Blue Horizon by riekmaharg2

Blue Horizon by riekmaharg2

Project log: Here
It's always great to see modders learning and bettering themselves as they move from project to project. I've been with bit-tech long enough now to have seen this first hand in our community and riekmaharg2 is one of these talented modders. His first project called Silent Fiberglass, is in many ways a predecessor to Blue Horizon in that it too is water-cooled and features a large, side-mounted radiator.

However, that's where the similarity ends, as Blue Horizon features one of the biggest leaps in modding skill we've ever seen from one project to another. The level of detail on show is quite literally staggering, and while the case may look something like a normal tower, you only have to glance at the project log to see it's actually far more than this.

Thankfully, you don't have to trawl through Keir's 75-page (at last count) project log to read about the project's two-year construction process (although it is well worth a read). Keir has taken the time to tell bit-tech first hand about his amazing project, although this is probably no consolation to his dozens of fans who will now have to find something else to do instead of wait for another update. It's over to Keir...

When the project was in its theoretical stage I began by gathering ideas and viewing other case mods and scratch builds in order to provide me with some inspiration for the sort of design I wanted to produce in my second computer construction project. I also took into account the lessons learnt during the production of my Silent Fiberglass build as well as the advantages and flaws I discovered while using Silent Fiberglass as my PC. After all the research I came to the conclusion that I wanted to produce a case based around the characteristics of the standard computer case. Even despite the fact that more adventurous and unique shapes and designs can be more aesthetically pleasing, I wanted to fulfil some specific requirements which therefore made the standard shape the most efficient design.


The specifications and reasoning behind this were that I wanted the case to be very practical when it came to the day to day use after the build was completed, which then led to the conclusion that not having the motherboard backpanel on the outside of the case limits you with regards the ease of being able to connect devices to the computer. Plus, depending on the design, given enough time you may be stuck with old outdated connectors. Also as I learnt from my previous build the more adventurous designs can be more difficult to fit hardware into, and as this would be my main computer I wanted it to be very easily upgradable. Then if they're high performance builds then they are quite often much larger than a regular shape case. This creates more impracticality as I wanted to be able to have the computer on my desk and still have room to view it properly.

So once I had taken everything into account the standard PC shape was one of a few of the most effective uses of space, with the ease of use, and ability to upgrade very easily. After I set the benchmark for the basic idea I then began developing the main unique features I wanted that weren’t part of a basic store bought case.


These included the ability to have a large radiator on the side (which later expanded to include a custom built fan which draws air through the case and fits level with the radiator), the ability to have a very neat and simple water cooling system, the ability to have almost all the wires and tubes completely hidden, and the ability to have all the best looking components on display.

My original 3D drawings shown in the pictures were just the first draft which developed into the final design as I worked through each stage and came across various difficulties along the way.