Studio M - A45
Open Frame Chassis
Double Project
After our project with Streacom’s BC1 Mini, we wanted something even more versatile and with more uniqueness which would allow us to really get creative. We got in contact with Monster Studio’s and talked about a collaboration with them to do a one off build using their A45 frame. The frame is made from 10mm thick aluminium and the machining is near perfection which would warrant the retail price tag. A little transparency though, our sample which was finished in Silver did not have the best anodising finish. We cannot say if retail samples would be better but our sample needs to be better. We plan on changing the colour so the anodising finish is less important to us at this stage.
The frame comes flat packed so assembly is required, while the instructions are in Chinese, it’s clear enough to work out how it all fits together (See the unboxing and assembly video below). Provided are mounting brackets for radiators and fans and nicely machined brackets for cable/tubing management as well as a power button. You’ll also find 2 mounting styles for the Graphics Card, a traditional horizontal mount and a vertical mount which requires the included bracket that sits on the base of the chassis. We much preferred the traditional horizontal mount for an aircooled card, however for a watercooled card the vertical mount is definitely the first choice to show off that waterblock.
The White One
The original plan was to jump straight into the black Carbon build however an opportunity arose when we received the frame in silver. With the MSI core components available (Thank you MSI!) it would be an utter shame to not explore a white/silver build. We got to admit, this project showcase is turning into something quite astounding with the graphics card and motherboard seemingly levitating and floating in mid air. We took a different approach with this one by purposely not researching this frame/chassis so we had to figure out what all the spare parts do. This allowed us to get a little adventurous with watercooling mounting locations.
We are pairing this one with Apacer’s Panther Series DDR5 Memory who kindly donated a 32gb 2 dimm kit. Watercooling we are styling this with Mayhems Solution’s Hot Pink coolant with Satin tubing.
Completion
Building the white Version was such a pleasure, it’s really opened up some options for the Black One and has enabled me to more effectively plan out the next build using this frame. We’ve utilised horizontal mounting position in this build, it would make sense for the Black One to make use of the Vertical mounting solution next. This will absolutely depend on how aesthetically this looks however, so nothing is final. A couple of things to note, though one of the mounts is specifically designed to hold 2.5″ SSD’s, we did try using it as a fan mount which worked fine. I would trust it to hold a radiator though.
Next Chapter....
The Black One
The black one is a carbon and racing inspired rig, featuring some absolutely phenomenal hardware. The highlight of the build is focused around Kingston Technology’s Fury Renegade Limited Edition Memory kit. Special thanks to them for sending this over to us for this particular build. Rated for 8000mts, it requires specific and capable motherboards to achieve those speeds. With it’s striking red accent and carbon fibre inlays mixed with a touch of RGB to finish this memory kit off.
Powder Coating and Assembly
Special thanks to Creative Powder Coating Services here in our city of Sheffield for work done to transform these. It’s a hard choice to choose between the white version and black version… what’s your preference?
And a huge thanks to Antec for supporting us on this project. I personally hold Antec in a special place in my PC building career. My very first real PC case was an Antec Mini P180. The quality of this was unmatched at the time and it served it’s purpose for a good 2-3 years while being constantly changed and modified.
Antec has supplied us with their new SF850X PSU and their new T3 Storm 30mm thick fans for this build. We’re excited to build with them and are even more excited to see Antec back on the PC Market.
Finally we’re getting on with assembly, test fitting components and measuring up for custom brackets. We’re escaping the confines of the frame with this one so we can build out what we have envisioned. The Bitspower products are really coming to life with this one, excelling the visual appearance of the overall build with its twin cuboid reservoirs.
Bitspower Revo CPU Waterblock
The Revo cpu waterblock was showcased back in January 2024 and gained popular attraction. I’ve since been looking forward to acquiring one from Bitspower to showcase in a build. I’m lucky enough to get one so I intend to make the best of it and in one of the best builds we’ve done to date. The waterblock is a collaboration between Moddding Cafe and Bitspower, though the original design was done mostly by Ban from Modding Cafe himself. This new iteration is a collab between the 2 companies.
It is one of the worlds first tubeless waterblocks where the tubing is routed behind the motherboard out of sight. This allows for a superior clean build while keeping it incredibly compact in particular for ITX builds. This of course requires the case or frame to allow for rear mounted waterblocks since there is a large portion of the block that sits on the back of the motherboard. The block also comes with a magnetised front cover plate which is tinted which means it’s interchangeable for your own design.
We’ve also updated the build with Bitspower’s new Leviathan II 240mm radiators which are paired with Antec’s Storm T3 30mm thick fans.
Adding to this, we looked at more structural support for the radiators on the side. The issue became apparent when we tried to lift the system and the radiator mounts started to “flap”. To resolve this, we added tie rod strut bars to fix the location to add rigidity and strength to the support section of the radiator mounts. We are looking to further enhance this with a suspension type system to absorb any movement.
