AMOS V2 - A Corsair and MSI build for Alex 'MarzBar' Brooks: Part One

For storage, MarzBar has some home and office solutions already, but we want to give him some fast storage for his games. For this, we'll use two Corsair Neutron XTi SSDs. Almost 1TB of SSD storage should be plenty! I definitely want to do some little mods with these. MarzBar has two logos, and I think his smaller 'M' logo will look great on these. I haven't decided on whether I'll spray it, etch it, or just use vinyl yet, but that will be shown in future updates.

As with all builds, there's no point having all the hardware if there's nothing cooling it. With MarzBar's AMOS V2 build, we're using the H115i AIO.


This is an all-in-one cooler with a 280mm radiator and a CPU block with pre-applied thermal paste. It's extremely easy to use and remove, so I know MarzBar won't have any problems if he chooses to tinker in the future. I do feel like I want to do something with this as well, but it will depend on how it looks when it's all inside the build. Again, we want a clean, simplistic build and not something too crazy.

While we're going for a neutral build with red accenting, MarzBar also likes his flashy lights and his bling. As such, we're going to make sure that he can pick and choose what he wants when he wants it.


We're using the Corsair HD120 RGB fans in this build, replacing the usual fans on both the GPU and the H115i. You may have spotted a problem: We have 120mm fans, and the H115i uses 140mm fans, but have no fear, we have it all under control. We'll also use the new Corsair Lighting Node Pro kit to ensure everything is nicely lit.


Inside these kits, there's everything we need to make the build look like a Christmas tree, but we can also tone things down a little as well. My favourite method is to set things to white with just a touch of the accent colour, as this usually lights everything up perfectly. The good thing with RGB fans and strips is that MarzBar will be able to choose what he wants, so regardless of what I like, he can change it. It's his system, after all!


For the power supply, we went with the HX850i Platinum. This will have plenty of juice to power everything Alex needs and room for more if needed. People tend to go way over the top when it comes to PSUs (I am guilty of this, as most of the time I am sent flagship models), but as long as you get something that's efficient and stable you are fine.


As with a lot of PSUs now, this is fully modular, which makes my life a lot easier, especially when it comes to trying to make sure our cables are as tidy as possible. Usually, I make all my cables from scratch, but I am going to try to use the original cables as much as possible with this build. I'll still need to chop them up a little, shorten them, and possibly even splice extra cables in to make sure I get the look that I want, but that's all part of the fun.


Finally, we have quite a bit of sleeving! I have three different shades of red, a black, and also a grey. I haven't fully decided on which way I'm going to do the sleeving yet, but I most certainly have the supplies for it. I want the back of the build to look as good as the front, and this is going to take a lot of time and patience. I think I will have to create some cable holding brackets to make sure I can do what I want. I have purchased some bits and bobs to make these, so again, this could be a nice little mod.

So, that's all for now. This will be an interesting build, and it's something different to what I'm used to: It has been a long time since I've used AIOs for a build rather than custom loops, and it's also the first time I've had to be so pedantic about the sleeving. Usually, everything is hidden behind the motherboard tray, but not this time!