too bold light spots.
And if this was opaque we would lose too much luminosity.
Then we have this sheet, the diffuser
and over it we have even another sheet of plexiglass but this one with the Minecraft magma texture printed on it.
This way we will see different spots from the magma enlighted.
And well, as you can imagine, we had to test it many times
At this point we got some help from our friends from Creartech
who spend many hours making trials with us and providing different plexiglass pieces in the midst of August,
so an applause for Creartech for being there for us
I also wanted to thank Roser who made all the cuttings from the water jet
for all the metal pieces from this box,
from the aluminium parts to the back metal grids.
Every metal component was cut by them.
And this is the final result...
Well, and lastly, I want to give you two really interesting facts about this PC.
The first one is that between the hardware and all the money we spent in experiments and materials,
without counting any human cost,
this PC has risen to more or less 7.000 euros.
6.500~7.000€ between suppliers, materials and everything we bought
hardware included.
So if someone asked us to assemble this same PC with the same hardware and working hours, etc,
it would easily have costed 10.000€
That is the value I would give it
Of course, if someone asks for another one, It would be, obviously, way easier this time,
because there are a lot of things that we  already know how they must be done
we do not have to make experiments nor tests
and we do would not have to redo all the designs, all the textures, the 3D models...
But this computer as it looks right now, does not go below 10K.
And this is also because the hardware is very expensive
Only the motherboard itself costs 1.300€
it is brutal.
Of course, have in mind that there is no stock anywhere of that liquid glitter.
In fact, I bought it to a shop in Finland and it took like two weeks to arrive
And I spent 80€ on two bottles
80€ and in top of that I will have to change it, so more extra costs.
In a nutshell, it is a total nonsense.
But you must seize the opportunity to build an epic PC every time you can.
Most especially because we are going to do a giveaway
and one of you is going to take this beauty home
and we have to take advantadge of the money of the sponsors to build really cool PCs
And the other interesting fact is the weight
The motheboard alone weights 5kg (11.02 lbs)
The PC components (motherboard, cpu, video card, liquid cooling, etc) weight around 15kg (33.06 lbs) more or less.
And then we have around 20kg more (44.08 lbs)
between the backside plate, which is extremely heavy because it is stainless steel.
Since doing the backside in aluminium could have been really dangerous  due to the galvanic corrosion between cooper and aluminium
So we decided to do it with stainless steel that it does not chemically react  with any other metal materials
So in summary, between the backpart block, the aluminium, that is really thick (around 1,5cm - 0.59in)
and the rest of the box it weights around 30 and 40 kg (between 66.13 and 88.1 lbs)
It is a brutality in weight as well as cost as in hours of work
Well, I hope you enjoyed the video and liked the PC
If you liked it, you already know what you have to do.
Leave a thumbs up, suscribe to the channel and see you on the next video!
