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

AMOS V2 - MarzBar, the Idea and the Hardware

We recently finished our build for Twitch streamer BoMenzzz. This was a great success, and you can see the build logs here: Part One, Part Two and finally Part Three.

Corsair was really happy with the result and contacted us again to see if we could help out one of its other affiliated content creators with his new PC. This time it's Alex Brooks, more commonly known as MarzBar. He has a few channels on YouTube, one for tech, one for vlogs, and the main channel too. The total subscribers for these three channels? Around 1.2 million. Nice! Although he might not be everyone's cup of tea, he is certainly doing something right.

The idea of these little build logs is to show you guys something different each time. Last time, we looked a little bit at liquid-cooling and a bit of spray painting; this time it's going to be all about ensuring the build is as clean as possible and seeing what you can do with tempered glass. This isn't going to have loads of crazy mods; the idea is that MarzBar can work on this PC whilst I am not there, as he likes to tinker around too. MarzBar has named this project 'AMOS V2', and it will be predominantly black and red, so let's get started.

The Hardware

As always, this first part is going to be all about the hardware. Corsair and MSI have provided everything for this build, so huge props to them for sorting that out!


This is the haul of goodie. There are one or two things missing from this picture, mainly because I ran out of room on my desk! As you can see, it will be a pretty powerful machine. I can't think of many people who wouldn't be hyped to get such a build!


Let's start with the case. We're using the Corsair Crystal Series 570X RGB. We reviewed this case upon release, and it managed to take our Extreme award - it's rather tasty!


As these images above (that I have blatantly stolen from our review) show, this really is a nice case. It's the first time I've managed to get my hands on one to really have a play around. I've seen them used for builds multiple times, but one thing usually lets them down: people not taking the time to do proper cable management! When you can see all the cables, make them as tidy as possible. This will be one of our main focuses, and it can take 20 hours or more alone!


For this build, we'll be using the MSI Z270 Gaming M7. We didn't actually review this board, but MSI often pick up awards and it has numerous solid Z270 boards. This was one board I personally wanted to take a look at, so when MSI asked which board we fancied using, I requested this one. Luckily, everyone agreed it was a good choice, so I managed to scratch my hardware itch.


Its design is quite subtle, yet it still has a splash of colour from the LEDs . I don't even think I am going to mod this board at all, as I like how it is straight out of the box. That is, of course, unless the LEDs are a little too much, in which case we might see if we can do something with them. MSI usually doesn't go too crazy, though, so I think we'll be OK.


The GPU for this build is pretty special too. I have only ever used one GPU with an all-in-one liquid-cooler prior to this build, and that was an AMD Radeon R9 295X2 that I ended up chucking a water block on. This MSI GTX 1080 Sea Hawk looks the business, though. As Corsair is responsible for the cooling, it's a perfect match for the build.


Again, this is quite a subtle GPU, and I do want to do something to it to personalise it a little for MarzBar. I am not 100 percent sure on what I want to do with it yet, though.


As this will be the side that's seen the most, the backplate will probably be the target for a little modding. I don't want to do too much, though, as I like the toned down look of it and the black-on-black of the dragon. Maybe you guys have some ideas?


For the RAM we are using 32GB (4 x 8GB) Corsair Vengeance LED 3,200MHz DDR4. This is very similar to the kits you can win in our Mod of the Month competitions! Again, we chose this because it'll fit the build perfectly. It's somewhat stealthy but has the edgy look as well as red LEDs, so... Winner!


Once paired with the MSI Z270 Gaming M7, you can see it matches very well. The kit almost looks like it's made for this board.

Let's continue the hardware porn on page two.